Chapter 280 Originally Intended to Be a Marquis, Changed to a Baron

Chen Huaian is of course still the Chen Huaian who could "fight on the battlefield and drink on the ground" with his generals.

However, now that he has ascended the throne and ruled the world, he has cultivated a strong heart that does not show his emotions. Even if Mount Tai collapses in front of him, he can still remain calm.

However, Chen Huaian still attaches great importance to the joint memorials submitted by his two deputy marshals and two generals.

In fact, since he ordered all the officials above the third rank and the generals above the garrison in the army to rush to Jinling City to participate in his enthronement ceremony and the ceremony of being conferred titles after the establishment of the new dynasty;

The civil and military officials who arrived in Jinling City from all over the country, their every move during their stay in the capital, were under the close monitoring of the Longcheng Inner Guard, the intelligence agency he was in charge of.

He had received a memorial from Luo Yucheng, the deputy commander of the Longcheng Inner Guard, about what happened on the Qinhuai River last night this morning.

Not only that, Chen Huaian had also heard about the secret collusion between the Youyun Sixteen Prefectures military commanders group headed by Deputy General Liu Ziyu and the southern frontier officials and civil officials group headed by Liangjiang Governor Su Chen and Lianghu Governor Jiang Ning.

In the drawer of the imperial study, the memorials about Youyun noble Liu Ziyu have filled up a whole drawer.

After the court meeting ended today, he summoned the Minister of War Li Jingyu and the Minister of Rites Zhang Fu to discuss matters in order to officially confirm the list of the six dukes, eighteen marquises and thirty-six earls who founded the Tang Dynasty before the conferment ceremony on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

He originally thought that for the sake of Wuning King Liu Xinwu, he would let the brave general Liu Ziyu off the hook and delay the matter until after the enthronement ceremony;

However, the arrogant Liu Ziyu actually did such a thing that was detrimental to the Tang Dynasty in public, causing the people of Jinling City to complain and curse;

It even attracted the joint memorial of the deputy marshal of the army and the general in charge of the army in the court.

As a result, Chen Huaian had to deal with Liu Ziyu in advance.

Soon, Chen Huaian came to the imperial study in a 32-carriage sedan chair, called the Minister of War and the Minister of Rites who had been waiting for a long time to the imperial study to have tea and give them a seat, and then turned around and entered the inner hall of the imperial study.

In the drawer of the bookcase in the inner hall, Chen Huaian took out the rice paper with the list of the founding emperors. The name of the deputy general Liu Ziyu appeared on the list of the 18 marquises of the Tang Dynasty. Liu Ziyu, the Marquis of Wuzhou, ranked first among the marquises of the Tang Dynasty.

Speaking of which, Chen Huaian has been very kind to Liu Ziyu.

He was a surrendered general of the previous dynasty, but he could be conferred the title of marquis of the new dynasty. What a great honor!

Based on Liu Ziyu's military merits alone, he could at most be conferred an earl, and he might not even be ranked first among the 36 earls. Any one of the 36 generals of the Longcheng Po Lu Army had higher military merits than Liu Ziyu, and he was also a "crown prince's party" with a good family background.

As for Liu Ziyu's so-called "the first person loyal to the emperor in the previous dynasty", "the first meritorious in the great victory of Tumubao", "seven adopted sons died in the battle of Kaifeng Prefecture", and other merits in the mouths of a group of flatterers; in Chen Huaian's opinion, although he had military merits, he did not meet the standards for being conferred a marquisate at all.

In addition, after Liu Ziyu surrendered, he still continued to eat empty salaries, let the soldiers rob for three days after breaking the city, and other evil deeds. It was a favor to Wuning King Liu Xinwu to give him a credit.

Not to mention that he was conferred the title of Wuzhou Marquis and ranked first among the 18 marquises of the Tang Dynasty.

This was completely because Chen Huaian, in order to make up for the guilt of not knowing how to reward Wuning King, imposed the credit that should have belonged to Wuning King on his adopted son Liu Ziyu.

Otherwise, the champion marquis Huo Qubing who led 10,000 elite cavalry to attack thousands of miles and directly destroyed the Turkic country; the general Lan Yu who guarded the four towns of Anxi and led a group of troops to directly attack the Uighur Khanate to beg for surrender, and then went to the 35 countries in the Western Regions to lobby the countries to return to Jin;

Which one is not more qualified than Liu Ziyu to become the first of the 18 marquises of the Tang Dynasty?

If Liu Ziyu had not taken credit for himself and had changed his ways and kept a low profile after Chen Huaian became emperor, and Chen Huaian was not a narrow-minded person, Liu Ziyu would have really secured the position of Marquis of Wuzhou;

But Liu Ziyu relied on his "great military exploits" and had his adoptive father, King Wuning, endorse him, and his adoptive sister, Liu Shujun, was also canonized as the Queen of the Tang Dynasty, which made him start to become a little arrogant and even more arrogant;

To put it in modern terms, Liu Ziyu would not die if he did not seek death!

Chen Huaian finally picked up the brush and circled the name of Liu Ziyu, the Marquis of Wuzhou, who was the first of the 18 marquises of the Tang Dynasty on the list of conferred titles, and then wrote the three characters of Marquis of Wuzhou at the end of the 36 earls of the Tang Dynasty.

With this light-hearted change, Liu Ziyu, who should have been the first of the 18 marquises of the founding of the Tang Dynasty, became the last of the 36 earls;

Even his former deputy general Liu Ergou in Wuzhou City was ranked ahead of him.

Chen Huaian wanted to use this method to warn Liu Ziyu, so that he could reflect on himself behind closed doors and avoid arrogance and impatience.

It can be said that for the sake of Wuning King Liu Xinwu and Queen Liu Shujun, Liu Ziyu should be given another chance!

After doing all this, Chen Huaian immediately picked up the list of conferment and walked out of the inner hall of the imperial study.

"Your Majesty——"

Seeing this, Li Jingyu, the Minister of War, and Zhang Fu, the Minister of Rites, who were drinking tea in the outer hall of the imperial study, hurriedly stood up to greet Chen Huaian.

Hmm!

Chen Huaian still had a smile on his face, and he slowly asked the two ministers to sit down.

Then, he handed the list of conferment in his hand to Li Jingyu, the Minister of War.

Chen Huaian said: "My Lords, this is the list of generals who were conferred titles at the founding of the Tang Dynasty. You two should prepare for the ceremony of conferring titles in ten days according to the list I have drawn up!"

After a pause, he added: "My Lords, this list of conferring titles is a secret of the new dynasty. You two just need to know it well;"

"I don't want any content on this list to be leaked before the ceremony of conferring titles!"

As he said this, Chen Huaian stared at the two of them with a sharp gaze, and said word by word: "Do you understand what I mean?"

"Minister, obey the order!"

Li Jingyu and Zhang Fu hurriedly stood up to receive the order.

There is no need for a heavy hammer to beat a drum, and how could they not know the emperor's implication? This is a matter related to the safety of the nine clans, who dares to reveal a word to the outside world?

Chen Huaian continued: "By the way, I have a small suggestion. The Duke of Tang, who is conferred the title of the first-rank official of the court, receives 1,000 dan of rice and 5,000 liang of salary per year;"

"The Marquis, who is the second-rank official of the court, receives 800 dan of rice and 3,000 liang of salary per year;"

"The Earl, who is the second-rank official of the court, receives 600 dan of rice and 2,000 liang of salary per year;"

"For other treatments, let the Ministry of Revenue refer to the standards of the previous dynasty!"

"Your Majesty, obey your order!"