Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1372 Duke Dingguo

In the imperial prison.

After a basin of cold water was poured over his head, Boyan slowly woke up. He focused his eyes for a long time before he saw the thin, hawk-faced middle-aged official sitting behind the desk opposite him.

"What's your name?!" the official asked in a deep voice.

“……”Boyan looked at him with blank eyes, as if he couldn’t understand Chinese.

Another Mongolian man wearing Ming Dynasty official uniform asked again in Mongolian.

"Boyan." He finally answered.

"Don't you understand Chinese?" the Mongolian asked in a deep voice.

"I don't understand." Boyan shook his head.

"Someone was calling Feng Ji's name behind you, why did you turn around?" the Han official asked through the Mongolian.

"I turned around because I heard some noise," Boyan replied.

"Then why are you running away?" the official asked coldly.

"I ran away out of fear when I saw they were trying to catch me," Boyan said confidently.

"Haha, do you think you have covered up perfectly? We can't do anything to you." The official laughed sarcastically and said, "But I'm sorry, your master has betrayed you. Do you know who pointed you out?"

"..." Boyan froze for a while, then asked with some difficulty: "Who?"

"Toghon Temur." The official said word by word.

"Ah?!" Boyan was struck by lightning.

"Do you need him to testify against you on the spot?" the official asked.

"No need." Boyan spoke Chinese this time, and it was standard Mandarin.

"It seems that you know very well what happened." The official said lightly.

"Yes, Lord Yuan sold me out. I hid for seven years, but I couldn't hide anymore." Boyan nodded dejectedly.

"Then let's get to know each other again." The official smiled coldly and said, "I am Wu Yong, the Left Judge of the Criminal Division."

"The Criminal Court? I've never heard of it. Is it a newly established government office?" Boyan said, letting out a long breath, "My name is Feng Ji. I was originally a Mongolian. After my army was defeated by the Yijun army, I surrendered. Later, I became a guard commander in the residence of Prime Minister Hu Weiyong."

"Then why did you go to the Northern Yuan Dynasty court again and hide your identity?" Wu Yong asked in a deep voice.

"That was in the 13th year of Hongwu. I was having an affair with Chunxiang, a maid in the prime minister's residence. We were caught in the act and brought before Prime Minister Hu. Prime Minister Hu said, 'You must die now. If you go to the north, I will spare you and give you Chunxiang as your concubine.' I agreed."

"Prime Minister Hu sent an envoy to take me to Commander Geng in Ningxia. Commander Geng sent Captain Zhang Lin and Governor Zhang Hu to deliver me to Yijinai. Then the Tatars sent me to the barbarians of Kharajang and asked them to deliver the letter to the Yuan Lord. They also told me the news about Prime Minister Hu in detail."

"What are you talking about?" Wu Yong asked again.

"The prime minister said, 'Please ask the Yuan Lord to send troops to disturb the border. I submitted the request and sent the troops from the capital so that I could do my work. After the mission is accomplished, we will share the world with the Yellow River as the boundary.'" Feng Ji replied, "But before the Yuan Lord agreed, the news of Prime Minister Hu's failure came, so I stayed there, hiding my identity and thinking about the rest of my life." He said with a self-deprecating smile, "Who knew that the net of heaven is so long that nothing can escape it, and I still can't escape this day."

Wu Yong was not in the mood to share his sentiments, and said coldly, "Write down all the people mentioned in the letter, as well as the Ming military officer who assisted you in going to the grassland, and all the accomplices of Hu Weiyong that you know of. Don't leave any of them out."

He paused and said, "Otherwise you will suffer physical pain!"

"It's been too long, I can't remember some of them clearly..." Feng Ji wrote down a few names and couldn't continue. Those names were too scary, and he was afraid that his relatives in the Ming Dynasty would meet with misfortune because of them.

"You're really itching for trouble." Wu Yong laughed grimly and waved his hand, saying, "Torture me!"

The officer picked up the wet whip and started whipping him violently.

~~
At the same time, there was a constant stream of traffic outside the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, and inside the mansion was decorated with lights and filled with guests, a festive atmosphere.

Today is the day when the Duke's Iron Certificate is officially issued. The dukes, nobles, civil and military officials in Beijing will naturally come to congratulate. Although the Duke of Liang and the Duke of Ying's Iron Certificates were also issued at the same time, which diverted many guests, the guests who came here were still the most. There were a total of eighty tables.

The reason was simple. Not only Zhu Zhen's family, but also the King of Qin, King of Jin, King of Zhou, King of Shu, and King of Xiang all came to Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion to watch the ceremony. Now many noble officials could only send a generous gift to the other two places, and then come to Dingyuan Marquis's Mansion to congratulate.

As soon as the morning hour arrived, Eunuch Wu arrived at the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion on time with the iron certificate.

Wang Bi quickly invited the eunuch Old Wu to the incense table that had been set up long ago, and then led the entire family to kneel down to receive the iron certificate.

After a series of lengthy ceremonies, Eunuch Wu took out a tile-shaped iron certificate from a jade box, which was one foot high and one foot six and a half inches wide. This was also the largest iron certificate, with gold characters on it, and it was passed down from generation to generation, so it was also called the Golden Book of the World Certificate.

Then he heard Eunuch Wu loudly reading the golden words on the iron certificate:

"The imperial edict says: To pacify the rebellion and pacify the people, to start the promotion of the Dragon Rising Assistant; to reward the meritorious service and confer the title of nobility, to enfeoff the Yangfu and pay homage to the emperor. I advise you, Wang Bi, the Marquis of Dingyuan, to cross the Yangtze River with a staff and be appointed as the deputy commander. You are the most heroic and brave among all, to clear the Hunan, Hunan, Fujian and Zhejiang; you are loyal and righteous without character, to subdue You, Henan, Yan and Qin. You won the victory in southern Yunnan, and first opened the Dragon Tail Pass; you showed your power in the Han River, and swept away all the fish in the sea."

"Today, the world is settled, and the people are at peace. I will reward you according to your merits, and I will confer you the title of Duke of Dingguo, with an official salary of 4,000 shi, and you will be hereditary Marquis of Dingyuan. I will pardon you according to the three pardons, and spare you two lives, and your son one, to reward you for your merits. I will respect your Marquis's conduct, and bring peace to the country. I will protect the royal family and make the treasures known forever. I will think clearly about the mountains and rivers, and strictly adhere to the solidity of the golden soup. What a joke! I will write down my loyalty and follow the order for generations to come. I decree this."

"Your Majesty's grace is higher than the sky! I, your servant Wang Bi, would die for the Ming Dynasty for generations, but I would never be able to repay you!"

"Congratulations, Duke Dingguo. Please stand up." Eunuch Wu helped Wang Bi up with a smile on his face and said jokingly, "We congratulate you."

Eunuch Wu even prepared a gift list. When did you ever see a eunuch giving money to someone when delivering an imperial decree? He really made me cry...

Although the reward Wang Bi gave was definitely several times more than his.

"Oh, eunuch, this is not possible. Please take a seat." Wang Bi quickly placed the iron certificate on the incense table, and then pulled Eunuch Wu to sit at the table.

"Then I'll have the nerve to ask for a drink from you, sir." Eunuch Wu greeted the princes with a smile, then happily took a seat.

"Come on," Zhu Zhen smiled and raised his glass, saying to the guests, "Let's toast to Duke Ding first!"

"Congratulations, Duke Dingguo!" All the guests toasted Wang Bi together.

"Thank you, Your Majesty, and thank you all!" Wang Bi drank the wine in one gulp with tears in his eyes.

~~
Amid the crackling sound of firecrackers, the servants carefully removed the plaque of "Dingyuan Marquis Mansion" and replaced it with a larger and more imposing plaque - "Dingguo Mansion"!
(End of this chapter)