Chapter 391 Four Nine Ministers
"This explosive seems to be quite sophisticated. The one yesterday... was called fireworks, right?" Zhao Qi was on his way to the first morning court session of the Great Yong court. He happened to meet Cheng Yu on the way and started talking to him.
Today's court meeting was connected to yesterday's coronation ceremony, and was precisely to arrange the appointment of officials in the court and the subsequent arrangements for the battle in Luoyang. None of the officials in Chang'an dared to slack off on this matter, and some even got up early.
Even Zhao Qi, who theoretically should have returned home to enjoy his retirement, was no exception.
"Why is Zhao Taichang interested in this?" Cheng Yu replied.
Zhao Qi smiled and said, "It was the students of the calligraphy and painting academy who applied to me, the nominal dean, yesterday night, hoping to get two more fireworks so that they could use them as references for painting, but I rejected their application first."
"I heard that His Majesty spent a lot of manpower to supervise the sky lanterns and fireworks last night in order to prevent fires. Most of the paper in the calligraphy and painting academy is flammable. If something goes wrong, I won't be able to put out the fire with my body."
"Your Majesty's trick is quite clever. Although the fireworks are a bit flashy, they are just like the new Chang'an Road. With the magical things that people spread by word of mouth, they can always make this somewhat hasty coronation ceremony more interesting to talk about."
"Not only that," Cheng Yu shook his head, "Your Majesty hopes to show that gunpowder is controllable. Previously, Wang Yun, Liu Yang and other traitors stole gunpowder from the mines in Bingzhou and caused a disturbance at the gate of Chang'an Palace. Although the people died, the bad impression of gunpowder left on the people is not so easy to erase."
Cheng Yu replied solemnly: "But your majesty hopes that this item is used to intimidate the enemy, not to leave such a knot in the hearts of the people of Chang'an."
Presenting it in the form of fireworks so that people would only remember the fireworks and forget that the Chang'an Palace gate had been bombed and collapsed was also the meaning of Qiao Yan taking it out at this time.
"That's true." Zhao Qi seemed to be thinking about something, "Your Majesty has really considered it carefully."
Cheng Yu continued, "In addition, presenting it at the coronation ceremony yesterday is related to an announcement to be made at the court meeting today."
He stopped here, obviously not intending to explain to Zhao Qi before Qiao Yan.
Zhao Qi did not ask any further questions. He just glanced at Cheng Yu again when he stepped into Gui Palace, and felt that the other party was indeed a character.
Ever since the news that Qiao Yan was about to ascend the throne came out, everyone has been saying that Cheng Yu has a unique vision.
He had been in the county town of Dongjun, Yanzhou for several years and had not held any official position in the county government. However, he reached a cooperation with Qiao Yan in resolving the Yellow Turban Rebellion, and followed Qiao Yan to be promoted from the county chief of Leping County to the Beijia of Bingzhou, and finally to the Minister of Agriculture of the current dynasty. Now, he is about to become a duke.
Even though everyone knew that Cheng Yu's promotion right after Qiao Yan's was inseparable from his extraordinary skills in guarding the rear for Qiao Yan and managing the internal affairs of the prefectures and counties, and it was not just because he had been working with His Majesty the longest, there were always people who would say something sour.
But from Zhao Qi's point of view, the difficulty is not only to maintain the position of leader among subordinates when Qiao Yan moves forward, but also to remain calm and steady in the face of such sudden and shocking wealth.
When he was about to enter the hall, Zhao Qi saw Cheng Yu adjust the collar of the new official uniform he had been given, making sure there were no mistakes in the details, and then he walked into the hall.
Quite a few people are already here.
This team, which was mostly inherited from the reign of Liu Yu, always gives people an indescribable sense of subtlety at today's court meeting.
But when Qiao Yan, dressed in the emperor's court robes, sat at the top, this familiar and subtle feeling completely disappeared in an instant.
The one dominating the court situation at this moment is no longer a mild-mannered person like Liu Yu, but an emperor who truly holds the power of life and death.
Even though she was able to ascend to the throne seemingly because of Liu Xie's offering of the seal and the support of the people of Chang'an, so that it seemed like a sudden accident, but... you have to know that not everyone can get such treatment, and not everyone can handle such an unexpected event.
What they should care about at this moment is no longer why Qiao Yan could become the emperor of Chang'an, but how they should adapt to the emperor's style of doing things.
They not only changed into a different set of court robes, but also completely replaced themselves from the outside to the inside.
Yesterday's fireworks were flashy, and the various ceremonies at the coronation ceremony were many times grander than those performed when Liu Yu ascended the throne. The gifts that the people who participated in the coronation ceremony could get were also very valuable. But this does not mean that Qiao Yan is a person who likes to show off.
On the contrary, she has been a well-known pragmatist since she was the governor of Bingzhou!
At this moment, it was not just Qiao Yan's direct subordinates who received such requests.
Sure enough, when Qiao Yan opened his mouth for the first time, everyone present felt an indescribable pressure.
"When Dayong was first established, there were many things to be done. I need to work hard with you. Yesterday I promised the people of Chang'an that I would care about the people, and this was absolutely true. The season is not favorable, and the wars are ongoing. There is no time to slack off." Zhao Qi's eyelids jumped involuntarily.
The phrase "everything needs to be done" is really scary.
In theory, compared with the court in Yecheng, the Chang'an court ruled by Liu Yu could be considered well governed.
Under such circumstances, Qiao Yan still said that there is a lot of work to be done!
If this was intended to undermine the reputation of the Han Dynasty ruled by the Liu family in the Chang'an court, it is actually possible.
But when some of them looked carefully at Qiao Yan's face, trying to see some attitude from her expression, they felt that she did not seem to be doing such a thing.
Considering that she had already established the final say here with the position of Grand Marshal, there was really no need for her to do such boring things, because she was absolutely confident that she would not lose to Liu Yu in her new career as the emperor!
Qiao Yan continued, "Looking at the current situation, there are many things that require extra attention, such as the transfer and promotion of court officials, the spring ploughing and farming in the Nine Provinces, and the intervention in the war in Luoyang. There are also many things that require extra attention. There are also many things that require the proofreading and distribution of printed books and public opinion publications, the enrollment of students in various colleges, the various hidden dangers caused by the change of dynasties, and the possible condemnation and counterattack from the court in Yecheng."
"So you can rest assured. I would like to take up my sword, mount my horse, and march eastward, just like I did in the past two years, to personally conquer the four directions. But at least not in the short term."
"Since you are in charge of the central government, there is no need to rush into things. Just do them one by one."
For some reason, her words that she would not be so anxious to lead the army in person broke the seriousness of her previous statement.
It's true, when Huangfu Song saw Qiao Yan drawing his sword and swearing an oath yesterday, he thought that Qiao Yan was going to ascend the throne today and send out troops tomorrow.
The aggressive attitude of unifying the world really does not seem to have any intention of slowing down at all.
Fortunately, although Qiao Yan had no experience of being an emperor, he had four years of experience as the number one person under the emperor.
When Huangfu Song heard that she had her own plan and chose to sort out all things and put internal affairs in order before taking any action, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
Qiao Yan looked around and saw that everyone below already knew what she wanted to say, so she said, "Let's start with the appointment of officials."
When dynasties change, the appointment and dismissal of officials is the most likely to cause problems.
It would be a good thing to completely overthrow the previous dynasty and establish a new one from the ruins.
This is because all official positions can be defined individually.
But when Qiao Yan changed the dynasty in this way, the definition of official positions became a little subtle.
The officials who had followed her for several years, the officials who had previously been in nominal terms under the Grand Marshal's Mansion, and the royal family of the Qiao family of Leping who were bound to be appointed at this moment, should all be classified among those who had made great contributions to following the dragon.
And those former ministers of the Han Dynasty, on the one hand, were terrified of the popularity and prestige she controlled, but on the other hand, they also had a special reliance on her.
If Qiao Yan suppressed them too harshly without a reasonable reason, it would undoubtedly be proof that there was something fishy going on in her succession.
Authority can be weakened, but it can never be weakened to the ground in one step.
Qiao Yan knew what these people were thinking, and he also knew that—
Some of them were not unable to respond to Wang Yun's uprising before, but they had not yet been included in the lobbying scope by Situ Wang.
However, in history, Cao Cao burned the letters in which Xuchang officials secretly contacted Yuan Shao after the Battle of Guandu to show his magnanimity. Today, she may also retain the official positions of these people as they are.
When her direct subordinates have made unquestionable achievements in the war against Yuan Shao and Cao Cao, it will not be too late to replace all the positions then!
Qiao Yan's fingertips rubbed the imperial edict at hand for a moment, but there was no special ripple in his eyes. He just said, "I have already informed you a few days ago that I will not make any transfers to the current officials for the time being, and I will not make any special promotions for the officials formerly under the Grand Marshal's Mansion. I do not intend to change this. But as I said just now, there are many things to be rebuilt now, and there are vacancies in various places. We must make arrangements as soon as possible to meet the needs of the emergency. I will explain this to you today."
She handed the imperial edict to the attendant beside her and said, "Read it."
It was indeed an imperial edict to fill the current vacancy in the court.
The position of Si Tu left vacant due to the death of Wang Yun was taken over by Cheng Yu.
This was not surprising, but the next moment when Cheng Yu took the seal representing the duke and returned to the queue, the attendant in charge of reading the imperial edict directly dropped four consecutive bombs.
Qin Yu had been diligent and conscientious in his duties as the Dunei Ling for several years and had been in charge of farm affairs. During the period when Cheng Yu was assisting in making military decisions in Yizhou, he performed the duties of the Grand Minister of Agriculture on behalf of Cheng Yu and had never made any mistakes. Although Guanzhong had suffered from severe drought for years, there had never been a poor harvest. She had also taken the trouble to clarify the division of land among the refugees. Recalling the past, when cotton fields were planted in Shangjun, Bingzhou, it was she who carried out various pest inspections and standardized farming. She had made contributions not only to Guanzhong, but also to the whole country, and thus was promoted to the position of Minister of Agriculture.
The sisters Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting made great contributions in cutting off Liu Bei's reinforcements and persuading Zhou Yu to fight in the battle of Xuzhou, and they should have been rewarded. During their tenure in the Ministry of Justice, they tried and adjudicated cases without any omissions. Now that the position of the Ministry of Justice is vacant, Qiao Ting will take over.
Although the Qiao family in Leping is small in number, the position of Zongzheng controlled by the clan is still indispensable. Qiao Lan is in charge of this matter. In the future, any guilt or responsibility of the princes and clan members must be reported to the Zongzheng.
Cai Zhaoji has been in charge of the publishing of Leping Monthly for many years, and was also in charge of printing matters. She also managed the household expenses as a clerk in the Grand Marshal's Office, and now she has taken up the position of Junior Householder.
Four of the Nine Ministers! All are women!
Even though most of the people present had guessed that Qiao Yan, as a woman, would definitely include in the written laws that women could serve as officials, they never imagined that she would brazenly seize half of the nine ministers and entrust them to Qin Yu, the Qiao sisters and Cai Zhaoji respectively.
She really wasn't afraid of taking too big a step!
Even if the Qin and Han dynasties did not have such strict ideological restrictions on women serving as officials, otherwise there would not have been Qiao Yan, the governor of Bingzhou, and Ma Lun would not have been appointed as the Grand Historian at that time. Instead, four of the Nine Ministers came directly, and one of them was not very old, which was simply...
It's ridiculous!
But before anyone on the scene could step out to ask, Qiao Yan had already stepped forward and asked, "May I ask, which position do you have a suggestion for?"
Everyone looked at each other for a moment, thinking again about Qiao Yan's commission, and realized that they had very little room to question it.
Qin Yu had been accumulating experience since the time when Leping was still growing yam with the Black Mountain bandits. After Qiao Yan took charge of Bingzhou, she took on the work of the Bookkeeper. Later, she was transferred to Guanzhong. Her contributions in leading the people of Guanzhong to farm were many times more outstanding than those who could only talk in the court.
And she didn't even need to rely on her son Xu Shu for this resume. It was entirely because she seized the opportunity given to her by Qiao Yan that she achieved her current status!
Even though the position of Grand Minister of Agriculture is a little high, if they were to be fair, could they find a more suitable candidate than her?
Tian Chou, who was also an official under the Grand Minister of Agriculture, was indeed good, but he was a subordinate of Liu Yu after all. The fact that he was still appointed by Qiao Yan at this time was already a face-giving to the abdicated emperor. How could she promote him to the position of Grand Minister of Agriculture?
Therefore, as for Qin Yu's position, the most they could do was to attack him because of his gender. However, since the person sitting on the throne was Qiao Yan, they could never say such a reason out loud.
The official positions of Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting are also unquestionable.
The Qiao family in Leping is small, and with Qiao Zhen who is currently in Luoyang in charge of the medical business, there are only four people in total. Qiao Zhen is planning to become the successor to the dean of the medical school, so he will not be able to enter the officialdom for a short period of time.
The boundary drawn between Qiao Yan and the Qiao family of Liang State could never be retracted just because of the reason of "few people" when she just came to power, otherwise she would inevitably appear to be timid.
In this case, she would have to promote the sisters Qiao Lan and Qiao Ting as soon as possible so that they could gain a firm foothold in the court.
This was inevitable due to clan considerations by His Majesty. Fortunately, the two sisters did not disappoint Qiao Yan's expectations of them, giving her the reason to successfully make the appointment.
How are they going to refute? There is no difference between opposing the royal family and opposing Qiao Yan himself!
Not to mention Cai Zhaoji.
Because of the taboo of having the same name as the emperor, she had been given a name by Qiao Yan a few days ago, changing her name from Cai Yan to Cai Wen, meaning "in charge of clerical affairs."
Whether it is the Leping Monthly Report or the printing of classics, due to the special nature of their powers, it seems that they should not be placed under the jurisdiction of the Shangshu Tai, but should be directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor together with the tributes from all directions, the Bronze Official, and the Examination Works. It is not wrong to let Cai Zhaoji take up this position.
The only ones who were "wrong" were those who were originally Liu Yu's ministers. They realized more clearly than ever that when Qiao Yan made these official appointments, those who would compete with them for the official positions would no longer be just the children of the original aristocratic families!
People like Cheng Yu, who are not even from a poor family, can stand in a public position.
The existence of the four female Nine Ministers doubled the number of their competitors!
This was infinitely more terrifying than seeing the people of Chang'an giving great support to Qiao Yan that day, and even more terrifying than Qiao Yan's defining the beginning of Dayong as a "perfect time for all things to be revived".
Huang Wan, facing the burning gazes of the ministers behind him, finally stepped out of the line and said to Qiao Yan, "The powers of the Shaofu are the most complicated. Although Emperor Xiaowu of the Former Han Dynasty changed its powers and handed over all the salt and iron officials to the Minister of Agriculture, the Shaofu is still responsible for the management of some tax sources and the various financial expenditures in the palace. It has the Ministry of Examination, the Imperial Physician, the Tangguan, the Daoguan and other departments. I don't doubt the ability of the Shaofu appointed by Your Majesty, but everyone has their own expertise, and matters such as book printing are laborious and may not be the most suitable for her."
Huang Wan knew very well that she shouldn't have said such words at this time.
Considering that he had previously stopped Yu Liuxie from offering the jade seal to Qiao Yan, his action could only be described as a thankless task.
That was clearly stepping on Qiao Yan's weak spot!
But he had to do this.
After all, he was in charge of the Shaofu among the Nine Ministers.
Whether he wants to make such a response at this time or not, this question will be thrown at him sooner or later.
Huang Wan only felt that when he finished speaking the last word, a gaze that was definitely not friendly was cast towards him. However, what he heard immediately was Qiao Yan saying, "You're right."
Huang Wan: “……?”
etc! What do you mean he spoke well?
Huang Wan looked up in astonishment, and met Qiao Yan's meaningful gaze, "You are right about the complicated powers of the Shaofu."
"The Imperial Medical Bureau should have been abolished long ago when the Chiyang Medical College was already in place. It's just that such an institution still exists due to the division of powers in the early years. In fact, there are no people in it. This can be taken away from the authority of the Shaofu."
"When Duke Anyi was the Emperor of Han, he practiced frugality. Today, the natural disaster has not yet passed, so I should also follow this tradition. Among the officials under the Shaofu, the Taiguanling who is in charge of the palace meals, wine, and fruits, and his subordinates should all be kept simple. The Tangguanling can be temporarily abolished. The Daoguanling is mostly responsible for supervising prisoners because they are responsible for selecting rice for female prisoners. They can be merged into the Tingweisi. As for the Kaogongguan Office..."
Where is the Examination Office?
This place is equivalent to a workshop where the Han Dynasty produces various tools for the emperor.
During the most prosperous period of the Han Dynasty, this group might include the Dongxizhiling who was in charge of textiles, the Dongyuanling who was in charge of the utensils in the mausoleum, the Shangfangling who was in charge of producing precious utensils, and so on.
Qiao Yan paused, then continued, "Let's distribute this from the Shaofu as well. You all should have seen the fireworks yesterday, right?"
Without waiting for the ministers to respond, Qiao Yan continued, "This thing comes from the Leping Academy of Sciences, founded by Ma Deheng and Huang Yueying. Deheng has made many innovations in the weapons of our army, and Yueying has made many contributions to the cotton weaving machine and the fireworks this time. I intend to set up a separate Ministry of Industry to be responsible for this kind of innovation and subsequent production. The Ministry of Industry and Information in the Ministry of Finance can be directly incorporated into it."
"Officials such as the East and West Weaving Commander, the East Garden Commander, and the Shangfang Commander will be renamed and selected in the newly established Ministry of Works. There is no need to set them up separately for me. Deheng will be the Minister of Works, and Yueying will be his deputy."
"Huang Sikong, do you have any other suggestions?"
Qiao Yan asked again with a cold tone, "Do you think the Shaofu at the moment is a place that Zhaoji can control?"
Zhao Qi was keenly aware that this was another meaning of the fireworks that Cheng Yu mentioned before he set foot in the hall.
But Huang Wan didn't know that this was an arrangement Qiao Yan had already prepared for today.
He only felt that Qiao Yan's simplification of the Shaofu's powers was an act of deletion and modification made by His Majesty in order to allow Cai Zhaoji to successfully obtain the power and authority!
If he said anything else in such an irreversible situation, he would be considered ungrateful!
"Your Majesty...Your Majesty has no objection."
Huang Wan lowered his head and retreated, not daring to raise any more questions.
This special episode did not seem to affect Qiao Yan's mood at all. At this moment, she raised her hand and signaled the servant to continue reading the rest of the transfer orders.
Zhao Yun took over the position of Guanglu Xun among the Nine Ministers.
The word "Guanglu" in "Guanglu Xun" is quite different from the "Guanglu" in "Guanglu Dafu".
As one of the Nine Ministers under the Taiwei, Guanglu Xun should also be called Langzhongling. He is somewhat different from the Weiwei who is responsible for guarding the palace. His duty should be more clearly stated, which is to guard the emperor and he is in charge of one of the central armies.
Thinking of how Zhao Yun had been frequently deployed by Qiao Yan to fill in gaps, the ministers who heard of this appointment had no doubt that once Qiao Yan chose to lead the army in person after ensuring that the situation in the central government had been stabilized, Zhao Yun would definitely be a general accompanying the army!
What surprised Xianyu Fu was that, although his younger brother Xianyu Yin was involved in the assassination attempt on Qiao Yan and died at her hands, she did not transfer his power, but only handed over the last team of the central army to General Dian Wei, completely establishing the ownership of the central army road.
The subsequent two commissions were made due to the battle situation in Luoyang.
Xun Yu, who was originally supposed to be a candidate for Shangshu Ling, was appointed as Sili Xiaowei and was fully responsible for the Luoyang war.
Guo Jia, who was cooperating with Xu Huang at Hulao Pass at the moment, was appointed as the governor of Yanzhou.
This early appointment, which was extremely similar to Jia Xu's Qingzhou governor, made everyone inevitably speculate.
Unfortunately, seeing that Qiao Yan had no intention of informing them of her subsequent advance plan, they could only suppress their curiosity and temporarily keep this doubt in their hearts.
I don't know if it was because the previous transfer of power among the nine ministers was the most shocking, so that when everyone heard the final filling of those scattered vacancies, they were a little dazed.
It was not until the last official appointment was finalized and the morning court was adjourned that they walked out of the Purple Palace. Only then did they finally feel their thoughts coming back to them, and then they began to talk in low voices with the people around them.
These figures, which had already blurred from Qiao Yan's sight, disappeared one after another within the palace walls, and their conversation was completely isolated from Qiao Yan's sight.
However, even if she couldn't install a listening device on everyone, she could probably make some guesses by hearing clearly what they were saying at the moment.
"They dare not, or dare not directly criticize my actions at the moment," Qiao Yan still sat at the highest point of the hall, and spoke in between closing his eyes in deep thought, "But with what happened today, it is not for the benefit of the Han Dynasty, but for their own interests. There will definitely be people who will try to stop me from continuously appointing female officials."
"But do you think I have been too radical?"
The person she was asking was not someone else, but Ren Hong, who had been recording the emperor's first morning court session as a historian since the beginning of the day.
Hearing Qiao Yan's question, Ren Hong thought of the scene when Qiao Yan named her, but she suppressed her excitement and replied calmly: "Maybe it's a bit radical, but it's necessary."
Of course it is necessary!
If Qiao Yan had not sat on the throne of the emperor, Ren Hong would never have appeared here.
What Qiao Yan changed was not only the fate of those palace maids in the Han Palace in the past, but also the fate of countless women in the world.
Their fate began to change the moment she ascended the throne.
And today's appointment of the Nine Ministers is precisely the best benchmark set by her!
"Yes, of course it is necessary!" Qiao Yan suddenly laughed, and when he opened his eyes again, there was only a firm and sharp look in his eyes, "If I, as the emperor, dare not take this step, who in the world can do it!":,n,
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