Since Gao Zhen ascended the throne, he believed that he had done three major things, the first was to concentrate the imperial power, abolish the Zhongshu Order, the Xingshu Order and a large number of official positions, so that this imperial power has been strengthened unprecedentedly.

The second is to return the military power, the military power has always been the heart disease of the emperors of the past dynasties, according to the ancestral system, the eldest son succeeded to the throne, and the rest of the princes were divided into the same surname of the king, sitting on one side, Gongwei Jingshi, but his heirs are not allowed to succeed to the throne, need to change the mother's surname, inherit the marquis, enjoy the food, three generations later changed the emperor's surname, and the civilians.

This kind of royal system with the same surname was quite effective at first, so that the Gao royal family sat in the world, and the princes were difficult to rise, but in the past three hundred years, wars have occurred frequently, and the princes have not been enough to deal with the current situation, so the emperors of the past dynasties delegated military power, handed over the military power to the generals in the army, and the generals with military power fought particularly bravely, it can be said that they won a hundred battles, but it is easy to release military power, and it is difficult to take it back.

Especially in the past 50 years, starting from the first emperor, the military power has fallen, and the military department has existed in name only.

For this reason, Gao Zhen decided to collect the military power, the town princes, Gao Zhen secretly established the Zhongfu, and successively created a series of incidents, and took back all the military power except for the Duke of Liguo from the hands of the five major princes, and even used the Yin soldiers to get rid of the king of Anxi, who posed the greatest threat to him, and took back the military power of Sichuan and Shu.

The third thing is that no matter how big or small, you must bow down to yourself; Eighteen states in the world, there are not three thousand but two thousand pieces of music every day, half of the six parts are handled, submitted to the prime minister, and half of them are passed after the prime minister's list, and the rest go up to the court, after Gao Zhen succeeded to the throne, he was diligent in governing the government, and the average daily Zhu batch text was not less than 1,000 words.

You must know that this is a king of the world, not a scholar who pursues outstanding literature, and all the officials of the six ministries are dissatisfied with Gao Zhen's diligent governance.

Gao Zhen ascended the throne as the emperor at the age of twenty-seven, and has been twenty-six years since then, there are only three people before and after the harem, in addition to the late queen, only Gongsun and Qin's two concubines, which is much stronger than the absurd emperors who are on the throne only for the three palaces and six courtyards in the past dynasties, so for Gao Zhen, the emperor is still more recognized, but it is not the case when he comes out of Yindu,

Gao Zhen attached great importance to imperial power and lightened the county of Zhou, which led to the uneven development of the eighteen states of Dafeng, just like Shanzhou still has the bad habit of being a slave.

In addition, a large number of military powers were confiscated, and all local military powers were returned to the central government; Once there is a rebellion in a certain state and county, the first thing the government does is not to quell the chaos, but to report it layer by layer, and only after the approval of the Ministry of War can it send troops to quell the chaos, which makes the people and the local government very resentful, plus the relationship with several princes is very stiff, and the local government offices hit a wall, and the states are a mess of harmony on the surface, but in fact there is an undercurrent.

The second is that the centralization of power is too deep, and the local government is too dependent on the central government, this is the case with the northern barbarians going south, the central government of the government is related to the death of Zhongxian, and the entire court is in chaos.

In late spring, not long after the Qingming Festival, Yindu ushered in the first heavy rain of the year, drenching this thousand-year-old city.

In the courtyard of the Ning family's mansion, Ning Xiaochuan, who was almost injured, returned to the Ning Mansion, and was drinking and negotiating with his second brother Ning Feng at this time.

In front of Ning Feng, Ning Xiaochuan looked extremely well-behaved, sitting on the ground, his long hair tied behind his head, listening to the second brother tell about the recent events in the court.

"Second brother, if you have anything, just say it, brother, listen." Seeing that Ning Feng wanted to speak and stopped, Ning Xiaochuan took the lead in speaking.

Ning Feng smiled awkwardly, put down his wine glass, and said angrily, "Since the end of last year, the Beiban has consciously transferred troops to the border, and it has been almost half a year now, and the eldest brother and the military department are closely following the movements of the Beiban army.

Not long ago, I received a letter from my eldest brother, saying that the barbarian army at the North Gate Pass of Chen Bing began to move to the east, and it seemed that they were going to make a move against Pingjiao Pass. ”

Ning Xiaochuan took a deep breath, straightened up and said, "No wonder I ran into Qin Feng who entered the palace on the day of my accident, it turned out that there was a war, second brother, it is not a trivial matter for the Northern Barbarians to commit crimes, it is not as small as the previous small fight in Yunnan, once the two sides start a war, it will inevitably affect the pattern of Yindu." ”

Ning Feng nodded very happily, it seems that this younger brother has indeed learned something after traveling for two years, "Exactly, the eldest brother means to let you take this opportunity to leave Yindu, it is best to go to Xiangzhou, there is our own place, you have been assassinated in Yindu one after another, and the eldest brother is a little relieved." ”

"I don't think I can really leave now, most of the power of the King of the East China Sea has been eliminated by Wen Zhe in Yindu, if I leave now, then my father's position as the prince of the country will not be in vain, and you are the second brother here, how can you fight with the royal family? With me here, I can also help you block arrows. Ning Xiaochuan said while drinking, his tone was light and light, but the risks involved were immeasurable.

Ning Feng got up and chuckled, and put his hand into the rain, the raindrops were cool, "Second brother respects your choice, if you don't plan to leave, write a letter to the eldest brother and tell him the reason; At the same time, in the past few days, I have found an opportunity to visit Zheng Chongguan and Wei Yulou.

Don't be targeted when you don't pass, although the two of them are not big in rank, but one is the commander of the Imperial Military Mansion, and the other is the warden and the prisoner, both of whom are more sensitive, and once they are targeted, it is easy to explain clearly. ”

"But second brother, when I go, I can't explain it clearly." Ning Xiaochuan suddenly smiled and said, "And this time I can get out of danger safely, thanks to Lord Wei, counting the last time, Lord Wei saved me twice, so it is reasonable, I should indeed visit." ”

Ning Feng retracted his hand back into his cuffs, sat down and continued, "Don't think about it, both of them are old ministers of the imperial court, not from my Ning family, so if you go, you have to pay attention to what you say." ”

"No, second brother, since you are not our person, why do you help us so much?" Ning Xiaochuan was puzzled.

Ning Feng smiled slightly, "You will know these things in the future, you must know that there are not only interests in Yindu, there are always some people who can stick to the justice in their hearts, but there are very few such people." ”

Ning Xiaochuan also heard the meaning of Ning Feng's words, and then smiled and continued to drink the wine.

……

At this time, outside the Ning Mansion, a carriage hurriedly stopped at the gate of the Ning Mansion, and the eunuch who was driving the car didn't care about holding an umbrella, and hurriedly ran to the gate of the Ning Mansion, holding a high-crowned long hat with one hand, and shouted as he ran, "Lord Ning Feng, there is an important matter, please go to the palace with Lord Ning Xiaochuan quickly." ”

The rain curtain fell, Ning Feng and Ning Xiaochuan walked quickly through the corridor, Ning Feng frowned while dressing, "It's so urgent, it shouldn't be a war." ”

As soon as the two arrived at the door, they met Ning Zhi who was dressed in plain clothes, Ning Zhi put his hands behind his back, and quietly watched his son walk in front of him, Ning Feng stopped and arched his hand, "Father." ”

Ning Xiaochuan himself touched his head a little embarrassed, as if he thought that Ning Zhi was blaming himself, Ning Zhi looked at Ning Xiaochuan slightly, and said in a deep voice, "When you enter the palace, you are a court official, you must pay special attention to everything you say and do, and don't let people misunderstand if you can." ”

Ning Xiaochuan raised his head in disdain, it was obvious that Ning Zhi was saying this to himself, he looked at Ning Zhi unexpectedly, Ning Zhi sighed and waved his hand, "Let's go quickly, the affairs of the court are important." ”

"Thank you, Dad." Ning Xiaochuan chuckled, and accompanied Ning Feng to get into the carriage and rush towards the palace.

After the two left, Mrs. Ning and Guan Yun'er hurried out, still with robes in their hands, and when they saw the two of them walking away, they said with some self-reproach, "Just left, I don't want to wear a few more clothes this cold day." ”

"The affairs of the court are said to be able to wait, okay, okay, go back." Ning Zhi threw up his sleeves and walked towards the courtyard.

Mrs. Ning glanced at her husband who had been with her for more than 20 years angrily, "I've been this temper all my life, and I said that my son ignores you." ”

……

In the Taihe Palace, the lights were bright, Gao Zhen was wearing a five-clawed golden dragon robe, leaning on the dragon chair with his eyes closed, his breath was weak, and Han Zhongxuan and Prince Gao Yuan next to him were on both sides.

One after another, the ministers walked into the palace in the rain, and after bowing to the sides, the rain outside the window was ticking, and the officials in the house were talking endlessly.

After Ning Feng and Ning Xiaochuan arrived, all the officials of the three grades of the DPRK and China arrived, and the two little eunuchs willingly went to close the door, Han Zhongxuan saw that the time had come, and coughed in a gloomy voice, "Silence." ”

The originally restless Taihe Hall instantly quieted down, and the prime minister at the head of the hundred officials took the lead and said, "Your Majesty, the hundred officials have arrived, listen to the holy oracle." ”

Gao Zhen slowly opened his eyes, sat up with difficulty, looked at the ministers below, waved his hand, and the prince next to him, Gao Yuan, bowed his hand and said with a serious expression, "Ministers, today should be the day to give tea to the body, how can I suddenly have an emergency military situation, I have to invite you to the Taihe Palace, and I hope you will forgive me." ”

"Your Highness, what happened?" Hubu Shangshu Yan Shisong said anxiously.

Gao Yuan picked up the military report on the case, and said in a deep voice, "On April 15, Dingzhou Pingjiao Pass was attacked by 200,000 troops from the Northern Barbarians, and the garrison Zhang Xingshan commanded an army of 10,000 to defend for ten days, with heavy casualties. ”

"The barbarians are so rampant, dare to offend my Tianwei, Your Majesty, the old minister asks for war."

The opening is the Ministry of Industry Shangshu Wang Qizong, Wang Qizong was born in the military department, and also fought on the battlefield for a few years, at that time the imperial court was really short of people, so he was transferred back to serve as the Ministry of Industry, so many years can be regarded as conscientious, and he has made some achievements, but the old man is in the woods, and his ambition is thousands of miles, and now he hears that the North Barbarians are committing crimes, and this old man of the Ministry of Industry also wants to offer his own meager strength.

Yan Shisong stood up and frowned, "Your Majesty, Sichuan and Shu just settled down last year, and all the financial expenditures of the imperial court were allocated to Sichuan and Shu, but I am afraid that there is no extra money to allocate to the Ministry of War." ”

"The surname is Yan, you have been a household secretary for a few years, which time you asked you for money, you didn't push back and block, this fire has burned to the door of your house, and you are still searching here." Liu Wei, the secretary of the military department next to him, said unceremoniously that Liu Wei had been dissatisfied with this flattering villain for a long time.

Yan Shisong looked at Gao Zhen, and instantly became confident, "Lord Liu, you can't say that, isn't it all for Dafeng and Your Majesty?" If you spend a little money, you can't afford to be careful. ”