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

Chapter 755 Li Shimin's Considerations
It has almost become an instinct for Li Yan to tell lies and make up stories. He does it naturally. His eyes and expressions are so lifelike and he is so devoted that Li Shimin cannot spot any flaws at all.

After he finished speaking, he picked up someone's cup on the table, drank it all in one gulp, moistened his throat, and said, "If there is anything inappropriate, I hope that the emperor will criticize and correct me."

After hearing this, Li Shimin was overjoyed. He stood up quickly, grasped the power in his right hand and struck it hard on his left palm. He was so excited that he had no time to care about the prince's little actions, but was deeply immersed in joy.

During this period, Jie Li was very active, constantly integrating his internal forces and reorganizing his military. In addition, due to drought on the grassland, he moved the entire grassland tribe continuously southward, almost approaching the Yellow River. This put great pressure on the defense of the northern part of the Tang Dynasty.

Every move of the Turks would bring a heavy burden to Li Shimin, who was thousands of miles away, making Li Shimin worried, unable to eat or sleep.

They were afraid that one day the front line would be in crisis and the Turks would launch a massive invasion.

During this period, Li Shimin discussed the matter many times with Fang Xuanling, Zhangsun Wuji and others. They all believed that it was not appropriate to make any major decisions with the Turks before the autumn grain arrived. Unless Jie Li took the initiative to invade, even if there was a big event, it would have to be delayed until the grain arrived.

Otherwise, we cannot win the war and the Tang Dynasty will be in danger of being destroyed.

Now, Tuli's envoy has finally arrived in Chang'an City. This is undoubtedly a timely relief for the anxious and irritable Li Shimin.

With such a large group of forces becoming disloyal, Jie Li probably won't dare to act rashly for a while, and the pressure on the front line will be less.

"Hahaha, well done, Cheng Qian. I really didn't misjudge you, nor did I choose you wrongly as the crown prince. You have lived up to my expectations of you."

Whenever Li Shimin was in a good mood, he would call Li Yan by his name. Li Yan knew that Li Shimin treated him as a relative and was expressing his intimacy with him. Li Yan could be a little unbridled in his response.
When he met the prince, Li Yan knew that he was a subject again and he needed to observe the etiquette between the monarch and his subjects and not act rashly.

Li Yan was quite dissatisfied in his heart. With so many things happening in the country, how did you manage to switch between them so smoothly without being affected?

However, at this time, we still cannot ruin Li Shimin's interest. It would be best to take advantage of his happiness and ask for more benefits.

"This is all because of my father's great fortune, so the heavens are helping our Tang Dynasty. If Jie Li hadn't pressed Tuli and Xi Biheli step by step, leaving them with no way to retreat and in dire straits, they would not have made this decision."

Li Yan also joined in the fun with a smile on his face: "It's no wonder that I have worked day and night and worked hard to urge the Jinyiwei to investigate day and night without sleep. The hard work has paid off. Finally, there is a good result. Tuli and others have been pulled here. Finally, I have lived up to my father's trust."

Cough cough cough.
Li Shimin's cheerful smile suddenly stopped. The expression on his face seemed to be unable to switch in time, as if two emotions were conflicting with each other. It became very strange and he started coughing violently. Li Yan hurriedly picked up the teacup and handed it to him.

Li Shimin took a sip of water, calmed down, and finally gave Li Yan a displeased look, feeling both amused and helpless.

There was no sincerity in Li Yan's flattery, which was completely perfunctory. He didn't even try to cover up, which exposed his intentions. His words were full of references to "day and night", "working hard", "sleepless" and "non-stop day and night".

Li Shimin was somewhat regretful that the last reward was a bit too generous, so the prince got used to it and wanted to cash in on his achievements as soon as possible. His philistine face of seeking credit and reward was simply unbearable for him, the emperor and father.

As a prince, the world will belong to you in the future. Do you still want to fight for this little credit?
Looking at Li Yan's sparkling eyes and expectant look, Li Shimin felt annoyed.

Fortunately, the prince is young and innocent, so he is not annoying at all and appears to have a pure heart. Unlike Li Ke and Li Tai, they are very polite every time they meet the emperor, which makes him feel no father-son affection at all.

Li Shimin walked around in the hall and thought for a while. Finally, he made up his mind and praised: "The Jinyiwei has indeed made great contributions this time. They were able to pull the Tuli and other tribes into the camp of our Tang Dynasty, effectively weakening the power of Jieli, delaying the Turkic invasion to the south, and buying effective and precious time for the Tang Dynasty."

"The Crown Prince has also made an invaluable contribution. Thus, I will approve the Jinyiwei to recruit another 500 people to investigate public opinion."

Add people?
Li Yan's smile froze for a moment, and he quickly bargained, "Father, the Jinyiwei are all spies, and they cost a lot of money. We already have enough manpower. The 1,500 people we added last time haven't been recruited yet, so there's no need to expand any further."

After Li Yan finished speaking, he looked at Li Shimin eagerly and asked, "Father, can you please give me some actual rewards?"

Li Shimin's eyes flashed with a hint of amusement, and then he said: "You have to think it over carefully. The 500 people I reward can be used to explore the public opinion within the Tang Dynasty. Do you really not want it?"

ah.
Li Yan reacted immediately, with a look of surprise on his face. He looked at Li Shimin in astonishment, as if he couldn't believe his ears.

Li Shimin certainly knew why the prince had this expression. The power of internal investigation has always been very important. As a prince who later ascended the throne, Li Shimin also knew the role of such institutions. No matter how much the prince went around, the fundamental interest was to maintain and consolidate his position as the prince. Since the day the Jinyiwei was established, it was probably seeking to monitor the internal affairs. Even if he did not let go, the prince would still do it secretly. This was his need for survival.

Moreover, Li Shimin was sure that the prince was already doing so. Li Shimin, who was very clear about the structure of the Jinyiwei, could see at a glance that this part of the intention was most likely hidden under Wang Xuance's Zhenfu Division, and could only be there.

Strictly speaking, Su Dingfang and Liang Jianfang were his own ministers. The prince could not trust them completely. The fact that he let one of them be responsible for the north and the other for the Western Regions explained everything. However, Wang Xuance, the tutor found by the prince himself, was different.

He is the prince's own man, and it is very safe and reliable to leave him to him.

Li Shimin found the prince's little tricks ridiculous and helpless. It reminded him of when he was a prince, he also carefully found various excuses to avoid the surveillance of his father and Prince Yin, and worked hard to develop his own power.

Now that a generation has passed, the new generation has taken up its old path again.

Li Shimin was helpless about this. The other princes were also finding various excuses to develop their own power. If he was too harsh on the crown prince, it would only lead to the crown prince becoming more and more insecure and his mentality becoming more and more unbalanced.

Instead of this, it would be better to allow the prince to expand his power legitimately within a controllable range.

This expressed his support as a father to the prince, and as the emperor, he could also supervise and interfere openly.

If I don't authorize him, the prince will act secretly and will cause trouble sooner or later, which will be bad when the situation changes.

Moreover, the prince did pay a lot to obtain this power. He accomplished what ministers like Fang Xuanling and Zhangsun Wuji could not do. He divided the Turks and pulled more than 100,000 troops from three tribes including Tuli out of Jie Li's camp.

Even if they did not stand on their side and stay out of the matter, it would save the court a lot of effort. By then, who knows how many fewer Tang Dynasty soldiers would die on the battlefield.

The prince proved with facts that the existence and establishment of the Jinyiwei were valuable to the Tang Dynasty. They were not just tools for the prince to fight for power and profit. This was an open conspiracy and the right way. As an emperor, Li Shimin had to take this into consideration.

Of course, there is another more important reason. Those in power should always consider balance and restriction when setting up power, rather than relying on themselves to watch. This is the long-term way.

The court already had a secret agency called the Hundred Cavalry Division. Li Shimin was afraid that the division would act recklessly when not in use, and would do nothing when in use. The status of the Hundred Cavalry Division had always been ambiguous in Li Shimin's mind.

Whether to strengthen or give up has been lingering in Li Shimin's mind, making it difficult to make a choice.

This is also an important reason why the Baiqi Division has become increasingly powerless under the leadership of Ma Xuanliang. If they themselves are indecisive and lack support, how can the people below develop with peace of mind?

The lack of supervision of the Hundred Cavalry Division is secondary. The most important thing is that such a force lacks constraints.

Supervision and restriction are different. Supervision is top-down institutional constraint and management, which is imposed from the outside and is passive. However, restriction is a force born from the moment power is established, and the instinctive need for survival and development requires it to supervise and restrain all the actions of the other party.

We live and die together, and we also coexist and resist each other.

The latter is truly long-term effective
With the establishment of the Jinyiwei, an institution with the same attributes and functions, the Baiqisi made up for its inherent deficiencies and could then let it exist and develop.

The Hundred Cavalry Division has 3,000 men and is the main supervisory force in this area. After several additions, the Imperial Guard maintains a size of 2,500 men, slightly less than the Hundred Cavalry Division, and is a secondary supplementary force.

The main responsibility of the Hundred Cavalry Division is to supervise the internal affairs, which is more important to the internal affairs than the external affairs; while the main task of the Imperial Guard is to supervise the external affairs, which is more important to the external affairs than the internal affairs.

The Hundred Cavalry Division belongs to the emperor, and the Embroidered Uniform Guard belongs to the prince.

The same rights and different positions can check and balance each other, without worrying that either party will lose control and do whatever it wants; the existence of the other party will form an important mutual competition relationship, threatening the other party at all times.

This makes neither side dare to slack off, for fear of being suppressed and replaced by the other side.

(End of this chapter)