The Liangzhou Army was just a "guest army" in Luoyang, and their temporary base was a military castle called Qianjin Fort. This military fortress is located in the west of the city and south of Luoshui. It is usually managed by the Ministry of War, and no soldiers are stationed here. But if it enters a state of civil war, it will immediately become one of the very important "satellite cities" of Luoyang City. If the army coming from the west cannot conquer it, the soldiers in Qianjinbao can attack the army coming from the west from all directions, and the Luoyang defenders can also rely on this to attack the invading army without any worries.
At this time, Qianjin Fort was full of soldiers from the Liangzhou Army. The few defenders and servants looked at the soldiers who were training and were speechless.
It stands to reason that the soldiers who have just returned from triumph will rest and recuperate. Except for the necessary patrol soldiers, the rest will have a holiday. However, this group of Liangzhou Army soldiers just settled in yesterday and entered training mode again today. They did not go to Luoyang City to enjoy themselves at all. He even trained by himself from the military camp without having to blow the trumpet at all. His strict military discipline and conscious self-discipline are admirable.
Within the Qianjinbao official office, Yang Shanhui, Hao Yuan, Ling Jing, Wei Zheng, Wei Zheng, Yan Shixiang, Li Xuandao, Fang Yanzao, Fang Xuanling, Xue Ju, Wei Yunqi, Yuchigong, Yang Shidao, Zong Luohu, Xue Wanjun, Xue Wanche, Mai Mengcai, Qian Jie and others were all on the list, and dozens of Liangzhou generals were gathered together.
Yang Ji sat down, handed the approved promotion book to Yang Shanhui, and said to him: "The book of the soldiers who have made meritorious service in this battle has been approved. After arriving in Liangzhou, you will make arrangements immediately. Pensions and other matters must also be distributed as soon as possible. Can’t delay.”
"I humbly obey my orders!" Yang Shanhui stepped forward to take the book.
Yang Ji glanced at Xue Ju, who was looking down, and said in a deep voice: "This morning, the imperial court made some personnel changes to the central government. Fan Zigai, the prefect of Wuwei, will enter the court to serve as Shangshu Youcheng. The vacant position will be filled by Xue If he takes over, he will be awarded the title of County Prince."
When the generals below heard this, they were all shocked, but after thinking about it, they felt that it was quite normal: Although Xue Ju was a businessman, he had been conscientious and accomplished countless battles since he followed Yang Ji in the second year of Renshou. He repeatedly rejected the imperial court's rewards, and his purpose was just to follow Yang Ji and serve Yang Ji.
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Xue Ju's cheeks were flushed and his mood was complicated and agitated. He was a military general and did not like the civil service of being a prefect. However, the title that could be passed on to his descendants made him extremely happy.
"Your promotion today is actually a matter of course and has nothing to do with me." Yang Ji smiled and said to everyone: "Except for me, Liangzhou generals generally have a low starting point. Whether they are civil servants or not, , or generals, are all promoted based on real abilities, merits, and achievements. Although the speed of promotion is slower than that of children from aristocratic families, their basic qualifications are countless times higher than them. If there is a fair and fair fight for promotion in the future, the conditions will be better than theirs. good."
After pondering for a long time, he added: "Since ancient times, there has been no absolute fairness and justice, but you are also people in the court. As long as you maintain your original intention and do your job well, you don't have to worry about your career, let alone worry about being cheated. own merit."
Everyone nodded silently. The essence of competition between two countries and between factions is that the jungle prevails and the winner is king. In addition to officialdom, there are also factors such as worldliness, personal connections, overt and covert struggles, etc. Therefore, it is difficult to be promoted if there is no one in the government. . And the person in the court that Yang Ji was talking about was obviously himself.
Yang Shanhui stood up and asked: "Your Majesty, will you serve in the capital or return to Liangzhou?"
This is also a common concern of everyone. After hearing this, they all looked at Yang Ji who was sitting at the top.
"In the capital!" Yang Ji said, "The sage has appointed me as the prime minister of the discussion party today."
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, for being promoted to Prime Minister." Everyone was overjoyed and stood up to congratulate.
When everyone calmed down, Yang Shanhui asked: "Your Majesty, where is Liangzhou? Are you still serving as the shepherd of Liangzhou?"
This is also an issue that everyone is concerned about. Liangzhou is a supervisory state, located below the central government and above the county. If the "leader" is replaced by someone other than a prince, then Liangzhou Prefecture will automatically be demoted to the governor's office. Although it has no impact on everyone's officials and grades. But Yang Ji is the backbone of everyone's hearts. Although he, the Zhou Mu, doesn't do much in Liangzhou, everyone just can't live without him or leave him.
If the "leader" were replaced by another person, life would probably be difficult for everyone in Liangzhou. And even if the new state pastor or governor does not target them, everyone will be rejected, uncomfortable, and unhappy.
"Still serving concurrently!" Yang Ji paused and said, "This is also what I want to tell you. I am not in Liangzhou, and the military and political affairs of Liangzhou will be left to you. The other is the Western Region strategy of the Sui Dynasty. It will not stagnate or disappear. When we go back, we must train our troops well and never slack off."
Hearing what Yang Ji said, everyone immediately felt at ease, and each one responded happily: "I will obey my orders in my humble position/I will obey my orders in the end."
Yang Jifu explained again, then let everyone disperse, leaving only a few senior civil and military officials, and said: "Next, the imperial court will withdraw the redundant military mansions in the north, and I, Liangzhou, are among them."
He picked up the teapot, poured himself a cup, and then said: "The imperial court is not just talking, and it is very likely to send people to conduct overt inspections and secret inspections. Although I have confidence in Liangzhou, people's hearts are fickle, and the good officials in the past are , Good general, you may not be as pure and innocent now as before, so you must keep a close eye on me when you go back."
"If there is a problem with a certain military government, if there is no need for a certain military government to exist, report it immediately. You must not cheat, deliberately conceal, or deceive visiting court officials. In short, you must fully cooperate with the court and use the power of the court Use your strength to weed out those black sheep.”
"Here!" Yang Shanhui, the governor of Liang, was the leader here, so he agreed upon hearing the words.
"In addition, the year-end review will also come and will begin. Your comments to county officials must also be realistic." Yang Ji paused, sighed and said: "Liangzhou is a big place where aristocratic families and other factions want to infiltrate but cannot. State, now I am in the center again. So they are very likely to make a fuss about the withdrawal of the military government and the annual review of the Ministry of Personnel, and they are very likely to rate me as a particularly outstanding Shang Shang or Xia Xia official."
"If this is the case, they will have a high-sounding reason to send people to investigate. Once the local officials in Liangzhou are captured one after another, they will be able to extend their influence. But if we have no stains and no fraud, we will not be afraid of investigation at all. And their ambition to enter Liangzhou will also come to nothing."
The remaining people in the official office were all core members of the King Wei family, and there were personal guards taking care of them outside. Yang Ji didn't worry about being eavesdropped on what he said here, so he expressed his thoughts one by one.
"I understand, humble post! After humble post returns, immediately inform Li Yaoshi and all the Cao officials, and then clean up Liangzhou's military and political affairs." Yang Shanhui thought about it for a moment, and already understood Yang Ji's intention: that is, to set out on inspection at the imperial court. Before that, Liangzhou would conduct a self-examination and take down the bad apples first. Only in this way can Liangzhou take the initiative. Otherwise, Liangzhou will suffer.
If he didn't do anything but was found out by the imperial inspector, then the problem would not be as simple as self-correction.
Although he also had confidence in Liangzhou's officialdom, he was as worried as Yang Ji about "the fickleness of people's hearts." And no one will like this kind of rat shit that can harm a group of people.
"Yeah!" Yang Ji nodded and stopped mentioning Liangzhou.
After a while, Yang Shanhui raised his hand and asked, "Your Majesty, what are we going to do next?"
"Because of the withdrawal of the military government and the annual review of the officialdom, hundreds of civil and military officials in Beijing have become panicked. Some people even took the opportunity to find the mistakes and problems of political opponents. We can do the same, and we can deal with the Li family in Longxi in this way. Yang Ji was silent for a while, and then said: "If there are big problems in the direct line of the Li family in Longxi, as well as the side branches and direct relatives, we can also use the power of the court and the power of the law to bring them to justice."
"We don't even need to take action. As long as we let out a little bit of news at the critical moment of the picket and hand over the evidence of the crimes of the Li family in Longxi, then Censor Santai and those inspectors who plan to take the opportunity to make meritorious deeds will look like they have seen the smell of blood. Like a shark, it bit the Li family in Longxi like crazy."
"With the laws of the imperial court and the power of all the major factions, I don't believe that this so-called thousand-year-old family can't be killed."
Unauthorized surveillance of officials and their families was a crime in the Sui Dynasty. Once discovered, it would be a serious crime. The central government, local officials, and major factions all have their own shady secrets, so everyone fully supports this issue and this policy.
However, in order to seize the opportunity, the major factions still secretly monitor each other, but some content cannot be handed over openly. Once handed over, their secrets of spying on others will be exposed, so they are in a dilemma.
However, as an emperor, he actually likes major factions and major families to expose each other, but he cannot say it openly, so Yang Jian took advantage of the situation and created a "reporting box" system.
The establishment of this system and this box ostensibly provides people with a way to make complaints, but the people can learn very little about the content and the truth of the matter, and the people who report are often just petty officials who are close to them. , the content of his complaint is something that the big shot considers to be trivial and insignificant; the person he is complaining about is even more insignificant and insignificant.
Therefore, the fundamental purpose of Yang Jian's establishment of the "report box" system is to provide a convenient door for major factions and senior officials of the Central Department. With this method, each faction can write down what they have monitored and heard, and then put it into the "report box" anonymously.
This is a good thing for the whistle-blowers, and it is also a good thing for the emperor and the people. Therefore, under the public notice walls in each square in the two capitals, there are large "iron boxes for whistle-blowing" that cannot be burned, broken, or moved away. ".
What's more advanced is that the "report box" is classified like the trash cans of later generations. When reporting people of different levels, letters are put into the colored "mailboxes". 【historical facts】
And Yang Ji is also closely monitoring the Li family in Longxi and the descendants of the Li family who are officials, but he does not want to be accused of secretly spying on others, so the "reporting box" system also provides him with convenience, but what he wants to do is The matter is not as simple as just complaining to one or two people, so I have been withholding it and silently collecting evidence and waiting for the opportunity.
The opportunity he was waiting for was the annual review of the Ministry of Personnel and the upcoming withdrawal of the military government.
Yang Shanhui, Hao Yuan, Ling Jing, Wei Zheng, Yan Shixiang, Li Xuandao, Xue Ju, Wei Yunqi, Yuchi Gong, and Zong Luohu, who were left behind by Yang Ji, also knew about this.
They didn't have the slightest fondness for this kind of collaborating with the enemy and betraying the country, and almost killing their own family. They almost all hated it. Some generals who didn't know where to follow originally thought that Yang Ji would just let it go, and they still had some understanding in their hearts. After all, it didn't meet the requirements. Yang Ji's "personality".
When Yang Ji said this, he suddenly became excited.
Xue Ju pondered for a long time, bowed to Yang Ji, and said in a deep voice: "Your Majesty, the Li family in Longxi is not that easy to deal with. Even a saint has to be polite. If there are just a few scum, there is no way to let the Li family in Longxi It hurts the muscles and bones. If you want to eradicate it, it is even more idiotic."
"It doesn't matter!" Hao Yuan knew a lot about this matter and was the core of the core. He said with a smile: "When we conquered Goguryeo, things here didn't stop. Maybe now, there are a lot of things that are enough to make people happy. Evidence of the crime is that it injured the muscles and bones.”
"There are indeed some, and we are not fighting alone, we also have an ally Yu Wenshu." Yang Ji glanced at everyone and said slowly: "But everyone must not be careless and think of ways to get more. Only by gathering the evidence of crime in this way can we deal a fatal blow to the enemy. I am waiting for Yu Wenshu now!"
Ling Jing frowned and said: "Your Majesty, Yu Wenshu is still inspecting various military mansions in the north at this time. It is probably too late in time. And even if Yu Wenhuaji and Yuwen Shiji know about many things, they dare not make the decision. .”
"This is also something I want to discuss with us!" Yang Ji said: "I plan to send a person to meet with Yuwenshu to discuss with Yuwenshu on my behalf. Do you think it is more suitable?"
Xue Ju, Wei Yunqi, Yuchi Gong, and Zong Luohu stopped talking. They were military generals and had official positions. They were about to return to Liangzhou to take charge of promotions, pensions and other matters, and they couldn't leave at all.
"If possible, let the humble post go!" Ling Jing thought for a moment and said, "The humble post is just an official of the royal palace. It has no real duties and is not as eye-catching as Chengyuan."
"Okay, then let Jingzhi go find Yuwenshu!" The person Yang Ji intended to belong to was actually Ling Jing. Wei Zheng, Yan Shixiang, and Li Xuandao could also do it, but they were not of sufficient rank and did not dare to make decisions for him at critical moments. .
Ling Jing raised his hands and asked, "Your Majesty, I wonder when I can leave my humble post?"
"Of course, the sooner the better!" Yang Ji said, "Let's set off today. What do you think?"
"I obey my command!" Ling Jing stood up, saluted, and said to everyone, "I will go back to the city to prepare, so I can't send you back to Liangzhou."
Yang Shanhui said quickly: "The big things are the most important. I respect you and please do as you please. Don't worry about the little details."
"Excuse me, sir!" Everyone said one after another.
Ling Jing nodded and said to Yang Ji, "I'll say goodbye to my humble position!"
"Go and be careful." Yang Ji said.
"Here!" Ling Jing bowed and retreated.
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[The report box system was indeed created in Yang Jian's era, and its purpose was as mentioned above. Otherwise, he would not have just set it up outside the palace. It was not until the Li Shimin period that this system was carried forward and expanded to all districts in the capital. During Wu Zetian's period, it was even more exaggerated, and almost all counties and counties had it. 】
