Chapter 51: An Unexpected Promotion

Seeing Li Yuan act so unreasonably, Li Gang stroked his beard in fury and glared at him.

Pei Ji coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, since the days of Wei Qing and Huo Qubing, no court official can compare to him!"

Seeing the expressions of the gathered ministers, who looked as though they could barely bear to witness the scene, Li Yuan let out a leisurely sigh and said, "I misspoke!"

Under the emperors of the Great Qing dynasty, every word uttered was treated as absolute law. Even if the emperor was wrong, his mistake would instantly become the truth, because the entire court was filled with spineless cowards devoid of integrity.

Li Gang, however, nodded with utter solemnity, his eyes radiating a look that seemed to say, "This youth is still educable."

Anxious to cover up his embarrassment, Li Yuan quickly tossed out another topic: "Let us discuss merits and rewards!"

To reward merit without fail and punish wrongdoing without exception was the true reason the Tang army could sweep across the realm like a broken bamboo. If a dynasty ever reached the point where merits went unrewarded and wrongdoings unpunished, its days were essentially numbered. The million-strong Qin army had once swept through the six states and unified the realm under heaven; yet in its later years, it suffered defeat after defeat, delivering a performance that left everyone bitterly disappointed.

It was not that the Qin soldiers had grown weak, nor that their enemies had grown stronger. Rather, it was because the Second Emperor acted with reckless abandon, destroying the agrarian-military system of the Great Qin Empire and dismantling the twenty-rank peerage system established by Qin. Zhang Han of the Lesser Treasury armed the convicts from Lishan Mountain as a military force, using freedom as a promised reward—a move that could be said to have recast the soul of the Qin military. Yet it was all for naught, as the Second Emperor Huhai stubbornly refused to honor the pledge. The Second Emperor broke his promise to the Lishan convicts, and in return, the Lishan convicts cost the Second Emperor his state.

Familiar with history, Li Yuan attached immense importance to the matter of rewards, which was why the Great Tang Empire grew stronger with every battle. However, at this juncture, a thorny problem arose.

Chen Ying had successively crushed the Turks in four engagements, beheading nearly twenty thousand and capturing over thirty thousand, and had even eliminated the Illig Khagan himself. How to reward him appropriately had become a major dilemma.

Seeing how capable Chen Ying was, Li建成, as his patron, was exceedingly pleased and thoroughly basked in the glory. At last, he had managed to prevent Li Shimin from monopolizing military achievements.

Li建成 said, "Chen Ying is still very young and already holds a high-ranking fourth-tier post. To grant him further official rank might not necessarily be a good thing for him!"

Li Yuan nodded and asked, "In your view, Crown Prince, how should Chen Ying be rewarded?"

"If we cannot reward him with a higher official post, let us bestow a peerage!" Li建成 replied. "Chen Ying is currently the Count of Xiuwu. We should elevate him to a sixth-rank Marquis of Xiuwu, with a fief of one thousand households, and grant him one thousand five hundred mu of perpetual tax-free land."

Although Li Yuan was displeased that Li建成's reach extended so far, he had to admit that Li建成 had acted with a public-spirited and fair mindset. He had not favored Chen Ying by even a fraction just because he was a member of his faction. The only exception was the extra hundred mu of land granted. As a sixth-rank founding marquis of a county, Chen Ying was regarded as a second-tier official, and by regulation, he should have been granted one thousand four hundred mu of perpetual land; yet Li建成 had raised it to one thousand five hundred mu.

Is one hundred mu of land a lot?

If one considers it a small amount, it is indeed quite a bit; but compared to Chen Ying's monumental contributions, it was truly not much.

Yet, just as Li Yuan was about to instruct Chu Suiliang to draft the imperial decree, Li Gang stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, Crown Prince, this course of action is improper!"

Li建成 bowed and asked, "Teacher Li, how do you think this should be handled?"

Li Gang stated, "In antiquity, Gan Luo became a senior minister at the age of twelve, and Huo Qubing was enfeoffed as the Champion Marquis at seventeen with a fief of one thousand six hundred households, serving as a swift-riding commandant. During the Han dynasty, the rank of swift-riding commandant was equivalent to today's third-tier general of the Great Tang. If the Champion Marquis was worthy of such honors, why should General Chen not be?"

Pei Ji also chimed in, "Your Majesty, I second this motion!"

"We second this motion!" Seeing Li Gang step forward, the other ministers rose in unison to voice their support for Chen Ying.

Naturally, Li Yuan had his own considerations. Chen Ying's decisive northern victory and crushing defeat of the Turks were matters of great popular rejoicing. At the same time, it effortlessly shattered the rumors spread by malicious actors who claimed Li Yuan had submitted as a vassal to the Turks. Chen Ying's unintended action made Li Yuan exceptionally happy.

Despite being the supreme sovereign of the realm at present, Li Yuan was deeply dissatisfied by the fact that the Turkic Yabgu Mohe—whose status was at most equivalent to a vassal king of the Tang dynasty—not only failed to kneel when meeting him as the Emperor of the Great Tang, but instead adopted an arrogant and insufferable attitude.

Lavishly rewarding Chen Ying actually offered many more benefits to Li Yuan. Chen Ying could serve like the famous horse bones bought at high price, playing a vital role in attracting the heroes of the world to enter Li Yuan's service.

Li Gang's meaning was crystal clear: since Chen Ying did not currently hold a pivotal administrative post where he could no longer be promoted, he could be rewarded with an elevation in peerage, and at this juncture, raising his official rank and conferring a peerage did not conflict with one another.

In fact, upon reflection, Li Yuan realized this was true. The news of Chen Ying's crushing defeat of the Turks had already been proclaimed far and wide across the realm via open imperial dispatches. As time passed, regional separatist forces such as Wang Shichong in Luoyang, Dou Jiande in Hebei, Liu Wuzhou, and Song Jingang would all learn of this development. At this moment, Chen Ying was akin to a figure making the front-page headlines of future generations; every single movement he made would fall under the watchful eyes of interested parties.

If fairness was lacking, there was no guarantee that malicious individuals would not seize the opportunity to stir up trouble. It was worth noting that the Great Tang was not the only entity suffering from the scourge of the Turks; Dou Jiande in Hebei suffered just as severely. However, relatively speaking, Dou Jiande possessed greater strength and a more consolidated territory, unlike the Great Tang, which was divided into three isolated enclaves that were not mutually connected and thus easily broken one by one.

If Chen Ying were not heavily rewarded, neither Dou Jiande nor Wang Shichong would hesitate to shower him with lavish gifts.

In truth, Li Yuan was overthinking things at this moment; even if Dou Jiande or Wang Shichong were to offer Chen Ying the title of a vassal king, he would never defect to them.

With this thought in mind, Li Yuan asked, "Crown Prince, given Chen Ying's merits, how should his official rank be elevated?"

Li建成 pondered for a moment before replying, "Then let us increase his honorary military title by three grades, raising it to the rank of Grand General of the Ninth Grade (in the tenth year of the Zhenguan reign, the senior military titles of Senior General and Grand General of the twelfth grade were changed to Senior Protector of the State and Protector of the State respectively!), while granting him the substantive post of General of the Right Martial Guards."

The Left and Right Martial Guards held a very special status among the Twelve Guards; their defense sector was essentially the city of Chang'an itself, as they were responsible for the security of the imperial palace. If the Right Martial Guards were compared to a future capital military region, then the General of the Right Martial Guards was virtually equivalent to a deputy commander of the capital military region with a seat on the standing committee.

"Improper!" Li Yuan rejected Li建成's proposal without the slightest hesitation.

The reason was exceedingly simple: Li Yuan would never entrust his own personal safety and security details to a protégé of the Crown Prince.

Li Gang likewise declared, "Improper!"

Pei Ji said, "Improper!"

Liu Wenjing chimed in, "Improper!"

Li Shimin also stated, "Improper!"

Li Yuan's objection stemmed from his lack of trust in Chen Ying, whereas Li Gang's objection was based on the notion that Chen Ying was inherently a fierce tiger with glaring eyes—how could such a beast ever be used as a guard dog at the gate? Pei Ji's objection arose from the fear that Li建成 might use Chen Ying's hands to control the Right Martial Guards army, which would be detrimental to Li Yuan. Meanwhile, Liu Wenjing's objection was purely driven by factionalism—opposing it simply because the other side proposed it.

Li Shimin's objection largely aligned with Li Gang's view: since Chen Ying had won consecutive victories against the Turks, he should not return to Chang'an at this time, but rather remain on station to safeguard the Lingzhou frontier for the Great Tang.

If Li建成 had not brought up the idea of Chen Ying returning to Chang'an, it might have been fine, but the mere mention of it made Li Yuan even more determined not to let him return.

In the end, Li Yuan made the final decision with a sweeping verdict: "Let the Senior Cavalry Commandant, Count of Xiuwu, General of Loyal and Valiant Martial Might, and Commander of the Right Guard Escort, Chen Ying, have his honorary military title elevated to Grand General; let him be bestowed with the peerage of Marquis of Wugong, with a fief of one thousand five hundred households and a grant of one thousand five hundred mu of perpetual tax-free land; and let him be promoted to Governor-General of the Lingzhou General Command, exercising jurisdiction over the six prefectures and six military commandries of Shengzhou, Huazhou, Xiazhou, Yanzhou, Suizhou, Yinzhou, and Fengzhou!"