"It's the general!"
The patrolling armored guards immediately recognized Chen Ben and began shouting.
Chen Ben stood motionless on his war chariot, looking every inch a general.
Soon, several commandants hurried over. On seeing Chen Ben, they immediately bowed deeply in greeting.
"Rise, all of you," Chen Ben said gravely. "Who is in command here now?"
"General! I am!"
Tian Xu, a general under Chen Ben, bowed low before him.
Chen Ben glanced at him and said solemnly, "I have His Majesty's edict restoring me to my post. Will you obey my commands?"
Without hesitation, Tian Xu hastily replied, "I will!"
Most of the troops stationed at Yewang were Chen Ben's men. It was precisely because his troops fought better that Sima Zhao had entrusted them with the main assault.
In fact, to weaken Chen Ben's and He Zeng's control over their troops, Sima Zhao had once intended to mix the armies of Ji Province and Youzhou together for garrison duty.
But the conflict between their commanders, compounded by Sima Zhao's earlier malicious instigation, had left the two sides so hostile that they practically fought whenever they met. With no other choice, Sima Zhao had deployed them separately on either side of his own position.
Everything went smoothly on Chen Ben's side. Under the unique political system of the Wei-Jin era, his word carried more weight here than Sima Zhao's.
Before Zhong Hui even had time to produce the emperor's edict, Chen Ben had already regained command of the army.
Yet Zhong Hui frowned slightly as he watched the officers gather around Chen Ben.
If the one who had originally deployed them had been the emperor rather than Sima Zhao, would these men still have followed Chen Ben?
Zhong Hui felt there was a very strong chance they would have