The Eastern Han Dynasty was short of gold. It was a real shortage. The royal family did not have much gold, and the rewards given to the heroes were tens of taels and hundreds of taels. They looked petty in every aspect.
But Liu Bei had so many attacks.
Empress Dowager Dong was almost stunned, and it took her a while to recover. She stared at the contents of the box and then looked at the long row behind.
"General, are the seizures this time really that much?"
Liu Bei smiled.
"These barbarians look quite poor, but the poor ones are the common people below. The leaders and adults are all very rich. I went to their tribe and inspected their private property. What I saw was a box full of money. Chests of gold silver and copper.
Some of them must have been looted, and some were exchanged for business transactions, and some of them should have been accumulated by swallowing each other up. All in all, they are a group of rich and oily bastards. If not for lack of preparation this time, I might even have We plan to further destroy Xianbei in central China. In that case, we should capture more, hahahahaha..."
As he spoke, Liu Bei laughed heartily.
Are you going to destroy Xianbei in central China?
Dong Chong salivated after hearing this, his calves were trembling a little, and he looked at Liu Bei with more and more fear.
Is he the God of War alive?
Doesn't he have a real opponent?
Is there no rival for Liu Xuande in the world?
How could Xianbei, who had been harassing the Han Dynasty for many years and had been disturbed on the border for many years, become as easy to bully as a young child in the hands of Liu Bei? Could it be that what those guys from the Ancient Literature School said before were right?
Could it be that "Zuo Shi Chun Qiu" is actually a military book that can teach people how to fight?
There are many people who have the same idea. There are many people who can't stand Liu Bei's amazing military exploits, and there are also many people who are afraid of Liu Bei's appearance.
An unprecedented military strongman appeared. This was the first time in the entire history of the Eastern Han Empire.
Previously, the ancient literature school had just promoted the huge advantages of ancient classics over modern classics. In fact, the representative case was Liu Bei, who had repeatedly won. They claimed that this was the superiority of the guiding significance of "Zuo Shi Chun Qiu".
But now, Liu Bei's military exploits of conquering the world's invincible opponents seem to really reflect the ancient literature school's statement.
Ancient Chinese classics seem to be really good medicine for governing the country.
Huan Dian's vision became even darker. He even felt that it was a little difficult to breathe and he couldn't stand up.
A bell seemed to ring in his ears.
I just don’t know who the bell is ringing for.
So when they entered the city, the officials were afraid to look directly at Liu Bei. Wherever Liu Bei looked, whether they were officials from the modern literature school or officials from the ancient literature school, only a few people could still smile at each other, and most of them looked at each other with a smile. Everyone couldn't help but lower their heads.
Liu Bei's power is so powerful that it is so terrifying.
The cause of this battle was Gongsun Zan's random troubles, which almost caused Youzhou to collapse. When Liu Bei set out, the people in the court were somewhat worried.
But when Liu Bei returned, he brought back a Youzhou that was gradually restoring order and a relatively stable Jizhou. The northern border was cleared by Liu Bei, and the future was promising.
The credit for annihilating the enemy and restoring local order was indeed a bit too great, and Liu Bei gave too much. It directly dyed the pupils of the little emperor Liu Xie into gold, and the eyes of the Empress Dowager Dong. All turned into the shape of gold ingots.
The emperor and the empress dowager didn't want this either.
But Liu Bei gave too much.
Therefore, discussing how to reward Liu Bei has become a big issue.
He is already a general and can no longer increase his position, so he can only work hard on titles and other rewards.
This took a certain amount of time, so on that day, the imperial court just held a celebration banquet, with the emperor as the host, the generals who had made military achievements in this battle as the guests, and the civil and military officials as the foils, celebrating the victory together.
The soldiers who participated in the expedition also received food and wine rewards from the court, as well as money rewards.
Of course, for them, this is just a small dessert at the end, a real feast, which they have already enjoyed before.
For Liu Bei, the enjoyment that belongs to him has not yet arrived because the level is too high. Even he himself does not know what interesting things he can enjoy.
Liu Bei himself was not involved in this matter, and left the decision to Empress Dowager Dong to see what she thought.
She is the highest nominal person holding the imperial power, and she is also the actual signatory of the imperial power. It is best for her to make the decision on this matter.
On the night after the banquet, Liu Bei went home early to rest. Empress Dowager Dong called Dong Chong, Zhang Rang, and Jian Shuo, and the four of them met together to discuss the reward for Liu Bei.
I have to say that this is an issue worth discussing.
The position cannot be promoted, and rewards in other aspects do not seem to be taken seriously. Liu Bei himself is the first prince of the Han Dynasty, and he already has the most food in the world. No matter how he increases, it will still be the most, not more.
Giving rewards to family members and future generations is just that. Glory to glory, whether it can satisfy him and the expectations of the people in the world is also a big question.
Therefore, Empress Dowager Dong was troubled by this and asked Dong Zhong and other three people for their opinions.
Zhang Rang thought more simply. He felt that he knew Liu Bei to a certain extent and felt that Liu Bei would not care much about these things, so he suggested giving some regular rewards to Liu Bei and his family, and then agreed to the promotion reports of some of Liu Bei's subordinates. , is enough to satisfy him.
Jian Shuo didn't know Liu Bei well, so he thought it would be right to give Liu Bei more money.
Dong Zhong, on the other hand, thought about it, his eyes rolled, and he suddenly thought of an interesting thing.
"Xuande has made such great achievements and his position can no longer be promoted. So why not give him a higher honor in the title? Even if it is inconvenient to make him a king, it is still possible to make him a duke. What do you think, the Empress Dowager?"
"Female Duke?"
Empress Dowager Dong was stunned for a moment, as were Zhang Rang and Jian Shuo.
It’s not that the Han Dynasty didn’t have the title of Duke. There was. Although the Han Dynasty did not have the fifth-class title of Duke, Prince, Prince, and Male during the Spring and Autumn Period and later the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Instead, it inherited some of the nobility system of the Qin State, but it still had The three-level system of princes, princes and princes.
At that time, Liu Bang said that no one without the surname Liu could be crowned a king, and no one without meritorious service could be crowned a marquis. It seemed that he had skipped the title of Duke. However, this title existed and was permanent, but it aimed at different goals.
In the Eastern Han Dynasty, heroes were generally promoted only in the twenty-level military title system inherited from the Qin Dynasty. Wangjue was generally only awarded to the prince and his direct descendants, while dukedom generally only fell into the category of two kings and three lords.
Two Kings and Three Kes is a kind of political etiquette, one of the guest etiquette. In this era of etiquette and law, it is a very solemn thing.
The rulers who obtained the right to rule in the past dynasties would confer titles on the descendants of the previous royal family, and call them the Second Queen and the Third Queen. They would also give them titles, bestow fiefs, and offer sacrifices to the ancestral temple to show the lineage inherited by the dynasty and to indicate its orthodox status.
Generally speaking, the descendants of the first two generations are called the second queen, and the descendants of the first three generations are called the third queen.
In the second year of Jianwu, Liu Xiu named Kong An, a descendant of Confucius, the Duke of Yin and Shao, inheriting the rewards of the Yin and Shang Dynasties from the descendants of Confucius, and he also made Ji Wu the Duke of Zhou Chengxiu, inheriting the rewards of Ji and Zhou.
In the thirteenth year of Jianwu's reign, he changed the titles of Kong An and Ji Wu to Dukes of Song and Duke of Wei, and changed Xinqi County and Guan County into Dukes of Song and Duke Wei.
Although these two principalities had little sense of existence, they existed until the Yongjia Rebellion of the Jin Dynasty before being destroyed. They existed longer than the Eastern Han Empire.
In terms of regulations, the status of the Duke of Song and the Duke of Wei was higher than the princes and lower than the kings.
Generally speaking, ministers can only be granted the title of marquis, and cannot go higher. Dukes are granted to descendants of the previous dynasty, allowing them to remain in the rule of the Han Empire as "guests" to show respect.
Therefore, strictly speaking, the Duke was not a subject of the Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty, but a guest of the Emperor of the Eastern Han Dynasty.
They are guests, their status is different.
Similar to this, royal titles can only be granted to princes or direct descendants of princes.
One is a guest, the other is a relative, both of whom have nothing to do with the minister.
However, Dong Chong suggested that Liu Bei should be rewarded as a duke to show his different status from the past.
He even expressed that he wanted Liu Bei to go further.
"Back then, Emperor Gaozu swore to the White Horse Alliance that no one without the surname of Liu could be crowned king, and no one without meritorious service could be crowned a marquis. Although only princes were crowned as kings since the resurgence of the Han Dynasty, the generals were also surnamed Liu, and they were the descendants of Prince Jing of Zhongshan and were also members of the Han Dynasty. , Strictly speaking, even if you become a king, you have not violated the oath of the great ancestor, right?"
(End of chapter)
