Chapter 75: Su Zhen Ting's Promotion
instinctively took a step back to avoid Li Chen's hand. She lowered her head and said, "Your Highness, I need to go back and instruct people to gather sweet potatoes. Please excuse me, Your Highness....Chapter 75: Promoting Su Zhen Ting
Li Chen brought up the first agenda item of the morning court, which was to push Su Zhenting to the forefront.
Because he was implicated in a rebellion from his youth, Su Zhenting was stripped of all his posts by the Taishang Emperor. Although he still held the hereditary titles of Grand General and Champion King, they were honorary positions with no real power.
Right now, Li Chen urgently needs people, especially someone like Su Zhen Ting who commands unparalleled prestige and influence in the military. He couldn't possibly let him go unused.
And this issue, as one might expect, was met with strong opposition from the bureaucratic establishment.
"Your Highness, I have an objection."
The left minister of war, Hu Xianpi, stepped forward.
Teng Huayi fell from grace. The most promising candidate to take over his position was originally his second-in-command at the Ministry of War.
If Su Zhenting succeeds in his coup, with Su Zhenting's prestige, he would never be able to climb to the position of Minister of War for the rest of his life.
General Su is a prince of a different surname, with an extraordinary rank. The Minister of War is merely a second-rank official. In this way, wouldn't it disrupt the order of the court Your Highness should think carefully about this.
Hu Xianpi was obviously a smart man. He knew that Su Zhenting was more than qualified for this position, both in terms of ability and seniority. If he tried to criticize Su Zhenting from these aspects, it would only invite the displeasure of the prince and a counterattack from the military group. Instead, by using the excuse that Su Zhenting's rank was too high, no one would dare say his suggestions were wrong.
As expected, after Hu Xianpi finished speaking, Wang Tenghuan immediately clasped his hands and said: "Hu sir is right. Throughout history, any official position has been linked to rank, so there is a proper order. If General Su, with his superior status, were to humble himself to the position of a second-rank Shangshu, it would indeed be inappropriate. Please reconsider, Your Highness."
The second-in-command of the cabinet, Wang Tenghuan, spoke up, and the group of officials immediately found their backbone. They all advised, "Please, Your Highness, reconsider."
Facing the group of officials who were vocally opposed, Li Chen remained expressionless.
He now understood why, in feudal dynasties, emperors after the founder often had to engage in power struggles with their officials, besides the founder who wielded absolute authority.
If the Emperor's proposal were to meet with universal opposition from all the court officials, then even the Emperor himself would be unable to kill all those who opposed him and forcibly push his command through.
What's more, he is only a prince right now.
The combined strength of the court officials could force him to retreat.
Looking at Zhao Xuanji, who had remained silent all along, Li Chen narrowed his eyes slightly.
He knew that all of this seemed unrelated to Zhao Xuanji, but in reality, everything revolved around him. This old fox was his biggest opponent in the court.
It seemed to sense Li Chen's gaze, Zhao Xuanji slightly raised his head to glance at Li Chen, then politely smiled and continued to lower his head, saying nothing.
The first political game has begun. As the crown prince, you want to hold a court session early. So, as you wish, hold this court session. But what then
You have no support, you're just a clown standing on a slightly higher platform.
If the crown prince can't even handle this first move, which he didn't even speak of himself, then he shouldn't humiliate himself.
"Lord Wang and Lord Hu are right about this matter. It seems I haven't thought it through properly."
When Li Chen said this, the entire court was stunned.
Especially Hu Xianpi and Wang Tenghuan, their expressions were as if they had seen something unbelievable. There was also a feeling of having reeled back a punch only to land it on cotton, light and airy, leaving them with a frustrating sense of powerlessness. They were so choked up that they almost vomited blood.
Even Zhao Xuanji was a little surprised.
No one expected Li Chen to admit defeat so easily.
Li Chen's next words sent even bigger ripples through the crowd.
"Since the position of Minister of War is not suitable for General Su's rank, we should promote him to the post of Grand Commandant of the Five Armies, with a rank of First Grade. He will be in charge of coordinating all military forces throughout the country and have actual control over the left, right, front, rear, and center armies of Beijing, Zhili Province, and Shuntian Prefecture, totaling 300,000 elite troops."h and said, "Your Highness, your servant has worked tirelessly for the court for decades. Today you humiliate me like this, even if I die, I will not rest easy!""Sounds good."Li Chen pointed at the dr...