At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Page 620

There are many people who hold the power of the central officials, and the real power is in their hands, but they fail to do things well, so they deserve to be held accountable.

However, Guo Peng has not considered a new wave of adjustments to the central government for the time being.

After all, not long ago, a wave of reorganization of the division of central power was carried out, and Xu Jing and Zhang Zhao, two representative figures of vulnerable groups, were introduced.

Letting them join the central government to take charge of vital personnel power is a very important step in Guo's plan.

Now that their power and status have not been consolidated, it is not suitable to introduce meritorious veterans into the central government to take power, so as to disrupt the current central structure.

Mr. Guo is now cleaning up the corrupt officials in the local area, thinking about rectifying the administration of officials, and all the rest of his energy is spent on the military level.

Before the official departure, let all the troops enter a state of combat readiness.

He dug out the armor that had not been used for a long time, and put it on with the help of Cao Lan. Feeling the discomfort of being a little tight, Guo Peng sighed.

"I'm getting older, and it's true that I don't have enough time. No matter how hard I try to maintain it, I still can't return to the original state. Alan, what do you think?"

Guo Peng looked at Cao Lan with a smile.

Cao Lan also laughed.

"I think it's okay. No matter how you look at it, Peng Lang is still the same as before, just as heroic and strong. I find it hard to swallow the things you eat every day, but you can eat them every day. It's no wonder your The bones are still strong."

Cao Lan looked up and down, left and right, her eyes were full of tenderness.

"Chicken breast is delicious, isn't it chewy? You think it's not chewy, but I like that kind of chewy."

Guo Peng chuckled, and then patted the armor on his body: "The last time I wore this armor to fight in Kansai and Hanzhong, how many years have passed in a blink of an eye."

"That's right, Peng Lang wasn't at home during the Chinese New Year when he fought that battle."

Cao Lan seemed to look at Guo Peng with some complaints.

"Marching and fighting, thousands of miles away, it's really normal to come and go for more than a year, why don't I want to come back sooner? It's really impossible, I can't come back, there are too many things to do."

Guo Peng smiled, and said: "I also have a deep understanding of the hardships of military life. I thought that after becoming emperor, I would not have such a chance to recollect it. In the end, I still have a chance."

Cao Lan was silent for a while.

"Do you have to go?"

"must go."

Guo Peng pursed his lips and took Cao Lan's hand: "Emperor, if you want to be in power well, you must be the strongest person in the world. How can people quickly realize that the emperor is the strongest? First, is To kill ministers, the second is to lead troops to fight.

Those who should be killed must be killed. If you want to fight, you can't avoid it. The emperor must be strong, otherwise the power will fall to the side. This power is too heavy, too big, and too dangerous. In order to control it, this is what I have to do. things to do.

I have occupied the Central Plains for more than seven years, and I have been emperor for more than four years. In just these few days, the problem of corruption among local officials has become more serious. It can be seen that as I live in the deep palace all day long, my prestige is in the hearts of people all over the world. has been attenuated.

This is only seven years, only seven years, my prestige has already weakened, local officials have begun to relax their guard, and began to seek pleasure, this is definitely not a good phenomenon, I need a big battle to tell them that I am still the same that me. "

"..."

Cao Lan was silent, just holding Guo Peng's hand and not letting go.

Guo Peng sighed and reached out to stroke Cao Lan's cheek.

"Alan, don't worry, the Son of Heaven went out to fight because he was forced to do so, and everything was ready. I already had full confidence in the victory. I went to the grassland this time to collect the corpses of the Xianbei people. The Xianbei people couldn't resist me. s attack."

Looking at Guo Peng's face, Cao Lan suddenly asked, "Peng Lang, if you had to choose again, would you still choose to be the emperor?"

Guo Peng blinked.

Realizing that this question was very meaningful, Guo Peng thought about it for a while.

Then he gave Cao Lan a very clear answer.

"Yes, I will, I will definitely choose to go on this road again and become the emperor again. Of course, various things may be done better than now, because with the experience of being an emperor in the past few years, I will do it." It’s better, and I won’t put off doing many things until now.”

"Is it really that good to be an emperor?"

"I didn't become emperor for myself."

After thinking about it seriously, Guo Peng added: "Not exactly."

"What is that for? Me? Ah Jin? Or the whole Guo family?"

Cao Lan continued to ask.

"No, I'm not going to be emperor for a specific person."

Guo Peng shook his head again and again, looked at Cao Lan seriously, hesitated for a moment, and said, "Alan, I know some things you don't know, and these things motivate me to make a career no matter what, and do something to the whole world. little thing.

If my ability is strong, I will make more changes. If my ability is weak, then I will do less. If I have no ability, there is nothing I can do. As long as I have the opportunity, I will definitely do it. species of people. "

Cao Lan didn't say anything more, she helped Guo Peng put on the armor, put on the helmet for him, and then looked at her husband.

"Now you are like this, will Ah Jin be like this in the future?"

"He may not necessarily need to be personally recruited, but he will not be more relaxed than me. Maybe he will be more tired than me. What I leave him is bones. He wants to add flesh and blood to the bones. He has no choice."

Guo Peng took a deep breath: "Being my son, the emperor of Wei, must be like this."

The emperor's prestige is the best help to deter officials and consolidate power, and the prestige is not obtained for no reason, the prestige is earned by the emperor's own efforts.

Guo Pengjiu did not go out, and many officials have gradually forgotten that the emperor Guo Peng personally led the army to fight bit by bit. The Wei Empire was created by Guo Peng personally leading the Wei army. , are all his efforts.

He is the creator of this country, the one and only true master.

And as his subordinate, he actually wanted to seek personal gain for himself without telling his master, and his food was so ugly, which had seriously challenged Guo Peng's majesty as an emperor.

Not punishing them is not enough to reflect the majesty of the emperor, and not winning is not enough to maintain the emperor's prestige.

For this prestige, Guo Peng will lead the army again to defeat difficult enemies and gain supreme military exploits.

The number of Central Guards and Guards directly under Guo Peng has increased over the years, from 12 to 15.

While gradually abolishing some troops in Yangzhou, Jingzhou and the Northeast, Guo Peng also paid attention to gradually expanding the strength and number of the imperial guards directly under the emperor's command, so as to ensure that the number of troops under the emperor's control could always suppress the local area. power.

And this expedition, of course, is also based on the Imperial Guards.

In order to enhance the strength of the Imperial Guard, Guo Peng had already ordered some war horses raised by Longxi Racecourse and Bingzhou Youzhou to be sent to the Gyeonggi area to equip the Imperial Guard and increase the proportion of cavalry in the Imperial Guard.

The Northwest Corps under Cao Ren's command has the highest proportion of cavalry in the Wei army. Taking advantage of the advantages of the Longxi Racecourse, it has basically realized full-scale cavalry.

After feeling the advantages of being fully cavalry, Guo Peng also put a large number of horses and equipment into the Luoyang Guards at the entrance of the northern expedition to the grasslands, so as to increase the mobility of the Guards and expand the degree of mule-horse transformation of the Guards .

In this wave, more than 30 horses were included in the battle order of the Praetorian Guards.

And more than 30 poor horses used for material delivery will also be put into this war to contribute to the logistics of the army.

There is still some time before the war, but Guo Peng believes that the Guards should enter the state of war as soon as possible and start war exercises.

Therefore, as the commander-in-chief of the army, he will personally command the army to conduct several important pre-war exercises.

Zhao Yun is a qualified commander of the guard army. As the general of the guard army, he is responsible for commanding the most elite and powerful military force of the Wei Empire, stationed in the Gyeonggi area.

But Zhao Yun is a very sensible person.

He knows that his position is very sensitive, and he knows that he can hold this position because he is a meritorious general of Yuan Cong and has always been trusted by Guo Peng.

If someone else is replaced, it may not be possible to hold this position.

At first, he was born as a soldier of Guo Peng, and was brought out by Guo Peng himself to guide culture and art of war, so he was trusted and held this position.

And Zhao Yun also knew that the emperor's trust was not without reason and consistent, and the existence of Cao Hong and Guo Dong was not meaningless.

So he never did anything out of the ordinary.

I don't interact with any administrative officials, and my relationship with other leading generals is also mediocre. I don't seem to have any friends. Daily life is two points and one line, either in the military camp or at home.

I don't drink, I don't gamble, I don't go to brothels to play with women, in addition to my daily work, I read books and practice calligraphy in a little spare time, and my handwriting is getting better and better.

It is precisely because of such strict self-discipline that Zhao Yun can hold such an important position beside Guo Peng.

In fact, Guo Peng has no intention of handing over some of the important positions he currently holds to others after the current person leaves office.

The high positions and great power of these positions are themselves an unstable factor for the imperial power.

The reason why it exists is purely to reward the heroes.

It is the consensus of the society to reward these heroes for their blood and blood for the Guowei Empire in the process of establishing the country.

If you don't reward the heroes, can your dynasty still get the yearning and following of talents?

But when the heroes are gone and the dynasty is on the right track of steady development, these important positions should not continue to exist.

The founding emperor can suppress the founding heroes, and can the emperors who have no military status in later generations suppress these powerful officials?

Therefore, important military and political positions such as the General of the Guard and the Order of the Minister will be abolished in the not-too-distant future.

Chapter 1074 One thousand and eighty-four Zilong, there is no one who can stand shoulder to shoulder with you

Guo Peng didn't know whether Zhao Yun was aware of this fact.

But it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if he doesn't know.

For Zhao Yun, Guo Peng has a sense of trust that other people can hardly have.

This person is not happy with things, not sad with himself, but has the overall situation in mind, and is willing to sacrifice a little bit of personal interests for the sake of the overall situation.

It is precisely because of this that Guo Peng handed over the sensitive position of commanding the main force of the Central Army to Zhao Yun.

Except for Zhao Yun, no one can hold the post of General of the Guards as securely as him.

Speaking of which, Guo Peng originally planned to make Zhao Yun a general of the guard, which sounds better.

But with the idea of ​​wanting Zhao Yun to retire gloriously, Guo Peng planned to save the General of the Guards until the end, until Zhao Yun retired, and let him be the only one.

If it can be realized, if Zhao Yun can continue to treat the power in his hands rationally and cautiously, Guo Peng doesn't mind letting Zhao Yun retire with honor as a general of the guard.

Let him become the sole commander of the unique central army in the empire, the only one, and there will be no second one, so he will leave his name in history and be admired by future generations.

Apart from these, Guo Peng couldn't find fault with Zhao Yun's achievements in the position of General of the Guards.

This anti-corruption operation also involves the military level.

After the Liangzhou case broke out, Guo Peng was very annoyed when he learned that some people in the army had colluded with local officials and businessmen to embezzle public property.

Given such high treatment to the army, it still can't stop some people from having dirty hands and feet.

Angry and disappointed, Guo Peng stepped up his punishment while ordering strict investigations of all military battalions, local garrison troops, and the Central Army.

Strictly check whether the military expenditure is actually implemented, and whether there are corrupt and degenerate elements who have spent the general expenditure where it should not be used, eating the meat of soldiers, drinking the blood of soldiers, and making themselves fat and strong.

Although the rules are set, people always need to distribute the materials, and it is really hard to say whether someone will profit from them during the distribution process.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the Central Army is very clean.

After the Ministry of War distributes the military expenses and materials, except for the military salary which is directly distributed to each soldier, other ordnance materials and daily necessities are distributed by the army chief.

The consumption of various daily necessities is too large and the transportation is not timely, so the army needs to be responsible for the local selection and purchase. The funds are provided by the Ministry of War, and there is no one to supervise them.

There is room for manipulation in this part of the cost.

Moreover, part of the military expenditure is reward money that can be used by the army at its discretion, which can be used to give the army extra meals or reward meritorious soldiers.

This part of the cost is also maneuverable.

Other armies may use this part of the money to do something, such as small welfare, it is hard to say whether there is any expenditure that has not been recorded in the books.

But Zhao Yun made this part of the cost no room for maneuver.

When Zhao Yun presided over the work of the Central Army, every account was clear, clean, and completely recorded, and there were separate records in the Ministry of War, the Ministry of Finance, and the cabinet.

What did you buy, how much did you spend, how much was the unit price, whether there was a discount, which unit you used after you bought it, how much it was consumed, how long it took to use it up, when to replenish it, etc.

Zhao Yun asked the military planners to make a detailed form of this content, and personally supervised and kept a close eye on the expenditure of this part of the expenses to ensure that no one profited from it and embezzled state funds.

He didn't show his face in the army very much, but he put most of his energy on this kind of supervision work, trying not to make mistakes.

I heard that because of this matter, some people in the Ministry of War are still dissatisfied with Zhao Yun.

Over the past few years, the accounts of the Central Army have definitely been the cleanest and most reliable part. Even when Guo Peng ordered a strict inspection of the army accounts, he did not find any inconsistencies.

It can only be said that this is very Zhao Yun.

So when Guo Peng went to see Zhao Yun at the General Guards Camp, he took his hand and praised him for his meticulous work.

"I am relieved to have Zilong commanding the guards for me. Zilong, it would be great if there were more generals like you. Why should I be so worried like I am now?"

"There are many generals who are better at fighting than my ministers, and my ministers are not as good as them."