My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 383 A bold move
As we all know, once the power system becomes complex, it will lead to poor communication across levels and even a decline in control.

Take the example of the Northern and Southern armies in the past few years.

——There are five schools in the Southern Army and seven schools in the Northern Army, each with a captain, who serves as the frontline commander of the two armies. He is called a general and has a rank of 2,000 stones.
These two commanders took orders from the lieutenant and guard who controlled the southern and northern armies respectively.

Among them, the lieutenant was the head of the Nine Ministers: he was under the jurisdiction of the Nei Shi Yamen and was under the control of the Nei Shi, with a rank of two thousand stones.

As one of the Nine Ministers with a rank of 2,000 stones, Weiwei was responsible for the entire outer court headed by the Prime Minister's Office.

Above these two men, there is a general who is in charge of the Chang'an guards and night guards, with a rank of 2,000 stones. Although he is equal to the guard lieutenant, he still has a military rank and is half a level higher.
Above the General of the Guards, there is a Taiwei who theoretically commands all military affairs of the country. His rank is ten thousand stones and his status is equal to that of the Prime Minister.

Above the Grand Marshal is the Emperor of Han.

Counting on one's fingers, the military order issued by the Han emperor to the Northern Army, in the worst case scenario, would need to be passed down layer by layer through the emperor-grand marshal-general of the guards-internal historian-lieutenant-commander-in-chief of the Northern Army - this is a complex and lengthy structure that is astonishingly long.

Even if we take into account that the position of Grand Marshal was not permanent and the Nei Shi never asked much about the Lieutenant's office, there were still four levels: Emperor - General of the Guards - Lieutenant - Commander of the Northern Army.

If it were another unit or department, this wouldn’t be a big deal, at most it would just be administrative inefficiency;
But these are the Imperial Guards!

Raise them for a thousand days and use them in a moment - once they are needed, it is equivalent to the ancestral temple and the country facing a fatal threat, and they must be used to quickly defend the country's imperial army!

Such a crucial department, especially one related to the country and even civilization, could not be mobilized directly by the emperor, but at most one or two imperial guards commanders of the same level could do so;

But the actual situation was so bad that even though Liu Rong had basically secured the throne and was not afraid of any external threats, he still couldn't sleep well from time to time.

Let me give you a more vivid example.

For example, today, a reactionary group in Chang'an City, such as a fallen meritorious official or an old minister in the court, has gathered tens of thousands of militiamen and wants to launch a coup in Chang'an;

Because the coup was launched in Chang'an City, the gates and walls of Chang'an City did not function as effectively as they should have.

The coup forces emerged from various residences in Chang'an City, or from Qili, Xiaoli and even Shangguanli, gathered together and launched a surprise attack on Changle and Weiyang Palaces, as well as the armory.

The above are the known conditions, the question is: how to deal with it?
How will the situation develop?
How bad will the impact of this incident be?

——Perhaps someone would say, they are just tens of thousands of militiamen and a mob, could they really rebel against the heaven?

Some people would say that even if these tens of thousands of rebels were powerful, with the southern and northern imperial guards, as well as the officials under the command of the imperial physician in the palace, they would not be able to cause much trouble in the end.

But if Liu Rong were to answer this question, his answer would be beyond everyone's imagination.

——Once these tens of thousands of people really gathered together and launched a surprise attack without any warning, there would be at least a 10% to 20% chance of breaking into the Weiyang Palace, kicking Liu Rong off the throne, and overthrowing the Han family's ancestral temple and country!
Even if only 80% or 90% remained, it was not all the rebels that were easily suppressed;
Instead, there is a 60% probability that the rebellion will be suppressed easily, and there is still a 20% to 30% probability that the rebels will be suppressed only after they have caused extensive damage in Chang'an and caused extremely adverse effects.

There are three main reasons why this situation goes against common perception.

First: Since the rebels launched a coup in Chang'an City and the attack must have been sudden, the court officials must have been caught off guard and responded hastily.

Then, under the inherent curfew and access control system of Chang'an City, "unforeseen and hasty response" means that once any disturbance occurs in Chang'an City, the garrison forces at the city gates of Chang'an will follow their instincts and close the city gates of Chang'an at the first moment.

What does closing the city gate mean?
——It means that because the military camps were located in the southern and northern suburbs of Chang'an respectively, the only two imperial guards, named the Southern Army and the Northern Army respectively, could not rush into Chang'an City from the military camps outside the city in the first time to quickly suppress the rebellion!
Maybe someone will say – isn’t this pure nonsense?

Even if the city gates were closed, the imperial guards outside the city would have to enter to quell the rebellion. Couldn't the city gates be opened again?
The answer is: Of course you can.

But it can’t be opened immediately.

The ideal situation is of course: when a riot occurs in the city, all city gates are closed immediately, and the northern and southern armies outside the city immediately arrive outside the city gates, and then the city gates are opened, the imperial guards enter, and the rebellion is quelled.

But the actual situation was: the imperial guards received the news and came to the city gate, calling on the people in the city to open the gate and welcome the imperial guards into the city to quell the rebellion;

As a result, the guards inside the city gate and on the city wall were all looking at the imperial guards outside the city suspiciously, wondering if they had exposed any arms...

Yes.

Ever since Zhou Bo said "Liu favors the left" and brought the entire Northern Army into Chang'an with the "stolen" tiger talisman without any troop mobilization edict, and broke through the Weiyang Palace under the guard of the Southern Army, it was no longer a simple matter for the Northern and Southern armies to enter the city to quell the rebellion with just a greeting.

——How do you prove that you entered the city to quell the rebellion instead of joining the rebels to cause chaos?

You must know that back then, Zhou Bo led tens of thousands of Northern Army soldiers with their left arms bared and shouting "Support the Liu Han Dynasty", and what they finally broke into was the Weiyang Palace where the Young Emperor Liu Hong was!
What?
So the "Liu" in Liu's left-wing character is no longer the "Liu" of Emperor Shao Liu Hong?

Therefore, when a riot broke out in Chang'an City, the city gates of Chang'an City would be closed immediately.

The reason for closing the city gates was not entirely to prevent—not even mainly to prevent—foreign aid from the rebels;

And they are precisely the main forces to prevent and quell the riots: the two imperial guards in the south and the north!
As a result, the situation became: if a riot broke out in Chang'an City, all city gates would be closed immediately. The Han Dynasty central government needed the Northern and Southern armies to enter the city as quickly as possible to quell the rebellion, but at the same time, it had to let the Northern and Southern armies enter the city as cautiously as possible to prevent these two imperial guards from becoming armed forces used by the coup plotters again.

In order to ensure that everything goes smoothly, the two imperial guards need to wait outside the city gate for "review" and can only enter the city after passing the review.

Therefore, Liu Rong said: If a large-scale coup d'état really happened in Chang'an City, the rebels would have a 10% chance of success.

——Historical problems and imperfections in the system.

The second is the prevailing trend of bribery in the Han Dynasty.

Long before Shang was just the eldest prince, not even the crown prince, Liu Rong had already witnessed how rampant corruption was in that era.

If a eunuch has a little power, he will dare to flatter you unless you give him money!
Remember: these words were said by the former eldest prince Liu Rong!
On the contrary, if you give him money, he will not harm you anymore, but he will also destroy your reputation everywhere - telling everyone: Look, the eldest prince gave it to me;

Even the eldest prince has to give me money and give me some face, so who the hell are you?
If it's like this inside the palace, it's even more terrible outside the palace.

If you go to visit a dignitary and don't give the concierge some money when you hand over your visiting card, it would be the least of their responsibilities if they ignore you.

Maybe the doorman will report this to the powerful people?
Hey, guess what?

The powerful people can turn against you!!!
why?
Since you look down on his doorman, don't you look down on him?
Beating a dog depends on the owner!

Besides, I am a powerful person. I condescend to meet you. Isn’t it because you can bring me benefits?

As a result, you don't even bribe my doorman - even my doorman can't get any benefits from you, let alone me?

This was just a private relationship. When it came to the official level, the scene would immediately become even uglier.

Without saying anything else, I will just say this.

——The Prime Minister during the previous emperor’s time: the late An Hou Shentu Jia, the quality most praised by the world was his incorruptible character.

Yes;

The most commendable quality of the current prime minister, the premier of the entire Chinese unified regime, and the executive vice emperor is that he does not accept bribes.

Isn’t that outrageous?
The most basic quality of an official has become the only basis for the head of all officials to enjoy world-wide reputation.

It is just like what later generations said: In a world full of demons, mediocrity is good enough;

Similarly, when bribery becomes the norm, integrity can actually become a noble quality that is praised by people...

The reason why we need to mention the long-standing and increasingly rampant bribery in the Han Dynasty is because city defense has always been a matter of either one or the other.

——Either the security is so tight that even mosquitoes can’t fly in;
——Either it becomes loose and rotten, rotten from the top to the root.

In the feudal history of China, there has almost never been a city whose defenses were neither completely strict nor completely loose.

The practice of bribery was so prevalent that the eunuchs in the palace dared to ask for favors from the princes, and even the crown prince. This meant that as long as there was a will, there would be someone who could spend the same gold, silver and treasures on officials, city gate guards, and even the generals of the imperial guards.

In Liu Rong's opinion, this second hidden danger is even more serious than the first one.

After all, the reason why the imperial guards couldn't enter Chang'an City was just a matter of time and effectiveness - even if they couldn't enter at the first time, they would be able to enter sooner or later.

But the bribery was enough to turn the gates of Chang'an into a one-way valve that only allowed the rebels and foreign aid to enter, but not the imperial guards.

It was enough to make Chang'an's most important place: the arsenal, the foundation for the rebels to grow rapidly;

If we look at it from the emperor's perspective, and do not hesitate to make the most malicious assumptions, even the palace gates might be broken open by the rebels through bribery and gifts.

This is why Liu Rong believed that when something happened in Chang'an, even if the reactionaries could not overthrow the Han ancestral temple and the country, there was a 20% to 30% chance that they would cause headaches for the central court and wreak havoc in Chang'an, but would ultimately only be barely pacified.

——Bribery is rampant.

The third point is that in Liu Rong's eyes, there is a third freak in the existing "Nine Ministers" system of the Han Dynasty: the redundant imperial guards.

As I said before: the significance of the existence of the Imperial Guards, in addition to deterring reactionaries, is to quickly take action to quell riots when they occur.

However, the complicated guard system, as well as the lengthy division of responsibilities and subordinate relationships, made it impossible for this mobile armed force, which was supposed to be like the fire brigade of later generations, to quickly "go out" to put out fires upon receiving the news, to be as effective as it should be.

Just like the example mentioned earlier;
When something happened in Chang'an, the northern and southern armies outside the city received the news, they could not act on their own at the first moment. Instead, they had to wait for the imperial edict to mobilize troops and the tiger talisman.

The imperial edict and the tiger talisman arrived, and the army gathered and marched towards Chang'an, arriving outside the closed city gate.

The palace guards on the top of the city wall put down the bamboo basket, checked the imperial edict and the tiger talisman, and then went to ask the lieutenant: What should we do, should we open the city gate?

The lieutenant couldn't make up his mind and couldn't contact the emperor in the Weiyang Palace, so he could only ask the internal historian or the general: What should we do?
The Internal Secretary would most likely not dare to come up with this idea, and the General Wei might not necessarily come up with this idea either.

So we can only wait.

The city gates will only be opened when the emperor in the Weiyang Palace sends someone to bring news that the imperial guards outside the city have indeed been legally mobilized to Chang'an to quell the unrest.

This is what was mentioned above, the general process of the imperial guards being "examined" outside the city.

However, this review process has a hidden danger that the military system, especially the imperial guards system, is extremely taboo.

There are too many people involved~
There are too many levels of information transmission, too many people involved, and the information transmission cycle is too long.

During the entire review process, if there was a problem with one person - such as the city gate guard, the lieutenant, or the internal historian or the general;

Even the servants and messengers who were responsible for delivering letters among them, or even the people sent by the rebels to impersonate the emperor's envoys and approve or reject the requests of the imperial guards outside the city to enter the city, would cause big problems.

This is the third reason why Liu Rong did not think Chang'an was absolutely safe and did not think the reactionaries had no chance - an overly complicated command system.

Combining all of the above, it is not difficult for Liu Rong to draw the conclusion: It would be best if there was not even a single person between the Han emperor and the imperial guards, and it would be best if the emperor could directly command the army!
At best, there can only be a middleman who is the commander of the imperial guards, who is responsible for leading the imperial guards in the direction the emperor wants according to his will.

As a result, the position of Taiwei was abandoned by Liu Rong as expected;

The title of General Wei, which was created by Emperor Taizong and inexplicably promoted to the highest rank but had no meaning of existence, was also changed by Liu Rong into a wartime title like the upper, front, rear, left and right generals, and had nothing to do with the capital's armed forces in Chang'an.

The next level down is the Nei Shi and Wei Wei - Nei Shi is about to be split up;

Especially for the lieutenant, Liu Rong must separate it from the Internal History and make it exist as an independent branch of the Nine Ministers.

Liu Rong had already thought of a name: Praetorian Guard.

Copy homework.

It's just a name anyway.

According to Liu Rong's idea, in addition to being responsible for security patrols in Chang'an City and the defense of the city walls and gates, the future Praefectus Urbi will also have to shoulder a certain degree of law enforcement efficiency.

For example, helping Dali (Tingwei) to arrest someone, or checking passers-by while patrolling.

However, the General of the Central Army could no longer serve as a department under the Lieutenant.

Liu Rong's idea was to use this group to take away the job of Langzhongling, so that all positions in the central government of Chang'an with the word "Lang" in their names would be under the jurisdiction of Langzhongling.

All the positions such as Shilang, Langzhong, Zhonglang and so on were taken care of.

This is the name. You can’t continue to be called Langzhongling.

(End of this chapter)