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Fei Qian turned the newly acquired official seal of the General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu over and over in his hands, still feeling somewhat dazed and disoriented. Although its solid weight in his palm was undeniably real, somewhere deep inside, he still found it a little difficult to believe.
Had he really just been promoted?
Although the appointment carried the provisional designation, the seal, the ribbon, the staff of authority, and all the other accoutrements were fully complete and present.
Unlike the usage of the term "acting" for certain assignments, the provisional designation here was a matter of formal delegation, meaning that, until the imperial court appointed a substantive and permanent General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu, the entirety of Fei Qian's scope of authority, his official rank, and his corresponding salary and entitlements would all be identical to those of a full and permanent holder of the post.
The seal, the ribbon, the staff of authority...
During the Han Dynasty, the material and the knob style of official seals differed according to the rank and grade of the office.
The very first tier naturally belonged to the seals used by the Emperor himself. For daily use, there were six types: the Emperor's Walking Seal, the Emperor's Seal, the Emperor's Trust Seal, the Son of Heaven's Walking Seal, the Son of Heaven's Seal, and the Son of Heaven's Trust Seal. These were collectively referred to as the "Six Seals of the Imperial Carriage." There was also one additional seal—the "Imperial Heirloom Seal of the Realm"—which vividly sketched the greedy faces of the Shandong gentry clans. The Empress's seal also belonged to this first tier, likewise called a "xi," and was made of white jade with a knob carved in the shape of a chi-dragon.
The second tier comprised the seals held by the various Liu-surnamed princes and kings. These were also referred to as jade seals, but in truth they were made of gold, with a knob carved in the shape of a tortoise.
The third tier consisted of the seals for the Crown Prince, the Imperial Chancellor, the full marquises, and the Generals-in-Chief. All were made of gold with tortoise-shaped knobs. The seals of full marquises were called "yin," while the rest were called "zhang."
The fourth tier included the seals for officials of the Fully Two Thousand Dan rank and the Two Thousand Dan rank. These were all made of silver, with tortoise-shaped knobs, and were designated as "zhang." Commandery administrators, inspectors, and regional governors mostly fell into this category.
The fifth tier covered official seals from the rank of One Thousand Dan down to Two Hundred Dan. All were made of bronze, with a nose-shaped knob, bore four characters, and were called "yin," though sometimes the character for "yin" was omitted in the inscription.
The very last tier comprised the seals of minor officials below the rank of Two Hundred Dan. These were all bronze, with nose-shaped knobs, and were half-sized seals.
According to Han regulations, the standard official seal for the hundred civil and military officers had sides measuring one Han inch, and was termed a full official seal. The half-sized seal was exactly half the dimensions of a full official seal, and was thus termed a half seal, which was essentially the seal for petty functionaries.
Fei Qian looked at the silver seal in his hand, feeling a surge of deep emotion.
Previously, Fei Qian's official seal had been that of "Left Bureau General of the Household," while his role as Acting Administrator of Shang Commandery had been merely a delegated function. In other words, he had performed the administrative duties of the Administrator of Shang Commandery while holding the substantive rank of Left Bureau General of the Household. For that assignment, he had held only the ribbon and the staff of authority, but no official seal proper. It was akin to the later practice in which someone bearing the title of an office supervisor from the main corporate headquarters is dispatched to a branch company for an inspection or to provide guidance, and is addressed respectfully by the staff as "Boss So-and-So." Everyone understands perfectly well that the person is not actually of true boss rank; it is merely a polite form of address.
As for his post as Commander of a Separate Detachment under the General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu, that one had indeed come with both the seal and the ribbon. That seal had been of the same rank as the Left Bureau General of the Household seal—bronze, with a nose-shaped knob—and even the full title could not be inscribed on it; it had only been engraved with the four characters for "Protecting the Xiongnu Commander"...
And now, what he held in his hand was the "Seal of the General of the Household Protecting the Xiongnu."
The entire seal was perfectly square. In certain minute crevices that normally would never be touched or handled, a dark patina of silver tarnish had formed, lending the seal a pronounced air of age and the vicissitudes of passing years. The seal characters were engraved in intaglio, their strokes angular and sharp-edged, the script upright and square, full of the forceful intent of the engraver's blade. The tortoise sculpted for the knob was lifelike in form, its shell arched high and decorated with a pattern of hexagonal concentric rings. Its legs were relatively short, its neck extended forward, and its head slightly protruded, as if it were poised and ready to crawl onward at any moment.
So this was his seal now?
Fei Qian mused inwardly. Did this mean that from this day onward, he was a regional warlord in his own right?
This effectively amounted to the authority to establish his own independent headquarters and appoint his own staff. A commandery administrator's headquarters and the headquarters of the General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu—now he would have two entire systems of personnel under his command...
In truth, the headquarters of a commandery administrator and the headquarters of the General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu were not remotely on the same level. Strictly speaking, the commandery administrator's headquarters followed a fixed, static model, whereas that of the General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu was a mobile, roving model.
For example, the administrative seat of Hedong Commandery was located at Anyi. Therefore, the headquarters of the Administrator of Hedong Commandery was naturally also situated at Anyi. All administrative matters great and small, all relevant laws and ordinances for the entire commandery, were gathered and processed at Anyi, and then issued forth from Anyi to the various counties of Hedong, from where they would then radiate out to the countryside.
Furthermore, as commandery administrator, aside from exceptional circumstances such as the invasion by the Bobo Bandits, he generally enjoyed the freedom to leave his administrative seat only twice a year. One occasion was to inspect the spring plowing, and the other to inspect the autumn harvest. Agriculture was the foundational bedrock of the state, and thus required meticulous oversight and inspection. During all other times, he was required to remain within his administrative seat.
If Fei Qian were to recover Shang Commandery, he would then have to select a county seat within that territory to serve as his administrative center. Then, all of his subordinates belonging to the commandery administrator system would naturally have to remain at their respective posts, each man fixed in his role like a radish in its hole, and unable to move about freely.
The General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu, however, was different. He had no fixed administrative seat. This meant that wherever the central army command tent was pitched, that location would serve as the administrative center for the General of the Household.
The difference in convenience and flexibility was naturally immense.
He was happy, of course, he was happy. Yet, according to what the Imperial Envoy who had delivered the decree had said, this promotion to Acting General of the Household in Charge of Protecting the Xiongnu had been an arbitrary and unilateral decision by Dong Zhuo. It had gone through absolutely no deliberation with either the Emperor or the Three Excellencies, and had simply been issued directly as an order from the Imperial Secretariat.
If that was the case, it seemed that his relationship with Dong Zhuo...
The faint clatter and chime of armored plates gently knocking against each other reached his ears. A personal guard stepped forward, cupped his hands, and announced, "Attendant Clerks Cui, Jia, and Wei, along with Cavalry Commander Ma, have arrived in answer to your summons."
Fei Qian nodded, carefully placed the official seal upright at the corner of his desk, and then instructed the guard to admit the four men.
As Fei Qian watched the four men enter from outside, a peculiar sensation suddenly welled up within him...
Cui Hou hailed from Sili, and his cousin was Cui Jun, the Administrator of Xihe Commandery. During this recent period, although Cui Hou had not directly taken to the battlefield, in the realms of commerce and trade, including the efforts of the Cui family's managers and clerks, his contributions had in truth been quite substantial. Moreover, looking at the current situation, Pingyang City was desperately in need of all manner of goods and supplies, so Cui Hou's responsibilities and importance were both considerable...
Jia Qu was a scholar who had voluntarily come to offer his service upon Fei Qian's arrival in Hedong. He was young, full of drive and initiative, and could be counted as a versatile generalist. By now, he had proven himself to be fairly diligent and dedicated in his management duties, and he also got along with Fei Qian quite well. If he could accumulate more experience and further enrich his expertise in both civil governance and military affairs, he would truly be an uncommon talent...
As for Wei Liu, he was also a man of Hedong, but he was from the Wei clan. He was usable, but for the time being, he could not be entrusted with matters of great importance, because the imprint of the Wei clan upon him was still far too deep. So long as there was no conflict with the interests of the Wei clan, he would mostly apply himself with sincere diligence, but by the same token, he would also maintain a certain degree of communication and information-sharing with the Wei clan. This was, without question, an unavoidable issue...
Ma Yue, the adopted heir of Ma Yan, was a man of Shang Commandery. He was a military officer who could be cultivated and developed. In terms of martial valor, he was passable enough, but he somewhat lacked astuteness and brilliance. His ability to adapt on the fly and respond to sudden changes was perhaps slightly deficient. To put it another way, if he failed to make further progress in the future, he would only be suited to serve as a tactical commander, and would never be able to function as a true, independent commanding general...
Four men, and yet they represented four different social strata, four different sets of interests.
Fei Qian could not help but produce a wry, inward smile. Was this something that every man who established his own independent headquarters was inevitably forced to experience?