Wang hesitated for a long time and said: "The Queen Mother's letter was also written by Talan. He made two demands. One is to prevent Chen Qing from returning to Shaanxi, and the other is to have him convicted!"
Qin Hui felt really uncomfortable, and Wan Yanchang was also confused. How could the Queen Mother be involved in such a thing?
Of course he understood Wan Yanchang's intention and used the Queen Mother to put pressure on him.
Qin Hui did have a sense of crisis in his heart. If the Queen Mother did better than him, would he become an outcast?
Maybe Wan Yanchang meant this. If he couldn't handle something well, he should choose between himself and the Queen Mother.
Qin Hui was secretly annoyed, but there was nothing he could do.
Wang glanced at the letter in Qin Hui's hand again and asked, "What did Ta Lan say?"
Qin Hui smiled bitterly and said: "It is similar to the content in the Queen Mother's letter, but there is one more line."
"What's more?"
Qin Hui saw his wife's curious face. There were some things he really didn't want to say more about, but he also knew that if he didn't meet his wife's request, she wouldn't tell him the news about the Queen Mother next time.
Qin Hui could only say: "He wants a powder keg from Chen Qingjun's army. Let me get it for him as soon as possible."
Wang was confused and said: "What's so strange about a gunpowder keg? You can buy it on the street. Doesn't it exist in the Jin Congress?"
"I felt strange at first, but the messenger told me that the gunpowder in Chen Qing's army was different. They also tried to bribe Chen Qing's soldiers, but it was said that ordinary people could not access it."
"Since ordinary people can't reach it, what can my husband do?"
Qin Hui pondered for a while and said: "There is only one way. Let the officials put pressure on Chen Qing and ask him to hand over the secret of the powder keg so that other Song armies can share it. It cannot be used exclusively by his army. As long as other Song armies have it,
, then it will be easy to get it."
Wang rolled her eyes and said: "Chen Qing is very cunning. He will definitely do everything possible to evade it. Even if he hands it over, it may not be the real thing. It is better for the officials to directly send a special envoy to his army to get a few barrels, and my husband will bribe him at the same time.
Special envoy, hide a bucket secretly so that you can explain it to Tarlan."
“This is a good idea!”
Qin Hui greatly appreciated his wife's wisdom.
At this time, he thought of Wan Yanchang's other two demands, and his head began to hurt again. He wanted to prevent Chen Qing from returning to Shaanxi, let Chen Qing be convicted, and deprive him of his military power.
"Then if you want Chen Qing to be convicted and stripped of his military power, what should you do?"
"Well! If you find his weakness, you might as well talk to Bo'er. He is Chen Qing's old enemy and should know Chen Qing well."
Qin Hui nodded, it wouldn't hurt to talk to Wang Bo.
The next morning, Chen Qing came to the Ministry of Personnel. The Ministry of Personnel was also responsible for conferring titles and titles. He came to An not to report on his work, nor to show merit. It was Li Gang's business to apply for credit.
He came to An'an to do one thing, to confer a knighthood.
Generally, he did not need to make a special trip to Lin'an to be conferred a title. The main reason was that his title was Duke of the State, which was not an ordinary title and had to be conferred by the emperor himself.
In the Song Dynasty, the title of ministers was usually the highest for the prince. Only relatives of the emperor had the chance to be crowned kings. Or if a minister was granted the title of king after his death, it would not be inherited by his descendants anyway, so it was meaningless to pursue titles.
Only Tong Guan recovered an empty city in Yanjing due to Song Shenzong's decree and was granted the title of Prince of Guangyang.
This was the first minister to be granted the title of county prince while he was still alive, but it also set a precedent, so that Zhang Jun, Han Shizhong and Yang Cunzhong were all granted the title of county prince while they were still alive.
As for the Duke, it is not unusual. Basically, famous ministers and prime ministers can be granted the title of Duke. Especially in troubled times, there are more generals who are granted the title of Duke.
However, it was indeed luck that Chen Qing granted the title of Duke of Jing this time. In fact, Yang Yao was doing too much harm in Huguang and had formed an alliance with the puppet Qi. However, the imperial army was defeated in repeated battles and could not destroy it.
In desperation, Zhao Gou publicly promised at the court meeting that those who defeated Yang Yao would be promoted to the third level and granted the title of Duke.
Originally, the dukedom of this country should have been given to Li Gang, because Li Gang was the commander-in-chief of the crusade against Yang Yao in Dongting Lake. However, because the puppet Qi army launched a large-scale attack on Jingxiang, Li Gang was unable to do anything else. He had to concentrate on dealing with the puppet Qi army, so he finally defeated Yang Yao.
The important responsibility was transferred to Chen Qing, so that the final reward and credit went to Chen Qing.
In addition, it also has something to do with Li Gang's poor popularity in the court. No matter Lu Yihao, Zhang Jun, Li Hui, Zhao Ding, or the emperor Zhao Gou, they all dislike Li Gang. Although Qin Hui dislikes Chen Qing, he hates Li Gang even more.
He would rather Chen Qing get the title than tolerate Li Gang's comeback.
Therefore, no one spoke for Li Gang, and the grand prize of the title of Duke fell on Chen Qing.
The person who received Chen Qing was Zou Yi, a doctor from the Ministry of Household Affairs. He took out a stack of forms for Chen Qing to fill in and said with a smile: "I heard that Chen Dutong defeated Yang Yao. Many officials in the court believed that it was not possible to make him a Duke.
If you are big, you may change the title to county prince, but Xianggong Zhang said, how could the official go back on his word, but it turned out that the decree was indeed issued, and it was the title of county prince. I originally filled out the form for you, but yesterday the higher-up said that
Fill it out again, you just happened to be here, so I’ll let you fill it out by yourself to prevent us from filling it in wrongly.”
"Why do you need to refill it?" Chen Qing asked.
Zou Yi shook his head, "I don't know, it wasn't mentioned above."
When Chen Qing turned to the last letter of conferment, he understood that the wording should have been changed. In the past, he should be commended for his military exploits in wiping out the water thief Yang Yao, and was specially awarded the title of Founding Duke. Now it was changed to commend Chen, the commander-in-chief of the capital.
Qing was specially awarded the title of Founding Duke for his many achievements in Huguang.
The sentence "Huguang has made many achievements" is very vague. It includes both the achievements of annihilating Yang Yao and the achievements of fighting against the invasion of the puppet Qi army. It is the two merits that Zhang Jun gave himself yesterday. In this way
If so, the will will be given again.
In fact, this approach is a bit petty. Logically speaking, as a dignified emperor, he should not care about this reward. If I guessed correctly, this must be related to the pressure from the Queen Mother.
Fortunately, Chen Qing didn't care. He quickly filled out various forms, signed and stamped his signature, put down his pen and said with a smile: "Is there anything else?"
Zou Yi checked it carefully and made sure it was filled in correctly. He looked at the address again and said with a smile: "I will report it today. After approval by the Ministry of Personnel, it will be reported to the Political Council. Finally, the Council of Government will report it to the emperor. This process will take about ten days.
, once it is approved, we will make a seal and at the same time notify Chen Dutong of the specific time to meet with the official."
"After I meet with the official, do I need to hold another knighting ceremony?"
Zou Yi shook his head and said with a smile: "Meeting the official is your conferring ceremony. The separate conferring ceremony you mentioned is only for conferring royal titles. Generally, the conferment of three princes is only held until the official receives you."
Chen Qing nodded, "Then I have nothing to do now. I'm just waiting for news at home?"
"That's right. Of course, if the governor has anything else to do, it has nothing to do with me. I only care about the knighthood."
"I understand, thank you Dr. Zou!"
Zou Yi smiled, put away a stack of documents and left.
Chen Qing sat in the official department for a while, then got up and left.
Walking in the square, Chen Qing suddenly heard someone calling him from behind. When he turned around, it was Li Gang chasing after him.
Chen Qing stopped, and Li Gang ran forward panting, "I said I was looking for you! I didn't expect to see you here."
"What do you want from me?"
"Hey! I just went to the Privy Council and it almost made me angry to death. This is not the place to talk. Let's go out and have a cup of tea."
It was still early for lunch, so the two came to a teahouse next to the imperial city. A tea queen ordered tea for them. Li Gang waved his hand and asked the tea queen to go down.
Li Gang sighed and said, "I don't know what happened? The imperial court erased your name and credit from the credit list. Li Hui said that he would give you the credit alone. I don't understand what he meant?
From his tone, it doesn’t sound like it’s a good thing.”
"I went to the official department today, and the official department told me the reason. I probably understand."
"What did the officials say to you?"
"What they mean is that my contribution in the Battle of Jingxiang should be combined with my contribution in annihilating Yang Yao."
Li Gang frowned, "But these are two different things!"
"Xuanfu, think about it, I just killed Yang Yao and made Jing Guogong, but in the blink of an eye, they want to reward me again. What should the court do? The officials can't make me the county king anymore!"
"That's nonsense! These are two completely different achievements. How can they be confused? Besides, it doesn't have to be a title. Promotion is also good. Why not give it to you? I'll go talk to the officials. If you hadn't sent troops, Jing Xiang would have been killed long ago.
If you lose it, I, Mr. Li, will jump into the Yangtze River and die for my country. It is basically all your fault. How can the imperial court not count?"
Chen Qing smiled and said: "Actually, Xianggong Zhang and I have already discussed it. I agreed to their arrangement, but I also made conditions."
When Li Gang heard that Chen Qing had agreed, he could only feel depressed in his heart and asked gloomily: "What conditions did you offer?"
"I give up the credit for the Battle of Jingxiang, but all my generals will be promoted to another rank in addition to the normal reward, and then the fallen soldiers in our army will receive double pensions."
Li Gang understood that Chen Qing actually gave the credit to his subordinates. Normally, each person's rank would be upgraded by one level, but now it was increased by two levels, and double the pension would be given to the fallen soldiers.
Li Gang nodded and sighed: "You are such a good general. No wonder your subordinates are willing to work hard for you. I understand, so I won't have anything to do. Hey! I originally wanted to go to the Zhizheng Hall to have a big quarrel.
There is no need to offend them now, thank you Chen Dutong for informing them in time!"
Having said this, Li Gang bowed his hand to Chen Qinggong, and Chen Qing quickly bowed and said, "I should be the one thanking Ambassador Xuanfu for standing up for me!"