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Chapter 82: His Majesty's Special Permission to Execute First and Report Later

three days later.

The inspector in charge of reorganizing the imperial guards has completed the formation of the school team.

Li Yi selected twenty-five people from the group of people in Feiyingdu, plus Ma Renyu and six others, which together accounted for one-third of the officers' team.

As for the remaining fifty-nine positions, they were all filled by personnel dispatched by the Privy Council.

Among these people, the lowest military rank is general, and the highest is commander. They are all elite generals from various armies and departments.

And the selection criteria is that one must at least be able to read and write.

Li Yi divided the ninety people into nine teams.

He personally led two teams and handed over another team to Zhao Kuangyin. The remaining six teams were naturally led by his brothers in the Yishe Society.

"We have a heavy responsibility in rectifying the Imperial Guards this time. Your Majesty has granted us special permission to act at our discretion. You all need not be bound by yourselves. If any officers above the rank of Commander cause you any trouble, come to me and I will deal with them."

"And if those lieutenants below the commander cause trouble, you can just execute them first and report them later. I will take responsibility for any consequences."

On the training ground of the Inner Palace Guards, Li Yi was giving a speech to nearly a hundred people below him.

"I have already reported to His Majesty and have instructed the Privy Council to dispatch two commanders with a thousand men to be ready to suppress any officers and soldiers who intend to cause trouble."

"Everyone, just go for it!"

Emperor Chai Rong was determined to carry out this major reform of the imperial guards. He wanted to eliminate the ills left over from previous dynasties and give the entire Later Zhou imperial guards a new look.

Therefore, Li Yi was given a great deal of autonomy, and was even allowed to mobilize nearly a thousand soldiers to assist in Tokyo City.

But at the same time, this is also an invisible pressure.

Li Yi can only do it well and cannot mess it up, otherwise he will be thrown back to his original position overnight after working so hard to climb to his current position.

And if you can do it well and beautifully, you will naturally get huge benefits.

Li Yi looked around at everyone and ordered, "Let's officially begin working today. We must complete this task before His Majesty's suburban sacrifice in the first month of next year and give His Majesty a satisfactory explanation."

"No!" everyone responded in unison.

Li Yi nodded and said, "Let's start with the six armies and guards. Zhao Kuangyin, Ma Renyu, and Zhang Jiangong, the three of you will be responsible for checking the six armies, including the Left and Right Dragon Guards, the Left and Right Yulin Guards, and the Left and Right Shenwu Guards."

After hearing the three people's responses, he continued, "Li Hanchao is in charge of the Left and Right Guards and the Left and Right Xiaowei Guards; Zhao Yanwu is in charge of the Left and Right Wuwei Guards and the Left and Right Weiwei Guards; Xia Renhui is in charge of the Left and Right Leading Army Guards and the Left and Right Garrison Guards; Xu Kuangrong is in charge of the Left and Right Gate Guards and the Left and Right Qianniu Guards."

The six armies and guards of the Five Dynasties period were inherited from the Tang Dynasty, but after a series of changes, they were actually different from the six armies and sixteen guards of the Tang Dynasty.

The six armies of the Tang Dynasty specifically refer to the Northern Ya Forbidden Army, which is a "mercenary army" characterized by recruitment and privatization.

This is similar to the six armies during the Five Dynasties period.

Zhu Wen usurped the Tang Dynasty and established the Later Liang Dynasty. Based on the original Xuanwu garrison troops, he developed and improved the imperial guards with the characteristics of the Five Dynasties.

During this period, although the Later Liang Dynasty already had the organization of imperial guards, the six armies at this time still had strong combat effectiveness and participated as the main force in many battles between the Later Liang Dynasty and Li Keyong and Li Cunxu, father and son of Hedong.

After Li Cunxu destroyed the Later Liang Dynasty and established the Later Tang Dynasty, the organization of the six armies was retained.

However, the strength of the six armies gradually declined during the Later Tang Dynasty and they were no longer the main force in the imperial guards.

Until Shi Jingtang established the Later Jin Dynasty, although the structure of the six armies was still maintained, it had become a mere decoration for the emperor and no longer had any actual combat effectiveness.

As for the organization of the Sixteen Guards, there was basically no change from the Tang Dynasty to the Five Dynasties.

Among them, the Twelve Guards were the organization that commanded the national military in the Tang Dynasty, and it had the Zhechoufu under it. The other left and right gate guards and the left and right Qianniu guards were responsible for guarding the palace gates and inner courtyards.

However, after the collapse of the military system, the Sixteen Guards had completely become empty titles.

The Sixth Army at least controls some soldiers and horses. Although not many, they can fill the void and do some odd jobs.

The Sixteen Guards are completely empty shells.

For example, Wei Renpu, the deputy privy councilor, was promoted to the rank of General of the Right Guard, but he had no soldiers under his command.

Nowadays, the generals and grand generals of the six armies and sixteen guards of the Later Zhou Dynasty usually have only two uses. One is to confer titles on important officials as a sign of honor, which is somewhat similar to a military general remotely commanding a military governor.

The other type is used to accommodate senior military generals who have been left over from several dynasties but still have no fixed assignments.

This is equivalent to future cadres entering the CPPCC for retirement.

In other words, the six armies and guards are nominally affiliated with the Imperial Guards, but they have been marginalized and are a soft persimmon in name only.

But the six armies and guards have a certain number of staff. Although the number is not large, it still adds up to thousands of people.

In Li Yi's opinion, he doesn't believe that there will be people who are collecting empty salaries and making money in an army that has quotas but does not need to fight on the battlefield.

And he happens to be a soft persimmon. Even if the other party wants to cause trouble, he doesn't have the ability to do so.

However, Li Yi hoped that someone from among the six armies would jump out and cause trouble.

It would be best to kill a general first to test the waters!

"action!"

Li Yi gave an order.

Immediately, the officers and soldiers led by Zhao Kuangyin and others filed out of the inner palace guards' camp and dispersed.

"Looks like I need to go find Zhang Yongde and Li Chong to sound them out..."

Li Yi pondered for a moment, then led his men straight to the government office.

When he met Zhang Yongde, the other party was very friendly and pulled Li Yi aside to ask about the progress of the reorganization of the imperial guards.

"I plan to start with the troops of the six armies and guards. I have already asked the officers to handle this matter."

After hearing what Li Yi said, Zhang Yongde nodded and said, "Envoy Li is right. We should start with the easy things and then move on to the difficult ones. The Imperial Guards are a complex group of people. The problems accumulated over several dynasties are difficult to sort out in a short time. It would be a good idea to practice with the guards of the six armies first."

Zhang Yongde specifically mentioned the Imperial Guard Department. It seems that he is really afraid of Li Chongjin. This time, the reorganization of the imperial guards will give him the opportunity to weaken the other side, which he must be looking forward to.

Li Yi couldn't help but think of the last time when Chai Rong was unable to attend court for ten days.

Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde made completely different choices that time.

Zhang Yongde arrived at the yamen to take up duty early in the morning and did not leave until very late. It seemed that he was doing his duty faithfully, but if you think about it carefully, the strength of his Palace Guards was definitely not enough to compete with the Imperial Guards.

The reason why he ran to the yamen was probably because he was afraid that there would be an emergency and he would not be able to react in time.

But Li Chongjin was different. He stayed in the camp of the main force of the Guard Division during those days.

This shows that after the emperor returned from his personal expedition, he had a deeper control over the imperial guards, so he could stay in the imperial guards' territory with peace of mind.

At the same time, he can also mobilize the guards and personal troops nearby to deal with unknown situations at the first opportunity.

The difference in their personalities can also be seen from their choices.

Compared with Li Chongjin, Zhang Yongde appeared to be more passive, and historical records also prove this.

Li Yi secretly guessed that if Zhao Daheng had not intervened in history.

After Chai Rong's death, Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin competed secretly, and it was probably difficult for Zhang Yongde to defeat Li Chongjin.

Thoughts flashed through his mind, and Li Yi clasped his fists and said, "Thank you, Envoy Zhang, for your advice."

Zhang Yongde smiled and said, "Don't worry about the Palace Army. Just do your job. I won't interfere."

"The only issue with the Guards Department is that you might have a harder time."

What he meant was that he was not going to interfere too much in the matter of reorganizing the imperial guards, but at the same time he was also reminding Li Yi that Li Chongjin of the Imperial Guards Department was not as easy to talk to as he was.

"My subordinate understands!"

The two chatted for a few more minutes, and Li Yi immediately said goodbye and left.

"Just as I thought, Zhang Yongde wants to be a hands-off boss and not interfere with my rectification of the Palace Army."

Li Yi thought to himself.

This was also within his expectations. Zhang Yongde was a cautious person, and the emperor only asked Li Yi to assist in the reorganization of the imperial guards in name.

But Li Yi was given the power to coordinate the Palace Army and the Imperial Guards.

Zhang Yongde did not want to interfere too much in this matter, and it was also a way to show his attitude to the emperor that he had no intention of fighting for power.

After all, his identity is very sensitive, and he may not be able to do what others can do.

This is consistent with the historical records about Zhang Yongde, otherwise Zhao Kuangyin would not have been so successful under him.

Since Zhang Yongde was easy to deal with, Li Yi immediately turned around and went to find Li Chongjin.

(End of this chapter)