Ten years of Jianwu.
Spring Festival.
The Han Dynasty held a great court meeting.
All civil and military officials sent congratulations to the Han Dynasty, wishing that the Han Dynasty had gained new territories in the past year and that the registered population had exceeded 50 million.
In fact, the Han Dynasty not only exceeded 50 million in population.
At the same time, the number of provinces also reached an astonishing fifty-six.
In the nine years of Jianwu's reign, the tax revenue exceeded 60 million taels of silver without any census.
Take these things individually, they are all great events worthy of celebration.
Su Mingzhe sat on the dragon chair, listening to the ministers' congratulations, but his heart wandered.
Since the surrender of Tubo in the sixth year of Jianwu, Su Mingzhe spent another three years to successively incorporate small local countries such as Korea, the island country, and Luzon into the territory.
Compared with the original historical time and space, the territory of the Han Dynasty is now the largest outside the Yuan Dynasty.
Even compared with the Yuan Dynasty, it is actually not much different.
The ministers congratulated each other at the end.
Su Mingzhe followed the usual practice and began to reward civil and military officials.
There are three reward levels.
The first type is those who have made outstanding contributions to the court and the country.
For example, first become military generals, capable ministers, virtuous people, technical officials, etc.
Su Mingzhe did not hesitate to reward these officials.
Titles, gold and silver, mansions, fertile land, etc. are all available.
The second type is those ministers who can obey the rules and obey the rules.
These ministers are the backbone and mainstay of the official system.
It was these ministers who worked tirelessly to support the operation of the Han Dynasty.
These people can be regarded as 'good at fighting but without great achievements'.
Therefore, Su Mingzhe cannot reward them too much.
Only some spiritual rewards can be given, such as allowing some of Enyin's disciples to study in the Imperial College.
In the Han Dynasty, entering the Imperial College to study was basically equivalent to stepping into the officialdom.
Ministers work hard not only for themselves but also for future generations, so they are all grateful for such rewards.
The third type of courtiers are those who occasionally have some misgivings, but do not make any serious mistakes.
These ministers accounted for the vast majority of civil and military officials.
They may not be able to do any good things, but if they become evil, they can definitely do bad things.
Therefore, Su Mingzhe wants to give them some consolation prizes to encourage them to work hard instead of becoming old-fashioned officials.
The reward ends.
The singing and dancing extravaganza has just begun.
Unlike in the TV series, the men's and women's banquets are held separately.
The emperor and ministers drank happily and watched singing and dancing in the Golden Palace.
The married women brought their legitimate daughters who were qualified to enter the palace to the Queen's Qixia Palace to have a drink and watch dramas, juggling and other performances.
In this case, like in TV dramas, the heroine or hero takes the wrong path and meets unexpectedly, which basically does not happen.
Because, except for the young prince, no real man can be found in Qixia Palace.
During the peaceful singing and dancing in the Golden Palace, as cups of imperial wine were consumed, some ministers who were not good at drinking wine began to cause various troubles.
Su Mingzhe was looking at the beauties from the Western Regions dancing the Huxuan.
Suddenly, a black-faced strong man rushed out from among the military commanders on the right and went straight to the beauty who was leading the dance.
The dark-faced man hugged the beauty who was leading the dance, and then smiled and saluted the emperor on the dragon throne:
"Your Majesty, this beauty is so handsome. I, Old Zhao, have never seen such a beautiful woman. I am willing to exchange the thousand acres of fertile land that your Majesty has given me for her. Do you think so?"
"Zhao Jing, your reward is a thousand acres of fertile land near Luoyang City, worth at least thirty thousand taels of silver!"
Su Mingzhe resisted the urge to scold and reminded the big man:
"I can promise you that you can exchange fertile farmland for beauty today, but if you regret it later, I won't let you exchange it back!"
"Your Majesty, I, Mr. Zhao, am an honest man and will never regret it!"
Zhao Jing, a native of Zhuojun, joined the Yinu Army when it was first established.
For more than ten years, he has repeatedly achieved success by virtue of his bravery and fighting skills.
This Zhao Jing is now Duke You Guo, one of the nine founders of the Han Dynasty.
"Well, dear ladies, please testify to me that Duke Youguo proposed this himself."
Su Mingzhe saw that Zhao Jing insisted on this and would not be a bad person, so he simply agreed to his exchange request.
Unexpectedly, when all the civil and military officials saw that Zhao Jing had successfully obtained the exchange, they all came to grab the beauty and exchanged their own rewards.
What a wonderful feast was turned into a vegetable market.
Hundreds of thousands of acres of fertile land that were originally planned to be rewarded have now returned to the national treasury.
In fact, the reason why the Han Dynasty's court was so lively was because Su Mingzhe was too spoiled to his courtiers.
Although Su Mingzhe has been the emperor for countless years, he still thinks like a business boss in the later generations.
Su Mingzhe will not hesitate to reward subordinates who have real skills and the ability to create high value for themselves.
Over time, those courtiers who felt good about themselves gradually began to become lawless.
This situation can be regarded as something that has been encountered in all dynasties, even at the beginning of the founding of the country.
The feast is over.
Su Mingzhe returned to Shangyang Palace to rest.
Many concubines also went to attend the banquet at Qixia Palace.
There are only a dozen concubines left in Shangyang Palace.
Su Mingzhe asked the eunuch in charge of Shangyang Palace and walked towards Qingyang Palace.
There are four halls in Qingyang Palace, where four concubines, Qingping, Xiaoai, Qingnu and Xiao Wen, live respectively.
Xiao Wen is the granddaughter of Yelu Abaoji and the granddaughter and niece of Shuluping.
I don’t know if the physical mutation occurred due to close relatives.
Xiao Wen's skin has overcome frost and snow since he was a child, his eyes are like ink, and his lips are like red vermilion, and he is extremely beautiful.
A few years ago, when Su Mingzhe brought her back from Khitan, she was still very young and was raised in the harem.
In the past two years, Xiao Wen has grown up, so Su Mingzhe took her in.
After entering Qingyang Palace, Su Mingzhe first saw Xiao Wen holding a little girl.
This girl is not Xiao Wen's child, but Xiao Ai's.
In the past few years, Xiao Ai has given birth to two princesses.
These two princesses have inherited Xiao Ai's unparalleled beauty.
Su Mingzhe rewarded them with the titles Yong'an and Yongning shortly after they were full moon.
"Your Majesty is here!"
When Xiao Wen saw the Han Emperor arriving, he quickly hugged the child and saluted.
Su Mingzhe quickly stopped: "My dear concubine, didn't I say that? Since it is not a formal occasion, all such complicated etiquette will be dispensed with."
As he spoke, Su Mingzhe reached out and took Xiao Yongning's hand.
Xiao Yongning also liked his father. The little baby, who was only one year old, called out "Daddy" in a milky voice, which directly warmed Su Mingzhe's heart.
"Why!"
Su Mingzhe hugged his daughter and pulled Xiao Wen into the hall.
Although today is already the Spring Festival, the first day of the first lunar month, the north wind is blowing and it is still bone-chilling cold.
After teasing his daughter for a while, Su Mingzhe looked at Xiao Wen curiously and asked:
"My beloved concubine, why didn't you go to Qixia Palace to attend the banquet?"
"I don't like the excitement."
Xiao Wen faced the man's question and forced a smile, but did not tell the truth.
In fact, since being taken in by a man, Xiao Wen and his grandmother never attended banquets at the same time.
This chapter has been completed!