Xianxia version of Water Margin

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The reason why Jiang Hongfei was not optimistic about Jiang Zai was mainly because Jiang Zai was too naive and was not suitable to be an emperor at all.

You say, who can he trust, but he must trust civil officials!

How powerful was the civil service group in ancient China?

Take the Ming Dynasty and the Song Dynasty as examples.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were actually very disgraceful.

But the end of the emperors of the Song Dynasty was even more disgraceful than that of the emperors of the Ming Dynasty.

For example, among the emperors of the Ming Dynasty, some died by drowning, some died suddenly, some died by taking medicine, and so on.

Except for the two founding emperors, Zhu Yuanzhang lived to 71 and Zhu Di lived to 65, and then the two who did not attend court, Jiajing lived to 60 and Wanli lived to 58, and then there was a special case, Zhu Gaochi, but he died only ten months after he succeeded to the throne.

Except for these emperors, none of the other emperors of the Ming Dynasty lived past 40.

So the abnormal deaths of these Ming Dynasty emperors and merchants were indeed inextricably linked to the civil service group of the Ming Dynasty at that time.

The emperors of the Ming Dynasty were actually not bad, and their ending was nothing more than death.

But many emperors of the Song Dynasty were made to live a life worse than death.

For example, the emperors of the Northern Song Dynasty went crazy one after another, while the emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty were abdicated one after another.

Their problem actually came from the civil service group.

For example, in the first month of 1056, Song Renzong Zhaozhen was 46 years old at the time. One day, after he received the envoys of the Liao Kingdom, he began to attend court. During the court session, he suddenly went crazy and said that his Empress Cao and the eunuch Zhang Maoze were going to assassinate him together.

Zhang Maoze was so scared that he wanted to commit suicide on the spot.

After being rescued by everyone, the leader of the civil service group, that is, the prime minister Wen Yanbo, said to Zhang Maoze that the emperor was crazy and talking nonsense, so you must not die. If you really want to die, it means that what Song Renzong said is really confirmed. That is, you and Empress Cao secretly joined forces to murder Song Renzong.

The implication is that you can die, of course, and die, but what do you want Empress Cao to do? So, you can't die. And you have to take good care of the emperor.

Just after Wen Yanbo finished speaking, a miracle in medical history was born immediately. Song Renzong immediately returned to normal and was no longer crazy.

This record is clearly recorded, from "Continued Zizhi Tongjian Changbian", which contains such a complete record.

However, after this madness, Song Renzong never carried out reforms again, and never went against the civil service group again.

Since then, civil service group, what do you want to do? Song Renzong just stamps it.

But even so, none of his sons survived. Guess why?

During the reign of Emperor Yingzong of Song, he was also preparing for reforms. As a result, the history books began to record that he started talking nonsense and became crazy, and his mind became unclear. Then, Empress Dowager Cao successfully made him a Song Dynasty version of the regency. He lived to the age of 36, and then went to meet his ancestors.

Emperor Shenzong of Song also wanted to reform. At the age of 38, he was having a banquet in the palace. While drinking, he suddenly had difficulty speaking and his speech became unclear.

When it came to Emperor Zhezong of Song, he was very young at the time. Once he coughed up blood and almost coughed out his lungs, so he wanted to find the imperial physician to see him for this disease.

At this time, Zhang Maoze appeared again, and he successfully prevented the imperial physician from treating Emperor Zhezong of Song.

A eunuch successfully prevented the imperial physician from treating the emperor.

Can you believe this?

But it is true.

Finally, a man named "Cheng Yi" couldn't stand it anymore. He wrote a letter and called the imperial physician, and only then did Emperor Zhezong of Song recover.

Not long after this incident, Cheng Yi was impeached, and the impeachment memorial was written in a very confusing way, saying that Cheng Yi had no good intentions and wanted to cause the Ganlu Temple Incident.

This period of history is also clearly recorded in the historical records, which come from the Biographies of the History of the Song Dynasty.

This is the Northern Song Dynasty.

After the Southern Song Dynasty.

The emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty did not play the game of becoming mentally ill, but changed to the system of abdication.

Just like Emperor Guangzong of Song.

He just fell asleep the night before, and when he woke up the next day, he found that he had inexplicably become the emperor.

It is estimated that Emperor Guangzong of Song was very, very stimulated at the time, so he may have really gone crazy in the end, so crazy that even the palace maids and eunuchs were afraid of him.

Because Emperor Ningzong of Song supported the Northern Expedition, none of his eleven sons (two of them were adopted sons and nine were biological sons) survived.

His only adopted son who survived was originally going to be made the crown prince.

As a result, he was forcibly abolished by the post-workers and the civil service group, and a man named Zhao Guicheng was replaced.

This man was later Song Lizong.

Therefore, the imperial power was basically controlled under the premise that the civil service group was powerful.

In the long history of ancient China, the power of the civil service group was like an undercurrent that could not be underestimated. It quietly shaped the outline of the imperial power, and even at some moments, it almost washed away the dignity and authority of the imperial power.

This is not only a phenomenon unique to the Ming and Song dynasties, but also a universal law that runs through multiple dynasties and profoundly affects the national political ecology.

The power of the civil service group is like a mountain range, covering the sky of imperial power, making the emperors' fates unfortunate and becoming an indelible desolation in the writings of later historians.

This is not only a microcosm of power struggles.

The civil service group of the Ming Dynasty, with its profound knowledge, strict organization and strong influence on public opinion, built a power system that is almost independent of imperial power.

They selected talents through the imperial examination system and formed a huge bureaucratic network. These officials have inextricable connections with each other and jointly safeguard the interests of the civil service group.

In this context, although the emperor is the supreme ruler, he often feels powerless and has to compromise with the civil service group, and even becomes a puppet in their hands at certain critical moments.

The Song Dynasty pushed civil service politics to the extreme.

Since Zhao Kuangyin "released military power with a cup of wine", the Song Dynasty established the national policy of "valuing civil officials over military officials", and the status of civil officials was unprecedentedly improved. They not only mastered the administrative power of the country, but also gradually penetrated into various fields such as military and judicial affairs.

In such an environment, the fate of the emperors seemed even more unfortunate.

Not only did they have to face various restrictions and constraints from the civil official group, but they also had to be on guard against the risk of being sidelined or deposed by the civil officials in the name of "madness" and "abdication".

The frequent occurrence of madness and abdication during the Song Dynasty was no longer a simple change of power, but a manifestation of the civil official group's deep control over the imperial power.

The emperors seemed to be in a carefully designed chess game, and every step was out of their control. In the end, they could only withdraw sadly and hand over the world to the civil officials who were behind the scenes.

The ups and downs of imperial power seemed to have become a chess piece that the civil official group could manipulate at will, and their influence was profound.

The civil officials not only used their pens and ink as swords, but also used their wisdom and power to weave a huge political network, which either gently bound the emperors or pushed them to the edge cruelly.

In comparison, the emperors of the Southern Song Dynasty, facing the strength of the civil official group, seemed to know how to judge the situation and learned the strategy of retreating to advance.

However, even so, they were either pushed behind the scenes by the abdication ceremony carefully designed by the civil official group, becoming nominal emperors, but actually losing their real power; or they encountered many obstacles in the issue of offspring, and their own bloodline was difficult to continue, so they had to rely on adopted sons to maintain the royal incense.

Behind all this, there is the profound intervention and control of the civil official group on the imperial power. They used the power in their hands to quietly shape the direction of history.

However, the wheel of history always rolls forward, and the strength of the civil official group is not without cost.

Although they stabilized the government to a certain extent, they also suppressed the innovation and vitality of society.

When a country faces foreign invasion, internal and external troubles, the conservatism and compromise of the civil service group often become stumbling blocks to national development.

At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Mongolian cavalry marched south, and the civil service group's response strategy seemed pale and powerless. In the end, they could only watch the beautiful rivers and mountains fall into the hands of foreigners.

Jiang Zai believed in this group of literati, and wanted to turn the Yuan Empire into the Zhao Song Dynasty.

Isn't this a pit in his head?

For such a person, how could Jiang Hongfei give him the opportunity to become the crown prince, or even let him touch the imperial power.

Let's put it this way, it's just that Gao Liang is obedient, and Jiang Hongfei takes his wife's feelings into consideration. Otherwise, based on Jiang Zai's performance, Jiang Hongfei would have demoted him to an insignificant area and let him fend for himself. It is impossible to give him this opportunity again.

By the way, the civil service group is so terrible, is Jiang Hongfei afraid?

Of course Jiang Hongfei is not afraid.

First of all, Jiang Hongfei is not one of those second, third, or Nth generation emperors who inherited the throne. He is the founding monarch of a unified country, with unrivaled power and a great reputation that no one can shake.

The key is that Jiang Hongfei will never fall into the trap of literati and let them dominate. He will use literati, but he will never use only literati.

It can be said that at the beginning of the establishment of the Liangshan Marsh regime, Jiang Hongfei proposed the separation of civil and military affairs, and did not allow literati to intervene in military affairs, which greatly weakened the power of literati.

The key is that Jiang Hongfei has slaughtered a large number of dignitaries, wealthy families, and gentry families along the way, which has greatly weakened the power of literati.

Not only that, Jiang Hongfei did not foolishly slaughter meritorious officials, but reused meritorious officials, making meritorious people a separate faction.

In addition, Jiang Hongfei also dispersed his sons, and they will become a very powerful political group in the future.

The key is that Jiang Hongfei will not believe in the nonsense about how bad the Jinyiwei is, how harmful it is to the court, etc.

What Jiang Hongfei has to do is to be more ruthless than Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di. He will use Zhu Gui, Zhu Fu, Shi Xiu, Yan Qing and their post station intelligence system, the Imperial City Department, and the Jinyiwei to keep an eye on all officials of the Yuan Empire, whether they are civil officials or military generals, including meritorious officials, and also his own sons.

In other words, Jiang Hongfei has long realized that as the emperor, he is alone and will never trust anyone.

Jiang Hongfei knows that the road to becoming an emperor is full of thorns, and every step must be treading on thin ice.

Let's put it this way, Jiang Hongfei is not afraid of the undercurrent of the civil service group, but is at ease in it, weaving an intricate power network.

He has his own scale in his heart, measuring the weight of every loyalty and betrayal. With wisdom and skill, he turns the changing situation in the court into chess pieces in his hands.

He knows very well that only by relaxing the principles of civil and military affairs can the country be governed and stabilized.

Therefore, under Jiang Hongfei's careful layout, the generals were able to shed their blood on the battlefield and make achievements for themselves, while the civil servants focused on internal affairs and used their abilities to write a peaceful and prosperous era for themselves.

The two perform their own duties and check and balance each other, which not only avoids excessive concentration of power, but also ensures the stability and prosperity of the country.

Regarding the heroes, Jiang Hongfei showed extraordinary magnanimity and wisdom.

He gave them supreme honor and status and made them a solid backing for his governance.

These heroes were originally grateful for Jiang Hongfei's kindness, and were grateful to Jiang Hongfei for leading them from a bunch of mud-legged people to the princes and generals they are today. Now Jiang Hongfei has not said anything to them. Naturally, they are loyal to Jiang Hongfei and will serve him to the death.

Jiang Hongfei's children (including his sons-in-law) either guarded the border or governed a country. They were all cleverly placed in various places by Jiang Hongfei in the name of experience.

This is not only a kind of experience for them, but also a foreshadowing for possible political disturbances in the future.

To put it bluntly, under Jiang Hongfei's plan, they work independently but are closely connected. In the future, they will form a huge family network, providing strong support for Jiang Hongfei's rule.

As for the feared information system of the station, the Imperial Guards and the Imperial City Department, in the hands of Jiang Hongfei, they were given unprecedented powers and responsibilities.

They are not only responsible for monitoring the officials, but also become the sharpest sword in Jiang Hongfei's hand, pointing directly at those treacherous people who dare to challenge the imperial power and plot evil.

Under Jiang Hongfei's careful training, these intelligence agencies have become an important force in maintaining national stability and eliminating internal corruption.

However, Jiang Hongfei always maintained a clear mind and vigilance in his heart.

He understands that the peak of power is often accompanied by loneliness and danger.

Therefore, he never trusts anyone easily, even his own flesh and blood, and must be carefully weighed on the scale of power.

In his own way, he protects this country and ensures that it can shine with the brightest light in his own hands.

Let's put it this way, Jiang Hongfei also knows that people's hearts are fickle, but only systems can last forever.

Therefore, he set out to amend the laws, strengthen centralization, and at the same time pay attention to people's livelihood and reduce the burden on the people, so that while the state machinery could operate efficiently, he also won the support and love of the people.

He understood that true strength does not lie in temporary conquest, but in long-term governance and the attachment of people's hearts.

In short, Jiang Hongfei had both an infinite love for the country and a profound insight into human nature. Therefore, while consolidating imperial power, he also weaved an intricate power network to ensure that this land forged by blood and fire The foundation can be passed down smoothly without interference from others...

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