Pei Zongyue did not rush to answer.
He poured himself a cup of tea from the pot beside the table, took a small sip, and set the cup back on the desk before speaking unhurriedly:
"Xu Yu won the Deputy Commander's Command Token in the competition. That doesn't mean he has to serve as Deputy Commander."
"If you had lost today, both positions would have fallen into the hands of outside factions, and things would have become troublesome."
"With one seat apiece, the two sects could share the pressure brought to bear by the Chief Inspector. Then their plan would have succeeded."
"At that point, whether the Pacification Guard answered to Lu, Pei, or the Golden Sun Temple and the Profound Sword Pavilion would have been anyone's guess."
Yi Yang nodded. That reasoning was not hard to grasp, but he continued:
"But now that I've secured the top position, what difference does it make who gets the deputy's seat?"
"A world of difference."
"Because you secured the top position."
"The situation has been turned completely on its head."
Pei Zongyue took a sip of tea before explaining:
"Whichever faction sends someone to serve as Deputy Commander, once he enters the Pacification Guard, he'll have the Chief Inspector pressing down from above, you, the Commander, hemming him in beside him, and sixty members of the Pacification Guard below him, all belonging to the Heaven Patrol Office."
Pei Zongyue tapped his thumb twice against the rim of his cup and smiled:
"If an outside faction's man takes the deputy's seat, he won't be able to move his subordinates, get deployment orders approved, or even enter the Pacification Guard's storehouse."
"To put it plainly, he'd be coming here to warm the bench."
Yi Yang understood. If outsiders took both positions, they could band