The Bad Guys: Everyone, let’s revive the Tang Dynasty together!

Chapter 415 Reorganization
Several ministers and generals were still arguing, but Xiao Yan just leaned on the couch, tapping his face silently with three fingers supporting his face, while the other hand held the memorial, which was swaying gently in the wind.

At this time, Li Ting had taken out a map and was pointing to the Hedong area on it and explaining his reasons, while Jing Xiang frowned, stroked his beard and said nothing.

Ji Ruxue imitated the empress and sat on Xiao Yan's right side. She was very patient and listened carefully to the ministers' debate, but she felt that everyone seemed to have some truth in what they said, and if she was to be honest, she didn't want Xiao Yan to go to the battlefield again so soon.

Jin State not only had the natural barrier of Hedong, but also, like Hebei, had been the richest place in the world since the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Sui and Tang Dynasties, with strong strength and foundation. The battle was completely different from the battle to destroy Shu. Jin State not only had Li Keyong, Li Cunxu and other famous generals and brave soldiers, but also Yuan Tiangang.

Ji Ruxue had always held a hostile view towards the bad commander, but she also knew his strengths, which had once made Alang feel very uneasy.

The person who made A Lang so cautious must be very dangerous. That's why Ji Ruxue listened so seriously to Han Yanhui, Jing Xiang and others' opinions and strategies.

However, this process was actually very boring, especially when the literati were speaking, they would quote from classics and make a lot of arguments. Among the military generals, Li Sian could actually say some flowery words, but they were basically just to irritate people. Ji Ruxue frowned from time to time when she heard it, and glanced sideways at the empress, but saw that she had a faint smile on her face the whole time, and seemed to be listening with great interest.

"If you're bored, you can go horseback riding." At this time, Xiao Yan came over and whispered to her.

Xue'er was stunned for a moment and subconsciously wanted to talk to him, but when she thought about the ministers below who were discussing state affairs while she was here chatting with Xiao Yan, they might think that Xiao Yan did not value them, so she sat up straight, pursed her lips and said nothing.

Xiao Yan looked at Ji Ruxue strangely, noticing her upright sitting posture, and then shook his head and smiled, turning back to the empress and said, "It's boring to sit here. If you don't ride all these horses, today's trip will be in vain. Queen, why don't you take Xue'er and the others to try out the horses in Mobei first?"

The empress naturally agreed with a smile, and said that the original purpose of this trip was to go horseback riding in the North Garden of the Imperial City.

After the women left, Xiao Yan stood up and walked down the gentle slope. Han Yanhui and others were slightly stunned, then stood up and followed him. It was Xiao Yan who came to a row of targets and started shooting arrows with a bow about a hundred steps away.

Yu Zhong, Li Si'an, and Tian Daocheng all thought they were good archers, so they also took a bow and shot with him. Han Yanhui, Jing Xiang, and other scholars were not weak, but they could only shake their heads and smile bitterly when they saw the target from a distance of a hundred steps.

Over here, Bago had already tamed the wild horse, and was galloping wildly on the pasture with great enthusiasm, looking very heroic. But after noticing the movement over here, he slowed down and galloped over.

The Empress and Ji Ruxue and other girls had chosen the horses and were waiting to put on the saddles. Now they turned around to watch Xiao Yan shooting arrows.

He was surrounded by several people. He casually pulled out three white feather arrows. Before the bowstring had stopped ringing, three cold stars were nailed on the straw target a hundred steps away, and the tail feathers were still buzzing and forming a triangle.

"When he has nothing to do, he likes to shoot arrows. He says it can help him clear his mind, concentrate and feel the most primitive violence."

Ji Ruxue climbed onto the horse's back, pulled the silver reins of the white horse and looked back, she saw the autumn sun gilding Xiao Yan's figure into pale gold, he was nocking on the fourth arrow, his clothes fluttering in the north wind like a black battle flag, his agile and powerful figure was simply too perfect to be true in the sunlight.

Immediately, cheers from the crowd mixed with laughter came over. In this era, people always habitually admire the strong.

The empress nodded to Bago who was riding over, and let Qianwu and the others have fun. She and Ji Ruxue slowly sped out side by side, and then asked her with a smile: "Does Alang look like someone who relies solely on violence to act?"

Ji Ruxue thought for a moment and shook her head: "He doesn't believe in violence."

"Then it'll be fine."

Ji Ruxue said hesitantly, "What does this mean, Princess?"

"No need to call me princess." The empress's eyes curved slightly and she said, "If you don't mind, how about calling me sister?"

After that, she explained, "The war with Jin State cannot be fought. The so-called Taiyuan turmoil seems to be a good opportunity, but it is also a bait. People are used to Alang's invincibility. If they raise troops to attack this time but still stop at the city of Luzhou like Zhu Wen, Yang Shihou and others, it may damage Alang's prestige, even if it does not pose any threat to Alang.

But the country is not at peace, and the people have been fighting for a long time. If Alang keeps launching wars to consume national strength in a short period of time, he will most likely be known as a man who is eager for quick success and is aggressive and aggressive, which is not good for his rule. I believe the person who planned the so-called Taiyuan Incident would be happy to see this."

Ji Ruxue frowned and thought for a moment, her voice a little cold: "It must be that bad commander who is making trouble again."

The empress did not have a very good impression of Yuan Tiangang, because when Li Maozhen fled to Raojiang, the shadow of this bad commander was also behind it. However, she thought more about it and had no conclusion for the time being, so she did not tell Ji Ruxue all at once.

As expected, when Xiao Yan returned from Beiyuan near dusk, he had already made a decision. He asked the court to order Prince of Zhao Wang Rong and Prince of Beiping Wang Chuzhi to train the troops and make preparations to support the expedition of Wang Yanzhang of Youzhou.

However, although the Prince of Zhao and the Prince of Beiping were located between Hedong and Hebei, they had been wavering between Jin and Liang. The talk of training troops was just a warning to the two of them. Wang Yanzhang was most likely just trying to spy on the strength of the line from Weizhou to Yunzhong and Yanmen.

All in all, Xiao Yan gave up this so-called good opportunity.

"It's very likely that it's the Bad Leader who's putting on an act."

After dinner, Xiao Yan answered the Empress's question in the study room and said:
"If it's him, then it's not surprising. He's always good at using overt tactics. Regardless of whether it's a bait or not, I only have two choices: fight or not. If I fight, it's like Yun Ji said, he wants to undermine my prestige. If I don't fight, he will have enough space and time to free up his hands to clean up the Jin State and get rid of Li Keyong."

"Get rid of Li Keyong?" The empress frowned.

"If the Buliang General wants to use Jin for his own benefit, Li Keyong is the only obstacle. It's not that the two of them can't sit down and work together peacefully, but Li Keyong is naturally full of suspicion and caution towards the Buliang General, and he is not the kind of person who will just hand over Hedong to the Buliang General to mess around with. In Jin, perhaps only Li Keyong, the old fox, knows the Buliang General's intentions and has the spare energy to deal with him. If it were Li Cunxu, he would probably be easily controlled by the Buliang General without knowing it."

"So no matter how you look at it, getting rid of Li Keyong, this unstable factor, will do more good than harm to the Bad Commander." Xiao Yan said this, with one corner of his mouth raised: "It all depends on whether he will mess it up."

The empress sat on the chair with her skirt pressed down, and shook her head in thought: "If Li Keyong had warned Li Cunxu in advance, the bad commander would have been in trouble."

"Li Keyong may not have expected that the bad commander would suddenly take action." Due to the lack of intelligence, Xiao Yan could only rely on speculation to judge: "And judging from the information shown in the past, Li Keyong was also very cautious about his son who had a high prestige in the army. Before this, it must have been difficult for this father and son to be kind to each other."

In fact, there is one thing Xiao Yan did not mention, which is that Li Keyong, who has been in seclusion for many years and has practiced the Supreme Saint Qiankun Gong to perfection, may be a little too arrogant.

In the original time and space, Yuan Tiangang invited several forces to the Cangbing Valley to discuss matters. Li Keyong dared to go up the mountain with only two men, which was almost the same as going to the meeting alone.

Since Li Keyong was so confident in the original time and space, he probably wouldn't have brought his son to help him in advance in Taiyuan. The turmoil in Taiyuan was indeed an unexpected event, just like Xiao Yan's sudden mutiny. Few people could have predicted it. Perhaps for the two hosts, Li Keyong and Yuan Tiangang, they were full of uncertainty.

The empress already had her own guesses, and she came to a conclusion immediately. After seeing Xiao Yan was just writing something on the desk, she knew she shouldn't continue to disturb him, so she got up and left.

"Yun Ji, don't leave yet."

However, Xiao Yan wrote the last line of words slowly, then reviewed it himself, handed a stack of not-so-thick papers to the empress, and stood up and said, "Please help me see if there are any omissions or any good suggestions. I'll go do something first."

"What is this?"

"Reform the Imperial Guards." Xiao Yan took two steps with his hands behind his back and said, "The Imperial Guards gather the best of the country in one place. Although they have maintained their combat effectiveness, as the saying goes, if you own the Imperial Guards, you own the court. There are too many hidden dangers and the system is too simple."

The empress did not read the clauses carefully, but opened her red lips and stared at Xiao Yan: "My husband wants to concentrate power?"

Xiao Yan smiled, then pondered for a moment and said, "There are pros and cons to having warriors in power, but the world will be unified sooner or later, and some deep-rooted impressions in the world must be gradually eliminated. Since we have decided to stop the war in the short term, we can use this opportunity to reform the system."

The empress had been in charge of Qi for many years, so she naturally knew what Xiao Yan was talking about. For example, the army was used to committing crimes, and the general today became the emperor tomorrow. Although the idea that the emperor is the one with the strongest army and horses has not been fully developed, there are indeed signs of it. Isn't the King of Qin, who is loyal to the court, the way he rose to power?
In this world, only warriors can protect peace in a region. But only warriors can plunge the world into dire straits.

Xiao Yan's intention of the reform was simple: the emperor would centralize power, while the generals would distribute power.

First, the status of the Privy Council was further established, making it responsible for the mobilization of troops, strategic deployment, and appointment and removal of officials, but it did not have direct power to command troops.

Secondly, the original imperial guard system was directly overturned, and three offices were established: the Palace Front Office, the Imperial Guard Cavalry Office, and the Imperial Guard Infantry Office. These offices were responsible for the daily training and command of the imperial guards and had the power to command troops but not the power to mobilize them.

This move was intended to create checks and balances within the imperial guards. The military seals came from the Privy Council, but they could not command the troops; the troops were under the jurisdiction of the three yamen, but they could not monopolize them. The three yamen also had their own balances, so no one could completely dominate.

Of course, whether it is mobilizing troops or commanding troops, it must be approved by the Tiance Mansion, that is, Xiao Yan himself. For example, in the matter of the city defense of the Eastern Capital Bianliang, the Privy Council will first draw up a defense map and give it to Xiao Yan. After Xiao Yan knows which city gate is guarded by which army, he can issue a tiger talisman to order the three yamen garrisons to deploy defenses, so as to avoid a yamen controlling all the city gates and directly entering the imperial city from the Nanxun Gate like Xiao Yan did and directly controlling the emperor.

The empress took it very seriously and there were more detailed institutional measures to come.

Xiao Yan's measures were actually copied from the later military system of three-division of military power, but there were also essential differences. It was not yet the end of the Five Dynasties when the emperors had changed several times. At the end of the Five Dynasties, it was really necessary to use measures such as strengthening the trunk and weakening the branches, suppressing the military with civil power, and excessively weakening the power of military generals and breaking up the military command chain to centralize power.

With Xiao Yan's sufficient prestige, he has the spare capacity to keep the "absolute separation" of soldiers and generals in a balanced situation of "limited combination"; the so-called strengthening the capable and weakening the weak, he can also gradually achieve a force deployment that gives equal importance to "garrisoning the capital" and "border defense", so as to avoid the collapse of efficiency due to excessive decentralization.

Things like regular coordinated exercises, regular garrisons, and the system of commander-in-chief responsibility in war zones are all draft policies. Xiao Yan will implement them one by one only after they are finally perfected.

While the empress was pondering whether this reform was feasible, Xiao Yan had already left the palace and took a carriage to the prison where no one was allowed to stay at night.

The underground palace of Xuanming Sect built by the Hades Emperor back then was the location of what outsiders called the Nether Prison, but it is obviously much brighter than during the Hades Emperor's time, with a lot less ghostly aura, and the ground is not so humid, and is kept as dry as possible.

However, since it is underground, some inherent facilities have been preserved to avoid waste, and the eerie atmosphere is still much stronger than the outside world. According to Gong Yangzuo, some people who cannot bear it just take a trip in here and leave everything behind without any torture.

"Your Highness" "Your Majesty..."

Two night guards walked in front holding lanterns, and Xiao Yan walked into the deepest part with his hands behind his back. There was almost no chance that someone would come to him to appeal for justice, because this prison was really big, and the criminals were imprisoned in different areas according to their importance.

Duan Chengtian and Shangguan Yunque came forward to greet them and saluted, and of course there was Wen Tao, who was forcibly recruited halfway through and his loyalty was still unclear, but he also saluted respectfully.

Xiao Yan nodded and looked up at Shangguan Yunque: "I heard that you were injured, and it seems that the injury is quite serious. Why are you still staying here?"

Shangguan Yunque's face was indeed a little pale, but after hearing this question, it became even paler. He laughed dryly and said, "I..."

"Forget it." Xiao Yan laughed again, but his tone did not reveal any joy or anger: "If you don't stay here, it would be unlike you, Shangguan Yunque."

Shangguan Yunque could tell what was being said, but he just chuckled. However, he didn't know if it had hurt any of his wounds, and he suddenly grimaced again.

"The other side has a lot of people, all of them are elite. After being injured, almost all of them committed suicide on the spot. Only this one was captured by us. And it must be an accident that we were able to capture her." Duan Chengtian followed behind Xiao Yan and said in a deep voice: "As Wen Tao said, there are indeed some eyes that have not been cleaned up inside Yebushou. Yesterday, when His Highness got married, the other side seized this opportunity and completely avoided all threats that could besiege them. Finally, they disappeared in the market. Among them, there should be someone who is extremely good at disguising himself."

"Tianyouxing Shiyao?" Xiao Yan asked without thinking.

“It should be this person.”

Xiao Yan remained silent. When he walked into a torture room, he saw a young girl sitting on a wooden stool. Her slender wrists were twisted by iron rings hanging from the beams. Water was dripping from the corners. Her eyes were blindfolded. She looked completely pale and bloodless, but she just bit her lower lip tightly and said nothing.

The black hair that had fallen from her bun was already soaked with cold sweat, sticking to her neck like an inky stream, and her legs that were subconsciously curled up showed that she must be very afraid of this unknown fear.

When the iron door hinges in the distance made a shrill groan, the girl suddenly tightened her shoulder blades, her knuckles turned blue from excessive force, and her wrists were already rubbed with bloody marks by the iron rings.

"Lu Linxuan."

As an indifferent voice sounded, the girl's eyes flashed for an instant. The not-too-bright firelight made her squint subconsciously, but she still quickly opened her eyes with all her strength to see the person in front of her clearly.

But when she saw the handsome and extremely majestic familiar face not far away, her face turned pale again subconsciously.

(End of this chapter)