Chapter 12 The Banner is not rolled up in the twelfth section of November, Nanyang. General Yan Liang led his army out of Wuguan, went south along the Danshui River, and successfully captured Shunyang.

At this time, the Han army did not attack Wancheng to the east, but continued to attack Wancheng in the south, aiming directly at Xinye.

The city is a land pass connecting Xiangyang and Wancheng, and Xinye is a waterway city connecting the two places.

In August, Yang Feng led his army to attack Qicheng and Xinye, with the same purpose. But he was informed of the marching route by the Jingzhou army, was ambushed, and the whole army was annihilated, but the Jingzhou army also paid a heavy price for it.

However, just over two months later, the Han army made a violent comeback, which caught the Jingzhou army off guard.

Although they knew that the Han army intended to quickly conquer Qicheng and Xinye to cut off the connection between Xiangyang and Wancheng, due to insufficient preparation and insufficient troops, they could only watch as the Han army burst into action.

Just when Xiangyang went all out to rescue Qicheng and Xinye, Kuai Liang sent back an urgent report from the front line, Zhong Miao gathered 30,000 troops in Luyang to launch a counteroffensive, and Wang Dang also gathered 40,000 troops in Kunyang to launch an attack from Yecheng and Duyang.

Kuai Liang told Liu Biao that there was news that the Son of Heaven in Chang'an with tens of thousands of troops was following up and was estimated to arrive at the Nanyang battlefield soon.

More than 100,000 troops in Chang'an entered Nanyang in three ways, and it was inevitable to win Jingzhou, and the decisive battle between the two sides kicked off in the cold winter.

Xiangyang did not realize until this moment that the decisive battle was coming, and the people of the government and the opposition were panicking. Liu Biao asked for help from Liu Bei in Yizhou, Cao Cao in Xuzhou, Sun Quan in Jiangdong, and Zhou Yu as quickly as possible.

The armies of Cao Cao in Xuzhou and Sun Quan and Zhou Yu in Jiangdong were all on the Jianghuai line. In September, Liu Biao wanted to take advantage of the opportunity of Nanyang's victory to advance together, but Cao Cao, Sun Quan, and Zhou Yu each had their own thoughts, and they didn't want to lose their troops.

Sun Quan withdrew his troops under the pretext that winter was coming and the transportation of grain and grass was inconvenient, and Zhou Yu also returned to Chaisang, leaving Lu Su to lead the troops to sit in Lujiang.

Sun Quan and Zhou Yu were gone, and Cao Cao immediately changed his face and pleaded guilty to Chang'an. Chang'an will make a plan, and Fu Gan will comfort him with kind words in the name of the Son of Heaven, saying that the court understands your difficulties.

As long as you keep the people of Jianghuai well fed and clothed, your credit will be great enough. Liu Biao implored Cao Cao and the three to send troops again to contain the Northern Xinjiang Army in the direction of Jianghuai.

If Xiangyang falls, will Jianghuai still be able to hold it? Once we lose the Jiangbei counties and let the northern Xinjiang army face the Yangtze River, Sheji will definitely be defeated.

At this moment, everyone should let go of their previous suspicions, work together in the same boat, and work together to resist the Northern Xinjiang Army.

At the beginning of the year, Li Hong led the army to quell the rebellion in northern Xinjiang, and the front-line defense of the Central Plains was weak, which was the best opportunity to recover the Central Plains, but these three people hesitated in order to preserve their strength, and as a result, they missed the opportunity.

Now that Li Hong has pacified the northwest and northwest Xinjiang, and its main army has all gone south, it is impossible to expect Cao Cao and others to send troops to attack north at this time, so Liu Biao pinned all his hopes on Liu Bei in Yizhou.

At the beginning of the year, Liu Pan and Liu Bei prepared to attack Longnan, but because Liu Pan was seriously injured and died, the army was in turmoil, and the army had to withdraw back, while Liu Bei took the opportunity to go south to Chengdu and occupy Bashu, so that Liu Biao's dream of occupying Yizhou was shattered again.

Liu Biao was very angry, and once wanted his eldest son Liu Qi to lead the army west into Bashu, but because of the fierce battle in Nanyang, he had to swallow his anger and pretend to deal with Liu Bei.

After the victory in Nanyang, under the persuasion of Cai Mao, Deng Yi and others, he was ready to send troops into Shu, but Kuai Liang, Liu Xian, Ma Liang and others tried their best to dissuade him, believing that Chang'an would be in chaos after Li Hong's death, and it was the best opportunity for Xiangyang to send troops to the Northern Expedition.

Liu Bei also sent people to Xiangyang to flatter him, expressing his willingness to ask Liu Qi to serve as the assassin of Yizhou. When Liu Biao was considering whether to let Liu Qi lead his army into Shu, the Han army once again entered Nanyang, forcing Liu Biao to abandon Yizhou and turn to Liu Bei for help.

Liu Biao asked the Son of Heaven to change the title of Liu Bei to the king of Shu, and asked Liu Bei to immediately send troops to rescue him. In November, Chang'an.

Guangluxun Zhang He brought back the holy decree of the Son of Heaven, considering that the general was critically ill, the great Sima Xu Rong went to the western Xinjiang again, and paid special tribute to the Taifu Liu and the staff of Shangshu, and the hussar general Zhao Yun to manage state affairs together.

This holy decree gave Chang'an a message that the Son of Heaven intended to strengthen the imperial power, attack the power of the prime minister, and suppress the power of the prime minister.

Taifu Liu He is a minister of the clan, and he once again participated in the affairs of Shangshu, which is obviously to consolidate the imperial power. The prime minister is the head of the three princes and holds the power of the prime minister, and it stands to reason that Li Wei is the most qualified minister to assist the Son of Heaven, but the Son of Heaven turned a blind eye and threw him aside.

After the announcement of the holy decree, the Taifu Mansion was suddenly full of traffic, and the ministers of the court and the wealthy merchants of Chang'an visited Liu He one after another.

On the contrary, the Prime Minister's Mansion is much more deserted. This is the right time

During the period of "planning", Li Wei and the Prime Minister's Mansion were busy reviewing their subordinates day and night

"The upper planner" asked the officials of various states and counties, but they did not seem to care about this matter. Only two days later, another decree came from the platform.

The general's condition was stable and improving, and the Son of Heaven rejected the request of the great Sima Xu Rong some time ago, and decided to retain the official position of the general.

This news made the situation in Chang'an very delicate. There is nothing wrong with this holy decree issued by the Son of Heaven, the general's condition has improved and he is out of danger, of course there is no need to put it

The "Great General" was permanently awarded to Li Hong as a supreme honor, but why did the Son of Heaven not express his position on this matter before?

Since he let Zhao Yun lead the military with a hussar general and participate in the affairs of Shangshu, why didn't he announce the cancellation at the same time

The official position of "Great General"? What is the Son of Heaven worried about? Are you worried that once Li Hong's illness is cured, he will hold power from now on?

What hint does he want to give Chang'an this holy decree to Chang'an now? A day later, Xingtai passed the holy decree again, and Her Royal Highness the eldest princess was worried about the safety of Chang'an, and specially suggested that the Son of Heaven reinstate Yang Feng.

The Son of Heaven immediately dismissed Yan Liang from the post of Wei Weiqing and worshiped Yang Feng as Wei Weiqing. Chang'an immediately understood what the Son of Heaven meant.

The general's illness is improving, and in the case that the eldest princess has married the general and she actually controls the power of the Han Dynasty, the general's power has surpassed that of the Son of Heaven, and he can control everything through the eldest princess.

In the future, if the general's daughter becomes the empress, then the general will be able to hold power in the dual capacity of the clan and relatives, and the consequences are self-evident.

The Son of Heaven needs imperial power, and he needs an imperial power that is strong enough to fight against Jinyang, and to do this, he must first overthrow Prime Minister Li Wei and regain the power in Li Wei's hands, and then he can confront Jinyang.

If Li Wei does not fall, Li Hong will be able to use the authority in the hands of the eldest princess and the power in Li Wei's hands to control all the authority of the Han Dynasty.

And if Li Wei is overthrown, it will be difficult for Li Hong to control Xiangquan. The authority in the hands of the eldest princess needs to be supported by strength to play a role, because she has nominally returned to the Son of Heaven.

So when the Son of Heaven grows up and has full wings, when Chang'an and Jinyang compete head-on, the choice of the eldest princess will become the key to determining the fate of the Han.

However, the eldest princess will definitely put the interests of the Liu royal family first, which is related to the survival of the Great Han Society, and she will never let Li Hong usurp Han Zuo.

The Son of Heaven had unmistakably passed his thoughts to Chang'an through the Three Divine Decrees, and he needed the help of Chang'an's ministers.

On November 28, Taifu Liu He, Imperial Historian Xun You, and Taichangqing Xu Jing rushed to the Qilin Hall to meet with the hussar general Zhao Yun and Shangshu Ling Tianchou, and formally proposed to revise the official system.

Liu Shuo is the Son of Heaven of the Han Dynasty, now he is in power, and he will be in charge in the future, but the power of the general and the eldest princess has overtaken the Son of Heaven and the court, how will he be in power in the future?

Even if the general and the eldest princess are willing to hand over the power to the Son of Heaven, how can they hand it over? Do you say it with your mouth? The succession of authority needs to be based on the law and supported by strength.

Does the Han have such a law today? Does Xiao Tianzi have such strength? The only way to do this is to revise the official system and use the revision of the official system to redistribute power, so that the little emperor can firmly control the power from now on, and at the same time gradually weaken the authority of the general and the eldest princess, so that they can slowly return the authority to the emperor and the court.

To this end, the three ministers drew up steps for the revision of the bureaucratic system. The first step is to change

"Prime Minister" is

"Situ", weakening the power of the prime minister. The second step was to abolish the Taiwei and merge the Taiwei and the Great Sima into one, with the Great Sima in charge of military affairs and weakening the power of the Great General.

The third step is to weigh Shangshutai, expand the Shangshutai organization, maintain the authority of Xiao Tianzi to the greatest extent, and lay a solid foundation for Xiao Tianzi to govern in the future.

This official system is actually the official system of the Zhongxing period of Emperor Guangwu, the purpose of which is to strengthen the centralization of power, control the power program, and limit and weaken the power of the three dukes.

in order to

The "Three Princes" replaced the prime minister, as the emperor's assistant, from the time of Emperor Xiaocheng Suihe. At that time, the assistant government was turned into the prime minister, and the imperial historian was turned into the great secretary, and he was called the third prince and the prime minister, and his status was the same as that of Yulu.

(In the past, the status of the Imperial Doctor was lower than that of the Prime Minister and the Imperial Lieutenant.) In this way, the status of the three princes is equal in the system, and the power of the former prime minister is in charge of the prime minister's mansion and the great Sima mansion, which is dominated by the prime minister.

This system was inherited by Wang Mang, and after Emperor Guangwu was revived, he still adopted this system, with three centimeters of power, equal status, and clear responsibilities.

After the implementation of this system, firstly, the authority of Prime Minister Li Wei was seriously weakened, and secondly, the authority of the general was seriously weakened.

Xiao Tianzi is now pro-government, and he leads Shangshutai, and his auxiliary minister is naturally the minister of the three dukes, and the general is naturally excluded from the auxiliary minister.

And the authority that he and the eldest princess actually controlled was slowly transferred to the imperial court as the little emperor grew up and the power of the monk was still in power.

Of course, this requires a premise, that is, the general and the eldest princess are indeed willing to hand over power, and the realization of this premise first requires an official system that can ensure the centralization of power by the Son of Heaven.

The hussar general Zhao Yun and Shang Shu Ling Tian Chou did not immediately agree, and they invited Zhang He, Tian Yu, Zhao Jian, Wang Lang, Hua Xin, Sima Lang, Dong Zhao, Liu Yi, Zhao Zhao, Song Wen and other ministers to discuss together.

The ministers discussed for many days, and finally agreed that although this official system is conducive to centralization of power and the rule of the little emperor, its harm is also obvious, that is, the imperial power is too centralized.

The excessive power of the emperor is the most fundamental reason why the harem, relatives and eunuchs have taken turns to control the government and cause chaos since the rise of Guangwu Zhongxing.

Dong Zhao and Liu Yi also made the same suggestion to Zhao Yun, believing that under the current circumstances, this official system can indeed alleviate the fierce contradictions in Chang'an and is conducive to the rule of Xiao Tianzi.

In the future, when the world is calmed down and the contradictions in Chang'an are reduced, the imperial court can use the influence of the general and the eldest princess on the little emperor to change the official system back, so that the imperial power and the relative power can achieve effective checks and balances.

Zhao Yun and Tian Chou then decided to accept this proposal to change the official system. On the second day of the first month of December, Taifu Liu He, the hussar general Zhao Yun, and Yushi Da Xun Yu made an appointment to meet Prime Minister Li Wei and came up with the new official system that had just been drafted.

Prime Minister Li Wei was furious and angrily reprimanded Liu He and other ministers

"Well, the scar forgets the pain", what is the cause of more than 20 years of war? The effective checks and balances between imperial power and relative power are directly related to the fate of Han Zuo, don't you know?

Emperor Xiaocheng modified the official system, which led to Wang Mang's usurpation of the country and the overthrow of the Han Dynasty. After Emperor Guangwu was revived, he still adopted this kind of official system, but the Han Dynasty was repeatedly cut off, and the harem, relatives and even eunuchs took turns to control the government, why?

Isn't it because of the imbalance of imperial power and relative power, everyone wants to hold the power and do whatever they want? Liu He sneered: "Is the Prime Minister also holding power and doing whatever he wants?" Li Wei was so angry that he jumped up from the seat,

"If you want to die in the country, then go to death. I'd like to see how many days the big man can last under your rule? Li Wei roared angrily, kicked the desk in front of him, and roared away.

On the fourth day of the twelfth month, more than 30 ministers, including Taifu Liu He, Hussar General Zhao Yun, Yushi Da Xun You, Taichangqing Xu Jing, Taifuqing Cui Yan, Zong Zhengqing Zhang Fan, and Tingweiqing Chen Qun, jointly signed a petition to implore the Son of Heaven to revise the official system and put it down

The system of three princes and nine secretaries headed by the "prime minister, the imperial captain, and the imperial historian" was changed to

The system of three public and nine secretaries headed by "Da Sima, Da Situ, and Da Sikong" has been changed

"Prime Minister" is

"Da Situ", abolished

The position of "Tai Lieutenant" weakens the authority of the prime minister and the general, and weighs the power of Shangshutai. In order to convince Xiao Tianzi and the minister of Xingtai, Xun You and Cui Yan personally carried the concert and rushed to the camp of the Son of Heaven in Yingchuan.

On the same day, Liu He and Zhao Yun copied this chapter to Jinyang and asked for the opinions of the eldest princess and the general. Jump to