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

Chapter 596: Formation of the Imperial Guard (Part )
Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang then understood why the court transferred them to the Eastern Palace. They originally thought that it was to strengthen the power of the Eastern Palace, but they did not expect that they would be shouldering such a mission. Liang Jianfang and Chang Sheng were both transferred back from the front line, and Chang Sheng's intentions were not dangerous, which was another matter.

Liang Jianfang was still a little reluctant, but after Li Yan finished speaking, he immediately understood that this department was the advance team established by the emperor to fight against the Turks. In fact, the battle against the Turks that will be launched this winter and next spring has already begun at this moment.

The Jinyiwei would become the eyes and ears of the Tang army of hundreds of thousands, finding out the internal details of the Turks and providing reference for the court to formulate attack plans.

In the study room on the side of Chongren Hall, Li Yan said with a serious expression: "Two generals, I will not talk nonsense with you. Father has high hopes for this and recognizes your abilities, although you are now discussing Jinyiwei affairs with me in the East Palace."

"In fact, it is now no less than the imperial study room in Chengqing Hall of Taiji Palace, but the existence of Jinyiwei needs to be kept secret, so it is placed in the East Palace to avoid attracting other people's attention. Everything about you is under the attention of the emperor. As long as our Jinyiwei can make achievements, the emperor will summon you to the palace at any time, so please be careful and take it seriously."

Su Dingfang, a local military general, originally had no chance to participate in the war against the Turks, but he was extremely excited to have such an opportunity now. He and Liang Jianfang were both generals under Dou Jiande, and they were not strangers to each other.

So he and Liang Jianfang cheered up and said solemnly: "Don't worry, Your Highness, we know the importance of this. These five hundred people are the eyes and ears of the court's hundreds of thousands of troops. We will definitely live up to the expectations of the emperor and the prince."

"It's just that I don't know the organizational structure, scope of responsibilities, and operation mode of the Jinyiwei. Does the prince have any plan? This is completely different from the military system we are familiar with. I would like to ask His Royal Highness to explain it to me."

"Um"

Li Yan nodded, looked at the two veterans and said, "On the surface, the Jinyiwei is a guard secretly formed by the Eastern Palace and is no different from the other ten guards. The East Factory under it is a commercial entity used for business. Even if outsiders know the truth, they can only know that the East Factory is used to run a business to make money."

"Under the cover of such identities, the Jinyiwei is actually a secret spy agency of the court, responsible for gathering information about the enemy and understanding the actual situation of the designated target. When necessary, they are used to carry out special tasks such as assassination, kidnapping, spreading rumors, bribing important enemy personnel, and provoking internal conflicts in the enemy, providing a basis for the emperor's next decision and creating all objective conditions."

"Of course, our current target is limited to the Turks. Other forces are not within our business scope."

"We, the Jinyiwei, are directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor. I am in charge of it. We act according to the emperor's orders and exist independently. We are not controlled by the Ministry of War and the three ministries of the court. We hold special identity certificates and appear to the outside world as members of the Eastern Palace Guard."

"Official members of the East Factory have military status and belong to the military commander system within the East Palace's ten-rate system. Their salaries are paid by the court according to the standard of ten-rate guards. Of course, the expenses of spies are not comparable to those of ordinary military personnel. The excess funds are paid from the profits of the East Factory's operations."

"Once there is a need, both military and political personnel need to cooperate with our actions. However, the Jinyiwei are a group of people who live in the shadows. Unless it is absolutely necessary, do not reveal your identity, and do not take the initiative to reveal our existence to military and political personnel. The most you can tell others is that you are subordinates of the Eastern Palace Guard."

"Because once we are exposed, we basically cannot get any information, and our lives may be in danger. In most cases, we need to operate independently and not overlap with the various departments in the DPRK."

"That's why the emperor gave the Royal Guard to me. When necessary, I can work for the Royal Guard in the name of a member of the Eastern Palace."

'hiss'

Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang took a deep breath after hearing this. Both of them were nearly 40 years old and very experienced. They knew as soon as they heard it, wasn't this the emperor's personal intelligence agency?

It is just a prototype now, but it is directly under the jurisdiction of the emperor and is not controlled by the court. You can imagine how powerful it is. It will definitely become a transcendent force in the future. The emperor has such a force, and it is secret. If he uses it well, he can easily expand his business to the Western Regions and the Northeast countries, and even to the court.

Moreover, Li Yan also mentioned in his introduction that there are still formal members. If there are formal members, what about informal ones? In order to gather intelligence, can the formal members establish a small intelligence network with formal members as the core in the target area?

Moreover, the main funds were not drawn from the treasury, but raised by the East Factory itself, which had no funding restrictions. In theory, the amount of money could determine how many people could be recruited. If each of these five hundred people could recruit ten informants, it would become five thousand people, and such a reproduction rate would be extremely terrifying.

It seems that this is far from what the two had previously understood, which was just to increase the strength of the Prince's Mansion, or simply to train a group of military spies to find out some intelligence within the Turks. This is the birth of a giant force.

Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang looked at each other, with a hint of bitterness in their eyes. The establishment and existence of such a secret department was mainly about keeping it confidential. Now that both of them knew about it, it was too late even if they wanted to withdraw.

These intelligence departments are independent systems. Once you enter, it is difficult to transfer out, unless you retire completely. Because you use the power of the court to know too many secrets, how can you be allowed to be an official in the formal system? If people who come from intelligence departments use this kind of skills and thinking to compete in the officialdom, it is unfair to others. It is even possible to set up a sprawling intelligence network, which will affect the normal operation of the court system.

Moreover, whether you are a civil official or a military general, knowing that there are such a group of people secretly watching you, who can still pretend that nothing has happened and do things? If you leave the East Factory, I am afraid that you will not know what the East Factory will become in the future. No matter where you are, knowing that there are such a group of spies in the dark, you will not feel at ease.

However, everything has its pros and cons. This kind of institution is the eyes and ears of the emperor and is in the emperor's favor. It is easier for them to obtain benefits and honors than officials under the general court system.

Both of them were once generals of Dou Jiande. After surrendering to the Tang Dynasty, it was difficult for them to command a large army. Now being in such a department is actually another way of existence. It is better than fading out of the court and becoming an ordinary commoner.

The two men clasped their fists with a determined look: "We are willing to serve your majesty, serve your highness the crown prince, and be loyal to the Tang Dynasty!"

Li Yan saw that the two understood what he meant and nodded with satisfaction. This was just to gather intelligence. If they knew that in his vision, the future would also include supervision, arrest, interrogation, and independent case-handling powers by the military and political departments within the court, I'm afraid these two people would be even more scared.

After organizing his words a bit, Li Yan introduced: "Regarding the organizational structure, in my conception, the Jinyiwei will have one commander, who will be temporarily vacant. In the early stage of formation, I will temporarily take on the position. Under him, there will be two commanders, and below them are thousand households, deputy thousand households, hundred households, trial hundred households, general flags, small flags, and then ordinary members."

"These positions are not set up by the court system, so they have no ranks for now. Official members are still counted as military officers of the Eastern Palace Ten Rates Guard House, and their salaries remain the same. However, there is also a subsidy for the Jinyiwei, which is not included in the court budget."

"The training camp will be set up in the West Inner Courtyard outside the north gate of the East Palace, where we will train together with the Six Commanders of the East Palace. The Jinwei headquarters can find a place in the East and West Markets in Chang'an City. There are a lot of people coming and going there, which will facilitate the flow of information for us."

"We can set up a management office in the East Palace to receive and send official documents and store information archives. The two of you can take turns to handle matters in the two places."

Li Yan borrowed from the Jinyiwei system of later generations. The positions he appointed were titles that did not exist in this era, and he also cut out many levels. After all, the current scale was too small, and it was somewhat unrealistic to completely copy an intelligence agency of the Ming Dynasty.

Let’s build the framework first, and then when we grow bigger, we can add more. Currently, there are only 500 people, so we’ll keep it simple.

Upon hearing this, Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang looked at each other and knew in their hearts that what the prince introduced must be only a part of it. It sounded like a large organization, and the titles therein were different from the current military system in the Tang Dynasty.

But as soon as you hear the titles of Qianhu and Baihu, you know that they are positions for managing thousands or hundreds of people. Currently, there are only 500 members in the military camp outside Xuande Gate. Why set up Qianhu? As soon as you hear the titles, you know that it is to prepare for future expansion.

By analogy, the general flag and the small flag must correspond to a squad and a fire in the army.

As expected, Li Yan said, "A thousand-household unit has 1120 people. Currently, we can only be counted as half of one, so there will be no thousand-household units. The commanding officer will be directly a hundred-household unit. One hundred-household unit will be in charge of two general flags, one general flag will be in charge of five small flags, and one small flag will have 10 people."

"There are deputy positions above the centurion level, but there are no deputy positions below the general flag. We are an intelligence agency, and it would be detrimental to the transmission of intelligence if the lower levels were too complicated."

"Because the members of the Jinyiwei are scattered all over the place to gather intelligence, they have great freedom, so they can set up 100-household offices in border towns such as Lingzhou, Yunzhong, Dingxiang, Suizhou, and Mayi. The general flags and small flags that go deeper into the grasslands can decide on their own to set up information collection points according to the situation."

"If someone really infiltrates the Turkic tribe, perhaps the Jie Li Yazhang area can also decide for itself based on the situation."

"In short, I just want intelligence. Once these people cross the border, whether they kill people or set fires, or even bribe traitors or plant undercover agents, we don't care. There is no Tang law or military law to restrict them. They can do whatever they want. Of course, if their identities are exposed and they lose their lives, we can't help them. We can only rely on them to assist in the battle!"

Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang both nodded. The prince had defined the responsibilities, organizational structure, and operating methods. The entire framework had been set up. They only needed to perform their duties within this scope.

"These people are not rookies. They are all elite soldiers that my father has transferred back from the front lines of various towns in the border areas. Most of them are members of the scout team. They know the Turkic language and are familiar with the nomadic life on the grasslands. They are all elite soldiers who are selected from hundreds of miles away."

(End of this chapter)