However, although Liu Xian saw that Gao Pragmatic seemed to want to help Liu Wei, he was happy to see it happen, and even said he was a little grateful - after all, as long as he was reinstated, he would basically be in trouble except for the founding of the country. Except for the two hereditary martial ministers, there is not much hope for the peak military ministers to continue to rise, so it would be great for his son to become famous.
But he didn't think carefully about Gao Pragmatic's motivation for doing this. Of course, most people really couldn't see this. After all, not everyone can be as far-sighted as Gao Pragmatic and see so many years into the future. This is basically a perspective that only time travelers have.
Gao pragmatically made up his mind to take the civil service route. The most difficult part of the civil service route was the imperial examination. However, because of the advantage of his superior memory after time traveling, and because he had enough experience in "taking exams", he I am quite confident about passing the Jinshi exam.
In addition, he also did not give up an idea that was like opening a back door: to enter Zhu Yijun's field of vision early, it would be best to establish a good relationship with the future Wanli Emperor early, and even suggested that Gao Gong secretly promote this "Prince's Playmate" incident , the purpose is also to lay the foundation for obtaining the Holy Family in the future.
The power system of the Ming Dynasty is quite interesting to talk about: the emperor's power should be the greatest in theory, but the emperor was often controlled by the civil servant group, whether it was for posthumous reputation considerations or other reasons. The group worked against him, and he later did not have a good reputation. Even when he was in office, many things did not go smoothly.
For example, Emperor Wuzong Zhengde, although this man did have some problems, it was probably not as bad as what was said in later history books. However, because he offended the entire civil servant group, he was regarded as a typical example of a cowardly emperor.
Another example is that the Wanli Emperor Zhu Yijun was slandered in later generations as "the Ming Dynasty died in Wanli". Because he always asked for sick leave and refused to go to court, he was even dubbed by the civil servants as "the emperor's illness is caused by drinking, sex and wealth" - -By the way, this comment comes from Luo Yuren, the son of Luo Zun, a student of Gao Gongmen.
In fact, the main conflicts between Emperor Wanli and the civil servant group were the dispute over the country and the collection of mining taxes. Luo Yuren and Wanli also had a bit of a personal feud: as I said just now, his father was Luo Zun, and Luo Zun's kindness The phase is Gao Gong - Gao Gong was driven out of the capital and became an official as soon as Wanli ascended the throne. Although Empress Dowager Li and Wanli's mother and son were used by Zhang Juzheng and Feng Bao, after all, it was the emperor who issued the decree in name, and the emperor had been convinced that Gao Gong was unfaithful for many years, so Luo Yuren looked at Emperor Wanli It's definitely not going anywhere.
Returning to the topic, the emperor of the Ming Dynasty could attack or withdraw at any request to a certain civil servant or group of civil servants, but in fact he was controlled by the entire civil servant group - no matter how awesome you are, you cannot kill them all, otherwise the country Isn’t it over? Just like when Emperor Jiajing held a grand ceremony, he had to choose a civil servant like Yan Song to take power on his behalf. All in all, if there are no trusted ministers under the emperor to hold the power of the cabinet, it will be difficult for the imperial power itself to be extended.
But in addition to using trusted ministers to control the power of the cabinet, the emperor also had another way to control real power, and the effect was very good, but it usually had some troubles: reusing eunuchs.
Wang Zhi, Liu Jin, and Wei Zhongxian were the role models of the great eunuchs of the Ming Dynasty. However, no matter how powerful they were at the beginning and the civil servants suffered so much, they thought that they were really powerful, that they were overwhelming and powerful. In fact, their power comes entirely from the emperor. In many cases, they are just puppet targets created by the emperor's unwillingness to directly confront the civil service group.
The truly powerful eunuchs have to be seen in the late Tang Dynasty. The eunuchs who dethroned the emperor and established the emperor in a single thought were not at the same level as the so-called powerful eunuchs in the Ming Dynasty who were treated like tissue paper and thrown away after use - the Ming Dynasty only had The civil servant group can establish a new king, such as Yu Qianzhi established Zhu Qiyu, Yang Tinghe established Zhu Houcong. When did the eunuchs have a place to speak here?
Therefore, if I put it crudely here, it is because the emperor still wants to show off his face and come out directly to confront the civil servants. Although he may not be afraid of the civil servants group when he is alive, things may not be easy to handle, and secondly, he will definitely have no one after he dies. Good rating. So smart emperors would choose to use eunuchs as cannon fodder, such as Zhu Youxiao.
Of course, Jiajing's method was more clever. He realized that the strongest fortress must be conquered from the inside, so he did not use eunuchs, but used Zhang Cong, Yan Song and the like. According to Jiajing's opinion, I have no use for eunuchs, so you can't hack me, right?
He was still naive. As long as you asserted imperial power and harmed the interests of most civil servants, your reputation would not be much better after your death. Even Jiajing was scolded by Hai Rui before he died.
But although Gao Pragmatic knows all these things, he doesn't care too much because he doesn't care much about his posthumous reputation.
He knew very well that the emperor might not be happy with what he was going to do in the future, and the civil service group might not be very satisfied either. But in order for the Ming Dynasty or the Han Dynasty to maintain, he had to do these things, but the means had to be clever and he had to do it step by step. , one wrong step and you will be shattered into pieces.
Imperial power must gradually be restricted, and a person who inherits power by blood cannot decide all major world affairs with just one word; the civil servant group must also transfer some interests, and cannot give away everything. Of course, Gao Pragmatic will try his best to open up new sources of wealth for them. , just like the thinking of later generations, make the cake bigger and then discuss how to distribute it.
As for whether the status of generals needs to be improved, that is a matter for the future. Gao Pragmatic still knows how to focus on the big and let go of the small, and concentrate on ensuring key projects.
So in the final analysis, Gao Pragmatic wants to replace Yan Song's position, but try to avoid Yan Song's infamy - of course this is very difficult, and it may even be as difficult as heaven.
But if there is no challenge, how can I travel through time and make knitting? I'm not a victim of Qiong Yao's novels who traveled back in time just to fall in love.
However, whether it is powerful officials such as Liu Jin and Wei Zhongxian or powerful ministers such as Yan Song and Zhang Juzheng, their status is actually unstable, because their power only comes from within the power system, and within the power system, in the final analysis, the highest position is the emperor. Regardless of whether they are eunuchs or powerful ministers, their power is actually borrowed from imperial power.
The darkest corner of Gao Pingshi's heart is that he plans to quietly build a team so that his personal strength will be so strong that no one dares to despise or act rashly. At this time, he is still sitting in a high position second only to the emperor in the power system...
Walking on a tightrope over a cliff makes you feel uneasy just thinking about it. It's really a wise choice to die.
However, there are many types of teams, as well as strengths.
