Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty Five: On Rewards for Merit
The next day, the Zhongshufang finally announced the awards for meritorious personnel during Zhao Hongrun's expedition, and the Ministry of War issued them on his behalf.
There are two first-class meritorious deeds, Bailiba, the general of Junshuiying, and Xu Yin, the general of Fenxingsai.
For these two current generals who were once the guards of Emperor Wei, the imperial court's rewards seemed quite satisfactory, including the second-class meritorious service of General Sima An of Dangshan Camp.
It's no wonder, after all, these three generals were once the guards around Emperor Wei, and now they hold great power. It is no exaggeration to say that the three of them have become extremely popular ministers.
Therefore, in order to avoid the embarrassment of having no rewards and no titles, the imperial court did not promote the titles of these three people this time, but only promoted some Yinze heirs. To put it bluntly, one day these three generals are no longer here.
Their heirs can also enjoy the meritorious status of their fathers, at least the position of local military commander.
You must know that Wu Wei is not just a small official. Some of them participated in the military examinations of the Ministry of War and shone brightly during the period. They started as deputies next to local captains, such as Chen Shi, Wang Shu, Ma Zhang and others.
How many years did it take before he was transferred to another person to serve as a military lieutenant?
Although in normal times, the local military attachés were only responsible for detecting thieves and public security in the city. At most, they suppressed bandits when they appeared in the surrounding areas. They were considered to be middle-level military attachés who were neither high nor low in the military.
However, in times of emergency, due to the provisions of the military law of the Wei Dynasty, local captains have the right to control all surrounding military power in emergencies. Just like when Pingyu Lord Xiong Hu attacked Yanling, Yanling Military Lieutenant Chen Shi suddenly became the frontline general.
.
All in all, he is a good military attache. He has a lot of leisure time and a lot of money.
The second-level meritorious service includes more people, including Sima An, the leader of the Dangshan Army, as well as Qu Cheng, Yan Mo, Wuma Jiao and other generals who returned to the Wei Dynasty and are now in the Yan Navy and Shang Navy.
, as well as Chen Shi, Ma Zhang, Wang Shu of the Yanling Army, and even Meng Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry.
For rewards for this level of meritorious service, the imperial court mainly gave them houses, money and materials, and also gave them the honor of building a mansion.
Take Qu Cheng for example. Although the court did not directly reward him with a house, when he bought or built his own house in Yanling in the future, he could grandly inscribe "Yan Shuijun" on the plaque in front of the house.
The words "General Qu Mansion". This is not only an honor, but also a political guarantee for Qu Cheng from the Wei Dynasty.
It has to be said that for former Chu generals like Qu Cheng and Yan Mo who surrendered to the Wei Dynasty, rather than getting some money, the official document from the Ministry of War recognizing their current status is more important. Because they are not short of money.
After all, Zhao Hongrun still holds 30% of the battle profits in his hands, which will be distributed proportionally to the six armies participating in this battle as previously agreed.
During this process, several officials were transferred. For example, Zhao Zhun, the former county magistrate of Linying County, was transferred to Zhaoling County as the county magistrate. Chen Shi, Ma Zhang, and Wang Shu were also relieved of their original military duties.
He held the position of Lieutenant, was officially named General, and took charge of Zhao Hongrun's newly established Yanling Army.
Hmm. To be precise, it should be the Zhaoling Army. After all, this army is currently stationed in Zhaoling. Moreover, in order to monitor the movements of the Yan Shui Army and the Shang Shui Army, Zhao Hongrun plans to keep this army stationed in a place that is easy to defend and difficult to attack for a long time.
Therefore, the Yanling Army will be renamed Zhaoling Army soon, and after it is officially established, the army will be expanded to 30,000.
As a result, the southern border of the Wei Dynasty has four armies, Fenxing Fortress, Zhaoling Army, Yanshui Army, and Shangshui Army, with a total size of 120,000. Although the military expenditure of the Ministry of War will become tight, I believe that such a Come. The southern border of the Wei Dynasty will be as stable as Mount Tai. Even if Xiong Tuo, the king of Yangcheng, betrays him in the future and breaks his private agreement with Zhao Hongrun, Zhao Hongrun will not be afraid.
However, the result of such a massive expansion of the army is that Zhao Hongrun must find a way to deal with this huge military expenditure in the future. After all, if the Ministry of War is overwhelmed by this huge military expenditure, this is not in line with his original intention.
At this point, Zhao Hongrun was ready to make a fuss about Shangshui County.
To put it bluntly, he has planned to make a private deal with Yangcheng Lord Xiong Tuo to earn enough money from the Chu State to support the three armies of Zhaoling Army, Shang Shui Army, and Yan Shui Army. At least he must ensure that these three armies are self-sufficient. , so as not to put financial pressure on the Ministry of War. I won’t go into details here.
Speaking of the third-level meritorious service, most of the rewards at this level are aimed at the local officials of the Wei Dynasty who died in this battle, such as the former magistrate of Zhaoling County Chen Bing and others. For the rewards for these loyal and martyrs, except for Zhao Hongrun In addition to the promises made previously, the imperial court gave additional preferential treatment to their heirs. In short, they were the nephews of these loyal and martyr men. The imperial court hired them under special circumstances, so that even young people who had not passed the scientific examination could enter the official career in one step.
It is undeniable that this is a great favor. It can be seen that the imperial court is also planning to buy horse bones with a large sum of money, so as to firmly enhance the sense of identity and belonging of local officials in the country towards the Wei Dynasty, the emperor, and the imperial court.
In general, the civil servants and generals who followed Su Wang Zhao Hongrun this time all received rewards to varying degrees. However, because Zhao Hongrun still held 30% of the money and materials that he originally planned to reward these people under him, so , the imperial court lowered the financial rewards and increased the rewards in terms of honors and authority.
It's no wonder, after all, this year is when the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Industry need large sums of money, and the Ministry of Household Affairs of the imperial court is obviously planning to save money wherever possible.
But it is undeniable that both the meritorious men of the Wei Dynasty and the newly surrendered generals such as Qu Cheng are very satisfied with the detailed rewards issued by the Ministry of War.
As for Zhao Hongrun, the king of Su who took the lead in this battle, his name was not on the list of awards issued by the Ministry of War.
The reason is very simple, because Zhao Hongrun's reputation as King Su is already well-known in Daliang, and there is no need for the Ministry of War to make him famous again.
In fact, in fact, Zhao Hongrun hopes to gradually fade out of the government and the public. After all, if he is burdened by his fame, it will affect his future life.
He doesn't want to be burdened by his reputation, let alone being tied to the court because of it. Even if he wants the Wei Dynasty to be strong, he doesn't need to do everything personally, right? He can just give a suggestion when necessary and let the officials of the six ministries do the work.
Anyway, Zhao Hongrun didn't want to become a hard worker, like Emperor Wei who was only forty years old but had gray hair on his temples.
But despite this, Emperor Wei still rewarded him privately.
The reward given to him can be summed up in just four words: leaving the imperial court and establishing a new government.
The former is just a word from Emperor Wei, but the latter is a real reward.
A mansion!
A palace for Prince Su!
It has to be said that Zhao Hongrun waited for fifteen years and finally got his freedom. Emperor Wei finally allowed him to leave the cabinet, move out of the palace, and open a palace in Daliang City.
What made Zhao Hongrun even more delighted was that Emperor Wei really rewarded him with a mansion as he expected.
When he learned the news, Zhao Hongrun happily took Princess Yulong, Mi Jiang, Mi Rui, Yang Yanxing and all the sect guards to visit the mansion that Emperor Wei planned to reward him.
Not to mention, the location of the mansion is really good. It faces north and south, and it occupies a large area. According to the Zongwei's measurement with great interest, it covers nearly two acres. What's even more valuable is that this mansion is located in Zhengyang.
Near North Street.
It is well known to the people of Daliang that although Zhengyang North Street is not the most prosperous street in Daliang City, it is definitely the most valuable area. Because Zhengyang North Street is close to the imperial palace, anyone who can live near Zhengyang North Street cannot
First of all, ordinary people, not the high-ranking officials in Daliang City, would never be able to earn enough money to build a house near Zhengyang North Street in their lifetime, let alone a large house covering an area of nearly two acres.
In front of the mansion and behind the mansion, the surrounding environment is also quite good. In front of the mansion is a street paved with bluestones, which is said to be called Qingping Lane. Behind the mansion is a river in the city, with willows and peach trees planted on both sides of the river.
Remember that in the customs of the Wei Dynasty, if a family has a river (living water) near its house, the family will definitely prosper in the future.
Although Zhao Hongrun sneered at this, the Wei people seemed to care about it. Therefore, mansions and houses like this near the river had always been reserved by dignitaries.
It is no exaggeration to say that the future Prince Su's Mansion, in terms of area, location and surrounding environment, is no less inferior to the palaces of Yong Wang Hongyu, Xiang Wang Hongjing and other royal brothers.
The only thing that made Zhao Hongrun a little disappointed was that this mansion was not newly built. At first glance, it looked a bit dilapidated. It is not difficult to guess that it should have had its own owner, but later for some reason, it fell into the hands of the imperial court.
, it belongs to the type of house that has been in disrepair for a long time and needs to be renovated and renovated.
Speaking of rectification and renovation, before Zhao Hongrun could think of how to rebuild and renovate, Meng Wei, the left minister of the Ministry of Industry, who learned the news, hurried over with his people and took over the task of renovating this future building.
The project of Prince Su's Mansion.
According to Meng Wei's solemn promise, the Ministry of Industry and Engineering will be able to completely renovate the palace within two months at the latest, making this future palace look brand new.
In other words, in May, Zhao Hongrun will be able to move into this palace that belongs to him, and by then, he can also give Miss Su a surprise and take her to the palace from a waterside pavilion.
That day, Zhao Hongrun was so excited that he couldn't close his eyes all night long. After all, he had desperately wanted to leave the palace that made him feel very depressed many times and live in a palace that only belonged to him. From then on, the sea and the sky were vast, and no one could control him.
The more he thought about it, the more excited he became. Although he was very sleepy, he could not fall asleep. In the end, he actually stayed up all night, which was very rare.
It’s over, I’m so excited...
It wasn't until dawn the next day that Zhao Hongrun finally woke up and secretly thought something was wrong.
Because this day falls on the 15th of April in the 17th year of Hongde, and it is the day when Emperor Wei presides over the Heaven Sacrifice Ceremony, I don’t know how many dignitaries and people will watch today’s ceremony from a distance.
It is no exaggeration to say that today is an important day where there is no room for error.
This not only refers to Zhao Hongrun, but also refers to Hongli, the crown prince of the East Palace who assisted Emperor Wei in hosting the heaven-sacrifice ceremony. (To be continued.)