Tibet.

Chapter 1392 Final Acceptance

Chang'an, the plan for internal security reform has been released.

The first step was to reduce the military force. The 40,000 internal guards were reduced to 30,000, and the number was reduced to 10,000.

The Internal Guard is divided into one hall, nine divisions and fifty battalions. The first hall is the Xuanwu Hall, modeled after the White Tiger Hall of the imperial court. It is the forefront of the Internal Guard and is responsible for filing, assigning and closing cases.

The Internal Security Reception Office has been abolished. The Internal Security will no longer accept individual complaints. If an individual has any problem, he or she can go directly to the county government or other government offices to report the case. The county government or other government offices will then decide whether to transfer the case to the Internal Security.

After receiving reports from other government offices, the Internal Guard Xuanwu Hall will initiate an audit. If it does not comply with the Internal Guard's responsibilities, the report will be rejected and no case will be filed.

If the review is consistent with the duties of the Internal Security Bureau, a formal case will be filed and then assigned to one of the nine functional departments. For example, a case of counterfeit money would be assigned to the Ministry of Money and Goods. The Ministry of Money and Goods would begin investigating the case. If troops were needed, an application would be submitted to the Commander-in-Chief, who would dispatch an army from the fifty battalions.

Separation of functions and the military is one of the essences of internal security reform.

The separation of powers among case filing, functions and the military has resulted in putting the power of the internal security in a cage.

Putting power in a cage is not an important result. What is important is who holds the key to the cage. Of course, it is not the imperial court, but the emperor.

The Inner Guards have always been a sword of the emperor. The blade was too sharp and there were too many complaints from those below, so the emperor customized a new scabbard and inserted the sharpness of the Inner Guards into the scabbard.

When necessary, the emperor draws his sword and shows his sharp edge.

At present, Li Chenghua is still the commander-in-chief of the internal security forces, and Liu Wutong is still the deputy commander-in-chief, acting on behalf of the commander-in-chief.

After the implementation of the internal security reform, the effect was immediate. When officials went out to drink and prostitute, there was no internal security to catch them. When there were disputes over competition among shops, there was no internal security to intervene.

It was as if the Inner Guards had disappeared in Chang'an, at least the people could not sense it.

But in fact, the Internal Guards are still there. If the government offices cannot solve major cases, the Internal Guards will definitely appear.

As night falls, the study in Daming Palace is brightly lit.

Li Ye paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back. On his desk was an eagle letter sent by Li Chenghua from Suiye. He had received five eagle letters from Li Chenghua in a row, but this one alone made him feel uneasy.

Jin Shanling actually gave birth to a son in the second year after she went to Samarkand.

Li Chenghua said that was his son, and Li Ye certainly believed Li Chenghua. There was no paternity test in the Tang Dynasty, so Li Chenghua naturally had irrefutable evidence.

The child should be fifteen years old. The Eagle Letter said that he grew up with the girls of the Tang Dynasty, so he must be a young man like Jia Baoyu.

Li Ye sighed deeply, picked up the eagle letter on the table, and went out.

Queen Dugu Xinyue was sipping a cup of milk tea with her big belly. She liked sweet things recently, especially milk tea. She used to just ignore it.

Now she is as fond of milk tea as Yang Yuhuan.

At this time, the door knocker rang, and a palace maid said, "The emperor has arrived!"

Li Ye then pushed open the door curtain and came in. Dugu Xinyue put the teacup aside and smiled, "Why is your majesty here?"

Li Ye sat down next to his wife, held her hand and said with a smile: "Aunt said that you are more likely to have a boy, what do you think?"

Dugu Xinyue shook her head and smiled: "I feel like it's a girl, Auntie is wrong this time!"

"Is there any basis for this?"

"Of course I did. When I gave birth to Xingsha, I loved sweets. Then when I gave birth to Tan'er, I loved meat. This time, I have a sweet tooth. I must be a little girl."

"I like it too, little lady!"

Li Ye hesitated for a moment and said, "I have a rather troublesome matter right now. I want to hear your thoughts."

"What's the matter?" "Do you remember what I told you about Jin Shanling?"

Dugu Xinyue nodded and smiled: "Could it be that Jin Shanling wants to come to Chang'an to become a concubine again?"

"That's not the case, but she actually gave birth to a son for me, and I didn't know about it for all these years."

The smile on Dugu Xinyue's face disappeared. It was obvious that the prince and the concubine were of completely different natures.

After a while, she asked, "Husband, are you sure that the child is yours?"

"Chenghua confirmed it. She said it's mine?"

Dugu Xinyue was also very convinced of Li Chenghua. She nodded and said, "Since Chenghua said it's yours, it must be correct. What are your plans, husband? Do you want to take him back to Chang'an?"

"I don't know. I'm very confused right now. This happened too suddenly. I'm not mentally prepared at all. I actually have an illegitimate child. That's why I want to hear your advice?"

Dugu Xinyue pondered for a moment and said, "Husband, you can think about your own situation back then!"

Li Ye was shocked. He had actually forgotten that he was an illegitimate child. Li Ye nodded and said gratefully, "Thank you for your reminder, my lady!"

Dugu Xinyue said softly, "Jin Shanling has not said anything for so many years, which means she doesn't want to give her son to you at all. She must be in danger now and can't protect herself, so she decided to entrust her son to you. I think no matter what your husband thinks of Jin Shanling, whether it's hatred or nostalgia, it's not important. What's important is this child. He is your blood. You should recognize him and bring him to Chang'an. As for how to arrange for him in the future, that's another matter."

Li Ye sighed, "What else can a husband ask for when he has such a wife? It is his blessing to have such a virtuous and tolerant queen."

Li Ye immediately made up his mind to bring Jin Shanling's son back to Chang'an first.

Li Ye thought for a moment and then smiled, "Li Chenghua also brought back 3,500 Tang Dynasty girls from Samarkand."

"what!"

Dugu Xinyue was shocked. "Three thousand five hundred people?"

At present, the Queen is basically responsible for the placement of the girls returning from overseas. This is something she took the initiative to do, and it is going smoothly now because there are not many girls. For example, there were 55 girls in the first batch who were discovered, and now all of them are serving as maids in the palace. There are several of them around Dugu Xinyue.

But the problem is that she is now eight months pregnant and will probably give birth next month. How can she have the energy to care about the affairs of overseas girls?

Li Ye knew his wife's difficulties and smiled, "I will ask the Ministry of Revenue to place them, so don't worry about it."

Dugu Xinyue breathed a sigh of relief and asked, "How does my husband plan to arrange for the Ministry of Revenue to settle us?"

"It depends on their age. If they are under sixteen, they can go to school first. If they are over sixteen, they can work in a spinning workshop to earn money to support themselves. When there is a suitable opportunity, we will arrange blind dates for them with soldiers from Chang'an and find them a good home."

Dugu Xinyue nodded, "This is a good idea. The key is to arrive in Chang'an safely."

Li Ye smiled and said, "There will be a special army to escort them back, and there will be officials to receive them along the way."

"I can rest assured that."

Li Ye returned to his study and immediately wrote an eagle letter, which he would send to Suiye early the next morning.

In Suiye, Bai Xiaode assembled an army of 60,000. After fully discussing with the generals, Bai Xiaode made a deployment. The Tang army will be divided into three routes: the south line, the north line and the center line. The north line will be led by Yang Riyu, the General of the Tiger Guards, who will lead 10,000 troops to recapture four military cities including Ashibulai City, Julan City, Talas City and Baishui City. Then the army will move south and meet with the main force in Tuozhi City of Shiguo.

The central line was led by Bai Xiaode himself, who led an army of 40,000 to capture Bukhara and Shi Kingdom. This was the top priority of the Western Expedition. Bai Xiaode judged that the army attacking Suiye was in these two places.

Li Fei Yuanli is in charge of the southern front, leading an army of 10,000 to attack Juzhanti. If Juzhanti is heavily guarded by enemy forces, they will wait for the main force to converge before attacking.

After arranging the three armies, they set out in a mighty manner early the next morning.

Suiye is still a logistics base that cannot be lost, and it is still garrisoned by Guo Xin and his 7,000 troops.

(End of this chapter)