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Chapter 1018 Li Yan’s Decision (Part )
That is to say, among the 100,000-man army of the Sixteen Guards, there were only a few dozen generals appointed by Li Shimin, while there were thousands of low- and middle-level military positions in the hands of aristocratic families.

In this light, is there any need to say whose words are final?

Although he had been up all night, Li Yan was extremely excited, with a gleam in his eyes. He felt that after careful investigation, he had come to understand this era more and more, and was getting closer to the core of this era.

That’s brilliant! It’s really brilliant!

Every important military general is under the watchful eyes of the emperor and his ministers.

The appointment of each person requires repeated weighing and negotiation among the court officials before it can finally be finalized.

Lower-level positions can be easily obtained, just by saying hello.

Therefore, the nobles decisively gave up the competition for the few high-ranking generals, and instead sank down to control tens of millions of middle and low-level officials. This would not easily lead to resistance from the imperial power, and would also satisfy the needs of the vast noble family group.

If this goes on for a long time, this number will all be controlled by the aristocratic families, and the entire Tang Dynasty army will naturally fall into the hands of the aristocratic families.

When all the people below are from aristocratic families, does it matter who the so-called general above is?
No matter how you change the emperor, no matter who the general is, you cannot change the tendency of the entire army. This is how the aristocratic families control the military power of the entire Tang Dynasty.

When Li Yan realized this, he felt a little annoyed.

No wonder I used to feel that Li Shimin had a lot of power. There were also many old generals from the Qin Palace and the heroes of Xuanwu Gate. For example, the sixteen generals of the guards, such as Qin Shubao, Yuchi Gong, Duan Zhixuan, Hou Junji, were all decided by Li Shimin.

Since these generals were appointed by Li Shimin, the military power naturally lies in Li Shimin's hands.

Now it seems that I was too ignorant. The actual situation in Sui and Tang dynasties was different from that in other dynasties. Controlling the appointment of these top generals did not mean that the military power was in the hands of the emperor. Wasn't that a mistake?
Li Yan recalled some strange scenes in the past, such as these generals who would often fight in front of Li Shimin in the court and stage violent incidents, not taking the court etiquette into consideration at all.

Since he already held great power, why didn't he be as cautious and low-key as the generals of other dynasties to avoid arousing the emperor's suspicion?

Li Yan used to think that Li Shimin was tolerant and generous, but now it seems that there is nothing tolerant or suspicious about him.
These generals did not hold real power and could not threaten the emperor. No matter how high they jumped or how happy they were, the emperor would not be afraid of them. It seemed that these generals also knew that the people who really threatened the emperor's power were not them at all.

In this way, the aristocratic families took control of the military power.

Once you have military power in your hands, won’t other officials, wealth, land, and population come naturally?
It’s really amazing, it’s like removing the fuel from under the cauldron!
As long as these noble families give up turning their families into their country and fight for that unique position, they can easily reach a consensus and form a huge network of interests that even the emperor cannot shake. Becoming a director is the upper limit of these families' efforts.

The chairman naturally lost his power to have the final say.

When the aristocratic families were not united, the words of Emperor Li Shimin were effective, but when it came to the overall interests of the aristocratic families, the emperor had to stand aside.

Unless the emperor can deal with all these middle-level officers throughout the army, how is that possible? One or two will be fine, but if they are all replaced, anyone of them will rebel, unless they are all killed overnight.

Well.
Li Yan was stunned and immediately thought of Yang Guang. Isn’t that what he did?

Looking back now, Yang Guang actually went through his own mental journey. He first attacked the aristocratic families, such as the rumors about Tao Lizi, which killed many aristocratic families at once, but in the end other families quickly took their place.

This approach was soon proven to be wrong and obviously unworkable.

Subsequently, many senior generals in the army were replaced. However, facing the current situation where more than 90% of the military positions are middle and low-level, no matter how many senior generals you remove, the basic base below will not be shaken. This is the foundation of the family.

So Yang Guang had no choice but to launch the war against Goguryeo, hoping to kill all the middle and low-level officers on the battlefield, and use this method to solve the influence of the aristocratic families in the army.

Obviously, Yang Guang was desperate and tried all kinds of methods. While cutting off the tumor, he also cut off his head, and they both died in ashes.

Thinking of this, Li Yan couldn't help but shake his head. In the end, Yang Guang lost Chang'an and Luoyang and ran to Jiangdu. In fact, it was a kind of despair. He tried every possible way, but he couldn't get rid of the aristocratic family who was like a maggot attached to his bones.

In the end, I just let myself go and watched with a smile as this game of chess was played out over and over again.

From the third expedition to Goguryeo, or from the first one, Yang Guang knew that his method had failed; the second time was actually a kind of revenge against the aristocratic families. If I can't get well, you can't expect to get well either. The worst that can happen is that we die together.

The third time, there was a lot of thunder but little rain, and Yang Guang gave up completely.

Li Yan sighed. Yang Guang was indeed a man of great talent. He saw the root of the problem and approached the problem in the right direction.

But his method was wrong!
In other words, he is not a time traveler, does not have his own unique advantages, and cannot solve problems like himself.

Li Yan was delighted.
Sure enough, instead of working in isolation, it is better to learn from the past. The predecessors have already found the core of the problem. As long as you learn from their experience and lessons, it will be easy to find a solution to the problem.

But Li Yan was not happy at this moment, instead his face was solemn. Will he follow Yang Guang's old path again?

He is the emperor now, an emperor who spans both the Central Plains and the grasslands. He is extremely powerful and does have the ability to do so.

It would also be easy to start a war between the Turks and the Tang Dynasty.

But no matter how careful you are, you can't avoid the most basic soldiers who are the largest in number. These are the common people of the Tang Dynasty. They are innocent. With the simple mentality of defending their country, they joined the Tang army, guarded the border for the country, shed their blood, and resisted foreign enemies regardless of their lives.

But just because of the struggle for power between the emperor and the aristocrats, should large numbers of people die in vain on the battlefield?
If they knew that the one who sent them to the battlefield was the emperor they risked their lives to protect, they would probably be heartbroken.

What's more, once a war breaks out, it will affect a wide range of people, causing chaos in the world and devastating suffering. I wonder how many innocent people will lose their families and homes?

Ugh.
Li Yan sighed silently. When he came to this conclusion, Li Yan knew that he had no other choice.

Yang Jian and Yang Guang, Li Yuan and Li Shimin, were all wise monarchs in the early days of the founding of the country. They were also people who came from aristocratic families and were well aware of the power structure of the upper echelons of the court and the operating strategies of the aristocratic families.

None of these talented and brilliant men of the time could find a better solution.

How could I, a person who traveled through time from the future, who had never received any systematic training and who only had a superficial understanding of power, be smarter than them?

Li Yan shook his head. Instead of racking his brains to think of a way to achieve the best of both worlds, it would be better to learn from Yang Guang's method, improve it, and do the best possible job in all aspects of the aftermath.

There will eventually be a war between imperial power and the aristocratic families.

Thinking about the An-Shi Rebellion that occurred a hundred years later, it was truly unbearable and completely destroyed a powerful empire.

According to historical records, during the An-Shi Rebellion, only one in ten palaces was burned down, and all the government offices were in ruins, with not a single rafter left.

In the central part of the capital, there are less than a thousand households, and the towns are in disorder, infested with wolves and wolves. There is a lack of military supplies and manpower. From Zheng and Bian in the east to Xufang, and from Tan and Huai in the north to Xiangtu, there is no human habitation, and there is a thousand miles of desolation. Almost the entire middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River are desolate.

In the 891th year of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang's Tianbao reign, the total population of the Tang Dynasty was 5292 million households and the total population was million.

Five years later, in the third year of Qianyuan during the reign of Emperor Suzong of Tang, the total population under the rule of the Tang Dynasty dropped sharply to 193 million households, less than 1700 million people, and the total population loss was 3592 million.

Shocking!
From its peak to its decline, in just five years, the Tang Dynasty lost two-thirds of its population and more than 30 million people died.

Li Yan was secretly shocked.

The Tang Dynasty now has a population of more than 2200 million. One Anshi Rebellion is almost equivalent to the death of all the current population of the Tang Dynasty, which would have to be multiplied by half.

The reasons why the An-Shi Rebellion was so tragic are extremely complex, but the fundamental reason is undoubtedly the calamity of the aristocratic families. The Li Tang court never had complete control over the country, and when various contradictions accumulated to the point where they could not be reconciled, a war among the princes broke out.

I don’t know why, but when I thought of this, Li Yan suddenly felt relieved and the pressure in his heart suddenly disappeared!

Thinking about the loss of more than 30 million lives in the future, no matter what I do, it is impossible to cause such destruction, right?

What I am doing now is not creating disasters, but solving problems.

The problem itself exists and is not caused by oneself. The so-called best doctor treats the disease before it occurs, the middle doctor treats the disease that is about to occur, and the worst doctor treats the disease that has already occurred.

At most, I am just like Yang Guang, trying to cure the disease before it gets worse.

By the time of the Anshi Rebellion and the Huang Chao Uprising, the disaster of the aristocratic families could no longer be covered up and would naturally break out. More people would be involved, the damage would be greater, and the consequences would be more tragic.

No matter how you put it, you are saving the world.

In just a moment, Li Yan had prepared himself mentally and found a reason to feel at ease with the chaos he was about to create. His face was no longer heavy and guilty, but full of compassion and peace for the world.

Afterwards, Li Yan leaned back on the couch with a happy look on his face, thinking to himself.

Sure enough, everything we do must be in line with morality. After finding a reasonable logical inference, I felt much better.

Thinking of those wealthy families who were as rich as a country and indulged in wine and women, a sharp murderous intent flashed in Li Yan's eyes.

(End of this chapter)