We have fought to the Arctic Circle, and you want me to inherit the throne?

Chapter 895: The Grand Ceremony of Nobility (Part 4, Part 2)

After Zhang Zhen expressed his gratitude, he immediately slipped into the crowd and disappeared.

Given his status, it is indeed not easy for him to show off in front of the civil and military officials in the court.

But the officials present still engraved that ordinary face deeply in their hearts.

The Night Watch is an extension of Li Che's power, controlling state secrets, military intelligence, and public opinion among officials.

And Zhang Zhen is the chief steward of the Night Watch, which means that he must be the most trusted confidant of His Majesty. This identity is more awe-inspiring than that of a marquis.

It's really not good if I can't remember it. What if I end up in trouble with this person someday...

After Zhang Zhen left, Huai En picked up the imperial edict again and read:

"Zhang Neng, come forward and listen to the seal."

A burly general walked out of the crowd and saluted calmly.

The imperial edict praised him: "A fierce tiger on the sea frontier, a pioneer who breaks through the waves."

"Conquer Japan, fight against the Portuguese, personally serve as the vanguard, and cut through the wind and waves."

"He is proficient in both naval and land warfare, and is skilled in both special and regular forces."

"Wherever the tower ship points, the enemy loses their courage."

"Seal, Marquis Zhenhai!"

Zhang Neng is not well-known.

He was once Li Lin's favorite general and the chief military commander of the Yan army.

Later, after Li Lin dismantled the army, he led the elite troops of the Yan Army to join the Fengtian Army.

He then transferred to the navy and served as commander-in-chief of the Fourth Fleet.

Although he is not Li Che's loyal follower, he is Li Lin's confidant.

The two brothers are as close as a pair of pants, so Li Lin's confidants can naturally be smoothly integrated into the Fengtian Army system.

The next marquis also had the surname Zhang.

"Zhang Jun, come forward and listen."

Zhang Jun is Li Sheng's subordinate and the commander-in-chief of the Third Fleet.

He was once responsible for guarding Luzon Island and made great contributions in maintaining naval routes.

"I once served in Luzon for several years, leading my fleet into battle and repeatedly breaking through enemy lines."

"Across the vast waves, the bravery of the Tiger Guards is fully demonstrated; over the past ten years on the sea frontier, they have repeatedly achieved extraordinary feats."

Both Zhangs are from the navy. Together with Jie An and Li Sheng who was granted the title of Duke, they are the four great admirals of the navy.

The supreme commander of the navy, with an average rank of marquis or above, is enough to show Li Che's determination to revitalize the navy.

The two returned to their original positions. Huai En looked at the imperial edict. There were only three names left on the list of marquises.

"Yingbu, come forward and listen to the seal."

Ying Bu walked forward with a stern face, and the sword on his back attracted special attention.

At such court meetings, generals of any rank should not carry weapons.

After all, wearing a sword in front of the palace is the standard for powerful officials, and it is what Boss Cao is most willing to do.

But Ying Bu is different. His 'Silent' long sword was once Li Che's sword, and was given to him by Li Che himself.

This sword has always been inseparable from him, and he was even worn as an exception at court meetings, which shows Li Che's deep love for him.

Sure enough, the imperial edict that Huai En read out next also proved this point:

"A knight-errant wanders the world with his sword."

"Since then, you have been with me day and night, saving me from danger many times."

"Savior of many times, loyal and righteous; accompanied for five years, the original intention remains unchanged."

"The chivalrous spirit of the Jianghu turns into the ambition to serve the country; the common people achieve the merit of following the dragon."

"Confer the title of Marquis of Shunyi!"

Ying Bu was born a knight-errant, and those who joined the Fengtian Army with him included Cao Mo, Yu Rang, Liu Dafeng and others.

Among them, Cao Mo had died in the attack on Goryeo, and he was included in the list of posthumous honors.

Although Yu Rang and Liu Dafeng are still alive, they are obviously not as well off as Ying Bu, who are only viscounts or barons.

They joined at the same time, but their fates were completely different, which is quite sad.

Huai En continued to recite: "Qu Jinshan, come forward and listen to the seal."

Qu Jinshan immediately stepped forward and stood side by side with Ying Bu.

"The emperor's close guards and trusted ministers."

"You will be at my side in every battle and protect me in every adventure."

"Loyalty and bravery are commendable, and he remains calm in the face of danger."

"Confer the title of Marquis Shuntian!"

Among Li Che's four guards, Qu Jinshan joined the latest. Although his contributions were not small, he was still inferior to the other three, so his title was the lowest.

However, being able to achieve the title of marquis as a personal general is already very good.

In other words, Li Che was sentimental. If he met a stingy monarch, he would probably just send him away with a viscount.

As for the last marquis, Li Che gave it to Jin Yihuan.

This man was originally a Goryeo general who resisted the Fengtian Army and refused to surrender until his death. He was captured by Li Che.

After more than a year of ideological transformation, it was not until the complete destruction of Goryeo that he finally came to his senses and joined the Fengtian Army.

Although he made some military achievements later, they were not outstanding.

The reason for choosing him was that there were no Koreans among the previous marquises.

Soldiers from the three nationalities of Korea accounted for a considerable proportion of the Fengtian Army and needed some appeasement.

"A brave general from Goryeo, he has returned to the right path after straying from the right path."

"Although I once resisted the imperial army at Yalu, I was able to judge the situation and wake up."

"Since his surrender, he has led the troops and achieved remarkable success at the border."

"The loyalty of the generals of foreign races is a testament to my integrity; their abandonment of evil to good demonstrates my virtue."

"Confer the title of Marquis Kangping!"

At this point, the list of the Lower Nine Marquises has been released:

Marquis Wenxin Zhuge Zhe!

Yelu He, Marquis of Fushun!

Jiayou Hou Ma Zhong!

Zhang Zhen, Marquis of Fu'an!

Zhang Neng, Marquis of Zhenhai!

Marquis of Jinghai Zhang Jun!

Shunyi Hou Yingbu!

Shuntian Hou Qu Jinshan!

Kangping Hou Jin Yihuan!

The value of the Lower Nine Marquises is much lower than that of the Upper Nine Marquises.

Some of them were not even commanders with merit, but professionals, Li Che's confidants, and barbarian generals appointed for political purposes.

However, there are no fools or fakes among these nine people. They are all people who have made real contributions to Fengguo.

Even Kim Eui-hwan fought many fierce battles after his surrender.

Therefore, the imperial edict also gave the final conclusion:

"The above-mentioned ministers are either eagles on the battlefield, or tigers in key positions, some are extremely wise and resourceful, and some are loyal and brave.

Now I grant you the title of Marquis, and you will rule the four directions forever.

I hope you will uphold your integrity and keep your original aspirations forever!

Assist the country and maintain peace together!"

Eighteen people stepped out one after another and bowed, "We will follow your Majesty's instructions!"

Li Che smiled and nodded: "Good."

After the marquis was conferred, all the generals fell silent.

Next is the Earl, which is a title specially prepared for civil officials and has nothing to do with military generals like them for the time being.

Looking at the civil service group, they are also very calm.

It’s not that the civil servants don’t care about the title, but all the civil servants present know that this title has nothing to do with them.

Those who can be granted the title of earl must be the core civil officials of the Fengguo lineage. Those of them who were abandoned by the false emperor naturally do not have this blessing.

There were also many civil officials who were granted titles this time, a total of sixteen people.

There is naturally a reason why Li Che did this.

The battle of Daqing is almost over.

After the false emperor is destroyed, there will be no opponents around that are worthy of Daqing's full attack.

When the world is at peace, it is necessary to take away the power of military generals and start making use of civil officials.

Putting emphasis on culture over military affairs is what every dynasty that is on the right track must do.

The Song Dynasty was therefore branded as a "coward", and Li Che in his previous life also followed suit and criticized the Song Dynasty.

But when he himself reached this position, he realized how wise Zhao Kuangyin's decision was.

The harm caused by military generals in power is much greater than the harm caused by civil officials in power.

When civil officials are in power, it is called chaotic politics; when military generals are in power, it is pure chaos!

History has taught us enough lessons. Even though Dong Zhuo was a peaceful military general, his rebellion still brought great harm.

The military generals who served as Jiedushi in the late Tang Dynasty caused even greater chaos, which continued into the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

They used their military power to establish their own territories and ignored the central government's orders.

Zhao Yi recorded in his Twenty-Two Histories Notes: "During the Five Dynasties, the imperial court's orders were not carried out, and the plundering of wealth by the feudal lords was worse than that of thieves."

It would be fine if they simply disobeyed the court's orders, but the key point is that the entire social order is collapsing.

Morality has disappeared, no one wants to study, strong military force is king, and social values ​​have degenerated to the primitive age of the survival of the fittest.

The military generals ruled ruthlessly, robbery and killing became the norm, the people lived in hardship, and social contradictions intensified.

In the end, even the warlords themselves realized that they could not continue like this, and the Song Dynasty, which emphasized culture over military power, came into being.

With the lessons learned from the past, Li Che would naturally not follow the Tang Dynasty's Jiedushi system and enfeoff the Fengtian Army's powerful generals and take charge of personnel, military and government affairs.

Of course, we cannot go too far and turn Daqing into another Song Dynasty.

In this case, the only way is to balance the relationship between civil and military officials and raise the status of civil officials first.

Huai En continued to read: "Today, sixteen earls are promoted to honor their talents in governing the country."

"Wen Zhenbo, Qian Bin!"

Qian Bin was not here, but the civil servants still took a deep breath, and the envy in their eyes was beyond words.

"Wen" stands for knowledge, and "zhen" stands for upright character. This is a high evaluation of the good character and learning of civil officials, and is one of the highest pursuits of civil officials.

Who is Qian Bin? He was once a useless person who studied mathematics. Although he had been a mathematics teacher to the prince, he had no status in the court.

As a result, after he went out of seclusion with Prince Feng for a few years, he became an earl when he came back, and his title was the ultimate ideal of a civil official: Wenzhen!

To know how powerful this title is, just look at the famous people in history who have been given it.

In fact, Wenzhen is Wenzheng. Later, in order to avoid the taboo of Song Renzong Zhao Zhen, he was forced to change his name to "Wenzheng".

In the history of the past, the first civil official to be awarded the posthumous title of Wenzhen was Wei Zheng!

Moreover, it is a posthumous title, a title that can only be obtained after death, and Qian Bin has obtained it now.

There were three Wenzhen Gongs in the Tang Dynasty, namely Lu Xiangxian, Song Jing and Zhang Shuo, all of whom were top-level civil officials.

In the Song Dynasty, there were nine people who were given the posthumous titles of Wenzhen and Wenzheng: Li Fang, Wang Dan, Fan Zhongyan, Sima Guang, Wang Zeng, Cai Bian, Huang Zhongyong, Zheng Juzhong, and Cai Shen.

It is of great value.

From this we can see what a great honor it was for Qian Bin to be conferred the title of Wenzhenbo.

Since the achievements of civil officials cannot be explained clearly like those of military generals, the achievements of some people are related to the country's policies and need to be kept confidential.

Therefore, the Earl's announcement only included his title and name, but no deeds.

Huai En continued to read: "Economicon Master Tao Qian!"

Many civil officials were shocked again and began to feel jealous from the bottom of their hearts.

Another top title.

Jingshi means "to apply knowledge to the world", which commends his ability to apply knowledge to the practical affairs of the country.

Tao Qian was a master of agronomy. His lifelong efforts were to develop agronomy into a practical science and to strive for the welfare of the people.

This title corresponds to Tao Qian's ambition, and is undoubtedly Li Che's greatest affirmation of his contribution!