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Fei Qian looked at the aloeswood name card in his hand and smiled faintly.
Both "calling tablets" and "piercing cards" could be presented as items of introduction when seeking an audience with someone, much like the business cards of later ages, yet there were certain nuances that distinguished the two.
A calling tablet was generally about the length of one and a half open palms, slightly wider than five fingers held together, and roughly as thick as the back of a hand. To put it simply, it was like a rectangular wooden board, scaled up from the dimensions of a palm. For those who were particular about such things, it would also be coated with lacquer.
Then, according to prescribed form, one would inscribe one's name and titles. For instance, if Fei Qian were to make a calling tablet for himself, he would write the large character for "tablet" in the center, and then, close to the right-hand edge, add a line of smaller characters reading: "Left Office General of the Household, Acting Protector of the Xiongnu General of the Household, Concurrently Administering the Affairs of Shang Commandery, He-Luo Fei Qian, prostrates himself twice."
This would constitute a complete formal calling tablet greeting.
A piercing card, however, was far more simplified. Not only was the wooden slip reduced in size, but there was also no need to inscribe such a profusion of characters with rigid formality. One merely needed to write one's official position, place of origin, and name.
In short, the calling tablet was used on formal occasions, mostly when an inferior sought an audience with a superior, while the significance of the piercing card was truly akin to the business cards of later ages—distributed freely whether useful or not.
In the past, the famed scholar of the North, Guo Tai, was deeply admired by the students and scholars of the day. During his travels, when he passed through Luoyang, throngs of students and passersby all hurled their piercing cards at him, so many that they often "loaded carts full of cards," nearly burying him alive.
The Linfen Three Elder, Wei Wang, had sent a piercing card via Wei Liu. The implications were self-evident. The Wei clan, was it...
Fei Qian did not overly blame Wei Liu for this. Smiling faintly, he instructed Wei Liu to return and inform Wei Wang that he would respectfully await his distinguished visit on the morrow.
Wei Liu, feeling rather ashamed of himself, hurriedly assented and withdrew in haste.
This was precisely the sort of problem that arose with people who came from powerful clan backgrounds. Fei Qian simply had not expected it to be laid bare before him so soon. In truth, Wei Liu had not necessarily been willing to convey this message for Wei Wang, but as a disciple of the Wei clan, he had no choice but to act as a bridge between the two parties.
For example, had Wei Wang come directly to his door, Fei Qian could, of course, have made excuses and politely declined. Since they were complete strangers, there would have been nothing improper in doing so. Yet with Wei Liu acting as an intermediary, Fei Qian and Wei Wang, two people originally utterly unconnected, now shared a "familiar relationship" predicated on Wei Liu's existence. It thus became impossible to be overly blunt or rigid.
It was just that this conduct of Wei Liu's—submitting to the will of the Wei clan—was not a particularly good thing from Fei Qian's perspective. Of course, Wei Liu was not unaware that such an action would leave an unfavorable impression on Fei Qian. But the pressure from his clan had forced him to yield, and as a result, he would thereby distance himself from Fei Qian's inner circle.
The core circle could only be entered by those who placed Fei Qian's interests first and foremost.
It did not necessarily require utterly diehard loyalty, for such diehard loyalists were, in most circumstances, exceedingly rare. The vast majority of the time, most people fell into the same category as Wei Liu, which might be termed "relative loyalty."
This was, indeed, a rather peculiar current state of affairs within the gentry clans.
If one were to classify things according to the attribute points in the games of later eras, then in the circle surrounding Fei Qian, the first ring—those with a loyalty index above 95—would undoubtedly consist of Huang Cheng, Huang Xianliang, Huang Xu, and others of their ilk. In the vast majority of situations, they were the swords and shields in Fei Qian's hands, responding as though they were extensions of his own limbs, unwavering in their loyalty. Even if Fei Qian were to announce an immediate rebellion, they might remonstrate with him, but they would be among those who would follow him regardless.
Next came people like Du Yuan and Jia Qu, who could be classified as coming from humble backgrounds. Well, perhaps Ma Yan, Ma Yue, and Xu Huang might also belong here. Their loyalty hovered around the 90 mark. At this level, as long as no major divergences in principle arose between them—meaning, if at this moment Fei Qian declared his intention to defect to the Xiongnu, these were the people who might rebel if their remonstrations proved ineffective.
Cui Hou, born of a merchant background, could hardly avoid being somewhat profit-driven. In terms of classification, his loyalty would probably be around 85. This was his nature and also his easily exploited weakness. Therefore, as long as Fei Qian could maintain a trajectory of ascent, there would be little need to worry about Cui Hou pulling any underhanded tricks. After all, the Cui family's initial investment had been fairly substantial, and without sufficient profit, any radical change was unlikely.
As for Wei Liu, Chen Rui, Zhang Lie, and those of a similar stripe, they were relatively worse off. If their loyalty value had to be quantified, it would essentially fall below 80. They harbored selfish motives and personal attachments. To a certain extent, they would cooperate and get things done, but when faced with momentous decisions, one could not be quite sure of how to keep them in check.
This interruption from Wei Liu had, at least, temporarily set aside Fei Qian's thoughts concerning Luoyang. Even if he were to lead his troops south now, Luoyang had already been burned. The only question was whether that Sun Red-Hand, the number one lucky fellow under heaven, would once again grope a female corpse and then uncover the Imperial Heirloom Seal. How many lifetimes' worth of good karma must that have accumulated?
At present, although he had no way to launch any sort of monetary offensive—handing out gold, silver, and treasures on a monthly basis to boost his subordinates' loyalty—he did currently have two complete sets of government office positions at his disposal.
He would take things slowly. After the autumn harvest, he could carry out the first round of merit evaluations. The reason Fei Qian had not immediately bestowed rewards after receiving the seal and insignia of General of the Household was precisely this consideration.
At that moment, Huang Cheng entered from outside, pausing briefly at the lower part of the hall before walking in and saluting with cupped hands, under Fei Qian's nod of acknowledgment.
Fei Qian gestured for Huang Cheng to take a seat and then asked, "How is the consolidation of the troops proceeding?" Matters concerning the very safety of his life and property could naturally only be entrusted to Huang Cheng's handling before one could feel at ease. These past few days, Huang Cheng had been reorganizing the surrendered White Wave troops, as well as sorting through and recruiting from among the common people who had been swept along with them—hardly an easy task.
Huang Cheng drew out several wooden slips from his bosom. Seeing this, Fei Qian grumbled inwardly once more. It seemed the paper-making workshop absolutely had to be set up ahead of schedule. His finances were already painfully tight; spending money to purchase paper for daily use would be far too wasteful. So even if only two young apprentices were available, the workshop had to be launched first. Otherwise, this really was far too inconvenient.
"In accordance with your instructions, my lord, after screening, over two thousand four hundred of the White Wave surrendered troops have been incorporated into the combat forces. The rest are temporarily engaged in digging irrigation channels. Once the channels are completed, they will be assigned to open up military farmlands..." Huang Cheng reported.
Fei Qian nodded. With the screening completed, the next step was to establish the loyalty of these soldiers.
Yet he had never imagined that Huang Cheng would suddenly pose a question—one that Fei Qian had consistently never considered before—which left him extremely embarrassed.
Huang Cheng asked: "Recently, Zidu has been successively breaking through Hu encampments and has also captured quite a number of Hu women. I venture to ask, my lord, should we establish a women's quarter?"
This...
If handled poorly, this could very well turn into a matter warranting censorship.
What was he to do?