Not everything is bad news, though.

The only thing that could comfort Chen Ji was the piece that came back from Xiangyang.

At least in the recital, Xiao Maha and Chun Yuliang clearly expressed their dissatisfaction with Li Xinchen's behavior of negotiating with the Northern Zhou Dynasty without asking for instructions - but this dissatisfaction was only limited to this negotiation, and they still maintained an attitude of approval for Li Xinchen's entire battle of Bashu.

Despite this, this also made Chen Ji feel that he still held the army under Xiao Maha in his hands, and he was not a lonely man without soldiers and power.

Knocking lightly on the table, Chen Ji looked at Wu Mingche: "The rest of the merits and military merits are formulated according to the merit book, and this is handed over to Wu Qing's family and Xu Qing's family, but Li Xinchen's merits must be discussed carefully, I don't know what the opinions of a few Aiqing are?" ”

He had already expected where Chen Ji's focus was, and Wu Mingche immediately said: "Your Majesty, Li Xinchen presided over the overall situation of Bashu, took Shu County and Langzhong, and indirectly controlled Bazhong, and pocketed all the Shu land, which is one of the great achievements; Successively defeated the enemies of Hezhou, Shujun, and Mianzhu, and repelled Wei Chi Hui and Wei Xiaokuan, which was the second great achievement. This is all the credit of expanding the territory and chasing the north, which can be compared to the champion Hou of the year. But ······"

The champion Hou came out, obviously wanting to give Li Xinchen the title of marquis, this was not the result that Chen Ji wanted to accept, or accept it without compromise, so he originally wanted to interrupt, but when he heard Wu Mingche's turn, he forcibly held back his words.

And Chen Ji's expression was taken into the eyes of Xu Ling and Pei Ji, who had been watching, and the two subconsciously glanced at each other, and the sighs and helplessness in each other's eyes were all in sight.

Being able to have a headache and be difficult to choose like this because of a courtier, Chen Ji's appearance made them feel a little emotional and even pitiful.

Chen Ji's body leaned forward slightly, and at this time, he could already see Chen Ji's white temples and crow's feet at the corners of his eyes. This once powerful emperor is now dying, and it is obvious that he has found it more and more difficult for him to control the future of this world, and even half of the country he has worked so hard to guard is now a little shaken.

Li Xinchen, who rises, Xiao Maha who holds heavy troops, and courtiers who have their own thoughts······ This kind of last situation has been repeated again and again in the three hundred years of the Southern Dynasty, and the whole era seems to have fallen into a dead cycle, which makes Chen Ji feel that he has become difficult to grasp.

Wu Mingche raised his eyes and looked at Chen Xu, and said in a deep voice: "But Li Xinchen negotiated with Wei Xiaokuan privately without asking for his will, although he finally succeeded in winning the Sword Pavilion and other places, he will be outside, and the king's order will not be affected, and it should be considered a small mistake in terms of his final success." ”

Chen Ji frowned, but he didn't speak rashly. And Wu Mingche said in a low voice: "To sum up, the old minister thinks that Li Xinchen should be praised more than punished. According to the calculation of merit, it should be a general of Jin and a marquis, but the crime is a first-class, so the minister proposed that the general of Jin Zhenxi, the honorary marquis, and the supply will be added to Yulu. ”

Xu Ling and Pei Ji subconsciously glanced at each other, Wu Mingche's suggestion had actually greatly reduced Li Xinchen's credit, but it was still not a small reward, with Chen Ji having such an opinion on Li Xinchen, he might not be able to agree to this proposal.

The most famous one is definitely the champion Hou Huo Qu during the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, but it is a pity that Huo Qu died young, which is regrettable. Li Xinchen's age is above Huo Qu's illness, so it is not impossible to become a marquis.

And the feudal marquis is also particular, there is a level gap between the marquis of Guannei, the pavilion marquis, and the township marquis, corresponding to different privileges and fiefdoms, for example, Guan Yu Guan Yunchang's title was Hanshou Pavilion Marquis, which was the Pavilion Marquis of Hanshou, and Zhuge Kongming's title was Wuxiang Marquis, and the fief was in Wuxiang.

But this kind of canonization still has the difference between remote collar and virtual collar, remote collar is an official in the capital, but the fief is managed, and the virtual collar is an honorary title to help you achieve the dream of a feudal marquis.

Generally, the false collar is the same as the housewarming county guard of the Southern Dynasty, and will choose the name of the place that is not in the country as the title, so that in fact, it will not be able to receive the supply of that place. For example, Guan Yu's Hanshou Pavilion Marquis, Hanshou was actually in the territory of Eastern Wu, and Pei Zilie's position as the Taishou of Qian County, as the capital of the housewarming state, Qian County has existed in name only, so Pei Zilie simply hung an honorary title on his body.

Obviously, with Li Xinchen's merits, it is enough to seal a marquis with a fiefdom, but now Wu Mingche has decisively slashed Li Xinchen and turned into a marquis with only a name.

In fact, everyone knows in their hearts that for Li Xinchen, the fiefdom of a pavilion marquis or a township marquis is nothing, after all, the taxes of Ba County and Shu County are still in Li Xinchen's hands, and Li Xinchen does not seem to have the intention of handing them over to the imperial court.

Before, Li Xinchen's recital said that the front line was urgent, and Bashu's self-sufficiency was still insufficient, and he even asked the imperial court to allocate support several times - Chen Xu has always ignored such a request, and even he wished that Li Xinchen would have a shortage of grain and grass, and finally retreated in the face of difficulties - now I don't know what new reasons Li Xinchen can find.

In any case, it was certainly impossible for Li Xinchen to hand over the taxes and harvested grain to the imperial court in its entirety, and the ones he withheld would definitely be far more than the supply of the fiefdom. After all, in the country of Bashu Tianfu, how much grain and taxes will be imagined.

Therefore, Li Xinchen will definitely not care what this title is, and it can satisfy Chen Xu's desire to attack Li Xinchen, which can be said to kill two birds with one stone.

Xu Ling and Pei Ji looked at Wu Mingche with a look of appreciation in their eyes. Wu Mingche, the old fox, really has a good grasp of the minds of all parties.

Chen Ji bowed slightly, he also knew that this was the best way he could think of, at least the result he could barely accept in his heart: "Xu Qingjia, what do you think is more appropriate?" ”

Xu Ling coughed lightly and said in a deep voice: "The north of Bashu is Hanzhong, the place where the ancient soldiers of Hanzhong must fight, and it is also a place where the Zhou people are destined to be strictly defended in the future. ”

Pei Ji raised his eyebrows, he wanted to say something, but he held back.

Although the Marquis of Hanzhong is a false title, but this title is not a good title for Nan Chen, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty in history Liu Bang, the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, Liu Bang, the word "Han" that has been inherited for two thousand years and has even been used as a national name, is transformed from the "Han" of "Hanzhong".

In addition to Liu Bang, Liu Bei was also the self-proclaimed "King of Hanzhong".

Now that Li Xinchen is named "Marquis of Hanzhong", is Xu Ling's meaning really as simple as he said?

Pei Ji has been in the officialdom for so long, but he doesn't believe that Xu Ling will say the title of "Marquis of Hanzhong" for no reason and just because of such a clumsy reason.

This old fox's city is deep!