My players are all acting

The entry point that Chu Ge found was the phrase "rule the world with the scholar-bureaucrats".

This sentence was used in Sheng Taizu's copy before, and now it is used again.

Coincidentally, this sentence is exactly what Wen Jun said.

This incident happened in an imperial court confrontation shortly after Wang Wenchuan's reform.

At that time, the old and new parties discussed major national issues to the details of the reform, and finally gradually evolved into talking about each other. In the end, the emperor who wholeheartedly supported the new law couldn't bear it and ended up.

The original text in the historical materials is recorded like this.

Junshi also said: the ancestral legal system exists, there is no need to change it to lose people's hearts.

The above said: Changing the legal system is very displeasing to the scholar-bureaucrats, but why is it inconvenient for the common people?

Junshi said: To rule the world with the literati, not with the common people.

This dialogue is actually quite easy to understand.

When it comes to reform, Wen Jun said honestly that the law of the ancestors is already very perfect, there is no need to change it, and if it is changed, it will lose people's hearts.

The emperor wondered: the reform of the legal system, the scholar-bureaucrats were really unhappy, after all, it harmed the interests of the scholar-bureaucrats; but why are the people unhappy? What's there to lose?

Wen Jun said: The emperor governs the world together with the scholar-bureaucrats, not with the people.

The result of this conversation was Wen Junshi's big move, which made the emperor speechless.

At that time, the emperor stammered and said: "Scholar bureaucrats... are not all against it?"

This kind of weak rhetorical question did not have any effect at all, and it also proved that the emperor was actually bluffed by Wen Junshi.

It can be said that Wen Junshi is indeed a very upright person, telling the truth for thousands of years.

In the eyes of people in that era, the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats were both the ruling class of the country. The common people are the ruled class of the country. If the emperor wanted to maintain his rule, he had to satisfy the scholar-bureaucrats, otherwise, the emperor would not be able to rule.

In other words, when Wen Junshi said, "There is no need to change your mind to lose people's hearts," the "people" here refers specifically to the scholar-bureaucrat class.

As for the people?

They are all cattle and sheep being ruled, so can they be considered human beings?

Since they are not considered human beings, they can be fooled at will, and they are cut no matter what, so they can be completely ignored.

Only considering the emperor and the scholar-bureaucrats, the reform will affect the interests of the scholar-bureaucrats, which of course will lead to the instability of the country.

In fact, not only Wen Junshi, but other ministers basically think the same way.

And precisely because of the consensus among the literati and bureaucrats, it is almost impossible for the reform to succeed. After all, this meant making enemies of the entire bureaucratic group, and the only emperor who could be useful was also very confused on this point.

But it was this conversation that allowed Chu Ge to find a breakthrough.

At that time, the emperor was indeed speechless.

But this does not mean that the emperor accepted Wen Junshi's statement.

On the contrary, the emperor felt resentful because of this, and in his future life, he began to rack his brains thinking about how to stop being so aggrieved.

"Yuanfeng Restructuring" just shows that the emperor has never been able to get over this hurdle in his heart.

In fact, this is the reaction that a normal person should have.

Who can deny power?

For every emperor, mastering absolute centralized power is their lifelong pursuit. As for the ministers, it is necessary to do everything possible to reject the emperor's request, and even to wrest power from the emperor.

Therefore, the emperor just didn't think of a solution for the time being, but it didn't mean he didn't want to change this situation.

What Chu Ge has to do now is to provide the emperor with a solution.

Thinking of this, Chu Ge said: "I think that the officials rule the world not with the scholar-bureaucrats, but with the scholar-bureaucrats.

"The affairs of the world depend on the officials. If the officials want to do it, if the scholar-bureaucrats support it, then everyone will be happy; if the officials want to do it, if the scholar-bureaucrats do not support it, then the officials can naturally change a group of supporters.

"Scholar-bureaucrats replace the herdsmen of the Son of Heaven, have you ever heard that gentry-bureaucrats replace the herdsmen of the Son of Heaven?

"Officials want to do things, but they are restrained everywhere. Don't you hear that Taizu said: How can you let other people sleep soundly beside the couch?"

After hearing these words, the emperor's eyes became brighter and brighter.

Apparently, Wang Wenchuan, played by Chu Ge, uttered many shocking theories. Although it would cause uproar when heard by other ministers, to the emperor's ears, it was as beautiful as fairy music.

Chu Ge's meaning is very simple, Your Majesty, what are you doing listening to Wen Jun's bullshit?

Why did scholar-bureaucrats share power with the emperor?

You are the emperor, you can do whatever you want. Officials in ancient times were called Zhou Mu, which means that they were herdsmen in place of the emperor. But do they dare to say that they are shepherds for the emperor? That is rebellion.

So, in any case, the final say is still the emperor.

If the emperor can't have the final say, what kind of emperor is he?

These words really touched the emperor's heart.

Why didn't he think so?

In fact, in history, part of the reason why the emperor parted ways with Wang Wenchuan was here.

Wang Wenchuan himself is a very stubborn person who likes to take care of everything. And the emperor always felt a little uncomfortable standing behind him.

Wang Wenchuan took care of many things by himself. The emperor had different ideas, so he had to consider Wang Wenchuan's views, and often had to compromise.

As time passed, the emperor would naturally feel that there was no difference between Wang Wenchuan and Wen Junshi, and they would be more or less alienated.

Once there is a problem with the new law, the emperor's first reaction is not to take the responsibility himself, but to feel that this is a problem caused by Wang Wenchuan's monopoly, and you have to bear the whole blame.

So in the end, the emperor alienated Wang Wenchuan and carried out the restructuring of Yuanfeng himself.

Although the effect of Yuanfeng's reform was not as good as Wang Wenchuan's reform, after all, it was the emperor himself who wanted to do it, and he himself was the first responsible person. Naturally, there was no one to blame him, so the matter continued like this.

This fully shows that any emperor wants to centralize power and does not want to share his power with the prime minister.

The answer Sheng Taizu gave was to directly cancel the prime minister and do all the work himself.

In the Qi Dynasty, the emperor didn't want to do this, but they didn't see the feasibility of doing it.

Sheng Taizu was a reckless emperor. He started from the grassroots and knew everything. Of course, he didn't need the help of the prime minister; but the emperor at this time was just an ordinary conservative monarch, and he couldn't have the perverted ability of Sheng Taizu.

It's impossible for him to fight against the civil servant group by himself.

But what if Wang Wenchuan was on his side?

An excited look appeared on the emperor's face, but then he hesitated again: "Wang Qing, this...is it really feasible? If it is feasible, what should I do? I'm afraid...the world will be in chaos. "

Obviously, the emperor's concerns were not unreasonable.

These scholar-bureaucrats are so powerful that even the emperor should be afraid of them.

If he really insists at this time, it will inevitably lead to unanimous opposition from all the officials. At that time, he will really become a poor commander and a loner.

At that point, the government orders will not work, and the emperor's will will not be carried out; in the worst case, the emperor may even be abolished.

Chu Ge had been prepared for a long time, with a bewitching expression on his face: "Don't worry about the officials, the minister has his own good plan.

“Naturally, this cannot be done overnight, but should be done step by step.

"And the key is that officials must distinguish clearly who is the enemy and who is the friend."

The emperor's expression became more urgent: "How to tell?"

Chu Ge smiled slightly: "Do the officials still remember the Ayun case?

"In short, those who recognize the government are friends, and those who do not recognize the government are enemies.

"If there are some people who don't even agree with the government to save a weak woman, or even the government to change a few laws, then it will be clear at a glance whether they are enemies or friends.

"As for how to deal with these people, it is also simple.

"First cut off the branches and leaves, and then cut off the trunk, and that's all step by step.

"The officials can leave these matters to the ministers as much as possible. As for who to choose for these vacant positions, the officials can decide on their own."

At this point, Chu Ge finally confessed his conspiracy.

Of course, for an official like Wen Junshi, this may be a conspiracy, but for the emperor, this is an out-and-out conspiracy.

Chu Ge has already told the emperor 90% of the whole plan without reservation.

And the remaining 10% is his selfishness.

The breakthrough of the whole plan was the emperor's thirst for power.

At this time, the court was divided into two parties, one was the new party headed by Wang Wenchuan, and the other was the old party headed by Wen Junshi.

They have many differences, but they have one thing in common, that is, they all want to use the power of the prime minister to firmly suppress the imperial power, and are unwilling to hand over half of it.

This is true of Wen Jun, and so is Wang Wenchuan.

Therefore, the emperor was actually very depressed.

He wanted to make a difference, so he supported Wang Wenchuan's reform, but from the beginning to the end, he never really trusted Wang Wenchuan. Because Wang Wenchuan didn't want to share power with him either.

Of course, this is not to say that Wang Wenchuan is greedy for power. It is more likely that Wang Wenchuan feels from the bottom of his heart that these matters should be handled by the prime minister, and the emperor should not interfere or ask.

This was the consensus of all the scholar-bureaucrats at that time, and it was impossible for Wang Wenchuan to see the world hundreds of years later like Chu Ge.

This is also a kind of time limitation.

Therefore, although these reforms have been approved by the emperor, the emperor's support is not firm.

A little shaken, the result was that Wang Wenchuan was dismissed as Prime Minister.

But now, Chu Ge took the lead in breaking through this bottom line.

What is the consensus of scholar-bureaucrats? Sorry, I just want to be a dog for the emperor!

Originally, the emperor also wanted to take back the prime minister's power, but suffered from no one's support. But now, Wang Wenchuan brought the pillow when he was dozing off.

On one side is Wang Wenchuan, who is willing to be his dog, willing to hand over the power unconditionally, and only to the emperor to do things in a down-to-earth manner; Wen Junshi.

It is clear at a glance whether they are close or distant.

Who will the emperor like, is there any doubt?

If Wang Wenchuan's favorability in the emperor's heart was originally 60, and Wen Junshi's was 40, then now, Wang Wenchuan's favorability has skyrocketed to 100, while Wen Junshi's is only 10 left.

After finding this retreat, Chu Ge's goal became clear.

That is: blatant partisanship!

It stands to reason that the emperor should have been the last person to see party disputes.

Because once the party fights, it means that after a certain party wins, it will have a huge impact, which in turn will further suppress the imperial power.

When the power of the two factions was balanced before, you still suppressed me to death, but now that one faction has fallen, and everyone in the court has become the other faction, then I have to abdicate on the spot?

But the party struggle that Chu Ge wants to engage in now will not arouse the emperor's fierce opposition.

One, because he has given enough sincerity.

Chu Ge first took out the official system law and voluntarily gave up part of the prime minister's power. This has already made the emperor feel that he is an unambitious and very obedient courtier. After the favorability is full, the emperor will naturally not feel that Wang Wenchuan will pose a great threat to him.

Second, because he packaged the party struggle as clearing the way for the emperor to centralize power.

Chu Ge mentioned the Ayun case, using this inconspicuous case to transfer the conflict between the old and new parties to the conflict between the old party and the emperor.

That is to say, let's not talk about the reform, let's look at the trivial matter of the Ayun case.

In the case of Ayun, there was an order from His Majesty!

Our new party is actually working for His Majesty. Your majesty said in the handbook that the sentence should be commuted, so we will commute the sentence; similarly, if your majesty wants to reform the law, we will reform the law. Everything we do is actually for His Majesty.

And what about the old party? His Majesty wants to pardon a weak woman today, but they disagree; His Majesty wants to change the law, but they don't agree.

One mouthful, one ancestor's law, does that mean that everything should be done according to the ancestor's law? Just leave everything to these old officials? Doesn't the emperor say anything that doesn't work anymore?

In this way, the old party was further pushed to the opposite side of the emperor, which made the emperor hate them even more.

Now that the emperor already hated them, this was not a party dispute, but the emperor was eliminating disobedient ministers.

Third, because he left enough room.

Chu Ge said that anyone who does not support the emperor in the Ayun case and who does not support the new law will be targeted.

Start with small miscellaneous fish, and then drive away the important officials of the court step by step.

But what about after the blow is over?

If Chu Ge said that after these positions were vacant, members of the new party would fill them up, or further, he would decide who would fill them up, then the emperor would definitely be alert.

Isn't this still cultivating Wang Wenchuan's influence?

But Chu Ge has already handed over the right to appoint and remove personnel, and it is the emperor who has the final say who will fill these vacancies.

All in all, from the emperor's point of view, he decided which officials to attack and which officials to promote.

That being the case, what cronies are there? What's the threat?

What a joy it feels to be in control.

This is what Chu Ge showed in front of the emperor, the 90% conspiracy.

But there is still 10%, he didn't say.

That is, after such an operation, in the later stage, he can still realize the operation of overhead emperor.

Because when dealing with these old parties, he will kill them so that they will never have any chance to come back.

On the surface, the emperor can appoint, remove and promote officials at will, and the emperor himself probably thinks that he can promote others to check and balance Wang Wenchuan at any time, and everything is under his control.

But in the eyes of other officials, this is not the case.

They will only see that the old party was defeated by the emperor and Wang Wenchuan, and all of them were liquidated by Wang Wenchuan with cruel means.

At this time, if they want to enter the court and become officials, and want to be promoted, do they have other choices?

The only choice is to stand on Wang Wenchuan's side and become a supporter of the new party.

And when they are promoted, will they honor the emperor, or Wang Wenchuan?

Even if this kind of promotion was made by the emperor himself, these officials would think in their hearts that their official positions were actually given by Wang Wenchuan.

Because they have no way of distinguishing, the emperor is so decisive, is it to support the new law? Or is it to support Wang Wenchuan?

In fact, it is not, the emperor is for his own power. But those officials, I am afraid it is difficult to realize this. And even if you realize it, there's nothing you can do about it.

You can't scold the emperor in Shangshu, can you? Even if you see this kind of thing, you can't talk about it everywhere!

Over time, the emperor apparently held the power to appoint and remove officials, but the entire imperial court was filled with Wang Wenchuan's people, so what difference did he appoint and remove?

At that point, Chu Ge can unscrupulously implement the new law without worrying about any opposition and questioning voices.

What? or will there be?

There will be no, because at that time, Chu Ge will not let these voices reach the emperor's ears.

If you can't even deceive your superiors and conceal your subordinates, what kind of powerful minister is he?

Of course, Chu Ge also knows that even if he does this, it is impossible for the Wang Wenchuan he plays to become the uncrowned king, and it is impossible to really completely empty the emperor and do whatever he wants.

Because this emperor is not a child, he is in his prime and still firmly holds power.

After all, the Qi Dynasty is different from those previous dynasties, and there are too many checks and balances.

Even if the entire court is Wang Wenchuan's people, if one day the emperor really made up his mind to kill Wang Wenchuan, there is still a way, but it will take a long time.

Just like Yan Maoqing was able to control the government for more than forty years, was it because the emperor didn't want to kill him? It's so easy, I can't bear it. If you really want to do it, you can still do it.

But even if the emperor really made up his mind one day, so what if he opened Wang Wenchuan's coffin and slaughtered his body like those powerful officials in history?

This long time is enough for Chu Ge to do many things.

Finally, the emperor was completely conquered by Chu Ge's painting.

"So, according to Wang Qing, where should I start?"

Chu Ge paused for a while, and then said: "Please ask the official to borrow the minister Wu Desi."

...

Not long after Chu Ge returned to the mansion, Wu Desi's top leader arrived to promote Liu Zhien.

The face of the great eunuch was obviously full of doubts and incomprehension.

Because he really couldn't figure out why the emperor asked him to find this stubborn gentleman.

Chu Ge smiled slightly, and said to Liu Zhien: "Liu Tiju, please sit down."

The so-called Wu Desi is the secret service agency directly under the emperor of the Qi Dynasty.

Unlike the Jin Yiwei in the Dasheng Dynasty, Wu Desi's power is actually very limited. Because the Qi Dynasty had the ancestral motto of "Punishment is not a doctor", the environment for literati was very relaxed, and basically they did not suffer particularly serious persecution.

Even if Division Wu De finds out the criminal, he still has to send the suspect to Dali Temple for conviction.

In the environment at that time, even the emperor had nothing to do with these scholar-bureaucrats, let alone Wu Desi.

Therefore, although the Wu Desi at this time was a secret service agency, not only in charge of the palace guards, but also in charge of spying and monitoring, but in fact it had no effect on the affairs of the court at all, and its sense of existence in history was very thin.

In the Qi Dynasty, this organization can be said to be disgusting.

In the court, Wu Desi is directly under the emperor and does not accept the jurisdiction of any ministers, so the ministers including Wen Junshi have repeatedly written letters of impeachment and scolding; Go to Wu Desi to work, let alone a talented Jinshi.

As a result, most of the members of the Wu De Division, or the peripheral members, were local hooligans. Under the banner of the emperor, they pretended to be powerful, bullied the market, and did all kinds of evil, which ruined the reputation of the Wu De Division and made the emperor unable to hold his head up in front of the scholar-bureaucrats.

The emperor also didn't want to cancel Wu Desi, so he had to compromise in the end and limited Wu Desi's activities to the capital.

Although Chu Ge promised the emperor that he would overthrow these old parties, he still had to think carefully about how to overthrow them.

It is definitely not acceptable to act recklessly directly. If an official has not committed a crime but forcibly charges him, it is too obvious, and it is easy to be attacked by other old parties.

At that time, the emperor will not be able to step down.

And if there is evidence of guilt, this kind of thing will be done much more justifiably.

If you want to collect criminal evidence or fabricate criminal evidence, Wu Desi is an institution that must be in your hand.

Since the establishment of the Qi Dynasty, Wu Desi has been playing a role, and has been scolded by civil officials and scholar-bureaucrats.

From the original Wang Wenchuan's point of view, this is obviously a boring spy agency, and it is impossible to have any good looks.

But in Chu Ge's view, Wu Desi did not do too much, but too little.

This institution simply isn't working as it should.

Thinking of this, Wang Wenchuan, played by Chu Ge, directly threw a memorial into Liu Zhien's hands.

Liu Zhien froze for a moment, and took a closer look.

"On Wu Desi's Inspecting Marriage Official Zhazi", author, Wen Junshi.

This is Wen Junshi's memorial to the emperor to impeach Wu Desi.

Liu Zhien glanced roughly, then looked up at Wang Wenchuan played by Chu Ge: "Wang Xiang, you are..."

He was completely confused by Wang Wenchuan who didn't follow the routine.

Chu Ge smiled slightly, picked up a short paragraph from the memorial and read it out: "'I waited for Fu Wen, and the Wu De Division sent soldiers to listen to the slander of the people in the market, and punished them. And issued a reward, Soliciting people to sue and arrest those who slander the government. I don’t know the government of the holy emperor Ming Wang since ancient times, is it true?'

"This is the memorial to the impeachment of Wu Desi for his rampant lawlessness, reckless actions, framed slander, and crimes for speaking before Wen Jianyi.

"Liu Tiju, if the officials really listened to Wen's remonstrance, abolished the Wu De Division, and arrested and punished all the criminals in the Wu De Division, how would you deal with yourself?"