Chapter 55: Foreknowledge (Part 1)

Inside the main hall of the Lingzhou General-Governor’s Mansion, an incense table was set up, with wisps of sandalwood smoke curling upward. Behind the table, a eunuch from the Palace Attendant Bureau held the imperial decree in both hands and read out in a cadenced voice:

"By the mandate of Heaven, to govern the realm requires literature, and to quell rebellions requires force. Chen Ying, Upper Cavalier Attendant-in-Chief, General of Loyal and Valiant Martial Prowess, Right Guard Commander of the Crown Prince's Household, Count of Xiuwu, and Superintendent of Military Campaigns... has swept clean Lingwu, cleared away the bandit miasma, and comforted the common people. His virtuous name echoes across the four directions, and his great merit in pacification shines upon the imperial court. He is hereby appointed General-Governor of Lingzhou, in command of military affairs across the six prefectures of Sheng, Hua, Xia, Yin, Sui, and Yan. He is granted the authority to act expediently as if We were personally present. Do not fail Our expectations... Let this be so..."

According to court protocol, the Ministry of War's Bureau of Military Records was supposed to dispatch officials to conduct an on-site inspection. Only after verifying the number of enemy beheadings and the authenticity of the severed heads would rewards be discussed. Liu Wenjing had intended to trip Chen Ying up, but as it turned out, the Eastern Turkic Yabgu, Ashina Mohe, had fled all the way to Ningzhou in one breath, running headfirst into the delegation sent by Princess Yicheng to Chang'an.

Seeing that Chen Ying grew ever more formidable with every battle and that his name struck terror into the Eastern Turks, Princess Yicheng decided to employ the tactic of "killing with praise"—raising Chen Ying up so high that Emperor Gaozu of Tang would grow suspicious of him, thereby using the Emperor's own hand to eliminate him. Consequently, Mohe returned to Chang'an once more, more than doubling Chen Ying's actual battle achievements in his report. In the end, the figures inflated to the Turks suffering ten thousand deaths from exhaustion and over a hundred thousand being taken captive, alongside declarations that the Turks wished to form a marital alliance of brotherly states with the Great Tang.

Although Emperor Gaozu was not a particularly magnanimous ruler, he was no fool either. Princess Yicheng's conspiracy of using a borrowed knife was transparent not only to the Emperor but even to the majority of the court officials. As a result, things became much simpler: the step requiring the Ministry of War's Bureau of Military Records to verify the campaign results was bypassed entirely, and the rewards were promulgated directly.

Yet at this moment, Chen Ying felt rather puzzled and even somewhat lost. Being enfeoffed as a founding founding marquis of a county was nothing extraordinary; throughout the Tang Dynasty, peerages were quite widespread, and his status as a founding county marquis actually placed him only seventh in the Tang noble rank system. The Great Tang had nine ranks of peerages: the first was Prince of the Blood, with a fief of ten thousand households, of the Upper First Rank; the second was Prince Heir Apparent or Prince of a Commandery, with a fief of five thousand households, of the Lower First Rank; the third was Duke of a State, with a fief of three thousand households, of pula-lower first rank; the fourth was Founding Duke of a Commandery, with a fief of two thousand households, of the Upper Second Rank; the fifth was Founding Duke of a County, with a fief of fifteen hundred households, of the Lower Second Rank; the sixth was Founding Marquis of a County, with a fief of one thousand households, of the Lower Third Rank; the seventh was Founding Earl of a County, with a fief of seven hundred households, of the Upper Fourth Rank; the eighth was Founding Viscount of a County, with a fief of five hundred households, of the Upper Fifth Rank; and the ninth was Founding Baron of a County, with a fief of three hundred households, of the Lower Fifth Rank.

What puzzled Chen Ying was that while he was only a county marquis, his fief was equivalent to that of a county duke. Another point of confusion was the title of General-Governor (later changed to Military Commissioner) in the Tang Dynasty, a position roughly analogous to a modern major military region commander. Spanning seven prefectures and thirty-four counties, the jurisdiction of the Lingzhou General-Governor's Mansion was almost equivalent in authority to the Lingwu Protectorate-General established later in the era of Emperor Xuanzong. In reality, Chen Ying's substantive functional rank at this time was merely equivalent to the Lower Third Rank.

His peerage as a county marquis was likewise of the Lower Third Rank, and his honorary military title of Grand General was also of the Lower Third Rank. However, they bestowed upon him the honorary non-substantive rank of Grand Master of Golden Purple Luxuriance, along with a purple official robe, a golden suit of armor, and over a thousand gold and silver minted coins.

Under the regulations, Chen Ying's official robe as a Lower Third Rank official should have been crimson; purple was the official robe color reserved for officials of the Upper Second Rank and above. Granting purple vestments to a Lower Third Rank official was a great honor—a form of spiritual encouragement rather than a substantive promotion. Still, should Chen Ying fall in battle or retire after the wars, he would be entitled to enjoy the political treatment of an Upper Second Rank official.

The Crown Prince's Right Guard Command was reorganized into the Dingyuan Army. The Dingyuan Army commanded six senior garrison militias (Zhechong prefectures), with each prefecture commanding five regiments, and each regiment commanding three companies, totaling nine thousand troops. This Dingyuan Army functioned essentially as a field army without any specific defense zone or garrison location, allowing Chen Ying to deploy them at any time according to the needs of warfare.

The Lingzhou General-Governor's Office also governed six prefectural militias. These militias were stationed separately within the borders of the six prefectures, comprising two senior prefectures—the Lingzhou Zhechong Prefecture and the Suizhou Zhechong Prefecture—and four junior prefectures. Each junior prefecture commanded four regiments of two hundred men each, bringing the direct command strength of the Lingzhou General-Governor's Office to six thousand two hundred men. Consequently, Chen Ying's forces directly under his command expanded from the original four thousand eight hundred-odd soldiers to over fifteen thousand two hundred men.

Aside from the increase in troop numbers, many of Chen Ying's subordinates also received promotions. For instance, Gao Yunquan, Deputy Commander of the Crown Prince's Left Guard, was promoted from General of Awe-Inspiring Might to General of Robust Martial Prowess, with the honorary military rank of Light Chariot Commandant. He Yuejing, Deputy Commander of the Right Guard, was promoted from General of Manifest Might to General of Awe-Inspiring Might and Upper Cavalier Attendant-in-Chief, and both were reassigned to new posts. Wei Wenzhong was promoted from Zhechong Commandant of the Second Honorary Prefecture to the Crown Prince's Right Guard Command, returning to Chang'an to rebuild the unit.

This left Chen Ying feeling quite regretful, though others such as Duan Shigan, Zhang Shiguan, Luo Shixin, and Zhang Huaiwei were also richly rewarded with peerages. Duan Shigan and the others were enfeoffed as Founding Earls of a County. The crux of the matter was that Duan Shigan's father, Duan Yanshi, held no peerage at all, though his younger brother held the lesser viscountcy of Qi County; however, Duan Shixuan would eventually be enfeoffed as the Duke of Fan following Li Shimin. What surprised Chen Ying the most was that Luo Shixin had actually inherited the very peerage originally designated for him, becoming the Count of Xiuwu.

With promotions across official posts, peerages, and honorary titles, it would be a lie to say Chen Ying was unhappy. Facing Liu Zhongzhi, the eunuch serving as the Director of Palace Attendants within the Palace Attendant Bureau who wore a disgruntled expression, Chen Ying smiled and said, "Chief Eunuch Liu, you must have suffered a great deal braving the wind and dew all along this journey. Come inside the hall and rest for a moment...!"

Liu Zhongzhi's expression softened considerably. He waved his hands repeatedly and said, "This humble servant is hardly worthy of such an honorable address as 'Chief Eunuch'; General-Governor Chen may simply address this servant by his given name, Guanhong!"

Only then did Chen Ying realize that, during the Tang Dynasty, the title "Eunuch" (Taijian) could strictly be applied to only four specific positions: the Director of Palace Attendants, the Palace Attendant-in-Ordinary, the Palace Director-in-Waiting, and the Central Attendant-in-Ordinary. Liu Zhongzhi's post as the Director of Palace Attendants within the Palace Attendant Bureau was merely a minor official position of the lower sixth rank. However, he also currently held the concurrent post of the Dingyuan Army's Imperial Inspector of the Military Spectacle. The full title of the Inspector of the Military Spectacle was the Imperial Inspector and Pacification Commissioner for Viewing the Military Spectacle—which, stripped of its pleasant phrasing, meant he was an imperial military supervisor.

Chen Ying was not entirely clear when this post of Imperial Inspector of the Military Spectacle was historically established, vaguely remembering it as an official position retained in the late Tang or Song dynasties. Yet here in the early Tang period, this observing commissioner had sprung into existence, clearly a ripple effect brought about by his own butterfly effect as a traveler from another world.

Just as Liu Zhongzhi was about to step into the main hall, he suddenly spoke, "General-Governor Chen, when this servant set out from Chang'an, His Majesty gave explicit instructions for me to comfort all the officers and men on his behalf. Let us inspect them..."

Hearing this, Chen Ying turned around and ordered Liu Tong, "Sound the drums... gather the generals!"

"Dong... dong..." The deep, resonant sound of war drums began to reverberate from the Lingzhou General-Governor's Mansion. Before long, the earth thrummed with the rhythmic sound of marching footsteps. Directly outside the gates of the General-Governor's Mansion lay the grand avenue of Lingzhou City, comparable to Chang'an's Zhuque Avenue. Although Lingzhou's main street was not quite as wide as Chang'an's Zhuque Avenue, it had been intentionally designed to facilitate the rapid deployment of troops.

Thus, the entire avenue stretched roughly twelve zhang and eight chi wide—approximately thirty meters—equivalent to a modern eight-lane dual carriageway.

The troops that completed their assembly first were naturally the Personal Guard Zhechong Prefecture, followed in order by the Second Honorary Prefecture, the First Honorary Prefecture, the First Imperial Guard Prefecture, and the Second Imperial Guard Prefecture. In the span of a single incense stick's burning time, a longitudinal review formation materialized on the avenue before the General-Governor's Mansion. At the very front stood the Personal Guard Zhechong Prefecture, followed by the First and Second Honorary Prefectures.

Although Liu Zhongzhi was a palace attendant, the Left and Right Martial Guard armies were permanently stationed within the imperial palace, so he had certainly seen military forces before. However, he had never laid eyes on an army that could assemble with such astonishing speed—especially the spectacle of ten thousand men moving as one, lifting their legs in unison and bringing them down in perfect synchronization, which struck him with profound awe.

Just as Liu Zhongzhi felt his breathing grow shallow, a vast and mighty procession of hooked-镰 (sickle-halberd) cavalry surged into view along the expansive street.

Liu Zhongzhi asked in bewilderment, "General-Governor Chen, do you possess the art of foresight? How did you know His Majesty would order the Right Guard Command to be reorganized into the six prefectures of the Dingyuan Army?"

Although Liu Zhongzhi had not counted them in detail, Chen Ying's command—consisting of one cavalry Zhechong prefecture, alongside the Personal Guard Zhechong Prefecture, the First and Second Honorary Prefectures, and the First and Second Imperial Guard Prefectures—amounted precisely to those six prefectures and over nine thousand troops.