This group had only come together temporarily under Sun Yuantai's command. True, the court had appointed a deputy commander, but in a matter this grave, he could not possibly bypass Sun Yuantai and take command himself.
Besides, if the deputy commander invoked "emergency authority" to take command at this moment, then even if things were handled properly afterward, it might not be a good thing. Acting beyond his authority, the best outcome would be for merit and fault to cancel each other out. If he mishandled it, he would be unable to escape blame afterward.
Since ancient times, every imperial power had relied upon the army, yet also feared the generals within it. And among all things, none was more dreaded than moving troops over one's superior's head.
Unless there was an order from above, one could not act rashly—even if that superior had suddenly died.
These were all lessons written in blood and left behind in the history books.
Without such rules, deputy generals could murder their commanding generals, deputy commanders could plot against their commanders-in-chief, and seize power that way. The entire military structure would descend into chaos.
There had even been a dynasty where the deputy commander of the Imperial Guards defending the imperial city sided with the Crown Prince. At the time, the old emperor had been ill and absent from court for some time. At the critical moment, the man directly killed the commander-in-chief, then used a forged imperial tally supplied by the Crown Prince to mobilize troops. Under the banner that eunuchs had imprisoned the emperor, he entered the palace with the Crown Prince to purge the emperor's side.
Afterward, quite a few officials and eunuchs truly were killed. The old emperor became the Retired Emperor, languished in misery for over half a year,