Late Tang

(Thanks to Gangdao Li for the reward, thank you, please praise!)

In the Crystal Palace, Li Jing raised his glass: "Originally, I would have invited this banquet to greet Cui Gong and other governors, but I have been busy with the wedding recently, so I didn't have some free time until today. Simply, today's banquet is to welcome the wind." The banquet was held together with the banquet for the new officials of the princes. I don’t say too much if you are polite. The princes are lonely elders in terms of age. In terms of seniority, they are also lonely seniors. Therefore, everyone will have a drink today. Have fun!"

Li Jing took Cui Anqian's hand and said, "With the help of Cui Gong and others, our Grand Marshal's Mansion has another strength."

Cui Anqian said modestly: "We are old and have little talent and learning. We haven't done anything to help the King of Qin, but we are so loved by the King of Qin and entrusted with the important task of being a governor. I am really ashamed."

"It's just now, let's get used to it first. In the future, we have to invite a few leaders to take command, put on armor and go into battle to defeat the enemy and make meritorious service." Li Jing laughed.

At the banquet, everyone drank and had a good time!

Later, in the study of Prince Qin's Mansion, Li Jing was talking with Jing Xiang and others.

Gongsun Lan reported to Li Jing the movement of all officials observed by the Supervisory Office, "His Royal Highness married the Yu family. This matter has been unanimously approved by all the officials of Qin Fan. However, for Cui Anqian and others to vote, Yanjing is basically divided into There are two factions. One faction supports and trusts Cui Anqian and others. They think that Cui Anqian and others are foreign ministers in the world and advocate that they should be reused. The other faction doubts Cui Anqian and others. They think Cui Anqian and others are important officials of the Tang court. It’s from the imperial court. Voting now is nothing more than a temporary expedient measure, their hearts are still with the imperial court, and sooner or later they will not agree with us.”

"You also hold the same idea that Cui Anqian and others are untrustworthy?" Li Jing asked.

"With all due respect, I think that Cui Anqian and others' hearts will largely depend on His Highness's attitude."

"how do I say this?"

Gongsun Lan said sternly: "Cui Anqian and others are all from high-ranking families and have been prominent officials for generations. They have also been loyal to the imperial court for most of their lives. Now they vote not entirely for personal fame and fortune, but for the sake of the people of the world. If they take an attitude of guarding against suspicion at this time, it will definitely cause them to be disappointed, knowing that this place is not a place to stay for a long time, and they will leave whenever they have the opportunity, or have other plans. Although they came to vote out of helplessness, they couldn't find a better opportunity in a short time. Therefore, as long as they are appeased a little, they can be stabilized temporarily. His Highness is now playing the banner of Zun Tang , so as long as they don't immediately confront the imperial court, they will still be willing to stay and contribute under the current situation. In my opinion, Cui Anqian and others are not untrustworthy and cannot be reused. It depends on where they are placed. If they are asked to fight against the imperial court and the emperor, they will definitely not agree with their attitude of loyalty to Li Tang. But if His Highness asks them to do other things, such as deal with the Khitan, crusade against the barbarians, or crusade against the rebellious puppet Qi, Even against other feudal towns, they will have no problem. They are wholeheartedly loyal to the court, rather than to the country. Therefore, as long as they are under this banner, they will follow the command of the King of Qin. Even, there are more people in the world. Such civil servants and officials from aristocratic families will also choose to follow His Highness."

These words are actually telling Li Jing that Li Tang's vitality is not exhausted, or that although the mainstream society is dissatisfied with Tang Ting, the upper class are more afraid of too much change, so they would rather guard Tang Ting.If Li Jing moves too much now, such as proclaiming himself emperor or setting up another emperor, it may scare many people who are vacillating.And if they continue to do things under the banner of respecting the Tang Dynasty and carrying the banner of the Tang Dynasty, and are relatively gentle, then those people may choose to support it by default.

Jing Xiang also agreed: "Now, if we continue to use the banner of the Tang Dynasty, then we can order the towns. But if we oppose the Tang Dynasty at this time, we will lose a lot of support. For us, the gain outweighs the loss. "

"It's good now, boil the frogs in warm water. The emperor has just issued an edict to commit crimes, and has given titles to several princesses and princesses located in his wife and princesses. He has just issued an edict to withdraw those official titles that were previously granted indiscriminately. These actions show that the emperor Already afraid, he knows the situation and dare not provoke us. This is a good thing, since we can force him to back down, as long as he doesn't deliberately confront us and cause too much trouble, then we don't need to make things too hasty , Take it easy and plan it out, that's the best policy."

Gai Yu was very satisfied with the result that the emperor was forced to commit crimes and the previous rewards were revoked last time when a supervisor proposed.Although, in this way, his title of county king would be gone, but that was nothing.

"The Son of Heaven withdrew the news and gave the reward, and lived up to his words. This offended all the officers and officers of the Qin Fan. The title and official position that had just been acquired was revoked before it was warmed up. Everyone was very angry. Many officers and soldiers even directly You scold me. If the Son of Heaven wants to make some tricks in the future, I'm afraid no one in Qin Fan will believe it anymore." Gongsun Lan also reported his attitude towards the revocation of the award.

Li Jing was somewhat surprised that this matter would end like this.However, he was quite satisfied with it.As Gongsun Lan said, the emperor's reneging on his promise has already reduced his prestige among Qin Fan to the extreme.On the other hand, the matter that had troubled Li Jing for a long time was resolved.

"Your Highness, I think that since the Son of Heaven has revoked the previous rewards, why not King Qin issue another order to reward the soldiers with the status of Shang Shu Ling, a fake Huang Yue, and the commander-in-chief of the world's soldiers and horses. In this way, everyone respects the Son of Heaven There is resentment, but I must be grateful to His Highness." Gai Yu suggested.

"No, too many rewards will cause great harm to the country." Li Zhen said.

Gai Yu smiled: "Of course, the King of Qin can't be rewarded indiscriminately like the emperor. The title is extremely precious, and if it is too much, it loses its original meaning. Therefore, a certain proposal is that it is better to keep the emperor's new appointment. This set of [-] ranks of title system, set up king, county king, state duke, county duke, county duke, state marquis, county marquis, county marquis to founding uncle, founding son, founding male, as well as knight, jazz, knight, The [-]th rank of knighthood for warriors. However, if the king of Qin is re-appointed, then the number of knights must be controlled."

"A certain proposal directly reduces the list of knighthoods by 3000%, and lowers the number of knighthoods by one or two ranks. There used to be more than [-] knighthoods, but now they are controlled within [-], and the highest is only the Duke of the Kingdom."

"If this is the case, [-]% of the original knights will not be able to receive the title. Will this cause resentment?" Gongsun Lan asked.

"No, it turned out that all the recipients had their titles revoked. Now that King Qin re-appointed them, [-]% of them regained their titles. In this way, at least [-]% of the people are grateful to Dade, and the other [-]% of them will only hate the emperor for turning his back on his word.

Li Zhen squeezed his beard and said with a smile: "As long as those of us conferring titles are fair and fair, and all those who are titled are people who are expected by everyone, then not only will it be fine, but it will have a more positive impact. Everyone must understand that the honor and importance of titles It didn't come easy."

Li Jing was also interested in this proposal. The emperor conferred and withdrew, and Li Jing re-conferred. In this way, what he lost was only the prestige of the emperor, but it would make his prestige even stronger among Qin Fan.And in this way, it can also solve the resentment in the hearts of Qin Fan officials and soldiers after this reward incident.

"One out of ten titles, this number is very appropriate. I have one point to make, that is, this re-sealing must not only be fair and just, but also must stabilize the title system and make the title more precious and honorable. Therefore, the title winner , not only have to be famous, but also have to be profitable. Those who win the title will no longer be given to Zhenshi and fiefs. The titles of all levels do not receive salary, and all of them will be transferred to Yongyetian. Fifteenth-class titles, the lowest knights, samurai Four hundred acres of land for knights, six hundred acres for knights, eight hundred acres for knights, and one thousand acres for knights."

"The founding man has two thousand mu, the founding son has three thousand mu, and the founding uncle has four thousand mu."

"Five thousand for the county marquis, seven thousand for the county marquis, and ten thousand mu for the state marquis."

"The county government has [-] acres, the county government has [-] acres, and the state government has [-] acres."

"The county king has 30 mu, and the king has [-] mu."

Li Jing said a series of numbers, but added another sentence at the end. "Considering that the land of the Central Plains is difficult to confiscate, all those who have won the title of Yongye Tian are sealed outside Yanshan. The Yongye Tian that is conferred can be passed down from generation to generation, and they can enjoy the favor of a [-]% tax reduction.

Land has always been the most precious family heirloom. Li Jing conferred nobility. In addition to honoring the title, this time he simply canceled his salary and food. In this way, the only real benefit left is the land.However, in order to prevent the nobles from occupying too much land, Li Jing specifically proposed that all Yongye fields should be sealed outside the pass.There is a lot of land there, and if the land is sealed to the nobles, they can also use their strength to develop and prosper outside the pass.Moreover, Li Jing only gave them a [-]% tax discount, and the land they developed had to pay taxes for the last thing.This can be described as a very long-term strategy.

Although the conditions are somewhat harsh, having something is always better than nothing.

"King Qin's supplement is very good. It not only solves the immediate problem, but also does not cause future troubles. I fully support it." Li Zhen nodded in agreement.

The next day, the order of Grand Marshal Qin Wang Li Jing came from the Forbidden Palace.

The sergeants posted notices in Yanjing City and the capitals of the provinces, announcing that Li Jing was going to reward the meritorious officers and men, and conferred titles and lands.But this time, Li Jing didn't intend to make a decision with one word.Instead, let the soldiers and officials of the whole clan come together to decide the reward.

Li Jing announced the list of more than 3000 titles and recipients who were revoked from the last emperor's award, and kept 300 titles of different sizes, and then gave ten candidates for each title, and announced their resumes and achievements , and then accept everyone's judgment, and finally summarize the opinions, and submit it to the joint meeting of the provincial government to summarize, draw up a list of [-] people, and then submit it to the king of Qin to make the final decision, awarding awards and conferring titles!

As soon as the announcement came out, there was a surge of enthusiasm.

But after being shocked, the officials and soldiers who had just been conferred and revoked their titles became excited again.

Who dares to say that he doesn't care about fame and title?

What's more, 3000 people competed for [-] titles, and ten people competed for one title. Even if they really didn't care about this title, now they don't fight for steamed buns no matter what.

The whole Qin Fan became lively again in an instant, but Li Jing sat firmly on the Diaoyutai.For him, although it is said that he has delegated the important right of being knighted this time, in fact, the candidates who can compete for the title are all appointed.Another one, the Provincial Court and him have the final decision.On the surface, some other problems that would be caused by one out of ten titles will be prevented in advance with the 'fairness', 'openness' and 'justice' of this publicity competition for knighthood.

No matter who gets the title in the end, they will be grateful to Li Jing.If they couldn't seal it, they couldn't vent their grievances on Li Jing.If you want to blame, you can only blame the emperor's dishonesty! (To be continued.)