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

Chapter 593 Proofreader

How could Li Yan not be extremely excited to see such a great general in his trap? So he pulled Xue Rengui to sit aside and began to ask him about his well-being: "Since your family members all call you Rengui, I will call you that from now on. Have you ever disrespected the book?"

Xue Rengui was somewhat flattered by Li Yan's appreciation of him, and answered honestly, "Your Highness, when I was at home, I studied privately in my clan from a young age. I was well versed in classics, history, and literature, and I also practiced the martial arts passed down from my family."

"You have already mastered the spear and lance skills to a certain degree. There will be no problem in killing the enemy and protecting the prince."

"Ok!"

Li Yan nodded in satisfaction: "Then I will now appoint you as the proofreader of Chongwenguan. You will be by my side in the future. When I read books with Li Taifu and others, you can also follow me!"

"Also, I will assign you to the Zuo Nei-shuai Mansion as a personal guard. When you are not accompanying the emperor, you can go to the military camp with the Donggong Nei-shuai to practice riding and archery and get familiar with the military. How do you think?"

"Thank you, Your Highness. I will do my best to protect the Crown Prince." I didn't expect that I would be entrusted with such an important task as soon as I arrived at the East Palace.

Although the proofreader of the Chongwenguan in the Eastern Palace was the lowest level official in the Eastern Palace, below the ninth rank, he did not need to handle official business in the court and did not have a fixed office. He was generally a full-time proofreader of books, usually helping the prince to organize documents and waiting to be dispatched.

But no matter what, they were officially officials of the Tang Dynasty court system and had a rank, and they could not be compared with those ordinary soldiers and office staff.

Only the emperor has the power to appoint senior officials of the first, second and third ranks in the Eastern Palace, while the appointment power of middle-level officials of the fourth, fifth and sixth ranks lies with the Ministry of Personnel. As for the lowest-level officials of the seventh, eighth and ninth ranks, the appointment power is basically in the hands of the crown prince. These are the positions given by the emperor to the crown prince to win over his subjects and develop his power.

Of course, Li Yan does have a say in higher positions above the sixth rank.

After all, most of these subordinate officials have no real power, and they are all serving the prince and revolve around the crown prince. Li Yan can also ask the emperor for instructions or say hello to the Ministry of Personnel. Normally, the officials of the Ministry of Personnel will not go against the wishes of the prince.

The Eastern Palace is like a miniature version of the imperial court. There are a large number of positions in both civil and military fields that provide salaries for the prince to arrange his personal affairs. Compared with the dozens of subordinate officials in ordinary royal palaces, the Eastern Palace has hundreds of official positions under the court system alone. This is also one aspect that distinguishes the prince from other kings and shows his importance.

However, now most of the offices and halls in the Eastern Palace are maintained in normal operation by only a few full-time officials. After all, Li Yan is still young, and it would not take so many people to serve him alone. Some departments only have one person to maintain the most basic operation to save expenses for the court.

These can be added slowly as the prince grows older. Generally, in the later years of the emperor, when his age is declining and he needs a prince to take over, the emperor will stuff a large number of court officials into the East Palace to hold positions and set up the future structure of the new dynasty.

Of course, Li Shimin is still young and the prince is still young, so most of the positions are in name only. Only some of the positions such as Taifu and Shaofu who teach the prince are occupied by some famous and virtuous scholars in the Tang Dynasty who are old and have great honors to cultivate the prince's talents and morals.

However, there are more lower-level clerks!
As the crown prince and the future emperor, some of the ministers in the court and the nobles have some outstanding children who have directly or indirectly approached him and sent their descendants to the Eastern Palace. They don't care about power, but just want to have a good relationship with Prince Li Yan and lay a long-term foundation for the family.

In the play, Cheng Yaojin's son Cheng Huailiang, Chai Shao's son Chai Zhewei, and Quan Wanji's reliance on King Li Ke of Shu are manifestations of this relationship.

Xue Rengui was a 17-year-old ordinary boy. Being a guard of the Eastern Palace was already considered high-class. Now Li Yan directly appointed him to an official position. How could Xue Rengui not be excited? After all, Xue Rengui didn't know now that he would become a brave general famous throughout the world in the future.

In this way, Li Yan accepted his first follower who could always be with him, the future General Xue.

Seeing Xue Rengui's excited expression, Li Yan was also very happy and asked, "Rengui, what can you do?"

"Your Highness, I have been practicing the family lance technique since I was young. My mother said that I have already become quite good at it. In addition, my spear skills and horseback archery are also good. Whether it is to fight in battle or to protect Your Highness, I am capable of doing it."

Xue Rengui took off the long object wrapped in coarse cloth from his shoulder and held it in his hand. Seeing that Li Yan was quite interested, he removed the cloth and revealed the true appearance inside.

Li Yan had long heard of the halberds used by generals during the Sui and Tang dynasties, but had never seen one. This was the first time he saw the real thing. He reached out to take it, and suddenly felt it sink in his hand. It weighed about 20 to 30 kilograms and was nearly three meters long, almost twice as tall as Li Yan's current height.

Seeing Li Yan's curious look, Xue Rengui introduced: "Your Highness, there are two types of lances: foot lance and horse lance. This is a typical horse lance, used in cavalry combat. The lance is ten feet long, and the pole is eight feet long. It is made of the trunk of top-quality tough wood, which is peeled into thin bamboo poles of uniform thickness, repeatedly soaked in fish foam glue and glued together, and then wrapped with fine linen soaked in tung oil, and mixed in multiple layers."

"There are armor-piercing edges on the lance tip. Ordinary fish-scale mail, iron round armor, and bright armor can be broken with one strike from the lance tip." "It usually takes two or three years to make a good horse sculpture. The lance has extremely strong toughness and elasticity, and the knight will not break even if he charges at high speed."

Xue Rengui took two steps back and waved his sword lightly in the spacious hall, using the sword to cut, sweep, stab and pick at will. With the sword in his hand, Xue Rengui looked solemn, as if he had become a different person. The power of a brave general on the battlefield faintly emerged, and a strong sense of oppression emanated from him to the surroundings, making the air in the hall freeze.

Xue Rengui saw the guards in the palace hurriedly guarding Li Yan's side, nervously guarding him, and quickly knelt on one knee and said in panic: "I am rude, please punish me, Your Highness the Crown Prince."

"Hahaha"

Li Yan was not surprised but delighted. He went forward and pulled Xue Rengui up, "Rengui is indeed mighty. This place is too small. Let's go to the small horse farm in the East Palace. That is where I usually practice martial arts and archery. Usually I practice alone. Henglian and the others dare not fight against me. Now it's good. We can practice against each other in the future."

After saying that, he pulled Xue Rengui to the inner square in the northwest corner, where there was a small martial arts arena, about the size of a football field. It not only had a horse racing track, but also weapons such as swords, spears, and arrows. In the inner room next to it, there were more than a dozen fine bows and crossbows, as well as some armor and protective gear.

As Xue Rengui, who was about seventeen or eighteen years old, entered the armory, his eyes lit up and he was overjoyed. He touched this and looked at that, as if he had entered a treasure house. Finally, he picked up a tiger-goose bow and couldn't let it go.

Li Yan smiled when he saw this and said, "Rengui, this is my martial arts arena. All the weapons and bows here are from the Qin Palace. He didn't stay in the East Palace for long, so most of the top-quality ones were taken to the Taiji Palace. Only a few are left here for me to practice martial arts."

"The one you hold in your hand was obtained from the armor storehouse of the Luoyang Palace when my father defeated Wang Shiyun. It is said to be a collection of Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty and is called Chi Le."

"There are more than a dozen fine horses from Dayuan and Hu horses from the Western Regions and the North in the stable next to us. Come on, let me see how good your riding and archery skills are."

After saying that, Li Yan brought Xue Rengui and a bow to the horse farm outside.

Under Li Yan's instruction, Xue Rengui excitedly selected a group of black horses. He touched the horses' heads and said dejectedly, "Your Highness, you don't know that my father died early. Although my family is a branch of a large family in Hedong, we have fallen into poverty since we were young. We are of low status and make a living by farming."

"Although my mother has done her best to let me study and learn martial arts, I have only had a spear left by my ancestors since I was a child. Bows and arrows are very energy-consuming and my family can't afford them. I was lucky enough to be exposed to these things because I taught the young masters of my clan."

"But I did not slack off because of this. On the contrary, I became the best among them in martial arts, riding and archery."

Li Yan patted Xue Rengui's shoulder comfortingly and said, "I believe in you. You can use the horses and weapons here from now on. Heroes have always been judged by their origins. Many of the famous dukes and generals in the court came from poor backgrounds."

"I believe that you can also use your own hands to make achievements on the battlefield, and fight for fame and fortune for yourself and your mother."

Xue Rengui nodded resolutely: "Yes, I will be loyal to the prince and serve the court."

After saying that, Li Yan's expression brightened, and he pointed to a row of targets 150 steps away from the training ground, and said loudly: "Rengui, do you see the ten targets over there?"

"I will give you ten arrows. If you can hit more than half of them, I will give you this Chi Le. What do you think? Do you dare to give it a try?"

Xue Rengui was shocked when he heard this, and asked excitedly, "Really?"

"Of course, I am the prince, my words are as good as gold, and I will never go back on my word. The precious bow is given to the martyrs, and the famous sword is worthy of the heroes. These objects are spiritual, and they cannot be thrown away in the dark. It depends on whether you are a warrior and whether you have the ability to take them away." Li Yan looked provocative and used the method of provoking without hesitation.

"Your Highness underestimates me!"

Xue Rengui was young and could not stand provocation, so he picked up a pot of arrows, slung them over his shoulder, turned over and jumped on his horse.

As the reins were pulled, the black warhorse raised its front hooves, raised its head and let out a fierce tearing sound towards the sky. Its hooves were flying as if it had been injected with chicken blood, and its muscles bulged. It flew out like a whirlwind, raising a cloud of dust.

(End of this chapter)