Water Margin: The opening scene involves assassinating Emperor Huizong of Song and forcibly taking L

The remaining few people,

Liu Jian had already sought refuge with Zhao Yuan in Shandong.

Moreover, he is Zhang Dun's grandson-in-law.

Her seniority and connections far surpassed Zhai Ruwen's.

Zhong Shidao has a background in the Western Army.

With the army backing him up,

The woman from the Zhong clan even married the emperor as a concubine.

Zong Ze persisted in resisting the Jin dynasty in Hebei.

The soldiers from the Hebei clique were his mainstay.

Xiao Chu, on the other hand, was the emperor's favorite, a very popular figure in the emperor's inner circle.

He was exceptionally appointed to head the Hanlin Academy despite being a commoner.

He was then transferred from the Hanlin Academy to the Grand Secretariat.

After much calculation, Zhai Ruwen suddenly realized that...

As Prime Minister,

They could only suppress Huang Shang!

Li Bangyan also realized this situation at this time.

A sudden surge of joy welled up inside me for no apparent reason.

He was relieved that he wasn't the one who took over as prime minister and was sidelined.

They've started eyeing the prime minister's position again.

His cabinet ranking had long been second.

So, is it possible to win over other cabinet ministers?

After taking down Zhai Ruwen,

What if I were to take his place?

"How about we hold a vote?"

Li Bangyan couldn't wait to take the lead in doing things.

Cabinet vote,

It was Zhao Yuan who did it.

It is only done when the cabinet is unable to make a decision.

It appears to be democratic, fair, and just.

In fact, it contains huge hidden dangers.

The factional strife at the end of the Ming Dynasty in another time and space,

The cabinet voting system should not be blamed.

Cabinet ministers formed cliques and sidelined the chief minister.

This led to the cabinet becoming a tool for partisan struggles.

It was unable to function properly for a long period of time.

Zong Ze glanced at Zhai Ruwen,

He then looked at Li Bangyan.

Suddenly I understood what was going on.

He didn't want to help Li Bangyan undermine the prime minister's authority.

They also approved the Ministry of War's proposal.

For a moment, I didn't know what to choose.

Liu Jian also disliked Li Bangyan and reminded him:

"Prime Minister Li, you are only a junior prime minister."

"Initiate a cabinet vote,"

"It should be proposed by the Prime Minister,"

"Please do not overstep your bounds."

These words made Li Bangyan's face turn extremely ugly.

Subconsciously scanning the crowd,

I noticed everyone looked disgusted.

Chapter 371 My Popularity Is So Bad

With such an attitude from the cabinet ministers,

This left Li Bangyan feeling utterly disheartened.

I didn't realize I was so unpopular in the cabinet.

Even if Zhai Ruwen is brought down,

Even Li Bangyan couldn't get up there.

Sigh... I guess I'll just have to lie down and drift through life from now on.

Li Bangyan started yawning again.

It seems like I can fall asleep even while sitting.

I don't care who it is, I'm not putting up with this anymore!

Zhai Ruwen did not force a vote, but instead yielded:

"Since everyone agrees,"

"Then I will no longer insist."

"But there are 330,000 garrison troops and 180,000 transport troops,"

"Is the quantity too high?"

"Zhejiang is wealthy, yet lacks magnificent mountains and rivers,"

"As long as there is no excessive taxation,"

"There will be no chance of a giant bandit appearing."

"And then there's Henan, and several surrounding provinces are heavily fortified,"

"Where would we need 20,000 garrison troops?"

To show that he was not intentionally opposing the Prime Minister, Zhong Shidao nodded and said:

"That's right, the garrison troops in Zhejiang,"

"When it drops from ten thousand to eight thousand."

"The garrison in Henan should be reduced from 20,000 to 10,000."

"And then there's Hubei, even though the emperor resettled the people to cultivate the wasteland,"

"The population is still relatively small,"

“The garrison should also be reduced from 10,000 to 8,000.”

Huang Shang also said, "In the previous dynasty, post stations were all managed by civil officials."

"The expenses for post stations were also paid for by the state and county governments."

"The emperor designated post stations and relay stations,"

"They will all be incorporated into the command of the Grand Canal Army,"

"This saves the local government money,"

"But the imperial court has to pay an extra sum of money every year."

"It would be better to assign the post station to the grain transport army,"

"The post station still belongs to the local government."

Liu Jian said, "The grain and salary of the grain transport army is indeed a bit high."

"They're not fighting a war,"

"It's just delivery and transportation,"

"Why bother paying such high military salaries?"

Amidst Li Bangyan's incessant yawning,

After some discussion among the cabinet ministers,

The cabinet will provide its opinion on the Ministry of War's plan.

Then it was submitted to Zhao Yuan for approval.

Zhao Yuan carefully read the cabinet's opinion.

I've decided to give them some face.

But we can't give them all that face.

He agreed to reduce the number of troops stationed in Henan, Zhejiang, and Hubei.

However, they disagreed with handing over the national post stations to local officials.

They also disagreed with reducing the grain and salary benefits for the grain transport troops.

In addition, some provinces this year

The districts were also re-divided.

Hanzhong was completely transferred to Shaanxi.

The Han River line starting from Jinzhou (Ankang),

All of them were transferred to the jurisdiction of Hubei.

Chizhou was separated from Zhejiang.

It was transferred to the jurisdiction of Jiangxi.

Officials in Chuzhou and Wenzhou made a huge fuss.

But the imperial court ignored it.

Both of these places belong to Fujian.

After Zhao Yuan issued his instructions,

The opinion was then passed on to the emperor.

Zhao Yuan glanced at it casually.

He agreed with the imperial edict: "Return it to the cabinet."

Seven cabinet ministers,

They gathered together to read.

The emperor's six words, "transfer to the Grand Marshal's Office,"

They fell silent for a moment.

Although Zhao Yuan said he would not interfere in military affairs,

But this time it was too obvious.

This was somewhat of a way of expressing a stance to the cabinet.