Li Longji said melancholy: "In this way, isn't this matter unsolvable? ”

"Not necessarily." Lu Tianshi said abruptly, "There is still a way. ”

Li Longji's eyes lit up when he heard this, and he hurriedly said, "Please also ask Master Lu Tian for advice." ”

Lu Tianshi said: "Speaking of this, we must first sort out the struggle between imperial power and relative power. ”

Hearing this, not only Li Longji, but also the princes, grandsons, and civil and military officials in the palace all pricked up their ears.

There are not many opportunities to listen to the Celestial Master's sermons, and it is enough for them to have the privilege of listening to them once.

Lu Tianshi stroked his black beard and said: "Before the Great Qin unified the six countries, Huaxia adopted the feudal system, there were vassal states under Zhou Tianzi, and there were many small princes under the big princes, and the prime minister or the prime minister was just a retainer, and its threat was far less than that of the large and small princes under his name, so there was little dispute between the prime minister and the imperial power, and there was only the scourge of the princes' separation. ”

"Therefore, after Qin destroyed the Six Kingdoms, he learned a lesson and changed the feudal system to a county system to strengthen the centralization of power."

"In this way, it did avoid the division of the princes, but the power of the prime minister was unprecedentedly strengthened, and it threatened the imperial power."

"Because the prime minister has mastered the power of administration, expenditure and personnel appointment and dismissal, his power has been unprecedentedly enhanced, and the imperial lieutenant who holds the military power and the imperial historian who is responsible for supervision have become the prime minister's vassals because of the restrictions on food and personnel and have become vassals of the prime minister, so there will be Li Si monopolizing the dynasty and Zhao Gao's finger deer as a horse."

"When he arrived in the Western Han Dynasty, Liu Bang was still able to stabilize the power of the prime minister."

"But as soon as Liu Bang died, Prime Minister Chen Ping dared to reprimand Liu Ying in front of hundreds of civil and military officials."

"After Emperor Wu took power, the government was still in the hands of the prime minister, and he had no choice but to reuse his relatives and cronies to form an inner dynasty to empty the prime minister, so as to regain power from the hands of the prime minister, so as to achieve monopoly, but this move of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty made a very bad start, that is, relatives and eunuchs messed up."

"Since then, the Eastern and Western Han Dynasty have been poisoned by relatives and eunuchs from the Eastern and Western Han Dynasty to Cao Wei."

"After the establishment of the Western Jin Dynasty, the Sima clan learned the lessons of the two Han Dynasty and Cao Wei, and began to suppress their relatives and reuse the clan, which led to the Rebellion of the Eight Kings, and the situation was even worse."

"After that, the Northern Wei Dynasty, the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Northern Zhou Dynasty and the Great Sui Dynasty learned the lessons of the previous dynasties, that is, they did not reuse their relatives or the clan, and changed the prime minister to the prime minister, and at the same time, in order to avoid the prime minister's monopoly of power, the group phase system was adopted, that is, the power that originally belonged to the prime minister was distributed to a group of prime ministers, that is, the system of three provinces and six ministries."

"In terms of checks and balances of power, the three-province and six-ministry system is perfect."

"But when encountering a hero who wants to make a difference, the three-province six-ministry system will form a constraint, seriously affecting efficiency, and many trivial things can be pulled for months or even years, so in this dynasty, Emperor Taizong set up a political hall to gather the prime ministers of the three provinces together to work, no matter how big or small, they must be decided on the same day."

"With the establishment of the three provinces and six ministries and the establishment of the political hall, the setting of the power structure has been perfected."

"It's just that no matter how good the system is, there are flaws, especially for a generation of male lords, didn't Emperor Taizong often be angry with the prime minister half to death? Even you, Li Longji, must have a deep understanding of this, right? ”

Li Longji's face showed a look of surprise, how could he have a deep understanding?

Lu Tianshi's words simply spoke to his heart, he has been restrained by the power of the prime minister for more than 40 years, and always feels that he can't show his strength, he can still endure it when he is young, but as he gets older, he slowly loses patience, after Zhang Jiuling resigned from the prime minister, he finally began to dictate the gang, and since then it has been out of control.

But the latter words are not suitable for the ministers to observe.

At that moment, Li Longji invited Lu Tianshi to the side hall to communicate alone.

"Heavenly Master, you just said that the system of six ministries of the three provinces plus the setting of the political hall is perfect, do you want to tell me that the crown prince and his grandsons are not available, so you need to completely entrust the state affairs to the prime ministers of the three provinces?"

"That's right, the emperor's selection of materials is too narrow, not to mention the Tang Dynasty, that is, throughout the history of China, the probability of coming up with a generation of heroes like you is too small, at least there have never been heroes like you among your descendants, but there are several wastes that have been played by eunuchs."

Li Longji said curtly: "Actually, I have long intended to hand over the state affairs to the political affairs hall. ”

"Are you handing over the affairs of the country to the government hall? You are handing over the national politics to the right minister, let the right minister manage the government on your behalf, and even the political hall has become a decoration, in fact, if the right minister is right, it is nothing, but who are you choosing? Lu Tianshi said, "First Li Linfu, then Yang Guozhong, what kind of birdmen are these?" ”

After a pause, he said: "Li Linfu is still a little capable, but he is narrow-minded, he has no bottom line in doing things, and the atmosphere of officialdom has been ruined by him, Yang Guozhong is a complete waste, what else will he do besides slapping his beard?" Since he became the right minister, the entire Tang officialdom has been stirred up into a miasma. ”

That is, Lu Tianshi said that ten heads for others are not enough for Li Longji to cut off.

Li Longji was reprimanded, and he could only sing: "Well, what Lu Tianshi has taught me is that I have indeed been lax in government affairs over the years, and I have been too conniving and biased towards Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong. ”

To put it bluntly, Li Longji's eyes are actually not blind.

It's not that he can't see the actions of Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong.

However, Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong were able to make him arbitrary, and they would not contradict him in everything like Zhang Jiuling and others, and the slightest outrageous move would be met with fierce opposition.

It is precisely because of this that Li Longji acquiesced to some of the behaviors of Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong.

Lu Tianshi continued: "The core of the group phase system is checks and balances, the power of the right prime minister can be greater, but it must not form an absolute suppression of other prime ministers, otherwise won't the right prime minister become the prime minister again?" ”

"You Li Longji have the ability and skill, and you also have prestige, so you can suppress Li Linfu and Yang Guozhong."

"But the crown prince Li Heng is a big step behind you in terms of ability and skill, and his prestige is completely incomparable to you, do you think he can suppress the right minister? Do you wish Li Tang would change his surname? ”

"Don't expect every prime minister to be Zhuge Liang or Zhou Gongdan."

"What the Heavenly Master has taught me is that when I turn back, I will no longer let the right minister act as his substitute." Li Longji said, "It's just that as the Heavenly Master said, the emperor's selection of materials is too narrow, and I can't guarantee that all the descendants of future generations will be capable, and I can't guarantee that the elected prime ministers will be loyal and capable ministers, and it is inevitable that there will be traitors like Yang Guozhong in the future, and it is even possible to elect traitors like Cao Cao, how can this be good?" ”

"That's a real problem." Lu Tianshi said, "But it's not that there is no way to solve it. ”

"Please also ask Lu Tianshi to give advice." Li Longji really asked Lu Tianshi sincerely for advice now, because this matter had been bothering him for decades, and he had never been able to find a solution.

Lu Tianshi said: "If you want to put an end to a traitor like Yang Guozhong from ascending to the high position of the prime minister, the best way is to formalize the promotion system of the prime minister, and those who are not born in the imperial examination are not allowed to enter the prime minister, so as to avoid the people who do not learn and have no skills, and can only slip into the prime minister's high position. ”

Hearing this, Li Longji was a little disappointed: "The imperial examination method mentioned by the Heavenly Master, my imperial grandmother has already tried it, but the effect is actually not good, although the prime minister elected through the imperial examination is of noble character, his ability is mediocre, far less decisive than the people in the market, and the imperial examination will also bring a big harm, that is, the harm of the family!" ”

Lu Tianshi was not angry, and said, "What you said is true, but it is easy to do. ”

"Oh yes?" Li Longji's eyes once again gave birth to a look of expectation, "I want to hear it in detail." ”

Lu Tianshi said: "Let's talk about the first point first, how to ensure that the prime minister selected through the imperial examination not only has excellent moral character, but also has a strong ability to govern the country?" The solution is to start from the grassroots! Or to put it another way, the prime minister must start from the state and county, and those who have not served as the chief official of the state and county and have excellent performance evaluation cannot enter the court as the prime minister. ”

"Hey, that's a real idea." Li Longji is a point of thoroughness.

Then he asked: "Then, how to eliminate the harm of the family's high family?" ”