Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 5070: His Majesty's Conspiracy
Liu Li rushed into the duty room with great momentum.

Ma Zhou sat down at his desk and did not stand up to greet him. He just took a sip of tea and looked at Liu Li with a serious expression.

Liu Li strode forward and stopped in front of the desk. He looked down at her and asked in a deep voice, "It is your majesty's will to promote Concubine Shen to Zhaoyi. The imperial edict was drafted by the Secretariat. Why did the Minister of the Interior reject it?"

Although Ma Zhou was sitting, his momentum was not diminished. He said calmly: "The words of the Minister of the Central Secretariat are wrong. It is not me, Ma Zhou, who refuted the imperial edict, but the Ministry of Personnel made a unanimous decision after discussion."

Although he rarely participated in struggles, he was not ignorant of them. How could he easily fall into Liu Li's verbal trap?
The meaning and intensity of an individual's refutation of an imperial edict and the collective refutation of an imperial edict by the entire yamen are different.

What's more, how could he be accused of "covering the sky with one hand"?

Liu Li snorted coldly and glanced at Cui Shenji who was standing on the side with his hands behind his back.

Cui Shenji bowed and said, "This humble official greets the Minister of the Central Secretariat."

Liu Li nodded coldly in response.

His father, Cui Yixuan, was a veteran official of the Wude Dynasty and a veteran of three dynasties. He was now exiled as the governor of Wuzhou. He had a lot of experience and had a good relationship with him in his early years...

Then, Liu Li looked at Ma Zhou again: "The affairs of the harem are naturally decided by your majesty. How can we, the outsiders, interfere? Besides, Concubine Shen is pregnant, so it is reasonable for her to be promoted to a higher level."

Ma Zhou shook his head, "I have never heard of a concubine being promoted because of pregnancy. If your majesty wants to promote Concubine Shen to a higher rank, you can wait until she gives birth to a prince. If you are eager to promote her to Zhaoyi now, how will you reward and confer a title if she really gives birth to a prince in the future? A mere Concubine, with no prominent family background and no great contributions to the country, is it possible that she should be promoted to Concubine?"

It is not impossible for a concubine to be promoted to concubine after giving birth to a prince, but there are many conditions to be met first.

For example, if one's family background is prominent, one's father and brothers have made great contributions to the country, or if one's son is crowned a king...

But now Concubine Shen is just pregnant, and we don’t even know whether it’s a boy or a girl. How can she be promoted to a higher position?
What's more, there are many children who die at birth, even in the royal family. Even if she gives birth to a prince but fails to raise him to adulthood, will her rank be lowered in the future?
Liu Li looked directly at Ma Zhou and asked, "So, the Ministry of Personnel insisted on rejecting the imperial edict and disobeying Your Majesty?"

Ma Zhou said: "There are rules for the promotion of concubines. How can one go beyond one's rank? The Ministry of Personnel dare not obey the edict."

Liu Li looked stern and nodded, saying, "If that's the case, then let's wait until the court meeting to listen to the ministers' opinions. Goodbye!"

"No delivery!"

Watching Liu Li turn around and walk out of the duty room, Ma Zhou, who had never stood up from beginning to end, took a sip of tea and frowned.

Cui Shenji quickly escorted Liu Li out of the government office, turned around, poured out the tea leaves in the teapot, and took boiling water from the stove in the next room to make a new pot of tea.

He filled the teacup on the table to seven-tenths full, put the teapot down, and whispered, "What does the Minister of the Central Secretariat want to do? Since the Ministry of Personnel has rejected the imperial edict, and the Censorate is also planning to impeach the Ministry of the Central Secretariat, it is obvious that this imperial edict cannot be passed no matter what. Why is it being discussed at the court meeting?"

Many things may cause large-scale opposition, but they can still be implemented. The reason is that they are first discussed and compromised within a small circle to form fait accompli. When it comes to implementation, even if there are different opinions from the outside world, they will gradually calm down when they see that it cannot be changed.

This was the case with the enthronement of a Zhaoyi. The Secretariat drafted the edict, the Ministry of Personnel reviewed and approved it, and the royal family recorded it on a jade disc... If this could be done privately, even if the Censorate later initiated an impeachment and there were different discussions in the court and the public, it would probably not be able to reverse the facts.

But now the second step has been rejected, which is enough to show that this matter goes against common sense and is unpopular, and can almost be declared a failure.

If we bring it to the court for discussion, there will only be more opponents and there is no chance of it being passed.

Isn't Liu Li bringing shame upon himself by doing this?
And the key person who was "humiliated" was not Liu Li, but Your Majesty...

Ma Zhou pondered for a moment and said with emotion: "If your Majesty can maintain such a strong will, it will be a blessing."

Cui Shenji was stunned for a moment, and suddenly realized: "But if it doesn't work, wouldn't it be counterproductive and the loss outweigh the gain?"

Ma Zhou said meaningfully: "Those who dare to speak out and disobey the emperor's will will certainly be regarded as loyal ministers of the country, but at the same time it also means that they have no respect for the imperial power... Are you willing to bear such an evaluation in history?"

Cui Shenji quickly shook his head: "To speak out against the emperor is to stop him from making disobedient orders, but how dare I have the slightest intention of disrespecting the emperor, the emperor and his subjects, the superiors and the inferiors?"

He already understood the intention of His Majesty and Liu Li, which was to create a situation in the court that "everyone in the world is against the emperor", completely arouse public opinion, and put himself in a "weak" or even "bullied" position.

Let's just bet that the ministers value their reputation and reputation and are unwilling to bear the stigma of "abusing the monarch."

It is indeed wrong to skip the level of promotion, but in the final analysis it is just the emperor's family affair. Just because of such a small matter, the emperor was attacked and opposed by the entire court, and was put in the position of a "stupid ruler". How rampant were the ministers?

"Your Majesty is courageous and determined to fight to the death!"

"I'm just afraid that I won't be able to use all my courage. If I give up halfway, it will be more trouble than it's worth."

Ma Zhou sighed.

The demands of ministers on their kings are actually very complicated.

Ministers hate extremely powerful kings who have great prestige and whose orders are as heavy as mountains. Ministers have no room for rebuttal and can only carry them out. They will not listen to any advice or remonstrance. For example, Emperor Yang of Sui seemed to have great talent and outstanding abilities, but in fact he acted on his own and was stubborn and conceited, and ended up making a mess of the entire empire.

Ministers also hate weak kings who believe everything others say and have no opinions of their own and no sense of responsibility. This results in multiple policies being issued by different departments and orders changing every day. The government and the people are at a loss as to what to do. The more they do, the more mistakes they make, and if they do nothing, they make no mistakes. The entire administration is corrupt and rotten, and it becomes irreversible, dragging the entire empire into the abyss.

The most perfect king is naturally one who has great prestige, outstanding ability, and can listen to the advice of his subjects and examine his own mistakes, such as Emperor Taizong...

But there have been countless emperors throughout history, but how many of them can be compared to Emperor Taizong or even better than him?
As Li Chengqian was the son of Emperor Taizong and was almost deposed at one point, it is inevitable that he will be compared with Emperor Taizong.

This is extremely unfair.

Therefore, the ministers did not have very high expectations for Li Chengqian. As long as he could be upright, resolute and willing to take responsibility, that would be enough.

But even this is not easy to do...

*****
Sun Chuyue hurried into the duty room, took a deep breath, and then said in a hurry: "Reporting to the emperor, the Ministry of Personnel just rejected the imperial edict of the Ministry of Central Secretariat. The Minister of Central Secretariat went to the Ministry of Personnel to argue with the Minister of the Court. Although he was refuted by the Minister of the Court, he did not give up. He threatened to read the imperial edict in public at the court meeting, and all the civil and military officials discussed it together. It seems that he is determined to win!"

Liu Xiangdao sat upright on a chair in front of the window, sipping his tea slowly, and said, "It looks like they are determined to win, so they are definitely determined to win? What do you think of this?"

Sun Chu hesitated for a moment and whispered, "I think the Zhongshu Ling's move is nothing short of self-humiliation. No matter whether the civil officials in the court are honest or corrupt, they all claim to be upright on the surface. They all want to emulate Duke Wen Zhen and take pride in opposing the emperor's edict. If the matter of conferring the title of Zhaoyi is only discussed and compromised in private, there may be a chance of success. But once it is brought to the court for discussion, there is absolutely no chance of success."

Liu Xiangdao asked in return: "You can see clearly, so why do you think the Minister of the Central Secretariat can't see it?"

"This……"

Sun Chuyue was stunned.

Yes, I know all this truth, so how could the Minister of the Secretariat not know it?

Who among those who can sit in a position like the Minister of the Secretariat does not have great political talent?
"I am a stupid person, please help me solve my confusion."

Sun Chuyue asked sincerely for advice.

For an official, talent is rare, but experience is more important. Some things need to be felt, understood, and summarized from experience. If there is a senior who is willing to support and teach as a guide in the officialdom, many detours can be avoided and future achievements will be limitless.

Liu Xiangdao obviously valued Sun Chuyue very much and intended to cultivate this subordinate as a future Imperial Censor. He said: "The move by the Minister of the Central Secretariat is tantamount to putting himself in a desperate situation and then letting him survive."

Sun Chuyue was puzzled: "It is indeed a 'dead place'. I will definitely be criticized by the court officials, but how can there be any possibility of 'resurrection'?"

Liu Xiangdao patiently pointed out: "When the Minister of State Affairs stood in the court and faced criticism, ruling the country alone, do you think that was still him?"

Sun Chuyue pondered and suddenly said, "The Minister of the Central Secretariat at that time not only represented himself, but also represented His Majesty."

"So, how do you think the courtiers will react?"

Sun Chuyue thought again, and after a long while, he exclaimed: "We call ourselves the clean stream, and we have always taken it as our duty to resist the powerful and enrich the people. But as the saying goes, when things reach their extremes, they will turn against each other. When the imperial power is isolated in the storm, and the ruler of the world is struggling in the ups and downs of public opinion, how can we, the ministers, not feel compassion? The court and the people will sympathize with Your Majesty. At that time, whoever continues to refute Your Majesty's edict will be disrespectful to the emperor and abuse the imperial power, and will surely cut himself off from the court and the world."

Compassion is a wonderful thing. Once it arises, people may even temporarily forget right and wrong and naturally tend to favor the weak.

And when this weak person is the emperor, this sympathy will reach its maximum - the emperor of a country has been forced into this state by you, can't you let him go?
This is your Majesty's conspiracy. Either you honestly pass the imperial edict and enthrone Concubine Shen as Zhaoyi, or I will let you all attack and accuse me. I will take the opportunity to gain sympathy from my weak position, and then fight to the death.

Very clever.

Liu Xiangdao nodded in approval and asked, "If that's the case, how should the Censorate respond?"

Sun Chuyue said, "The students knocked on the palace gate and made trouble, which caused our Censorate to suffer a bad reputation. Why don't we take this opportunity to regain the lost reputation?"

"What's the plan?"

"Since everyone will eventually compromise in front of His Majesty, let's do the opposite!"

(End of this chapter)