I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 381 Zhu Houxuan’s Title
Jiang Mian was speechless. Zhu Houzhao was right. The King of Korea was indeed treated like a Ming prince in these aspects.

It was the Ming Dynasty that bestowed court robes, etiquette and culture on Korea as rewards.

The King of Joseon can wear a five-clawed dragon robe like the prince of Ming Dynasty, while the Crown Prince can wear a four-clawed dragon robe.
North Korea has always called itself a country of etiquette and called itself "Little China". It has learned a lot from Chinese culture and is proud of it, so it has also taken the initiative to lean towards the etiquette culture of the Ming Dynasty.
Therefore, it is not unreasonable to regard the King of Korea as a prince of Ming Dynasty.
"But Korea is a vassal state after all," Li Xunxue continued.

Zhu Houzhao interrupted him angrily, "The King of Korea, as a foreign vassal, can be given a title of honor. The King of Jing is a direct vassal of the Ming Dynasty and has the blood of Taizu and Taizong. Doesn't he have the right to be given a title of honor?"

Li Xunxue was a little confused. He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. He didn't expect Zhu Houzhao to bring up Taizu and Taizong. The topic suddenly became dangerous. If he said something wrong, he would be convicted.
Everyone present was silenced by Zhu Houzhao's question.
Although the Ming Dynasty's vassal restrictions were very strict, the princes had little real power in the local area and were treated like pigs. Even a fifth-rank official or even a lower-level official could control the princes. However, if the princes of the Ming Dynasty were compared with the King of Korea, no one dared to say that the princes of the Ming Dynasty were inferior to the King of Korea.
If that is the case, if the King of Korea can be given an honorific title, then why can’t the prince of the Ming Dynasty be given an honorific title?

Yang Yiqing wanted to refute Zhu Houzhao: The King of Korea has real power! That's why he can be honored.

But then he thought again, the title of honor is a matter of etiquette and has nothing to do with whether one has real power or not. The empress and the empress dowager don't have much real power either, so can't they still be given titles of honor?
So he didn't know how to refute Zhu Houzhao for a moment.

The people present looked at each other, not knowing what to do next. They really didn't expect Zhu Houzhao to actually give a very convincing example.
Now everyone looks at Zhu Houzhao differently. If they were modern people, seeing Zhu Houzhao's current appearance, they would definitely curse in their hearts: Damn it! He is so pretentious.
In fact, the action of the Joseon king to give the title of emperor was a bit presumptuous to some extent. However, although Joseon was a vassal state of the Ming Dynasty, it had great autonomy. The Ming Dynasty also turned a blind eye to the title of emperor. Anyway, the subject of the last two words was "Your Highness".
However, the Koreans were very shameless in ancient times. They gave the King Yeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty, Yi Sun, a title that was as long as 40 characters.
What does forty characters mean? The first emperor to use a title was Emperor Gaozong of Tang. His title had twenty-four characters. The more narcissistic Emperor Qianlong's title only had twenty-two characters.
This 40-character honorific title is the longest honorific title in the Chinese cultural circle, unprecedented and unparalleled.
"Why are all of you silent?" Zhu Houzhao looked at the ministers present with pride.

"In that case, then we must follow our agreement. You must accept defeat and not stop me from giving the King of Jing a title of honor." Zhu Houzhao said while the iron was hot.

The ministers present were agitated, but soon calmed down. They were indeed in the wrong. If they regretted at this time, it would really anger Zhu Houzhao.
The most important thing is that Zhu Houzhao's statements are really plausible, and seem to be able to stop people from talking nonsense.
"Then please come up with a title for the King of Jing. This time, let's just use a two-character title!" Zhu Houzhao said with a smile.

First, two characters are added to the title? That means the number of characters in the title will increase in the future.
The ministers present exchanged glances and remained silent.
"What do you mean, gentlemen?" Zhu Houzhao's face showed a hint of coldness.
Mao Ji hesitated for a moment and said, "Your Majesty, we are your subjects, not your Highness the King of Jing. We can give your Majesty a title of honor, but we cannot give your Highness the King of Jing a title of honor."

When Mao Ji spoke, he deliberately emphasized the tone of the word "up".

The other ministers also nodded in agreement.

The verb in "上尊号" is "上", from low to high, the title of 上尊号 must be proposed by the ministers according to the normal process, and then presented to the emperor and others. In this process, the emperor must be "forced". In fact, the monarch and his ministers have already tacitly understood it from the beginning.
This was the way people loved to play in ancient times. People in higher positions were not allowed to take the initiative in anything. For example, the emperor declined the throne three times, which was the same principle. So Zhu Houzhao asked the ministers to discuss the title.

They did this not to stop Zhu Houzhao from the process, they also knew that it was impossible to stop him at this point, they did this just to avoid being blamed.
Zhu Houzhao also understood their intentions instantly, but he also understood that the ministers had some reason to do so. He sneered and said, "Since you are unwilling to give the King of Jing a title, then I will give the King of Jing a title!"

Zhu Houzhao was the emperor, with a higher status than Zhu Houchun, so he used the word "ci". He was determined to give Zhu Houchun a title of honor.
After hearing Zhu Houzhao's words, the ministers present all breathed a sigh of relief.
Zhu Houzhao thought for a moment and said, "I bestow the two characters 'Wenren' as the honorific title of King Jing!"

There was another commotion in the hall, and the ministers present felt powerless: the emperor was too partial to Prince Jing, and he was really crazy when it came to rewarding Prince Jing!
"Wen" and "Ren" are definitely the most important words in the context of Confucianism. The title bestowed by Zhu Houzhao is definitely the most top-level title, or it is impossible to think of a better title than this.
"Your Majesty." Liang Chu couldn't help but speak out.

"What? Liang Qing wants to give my brother, the King of Jing, another honorific title?" Zhu Houzhao interrupted Liang Chu and emphasized the word "give".
Zhu Houzhao was using his own method to return the favor.

Liang Chu was stuck for a moment, unable to speak for a long time, and finally he could only sigh and retreat.
Everyone present acquiesced to this title. After all, it was a title bestowed by Zhu Houzhao.
After Zhu Houxuan was given this honorific title, his title became "Your Highness Prince Wenren Jing". This title is not used too often in daily life, because the honorific title will gradually become very long and most people can't remember it at all, so it is generally used in various official documents and records. In various official documents and records, the full title must be written, but the word "Qin" can be omitted, because the single-character title "Jing" can indicate that Zhu Houxuan is a prince.
(End of this chapter)