Chapter 47: Some Rejoice, While Others Lament

To call Su Yao a general?

Why would Zhang Yang make such a remark?

This naturally brings us to the Great Han Empire's unique system of military merit and peerage.

Inheriting the institutions of Qin and founding the state through martial prowess, the Han dynasty placed paramount importance on military merit, further refining and developing the Qin Empire's system of military peerage into a rigorous twenty-grade standard.

Although the reigning Emperor had widely opened the path of selling official posts and noble titles—where even the Three Excellencies could be bought for a price—achieving peerage through military merit remained the most prestigious and valuable path.

Apart from the four great military feats of being first to scale a wall, breaking enemy formations, slaying generals, and capturing banners, the most foundational method was the head-count merit system.

However, the value of these severed heads varied according to the strength of the enemy forces. For instance, heads of ordinary peasant rebels or southern barbarians were far less valuable than those of the northern Qiang and Hu tribes.

For soldiers going to war, starting as basic infantrymen, slaying one enemy in battle granted a reward of one thousand coins; slaying two enemies promoted one by a single rank of nobility; slaying five promoted one by two ranks; slaying eight promoted one by three ranks. Such standard advancements could not exceed the fourth rank of Bugeng.

Only upon reaching the fourth rank of Bugeng was one qualified to serve as a tunzhang, or squad leader.

This was precisely why Zhang Yang had directly promoted Su Yao to tunzhang upon their first meeting.

This was not a matter of personal arbitrariness on Zhang Yang's part, but because Su Yao possessed solid, undeniable head-count achievements to back it up. Su Yao fully deserved the position.

Once a soldier reached the fourth rank of Bugeng and served as a tunzhang, military merit was calculated based on collective unit decapitations in field battles.

A tunzhang commanding in field warfare needed to accumulate seventeen or more enemy heads to be promoted by one rank to the fifth rank of Dafu.

A Dafu could serve as a baijiang, a commander of a hundred men. Field warfare requiring thirty-three or more enemy heads brought a promotion by one rank to the sixth rank of Guan Dafu.

A Guan Dafu could command an officer of five hundred men. Further field warfare yielding one50 or more enemy heads resulted in a promotion by one rank to the seventh rank of Gong Dafu.

A Gong Dafu could serve as a commander of a thousand men. Subsequent field warfare requiring 300 or more enemy heads brought a promotion by one rank to the eighth rank of Gongcheng.

A Gongcheng could serve as a qu junhou, a major. Further field warfare with 600 or more enemy heads granted promotion by one rank to the ninth rank of Wudafu.

A Wudafu could serve as a Sima. The number of troops commanded by a Junhou and a Sima typically ranged from one thousand to five thousand depending on the operational requirements.

At the same time, those holding the eighth rank of Gongcheng and the ninth rank of Wudafu were also eligible to serve locally as county magistrates. For instance, the renowned Liu Bei, Liu Xuande, would achieve this rank years later through repeated military merits and take office as the magistrate of Pingyuan County.

Going any further up from this point required slaying over a thousand enemies in battle before one could be promoted to the tenth rank of Zuoshuzhang.

Once a person reached the rank of Zuoshuzhang, the merit could no longer be decided by local authorities; it had to be reported to the central government for approval, as reaching this rank touched upon the Han dynasty's most critical threshold: the comparison of two thousand shi in salary.

What did a comparison of two thousand shi signify?

This could be called the watershed of social classes. Famous figures such as Palace Attendants, various Colonel Generals, Cavalry Commandants, and various titled Colonels all resided at this rank.

Reaching the level of two thousand shi in the military meant that you were no longer merely a common soldier, but a general capable of independently holding a sector!

Based solely on his tally of enemy heads and captives in this single campaign, Su Yao could be directly promoted in one leap to the ninth rank of Wudafu, not to mention his additional merits of being first to scale walls, slaying enemy generals, and capturing cities. This was why Zhang Yang had jokingly remarked that Su Yao was fit to be a general.

What a youthful hero indeed.

Zhang Yang's emotions were terribly complex.

He felt a mixture of joy, admiration, jealousy, and a sense of loss.

Wait, why wasn't he simply struck with awe, but instead felt jealousy and loss?

The answer was that Zhang Yang had already been struck with awe...

This brings us to the five hundred cavalry reinforcements he had pushed himself to the limit to secure.

Rushing forward at full gallop all the way, they had happened to run into more than three hundred Hu cavalrymen that very morning.

These were the routed soldiers who had been terrified out of their wits by Su Yao the previous night, narrowly escaping with their lives from the battle at the Yangyang Dao Stone Gorge.

It was precisely from the mouths of these panic-stricken soldiers fleeing northward that Zhang Yang learned he was likely to miss out on military glory yet again...

And now, seeing the reality for himself, it was indeed as expected—he had completely missed this campaign.

It must be known that Zhang Yang did not hold a formal military post, but was an official in the Inspector's Office.

Although he had contributed to the auxiliary coordination during this campaign, without sufficient head-count weight to his name, the actual distribution of merits would ultimately depend on the pronouncement of the new Governor.

If things went poorly, he would have to address this youth whom he had known for only a few days as "General." Considering that he had spent nearly forty years galloping across the borderlands and was merely a Martial Valiant official with a four-hundred-shi salary, it was naturally difficult for him to maintain his inner equilibrium by comparison.

What was the meaning of soaring straight to the heavens in a single bound? The youth before him was the true embodiment of soaring straight to the heavens!

In Zhang Yang's impression, the only youth he knew who had achieved such a meteoric rise while barely past twenty was the renowned Colonel of Agile Cavalry, Huo Qubing.

Yet the two of them were different. Colonel Huo had first been appointed as a colonel based on his status as a royal relative and subsequently established his military exploits, whereas this youth named Su had earned his merits first.

To have accomplished such an impossible mission and nearly annihilated three thousand cavalry!

Yet now, Zhang Yang could not even spot a single scratch on Su Yao! How terrifying; was this even the work of a mortal?

Even though he knew this boy's future was boundless, still...

Zhang Yang shook his head, casting away those lingering negative emotions. After all, he felt far more gratitude and joy than anything else.

After all, this great victory eliminated his greatest crisis and anxiety. Not only had the Xiongnu forces in Taiyuan been thoroughly swept away, but with such achievements under his belt, he believed his voice would carry much more weight before the new Governor.

Setting aside Zhang Yang's complex thoughts, the various officers down below were quite delighted upon his arrival. After welcoming him, seeing that the twilight was deepening, they set up camp on the spot and threw a remarkably grand celebration banquet using the plundered supplies.

As the saying goes, some rejoice while others worry.

No, the one worrying at this moment was definitely not the Chanyu Xiutu, who had no inkling whatsoever that his three thousand-man cavalry detachments stationed in Taiyuan Commandery had been utterly annihilated.

Instead, it was another chief official stationed in Bingzhou of the Great Han: the Colonel Protector of the Xiongnu, Wang Rou.

The Colonel Protector of the Xiongnu was, simply put, a grand official akin to the Protectorate General of the Western Regions in the later Tang Dynasty or the Military Governor of Heilongjiang and the Military Governor of Ili in the Qing Dynasty.

Specifically, he stationed his troops at Meiji, beside the royal court of the Xiongnu Chanyu in Xihe. Holding the imperial tally and a salary equivalent to two thousand shi, he was responsible for handling Xiongnu affairs and keeping watch over the Southern Chanyu.

At the height of its power, this office possessed the real authority to oversee the three commanderies of You, Bing, and Liang, as well as the Liaodong and Wuhuan encampments, ranking above both the General Protecting Liaodong and the Colonel of Wuhuan.

It was no exaggeration to say that at that time, aside from the central government of the Han, he was the highest military commander wielding an army of ten thousand chariots.

Under his control, not only was the Chanyu of the Southern Xiongnu forced by his intimidating pressure to reside as a guest in the Han territories of Bingzhou—subjected to long-term, rigorous surveillance by the Colonel Protector of the Xiongnu—but he was also required to send his sons as hostages, and even the succession and confirmation of the Chanyu were heavily interfered with.

For instance, on the two most recent occasions: first, during the reign of the previous Emperor, the Colonel Protector Zhang Huan had acted arbitrarily, detaining the Southern Chanyu Juche'er on trumped-up charges based purely on personal preference and demanding the replacement of the Left Guzhi King.

The second occurred precisely ten years ago, right at the dawn of the Guanghe era: the Southern Chanyu died, and his son, Chanyu Huzheng, succeeded him. Yet within a year, Chanyu Huzheng offended the Colonel Protector Zhang Xiu and was consequently slain by him, whereupon the then Right Worthy King—none other than the present Chanyu Qiangqu—was newly installed by Zhang Xiu.

Such were the glorious past events of the Han dynasty's Colonel Protector of the Xiongnu.

However, past events were ultimately just that—past events.

How times had changed; merely a decade later...

Right around the same period when Su Yao and Zhang Yang parted ways, speeding up time after the battle, managing domestic affairs, clearing out "side quests," and silently chanting "just one more turn before logging off" in his heart,

This general hailing from the Jinyang Wang clan was actually howling at the top of his lungs beside the pond of the Prefect's Mansion in Dai Commandery, Youzhou:

"Do not touch this old man! Step aside, all of you, let me die, let me die!"