The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1022: Court Battle (Part )

The Zuo Pushe was the head of all officials. In addition to commanding the six ministries, he also had a great say over the officials of the Zhongshu and Menxia provinces. He was the undisputed number one person under the emperor, and this was also the highest position of power that a minister could achieve.

Now, Changsun Wuji has been chosen and will soon be promoted to the position of Left Prime Minister, but he has been away from the court for all these years and is lacking that achievement.

Of course, if he was forced to be appointed by the emperor, it would be fine, but it would be criticized and blamed on nepotism, which the confident Changsun Wuji could not accept. He wanted to step into the position of Zuo Pushe in a down-to-earth manner, deserve the title, and make all the civil and military officials convinced.

If we can regain a source of wealth for the Tang Dynasty, its tax revenue will double.

In this way, it would be natural for him to replace Fang Xuanling. With such outstanding achievements, even the emperor could not suppress it, and no one would say anything.

Historically, after Li Zhi came to power, he adopted a conservative and retreating attitude, allowing Zhangsun Wuji to act violently for a while, and then ruthlessly eliminated him.

In Li Yan's opinion, both the previous concession and the later purge showed that Li Zhi's political level was not enough to control Changsun Wuji or even win him over, which was why he resorted to these extreme methods.

A true master has both drastic measures and a kind heart, and can achieve complete victory.

Li Yan personally despises those superiors who use people first and praise them highly, but then abandon them after they have done their job. Ultimately, it is because of their own lack of ability that they end up in a mess and bring shame to the monarch and his ministers.

They also find all kinds of excuses, saying that it is for the sake of the overall situation and the long-term, to cover up their despicable and dirty behavior.

What does it mean to be more successful than your master?

What does it mean that there is nothing to reward?

Is there anything wrong with a minister being proactive and working hard to achieve success?
In the final analysis, it is because the monarch is too incompetent and useless, jealous of talented people, and finally came up with a set of so-called survival rules under the eaves. If you have ability, it is a crime. If your ability exceeds mine, it is even more of a crime. It is really sad.

How could a swan be willing to be inferior to a sparrow?

This is why since ancient times, talented people must find the most capable boss, otherwise they will be suppressed to death sooner or later.

Li Yan thought he was a boss with a very high ceiling and could easily control the people below him. With his current political wisdom, he naturally knew that if he allowed Changsun Wuji to expand so disorderly and wantonly, he would eventually end up like him.

The struggles among high-level officials are extremely complex and not so easy to understand.

Just like Li Yan and Zhangsun Wuji, one was an emperor and the other was a prime minister. They had a close relationship and there was a need for them to unite to control the ministers and govern the world; at the same time, there was the objective reality of competing with each other and checking and balancing each other.

Both of them knew this when Li Yan specially promoted Cen Wenben to the position of Zhongshu Ling.

So in today's court, the two of them started fighting with each other.

Of course, this kind of competition is not necessarily vicious. As long as it is well guided and well controlled, and the superiors have enough wisdom and tolerance, it will also have a positive side. It can greatly improve the level of officials in the court.

At the same time, this competition does not hinder the overall situation. The interests of the two people are the same. They are only fighting for the right to speak in the future.

In other words, the game at this time is to determine the future power structure in the court. Changsun Wuji wants a 30-70 split, so that he can take the majority and suppress the monarch; while Li Yan wants a 50-50 split, with each family getting half, which is no weaker than Changsun Wuji.

In fact, as an emperor, being half of the family of his subjects is already a step weaker.

However, Li Yan was lazy and didn't want to worry about anything, so it was fine for him to entrust government affairs to Changsun Wuji. On the other hand, if he had too much power, he would be like Li Shimin, taking on everything himself, and would be exhausted and naturally not live long.

Not only will it affect his enjoyment of life, but it will also cause rejection from his ministers and eventually lead to him being ruthlessly abandoned.

Therefore, in Li Yan's mind, he would strive for five points at most, not one point more, even three points would be fine.

However, even if I have to give up those extra powers in the future, it will not affect my efforts to fight for them now.

Just like the fight for seats on buses in later generations, some young people would automatically stand aside and stop fighting for seats when they see the elderly, the weak, and the women, saying that they respect the elderly and love the young, and they will give their seats to them.

Pooh.
Li Yan was extremely disdainful of this. What does it mean to give in? You have to grab it first. Only when you grab it is yours. Only when it is yours, you are qualified to give it in. If you haven't grabbed it, the thing has not fallen into your hands.

The ownership has not been determined, how can you say that you gave it up?

People will think they stole it.
Therefore, when Li Yan encountered similar situations, he would usually try his best to grab it, fighting without caring about his manners, and finally get it, and then make concessions according to the circumstances.

This is especially true for power!

If you want to give in, you have to fight for it, and you have to fight fiercely before giving in. Fighting for it is your ability, and giving it up is your kindness and generosity. Giving in without fighting is equivalent to being humble without ability, which is nothing but deceiving yourself. How can you convince others?

Therefore, even if Li Yan wants to give up power for various reasons of his own, it will not affect his current fight for it.

Just imagine, if I defeated Changsun Wuji, got the power, and then gave it to him, would he be more awed and grateful? Or if I took the initiative to give in now and let him get it in one go, would he respect me as the emperor more?
There is no doubt that the status of the former and the latter is very different.

After making up his mind to give it a try with Changsun Wuji, Li Yan began to analyze the support behind Changsun Wuji.

In terms of seniority and achievements, many ministers in the court are as good as Changsun Wuji. Even in terms of wisdom and means, there are some who are better than him.

He relied on only two things: the personal relationship between the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, which had ceased to exist when he and he were fighting. No matter how close Changsun Wugou was to his brother, could he be closer to him than to his own flesh and blood?

When he and Changsun Wuji were fighting, Changsun Wugui would only stand on the side of his son and persuade Changsun Wuji to give in.

Zhangsun Wugou was a virtuous queen herself. She did not fight for power or profit, and repeatedly advised Li Shimin to weaken the glory of the Zhangsun family.

He was afraid that the Changsun family would become too prosperous and eventually decline, bringing disaster upon themselves.

Whether it was sincere or false, Changsun Wugou was an extremely smart person because he could see this and restrain his desires.

Another group that Chang Sun Wuji relied on were the Guanlong nobles.

This force is indeed strong and difficult to deal with, but the key lies in whether the Guanlong nobles will fully trust Zhangsun Wuji?

Changsun Wuji was playing both sides. When the imperial power and the power of the aristocratic families were in conflict, I am afraid even he himself could not decide which side he stood on. On one side was the interest group that his family belonged to, and on the other side was his nephew, who also held the righteousness of the imperial power.

In history, Changsun Wuji was dancing on these two tightrope.

After a period of prominence, he was abandoned by both the imperial power and the aristocracy. He was falsely accused of treason by Xu Jingzong, the then Minister of the Central Secretariat, and was exiled. His entire family was killed or wounded. The Changsun family finally reached the situation that Changsun Wugou had worried about.

After that, during the Tang Dynasty, the Changsun family was implicated in the crime of treason, and no descendants ever entered the court, and the Changsun family also disappeared in the long river of history.

From this we can see that although Changsun Wuji was smart, his wisdom was limited. By chance, his sister married Li Shimin, and the Changsun family has since been at the forefront and has soared to the sky.

Later, by giving some advice to Li Shimin, he made great contributions to Xuanwu Gate.

He was fortunately favored and became prominent for a while, but his actual governing ability and political skills were not very strong. That is why he occupied such a superior position and possessed such strong power after the death of Changsun Wugou and Li Shimin.

However, he could not withstand the turbulent power game and fell in the first round amid the struggle between imperial power and the aristocratic families.

His background determined that the Changsun family could only stand firmly behind the imperial power and could not be indecisive and try to please both sides.

The nobles offered a little olive branch, and Changsun Wuji thought it was wishful thinking to gain their support. The nobles just wanted to use Changsun Wuji's little tricks to implicate the royal family and sow discord.

Changsun Wuji didn't even understand this, yet still wanted to play a high-end game. It's no wonder that he ended up dead and his clan was wiped out.

You have to know that the patriarchs and people in power of the aristocratic families do not hold office in the court, but hide behind the scenes. If they do not hold office, they will not be burdened by it. They will push forward a few younger generations and spokespersons to remotely control the situation, advance and retreat, and attack and defend calmly.

And what about the Changsun family?

Zhangsun Wuji was the patriarch, and another important figure, Zhangsun Shunde, was in charge of the army. They were both in the government. This showed that the Zhangsun family was not stable and was still in the initial stage of the development of the aristocratic family. How could they be compared with the nobles of the Five Surnames and Seven Families?
If Li Yan was Changsun Wuji, he would definitely withdraw from the court immediately. The title of Situ would be enough to bring honor to the family.

As the saying goes, when a whale dies, all things come to life.
He exchanged his opportunity to serve as an official for a group of outstanding younger generations in the family to enter the court. Then, he used his status as the king's uncle to indirectly participate in the government, gradually promoting those younger generations and strengthening the family.

Without the actual position of prime minister, he would not be bound by various factions.

She thus enjoyed a transcendent status in the eyes of her nephew, the emperor, and was more calm in her decisions. She helped her nephew control the court and gradually take back the imperial power, while her own sons and nephews also developed.

When the day comes when he dies of old age, he will naturally gain the emperor's recognition and the respect of the court.

Unfortunately, Changsun Wuji was greedy for power and wanted to dominate his family, so it was destined that he would end up in a miserable situation.

Li Yan shook his head secretly. On the surface, it seemed that Changsun Wuji entered the court to escort him, but in fact, he still had to rely on his own secret care. If he hadn't raised Cen Wenben himself, he would have waited until Fang Xuanling withdrew.

He will inevitably find himself in a dilemma and be criticized by everyone.
(End of this chapter)