The prince, the legal successor of the empire, has a status second only to the emperor.
The East Palace has a relatively complete set of government agencies, its own subordinate officials, and even its own army. It is roughly like a mini-court.
However, the East Palace institution is not a statutory authority in the administrative system. In normal court operations, there is no regular port for the prince to participate in government affairs.
If you want the prince to formally participate in the core of the imperial court, you usually have to add the title of Supervisor to him, so that he can become the real second in command of the empire.
The prince's supervision of the country was relatively common in the Tang Dynasty, and lasted for about two hundred years. However, it became rare in the Song Dynasty.
As we all know, the main feature of the Song Dynasty's political system was to strengthen centralization of power. The system design was full of balance and constraints, and strict precautions were taken to prevent civil servants, military generals, concubines, relatives, clan members, eunuchs and others from monopolizing power.
Simply speaking, in order to prevent the prince from disrupting the government, he has been deliberately weakening the power of the East Palace, diluting the actual authority of the East Palace, setting the subordinate officials of the East Palace as virtual officials, and generally not allowing the princes and princes to participate in political discussions.
As for supervising the country, there were only four times. Among them, the two times of Song Huizong and Song Qinzong were emergency periods of urgent war, and the other two were during the periods of Song Zhenzong and Song Xiaozong.
Zhenzong was in poor health, so he nominally asked the prince to supervise the country, but Zhao Zhen was only nine years old and had no such ability, so it was actually Queen Liu E who made the decisions on the government.
Xiaozong wanted to mourn the Supreme Emperor Zhao Gou for three years, so he asked Zhao Dun to participate in the decision-making of general affairs. At that time, many ministers were opposed to it and often reminded Zhao Dun to listen to Xiaozong's suggestions before making decisions on government affairs.
In other words, the form of Zhao Dun's supervision of the country is far greater than the substance. In fact, he has no decision-making power.
After that, there was no such thing as a prince supervising the country.
However, it was also from Xiaozong that the restrictions on princes' participation in politics were relaxed. During court meetings, princes could stand beside the throne to listen to political decisions.
The prince can also serve as a dispatcher, and can even serve as an actual official in the local area. For example, the king of Wei Zhao Kai went out of town and once judged Ningguo Mansion and Mingzhou.
In other words, from now on, whether the prince can participate in politics and to what extent he participates in politics depends on the emperor's own will.
However, most civil servants still adhere to the concept that princes are not allowed to participate in politics. After all, the dualization of power can easily lead to many hidden dangers.
What's more, what Zhao Yun gave Zhao Mengqi was a supervisor and a regent, which meant that he was to become the acting emperor...
After confirming that he heard correctly, Prime Minister Dong Huai went out to report, "Your Majesty, it is not necessary for the prince to command the army and supervise the country. Now that the government is stable and the Holy Body is in good health, there is no need to take such a policy. Your Majesty, please Think twice!”
It can also be heard from these words that he has no objection to the appointment of King Yan as the crown prince. In fact, most of the officials have already acquiesced in King Yan's status as crown prince. Whether to make him the crown prince or not is just a matter of title, not to mention King Yan. The treatment he received now was actually much higher than that of ordinary princes.
Even though Zhao Guan's family now has a biological son, those who oppose King Yan dare not openly say Yi Chu's words easily, otherwise they will only be accused of having ulterior motives.
At this time, those who opposed Zhao Mengqi's supervision of the country were not necessarily opposed to King Yan himself.
For example, Cheng Yuanfeng, the Privy Councilor, also reported after Dong Huai, "Gai heard that there are no two emperors in the world, and the people have no two masters. Now that your majesty is here, you have also appointed a supervisor to regent the country. This is a state with two kings."
"Since ancient times, there has never been a country that was not in danger if there were two countries. If there are two countries, the hearts of the world will turn against each other. If the hearts of the people turn against each other, they will form factions with each other. When factions are established, there will be slanderous talk. When slanderous talk starts, there will be a gap between father and son. It cannot be opened. Recombination, the gaps cannot be restored!"
"At that time, King Wuling of Zhao and Emperor Taizong of Tang both suffered from this disadvantage. I also tried to practice it during the Jubilee Year of Chaotian. If it had not been for King Kou Zhun, life would have changed drastically."
"This is an unfortunate thing for the ancients. We should be careful and warn you. I ask your Majesty to take back your order."
After the two bosses expressed their opinions, not many ministers agreed with it. Everyone seemed to be still analyzing the pros and cons.
The ministers of King Yan's line also felt that the current time was not suitable for King Yan to ascend the throne, but they did not know King Yan's own thoughts for a while, so they did not dare to express their stance easily.
As for the opposition, one of their original plans was to put King Yan on the hook, not only to make him take the blame for the 'mistakes' that would occur, but also to cause conflicts between him and the Zhao Guan family.
When the time comes, he will use various means to stir up trouble and sow discord, causing King Yan to lose the "popular support" and the trust and support of Zhao Guan's family, so that he can be legitimately deposed.
This method of struggle is what the opposition is good at, and it is relatively safe and secure, and will basically not bring any future troubles to themselves.
But at this time, they were a little undecided, because they found that the Zhao Guan family's trust in King Yan was much beyond their expectations, as if they were eager to hand over all their power to King Yan as soon as possible...
If this official family really has no desire for power at all, why are they so instigating?
Chen Dafang fell into this embarrassing situation and didn't know what choice to make for a moment. Should he be ordered to draft an imperial edict or should he return the title?
Forget it, let’s stick to the safest strategy. After all, people’s minds are not immune to change. If you work harder, I don’t believe you can’t change the minds of the officials...
With this in mind, Chen Dafang was about to take up the task of writing lyrics, but Zhao Mengqi spoke.
"Father, I also ask you to take back your life. It's just a few flies buzzing right now. Although it's a bit annoying, it's not worth fighting, nor is it worth your anger."
"These urgent reports from several states sound scary, but our country has been in existence for nearly three hundred years. How can this little trick be able to shake it?"
"My minister suggested that an imperial edict should be sent to these states and order the local officials and gentry to quell the riots within a time limit. Otherwise, the imperial court will send out troops to quell the disturbances. Then everyone will be destroyed."
As soon as this implicit threat came out, the officials were shocked.
King Yan had no intention of following the routine at all. He didn't care how many twists and turns there were. He just tied the local officials and powerful people to the local chaos and created a super combo.
We don't have time to find out who is causing the trouble and how. Anyway, please calm down the matter for me. Otherwise, the court will be forced to send troops. Then we will cut the seedlings and weeds together. I ask you if you are afraid! ?
This kind of rogue trick would definitely not be used by a normal court, but it was hard to say for King Yan, maybe he could actually do it.
At this time, the Song Dynasty's regime was still in a stable period, and the central government had not lost its authority. It still had the ability and capital to do this, but it would definitely be criticized.
"Absolutely not!" Ma Tianji hurriedly left work, "How can the court impose responsibilities on innocent gentry without asking the right and wrong, and the indisputable facts? Where is the outline of the court? Where is the legal principle?"
"Haha, I think everyone here knows why these chaos happened. Some people are trying to use local stability to kidnap the imperial court. Can't the imperial court use this to kidnap them in turn?"
Zhao Mengqi looked disdainful, who said I must play according to your game rules?
Just like in a casino, although I can't see how you can make a fortune, it doesn't stop me from flipping the table.
Ma Tianji saw that King Yan was being unreasonable and understood that talking more was useless, so he hurriedly bowed to the throne and said, "Your Majesty, the court's actions must be based on laws and evidence. You must not let King Yan do whatever he wants."
"Yes, if we do this, what's the difference between the imperial court and the local ruffians?" Chen Dafang also went out to express his objection.
A group of other ministers also advised and prevented Zhao Guan's family from accepting this approach.
Zhao Guanjia, who was sitting on the throne, saw his son's threat and frightened the bandanas into panic. He couldn't help but feel a little funny and his anger subsided.
In fact, he was very tempted by his son's suggestion, but after all, he was still an orthodox emperor and could not be so unscrupulous.
"My lords, don't panic, King Yan was just joking..."
The ministers finally resisted the urge to roll their eyes. What a joke! ? When did it become possible to joke casually in court?
"The imperial court has its own rules and must not act recklessly like this. The only way to do this is to be upright and upright, but we cannot allow the place to rot. Do you have any clever ideas to solve this problem?"
When asked how to solve the problem, these ministers were speechless again.
When Zhao Mengqi saw that Old Zhao did not accept his suggestion, there was no annoyance on his face. Instead, he smiled and said, "Since Ma Shilang feels that Gu's method is not suitable, I think there must be a suitable solution."
Then he turned to Lao Zhao and said, "In this case, I suggest that Minister Ma go to Anji Prefecture. If the incident cannot be settled within ten days and economic work can be resumed, it means that Minister Ma is not worthy of the position, so he should go back to his hometown to farm. ...Well, if we propose that Chen Zhongshu go to the three states in southern Zhejiang, if he cannot make any achievements in half a month, then he might as well resign and beg for leave."
Zhao Guanjia nodded while listening, and asked hypocritically, "This suggestion is just a bit of advice. I wonder what Minister Ma and Chen Zhongshu think of it?"
"This..." Ma Tianji felt a little dizzy and found that he seemed to be trapped. If he refused, wouldn't he go back to the suggestion made by King Yan just now?
So he just had to bite the bullet and said, "I am willing to go."
Chen Dafang also hid his wry smile and said, "I am also willing to go."
"Perfect!" Zhao Mengqi raised his hands and raised the corners of his mouth, "Okay, we've arranged the fly swatting. It's time to return to Fujian Road."
Zhao Guan's family secretly praised their son's skill in building the plank road openly and secretly infiltrating Chencang, and solved the trouble easily, so his mood gradually improved.
"Suppressing rebellion is not a child's play. The safety of King Yan is even more important. Five thousand soldiers and horses are too weak. I would like to ask all the ministers to work together to select another ten thousand capable troops!"
The Zhao Guan family naturally realized that the riots in several states at this juncture were probably to delay the imperial court's military strength and reduce the number of troops Zhao Mengqi could take away, so they had to provide more.
The ministers were all troubled when they saw that the matter had returned to this troublesome issue.
Only Zhao Mengqi looked relaxed, waved his hands and said, "Don't bother everyone, I will lead Ma Xingsi's right army to deal with the bandits. More than five thousand soldiers and horses are enough. As for my own safety, don't I still have the Eastern Guard?" ."
Originally, the ministers did not consider that there were more than 30,000 Dongwei soldiers in total. They were a group of child soldiers who had only been established for more than a year and had not gone through battle formations. Their combat power was probably not as good as that of Lin'an's soldiers.
However, King Yan said that it would be feasible if it was only used for guarding. After all, the number of people was there, but the logistical pressure would be much greater, which would increase the expenses of the expedition, but there seemed to be no other better way at the moment.
Then Zhao Mengqi said, "Give me the Dinghai Army again. I plan to take the sea route and need protection."
The full name of the Dinghai Navy is "Dinghai Garrison Yuqian Navy". It is affiliated to the Coastal Department and is stationed in Qingyuan Prefecture. It was established during the reign of Emperor Xiaozong and has grown to a full strength of 6,000 people. However, some troops must be rotated to garrison in Shanghai every year.
Originally there were 1,100 people, but under the influence of Zhao Mengqi, it was changed to 2,000.
Although there were many naval forces in the Song Dynasty, there were very few that could be considered a 'navy'. After all, there were basically no maritime threats in the Song Dynasty, and the navy was definitely one of the few navies.
The imperial court did not pay attention to the navy, but Zhao Mengqi would not ignore it. He not only strengthened the Zhejiang Navy, but also paid great attention to the development of the Dinghai Navy. Over the past year, he had given a lot of support to the Dinghai Navy, and its ship armament had improved qualitatively. leap.
The Zhejiang navy is now responsible for the Japanese side and cannot be deployed. Zhao Mengqi had previously planned to use the Dinghai navy in the strategy of attacking Liuqiu, but now he has moved south ahead of schedule.
The troops requested by King Yan will not affect local defense. Some people disagree and can't find a reason. Most of them don't take Dongwei seriously.
Then Zhao Mengqi briefly elaborated on his ideas for countering the rebellion. It was quite satisfactory, and the ministers felt that there was no problem. The Zhao family was even more satisfied, so they struck while the iron was hot and the court completed the appointment process of King Yan.
Then Zhao Mengqi's official title became super long again. King of Yan, Tiance General, opened the mansion, gave the door halberd, added Zhang Jun's state affairs, censor doctor, inspected all in front of the palace, Southeast Jiedushi, promoted Learn new things about the city.
Among them, General Tiance was added on a whim by Zhao Guan's family, and the minister thought it didn't matter and had no objection.
When talking about General Tiance, most people think of Li Er, but it also happened in the Song Dynasty. Zhenzong of Song Dynasty named his elder brother Zhao Yuanzuo, King of Chu, as General Tiance, and gave him swords and shoes to go to the palace. The edict was not named.
This thing is an honorary title without a title, indicating nobility. It is above the prince and the three princes, second only to the three divisions, and is the head of the military attache.
For Zhao Mengqi, it has no practical use, it just sounds good.
Later, the imperial court also appointed Zhu Yi to concurrently serve as the marching commander of the Southeast Jiedu Prefecture and military counselor. It also appointed Chen Wei as a bachelor of Guanwen Palace, a counselor of political affairs and a Tongzhi of the Privy Council, to assist King Yan in quelling the rebellion.
As for Zhao Mengqi's other officials in the shogunate, he can select and transfer them by himself and then submit them to the officials for imperial approval. This degree of freedom is unprecedented.
Then there is the discussion of relevant specific matters. After all, there are many matters involved in the expedition.
A court meeting ended at nightfall. The officials dragged their tired bodies out of the palace, and Zhao Mengqi also went back to make preparations.
