Chapter 63: Appointment and Council

The ministers in the hall immediately turned their gazes toward him; though princes entering court was not unheard of in the Song, even recently during the reigns of Emperor Yingzong and Emperor Shenzong, it had occurred before.

The current Minister of the Imperial Clan Office is Prince of Jiyin Zhao Zongjing, but his two predecessors were both princes with a single-character title.

The Old Faction, seeing no room for compromise, remained silent, secretly wondering what office Zhao Xu would bestow upon him.

Zhao Ti himself held the rank of first-class prince, but that was a noble title.

The Song bureaucratic system was complex, dividing official roles into remunerative posts, appointments, honorary titles, merit ranks, and adjunct positions—yet only appointments carried actual duties, also called functional posts; after the Yuanfeng Reforms, some remunerative posts were also granted functional authority.

Within appointments, distinctions were made between zhi, pan, quan, zhi, shi, qian, tijǔ, tidian, guangou, and so on.

When a high-rank official assumed a lower-rank post, it was called xing; when a low-rank official assumed a higher-rank post, it was called shou; since Zhao Ti was first-class, any appointment he received would be xing, and if only temporarily in charge, it would be called quan xing.

The ministers did not believe Zhao Xu would grant Zhao Ti a high-ranking post, for Zhao Ti had no seniority in court and no imperial examination credentials; although after the Yuanfeng Reforms, imperial clan members could take the exams, even if they passed, they typically entered the Imperial Academy and spent their lives in scholarly pursuits.

What they feared was Zhao Xu granting him a prestigious but inactive post—one with influence both inside and outside court—that would undermine the old laws.

Zhao Xu said: “Prince Yan, you shall… serve as quan xing Commander of the Imperial Guard and Commander of the Foot Soldiers.”

Upon hearing this, all the ministers were stunned.

Zhao Ti himself was slightly taken aback; this differed from what had been said that night during the storm, when Zhao Xu had spoken of granting him a prestigious but inactive post—but now Zhao Xu was ordering him to command troops?

Command troops!

The Song military was divided into command and deployment: command fell under the Two Offices and Three Directorates, deployment under the Privy Council.

The Two Offices were the Palace Guard Office and the Imperial Guard Office.

The Three Directorates were the Palace Guard Commander’s Office under the Palace Guard Office, and under the Imperial Guard Office, the Foot Soldiers Commander’s Office and the Cavalry Commander’s Office.

The Two Offices stood in mutual check; originally, the Imperial Guard Office held slightly greater authority, its rank half a grade higher than the Palace Guard Office, but after General Mi Xin of the Right Wuwei Guard was dismissed by imperial decree in the second year of Yongxi, no one was reappointed to that post, and the post was temporarily filled by the Director of the Imperial Household.

In the second year of Jingde, Duke of Lu Wang Chao was dismissed from his post as Director, and thereafter the Foot Soldiers and Cavalry Directorates came under the jurisdiction of the Palace Guard Office.

At this moment, officials speculated internally: was the Emperor planning to revive the Imperial Guard Office? After all, if Prince Yan held the post of Commander of the Foot Soldiers, the Palace Guard Office would lose authority over the Foot Soldiers.

At this, the Old Faction, led by Lu Dafang, exhaled in relief; though the Commander of the Foot Soldiers commanded troops, in their eyes he was no more important than a prestigious civil official, and certainly lacked the influence such a civil official wielded in court; as for military matters, they cared little—the Foot Soldiers merely guarded and garrisoned parts of Dongjing, and deployment authority rested with the Privy Council.

Zhao Ti’s expression remained unchanged: “Thank Your Majesty.”

Zhao Xu said: “Prince Yan, upon assuming office tomorrow, begin the purge of Ghost Fan Tower.”

Zhao Ti accepted the order; after a long pause, no further matters arose, and according to protocol, they withdrew from the hall, ending the grand court assembly.

The next morning, Zhao Ti arrived at the Imperial Guard Foot Soldiers Commander’s Office; though the capital’s elite troops had steadily weakened over the years, they had not yet sunk to the utter corruption of the Jingkang era.

After reviewing the muster rolls, Zhao Ti dismissed the lower-ranking officers; in the hall remained about ten men: one Deputy Commander and one Director, along with the Commanders of the Left and Right Divisions of the Divine Guard, and the Commanders of the Tiger Wing, Wuwei, Xiongwu, Fengjie, and Buwu Armies—the entire core of the Foot Soldiers Commander’s Office.

Zhao Ti smiled slightly: “I had intended to meet you all properly later, but since you were all present at yesterday’s grand assembly and heard the Emperor’s order to eradicate Ghost Fan Tower, speak your thoughts now.”

The men exchanged glances; several were not permanent residents of the capital, but had attended the grand assembly. Deputy Commander Wang En said: “Your Highness, this matter must be handled with caution; since the time of Emperor Taizu, troops have been dispatched to purge Ghost Fan Tower, yet for a hundred years it has never been extinguished—completely eradicating it is truly difficult.”

Nearby, Director Zhong Pu said: “In the Western Army, I’ve encountered similar situations—flood, fire, smoke, then troops storming inside to kill; it must be done.”

Zhao Ti glanced at him; Zhong Pu was the son of the famed general Zhong E, previously promoted to the capital as Right Ban Dianzhi, and just recently assigned as Director of the Imperial Guard Foot Soldiers Office.

Wang En shook his head: “General Zhong does not understand the underground tunnels of Ghost Fan Tower—they nearly span the entire Dongjing; how can they be compared to ordinary places? All these methods have been tried before; though effective, they cannot fully eradicate it.”

Zhong Pu frowned: “There are only so many options; I can’t think of any others—surely we can’t just fill the tunnels with earth.”

The others nodded in agreement; dealing with a place like Ghost Fan Tower, as Zhong Pu said, offered no other viable methods.

Zhong Pu looked to Zhao Ti: “Your Highness, do you have a brilliant strategy?”

Zhao Ti said: “I cannot reveal it yet. Return to your units and select two thousand elite soldiers each, secretly prepare them.”

Wang En said: “Your Highness, Ghost Fan Tower is infamous; though the troops are brave, they may panic or slack off—wouldn’t it be better to explain later?”

Zhao Ti shook his head: “Tell them Ghost Fan Tower has accumulated wealth for a hundred years—countless gold and silver beneath Dongjing. Whoever claims it, it becomes his own—and there will be military merit to be earned as well.”

At these words, every man in the hall’s eyes lit up; they had only thought of Ghost Fan Tower, not of the vast riches it had amassed over the decades.

“You all feel the same!” Zhao Ti’s lips curled: “Stolen goods—only if you can take them.”

Wang En stroked his short beard: “Your Highness, what of the Emperor’s side…?”

“I have already discussed this with the Emperor—he has approved it. It depends now on your skill,” Zhao Ti said, scanning the men with a smile.

“Ghost Fan Tower has existed for a hundred years—could it not have amassed mountains of gold and silver?” Zhong Pu breathed deeply.

“Mountains of gold and silver?” Commander of the Left Divine Guard Division Zhang Zhen shook his head; he was the son of the famed general Zhang Jie and cousin of Zhang Dun, who currently served as Director of the Cave of the Immortal Palace, and had not yet been recalled to the capital by Zhao Xu.

“General Zhong has been stationed in the west too long—you don’t understand what lies beneath Dongjing. Ghost Fan Tower engages in uncapitalized trade: deception, abduction, robbery, kidnapping, forced begging, trafficking humans—over a hundred years, even mountains of gold and silver would barely describe a fraction of their gains.”

“Exactly, exactly!” The others nodded vigorously.

Zhao Ti said: “Return to your units and carefully select and train your soldiers. I will explain the full plan to you in detail later.”

He rose and stepped out the office gate, where Zhou Dong and Su Da waited; once inside the carriage, he asked Zhou Dong: “Guangzu, do you know if Ghost Fan Tower has any connection to the Beggar’s Sect?”

There were beggars in Dongjing, but previous investigations confirmed they were not Beggar’s Sect members, but agents of Ghost Fan Tower.

“Your Majesty, there is none,” Zhou Dong mused. “The Beggar’s Sect has an ancestral rule forbidding long-term residence in the divine capital; those beggars in the city are either from the Wuyou Cave or wild vagrants.”

Zhao Ti nodded; after a long ride, the carriage reached Zhuque Street in the southern city, where he stepped out and entered the Golden Wind and Fine Rain Pavilion.

There, Shang Qi handed him an invitation and a map: “Young Master, we’ve obtained the items.”