Chapter 588 You kid, you have a bone in the back of your head.
After hearing what Dong Zhong said, Empress Dowager Dong was really tempted by this.
"That's true. He is also a member of the Han Dynasty. He is the descendant of Prince Jing of Zhongshan. Strictly speaking, he is also the descendant of Emperor Xiaojing. He also inherits the blood of the great ancestor. Why can't he be the king?"
At this time, Zhang Rang came to his senses. After thinking about some of the hidden rules of titles in the Han Empire that he had learned, he suddenly realized that Dong Zhong had bad intentions.
Are you trying to put Liu Bei on the fire?
Previously, the Modern Literature School had just launched a rumor campaign about whether Liu Bei was loyal to Liu Bei, but it was finally suppressed by the peak of the debate between modern and ancient literature. Now you want to make Liu Bei a duke and king. It is obvious that you want to make headlines. Help.
Jinwen school shares the firepower!
You kid, you have a bone in the back of your head!
wanna die?
Zhang Rang suddenly looked at Dong Zhong with an unfriendly expression.
"Dong Qiaoqi, since the restoration of the Han Dynasty, princes have only been given to princes, and dukes have only been given to guests. Do you want the general to be a prince, or a guest of the Han Dynasty?"
As soon as this statement came out, the atmosphere immediately changed.
Empress Dowager Dong seemed to have come to her senses, thought about it, and felt something was wrong.
"Yes, since the restoration of this dynasty, generally only the prince can be granted the title of king, and only the second prince and the third prince can be granted the title of duke. If you are neither a prince nor a guest of this dynasty, how can you be granted the title of king and duke?"
Dong Chong immediately stared at Zhang Rang with an unkind expression.
"In this case, Changshi Zhang, what reward do you think should be given to the general? The general is already at the top of the human ministers, and now he has achieved such great military exploits. What reward do you think can appease people's hearts? Without a generous reward, the world will be in trouble.
Wouldn’t people think that the imperial court treated meritorious officials harshly?
In this case, will there still be people who have made contributions to the court? Will there still be people who respect the king and be loyal to the emperor? If merit is not rewarded, how will the world view the emperor? The emperor has just ascended the throne, and he needs generous rewards to show his legitimacy.
How dare you say such a thing?"
Zhang Rang was very angry and felt that Dong Chong was deliberately flattering and killing Liu Bei.
"There were rumors before that the general was going to rebel and usurp the throne, which made people in the capital panic. Now that the situation has just calmed down, you want to make the general a Duke and a king. Isn't this putting the general on the fire? I don't like this kind of thing.
I firmly disagree and ask the Queen Mother to take a closer look!"
Dong Zhong knew that his thoughts had been seen through, and he was very embarrassed, but he still refused to let go.
"The Great Empress Dowager, I am considering the reputation of the Emperor. The general has made great achievements. If he does not reward generously, outsiders will think that the Emperor treats his meritorious officials harshly, which will damage the Emperor's reputation. What should we do?"
Faced with two views and two opinions, Empress Dowager Dong found it a bit difficult to handle.
Come on, Liu Bei's position is indeed the highest. There is no higher-level position. The general is above the three princes and cannot be promoted. The title can be promoted in name, but there is no precedent in practice.
Secondly, come on, if Liu Bei is not given some direct title, it really doesn't sound very good.
Empress Dowager Dong was in a dilemma. She immediately felt that her ancestors had not thought carefully about the issue of awarding awards. Why couldn't they release the first-class titles for future generations to use?
But this is really not a problem of the ancestors. The ancestors have left enough titles, up to 20 degrees. However, some ancestors are too willful and wantonly give out rewards. One letter covers the whole country, and one letter is worth hundreds of thousands.
There are millions of people, but they themselves are happy. They can randomly grant titles to the 20th grade, and in the end, only Guan Neihou and Lieutenant Princes have value and significance.
Continuing to go up is no longer the realm of human subjects. There is no suitable precedent, and they dare not break the tradition and cause criticism from the people in the world and turmoil in the court.
It’s a shame for future generations!
Faced with such a situation, several people could not agree on the same opinions and argued with each other. No one could convince anyone. Finally, Jian Shuo came up with an opinion.
"Why don't you ask the general for his opinion? Although this matter is related to the general, and the general deliberately avoids suspicion, but now it is really difficult to continue, so it is no longer possible to ask the general for his opinion.
?”
Jian Shuo's suggestion was very popular with Empress Dowager Dong, and Zhang Rang had no objection. Dong Zhong wanted to say something, but Empress Dowager Dong glared at her.
So he stopped talking.
Afterwards, Zhang Rang sent someone to call Liu Bei over.
At that time, Liu Bei had already finished washing up at home, talked to his mother for a while, and was about to go to bed. Unexpectedly, he was suddenly called to the palace again because he didn't know how to reward him for his contribution.
Liu Bei asked the people sent by Zhang Rang for information and learned that Dong Chong wanted to persuade Empress Dowager Dong to make him a duke and king. Zhang Rang objected. Empress Dowager Dong was in a dilemma, so she could only call Liu Bei for consultation in person.
Okay, this question is really interesting.
He originally wanted to avoid suspicion and not get involved in this matter, but when things came to pass, he couldn't do nothing.
So when Liu Bei arrived at the palace and met Empress Dowager Dong, he expressed his thoughts.
"Although I have made great achievements, strictly speaking, this incident also happened because of me. I didn't know the person well and misused Gongsun Zan, which led to the chaos in Youzhou. I was a sinner, and this Northern Expedition is just a crime.
, how is it worthy of such a big conferment? Please don’t bother the Empress Dowager."
Empress Dowager Dong lamented this, but Dong Chong felt depressed about it.
Well, he blocked the reward for just one reason. Does Liu Bei really have no ambition at all?
Empress Dowager Dong felt a little sorry.
"Having said that, the main culprit was Gongsun Zan. Gongsun Zan has also been executed, but he still made great contributions. If the merits are discounted, how can this crime be worthy of such great merits? If not rewarded, everyone in the world will
How should we treat the emperor?"
Liu Bei shook his head.
"If that's the case, please reward me with some food, gold, silver, pearls, and jade, and then give some rewards to my mother and wife, and that's all."
Empress Dowager Dong still shook her head.
"No one in the world will recognize such a simple reward. Your contribution is not that simple."
"That……"
Liu Bei rolled his eyes and said with a smile: "Jizhou and Youzhou have lost many officials and officials due to the war this time. There are also many officials and officials who did not fulfill their duties loyally, but abandoned their posts and ran away. These people cannot be officials.
, so there is a serious shortage of officials in the local area.
Some counties are short of 20% to 30% of officials, and some counties are even short of 50% to 60% of officials. Even Youbeiping County, which has the most serious shortage of officials, is directly short of 90% of officials. These days, many things are handled by people from the General's Office.
, but this is not a long-term solution.
Therefore, I hope to select some capable young people and newcomers to serve as local officials, and then select some mature and prudent people to serve as main officials. I have some candidates and hope to be recognized by the court. I also hope that the Queen Mother will agree."
Oh I got it.
I don't want anything anymore, but I hope to arrange some positions for my subordinates, disciples and former officials in the local area. After all, it is not a loss, and Liu Bei's political power will still increase significantly.
But at least Liu Bei himself is no longer so conspicuous and prominent.
Empress Dowager Dong didn't think too much and felt that Liu Bei's consideration was more appropriate, so she nodded.
"In this way, as long as the candidates are recommended by the general, the court will approve them. Zhang Changshi, you are responsible for the implementation."
Zhang Rang nodded.
"I obey."
Liu Bei was overjoyed.
"Thank you, Queen Mother."
Dong Chong was a little anxious when he heard this. He wanted to say something, but he couldn't open his mouth and couldn't say what he wanted to say.
After discussing the matter, Liu Bei and others said goodbye and went home to sleep. On the way out of the Queen Mother's palace, Liu Bei still walked with Zhang Rang.
"I would like to thank you for speaking up for me about what happened just now. Lao Zhang, I owe you another favor."
"Hey, the more you owe me, the happier I am."
Zhang Rang chuckled and said: "But this Dong Zhong is not pure in mind and has some opinions about you. You have to be careful. I am not able to stop him every time. However, the Empress Dowager seems to be quite fond of you."
Trust me, Dong Zhong’s instigation is unlikely to succeed.”
"You don't want to think about how much money I spent to buy the happiness of the Empress Dowager. Those gold, silver, pearls and jade are enough for all the people with registered residence in Youzhou to eat for three months."
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "Dong Zhong is willing to spend so much money to buy the old lady's happiness, and the old lady can obey him. It's a pity that Dong Zhong is reluctant to part with it, but I am willing to part with it, so I don't worry about what Dong Zhong can do to me."
Sample."
"This is your advantage, but no matter how much the Empress Dowager trusts you, she will not let you attack Dong Zhong."
Zhang Rang whispered: "This time when dealing with the Jinwen School, do you want to kill Dong Chong by the way? I hate this thief just looking at him. If I don't kill him, I always feel unhappy."
"I didn't think about it."
Liu Bei whispered: "Killing Dong Zhong is equivalent to standing on the opposite side of the Empress Dowager. For now, there is no opportunity, and Dong Zhong does not dare to openly stand up against me, so the time has not come yet, so let him go for the time being.
Yima, we will find an opportunity to deal with him later."
"how do you want to do it?"
Zhang Rang looked at Liu Bei and whispered: "You also said that going against the Empress Dowager is not an easy matter. Having said that, you should also know the rumors about Luoyang before. What do you think?"