Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 34 Special Merit
Xianyu Yue told Zhao Huaian that the army would go to battle in three days, and also brought him a good news, that is, Zhao Huaian's military merit was confirmed.

It turned out that when Zhao Huaian arrived at the Qiongzhou camp, he immediately reported the Tibetan head that he had captured. Now that it has been verified by the Central Army Secretary, he has been specially rewarded.

However, Zhao Huaian was not very happy at first, because he felt it was justified. After all, it was natural to be rewarded for meritorious service.

However, this was also good news to boost the cohesion of the small team, so he "happily" told everyone the news of the award, and sure enough, everyone cheered.

Even Lu Zhongyuan's guards looked at him sideways, and were more certain that Zhao Huaian had a strong background.

Zhao Huaian was busy drinking at the time and didn't notice these things. It was not until Xian Yuyue stayed in Zhao Huaian's tent that night that he realized how difficult it was to accomplish this task.

Xian Yu Yue is very experienced in dealing with people. When he helps others, he always makes sure to let the other party know how he is helping them, otherwise the help will be in vain.

While drinking in the evening, Xian Yuyue looked at Zhao Huaian's expression and knew that he knew nothing about this matter, so when the two of them met and had a long talk in the evening, he told him the story in detail.

It turned out that Zhao Huaian had misunderstood the situation before. He thought that Tang and Tubo had been mortal enemies for generations, so he thought that taking the Tubo head was a military achievement.

But what he didn't know was that about 52 years ago, in the second year of Changqing, the Tang and Tubo peoples had erected a monument to form an alliance in order to stop fighting and continue friendly relations.

At first, the Tang people did not think this alliance was important, because Tubo was always like this, sometimes peaceful and sometimes provocative, and the Tang Dynasty was also used to Tubo's lack of credibility and fickleness.

But no one expected that this alliance would be the last one. Up to now, there had not been a large-scale war between Tubo and the Tang Dynasty for 52 years.

When Zhao Huaian heard this, a thought suddenly flashed through his mind:
"I was saying that when we raided Tongshan Pass that day, those Tibetans were like fools. They rashly left the pass and then slept peacefully at night. They didn't even leave sentries at the camp. At the time, I thought it was because that fat Tibetan was stupid and incompetent. So this is the reason."

The Nanzhao Army was their ally, and the Tang Army had not fought with them for many years, so the Tubo Army only regarded Zhao Huaian and his men as a nearby mountain shed, and that was why they were careless and did not take them seriously.

Thinking of this, Zhao Huaian muttered to himself, it turned out that he was lacking in martial ethics.

While Zhao Huaian was muttering here, Xianyu Yue continued to talk about Tubo's military achievements.

Because there had been no war for many years, about twenty years ago, the Ministry of Personnel of the Secretariat stipulated that except during the autumn defense period of each town, capturing the head of a Tibetan at other times would not be counted as a merit.

In other words, the more than one hundred Tibetan heads that Zhao Huaian obtained at Tongshan Pass did not, in principle, amount to any military merit.

But the subtlety lies in the word "principle".

If Zhao Huaian went to the army to report the reward himself, he would definitely not get any, and he might even be subject to military law because of his status as a deserter.

But the one who reported the achievement to Zhao Huaian was Xianyu Yue, and behind Xianyu Yue was the military governor Song Jian, and behind Song Jian was the military governor Niu Cong, so this military achievement was forcibly confirmed.

The reasons for the verdict were well-founded. Although Zhao Huaian retreated from the Dadu River battlefield, he did not flee and was still rushing to return to the Qiongzhou camp, so Zhao Huaian was not guilty.

Moreover, he was not only innocent, but also had great merit, because the Tang army discovered the Tibetan army on the front line of Qiongzhou, so the Tibetans were the enemy at that time. Although Zhao Huaian did not capture the head on the front line, Tongshan Pass was the rear guard of this Tibetan army, so his merit was comparable to that during the war.

In this way, Zhao Huaian went from being guilty to being meritorious.

Not only is it meritorious, it is also a great meritorious service.

The military merits of the Tang Dynasty were divided into nine levels according to three battles and three victories.

Leading an army to defeat an enemy force with more people than oneself is called "going into battle"; defeating an enemy force of equal size is called "middle battle"; defeating an enemy force with fewer people than oneself is called "going out of battle";
Then, according to the number of prisoners killed, the troops were divided into three categories: those who captured and killed four-tenths of the enemy troops were considered high-level prisoners; those who captured and killed two-tenths of the enemy troops were considered medium-level prisoners; and those who captured and killed one-tenth of the enemy troops were considered low-level prisoners.

At Tongshan Pass, Zhao Huaian annihilated nearly a hundred Tibetan soldiers with a team of less than twenty people. According to military merit, he could be rated as first-class and won the battle.

Originally, Zhao Huaian thought that the ninth-class military merit of the Tang Dynasty was quite good. No wonder the ancestors of the Tang Dynasty could dominate Dongji for two hundred years.

But when Zhao Huaian was happily thinking about how to block this function, Xian Yuyue said "but."

Xian Yu Yue told him that this was only in theory. In fact, under normal circumstances, even if Zhao Huaian had made such military achievements, it would not be counted on him.

Because the number of major meritorious service is limited, if the number of enemy troops defeated at one time does not exceed 10,000, then the number of special merits cannot exceed ten. It can be imagined how rare this military merit is.

So under normal circumstances, the credit will be taken away by those with backgrounds first. Even if you have made a contribution, it will not be recognized as a special merit.

In addition, as Zhao Huaian himself observed, not only were the troops in the Tang Dynasty divided into different classes, but even the people were divided into high and low classes.

The Tang army issued a clear order to divide officers and soldiers into four levels.

Those who have been officials in the past or are still officials are considered "upper class"; those who are qualified to be officials or are descendants of minor officials are considered "second class" or "lower class"; and ordinary people who join the army are called "no class".

Unfortunately, the military records Zhao Huaian kept in the army showed that he was of no rank. Even with the same military merits, the treatment of meritorious service personnel varied greatly: the most senior received the most and were promoted the highest, and then the ranks declined in descending order.

So Xianyu Yue told Zhao Huaian that even if he had made special achievements in the battlefield, he would not be ranked. Even if he was ranked, because of his lack of qualifications, he would only get a worthless honor. If he wanted to be promoted, he would have to wait.

Although Zhao Huaian already knew that he had been rewarded, he was still so angry that he clenched his fists when he heard about these military rules.

Damn it! Isn't this bullying an honest person? Can Zhao Da really stand this?
On the other hand, the little fantasy that Zhao Huaian had left was also shattered by Xian Yu Yue.

Originally, he had fantasized about his own identity. If not a fugitive son of a noble, he was at least a rich young man. Now he was just being trained by the family and sent down to gain experience. Sooner or later, he would return to inherit the family business.

But the reality is so cruel. He, Zhao Huaian, is just an ordinary citizen and the lowest existence in the Tang Dynasty army.

How could Zhao Huaian bear this? According to the military merits of the Tang Dynasty, even if he died, it would be in vain.

Xian Yuyue wanted to say some details, but was interrupted by Zhao Huaian. He couldn't bear to hear it.

The Tang army is really too corrupt.

He asked Xian Yuyue directly:

"Old Yue, just tell me what you rewarded me this time."

Xian Yuyue also knew that he had just spoken harshly and provoked his second brother's temper, so he quickly comforted him:
"That's what I told you. The military values ​​background. Although you have no qualifications, you do have a background."

Then he told Zhao Huaian that this time his merits would be counted as special merits, but because the Qiongzhou camp had already reported the list of merits for this batch, there would definitely be no promotion.

When Zhao Huaian heard this, he cursed:
"You bastard! Are the soldiers so treacherous? Weren't we in a standoff before? The only time we attacked was when Envoy Song crossed the river to challenge them, and then we were undefeated? Where did this special achievement come from?"

Xian Yuyue smiled and didn't explain much.

Zhao Huaian, who was originally drunk, now lost all his anger and paced back and forth in the tent with his hands behind his back.

Okay, okay, this is how you guys all play, right?

The battle was not won, but the credit was reported.

At this moment, Xian Yuyue had already seen that Zhao Huaian was really angry, and quickly said the following words:
"Second brother, there's no need to be angry. With Envoy Song here, you won't suffer any loss. Although you won't be promoted in the army this time, you've been assigned to a local regiment, and that's what's most important."

Zhao Huaian knew that his cheap elder brother had always wanted him to form a Tutuan, but he had deeply felt during his time in the Tutuan camp that the status of this Tutuan group was really worse than that of dogs.

Not only did they have to provide all their equipment themselves, but they were not even given any supplies or rewards. If someone died, they died, without any compensation.

These local people are pure cattle and horses of the Tang Dynasty, and they even bring their own dry food.

So when he heard Xian Yuyue talking about Tutuan again, Zhao Huaian's face turned black. He grabbed Xian Yuyue's hand and complained:
"My dear brother, my dear brother Zhao Da, you can't push your younger brother into the fire like this."

As he spoke, Zhao Huaian pointed at the group of mud tents outside and sighed:

"Brother, look at those people outside. Their armor combined is less than mine. Once the war breaks out, these people will just be there to cushion the blade and fill the trenches. I, Zhao Da, haven't done much, but after all, is it reasonable for me to still be a ragtag group like this?"

Fortunately, there are no people from the United Front here, otherwise they would definitely be offended by this sentence.

But Xian Yu Yue didn't think about whether it was offensive or not. The moment he heard Zhao Huaian call him "big brother", he immediately realized that Zhao Huaian asked him to do something.

He had already discovered his second brother, who would call him "eldest brother" when there was something going on, and "older brother" when there was nothing going on.

Sure enough, Zhao Huaian, who was angry just now, suddenly started crying, and even had snot hanging from his nose. Xian Yuyue wanted to blow his nose off for him.

Zhao Huaian's tears rolled down his cheeks. He raised his head, sucked back his snot, and then said aggrievedly:
"Brother, please take me back to the Lizhou Army. I heard that our old commander is in the army. Let me meet him and I will lead my brothers to rebuild the Lizhou Army."

Zhao Huaian felt really wronged. The ancestors of the Tang Dynasty were really cruel. How could they send people to fill in the gaps after making meritorious contributions? He now wanted to join the regular army so that his safety would be guaranteed.

But when Xian Yuyue heard this, his face turned strange:
"Second brother, since you knew that Governor Huang was in the army, why didn't he recruit you?"

Zhao Huaian was stunned. Yes! Why not recruit me?

(End of this chapter)