Establishing a thousand-year family from the nobles of the Western Han Dynasty

Chapter 70 Phase Settlement
He was also one of the Nine Ministers, but he was not from the Imperial Academy. He was an old minister of Emperor Jing's reign, who was appreciated and promoted by Xu Zhou.

Where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. With Liu Che's deliberate support, there were already many factions in the court. The largest one was the Confucian Party and the Legalist Party, and the struggle began to become more and more fierce.

At the same time, it can be further subdivided. There are several groups within the party. They check and balance each other and constitute the stability of the Han Dynasty.

But after all, most of them were from the Imperial Academy, and both the Confucian and Legalist schools believed that they were the orthodox ones, so they followed the lead of Prime Minister Xu Gong and also respected Xu Zhou. His ascension to the throne was the result of a compromise between the two parties.

However, after all, the Imperial Academy had only been open for more than ten years, and there were quite a number of officials in the court who were not from Confucian and Legalist backgrounds, mainly meritorious military generals, because the Imperial Academy did not have a military academy.

Simply put, they are those ministers who rose to power through military exploits. Nowadays, there is no clear distinction between civil and military officials in the Han Dynasty.

Therefore, the Confucian-Legalist Party was extremely hostile to these military merit groups. In order to protect their status, they could only choose to get closer to General Wei Qing, General Huo Qubing and Grand Marshal Zhou Yafu.

This was not a simple dispute over the position of prime minister, but a game between the forces of the Imperial Academy and those of meritorious officials. The military generals needed Zhou Yafu to gain a foothold, and the civil officials also had to support their own people and completely trample those "outliers" under their feet.

A chain of contempt has long been formed in the literary world. Those who have studied in private schools look down on the uneducated and uncultured people, the powerful who have had great scholars and sages as their teachers look down on those who studied in private schools, and the students of the Imperial Academy stand at the top and look down on everyone.

Therefore, only the noble Imperial Academy Chief Academic Officer could be the Prime Minister. Although Zhou Yafu had great qualifications and prestige, he was not worthy of it!

This was the voice of most of the civil servants present. They did not look down on the military generals, but on the outsiders.

This situation is actually what Liu Che wanted to see. He wanted to completely separate the Imperial Academy from the outside world.

"Hmph, my opinion is completely different from yours. What the Han Dynasty needs now is military generals who can defend the country and repel the enemy! Literati can only be used in prosperous times."

"Do you want to see Prime Minister Xu struggling alone? Don't forget that you were able to study and be employed by the court because of the grace of Prime Minister Xu and His Majesty!"

Doctor Chen bowed to Xu Gong.

As expected, everyone became dispirited when Xu Gong was mentioned. It was indeed so. After all, the Prime Minister was already quite old, and it was not the behavior of a student to always rely on him without striving for progress.

Although Xu Gong was a pure military general, he was hyped up by the students of the Imperial Academy as a both civil and military official. He had an absolute status in the Confucian community and the legal community. What he said was the truth, and almost no one dared to refute or question him.

Even the Legalists were the same; they only dared to make slight modifications rather than completely denying them.

Xu Gong was also helpless about this.

"How dare you mention Prime Minister Xu? Remember what Prime Minister Xu said? Warmongering is a recipe for disaster for the country and the people! Aren't you advocating warmongering now?"

"It's simply disgraceful."

The Shaofu still replied with gritted teeth. He really didn't want the position of Prime Minister to fall into the hands of an outsider.

"Mr. Zhang is really making a big accusation. This is totally wrong!"

Doctor Chen was still unwilling to give in, and the two factions started arguing loudly in the court. If they had not considered that they could not defeat those generals, they might have already started fighting.

Faced with such a fierce quarrel, Xu Zhou and Zhou Yafu remained unmoved, even a little embarrassed.

The two men knew each other and were both supporters of Xu Gong. Their attitude towards the prime minister was the best, as long as it didn't fall into the hands of outsiders.

So this fight was not intentional, but once it happened it was out of control!

"quiet."

The eunuch next to Liu Che stopped the fierce quarrel in a hoarse voice. Knowing that it was the emperor's intention, the people from both factions also became obedient.

Even if they had ten guts, they wouldn't dare to jump up and down in front of His Majesty. Xu Gong also cleared his throat and said, "Your Majesty summoned you here to discuss the selection of the Prime Minister, not to argue. We are all officials of the Han Dynasty, so what if we are not from the Imperial Academy? Would it delay your work for His Majesty and the Han Dynasty?"

"I advocated the establishment of the Imperial College, not to allow you to take advantage of the opportunity to form gangs and despise the monarch!"

"We know our crime, please forgive us, Your Majesty and Prime Minister."

Seeing that Prime Minister Xu was angry, people on both sides lowered their heads. If there was anyone who could convince everyone, it would be Xu Gong, except His Majesty.

He was a man who had reached the top in both civil and military affairs! No one in the world dared to compete with him.

Liu Che also spoke slowly: "Forget it, your original intention is also for the people of the world, just calm down your anger."

"The candidate for Prime Minister must be chosen today."

At this time, Xu Gong took the initiative to say: "Your Majesty, I think that Taiwei Zhou Yafu is both civil and military, has made many military achievements on the frontier, and is also the minister entrusted by the late emperor. It is only natural that he should be the prime minister with me."

Liu Che raised his eyebrows, obviously surprised.

"what?"

"this…"

Even the ministers were confused. What was going on? The prime minister actually chose an outsider? This Xu Zhou was his nephew! And it seemed that he was not retreating because His Majesty would really adopt his opinion.

Xu Zhou was surprised for only a moment, but he quickly understood his uncle's intention and said, "Your Majesty, I also recommend General Zhou as prime minister, and I am willing to give up this position to someone more virtuous."

"Xu Xiang, Xu Taichang, you are not mistaken, are you?"

The one who couldn't believe it the most was Zhou Yafu. He didn't expect that the prime minister would give up on his own initiative. It was unscientific. Wasn't he afraid that his family would have no successors?

This has never happened before, how could the change be so great?

Liu Che collected his thoughts and asked, "Teacher, why did you make this choice?"

"I think that Zhou'er is not yet qualified to be the prime minister and needs more experience."

Xu Gong also came to terms with it. In fact, the position of prime minister was meaningless. With Xu Zhou's current power, the proportion of government affairs he handled was at the prime minister's level!
Given Liu Che's personality, the prime minister would be replaced frequently except for Xu Gong himself. It is hard to say whether he will have the power he has now by then. It is better for him to take a step back and concentrate on the position of Taichang.

Moreover, the Xu family should not fight so hard for everything. They should let go when they should. Only in this way can the family last long.

Seeing that Xu Zhou had given up, Liu Che did not intend to drag it out any longer, so he ordered: "In this case, I will promote Taiwei Zhou Yafu as prime minister to assist the teacher in managing the government. As for Xu Zhou, he will continue to be the Minister of Rites. I will promote you to be the Prince's Junior Tutor and the Imperial Academy Commander."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

The two of them quickly expressed their gratitude.

Xu Zhou was a very smart man. He had long wanted to keep his family out of the spotlight. This happened to be an opportunity, and it wasn't like he gained nothing.

The Prince's Junior Tutor can better teach the Prince to plan for the future, and the Commander of the Imperial Academy is a new official position, and it seems that his knowledge of the Imperial Academy is far greater than that of the Chief Academician of the Imperial Academy.

The court meeting ended like this, and Zhou Yafu won in the end.

(End of this chapter)