Chapter 43 Three Provinces and Six Ministries

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Yang Jian and Dugu Jialuo gasped.

When Tianmu talked about Li Shimin's conquests, he did not mention Li Yuan's reward for Li Shimin's achievements. The focus was on how Li Shimin conquered various forces. Although the couple had guessed that this would inevitably bring imbalance to the government and anticipated the bloody storm in the future, they did not expect Li Yuan to release so many titles and official positions.

Moreover, it seems that this is always the same! Rather than giving a new job title and removing the old one.

Don't say that the tradition since the Northern Dynasties and the Sui Dynasty was to make use of clan members and nephews, so Li Shimin was given so many titles. They don't agree with that.

It's not that the Northern Zhou and the Great Sui did not value the nephews of the royal family. They did value them. Usually, capable nephews of the royal family could lead troops when they went out, defend the country when they came in, and hold important positions of power at both the local and central levels. However, no one used them in this way.

Moreover, the Tang Dynasty was, after all, a descendant of their Sui Dynasty. Many official positions might not be known to other dynasties, but they were very clear about them.

Even though there are real and honorific positions among them, even if it is an honorary position, it gives this person a name to gather power!

Is Li Yuan crazy? Yang Jian couldn't help but think. He admitted that he was indeed suspicious, but which emperor was not suspicious? Even if he was more suspicious, it was normal. As for him, he was absolutely unwilling to give so many official titles to the same person. Li Yuan was born as a Duke of Tang and was well-versed in history. How could he not know the various situations in history?

What's more, he served as a guard beside him, going in and out of the palace, and he was familiar with the various situations of the royal family.
-
Not only Yang Jian and his wife of the Sui Dynasty gasped, but also the emperors and ministers of the Qin and Han Dynasties.

Qin Dynasty.

Ying Zheng sneered: "Li Yuan can no longer balance Li Shimin and Crown Prince Li Jiancheng." In other words, because of Li Shimin's outstanding achievements, he had to reward him, but he did not have enough people under his command who could compete with Li Shimin simply by relying on their achievements.

Daqin might not be very clear about other official positions, but he was clear about the Taiwei and Situ.

What is a Taiwei? The highest military commander in the country, one of the people at the pinnacle of power in the Qin Dynasty. Although the Taiwei in later dynasties may become more of an honorary title, even if it is an honorary title, it is equally important.

As for Situ, Shun was Situ during the reign of Yao, and this position was still active in the Zhou Dynasty. Regardless of how the power of Situ evolved later, with this history, this position cannot be conferred on anyone casually, well, the premise is that he is a normal emperor.

The early years of the Han Dynasty.

Liu Bang was also greatly shocked. Since the establishment of the Han Dynasty, he had been working diligently to eradicate the power of the princes and kings, and he did intend to confer the title of king on the Liu clan members.

Li Shimin is indeed a member of the Li clan, but that doesn't mean Li Yuan can reward him like this.

Moreover, "Why do you feel that the title of General of Tiance is not just an honorary title?" Liu Bang stroked his beard. He always felt that the title of General of Tiance was not just an honorary award, but one that carried certain power. If it was really as he speculated, then he was doomed.

Not to mention anything else, there is also the Shaanxi East Circuit Grand Secretariat. Changing the "Secretary-General" to the "Grand Secretariat" must have significance, either because the jurisdiction is expanded or the administrative level is raised.

Ming Dynasty, Yongle period.

Zhu Di looked at his son and grandson and asked, "What do you two think is the most important issue here?"

Zhu Gaochi and Zhu Zhanji looked at each other, and then Zhu Zhanji answered: "My grandson thinks that the most crucial issue is that Emperor Taizong of Tang fought several battles and made great contributions himself."

Giving so much power to a person with extraordinary talent and achievements, who may have the legal chance to inherit the throne, is like letting a tiger return to the mountain.

[Here, let us briefly sort out these titles of Li Shimin.

Let's talk about Taiwei and Situ first. Both positions have a long history and originated in ancient times. Since the Qin Dynasty, Taiwei has become the highest military commander in the country and has been in charge of government affairs with the prime minister. In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taiwei, Situ and Sikong were the three highest officials. Later, the three highest officials gradually became honorary titles and became titles given to meritorious ministers.

Next is the position of Shangshu Ling. I would like to add that in the eighth year of Wude, Li Shimin was also appointed as Zhongshu Ling.

The Shangshu Ling and Zhongshu Ling also appeared very early, but they were not important officials of the court at that time. Their actual power was sometimes high, but their official ranks were always low.

In the Sui Dynasty, Yang Jian summarized past history and combined his own experience to establish the system of three provinces and six ministries, and the Tang Dynasty followed this system.

Among them, the three ministries are the central institutions, divided into the Zhongshu Province, which is responsible for drafting imperial edicts, and its highest official is the Zhongshu Ling; the Menxia Province, which reviews imperial edicts and has the power to seal and reject them, and its highest official is the Shizhong; the Shangshu Province, which is responsible for executing imperial edicts, and its highest official is the Shangshu Ling.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

When Liu Che saw the system of three provinces and six ministries established by Yang Jian, he fell into thought: "This system of three provinces and six ministries has a very clear division of power." It is indeed beneficial for the emperor to exercise power and has a certain supervisory ability.

"However, according to this division of functions, the Secretariat may not necessarily occupy the center of power." Simply put, the Secretariat is responsible for execution, and sometimes, the person who makes the plan has more power and is more critical than the person who executes it.

As for the honorary titles of Taiwei and Situ, it was enough to have honorary titles. Li Shimin himself had achievements and reputation, and with the titles of Taiwei and Situ, he could gather some more power. After all, although the three officials had become honorary titles overall, in a specific environment, especially in the early stages of the Tang Dynasty when everything needed to be sorted out from scratch, having a title was still different.

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

Yang Jian was a little confused. He couldn't tell whether Li Yuan simply gave Li Shimin the position of Shangshu Ling or had the intention of checks and balances.

After all, as Liu Che in another time and space thought, sometimes the department that makes plans is more critical and closer to the center of power than the department that implements the plan. Just like the Sui Dynasty, power has gradually focused on the Internal History Province (Zhongshu Province) and the Ministry of Personnel, and the so-called prime minister also refers more to the heads of these two departments.

But the Tang Dynasty was at its founding period, which was different from the Sui Dynasty after several years of development.

【In fact, in the Sui Dynasty, starting from the end of Emperor Wen of Sui, the Shangshu Province was no longer the one that could truly be called the core of power and the prime minister. Only the Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province, which participated in the formulation of imperial edicts, were included. The period of Emperor Yang of Sui was no exception. However, when Li Shimin became the Shangshu Ling, it was the early days of the founding of the Tang Dynasty. At this time, the surrounding forces were divided and the world was just beginning to settle. The foundation of the Tang Dynasty was not stable, so the department that implemented the policy was still very important. Because they had access to a large amount of national power and resources, and had the power to mobilize and integrate these forces and resources.

In such an environment, Li Shimin was still able to get in touch with a lot of important content. Moreover, because the dynasty was just established, all affairs had to be handled by the Shangshu Province, an executive department, which can be imagined to be helpful for Li Shimin to tap into his power. 】

Song Dynasty, the first year of Kaibao.

"That's true." Zhao Kuangyin agreed with this analysis after comparing the power of the three ministries in different periods of the Sui and Tang dynasties and their closeness to the power core. "Let's not talk about the Sui Dynasty, just look at the Tang Dynasty. In fact, in the middle and late Tang Dynasty, the Zhongshu Province and Menxia Province were more important."

Although the heads of these three provinces could not be directly called prime ministers later on, it is true that the planning department was higher than the executive department.

"So Emperor Gaozu of Tang did have the consideration of checking and balancing Emperor Taizong of Tang?" Zhao Guangmei sighed. After all, when Emperor Taizong of Tang was appointed as the Minister of the Chancellery, it was still early and the Tang Dynasty had just been established. At that time, Li Shimin could not pose a big threat to Li Jiancheng.

It must be said that Emperor Gaozu of Tang did have far-sighted ideas, but he could not resist Emperor Taizong of Tang's own efforts.

"That's not the case. Emperor Gaozu of Tang was right to decide on a successor and avoid disputes." Zhao Kuangyin paused. "After all, the history of the Northern and Southern Dynasties did not leave any good influence."

[The Shaanxi East Road Xingtai, Daxingtai and Yizhou Road Xingtai originated in Cao Wei, and were mainly set up to serve as government offices for military campaigns.

During the Northern Wei Dynasty, due to the remoteness of the territory and the division of the Central Plains, the Xingtai became a powerful system based in the local area, in charge of military affairs. It was not until the time of Erzhu Rong, a powerful official in the Northern Wei Dynasty, that the Daxingtai was established.

In the Northern Qi Dynasty, the Xingtai began to manage local civil affairs, and it became a complete administrative system.

In short, the Xingtai was an independent administrative system with its own layers of official positions and the ability to make its own appointments, and its administrative level was only below the central center, especially the Daxingtai.

There is another key point about Li Shimin's position as the Minister of the Shandong Circuit, and that is the jurisdiction of the Shandong Circuit.

The Shandong Road and Yizhou Road occupied a large part of the land of the Tang Dynasty. Although Li Yuan appointed people he considered his own in the administrative system of the Xingtai in order to check and balance Li Shimin, this did not prevent Li Shimin from consolidating these two roads, especially the Shandong Road, as his own territory.

Ming Dynasty, Hongwu Years.

Zhu Gang curled his lips and complained: "In fact, I always feel that this kind of Xingtai, especially the Daxingtai, is quite similar to the Jiedushi in the late Tang Dynasty." The Tang Dynasty later became like that, and there is indeed a historical tradition behind it.

"It's still not exactly the same." Zhu Chong said. Although the Jiedushi and the Shangshu Ling of the Grand Secretariat are indeed similar, they are not the same duties after all.

Han Dynasty, the fourth year of Yuanshou.

Liu Che was shocked by the power of the Grand Secretariat: "What's the difference between this and dividing the land and making a king?" Although not in name only, in reality, the administrative system of this area was completely independent, and the military and administrative powers were in the hands of the local Secretariat, which was not much different from actually dividing the land.

With such a place, Li Shimin had his own base. This situation was far more troublesome than if all his forces were in the capital. If it was only in the capital, although it seemed as if it was fully developed, it was actually confined to the capital. But if he had his own territory, it would not be something that could be dealt with in one go.

If things go badly, Li Shimin might run to his fiefdom, and that would be a real division of the land.

Moreover, the seat of the Grand Secretariat of the Eastern Shaanxi Road was in Luoyang. Luoyang! After Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande, Luoyang gradually became the territory of Li Shimin, and Luoyang was a key place, whether in terms of transportation, military, politics or economy.

[The Left and Right Wuhou Generals were actually two of the Twelve Guards Generals, which were first established in the Sui Dynasty and continued in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, the Twelve Guards Generals were in charge of the palace guards, patrols, and ceremonial guards, commanding the inner and outer government troops and leading the troops of the whole country. In other words, after the Grand Marshal, Li Shimin once again held the position of the highest military commander, which was a position owned by the Tang Dynasty itself.

The actual power of this person is probably higher than that of the Taiwei.

As for the title of General of Heavenly Strategy, although this title was created by Li Yuan for the purpose of "adding a special title", this title "ranks above the princes", and one key point is that it can establish a government and appoint officials.

Sui Dynasty, the 18th year of Kaihuang.

"Why can he set up a government and appoint officials?" Yang Jian really didn't understand. If it was just an honorary General of Tian Ce, it would be fine, but allowing the "General of Tian Ce" to set up a government and appoint subordinate officials was not right.

Although this official title did not increase Li Shimin's actual power or give him more authority to dispatch troops, it was enough to allow him to set up subordinate officials - enough for Li Shimin to win the hearts of the people and tie the talents who came to him firmly to his chariot.

The General of Tian Ce himself is ranked above the princes, and the Tian Ce Palace would theoretically be on the same level as central institutions such as the Shangshu. It seems that the Tian Ce Palace itself is not limited to military positions, and there must be a large number of civil positions. Li Yuan, are you planning to let your son first set up a civil and military system that can take over the government at any time?
Ming Dynasty, Yongle period.

Zhu Di was quite familiar with Emperor Taizong of Tang. This understanding was not only because they were both "second-generation emperors" and had similar experiences to a certain extent, but also because of his good son, the second son Zhu Gaoxu.

Zhu Di felt a headache whenever he thought of Zhu Gaoxu. Before, this son had attempted to seize the throne and even asked him for the Tiance Guards to be his own bodyguards. He also often compared himself to Emperor Taizong of Tang... Originally, he did dote on this son, but Zhu Gaoxu caused trouble again and again, which eventually made him unbearable and he forced him to become a vassal.

Now think about it, what exactly is this son thinking? Comparing himself to Emperor Taizong of Tang, if it is because he thinks that he is the second son and the eldest son is not worthy of the position, then the logic is correct; but why doesn't he think about the situation of Emperor Gaozu of Tang, the father of Emperor Taizong of Tang? If I compare myself to Emperor Taizong of Tang, then do I have to compare myself to Emperor Gaozu of Tang?

Thinking of this, Zhu Di couldn't help but feel a little disgusted with Zhu Gaoxu. He didn't think that his second son had the ability to turn himself into Emperor Gaozu of Tang, but there were indeed some problems with the examples he gave without thinking carefully.

As a result, he suddenly began to like Crown Prince Zhu Gaochi more.

Zhu Gaochi was suddenly puzzled by his father's kind, gentle and friendly gaze, but he reacted quickly and chatted and laughed with Zhu Di together with Zhu Zhanji. For a while, the atmosphere was harmonious and pleasant.

(End of this chapter)