A Good Landlord in the Tang Dynasty: Emperor Yuan Cong

Chapter 1222: Praise the Unknown Emperor

The previous few rewards were all normal. He was promoted to the title of Grand Marshal, granted a thousand households, and served as the Minister of the Central Secretariat and the Minister of Personnel. Wu Huaiyu's achievements were enough to match these rewards.

Wu Huaiyu had previously served as the Inspector of the Secretariat and the Minister of Civil Affairs and the Minister of War. Even if he was promoted to the title of Grand Marshal, the first of the Three Dukes, it was not something special.

But the following two instructions,

He was given the surname of the state and was made a prince.
This is really alarming. This is neither the time to fight for the world at the beginning of the founding of the country nor the time when the dynasty is in danger. It is inappropriate to make a minister of a different surname a king.

"A few years ago, when Your Majesty issued an edict to appoint royal family members and meritorious officials as hereditary governors, didn't he also issue an edict that only the Li family could be king?" Niu Jinda said.

Wu Huaiyi nodded, "So the fourth decree is to grant the national surname and nationality."

The rule that only royal family members can be king actually started in the Han Dynasty. Before his death, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, and his ministers killed a white horse and swore an oath that only Liu could be king, and only those with merit could be granted a title of nobility.

Liu Bang agreed with his ministers that as long as the Han Empire existed, the ministers and their descendants would always be rich and powerful. Secondly, no one other than the royal family of Liu could be made king, otherwise the whole world could attack them together. And those without military merit could not be made marquis, otherwise the whole world could destroy them together.

At the beginning of the Tang Dynasty, many kings were enthroned.

For example, King Li Gui of Liang, King Du Fuwei of Wu, King Luo Yi of Yan, King Liu Jizhen of Pengcheng, King Gao Kaidao of Beiping, King Hu Daen of Dingxiang, and King Li Xiaochang of Yian.

Among these kings, although Li Gui and Li Xiaochang had the surname Li, they were not members of the royal family, and the rest had different surnames.

In order to fight for the world, Li Yuan made these people kings, but he also adopted the practice of giving them national surnames and listing their nationalities, that is, turning them all into members of the royal Li family.

However, none of these people had a good ending. Hu Daen died in battle, others like Du Fuwei died suddenly in Chang'an, Li Gui was later captured by his rebellious subordinates and sent to Chang'an to be executed, and the rest were all executed for rebelling.

"Erlang, you must go to Beijing as soon as possible." Huaiyi said.

When Wu Huaiyu heard the news that he was crowned king, he tried to avoid going to the capital and getting involved in this mess. But his brother told him to go to the capital as soon as possible, saying that escaping was not a solution and he had to face it head on.

"You must go to the capital immediately. It would be best if you could write a memorial to Your Majesty immediately to decline the title of king."

Lao Niu didn't say he wanted to give up his given surname.

The Emperor of the Tang Dynasty liked to give his subjects the surname of the country. He not only gave surnames to the leaders of vassal states, but also to meritorious officials.

Many leaders of the Turks, Khitans, Xis, Tuyuhuns, and Dangxiangs were given surnames and titles of kings, but they were, after all, foreign vassal states.

Among the court officials who were given surnames, apart from those kings who had died, the most famous one today is the Minister of War Li Ji.

Li Ji's original name was Xu Shiji. He was the third leader of Wagang. Later, Li Mi went to Wagang and fought against Zhai Rang. Li Ji was sent to Liyang, Hebei. Li Mi was defeated in a battle with Wang Shichong and surrendered to the Tang Dynasty. Wagang still occupied a lot of territory in Henan and still had a lot of troops.

Li Ji led his troops to offer land to the Tang Dynasty. The imperial court originally wanted to confer the surname of the emperor and the title of king on Xu Shiji. Later, he repeatedly declined, and the imperial court conferred the title of duke on him and his father.

After many years,

The third in command of Wagang back then has now entered the core of the imperial court and become the Minister of War, and is only one step away from becoming the prime minister.

Giving a surname to a meritorious official is actually a great honor and worthy of pride in the eyes of people today.

After all, Li is the national surname, and especially when listed as a nationality, it means that it is included in the same genealogy as the royal family, that is, the royal clan.

But Wu Huaiyu didn't care, or rather, he didn't like being given a surname.

The surname Wu is fine, there is no need to accept the surname Li.

In other words, if Wu Huaiyu refused to be given the royal surname, he would not be qualified to be crowned king.

"Brother, what do you think the five consecutive decrees of His Majesty mean?"

It is disrespectful to guess the emperor's intention, but the three of them only said it in private.

"It's hard to say, but I definitely don't want to make you king." Huaiyi said frankly.

Lao Niu also nodded, "Perhaps Your Majesty should first praise and then criticize? Your contribution this time is too great, it is difficult to be rewarded, but it is also impossible not to be rewarded, so Your Majesty should simply promote you first, grant you a surname, make you a king and appoint you as the Grand Marshal."

The subtext is that the emperor did not want to confer a title, but was afraid of what people would say, so he deliberately conferred a higher title. This would inevitably lead to many people opposing it, and then the emperor would go with the flow and carry out the order. In that case, it would not be the emperor not conferring a title.

Even if he was praised like this on purpose, there would definitely be people who would oppose or even attack Wu Huaiyu for some of his mistakes. Then he could let the officials investigate. If some of his mistakes were true, they would convict him and then use his merits to offset his mistakes. In this way, Wu Huaiyu would not need to be given any high titles or heavy rewards, nor would he need to be severely punished.

Just reward him with more gold, silver, land, houses, slaves, horses, etc., and at most give one or two sons titles for their merits, and the matter will be settled.

Wu Huaiyu felt that Lao Niu's analysis made a lot of sense. He looked rough, but he was meticulous.

"In this case, everyone in Chang'an must be talking about me right now, and there must be countless officials impeaching me. Once I enter the capital, public opinion will boil over, and Your Majesty will have to ask the court officials to send people to conduct a detailed investigation."

The emperor's move was to make him a high target so that everyone would focus their fire on him.

It may not be necessary to praise him to death, but it is inevitable to undermine his prestige and belittle his achievements so that he can offset his faults with his merits.

If the emperor was ruthless, he might take the opportunity to praise him and then destroy him, or even bring him down and discredit him. However, Wu Huaiyu felt that it would not happen now, after all, he had shown his loyalty.

Hey,
Damn the feudal monarchy era,

Wu Huaiyu took out paper and pen and began to write a ten-thousand-word letter to the emperor.

This ten thousand-word letter was mainly to reject the emperor's series of rewards, especially the title of king. Then he honestly confessed all the mistakes he made in the Western Regions.

The credit for conquering the Western Regions must also be shared by all the soldiers.

A ten thousand-word letter was sent out by express horse from the post station.

Wu Huaiyu did not stay in Liangzhou any longer. After saying goodbye to Lao Niu and Axiong, Wu Huaiyu continued his journey back to Beijing.

Two thousand miles,

It took him ten days to finish it.

When he saw the majestic Chang'an City appear before his eyes, Wu Huaiyu rubbed his stiff face. He was about to enter Chang'an and face the coming storm.

Wei Bridge,

Wu Huaiyu asked the guards to display their ceremonial weapons and reveal their identities.

The news of his return to the capital spread back to Chang'an City like the wind.

At Weiqiao Inn, he ate a bowl of mutton in a basin, slurped two crystal persimmons, and took a good bath in the hot water bucket prepared by the inn.

When he finished bathing and changed his clothes,

Officials who had come from Chang'an City to greet them had already arrived at the posthouse.

There are quite a few people.

There were people from the Palace Internal Affairs Department, the Hundred Cavalry Department, and the Eastern Palace.

Everyone looked at Wu Huaiyu, who had just showered and changed his clothes, very politely.

This person is now a hotly discussed figure in Chang'an City. The saint issued seven decrees for seven consecutive days to confer titles on Wu Huaiyu.
On the first day, he was promoted to Grand Marshal, on the fifth day he was conferred the title of King of Jiujiang, on the sixth day his eldest son Wu Chengsi, Duke of Taiyuan, was conferred the title of Duke of Song, and on the seventh day he was specially granted two iron certificates of immunity from death, which pardoned two deaths.

However, these seven decrees of reward have not yet been approved by the prime ministers in the Council of State.

A large number of memorials impeaching Wu Huaiyu are now flying into the palace like snowflakes. Although the emperor has not dealt with any of them, many of the contents have already spread everywhere.

What about Wu Huaiyu sleeping with the Queen of Shule?

What about Wu Huaiyu's secret connection with Gaochang's underground maze treasure?
What Wu Huaiyu sent his adopted son to destroy the Shi Kingdom, plunder the Shi Kingdom’s palace treasures, and made his adopted son the king of the Shi Kingdom.

For example, Wu Huaiyu sent his adopted son An Lushan to capture 18 cities of the Kingdom of Kucha and plundered countless treasures. An Lushan raped the queen and concubines of Kucha, and then presented the beautiful and young Kucha princesses to Wu Huaiyu for his enjoyment.

In various rumors, the more they spread, the more outrageous they became.

By now, it has become that Wu Huaiyu looted the palace treasury of the Sixteen Kingdoms in the Western Regions, enjoyed dozens of queens and princesses, and even looted the wealth of several Khans, Yehus, and Jijins of the Western Turkic Khanate, and abducted their princesses...
It is rumored that in the Western Regions, whether it is the Khan, Yehu, Jiqin of the Western Turkic Khanate, or the kings, prime ministers, and generals of various countries,
When you see Wu Huaiyu, you have to call him "Sir" or "Yeah Yeah".

Wu Huaiyu would sleep with the wives and daughters of the Khans of the Western Regions, kings, and nobles as long as they were pretty.

These outrageous rumours were spreading more and more vigorously in the streets and alleys. Everyone seemed very keen to spread these rumours and even willing to believe them. They seemed to have put themselves in the shoes of Wu Huaiyu, the protagonist.

Even though Wu Huaiyu's Journey to the West had already begun to be printed and distributed in Chang'an, many people had read it and admired the beauty of the Western Regions described by Wu Huaiyu and the bravery and justice of the Tang army soldiers.

But now they are more willing to believe those increasingly outrageous rumors.

They even exaggerate the news when spreading it.

Some people say that Wu Huaiyu plundered countless wealth from the Western Regions, and the gold alone weighed thousands of camels. At first, it was said that there were more than a dozen camels of gold, but later it became dozens, hundreds, and then thousands of camels.

One camel carries three or four hundred kilograms of gold. If there are thousands of camels of gold, that would be several million taels of gold, or tens of millions of copper coins. This is more than the annual tax revenue from the salt, tea, wine, vinegar and other monopolies collected by the imperial court.

But everyone just believes such an outrageous rumor.

What kind of seser was loaded with countless carts, what kind of silver coins were melted and minted into tens of thousands, each weighing 1,600 taels...
Now, every other day, the amount of gold, silver and treasures that Wu Huaiyu looted from the Western Regions would increase several times, and the number of queens and princesses that Wu Huaiyu slept with in the Western Regions would also increase by several times.

And every other day,
The number of memorials impeaching Wu Huaiyu also increased a lot. It was said that the emperor specially ordered people to bring boxes to put these memorials, and one or two boxes were filled every day.

The officials who came to welcome Wu Huaiyu were enthusiastic but also a little distant towards him.

Wu Huaiyu is now like the center of a storm. No one knows what the outcome will be, and no one dares to get too close to him rashly.

Wu Huaiyu greeted everyone with a smile, knowing what was going on.

Without saying much, he walked out of the inn and headed for Chang'an surrounded by the officials who came to greet him.

Wei Bridge is the only way in and out of Chang'an from the west. There is a large flow of people, and the bridge has long become a bustling town. Wu Huaiyu's ceremonial guard started.

It attracted countless people to look on.

It can be seen that the people still admire Wu Huaiyu very much, and there are even many merchants, vendors and people who want to give gifts to Wu Huaiyu.

Walk thirty miles,

To the gate of Chang'an city.

Crown Prince Li Chengqian led the prime ministers to greet them.

All the prime ministers came, even the governor of Luozhou and the grand marshal Changsun Wuji came, as well as the Minister of War Li Ji, the Minister of Rites Xu Jingzong and other ministers.

The welcoming team was huge and luxurious.

"Teacher, His Majesty asked me and the Prime Minister to lead all the officials to welcome you back to Chang'an. Thank you for your hard work on the journey."

The emperor not only asked the prince to come to welcome him in person, he also prepared a golden carriage and let Wu Huaiyu ride in the golden carriage with the prince and enter the city under the escort of a hundred imperial guards.

Wu Huaiyu could not refuse, so he had to ride in the golden carriage to Chang'an with Crown Prince Chengqian.

According to the emperor's order, we walked along Suzaku Street.

On both sides of Tianjie, countless soldiers, civilians and people received urgent notices to come here to welcome them.

The scene was grand and warm, and the emperor gave Wu Huaiyu enough face.

The ten-mile Suzaku Street parade leads directly to the Suzaku Gate Square in the imperial city.

"Your Majesty is waiting for the teacher in the Wude Hall." Cheng Qian said.

Wu Huaiyu didn't even have the chance to return to Beijing to see his wife and children. After getting off the golden carriage, he was taken to the Taiji Palace by Cheng Qian.

All the way to Wude Hall,
On the way, Cheng Qian still respected and admired Wu Huaiyu, his teacher whom he had not seen for almost two years, as before. He told Wu Huaiyu not to worry about the current turmoil in the court.

In front of the Wude Hall, the eunuchs loudly announced the names of the people.

Emperor Li Shimin came out in a bright yellow robe with a dragon pattern and a black fu hat on his head.

"I have long ago granted Huaiyu the privilege of not bowing when entering the court, and not using his name when praising or worshipping. From now on, when Huaiyu comes, you can just address him as Grand Marshal or Prince of Jiujiang."

Wu Huaiyu said quickly, "I dare not accept such a generous title. I ask Your Majesty to withdraw the decree of conferring the title of Grand Marshal, bestowing the imperial surname, and conferring the title of King of Jiujiang on me."

Li Shimin came up and took his arm, and walked towards the Wude Hall together, saying, "You have made such great contributions, and these rewards are all deserved. I originally thought that it would take 20 to 30 years to conquer the Western Regions. But you conquered the entire Western Regions for the Tang Dynasty in just two years.
You have worked so hard, how can I not reward you generously? In fact, considering your merits, it is unfair to confer the title of Jiujiang County King on you. You should be directly conferred the title of Song King."

"The credit for the overall planning goes to your majesty. The credit for charging and killing the enemy lies with the soldiers."

"I led the army to the west, but I didn't achieve much."

"Moreover, I also made many mistakes in the Western Regions. When I was in Liang Province, I had already honestly explained everything about my situation in the Western Regions to Your Majesty. I still ask Your Majesty to punish me. How can I have the nerve to accept such a generous reward?"

Li Shimin pulled him to sit on the couch.
He personally brewed a cup of tea for Wu Huaiyu, "I know you don't like milk tea, so I just prepared a pot of purple bamboo shoots for you."

"I have read the ten thousand word letter you wrote in Liangzhou. I have read it carefully and more than once. Some of the mistakes you made were indeed wrong, but some were harmless.

But no matter whether the mistake is big or small, it cannot erase the great achievements you have made.

Merits are merits, faults are merits, and they cannot be confused."

"You don't have to worry about the chancellors in the Council of State Affairs not wanting to draft an edict. I will convene a court meeting tomorrow. Not only will the chancellors in the Council of State Affairs attend, but also the ministers of the other six ministries, as well as the generals of the various guards and armies, and other important officials will also attend.
Let's discuss this matter seriously.

If merits are not rewarded and crimes are not punished, even the Tang and Yu dynasties could not bring order to the world.

Names, positions, honors and salaries are important state tools and should not be granted lightly or arbitrarily. However, a wise ruler must reward those who have made contributions and appoint those who are capable. Those who have worked hard will receive high salaries, those who have made many achievements will receive high ranks, and those who can govern the people will receive high positions.

I cherish my reputation and position to wait for those who have made contributions. Now that you have made great contributions, and I am not a tyrant, how can I not reward you?"

Wu Huaiyu still refused.
"Your Majesty, I am grateful for your appreciation. However, although I have made great contributions, they are not great. I do not deserve the reward of being granted a surname and crowned a king. Please think twice."

(End of this chapter)