The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 88: Palace Guards (5K)

"In my opinion, we should standardize the number of personnel in each department of the Imperial Guard to solve the problem of insufficient military personnel that has existed for several dynasties."

"According to past practice, a team consists of 25 members, including one general, one deputy general, and one section commander."

"The ten generals and deputy generals are in charge of the troops, and the military governors are responsible for supervising the troops and enforcing the law."

"Ten men form a squad, five men form a squad, each with two squad leaders and four squad leaders, for a total of twenty-two officers and soldiers. This is the basic organization."

"Four divisions form a corps. The infantry has a corps commander, deputy corps commander, and guard post. The cavalry has a military commander, deputy military commander, and guard post. These three have the same authority as the corps commanders, deputy commanders, and corps commanders. They are under the command of one hundred personnel."

"The five cities will be under one command, with both the cavalry and infantry having a commander, deputy commander, and generals. Each commanding 500 men."

"Five commanders form an army, each with a commander-in-chief, a deputy commander-in-chief, and a commander-in-chief. Each has a staff of 2,500 men."

"As for the left and right wings, they have a Wing Commander-in-Chief, a Wing Deputy Commander-in-Chief, and a Wing Commander-in-Chief. The number of troops under their command will depend on the specific circumstances of each army."

Inside the Privy Council's office, the emperor sat high on the main seat, listening to Li Yi explain his specific plan for reorganizing the imperial guards.

Originally, Li Yi submitted the written plan to the Privy Council, hoping that the emperor would review and approve it.

However, Chai Rong probably wanted to hear Li Yi's opinion in person.

So he went directly to the Privy Council and summoned him to explain the matter in detail in person.

In addition to the emperor, also present were the Deputy Privy Councilor Wei Renpu, as well as Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin.

After hearing this, Chai Rong nodded slightly and said, "What Li Qing said makes sense. There's no need to make too many changes to the staffing quota. We can just stick with the existing ones. The main thing is to ensure the actual number and not have any shortages."

"So what plans does Li Qing have for the selection of various divisions of the Imperial Guard?"

Li Yi bowed and continued, "I have carefully checked the personnel register of the Imperial Guards. Although it states that there are over 140,000 personnel on the register, its authenticity is greatly discounted."

"Among them, the Imperial Guard has nearly 100,000 men, but in reality, apart from vacancies, even including the elderly, the weak, the sick and the disabled, there are only about 70,000 to 80,000 men."

"In comparison, the Palace Front Army is slightly better, but the actual number is only 30,000 to 40,000 at most."

"So I sorted out the military numbers and personnel composition of the Palace Army and the Imperial Guard, and roughly made the following arrangements."

"The main forces of the Dragon and Tiger Armies under the Imperial Guards Department currently command less than 40,000 men, many of whom are old and weak and unable to fight. They will definitely need to undergo a large-scale reduction in numbers and select elite reinforcements."

"By then, the Longjie Army should be fully staffed with six armies, or thirty commanders, and three armies and fifteen commanders each on the left and right wings, for a total of 15,000 troops."

"The Tiger-Switch Army should be fully staffed with twelve armies, or sixty commanders, half each of the left and right wings, for a total of thirty thousand men."

"In addition, the Imperial Guards are under the command of the East and West Squads, the East and West Squad Imperial Guards, the Staff Officers, and the Dragon Flag Officers, totaling 200,000 men."

"As for the miscellaneous troops in front of the tent, such as Hengchong, Xiaojie, Xiaowu, Guangrui, Xiaoshun, Huaide, Huai'en, Qingsai, Tuhun, Xingshun, Zuoshe, and Banyin, they originally had very few soldiers, with the largest number less than a thousand and the smallest only one or two hundred. Retaining twelve commanders, a total of six thousand men will be sufficient."

"In this way, if we can find enough troops, after the reorganization of the Guard Department is completed, there should be about 60,000 men and horses."

Having said that, Li Yi paused and saw the emperor nodded for him to continue.

He added, "The Imperial Guards Division will primarily focus on reducing its staff, while the Palace Guards will be transformed from an army into a division, so naturally, they will need to be significantly expanded."

"The Iron Cavalry, originally under the Imperial Guards Division, will be transferred to the Palace Guards Division, increasing the number of cavalry to 10,000. There will be a total of four armies with twenty commanders, each assigned to the left and right wings."

"And the Control Crane Army, which is already under the Palace Front Army, needs to be expanded to 25,000 men, a total of ten armies and 50 commanders."

"The three palace guards, the Inner Palace Guard, the Outer Palace Guard, and the Miscellaneous Guard, will be slightly strengthened from their original organization. The Inner Palace Guard will be increased to 5,000, the Outer Palace Guard to 6,000, and the Miscellaneous Guard to 4,000. A total of 15,000."

"The troops of the former Imperial Guard Division, including the Sandutou, Sanjuhou, Sanzhizhi, Dajianzhi, Yumazhi, Qinwei, and Tianwu, have been assigned to the Palace Front Division. After the reorganization, the total number of personnel should be 16 commanders and 8,000 people."

"As for the remaining understaffed troops of the Palace Guards and the Imperial Guards, simply cancel their designations and merge them into other units."

"As for those old and weak men who are laid off, we can form a specialized logistics unit. These people may not be good at fighting, but they have all been in the Imperial Guard for some time and are very familiar with the operation of the army. They can be assigned to the main forces of each army to assist them."

"This way, we can not only solve the problem of how to place them, but also make the best use of their talents."

Li Yi's plan was very detailed, covering every detail from top to bottom, basically covering all the troops of the imperial guards, even taking the specific number of people into consideration.

To be honest, no one else could do better than him.

Finally, Li Yi concluded: "When the reorganization is completed, the Palace Front Department will have approximately 50,000 troops, plus the 60,000 troops from the Imperial Guard Department."

"By then, the entire Imperial Guard, totaling over 110,000 personnel from all departments, will have been established."

"Furthermore, these are the elite who have been selected. Looking across the entire world, it is difficult to find an opponent who can rival our Great Zhou Imperial Army."

As soon as he finished speaking, Chai Rong smiled and praised him, "I was worried that Li Qing was still young and would inevitably make mistakes when doing things, but now it seems that I was worrying too much."

Having said that, he looked at the other three people present and said, "My dear ministers, what do you think?"

Wei Renpu immediately said, "Envoy Li's plan is extremely complete. I think we can just follow it. There is nothing else to check or fix."

"I think so too." Zhang Yongde naturally agreed.

In fact, he wouldn't have any objections.

Anyone who is not blind can see how much Zhang Yongde's military power will be strengthened once the imperial guards are reorganized.

By then, he will be able to stand on equal footing with Li Chongjin in the true sense.

"I have no objection."

When Li Chongjin made his last statement, the emperor couldn't help but glance at him more, but didn't say much.

In fact, everyone present knew it very well. It would be a lie to say that Li Chongjin did not feel aggrieved.

Although it seems that his military power has not been affected, and after the reorganization of the imperial guards, the combat effectiveness of the Guards Department has been strengthened.

After all, the old and weak were eliminated and the elite were selected. The total number of personnel was reduced, but the quality was improved.

But compared with Zhang Yongde, Li Chongjin's military power was indeed weakened, and there was an additional Palace Front Office to check and balance him.

However, no one can be blamed for this kind of thing.

What the emperor needed was a balance of power, and it was a fact that Li Chongjin was the most powerful person in the imperial guards.

Furthermore, if the emperor had not transferred him to the Imperial Guard Department as the chief commander, he would not have had his current status and position.

Do you, Li Chongjin, dare to express any dissatisfaction?

Although some things have not been put on the table, everyone is thinking about them secretly. Now that the emperor is reforming the imperial guards, Li Chongjin and Zhang Yongde must check and balance each other.

Seeing that no one objected, Chai Rong nodded and said thoughtfully, "Since we want to make drastic changes to the Imperial Guards, why not do this..."

"Li Qing said that the army should be changed into a department. Then we should change it to the Palace Guard Department. Just like the Imperial Guard Department, it will have the Palace Guard Cavalry and the Palace Guard Infantry, and will be in charge of the cavalry and infantry of the Palace Guard."

Li Yi didn't expect that the emperor would take one step directly and set up a personal cavalry and infantry army in front of the palace.

You should know that there is no such saying in history.

Before he could think about it, the emperor continued, "The Iron Cavalry and Controlling Crane Armies will be the main force of the Palace Front Division from now on. Therefore, the Iron Cavalry will be the military name for the Palace Front Cavalry, and Controlling Crane Armies will be the military name for the Palace Front Infantry."

"This is settled for now. I beg you to take care of this matter. We must reorganize the Imperial Guards as soon as possible. We can't wait until the day when we suddenly need to deploy troops and have no troops ready to fight."

Naturally, several people quickly agreed.

All that needed to be said had been said, and the emperor did not stay any longer, and immediately left.

After seeing the emperor off.

Li Chongjin's face looked very unhappy. When he left the Privy Council office, he suddenly said to Li Yi: "Envoy Li, don't let down His Majesty's trust."

Although he didn't know what the other party meant, Li Yi still nodded respectfully.

Anyway, if you want to reorganize the imperial guards, you will inevitably offend Li Chongjin. This is unavoidable. There are few things in the world that can have the best of both worlds.

As long as the other party doesn't take the initiative to cause trouble, Li Yi naturally doesn't care whether he likes him or not.

At least for now, Li Chongjin’s biggest enemy is still Zhang Yongde.

Just let them fight...

"That's just his personality. Even if he has something against me, he'll still give me a cold shoulder. Don't take it to heart."

Zhang Yongde's attitude towards Li Yi is completely different from Li Chongjin's.

He took Li Yi's arm affectionately, said a word of comfort, and then said: "I'm afraid Envoy Li didn't drink enough when he came to my house last time. How about this, after we finish the work of the Imperial Guards, we can have a good drink together one day."

After hearing Zhang Yongde's invitation, Li Yi actually wanted to tell him that he really couldn't drink much and asked him not to treat him to drinks all the time, as he really didn't have that hobby.

But that's what interpersonal communication is all about.

Since ancient times, Chinese banquets and drinking parties have had a strong social nature.

There's even a saying that one shouldn't talk business without drinking.

This is especially true in today's era. If someone invites you to their home for a drink, it means that they respect you and want to get closer to you.

Especially someone of Zhang Yongde's status.

Who could easily be qualified to be invited to his house for a drink?

Li Yi is not a fool, and he won't say anything nonsense about rejecting the drinking culture.

He immediately agreed with a smile.

"If Envoy Zhang has no further instructions, I will take my leave."

"Well, go ahead. If you have any troubles, just come to me."

……

After bidding farewell to Zhang Yongde.

Li Yi rushed to the Inner Palace Guard’s headquarters and asked Zhao Kuangyin to gather the officers and soldiers to prepare for the next task.

While waiting for people to gather.

Li Yi was also thinking about the current situation.

In fact, the detailed plan he presented to the emperor today was more radical than in history.

According to the original history, before Zhang Yongde took the position of the Palace Front Inspector, the status of the Palace Front Office was actually slightly inferior to that of the Imperial Guard Office.

Whether in terms of the number of personnel or the configuration of generals, the Palace Front Division is one level lower than the Guard Division.

For example, in history, Zhao Kuangyin served as the Palace Guard Commander, whose status was actually equivalent to the Palace Guard Commander of the cavalry and infantry of the imperial guards.

If we really trace it back, the Imperial Guards were first established by Zhu Wen of the Later Liang Dynasty, and were mostly composed of the vassal troops of the Xuanwu Jiedu. It was not until the Later Jin Dynasty that the Imperial Guards Division emerged, responsible for commanding the cavalry and infantry of the Imperial Guards.

After Guo Wei, the first emperor of the Later Zhou Dynasty, became emperor, he changed the name of the imperial guards' cavalry from "Husheng" to "Longjie" and the name of the imperial guards' infantry from "Fengguo" to "Hujie".

During this period, the Imperial Guard Department did not actually have a nominal commander.

All matters in the Imperial Guard are jointly under the charge of the Imperial Guard's cavalry and infantry commanders.

The earliest reliable record of the Palace Army appeared in the Later Jin Dynasty.

However, at that time, the Palace Army was weak and its size was only equivalent to the numbered army under the Imperial Guard.

After continuous growth, in the third year of Guangshun in the Later Zhou Dynasty, Emperor Taizu Guo Wei established the post of the commander-in-chief of the palace and handed it to his nephew Li Chongjin.

At this time, the Palace Army had reached a certain size and could compete with the Imperial Guards.

When Li Chongjin first took office as the commander-in-chief of the Palace Front, he was only concurrently the defense commander of Sizhou, while the commander-in-chief of the cavalry and infantry of the imperial guards were both honorary titles of the Jiedushi.

It was not until Guo Wei was on his deathbed that he promoted Li Chongjin to the position of Jiedushi of Wuxin Army.

It also marked that Li Chongjin and the then commander of the imperial guards cavalry, Fan Ainen, and the commander of the imperial guards infantry, He Hui, were on equal footing and restrained each other.

The three-yamen system was established after the establishment of the Northern Song Dynasty, namely the Palace Front Command, the Imperial Guard Cavalry Command, and the Imperial Guard Infantry Command.

In fact, it is based on Guo Wei's idea.

Later, Zhou Shizong Chai Rong succeeded to the throne and promoted Li Chongjin to the rank of Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards' Cavalry and Infantry.

Zhang Yongde then took over as the commander-in-chief of the palace.

This pattern has continued to this day.

In other words, the current status of the Palace Army is equivalent to that of the imperial guards' cavalry and infantry.

In history, after the imperial guards were reorganized, although the Palace Front Division was established, its overall military strength was half that of the Imperial Guard Division.

What’s more important is that the Palace Front Commander-in-Chief is only responsible for managing the military affairs of the Palace Front Department. This position is not the nominal chief commander of the Palace Front Department.

To put it bluntly, it is equivalent to the situation before Chai Rong promoted Li Chongjin to be in charge of the Imperial Guard Department, when the commanders of the Imperial Guard's cavalry and infantry jointly managed the affairs of the Imperial Guard Department.

It was not until Chai Rong established the position of Palace Guard Chief Inspector that Zhang Yongde was truly considered the chief commander of the Palace Guard.

Some people in later generations said that Zhang Yongde's position as the Inspector General of the Palace was higher than Li Chongjin's position as the Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Guards, Cavalry and Infantry.

This is somewhat taken for granted.

It’s just because the Palace Front Office is in charge of the emperor’s guard work and has a closer relationship with the emperor.

In addition, Chai Rong trusted Zhang Yongde more, which gave people this illusion.

In fact, the Palace Front Department and the Guard Department have no control over each other, and there are many checks and balances between them.

"Damn, have I dug a hole for myself?"

Li Yi suddenly cursed inwardly.

He had originally deliberately set the number of personnel in the reorganized Palace Front Department and the Guard Department to be not much different.

One is over 50,000 and the other is around 60,000.

In fact, it was to cater to the emperor's wishes... Since Chai Rong wanted to play checks and balances, he might as well be thorough and balance the military forces on both sides from the beginning.

But Li Yi did not expect that Chai Rong would directly copy the model of the Imperial Guard Division to rebuild the Palace Front Division.

Create a personal cavalry and infantry organization for the palace guards.

In this way, although Zhang Yongde did not have the title of Palace Guard Inspector, his status as the Palace Guard Commander naturally rose, and he became a legitimate commander of the Palace Guard.

Did I accidentally raise Zhang Yongde to this level two years earlier?
In this regard, Li Yi was not jealous of Zhang Yongde for getting such a big advantage for free.

Anyway, Zhang Yongde will be promoted sooner or later.

Now that Zhang Yongde's status has soared, Chai Rong will definitely promote Li Chongjin, the deputy commander of the imperial guards, to a full commander soon.

But Li Yi felt a little unwilling.

Because he was still thinking about the position of Palace Guard Commander.

If this reorganization of the imperial guards yields results, coupled with the merits of the two battles of Gaoping and Xinkou.

The emperor might not necessarily promote Li Yi to this position just like he promoted Zhao Da in history.

But now with the establishment of the cavalry and infantry of the palace guards.

The Palace Guard Du Yuhou has become a prominent position of the same rank as the Imperial Guard Du Yuhou.

With Li Yi's current qualifications and prestige, he is obviously not qualified enough to think about this position.

"Forget it, you're digging your own grave. If you can't be the Palace Guard Commander, you can at least think about joining the Palace Guards' cavalry and infantry, right?"

Thinking about it this way, Li Yi felt that it would be nice to get a position as a cavalry or infantry officer in front of the palace.

You have to take one step at a time and eat one bite at a time. There will be many opportunities in the future.

"But Li Jixun is going to be embarrassed. He's occupying the palace guard's latrine without doing anything. The emperor will probably transfer him soon."

Li Yi couldn't help but think of Li Jixun, Zhao Kuangyin's "sworn brother" in history.

After returning from this expedition, Li Jixun was appointed as the Palace Guard Commander.

However, after what happened today, Li Jixun is also not qualified for this position.

Historically, he was transferred to the Imperial Guard Department and gave up his position to Zhao Da.

Although he doesn't have to give up his position to anyone now, he can't escape the fate of being transferred.

……

as predicted.

Just as Li Yi expected.

a few days later.

The emperor ordered Li Chongjin, the governor of Xuzhou, deputy commander of the imperial guards, and co-prime minister, to move to Songzhou as the governor and commander of the imperial guards.

Li Chongjin's mother, Princess Fuqing Guo, was posthumously named the Grand Princess of Yan.

Zhang Yongde, the military governor of Wuxin Army and commander-in-chief of the Palace Guard, was appointed as the military governor of Huazhou, and was given the title of acting Taifu, and continued to command the army as before.

Princess Shou'an, the wife of Zhang Yongde, was promoted to the title of Princess of Jin.

At the same time, the emperor transferred Li Jixun, the Palace Guard Commander and Lizhou Governor, to be the Imperial Guard Commander of the Infantry and the Defense Commissioner of Yongzhou.

In addition, a large number of Jiedushi were relocated and given new positions, and a number of honorary titles such as Shizhong, Taifu and Taiwei were conferred upon them.

These were all to prevent problems from arising if the Jiedushi stayed in one place for too long.

This was also a common practice during the Five Dynasties period.

As for conferring additional titles on them, it is just one of the means of appeasement, and other rewards are also indispensable.

But Li Yi didn't care to pay attention to these.

He now puts all his energy into reorganizing the imperial guards.

The emperor's severe punishment of the two generals of the six armies and guards had deterred them.

None of the middle and senior generals of the Palace Army and the Imperial Guard dared to cause trouble for Li Yi anymore.

Anyway, the emperor has promised to forgive the previous acts of corruption.

Even the old and weak cannot be laid off.

Why should you jump out and ask for trouble?
at the same time.

After receiving the emperor's edict, the local military governors and counties began to send the elite troops from all over the country and recruited young and middle-aged men to Tokyo in batches to supplement the imperial guards.

This way.

Li Yi was not only responsible for the elimination and selection of the original imperial guards, but also had to receive personnel sent from these places and arrange many matters for them.

The officers and soldiers who were responsible for reorganizing the imperial guards were suddenly short of manpower.

Li Yi could only ask the Privy Council for instructions and mobilize more than a hundred people to assist.

The school team was then increased to two or three hundred people.

Now I can barely cope with it.

During this period, neither Zhang Yongde nor Li Chongjin interfered too much in Li Yi's work.

However, Li Yi still reported the progress to the two every few days.

After all, the two of them are nominally the main persons in charge. They can choose to let go of their power, but Li Yi cannot really ignore them.

We still have to give due face and respect.

However, compared with Zhang Yongde and Li Chongjin, Emperor Chai Rong seemed to attach great importance to this matter.

He would visit the military camp every few days to inspect the progress of the reorganization of the imperial guards.

Fortunately, Li Yi did a very good job, which made the emperor very satisfied. He expressed high recognition in his words and deeds.

It is promised that after the task is accomplished, rewards will definitely be given.

There is the incentive of reward.

Li Yi is full of energy and is busy from morning to night, running back and forth with people.

In this way, time passed day by day.

In the blink of an eye, autumn goes and winter comes.

Tokyo welcomed the first snow of the New Year...

(End of this chapter)