The ministers were shocked and wanted to execute Chen Guoting.
Everyone was stunned, and no one dared to speak. After a while, Li Gang stood up and said, "Your Majesty, Lord Chen was only giving good advice. His crime is not punishable by death. Your Majesty should learn from this..."
"Li Gang! I don't need you to teach me a lesson," Zhao Huan said coldly.
Li Gang was startled and dared not say anything. Since Zhao Huan ascended the throne, he had never been so harsh on Li Gang. The last time he imprisoned the retired emperor, it was for the matter, not the person. But this time, he was really angry, and the more he tried to persuade him, the more angry he became. He Li, who was standing beside him, started to speak, but swallowed the words back.
Zhao Huan looked around at everyone and said, "Who else objects? I might as well kill them all!"
The ministers trembled, and no one dared to respond.
"Since there is no objection, I will appoint him. Zheng Xian!"
Zheng Xian came out and bowed, saying, "I'm here!"
"I appoint you as the Tiger Court Secretary, a fifth-rank official. I hope you manage the Tiger Court well and don't let me down."
Zheng Xian knelt down and kowtowed: "I thank you for your grace, my Lord."
Zhao Huan was very clever. He gave Zheng Xian enormous power but did not give him a high official position, so as to prevent him from becoming too powerful and difficult to control. Although Zheng Xian had great power, he was only a fifth-rank official.
"Wang Dabao, Fan Guangtu. You two will serve as deputy envoys, assisting Zheng Xian in sharing my concerns."
Wang Dabao and Fan Guangtu knelt down and said, "Your Majesty, thank you for your grace."
Zhao Huan looked at the ministers coldly and said, "Listen up, my ministers! Whenever the Tiger Court makes a ruling, all departments must fully support and unconditionally obey. Regardless of whether you are a royal relative or a veteran of three dynasties, if any official dares to oppose the Tiger Court, they have the right to arrest and interrogate him directly."
The people below secretly wiped their sweat. They were all wrong, completely wrong. Everyone felt like a monkey in a tree being tricked by Zhao Huan.
When Zhao Huan ascended the throne, he was careless, incompetent and confused. To put it bluntly, he was not much different from an idiot who just wanted to eat meat.
Defeating the Jin soldiers and exterminating the pro-peace faction were simply Zhao Huan's ability to use people wisely, and luck seemed to play a large part.
Now the ministers finally understood that Zhao Huan had been playing dumb and biding his time. When his foundation was not yet stable, Zhao Huan relied on those loyal ministers and capable generals.
Ever since Zhao Huan returned from the expedition and recovered the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun, the emperor's prestige has reached an unprecedented high, especially among the imperial guards who accompanied him on the expedition, who have become Zhao Huan's diehard loyalists.
With the foundation in place, the emperor began to establish a Tiger Yasi. The terrible thing is that this Tiger Yasi is directly under the imperial power, above any rights and systems, and is an extralegal department.
The days when imperial power was absolutely centralized and the literati and officials jointly ruled the country are gone forever.
"Where is Pan Bufeng?"
Pan Bufeng didn't expect the emperor to call him, so he hurriedly stood up and said, "I am Pan Bufeng, your humble servant, and I am honored to meet you, Your Majesty."
"Pan Bufeng, you saved my life, and I will reward and punish you accordingly! One Tiger Yasi alone cannot govern the world, so I must establish an organization. That is the Imperial Dragon Guard. Pan Bufeng, I appoint you as the commander of the Imperial Dragon Guard, with a rank of fifth grade."
Pan Bufeng didn't know what the Imperial Dragon Guard did, but he was an official anyway. So he expressed his gratitude: "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
This time, not only Li Gang and others were unaware, even Wu Ge, Wang Zongchu and Kang Huojian did not know that the emperor was going to set up a Dragon Guard. This emperor was so terrible.
"The Imperial Dragon Guard! Responsible for collecting and investigating national sentiment, taxation, land, and the performance of officials. They can conduct both open and covert investigations. When necessary, the Imperial Dragon Guard has the same authority as the Tiger Yasi!"
The ministers were once again horrified. One Tiger Yasi was already enough for them. Adding a Dragon Guard to the mix, how could they possibly survive? But now the matter was settled; the emperor was determined to establish this department. Anyone who dared to oppose it would be punished, as Chen Guoting would be.
Chen Guoting, who was appointed Shangshu Youcheng, advocated for resistance against the Jin army when they were at the gates of the city, earning the emperor's trust. When the emperor personally led the army to the war, he served as a regent to assist the crown prince in handling government affairs, which shows the emperor's deep trust in him.
But even Chen Guoting was taken to the Tianlao prison and was about to be beheaded, and even Li Gang, who had made great contributions, was scolded by the emperor. These officials dared not say a word.
Kang Huojian and the others exchanged glances. The Emperor was truly scheming. He hadn't even let us know about the formation of the Imperial Dragon Guard. How terrifying!
"Kang Huojian, Wang Zongchu, and Wu Ge, the three of you will assist in establishing the Tiger Yasi and the Imperial Dragon Guard. I will open up a new world for the Great Song Dynasty!"
"As you wish!"
Zhao Huan was in a heavy mood after leaving the court. He had not been to the harem for several days. When he felt tired, he would rest alone in Wende Hall for a night, and then he would deal with endless government affairs.
He discovered a shocking level of institutional decay within the Song Dynasty. Officials were severely over-employed, with countless idle departments and countless officials drawing salaries without pay, preying on the people. A small county magistrate had seven alternates, all of whom were paid by the court. This illustrates the plight of the people below.
The entire southwest's salt and iron taxes were less than 20,000 taels, while grain taxes in the so-called prosperous Jiangnan region were even more appallingly low. Yet, ordinary people were taxed at a staggering 13% of their income. If this continues, civil unrest is inevitable. Shandong province is a prime example; without drastic reforms, these loopholes will only widen.
Although the Tiger Yasi was directly under his jurisdiction, he couldn't be the Tiger Yasi's envoy himself. He still had to listen to Zheng Xian and others, which could easily lead to abuse of power and the Tiger Yasi had absolute control over everything.
So Zhao Huan established the Imperial Dragon Guard to counter the Tiger Guard and check and balance them. It would be best if the Tiger Guard and the Imperial Dragon Guard could fight each other. The more fiercely they fought, the more secure his throne would be.
The emperor was not afraid of the powerful ministers fighting each other, but was afraid of them joining forces to deal with him. Li Gang was right. If there was only one tiger yamen official, there was no guarantee that they would not go to heaven.
After the court was dismissed, all the ministers were terrified. After seeing this, their carefree days were gone.
Zhao Ye, the governor of the Northern Circuit, sighed and said, "From now on, I'll have to behave myself."
Minister of Rites Zuo Heng also sighed: "Alas, take care, colleagues!"
Lu Pingzhi disagreed: "What are you afraid of? We are loyal to the court and serve His Majesty. Shouldn't we enjoy ourselves a little?"
Zhao Ye patted him: "Shh~ Lord Lu, you are asking for death. Do you want to go to the Heavenly Prison to accompany Chen Guoting?"
Lu Pingzhi was so frightened that he dared not say anything more. Zuo Heng came up to him and asked, "Do you think the emperor will kill Chen Guoting?"
Lu Pingzhi snorted disdainfully: "How could he be killed? The emperor values Chen Guoting the most. At most, he's just pretending. He'll find an excuse to release him later."
Zhao Ye nodded: "I think so too. The emperor is just making a lot of noise but not delivering any results. Perhaps we are just too nervous."
Zuo Heng chuckled: "That's right, but the Emperor has been..."
"Shh, keep your voice down, you're risking your life!" Zhao Ye stopped him.
Zuo Heng lowered his voice and said, "The retired emperor has been imprisoned. This Master Li from Zuixinglou..."
Zhao Ye poked him and said, "You dare to have ideas about Li Shishi? Do you want to die?"
Zuo Heng said with a wretched expression: "What are you afraid of? The emperor will never be able to leave this place in his lifetime. Even if he dies under the peony flowers, he will still be a romantic ghost. You don't know that Li Shishi, she is really beautiful, hehehe..."
PS: I fell asleep while coding last night, sorry, there was only one update yesterday. I will update twice today, and the fifth update will be released on the first day. Please subscribe and give me tips on the first day!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
