Everyone understood Cui Dunli's meaning, and all saluted, "We dare not sit down, please speak frankly, Your Highness."
The corners of Li Zhi's eyes twitched, and displeasure flashed in his eyes, but he did not show it. He still smiled and said: "In that case, I won't hide it. I was ordered by my father to serve as a prosecutor. The post of Minister of the Ministry of War of the School, when the Minister of the Ministry of War is temporarily vacant, should be the first chief officer of the Ministry of War. However, you all make your own decisions without asking for instructions. I want to ask, if something goes wrong, who will be responsible? To take charge?"
The officials of the Ministry of War were silent for a while.
Obviously, after getting over the initial panic caused by the death of Gao Jifu, His Highness finally began to take over the power of the Ministry of War...
Cui Dunli stood with his hands tied and said nothing. His face was as calm as water, making it difficult to see what was in his heart.
Although Guo Fushan is the right minister of the Ministry of War, he is a veteran of all kinds of worldly things, but in fact he does not have a strong say in the entire Ministry of War. His personality is also smooth and low-key, and he will not easily fight for power and intrigue with others, so At this time, he definitely chose to follow Cui Dunli and hide behind.
The remaining principals looked at each other and lowered their heads.
Li Zhi was a little angry. As expected, the Ministry of War was run by Fang Jun. As a prince, he questioned him face to face, but these people dared to ignore it completely. It was simply unreasonable.
He raised his hand, pointed at Liu Shi who was pretending to be dead and asked, "Master Liu, please tell me."
This is the uncle of his own princess, and he is one of his own. As long as he takes over what he says, he will be given room to play, and the rest of the routine will follow.
Liu Shi had a bitter look on his face and looked embarrassed. He glanced at Cui Dunli secretly. Seeing that this man's face was gloomy and silent, his heart was beating like a drum. He was confused for a long time. Then he gritted his teeth, bowed and saluted: "Your Highness, please inquire. I dare not not say it. In the past, the Ministry of War was overstaffed and inefficient. In the performance appraisal at the end of each year, the Ministry of War ranked at the bottom of the six departments. Emperor Gaozu and His Majesty were very dissatisfied with this, which led to the power of the Ministry of War being slowly dispersed to Other yamen, such as the power of military trials, were therefore handed over to Weiwei Temple... It was not until the Duke of Yue took charge of the Ministry of War that he carried out drastic reforms in the Ministry of War's service procedures, abolishing the previous hierarchical reporting and handling of affairs. The protracted process of inquiry directly adopts the method of each performing his own duties and taking responsibility. Specific matters are assigned to the respective departments, and the chief officers of each department handle them according to the regulations. If there are any mistakes, the chief officers will naturally be responsible. In this way , the work efficiency of the Ministry of War has been greatly improved, and everyone in the yamen can perform their duties, and has been commended by His Majesty several times... Therefore, I believe that the current work process of the Ministry of War is still the best among the six departments, and there is no need to change."
Li Zhi's eyes widened and his anger rose.
Mother!
You are my uncle-in-law. Instead of speaking for me, you are a family member who undermines me?
His tone was very displeased, and he said coldly: "Listening to Master Liu, do you think that this king is ignorant of government affairs, too ambitious, and will interfere in the affairs of the Ministry of War indiscriminately, which will greatly reduce the efficiency of the Ministry of War, and will no longer be as smooth and refined as before?"
Liu Shi swallowed hard and said helplessly: "I don't dare to lower my rank, but since the Ministry of War is running smoothly now, why should there be any sudden changes? The Eastern Expedition is coming next spring, and the operations of all departments of the imperial court must remain stable, especially the Ministry of War. It is the top priority. Otherwise, even the slightest mistake will have an extremely serious impact on the transportation of military rations, the deployment of soldiers, and the distribution of ordnance. It is related to the overall plan of the Eastern Expedition and cannot be done carelessly."
There was really nothing he could do.
Although Princess Jin is his niece, once King Jin succeeds in his bid for the heir apparent and becomes emperor in the future, she will become a grand relative. But apart from the title of "uncle", what benefits can she get?
That's right, if the King of Jin ascends the throne, he will definitely give generous rewards in order to win over his wife's family. As the "uncle of the country", he may be able to give a high-ranking official a title, but what's the use? Even if he is conferred the title of Prime Minister, does he really become inferior to one person and superior to tens of thousands of people?
Impossible.
After many years of ups and downs in officialdom, Liu Shi has already seen through the nature of officialdom. The size of the official position and the level of rank are not actually important. What is important is what position you are in and what kind of power you hold.
If you have no power, what if you are the Duke of the country?
Is Li Jing awesome? You have made great achievements and can be called the God of War, but your Majesty Li Er deprived you of your military power. You have the title of "God of War" for nothing, but no one takes you seriously...
In other words, why do the people at the Ministry of War still follow Fang Jun's lead and don't give you, the King of Jin, face at all?
Because Fang Jun not only has military power in his hands, but also the Royal Navy and Youtun Guards. He can rival any big boss in the army. Moreover, he is still the Minister of the Ministry of War, and he is the name and substance of the Ministry of War. The highest officer on the throne, and you, the King of Jin, are nothing more than the "Inspector of the Military Academy".
To put it bluntly, you are just a temporary "dove occupying the magpie's nest".
Is it possible for His Majesty Li Er to deprive Fang Jun of his position as Minister of War? It is simply impossible. Even though the court was in turmoil and Fang Jun suffered countless criticisms, His Majesty Li Er only suspended Fang Jun from his duties, which can be seen from this.
Not to mention that Liu Shi was not optimistic from the bottom of his heart that the King of Jin could defeat the Crown Prince in the competition for the heir apparent...
Although he is just a small head of the Ministry of War, the only foundry in the Tang Dynasty is in his hands. Every musket, every artillery piece, every thunderbolt, and even every kilogram of gunpowder is made by himself. He has very great power, and all the armies in the entire empire have to fawn over him.
What else can I gain by following you, King Jin?
I'm afraid that the Foundry Bureau will be the first to fly away from the hands before other powers...
Li Zhi never imagined that among the dozens of officials in the Ministry of War, the first person to stand up to resist him would be his wife's uncle Liu Shi.
He stared at Liu Shi in disbelief, not knowing how to speak for a moment.
The Liu family in Hedong had already expressed support for him and stood firmly on his side, but why did Liu Shi, a direct descendant of the Liu family in Hedong, go against the family's decision?
In fact, this is because he is too young.
No matter how talented and intelligent a person is, it is impossible for him to know things like politics and the ways of the world from birth. Many things are not found in books. You can only rely on your experience to figure out and understand. Moreover, it is obvious that Li Zhi has read books. There are not enough, otherwise you should know that throughout the ages, no clan will tend all its resources to the faction it supports, and will always leave a way out for itself.
Although the Liu family in Hedong supported Li Zhi, they refused to order Liu Shi to turn to Li Zhi when he already had the power of the foundry bureau, which made Fang Jun hate him deeply and deprived him of the power of the foundry bureau.
Since the child in the family has already obtained a certain power, why should he abandon everything and start over?
Not only Liu Shi, but also most of the officials in the Ministry of War were like this.
The position of the family is one thing, but it is another thing for them to side with the prince and Fang Jun. Not only will this not conflict with the interests of the family, but it will also ensure the interests as much as possible in critical moments. After all, no matter whether it is Whether the prince ascends the throne or the king of Jin seizes the throne, the family will always be on the side of the winner...
Except for the Changsun family and the Guanlong nobles, who could no longer get any benefits from the prince, no one would completely dedicate themselves to one of them.
The reason why Xiao Yu supports the prince in the court, but the family plots against Fang Jun in the south of the Yangtze River is this reason...
Li Zhi was angry and angry. He stared at Liu Shi for a while, then turned his gaze to Cui Dunli and asked one by one: "Does Minister Cui think so too?"
Everyone in the Ministry of War, except Fang Jun, regarded Cui Dunli as the most respected, so he planned to attack Cui Dunli.
With the emperor's order, he is the "Inspector of the Ministry of War" assigned to the political affairs hall. Now he is the de facto commander of the Ministry of War. His orders are the highest will of the Ministry of War. If Cui Dunli dares to confront him tit for tat and prevents him from attacking the Ministry of War. Under the jurisdiction of the government, both the emperor and the ministers of the political affairs hall must punish Cui Dunli in their eyes.
If the authority of the chief cannot be maintained, the Ministry of War, one of the six central departments, will simply become a laughing stock in official circles.
He didn't believe that Cui Dunli didn't understand this and dared to fight against him.
