Things were exactly as Li Jiangyao suspected. Because of Cheng Xi's death, Li Bing once again started to think about the army.
Since ancient times, as the king of a country, the emperor has been most worried about three things: chaos in the government by civil servants, chaos in the country by generals, and chaos in the royal family.
The reason why kings are called lonely is because they are really lonely.
In the face of the huge temptation of power, whether they are civil servants, military officers, or relatives of the emperor, they may betray their king at any time and embark on the road of rebellion. The most terrifying and difficult to deal with among them is the group of generals who control the army.
Or rather, the military.
If the military can be firmly controlled by the emperor, it will basically allow the country to usher in a relatively stable and peaceful period, and the politics, economy, culture, and people's livelihood will be fully developed.
On the contrary, if the military disobeys the emperor's jurisdiction, or violates the emperor's authority, the political situation will be in turmoil. Nothing can be done, and even the emperor himself will be in danger.
Therefore, the emperor's uneasiness about the army has nothing to do with his character, but is something deeply engraved in his bones.
If you are an emperor, you will think about things in the same way.
Of course, different emperors have different ways of handling relations with the military because of their different ambitions, abilities, and wisdom. Many wise kings with great talents and strategies can accurately grasp the psychology of military generals, select talents and use them with full trust, and finally achieve a harmonious situation between the king and his ministers.
It's a pity that Li Bing is not such an emperor.
Having lost his father at a young age, it can be said that he grew up in fear and worry. Whether a holy religious covenant can protect his right to inherit the throne, or even his life, has always been a question with no real answer.
Before the age of twenty, no one could answer Li Bing; after the age of twenty, the situation became more complicated.
Because of this, Li Bing made a huge mistake in his last few years as the crown prince of Shengtang. He pinned all his hopes on the military at the time, but was almost tricked to death by the military. Not only he was tricked to death, but the entire dynasty was also tricked to death.
In Li Bing's mind, all generals in charge of military power are untrustworthy.
Xie Guang cannot be trusted, Bao Yuchun cannot be trusted, and even He Jingming, Xu Lie, and Yang Xingtai cannot be trusted. The only one he can trust is himself. The army is most at ease only if it is in his own hands.
Unfortunately, fate has its way with people. The long-term existence of Turks and rebels would not give Li Bing the opportunity to personally control the army. On the contrary, generals like Li Jiangyao and Ma Hongjie, who were good at fighting, had more and more troops in their hands and became stronger and stronger due to the needs of the war.
On the one hand, Li Bing had to rely on his generals to destroy the enemy, maintain the Holy Tang Dynasty, and defend his sacred imperial power; on the other hand, Li Bing was worried that Li Jiangyao and the others would eventually threaten his own status as their military power became increasingly consolidated.
He couldn't tell anyone about this extremely contradictory mood, and he didn't dare to tell anyone.
Until Cheng Xi was suddenly assassinated.
To be honest, at Murong Xue's bloody wedding, the Poison Soldier Assassin killed dozens of royal family members and important ministers in one go, but none of them made Li Bing feel as nervous and uneasy as Cheng Xi's death now.
The Blood Wedding is the crazy revenge of the Turkic remnants and an indiscriminate massacre.
Cheng Xi, on the other hand, targeted the senior generals of the Forbidden Army with a targeted assassination.
There is an essential difference between the two.
The conspiracy theory with ulterior motives soon spread throughout the court and reached Li Bing's ears. Suddenly, the talk of military instability once again became the focus of heated discussion.
Under this circumstance, a joint memorial from Shangshu Zuopushe and the Grand Governor reminded the suspicious emperor that it was time to make a new military personnel layout.
Wei Zixuan pointed out that the counter-insurgency war is now entering the stage of confrontation between the north and the south. Both the army and the navy have passed the relatively tense period before. The frontline structure is basically stable, and the court's preparations for war are progressing smoothly. He suggested taking this opportunity to select some traditional aristocratic children who were loyal to the emperor and add them to various legions to serve as mid- to high-level commanders in order to stabilize the army.
Yin Chengyi emphasized that Cheng Xi was assassinated because some people obviously did not want to see the queen's brother and a member of the Zhenguo government holding important military positions. This just illustrates the necessity of the leftist proposal: the newly rising power of the military Only those who try to monopolize military power will worry about the return of traditional aristocrats to the military.
Li Bing was quite tempted by what the two of them said.
Although in many aspects, Li Bing was wary of Wei Zixuan and Yin Chengyi. But he would rather see disputes and checks and balances between court ministers and military generals. Only in this way can he, as an emperor, sit securely.
Wei Zixuan's idea was obviously to weaken the power of the generals who commanded the army, so it was still selfish. However, in Li Bing's view, this was exactly the result he wanted.
Soon, a new round of military adjustments was brewing.
Within ten months, more than a hundred young nobles from the princes and princes in the imperial capital were recruited by the emperor and sent to the frontline legions in batches to serve as captains, army officers, Sima, school captains, chief registrars and other positions.
Among them, it even includes the Zhenjiang Army.
These noble officers knew very well that they represented the emperor Li Bing, and their purpose in going to each legion was to monitor the movements of the army and gradually penetrate and control the military power of the legion to which they belonged.
In particular, the three legions of Qinglong, Zhuque, and Xuanwu have become the main targets of the noble young officers.
At the same time, the investigation into the murder of Cheng Xi also began. The Ministry of Punishment is in the open, and the Beiya is in the dark. Both sides are working together. However, the professional killers of the Intelligence Department naturally would not leave any clues to others. The Criminal Department searched and searched, but they still couldn't figure it out.
Nilinsi is different.
Although they did not find key evidence, various signs showed that the person who killed Cheng Xi came from the Intelligence Department of the Zhenjiang Army.
As a result, a counterattack against the Imperial City Branch of the Intelligence Department was immediately launched.
Under the instruction of Queen Cheng Wen and Wei Zixuan, and with the tacit approval of Emperor Li Bing, Tian Mu commanded his men to begin a large-scale suppression of Intelligence Department spies in the imperial capital. Although Yudra sent people to warn the Imperial City branch, it was still a step too late.
Relying on its previous cooperation with the Intelligence Department, the Nilin Division quickly destroyed five intelligence strongholds in the Imperial City branch, and a total of eighty-three spies were secretly arrested.
The relationship between the imperial court and the Zhenjiang Army was almost on the verge of breakdown.
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Faced with the crisis, Li Jiangyao did not panic. Since everything is expected, there is nothing to be anxious about.
He instructed Yuduoluo to put the Imperial City branch into hibernation and stop conducting intelligence work in the short term to temporarily avoid the imperial court. At the same time, Xu Youchang's plan to drive away those noble officers was prevented, and instead they were properly assigned to positions and treated with honesty.
According to Li Jiangyao, as long as they focus on fighting the rebels, they are brothers Paoze, and there is no need to distinguish their origins.
Of course, having a correct mentality does not mean being blindly gullible.
Li Jiangyao secretly ordered Yuduoluo to conduct a detailed investigation of the six noble officers who came to report. Among them, one person attracted the attention of the Intelligence Division.
Fengyang Marquis, Yan Qiuping.
Compared with the arrogance and self-righteousness of the other five people, although Fengyang Marquis is young, he is humble and polite, and he also respects his colleagues in the Xinjiang Army. Especially after the headquarters announced the job arrangements, Yan Qiuping had no complaints even if he was assigned to the front-line unit.
Logically speaking, it is a good thing that the people sent by the imperial court know the rules so well. However, during the investigation, the Intelligence Department discovered that Fengyang Marquis Mansion had had an unusual interaction with a person.
The man's name was Shi Xun, and he had been a martial arts instructor at the Marquis Mansion. Shi Xun's earlier identity was an officer in Beiya.
Beiya has always been a royal private army. It is really suspicious why the officers there would go to Fengyang Marquis Mansion to serve as instructors.
In order to find out the situation, Yuduoluo made a special trip to Dashu Mountain, ten miles north of Luzhou City, and asked Shen Lie, who was recovering from his injuries there, for advice.
Since Shen Lie was rescued from the Imperial Capital by the Intelligence Department, he has been staying in Dashu Mountain to recuperate. The scenery here is beautiful, the climate is pleasant, and it is not far from the base camp of the Zhenjiang Army. Both safety and medical conditions are very secure. More than half a year has passed, and his injuries have recovered to some extent.
Hearing Yuduoluo say that he had something to ask, Shen Lie seemed very happy and quickly asked the other party to speak freely. But when he heard Yuduoluo mention the name Shi Xun, he immediately frowned.
"Shi Xun? This..." Shen Lie said in a deep voice: "Are you sure he was a tutor at Fengyang Marquis Mansion?"
Yuduoluo nodded: "Yes, sure. We asked the officers selected by the six imperial courts to fill in their resumes carefully. Among them, Yan Qiuping wrote three masters, including Shi Xun. Let's compare I checked the archives and found that Shi Xun had also appeared in Beiya's roster, so I became suspicious. What? Mr. Shen, is there indeed something wrong with this Shi Xun?"
Shen Lie smiled bitterly and shook his head: "Let's not talk about whether there are any problems. First of all, Shi Xun is a fictional person."
"Fictional? What does this mean?" Yudala was very curious.
Shen Lie said: "Shi Xun is a pseudonym, and it was also the pseudonym I used for a while when I was young."
Hearing this, Yudala couldn't help but said in surprise: "You mean, someone used your fake name?"
"That should be it." Shen Lie smiled faintly: "Besides, there are only two people who know my pseudonym. One is my master Qin Zhu, and the other is Lao Jianhua."
Yuduoluo's eyes lit up: "So, Yan Qiuping's martial arts instructor was Lao Jianhua? No, the time here doesn't match up! When Yan Qiuping learned martial arts, Lao Jianhua should have been in Turkic and Western countries. Jiang evaded pursuit."
Shen Lie nodded: "Maybe it's someone related to Lao Jianhua, or maybe it's his subordinate who stayed in Shengtang. It's possible."
Yuduoluo said solemnly: "If this is the case, then Yan Qiuping must also have a problem!"
