"I just revoked your authority to transport the notes, and they thought I was going to kill you." In the pavilion beside the fish pond, Zhao Jiu, who was enjoying the fresh air while reading the notes, suddenly sneered.

Yang Yizhong, who was standing aside, seemed to be hesitant to speak, and Liu Yan also looked a little surprised.

"But to be honest, if Ma Shen hadn't submitted this, I wouldn't have thought of this." Zhao Jiu put down the note, picked up another one, and shook his head. "Zhengfu, you actually hold the military power in the Forbidden City, the power to handle intelligence, and the right to communicate with my generals and generals. If you really want to rebel, you can imprison me and forge an imperial edict to the various armies. This power is no less than that of the Privy Councilor."

"I absolutely dare not!" Yang Yi Zhong could no longer hold back and knelt down on the spot under the gaze of Lan Gui, Liu Yan, and several Hanlin scholars and attendants.

"It's not a question of whether or not I dare. This is for your own good." Zhao Jiu continued to sigh. "I am also ignorant. I have made such a big mistake in the system. If Ma Shen hadn't said it, I really wouldn't have thought about it... They always said they wanted to kill you, and I thought it was because you always took the blame for me... To be honest, don't hold a grudge in your heart."

What could Yang Yizhong say but to bow his hands with a serious expression: "This is the grace of the emperor. I have absolutely no complaints."

After hesitating for a moment, Liu Yan, who was standing beside him, knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, I think the power to transport secret letters should be directly given to the Ministry of Internal Affairs..."

"No need!" Zhao Jiu shook his head immediately. "I took it from Zhengfu only because he had too many responsibilities and it would be inappropriate to have it all on his own. It's fine to divide it now. Why move it again?"

"I also have the military power in front of the emperor." Liu Yan said cautiously.

"Is it the same thing?" Zhao Jiu finally frowned. "Troops, intelligence, and the cardinals, these are the key responsibilities in extraordinary times. You two are in charge of the imperial troops and the Imperial City Department. It is enough for you to take charge of the secret letter transportation."

"But it is not appropriate to let a military officer handle such a cardinal matter." Hanlin scholar Li Ruopu stepped out and bowed. "Your Majesty, there was a discussion as early as the Tang Dynasty that the power of the prime minister is to manage the country and the power of the cardinal... In this dynasty, the Eastern Palace manages the country and the Privy Council controls the cardinal. The system is already very complete."

"If it was complete, why would Master Liang become the internal minister?" Zhao Jiu refuted directly without even raising his head. "Didn't he infringe on the power of the cardinal?"

Li Ruopu was stunned for a moment, but then he said, "Your Majesty, the emperor is in the center of the country, and he inevitably needs people to serve him. As long as the eunuchs abide by morality, even if they are involved in some things, it is not considered as interfering in politics."

"How can eunuchs not interfere in politics?" Zhao Jiu laughed. "I'm talking to you about the system, and you're talking to me about morality... You said it yourself, the power of the cardinal is the power of the prime minister, and the eunuchs are at the side of the emperor, so they can't help but get involved in the power of the cardinal, and since they get involved in the cardinal, they are actually infringing on the power of the prime minister. This is the basic reason why eunuchs have interfered in politics since ancient times... For example, in the case of Grand Official Lan, even if he has a very good reputation now, do you dare to say that he doesn't have some cardinal power?"

Lan Gui knelt down on the ground without hesitation.

"It can be seen that in your eyes, it is acceptable for eunuchs to infringe upon the authority of the cardinal, but it is absolutely unacceptable for military officials to infringe upon the authority of the cardinal." Zhao Jiu still did not even look at Lan Gui, but continued to flip through the notes and shook his head. "What kind of logic is this?"

Li Ruopu hesitated for a moment and continued: "Your Majesty is right. Since there is a Privy Council, the power of the cardinal should belong to the Privy Council."

"But wouldn't that be depriving the monarch of his power?" Zhao Jiu continued to smile. "Should I follow Emperor Guangwu's example and set up an internal secretariat, and continue to fight for power internally and externally?"

Li Ruopu was completely silent.

"It's the times and the situation." Zhao Jiu, who continued to flip through the letters, finally sighed. "The power of the emperor, the power of the prime minister, the central government, the civil officials and the military generals, there are always endless disputes, but we have to understand the situation... In the past few years, we were a stray dog, a small court, and the court was in the army, so we didn't care about anything else; starting from Nanyang, we have a foothold, and we are a military-first politics, and everything must be based on the army; after Yaoshan, the situation is stable, but the war must continue, so I want to separate the civil and military... And since the civil and military are separated, the secret letters of these military generals will only follow the system of the imperial guards, and you, or the Ministry of Internal Affairs, don't bother... All of you get up!"

The three people who were kneeling stood up together, and even Li Ruopu bowed and responded: "I understand. This matter is a wartime system. We should wait until the Jin people are annihilated before discussing it."

Emperor Zhao, who had been talking for many minutes without stopping to look at the note on the stone table in front of him, finally stopped after hearing what was said. He raised his head and stared at Li Ruopu with a strange look, which made the Hanlin scholar who was on duty today a little flustered.

"Your Majesty, I wonder if I have overlooked anything?" After a pause, Li Ruopu finally couldn't hold on any longer.

Emperor Zhao sighed helplessly, "Li Qing did not miss anything. I just don't understand... Why do you all, not only civil officials, but also military generals, eunuchs, relatives, and even the common people, always want to go back to the old times and take the old path? You must know that the old times clearly led to the Jingkang Incident, and it was clearly a not-so-good path. Why do you all cling to it so much and regard the old path as the right path? Is the power of tradition really that great? Why did I say 'the ancestors cannot be followed'? Isn't it because our ancestors took the wrong path?"

Li Ruopu looked dazed and didn't know how to respond for a moment.

After questioning, the official seemed somewhat powerless. He just released a new note and shook his head and ordered: "Don't say such things in the future. Even if the Jin people are destroyed and normal times return, it is a new normal time, not the old normal time... Write an article to express my meaning roughly, give it to Editor Hu, and put it in the next issue of the official newspaper."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!