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

Chapter 1061 Li Yan’s Failure (Part )
These new leaders would seize the power of the group, replace the empress dowager, and become the real power holders. At that time, these people might not be willing to disband the group or return the power to the emperor.

It is very likely that Li Yan and Zhangsun Wugou will end up with nothing, working in vain, and in the end, others will benefit.

Although Zhangsun Wugou was wise and magnanimous, that was based on the strong emperor Li Shimin.

With Li Shimin firmly in power, it was okay for her to do some persuasion and enlightenment. She didn't have to worry about the security of power, and doing some compassionate and tolerant things made up for the cruelty brought by Li Shimin's iron-blooded and killing, and played the role of sending charcoal in the snow.

The first thing that power should consider is safety.

Only on this basis can we do things to bring down sweet rain and benefit all living beings. Otherwise, all benevolence and righteousness are just empty talk.

If the country no longer exists, who can we give charity to?

Power is a double-edged sword that can hurt others as well as oneself. Li Yan has no idea whether Changsun Wugou can realize this and whether she can properly control this power. He is not obsessed with power, nor does he care about how much power he has.

But as an emperor, he must be responsible for the rise and fall of the world.

In terms of controlling power, Changsun Wugou might not be as good as herself. At least she had the righteous title of emperor, as well as decades of political experience. Her understanding of human nature and the laws governing the operation of power was far superior to hers.

Of course, Li Yan knew that this was not Changsun Wugou’s active choice, but the calculation of the aristocracy and court officials.

Cheng Yaojin's reaction here made Li Yan particularly alert.

Cheng Yaojin is a weathervane of the old ministers of Zhenguan. He has a history with me and is completely different from old ministers like Li Ji and Yuchi Gong. He is one of my own people, but now he has not made a clear gesture to join me. From a certain perspective, it is tantamount to betrayal.

In later novels and film and television biographies, it is said that Cheng Yaojin was born in poverty, lost his father when he was young, and depended on his mother for life. When he grew up, he sold private salt to survive, was punished by the court, and later became a bandit.

He went to Wagangzhai and then joined Li Shimin to fight for the world. Later, he became a meritorious official of the Tang Dynasty.

In fact, Cheng Yaojin was born in a prominent family in Shandong. His great-grandfather was Cheng Xing, who was the highest official in the Northern Qi Dynasty, Sima. This Sima was not an ordinary local military general, but a military commander at the highest level of the Northern Qi Dynasty, who controlled the military and political affairs of the Northern Qi Dynasty and the power to send troops abroad.

It can be imagined that the ancestors of the Cheng family had already reached the level of powerful officials.

If it weren't for the subsequent changes in the world situation, the Northern Qi would have declined and been defeated by the Northern Zhou, but the Northern Qi would have annexed the Northern Zhou.

With the development of the Cheng family to this day, it will become one of the five surnames and seven families.

The decline of the Cheng family was not due to encountering a strong enemy, but rather the result of prosperity and decline. As the saying goes, a lean camel is bigger than a horse. Cheng Yaojin's grandfather was the Sima of Huangzhou, and his father, Cheng Zhe, was the Grand Justice of Jeju.

Even by his generation, the Cheng family had become extremely weak and could no longer be considered an ordinary family.

His wife is Sun, the daughter of the magistrate of Dong'a County in Jeju. If he is really so poor, how can he not marry the daughter of Baili Hou?
After his first wife passed away, Cheng Yaojin married his current wife, who was from the Qinghe Cui family and was the eldest daughter of Cui Xinzhi, the deputy governor of Qizhou in the Sui Dynasty.

Whether it was Cheng Yaojin's family background or his current relationship with the aristocratic families, Li Yan was very wary. Such a background and network of contacts showed that Cheng Yaojin was not a simple person, and his relationship with the aristocratic group was unclear.

He alone has the background of the former generals of the Qin Palace, the former ministers of the Zhenguan period, and the aristocratic families. If Li Yan were in his situation and had such strength, he would not need to rely on anyone and could form his own faction in the court.

If we pick a few people from these groups, we can form an independent force and raise a flag.

There is really no need to rely on anyone anymore.
Of course, independence also means that you can no longer get support from any party and can only rely on yourself. From Li Yan's current perspective, Cheng Yaojin should not have such great courage, but wander among various groups.

If you have your feet on many boats, you will have everything you want.

He knew when to advance and when to retreat, and he did not offend anyone, but at the same time he tried to win over everyone. If the imperial power was weak, he would stay away, and if it was strong, he would go along with it. This would minimize the risk and gain the most benefits, which was in line with his cautious character.

He is greedy but has no ambition, he has some courage but no determination. This is Li Yan's evaluation of Cheng Yaojin.

However, Li Yan could understand that the real powerful nobles were all passed down from generation to generation through poetry and books, with civil officials and etiquette as their core values, and military generals and military power were only peripheral forces of the nobles. In other words, they were mainly based on wisdom and strategy, supplemented by fists and violence.

The mind commands the limbs, and politics commands the military. This concept is very advanced.

Ordinary generals are not aware of this, or it is useless to realize it, and it is difficult to change. Cheng Yaojin's family is a family of generals. His ancestors have always held military power, and his descendants have always been in the military.

From a fundamental nature, it has established that the development space is limited and can only revolve around in the second-rate area, unable to escape the scope of "use" and thus enter the realm of "body".

Cheng Yaojin became the General of the Sixteen Guards. Considering the difference between the Tang Dynasty and the Northern Qi Dynasty, he restored the glory of his ancestors and reached the pinnacle of military generals. If he wanted to improve further, he had to give up the idea of ​​focusing on the military and turn to civil officials. Cheng Yaojin's eldest son Cheng Chumo is currently the Zhechong Duwei of Qinan Prefecture in Guizhou; the third son Cheng Chubi is currently the Right Jinwu General; the fourth son Cheng Chucun is currently the Langzhong of the Ministry of Revenue; the fifth son Cheng Chuli is currently the magistrate of Cheng'an County in Xiangzhou; the youngest son Cheng Jun is the Tongshi Sheren of the Eastern Palace.

The second son, Cheng Huailiang, who had passed away long ago, was the former General of the Left Tunwei Yifu.

Judging from the arrangement of his offspring, Cheng Yaojin is also shifting from military to literary, but now he still focuses on military affairs.

Both systems are difficult, whether civil or military.

It is already good enough to be able to stand out in any system. If you are still picky and keep changing things, it is very likely that you will not only lose the sesame seeds but also lose the watermelon.

If Cheng Yaojin gave up his position in the military system and devoted all his efforts to managing the civil service, the greatest possibility would be that he would be attacked from both sides during the critical period of transformation, completely driven out of the two mainstream fields, and his original territory would also be divided up.

Therefore, Cheng Yaojin would probably be very hesitant and unable to make up his mind.

Li Yan sighed helplessly. A dynasty of a hundred years and a clan of a thousand years were indeed not to be trifled with. They had high standards and sophisticated methods. In the Gaoyang incident last time, they seemed to have won slightly, but in fact, they were defeated miserably.

If you review it now, you will find that the vision and pattern of the aristocratic family are beyond your expectations.

They thought they were attacking the reputation of the emperor in the hearts of the people, but in fact this was a long and slow change. They used the Gaoyang Princess incident as an excuse, seemingly attacking their own prestige, but in fact they were attacking the fundamental structure of their power.

In other words, Li Yan completely failed strategically.

The biggest failure was that the aristocratic families easily sent the power of the old ministers of Zhenguan, which they should have inherited, to Zhangsun Wugou.

Although they did not get it, it actually caused the division of imperial power. The title of imperial power was in their hands, but the actual power fell to the empress dowager, and the emperor's real power was weakened to the greatest extent.

In future court decisions, he would have to obtain the Empress Dowager's support in everything.

Only by combining the two can he truly deserve the title and compete with the nobles. If he cannot get the support of the empress dowager, he, a figurehead emperor, will not be able to fight against the power of the nobles in the court.

If you insist on doing things your own way, you will bring disgrace upon yourself; if you let things take their own course, you can only be a witness and judge.

And power is the most deadly force in the world. The aristocrats are using power to seduce Zhangsun Wugou and the old ministers of Zhenguan. As long as they fight with the queen mother and the old ministers of Zhenguan, it doesn't matter who wins or loses.

They can all hold on to Diaoyutai and watch the storm unfold.

No matter how the parties fight, once one of them is about to gain the upper hand and they see the situation is not good, they will step down and fiddle with it a little to restore the situation to the chaos of the Three Kingdoms.

The most powerful thing about the aristocratic families is that they created a new power structure, a duopoly consisting of the emperor and the empress dowager.

If he and Zhangsun Wugou were not in favor of each other, would they listen to the empress dowager or the emperor? It would depend on whose decision was more beneficial to them?
If the emperor issued an edict that was unfavorable to them, they would raise the banner of filial piety and use the empress dowager to resist the emperor; if the empress dowager did something that made them unhappy, they would support the emperor in vetoing the empress dowager on the grounds that the harem was not allowed to interfere in government affairs.

The conflict between imperial power and the aristocratic families turned into a struggle between the emperor and the empress dowager.

Under this situation, whether it is the emperor or the empress dowager, whoever wants to gain more power has to win over or even please the ministers.

In this way, the threat from the aristocracy will be eliminated, and the court officials can also gain the greatest benefits.

That's really clever.
Li Yan thought that his perspective was high enough, but he didn't expect that he was still inferior to the aristocratic families.

The game between the nobles and myself was on two levels. I was better in terms of tactics, but I was completely defeated in terms of momentum.

Just a quick and fleeting fight made Li Yan realize the stubbornness and difficulty of the aristocratic families. No wonder they could force heroes like Yang Guang and Li Shimin to resort to extreme measures. They were such an invincible existence that they could still be at large even if the net was dead.

It really shouldn’t be underestimated!

Li Yan sighed with some exhaustion. As expected, reality is no joke. It is not something that an ordinary person in the future who cannot even pass the civil service exam despite trying his best, or cannot even become a small manager in a company can do.

The kind of ruthless character who traveled through ancient times, punched the Qin Shi Huang and Han Wudi, kicked the Tang and Song emperors, and pulled Zhu Yuanzhang out for a stroll from time to time should not exist.

(End of this chapter)