The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 1040: Loyalty and Service
Chang'an at night was no longer as hot as it was during the day, and the breeze was blowing gently, bringing a hint of coolness. The Taiji Palace was extremely quiet, with the occasional sound of the orderly footsteps of the patrolling guards and the chirping of unknown insects in the garden outside the window.

After putting down the cup, Li Yan started chatting casually with Xu Jinzhong: "I see you are not young anymore, how old are you this year?"

"I am fifty-three years old this year!"

Xu Jinzhong's heart tightened. This was what Xu Jinzhong had been worried about.

He was afraid that the emperor would think he was old and useless. After all, at his age, his family background was not bad, and he was more or less a son of an aristocratic family. He also had a long career, having entered the government in the Sui Dynasty, and was later recruited into the court by Li Shimin.

And he is in a key department like the Secretariat. He is so old, and still a fifth-rank official. He must not have much ability, right?
Xu Jinzhong also had his own grievances, but Li Shimin was a man who would not tolerate any injustice.

His ministers were either from Guanlong noble families or descendants of Shandong or Jiangnan clans. Others were meritorious officials who had helped him conquer the world, and upright officials like Wei Zheng and Ma Zhou who dared to criticize the current ills.

Xu Jinzhong's family background was not strong, and it was not at all poor. In addition, there were many talented people in the Zhenguan period, so Xu Jinzhong did not meet Li Shimin's standards for employing people in any way.

Now, he has finally caught the eye of the new emperor, and he cannot let him look down upon him.

So he cheered up and demonstrated his ability in governing the country to Li Yan. He also showed Li Yan some of his thoughts on the pros and cons of current affairs that he had written.

Li Yan flipped through the pages and smiled, "You write in a very elegant Feibai style. The foundation seems to be based on the works of Youjun. However, there are also traces of Zhong Yao and Madam Wei, as well as some shadows of Mr. Bo Ji."

Xu Jinzhong's eyes lit up. He didn't expect that the emperor in front of him, at such a young age, had such attainments in calligraphy.

This hit the spot, and Xu Jinzhong said excitedly, "Your Majesty has a good eye. When I was a child, I practiced calligraphy by copying Wang Xizhi's Preface to the Lanting Collection. After I had a solid foundation, I learned from many masters and copied the calligraphy of Cai Yong, Zhang Zhi, Zhong Yao, Madam Wei, Wei Heng, Wang Ci Zhong, Cheng Miao and other ancient sages."

"Perhaps because I was too distracted, the final font is a bit messy. To put it nicely, it is self-contained. To put it bluntly, it is a mess. I am ashamed of myself."

"Haha!" Li Yan smiled faintly. Whether he was a unique person or a jack of all trades, it mainly depended on the position of Xu Jingzong in front of him.
If, as in the original history, he became prime minister, second only to the emperor and above all others, then he was a master of his own; if his career ended there, then he was a nobody. It has nothing to do with how well he writes, but mainly depends on his achievements other than the font.

This is officialdom, and this is life.
Afterwards, the two put aside the sensitive government affairs and began to discuss calligraphy. Li Yan finally discovered that although Xu Jinzhong was not focused when writing, after copying so many people's handwriting, he was very observant and could easily find the characteristics of other people's handwriting.

Furthermore, within a short period of time, you can imitate other people's handwriting and achieve a close to 70% similarity.

If you meet someone with weak writing skills, they can imitate 99% of the person's writing, to the point where the person himself can hardly tell the difference.

Li Yan thought to himself, isn't this the ability of Xiao Rang, the master calligrapher in Water Margin?
As a person who is keen on playing tricks and schemes, Li Yan silently kept Xu Jinzhong's skill in mind, hoping that he would use it someday.

Moreover, Li Yan glanced at Xu Jinzhong, who was treacherous but loyal, and thought to himself that the other party might also be interested in refining such a skill in case of emergency. You know, imitating other people's handwriting is a necessary skill for framing others and putting others in a false light!

Although Xu Jinzhong was extremely intelligent and shrewd, he never expected that at the age of 50, when his official career was about to come to an end and he would soon retire from the court, he would still encounter such a good opportunity and be valued by the emperor.

For more than an hour, the two communicated on an equal footing.

Xu Jinzhong was so excited that he regarded this chance encounter with the emperor as his last chance in life. So he showed Li Yan all his years of frustration and all he had learned, fearing that he would not be valued by the emperor.

Li Yan was an emperor, but he listened very seriously. Not only did he not interrupt, he also asked questions from time to time and gave advice.

Finally, he expressed his undisguised recognition of Xu Jinzhong's personal abilities.

As an emperor, there is certainly no need to cater to him. If he did not truly have great confidence in his talent, thoughts, and abilities, he would never praise him against his will.

This also moved Xu Jinzhong from the bottom of his heart, and he felt the passion of a man willing to die for his friend.

Maybe it’s because our nature is yin!
Li Yan and Xu Jinzhong chatted quite well, and it was not just Xu Jinzhong who was deliberately trying to please him. Rather, their thoughts and views on some things were surprisingly consistent, which made Xu Jinzhong admire Li Yan even more.

Li Yan was somewhat unhappy. How could he have such an interesting conversation with Qiangu Yinren? Could it be that his nature was not so bright either?

It was not until the beginning of the midnight hour that Wang De came in to remind him, and Li Yan left with regret. Xu Jinzhong, who was over fifty years old, was really good at flattering. Every word he said was just right, and every time he flattered, Li Yan felt happy from the bottom of his heart. If there were levels of flattery, Xu Jinzhong was undoubtedly the best that Li Yan had ever seen.

Before leaving, Li Yan also told Xu Jinzhong to work diligently and continue to devote himself to the bright future of Datang. As long as there are talented ministers, no matter what position they are in, they can shine, and the emperor can see it.

Receiving such almost straightforward encouragement, Xu Jinzhong was so excited that his blood boiled. He felt that he was born under a wise leader and would finally see the light of day.

I must serve the emperor loyally throughout my life and repay him with my death.

It was not until Li Yan and his group disappeared into the darkness that Xu Jinzhong straightened his bent back, feeling uncontrollably excited.

The Tang Dynasty implemented the system of three provinces and six ministries, with the three provinces located below the emperor and above the six ministries, which was actually the prime minister's office during the Han Dynasty.

After Huo Guang, emperors of all dynasties felt that the power of the prime minister was too great and threatened the power of the monarchy.

After several generations of development, by the time of the Sui and Tang dynasties, the prime minister was divided into three, namely the Zhongshu Province, the Menxia Province, and the Shangshu Province. In simple terms, it is equivalent to the separation of legislative power, supervisory power, and law enforcement power, which embodies the principle of checks and balances, and the concept is very advanced.

Each of the three ministries had a chief official to manage them. The highest chief of the Secretariat was the Minister of the Secretariat, the highest chief of the Ministry of Palace Affairs was the Minister of Palace Affairs, and the highest chief of the Ministry of State Affairs was the Minister of State Affairs. All of them were officials of the second rank.

This is the highest level a minister can achieve. The next levels above that, such as Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, Grand Guardian, Grand Marshal, Situ and Sikong, are all symbols of nobility. They enjoy high-level treatment and respect, but do not have actual power in the court.

The ones who really had power were the heads of the three ministries. The Secretariat and the Palace Ministry each had two top leaders of the second rank, while the Chancellery had only one Shangshu Ling because Li Shimin had once held this position.

Therefore, after he ascended the throne, the position of Shangshu Ling was no longer appointed to anyone else.

The Secretariat had two deputy officials of the third rank, the left and right Secretariat Vice-Rectors; the Ministry of Palace Affairs had two deputy officials of the third rank, the left and right Menxia Vice-Rectors, also known as Huangmen Vice-Rectors; the Ministry of State Affairs had two deputy officials of the third rank, the left and right Pushe.

Among the three ministries, the most important one is the Secretariat.

After all, it is an executive agency. Not only does it have six ministries under its jurisdiction, it is also responsible for the management of more than 20 prefectures and hundreds of states throughout the Tang Dynasty, and for implementing various imperial edicts and policies.

The power of the Shangshu Province was too great, and the other two provinces and six ministries actually all revolved around the Shangshu Province. During the Tang Dynasty, except for Li Shimin, who briefly served as the Prince of Qin, and Emperor Dezong, who later served as the Prince of Yong, no one else had ever held this position.

The left and right ministers of the Shangshu Province became the actual highest officials of the Shangshu Province, so the left and right ministers were each promoted half a level to the second rank, which was comparable to the standards of the Shangshu Province, but also slightly suppressed. After all, the heads of the Zhongshu Province and the Menxia Province were of the second rank.

The principle of checks and balances, which are real but not nominal and nominal but not substantial, was once again vividly demonstrated.

The actual power of the Pushe was completely disproportionate to his nominal rank. If a Pushe was promoted from the second-rank Zuo Pushe to the second-rank Zhongshu Ling of the Zhongshu Province or the Shizhong of the Menxia Province, it would be considered a promotion in name only and a demotion in reality; if the opposite was true, it would be considered a real promotion.

This is extremely complicated, and Li Yan didn't know it very well before. Now that he has become the emperor and personally took over the entire Tang Dynasty's management system, he has understood the twists and turns involved after a serious study.

The establishment and operation of the internal institutions of a huge empire with a territory of 13 to 14 million square kilometers and coexistence of multiple ethnic groups is extremely complex. It is necessary to consider the most basic efficiency, balance the interests of all parties, and maintain ubiquitous constraints and balances.

Even so, we are still unable to resist the hidden dangers and internal troubles that have accumulated over a long period of time.

After taking over, Li Yan came to a conclusion that without more than three years of detailed study, it would be impossible to understand even the most basic situations.

Not to mention wanting to control the country with ease, in fact, up to now, the Tang Dynasty still relies on its established procedures and rules to operate. The role of Emperor Li Yan is only to stabilize people's hearts.

It's the same with or without him!
At the beginning, Li Shimin did not know that he could still survive, otherwise, the most likely scenario was that he would appoint a crown prince and let the crown prince act as regent, while he himself would remain in a state of recuperation for a long time and control the entire country from behind.

Instead of directly doing a full handover
It is no exaggeration to say that Li Yan does not care about anything now, just being a mascot does not affect the normal operation of Datang at all. If Li Yan does not understand anything, he will interfere everywhere and interfere frequently.

In a few years, the Tang Dynasty will become a mess.

(End of this chapter)