"What's wrong?"

Yu Xin turned his head in surprise, glanced at Hou Tai, and suddenly said, "Lord Hou, do you think what Xia Yuanji said is right?" ”

Seeing Yu Xin's appearance of smiling but not smiling, Hou Tai suddenly calmed down, pondered for a while and said: "Xia Yuanji's words reminded me of today's matter, that is, the matter of the transfer of the Tuntian envoy to the supervision envoy, my focus is on the scholar's Sven sweeping the floor, if the gentry pay the food in one body, then where is the dignity of the scholar?" If a scholar is not exempt from paying taxes, how can he maintain dignity on the basis of official income alone? Not to mention a more privileged life. ”

"But Lord Xia thought a little deeper, considering what would happen decades later, so I was a little admired, Xia Yuanji is indeed a talent, but it's a pity that he took the wrong path!"

"Hehe, is it possible that Lord Hou thinks that he is justified in rebellion, and His Majesty is a faint king?"

"No, no, no," Hou Tai hurriedly stood up, waved his hands and said: "I don't mean that, no matter what, Xia Yuanji rebelled, the crime is unforgivable, Your Majesty is wise and martial, and he has nothing to do with the faint king." ”

"However, how did the old man hear that this afternoon, Lord Hou scolded His Majesty for being a 'faint king' outside the Qianqing Palace? Could it be that this thing is fake? ”

"Cough, cough, cough," Hou Tai couldn't help but be dumbfounded, coughed a few times, his face was slightly red, and he bowed his head slightly: "It seems that this matter has spread, Xiaguan was indeed a little excited at the time, but His Majesty didn't listen to Xiaguan's opinion, and let Xiaguan fork him out, Xiaguan was angry, so he talked nonsense, and now I think about it, I'm really a little afraid!" ”

Looking at Hou Tai's slightly embarrassed appearance, Yu Xin was a little funny, this Hou Tai did have a problem with talking nonsense, but his luck was relatively good, whether it was the first emperor or Jinshang, he could tolerate him, so his official was also promoted higher and higher, and now he is a civil official, in fact, he is already the peak of civil officials, to some extent, it is higher than his own household book. No, he is now a squire, all because of that mouth, the official hat comes and goes quickly.

Thinking of this, Yu Xin smiled slightly, defused the atmosphere, and then said: "Hehe, Lord Hou don't worry, Your Majesty still trusts you very much, just demoting you to a squire is already magnanimous, and I have sent you these fresh vegetables, this season, it is very rare!" ”

"Well, that's true, Your Majesty is merciful, and Your Majesty is grateful to Dade!" As he spoke, Hou Tai hugged his fists in the direction of the palace, his words full of gratitude.

"Yes, Your Majesty is indeed merciful, even in this case of King Chu, there are still not many courtiers involved, and Your Majesty has reused Zhou Xin, has not abused the punishment, and has always maintained restraint, which is not easy. If it was the first emperor, I am afraid that it would be another big prison, and I must have been tortured in the edict of Jinyiwei now, and I am afraid that I will inevitably die in the end! The old man valued Xia Yuanji too much before! ”

"Yes, Xia Yuanji is indeed a talent, by the way," Hou Tai said suddenly: "Didn't the adults find out about Xia Yuanji's conspiracy at all?" ”

Yu Xin's smile suddenly froze, he looked at Hou Tai carefully, and finally shook his head, and said: "The old man was really negligent, I didn't expect such a thing to happen, the old man was most concerned about King Tai and King Ji at that time, they often stayed in the palace, once His Majesty changed, if they got the support of the Queen Mother and ascended the throne in the palace, once they sat on the dragon chair, no one could do anything." ”

"yes, that's it! Xia Guan also had this kind of worry at that time! ”

After being silent for a while, Hou Tai continued: "Lord Yu, what do you think Your Majesty will do with the King of Chu and the King of Tai?" ”

"King Chu? I'm afraid that it will be difficult to escape death, and it is difficult to say that the king of Taiwan may not die. ”

"Why? The king of Taiwan is obviously anti-minded, and he also hurt King Ji? ”

"Hehe, Lord Hou, what do you think of Your Majesty?"

"This," Hou Tai hesitated, not knowing what to say, he raised his head, but found that Yu Xin was scanning his bookshelf, looking casually asking, he couldn't help gritting his teeth, and said in a low voice: "Although Your Majesty is young, he is very cautious in handling things, careful about things, and pays attention to planning and deciding, which can be said to be unfathomable." ”

"Yes," Yu Xin retracted his gaze, looked at Hou Tai, nodded, and said, "What Lord Hou saw is similar to the old man." ”

"To put it mildly, the old man's thoughts and practices can be figured out, even if they are King Yan, King Zhou, and King Chu, their ideas and practices are nothing too special, only today, the old man has not been able to figure it out."

"The old man has always been very puzzled before, when the King of Yan was in chaos, why didn't His Majesty strike first, at that time Beiping was surrounded on all sides, if His Majesty sent heavy troops to the north suddenly, the King of Yan was caught off guard, and he could only be captured, and there would be no later disasters."

"But now it seems that Your Majesty is right, at least in the history books, Your Majesty is blameless, King Yan is indeed the opposite, so he was punished by the heir, and no one has any objections, including the current King of Chu."

Now it seems that several sons of the first emperor had high hopes either died of old age, or plotted against him. Now Beijing, Kaifeng, Wuchang, and even Taiyuan and Xi'an, these important military places, where the imperial capital in history is located, are all under the control of His Majesty, and all this is done unconsciously. ”

"The first emperor once said: 'All the four sides are limited to mountains and seas, and they are isolated in a corner, and their land is not enough to supply, and their people are not enough to make orders. If he doesn't think about it and scratches me, it's ominous. He is not a problem for China, and it is also ominous for me to raise troops and commit minor offenses. I am afraid that future generations will rely on China's prosperity and strength, be greedy for a moment of military exploits, and raise troops for no reason, resulting in injuries. ’”

"According to this, the first emperor drew up fifteen non-conquest countries, and Korea was the first, but His Majesty turned a deaf ear, and the first one was to take North Korea, first claiming the land north of Pyongyang, and then forcing Korea to rebel, Licheng Hou Shengyong led a large army to conquer Seoul, and drove Li Fangyuan to the mountains in the northeast, and it is said that it will soon be exterminated."

"The old man doesn't understand the things of the war, but from the military report, the role of firearms cannot be underestimated, maybe Your Majesty is right, to deal with barbarians, firearms are the most effective."

"On the surface, the Jianwen Dynasty is very good, the taxes exceed the Hongwu year, the people are happy, the market is relatively prosperous, and all kinds of new things are emerging in an endless stream, but the old man is still very worried, these things are already beyond the old man's ability to understand."

"After experiencing the affairs of the King of Chu, His Majesty will not leave Beijing easily, and there will be no idea of moving the capital for the time being, so in the next few years, His Majesty will inevitably promote military reform and tax reform, according to the old man's understanding of His Majesty, the scale of the reform will be beyond the imagination of the old man, and the old man's time is short, and looking around the government and the opposition, only Lord Hou has won His Majesty's trust and can entrust the future, so the old man came to visit at night, hoping that Lord Hou can take responsibility for His Majesty's shortcomings, so that the Ming Dynasty will always be prosperous! Lord Hou, the old man pleaded with Lord Hou on behalf of the Manchu Dynasty and the people of the Ming Dynasty! ”

As he spoke, Yu Xin stood up and bowed deeply to Hou Tai.

"Don't dare to be, don't dare to be, Lord Yu, get up!" Hou Tai was in a hurry by Yu Xin, so he quickly stood up and helped Yu Xin up.

"Then Lord Hou agreed?"

"Hehe," Hou Tai smiled bitterly: "Lord Yu, the lower officials are only worried that their abilities are not enough, and they can't afford to be entrusted by adults, and the lower officials are just servants of the ministry, and they can't afford anything!" ”

"This adult doesn't have to worry," Yu Xin calmed down, sat on the chair, and said with a loud smile: "Since Lord Hou agreed, then let the old man talk about the changes in the court situation, okay?" ”

"Listen to the teachings!" Hou Tai sat up straight and said with a straight face.

"In the thirteenth year of Hongwu, the first emperor killed Hu Weiyong, dismissed Zhongshu Province, directly dealt with political affairs, governed the six ministries, and issued an edict not to set up a prime minister, otherwise he would be punished for rebellion, which was a great change in Chinese politics since the Qin and Han dynasties."

"But this system is destined to not last long, the first emperor is full of energy, every day, but still unable to deal with the tide of political affairs, so set up a variety of auxiliary officials to assist him, today is long in the deep palace, the physical condition is far from comparable with the first emperor, so the establishment of Wenyuan Pavilion, Wang Du, Liu Jing, Xie Jin and others into the cabinet to assist in dealing with political affairs."

"Later, in order to quell the rebellion of King Yan, a military aircraft department was set up to command the army in a unified manner."

"These two institutions actually overlap a bit, Wang Du and others are holding two positions, if nothing happens, these two institutions will definitely merge, which is also the old man's original idea."

But in order to command the war in the Northeast and Korea nearby, and also to inspect the frontier, I went to Beijing and took Wang Du and others with him. In order to maintain the operation of the imperial court, the crown prince was ordered to supervise the country, and the old man, Qi Tai and others entered the Wenyuan Pavilion to assist in political affairs, but all matters large and small needed to be reported to Beijing, and His Majesty's will was often sent to the Wenyuan Pavilion for processing. ”

"In this way, the power of the Wenyuan Pavilion has been enhanced, because the old man and the others are all Shangshu, and the invisible Chinese Yuange has a certain amount of executive power."

"After His Majesty returned to Beijing, he soon discovered this phenomenon, but for some reason, he still let the old man and others continue to run errands in Wenyuan Pavilion, and His Majesty set up an upper study in the partial hall of the Qianqing Palace, and Wang Du, Liu Jing and others all became 'walking in the upper study'."

"After the military restructuring, the old man understood some of His Majesty's thoughts, he set up the Ministry of Supervision, the General Staff Department and the Quartermaster Department, to divide the power of the army, but in order to avoid passing the buck, the military chiefs of each department will be added to the military aircraft department, and they can be negotiated and dealt with in case of trouble."

"Lord Hou, do you understand this pattern?"

"The officials know these things, Wenyuan Pavilion is equivalent to the Prime Minister's Mansion, and the Military Aircraft Department is equivalent to the Taiwei Mansion."

"Hehe," Yu Xin shook his head: "It's not like this, now there are more and more departments in the imperial court, if Your Majesty wants to manage it in a unified manner, it is a very troublesome thing, so there are two civil and military institutions of Wenyuan Pavilion and Military Aircraft Department, but these two institutions only have the right to suggest, not the right to decide, they are just institutions that implement Your Majesty's will, do you understand?" ”

"Got it, it seems like these two institutions are a place of mud."

"Lord Hou, if you think so, then you are wrong," Yu Xin waved his hand lightly and said with a smile: "In the Ming Dynasty, all the power is in Your Majesty, but Your Majesty does not have the energy to deal with everything, so it is inevitable to designate some people and give him the corresponding authority to do things." ”

"And Wenyuan Pavilion is such an opportunity, sooner or later it will override the six departments, and its power will exceed the six departments, this is our civil official's opportunity."

"Oh," Hou Tai suddenly realized: "But the lower official hasn't entered the Wenyuan Pavilion yet?" ”

"This is a matter of time, Wenyuan Pavilion is an institution, if you want to form an executive force, you must be able to manage money and people, so the Ministry of Officials and the Ministry of Household are bound to enter, and the Ministry of War is the department that coordinates and weighs and suppresses the Military Aircraft Department, and it also needs to be entered into Wenyuan Pavilion."

"Jian Yi is suspected of rebellion, and Lord Hou has just been transferred, so Wenyuan Pavilion will lack the official book, but this situation cannot last long, so it is a matter of time before you enter Wenyuan Pavilion."

"Now among the four people in Wenyuan Pavilion, Guo Ren can enter Wenyuan Pavilion, this is His Majesty's intention, so he is the successor of the Household Minister, and Qi Tai and Huang Zicheng are the most trusted people of His Majesty, and it is natural for them to enter the cabinet."

"Therefore, Lord Hou must not think that Wenyuan Pavilion is an institution that can be revoked at any time, it is insignificant, it is very important, very, very important."