The candle flames crackled, and several lights in the room flickered on and off.
Qin Lingjun walked to the lampstand and used scissors to cut the wicks of several candle lamps.
"Your Majesty, Hou Baisi, Wang Da and Geng San cannot be crowned dukes." She said while cutting.
"Why?" Zhang Yangquan asked.
"Except for their achievements during the Southern Expedition, the three of them were mediocre in several other wars. Many of their achievements were obtained by others, and the title of Duke could not convince the public."
Zhang Yangquan nodded.
Shen Qianqian's eyes flickered for a while, then suddenly said: "I think General Geng Si can do it. He has the hardest job and often comes to the palace to report to you in the middle of the night!"
Zhang Yangquan looked at Qin Lingjun and saw that she nodded. He said: "Well, Geng Si will also be designated as a duke!"
Qin Lingjun suddenly smiled and said: "Since you want everyone to pay attention to the craftsmanship, how about both Jia Ban and Hu Guangcao being made dukes?"
Zhang Yangquan shook his head.
"No, this knighthood must be absolutely fair. If we want everyone to pay attention to Neo-Confucianism, there will be many opportunities in the future!"
Qin Lingjun thought for a while and said: "To be fair, although Mr. Hu has worked hard and made great achievements, his achievements are still a little less than those of others, let alone Jia Ban!"
Zhang Yangquan nodded: "What do Qianqian think?"
Shen Qianqian said: "I also think they are not suitable for the title of Duke."
"Well, let them both be granted the title of Marquis!" Zhang Yangquan said, patting the table.
The three of them discussed several other duke candidates one by one.
Civil servants are the most difficult to count because they do not participate in combat and their work must be counted from their daily work.
Taigong He is old and has a Buddhist personality. Although he has many merits, most of them are small merits, so he naturally has no chance to be with the Duke.
Although Ma Yulin is young, he has no children and no worries. He devotes himself to official duties and goes to the Yamen every day.
Under his management, criminal cases in Jiangdu Prefecture have never had major problems.
Moreover, he once used a trick to prevent Zhang Shicheng from attacking Tongzhou, and achieved a great merit, plus many medium merits and minor merits.
So Ma Yulin was designated as the eighth Duke.
Finally, there are Chang Yuchun, Bian Yuanheng and Fu Youde. All three of them performed brilliantly in the war.
However, Chang Yuchun and Bian Yuanheng joined the Jiangdu Army for a short period of time, and their credit is slightly less.
Fu Youde surrendered earlier than the two of them, and he used a trick to rebel against Dong Tuanxiao and led troops to defeat Zhu Yuanzhang. He accomplished two great achievements, so he was designated as the ninth Duke.
In the end, Zhang Yangquan thought quietly for another quarter of an hour and felt that there was no problem with these nine people, so he decided on the candidates for these nine dukes!
The nine people, in order, are Xu Baisheng, Guo Niansheng, Zhu San, Li Er, Fang Yuan, Liu Bowen, Geng Si, Fu Youde, and Ma Yulin!
After the duke, there is the marquis.
Those who were qualified to run for dukedom just now are naturally marquises. In addition, Zhao Desheng, Yu Yanyu, Sun Hu, Wang Meng, and Luo Guanzhong are also qualified to be named marquises.
Although Zhu Yuanzhang, Xu Da, and Li Shanchang all performed brilliantly, they returned too late. Generally speaking, their accumulated contributions are not as good as those of Zhao Desheng, Wang Meng and others.
Because Liang Rong had committed one major and one minor mistake, although he was reinstated, his title was still lower than that of Sun Hu and others.
General Wang Pu led more than 100,000 people to surrender and was granted the title of earl.
Zuo Junbi was willing to lead tens of thousands of people to surrender, and he took the initiative to surrender, and he could also be granted the title of earl based on merit.
After some statistics, it was not until the third watch that the statistics of all the titles were completed.
In the end, there were nine dukes, twenty-one marquises, and forty-three earls.
The enthronement ceremony is scheduled for the fourth day of March.
In the early morning of the first day of March, Qin Lingsi finally rushed back from Jeju Island. As soon as she came back, she took Qin Lingjun and Shen Qianqian to the palace to see her palace.
Zhang Yangquan has selected 20,000 troops from the camp in the north of the city, and newly established left and right Jinwu Guards to be responsible for the security and defense of the palace.
In addition, he abolished eunuchs, canceled palace punishment, and incorporated all captured eunuchs into clerks, so there were no eunuchs in the palace.
Qin Lingsi and the others entered the palace from Chaoyang Gate, passed through Donghua Gate, headed north, passed through Qianqing Gate, and arrived at the harem.
Qin Lingjun took her to a room next to Zichen Palace, folded her arms and said calmly: "Nuo, this is your residence!"
Qin Ling was stunned for a moment, then glared and said, "Isn't this the side hall of your Zichen Palace?"
"Yes, Zichen Palace is so big, wouldn't it be nice for you to live with me?"
Qin Lingsi stamped her feet and said angrily: "What's better! Why do you and Sister Qianqian have independent palaces, and I have to live in the side hall!"
Shen Qianqian finally couldn't hold back her emotions and bent over with laughter.
Qin Lingsi rolled her eyes and said with a smile: "I understand, you are deliberately teasing me. Tell me, where is my palace?"
Qin Lingjun smiled slightly and led her through the Zichen Palace to an independent courtyard in the north. She raised her head and said, "This is your palace. Are you satisfied now?"
Qin Lingsi looked up and saw the words "Yun Xuexuan" written on the plaque on the door.
She ran in and took a look, her face suddenly turned red, and she said angrily: "This place is too small. It's not as good as my residence in the palace. What kind of palace is it?"
Qin Lingjun said calmly: "Anyway, you often stay away from home, so it doesn't matter where you live? This place is close to my Zichen Palace, which is convenient."
Qin Lingsi knew that she was taking the opportunity to complain that she was staying in Jeju Island and not coming back. She snorted and said, "Sister, if you do this again, I will go directly to my brother-in-law and ask him to give me a good palace!"
Shen Qianqian smiled and said: "Little sister, I am joking with you. You can just pick any of the palaces in the back."
Qin Lingsi glanced around and said, "Isn't that too far away from you? I think the first palace to the west of my sister is good. I can live there!"
Qin Lingjun frowned and said: "Don't be ridiculous, that is Concubine Shu's palace, how can you live there?"
Qin Ling wondered: "Who is Concubine Shu?"
"Not yet, but there will be in the future."
Qin Lingsi smiled and said: "That's alright, I'll move in first, and when my brother-in-law is granted the title of Concubine Shu, I'll move out later!"
Qin Lingjun scolded: "Can you live here casually? When others know that you live here, they will..." His face turned red and he couldn't continue.
Qin Lingsi finally found an opportunity to fight back against her sister, moved her face towards her, and said with a smile: "What will happen if you live in it?"
Qin Lingjun knocked her forehead and said angrily: "Damn girl, do you have any sense of shame? Don't you want to get married in the future?"
Qin Lingsi touched her head and hummed: "I don't care. If you really can't find the one you like, you can live alone. Anyway, my brother-in-law has become the emperor and can support me for the rest of my life."
Qin Lingjun turned blue with anger, and was about to continue scolding, when Shen Qianqian suddenly came close to her ear and whispered something.
After hearing this, Qin Lingjun's face changed slightly, revealing a thoughtful look.
Qin Lingsi said dissatisfied: "Hey, what are you two talking about?"
Qin Lingjun glanced at her and said, "You can live here if you want. I don't care about you!" She turned around and left.
Qin Lingsi hurriedly grabbed Shen Qianqian and asked her what she had just said.
Shen Qianqian smiled and said: "The secret must not be leaked!"
Qin Lingsi yelled and went over to tickle her. Shen Qianqian was unwilling to show weakness and fought back. After a while, Shen Qianqian was defeated and ran away.
After dinner, Shen Qianqian said hello to Qin Lingjun, then left the palace and returned to Shen Mansion to visit her relatives.
When Shen Wansan learned that his sister was back, he quickly took his whole family to greet her in person.
"Greetings to Your Highness Concubine Shen!" The whole family bowed down together.
Shen Qianqian first received a salute, then bowed down with his hands folded, and returned the salute: "I've met my brother."
Shen Lixiujiao smiled and said: "Dad, you should call me Your Highness!"
Shen Wansan frowned and said, "Your sister-in-law has not been officially granted the title, so you must not talk nonsense!"
Shen Lixiu stuck out her tongue and asked Shen Qianqian: "Sister-in-law, I heard someone said that the king has already decided on the title. How surprised are my officials?"
Shen Qianqian smiled and said nothing.
Shen Wansan scolded: "Can you ask this kind of thing casually? You have already saved yourself from visiting relatives today, so go back home quickly!"
Shen Lixiu curled her lips and said: "It's also a family visit, but you are so rude to me and my sister-in-law!" She went back to the house, cleaned up, and left Shen's Mansion angrily.
Shen Qianqian greeted Mrs. Shen a few more words, and then went to the study room with Shen Wansan.
On an early spring night, there was a cool breeze, the study window was open, and the noisy insects were heard outside the window.
Shen Wansan went over to close the window and his expression became serious.
"Sister, what is going on? Why did the king suddenly issue such a decree?"
Shen Qianqian sat on the chair and took a sip of tea.
"Isn't this bad? The king selected a few leaders from among the businessmen to participate in the enthronement ceremony, which shows that he attaches great importance to businessmen!"
Shen Wansan sat down next to her and said: "It's a good thing, but why does the king choose leaders from farmers? There are still sixteen people, twice as many as businessmen!"
Shen Qianqian glanced at him and said: "Brother, you know that every time your Majesty goes out for inspections, he likes to sit in the fields and talk to the farmers. He also takes my sister and me to the fields."
Shen Wansan was so smart and smiled slightly: "I understand. In a few days, I will go to the village community on the outskirts of the city to make some new friends and help them set up some volunteer schools."
Shen Qianqian nodded and said, "There will be no problems at the vote counting meeting tomorrow, right?"
Shen Wansan smiled and said: "Don't worry, just for your sake, those businessmen will support me to become one of the eight people tomorrow."
"They can support themselves voluntarily, but brother must not use my power to intimidate others! Also, recently there are servants in our Shen Mansion who are acting tyrannically outside, and brother must also take care of them!"
Shen Wansan's eyes narrowed: "Is this happening? Don't worry, I will investigate this matter tonight and will never tolerate it!"
Shen Qianqian stood up and said, "Then I won't delay my brother. Your Majesty will spend the night at my place tonight, so I'll go back first."