Taiheiki

Chapter 297 The Tyrant's Mansion
The banquet lasted until evening, and finally it was time for gift-giving. According to the custom at the time, people would give gifts to the groom during the first visit to his family.

Dou Wu presented a chestnut-red horse from Hexi, complete with a full set of silver saddle and harness. The horse's shoulder height was a full 1.7 meters, an exceptionally magnificent steed. Dou Ji presented a horn bow, accompanied by a bag of carved feather arrows. Dou Shao presented a magnificent cowhide tent, which, when set up, covered two hundred square meters and could accommodate twenty or thirty people for the newlyweds to enjoy their outings. Dou Jing presented a set of gold wine cups inlaid with rubies and emeralds. Finally, when it was the turn of the Empress Dowager Dou Miao, she presented a delicate wooden model of a manor.

"This manor is located at the eastern foot of Yique Mountain, with beautiful scenery, and it's not far from Luoyang! You two can also travel and relax there!" Dou Miao winked at Dou Yun: "Ayun, unlike others, I don't give horses or bows and arrows that can only be used by Mengde. You can use this manor too. Isn't it true that your older sister is taking good care of you?"

"Thank you so much, elder sister!" Dou Yun quickly bowed in gratitude.

“And the Great General!” Dou Miao’s gaze turned to Wei Cong: “I know you have a lot of things to do, but don’t neglect A-Yun!”

"Your subject understands!" Wei Cong quickly replied.

"Very well! Today, everyone in the hall is from our clan, and there are more than forty officials with salaries of two thousand shi or above. Our clan is truly prosperous!" Dou Miao raised her wine cup: "May the gods of heaven and earth bless our Dou clan with everlasting good fortune. Cheers!"

"Cheers!" Everyone in the hall raised their wine cups.

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Because he had drunk quite a bit of wine, Wei Cong was a little clumsy when he boarded the carriage. As he sat down next to his wife, he whispered, "Today I heard the Empress Dowager say that there are more than forty people in the Dou family with a salary of over two thousand shi (a unit of grain), is this true?"

"I'm not quite sure about that either!" Dou Yun replied awkwardly. He hadn't expected Wei Cong to suddenly ask him this question. "But if the Empress Dowager says so, then it must be true!"

"Hmm!" Wei Cong nodded. He pondered for a moment and asked, "There are so many?"

"Is that a lot?" Dou Yun asked, somewhat displeased. "There are so many prefectures and counties in the land, and each prefect receives a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain). Why can't someone from the Dou family be one?"

"Whether it's more or less is not up to me, nor to you, but to everyone in the world!" Wei Cong leaned back in his chair. "The Dou family is already extremely honored. If they occupy so many more official positions in various prefectures and counties, it would be going too far!"

Dou Yun wasn't foolish enough to directly argue with Wei Cong, but even a fool could sense her displeasure from her silence. Wei Cong sighed. Historical records say that Dou Wu was modest and self-reliant, but he was not immune to the common practice of appointing members of his own clan. However, given the Dou family's current situation, what else could they do but appoint members of their own clan? During the Han Dynasty, it was a case of the clan benefiting when prosperous and being exterminated when in decline; it would be strange not to appoint their own family. His ability to secure the position of Grand General was also related to his marriage to a woman from the Dou family, thus being considered a member of the Dou clan. He now found the Dou family's behavior rather unreasonable; it was indeed going too far.

“I know that as the son-in-law of the Dou family, I have no right to say these things, but this will definitely become a handle for external enemies to attack the Dou family!” Wei Cong said in a low voice.

"They can say whatever they want!" Dou Yun replied indignantly. "Anyone in this position would do the same; it's not just our Dou family!"

“That’s true!” Wei Cong laughed. “But perhaps there’s a way to have the best of both worlds!”

"What method?" Dou Yun asked curiously.

"It's very simple! Everyone in the world is watching an official position with a salary of two thousand shi (a unit of grain measure), it's just too conspicuous!" Wei Cong laughed. "If we changed it to something else, it might be much better!"

"Change it? Can officials really be changed?" Dou Yun laughed. "How is that possible? Could there be two kinds of officials in the Han Dynasty?"

"Of course!" Wei Cong laughed. "Have you forgotten? As a general, I naturally have the power to establish my own government and appoint officials. Even if I recruit all my subordinates to join the Dou family, no one in the world will say anything, right?"

Dou Yun was taken aback by Wei Cong's words. Just as Wei Cong had said, during the Han Dynasty, besides the imperial court itself, many high-ranking officials had the power to establish their own offices, meaning they could independently recruit talent as their retainers. Officials like Wei Cong's Grand General and the Three Dukes possessed this power. These officials differed from prefects, county magistrates, and the central government's Commandant of the Capital Region and the Five Commandants of the Northern Army; they were considered the retainers of their superiors. The selection and recruitment of officials were considered matters within the superior's authority, and even the emperor rarely interfered. If Wei Cong selected more members of the Dou family from among his subordinates, the world would at most think Wei Cong's behavior was unseemly, but no one would suspect the Dou family of having ulterior motives.

"Although you are a general, how many officials do you have in your mansion?" Dou Yun said angrily. "Besides, a rank of two thousand shi is the governor of a prefecture, the foundation of the country. How can the officials of the general's mansion compare to him? If you ask them to give up their two thousand shi rank to become your subordinates, I'm afraid my clansmen will be the first to object!"

"Hehehe!" Wei Cong laughed: "Back when I was in Jiaozhou, I wasn't the governor yet, I was just the prefect. You should know that the prefect is just an inspector of a province. He has no power to interfere in the internal affairs of the various counties and kingdoms within the province. The prefects of the counties can refuse my orders, but I still have to collect taxes and conscript soldiers from the counties. Do you know how I did it?"

"How did you do that?" Dou Yun asked, puzzled.

"It's very simple. At that time, I had just defeated Zhang Xu, and bandits were everywhere in the counties and prefectures of Jiaozhou. So, in the name of the Governor of Jiaozhou, I set up arresting commissioners in each county and prefecture, one in each county and a number of troops under their command. Their task was to capture bandits. These arresting commissioners were considered officials under my administration, so they naturally did not need the approval of the court. With troops, we needed food, drink, and money to fight, and we needed to collect taxes. We also had the power to arrest and deal with bandits. Soon, the internal affairs of each county fell into my hands. Whether the prefects of each county were willing or not, they had to obey me. I could also conscript soldiers and collect taxes from each county. It was precisely with these soldiers and taxes that I was able to conquer the Kingdom of Linyi and expand our borders by more than a thousand miles!"

Upon hearing this, Dou Yun understood: "So you plan to send my clansmen to various prefectures to serve as some kind of pursuit envoys?"

"It doesn't have to be that name, just something similar will do!" Wei Cong laughed. "As the Grand General, I am in charge of military campaigns and imperial guard duties. All the troops in the country are under my command. Therefore, wherever there is war, chaos, or banditry in any prefecture or county, I have the authority to set up military offices and appoint generals and officers to quell it. The decision of who to appoint or not to appoint is entirely my own; I only need to report to the Emperor or the Empress Dowager. So, do you understand?" Hearing this, Dou Yun's eyes lit up. Her previous disdain and resentment towards her husband had vanished, replaced by admiration and love. Just as Wei Cong said, the Eastern Han Dynasty inherited the military system of the Western Han Dynasty. The Grand General was the highest military rank, equivalent to the Three Dukes, possessing the power to command the entire army and oversee military campaigns and imperial guard duties. The first Grand General of the Western Han Dynasty was Han Xin.

Furthermore, the Han Dynasty was not far removed from the Warring States period, so the appointment of generals in the early Han Dynasty still retained strong characteristics of the pre-Qin era. After appointing a general, the ruler would first order the Grand Historian to perform divination, and then fast for three days before going to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to consult the sacred tortoise shell and choose an auspicious day to bestow the axe and halberd. The ruler would enter the temple gate, standing facing west, and as he was about to enter, he would stand facing north. The ruler would personally hold the axe, holding the handle, and hand it to the general, saying, "From here to the heavens, the general will control it." The ruler would then hold the axe, holding the handle, and hand it to the general, saying, "From here to the abyss, the general will control it."

Then the king declared: "Advance when the enemy is weak, halt when the enemy is strong. Do not underestimate the enemy because of our large army, do not fight to the death because the mission is important, do not despise your subordinates because of your high status, do not go against the will of the masses because you think your opinions are unique, and do not be arrogant because of your eloquence. Do not sit down before your soldiers; do not eat before your soldiers have eaten. Treat your soldiers the same food and drink as they do. In this way, the soldiers will fight with all their might."

After accepting the appointment, the general bowed to the ruler and replied: 'I have heard that state affairs should not be subject to external interference, and battles should not be remotely commanded by the monarch from the court. A minister with divided loyalties cannot serve the monarch faithfully, and a general constrained by the monarch and filled with doubt cannot concentrate on fighting the enemy. Now that I have been appointed to assume military command, I will not return alive without victory. Please allow me to handle all matters according to the above instructions; if not, I dare not bear this heavy responsibility.'

"After the ruler agrees, the general bids farewell to the monarch and leads the army into battle. From then on, all matters in the army are not subject to the monarch but to the general. In battle, the general is single-minded. In this way, the general is not restricted by the weather or the terrain, and no enemy dares to resist him, nor is the monarch hindering him from behind."

To prevent generals with great military command from threatening the monarch, the Han Dynasty implemented many restrictions on generals of various types. The most important of these was to make the general a non-permanent position, meaning that a general was appointed when there was a mission and dismissed when the mission was over, thus minimizing the duration of the general's office and preventing it from threatening the monarch.

However, things changed during the reign of Emperor Wu of Han. The Grand General gradually transformed from a temporary national military commander into the head of the inner court. Especially in the Eastern Han Dynasty, the Grand General became an exclusive position held by the maternal relatives of the emperor. By adding the title of Minister of the Imperial Secretariat and controlling the cabinet, the Grand General controlled the entire government. Unbeknownst to many, the Grand General also became a permanent position, and this shackle was broken.

Fortunately, the generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty all became generals by sending their daughters into the palace. They had little military experience and no military staff of their own. In addition, the military power of the five Northern Army Schools was actually largely held by the eunuchs of the inner court, so there was no hegemonic political system.

Wei Cong's emergence fulfilled the final condition for the rise of the Hegemon's Mansion: Firstly, although he belonged to the Dou clan, he had risen through the ranks of the army, fighting his way up from the bottom. Before becoming a Grand General, he already commanded a powerful army and even an independent civil administration, managing a vast territory and millions of people. Wei Cong himself possessed extensive military and civil administration experience. Therefore, Wei Cong could easily use the pretext of special wartime circumstances to gradually undermine and replace the empire's original civil administration through his Hegemon's Mansion, hollowing out the entire country from within. Unfortunately, the emperor was young at the time, and the Empress Dowager sided with him, leaving no one capable of stopping him.

"When do you plan to start, my husband?" Dou Yun asked with great interest.

"First, I need to set up my shogunate, and then do things little by little!" Wei Cong laughed. "This kind of thing should be like a silkworm eating mulberry leaves; it's finished before anyone notices!"

"Silkworms eating mulberry leaves? That's a great analogy!" Dou Yun laughed. "My sister will be very happy to hear that!"

“Yes!” Wei Cong nodded: “Of course. After the pontoon bridge is completed, please invite the Empress Dowager to attend the completion ceremony! Then you can issue an edict to let me oversee the national grain transport. This way, I will have a reason to expand the scale of my headquarters. With this position, I won’t have to worry about expenses and manpower. You don’t need to worry. In three years at most, or two years at least, the Dou family will fade from the public eye and hide behind the scenes. Even if people in the world want to attack, they won’t know who to attack!”

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Posthouse.

"I'm dying of thirst! Give me a glass of wine!" Duan Wei strode into the study and shouted.

"Give it to him!" Duan Jiong gestured, and Xia Yu pushed a glass full of wine towards him. Duan Wei picked up the glass and drank it all in one gulp.

"What did Zhang Sikong say? About me?" Duan Jiong asked.

"Give me another cup!" Duan Wei pushed the empty cup over again. Xia Yu shook his head helplessly, filled the cup, and Duan Wei drank a little slower now: "I spent half an afternoon at Zhang Sikong's place, and what he meant could be summed up in four words—'Wait a little longer'!"

"Wait again? I've been in Luoyang for almost two months already, and I still have to wait? How long?" Duan Jiong said angrily, "Is this old man playing tricks on me? We're all from Liangzhou, it's really unfair of him to do this!"

“It shouldn’t be!” Duan Wei shook his head: “In my opinion, Zhang Sikong is not that kind of person. Besides, if he wanted to shirk responsibility, there are many simpler ways. He wouldn’t need to spend so much time seeing me!”

"You're actually speaking up for him! Whose brother are you anyway?" Duan Jiong asked.

"To be honest!" Duan Wei laughed. "Besides, I don't think Zhang Sikong can make the decision. You know, he asked me a question today: 'Brother, would you be willing to go to Jiaozhou?'"

"To Jiaozhou?" Duan Jiong was stunned. "What does he mean? What important person have I offended that I should be exiled to Jiaozhou?"

"No, that doesn't sound like it!" Duan Wei quickly explained, "According to him, if you are willing to go to Jiaozhou, you will not only be granted a title of ten thousand households, but also receive a large reward."

(End of this chapter)