The film and television world begins with the battle for the throne in Kowloon

Chapter 738: Hundred Cavalry Division

After finishing his court affairs that afternoon, Li Shimin stretched himself and saw the sun setting. It was almost time for the palace gates to close, and he thought that no ministers would come at this time, so he asked Wang De to prepare something for him to fill his stomach.

Then he sent away the servants in the hall and called Ma Xuanliang.

"Ma Xuanliang, how is the investigation going?"

Ma Xuanliang knew that the emperor was asking about something he had ordered a few days ago, so he said, "After the emperor gave the order, I sent someone to watch outside the inn, and later found a man in men's clothes staggering on his horse and leaving."

"Of course, although she was wearing men's clothing, it was easy to tell from her face, figure and posture that she was a woman."

"The prince had hosted this person at Taihe Tower the previous afternoon, and he allegedly had sex with her in a guest room at the back after getting drunk. Later, the prince went to the palace to meet the emperor, and Wang Xuance, an official of the Eastern Palace and the prince's personal attendant, carefully escorted him out of the north gate, and he went north alone."

"According to the investigations of my people these days, this person has appeared in the West Market many times. He is the owner of the Huren Horse Shop. He always dresses in men's clothing. He is very capable and powerful. He can often get a large number of high-quality horses under the strict ban of the Turks and sell them in the Central Plains."

"This person is very likely related to the leader of a large Turkic tribe. I would like to ask the emperor if we can arrest the people on the Hu Renmahao and interrogate them. We will definitely be able to find out the identity of this person."

Li Shimin was stunned when he heard this, and then he thought of what the prince said about winning over Tuli and others to divide and disintegrate the Turks.

I wondered, could this person be related to Tuli or Biheli?
Although Li Shimin was somewhat unhappy about the prince's hasty relationship with a Hu woman, he sighed when he thought of the current situation and the military pressure from the north.

Forget it. If the Turks can really be divided, it won’t be a big problem even if the prince marries a Hu princess.

It's already this time, let alone the prince, even I can take action myself.

When he thought of this, Li Shimin recalled the day when the prince met the emperor with an impassioned and heroic expression and said that he had made a huge sacrifice. He felt a little amused and helpless. It was really a big sacrifice that he could not make.

Shaking his head, Li Shimin felt it was quite tricky. If it was something else, it would be fine, but this kind of matter involving the relationship between young children, it would be difficult for him to help. If he intervened casually, he was afraid that he would disrupt the prince's plans and make things worse.

However, it will be enough to make sure that the prince is not doing anything wrong.

Finally, Li Shimin thought for a while and waved his hand: "Forget it, you can stop here and don't alarm them. I have my own plans."

"By the way, how is the investigation into the murderer of the Shujun Prince's assassination going?"

Ma Xuanliang said quickly: "Your Majesty, I have checked those Hu people. The leader is called Guli. It is said that he came to the Tang Dynasty in the early years of Zhenguan and has been doing business in the East Market."

"However, these people are not like ordinary Hu people. They have no women or children at home. Apart from running a wine shop, they have not done anything out of line. Apart from appearing unexpectedly on Chengtian Street to assassinate the King of Shu, they have not committed any illegal acts before."

When Li Shimin heard this, his face fell: "This is not suspicious, more than a dozen Hu people gathered together, and they have no family members. You should have paid attention to it a long time ago."

"Why did Li Ke appear there that day? Who was the person hacked to death in the carriage? And why did Li Ke and the prince clash at the gate of Huichang Temple? Have you found out all these?"

Ma Xuanliang's heart trembled, and he said hesitantly: "According to the Prince of Shu, he came to pay respects to the emperor that day, and the guards sitting in the car were ordinary guards. As for the conflict at the gate of Huichang Temple, the emperor did not allow me to alarm the prince and the Prince of Shu, so I haven't figured it out yet?"

"Hmph, what a waste! The people in the Hundred Cavalry Division are just there to eat and do nothing!" Li Shimin got angry when he saw that Ma Xuanliang couldn't make any sense for a long time.

Li Yan always thought that there was no Jinyiwei in the Tang Dynasty. In fact, Li Shimin had already used this kind of organization, but it had always existed in secret and was unknown to outsiders.

The Baiqisi was a secret agency directly under the emperor. In the earliest times, Li Shimin, as the King of Qin, had conquered many countries in order to establish the Tang Dynasty. He selected a group of capable men from the army and formed his own secret agency.

Its main purpose was to deal with rebel kings such as Wang Shichong, Dou Jiande and Xiao Xin. Later, after the world was returned to the Tang Dynasty, it was used to deal with the crown prince and the King of Qi, and made great contributions to Li Shimin's fight for the throne.

The Yang Wengang rebellion case in the seventh year of Wude was the work of the Hundred Cavalry Division. Before Li Shimin ascended the throne, the Hundred Cavalry Division was in charge of Zhangsun Wuji. After Li Shimin came to power, he promoted Zhangsun Wuji and made him the Minister of Personnel.

Under such circumstances, Li Shimin felt that it would be inappropriate to let Changsun Wuji take charge of the Hundred Cavalry Division.

If such a sharp weapon ended up belonging to the Changsun family, it would be disadvantageous to him, so he took back the Baiqi Division and handed it over to Ma Xuanliang, who was loyal to him and had once risked his life for him.

After he became emperor, there were too many things to do. In addition, Ma Xuanliang came from a military background and had a straightforward personality. He was not good at conspiracies and his mind was not that cunning, so the Hundred Cavalry Division did not have any development or innovation.

It was just maintaining basic operations based on the foundation laid by Changsun Wuji.

Originally, when he ascended the throne, Li Shimin wanted to abolish this institution. After all, an emperor must be upright and honest. Engaging in these evil and despicable activities was somewhat inconsistent with Li Shimin's understanding of an emperor.

But thinking of the miraculous effect that the Hundred Cavalry Division could bring about and the fact that the world was far from stable, Li Shimin hesitated for a moment and decided to retain it. He let Ma Xuanliang, who came from a military background and had a relatively upright mind, be in charge of its management, which would also ensure that the Hundred Cavalry Division would not get out of control.

From time to time, he would have the Baiqisi place spies around some powerful military generals and local governors to keep an eye on those ministers he was not confident in, in order to maintain the stability of the Tang Dynasty.

When Li Yan first applied to Li Shimin to establish the Jinyiwei, Li Shimin thought of the Baiqi Division. Although Li Yan found a lot of high-sounding reasons, such as dealing with the Turks, using economic means to assist military means, and controlling hostile forces.
But Li Shimin, who had gone through the same experience himself, how could he not understand the prince's true thoughts? This kind of department was initially open to the outside world.

Then it’s all about internal affairs, no one is excluded.

But first of all, Li Yan's words did give Li Shimin an idea. It is not impossible to use economic means to influence foreign countries. There are plenty of resources in the Central Plains. As long as those people want it, he can use a biased way to create trouble within the other party.

Secondly, the prince is in a sensitive position in the East Palace, which is prone to trouble. He really needs some power to protect himself. Didn't the former Sui prince Yang Yong and the later prince Li Jiancheng both get replaced? It is understandable that the prince has no sense of security.

Moreover, most aristocratic families have this kind of power, and other princes may also raise them privately.

If I don't let the prince do it, and everyone else does it, isn't that restricting the prince and helping others suppress him?

Moreover, once the prince had this idea, even if he was stopped by himself, he would still do it secretly. Changsun Wuji was born into this business, and if he disagreed, the prince would ask Changsun Wuji for help, or even put the business under Changsun Wuji's name and develop it secretly.

That would be even more disadvantageous. Instead of doing that, it would be better to allow it and then prevent Changsun Wuji from participating. The prince is inexperienced and is surrounded by half-grown children. Without those cunning and wise men, he dare not act openly.

On the surface, they still have to use the development of external spies as a cover, and secretly recruit a few insiders, so that the scale will be limited.

Besides, developing the Jinyiwei would at best just add a few more spies, send a few spies, and gain some information priority, which is a defensive expansion of power.

It's much better than winning over important officials in the court, recruiting important military generals, and expanding one's sphere of influence, right?
Moreover, this is also a way to train the prince's abilities. Under my high-pressure surveillance, if the prince can still avoid the emperor and the hidden prince and the King of Qi and secretly change the country's destiny like I did when I was the prince, then what would I have to worry about when I hand over the country to him?

After considering many aspects, Li Shimin agreed and found a reason to send Changsun Wuji to patrol the south of the Yangtze River.

Li Shimin knew that Changsun Wuji was extremely cunning and was a natural at plotting and scheming. If he was allowed to get involved, the Jinyiwei would be another Hundred Cavalry Division and might be even more terrifying than the Hundred Cavalry Division. What was the difference between that and giving the Hundred Cavalry Division directly to the prince?

Therefore, Heng Lian was asked to pay close attention and not to let the Crown Prince and Zhangsun Wuji discuss the affairs of the Jinyiwei. The Jinyiwei was also equipped with generals like Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang instead of wise men like Fang Du. This actually only increased the strength of the guards.

What can the prince and his group of servants come up with?

At the same time, the prince's idea also touched Li Shimin, and he gave up the idea of ​​abolishing the Hundred Cavalry Division. He also strengthened the power of the Hundred Cavalry Division and secretly tried the prince's so-called foreign economic intervention method.

Since the prince's idea was good, Li Shimin did not expect the prince's Jinyiwei to complete the task. After all, the prince was subject to various restrictions and his power was too weak. By the time the Jinyiwei could complete their mission, it would take an unknown amount of time.

Therefore, Li Shimin often discussed these matters with the crown prince to learn the details, and at the same time increased the scope of responsibility and manpower of the Hundred Cavalry Division, using the Hundred Cavalry Division to achieve the effect the crown prince had mentioned, and let the crown prince's Jinyiwei play around.
(End of this chapter)