Traveling through Du He, Li Chengqian's rebellion begins

Although Li Chengqian has not officially ascended the throne yet, all he is thinking about now is how to curb the power of these princes and princes after he becomes emperor.

How can I allow others to sleep soundly beside my bed? Li Chengqian had attempted rebellion and was well aware of the disadvantages of these royal relatives having too much power.

Don’t think that they are all very obedient now, that is because of the pressure from his father.

Once his father dies, no one will be able to control these royal relatives, and they may not necessarily obey his orders.

Du He nodded and agreed, "Your Highness the Crown Prince is right. Your Majesty should curb the power of the King of Wei, the King of Wu, the King of Jing and others, so that they don't have any evil intentions."

"When Your Highness ascends the throne, you can start to solve this big problem."

One of the main reasons why the rebellion of Prince Qi Li You failed so quickly was that he prepared too hastily and did not take control of the power of the local Zhechoufu in his own hands.

He did not even stir up the people's dissatisfaction and hatred towards the court, but just took it for granted that they should rebel.

Li You thought that Qizhou was his fiefdom, and the officials and people there would definitely listen to him and follow him wholeheartedly in the rebellion.

With such naive ideas, he is doomed to fail.

Li Chengqian nodded seriously.

Reducing the power of vassal kings has always been a difficult issue to resolve since ancient times. Although the Enfeoffment Order was somewhat useful, it was only a temporary solution and did not address the root cause.

Moreover, the implementation of the Enfeoffment Order would take decades or even hundreds of years to take effect, during which time turmoil might occur.

Li Chengqian frowned and asked, "Du He, what do you think is the root cause of the calamity of the vassal kings?"

“Too much power.”

"Du He, tell me in detail. I want to know how much you have learned from Ma Zhou and Liu Li during this period of time!"

Hey!

This guy Li Chengqian actually wanted to test him. This is really the first time for a grown-up girl to pay homage to heaven and earth!

Du He glanced at Li Chengqian, then analyzed in a low voice.

"The princes not only had the power to command the royal forces, but also controlled the local taxation power and the power to appoint and dismiss officials below the fifth rank."

"Although the princes were still nominally governed by the imperial court, in reality they were smaller emperors, and their fiefdoms were independent small imperial courts.?6?8"

"They can do whatever they want in their fiefdoms, and the imperial court cannot control them."

"Because the imperial court granted the vassal kings supreme power, this laid the seeds for countless disasters."

Whether in the extremely powerful Han Dynasty or the current prosperous Tang Dynasty, the power of the vassal kings has not been weakened.

Although Li Shimin was a man of great talent and strategy, he was also a person who was willing to share the world with royal relatives, and he granted many wealthy states and counties to members of the royal family.

Although the lessons of the demise of the Sui Dynasty are still vivid in our minds, changing the feudal system is harder than climbing to the sky.

Because the establishment of a new dynasty cannot be separated from the strong support of the family members, and after the family takes control of the world, if they do not give them corresponding rewards.

Which of these royal family members would be happy?

In order to ensure that the imperial power is in the hands of his own family, the emperor would not wage war against anyone in his family, otherwise it would be easy for people from other aristocratic families to take advantage of him.

Therefore, the disaster caused by the vassal kings can only be contained but not avoided.

Li Chengqian pinched his brows and said, "Du He, how do you think I should reduce the power of the vassal kings after I ascend the throne?"

"It will reduce their strength without causing major unrest."

Good guy!

Before Crown Prince Li Chengqian ascended the throne, he was already thinking about how to reduce the number of vassal kings.

If this matter were known by the princes and princes, they would definitely unite and overthrow the crown prince Li Chengqian.

Du He complained a few words in his heart, then thought about it seriously and answered.

"Your Highness, I think we can limit the number of soldiers in the princes' palaces, and at the same time let the imperial court decide on the appointment and dismissal of officials."

"This way, we can ensure the safety of the fiefdom and prevent the vassal king from harboring disloyal ideas."

"In order to prevent them from taking desperate measures, local taxes should be collected by them first, and then further reduced in a few years."

At present, the imperial court has not made clear personnel regulations for the guards of the princes' palaces. They can use a variety of reasonable methods to recruit tens of thousands of palace soldiers.

As long as these palace soldiers were not equipped with forbidden weapons such as spears, crossbows and armor, they would not be impeached by the Censorate, let alone worry about being punished by the Dali Temple.

At the same time, taking back the power to appoint and dismiss officials in fiefdoms would also be a deterrent to these princes and prevent them from forming their own factions and causing trouble.

After hearing what Du He said, Li Chengqian lowered his head and began to think.

a long time.

Li Chengqian raised his head and praised with a smile: "Du He, your analysis is good. It seems that you have made great progress during this period of time!"

"Don't be complacent, keep going!"

After being with Du He for such a long time, he still doesn't know what Du He's strengths are, nor does he know where his limits are.

Anyway, Du He can provide a solution to any problem, big or small, he is currently facing.

Even the difficulties encountered by his father could be easily solved by Du He.

In addition, Du He had only been the Minister of Works for over a month, but he had already invented two great things: the kang and honeycomb coal. He also wanted to lead the people in the Ministry of Works to innovate the plow.

Li Chengqian's mind is now full of doubts.

A person who has never been involved in farming actually understands the innovation of agricultural tools and is completely confident about it. Isn't this a fantasy?

“Is this what it means to have a little knowledge?”

Because Du He's catchphrase was "a little understanding", these two words often appeared in Li Chengqian's mind.

In response to Li Chengqian's praise, Du He just smiled and shook his head.

For a man like him who has a God's perspective and has some understanding of China's thousands of years of history, such simple questions are just child's play for him.

Only if he is asked to write a strategy will his true colors be revealed.

Li Chengqian changed the subject and asked, "Du He, have you had any contact with Yin Yushan in the past few days? Do you know the latest moves of Li Tai?"

The spies of the Eastern Palace are just in the initial stage and their current role is zero.

Because Li Chengqian did not place all his hopes on the spies, but believed that Du He could instigate Yin Yushan, who was under the command of King Wei, to rebel.

Du He shook his head: "Your Highness, this witch has not appeared since I helped her reject the King of Wei's request to take her as his princess."

"Anyway, her problem has been solved. I have lost my usefulness to her."

In Du He's opinion, since Yin Yushan chose to reject Li Taina's request to be the princess, she also revealed to him that King of Han Li Yuanchang and King of Teng Li Yuanying were about to rebel.

This shows that this evil woman did not want Li Tai's rebellion to succeed, but wanted to make Li Shimin and Li Tai father and son kill each other.

As for dragging other members of the royal family into the water, it may also be to take revenge on the Li royal family.

After all, there is an unsolvable blood feud between the Yin family and the Li royal family.