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Chapter 84: General Zuo Yu Lin
Xiang Xun is indeed very efficient.

The next morning, under the order of Wang Pu, the Minister of Rites and Prime Minister, twenty or thirty Confucian scholars arrived at the Privy Council to help organize the personnel roster.

After asking around, Li Yi realized that these people who came to help were not ordinary clerks.

But they are students from the Imperial College, also known as tribute students.

The leaders among them were two Jinshi who had passed the imperial examinations a few years ago.

It’s just that these two people are unlucky. They have been waiting for several years but still haven’t been given an official position. They are currently working as part-time teachers in the Central Official School.

During the Five Dynasties period, the imperial examination system was greatly affected by constant wars. The examinations were held intermittently and were even suspended for several years.

But in general, all dynasties still attached great importance to the selection of civil service talents.

Especially after Taizu Guo Wei founded the country and proclaimed himself emperor, he held imperial examinations every year to select a certain number of Jinshi to serve as central and local officials.

However, it was a time of chaos, the world had not yet been unified, and there were very limited vacant official positions.

Many official positions will be reserved to reward warriors with titles.

For example, although Li Yi served as the governor of Qianzhou concurrently and had no actual jurisdiction, he still occupied the position of governor.

This also led to the Tokyo court retaining many officials waiting to be elected.

Only those with more experience or better political achievements will be appointed first, and the newly-appointed scholars will have to wait in line.

"Thank you for condescending to do the clerks' miscellaneous work."

Li Yi clasped his fists and said politely that he showed enough respect and kindness to this group of scholars from the official school.

Everyone hurriedly said that they didn't dare.

I have to say that Prime Minister Wang Pu was quite creative. He not only provided Li Yi with this group of free labor, but also did not have to mobilize clerks from official departments to avoid affecting daily government affairs.

Otherwise, he could become the prime minister... At least Li Yi didn't expect that he could do that.

However, he had to take on this favor from Xiang Xun. If it weren't for Xiang Xun's face, Wang Pu might not have been so willing to send someone to help.

After all, the prime minister is the head of the civil officials, and the Deputy Privy Councilor Wei Renpu has to be polite when meeting the prime ministers.

It is said that military men had a high status during the Five Dynasties period, but that depends on who you compare them with. Although the prime ministers were civil officials, they had a transcendent status. When the political situation was stable, the prime ministers' words carried a lot of weight.

Of course, if the warriors really start to cause chaos, that would be a completely different matter.

Next.

With the help of these candidates from the Imperial College, the work of sorting out the roster of imperial guards officially began.

At the same time, Li Yi was not idle either. He had to help organize and check the registers while also taking into account the progress of Zhao Kuangyin and others.

It's not even enough for one person to use even if they split it into two.

For several days, Li Yi did not go home. Instead, he ran between the military camp and the Privy Council, and simply got food and accommodation in the government office.

This afternoon.

Li Yi checked the sorted personnel list again, then took the time to return to his official room to sit down and take a break.

Many things are easier said than done.

In just four or five days, the intensive review of the registers made his eyes dry and his mind restless. He couldn't enjoy his meals or sleep well, and his mind was full of names all day long.

But when he thought about the huge benefits he could get if he could successfully reorganize the imperial guards, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and persevere.

It's really painful and happy.

"Envoy Li, another cart of hemp paper has been delivered to the government office."

The official from the government office came in to report.

Li Yi waved his hand and said, "Why are you coming to me for such a trivial matter? Send it directly to the scholars who are copying the registers."

The jailer quickly and respectfully retreated.

Li Yi couldn't help but sigh. Just organizing the paper for copying the booklets had taken several carts of paper in the past few days. Even in later times, paper books were not cheap.

Not to mention that in today's era, although paper has become basically popular, it is still not affordable for ordinary people.

Li Yi roughly calculated that in order to thoroughly organize the registers, he would need to send at least several more trucks of paper.

If converted into silver, it would definitely be a considerable expense. However, this amount of money only accounts for a tiny fraction of the money needed to reorganize the imperial guards.

You can imagine how huge the overall cost is!
No wonder the emperor seemed so troubled when he heard his ministers mention money.

I have to spend money everywhere, but I have no money everywhere. Everything starts with money, and nothing can be done without money.

Fortunately, Li Yi proposed the idea of ​​destroying Buddhism, which relieved the huge pressure on the court's finances.

I just don't know how the progress is going...

Li Yi was very worried that selecting the elite would require a large amount of money, but he told himself that the money was not in place. This was no joke.

It seems that I should find someone to ask about the situation when I have time.

"Envoy Li."

Just then, a deep voice came from the door.

Li Yi looked up and saw Zhao Kuangyin walking in quickly.

"Zhao Du Yu Hou, what happened?"

Zhao Kuangyin said in a deep voice: "Someone in our general team was beaten!"

Hearing this, Li Yi suddenly stood up and frowned, "Who did it?"

He didn't expect that just a few days after the start, someone would jump out to cause trouble and attack his men.

Are you trying to slap Li Yi in the face?
Zhao Kuangyin replied, "They are soldiers under the command of General Meng Hanqing of the Left Winged Guards."

General Meng Hanqing of the Left Winged Guards?
Li Yi had never heard of this man's name. He was just a lieutenant before, a general outside the Palace Army, and one of the six armies and guards. Naturally, he had no chance of contact with him.

But he always felt that he seemed to have a little impression.

But it was useless to think about these things now. Li Yi immediately took Zhao Kuangyin to the scene of the incident.

On the way.

Li Yi specifically asked about Meng Hanqing's background.

Zhao Kuangyin was quite clear about this and explained, "Meng Hanqing was the chief officer of the yamen when Emperor Gaozu of Jin was the governor of Hedong."

"Later, he served as the commander of the left wing of the Holy Guard Army, and during the reign of Emperor Gaozu of Han, he was promoted to the commander of the Holy Guard Army."

"However, after Emperor Taizu ascended the throne, Meng Hanqing was transferred to the position of General of the Left Winged Guards, and his position remained unchanged until the current emperor ascended the throne."

Hearing this, Li Yi nodded, and couldn't help but look at Zhao Kuangyin a few more times, and said with a smile: "If we talk about my familiarity with the Imperial Guards, I am really far behind Zhao Du Yu Hou."

Zhao Kuangyin quickly said, "I don't know much about the Imperial Guards, but Envoy Li wanted to start with the Six Armies and Guards. I was worried about messing things up, so I went back and asked my father. He does know a little about the Six Armies and Guards."

Li Yi thought to himself: It’s true that having a good father makes a difference. Zhao Hongyin didn’t stay in the imperial guards for nothing all these years.

If he were to handle these matters himself, it would probably take a lot of effort just to find someone to inquire about the other party's background.

It seems that requesting the Privy Council to transfer Zhao Kuangyin to assist him was killing two birds with one stone. It allowed Zhao Da to share the blame, and he could use his father's connections to help him get things done.

Anyway, the greatest credit will ultimately fall on me.

Li Yi then asked, "You said our people were beaten. What was the reason?"

Zhao Kuangyin said, "In the past few days, several of our teams have been checking the personnel of the six armies and guards. Meng Hanqing also has the job of collecting fodder taxes. He has a group of soldiers under him who are specifically responsible for this matter."

"Originally we just wanted to check whether the number of staff was true, but unexpectedly it led to another incident."

"what's up?"

"It's true that there were soldiers collecting fodder taxes, but the problem lies with the accounts they used to collect the taxes."

Li Yi immediately understood and snorted coldly, "I guess someone is pocketing the money?"

Seeing Zhao Kuangyin nod, he smiled coldly and said, "Whether he is collecting empty salaries or making money, since he has fallen into our hands, we will make him die or at least skin him alive."

"It's a good opportunity to make an example of him!"

Li Yi suddenly remembered why he had some impression of the name Meng Hanqing.

This, in turn, connected the issue of the fodder tax to a passage he had come across while researching historical materials from the Five Dynasties in his previous life:
"On the 1st day of the 10th month of the winter, General Meng Hanqing of the Left Winged Guards was sentenced to death. He was imprisoned and paid a large sum of money for the excess."

(End of this chapter)