Chapter 355: Han Qi's Transformation, Focusing on Stability

Wang Zeng's funeral was ordered by Zhao Zhen and personally organized by the Political System Council.

Except for Lü Yijian who was absent due to health problems, everyone attended the funeral and expressed their condolences to Wang Zeng.

Zhang Shixun and Li Di were both in their seventies and almost eighty years old, and Lü Yijian was actually only sixty-eight this year.

But in history, he has been dead for three years now, and the grass on his grave is estimated to be three feet high.

This is enough to show that Lü Yijian's health has always been not very good.

Now it is only because he has been staying in the capital for many years, unlike in history when he was dismissed as a prime minister and transferred to various places to serve as a prefecture, and died soon after being busy.

But his health is still not optimistic. After Wang Zeng's death, Lü Yijian also took sick leave again, and the Political System Council lacked a prime minister again.

For a time, there was a turmoil in the court, and the ministers of various ministries, especially those of the first-level institutions under the Political System Council, were all undercurrents and became active.

Not only them, but even Han Qi, who was far away in the northwest, was a little eager to make a move when he heard the news that Wang Zeng had passed away and Lu Yijian was seriously ill.

In late July, the northwest sun was high in the sky. In Chengji County, the seat of Qinzhou, Han Qi, the head of the Supervisory Council and the governor of Shaanxi Road, was sitting in the pavilion in the backyard in the original residence of the Qinfeng Road Transport Commissioner in the city.

The sun shone warmly on his desk. At this time, the stone table in the yard was filled with a large number of maps of the border of Shaanxi Road, among which the most were border military intelligence reports of Huizhou, Xi'anzhou, Huaidezhou, Huanzhou and other places.

Next to him sat a middle-aged man, who was Han Rui, the military judge of Qinzhou. He was also the youngest son of Han Qi's uncle. Because Han Qi's uncle died early, Han Rui was entrusted to Han Qi's father Han Guohua for care, so Han Rui has been Han Qi's follower since he was a child.

However, Han Rui did not pass the imperial examination. He was promoted to the government by his father who died early. For so many years, he was only polished among the middle and lower-level officials. This time, Han Qi was transferred to the northwest, and Han Rui happened to be a judge in Qinzhou, so the two brothers got together.

In the courtyard, Han Rui saw Han Qi staring at the map on the table in a daze, and asked in wonder: "Eleventh brother, why are you still looking at these?"

"What else are you looking at?"

Han Qi said without raising his head.

Han Rui said anxiously: "Didn't you hear what I said just now?"

"You heard it?"

"Then aren't you anxious?"

"What's there to be anxious about?"

Han Qi said indifferently.

"This is not urgent."

Han Rui said speechlessly: "Prime Minister Wang died of illness, and Lu Gong took sick leave. In October this year, there will be another election for the Constitutional Council. According to the five-year term of office set by the Council, the maximum is ten years. Song Xiang and Cai Xiang are also you. "

Han Qi did not speak, quietly looking at the map, and occasionally took out a map to scan around.

Just now, Han Rui came over in a hurry and told him a great news. Wang Zeng died of illness, and Lu Yijian also took sick leave. Now there are only nine people left in the Political System Council.

That is, Zhao Jun, Song Shou, Cai Qi, Fan Zhongyan, Yan Shu, Zhang Shixun, Li Di, Jiang Tang, and Jia Changchao.

Since the establishment of the Political System Council, Zhao Jun, the head of the Council, has decided that the co-director of the Political System Council cannot be in office all the time. Basically, it is a five-year term. If he does not do a good job, the government, the head of the Council, and many co-directors need to vote to decide whether to support re-election.

Although the original three prime ministers and three assistants have continued to be re-elected so far, even according to the government's more nostalgic thinking, Cai Qi and Song Shou are likely to break the rules set by the head of the Council and continue to be re-elected.

But this does not prevent the Political System Council from having a huge vacancy.

According to the scale of the last twelve people, at least three more people will be added this time, so the chief officials of the first-level institutions such as the Ministry of Finance, the traditional six ministries, the Ministry of Education, the Jiantai, and the Yushitai can be a matter of course.

This is also the current official promotion rule order, that is, if you want to be the chief officer of a first-level institution, you must have experienced various second-level and third-level institutions.

And if you want to enter the Political System Institute, you must serve as the chief officer of a first-level institution and concurrently serve as the alternate Tongzhi of the Political System Institute.

Second-level institutions such as the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the Ministry of Taxation, the Ministry of Agriculture, the Ministry of Natural Resources, the Ministry of Transportation, the Imperial Court, the Ministry of Statistics, the Ministry of Jiaozi, the Ministry of Geology, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cannot directly skip this level and enter the Political System Institute.

If it were in the past, Han Qi would definitely not have had a chance, because the former Dali Temple and the Court of Justice, which was the predecessor of the Supervisory Yuan, were second-level institutions with slightly lower weight.

Later, Zhao Jun increased the weight of Kaifeng Prefecture, and by the way, he also promoted the Dali Temple and the Supervisory Yuan. In this way, including Kaifeng Prefecture, these institutions all became first-level institutions, and the chief officers were given the title of alternate Tongzhi.

In this way, Han Qi had a chance.

But Han Rui's words were obviously forgotten by him, as if he had no idea at all, which made Han Rui even more anxious, and he said again: "Eleventh brother, don't you want to go one step further? Enter the Political System Council as prime minister?"

"Huh."

Han Qi took a long breath and turned his head to look at his cousin.

He is the sixth child in his family, with five older brothers, but he is the eleventh in the family order, so he has a good relationship with his fourteenth brother.

It's just a pity.

My younger brother is only in his thirties, but his political wisdom is not as good as his. Otherwise, how could he have been an official for many years and still be a seventh-rank military judge in a state?

Thinking of this, Han Qi shook his head and said: "I do want to go one step further, but after thinking about it, it is probably not now."

"Why?"

"I am only thirty-nine years old this year. It is not easy to serve as the head of the Supervisory Council. Do you think I can enter the Political System Council so easily?"

"this"

Han Rui was speechless for a moment, and then continued: "You have ambitions not in your age. Back then, Kou Gong was appointed to participate in political affairs at the age of thirty-two, and at the age of forty-one, he became a disciple of Tong Zhongshu. The talents of the eleven brothers are no worse than Kou Gong."

"hehe."

Han Qi smiled and then said: "Then why do you think I am the only one traveling to the northwest?"

"Of course the officials value it."

"No, this just shows that it is difficult for me to enter the Constitutional Yuan."

"Why?"

Han Rui was very puzzled.

Han Qi explained: "The war cannot be settled in a day or two. The northwest is remote, and the march and fighting may last for several months. Zhao Yuanhao is not a fool. He just stands still and lets the fight continue. If it lasts for a long time, I am afraid that the political system will be destroyed." The election has already ended."

"this"

Han Rui was stunned for a moment, and then said dejectedly: "Then it seems that we are not allowed to enter this year."

"Not necessarily."

"Brother Eleven?"

"Who doesn't want to be prime minister? Besides, he is a prime minister with such power as Tongzhi of the Constitutional Yuan. Naturally, I have the same intention."

Han Qi raised his head and looked at Han Rui, and said with a chuckle: "It's just my fourteenth brother. Sometimes, fighting means not fighting, and not fighting means fighting. You have to understand this truth."

"To fight is to not fight, and to not fight is to fight?"

Han Rui was confused.

What does it mean?

Han Qi smiled and said nothing.

In fact, through marriage, his family has long been in-laws with the Wang Zeng family, Lu Yijian family, and Jia Changchao family.

For example, the eldest son of Han Qi married the granddaughter of Lu Yijian, the only son of his half-brother Han Xu married the granddaughter of Wang Zeng, and the second son of the eldest brother who died young married the daughter of Jia Changfu, a cousin of Jia Changchao.

But in this matter, he had no intention of using these connections, and he had no intention of clearing the way to be recommended by the prime ministers.

You must know that the last election relied on nominations from the prime ministers. Although Jiang Tang was a centrist and entered the Constitutional Yuan, his entry was the result of a compromise between all parties.

Therefore, many chief officials of first-level institutions in Bianliang have to become subordinates of various prime ministers in order to obtain the key step.

However, although Han Qi is related to them, he often disagrees with Lu Yijian and others in terms of political opinions. In recent years, he has supported Fan Zhongyan's reforms.

As a result, it seems that he only has the possibility of being nominated by Fan Zhongyan.

But at this level, the officialdom is not about who you support. He just treats the situation and not the person. He believes that Fan Zhongyan's reforms are beneficial to the country, so he is on par with Fan Zhongyan in personal relationships.

Then Han Qi can see for himself that although he is related to the three prime ministers, they have different political opinions. Although he has the same political opinions as Fan Zhongyan, his relationship with Fan Zhongyan is such that it is still unknown whether he can be nominated by him.

Therefore, Han Qi understood that unless he personally visited Lu Yijian, who was still alive, or asked someone to contact Jia Changchao and Fan Zhongyan, it was difficult to say whether he would be nominated.

In this case, Han Qi could not take the initiative. He chooses to do his own thing well. As long as everything goes well, what is his will definitely not escape.

In the afternoon, Han Qi summoned his deputies Yang Kai, Zhang Kang, and Zhang Fangping to come for a meeting.

It didn't take long for everyone to arrive.

At this time, everyone was sitting in rows in the house in the backyard of the government office.

Han Qi sat in the main seat, with a large number of military documents and maps of various places on the table in front of him.

After everyone arrived, he said: "Everyone, we have been in the northwest for more than a month. When we set off this time, everyone had read the documents from the Constitutional Yuan."

"The strategic task assigned by the Constitutional Yuan this time is not to destroy Xixia, but to drive Zhao Yuanhao out of Qingtang and Zhuoluosinan. This shows that the imperial court does not want to annex Xixia, or it should be said that the imperial court does not want to fall into a large-scale In the beginning of the war."

Yang Kai said.

"Um."

Han Qi nodded: "Now our Song Dynasty is booming and is far ahead. It is only a matter of time that our national power will become far stronger than that of Liao and Xia. There is no need to entangle with them at this time."

Zhang Fangping said: "Does this mean that we don't need to mobilize all of Shaanxi to invade Xixia?"

"I don't think so. Since the imperial court has assigned a task, we must complete it, and we must overfulfill it."

Zhang Kang became anxious and said quickly: "Mr. Sir, I think this matter cannot be let go. At least Xixia must be crippled, so that the world can know that the Song Dynasty cannot be invaded."

Han Qi smiled. Although Zhang Kang was a Jinshi, his promotion depended on marching and fighting. Now he is also serving as deputy privy envoy, so he definitely wants to fight and perform meritorious service.

It can be said that Zhang Kang, as a civilian official, now represents the interests of the military and will definitely advocate a strategy of massive attack on Xixia.

This coincided with him.

Because at least no one knows yet, Han Qi is actually a staunch fighter, so he must be on Zhang Kang's side.

However, the tendency must not be too obvious, so Han Qi pondered for a moment and said: "What you two said is reasonable. Even if Xixia cannot be destroyed, we cannot let it go. In this case, we can divide our troops into two groups."

"oh?"

Everyone hurriedly asked: "My lord, what's your clever plan?"

"You can pretend to attack Xixia Xingqing Mansion along the way, surround Wei and rescue Zhao. On the other hand, attack Qingtang, Zhuoluo and Nan in a big way, and drive out Yuan Hao's soldiers and horses."

Han Qi said.

Zhang Kang rolled his eyes, this was very similar to Fan Zhongyan's original plan.

When Li Yuanhao marched south, Fan Zhongyan was mainly defensive in the west, and sent his light cavalry to Xingqing Prefecture in the east, killing, burning and looting along the way, causing heavy losses to Xixia.

But will the same trick work?

Thinking of this, Zhang Kang said: "Sir, I personally led 8,000 cavalry to Xingqing Prefecture. I am afraid that Yuanhao will not fall into the trap so easily again."

Han Qi smiled and said: "Don't worry, our insider has been found. Yuanhao led his army to attack Qingtang. Now most of the troops are in Huangzhou and other places. The Western bandits do not have many troops in the country."

"This"

Everyone looked at each other and felt that there was a problem.

Li Yuanhao would not be so stupid as to leave the country so empty. Isn't he afraid that the Song Dynasty would take Xixia directly?

Seeing everyone's reaction, Han Qi also understood their thoughts and said: "I naturally know your concerns. Are you afraid that Yuanhao will set up a plan to lure us into the trap?"

"Yes."

Everyone nodded.

Han Qi said: "That's why I plan to split the troops into two groups, one for feint attack and the other for real attack."

Everyone understood Han Qi's strategy.

That's right.

Since the court asked them to complete the basic task, if Han Qi played it safe, he only needed to complete this task.

So the west is a real attack, and the north is a feint attack. In this way, even if Li Yuanhao set a trap, he couldn't do anything to them. The feint attack team would immediately withdraw when they saw that the situation was not good.

Thinking of this, Yang Xie and Zhang Fangping both praised Han Qi for his steady strategy.

Only Zhang Kang was slightly dissatisfied. He actually wanted to attack the north and fight to the death with Xixia.

Even if it was a trap, Zhang Kang didn't think that the main force of the Song Dynasty would be at a disadvantage when it met the main force of Xixia.

But since Han Qi wanted to play it safe, he had no choice.

After all, there was nothing wrong with being steady.

Seeing that no one objected, Han Qi breathed a sigh of relief.

In fact, his initial idea was to rush out directly like Zhang Kang.

Because he did so in history, and ended up suffering a disastrous defeat in the Battle of Haoshuichuan.

But now Han Qi is a few years older, unlike in history when he was appointed as the pacification envoy of Shaanxi Road at the age of 31, and now his personality is a little more stable.

Secondly, the election of the Constitutional Council is imminent, and it is too risky to rush out.

Although high risk means high return, the greater the military exploits, the greater the possibility of his being praised by the superiors, but if he was seven or eight years younger, he would really do it.

What a pity.

Han Qi remembered what the governor said when he came.

The governor's meaning is very simple.

You come to Shaanxi Road, mainly responsible for the local people's livelihood governance.

The second is to recover Qingtang and Zhuoluo Sinan.

If you do these two things, then your contribution, Han Qi, is the greatest.

As for the others.

Unless you destroy the Western Xia, even if you defeat the Western Xia army head-on, it will be just like that.

On the contrary, if you make a mistake and cause the Song army to be defeated or even if you win, you will suffer heavy losses, then you will still have no merit.

It is precisely because of these warnings that Han Qi's impulse to rush out was curbed.

National affairs are not trifling.

Since the imperial court has no intention of destroying Western Xia yet, they, as the commanders on the front line, still have to obey the court's arrangements.