The only thing that could comfort Chen Xu was the memorial sent back from Xiangyang.
At least in the memorial, Xiao Mohe and Chun Yuliang clearly expressed their dissatisfaction with Li Xinchen's behavior of negotiating with the Northern Zhou Dynasty without asking for instructions - but this dissatisfaction was only limited to this negotiation. It had no impact on Li Xinchen's entire Bashu.
They still maintained their approval attitude during the war.
Even so, this somewhat made Chen Xu feel that he still had the army under Xiao Mohe in his hands, and was not a lonely man without soldiers and power.
Knocking on the table lightly, Chen Xu looked at Wu Mingche: "The rest of the credit and military exploits will be determined according to the merit book. This will be given to Wu Qing's family and Xu Qing's family, but Li Xingchen's credit must be carefully discussed. I don't know how many lovers
What do you think, sir?"
Wu Mingche had long expected where Chen Xu's focus was, and Wu Mingche immediately said: "Your Majesty, Li Xinchen took charge of the overall situation of Bashu, captured Shu County and Langzhong, and indirectly controlled Bazhong, and took all the Shu land into his pocket. This is
One of the great achievements is to defeat the enemies of Hezhou, Shujun and Mianzhu one after another, and to repel Yuchi Jiong and Wei Xiaokuan. This is the second of the great achievements. These are the achievements of opening up the territory and chasing the enemy to the north, which can be compared with that of the champion prince.
.but······"
The champions came out, and they clearly wanted to confer a title on Li Xinchen. This was not something Chen Xu wanted to accept, or accept without compromise, so he originally wanted to interrupt, but he heard Wu Mingche's twist.
, and forcefully suppressed the words.
Chen Xu's expression was caught in the eyes of Xu Ling and Pei Ji, who had been looking over. The two looked at each other subconsciously, and they could see the sighs and helplessness in each other's eyes.
Being able to have such a headache and difficulty in choosing because of a minister, Chen Xu's appearance made them somewhat emotional and even pitiful.
Chen Xu's body leaned forward slightly, and now he could already see Chen Xu's gray temples and the crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. This once all-powerful emperor was now old, and it was obvious that he had found that it was becoming more and more difficult for him.
He controls the future of this world, and even half of the country he has worked so hard to guard is now shaken.
The rise of Li Xingchen, the powerful Xiao Mohe, and the courtiers with their own agendas... This situation in the last generation of the Southern Dynasties has been repeated again and again in the past three hundred years. The entire era seems to have fallen into an endless cycle.
Chen Xu felt that he could no longer grasp it.
Wu Mingche raised his eyes and looked at Chen Xu, and said in a deep voice: "But Li Xingchen secretly negotiated with Wei Xiaokuan without asking for instructions. Although he finally succeeded in taking Jiange and other places, he will be outside, and the king's life will be compromised. I hope he will finally achieve something."
For my sake, this should be considered a minor fault."
Chen Xu frowned, but did not speak rashly. Wu Mingche said in a low voice: "To sum up, I believe that Li Xingchen should be praised more than punished. Based on his merits, he should be promoted to general and made a marquis, but his crime should be reduced to one."
etc. Therefore, I propose that Jin Zhenxi General be granted the honorary title of marquis and provide additional salary."
Xu Ling and Pei Ji glanced at each other subconsciously. Wu Mingche's suggestion actually greatly reduced Li Xinchen's contribution, but it was still not a small reward. Since Chen Xu had such opinions on Li Xinchen, he might not be able to agree to this proposal.
It is rare in ancient times for people to be granted the title of marquis at a young age. The most famous one is definitely the death of Hou Huo Qubing, the champion during Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. It is a pity that Huo Qubing died young, which is sad. Li Xingchen was older than Huo Qubing, so he was not granted the title of marquis.
What an impossible thing.
And the titles of marquises are particular. There are differences in levels between Guanneihou, Tinghou and Xianghou, which correspond to different privileges and fiefdoms. For example, Guan Yu and Guan Yunchang were originally titled Tinghou of Hanshou, which was the Tinghou of Hanshou.
Zhuge Kongming's title was Wuxiang Hou, and his fiefdom was in Wuxiang.
However, there are still differences between such canonizations, such as remote collar, virtual collar, etc. Remote collar is an official in the capital, but the fief is managed by someone, while virtual collar is an honorary title that helps you realize your dream of becoming a prince.
Generally, virtual leaders are just like the governors who moved to prefectures in the Southern Dynasties. They will choose the name of a place that is not in the country as the title, so that they cannot actually receive the supplies from that place. For example, when Guan Yu was the Han Shouting Marquis, Han Shou was actually in Soochow.
For example, Pei Zilie's position as the prefect of Qiaojun was gone. As the state capital, Qiaojun was no longer in name only, so Pei Zilie basically had an honorary title attached to him.
Obviously, Li Xinchen's achievements were enough to create a marquis with a fiefdom, but now Wu Mingche decisively cut Li Xinchen's sword and turned him into a marquis in name only.
In fact, everyone knows that for Li Xinchen, the enshrinement of a Tinghou or Xianghou is nothing. After all, the taxes of Bajun and Shujun are still in the hands of Li Xinchen, and Li Xinchen does not seem to
There was no intention of handing it over to the imperial court.
Li Xinchen's previous memorial mentioned that the front line was urgently needed, and Bashu's self-sufficiency was still insufficient. He even asked the court several times to allocate support. Chen Xu always ignored such requests. He even wished that Li Xinchen was short of food and grass, and finally retreated in the face of difficulties.
Now I don’t know what new reasons Li Xingchen can come up with.
In any case, it is definitely impossible for Li Xingchen to completely hand over the taxes and harvested grain to the court. What he withheld would definitely be far more than the supply of the feudal town. After all, how much grain and taxes would there be in the land of Bashu?
One can imagine.
Therefore, Li Xingchen definitely didn't care what the title was like, and it could satisfy Chen Xu's desire to attack Li Xingchen. It can be said that it killed two birds with one stone.
Xu Ling and Pei Ji looked at Wu Mingche with admiration in their eyes. Wu Mingche, an old fox, really understood everyone's thoughts well.
Chen Xu nodded slightly. He also knew that this was the best solution he could think of, at least it was a result he could barely accept in his heart: "Xu Qing family, what kind of title do you think is more appropriate?"
Xu Ling coughed lightly and said in a deep voice: "North of Bashu is Hanzhong. Hanzhong has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times. It is also a place that the Zhou people are destined to strictly defend in the future. I will crown Li Xinchen with the title of Hanzhong.
It might be feasible to encourage them to fight against the Zhou people."
Pei Ji raised his eyebrows. He wanted to say something, but he held back.
Although the title of Marquis of Hanzhong is a false title, this title is not a good title for Nanchen. Historically, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, Han Gaozu Liu Bang, was granted the title of Hanzhong. The "Han" has been passed down for two thousand years and has even become a nation.
The character of the name is changed from the "Han" in "Hanzhong".
In addition to Liu Bang, Liu Bei also proclaimed himself the "King of Hanzhong" at the beginning.
Now that Li Xingchen is named "Hanzhonghou", is Xu Ling's meaning really as simple as he said?
Pei Ji had been struggling in the officialdom for so long, but he didn't believe that Xu Ling would give out the title "Marquis of Hanzhong" for such a clumsy reason.