Chapter 550

Yang Tiejiang hasn't been fighting much lately, but he's certainly not idle.

He's either drilling troops to exhaustion or rushing on marches nonstop, making this already-aged great general look noticeably older, with clear white hair even showing at his temples.

As a time traveler, Chen Wuji is accustomed to life and death, but he doesn't like feeling time visibly slip away on familiar people.

"My lord, please take a look." Yang Tiejiang wore a face that showed no affection, as if everyone owed him millions of silver, stood up, and refilled Chen Wuji's cup with tea.

"Since I followed my lord, I've always led new troops; the officers now in the army each rose step by step through merit, with no dead weight. I have several talents I favor, but my lord only gave me one quota for a Battalion Commander, and among these twenty-plus Brigade Commanders, deciding who gets it and who doesn't has caused me considerable trouble."

Chen Wuji took a sip of the tea Yang Tiejiang poured and laughed, "You're pointing at me!"

"I understand your army's situation; under the old system, as a Commandant you could only keep promoting Brigade Commanders, with no intermediate positions. Now things have changed suddenly; others are actually fine, but your army's situation is somewhat special."

"But the Battalion Commander post carries significant authority, second only to yours. How could I give you more? I can't! As for the other talents you favor, I can appoint them as Ten Leaders; that quota I already gave you—you can adjust it yourself, each Ten Leader may command two thousand troops, so you can still promote many people."

Yang Tiejiang waved his hand, "My lord, I don't mean to complain; I'm just stating the facts. I really do have several favored talents, and it's hard to choose. What I mean is, you can choose again from among these few."

"As for these officers, how could I know them as well as you? Old Yang, there's not that much self-interest between us, so don't keep using those old tactics to Shìhòu me—I tell you, it's useless." Chen Wuji said.

"You decide the personnel, I'll issue the documents, that's it. By the way, I was just talking about the ceremony—you didn't ask, and I almost forgot."

Saying this, Chen Wuji bent over and took out one blank Imperial Edict after another from the cabinet.

"This thing, if you need it I have it too, and I can fill it out right now. Emperor's decree, true to its name—no one who sees it can find any fault, genuine through and through!"

Yang Tiejiang's expression froze slightly, and he gave a stiff tug at the corner of his mouth.

Most people seeing his expression would certainly find it hard to understand.

But this was a knowing smile of his.

Those unfamiliar with Yang Tiejiang's character would, eight times out of ten, take this expression as a sneer.

Or a disdainful snicker.

"This thing is actually unnecessary," Yang Tiejiang said, "but why does the lord have so many blank imperial edicts?"

"It's from the emperor, where else could it come? His Majesty the Emperor doesn't even know what madness overtook him suddenly, granting me the position of Nan Jun Jiedu Guanchasi, letting me oversee Nan Jun's military and civil affairs, and giving me a pile of imperial edicts to fill out for fun, how interesting." Chen Wuji laughed.

"By the way, he also said he'd send the prisoners from Tianlao to me. I reckon there's definitely something behind this, but I haven't figured out what scheme the emperor is plotting with this edict!"

Yang Tiejiang furrowed his brows, pondered for a while, then said in a low voice: "I feel as if the emperor wants to assist the lord; granting an official post gives the lord a legitimate right to command troops, while sending prisoners from Tianlao is sending talent—though that place is a great prison, officials below the third rank aren't allowed to enter."

"If His Majesty the Emperor also sends the lord some grain and supplies, then this matter… truly becomes assistance, which is rather unbelievable."

Chen Wuji chuckled, "You shouldn't say that, but it's actually true!"

"On a whim I went into business with the emperor, selling paper, and he actually agreed. He wrote me a letter saying the money and supplies are on their way; by the way, you need to pay attention to this—it should happen soon. I'm heading to Wenkou; you handle this matter nicely."

Yang Tiejiang: ……

Yang Tiejiang pinched his shiny, oily forehead and said, "I suddenly have a dreamlike feeling—this is too unreal… The lord is right; the emperor seems truly gone mad."

"Although I can't fathom what the emperor intends, my lord, I still want to add a word: there's no free lunch in the world; we must guard against the court having ulterior motives."

"I know, I'm on guard," Chen Wuji nodded.

"No matter what the court is up to, these things are currently beneficial to us; we shouldn't turn them down."

Chen Wuji said, putting away the imperial edicts, "Since you don't want them, then after we take control of Qingzhou, we'll use these to award merits and give everyone some glory."

"Once we enter Qingzhou, our identities will truly match our positions."

Yang Tiejiang seemed to suddenly think of something, and said solemnly: "I have something I've wanted to tell the lord, but almost forgot. Does the lord feel that the newly established military system gives commanders too much authority?"

"Too big?"

"A bit too big," Yang Tiejiang said.

"There are two reasons the Military Governor system was abolished: first, the Military Governor's authority was too great; second, the authority of those under his command was also too great."

"Back then, the Commander of Troops and the troop commanders, as well as subordinates overthrowing superiors, were common. They held great power in the army; they only needed to win over one or two allies to easily overthrow the Military Governor and set themselves up as one."

"I understand what you mean," Chen Wuji said, "so I've reformed it."

"There is no Commander of Troops position in the army now; at your level, you follow an older system, and one step above that is the Middle Lieutenant General."

"We will inevitably face countless battles ahead; it's impossible to have those who don't know warfare commanding troops who don't know their generals—this would greatly affect combat strength. Therefore, beneath the Commander holding the title of Training Officer are multiple Troop Commanders; beneath them are the Ten Leaders. In the detailed appointments, the authority of the Troop Commanders has been greatly reduced, meaning they now command only two or three Ten Leaders."

"The authority of the Commander holding the title of Training Officer is to command twenty thousand troops; you're already at the limit."

Yang Tiejiang nodded seriously: "I see, I was overthinking."

"I can tell you haven't carefully read the documents concerning the Ten Leaders, Troop Commanders, and the appointment of the Commander holding the title of Training Officer; if I recall correctly, those matters are spelled out quite clearly," Chen Wuji said.

Yang Tiejiang shook his head: "I read them, but I was momentarily slow and truly didn't grasp them fully."

"Lao Yang, you're also starting to lie to my face, aren't you? Yang Pojun, you couldn't possibly fail to understand this little trick?" Chen Wuji exclaimed in shock—good grief, this Lao Deng is even starting to be dishonest.