The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 518 The System of Deliberation by Regent Ministers
A coup occurred in the Southern Song Dynasty, and rebel troops stormed the imperial palace. However, thanks to the valiant fight of Yang Yizhong, the leader of the imperial guards, all the rebel leaders perished, and none survived.

This coup dealt a heavy blow to the Southern Song court.

Yue Wenxuan sat in the main hall of the Kaifeng Imperial Palace, deliberately not sitting on the dragon throne, nor even in the prime minister's seat, nor in any other official's seat. He simply stood casually in the middle of the hall and turned to Gong Erniangzi, who was sitting in the position of Privy Councilor, and asked, "What is the current situation in the Southern Song Dynasty?"

Gong Erniangzi stood up: "It's a complete mess! For now, Empress Dowager Meng is temporarily overseeing the country, and the ministers who didn't participate in the rebellion are arguing in front of her every day."

Li Gang and the others sat to the side, their faces streaked with tears: "At a time like this, they're still arguing?"

Gong Erniangzi said, "They are arguing about who should be made emperor. Empress Dowager Meng wants to support Zhao Bocong as emperor, but most ministers disagree. Although Zhao Bocong has the qualities of a wise ruler, he is too young. If he ascends the throne now, he will easily become a pawn of the Empress Dowager and the eunuchs. Therefore, many civil officials think that the seventeenth prince should be recognized as emperor, and the Southern Song and Northern Song should take this opportunity to merge."

Li Gang was greatly surprised: "The rebels have all been killed, so how can there still be people who support the unification of the Northern and Southern Song Dynasties?"

Gong Er Niangzi: "Prime Minister Li, you did not participate in the rebellion, nor will you participate in it. But if you hadn't yet taken a trip to the Northern Song Dynasty, and were still serving as an official in the Southern Song Dynasty, what would you suggest?"

Li Gang's face immediately turned awkward. His first reaction was to support Zhao Bocong as emperor, but he immediately felt that this was not a good idea. Perhaps Empress Dowager Meng would rule from behind the curtain, or the eunuchs would control the emperor, which would be disastrous. Relatively speaking, it would be better to let the seventeenth prince unify the country.

But the Seventeenth Prince is a fake!
If the Seventeenth Prince were to ascend to the throne, wouldn't that be tantamount to handing the country over to the mastermind Yue Wenxuan?

Then the Song Dynasty would have to change its surname to Yue.

Li Gang said with a bitter face: "If I hadn't come to the Northern Song Dynasty and hadn't known that the Seventeenth Prince was a fake, I would have also supported the unification of the two Song Dynasties and allowed the Seventeenth Prince to ascend the throne. But now that I know the Seventeenth Prince is a fake, this plan is absolutely unacceptable. I would never agree to it even if you killed me."

Yue Wenxuan's gaze fell on Li Gang...

Li Gang is a tough nut to crack, but he is by no means the only one.

There are still countless tough nuts to crack in the Southern Song Dynasty!

Although the Southern Song Dynasty was a weak and incompetent state, countless people still jumped into the sea with the young emperor in the year it fell.

We cannot assume that the Southern Song Dynasty lacked people with backbone simply because it was weak.

If these people's emotions are not properly managed, they could turn into a resistance force, causing internal conflicts.

Resolving Li Gang's dilemma is equivalent to resolving internal conflicts, which is extremely important.

Yue Wenxuan laughed and said, "Prime Minister Li! You also think that the Southern Song should be returned to the Northern Song. This general direction should be a consensus among everyone. But your problem is that the Seventeenth Prince is a fake, right?"

“Yes!” Li Gang looked at Yue Wenxuan with a calm expression: “If he is real, I have no reason not to support him, but if he is fake, I cannot support him no matter what.”

Yue Wenxuan: "Then what can we do? Is the Southern Song Dynasty going to continue like this? The emperor is gone, a lot of officials have died, there is no legitimate successor, and Zhao Bozong, an eight-year-old child, is allowed to ascend the throne. Can he really make the country better? Forgive my bluntness, but after Zhao Bozong ascends the throne, he will only be controlled by the empress dowager or eunuchs, which means he will become a puppet."

At this point, Yue Wenxuan revealed a strange smile: "Look, what's the difference between this and the current Seventeenth Prince? They're both puppets anyway!"

Li Gang: "Pfft!" He almost vomited blood!

Believe it or not, when you think about it carefully, isn't that true?
If the seventeenth prince of the Northern Song Dynasty was a puppet, then wasn't the eight-year-old Zhao Bocong also a puppet? His ascension to the throne was undoubtedly that of a puppet.

Li Gang trembled all over, his face ashen, and despair was palpable: "Then what should we do? Is this the end for my Great Song Dynasty? From now on... will the world belong to the Yue family, and will we change the era name and establish a new country, such as the Great Ming Dynasty or something?"

Seeing how amusing he was, Yue Wenxuan really wanted to tease him a bit, saying that he was preparing to become emperor. However, he felt that Li Gang was not very responsive to teasing, and it would be bad if he went too far and Li Gang committed suicide by hitting his head against a pillar.

Giving up on teasing him, she smiled and said, "Prime Minister Li is here again. I've already told you I won't be emperor! Actually, I do have a way to break this deadlock."

Li Gang: "What method?"

Yue Wenxuan said, "The system of deliberation by the regent ministers."

Li Gang was completely bewildered: "Huh? What's this?"

Yue Wenxuan said, "Whether it is Zhao Shi or Zhao Bocong, they will inevitably become puppets. This is something you and I both know, and it is an unchangeable fact. Who told the Great Song Dynasty that there are no adult males who can serve as emperor? Since that is the case, we only have one way, which is to let the puppets be controlled by a group of powerful ministers, rather than by a single powerful minister."

Li Gang: "???"

Yue Wenxuan: "It's definitely better to have a large group of powerful ministers in control than one powerful minister. What do you think?"

Li Gang: "What kind of nonsense theory is this?"

Yue Wenxuan said, “Let me give you an example, just an example. Let’s establish a regent team of twenty people. On the civil side, there are Qi Chongli, Qian Zhuoqun, Ji Menghan and others from my Northern Song Dynasty, and Li Gang, Lu Zai and others from your Southern Song Dynasty. On the military side, there is Han Shizhong from your Southern Song Dynasty, and Gong Erniangzi, Wu Jialiang and others from my Northern Song Dynasty…”

"Brother, wait a minute! I am a civil official!" Wu Jialiang jumped up a full ten feet high: "I am a civil official."

"Alright, alright, you're a civil official." Yue Wenxuan laughed. "Being a civil official is fine, isn't it?"

Wu Jialiang then sat down again.

Li Gang: "..."

Yue Wenxuan said, "In short, there will be ten seats each for civil and military officials, and ten seats each for the Northern and Southern Song dynasties. These twenty people will be called 'regent ministers' and will assist the puppet emperor together."

Upon hearing this, Li Gang finally began to understand: "You mean... to create twenty powerful ministers? As long as power is dispersed, no single person can rebel and seize power?"

Yue Wenxuan clapped his hands: "Yes! We can even have more, fifty or even a hundred. I don't mind having many regents, I only mind having fewer. The more the merrier. We shouldn't let a puppet emperor make decisions on important national affairs. Let the regents vote on them, with the minority obeying the majority."

A long row of question marks floated above Li Gang's head...

(End of this chapter)