After Wang Chong received the prisoners An Dushan sent over, he soon understood what the fat man nicknamed Anushan was plotting.
In his previous string of battles, An Dushan had fought local strongmen. These strongmen had little support for the Empress to begin with: they either held territories of their own or obeyed her in public while defying her in private. By sending these men to Wang Chong, he meant to add a faction opposed to the Empress to Wang Chong's ranks.
Yet An Dushan simply could not understand how Wang Chong thought.
Wang Chong had no intention whatsoever of taking these prisoners as his "subordinates" or "vassals." He put every last one into the Tailwind Army, where they all had to start at the bottom and could not influence any of his decisions at all. The Tailwind Army had soldiers but no officials, duties but no authority. Apart from answering directly to him, the highest position was squad leader, followed by deputy squad leader. Though some squads had grown a little, they numbered only a few hundred at most. Outstanding men would be selected for the various military units, while those weeded out of those units would replenish the Tailwind Army. As the ancients said, running water never went foul, and a door hinge never grew worm-eaten-this was precisely what they meant. Most people who threw their weight around relied on their positions. Just look at any corrupt official arrested in later ages: each had spent years entrenched in a particular field, with roots and branches tangled everywhere. Anyone who could thrive wherever he went could only be relying on personal charm and talent, and such people were bound to be capable at their work.
Under Wang Chong, those skilled at being officials were like men who had learned