Jiuxi

Chapter 594: 592 [The Title Granted by the King]

As Lu Chen said, merits must be rewarded and faults must be punished. This is the rule for the normal operation of the court. Otherwise, there will inevitably be hidden dangers of breeding internal strife.

The great victory at Yongqiu was inspiring and ensured that the late emperor did not die with any regrets. Rewarding the three armies was an impeccable move.

Even though the court's expenses are a bit tight now, this money must not be saved.

In the eyes of many court officials, the current situation seems a bit strange.

Although keeping the enemy out of the country is the credit of all the soldiers, there are different levels of credit, which is unquestionable.

Specifically speaking of the war in Jiangbei, from pre-war planning to command during the war, Li Tianrun, Xiao Wangzhi and Lu Chen made the greatest contributions.

Now Li Tianrun has been conferred the title of Duke of Wei for his merits, becoming the third person after Han Lingfu and Xiao Wangzhi.

Xiao Wangzhi was conferred the title of Duke of Rong because of his great victory in the first Northern Expedition. However, there was no precedent in Da Qi for a subject to be conferred the title of king, so it was difficult for him to advance further in terms of title. However, it should be a foregone conclusion that he would return to Beijing to take charge of the Military Academy.

In this way, the only thing left to be finalized was Lu Chen's reward.

After the merits and rewards of these three people were determined, other generals and soldiers who participated in the war in Jiangbei could be rewarded according to their merits.

From this perspective, there was nothing wrong with Li Zongben's intention to reward Lu Chen. On the contrary, it was Lu Chen's refusal that made the other ministers puzzled.

They could understand that Lu Chen did not want to be too much in the spotlight, but the emperor had only just mentioned the topic and had not even revealed how he would reward him.

Maybe it's just verbal praise, plus rewards like gold, silver and land. Is this worth Lu Chen taking it so seriously?

There was a strange silence in the hall.

Lu Chen fell silent after his long speech. He had already made his attitude clear, and he believed that the young emperor on the dragon throne could understand the deep meaning of his words.

Before today's court meeting, Li Zongben gave him the impression that his temperament was somewhat similar to that of the late emperor, but he was not mature enough and needed time to settle and polish himself.

Originally he was not worried about this problem. The biggest advantage of Li Zongben that enabled him to stand out in the competition for the crown prince was that he was very patient, which is the most basic quality to become an excellent emperor.

But recent events have made Lu Chen begin to doubt whether his judgment was wrong.

That day in the palace, Li Zongben dragged him to the Cining Palace without informing him in advance, ostensibly hoping that he could help bear the pressure exerted by Empress Dowager Xu. Afterwards, he also expressed his apologies to Lu Chen very sincerely, but this matter still rang a bell.

The character Lu Chen displayed in the capital was always upright and stubborn. He even refused to back down even a step when facing the Third Prince. I guess Li Zongben had the same impression of him.

Knowing that Lu Chen was a firecracker that would ignite at any time, he still insisted on letting him compete with Queen Mother Xu. This intention cannot be said to be extremely sinister, but at least it would not be as frank as Li Zongben showed.

Fortunately, Lu Chen was not so naive. Falling out with the current empress dowager would do him more harm than good. No matter how he gained the upper hand in the Cining Palace, as long as Empress Dowager Xu spread a few words about it afterwards, his reputation would likely become the target of public criticism.

It's not a question of fear or not, but trouble that there is no need to get involved in.

In addition, today Li Zongben sent Li Tianrun out of the palace with supreme favor, and the young emperor's thoughts have gradually become clear.

Perhaps he had no ill feelings towards Lu Chen, but he certainly felt that he was not the previous emperor and had no ability to control a powerful official who was only in his twenties and had great power in the court, so he had to take some more roundabout means.

He took Lu Chen to the Cining Palace. As long as Lu Chen and Empress Dowager Xu openly fell out, this would slightly suppress Lu Chen's limelight. The most crucial thing was to destroy the golden statue that Lu Chen had created over the past few years, so that everyone in the court and the country would know that this young powerful official was not an absolutely loyal person.

The next step is to slowly weaken Lu Chen's strength, and the first step is to block Li Tianrun's possibility of interfering in government affairs.

Others may not be very clear about the relationship between Lu Chen and Li Tianrun, and think that they only cooperate on the battlefield, but Li Zongben has been accompanying Li Duan for the past six months and is very familiar with many secrets. Naturally, he knows the complicated relationship between Lu Chen and Li Bingxue.

Allowing Li Tianrun to return to Beijing for recuperation and preventing him from interfering in the court would greatly weaken Lu Chen's power in the court.

Li Zongben's second step was to praise Lu Chen highly in order to judge the true state of mind of this young and powerful official, and also to see the reactions of the officials in the court.

This was a not very clever but very direct temptation.

Lu Chen keenly sensed the emperor's intention, so without waiting for the other party to make another move, he took the initiative to step forward and express his intentions.

At this moment, the whole court was speechless, and the emperor and his ministers stared at each other from a distance.

Lu Chen's idea was still very simple. At least so far, he did not want to destroy the people's hearts that had been finally united in the court of Da Qi. So when Li Tianrun expressed his acceptance, he did not forcefully advise the emperor.

Now it’s time to take another step back.

His title and official position were already high enough, almost to the point where there was no more reward to be given, so he did not need any additional reward from the emperor and was willing to share the military merits with Liu Shouguang and other generals.

Li Zongben understood Lu Chen's thoughts. No matter what the new king was thinking, at least at the moment he looked puzzled and a little depressed. It seemed that he didn't have any deep plans, but just wanted to show his favor.

After a long while, he slowly said, "Why should you be so modest, my dear? The war in Jiangbei was long and complicated. Duke Wei made the decision, Duke Rong defended the territory, and you successively commanded the Battle of Shiquan, the Battle of Cuiting, the Battle of Luwushan, and even the final Battle of Yongqiu. In the wars between countries throughout history, a similar victory would be highly rewarded, not to mention that you won four battles in a row and wiped out nearly 100,000 Jing troops. If I don't reward you for such a great achievement, how will the world view the court? If you firmly refuse to accept it, how can other soldiers who participated in the war dare to accept the reward?"

After hearing these words, many ministers nodded repeatedly.

Lu Chen's face remained calm, but he was a little surprised.

It seems that the reason why Li Zongben was favored by the late emperor was not only because he resembled his father in some aspects, but also because of his flexible thinking ability.

Li Zongben did not force himself to accept the reward awkwardly, but argued from two aspects why Lu Chen should accept the reward. First, his military exploits were all real victories, and second, as the commander-in-chief, if he did not receive any reward, the generals and soldiers under him would not have the face to accept the reward from the court.

Among the military honors, the only female general was particularly eye-catching, but at the moment, the attention of other court officials was focused on the young monarch and his minister, while she quietly looked at Lu Chen's back.

For Li Bingxue, the current situation is like seeing flowers in the fog. It is indeed not her forte to understand people's hearts from the details.

"It would be great if Sister Wang was in the capital. She would definitely be able to provide a lot of help to this guy..."

Li Bingxue mused in her heart that she could only roughly see that there were some problems between Lu Chen and Xinjun, but she did not think that Lu Chen would back down in the face of difficulties.

This is a firm and self-consistent trust.

As she thought, after a brief silence, Lu Chen looked at the emperor above and said calmly: "Your Majesty, I have to admit that I am actually a vulgar person who also loves gold, silver, treasures, fame and fortune. However, the reason why I made the previous statement at the court meeting today is because I cannot forget what the late emperor said to me in the imperial garden last winter."

The ministers couldn't help but look at him curiously.

Li Zongben's expression remained unchanged, but he felt a little strange in his heart.

He knew that the late emperor and Lu Chen had indeed had a long secret conversation in the imperial garden, and he could roughly guess what Lu Chen wanted to say next, but he could not stop Lu Chen from speaking.

Since this matter concerns the late emperor, everyone in the palace, including himself, the emperor, must listen attentively.

Lu Chen continued, "The late emperor told me that day that everyone is afraid of death, and emperors are no exception. However, in order to attract the Emperor of Jing and Qing Yugong to join the game, the late emperor was willing to sacrifice his life. From that time on, I knew that our dynasty would win this battle, because the emperor and his subjects were of one mind. The battle in Jiangbei was planned by the late emperor and Duke Wei, and Duke Rong attracted and blocked the main force of the Jing army on the eastern line, and I just followed the path they paved and fulfilled my duties step by step."

These words were sincere and heartfelt, and more and more ministers understood his feelings.

Lu Chen looked up at Li Zongben and said solemnly, "Your Majesty, I think from the bottom of my heart that my contribution in this battle is not worth mentioning. Compared with the trust and appreciation of the late emperor, I have only done my duty. I am a young man and I am in charge of military affairs. This is an unprecedented honor and respect. How can I take credit for the achievements that do not belong to me? If Your Majesty wants to reward me, please reward me with the right to lead troops to the border. I am willing to continue to serve Da Qi with my useful body!"

The head of the civil officials, Li Daoyan, suddenly opened his eyes and said tremblingly, "Your Majesty, I think what Shanyang Hou said makes sense."

Li Zongben could certainly continue to debate with Lu Chen. Although the other party's arguments were reasonable, as the emperor, there was no problem for him to reward the general. However, when Li Daoyan spoke, he had to respect the opinion of the prime minister.

At this moment, a civil servant full of integrity stepped forward and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, I have a memorial to make!"

The ministers looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the man was Xin Yixian, a bachelor of the Hanlin Academy.

"Please wait a moment, Prime Minister Li."

Li Zongben then looked at the scholar and said calmly, "Master Xin, please speak."

Xin Yi took a step forward, looking straight ahead, and spoke in a resounding voice: "Your Majesty, I also think that what Marquis Shanyang said is from the heart, but it is too modest. From the battle report published by the Military Academy, we know that if Marquis Shanyang had not commanded the Yongqiu battle properly and arranged a surprise force to march west to Shazhou a few months in advance, the Jing army might not have been defeated. With such a great contribution, how can the court not reward him?"

Li Zongben asked calmly: "Then according to the scholar's opinion, how should the court reward?"

Xin Yixian said: "This matter should be decided by the emperor. How dare I speak nonsense?"

Li Zongben hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "You can speak freely. I also want to hear your opinions."

Xin Yi first glanced at the back of the young marquis and said word by word, "In my humble opinion, the merits of the Marquis of Shanyang are no different from those of the Duke of Wei and the Duke of Rong. In this case, the rewards should be equal, so that the people of the world will be convinced!"

What is level?

Naturally, it is the title of Duke.

There was a sudden commotion in the Duancheng Hall.

It has been fifteen years since the late emperor moved south, and the court has only conferred titles on three dukes!

Lu Chen stood there calmly, with snow and wind suddenly floating in his eyes.

(End of this chapter)