Chapter 57 is confusing!
Hu Zhenghe's forcing the emperor to abdicate made Xiao Yan deeply aware of the importance of military power.
If he did not have military power, he would still be controlled, so the most urgent task was to find a way to obtain the power to mobilize the military without using the tiger talisman.
If this plan succeeds, then Hu Zhenghe himself will really not take it seriously.
Most of the time, discussions in the court were conducted by civil officials, and military generals rarely participated.
However, the power of these generals is not small. If he can regain control of them all, the military power in his hands will be unprecedented.
It is even possible to mobilize these people without using the tiger talisman. Of course, Xiao Yan only thinks that the tiger talisman can be bypassed, but it does not mean that the tiger talisman can be used.
Xiao Yan knew the disadvantages brought about by the tiger talisman at this time, so what Xiao Yan had to do was to achieve a high degree of centralization in the military.
Gradually eliminate the tiger talismans. In this way, generals only need to obey the emperor's orders, and the Ministry of War will coordinate these matters.
"Your Highness, the Imperial Guards are now in Hu Zhenghe's hands. You should make preparations early, otherwise this will be a disaster sooner or later."
Sande usually does not interfere in politics, but seeing that Xiao Yan's attitude towards this matter was very perfunctory, he just gave a reminder.
"I know that I must plan this matter carefully, otherwise it will be difficult for me to deal with Hu Zhenghe if he gets desperate."
"I'm sure they will go to the emperor to impeach me in the next few days, but the emperor won't pay any attention to them. At most, he will appease them."
"But you are right. This disaster must be eliminated in its infancy. If they dare to use this to threaten me to hand over the power of regent today, they will dare to force me to abdicate tomorrow . I will never allow such a thing to happen."
"Go and call Duan Tianya over here!"
Seeing that Xiao Yan was serious about this matter, Sande felt much more at ease, even though the old emperor asked him to stay by his side and serve Xiao Yan.
But more importantly, he hoped that Sande could give some important reminders. Sande had been by the emperor's side for many years and had a very clear understanding of some things.
After a long time, Duan Tianya came hurriedly.
"Your Highness, I, Duan Tianya, pay my respects to you!"
While reviewing the memorial in his hand, Xiao Yan pointed to a chair beside him and said, "Sit down first, I'll tell you later !"
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
After Xiao Yan finished reviewing the memorial in his hand, he said to Duan Tianya, "How is the matter about Guo Youzhi that I asked you to investigate going?"
Duan Tianya nodded and said, "I did find some information, but it's rather vague. I'm still investigating it in detail!"
"So I didn't report it to you!"
Xiao Yan didn't expect that he had found out something in just a few days. He was worthy of being a Jinyiwei.
"Then tell me about it!"
Duan Tianya thought for a moment and said, "Your Highness, during this period of time, the Jinyiwei spies have been closely monitoring Guo Youzhi's every move."
"I found that he doesn't seem to be that loyal to Hu Zhenghe. For example, when he forced the emperor to abdicate yesterday, he would have appeared as a key member of Hu Zhenghe's team."
"But he didn't show up, which seemed a little unreasonable."
"Also, he and the commander of the Royal Guard have a very secret relationship. It seems that they have reached some kind of agreement, rather than forming an affiliate."
"But the Jinyiwei are still investigating why this happened, and there is no definite evidence yet!"
After hearing this, Xiao Yan began to think about it. This was indeed a bit strange.
When Hu Zhenghe forced the emperor to abdicate yesterday, he looked at these people carefully and indeed did not find Guo Youzhi.
"Is he in the Imperial Guard at that time? After all, Hu Zhenghe used the Imperial Guard to force me."
Duan Tianya shook his head and said, "No, the Royal Guards have been monitoring him the whole time, and there was nothing wrong even the day before the abdication."
"He was in his own house at the time. He didn't go anywhere. No carrier pigeons were seen flying out. Even the people in the mansion didn't go out at the time."
"We were also surprised by this at the time, and it seems even stranger now."
Xiao Yan stood up and began to pace. Guo Youzhi and Hu Zhenghe must be in this relationship because of some bond.
"Anything else besides these?"
Duan Tianya thought for a moment and said, "Also, Guo Youzhi seems to be extremely ambitious, and this position does not seem to be his ultimate goal!"
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan said, "Isn't this normal? Which official doesn't want to sit higher?"
Duan Tianya retorted: "Your Highness, if he only wanted to ascend to a high position, it would be understandable, but this is not the case with Guo Youzhi."
"As far as I know, Guo Youzhi has close personal relationships with many officials, and none of these officials are Hu Zhenghe!"
"So I think Guo Youzhi is trying to win over the neutral officials in the court who have not taken sides, and Hu Zhenghe is probably unaware of this."
"So, Your Highness, you must be on guard against Guo Youzhi!"
Xiao Yan nodded, this matter indeed had to be prevented.
"Could it be that Guo Youzhi wants to replace Hu Zhenghe? This possibility is not very likely, right?"
Duan Tianya immediately expressed his thoughts. This was a bold guess. If this was true, then Guo Youzhi's intentions were extraordinary .
Xiao Yan shook his head: "Maybe it won't work. After all, Hu Zhenghe is now fully grown. If Guo Youzhi had such a plot, I'm afraid Hu Zhenghe would have known about it long ago."
"And Hu Zhenghe is not someone Guo Youzhi can easily shake!"
"The most important thing is that Guo Youzhi is too weak right now. He is so weak that Hu Zhenghe can subdue him just by talking!"
"He won't cause trouble for himself. Maybe he just wants to make friends with these officials?"
"After all, there are more people in the officialdom, so it will be easier to get things done!"
"So this is actually a very reasonable thing, but it seems confusing because it is irrational everywhere."
Xiao Yan was also quite troubled by the current situation. If he did not form a three-way balance of power with Hu Zhenghe, he would be in a passive position.
Although some of the things he had done were basically completed, it was inevitable that Hu Zhenghe could be seen to be showing weakness.
In this way, you will relax your vigilance against it, and when the critical moment comes, it will probably deal you a fatal blow.
Things were becoming more and more complicated, but Xiao Yan couldn't figure it out, and he was very annoyed at the moment.
"Your Highness, I think we should start with Guo Youzhi. I'm afraid we can't fully understand the situation at the moment."
"I will continue my investigation during this period, and you can take this opportunity to test Guo Youzhi again!"
"We still need to unravel this matter bit by bit to figure it out."
Upon hearing this, Xiao Yan also agreed and believed that this was the only way.
"Well, tomorrow I will test Guo Youzhi again. You should hurry up here, especially collect evidence of Hu Zhenghe's conspiracy and selfishness!"
"As long as Hu Zhenghe doesn't cause any trouble, we can still deal with Guo Youzhi!"
