Chastity Layman

The emperor did not go to court for several years and did not ask about political affairs, but it did not mean that the emperor could no longer control the government. Li Shimin just knew that his physical condition was not good, so he deliberately let the prince go to practice more, as long as there were no major problems, he would just watch from the side.

The six Zhongshu Sheren of the imperial court are in charge of serving and discussing the records. The documents submitted by officials from all over the country and the court are first submitted to the six departments and twenty-four divisions, and then they are collected by the Shangshu Province by category. Menxia Province was transferred to Zhongshu Province.

Within the Ministry of Zhongshu, the six divisions of the Ministry of Shangshu were divided into offices, and the six divisions of the Ministry of Shangshu were divided into six divisions by the scholars of the Sixth Middle School.

The six members of Zhongshushe were responsible for the draft reading, and then they had to put forward corresponding opinions before handing them over to the emperor, which is called Wuhua judge. At the same time, the emperor's edict was also drafted by Zhongshu Sheren.

Although the emperor did not go to the court, on the side of the Zhongshu Province, the people of Zhongshushe had to submit two copies of the memorials submitted by the officials every time, one to the prince of Jianguo, and one to the emperor.

Li Shimin will basically not approve unless there is a major event. But there is a report for all the memorials, so the emperor is also well aware of the movements in the court.

Not to mention, in addition to the official memorial system, the emperor once borrowed from the Qin family's secret record system and granted some officials a secret memorial system.

According to the content of the official memorial service system in the Tang Dynasty, there are eight types. Before the Qin Dynasty, it was collectively called Shangshu. After Qin unified the world, it was changed to Zoushi. In the Han Dynasty, it was subdivided into Zhang, Zuo, Biao, and Yi. For example, the teacher’s table and the petition table were the table.

In the Tang Dynasty, official memorials were subdivided into eight categories. Sectional memorials are called Shuhe Zong, confidential memorials are called Fengshi, and non-exhibiting memorials are called Baozi. There are six basic genres of courtiers' letters, Zoubi, Zoutan, Lubu, Yi, Biao, and Zong.

There are three kinds of Zou copy, Zou Tan and Lu Bu, which need to be handed over to Shizhong Bizhong for approval, and then submitted to Emperor Hua for approval after review and approval.

Proposals, forms, and petitions do not need to be examined and approved, but are handed over to the Zhongshu Ministry. First, the Zhongshu Sheren will review and draft preliminary opinions, and then submit them to the emperor for review. Important matters must be approved by the imperial meeting or Forward it to the prime minister's meeting of the Zhengshitang for discussion, and then the emperor approves it.

It can be said that although there are many forms of memorials, the content of memorials is an important basis for the court's decision-making.

Li Shimin doesn't ask about political affairs, but he keeps asking for a copy of all the memorials for him, which shows that he is actually still in control of the information.

What's more, in addition to these public memorials, the emperor has now given thousands of officials the right to secret memorials. The general memorials are all public, and the form of discussion and other forms are in a relatively strict format, and there is also a strict system of presentations, but the emperor gave many officials the right to seal them, which completely broke this strict rule.

Inside and outside the government and the field, you go to a certain minister, minister, and then to a general, a general of Zhonglang, to a governor, a governor, or a lieutenant of Zhechong, a military officer in the state, or even a certain envoy or envoy of the city. Wait, a total of more than a thousand officials have obtained this qualification conferred by Li Shimin, and it is not public.

They can submit to the emperor at any time, and the memorial can go directly to the Hanlin Academy without going through Zhongshu Sheren or Shizhong, and they will forward it to the emperor, and the emperor himself will open and reply.

Of course, in addition to this kind of secret folding, in fact, the imperial court itself also had a system of secret performances, called Fengshi, secret performances of yin and yang, and soap pouch sealing boards, so it was called Fengshi, which existed since the Han Dynasty. Officials In case of secret matters, the memorial should be presented. To prevent leaking of information, the memorial should be sealed and presented in a black silk pocket with double seals.

However, although every official can report this kind of seal, it still has to go through Zhongshu or the two provinces under his door. It is still very different from the secret seal that can be directly submitted to the emperor and get a reply from the emperor.

Coupled with the fact that they directly spied on the world's news for the emperor, and secretly monitored the Zhenfu Division, Dianqian Division, and Baiqi Division, the emperor's eyes and ears can be said to be all over the world, and the news is very well-informed. There is nothing that can be concealed from the emperor. of.

In terms of information control, Li Shimin far exceeds the crown prince, let alone the prime ministers and ministers in the court.

Li Shimin they know knows, and Li Shimin they don't know also knows.

Li Shimin actually knew about Qin Lang's various acts of rebellion in secret.

Is it true that his Third Division of Intelligence is just for nothing, or is it that the officials he granted the power of secrecy in Lingnan all wear the same trousers as Qin Lang, or that all the officials in Lingnan have also been bribed by Qin Lang? No one reported Qin Lang's behavior in the matter of Ben and An?

This is of course impossible.

But the emperor has never cared about it. For those officials who repeatedly made small reports, the emperor's approval is also known, and you work hard and so on.

The Tang Dynasty was established for decades, and it has developed to the present day. There is a very strict system, like a precision instrument. It is very difficult for anyone who wants to take advantage of the loopholes easily.

Zhang Liang's rebellion case was actually reported in secret long ago, and Li Shimin just suppressed it all the time. Firstly, although Zhang Liang's behavior was stupid, it would not cause any bad results immediately, so the emperor was just waiting for an appropriate decision. timing processing.

As for Qin Lang's matter, Li Shimin has a completely different attitude. First of all, Li Shimin does not believe that Qin Lang is planning to rebel. Second, Qin Lang's actions, although somewhat over the line, are also a common practice nowadays. Phenomena, all the nobles and rich families are doing this, but Qin Lang's doing it is relatively large.

The emperor killed Liu Ji because he shouldn't have involved the king of Wei, and even secretly communicated with Fang Xuanling and others, which violated the emperor's taboo. Zhang Liang was going to be killed this time, and it was almost entirely for this reason. He was recalled by Li Shimin to serve as Minister of the Ministry of Industry because he was part of the Wei Royal Party.

In front of Ma Zhou, the emperor also said that Zhang Liang is a fool.

Zhang Liang can't rebel, even if this kind of person rebels, it won't do much harm, but now that the emperor's health is failing, he intends to use Zhang Liang to rectify the court and clear the way for Prince Chengqian.

With Zhang Liang's case, let Fang Xuanling completely retreat, relegate and beat Li Ji and leave it to Chengqian to do favors, and even use Zhang Liang's case to depose the Li family of Zhaojun, the Cui family of Boling, and the Lu family of Fanyang. Wait until these five surnames and seven Wang who are now raising their heads are beaten again.

The five surnames and seven wangs must be used and guarded against, and they cannot be allowed to jump too fast or too high.

Cui Dunli, the Prime Minister of Boling Cui, now expelled Cui Renshi from the branch and exiled them for the people, which can be regarded as a warning to them. Zhao Jun Li and Fan Yang Lu had always supported Wei Wang Li Tai before, so of course they have to do well this time. Clean up and be warned.

No one can shake the Crown Prince Chengqian's reserve position, and there is no room for this matter.

Li Shimin had hesitated before, so he really let go of Wei Wangdang and Wu Wangdang, but when he made a decision, especially now that his health is not getting better day by day, then he will not allow any more behaviors to touch the bottom line up.

Even the old buddy Fang Xuanling had to give way.

"I heard that the crown prince is very dissatisfied with the participation of the Xun Qi clan in business and trade in recent years, especially the overseas expansion of many Xun Qi clans, thinking that this has led to a large loss of population, and even the lack of local regiments. Waste, if it goes on for a long time, it will become a disaster, what do you think about this?" the emperor asked.

Ma Zhou pondered for a long time, "Speaking of which, these are all caused by the imperial court's unrelenting annexation and the vigorous promotion of industry and commerce. Merchants seek profit, and this is even more so for the nobles and nobles. Since the imperial court has no laws to prohibit them, they will naturally pursue this interest. This is certain."

Li Shimin nodded. Everything has a cause and an effect. Of course, the court's emphasis on business has also brought wealth and taxation. Only when wealth and taxation are rich can the country be rich and the army be able to conquer invincible opponents around it, and only then can it expand its territory and expand its territory. The strength of the military and the continuous expansion of territory have brought a large number of newly conquered lands, and a large number of fields can be awarded to those poor and landless people, allowing them to become self-cultivators or even small landlords.

Of course, this inevitably brought about a side effect. The tyrants of the Xunqi family also relied on the resources in their hands to make profits from business and trade, which not only allowed them to have more sufficient financial resources to annex land in the Central Plains, The development of mansions and gardens also whetted their appetites, and they began to go abroad to expand and colonize overseas.

"Qin Lang established two towns, San Francisco and Xinjinshan, on Treasure Island in the South China Sea. Although they are named after cities, the number of people they recruited to pan for gold, farm, and work on the island has exceeded 200,000. It is already equivalent to the population of a large county in the Central Plains, and even exceeds the population of many frontier states," said the emperor.

This number is still staggering.

Seeing that the population of Treasure Island continued to increase, Li Shimin couldn't continue to ignore it. Although most of the people just went to pan for gold, Qin Lang did settle and immigrate on the island now. Most of these settlers came from the Central Plains.

Although Li Shimin could also issue an edict directly, imitating Liuqiu's example, and set up states and counties on Treasure Island, but he also knew that if he did so, he would undoubtedly be picking Qin Lang's peaches by force, which would definitely arouse Qin Lang's anger. dissatisfaction.

And the most important point, Treasure Island is no better than Liuqiu, it is too far away from the Central Plains.

Another one, now that the Qin family's overseas property is handled in this way, if the precedent is set, will it also do the same for the overseas property of other noble families?

This is no longer Qin Lang's business alone, but involves almost the entire clan of nobles and nobles. Li Shimin has to think carefully and dare not act rashly.

"Qin Lang definitely won't be king and Jianguo on the island." Ma Zhou said again.

"Indeed, Qin Lang is not a fool like Zhang Liang." Li Shimin sighed.

Ma Zhou thought for a while, and then said, "I think that Treasure Island is too far away from the Central Plains. This is no different than Liuqiu Island and Qiongzhou Island, which are only across the sea from the Central Plains. Therefore, there is no big obstacle to reforming the land and returning to the Central Plains. .”

"You mean ignore it?"