If one thought it over carefully, one would find that the rank of an official was all hollow. What mattered was how much power that office actually contained.
If it did not hold enough power, then no matter how lofty the position, it was still empty.
This was why some people sighed when promoted, while others beamed with joy when demoted.
Zhao Cheng now commanded five thousand troops in the Chain Mountains and had a base of fifty thousand people. Within this stretch of the Chain Mountains, his word carried the weight of the Nine Cauldrons. Even an imperial edict was little different from wastepaper in his territory.
His actual power was off the charts.
But if he returned to the Yellow Heaven Army's main camp, then even if his merits earned him a promotion to general, he could only become an assistant general.
Compared to his former position as Banner Commander, that would indeed be a single step to the heavens. But compared to the authority of General Yingtian, it was lacking by far too much.
More importantly, once he lost his military command and his base, a single order from a superior would send him to his death. If he resisted, he would be violating military law, and in an instant, even his life and death would no longer be his own to decide.
Under such circumstances, whatever he wanted to do would face boundless resistance. According to his superiors, they were not suppressing him, but tempering him. Only through more tempering could he shoulder great responsibility; it was for his own good. If he refused to submit, it meant his character had yet to settle and he needed further tempering.
Such things had happened far too often throughout history, whether in this world or the previous one.