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Chapter 589 Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang

Li Yan felt that since he was the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, he could easily recruit a group of his followers. Why did he have to do everything himself? Even if he was very capable, he could only do a few things. If he wanted to govern a country, he could not do it alone.

Once these famous generals are branded with the mark of the Eastern Palace, they will naturally become the team that will govern the world in the future. Compared to competing with those younger brothers for temporary gains and losses, strengthening one's own strength and grasping the future are the most important things.

As for those who are still young, Li Yan can handle it himself. He believes that with the prince's appeal, even the children of wealthy families can be easily summoned.

Li Yan asked Li Shimin to find two experienced veterans, otherwise, as the crown prince, he couldn't train the Jinyiwei personnel himself, right?
Li Yan really doesn’t know how to do that either.

"Your Majesty, Liang Jianfang, the Langjiang of Yanzhou, and Su Dingfang, the Zhechou Duwei of Kuangdaofu, are two military generals with rich experience, broad knowledge, and the ability to lead troops. I admire them very much. I would like to ask Your Majesty to transfer them to the Jinyiwei to help Your Majesty manage these 500 soldiers. What do you think?" After Li Yan finished speaking, he looked at Li Shimin eagerly.

Li Shimin was stunned. Liang Jianfang and Su Dingfang were both generals under Dou Jiande. After Dou Jiande was defeated, the two returned to their hometown. When Li Shimin was the King of Qin, he was well aware of the reputation of these two generals.

After Dou Jiande was pacified, most of the world had returned to the Tang Dynasty. Both Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng were constantly weakening the power of the King of Qin in order to restrain his powerful forces in the army. Naturally, they would not allow Li Shimin to recruit these generals into their ranks to increase his strength.

Li Shimin was afraid that recruiting these people into the Tiance Palace would arouse the fear of Li Yuan and Li Jiancheng, so he had to let the two return to their hometowns, which was also a disguised way of hiding these brave generals. Until after the Xuanwu Gate Incident, Li Shimin was busy dealing with the Turks and various rebel kings, and had no energy to care about them.

It was not until the beginning of the Zhenguan period that Li Shimin recovered and gradually recruited a group of generals who had once rebelled against the kings such as Wang Shichong and Dou Jiande into the court. However, he was afraid that this would irritate the generals of the Qin Wang faction in the court and make them feel threatened. After all, they were enemies before and there was still hatred between many of them.

Therefore, he was only granted an ordinary military post and sent to serve in the local area.

Among them, Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang were both military generals under Dou Jiande. One was sent to serve in the local military office, and the other was transferred to the Yunzhong Shuofang area to follow Li Daozon to guard the front line. They are currently both fifth-rank military officers.

Li Shimin guessed that Li Yan knew about these people when he was chatting with Changsun Wuji, so he brought them up to him.

Originally, in Li Shimin's plan, these two people were likely to be used in the battle against the Turks. These were all brave generals, but there were no major battles in normal times, and the demand was small. Due to the military generals of the original Tiance Mansion, Li Shimin had no chance to use them.

But once a national war with the Turks is launched, there will be a lot of soldiers and generals to be mobilized, and it will be a natural thing to use them. No one can say anything?
The two had previously followed Dou Jiande in Hebei and had dealt with the Turks a lot. Now that they were transferred to the Prince's Mansion in advance, it didn't seem to be a big deal to ask them to help train the Jinyiwei's spies.

Moreover, the prince did not ask for too much. He did not overestimate his own abilities by asking for some famous and powerful generals in the army. He did not ask for too many people, just two out-of-date veterans, which was not a big deal.

Li Yan knew that these two people would really come to the fore in the great war against the Turks in the fourth year of Zhenguan, but that was just their coming to the fore. Su Dingfang was promoted to General of the Left Wuhou and General of the Central Army because of his merits, but the rest of the Zhenguan period was mediocre. Their real shining moment would come only when they outlasted the current Qin Wang's generals.

Especially during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, Su Dingfang defeated the Turks many times, destroyed Baekje, and resisted Tubo. Liang Jianfang also began to emerge after the death of the famous generals during the Zhenguan period. Now the two are not so famous. They are veteran generals who are known to everyone but have no outstanding achievements.

Moreover, they are now veterans in their thirties or even forties, and they are from the same period as Qin Qiong, Duan Zhixuan, Zhang Gongjin, Yuchi Jingde, and Cheng Yaojin. Compared with these famous generals, Liang Jianfang and Su Dingfang seem mediocre.

In the minds of many people at this era, as a military general, if he has not yet reached the position of a high-ranking noble like a duke or marquis at this age, that is basically it. After forty, he will retire from the front-line battlefield and start to enjoy his life.

Occasionally when a big war breaks out, he’ll go to support the cause, but he won’t go to the battlefield in person to gain merit by killing enemies.

No one could have imagined that these two people would live long lives, and they would shine during the reign of Emperor Gaozong, and they held up the world during the period when many famous generals were eliminated in the early Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, their positions in the army were not very high, and they both served in local positions. Li Shimin should not mind their mere fifth-rank military posts.

Sure enough, Li Shimin thought for a moment and nodded slowly: "Okay, these two people are experienced and are indeed suitable candidates to help you manage and train the Jinyiwei spies."

"Thank you, Father!"

Li Yan was overjoyed. He recruited these two brave generals with real abilities but no reputation, and also recruited some young heroes who were destined to be successful in the future but were still young. Then his team would be complete. After the Zhenguan period was over, it would be the era belonging to him and these famous generals.

After bidding farewell to Li Shimin, Li Yan went to Qiyun Palace to visit Empress Changsun. The mother and son chatted for a while, and then Li Yan returned to the Crown Prince's Palace. The next step was to wait for Li Shimin to transfer Chang Sheng, Su Dingfang, Liang Jianfang, and 500 elite scouts back to Chang'an. Now that Li Yan was the crown prince, there were too few people around him who could be used, and there was only Henglian.

Moreover, Heng Lian's main job is to be responsible for the guards of the Eastern Palace. He is temporarily in charge of the 800 guards in the Eastern Palace. He is usually very busy. If Li Yan goes out for a walkthrough, he can't find many people using the Walkman.

The configuration of officials in the Eastern Palace is actually similar to that of a small imperial court. All major departments in the imperial court have smaller versions in the Eastern Palace. This can be regarded as a way for the prince to practice understanding and getting used to controlling the entire imperial court in terms of system and configuration.

The ones who teach the crown prince, such as the Prince's Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, Grand Guardian, Junior Tutor, Junior Preceptor, and Junior Guardian, are all official officials of the first and second rank in the court, usually elderly and important officials with high prestige and broad knowledge in the court. Many of them hold positions in the three ministries of the Secretariat, the Ministry of Personnel, and the Ministry of Rites, or serve as generals in charge of important troops in the army. Most of them are a symbol of status and treatment.

The Zhanshi Palace was in charge of the affairs of the Crown Prince's Palace, which was equivalent to the Shangshu Province in the imperial court. The Zuoyouchunfang were equivalent to the Zhongshu and Menxia ministries in the imperial court.

The remaining numerous departments, such as Chongwenguan, Sijingju, Dianshenju, Yaozangju, Neizhiju, Diansheju, Gongmenju, Jialingsi, Shiguanshu, Diancangshu, Sizangshu, Shuegengsi, Pusi, and Jumushu, all have corresponding departments in the court.

There are positions from the first to the ninth rank, all of which belong to the category of civil servants.

The Ten Rates of the Eastern Palace belong to the military generals. Among them, the six rates of the Crown Prince's Left and Right Guards, the Left and Right Imperial Guards, and the Left and Right Cleaning Rate are similar to the Sixteen Guards in the court, and each of them controls 3 to 5 outer prefectures.

The Zhechoufu was divided into three classes: upper, middle and lower. The upper class had 1200 people, the middle class had 1000 people and the lower class had 800 people.

The main task of the prefectural soldiers was to take turns to guard the capital Chang'an, and the second was to go to war or guard the border. The rotation of the prefectural soldiers was determined according to the distance from Chang'an. For example, the five shifts of the prefectural soldiers within 500 kilometers from Chang'an meant that all the local soldiers from various prefectures and roads within 500 kilometers of Chang'an were divided into five groups and took turns to guard the capital. Each shift lasted for one month, and they returned to the military office after the end of the term.

1000 li is the seventh, 1500 li is the eighth, and so on.

Assuming there are at least three prefectures with 3 people in each prefecture, the six rates should be 800 people.

But in fact, each time the six commanders led a force of only three to five thousand people in the capital, and these people, like the soldiers of the Sixteen Guards, were local state soldiers, and the management rights and the distribution of silver and grain salaries were all in the hands of the court.

It is under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of War, and belongs to the Eastern Palace only in name. Without official documents from the court, Li Yan cannot mobilize a single soldier.

To put it bluntly, it means that when the prince is free, he can take a look around, ask questions, and learn more. Through the configuration and functions of this small court, he can understand the configuration and functions of the large court of the Tang Dynasty and cultivate the prince's overall vision.

As for the power to mobilize troops, I'm sorry, but what do you want this for?

These people were not all gathered near the Prince's Palace. Instead, they were stationed in different places in the capital according to their different affiliations and responsibilities and the areas divided by the court. Only a very small number of rotating forces responsible for the defense of nearby areas were stationed nearby.

Among the ten palaces in the Eastern Palace, the Left and Right Guard Palaces, which are ranked at the first level, are the most important, corresponding to the Left and Right Guards of the Sixteen Guards. In addition to commanding the five outer palaces, they also command one inner palace each, including the Qin Palace, the Xun Palace, and the Yi Palace;
The Qinfu, Xunfu and Yifu under the jurisdiction of the Zuoyouweifu each had one Zhonglangjiang, who was of the fourth rank; one Zuoyoulangjiang each, who was of the fifth rank, and a number of other military positions at various levels.

The Zhonglangjiang and Langjiang led the lieutenants and brigade commanders of their respective prefectures to guard the Eastern Palace. If there was a grand court meeting or the Crown Prince was coming in or out, they would lead their soldiers to guard the Crown Prince.

Each position of General of the Central Army in the Inner Palace from the fourth rank is slightly higher than the General of the Central Army of the Left Guard Yifu that Chang Sheng and Cheng Huailiang had previously competed for, so Li Yan was not afraid of not giving Chang Sheng a corresponding position.

However, in terms of actual command of military power, it is far inferior to the Northern Ya Forbidden Army of the imperial court, and its value is also far less.

The second-level Left and Right Siyu Ratefu and Left and Right Qingdao Ratefu each had control over three outer prefectures, but no inner prefectures.

The remaining third-level Left and Right Guards' Offices and Left and Right Internal Affairs Offices do not command the troops from other offices. They are the personal guards directly under the prince and are under the direct control of Li Yan and can be mobilized.

(End of this chapter)