Li Xian cupped his hands and said, "My son, I understand."
He knew very well how much he weighed. Although when he was in office, his relationship with his classmates was so good that teachers in all subjects were jealous, but there was a difference between controlling a class and controlling a court, a court, or a world. In fact, one is in the sky and the other is on the ground. At least, the students don't have so many conspiracies.
"As for the last balancing technique, it is actually about controlling the overall situation."
"The late emperor was broad-minded when he was in power. He led the Tang Dynasty to build up the country through hundreds of battles, and he was so powerful that all nations came to court. Compared with him, Emperor Gaozu eclipsed him. Because of this, the majesty of the late emperor can be said to be hundreds of thousands. The first person in the year.”
"Under such circumstances, the appearance of Wei Zheng is actually the late emperor's balancing act for himself. Because an emperor who holds great power and has a long history can easily lose control of his evil thoughts. Many times, if the leader is weak and the ministers are strong, the world will inevitably Chaos. If the Lord is too strong and the ministers are too weak, the world will be in chaos."
"Because of this, the relationship between the emperor and his courtiers is actually a kind of balance. The emperor controls the court, so that the officials work conscientiously, and the courtiers control the emperor to prevent the emperor from doing anything wrong because of the imperial power in his hands."
Li Xian was shocked when he heard Li Zhi's words. He never imagined that the relationship between the emperor and the ministers had such a layer to it. If you think about it carefully, it is true that many emperors acted unscrupulously because they had too much power, and finally became cowards.
If Wei Zheng was chosen by Emperor Taizong to set a yoke on him, then Emperor Taizong was not as unbearable as he thought. At least, he has a clear understanding of himself and how to control his nonsense.
Being an emperor is already very good if you can do this.
"Surprising, huh? But that's what it is."
Seeing Li Xian's surprised look, Li Zhi was not prepared to say more on this point. After all, the prince is still just a prince at the moment. As for whether he can suppress the evil thoughts in his heart after he becomes the emperor in the future, it is a matter for him to think about. He talks too much now, which is not good.
I think back to what Prince Cheng Qian said back then: "If I were the emperor, I would indulge my desires. If there are ministers who advise me, I would kill them. If I kill five hundred, wouldn't it be certain?"
This is the evil thought that bursts out after being suppressed to a certain extent. It is hard to imagine what he will be like after becoming emperor. The old events of the Sui Dynasty may very well happen again in the Tang Dynasty.
Clearing his throat, Li Zhi continued: "The emperor controls the courtiers, and the ministers limit the emperor. This is the first point of the balancing technique. As for the balancing technique, it can also be used for the emperor to control the courtiers. The emperor is only one person, there is no way Worry about the whole world. That’s why the imperial court exists. Centralization of power does not mean concentrating all power in the hands of the emperor, but it means weakening the power of local officials and concentrating it in the capital and the imperial court."
"Because of this, some powers are destined to be delegated to courtiers, so there are three provinces, six ministries and nine temples."
"As for the decentralization of power, the emperor must ensure that these individuals who have obtained power cannot obtain more power. In particular, there must be no situation where one minister dominates the court. Therefore, it is necessary to balance the ministers. . Take Zhang Wenguan as an example. Zhang Wenguan is now the Minister and is considered one of the most powerful people among the court officials. In order to balance, I set the Minister of Xitai to be someone who has a grudge against him. "
"Looking at the entire court, you will find that I often arrange rivals between chief officials and subordinates. In this way, a certain chief official cannot completely control a department or a province. In government affairs, we dare not interfere casually. Selfishly, because if he did this, he would be easily impeached by his subordinates.”
"After giving this example, can you understand the art of balancing?"
Li Xian nodded. In fact, the balancing technique is not difficult. After all, the emperor is the one who holds the scale, and the courtiers are the weights at both ends of the scale. As an emperor, you must ensure that one side is not too heavy, and you must always reduce the weight on the heavier side, or add weight to the lighter side.
It is not difficult to understand, but in practice, it is not that simple.
Li Xian knew very well that being an emperor was not that simple. People in the world only knew that being an emperor was a pleasure, but they often overlooked that if you want to wear the crown, you must bear its weight.
It is difficult to be an emperor, even to be a faint emperor, and even more difficult to be a conservative emperor.
As for becoming an emperor-level figure through the ages...
It is even more difficult to the power of difficulty.
Cupping his hands, Li Xian said: "I understand, but understanding is understanding, and doing is doing. If you want to fully understand, I'm afraid I will have to observe politics for a long time, learn from you, and finally try it myself."
Li Zhi laughed loudly: "That's right, I thought I had learned it at first, but it took me a long time to figure it out when I put it into practice. How can you be an exception?"
Li Zhi is very satisfied with Li Xian's ability to face himself and be modest and prudent.
What he fears most is that Li Xian, like himself, jumped from an ordinary vassal king to a prince, and could easily get lost in the huge transformation.
Taking a long breath, Li Zhi continued: "I will tell you this much today. Although you have memorized these nine items, the Five Arts of Controlling People and the Four Arts of Controlling Ministers, you still need to think about it carefully. .”
"Oh, by the way, Zhang Wenguan, Hao Chujun, and Liu Rengui are full of praise for you. It's great that you can be so open-minded and learn from them, and it's recognized by them. Originally, I should have rewarded you, but I think your East Palace is not short of money, so I decided..."
"I'll give you a good horse. Since you practice martial arts, you must learn to ride a horse."
Li Zhi waved to the outside, and along with his words, Jiang Hao led a green-robed official and several servants leading horses over.
Send a horse?
Li Xian couldn't help but stood up and looked at the horses.
They are all ponies, and their hair is very nice. As for the rest...
have no idea....
In his previous life, he only rode a horse and was led around for a while. In this life, he had never learned how to read horses, and he didn't know how to choose a good horse. Besides, the foals in front of me are all foals, which seem to have just stopped breastfeeding. How to judge whether the horse is good or not in this state?
The green-robed official stood outside the pavilion and saluted: "Wang Hao, the humble minister and the horse supervisor, pays homage to the saint and pays homage to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince."
Li Zhi stood up with the teacup and said to Li Xian: "These are fine horses bred from the fine horses donated by Yuma Jian from the Western Regions, Liaodong, Beihai and other places. They are the generals I rewarded for leading the army. They are also from Yuma Jian." Choose horses. Wang Hao, come and explain to the prince."
Wang Hao agreed and pointed to the first horse and introduced: "Your Highness, this horse is the descendant of the Western Region Horse and the North Sea Horse. You see, it is still small now, and its body is so tall, especially its hind legs. You Look, this is the type of legs that only the best horses have!"
Wang Hao explained over and over while stroking the pony's legs, just like stroking the legs of a gentleman in stockings.
Seeing what he was about to say, Li Xian reached out to stop him.
But judging from the coat color, he passed on the brown and slightly blond pony, which was too hot.
Other than that, the other horses are quite pleasing to the eye.
When it comes to picking things, Li Xian always picks things by chance. This is mainly related to his difficulty in making choices. Since these horses are all carefully selected from the Royal Horse Supervisor, I don't think there will be much difference.
In this case, instead of striving for perfection, it is better to just choose the ones that look promising.
He walked from left to right, then from right to left. Finally, Li Xian stopped in front of a black horse.
The little dark horse was not afraid at all. Seeing Li Xian extend his hand, he even put his head towards him for him to touch.
Taking a look at the lightning-like white lines on the black horse's face and its snow-white hooves, Li Xian said without hesitation: "That's it."
Seeing that the prince actually chose this horse, the horse supervisor quickly raised his hand and said: "Your Highness, if you must choose this horse, please allow me to say more. Although this horse is a sweat-blooded horse, it is not If you don’t know how to sweat blood, why don’t we send people to the Western Regions to look for it and see if we can find you a pure sweat-blooded horse?”
Li Xian curled his lips, took the reins from the Royal Horse Supervisor's servant, and tried to lead the pony for two steps. Although it had only stopped breastfeeding not long ago, it was already very obedient.
Nodding with satisfaction, Li Xian said: "That's it. Others, I don't like it."
Li Zhi walked out with a smile and said, "Since the prince likes this horse, let it be it. Wang Hao, please select a good groom from the Royal Horse Supervisor and send it to the East Palace."
"I obey the order."
Wang Hao didn't understand why the saint would support the prince's choice of this horse. You must know that when he was in the horse supervision department, he insisted that the prince would choose the first horse.
Although he was confused, he didn't ask any more questions and left with his servants.
Seeing Li Xian leading the horse to the flower bed and pulling grass to feed the horse himself, Li Zhi suddenly smiled even happier.
In his opinion, the prince picked his favorite horse, which made him more happy than picking the best horse.
In this way, one day in the future...
Li Zhi's cold and pitiful eyes flashed away, and he walked to Li Xian and said: "The late emperor taught me that if you want a horse to understand people's hearts, you have to start from a young horse and get closer to it. I send you You, this horse, will have to see the results one day in the future."
Li Xian nodded and said with a smile: "Aye, don't worry, I'm confident."
"Okay, I'm back, you don't have to send me off."
Li Zhi nodded with satisfaction and did not bother Li Xian to feed the horse. Instead, he ordered Jiang Hao to drive back to Daming Palace.
Holding the pony with one hand and watching Li Zhi leave, Li Xian sighed involuntarily when he saw the pony eating greedily.
How do you say that? If you want to achieve great things, you can also kill your closest relatives.
Li Zhi's behavior of giving away the horse was really suspicious. He is the one who is most anxious to cultivate himself, why would he give him a horse to distract him?
After all...
Looking at the pony, Li Xian reached out and patted its neck, and said helplessly: "One day in the future, I don't know if I can save your horse's life! But don't worry, if it were you and I really couldn't escape this... Zed, at least I will let you leave without pain."
With a sigh, Li Xian looked at Li Yun and ordered: "Instruct the craftsmen to start building a house in Yichun Beiyuan, and at the same time, build a stable in Yichun Beiyuan. From tomorrow on, when I practice martial arts alone in the morning, let The groom brought this horse to the martial arts arena."
Li Yun agreed. Although he couldn't bear it, he still said: "Your Highness, why don't you give this horse a name?"
"Look at the white lines on its facing bones. It's called lightning."
After saying that, he took a look at the sky, and Li Xian personally held the horse and let it eat the grass in the flower bed.
Li Yun, who was about to go down and give the order, couldn't help but sigh when he saw the prince feeding the horse. At this moment, he felt pity for His Highness the Crown Prince.
Prince Li Zhong experienced it at the beginning, Prince Li Hong also experienced it, and now, Prince Li Xian has experienced it again.
The so-called lonely man, the emperor is destined to be in a high position and suffer the cold. For the stability of the Tang Dynasty, especially for the stability of the throne, he must be ruthless when necessary.
Cruelty needs to be cultivated. In the past, it was killing chickens and sheep, but now it is time to kill horses. It is no longer simply killing horses, but killing with your own hands the treasure you regard as your own. At this time, His Royal Highness the Prince did not know that the more he cared about the horse, the more painful it would be when he did it in the future.
Several times just now, he couldn't help but remind His Highness the Crown Prince. But, he didn't dare. After all, the most terrifying people in the Tang Dynasty were the saints.
Sighing again, he left the martial arts arena and went to give orders.
After feeding the horse for half an hour, when the groom from the Royal Horse Supervisor came to report, Li Xian handed the lightning to him.
Without thinking about what he would experience in the future, Li Xian knew very well that although he could see through the emperor's thoughts, he had to follow his script. As for whether he can save Lightning's life when that day comes in the future, it all depends on his own performance.
If he couldn't, his resistance would be ineffective. He was sure that even if he couldn't do it, someone would tie a knife to his hand and control him.
There is no resistance to the royal perverted education.
It was still some time before dark, so Li Xian walked to the study, dismissed everyone, and sorted out today's gains alone.
The five skills of controlling the people are to nip danger in the bud. Of course, judging from the fact that dynasties have changed so many times, this method can only be said to treat the symptoms rather than the root cause. The people can be made stupid by the rulers, but they are not really stupid. If you can't survive, who cares whether you have dignity or not, they will still rebel against you.
As for the four techniques of controlling ministers, there is still some truth to them. In particular, the art of grace and balance need to be studied carefully.
Putting the two together, the core idea of the Emperor's Art can be summarized.
That is....
Do whatever you can, regardless of good or bad methods, as long as you can secure the throne.
The Three-Character Classic says that people are inherently good by nature, but the Emperor's Art treats everyone except himself as a bad guy to be wary of.
Taking out the pen and writing the word "throne" on the paper, Li Xian couldn't help but smile bitterly.
Just these two words, I don’t know how many people were killed.
