I am not Yuan Shu

Chapter 224 The New Era Has No Ships to Carry Them
In addition to restricting the knowledge level of eunuchs and palace maids, Yuan Shu also set up various "occupational restrictions" for them.

He clearly stipulated that eunuchs and palace maids were not allowed to make friends with officials, and were not allowed to collude with external forces.

This regulation was intended to cut off eunuchs and palace maids from the outside world and prevent them from using information within the palace for personal gain or interfering in politics.

At the same time, in order to encourage eunuchs and palace maids to supervise each other, Yuan Shu also established a system of informing and a reward mechanism.

He allowed eunuchs and palace maids to report each other's violations, and provided confidentiality services and rewards to those who provided effective clues.

As long as this measure can be effectively implemented, the transmission of information between the palace and outside the palace will inevitably be blocked.

In this way, the behavior of eunuchs and palace maids was strictly regulated, and they could no longer act recklessly as they did in the past. At the same time, information within the palace was effectively controlled, ensuring that information in the palace was always in the hands of the rulers and would not be easily known to outsiders.

Anyone who wants to spy on the palace will face huge risks, which greatly improves the security and confidentiality of the palace.

It is also a major benefit to Yuan’s dictatorship system.

Finally, Yuan Shu also focused on an important power that was previously held by the eunuchs in the inner court, namely, the right to inform the emperor of information. This power was a huge rent-seeking space for the eunuchs and an important way for them to interfere in politics.

Eunuchs had the power to deliver reports and memorials from foreign officials. They would select those that were beneficial to them and suppress those that were not. They did this to deceive their superiors and subordinates and took advantage of the information gap between the emperor and his officials to benefit themselves. This situation was not uncommon in history.

At present, Yuan Shu suggested setting up a special Tongzhengsi to be responsible for collecting all kinds of memorials reported from all over the country, which would be classified by the Tongzhengsi and then sent to various functional departments.

During this period, the Tongzhengsi would play an important role, replacing the original eunuchs and bringing that influence back to the court.

The person who takes on the post of Tongzhengling must naturally be a member of the Yuan family.

At this level, Yuan Shu's careful consideration was not limited to how to deal with those powerful eunuchs. His vision was broader and he took into account the intricate factional struggles in the court.

Although the Yuan family now occupies a dominant position in the court, the Yuan family is not the only force in the Luoyang court. In this political vortex, although the Yuan family is powerful, they are not without opponents.

Those forces that have deep backgrounds and powerful backers in various places also have a voice in the Luoyang court that cannot be underestimated.

Although the base of this group of people is far away from Luoyang City, their existence is of local significance and can have a profound impact on the decision-making process of the court.

The Luoyang court has never been a place where one party's opinions can dominate, but rather a battlefield where various interests are intertwined, distributed and contested. Here, even the most powerful person can hardly cover the sky with one hand, monopolize all the resources of the world, and become the so-called "end producer."

Such a character is more suitable for appearing in science fiction novels rather than the real political stage.

The emperor, the ultimate producer in the real sense, claims that "all under heaven belongs to the king", but why is it that the court's tax revenue is decreasing year by year?
The reason is simple: under the emperor, there are many "local tyrants" and "grass-roots kings" who actually control local resources.

Although these people were nominally subject to the emperor, they actually had a high degree of autonomy within their own territories. If the imperial court wanted to consolidate its rule, it had to build relationships with these people, and even reach compromises and cooperation in some cases.

These people included not only the forces of the New Text School of Confucianism and the Old Text School of Confucianism within the scholar group, but also the clan forces, landlords and powerful people in various places, as well as foreign forces that nominally submitted but were actually eyeing them covetously.

The ruling power and development levels of various regions of the Han Empire varied greatly. Apart from other things, Jiangbei and Jiangnan were completely different concepts.

Historically, Cai Yong had no choice but to cross the Yangtze River and hide in Jiangdong, and then the eunuchs could do nothing to him.

This fully proves that the Jiangdong area is also a relatively closed and self-defensive local ecology for the entire Eastern Han Empire.

The eunuchs’ hands could not reach as far as Jiangdong.

Which of these local separatist and conservative forces, these people who grew up with the worldview of county as country, is easier to deal with?

Similarly, although the Yuan Group is powerful, it is not a monolithic entity internally.

Yuan Shu was very clear about this.

After finishing writing the specific strategy, Yuan Shu put down his pen, walked to the window, opened it, looked at the scenery outside, and had a lot of thoughts in his mind.

In the process of jointly fighting against the eunuch group, the various forces within the group can temporarily unite together. However, once this common enemy is eliminated, the contradictions and differences within the group are likely to surface.

Yuan Shu knew this very well. He stared at the swaying dead leaves outside the window, with a lot of thoughts in his mind. Not to mention the conflicts between the Yuan family, the group of students and former officials, and the Yuan Shu Yixinhui group, he could not guarantee that after getting rid of the eunuchs, Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao would willingly accept him as the new leader.

Yuan Ji...

Yuan Shao...

His two brothers.

Yuan Shu's fingers tapped lightly on the window sill, and a hint of coldness flashed in his eyes.

He knew that the struggle for power was always cruel, and even brothers would inevitably become enemies driven by their own interests.

Even if he revealed his plan in advance and sought Yuan Feng's support, Yuan Feng would obviously not completely ignore Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao.

He is not only his own father, but also the father of Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao.

He proposed a gamble, which was about the future of Yuan Shu and the Yuan Group, and he did not immediately exclude Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao from the sequence of successors.

Although Yuan Shu accepted the bet on the surface, deep down he did not think that he would lose. He had firm faith and determination, and believed that his base - the Yi Xin Society and the Xin Xue School would continue to grow and become a solid backing for his future struggle for power.

Moreover, victory and defeat are common in the military, and no one can guarantee that he will only win battles and never lose them in his life. Even if he loses a battle, he cannot gain absolute military prestige. As long as he is not dead, he will never admit defeat and will never just be a second son.

Despite this, Yuan Shu had to admit that even if he succeeded to this point and became the only successor of Yuan Feng, the situation left for him to deal with would not be smooth sailing.

Because his base is the Yi Xin Hui group that he himself built up, the Runan Yuan clan, Yuan's disciples and former officials, and the pro-Yuan political forces that are temporarily attached to the Yuan family. Every one of them is not a good person.

These power groups have their own interests, which are not exactly the same as those of Yuan Shu and the Yi Xin Hui Group; some are even opposite.

There are irreconcilable contradictions between them, and the final result is bound to be confrontation. These different interest factions are all within his range of elimination.

The power he wants to use to transform society must come from his Yi Xin Hui. The others are all remnants of the old era, and the new era has no ships to carry them!

However, will this group of old Dengs be willing to voluntarily withdraw from the stage of history?

Don't even think about it, you have to rely on your fists.

Only a hard fist can truly change the world.

Therefore, Yuan Shu planned to focus on developing his own power from the very beginning. Even if he had not yet taken control of Luoyang and become the only person whose words had the final say, it would not prevent him from seizing the initiative for himself through institutional design.

Position plus strength equals power. According to this formula, Yuan Shu is not lacking in strength now, so after taking the position, he can naturally obtain important power.

He had to seize what Yuan Feng was willing to give before Yuan Ji and Yuan Shao did. He also had to find ways to fight for what Yuan Feng had not said or was unwilling to give. He had to establish himself as an important and powerful figure in Luoyang at this time.

Although the Isshinkai faction that belonged to him had obtained many positions, due to age and qualifications, most of the Isshinkai members who obtained positions were positions with a salary of less than 1,000 koku.

Nevertheless, according to the law that "many ants can kill an elephant", as long as there are enough people, they will naturally have enough power.

Therefore, Yuan Shu was not in a hurry to seek a senior position.

Those in high positions hold power, but don't the specific tasks still have to be carried out by grassroots officials and clerks?
Therefore, Yuan Shu's idea is to place as many of his members who share the same ideals as himself into key departments to take up grassroots positions, no matter if they are in the official or clerk system, no matter if they are government agencies or public institutions, as long as they can get in, they will be able to do so.

After some experience at the grassroots level, Yuan Shu will accumulate experience in handling affairs. When he grows up and becomes stronger, these Yi Xin members who have accumulated sufficient administrative experience will be able to completely replace the group of old Dengs.

Moreover, this would also help Yuan Feng, Yuan Wei, Yuan Zhen and other family elders not to mind, and they would not be defensive against Yuan Shu when Yuan Shu was not strong enough.

This is also a precautionary measure.

(End of this chapter)