The revitalization of the Tang Dynasty began with the Ganlu Incident.

"To prevent Li Xun from seeing me?"

Inside the Zichen Palace, looking at Liu Hongyi, who stood respectfully at his side, Li Ang couldn't help but reveal a hint of amusement in his eyes.

"How does Xue Jiling plan to prevent Li Xun from seeing me?"

It's important to know that during the Tang Dynasty, people had to attend court every day.

Therefore, it is extremely difficult to separate the inside from the outside, especially to prevent a meeting between a prime minister and the emperor.

Liu Hongyi said, "Reporting to everyone, Lieutenant Xue's idea is to have the Shence Army strengthen the defenses inside the palace and send people to guard outside the palace gates. If Minister Li comes to see us alone, we should use the excuse that everyone is unwell to keep him out of the palace."

It was certainly impossible to completely prevent Li Xun from meeting with the emperor.

However, on the other hand, there is no need to completely block it.

There were too many things Li Xun did that couldn't be made public, so even if he wanted to defend himself, he could only do so in private when he met with the emperor.

Therefore, it would be enough to simply prevent Li Xun from having a private audience.

Li Ang nodded, then looked at Liu Hongyi and asked.

"Since you've already made your decision, why are you asking me?"

Liu Hongyi slightly raised his eyes, cupped his hands and said, "Everyone is wise. Li Xun is the prime minister of the court. It is his duty to hold secret meetings and report to the emperor. We old servants are just palace attendants. How can we arbitrarily obstruct him? We believe that such an important matter should be decided by everyone. That is why we have come to report."

This time, Li Ang did not speak immediately, but carefully examined Liu Hongyi before speaking.

"Does Xue Jiling know you're doing this?"

"Replying to everyone, this old servant only knows how to be loyal to you all. If you want Lieutenant Xue to know, this old servant will go and tell Lieutenant Xue."

Liu Hongyi's attitude was extremely respectful, as if he were not a powerful Shence Lieutenant, but just an ordinary old servant.

Li Ang smiled but didn't answer him. Instead, he tapped on the table, seemingly deep in thought.

After a moment, he spoke.

"Regarding the candidates for the Privy Councilor and the Commissioner of Xuanhui, I have reviewed all the people you recommended. Yang Qinyi recommended Liu Xingshen, the Inner Attendant, who is very good. I intend to let him take charge of the Xuanhui Academy."

"As for the people you and Xue Jiling recommended, the one I favor most is Song Shukang, the Left Street Merit Commissioner. I intend to appoint him to head the Privy Council. What do you think?"

Liu Hongyi's body stiffened slightly.

Because neither of these two people were recommended by him.

Among them, Liu Xingshen was Yang Qinyi's ally, while Song Shukang was promoted by Xue Jiling.

A slight dissatisfaction arose in his heart, but Liu Hongyi quickly suppressed it and bowed.

"Both the Privy Councilor and the Commissioner of the Imperial Secretariat are important positions in the inner palace. Their selection and appointment should be based on the Emperor's will. This old servant dares not say more."

This expression naturally caught Li Ang's eye.

Seeing that the time was almost right, he didn't want to test the waters too much, so he quickly said...

"The case of Zheng Zhu is of great importance. It is unlikely that the Inner Palace Secretariat alone can be enough to convince the public. Therefore, I intend to set up a special agency to handle major cases involving important officials of the court."

"This agency is different from the Inner Palace Secretariat. It specializes in investigation and espionage, and reports the information it obtains and the results of interrogations directly to me."

"After you return, set aside a piece of land in the East Inner Garden to build an office and a small prison to detain prisoners. As for manpower, first allocate five hundred men from the Shence Army to be at your disposal."

"As for the head eunuch of this institution, I remember you have a young man named Ximen Jixuan under your command. He is efficient and capable, so let him take the position."

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Hongyi was stunned for a moment, and then he was overjoyed.

It should be noted that although the positions of Privy Councilor and Commissioner of the Imperial Guard are the most powerful below the Shence Commander, their functions do not involve the Imperial Guard.

The Privy Councilor was in charge of communication between the government and the people, and his influence was primarily felt in court politics.

The Xuanhui Envoy was responsible for managing palace affairs and could be considered a grand steward of the inner palace. His power was not insignificant, but it still fell under the category of general affairs and could not be considered a true powerful eunuch.

But the head of this newly established institution, the eunuch, was quite different.

On the surface, it was just a matter of transferring 500 people from the Shence Army to be responsible for investigation, espionage, and interrogation of cases by imperial decree; they didn't have much power.

But in reality, the key to all of this lies in those four words: "investigation and spying, interrogation by imperial decree."

Since its purpose is to investigate and spy, it means that this agency is not targeting the inner palace, but specifically the outer court.

In other words, its chief eunuch could legitimately extend his power beyond the palace.

It should be noted that neither the current Shence Lieutenant nor the Privy Councilor are, in name, qualified to interfere in matters outside the palace.

Although in practice, these two individuals, due to their considerable power, were able to influence state affairs through other means, strictly speaking, none of these methods were legal.

Take Liu Hongyi's arrest of Zheng Zhu as an example. One of the reasons he chose to act secretly was that it was against the rules.

The Shence Army was responsible for the defense of the imperial city and theoretically had no power to try cases or arrest people. If this matter were to reach the outer court, it would more or less be subject to impeachment and criticism.

However, if this new institution can be established, this problem will not exist.

More importantly, His Majesty just said that this new agency is directly responsible to the Emperor and will be tasked with investigating important cases.

This means that the head eunuch of the new institution would not have to serve the emperor at all times, but could still see the emperor at any time.

The former ensures freedom of action, while the latter guarantees favor with the emperor, making it a win-win situation.

These are just the things we can see right now.

Having spent many years in the palace, Liu Hongyi deeply understood a principle: a new official position or institution is often established when it has the least power.

Although this was only the first time he had heard of it, Liu Hongyi keenly sensed that the influence of this so-called new institution in the court and among the people would probably not be less than that of the existing four nobles in the palace.

The fact that the emperor chose to appoint the head eunuch of such a new institution demonstrates the emperor's trust in him.

Immediately, Liu Hongyi knelt down and bowed, saying, "This old servant, on behalf of Ximen Jixuan, kowtows to thank everyone for their kindness."

Seeing this, Li Ang also smiled.

The eunuchs in the late Tang Dynasty posed a great threat to imperial power, so he naturally could not let them go unchecked.

However, simply killing people in the same brutal way as the original owner wouldn't solve the problem at all. So, after much deliberation, he decided to learn from history.

If the eunuchs' power is too strong, then divide and rule them. With mutual checks and balances, they can be gradually weakened and allowed to return to their rightful place.

So, let's start with this new organization.

"Since it is a new institution, the official positions will naturally be different from those in the palace today. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong, the Palace Secretariat was renamed the Central Imperial Household Department, which was in charge of all internal and external affairs. Its head eunuch was called the Central Imperial Eunuch."

"Now I will follow this example. This new agency will be located in the Eastern Inner Garden and will be called the Eastern Depot. Its head eunuch will be responsible for overseeing important cases in the court and will be called..."

"The head eunuch of the Eastern Depot!"