Excellent for contemporary times!
Good guy, is Tong Guan, the Prince of Guangyang County who was just enthroned at the beginning of the month, considered a contemporary?
Even a fool can understand what this sentence means. Tong Guan, the great eunuch, can be crowned king, but what about Wang Zhi, who is more accomplished than contemporary people?
Zhao Ji was trembling with anger. Would he grant the title of king to the traitor who had been poaching Zhao Song from his kingdom? Then you have to dig up all the ancestral graves of his old Zhao family.
The title of the Song Dynasty was not hereditary and had no real power. It was just an extra meal in addition to the salary, so the gold content was much lower than that of other dynasties. Generally, courtiers would address each other by official title when they met. Just like Cai You, although He was a Duke of the First Rank Kingdom, and he was officially worshiped as a First Rank Taibao. However, when colleagues met, they still called him a Second Rank Privy Councilor, and his honorific title was Cai Xianggong of the West Prefecture.
Empty position is just a nice word, real power is king. Unless Cai You loses his position in the Privy Council one day, the officials will call him Cai Taibao, followed by Yan Guogong. This shows how unpopular the title was in the Song Dynasty. See.
Only people like Wang Erlang, whose official position is really too low, can only be seen by a ninth-level founding lord, so they are often referred to as Langya County Marquis, but in fact their status is not high.
But once you reach the title of king, it will be different. The court will not only fund the construction of a palace for you, but also provide you with palace staff and a certain number of guards. These are all funded by the court, although you still have no real power. , but the treatment and honor are considered to be the highest among human ministers.
So this king, even if he is only the lowest-level county king, Zhao Ji does not want to make him a king. Tong Guan is his confidant and his ancestral precepts are there, so he can make him a king. But what the hell is Wang Erlang? , I didn’t kill you, it’s already God’s good will to live a good life, you still want to be crowned king?
He looked at several of His Highness's confidants, indicating clearly.
"Absolutely not!"
Bai Shizhong, who had already retreated, stood up again when he saw the emperor's demeanor, and shouted loudly: "Bold Li Gang, my ancestors of the Song Dynasty taught: 'People with different surnames cannot be crowned kings.' Emperor Shenzong repeated the training: 'Those who can restore Yanshan, even if they have different surnames. "You can make him a king." Tong Xianggong's decision to make him a county king is an ancestral decree. How can he violate the ancestral precepts and make him king again?"
He said and pointed at Li Gang with righteous indignation, "Are you going to open up the source of trouble for the Five Dynasties again and trap His Majesty in a place of unfilial piety?"
The big label of chaos in the Five Dynasties has been taken off. Who can withstand this? Not even Li Gang, who is blaming the sky, the earth, and the air, can't withstand it.
He was a little short of breath for a while, but he still persisted in persuading, "Your Majesty, the laws of our ancestors must be adapted to the times. If the former emperors were able to restore Xixia, I would not begrudge the position of a county king. If I could destroy the country, If you can't be crowned king yet, what's the point?"
"This is an excellent opportunity to boost the morale of our army in the Song Dynasty. Your Majesty must not dampen the hearts of our meritorious soldiers."
As soon as this statement came out, some righteous ministers secretly thought that it was not good.
Sure enough, the emperor's face was so gloomy that water dripped from his face.
The former emperors were not stingy, so am I stingy?
"His Majesty……"
At this time, Prince Zhao Huan came out tremblingly, "I...I agree with what Li Shaoqing said."
Seeing the prince coming out at this time, some ministers already knew the result without guessing.
Before I was dead, my son wanted to challenge my authority. Is there any need to guess the result?
There were also some officials who were not in power when they saw the prince's stance and spoke out in support. They were not in power in this dynasty and could only pin their hopes on the next dynasty. As long as they could leave a name in the heart of the prince, even if they were demoted, it would be worth it.
As a result, in accordance with their wishes, several officials, including Li Gang, were demoted from Beijing after today and were transferred to remote areas to live with mosquitoes.
Poor Li Gang, this was the third time he was demoted for speaking out, but unlike the previous two times, this time his image was deeply imprinted in the heart of Prince Zhao Huan.
As for the reward in this debate, there is no surprise, the Duke.
On the grounds that he was the former governor of Qinzhou, he was granted the title of Duke of Qin.
The East and West mansions and the emperor are in the same camp. This is the general trend and no one can stop it.
However, they are not useless. Except for the title of knight, which is not negotiable, the other official positions can be said to be at the top of the human ministers. They are granted the title of first-grade hussar general, Ren Zheng, second-grade Taiwei, and the military governor of Huaide army. As for dispatching... None yet.
The Hussar General is an honorary title and has no actual military power. The Taiwei is a military officer, which is a military rank. It is the highest official position of a military general. In theory, he can take charge of national military and political affairs and command the world's forbidden army. However, the power of deploying troops for the imperial army of the Song Dynasty rested with the Privy Council, and the power of commanding troops rested with the Sanyamen. Even the power of coordinating and deploying irregular troops such as the lower-level soldiers and militiamen rested with the Ministry of War. The Taiwei was left with only one good name.
However, although this Taiwei has no real power, he is a real Taiwei, ranking among the three princes. In terms of official position, he is not comparable to Gao Qiu, the commander-in-chief of the Sanya Palace, but in terms of real power, he is not worthy of Gao Qiu.
As for why commanders like Gao Qiu were also called Taiwei, it was because Emperor Huizong personally banned the post of Taiwei in the second year of Zhenghe. After that, all high-ranking officials in charge of the military could be called Taiwei. Lieutenant, at this time, the Taiwei is just a polite word, they are all fake Taiwei, just like Wang Zhi's father, he can be called Wang Taiwei after he controls the entire army.
As for why the banned official positions were re-activated?
Isn't it because the emperor's eldest son and Li Gang's stupid young men made trouble, saying frankly that if they can't reward them appropriately, how can they convince the public?
The emperor and the two palaces of the East and West also knew that in terms of military merit alone, no one dared to be above Wang Zhi, and no one was on the same level as him. Since they had decided to award the reward, they could only grant the highest official position to a military commander, so they assigned him the highest official position. The banned Taiwei moved out and sealed a Taiwei who was truly ranked among the three nobles.
A San Gong who is only twenty years old.
…
"Grandpa, what can this lieutenant do?"
In Luoyang Zhong Mansion, Wang Zhi moved a small stool and sat down next to Zhong Shidao obediently. He took the cattail leaf fan from the servant and shook it for the old man.
A housekeeper from Zhongfu came to take the large and small packages of gifts from the two wealthy brothers, and led them to sit down in the side hall, leaving the grandfather and grandson alone to enjoy the cool air in the pavilion.
Zhong Shidao lay on the rocking chair with his eyes closed, enjoying the blessing of his grandson, but his tone was without much emotion, "Taiwei, a useless officer."
"Um... I see that all the lieutenants in the imperial court are awesome and coaxing, so why am I, the lieutenant, useless?"
"Because they are all fake lieutenants, and you are the real lieutenant."
Wang Erlang was puzzled, "Then why is the fake lieutenant so awesome but the real lieutenant useless?"
The old man asked back: "The real Taiwei is in charge of the military and political affairs of the world. Can you be useful?"
When Wang Erlang understood what was happening, he became very angry and shook his cattail leaf fan violently to reduce the fire on himself.
After the meeting in Bianjing yesterday, Zhao Huan sent someone to pass the news to Wang Zhi, and Wang Zhi and his party had already arrived at Luoyang, Xijing.
After receiving the news, Wang Zhi asked the group to go ahead, and he took the two Fugui brothers into Luoyang City to buy some gifts to meet his grandfather, Master Tao.
It was hard to justify not coming to see his grandpa when passing through Luoyang. Secondly, he also wanted to ask his grandpa what these rewards from the imperial court meant and whether there were any risks in going to Bianjing.
Although Zhong Shidao had his eyes closed, he seemed to see through his mind and said bluntly: "Now that you have returned to the capital with a great victory, the people's wishes are what the people want, and the government does not dare to do anything to you. Besides, there is another movement on the Hedong border." , Tong Guan leads the army to the frontier and is stationed in Taiyuan, and will not attack you until the imperial court fully controls Xixia."
"Ah, what happened to Hedong?" Wang Zhi asked eagerly, because his father and eldest brother are still serving in the Xuanfu Division of Hedong.
A few days ago, my eldest brother said in his letter that he would return to Beijing with his father before the wedding in October and would never miss his brother's evening ceremony. Why does it sound like something is going to happen again?
"The imperial court promised to pay Yanyun the annual coins but has not paid them in full, and the people of Yanyun have not been able to send them to the Jin land as promised. The Jin people are angry and have now assembled a large army at the border to raise food and grass, fearing that there will be a war."
"The annual coins have not been paid in full? Haha..." Wang Zhi sneered, "Then have they paid all the sixteen states?"
"The legs are long on the bodies of the people of Yanyun. How can we still ask the court to tie them up one by one and send them away? They are all excuses. Being weak is the original sin."
Master Zhong glanced sideways at his angry grandson, "You see clearly."
Wang Zhiqiao stepped forward and asked worriedly, "Grandpa, do you think there will be a fight in Hedong?"
Zhong Shidao shook his head and said: "I can't say, it depends on the outcome of the negotiation between Tong Guan and Jin Ren."
Wang Zhi then asked, "Then if Song and Jin go to war, do we have a chance of winning?"
"No." Zhong Shidao answered simply, without any hesitation.
Although Wang Zhi had his own judgment, he was still speechless when he heard this answer from his grandfather.
He had a vague premonition in his heart, but he couldn't tell what was wrong. His memories of later generations became increasingly blurry as he grew older, and he couldn't remember anything about this era.
The Song Dynasty and the Jin Kingdom signed an agreement not long ago, and both countries have just experienced war. It is time to recuperate, and the war should not start so soon...
Zhong Shidao saw his grandson whose eyes were lost and comforted him: "Zhi'er, there is no need to worry too much. The court also saw that this Jurchen was not a kind neighbor. In recent years, he had recruited several new armies in Hebei and Hedong to fight against It can’t be beaten, but the defense shouldn’t be a problem.”
Wang Zhi came to his senses and hummed, and then the grandfather and grandson chatted for a while before the servants came to inform them of the meal.
Wang Zhi and his grandfather and his family had a lunch and were about to leave. The old man, who was already over seventy years old, insisted on seeing him off. Wang Zhi refused and rode horses with his grandfather out of the city.
When the people in Luoyang City saw that the old minister actually went out to see off a young man who was only twenty years old, they were all surprised and inquired. When they heard that it was Wang Xiaosheng who had regained Xixia, they immediately rushed up to pay homage to the saint's face. For a time, Luoyang Street was extremely lively.
Wang Zhi originally wanted to make a fuss, but when he saw the old man beside him who was staring intently, he could only smile.
After leaving the city gate, several people reined in their horses, and Wang Zhi respectfully bowed to his grandfather. Along the way, he also understood the purpose of the old man's insistence on seeing him off, which was to build momentum for Wang Erlang in Luoyang and let the monarchs and ministers in Bianjing know , this person cannot move.
"Well, go ahead."
When the old man spoke, Wang Erlang nodded and led the two wealthy brothers to gallop eastwards.
In the evening, Wang Zhi and the others caught up with the large army and stayed overnight in Zhengzhou Mansion. They calculated the distance and set off early tomorrow morning. They should be able to reach Bianjing City at noon.
