Of course, this does not mean that Wang Wenchuan is greedy for power. It is more likely that Wang Wenchuan feels from the bottom of his heart that these matters should belong to the prime minister, and the emperor should not interfere or interfere.

This was the consensus of all scholar-bureaucrats at the time. It was impossible for Wang Wenchuan to see the world hundreds of years later like Chu Ge.

This can be regarded as a certain limitation of the times.

Therefore, although these reforms were approved by the emperor, the emperor's support was not firm.

After a slight wavering, Wang Wenchuan was dismissed as prime minister.

But now, Chu Ge is the first to break through this bottom line.

What is the consensus of scholar-bureaucrats? Sorry, I just want to be the emperor’s dog!

Originally, the emperor also wanted to take back the power of the prime minister, but he had no one to support him. But now, Wang Wenchuan sent him a pillow when he was dozing off.

On one side is Wang Wenchuan, who is willing to be his dog, willing to hand over power unconditionally, and only works for the emperor in a down-to-earth manner; on the other side, he insists that "the laws of the ancestors are immutable", and the emperor must abide by the laws of the ancestors in everything he does.

Wen Junshi.

It is clear at a glance whether people are close or distant.

Is there any doubt about who the emperor will like?

If Wang Wenchuan's favorability in the emperor's heart was originally 60, and Wenjun's favorability was 40, then now, Wang Wenchuan's favorability has soared to 100, while Wenjun's favorability is only 10.

After finding this retreat, Chu Ge's goal became clear.

That is: blatant partisanship!

Logically speaking, the emperor should be the person who least wants to see party strife.

Because once the parties fight, it means that if a certain party wins, it will have a huge impact, which in turn will further suppress the imperial power.

When the two factions were in balance before, you still suppressed me to death. Now that one faction has fallen and everyone in the court has become members of the other faction, then I shouldn't abdicate on the spot?

But the party struggle Chu Ge wants to engage in now will not arouse fierce opposition from the emperor.

First, because he has given enough sincerity.

Chu Ge first took out the official system law and voluntarily gave up part of the power of the prime minister. This made the emperor feel that he was an unambitious and very obedient minister. After the favorability level was full, the emperor naturally would not think that Wang Wenchuan would have a great influence on him.

threats.

Secondly, it was because he packaged the party struggle into clearing obstacles for the emperor to centralize power.

Chu Ge mentioned the Ayun case, using this inconspicuous case to transfer the conflict between the old and new parties into the conflict between the old party and the emperor.

What I mean is that let’s not talk about the reform first, but let’s look at the small matter of the Ayun case.

In the Ayun case, there is an order from His Majesty!

Our new party is actually working for His Majesty. His Majesty said in his hand that he wanted to commute his sentence, so we commuted his sentence. Similarly, when His Majesty wanted to change the law, we changed the law. Everything we did was actually for His Majesty.

What about the old party? Your Majesty wants to pardon a weak woman today, but they don't agree. Your Majesty wants to reform the law, but they don't agree.

If you follow the laws of your ancestors, does that mean that everything should be done according to the laws of your ancestors? Just leave everything to them, the old ministers? The emperor said that nothing can be done?

In this way, the old party was further pushed against the emperor, making the emperor hate them even more.

Since the emperor already hates them, then this is not a party dispute, but the emperor is eliminating disobedient ministers.

Thirdly, it is because he left enough room.

Chu Ge said that anyone who does not support the emperor in the Ayun case and anyone who does not support the new law will be targeted.

Start with the little miscellaneous fish first, and then drive away the important officials in the court step by step.

But what happens after the blow is over?

If Chu Ge said that when these positions become vacant, they will be filled by members of the new party, or even further, that he will decide who will fill the positions, then the emperor will definitely be alert.

Isn’t this still cultivating Wang Wenchuan’s power?

But Chu Ge has handed over the power of personnel appointment and dismissal, and it is the emperor who has the final say who will fill these vacancies.

All in all, from the emperor's perspective, he decided which officials to attack and which officials to promote.

If this is the case, what kind of cliques are there? What threats are there?

How happy it feels to be in control of everything.

This is what Chu Ge showed to the emperor, the 90% conspiracy.

But there was another 10% that he didn't say.

That is, after such operations, in the later stage, he can still achieve the operation of evading the emperor.

Because when dealing with these old parties, he will kill them so that they will never have any chance to come back.

On the surface, the emperor could appoint, remove, and promote officials at will. The emperor himself probably thought that he could promote others to check and balance Wang Wenchuan at any time, and that everything was under his control.

But in the eyes of other officials, this is not the case.

They would only see that the old party was completely defeated by the emperor and Wang Wenchuan, and that they were all liquidated by Wang Wenchuan with cruel means.

At this time, if they want to become an official in the court and want to be promoted, are there any other options?

They can only choose to side with Wang Wenchuan and become a supporter of the new party.

And when they are promoted, will they be better off remembering the emperor or Wang Wenchuan?

Even if this promotion was made by the emperor himself, these officials would think in their hearts that their official positions were actually given by Wang Wenchuan.

Because they had no way of telling whether the emperor was so decisive to support the new law? Or to support Wang Wenchuan?

In fact, it is not the case. The emperor is for his own power. But it is difficult for those officials to realize this. And even if they realize it, they can't do anything.

You can't go to court and scold the emperor, right? Even if you see this kind of thing, you can't just talk about it everywhere!

Over time, the emperor ostensibly had the power to appoint and remove officials, but the entire court was composed of Wang Wenchuan's people. What difference did it make who he appointed or removed?

At that point, Chu Ge can implement the new law unscrupulously without worrying about any objections and doubts.

What? Or will there be?

There won't be, because by that time, Chu Ge will not let these voices reach the emperor's ears.

If you can't even deceive your superiors and conceal your subordinates, what kind of powerful official is he?

Of course, Chu Ge also knew that even if he did this, the Wang Wenchuan he played would not be able to become the uncrowned king, nor could he really completely depose the emperor and do whatever he wanted.

Because this emperor is not a child, he is in his prime and still firmly holds power.

After all, the Qi Dynasty was different from those previous dynasties. There were too many checks and balances.

Even if the entire court belongs to Wang Wenchuan, if one day the emperor is really determined to kill Wang Wenchuan, there will still be a way, but it will only take a long time.

Just like Yan Maoqing was able to control the government for more than 40 years, was it because the emperor didn't want to get rid of him? It was so easy that he couldn't let go. If he really wanted to, he could still do it.

But even if one day the emperor really makes up his mind and opens Wang Wenchuan's coffin and kills his body like he did those powerful officials in history, so what?

This long time is enough for Chu Ge to do a lot of things.

Finally, the emperor was completely conquered by Chu Ge's words.

"So, in Wang Qing's opinion, where should I start?"

Chu Ge paused for a moment, and then said: "Please ask the officials to lend me Wude Si for use."

…

Not long after Chu Ge returned to the mansion, Liu Zhien, the top leader of Wude Division, arrived.

The great eunuch's face was obviously full of doubts and confusion.

Because he really couldn't figure out why the emperor asked him to come to see this Ao Xianggong.

Chu Ge smiled slightly and said to Liu Zhien: "Liu Tiju, please sit down."

The so-called Wude Division was the secret service agency directly under the emperor of the Qi Dynasty.

Unlike the Jin Yiwei of the Great Sheng Dynasty, Wude Si's power was actually very limited. Because the Qi Dynasty had the ancestral motto that "you cannot punish an official", the environment for literati was very relaxed, and they basically did not suffer particularly severe persecution.

Even if Wude Division uncovers the criminal, he still has to send the suspect to Dali Temple for conviction.

In the circumstances at that time, even the emperor had nothing to do with these scholar-bureaucrats, let alone Wude.

Therefore, although the Wude Division at this time was a secret service agency that was in charge of both palace guards and surveillance, it actually played no role in the affairs of the court at all, and its presence in history was very thin.

In the Qi Dynasty, this organization could be said to be hated by even dogs.

In the court, Wude Si was directly subordinate to the emperor and did not accept the jurisdiction of any ministers, so ministers including Wen Junshi repeatedly wrote letters of impeachment and scolding; among the people, Wude Si was also despised by the people, and anyone with any potential would not do it.

If you go to serve in the Wude Department, let alone be a talented and learned Jinshi.

This led to the fact that most of the members of the Wude Division, or the peripheral members, were local hooligans who used the emperor's banner to bully the market and commit all kinds of evil, which ruined the reputation of the Wude Division and made the emperor unable to hold his head high in front of the scholar-bureaucrats.

The emperor did not want to abolish Wude Si, so he finally had to compromise and limit Wude Si's activities to the capital.

Although Chu Ge promised the emperor that he would bring down these old parties, he still had to think carefully about how to bring them down.

It is definitely not possible to act recklessly. If an official has not committed any crime but forcibly accuses him, it will be too obvious and it will be easy for other old parties to attack him.

At that time, the emperor will not be able to step down.
To be continued...