Li Jingxuan did not know what illness it was.
Nor did he know whether the illness was real or feigned.
In any case, after the Prince of Badong returned from visiting Li Jingxuan, he stopped talking about having made up his mind.
Still, he did not close the door on the matter. He merely said they should first concentrate on recruiting retainer troops. As for their next move, they would decide once that business was finished.
Wang Yang argued no further, remaining silent.
The Prince of Badong then appointed Wang Yang Military Commander on the spot!
The Military Commander was the "Military Advisor" of Wei during the Three Kingdoms period. Under Jin, the character for "advisor" was replaced with that for "commander" to avoid the personal-name taboo surrounding Military Commissioner Shi. In Wei, this had still been an established office with a fixed rank, found throughout the various headquarters: Central Military Advisor, Left Military Advisor, Right Military Advisor, Military Advisor for the Conquest of the South, Grand Commandant's Military Advisor, and so forth. By the Southern Dynasties, it had become an appointment created for particular circumstances. It was established when an army mobilized and abolished when the army stood down, with neither a permanent incumbent nor any requirement that it be filled. It was not a regular office but a temporary title, though its authority exceeded that of its predecessors.
The holder participated in military decisions, oversaw essential military affairs, enforced military law, and coordinated campaigns. He could involve himself in every matter within the army, making him effectively the commander-in-chief's deputy. Wang Yang held the appointment as a private citizen. Although he had no official grade or rank, within the army his standing was comparable to that of a deputy commander-an exalted position, rather like being beneath one man