The ministers debated for a while, and Lu Zhi's opinion gradually gained the upper hand.

Yang Biao said: "In this way, please return to the court immediately." This matter must be discussed with the general, and we say it is useless. ”

Then he pointed to Mu Guiying, who looked excited, and said, "Mrs. Mu, you write a letter to the general, explain our meaning in general, and ask him to return to the court immediately." ”

Mu Guiying happily agreed. She never expected that Yuan Shao's concert would completely change the policy of the imperial court.

"In addition to His Royal Highness, there are only thirteen of us ......in this big tent," Cai Yong pointed to Zhang Wen, Cui Lie, Ma Riyan, Ding Gong, Chen Ji, Lu Zhi, Yang Biao, Yuan Peng, Mu Guiying, Xiao Sui, Kou Zhun, and Tian Feng and said, "Today's discussion is the policy of the prosperity of my Han Dynasty, which is related to the survival of the society and the rise and fall of the country, and must not be leaked." Therefore, in the future, any correspondence between you must first be examined by the superintendent Shi Cai Yong and Kou Zhun. Do you have any comments? ”

The ministers unanimously agreed.

Zhang Wen suddenly pointed at Mu Guiying and the others and asked: "You all have a deep relationship with the general, especially Mrs. Mu and Mrs. Xiao, you are both the wives of the general, I want to ask you a word, because the matter to be discussed below has a direct relationship with you." If you disagree, all the things discussed above will be null and void. ”

Mu Guiying and the others looked at each other, and they had already guessed what Zhang Wen meant.

"Why did the eldest princess go to Northern Xinjiang, and why did the imperial court build it in Northern Xinjiang, I believe your generals are very clear, I won't say it. Whether you are loyal to the Son of Heaven or to the general, this question does not make any sense, and I will not ask. I just want to ask, after the general takes power, after the northern Xinjiang is strong and the society is stable, how can you guarantee that he will not become the second Wang Mang and the second Liang Yi of the Great Han Kingdom? How to ensure that he becomes the second Huo Guang of the Great Han Kingdom? How to ensure that he will not repeat Dong Zhuo's mistakes? ”

Mu Guiying and the others were stunned and speechless. What Zhang Wen wanted to ask was very different from what they thought.

"Taifu is gone, because of the emperor's affairs, he can no longer hold power. In the future, the Son of Heaven will rule, and it will be very good for Taifu to save his life. In addition to Taifu, there are only hussar generals who are still qualified to govern. The hussar general is the Han Shangqing, the opening of the mansion, the three dukes of Yitong, the general of the military, the Marquis of Quanzhou, the rank of ten thousand stones, the position is high and powerful, and the identity is extremely noble. Although Jizhou Mu Hanfu and Cai Yong can also temporarily manage state affairs, both of them are officials with a rank of 2,000 stones, and compared with the hussar generals, there is a certain gap in official titles. Even if they are in power, they are temporarily acting as agents of state affairs and temporarily holding power, which is essentially different from the hussar generals. ”

Zhang Wen pointed at Cai Yong and said: "For example, Bo Jie, if you don't take into account the personal relationship with the general, when you see the general, you have to pay the official courtesy." It is not appropriate to let a subordinate official order the superior, which is neither courteous nor legal. Originally, we were counting on Taifu and the Hussar General to restrain each other, but now it is impossible, and we can only let the Hussar General be in charge alone. What will happen when the hussar general takes sole power, we don't know, and we can't restrain it. Therefore, what we have to discuss now is how to restrain the power of the hussar generals, and how to ensure that the hussar generals can make meritorious contributions to the stability and revitalization of the Han Dynasty. ”

Zhang Wen looked at the ministers and said with a serious expression: "We can't make the mistake of Taifu Yuan Kui again, everyone has seen the result of the confrontation with the martial arts, and the sheji is about to be overturned." Now if we want to save Sheji, we need the strength of the warriors, but how can we stimulate and restrain the power of the warriors so that they can fight to save the Sheji, instead of fighting to destroy the Sheji? ”

"Is there a way for the three of you?" Zhang Wen asked, "If there is no way, this imperial court will be dissolved immediately, and we will go to Yenching University to teach, so as not to help and abuse." ”

Late that night, Jizhou Mu Hanfu's urgent performance was sent to the eldest princess's mansion.

Han Fu said in the recital: "In the middle of the first month, the army of Wang Kuang, Zhang Yang and Liu Xun was attacked by the Yellow Turban Army of Montenegro in Heyang, and the 20,000 army was annihilated. Our 10,000 troops from Jizhou hurriedly withdrew from Wen County and rushed to the Qinshui River to block the army of the Yellow Turban Army of Montenegro in the vicinity of Yewangcheng. At this time, Yuan Shao was panicked, not only did not support our Jizhou army, but withdrew from Huaicheng with a large army, and stationed troops at Chaoge Qingshuikou, seeing death and not saving him. Yuan Shao's despicable behavior is really infuriating. Yuan Shao has always concealed such a major military situation and failed to report it, which shows that he has ill intentions and intends to cause heavy losses to the Northern Xinjiang Army. At the same time, Han Fu once again invited the eldest princess, asking the eldest princess and the imperial court to move to Jizhou quickly to suppress Yuan Shao and seek to rejuvenate the country. ”

After reading the recital, Lu Zhi was very angry and said angrily: "How can you not kill such a bad country? ”

Ding Gong smiled bitterly: "Perhaps, Han Fu has just learned about ......."

"How is that possible?" Lu Zhi said angrily, "Han Fu's army is in the area of the Qinshui River, and the army of Wang Kuang, Zhang Yang, and Liu Xun has been wiped out, how can they not know?" They knew, how could they not report Han Fu? ”

"Yuan Shao must have Han Fu by his side. Han Fu knew that Yuan Shao not only deceived him, but also beat him upside down, and played the eldest princess secretly, probably mad, so he had this urgent play. Lu Zhi shook his head again and again, "It's so disappointing, in addition to power and life in their eyes, where is there any desire to serve the country?" ”

"Hurry, ride the general of the book with eight hundred miles of speed, and immediately stop attacking Chang'an."

………………

In mid-February, the hussar general Li Yi returned to Quanzhou.

Li Yi dismounted from afar and said to Cai Yong respectfully: "The weather is cold, how dare my grandfather come to greet him in person?" I don't dare to be ashamed, I dare not be ashamed. ”

Cai Yong was polite.

Mu Guiying stood aside and said, "Husband, please get in the car, before the husband enters the city, the boss has something to say to you." ”

Li Yi smiled and asked Cai Yong to get in the car first. He knew in his heart that after Taifu Liu Yu left Quanzhou, the power of the imperial court needed to be redistributed, and what Cai Yong wanted to talk about was nothing more than this most difficult issue.

After Cai Yong waited for Li Yi to sit down, he said with a smile: "In the past two hundred years, my Han Dynasty has experienced disasters, especially the disasters of Wang Mang, Liang Yi, the traitor and the current Dong Zhuo, which have caused the most serious damage to the Han Society, does Yi'er know what is the main reason for these disasters?" ”

Li Yi thought for a moment and replied respectfully: "Because relatives and traitors hold power, they disrupt discipline. ”

"Then how can relatives and traitors seize the authority of the state?" Cai Yong asked again.

"Because of the weight of the inner court, the imperial power is supreme." Li Yi immediately replied.

Cai Yong nodded appreciatively and continued to ask, "Why is the inner court weighted?" Why is the outer court light? Why does imperial power override prime minister's power? Why can't imperial power and relative power check each other? ”

Li Yi thought for a while and said: "Of course, it is because of the system, since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, its system has been destined to be high in the mountain. ”

Cai Yong looked at Li Yi in surprise and praised loudly: "Yi'er is really a genius. How does Yi'er think that the mutual restraint of rights can be realized? ”

Li Yi smiled and said: "Have you forgotten that when you were planning to build the dynasty, Taifu Liu Yu, Zhang Wen, and others repeatedly explained to me why they used the old system of three dukes as the framework of the imperial court. One of the reasons was to weaken the imperial power and separate the imperial power from the prime minister's power in order to control the dictatorship of relatives and eunuchs. ”

Cai Yong nodded happily and said: "For decades, scholars and traitors have repeatedly failed in order to compete for power, and the reason is not because there is no force, but because the imperial power is supreme, and the imperial power is above the relative power, and it has completely lost its restraint. ”

"Taifu Yuan Kui and a group of ministers planned and launched a campaign against Dong, ostensibly, to compete for the authority of the state, but in fact, the real purpose was to use the authority of the country to restore the old system, re-establish the balance between the imperial power and the narrative, so as to eradicate the accumulated evils and revitalize the society. To put it mildly, it is necessary to limit the imperial power and expand the power of the prime minister. ”

"Why did Yuan Kui give Yuan Shao that edict? Why did Yuan Shao, Han Fu and the officials of the Dong Alliance insist on rebuilding the imperial system? A few of us old guys thought about it for a long time, and finally thought of the reason why Yuan Kui suddenly changed the established policy of discussing Dong from this question. Because when the Son of Heaven is already ten years old today, in another ten years, after the Son of Heaven has performed the crown ceremony, he will be in charge. It is simply impossible to rebuild the old system in ten years. ”

"Why?" Li Yi asked, "Is it not enough time to restore an old system?" ”

Cai Yong sighed and said: "Yi'er, you must know that Emperor Xiaoxuan's restructuring failed, otherwise, how could there be the disaster of Wang Mang's usurpation of the country later?" ”

Li Yi hesitated for a moment and asked, "Why did Emperor Xiaoxuan's reform fail?" ”

Cai Yong shook his head and said, "Because of the discussion of Shiqu Pavilion." ”

Emperor Xiaoxuan sometimes has the "Shiqu Pavilion Discussion", and Emperor Xiaozhang has the "White Tiger View Discussion" from time to time, which is a grand event of the Dynasty's scriptures, Li Yi does not know much about the Han Dynasty, but during this period of time, he has heard Xun Yu and others mention these two things more than once. But Li Yi really doesn't know how this scripture determines the formulation of national policies and the fate of the country.

Li Yi bowed down and asked softly, "What does my grandfather want to say to me?" ”

Cai Yong said: "I think the general understands three points from this. “

Li Yi was stunned for a moment, he already felt Cai Yong's solemnity on this matter from Cai Yong's name for him, so he asked, "Which three points?" ”

Cai Yong said: "First, official learning. Since the first year of Emperor Xiaowai's Jianping, Liu Xin wrote the "Book of Dr. Taichang", requiring the establishment of ancient literature and scriptures as official learning, and the ancient literature and scriptures and modern literature and classics began to fight, and it has been nearly two hundred years. Facts over the past two hundred years have proved that the study of modern literature and scriptures is a study that is a disaster for the country, and should be abolished immediately, and the official school should be replaced by the study of ancient literature and scriptures. ”

"The second is a national policy. The imperial court should immediately take the integration of Confucianism and law, and the principle of morality and punishment as the basis for formulating national policies, and revise a large number of established national policies. ”

"The third is the bureaucratic system. The imperial power and the prime minister must be separated, and the royal family and the imperial court must be separated, otherwise, there is no hope for the revitalization of the society. ”

Cai Yong looked at Li Yi, who looked solemn, and asked solemnly: "Can the general take on the heavy responsibility of Zhongxing Sheji?" (To be continued.) )