My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 332: Be neither arrogant nor impatient, walk on two legs
After a brief moment of unconsciousness, Liu Rong finally understood why Empress Dowager Dou had such an abnormal reaction.

——Empress Dowager Dou's attitude towards Liu Rong was originally purely that of an elder treating a younger person, a superior treating an inferior;
After all, the old empress dowager today is not an 'empress dowager' whose status and position are equal to that of the emperor, but a grand empress dowager who is superior to the emperor both legally and practically.

No matter how arrogant Empress Dowager Dou was, no one could find fault with her grandson Liu Rong.

——Which grandmother doesn’t teach her grandchildren?
But now, after the Hetao-Mayi Battle, Liu Rong is no longer the same person he used to be.

Liu Rong, who had the emperor's martial arts skills, had to be courteous to even the Empress Dowager Dou, the Grand Empress Dowager.

And this was exactly the reason why Empress Dowager Dou was so awkward, as if she was complaining, yet also faintly praising Liu Rong.

——Empress Dowager Dou was somewhat resistant and at a loss as to what to do with Liu Rong, a junior who had suddenly transformed from an ordinary young emperor to a powerful emperor with martial arts skills.

But there was no reason to curb or restrain Liu Rong - not only could they no longer act like elders or the Empress Dowager in front of Liu Rong, but they had to give Liu Rong enough respect.

Therefore, reason made Empress Dowager Dou readjust her attitude towards Liu Rong, but emotion made her unwilling to be on an equal footing with Liu Rong, so her words and deeds were somewhat complaining and grumbling.

Liu Rong was very satisfied with this change.

This is precisely the most important political benefit that the four words "emperor's martial arts" can bring to Liu Rong.

——The respect of the East Palace;

And fear!

That's right.

The martial arts achievements brought to Liu Rong by the Hetao-Mayi Battle were enough to make Empress Dowager Dou of the Eastern Palace feel wary of Liu Rong.

The source of this fear is undoubtedly a group of martial arts marquises who will emerge from the Hetao-Mayi battle.

——It goes without saying that as the supreme commander of this war, Taiwei Quzhou Hou Li Ji, as well as being entitled to at least 5,000 households of additional fiefdom, is indispensable.

Taking into account that after this battle, Li Ji had no more rewards or titles to offer, and that he would most likely fade out of the Han military like Zhou Yafu had done before, Liu Rong did not mind increasing Li Ji's additional title to about 7,000 households as compensation.

Of course, the prerequisite is that Li Ji is sensible enough to face the reality, instead of being like the negative example Zhou Yafu, forcing Liu Rong to show the power of the emperor.

Judging from Liu Rong's understanding of Li Ji, this matter is not a big problem.

That is to say, after this battle, the Quzhouhou family, which was already one of the founding heroes and had an initial fief of 5100 households, will officially become the sixth marquis family of ten thousand households in the Han Dynasty after the Marquis of Ling (Xiao He), the Marquis of Liu (Zhang Liang), the Marquis of Pingyang (Cao Shen), the Marquis of Xuanping (Zhang Ao), and the Marquis of Tiao (after Zhou Yafu).

And unlike the five predecessors whose fiefs were just over 12000 households, Li Ji's Quzhou Marquisate probably had a fief of more than households!
From now on, the Quzhouhou family will become the greatest marquis family with the highest number of fiefs since the founding of the Han Dynasty!
In this regard, public opinion inside and outside the court may be very intense.

But Liu Rong didn't think there was anything wrong with this.

——Because in a few years, the older one of 'the two' will begin to show his talent.

In the original history, Emperor Wu of Han used every possible means to reward the Marquis of Changping.

In the first battle, he was given the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry, and became the only victorious army among the four armies of the Han army that went out to the border, and was granted the title of Marquis of Guannei.
In the second battle, he captured Hetao for the Han Dynasty and was granted the title of Marquis of Changping with a fief of 3800 households!
In the third battle, he still commanded the surprise attack on Gaoque with the title of General of Chariots and Cavalry. He was appointed as the Grand General and was granted an additional 6000 households. His fiefdom reached an astonishing 9800 households, and he was only 200 households away from achieving the achievement of Marquis of Ten Thousand Households.

It is hard not to say that Emperor Wu of Han's move was not intended to suppress Wei Qing's rapidly growing fiefdom so as to leave Wei Qing enough room for advancement.

But after all, they are the two most outstanding heroes of the world, the twin arms of the empire;
This fief of just 200 households not only failed to become an insurmountable chasm for Wei Qing, but instead became the most insignificant little challenge in Wei Qing's glorious life.

The fourth battle!
As the general, Wei Qing officially launched the Han army's large-scale border expedition to the southern part of the grassland!
For this battle, Wei Qing was only rewarded with a thousand gold coins, and did not receive any additional fiefdom.
However, all of Wei Qing's three sons were granted the title of marquis - the eldest son Wei Kang was granted the title of Marquis of Yichun, the second son Wei Buyi was granted the title of Marquis of Yin'an, and the youngest son Wei Deng was granted the title of Marquis of Fagan.

Wei Qing repeatedly requested to resign, and finally turned down the good intention of Emperor Wu of Han;
However, it also indirectly contributed to the fact that ten of his generals, including Gongsun Ao, Gongsun He, Gongsun Rongnu, Li Cai, Li Shuo, Li Ju, Li Xi, Han Shuo, Zhao Buyu and Dou Ruyi, were all granted the title of marquis.

The most dazzling person in this battle was not the great general Wei Qing who "rejected the titles of three sons in order to make ten of his subordinates marquises", or any of the ten people who were granted the title of marquis.

Instead, it was the Pirate Captain Huo Qubing who overturned Longcheng with only 800 Pirate Cavalrymen, marched straight into Huanglong, and penetrated deep into the grasslands and deserts as if they were in an uninhabited area...

In the end, Wei Qing, Marquis of Changping, fought for half his life and earned for his descendants a fief of 16700 households in the Marquisate of Changping, as well as three independent marquisates of Changping with a total fief of 5300 households.

During the most glorious period of Wei Qing's life, he would often win another war before he received the extra fiefs from the previous war.
By the time the extra fiefdoms from the previous war were finally finalized, victory in the next war was already in hand.

The court in Chang'an was so busy that they had no time to rest. Finally, they had no choice but to confer the title on the direct male descendants of the Marquis of Changping, regardless of Wei Qing's repeated requests for resignation.

At the most exaggerated time, there was even a case where when one of Wei Qing's wives or concubines was about to give birth, the imperial edict officials were waiting outside the delivery room;
When the baby boy's cry resounded throughout the Changping Marquis's mansion, and it was confirmed that a boy was born in the Changping Marquis's mansion, the newborn was immediately conferred the title of Marquis...

In this timeline, the young Wei Qing had been brought into the palace by Liu Rong to be trained personally for some time.

Liu Rong had 99% trust in Wei Qing's temperament - both his character and his integrity.

The remaining 0.1% is just a little room left for the emperor due to his instinct.

Liu Rong has extremely high expectations for Wei Qing's future!
At the same time, Liu Rong did not want to suppress Wei Qing's development in the future out of considerations like "Marquis of Ten Thousand Households is already the ceiling, and it would be bad if he was given more titles."

The Hetao-Mayi Campaign won Wei Qing, and later Huo Qubing, sufficient time for development, as well as quite optimistic external strategic conditions.

Naturally, Liu Rong was also happy to increase the fief of Quzhou Marquis Li Ji to 12000 households through this battle, thus setting a precedent for the future Marquis of Changping and Marquis of Guanjun.

——Marquis Wanhu is not the ceiling for the Han Dynasty’s reward to its meritorious officials!
——It is not illegal to have a fief that exceeds 10,000 households, and significantly exceeds 10,000 households!

From this perspective, Li Ji, Marquis of Quzhou, can be said to have benefited from the imperial arms that have not yet shone in the history of China: Wei Qing, Marquis of Changping, and Huo Qubing, Marquis of Guanjun, his uncle and nephew.

Back to the present, after the Hetao-Mayi Campaign is over, the meritorious soldiers will be awarded the title of marquis for their merits.

The chief commander Li Jiyi was granted 7000 households, and his fief was a staggering 12100 households.
The remaining generals and officers would naturally also be able to obtain an additional fief of at least 5000 households, or a marquisate of at least 4000 households.

For example, the fiefs of Han Tuidang, Marquis of Gonggao, and Li Ji, Marquis of Yu, were increased from 2630 households and 1700 households to 5130 households and 4700 households respectively.

Cheng Bushi, Marquis of Bowang, whose "merits and demerits offset each other" in the Mayi battlefield, also benefited from the Han Dynasty's expansion of territory and occupation of Hetao. Under Liu Rong's strong opposition, he was granted an additional 500 households, and his fiefdom reached 1700 households.

——After all, he is the current No. 1 marquis who shares the title with Liu Rong’s private garden of the crown prince and the No. 1 city in Hetao: Bowang City;
In addition, Cheng Buzhi did his best in this battle and did everything he could in the Mayi battlefield. He gave some of the credit for the Hetao Campaign to Cheng Buzhi, and the mere 500 households of food and fiefs did not cause any discussion inside and outside the court.

However, the number of newly-appointed marquises and the size of their fiefs as a result of this battle caused widespread discussion both inside and outside the court and even among the people.

——In the Mayi battlefield where Cheng Buzhi was, only Cheng Buzhi's 500 households of food fiefdom were granted extra fiefdom, and Cang Ying Zhidu was granted the title of Guannei Hou, and two deputy generals under Cheng Bushi were granted the title of lords;
On the other hand, on the Hetao battlefield, there were nine newly-appointed Chehou alone!

Although the total number of fiefs was not large - the nine marquisates combined did not exceed 15000 households - it still caused a great sensation.

Since when did the title of Marquis Che of the Han family become so worthless?
You must know that during the reign of Emperor Xianjing, the suppression of the Wu-Chu Rebellion gave rise to the creation of five new nobility families!
Even these five newly-crowned marquises included relatives who were half-meritorious and half-favored: Dou Ying, Marquis of Weiqi;
The Yiqu prince who should have been granted a title of nobility for political reasons long ago: Gongsun Kunxie;
And the second marquisate to which Grand Commandant Zhou Yafu was "restored": Marquis of Jiang.

The other two: Marquis of Yu Luan Bu and Marquis of Sai Zhi Buyi, were also old ministers and veteran generals who had accumulated merits long ago and were just one step away from being conferred the title of marquis.

Looking back at this battle?

——Those who were granted fiefs in excess of their own included Li Ji, the commander-in-chief of the army, and the three main generals of the two battlefields of Hetao and Mayi: Han Tuidang, the Marquis of Gonggao, Luan Bu, the Marquis of Yu, and Cheng Bushi, the Marquis of Bowang;

Then there was the relative of the dynasty who led his troops into the war and shared the military merits: Cao Shou, Marquis of Pingyang, and the representative of the Dou family's relatives who symbolically participated in the war: Dou Pengzu, Marquis of Nanpi.

and many more.

There were as many as nine people who received extra fiefs, and the total amount of extra fiefs exceeded 20,000 households!

If that were all, it would be fine.

After all, no matter how you look at it, seizing Hetao is also a great achievement in expanding territory.
The Han Dynasty had newly acquired Hetao, and in addition to the Shuofang County which had already been finalized, there was also the Wuyuan County which was under negotiation and would soon be finalized.

——The land of the two counties, especially the fertile land of Hetao which has extremely special strategic significance, was granted an extra 20,000 households of fiefdom, which is understandable.

Taking into account that this was a victory in a foreign war - especially the victory over the Huns, which greatly improved the Han Dynasty's foreign strategic situation, on this basis, according to the standards evaluated during the Wu-Chu Rebellion, it was barely acceptable to confer four or five new marquises.

However, the number of new marquises that Liu Rong wanted to confer was the same as the number of those who received excess fiefs: also as high as nine!

This is somewhat too much.

At the beginning of this battle, the two Sui camps completed the construction of the pontoon bridge in an almost perfect manner, winning the initiative for the Han Dynasty in the Mayi battlefield. Their main generals, the two captains, were made marquises. There is nothing to say about this.

Even without taking into account Liu Rong's personal promise before the war, the contributions of these two people alone are enough to make them worthy of being conferred a title of nobility.

But the remaining seven...

Ahem, how should I put it...

Relative in law Kurikara?

Well, Liu Rong wants to support his maternal relatives;
The son of Dianke Gongsun Hunxie, and the eldest son of Pingqu Hou Gongsun He?
That's fine. Liu Rong should give some support to Prince Yiqiu's family and erect a chastity archway that "treats the nobles who surrender well".

What are those remaining unknown people?

The commander of a 500-man army was given a title of marquis, but that was fine.
How come there was a squad leader of ten soldiers who was granted the title of marquis because he led his troops to surrender a Hetao tribe?

What is this all about...

The issue of rewards and honors was highly controversial, which caused Liu Rong to be somewhat "busy with official duties" during this period.

He was mainly busy arguing with people inside and outside the court - mainly those jealous nobles and relatives, about the rewards for this battle.

However, Liu Rong's attention had long since shifted from post-war rewards to a series of issues within the Han family.

——The Hetao-Mayi Campaign has ended.

Even though the Han army had not yet deployed sufficient troops in these two battlefields and could not return to the capital in a short period of time, the outcome of this war had already been decided.

There was a lot of discussion among the people, and the court was in an uproar;
But when Liu Rong calmed down from the joy of victory, the first thing he saw was a series of problems before him.

——The premature death of Emperor Xiaojing caused the Han Dynasty to slow down or even stagnate its "policy of reducing vassal states" which should have been pushed forward quickly by taking advantage of the momentum of suppressing the Wu and Chu rebellions;

The succession of Emperor Liu Rong caused a shakeup in the core decision-making level of the court, and even in the local counties, especially the Guandong counties.

And what Liu Rong talked about with Empress Dowager Dou today: Due to the loose policies during the reigns of the two previous emperors Wen and Jing, the efficiency of the mausoleum system has been sharply reduced.

Etc., etc.

Liu Rong certainly would not be like Emperor Wu of Han in the original timeline, who naively believed that as long as the war was won, the rest would be no problem.

It is true that victory in foreign wars can indeed solve many internal problems.

But Liu Rong always kept in mind: war is merely an extension of politics.

If politics is a big topic that includes many branches such as domestic affairs, diplomacy, war, and economy, then war is only a small part of the big topic of "politics".

Victory in war can indeed bring huge political and economic benefits to the regime and civilization.

But if we only focus on the victory of the war and ignore everything else, and even naively believe that the internal contradictions covered up by the victory of the war will really disappear?
"Isn't that how militarism comes about?"

"They thought that if they won the war, everything would be fine - the people wouldn't need to eat, drink or wear clothes, they would just shout 'Victory' and they would be well fed and clothed..."

"——It's just the beginning~"

"Victory in a war only buys me time and energy to focus on internal affairs."

"Even if it is Hetao, if I want to manage it well, it will also require me to spend some effort to raise horses in the Han family..."

(End of this chapter)