Huan Wen was a good leader.
Even if he could not arrange a marriage into a second-rank great house, he was still a good leader. Those were Liu Acheng's words.
He had barely finished his work and returned home for two days of rest on special leave when his reward was settled: a noble title... Pavilion Marquis. When Huan Wen sent Huan Xin to collect Wang Qia's family, he had him inform Liu Cheng directly that the Western Expeditionary General's Office had formally petitioned the court to grant him the title Marquis of Duting. There was no need to worry about whether the court would approve. From this moment onward, Liu Acheng had vaulted into the ranks of marquises! And a Pavilion Marquis at that, not some Marquis Within the Pass or Marquis Beyond the Pass.
When he led troops in the future, it would be perfectly proper for his subordinates to address him as "my lord marquis."
A Pavilion Marquis at seventeen. Guan Yu would have died of envy.
Still, this was hardly a case of soaring into the heavens in one leap, because marquisates in Great Jin were not worth much, especially the Pavilion Marquis rank.
Why?
Naturally, with family pedigree in the picture, noble titles-something that could only be tied to military merit to distinguish social classes-had long since depreciated enormously.
Broadly speaking, aside from the Sima Clan's own princes, the order of value was Founding Duke, Commandery Duke, Founding Marquis, County Marquis, Township Marquis, and Pavilion Marquis.
The reason the word "founding" mattered so much was precisely that it was bound up with this age's obsession with pedigree. Founding meant continuity, meant hereditary succession without reduction in rank. Take Wang Lantian of Wang Shu's family: the reason his title Marquis of Lantian County was mentioned so