In the main hall of the East Palace, Guo Xuan, the prince's servant, came into the palace to report something according to the imperial edict. He stepped forward to pay homage and said, "Your Highness, the prince."
At this moment, Mu Sheng was studying an article. When he saw Guo Xuan arriving, he raised his head and asked, "How are things going?"
Guo Xun said: "Your Highness, the Crown Prince, has already sent people to Yucheng to deliver the message. I believe that the ladies who stayed in Yucheng will soon be summoned by your Highness. At that time, the ladies will come to celebrate with the special envoy of Shanpu." Yang, please rest assured, Your Highness."
Mu Sheng nodded slightly and said, "Well, I can rest assured that you are doing the work."
"Before I succeeded the crown prince, I was always uneasy and did not dare to rashly let my ladies come here to reunite with me. Now the overall situation has been decided. In a few days, the late emperor's edict will be read out on a day after the court meeting. I will soon succeed the emperor. .”
When Guo Xuan heard this, he was shocked and said, "What? His Majesty Long Yu has passed away?"
Mu Sheng had a sad expression on his face and nodded: "Yes, Huo Xiangguo personally led Gu to the inner palace to see the late emperor's body. Gu never expected that the late emperor would... Alas!"
Guo Jue's face was solemn, and he didn't know whether to be sad or happy in his heart. He was happy that his master was about to take up his position, but sad that the old emperor had passed away. At this moment, he did not dare to show any joy and hurt His Highness the Crown Prince's heart.
Guo Xuan looked sad and said, "Your Highness, please express your condolences."
"Your Highness, the journey from the extreme south of Shanpu to the Central Plains will take at least more than three months at the fastest. Maybe the ladies will not be able to make it in time for your enthronement ceremony, Your Highness."
Mu Sheng nodded silently upon hearing this.
Guo Xuan recalled what Mu Sheng had told him before and added: "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince previously ordered the ministers to go to Shushan Puppet and asked Bor Zongbi and others to mobilize three hundred mountain puppet elite soldiers to sneak into the envoys for this visit. Ceremony of the throne? If there is any danger in the ceremony of Your Highness's succession to the throne, how about I go to Shushan and send more people over?"
Mu Sheng shook his head and said: "No need, too many people will attract the attention of interested people. I am also planning ahead. You also know that now Huo Xiang is in power. After the purge of An Guojun's case, his disciples and former officials have long been everywhere." The Huo family controls both the government and the public, as well as the military power inside and outside the country. The 30,000 lieutenant troops guarding Qingyang City are also commander-in-chief by their younger brother Huo Qi. I am afraid that after I succeed to the throne, I will be in vain."
Guo Xuan heard this and knew it well, but if the prince did not straighten him out, he would no longer have the authority to command the world.
Guo Xuan said: "His Royal Highness, as long as you successfully succeed to the throne of the emperor, with the military talisman and jade seal in your hand, you will have the power to mobilize the world's troops. Huo Xiangguo was born as a civil servant and has no knowledge of military strategy. Now he controls the imperial army guarding Qingyang City, but Li Li The tens of thousands of elites of the Northern Army who are only a dozen miles away from Qingyang City can only use the tiger talisman when they see it personally taught by the emperor. If something unexpected happens, when His Highness arrives, you can secretly mobilize the soldiers of the Northern Army to come to the king and solve the crisis."
Mu Sheng nodded slightly and said, "Well, let's hurry up and prepare for the enthronement ceremony. I don't think Huo Xiangguo will really risk the world's disapproval. Maybe he just wants to protect his position as much as possible."
Guo Jue nodded slightly and said, "What His Highness the Crown Prince said is true."
Mu Sheng also knew in his heart that Guo Xuan was just comforting him. Now the Confederate Guards under the high control of the Weiwei were right under his nose. The so-called Confederate Guards were the guards who guarded the palace. Under the Jiuqing Guards, there were Guards The Prime Minister, the Commander of the Bus, the Commander of the Guards, the Commander of the various palace gates, etc. are the leaders of the Emperor's Armed Guard Corps, but now they are the cronies of the Left Prime Minister Huo Zheng.
The imperial palace in this era was equivalent to a city within the city, and was also guarded by city walls, moats and gates. It had similar specifications to the Bauhinia City in later generations. The Southern Army managed by this guard was the army guarding the palace city.
There is also the most important palace guard, that is, Lang Wei, who is the personal guard around the emperor. The chief officer, Lang Zhongling, is Huo Jun, the younger brother of Zuo Prime Minister Huo Zheng. Lang Zhongling is an internal court official. The difference between Lang Zhongling and Wei Wei That is, the Weiwei is responsible for guarding the outer palace, and the Langwei under the command of Lang Zhongling is to guard the inner palace. The two forbidden armies are mutually reinforcing each other.
There are also 30,000 lieutenant troops guarding the entire Qingyang City. The city gates in the southeast, northwest and northwest of Qingyang are all responsible for city security, garrisoning, and patrolling. The lieutenant army is led by a lieutenant, so it is also called the lieutenant army. Huo Qi, the commander of the lieutenant army, He is also the younger brother of Prime Minister Zuo. It can be said that all the military power inside and outside the capital has been firmly controlled by the Huo brothers. If something earth-shattering is going to happen, I am afraid that the Northern Army will be in trouble before it receives the order, especially a person at the core of the country's power. Military power is the most important. The family members of the imperial ministers and the palace are all under the control of the capital's imperial army. If the emperor cannot control the imperial army, it means that he is an emperor in name only and is an empty emperor.
Just like in the Yongzheng Dynasty, before Emperor Yongzheng officially succeeded to the throne, he took control of the most critical military power of the Xishan Jianrui Battalion, and obtained the allegiance of the nine admirals, and then successfully succeeded to the throne. If Yongzheng could not master the military power of the Forbidden City in time, even if He had the emperor's edict, and he was so legitimate that the usurper should be able to tear up the edict of succession in front of him and establish a new king.
Mu Sheng thought about it and realized that he had not officially ascended the throne at the moment. He would wait until he officially ascended the throne.
The prince's servant Guo Xuan resigned, and Mu Sheng sat back on the couch and thought about the difficulties he would face after succeeding to the throne.
He didn't think that the left prime minister Huo Zheng had any ambition to usurp the country. At most, he would just imitate Zhong Sunming, the powerful prime minister of Li Gong Dynasty, and become an authoritarian prime minister.
Huo Zheng wanted to imitate the later Cao Cao in usurping the Han Dynasty, but he did not have the foundation, because the world was not conquered by his Huo family. The world was the result of the efforts of generations of ancestors named Jiang of the Jin Kingdom. The Huo family was at best attached to this country. Executives in the system want to usurp the country? It seriously lacks legal basis.
The reason why Cao Cao, the Prime Minister, and Cao Pi, the second generation of Cao Wei, were able to successfully usurp the Han Dynasty was that the world of Cao Wei was the result of years of bloody battles with real swords and guns by the Cao family. The entire national system and government team were built brick by brick by the Cao family. After it was built, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was just a gold-lettered signboard with only appearance, so the Cao Wei Dynasty succeeded the Han Dynasty smoothly.
In this regard, even when Prime Minister Cao had absolute power, he still failed to make up his mind to officially usurp the Han Dynasty. The reason was that he had served as a Han official in the past, and if he really wanted to publicly usurp the Han Dynasty, he could not afford the infamy, and Cao Cao had always been the one to shoulder the responsibility. With the reputation of Kuangzheng Han Dynasty, they are conquering the world. It cannot be said that when the Cao Wei Group is about to go public, they immediately kicked off the golden signboard of Kuang Fu Han Dynasty without any reason. It can be said that Kuang Fu Han Dynasty is Prime Minister Cao's way of conquering the world and winning people's hearts. The shortcut is also a tight spell on his head, which cannot be easily taken off if he wants to.
In history, among the powerful dynasties established with great martial arts, there were almost no successful precedents for people with foreign surnames to usurp the throne. The only exceptions were Wang Mang usurping the Han Dynasty and the Sima family usurping the kingdom of Cao Wei.
The reason why the Sima family was successful was that the kings of the late Cao Wei Dynasty generally had short lifespans, which allowed the Sima family to seize the opportunity. Even if Wei Ming Emperor Cao Rui lived ten more years, the Sima family would not gain power.
Even when the Sima family came to power later, it took three generations of talent to finally succeed. As long as one step went wrong in the process, the Sima family would be doomed immediately. This shows how difficult it is to usurp the country. It was during the Troubled Times of the Three Kingdoms, and the people who successfully usurped the throne during the Unified Dynasty were , only Wang Mang is an example.
If Huo Zheng has different intentions, another big problem is that the reputation of the family behind him is not good. In the era of various countries, Huo Zheng was just a low-level official. He relied on the appreciation of the late emperor to become the prime minister. His background was very humble. He The family background behind it is that the genetic mutation of his generation is the reason why a golden phoenix flew out of the chicken coop. The pedigree and reputation of the entire family are huge shortcomings. It is tantamount to wishful thinking to rely on his generation to seek to usurp the throne. .
Historically, the powerful officials who were able to usurp the throne within the dynasty basically came from famous families. The family power behind them can empower the powerful officials. This is the key. Just like the people of later generations pursue famous brand products, famous families have great influence in society. , cronies and old friends are all over the government and the public, and they have a strong appeal. This is also an important reason why emperors of all dynasties have been careful to guard against ministers born from famous families taking power, because they are the group of people most likely to subvert the dynasty.
Mu Sheng thought again that he had the strength of the old strange monk. He might just find an opportunity to attack and seal Huo Zheng's throat with a sword. Then he shook his head and felt unreliable. It seemed that this was too cheap and too naive. .
There are too many hidden dangers in directly killing powerful ministers to regain power. The reason why a powerful minister is called a powerful minister is because he not only represents himself, but also has disciples and former officials who have trained him for many years behind him, and interest groups that support him. If you want to seize power, you must first To break the momentum and kill people, you must not reverse the order.
Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty actually had an opportunity to directly kill the powerful Prime Minister Cao Cao, because at that time, the ministers in front of the emperor asked the Jinwu Guards around the emperor to protect him. Although the Jinwu Guards were few in number, they happened to be outside Cao Cao's control.
At that time, Cao Cao met Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty. Emperor Xian Xian of the Han Dynasty showed off his cards directly in front of him and asked Cao Cao if he had the ambition to replace the Han Dynasty. Cao Cao was so frightened that he was covered in white hair and sweat. He was afraid that the emperor would directly order the Jinwu Guards to kill him. He quickly denied it and expressed his loyalty, claiming that he had no intention of replacing the Han Dynasty. Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty let him go. After Cao Cao returned, he He did not face the emperor alone, and then replaced the Jinwu Guards beside the emperor.
In fact, both parties are smart people. Did Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty not want to kill Cao Cao? The fact that he could ask this question showed that Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty was very dissatisfied with Cao Cao's monopoly, but he did not dare to take action. Once the fish was dead and the net was broken, the few Jinwu guards around him would not be able to influence the situation at all.
Assuming that Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty dared to order Cao Cao's death, tens of thousands of Cao Cao's arrogant soldiers would immediately rush into the palace and chop Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty into meat paste. The final result was that Cao Cao's son Cao Pi, with the support of Cao Cao's old officials, came to power ahead of schedule. Continue the cause of Cao Wei Group.
Before Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty came to Xuchang, he had learned from the past. When Wang Yun and Wang Situ planned to kill the domineering Dong Zhuo, what was the result? He failed to appease the Xiliang forces behind Dong Zhuo, which resulted in the rebellion of Dong Zhuo's old troops Li Jue and Guo Si. Hundreds of thousands of Xiliang troops invaded Chang'an. Wang Yun died and his family was wiped out. However, Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty continued to be the puppet of Li Guo and Li Guo. The Han Dynasty's last chance for revival was in vain, and the results of killing powerful officials were tragic.
The biggest difficulty in cutting off powerful officials is to be sure to control the power behind the powerful officials before taking action, instead of being hot-headed and directly bayoneting.
Mu Sheng used some historical knowledge accumulated in his previous life, analyzed and thought for a long time, and then breathed a sigh of relief. As long as he went up and was not Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, it would be impossible for Monkey Sun to sit in the position of Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty.
The emperor of Jin named Jiang still has a strong appeal, especially since the previous emperor was a powerful emperor who defeated all the princes in the world. As long as he doesn't do anything and doesn't mess around, he will slowly accumulate the prestige of the king, and there is still a certain chance to regain it. Power only needs to be accumulated over a long period of time, and it can only be acquired slowly.
