After seeing Chun Shisanniang off, Li Zhigao was also exhausted from the journey. After washing up and returning to his bedchamber, listening to Su Hongyu discuss marriage arrangements for their two sons Li Zhi and Li Dan, and hearing fresh news about Luoyang City that she’d just learned from Chun Shisanniang, he unknowingly drifted off to sleep.
Waking at dawn, hearing voices of people talking inside and outside the courtyard, Li Zhigao got up and walked out to see a burly middle-aged official with two attendants standing in the corridor outside the inner courtyard, speaking with Li Zhi.
Although Li Zhi was only twenty-two years old, he already qualified in the military for promotion to deputy brigade commander level positions. However, Li Zhigao had brought him along to Luoyang not only hoping to quickly settle his marriage, but also to demonstrate his complete relinquishment of military authority. He also hoped Li Zhi could temporarily leave the bloody killing fields to take up a position in Luoyang where he could gain more experience and growth.
Li Zhigao observed the middle-aged official had an extraordinary bearing, yet wore low-ranking civil official robes. Assuming he was an attendant official assigned to him by the General Staff Office, he was about to have Li Zhi take him to the front hall first, waiting until after he washed up to formally inquire about General Staff Office related matters.
“This is General Chen Kun, instructor at the Military Academy…” Li Zhi said to Li Zhigao.
Li Zhigao was taking up the position of Assistant Director at the General Staff Office while concurrently holding the position of Chancellor at the Military Academy.
Currently, Luoyang National Comprehensive Academy had various superintendent positions and other administrative posts, as well as teaching positions including chancellors, professors, instructors, and assistant teachers.
The Military Academy was relatively independent. The chancellor position was nominally the highest administrative post. Li Zhigao had been thinking about Military Academy transition matters—how at the very least an academy superintendent or vice-superintendent type administrative official should come to transition with him. But seeing Chen Kun bow in greeting, in a flash he suddenly realized who this person was and hurriedly returned the courtesy:
“Ah, so it’s General Chen Kun. Why did His Lordship send you to me?”
Li Zhigao had never met Chen Kun face to face, but how could he possibly not know of his deeds?
“Chen Kun cannot accept Military Office Lord’s courtesy,” Chen Kun said. “Chen Kun performed meritorious service in mausoleum construction and was promoted one rank, transferred from Yichuan County Deputy Magistrate to serve as instructor at the Military Academy—Military Office Lord holds the chancellor position, so Chen Kun as assistant instructor will henceforth follow Military Office Lord’s assignments.”
“I dare not, I dare not,” Li Zhigao said hastily, then instructed Li Zhi: “Accompany General Chen to the front hall to wait briefly. I’ll come right after washing up. This is truly discourteous of me.”
Li Zhigao hurriedly washed up and rushed to the front hall, sitting down with Chen Kun as host and guest, calling Li Zhi and his second son Li Dan, who was still getting up behind him, to come sit in attendance.
General Staff Office affairs were busy. Even concurrently holding the Military Academy chancellor position, Li Zhigao would find it difficult to attend to daily matters there.
However, as the Military Academy served as Great Liang’s cradle for cultivating military officers, this chancellor position, even if nominal, was extraordinary and couldn’t be casually assigned to anyone to oversee—even Guo Que and Xi Nu’er both had slightly insufficient qualifications.
Li Zhigao had initially assumed that besides himself, Han Qian would select another veteran general with established reputation from the military to serve as academy superintendent to preside over daily affairs. But now seeing Chen Kun sitting before him, he guessed what Han Qian’s arrangement was.
Chen Kun had committed the grave error of indiscriminately slaughtering women and children during the attack on Xingyang. For Han Qian to strip him completely of military rank and then restore and reemploy him in just two or three short years would damage the dignity of state law. At this time, the Military Academy didn’t establish a superintendent position, but had Chen Kun, in his capacity as a low-ranking assistant official, actually responsible for the Military Academy’s daily affairs—this could be considered a proper arrangement for him.
Additionally, although Chen Kun’s rank appeared low, with his qualifications and reputation, there was no need to worry about others having opinions about such an arrangement.
After resting briefly, Li Zhigao took his two sons with Chen Kun to the General Staff Office.
The General Staff Office and Left Secretariat Office dealt with military and political decision-making, located just outside the south gate of Shangyang Garden, with a corridor directly connecting to Lingyun Pavilion where Han Qian routinely received military ministers and handled governmental affairs.
Besides the Left and Right Assistant Directors, the General Staff Office also had Guo Que, Xi Fa’er, Yin Peng, and other deputy supervisors and administrators in charge of various departments. Wang Zhe also served as Policy Drafter and Remonstrance Official, specifically responsible for liaison between Lingyun Pavilion and the General Staff Office.
At the hour of chen, Chief Administrator Jing Hao also arrived at the office to meet Li Zhigao. Jing Hao had formerly served as Commander of the Imperial Guard Infantry Command and, along with Jing Zhen who had served as Commander of the Chengtian Bureau, were both core generals close to Zhu Yu.
Jing Hao was not yet sixty years old, but unfortunately from his early years of campaigning south and north, he’d accumulated a body full of injuries and illnesses. Today arriving at the office to meet Li Zhigao, he was also supported by attendants.
Jing Hao currently merely held a nominal Chief Administrator title at the General Staff Office and no longer concerned himself with specific affairs. Coming to the General Staff Office today to meet Li Zhigao was formally to transfer authority over the office.
Jing Hao had three sons. Two were posted externally as officials, while his second son Jing Jin served as Deputy Administrator in the General Staff Office’s Military Supervision Department.
“The General Staff Office’s authority is extremely weighty. I hope Lord Li will wield it to assist His Lordship in achieving eternal accomplishments for this generation,” Jing Hao said with no small regret, grasping Li Zhigao’s hand in comfort.
Although the average lifespan in this age was very low, this was mainly due to high infant mortality rates and poor people lacking medical care and medicine. For those in the halls of government, the age of sixty could be considered the prime of one’s vigor and strength.
If not for injuries and illnesses left from early years of warfare, how could Jing Hao willingly surrender the position equivalent to Great Liang’s Left and Right Supreme Marshal?
Yet Jing Hao didn’t covet power and position. When Zhu Yu originally persuaded the military ministers to support Han Qian’s ascension, he had said the hope of reversing the crisis in Hehuai, resisting the barbarian invaders, and reunifying the realm could only rest on Han Qian.
Now seeing the first ray of dawn’s light emerging toward the realm’s reunification under Great Liang, how could Jing Hao not feel regret at being unable to participate personally and welcome the arrival of this flourishing age?
Li Zhigao felt emotionally moved, thinking with feeling: what matter could inspire people more than pioneering eternal accomplishments and leaving one’s name in history?
Speaking of the General Staff Office’s weighty authority, compared to the Privy Councils of Chu and Shu, Han Qian had concentrated in the General Staff Office nearly all military powers except recruitment and military registration management, including barracks and fortress construction, arms and weapons research and development, manufacturing, procurement, military deployment, military officer appointments and promotions, and even military discipline supervision and intelligence reconnaissance.
The General Staff Office at this time was equivalent to the command tent for Great Liang’s hundreds of thousands of stalwart troops.
After seeing Jing Hao off, Li Zhigao met with middle and high-level officials in charge of various General Staff Office departments, including administrators, deputy administrators, and key executive officers. In the afternoon, he went to Lingyun Pavilion to participate in cabinet meetings.
Regarding governmental affairs, although a decision-making method had formed with the Left Secretariat Office making determinations and the Council of Deliberation reviewing them, Great Liang was in a period of rapid territorial expansion, with military situations changing moment by moment. Some important and complex military-political matters were primarily discussed by principal officials from various offices and bureaus gathering at Lingyun Pavilion.
In these cabinet meetings, Han Daoming and Zhu Juezhong, who presided over the Council of Deliberation, still fulfilled the reviewing role. Even Han Qian’s determinations could be blocked if the Council of Deliberation generally opposed them.
The afternoon cabinet meeting’s focus was organizing the First and Second Central Field Armies.
Organizing the First and Second Central Field Armies wasn’t simply a matter of assembling various troops together.
Besides Kong Xirong and others, Han Donghu and several other generals designated to assume major command positions in the Second Central Field Army also rushed from Xingyang, Hulao, and other places to Luoyang to attend the cabinet meeting.
These two elite forces would bear the military responsibility of protecting the capital and providing mobile reinforcement to campaigns on all fronts in the future. Their bases necessarily had to be established in or near Luoyang. Besides the supreme commanders, the combat staff departments, camp construction, logistics support, military discipline supervision, and other departments for the First and Second Central Field Armies all needed to be confirmed quickly.
The field army bases—the First Central Field Army on the western flank mainly at Tongguan and Pujin Pass to the north, the Second Central Field Army on the eastern flank mainly at Hulao Pass and Mengzhou—thus flanking Luoyang perfectly on left and right. Simultaneously, with convenient water and land communications, they could utilize and modify existing garrison camps.
When military deployment was needed, these two central elite forces could also rapidly deploy over long distances to various battlefields to provide support operations.
Luoyang’s military ministers all possessed extremely practical spirits and hands-on experience. Under Han Qian’s forceful coordination, with rare factional infighting or power struggles, decision-making and implementation efficiency was extremely fast. Li Zhigao quickly became familiar with internal General Staff Office affairs as well as matters across various offices and bureaus.
In late June, Gao Shao and Han Yuanqi respectively rushed to Xuzhou and Donghu to take up their posts. Jing Hao formally retired to convalesce from illness. Before Tian Cheng returned to Luoyang, Li Zhigao had to single-handedly support the General Staff Office first.
Specific affairs had Guo Que, Xi Fa’er, Yin Peng, Jing Jin, and others assisting. However, organizing the First and Second Field Armies, drafting campaign plans for military operations in southern Jin, adjusting relationships between various field armies, reserve forces, and their bases still kept Li Zhigao frantically busy. Not until the end of June could he invite Chun Shisanniang and Yun Puzi to rush to the Censorate’s detention prison to visit Lu Qingxia, Yao Xishui, Zhou Yuan, and others.
As Great Liang’s highest institution for criminal justice and surveillance, the Censorate was primarily responsible for guiding and supervising criminal justice and surveillance affairs at provincial, prefectural, and county levels, promulgating detailed regulations for criminal supervision laws. As for specific verdicts and punishments, the Censorate only handled examination of major and critical cases. After examination confirmed correctness, execution was still carried out by provincial and prefectural level criminal justice departments—they wouldn’t specifically transport major criminals to Luoyang for execution.
More importantly, after Han Qian abolished old practices of clan extermination and guilt by association, the traditional situation of central prisons overflowing with people whenever major cases arose could no longer be seen at the Censorate’s detention prison.
When Li Zhigao and Yun Puzi arrived at the detention prison, the prison administrator already knew Li Zhigao was visiting with His Lordship’s oral decree. He specifically led prison officers of all ranks to receive them at the main gate.
Li Zhigao dismounted. After Hongyu and Chun Shisanniang helped the elderly, frail Yun Puzi down from the carriage, they were about to enter the prison under the prison administrator’s guidance. At this moment, he noticed several people outside the main gate blocked by jailers at the roadside yet looking this way. A youth-like figure opened his mouth to call out but was covered by a woman beside him and dragged aside.
“Who are those people?” At a distance of several dozen paces, their faces weren’t clear. Li Zhigao asked the prison administrator.
“Perhaps Zhou Yuan’s family?” Su Hongyu said hesitantly. She saw the elderly woman in the distance resembled Zhou Yuan’s wife, Zhao Shi.
“Besides Zhou Yuan’s eldest son Zhou Xing and second son Zhou Wen both being imprisoned together, his other family members are under house arrest at Shuiliu Courier Station and haven’t been imprisoned. According to prison regulations, on monthly occasions his immediate relatives can come visit. Counting the days, today Mrs. Zhou brought the young son to visit, but encountering Military Office Lord coming, we temporarily detained them outside,” the prison administrator reported.
“Call them over to come in with us,” Li Zhigao said.