The emperor would rather have a

Chapter 81 One word, kill!

Zhao Kuangyin hurried to the inner palace guard, which was somewhat unexpected for Li Yi.

But the first words the other party said were beyond his expectations: "Brother Yi, from now on, our two families have reconciled. Although my father still holds a grudge, I will do my best to mediate."

Zhao Kuangyin gently held Li Yi's wrist, his expression and words were full of sincerity, and no one who saw it would think that he was insincere.

If even this is all an act... then the fact that Zhao Da's acting skills didn't win an Oscar only shows that the award has no value.

"What are you talking about, Brother Zhao?"

Regardless of whether Zhao Da was acting or not, Li Yi's acting skills were indeed not bad. He looked shocked and seemed to really not understand what the other party meant.

"There's never been any grudge between you and me, so how can we resolve it?"

Hearing Li Yi's question, it was Zhao Kuangyin's turn to not know how to answer, but he reacted quickly and said:
"Brother Yi is right. There is no grudge between you and me. It's just some misunderstandings that happened by chance. How can it affect our brotherhood?"

"It's all just my own random thoughts. I'm judging others by my own standards. I hope Brother Yi will forgive me."

"Brother Zhao, you are too kind."

Li Yi shook his head and sighed, "There are no insurmountable contradictions in the world, and I have never considered Brother Zhao an enemy. There are some things that no one wants to happen, and in the end, it's just fate."

What he said was three-quarters true and seven-quarters false, but the emotion he expressed was genuine.

It has been almost half a year since the incident with the Zhao family.

Looking back now, Li Yi still feels it is a little unreal.

Not only did he kill Zhao Da's cousin with one punch, but he also took the life of Zhao Da's aunt.

It always feels like God is deliberately forcing him to step out of his comfort zone.

It seemed to be telling Li Yi: The opportunity to travel through time is not for you to lie down, so get up quickly and start a career.

However, the results also prove that if people don’t try hard, they will never know how great their potential is.

Zhao Kuangyin immediately responded, "To be honest, Brother Yi, my father is the only one who talks about my aunt and cousin the most. My mother often consoles him, saying that fate is unpredictable and that you are not to blame, Brother Yi."

"As for the rest of the family, they are all like me, and we have never had any grudges against each other."

Zhao Kuangyin said this sincerely, showing Li Yi the attitude of his family. The meaning of his words was also very clear, that is, except for his father Zhao Hongyin, no one else in the Zhao family had ever held a grudge about this matter.

The truth of this is unknown, but Zhao Da acted very frankly and seemed to want to completely eliminate the grudge between the two.

Li Yi patted the back of Zhao Kuangyin's hand and said, "I know that Brother Zhao is a man of broad mind, and how could I, Li Yi, be petty?"

"I treat Brother Zhao with sincerity. This time, His Majesty has ordered me to assist in the reorganization of the Imperial Guards. I have already recommended Brother Zhao to Envoy Wei Shu to help me. I hope Brother Zhao will not refuse."

Perhaps it was because of a huge change in his mentality that when facing Zhao Kuangyin now, Li Yi acted with ease and spoke a lot of polite words.

But although the words sound nice, he actually intends to let Zhao Dalai take the blame.

Hearing Li Yi mention the serious matter, Zhao Kuangyin said solemnly: "Brother, this is exactly why I came here. As soon as the letter of appointment from the Privy Council came into my hands, I immediately rushed here to discuss it with Brother Yi."

"If there's anything I can do for you, Brother Yi, just give me your orders. I won't say a word!"

I see……

I didn't expect the Privy Council to act so quickly. I just went to recommend Zhao Kuangyin in the morning, and the appointment letter was in their hands in the afternoon.

It seems that the emperor really attaches great importance to the rectification of the imperial guards and is anxious to see results. The Privy Council certainly dares not delay.

Thinking of this, Li Yi couldn't help but understand. Zhao Kuangyin came to him in a hurry. Perhaps it was secondary to want to resolve the conflict between the two of them. The main reason was to sound out his opinion.

Although he recommended the other party to help, Zhao Da must be guessing his thoughts.

"Brother Zhao, let's go inside and discuss this in detail."

Li Yi directly invited Zhao Da into the inner palace guards' barracks. After the two sat down, Zhao Kuangyin asked, "Where are you going to start with the reorganization of the imperial guards?"

Li Yi had already considered this question, but he did not answer it directly. Instead, he asked, "Brother Zhao, what do you think about this?"

Zhao Kuangyin thought for a moment and then said, "If we want to reorganize the imperial guards, there are only three aspects: personnel, food and wages, and organization."

"Regarding personnel and organization, Brother Yi'er's proposals at the court meeting are already very comprehensive. They mainly focus on eliminating the old and weak and selecting the best, as well as reorganizing the various divisions of the Imperial Guards. He also needs to strengthen the Palace Guards to form a new Palace Guard Division."

"As for food and wages, Brother Yi plans to divide the soldiers into three levels: upper, middle, and lower. Then, they will be given salary subsidies based on their respective ranks. This is not a problem at all."

"If we just want to reset the rations, we must first solve a difficult problem."

At this point, Zhao Kuangyin looked at Li Yi and said seriously, "I think Brother Yi also knows that except for some elite troops, the rest of the Imperial Guards are understaffed."

"A commander is supposed to command twenty teams, totaling five hundred men. But there are usually a few teams short of personnel, and sometimes even less than half the number."

"This resulted in an uncertain number of personnel in each division of the Imperial Guard, making it difficult to determine the exact number of personnel. As a result, some generals took advantage of this opportunity to collect salaries without doing anything."

"And everyone from the captain to the lieutenant colonel will get some benefits. The total number of people in this group will definitely not be small."

"If you want to reorganize the various units, you must first find out the current number of personnel. Doing so will definitely offend these officers who are drawing salaries without doing anything."

"They will definitely try to trip us up secretly, or even cause some trouble."

Listening to Zhao Kuangyin's talk, Li Yi nodded slightly. He was worthy of being the future Emperor Taizu of Song. He was indeed quite capable and pointed out the crux of the problem in just a few words.

It also seems that Zhao Kuangyin had carefully studied Li Yi's plan to reorganize the imperial guards in private.

As for the issue of drawing a salary without working that the other party mentioned.

This situation has been common throughout the dynasties, especially since the middle and late Tang Dynasty when the world was in chaos and years of war caused great losses in the army.

However, it is difficult to replenish new troops in a timely manner.

In many cases, measures similar to downsizing are taken, that is, the remaining personnel of several different troops are merged together to form a new organization.

However, in order to maintain the size of the army, military corps are usually not easily disbanded, but retained pending replenishment of troops.

Just like the Inner Palace Guards under Li Yi, they were short of nearly half of their men after returning from the expedition, and are currently waiting for new personnel to come in.

However, the Inner Palace Guards are the elite troops in the palace army, so they naturally enjoy priority and the personnel establishment can be completed quickly.

As for those second-rate or miscellaneous troops, once they are short of personnel, it is really not easy to replenish them in a short period of time.

Over time, many troops are not fully staffed.

This naturally gave the generals who were drawing salaries without working the job an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

"Brother Zhao and I agree." Li Yi nodded. "Selecting the best and eliminating the old and weak is the most important thing. Naturally, we should start from this aspect."

Zhao Kuangyin couldn't help but ask, "How is Brother Yi going to deal with those generals who are drawing salaries without doing anything?"

"Those who are capable will stay. Past offenses will be forgiven and they will not be allowed to repeat the offense. Those who are incompetent will naturally be dismissed from the Imperial Guard."

"But if anyone wants to cause trouble, there's only one word - kill!"

As he spoke, a cold look flashed across Li Yi's face.

Zhao Kuangyin remained silent after hearing this, but there was something strange in the look he gave Li Yi.

At this time, Li Yi said again: "Brother Zhao, I will need your help in checking the personnel of each department. After a few days, the school team will be fully staffed, and I will give you half of the manpower."

"In addition to the Palace Guards and the Imperial Guards, all the troops of the six armies must also be investigated."

Zhao Kuangyin clasped his fists and said, "I will definitely live up to Brother Yi'er's trust!"

(End of this chapter)