Shi Miyuan thought for a moment and said, "My lord, it won't be difficult to arrange a military post for Lord Gu Aotian, but we cannot assign him too high a rank rashly, or it will invite criticism. In court, I am not someone whose word carries absolute weight. There are still quite a few so-called remonstrance officials and famous scholars who see me as a treacherous chancellor."
Bai Xiaowen thought, You are a treacherous chancellor. Are you afraid of people saying so?
Yet outwardly, Bai Xiaowen remained very tranquil and nodded slightly. "Tell me what you have in mind."
Shi Miyuan said, "I can establish a new 'Loyal and Brave Camp' within the Huai East army. Lord Gu Aotian can serve as the Commander of the Huai East Loyal and Brave Camp."
"Commander?"
Bai Xiaowen narrowed his eyes.
Military posts in the Southern Song could not be granted casually. Military offices were divided into two categories: "rank offices" and "duty offices." Rank offices were equivalent to modern military ranks, while duty offices were actual positions.
The Southern Song had a total of fifty-two military ranks!
However, the Southern Song valued civil officials over military ones. No matter how high a general's military rank was, it could not surpass that of civil officials. In particular, generals commanding troops outside the capital were often only fifth rank or below and naturally had to submit to the control of civil officials.
Take Yue Fei, for example. He enlisted at the age of twenty and earned many merits along the way, yet only six years later did he become a "Military Classics Gentleman of the Lower Seventh Rank," the fortieth rank. That was already a rise of thirteen ranks, since the lowest military rank was "Trustworthy Gentleman of the Lower Ninth Rank," the