Chapter 312: The Case of Selling Official Positions (Part 1)

Li Qing’an learned about the visit of Pugu Huai’en’s wife and daughter while dining with his family. He immediately connected this incident with the case of selling official positions that had occurred earlier that day. If it was merely a coincidence, it was suspiciously convenient.

After dinner, filled with doubts, Li Qing’an stopped chatting with his family and returned to the military headquarters right away. He wanted to review the list of those promoted over the past two months. Generally, promotions in the Anxi Army followed strict procedures, mainly falling into two categories: promotions based on military achievements and those not based on military achievements. Promotions based on military achievements were self-explanatory, while those not based on military achievements applied to logistical civilian officials and soldiers who never had the chance to fight in battles. The difficulty of such promotions was much greater, as they depended mainly on regular evaluations and length of service.

The lists were submitted by the commanders of various troops, then reviewed by the Anxi Army’s military affairs department before being approved by the military governor. If the governor was absent, the deputy governor would approve them in his place. Officials above the rank of captain had to be approved by the governor and also reported to the imperial military ministry for record-keeping.

Li Qing’an quickly found Zhao Xing’s name in the files of the Hanhai Army. He was a guard at the north gate of Luntai County and had been promoted to team leader last year after serving for five years; he was not a combatant.

Two months earlier, it was the annual time for evaluating and promoting non-military personnel. Since Li Qing’an was not in Anxi, the deputy governor, Feng Changqing, approved promotions for officers below the rank of captain. However, there was a problem: Feng Changqing could only approve officers below the rank of captain, while those above that rank had to be approved by Li Qing’an himself. Yet Zhao Xing’s wife claimed he had been promoted to captain, which suggested some foul play. Of course, Feng Changqing would not overstep his authority, so the problem must lie in the promotion list submitted by the Hanhai Army.

With the help of several officials, they quickly found the thick stack of promotion lists from the Hanhai Army—327 people in total, including their resumes and evaluations. Most of them were officers below the rank of captain. The list bore the signatures of Pugu Huai’en, the deputy commander of the Hanhai Army, and Nan Jiyun, the chief commander. In other words, the list was drafted by Pugu Huai’en. Out of the 327 people, 222 were approved, with nearly 30% being rejected—a result of Feng Changqing’s strictness and thoroughness.

Li Qing’an flipped through the pages one by one. Almost every page listed those who had been rejected, along with Feng Changqing’s handwritten reasons—mostly insufficient tenure or failing evaluations. When he reached the fourth page, Zhao Xing’s name appeared clearly; he too had been rejected, for two reasons: first, he had only been promoted to team leader last year, violating the rule of promoting every three years; second, his six-year evaluation showed only two “above average” results, falling short of the minimum three required for promotion to brigade commander.

Li Qing’an suddenly realized the issue—these were not officers but merely brigade commanders. He was stunned for a moment before immediately ordering his bodyguards, “Go and bring that young woman from this afternoon!”

A short while later, the young woman was brought into the room. Still wearing her mourning clothes, she knelt down timidly, not daring to say a word.

“I want to ask you—have you remembered wrongly? Did your husband say it was possible to buy an officer position or a brigade commander position?”

“Reporting to the great general, I haven’t remembered wrongly. It was indeed an officer position. My husband said that a brigade commander position cost 300 guan, while an officer position cost 600 guan. I asked him why not buy the cheaper brigade commander position, since his quota for brigade commanders was full, with only one officer position available.”

“Are you sure you haven’t remembered wrongly?”

“Not at all. I dare not hide anything.”

Li Qing’an stared at the woman for a long time before waving his hand and saying, “You may go.”

The woman was taken away, and Li Qing’an’s thoughts returned to the stack of promotion records. He flipped through the other rejected candidates—most had minor errors, either insufficient tenure or failing criteria.

The problems identified by Feng Changqing were obvious: simple mistakes like insufficient tenure or inadequate evaluations could be attributed to carelessness if they occurred in just one person. But with so many people making the same mistakes, could Bu Gu Huaien, a general with years of experience, be unaware of these issues?

This suggested that the phenomenon of buying official positions likely involved more than just Zhao Xing—Zhao Xing was merely the tip of the iceberg.

Li Qing’an closed the promotion records. He now had a general understanding of the scheme. If Bu Gu Huaien was indeed selling official positions, he must have employed two tactics: first, overpricing lower-ranking positions by selling them at the price of higher ones; second, refusing refunds, leaving the buyers to bear the risks. If they failed to get promoted, he would deny any responsibility. Most people endured in silence, while Zhao Xing, having lost everything, ended up committing suicide in despair.

Li Qing’an calculated the amount of money Pu Gu Huaien had embezzled. Even if he only took money from those who didn’t meet the requirements, and even if only Zhao Xing was involved in selling low-ranking positions at high prices, with 100 people each paying 300 guan, Pu Gu Huaien would have made at least 30,000 guan from this scheme. That’s why he felt guilty—hence sending his wife and daughter to visit his family and giving them a pair of expensive jade qilins. Connecting these scattered events made all the doubts clear.

Li Qing’an paced back and forth in the room with his hands behind his back, deeply worried. His greatest concern was whether Nan Jiyun was also involved, and whether other units in the Anxi Army were acting the same way. If corruption was widespread, it would mean he, Li Qing’an, had failed in his duties. At that moment, Cen Shen, the military supervisor of the Anxi Army, rushed in, holding a compilation of promotion reports. He bowed to Li Qing’an and said, “Your humble servant greets the great general!”

“Do you know what I want to investigate?”
“I understand now.”
Cen Shen handed the report to Li Qing’an and said, “This is a summary of promotion requests submitted by various units this year. Please review it, General.”
Li Qing’an immediately took the report and flipped through it quickly. The tension in his heart eased—thankfully, although some units had applicants rejected, the number was usually under ten. The Hezhong Army, led by Li Fei Yuanli, had nearly twenty applicants rejected, yet he had reported over 400. That ratio was still acceptable. If there were problems, they must have been caused by subordinates acting on their own.

Only the Hanhai Army had a strikingly high number of rejected applicants—115. Feng Changqing had even marked a question mark next to it, indicating he was aware of the issue. Then why hadn’t he told Li Qing’an earlier? Could it be that Nan Jiyun was indeed involved?

At that moment, a messenger’s voice came from outside, “Mr. Yan has arrived!”
Li Qing’an perked up. He had been looking for Yan Zhuang! He quickly said, “Please invite him in!”
The door opened, but two people entered—Yan Zhuang and Pei Yu, the envoy he had sent to the Byzantine Empire.
Li Qing’an was overjoyed and hurriedly said to Pei Yu, “Weren’t you going to Talas City? When did you return?”
“I heard the great general had returned, so I rushed back at full speed.”
“Come! Come! Please sit down.”
Li Qing’an warmly pulled Pei Yu to sit down, while Yan Zhuang sat down smilingly without interrupting their reunion. After Li Qing’an married Du Gu Mingyue, he became related to the Pei family, and Pei Yu became one of his allies. Being practical and capable, his future was bound to be bright.

Pei Yu sat down, and Li Qing’an poured him another cup of tea, smiling and saying, “If Elder Pei were to see his grandson turned into black charcoal, I wonder how heartbroken he would be.”
Pei Yu also smiled and said, “It’s quite convenient. Everyone along the way thought I was a Turk, so I didn’t need to disguise myself. Even the Byzantine emperor thought I was a Turk.”
“Did you meet Byzantine Emperor Leo III?”
Pei Yu shook his head and laughed, “Leo III died at the beginning of the Tianbao era. It’s his son, Constantine V, who is now on the throne. Though the general wrote the wrong emperor’s name, Constantine V didn’t mind. He still thought Empress Wu Zetian was still ruling the Tang Dynasty!”
Li Qing’an laughed loudly. “That’s quite interesting. I made a mistake for ten years, while they made one for fifty years.”
After laughing, he asked again, “So what was his attitude toward the suggestions in my letter?”
The smile vanished from Pei Yu’s face. He sighed and said, “Although Constantine V is young, he is very cautious. He said he doesn’t know much about the Tang Dynasty and hopes to have more exchanges with them. He didn’t mention joining forces to attack the Arabs.”
Li Qing’an nodded. He could understand the Byzantine emperor’s caution. After all, he wasn’t the emperor of the Tang Dynasty and couldn’t represent the Tang Dynasty’s will. If he agreed rashly, and a new governor was appointed in Anxi without acknowledging the alliance, Byzantium would be in an awkward position. But since the Byzantine emperor hadn’t explicitly refused, it meant he was also interested in attacking the Arabs together.
Thinking of this, he asked, “Did he say anything about how to strengthen exchanges? Was there any written reply?”
Pei Yu said, “There was no written reply. But he said he would send envoys to Suiye at an appropriate time. From his tone, it seems he hopes that the city of Itil can become a trading hub between the two countries.”
“Trade!” Li Qing’an nodded. He roughly understood now. The Byzantine Empire wanted to trade with the Tang Dynasty, which could also be considered a form of exchange.
“What are your thoughts on the Byzantine Empire?”
“Their capital is built by the sea, a fortress of unparalleled strength. I don’t know how it could be conquered. The city is extremely prosperous, especially in foreign trade. The common people are poor, but the nobles profit from foreign trade and live in extreme luxury. They also raise silkworms and weave silk, but the quality is poor. That’s why one piece of Tang silk can be sold for five Byzantine gold coins there, yet it’s still in short supply.”
Pei Yu took out a gold coin from his pocket and handed it to Li Qing’an, smiling and saying, “This is their gold coin. They call it chrysorhodon.”

These past two days, Li Qing’an has been paying attention to coinage. He quickly took the gold coin and examined it closely. It wasn’t large, somewhat similar to the newly minted silver coins of the Tang Dynasty—irregular in shape, roughly made, without a hole in the center, with designs on both sides. The obverse featured an image of Christ, while the reverse showed something resembling a scepter along with a circle of Roman script. Though crude, it had a high gold content.

Pei Yu pointed at the image of Christ and said with a smile, “This is the saint they worship. But the Byzantine emperors oppose the worship of saints. It’s common to see troops destroying icons and burning monks. Due to the chaos, I didn’t stay long and returned.”

Although he was very concerned about matters in Byzantium, the issue of selling official positions was urgent. Li Qing’an patted Pei Yu’s shoulder and said with a smile, “You’ve had a hard journey. Go back and rest first. I’ll discuss Byzantium in detail with you tomorrow.”

Pei Yu realized Li Qing’an had important matters to attend to with Yan Zhuang, so he stood up and said with a smile, “Then I’ll take my leave first.”

He nodded at Yan Zhuang and left. After Pei Yu left, Li Qing’an put aside the matter of Byzantium for now and asked Yan Zhuang, “How’s things with Prince Qing? Will he agree to go to Shazhou?”

“I’ve already talked to Mr. Yan. He says it shouldn’t be a problem. Prince Qing has always been dissatisfied with Kucha. As long as we can build a palace for him in Dunhuang, he’ll be persuaded to visit Dunhuang and eventually settle there permanently.”

Li Qing’an was still satisfied with Yan Zhuang’s efficiency. Knowing that Yan Zhuang came from Juzhan Ti, he asked again, “How’s the situation with food supplies?”

Yan Zhuang hadn’t gone to the exchange site by the Amman River. He had arranged for the transportation of food from Juzhan Ti. He had just returned to Suiye with the first batch of food and said with a smile, “The first batch of 100,000 dan of food has been delivered successfully. Everything is going well. I estimate we can get one million dan of food within two months, which should be enough to handle the immigrants and the war with Tubo.”

Li Qing’an had only asked about food casually; what really concerned him was the case of selling official positions. He handed the compiled list to Yan Zhuang and said, “Take a look! Can you spot anything?”

Yan Zhuang was in charge of military supplies in Suiye and wasn’t involved in personnel matters, so he wasn’t aware of the corruption behind promotions. After examining the list for a while, he said, “It seems too many people from the Han Navy were rejected.”

“That’s exactly the problem. This afternoon, a military family member came to complain. Her husband spent 600 guan to buy an official position in the Han Navy, but failed to get it. His money wasn’t refunded, so he committed suicide. Pugu Huai’en is very likely the one who took the money behind the scenes.”

Li Qing’an sighed and said, “What worries me most now is that Nan Jiyun might also be involved in this matter, so I want to hear Mr. Yan’s opinion.”
Yan Zhuang thought for a moment and said, “If Nan Jiyun isn’t involved and only Pugu Huai’en is, what plans does the general have to deal with him?”
“Kill him and issue orders to the entire army!”
“No!” Yan Zhuang firmly opposed it.
“Why not?” Li Qing’an asked in surprise.
“General, killing anyone from the Anxi Army is fine, but Pugu Huai’en must not be killed under any circumstances!”
“Are you saying Pugu Huai’en comes from the Shuofang Army?”
Yan Zhuang nodded. “That’s exactly what I mean. I’ve heard that Pugu Huai’en enjoys great prestige among the Shuofang Army. If the general kills him, I’m afraid it will cause unrest among that army. Even if no unrest occurs, how can the general explain this to the emperor? The emperor will surely send censors to the army under the pretext of investigating corruption, creating chaos, and eliminating the general’s trusted allies one by one. The general must think carefully about the consequences!”
Li Qing’an hadn’t considered this outcome. Yan Zhuang was right—Emperor Li Longji would not miss such an opportunity. Once the battle against Tubo ended, he would surely use this pretext to stir up trouble in the Anxi Army. Even if he couldn’t remove himself from power, he could still eliminate his trusted allies, weakening himself greatly. In such a situation, family secrets indeed couldn’t be exposed.
“But if I don’t kill him, my hatred won’t be satisfied!” Li Qing’an said resentfully.
“The general needn’t rush. I have a plan that kills two birds with one stone.”