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

Chapter 565: Duke of Jing, General of the Millennium Guard
The Weifu system of the Tang Dynasty was based on the Wei governing the prefecture.

The Sixteen Guards were both the imperial guards that garrisoned the capital and the leadership organization that commanded all the government troops in the country.

The Sixteen Guards of the Tang Dynasty remotely controlled six or seven hundred local military headquarters throughout the country, defended the capital from external attacks, and garrisoned the capital. They were a combination of the local troops and the imperial guards.

But the most important thing is that the Sixteen Guards Generals only have remote control over the military forces of the world and do not have real wartime command authority.

In wartime, the emperor would temporarily appoint a marching marshal as the supreme commander.

The military government, local county governors, the Sixteen Guards and the Grand Marshal of the Army restrained each other, and no one could control the army alone. In this way, although the military garrisons were scattered throughout the country, they were still the court army that the emperor could directly control!
The Tang Dynasty’s imperial guards were divided into the Southern Yamen and the Northern Yamen.

In popular terms, the Southern Yamen guards were the court's army, under the joint leadership of the emperor and the prime minister's office, and belonged to the entire Tang Dynasty. Because the prime minister's office was located in the south of the imperial palace, it was called the Southern Yamen.

The Northern Ya Forbidden Army was supported and commanded by the emperor and was the emperor's private army. Its headquarters was located in the north of the imperial palace, hence the name Northern Ya.

The Southern Yamen Imperial Guards were divided into sixteen guards, namely the Left and Right Guards, the Left and Right Xiao Guards, the Left and Right Wu Guards, the Left and Right Mighty Guards, the Left and Right Jinwu Guards, the Left and Right Leading Army Guards, the Left and Right Qianniu Guards, and the Left and Right Gate Guards.

Collectively known as the Sixteen Guards of the Southern Yamen.

The highest commander of each guard was a general of the third rank, and under him were generals, lieutenant generals, chief secretaries, and military officers of various ranks.

Among them, the first twelve guards commanded nearly 700 local external troops and part of the central internal government. Among them, the left and right guards were the most important. Each guard commanded the three guards and five government offices of the central government, including the personal guards, honor guards, and auxiliary guards. One government office had nearly 5,000 people. The highest commander was the General of the Central Army, who was of the fourth rank.

The so-called prefecture is actually similar to the regiment in "Bright Sword", but it is a local prefecture divided into three levels: upper, middle and lower. The number of people in one prefecture is about 800 to 1,200. The central inner prefecture is more like Li Yunlong's reinforced regiment, and the full number of people in one prefecture is nearly 5,000.

The generals of each of the Sixteen Guards, like the bespectacled division commander, commanded many lieutenant generals like Li Yunlong, Ding Wei, and Kong Jie.

The other ten guards only had the Yiweifu (abbreviated as Yifu), but not the Qinweifu and Xunweifu. These soldiers of the central inner court who served to guard the capital were fixed, and did not need to rotate between the local and central courts like the soldiers of the outer courts.

The last four guards, the Left and Right Gate Guards were in charge of the access control of the gates of Chang'an City, and the Left and Right Thousand Oxen Guards commanded the Thousand Oxen Guards and others who served as the emperor's imperial sword guards and ceremonial guards.

The attendant wielding the imperial sword was the emperor's personal attendant and bodyguard, roughly equivalent to the central guard corps of the imperial court in later generations.

Since it is a guard regiment, the selection of personnel is naturally very strict. In addition to their strong political integrity, personal martial arts and military qualities are naturally top experts selected from the military all over the world.

However, due to their guard duties, the number of Qianniu Guards is not too large and not fixed. Currently, there are about 2,000 to 3,000 people in one guard. The left and right Qianniu Guards Generals are equivalent to the leaders of the first and second guard regiments. The duties of the Qianniu Guards determine that the Qianniu Guards Generals must be trusted by the emperor, with few soldiers and heavy responsibilities.

Not much power, but high status.

However, if the word "Jianxiu" is added before the title of General of the Qianniu Guards, it is not the same thing. It is equivalent to an acting position. The emperor would add such a title to many royal family heroes to commend their merits.

The Inspector General of the Thousand Bull Guards is equivalent to enjoying a high-level treatment, but he does not actually control the guard corps.

No one cared about titles, official positions, mansions and so on, but the emperor directly appointed Yang Ji as the general of the Sixteen Guards, and he was also the very important general of the Qianniu Guard, who was responsible for guarding the emperor. You have to know that this position requires personal protection for the emperor day and night, and only a close confidant can do it.

Luo Yi originally commanded 50,000 Jingzhou troops, but that was in the local area. When he arrived in Chang'an City, he could only bring a small number of personal guards. When he went to the palace to meet the emperor, he could not bring anyone with him.

As a senior military general, Yuchi Jingde, the Right Guard General, was also listed among the court officials and could also express his opinions on state affairs and participate in national affairs.

Yuchi Jingde's Right Guard General not only commanded a large number of temporary soldiers from the outer court, but also nearly 25,000 fixed central government troops to guard the capital. They were usually stationed in the camp in the south of the city, but they did not dare to send a single soldier to Chang'an without the emperor's order.

In the original play, the guards of Zuotun mutinied, and Princess Ankang mobilized the 16 guards outside the city to enter the city to quell the rebellion and rescue the emperor without the imperial edict. This is basically impossible. Even in the play, if Ankang was not the emperor's favorite princess and a woman.

Not to mention Li Ke and Li Tai, even if this happened to Li Chengqian, there would basically be endless troubles.

Otherwise, why did Li Chengqian choose to take the six generals of the Eastern Palace to protect the emperor, instead of going outside the city to call for troops as the crown prince? If Li Chengqian really went, he would not be able to mobilize a single soldier, and the generals would not dare to obey orders, otherwise the crown prince and the generals would be doomed, even if they were trying to rescue the emperor with good intentions.

So Li Shimin looked extremely serious, and his first reaction was to ask the generals of the Sixteen Guards, how did you know?
Anyone with a little political sense knows that this is not what the film and television drama is trying to express.

In fact, what Li Shimin meant was, who asked you to come? You are so bold that without my imperial edict, how dare you lead tens of thousands of troops into Chang'an City?

Today, you dared to mobilize the army into the city without authorization after listening to the princess's words. Will you listen to the instigation of a certain prince and assassinate the emperor in the name of saving him in the future, or even mobilize the three armies with a single order from the general? This is definitely more serious than the mutiny of the Zuotun Guard.

The court had a system for mobilizing the army, especially when it was marching into Chang'an City. It required the emperor's decree, military orders, and even orders from the prime minister's office, and multiple procedures. In addition, the army had to have a whole set of procedures to verify that the army could be mobilized only after the generals of multiple departments agreed to it and all the procedures were met. It was not something that could be done by just one person saying something.

Emperor Wu of Han was recuperating in Ganquan Palace. When Wei Qing learned that the Huns had launched a surprise attack from a mountain path, he anxiously led his army to rescue him without any orders. This violated the emperor's great taboo, and even though he had good intentions and was loyal, he was stripped of his military power by Emperor Wu of Han. This was the reason.

The imperial guards of the capital are responsible for guarding the capital and are not allowed to move without an imperial decree, let alone enter the city. Even if the city of Chang'an is in chaos and is reduced to ashes, they are not allowed to move a single soldier.

As for what you said about your good intentions in saving the Emperor, do you think the Emperor needs it?
I'm sorry, but the decision on whether Your Majesty's situation is critical, whether he needs assistance, whether to dispatch troops, and how many to dispatch is up to Your Majesty and must not be left to anyone else.

Otherwise, it will be a huge disaster.

The emperor learned the news from Chengqing Palace and rushed to Zuotunwei Army. If he needed to dispatch troops to the city to quell the rebellion, wouldn't he send troops? Would writing an imperial edict and sending Ma Xuanliang out of the city be much less efficient than Ankang going by himself?
Therefore, after this incident, the top brass of the Sixteen Guards decided to carry out a major purge. If they agreed to transfer the troops, a series of high-ranking generals who led the troops into the city would be in trouble. Basically, they would not have the opportunity to lead troops in the future. If the emperor is more benevolent, they might be transferred to civil positions, or sent to the border areas, or even demoted to civilian positions.

The more ruthless ones were so murderous that it was not uncommon for countless people to fall to the ground in order to maintain the emperor's authority.

Now you can imagine how deceptive Ankang is, right?

Not only did he betray the sixteen guards, he also pointed at Mu Yikuan and said to the emperor: "He even brought his son and me to open the city gate." Do you think he didn't die quickly enough?
I guess Li Shimin must have gone crazy at that time. When the Zuotunwei Army mutinied, you transferred the 16 guards who were protecting him and stabilizing the capital to the city in front of the emperor and without the emperor's knowledge, and told him that his city gate was opened by a businessman?
This emperor is lucky to be alive today. He is too insecure.
From this, we can imagine how important the General of the Left Thousand Bull Guard was, who commanded two or three thousand men and was always around the emperor. He could almost hold the emperor's life in his hands, and the heart of an empire was under his guard.

It can be said that the General of the Right Guard is important to the country, while the General of the Thousand Bull Guards is important to the emperor. To say who is more important, the difference between them lies in the difference between the country and the emperor. Different people have different opinions.

You can say that the country is more important, but some people also say that the emperor is more important.

Of course, precisely because it is so important, a general holding this position must meet three conditions.

First of all, the emperor’s absolute trust is naturally the most basic.

Secondly, this position only does one thing, which is to protect the emperor. It does not involve participating in the imperial court affairs, and it is certainly not allowed to stand in the court and participate in state affairs and express opinions like Yuchi Gong and Hou Junji.

Third, he must not have any connection with any political faction in the court, and the princes must be kept away from them.

To ensure that the general in this position cannot have any political stance or inclination other than the emperor, and cannot be involved in any power struggle, to ensure his transcendent position, so as to avoid being involved in power struggles, worrying about gains and losses, and finally endangering the emperor's safety.

To put it simply, it means holding a high position, holding great power, and receiving a high salary, but not having to do any work. Since you don't have to do any work, of course you won't make mistakes.

If you don't make mistakes, you won't have any messy thoughts.

It must be said that in ancient times when transportation, information, weapons, and technology were all very backward, the exercise of power was brought to the extreme, and all kinds of checks and balances were taken into consideration. In ancient times, there was no high technology, and people could only rule by heart. The upper class's understanding and use of people's hearts and situations was really not to be underestimated.

Modern technology and weapons are advanced, but when it comes to the understanding and application of human hearts and human nature, ancient times still rule the roost.

In fact, this kind of position is given to those who are trusted by the emperor but have low abilities, usually close relatives of the emperor. It can be considered a favor, representing the emperor's favor to them, and does not rely on personal talents.

On the contrary, the more talented and ambitious a person is, the less likely he is to hold this position.

In fact, this position is very suitable for a person like Yang Ji who is loyal but has no outstanding leadership talent. Moreover, it is equivalent to the emperor's personal position and does not affect the power structure in the court. Therefore, the important officials in Hongwen Hall will not have any objection.

In fact, unlike what ordinary people think, in ancient times, no matter what the upper echelons of any force, whether as large as a royal court or as small as a local powerful force, all had a large number of positions set up in accordance with court laws and guaranteed by the system that were suitable for various situations. They were not necessarily required to serve the people and had outstanding abilities in governing the country.

There are many people who have risen to power through blood ties, relationships, loyalty and other fields. This has been the case for all forces in the region throughout the dynasties.

Of course, this ratio must be properly controlled. The talents who work for the court are the mainstream and still account for the majority. It is precisely because of the contribution of these people to the court that the development of society is promoted, which can ensure that other "idle people" can safely enjoy high treatment.

If the ratio is unbalanced, the court will fall into a state of redundancy and incompetence, which will affect the healthy operation of the court. If there are too many of them to occupy most of the positions, the result can be imagined.

In fact, this is normal. This was the case in the dynasties of feudal society. Logically speaking, why could the emperor's empress and concubines live in the imperial palace, enjoy a transcendent status and the support of court wealth? Why could the emperor's children become princes and princesses, sit in the imperial palace, be surrounded by people, and have a large number of maids and servants? That's why it is called a family empire.

Even the ministers in the court were surrounded by all kinds of people, big and small, and there were even many villains who, in Li Yan's opinion, were good for nothing except flattery and sycophancy.

(End of this chapter)