Chastity Layman

After a fierce collision at Jiafumen, the matter did not end.

In the name of Prince Taishi and Prince Zhan Shi, Qin Lang asked all the officials from the East Palace to follow the prince to the Chongxian Hall to discuss matters. The Chongxian Hall is located in the inner court area of ​​the East Palace, to the west of the Lizheng Hall and to the north of the Chongxian Hall.

In the early Tang Dynasty, the prince of Donggong had a high status and great power. From Jiancheng to Li Shimin, to Chengqian, there were no exceptions. Therefore, candidates for Eastern Palace officials have always been highly qualified, generously paid, and can be called prominent positions. At the beginning of the founding of the People's Republic of China, Li Jiancheng assisted Emperor Li Yuan in handling the state affairs at the center, which can be called a small court.

Li Shimin's short two-month career as crown prince, not to mention, his Eastern Palace team was originally the team of Tiance Mansion, and after succeeding to the throne, the Eastern Palace team quickly took over the government. Cheng Qian was established as the crown prince at the age of eight. Although Li Shimin was young, because of his own seizure of the throne, he put more effort into strengthening the Crown Prince's East Palace. In essence, he also wanted to stabilize his throne.

Especially since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the gentry clans were powerful, the local tyrants were everywhere, and wars were frequent. The imperial power faced a huge threat from the gentry clan clansmen. Therefore, the northern and southern dynasties paid great attention to strengthening the Eastern Palace. The purpose was to stabilize the succession and protect the inheritance of imperial power.

Especially after the end of the Sui Dynasty for hundreds of years of division, internal and external conflicts became more intense. When Li Shimin came to power by relying on the palace, his own position became more unstable, and he needed a stable East Palace all the more to avoid chaos.

Since Chengqian was established as the crown prince, Li Shimin carefully built a very powerful Eastern Palace, and the status of the Eastern Palace was strengthened again, not only in name, but in real with a well-matched team, virtuous officials, and even let many The prime minister of the DPRK and China went to the East Palace to work part-time.

In the final analysis, from Li Yuan to Li Shimin, when it comes to strengthening the East Palace, the idea is the same, father and son soldiers, fighting tiger brothers.

In order to stabilize the imperial power, Li Shimin has mainly done two things in recent years. One is to build a group of trusted and reliable prime ministers to ensure the effective exercise of imperial power. The other thing is to continuously strengthen the preparation of the East Palace team and create a small court, the purpose of which is to ensure the stability of the succession of the imperial power.

Because the prince is young, although the emperor has formed a super complete small imperial court of the Eastern Palace, which can supervise the country and regent at any time, and is even cultivating a loyal and usable team for the prince, but in general, although the Eastern Palace has great power, it is not a threat. As far as the emperor, the relationship between the emperor and the East Palace is generally in a very good state.

The emperor had great trust in the East Palace, and the officials elected to the East Palace were basically talented people selected for a while, either veterans with high morals or young talents.

Sitting in the Hall of Chongxian, Qin Lang glanced at the entire hall filled with officials from the East Palace. Everyone present was famous for a while, whether they were respected veterans, great Confucian scholars, or young talents, the favored son of heaven, who could enter the East Palace. That is the key training target, and they are definitely not here to sit on the bench.

However, Qin Lang also remembered that in the first hundred years of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, from the founding of the country to the succession of Daizong Li Yu, in this hundred years, none of the newly established princes finally succeeded.

From Li Jiancheng to Li Chengqian, to Li Zhong, Li Xian, Li Hong, then Li Chongjun, Li Chengqi, and Li Ying, there are eight princes in total. The common feature is that they are all the princes of the Tang Dynasty, and they are all the first princes established by the emperor. emperor. Some were deposed like Li Chengqian, some were killed by their brothers like Li Jiancheng, some were bestowed to death, some were abdicated, and some died of illness for no apparent reason.

Although some people simply attribute this to the fact that Li Shimin made a bad start at the Xuanwu Gate, in fact Li Shimin still can't afford such a big scapegoat. This is not the key reason for being unable to become emperor.

Qin Lang has researched some of the reasons, and after experiencing so much in the Tang Dynasty in this life, he has become more aware of it. In the final analysis, it is the influence of powerful powerful families since the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties. The strength of the gentry clan and local tyrants means that the central court, especially the imperial power, is relatively weak.

And the imperial power is threatened by the gentry, which means that they must seek a more stable successor. It is the same reason that on the grassland they like to play brother and brother instead of father and son. On the grassland where the weak eat the strong, Young children cannot inherit the Khanate, only the powerful Khan brothers can inherit the power more stably.

Since the Southern and Northern Dynasties, dynasties have changed rapidly. Every emperor who conquered the world hoped that his imperial power would last forever and be passed on from generation to generation. Therefore, in order to be able to fight against those powerful powerful families, the emperor had to continuously strengthen the East Palace and cultivate Come out with a strong prince, so as to ensure a smooth succession in the future.

To put it simply, we must have all the staff and strong candidates. Even when it was intense, the East Palace not only required a well-organized team and strong candidates, but in the end even had to break through the relatively more stable method of establishing a descendant for a son rather than a virtuous son, and the emperor sometimes had to Among the various sons, choose a better son who can face the threat of powerful clans and powers all around to be the prince.

More than 100 years in the early Tang Dynasty, it was the era when the power of the gentry reached a new peak, and the imperial power had to face these huge threats, so the emperor continued to strengthen the Eastern Palace, so that the Eastern Palace team in the early Tang Dynasty was unprecedented. In the face of constant court battles, none of the eight newly established princes could become emperors, and they were either killed or deposed, bestowed on death or abdicated...

In history, Cheng Qian died of illness after being demoted to be a useless person in the end. His being abolished can be said to fully explain this problem. In favor of the second son Wei Wangtai, Li Shimin hesitated and struggled for many years between the emperor and Xian, and finally abolished Chengqian. Although Li Tai was also deposed together in the end, the third son Li Zhi took advantage of it.

"Everyone, the Crown Prince of the Eastern Palace is the crown prince of the country, the root of the country."

Qin Lang opened his mouth slowly. Many officials of the Eastern Palace were sitting in a tight position, knowing that there would definitely be a big storm today. The three officials in the Eastern Palace, Zhan Shi, Li Gang, Pei Ju, and Qin Lang, the first two were of high prestige and status, so they could naturally hold back In the East Palace, there are a group of veterans from noble backgrounds, and a group of young and handsome.

But Qin Lang is young after all, and his family background cannot be compared with most people in the East Palace, let alone he left the East Palace for almost two years.

"The emperor passes on the son, the prime minister passes on the virtuous, and passing on the virtuous is for the governance of the country."

"The son of the emperor is not one person, so the son of the emperor has always established his sons for their elders and not for their virtues, and for their sons for their nobles and not for their elders. This is the patriarchal system handed down from the Zhou Dynasty. The eldest son succeeds to the throne. This is a tradition and a system that cannot be easily broken. Otherwise, the sons of heaven will covet the imperial power and cause civil strife."

A group of scholars and officials didn't expect Qin Lang to sit here and talk about this, and they all changed slightly. Because this inevitably makes people think of the emperor's Xuanwumen change to seize the throne.

"Your Majesty chose the eldest son as the crown prince according to the law of the ancestors and the patriarchal system, and chose me as the official subordinates of the East Palace, and gave the East Palace a lot of power. We are not only the prince's subordinates, but also the teachers and friends of His Highness. , we not only have to shoulder the important task of teaching His Highness to learn, but also guide His Highness, and also assist His Highness in handling political affairs, and even assist His Highness in supervising the country when His Majesty is not in Beijing."

Under the system of prince supervising the country, when the emperor leaves Beijing, then the prince of the East Palace is given the right to stay and supervise the country, and the team of the East Palace will assist the prince to deal with the left-behind affairs. Take over the affairs of the three provinces, six ministries, five temples, nine supervisors, and twelve guards.

The East Palace has a mansion, two workshops, three temples, six bureaus, six bureaus, and one hall, all of which are fully equipped.

There are three teachers and three young masters in the East Palace, plus four guests. Although the rank is high, they are all honorary titles and ignore practical affairs. They are just teachers of the prince.

"This official is assigned by His Majesty the East Palace Zhan affairs, in charge of all affairs inside and outside the East Palace, regardless of size!"

When Qin Lang said this, he was already very rude.

"Shao Zhan is Zhang Xuansu, and he is the deputy second of this palace."

Qin Lang named Zhang Xuansu, and Zhang Xuansu stood up to promise. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, Cao Shen was a military officer in Jingcheng. He was famous for his incorruptibility. After Pingdou Jiande, he was granted Jingcheng Recorder to join the army. After Li Shimin succeeded to the throne, he was immediately recruited into the court as a censor, and then moved to Shizhong. Enter the East Palace.

"As the young master of the Eastern Palace, you had such an affair with Yu Zhining, the concubine of the left, at the gate of the palace today. Is it to destroy me, Qin Sanlang, or His Highness the Crown Prince? As officials of the Eastern Palace, do you want to eat inside and outside?"

Qin Lang asked sharply, which surprised Zhang Xuansu, and then became angry.

"We are loyal to His Majesty, and we also wholeheartedly defend His Majesty. For His Majesty, we are not afraid of the wind and snow, and Lixue bitterly admonishes us. How can we eat inside and outside?"

"Your behavior is to eat inside and outside. There are many ways to make admonitions, and you don't have to use this way. You didn't understand the facts, so you made it so embarrassing, excessive, and presumptuous!"

"As Crown Prince Zhan Shi, I, Qin Lang, are the chief stewards of the Eastern Palace. I am in charge of all internal and external affairs, no matter how big or small. Today, I will record Zhang Xuansu as a major demerit. I will be punished with half a year's salary, which will be used as food for the canteen of the Eastern Palace."

Henry Zhang's beard trembled wildly.

"Qin Zhan is such a powerful official!"

"Is there any dissatisfaction? If you are not satisfied, you can appeal to His Majesty, but before His Majesty replies, you have to obey if you are not satisfied!"

"Isn't Qin Zhan unreasonable?"

"Qin is the Eastern Palace Zhan Shi assigned by His Majesty, and is in charge of the internal and external affairs of the Eastern Palace. You, Zhang Xuansu, as the Shao Zhan Shi, are you not under Qin's jurisdiction?" Qin Lang asked back.

Zhang Xuansu turned his head to look at Chengqian, "Your Highness, please uphold justice and stop Qin Zhan from being domineering!"