The minister and the emperor discussed how to limit the emperor's power, which in the past would have been the rhythm of the quarrel.

However, the two were able to sit down calmly and communicate slowly, which was also a miracle.

When Sun Xiangfu really talked about specific strategies, Li Shimin listened more seriously.

"Your Majesty, you are familiar with the history books of various dynasties since the Zhou Dynasty, have you noticed that kings are all stupid?" Sun Xiangfu asked.

"Are kings old and deaf?"

Li Shimin didn't seem to have heard much of this word, but he thought of many people along with this meaning.

Because, in this era, people over forty years old are considered old people, then, farther away, there are Zhao Wuling King, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and more recently, there are Liang Emperor Xiao Yan, Sui Yang Emperor Yang Guang, etc., all of whom are forty or fifty years old, and they begin to faint.

Li Shimin even thought of Li Yuan and himself, it seems that since the beginning of the army, it was Li Jiancheng and himself who have been the main force, and now that he is in his forties, he has begun to be more and more lazy to deal with government affairs, and he is all thrown to Li Chengqian, and even more and more like to listen to some words that praise him.

No matter how much truth Sun Xiangfu said! At the very least, he felt that it was time for him to introspect.

Seeing that Li Shimin did not continue to speak, Sun Xiangfu said again, "Actually, this is not to blame those kings, people are old, their energy is limited, and they no longer bear the high-intensity hard work, thinking, and are more inclined to be comfortable, this is human nature, so if Your Majesty asks the ministers, how to let future generations of kings maintain a pioneering and enterprising spirit, then, first of all, our kings must be younger." ”

"What do you mean, the emperor, to set a retirement age too?" Li Shimin asked in a calm tone.

It seems that he is not much surprised by Sun Xiangfu's proposal, which shows that he has thought about it himself before.

Sun Xiangfu nodded and replied, "Yes, Your Majesty, the physical strength and thinking ability of the elderly cannot be compared with those who are in the prime of life, from a scientific point of view, we should be more energetic and active in the prime of life to serve as the monarch."

Moreover, the age of the reign of a generation of kings, a generation of ministers, and the emperor should not be too long.

For example, Your Majesty, you are in power, and you reuse your cousin Changsun's family, it's not that the Changsun family is not good, but now it's only been more than ten years, the assets of the Changsun family, the number of officials in the entire family, and the power in your hands, how big it is, you don't need to talk about it in detail!

This is also the reason why the queen often advises you not to appoint the children of the eldest grandson as officials, in the long run, after ten or twenty years, the power of the eldest grandson may have to multiply many times, do you really think that under the appeal of interests, they will always be so stable?

When Cheng Qian becomes the country in the future, he is afraid that he will have a headache in the face of this force that cannot be defeated. ”

After Gaozong succeeded to the throne in history, didn't he immediately fight with the eldest grandson Wuji, the resources of the dynasty were in this kind of infighting, I don't know how much it would lose, Sun Xiangfu also saw that Li Shimin was analyzing this problem very rationally, and there was the persuasion of the eldest grandson queen many times, so he dared to say this matter.

Otherwise, even with his status, he would not dare to step on this thunder easily.

Of course, this is also because he has a good relationship with the eldest grandson Wuji's father and son, and he doesn't want to see the eldest grandson end up in the end.

Hearing Sun Xiangfu's suggestion, Li Shimin's mind instantly fluttered, how did the party forces and vested interests in the court come into being?

It is not necessarily that someone is deliberately organizing and planning, most of the time, it is a long time, and it is naturally gathered together because of interests.

If a policy has been implemented for a long time, and a person has been in charge of affairs in a position for a long time, it will naturally cause the following people to find policy loopholes and exploit loopholes because of the problem of perspective and habits.

This is also why Li Shimin every one or two years, will be the top ministers, to a round of power shuffle, in his place, in addition to the military generals are slightly better, the civil ministers, there is no such a prime minister-level senior official, An An has been in the position for three or five years, Xiao Yu, Fang Xuanling, Du Ruhui, Li Jing, Wen Yanbo, Sun Wuji, etc., are all repeated several times.

In addition, as long as he is still the emperor, he will definitely reuse his relatives Changsun, because he wants to prove to everyone that those who support him in fighting the country can get a good end.

And when Li Chengqian becomes the emperor, it may not be like this, he may still reuse the Changsun family, but the Hou family, Sun Xiangfu's happy village lineage, he will also reuse it even more.

If neither of them has been in power for a long time, then they can basically be replaced by gentle means before these forces form a political force that threatens the rule of the royal family.

But once a family has been reused for more than 20 years, beyond two generations, then it is very difficult to cut off the power they have developed.

Because, in one generation, there may be several times or even dozens of times of expansion, take Li Shimin as an example, his next generation now has more than 60 sons, and there may be many more in the future.

After two generations, it is hundreds or thousands of times the increase, this huge network of blood relations, if they all enter the court, is definitely enough to destroy the various systems set up by the imperial court, which is also the reason why Li Shimin no longer gives his adult sons or younger brothers official titles after realizing this problem.

If it is sealed like this, no matter how big Datang's territory is, there will be a day when it will be sealed, and if the royal family blocks everyone's ascending channel, it will inevitably have a big problem.

"So, in your opinion, how should the age of the king's abdication be set?" Li Shimin still asked in a calm tone.

Hearing his question, Sun Xiangfu's admiration for Li Shimin in his heart was a little more.

Where is he asking about the age of abdication of a king, this is simply asking his own age of abdication.

Speaking of this, Sun Xiangfu suddenly remembered the fake history he had told these months, among them, Li Yuan, who was born in 566 and abdicated in 626, was just sixty years old.

Combined with the retirement age of civil and military generals, Sun Xiangfu quickly came up with a figure, saying, "This matter, in fact, is very simple, you can add another level to the retirement age of the prime minister and the general, that is, retire at the age of fifty."

Then, according to the regulations on delayed retirement, the age of maximum retirement is exactly 60 years old, which is exactly the same as the age of 60 in the year of the emperor's abdication.

In this case, this provision can become the system of imperial succession that has been resolutely implemented by our Tang Dynasty since the founding of the country, and after that, no one will dare to question the legitimacy of His Majesty's succession. ”

Hearing this, Li Shimin's eyebrows raised, but he was a little reluctant.

If he retires at the age of fifty, then he only has five years, and even if he delays retirement, he will only have fifteen years, but when he thinks about it, if he really insists on retiring until the ultimate retirement age of sixty.

Then, Li Chengqian will be the crown prince for more than 30 years, and when it is his turn to be the emperor, even if he reaches the maximum retirement age, he will not be as long as he has been a prince.

Therefore, in order to make the overall emperor younger in the future, he can't even delay it for too long.

"It seems quite feasible to understand this method, Rong Zhen will think about it later, do you have any other suggestions?" After thinking for a moment, Li Shimin nodded.

Sun Xiangfu said again, "Your Majesty, even if the king's retirement system is set up, it cannot limit the king's power and achieve a balance between him and the scholars.

Therefore, this is only a relatively basic system, and we also need to set up a special department to limit the power of the monarch and courtiers. ”

"A department dedicated to restricting the power of the monarch and courtiers?"

Speaking of this, Li Shimin thought of the Ministry of Law, but if Sun Xiangfu only said the Ministry of Law, there is no need to bring it up, the officials of the Ministry of Law, to put it bluntly, are still officials, they may not do something that is illegal because of interests, and in later generations, there are many corrupt criminals in this system.

"Yes, Your Majesty." After Sun Xiangfu confirmed, he said, "You should know that our first batch of interns are regularized. ”

"I remember, in addition to the evaluation of the government, it also needs to be decided by public opinion!" Li Shimin replied.

"Yes, Your Majesty, after the implementation of such a system, most of the officials we have selected over the years have passed by in addition to being competent for their positions, and most of them have passed the work ability, and the people are basically satisfied, because they are often on the side of public opinion.

For example, in Jiuyuan County, when the county decree makes a major decision, the people of the county can express their opinions, adopt the method of voting, and the minority obeys the majority.

Why, then, should we not set up a representative body of public opinion, in conjunction with the Ministry of Law, to submit to a referendum in the event that the candidate for the king, the reigning emperor, behaves inappropriately, and some major political issues decided by the courtiers are inappropriate.

The result of this referendum can negate the things that the emperor or the courtiers forcibly decide, or it can ask the imperial court to set up some policies that benefit the people according to the actual situation, which not only restricts the monarch's power to a certain extent, but also makes the imperial court's policies more serve the people.

Even, when the emperor, or some ministers' behavior exceeds the bottom line and causes public outrage, when the results of the referendum reach a certain percentage, the emperor can be abolished and the ministers can be dismissed. ”

An emperor and minister who are subject to the supervision of the whole people, even if they are bad, cannot be bad to a certain extent.

When the emperor and a high-ranking official cannot satisfy people's arrogance and extravagance, wanton enjoyment and profligacy, control of life and death, and many other powers beyond all beings, but is a person who can only do things for the country and the people, and when he wants to be the emperor's royal son, or a courtier who is a top official, there may not be so many.

Unless it's really a person like Wu Meiniang, who likes politics and vanity in the limelight, he generally won't do it for too long in such a high-pressure state, because not everyone likes this kind of life.

If he abdicates and becomes the emperor, he can enjoy a comfortable life for the rest of his life, then a person like Li Chengqian, who likes art, may not tire himself to death, and he may be happier when he watches his sons and descendants do things for the country.