In the latter part of the twelfth month, amid tangled social dealings, gradually stabilizing morale among the rank and file, and the "public sentiment" calling for "Duke Huan to become Grand Marshal," which had finally gathered momentum, the court's envoys traveled north from Jiankang and at last reached the former capital, Luoyang.
There were two envoys, a chief and a deputy.
The chief envoy was an elderly minister who had retired from his position as Imperial Censor-in-Chief. He had now been appointed Minister of Works, one of the Three Excellencies, concurrently serving as Gentleman Cadet in Attendance. His name was Che Guan, and his pedigree was distinguished: he came from the Che clan of Lu State. Although he shared an uncommon surname with Che Yin, a man of humble origins who had arrived escorting provisions a few days earlier, they were not of the same lineage.
The deputy was Yuan Zhen. Having spent more than a decade acting as a buffer between Huan Wen and the court, he was also an old colleague of Huan Wen and Mao Muzhi. These days, he could even count as Liu Cheng's colleague, and they had already met, so naturally he was a suitable choice.
It was worth mentioning that, whatever could be said of anyone else's achievements, Yuan Zhen had already been promoted to General of the Dragon's Might for his services before setting out.
Of course, his services were genuine, and even Liu Cheng had to acknowledge them... The supplies for Northern Yuzhou-that was, the military provisions for Mao Muzhi's people-had not come through Shouchun. Yuan Zhen had supplied them single-handedly. Anyone would have had to acknowledge that.
With Yuan Zhen's seniority and this achievement, raising his grade, burnishing his credentials, and making him General of the Dragon's Might was entirely appropriate.