In the era of the Sui Dynasty, aristocratic families controlled local officialdom; the common people were basically led by local aristocratic families. Their words and deeds were deeply influenced by the aristocratic families for generations, and they highly respected the local aristocratic families. Otherwise, it will be difficult to establish a local presence. Over time, this resulted in the betrayal of the aristocratic families, which was basically equivalent to the betrayal of the people; and the widespread complaints in the local areas meant that the aristocratic families had turned against the imperial court, but they inevitably became targets of the imperial court, so they relied on the so-called "public opinion" to act.
If you want to break this huge and ubiquitous cage, let alone Yang Ji, even if Yang Guang or Yang Jian is resurrected, you can only adopt a step-by-step approach, and then use time, real power, and to weaken the conflicts between the other parties.
As for Yang Guang's entire huge plan, in fact, in addition to the two fatal flaws mentioned by Yang Ji, the attack area is too wide, covering almost all the powerful political forces in the world; The Sui Dynasty will embark on the old path of "history" again.
Although the Sui Dynasty is currently prosperous, the people live and work in peace and contentment, and Yang Guang's control over the world is extremely high and strong, the weak power of the royal family is the most fatal flaw. Even if Yang Guang sends all the royal family abroad, He can't control the vast world and can't deal with so many powerful forces.
Therefore, Yang Ji believed that it is better to "injure ten of the enemy's fingers than to cut off one of them". First, distinguish who is in charge and who is in priority, and then deal with them one by one, instead of encircling all the forces. If the mistake of eager for quick success and quick gain caused all the major political forces to join forces to cause trouble, the order of the Sui Dynasty would inevitably lose control, and then detonate serious internal situations and conflicts. Once during the process of countering the rebellion, those generals and officials from aristocratic families "sent" Yang Guang's most elite troops to the "rebels" to slaughter them all, then the situation of separatism among the heroes would immediately unfold.
The reason why he didn't say it before was because Yang Ji was well versed in the speaking skills of "talking to people and talking to ghosts" and "singing songs in any mountain". Because he had just said that Yang Guang's plan had two fatal flaws. If it happened again, Adding words such as "the world will be in chaos and the second generation will perish", Yang Guang will definitely not feel comfortable.
Although in terms of their relationship, even if he is outspoken, Yang Guang will accept it and will not do anything to him, but if he is tactful and saves him some face, the effect will be better at another time, and he can Get certain benefits from it.
Therefore, when Yang Ji finished explaining the reasons and benefits of recommending the Fanyang Lu family or the Zhaojun Li family, and waited until Yang Guang finished pondering and reflecting on it, and then added this point, the effect produced was by no means comparable to what it had been before.
After Yang Guang listened, he compared his own blind optimism and eagerness for quick success and found that the two were not on the same level at all. After pondering for a while, he knew what Yang Ji was thinking, and he nodded with satisfaction: "Not bad, not bad, you guys It’s really gratifying to see that I’ve made great progress. It seems that I will have to listen to your kind words more in the future, otherwise I will easily go astray.”
Hearing what Yang Guang said, Yang Ji knew that he had accepted his advice and his purpose had been achieved. There was no need to talk anymore and he just smiled knowingly at Yang Guang.
Yang Guang smiled in response.
He thought for a while and continued: "By the way, Vajra slave, who do you think is more suitable between the Fan Yang Lu family and the Zhaojun Li family?"
"Of course it's the Lu family!" Yang Ji said without hesitation: "The relationship between Zhaojun Li and Longxi Li is completely different from Er Cui, and Zhaojun Li Ziquan is now the prime minister representing the Shandong gentry. If Zhaojun Li If you show up, it will be easier for people to be wary.”
Yang Guang also considered this in his mind and said, "In that case, let Lu Chu investigate the case thoroughly on behalf of the court."
At this point, the discussion is over. Yang Ji stood up and planned to say goodbye and go home, but he was stopped by someone.
Yang Guang also stood up, looked at the surprised Yang Ji, and said with a smile: "After today, you will have to run around for state affairs again tomorrow morning; when we meet again one day, you will already be thousands of miles away. We’re in Liaodong. Let’s have a few drinks later.”
"I am not prepared at all now. Even the subordinate officials in the government do not know that I am going to go on an expedition to Goguryeo. If it weren't for what Brother Bingwen said was urgent, I should have called Yang Yichen and others to discuss sending troops at this time." Yang Ji looked at it. Look at the sky outside
Color, and said to Yang Guang: "It's still early now, I have to go back and arrange this matter, so as not to miss important events."
Yang Guang glared at him and feigned anger: "You mean you won't give me face?"
"Okay then!" Yang Ji hesitated for a second.
"You know what I'm doing!" Yang Guang then "turned his anger into joy", but then he taught Yang Ji a lesson: "There are many talented people in our Sui Dynasty. If you make good use of these people, it will be much more efficient than doing it yourself. Do you need to be so tired? As the minister of law and the shepherd of Liangzhou, you are already a master. If you don't know how to delegate power and do everything yourself, you will tire yourself out sooner or later."
Yang Ji felt strange in his heart. He was a lazy person who would steal. How could he be exhausted? On the contrary, Yang Guang himself is busy to death every day. However, Yang Guang is now talking about himself like this. This is clearly the monk pointing at the monk and scolding the bald man, but the object of the "scold" is not himself, but Yang Guang himself.
"Reporting to the saint, the queen has arrived." At this moment, the chamberlain waiting outside the palace said. While reporting, Empress Xiao and Yang An had already walked in, and the moment Yang Ji turned around, Yang An quietly winked at Yang Guang with his back to him, and Yang Guang immediately showed a strange smile.
When Yang Ji turned around and stood up, Queen Xiao had already entered the hall.
I saw that she was wearing a red dress, her shoulders and arms were covered with light gauze, her green bun was like clouds, and her eyebrows were like crescent moon. Her elegant beauty followed her every step, like a graceful, luxurious and national plant. Beautiful peonies. When he got close, he said to Yang Guang: "I heard that the vajra slaves have entered the palace again. I think you brothers are probably here to discuss state affairs, so I came over to take a look. I didn't disturb you, right?"
"We have just settled the matter." Yang Guang smiled and said, "Is it time for dinner again?"
"It's indeed meal time." Since Yang Guang had to review a mountain of memorials every day, and he was a very diligent emperor who was often too busy with official duties to sleep and forget to eat and drink; Empress Xiao was worried that he would be exhausted, and others I couldn't persuade him, so I had to come over in person to remind him every day at meal time.
"My younger brother has met my sister-in-law!" After the two of them finished narrating, Yang Ji stepped forward and bowed to Empress Xiao.
"As a family, there is no need to be polite." Empress Xiao said sweetly: "Vajra slave, I heard that you are in the palace, so I asked someone to prepare your favorite meat. You can have a few drinks with your brother!"
Without waiting for Yang Ji's reply, Yang Guang continued the conversation and said to Empress Xiao: "I still have some important memorials that need to be approved immediately. You and Vajra Nu will go to the dining hall of Ganlu Palace first. Once I finish the approval, go over immediately. .”
He glanced at Yang An and continued: "It's too busy to handle, so just let Yang An wait here. When the time is up, he will naturally remind you."
"Here!" Yang An responded.
Yang Ji was stunned for a moment and said, "Then my sister-in-law and I will go there first."
Empress Xiao glanced at the piles of memorials on the imperial desk, sighed softly, and warned uneasily: "We will wait for you in the dining hall, but don't be busy for too long."
"Go!" Yang Guang nodded. After returning to the Imperial Case, he picked up a memorial and began to read it attentively.
Yang Ji always felt that Yang Guang had some conspiracy against him; otherwise, why did Yang Guang, who had originally planned to go for dinner, suddenly change his mind?
Seeing that Yang Guang was already busy, Yang Ji had no choice but to bow his hands and followed Empress Xiao out of Anren Hall with some confusion.
After the two of them disappeared, Yang Guang immediately put down the memorial in his hand, raised his eyes and asked Yang An, "How did things go?"
As Yang Ji expected, Yang Guang did launch a conspiracy against him. This conspiracy was actually to help Yang Ji find a wife as mentioned before. His purpose of doing this was to hope that Yang Ji, who had given birth to three sons in one breath, would add more children to the royal family.
Ordinarily, Yang Ji has a mother and a princess, so "little things" like concubinage are not something Yang Guang has to worry about. It's just that Dugumin, Xiao Ying, and Yang Ji all have the same qualities of breaking things off; if he doesn't worry about it, , I guess that family would not take such a big thing seriously. Yang Guang had no choice but to use the power of the emperor and the head of the family to act as his agent and drive the ducks to the shelves.
However, he did not dare to mess around. If the royal decree was
If you consecrate an extremely ugly girl or someone Yang Ji doesn't like, that guy will definitely poke a hole in Tiandu. Out of caution, Yang Guang took advantage of Yang Ji's entry into the palace and sent Yang An to secretly go to the palace to inquire about the news.
"Sage, it's been done." Yang An looked at Yang Guang helplessly and said with a smile: "According to Manager Gongsun, in addition to Concubine Liu and Mrs. Zhang, King Wei also has eight other martial arts experts. Among them, Murong Xianyue, Xian Yufang, and Liuxu are the most valued by King Wei, and like Concubine Liu and Madam Zhang, they have all made several military exploits for the court."
Yang Guang was silent for a while, then asked uneasily: "Are these three martial maids good-looking?"
"I heard that they all look like flowers, but a little darker. But the darkest one seems to be Mrs. Zhang." Yang An paused for a moment, thinking that the other person would soon be a member of the royal family, so he cautiously He added: "Since King Wei even wants this and that from Mrs. Zhang, King Wei should also want that."
Yang Guangshen nodded in agreement. When Zhang Chuchen was granted the title, he was in Liangzhou. Later, Xiao Ying brought her to the palace to thank her. The girl was quite beautiful, but her face was indeed very dark.
But as Yang An said, since Yang Ji does not dislike even the darkest women and takes them as concubines, it seems that Yang Ji only cares about whether women are beautiful or ugly, fat or thin, and whether they are desirable, and does not care about their skin color.
Seeing Yang Guang frowning in deep thought and silent for a long time, Yang An couldn't help but remind Yang Guang: "Sage, you know King Wei. He is good in all aspects, but he doesn't seem to have any special pursuit of women. He really doesn't go through Wei." Can he be canonized with the king’s consent?”
"Of course. Otherwise, what are you doing with your free time?" Yang Guang thought about it in his mind and made up his mind. He raised his head and asked, "If I remember correctly, that concubine of Vajra Slave seems to be the fourth grade." ?」
Yang An also did something. Hearing the words, he quickly replied: "Yes, saint, Mrs. Zhang is now a fourth-rank official, and her rank is comparable to Yiren among female officials."
"That's good!" Yang Guang nodded and told Yang An: "Let Zongzheng Temple immediately issue an edict in my name... no, in the name of me and the queen, and canonize Murong Xianyue, Xian Yufang, and Liuxu as the five principals. Taste the imperial edict."
As he spoke, he thought of something else and added with a smug expression: "By the way, you must ask Zongzheng Temple to complete all the genealogy, edicts and other matters for me before Vajra Nu returns home. As long as the above three If a girl enters the royal family tree, as long as the queen and I issue a joint edict, it will be a done deal. Even if the vajra slaves object, the situation is over."
Seeing that Yang Guang had made up his mind, Yang An suppressed a smile and responded respectfully: "Old minister, I obey the order." (Note)
He bowed his hands and prepared to go back to make arrangements, but he was stopped by Yang Guang again.
But Yang Guang suddenly found that the people he canonized were all people from the royal family. This was completely different from his way of treating heroes. It seemed that he was too stingy and stingy, and he felt even more regretful. When he thought about the people he was about to canonize, The three of them were all "black girls", so they decided to give Yang Ji a good-looking one with a fairer complexion.
He thought for a moment and asked, "It has been three or four months since the daughter of Wanghou from Wu'an County entered the palace, right? Where is she now?"
This Hou family girl was fifteen years old, just in her hairpin years. She came from a family of officials who had been full of scholars for generations, but had declined. Her ancestor was a minister of literature in the Northern Wei Dynasty, and several generations of people who followed were also outstanding literary figures.
This girl has the excellent bloodline of her ancestors. She is beautiful in appearance and graceful in manners. She looks like a flower in bud on a branch in spring. She is more fragrant than flowers and more fragrant than jade. However, the reason why Yang Guang remembers this little Hou girl is that her appearance and life experience are almost negligible. The key is that this girl grew up in a scholarly atmosphere, and coupled with her intelligence and agility, her talents are very good.
In addition, she is different from other women. Other women admire palace-style poems that are gorgeous in style and empty in content; but she likes ancient poems that "return to nature" and wrote a small poem that is fresh, elegant, noble and simple. It was precisely because of this poem with a very fresh form and connotation that Yang Guang was deeply impressed by her and appreciated her talent.
But he himself had no pursuit of women, so he decided to give the girl to Yang Ji to prevent this talented woman from wasting her life in the palace.
"Exactly!" Yang An introduced to Yang Guang: "This girl's name is Hou Qiaowen. She is now a good servant of the seventh rank. The Changqiu Supervisor arranged for her to be the female historian next to Mrs. Rong Hua."
Yang Guang said. "Then give her to the vajra slave and grant her the rank of seventh grade."
"Here!" Yang An bowed and retreated.
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[Note: During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, many eunuchs and female officials also had ranks, so they could call themselves "old ministers", "chen", and "little ministers"; even eunuchs and female officials who were outside the country (not within the rank) could also call themselves "old ministers", "chen", and "little ministers". "Minister" refers to itself, but there are no absolutes in anything. Some people use "slave" and "minion" to show their prudence, humility, and respect to their superiors.
Of course, there are exceptions. For example, some female relatives of dignitaries also like to call themselves "nunu" when facing their husbands. This is not a bad taste, but to show humility and submission to their husbands.
But no matter how you say it, the officials of this period did not require subjects to consider themselves "servants" or "minions." Only real slaves who are not officially registered can call themselves "servants, servants". 】
