The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 71 Zhang Yongde's Thoughts

"Envoy Zhang, I'm unsure about something. Could you please advise me?"

Li Yi came close to Zhang Yongde and said something that surprised the other party.

Zhang Yongde raised his eyebrows slightly: "Has Envoy Li encountered any difficulties?"

"It's not a difficult matter. I just came back from Xiajin and gained some insights from what I saw and heard along the way. I wrote a memorial last night and thought I would submit it to Your Majesty today."

As he spoke, Li Yi took out a piece of yellow paper and handed it to Zhang Yongde.

"Envoy Li, just submit your letter. What is there for you to ask me?"

Zhang Yongde glanced at it but did not reach out to take it.

"The matter of my memorial concerns the troops in front of the palace. I was planning to have Envoy Zhang take a look at it for me today to see if it is appropriate."

Li Yi whispered, "If it is feasible, I will submit a letter to Your Majesty later. If it is not feasible, I will not mention it to avoid upsetting Your Majesty."

"Oh?" Zhang Yongde immediately became interested when he heard that.

He was a little curious about what Li Yi was going to write to the emperor.

However, due to his cautious nature, Zhang Yongde didn't want to get involved in this matter.

But I heard that it was about the Palace Army, and Li Yi's words were sincere.

Zhang Yongde hesitated for a moment, then chuckled and said, "If that's the case, then I'll help Li Dushi take a look."

Taking the yellow paper and gently folding it open, Zhang Yongde saw the neat regular script on the paper and praised: "Li Dushi has a beautiful handwriting!"

Then he began to look carefully at the contents of the paper.

But somehow, Zhang Yongde's expression was normal at first, but the more he looked at it, the more frightened he became, and his expression changed several times in an instant.

Li Yi observed Zhang Yongde's expression and couldn't help feeling a little amused.

In fact, the content of his memorial was not surprising. It was the same thing that Chai Rong did to reform the imperial guards of the Later Zhou Dynasty in history.

It’s just that Li Yi wrote it in great detail and added some other content.

When Zhang Yongde saw it for the first time, he was naturally shocked because he was not mentally prepared in advance.

In fact, Li Yi didn't think about showing what he wrote to Zhang Yongde at first.

But just now he saw that Li Chongjin's expression seemed to be dissatisfied with himself.

Li Yi suddenly realized.

Although he had never thought of getting too close to Zhang Yongde, he could not help but think that Li Chongjin would regard him as Zhang Yongde's man.

Now he is preparing to write a letter to the emperor suggesting that he reform the imperial guards. The key point is to strengthen the palace army and weaken the guard department.

To prevent the Imperial Guards from becoming dominant... In fact, it is to prevent Li Chongjin from becoming too powerful.

It is not difficult to imagine that Li Chongjin will definitely hate Li Yi to death by then.

And what about Zhang Yongde?
Although he was the one who actually benefited the most, Li Yi, as his subordinate, did not inform him of such an important matter first, but took the initiative to tell the emperor without him.

Zhang Yongde may not necessarily remember this kindness.

I originally planned to not offend anyone, but in the end I ended up pleasing neither side.

Li Yi will definitely encounter many constraints in the imperial guards in the future.

Fortunately, Li Yi reacted in time and showed what he had written to Zhang Yongde before the court meeting started.

I think Zhang Yongde would not disagree.

After all, most of the content there is related to strengthening his power.

"Envoy Li..." Zhang Yongde carefully folded the yellow paper again.

"Are these your own thoughts?"

Li Yi nodded and said, "This is just a humble opinion of yours. Please forgive me, Envoy Zhang."

Zhang Yongde remained silent after hearing this.

Naturally, he fully agreed with some of the ideas written by Li Yi.

Thinking about what happened a few days ago, Zhang Yongde was still scared.

If something really happened to the emperor, he believed that he would not be able to compete with Li Chongjin.

First of all, although the Palace Army was closer to the emperor, its military strength was far inferior to that of the Imperial Guard.

Secondly, Zhang Yongde's status and qualifications are also not as good as Li Chongjin's.

Everyone else thought that he had been going to and from the Palace Army’s office and on duty as usual in the past few days as if nothing had happened.

This is the calmness of remaining calm even when facing a collapse of Mount Tai.

But in reality, only Zhang Yongde himself knew that he had nowhere else to go except to the government office. The Imperial Guard had two main forces, a total of four wings of troops, so what did his Palace Guard have?
The most capable Inner Palace Guards suffered heavy casualties, and the rest of the guards who were capable of being used combined were not enough to fill the gaps in the Imperial Guards' ranks.

Zhang Yongde was very worried. Without the government's suppression, Li Chongjin would use his status as Taizu's nephew to mobilize the Imperial Guards with a single order and would surely crush him.

He didn't think that with that guy's personality, he would let him go even though he had a conflict with him.

So Zhang Yongde was on duty at the yamen normally not because he was calm enough.

It was because the government office was located in the imperial city, which made Li Chongjin feel a little cautious.

Secondly, you can also know the situation in the palace at the first time.

In fact, during those days, Zhang Yongde was always hoping that the emperor would show up as soon as possible.

It was also because of this that Zhang Yongde was so happy when he met Li Yi who had returned to Beijing in the government office.

After all, he has a very capable and brave general under his command by his side.

Zhang Yongde's sense of security soared instantly.

And now... Zhang Yongde looked at Li Yi a few more times.

This young man made his mark in the Battle of Gaoping.

It always gives people unexpected surprises.

For example, in the Battle of Xinkou, he was originally sent to assist the King of Wei.

Unexpectedly, he became the protagonist, defeated the Liao army in one battle, and killed the Liao government official Yelu Dilu.

Now he has come up with a surprising detailed plan for the reform of the imperial guards.

"Envoy Zhang, is there anything wrong with what I wrote?"

Seeing that Zhang Yongde was a little dazed, Li Yi reminded him softly.

"I don't see any problem with that."

Zhang Yongde nodded. "Most of the Imperial Guards are old and weak, and more than half of them are unfit to fight. Their performance in the Gaoping battle was a complete mess."

"Your Majesty was deeply concerned about this and intended to reorganize the Imperial Guards during this return."

"It's just that there's no specific charter yet, and with the recent events, it's been put on hold for now."

At this point, Zhang Yongde handed the yellow paper back to Li Yi and chuckled, "Envoy Li's strategy is very detailed. I'm afraid even if we take it to the Privy Council for discussion, no one will find any faults."

Li Yi asked, "What does Zhang Dushi mean?"

"Envoy Li is loyal to the emperor and his suggestions are very appropriate. I believe Your Majesty will be very pleased."

Zhang Yongde stroked his beard and whispered, "I'm afraid Envoy Li's strategy might offend some people, but I'm here and I won't let you get into trouble."

His words were meant to reassure Li Yi and also to show that he accepted the favor.

After all, Li Yi's proposal greatly raised Zhang Yongde's status.

Seeing that the corners of Zhang Yongde's mouth couldn't help but curl up.

Li Yi smiled inwardly.

Maybe Zhang Yongde felt that he had made a profit, but for Li Yi, he could just promote Zhang Yongde to fight against Li Chong while he just focused on his development.

In the end, both sides are bound to suffer losses... because Chai Rong will definitely take down these two guys before he dies.

At the same time, Li Chongjin in the distance glanced at Li Yi again.

He saw Li Yi handing Zhang Yongde something that looked like paper or cloth.

Then the two of them huddled together, whispering something.

Li Chongjin subconsciously pricked up his ears to listen.

But there was some distance between them, and the hall was filled with conversations, so it was obvious that he couldn't hear a thing.

Of course, Li Yi and the other two's voices were already very low, and they were surrounded by a group of Palace Guards.

Naturally, the others didn't know what the two were talking about.

"Envoy Li is both civil and military, a truly formidable young man."

Li Jixun, who was standing aside, listened to the conversation between Li Yi and the other person and was very curious about what was written on the paper.

But he couldn't snatch it from Zhang Yongde, nor could he take the initiative to ask Li Yi for it.

Li Jixun could only find time to compliment him.

Li Yi opened his mouth and was about to respond, but at this moment, the noise in the court hall quickly quieted down.

Looking up, he saw a large group of people surrounding Chai Rong and walking into the hall.

(End of this chapter)