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

Chapter 576: General of the Zuotunwei Yifu
Li Yansan is a mature and rational person. He will not be affected by these superficial things, and he is too lazy to worry about them. At such a young age, he should focus on taking care of his body and strengthening his body. If he does these things that require getting up early and staying up late, he will die early. So why not leave it to Lao Li?
Li Yan enjoyed a leisurely life, so whenever Li Shimin asked Li Yan to learn government affairs and get involved in state affairs, Li Yan politely declined.

However, since Li Shimin asked him to attend the court meeting, Li Yan knew that some things were unavoidable. He came here today just to ask Li Shimin for a job and do something meaningful to Li Yan.

Li Shimin laughed and scolded for a few times, then said: "Even so, you are the crown prince, and you still need to understand some court affairs as soon as possible. It is not enough to just follow a few tutors to study the classics. Things on paper are important, but if they are not implemented in reality, they are just empty talk in the end."

"If you don't actually get involved in court affairs, how can you inherit the Tang Dynasty in the future?"

"Father is right, I understand."

Li Shimin looked at Li Yan who was perfunctory, smiled and shook his head: "I have a memorial here, I want to test you, see if it were you, how would you handle it?"

After saying that, Li Shimin handed a separate memorial on the desk to Li Yan. Li Yan took it curiously and had a look at it. He was immediately surprised. The memorial said that Zhang Daozun, the commander of the Zuotunwei, was promoted to a higher rank and transferred to the Yunzhong front line.

Zhang Daozun recommended Cheng Yaojin's son Cheng Huailiang to take over the vacant position of General of the Yifu.

The person recommended by the Ministry of War was Chang Sheng, who came from the Eastern Palace. The Minister of War was Li Yan, the future Marquis of Taishan, who led the army to suppress Ding Jie's rebellion in Xiangyang at that time. With the instigation of Zhangsun Wuji, he naturally recommended Li Yan's people.

For some reason, Li Shimin, perhaps as an experienced person, guessed that Li Yan was pragmatic and did not care about ideals, since Li Yan did not care about these things in the court.

What about military power?

The Zuotunwei Yifu is the inner palace stationed in the capital. The 5,000 imperial guards who are responsible for stabilizing the capital are stationed in the Western Inner Courtyard. I am not afraid that you will not be tempted.

Li Shimin released this important position, keeping Li Yan and Li Ke in suspense, and allowed the two gangs to make moves in private, fighting for their own pleasure?
Li Shimin waited for Li Yan to look at him for a while and then said, "The qualifications of these two men are similar. Cheng Huailiang captured two ferry crossings in Hedong when he was in Suizhou, while Chang Sheng was the first to break into Liang Shidu's mansion in Yunzhong."

"Cheng Qian, let me test you. Tell me, if it were you, how would you handle it?"

Li Yan was stunned. The matter of Chang Sheng must have been caused by Empress Changsun and Changsun Wuji behind the scenes, who transferred him back to help him. But Li Yan knew that it was impossible to seize military power under Li Shimin's nose, and even if he did, it would be meaningless.

In the original drama, Zhang Xuansu, who was found by Zhangsun Wuji for the prince, was just so-so in Li Yan's opinion. He was born a civil official and only knew to learn from history. Seeing that Li Shimin relied on military power to rise to power, he tried his best to help Li Chengqian seize power.

For Zhang Xuansu, Li Chengqian's teacher was just a stepping stone. He himself lacked ability and did not put his heart on Li Chengqian.

Every time Li Chengqian needed him, he was not there. After watching the whole drama, Li Yan discovered that Li Chengqian's real strategist was Hou Junji, who was a military general. The queen and Zhangsun Wuji allowed Hou Junji, a rough draft, to ruin Li Chengqian's good plan.

Therefore, Li Yan doesn't have a good impression of these two people. If he wants to get promoted, he should rely on himself instead of others!

"Father, I think this position should be given to Cheng Huailiang!"

Cheng Huailiang, this loser, is a die-hard supporter of Li Ke. Last time with Luo Yi's incident, he helped Li Ke and screwed him over and almost killed himself.

As the saying goes, it is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. Now that three years have passed, it is time to deal with this bastard.

Li Yan knew that the Zuotunwei Army was full of murderous intentions. Chang Sheng, Sun Da, Wu Sheng, and other die-hard followers of Prince Yin had been operating here for a long time and had prepared a big meal. They might use the Zuotunwei Army to stir up a wave in Chang'an City at any time. It was better to hand over this hot potato to Li Ke and Cheng Huailiang!
With the help of a group of former subordinates of Prince Yin, he severely tricked Cheng Huailiang. Even Cheng Yaojin would not think of himself?
Li Shimin was stunned, with a meaningful smile on his face, looking at Li Yan who looked indifferent, he slowly shook his head and thought to himself, are you really stupid or just pretending to be stupid, military power is very important to any prince.

I finally released a position of Lieutenant Colonel with real power, just to let you two fight for it, and in the end, it will probably be yours. You keep pushing it away, don't you know the importance of a Zuotunwei Army, or the Imperial Guards guarding Chang'an City.

The Tang Dynasty's imperial guards were divided into the Southern Yamen and the Northern Yamen. The Southern Yamen was under the jurisdiction of the Prime Minister's Office and was governed by the prime minister of the court. It was divided into twelve guards and managed nearly seven hundred local Zhechoufu throughout the country.

After Li Yuan became emperor, he selected 30,000 imperial guards from the Taiyuan uprising army and stationed them in the north of the imperial city to guard the imperial palace. They were called Yuancong Imperial Guards, also known as Beiya. The imperial guards who were dedicated to guarding the imperial palace were not included in the establishment of the 16 guards of the Southern Ya. They were directly controlled by the emperor, with the intention of "distinguishing between civil and military forces and checking on each other."

Because the headquarters of the imperial guards was located in Xineiwanli, north of the imperial palace, it was responsible for resisting the invasion of nomadic peoples in the north on the one hand, and maintaining control of the capital and suppressing the market on the other hand. It was one of the main guarding forces to stabilize the city of Chang'an. The emperor could directly mobilize them without going through the prime minister's office, so it was called the Northern Yamen.

Although the Northern Yamen's Yuan Cong Imperial Army suffered huge losses after the Turkic invasion in the ninth year of Wude, the number of troops has increased instead of decreased after replenishment in the past few years, and remains between 40,000 and 50,000. Originally, the Northern Yamen's Imperial Army consisted of the Yulin, Longwu, Shenwu, and Shence armies. Later, Li Shimin gradually added several more inner courts.

Among them, Zuotunwei Yifu was a newly added branch of the Northern Yamen Imperial Guards, with nearly 5,000 people. It was usually responsible for guarding the Guanghua Gate, Jingyao Gate, Fanglin Gate on the north side of Chang'an City, as well as the Kaiyuan Gate and Jinguang Gate on the west side, a total of five gates of Chang'an City.

Each of the Sixteen Guards of the Southern Yamen had a chief officer who was a third-rank general. Many of the generals held the first-rank title of duke, such as Yuchi Jingde, Chai Shao, Qin Qiong, Cheng Yaojin, Zhang Gongjin, Hou Junji, etc. However, the general of the Sixteen Guards was more like a meritorious position to show a respected status.

When they were on duty in the local Zhechoufu, they were responsible for management and training. If they had to actually command the army, it was usually when they were sent out to guard important border towns. Like Hou Junji and Li Ji in the play, usually one was suppressing rebellion in Xiangyang and the other was guarding the border in the north. Once they were transferred to the capital, they would serve as the generals of the Sixteen Guards, but they could not command troops in the capital.

Although the Twelve Guards managed numerous Zhechoufu throughout the country, except for the Left and Right Guards, most of the others did not have the actual power to mobilize troops or command the standing army. The inner offices they commanded were basically non-existent, with only a staff but no personnel.

In fact, Li Shimin transferred these personnel to the imperial guards directly under his jurisdiction in Beiya.

Although the Northern Ya Imperial Guards, which were directly under the emperor, actually controlled 40,000 to 50,000 standing troops, they did not have any high-ranking positions such as generals or generals. The position of General of the Central Army, which was of the fourth rank, was already the highest military commander of an army.

In contrast to the military chief of the Southern Yamen who has a respected status but no real power, the commanders of the Imperial Guards hold actual military power but have a low status. This can be considered a form of check and balance in disguise.

The chief officers of the Southern Court were veterans with outstanding achievements and great prestige in the army. They held high positions but had no power to cause chaos.

The commander of the Northern Ya Imperial Guards has the power to cause chaos, but his status is low and he cannot influence the prestige of others. If he wants to mobilize the army, he can only rely on the emperor's edict. Otherwise, the people below will not listen to your unconventional orders.

That's why Chang Sheng and Sun Da in the original drama tried every possible means. First, they forced the imperial guards to work hard to repair the canal, and then they fed many people with moldy rice, which killed many people and aroused people's dissatisfaction. Then they sent out Wu Qing as a stooge to incite people, and finally they led people to kill the main general Chang Sheng in front of everyone.

After a huge amount of effort, they forced the Zuotunwei Imperial Guards, which were originally composed of the old guards led by the Hidden Crown Prince and the Sixth Prince of Donggong, to the brink of rebellion.

But even so, when Li Shimin appeared at the gate of the imperial army camp, all the plans that Changsheng Sun Da and Wu Qing had racked their brains and worked hard on came to nothing, and were resolved by Li Shimin in just a few words.

It can be seen that the court’s institutional design was still very scientific, and it cleverly separated the conditions for rebellion.

It has to be said that rulers of any era are always very wise.

For example, this time, when Zhang Daozun, the former General of the Left Tunwei, was promoted again and became a high-ranking general, he had to be transferred to the Yunzhong front line. Otherwise, if he was promoted in the capital, he could only serve as a nominal general of the fourth rank in the Sixteen Guards of the Southern Ya.

The vacant post of General of the Left Tunwei Yifu, which was under the fourth rank, could only be competed for by low-ranking officers such as Chang Sheng and Cheng Huailiang. Famous generals like Cheng Yaojin and Zhang Gongjin would have no chance of participating in the competition.

This reminded Li Yan of many companies and teams in later generations that were not in a period of strong expansion. Most of the middle management were incompetent and useless, while the grassroots workers were smart and capable.

In fact, the lower-level people were not wrong. The management was indeed incompetent. If the people in the management were smart and capable at the same time, it would not be long before the company would change its name, or take the people below away and start a new business, causing heavy losses to the company.

Moreover, these people are often in the same industry as their former employers and are in a strong competitive position, even competing for customers, engaging in vicious competition.

Therefore, the existence of these incompetent managers is to ensure that the company is always under the control of the boss. Compared with the serious consequences of the latter, the loss of some efficiency and the increase of some redundant costs are simply insignificant.

Not all expenses have to be for the sake of efficiency. Sometimes maintaining stability is more important.

People in management understand that you can't have both, so they highlight their own incompetence. They ask for permission for everything and don't make any innovative changes. This is because they know that even if they are smart and capable, if they are not entrusted with important tasks, they will be fired.

The same is true for people at the grassroots level. Once they have management talent, they are often not promoted but squeezed out. In the end, they can only leave the company and jump to another company to directly enter the management level. If you are promoted in the original company and work for a few more years, you will kill the boss.

(End of this chapter)