xymnovel Chapter 54: The Vision of a Famous Minister
Chapter 54: The Vision of a Famous Minister
Li Ang's words were logically sound and sincere.
What's most remarkable is that there wasn't a trace of displeasure in his tone.
This put Zheng Qin at ease, but he also quickly tugged at Li Deyu's sleeve and said...
"Your Majesty is wise. Wen Rao did not mean that. It is an honor for your subjects to have Your Majesty grace Wen Rao's residence with your presence. We only regret that we did not go out to greet you, which was a breach of etiquette. We had absolutely no intention of disrespecting Your Majesty."
Fortunately, Li Deyu did not argue this time and bowed his head, saying, "Your Majesty, I have been impolite. Please forgive me."
Li Ang smiled and said, "Don't keep talking about crimes. I've said that there will be no formalities between ruler and subject today. However, judging from what you just said, Minister Li, you have some dealings with Privy Councilor Yang?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Zheng Qin felt a pang of anxiety, and his gaze toward Li Deyu became filled with worry.
In contrast, Li Deyu appeared to be much calmer.
Although the emperor's sudden appearance did startle him, Li Deyu's political acumen as the leader of the Li faction was far beyond that of ordinary people.
In fact, his purpose in inviting Yang Qinyi to sit was to provoke the emperor to ask questions.
"Your Majesty, we did have dealings. In my early years, when I was the military governor of Huainan, Yang Shushi was also the military supervisor in Huainan. Due to official business, I had many dealings with him, and we often found ourselves getting along well during our conversations."
"However, when Yang Shushi was later recalled to the capital, I was demoted to Yuanzhou, and we gradually lost contact."
Li Deyu spoke calmly, as if he were talking about something completely ordinary.
Zheng Qin, standing to the side, couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat for him once again.
On the other side, after listening, Li Ang remained silent for a moment, then turned to Yang Qinyi beside him and said.
"Yang Shushi, since you and Minister Li have a relationship, why didn't you say a few good words for him when he was demoted?"
His tone was slightly teasing, but Yang Qinyi clearly didn't dare to take it seriously and quickly replied.
"Reply to everyone, the promotion and demotion of officials are matters of the court. This old servant is a person of the palace and dares not interfere in court affairs without authorization."
Li Ang remained noncommittal, then turned to Li Deyu and asked.
"And what about Minister Li? I remember that you have submitted several memorials to me before, accusing palace eunuchs of having private dealings with prime ministers and ministers, which has disrupted the administration of the court."
"You advised me to be close to virtuous ministers and keep away from sycophants, and to consult with the prime minister on all important military and state affairs, not with the inner court officials. How come you yourself are now disregarding this?"
He said this with a smile, but Li Deyu did not dare to answer casually. Instead, he straightened his posture, sat up straight, and said...
"Your Majesty, I believe that the chief minister and the inner court officials should each have their own responsibilities. The chief minister assists in external affairs, while the inner court officials serve in the inner court. This is the proper way."
"It is said that I am dissatisfied with the eunuchs, but that is not the case. What I am worried about is that Your Majesty trusts the eunuchs too much and neglects the prime ministers. Take what I heard after I returned to the capital as an example."
"The palace eunuchs can trespass into the Hall of State Affairs under the pretext of investigating cases. This is a breach of the separation of powers. The court has the Secretariat and the Chancellery to manage all affairs, large and small. All government orders originate from the Hall of State Affairs. Therefore, the country is well-governed."
"If internal forces invade externally, then the calamities of the eunuchs of the Han Dynasty will surely follow."
"Your Majesty asked me why I have been contradicting myself, but I have never been dissatisfied with any of the eunuchs. I have only discussed the major policies of the court. There are many officials in the court, including loyal ministers and generals, as well as treacherous villains. The same is true for the eunuchs in the palace. If we select virtuous ministers and employ them, the court will be peaceful and the country will be safe."
Snowflakes fell softly outside the window, while sandalwood incense wafted gently inside.
Li Deyu's steady and powerful voice echoed, drawing a touch of appreciation into Li Ang's eyes.
Before today, his impression of Li Deyu was more based on the few brief comments in historical records.
After what he had just said, his understanding of this famous prime minister from Huichang had become even more profound.
It should be noted that the Niu and Li factions have always held opposing political views, including on the issue of eunuchs. The Niu faction was a conservative faction that advocated cooperation with eunuchs for joint governance, while the Li faction was the complete opposite, advocating the suppression of the eunuchs' power and the strengthening of imperial authority.
Because the political views advocated by a party often highly overlap with those of the party leader himself.
Therefore, Li Ang always believed that Li Deyu was a staunch advocate for eliminating eunuchs.
However, judging from his actions just now, the other party is not the kind of reckless and stubborn person. On the contrary, judging from his initiative to bring up his relationship with Yang Qinyi, Li Deyu has been trying to show his views on the issue of eunuchs from the beginning.
Judging from these words, it's more accurate to say that Li Deyu was a member of the prime minister faction rather than a member of the anti-eunuch and royalist factions.
From this perspective, his core political view, more accurately, should be to strengthen the power of the prime minister.
The fire crackled in the stove. Li Ang unconsciously tapped his fingers lightly on the table and suddenly said something.
"Does the ruler choose wise ministers, and the Secretariat manage all affairs?"
The brief sentence startled Li Deyu at first, but then his eyes lit up as he stood up and bowed solemnly, saying...
"Your Majesty is wise!"
Li Ang smiled, his gaze towards Li Deyu now filled with admiration and respect.
It must be said that those who are able to leave their mark on history are truly extraordinary individuals.
Li Deyu's proposition, to put it bluntly, is an enhanced version of the Song Dynasty's policy of governing by doing nothing.
From a historical perspective, he was right.
The position of prime minister was established in the Qin and Han dynasties, and has gone through countless successive generations, from the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers to the current Three Departments and Six Ministries.
Its core development direction is to institutionalize decision-making power and eliminate the influence of personal will as much as possible.
According to Li Deyu's proposition, the true decision-making body of the country should be the Secretariat-Chancellery, which is led by several prime ministers. They would be responsible for discussing and making decisions on various major military and political affairs, and the rationality of the decisions would be guaranteed through the system.
As for the emperor, he existed as a spiritual leader, whose core authority ranged from personally handling all affairs to selecting virtuous and capable officials. His main task was to select wise and capable prime ministers to govern the country.
The advantage of doing this is that it can maximize the accuracy of decision-making while also preserving the emperor's sanctity.
After all, since the decision was made by the prime minister, the responsibility should naturally fall on the prime minister.
If a prime minister performs well, it shows that the emperor has the ability to recognize talent; if a prime minister performs poorly, the emperor can dismiss him to restore order and maintain the stability of the court.
At the same time, because of the absolute power to appoint the prime minister, the emperor could also ensure that his position was stable enough.
It can be said that this system is the best system that our predecessors have explored and developed over hundreds of years of evolution.
At this time, although Li Deyu did not yet have a very complete strategy, it was already quite remarkable that he was able to propose such an advanced direction.
Even just those words were enough for Li Ang to feel that his trip had not been in vain.
Of course, these alone are not enough; the most crucial difficulty of this system lies in…
How do we judge whether someone is virtuous or not?
"How can a ruler, residing deep within the palace, discern who is virtuous and who is not?"
"Everyone has selfish desires, and it's rare to find a saint. If there are people who are virtuous at times and not at others, how should we distinguish them and how should we utilize them?"