Chapter 1022: Alliance

Jiang Gui looked at Pan Yun with full admiration.

The way she described the military householders was exactly what he had imagined but never could, and never would, achieve.

Jiang Gui himself was born into a military household.

Since childhood, his grandfather and father had constantly told him how things would be one day, saying these were promises made by the founding Emperor Taizu.

But in reality, each generation had become worse than the last.

He and his father both entered school at six, began martial training at eight, and started handling weapons; by fourteen, he joined the garrison's training, and by sixteen, he could choose between enlisting, continuing studies for the imperial exams, or leaving home to trade.

Jiang Gui was the second son; his elder brother was required to enlist.

He had already decided to take the imperial exams, but before he could achieve any success, his elder brother died on the battlefield.

His family, because all members were tall, strong, handsome, and equally skilled in literature and martial arts, had always been selected as garrison troops.

When one died, another had to be chosen to take his place.

Jiang Gui could only abandon the imperial exams and enlist.

Jiang Gui never thought this was unfair; though his family continually enlisted, they also enjoyed military privileges.

They paid no taxes or corvée labor; his family's farmland, because of his military quota, was exempt from supplying grain rations.

As he rose through the ranks, the garrison's thousand-household office dared not bully the Jiang family anymore.

But other families were not so lucky.

As superiors increasingly embezzled rations, common soldiers' pay was slashed, and the grain quotas military households had to pay for their garrison farms also rose accordingly.

Ten years ago, the minimum age for children to enter military schools rose from six to seven; now, it has been raised to eight.

Ten years ago, the average age at which students graduated from military schools dropped to fifteen; now, it has fallen to fourteen.

This means that over twenty years, the average education duration for military household sons dropped from ten years to six.

Everyone called him a crude brute, only fit for charging into battle, capable of commanding no more than ten thousand troops, lacking the potential to become a Regional Commander, and utterly unfit to manage local military and civil affairs.

Only he knew that Wang Zhen was arrogant and the literati tyrannical; no matter how many reforms he envisioned for the military system, he could only suppress them.

Especially since his superior, Wang Ji, remained ambiguous, maneuvering between Wang Zhen, the civil officials, and the military officers.

But now, Pan Yun had appeared—and even better, she had secured the position of Regional Commander of Guangdong.

Jiang Gui knew clearly he lacked Wang Ji's ability; he could not navigate the delicate balance among the three factions, nor did he possess the strength to mediate or fight them.

So he could only choose one side to ally with.

From Jingcheng to Guangdong, he thought all the way, and finally firmly chose Pan Yun.

This, too, was something he learned from his superior, Wang Ji.

The military meritocrats had ability, but the current garrison-farm system was being suppressed, and in some places nearly broken—due to the greed of certain military meritocrats and officers.

Jiang Gui was not like Zhu Mian and others; he understood clearly, but because he cared about face, he refused to admit it and dared not speak out.

If he allied with the military meritocrats, the end result would inevitably be corruption together;

And allying with the civil literati was impossible—there was a natural conflict between military and civil officials.

Wang Ji was even a Metropolitan Graduate graduate, yet after becoming a military officer, he was still relentlessly attacked by the literati, who wished nothing less than to exterminate his entire clan; how could a military household-born officer like him ever stand with them?

Not only would the literati tear him apart bone by bone, but even his own military camp would likely dismember him.

He knew clearly: he was a military officer, a military householder; his interests were naturally aligned with those of his fellow military householders, and their most fundamental interests remained unchanged;

Jiang Gui's gaze settled on Pan Yun.

She was the only exception.

She seemed to have replaced Wang Zhen's position, yet she did not wield power as Wang Zhen did.