At this time, there were no extreme remarks among the people. Most people believed that what your majesty did was reasonable and benevolent, so the people around him agreed with his majesty.
Seeing that He Zong was speechless for a while, Li Dan hurriedly stepped forward and bowed his head:
"Your Majesty! I believe that although there are still many doubts about this matter, in any case, the accidental killing of civilians has become a foregone conclusion.
I also hope that your Majesty will deal with the incident of manslaughter of civilians first, so as to prevent the matter from spreading among the people and affecting the reputation of the imperial court. "
When Li Shimin heard this, he felt angry. The Yizhou gentry were really difficult to deal with. Do they think that for the sake of the reputation of the imperial court, I dare not go on a killing spree in public?
Just when Li Shimin was about to fall out, Fei Yi took a few steps forward, bowed his head and said:
"Your Majesty, the late emperor has repeatedly stated that he put the people first. Since it was a manslaughter of civilians, whether this matter should be pursued depends mainly on public opinion.
If most people think that there is no need to pursue the case, then Your Majesty can set a date by which time the people behind the scenes today will be brought to justice.
If public opinion points to the punishment of those who accidentally killed civilians, it would not be a bad idea for Your Majesty to take action at that time. "
When Li Shimin saw Fei Yi coming out to rescue him, he felt reassured. After all, although Fei Yi was from the Dongzhou sect, he was also closely related to the Jingzhou and Yizhou sects.
It can be said that Fei Yi has a voice among almost all factions in Shu. Since Fei Yi could stand up and suggest that public opinion should prevail, he must be well prepared on this matter.
"Wen Wei's words are very reasonable. I wonder what the rest of the world will do?"
All the surrounding ministers agreed with His Majesty, but the ministers in Yizhou were whispering to each other and no one expressed their opinions.
Li Shimin was not in a hurry. Based on the previous performance of the people of Chengdu, there was a high probability that no one would be held accountable for manslaughter. If the Yizhou princes insist on soliciting public opinion, they may not be "defeated in shame".
Thinking of this, Li Shimin just asked Huo Ge and others to treat Zhang Yan's wounds.
As for the Yizhou princes, they probably did not want to lose their dignity in public, and they would definitely not pursue the case of manslaughter again.
Sure enough, after some discussion, Du Qiong came out and said:
"Since manslaughter is difficult to pursue, please set a time limit for your Majesty to find out the real culprit behind the scenes, bring him to justice, and put an end to this matter."
Li Shimin thought of the assassins in the court in the past, and couldn't help laughing at himself:
"Feng shui is turning, this time it's the princes of Yizhou who are forcing me to set a deadline for reply..."
Turning to face the people in the audience, he solemnly said:
"No matter who is behind what happened today, I will give everyone an answer before the end of the year!"
After saying this, without waiting for the reaction of the Yizhou princes, Li Shimin got on his horse and entered the city towards the palace under the escort of Huo Ge, Zhang Yan and others.
At this point, the rumors among Chengdu people about His Majesty being a "tyrannical king" have completely lost their credibility.
Folks even began to spread that His Majesty was a "benevolent and virtuous king" like the late emperor.
Back in the palace, Li Shimin led Huo Ge, Huang Hao, and Zhang Yan to the "Gold and Silver Palace" where the prince used to live.
Therefore, this building is the former palace of the King of Shu. It is located in a remote corner of the palace and is no longer inhabited. Only two eunuchs clean and maintain it every day.
"Huang Hao, the Golden and Silver Palace you recommend is very suitable to my liking. This is the perfect place to serve as the headquarters of Baiqisi."
Huang Hao looked proud, and while thanking His Majesty for his approval, he introduced the layout of the Gold and Silver Palace to His Majesty.
"Your Majesty, please see that the Gold and Silver Palace is divided into the main hall in the middle, a study on the left, and a wing on the right.
The main hall is divided into two parts. The front hall is for receiving guests and dining, and the back hall is connected with several bedrooms for the residence of the prince and the princess.
The main hall, study room, and side rooms are connected to each other on the left and right, and are all connected by long corridors. "
Speaking of this, Huang Hao led His Majesty to the back hall of the main hall and groped around on a wall.
There was a "click" sound, as if something had been broken open.
"Your Majesty, look here!"
Huang Hao pointed to the bottom of the wall and said:
"Here is a secret door that leads to His Highness Jinyin's secret room. There is also a passage in the secret room that leads directly to the mountain behind the palace."
As Huang Hao introduced, he opened the secret door on the floor.
When Li Shimin and others saw the secret door, they were all surprised. They didn't expect the late emperor to be so careful.
All aspects of the successor are really carefully arranged.
After Li Shimin sighed with emotion, he said to Huang Hao:
"Go and invite Jiang Wan, Fei Yi, Chen Zhong and all the people on my list. Only the four of us know about the secret door here for the time being, so don't spread the word about it yet. I will decide who can be told in the future."
Huang Hao accepted the order, hid the list given by His Majesty in his arms, and walked out of the palace.
Not long after, Huang Hao led a group of people towards the main hall of the Gold and Silver Palace.
Li Shimin had already arranged for Huo Ge and Zhang Yan to be ready and waited for everyone in the front hall of the main hall.
When everyone saw His Majesty waiting in the palace, they all quickened their pace. When they reached the palace gate, they stopped and bowed their heads.
Li Shimin hurriedly helped everyone, then entered the front hall and sat on the chief floor.
After Jiang Wan and others entered and sat down, Li Shimin said:
"Recently, there have been frequent assassins and rumors, including today's riots. I feel really uneasy, so I thought of strengthening the palace's forbidden army.
However, I am worried that the Yizhou public security officials will be interfering with the Forbidden Army, and I dare not entrust all matters to the Imperial Army.
Therefore, I want to set up another division to be responsible for guarding me and other members of the royal family, and the soldiers used will not be selected from Yizhou.
The government office was located in this gold and silver palace, integrated with the original imperial army. What do you think about this? "
After hearing what His Majesty said, everyone suddenly realized that no wonder His Majesty wanted to summon us here. It turns out that the government office was to be set up here.
Jiang Wan looked at the others around him and found that everyone was looking at him, waiting for him to report back to His Majesty on behalf of everyone.
So Jiang Wan smiled and shook his head, stood up and bowed his head and said:
"The safety of your majesty's dragon body is the most important aspect of all national affairs. As long as your majesty is willing, not to mention setting up a new department, even setting up a hundred new departments is not a bad idea.
Although everything is under the control of His Majesty, His Majesty is not willing to use soldiers from Yizhou, so where do these guards come from? "
Everyone listened to Jiang Wan's words and nodded in agreement.
Li Shimin smiled and asked, "Apart from this, is there anything else you don't understand?"
Everyone thought that His Majesty's increase in imperial guards was of little importance except for the issue of troop sources and leadership selection. So they all said "nothing to ask".
Seeing that no one had any objections, Li Shimin took out the plan he had drafted before and said seriously:
"Based on the situation in Sichuan and the recent many events inside and outside the court, I decided to set up a personal army directly under me, named 'Hundred Cavalry Division'.
In addition, there are two "guards" under the Baiqi Division, one is the "Flying Cavalry Guard" who specializes in guarding the forbidden area; the other is the "Honglu Guard" who specializes in foreign affairs, either lurking in other countries or preventing infiltration from other countries.
There is also a "secret guard" who is known only to those present today. I want to use the secret guard to monitor all officials and do secret things. "
With that said, Li Shimin looked at Jiang Wan.
"Gong Yan, after my father-in-law, you will be the head of the civil service in the imperial court. I want you to take charge of the Baiqi Division as the deputy commander."
Jiang Wan first thanked him, then asked why:
"Your Majesty, although I am willing to share your worries, there are so many things going on in the court that I am afraid it will be difficult for me to take care of both."
Li Shimin had already made arrangements in his mind, so he smiled and said:
"Don't disturb me, sir. Even if you are the leader from afar, you should still focus on all affairs in the court. I will promote Shao Xian as the deputy commander of the Baiqi Division. You two will be on the left and the right. The commander-in-chief of the 'one division and three guards' will only receive I am in control.
In addition, Shao Xian will mainly handle the affairs of Baiqisi. Gongyan only needs to bear the title of deputy commander of Baiqisi in the court to build up my momentum. "
Then, Li Shimin selected the principal and deputy captains of the "Three Guards" one by one:
Chen Zhong and Mi Wei are the principal and deputy captains of the "Flying Cavalry Guard". Chen Zhong is in charge, and Mi Wei is also considered a remote leader and is still in charge of the Huben Forbidden Army.
Fei Yi and Dong Yun were the principal and deputy captains of the "Honglu Guards", and Deng Zhi was the chief secretary, specializing in training foreign affairs talents.
Zhang Shao and Huang Hao were the principal and deputy captains of the "secret guards". Zhang Shao was in charge of assassinations, arrests and other military affairs, and Huang Hao was in charge of supervision, interrogation and other civil affairs.
After everything was arranged, Li Shimin said maliciously:
"Now that you have all taken up positions in the Hundred Cavalry Division, you just have generals, but not soldiers. It just so happens that Gong Yan just mentioned the issue of troop sources. I still need to ask you for your full help in this matter."
Listening to His Majesty's words, everyone except Huo Ge, Huang Hao, and Zhang Yan were puzzled as to where Your Majesty wanted to recruit usable soldiers.
Seeing everyone's confusion, Li Shimin said mysteriously:
"I just ask you, if I need you to give me some strength, are you willing?"
After hearing this, everyone became even more puzzled. Your Majesty doesn't want us to sneak into the territories of Wei and Wu to recruit troops, right?
Although they were confused, everyone still expressed their willingness to help His Majesty.
Li Shimin saw that everyone could no longer hold back, so he stopped selling the lawsuit and said seriously:
"I would like to recruit 100 people from the 300 troops given by the late emperor to be incorporated into the Baiqi Division. Then I would like to borrow some troops and servants from you to enrich the Baiqi Division. Of course, in the future, I will also carefully select and train reserve talents. The soldiers are only for temporary emergency use."
After hearing this, everyone suddenly realized that His Majesty had already thought about the issue of Baiqi Division's troop sources. Indeed, the subordinates and servants of trusted ministers are always more reliable than the local soldiers recruited from the Yizhou gentry.
"Then I wonder how many servants and servants your Majesty would like to borrow?"
Li Shimin stretched out five fingers and said:
"Everyone present, except Huang Hao and Zhang Yan, can borrow 50 of my songs."
After everyone heard this, they felt that the number of people His Majesty wanted was not too large, so everyone bowed down to accept the order.
Later, Li Shimin asked Dong Yun to draft an imperial edict, omitting the "secret guards" and only referring to the other two guards.
After everything was prepared, he only had to wait for the borrowed troops and servants to be in place, and then the imperial edict was read out at the court meeting to formally establish the Baiqi Division.
