Being vigilant in times of peace was a necessary quality for a smart person. Those who could climb to such a high position were all smart people. Those who were too stupid, even if given a ladder, would not be able to climb it. The Imperial Consort's family had hundreds and thousands of relatives. Why was it that Yang Guozhong was the only one who had climbed to the position of Right Prime Minister? His blood relationship with the Imperial Consort was not the closest. This was naturally because he had some redeeming qualities. He was a smart person who knew how to judge the situation. He might have many shortcomings, but he definitely had many shining points. Otherwise, the Emperor would not have given him the high position of Right Prime Minister. The head of the Prime Minister was the highest official in the Empire. This was not a joke. No matter how muddle-headed the Emperor was, he would not let an idiot become the head of the Prime Minister for no reason.
Ordinary people in later generations could not understand because their way of thinking was different from the Emperor's. They thought about the interests of the entire country, while the Emperor thought more about the interests of the Imperial Family and himself. The perspective of thinking was different, so the judgments made were naturally different. Thus, it gave people the feeling that they could not understand.
Yang Guozhong naturally knew the reason why he was able to climb to the high position of Right Prime Minister. Other than the pillow talk from the Imperial Consort, it also had a lot to do with his own position and judgment. Although he was not particularly experienced or outstanding in his ability to govern, and could not handle specific matters as well as some other ministers, he was confident that he understood the Emperor better than any other minister. It should be said that he had a deeper understanding of the ways of an official, especially when it came to being a high-ranking official by the Emperor's side.
Since ancient times, if one wanted to achieve meteoric success and become a high-ranking official, ability alone was not enough. For many superiors or the most powerful Emperor, what they valued the most was not your ability to handle matters, nor was it your personal charm, nor was it your appearance or voice. Instead, it was your absolute obedience and loyalty to them.
Obedience and loyalty were the qualities that these bosses valued the most. As long as these qualities were good enough, it would be easy to gain their trust. Thus, other aspects such as business ability did not seem so important. On the contrary, no matter how high one's ability was, no matter how outstanding one's personal charm was, if the boss did not feel loyalty and obedience, then he would not be favored. He would even be suspicious and feel that continuing to grow would threaten his position, so he would think of ways to get rid of him.
Obedience was easy to understand, as long as one did whatever the leader told one to do. However, one could not be too blind. Apart from doing things well, one could not mess things up. If one messed things up every time, it would definitely not be possible. Therefore, one also needed to have a certain level of ability. Even if one was too stupid, it was useless to be obedient and loyal..............
Loyalty was even easier to understand. It was wholeheartedly devoted. When one decided to obey a leader, one had to serve the leader wholeheartedly. One could not be half-hearted. Otherwise, one would be disloyal. Leaders, especially the most powerful Emperor, hated disloyal subordinates the most.
Yang Guozhong understood this very well. It was precisely because he saw through this that he could smoothly walk to the center of power in the Tang Empire and become the head of the Prime Ministers, whose power was second only to the Emperor. All of this was not easy.
In order to express his loyalty and obedience, Yang Guozhong had paid a lot because he had also offended a lot of people. The Emperor felt that everyone was annoying and wanted to punish them, but it was not convenient for him to do so. The only person who could help the Emperor share his worries was Yang Guozhong. He played the role of a henchman.
In addition, any emperor who entered old age would become sensitive. This was because when the emperor was old, the ministers in the court would have plans to support the next generation to obtain greater benefits for themselves. It was common for them to directly seize power by force and force the old emperor to abdicate.
And this sort of situation was very difficult to avoid. This was a headache for many old Emperors. Putting aside the distant past, there was the coup at Xuanwu Gate in the early days of the Tang Dynasty, in which Gaozu was forced to abdicate. Later on, Hou Junji tried to install a Crown Prince, but he failed. There were even more after that. In the short span of one hundred years, there had been almost no end to all sorts of rebellions and rebellions.
It was precisely because it was too common for officials to support princes and usurp the throne that Li Longji was very vigilant about. Not only did he use his own unique method to monitor his princes, but at the same time, he was also very disgusted with officials who had too much contact with princes. This was especially so for officials who were loyal to a certain prince. Even if it was an official he trusted very much, he would not give them any face.
Back then, when Li Linfu had suggested that Prince Shou and Prince Qing replace the Crown Prince, he had forcefully rejected them. Perhaps, in his heart, he didn't want the throne to be passed down. If there was an elixir of immortality, he would definitely want to be the Emperor forever, even if all the princes had to die.
Yang Guozhong had sharply noticed this, so he did not get close to any of the Princes. In order to express his absolute loyalty to the Emperor, he did not even hesitate to become enemies with the Crown Prince and cut off his own path of retreat so that the Emperor could truly feel his loyalty.
Rather than saying that he was appointed as the Right Prime Minister, it was better to say that he had used his own life in exchange for the high position of Right Prime Minister. He had given his own life to the Emperor. In this way, how could the Emperor not be at ease? How could he refuse to confer the highest official position to him? Even if the other officials were more capable, it would be difficult for them to be as decisive as Yang Guozhong.
There were only a few people in the court who had qualifications, ability, and prestige. Chen Xilie was a sly old man. He would never offend any of the Princes in order to be loyal to the Emperor. He was also a little older. Wei Jiansu was too upright and had even spoken well of the Crown Prince. This made him feel uneasy. The Housing Manager was good at architectural design and was a boastful person. It would be very comfortable to chat with him. If he really became the Right Prime Minister, would his ability not be as good as Yang Guozhong's? Ang Lee's task was too heavy. He had to do research on machines and did not have the time to do politics. Naturally, he was also not suitable. There were also some people who were similar.
Everyone had this kind of problem. Moreover, they were not obedient and loyal enough. They did not dare to put their lives in the hands of the Emperor. Only Yang Guozhong was able to do this. This naturally made the Emperor feel at ease. Putting the Right Prime Minister in Yang Guozhong's hands, at least he felt at ease.
As for history, because of Yang Guozhong's radical actions, An Lushan was forced to rebel. Li Longji did not consider this at all. This was because at that time, the Tang dynasty had ten Jiedushi. There was also a considerable number of imperial guards in the capital. In theory, any Jiedushi did not have the ability to rebel. Perhaps even An Lushan, who had rebelled at that time, did not think that he would be able to fight his way to Chang 'an and drive the Emperor to Central Sichuan.
"If I want to stand out, I have to pay the price. I have to pay the price! Is it wrong for me to do this? "
Yang Guozhong looked at the wheat field that was growing happily. The corner of his mouth revealed a trace of a smile.
Although there was still a trace of worry in his heart, this worry was the price for his meteoric rise. There was no free lunch in the world. To easily climb to a high position, for someone like him who was not very capable, it was really too difficult. Otherwise, he would not have nothing at the age of forty.
Even with the help of the imperial concubine, if he could not completely enter the Emperor's heart and gain the Emperor's absolute trust, then he would not be able to take this high position no matter what. After all, the imperial concubine had many relatives. There were many people whose blood relations were closer than his. Only by staking all of his and his family's glory on the Emperor would he be able to succeed. And the facts also proved his judgment. He had indeed gotten what he wanted.
"Father, who is at fault?"
Yang Guozhong walked over from afar. Because she was a little far away and Yang Guozhong's voice was not loud, Yang Xuan did not hear what her father said clearly. She only heard the general idea.
Seeing his son walk over, Yang Guozhong's face was filled with gratification. At the same time, there was a trace of guilt and uneasiness. He was gratified because his son was very tall and good-looking. He was already a minister in the imperial court and the assistant minister of the Ministry of Revenue. Although his son did not have this ability and only obtained this position through his connections, this was his son after all, his biological son. Even if his son was not capable, in his father's eyes, he was still very perfect. They were not in the imperial family who had a fight for the throne, so their personal relationship was naturally not that bad.
On the other hand, the uneasiness and guilt came from the fact that in order to climb to a higher position, he had tied the fate of himself, his family, and his son to the Emperor. Even though this had brought benefits to his son, allowing his son, who was not that capable, to obtain a high position, once the Emperor passed away, he did not dare to think about what would happen to his entire family and clan.
If he had been a little calmer back then and refrained from vying for higher authority, it would not have been too difficult for him to obtain a rank of sixth or seventh rank in Jiannan with just his bloodline as a noble consort. That way, he and his family would not have to worry about it. However, after entering the capital, such a high position was right before their eyes, and he had a chance to obtain it. How could he possibly control himself? In any case, he was unable to control the restlessness in his heart. In fact, he could not wait to climb to the highest position in the capital. For this, he was willing to give his all.
Talented individuals might be able to climb to a high position through their own capabilities, but for someone like him who was clearly lacking in capability, if he wished to climb to the highest position and defeat all of the talented individuals, the only way he could do so was to stake everything on a single throw. He would use the lives of his entire family and himself to win the Emperor's absolute trust, sealing off all of his paths of retreat and becoming the Emperor's vassal. If anything were to happen to the Emperor, he would be buried along with him. Only then would he be able to achieve his goal. And that was exactly what he had done.
Yang Guozhong did not answer his son's question directly. Instead, he asked, "Dalang, if one day, our Yang Clan were to suddenly decline and we were to be exiled three thousand li away or executed, and the reason for all of this was the glory that we have achieved so far, if it were you, would you choose the path of glory? Would you feel regret and indignation? "
After saying those words, he turned to look at his dazed son.
Yang Xuan was taken aback for a moment before he replied softly, "This is Father's choice. How could I possibly feel regret and indignation?"
What he was implying was that his father had already done so, and things had already developed to a point of no return. What was the use of him feeling regret and indignation? Wasn't this question a nonsensical question?
Yang Guozhong could naturally hear the conflict and dissatisfaction in his son's tone. Although his eldest son had already obtained a relatively high official position, he still felt uneasy. He always felt that everything had come too suddenly. His father might not be able to live for many years, but he was still very young. Even if he were to be dealt with in the future, his father might be able to escape, but he would definitely not be able to escape.
Although his voice was neither servile nor overbearing, Yang Guozhong could still hear the dissatisfaction in his son's tone. He seemed to feel that his father had been too ruthless. In order to be absolutely loyal to the Emperor, he had offended too many people. And this was also the truth.
Yang Guozhong heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Dalang! Have you ever thought about what the meaning of life is? Do you want to live your entire life at the bottom, looking at those above with envious eyes? Do you want to endure being bullied and humiliated? What meaning is there in living like this? Isn't it humiliating? If this is all you can do, you can only accept your fate. But if you have the chance to move up and reach a higher position, why not work hard? Even if you have to pay an extremely high price, it's worth it. Wouldn't it be a waste to live a life of obscurity? Even if one day our clan really does meet with misfortune, at least … at least our Yang clan was once glorious. Even the history books will record our name. If we continue to live in obscurity in Central Sichuan, thousands of years later, who will remember us? People live only for fame and fortune. No matter how high the price, it's worth it. "
"No matter how high the price, it's worth it? Does Father really not intend to prepare a path of retreat for himself? Father has the entire clan behind him! "
Yang Xuan said with a frown.
Although their clan wasn't in any danger for the time being, with the Imperial Consort and the Emperor around, as long as they didn't do anything too outrageous, it was never wrong to prepare for a rainy day.
People were very greedy. Since they had already reached such a high position, if their clan declined, even if they could continue to stay in the capital, the drop in their hearts would be unbearable. For example, rich people naturally hoped that they could stay rich, and even their descendants could continue to be rich.
Yang Xuan was also an ordinary person. Naturally, he also had a greedy side. His current life was very good, and he naturally didn't want his good days to come to an end. He very much desired to be able to maintain this luxurious life. Even if it was slightly lower, he could accept it. As long as he didn't have to worry about food and clothing, and had a beautiful wife and concubines, it was enough to satisfy him.
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