After the rebellion was successful, I realized that this place was the Red Mansion

Chapter 55: Conferring a Title

In the morning, Chu Yan ordered Xia Shouzhong: "Send someone to the Jia family and call Jia Lian to see me."

Xia Shouzhong hurriedly sent someone there.

After Chu Yan finished bathing, he wanted to open the letter Xie Zhaojun sent him several times, but he held back. As before, he was still preparing to meet Chu Ming and others who entered the palace.

He had a strange dream last night. He dreamed of Lin Daiyu's previous life, the Fairy of the Crimson Pearl. She talked to him and asked him to let the Jia family go, and she would repay her favor in the future.

Chu Yan didn't agree.

He had no reason to let the Jia family go, even if Fairy Jinghuan came.

Linjing Hall.

"Your Highness, I pay my respects to you!"

Chu Ming, Xu Zhiyi, and Li Changjin stepped forward to salute.

Chu Yan nodded, pointed to a chair, and asked them to sit down. He smiled and said, "Did you discuss how to reward them last night?"

"The three of us have drafted a draft for now. Please review it, Your Highness!"

Chu Ming stood up and handed over a written reward document.

Chu Yan looked at it carefully and compared it with his own rough estimate of everyone's contributions. It was basically the same, except that these three people were too modest and only asked for the third-class duke title for himself.

"Do you think the new dynasty doesn't need to appoint kings of different surnames?"

Chu Yan asked them while watching.

There were several kings of different surnames in the Shun Dynasty, such as Prince Beijing Shui Rong and Prince Nan'an.

Li Changjin laughed and said, "The previous dynasty's several kings of different surnames all made great military achievements when they founded the country. They also had direct subordinates who could split the country at any time. Emperor Shun had no choice but to make them kings. Now that Your Highness has conquered the world with his bravery and wisdom, we are just following him and have made some minor contributions. We are not worthy of being made kings!"

Chu Yan laughed and said, "You guys are flattering me again. You're almost becoming flatterers."

Chu Ming also smiled and said, "What the chief steward said is also what I really think. The meritorious officials of the new dynasty do not need to be crowned kings while they are still alive. If Your Highness appreciates their merits, you can posthumously crown them kings."

Li Changjin was the commander-in-chief of the three armies, so he was called the Grand Commander.

Chu Yan looked at Xu Zhiyi and asked, "How about I make you king?"

Xu Zhiyi immediately stood up, took three steps back, and then bowed: "Your Highness, I dare not, and cannot be king!"

Chu Yan looked at the three of them, wondering whether they were sincere or modest. If they were to confer titles on kings of different surnames, the three of them, plus Xiang Shan who stayed in Jinling, could all be directly conferred the title of prince.

"Sir, please get up." Chu Yan said with a smile, "It will be too late for you to regret it in the future, but you can still talk to me now."

"We are all sincere and honest, but our achievements are not enough to make us kings!"

All three of them said.

Chu Yan nodded and continued to look at the list. Suddenly, he felt something was wrong and looked up to ask them, "Weren't we discussing the reward list this morning? How did it become a list of nobility?"

They all laughed, and Chu Ming said with a smile: "The world has been settled. There will be no chance to make great achievements in the future. It is better to take this opportunity to decide the reward and title to avoid quarrels in the future."

Chu Yan smiled and said, "Originally, I should have made you kings, but since you took the liberty of guessing my intentions, I will punish you by making you first-class dukes."

"I accept the punishment and thank you, Your Highness!"

The three of them bowed down to express their gratitude, and it was within their expectations that he would be conferred the title of First-Class Duke.

Chu Yan continued to look at the list. After finishing it, he discussed with them: "Should we promote Wu Xin'an to the rank of Third Class Duke?"

Chu Ming hurriedly said, "We were negligent. Wu Xin'an once saved Your Highness's life. Although he didn't make any great contributions later, he was deeply trusted by Your Highness and deserves to be a Duke!"

Chu Yan pondered for a moment and gave up: "Never mind, you are right. He hasn't made any great contributions worthy of being a Duke. So, he will be a First Class Earl for now. He can be made a Duke after he has accumulated merits in the future."

He glanced at the list. "Where's Wu Huaijun? Why isn't he a Duke?" "Rumor has it that when he was defending Jiuzi City, he intended to surrender, but later aborted. This is widely circulated in the army. If he were to be made a Duke, someone would definitely bring up the past, which would be detrimental to him."

"Haha, don't tell me later. This is just hearsay, it's hard to tell whether it's true or not."

After looking at it again, Chu Yan pointed out a few second-class earls and promoted them to the first class, and added a few people who were not in the third-class earl class.

After some thought, Ma Ji and Chang Neng were promoted from second-class marquises to first-class marquises.

Chu Yan did not punish any of the people on this list of nobility, because Chu Ming and the other two were conservative and left the right to award titles to him.

Otherwise it will sound bad if it gets out.

"Okay, take it. We'll discuss it later in the morning court."

Chu Yan returned the list of titles to them, and the three of them took their leave. Then people from the military camp outside the city came in to report. The commander of the personal guard Zhou Kaiyue, the temporary Jingzhao Yin Liu Fu and others also came to briefly report what happened yesterday. They said that they would not have to come every day once the capital was stabilized.

At noon, Chu Yan held a court meeting in the Linjing Hall. There were not many people participating, only about thirty people, most of whom were meritorious officials of the Qianwang Palace, and a few were officials of the Shun Dynasty.

As soon as the list of names of nobility was released, everyone was shocked.

Chu Ming, who took out the list, was surrounded by the crowd. The scene was noisy, which made several Shun Dynasty officials stare in amazement.

But considering that this is the time to be appointed as prime minister and conferred a title of nobility, it is reasonable to fight fiercely.

Chu Yan said, "You can discuss it, but this is not the final seating arrangement. We will confer titles after Xiang Shan and the others who stayed in Jinling arrive!"

Even so, everyone knew that only a small number of people stayed in Nanjing, and most of the meritorious people of Prince Qian's Mansion were in the capital.

Releasing the list of nobility in advance is also a move to reassure people.

Wu Huaijun stood up unconvinced, "Your Highness, Wei Liang and I are both Right Generals, so how come he was made a Duke while I'm only a First-Class Marquis?!"

He glared at everyone with his fierce eyes. "Is it true that someone is spreading rumors that I intended to surrender to the Shun Dynasty while defending Jiuzi City? Now that we have conquered the Shun Dynasty capital, we will know the truth once we investigate. Your Highness, please clear my name!"

"There is no wind without waves. Who knows if there will be any?" someone said, which made Wu Huaijun roll up his sleeves and go to fight him.

"All right."

After they argued for a while, Chu Yan said, "Wei Liang has been with me for seven years and his contributions are no less than yours. I know you are loyal, so there is no need to investigate this matter." After a pause, he said, "For the time being, you will be a first-class marquis. I will send you to pacify the four barbarians in the future. After the battle, you will be made a Duke."

Only then did Wu Huaijun reluctantly retreat.

Looking at the names on the list of titles of nobility, some are happy and some are sad. It is difficult to satisfy everyone.

Chu Yan could only appease most of the people, and after half an hour, he reluctantly let everyone decide on a preliminary list.

"Tomorrow evening I will host a banquet for the officials of Prince Qian's Palace in Chonghua Palace. We can talk then."

Chu Yan said.

Now everyone has no position assigned, and theoretically there is no court, so they are called ministers of the Qianwang Palace, to distinguish them from officials of the Shun Dynasty.

"Your Highness, I bow to thank you for the banquet!"

Chu Ming, Xu Zhiyi and others took the lead in kneeling, and the rest of the generals followed suit.

Their concept of Chu Yan has not yet changed from King Qian to Emperor.

In the past, when Chu Yan gave them rewards, they would just bow and express their gratitude, but now they have to kowtow to express their gratitude.

Chu Yan smiled and said, "Dismissed, everyone go back to work."

He was the first to leave. He hadn't even had breakfast yet and was busy with the matter of being conferred the title of nobility.

(End of this chapter)