Among the five cabinet ministers of the Hongguang Dynasty, Zhang Shenyan is the oldest, and he is 69 years old this year, and he has successively served in the Wanli, Tianqi, and Chongzhen dynasties, and is the oldest.

But because Zhang Shenyan has a straightforward personality and can't rub sand in his eyes, he doesn't have too deep personal relationships with Gao Hongtu and Liu Zong, and the two naturally won't offend Ma Shiying, the head of the dynasty, because of him, an old man buried in the loess to his neck.

In addition to Zhang Shenyan, who is seventy years old, Liu Zongzhou is also sixty-seven years old, and Gao Hongtu is sixty-two years old.

Although Ma Shiying temporarily gained power, supported Zhu Youxiang and squeezed Shi Kefa out of Nanjing, Shi Kefa was ten years younger than him after all, only forty-four years old this year, and his official position in the Chongzhen Dynasty was also higher than Ma Shiying.

This time, with the merits and age advantages of Yangzhou's victory, it is difficult to predict who will die in the battle for the first assistant in the future, and Liu Zongzhou and Gao Hongtu will naturally not easily offend Shi Kefa, so it is the best choice to make mud.

"Lin Zhenjiang's credit is unprecedented, everything is up to Your Majesty's decision!" Liu Zongzhou bowed and saluted.

Gao Hongtu is not far behind: "Lin Zhenjiang has made earth-shattering feats, whether he is promoted to the fifth or seventh level in a row, it is a matter of course, after all, his current official position is too low." ”

Although Shi Kefa was squeezed out of the center of the imperial court, Yu Wei, the former secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, was still there, and Ma Shiying must not let him have another close relationship with the military attache of the third grade, otherwise it would pose a huge threat to his position as the first assistant.

Ma Shiying's eyes turned, he thought about it, and said with a wat board in his hand: "Your Majesty, the ancients said, 'Raising a general is like raising an eagle, if you are hungry, you will eat the master, and if you are full, you will go away." Today is just a temporary repulsion of Duoduo, wanting to recover the mountains and rivers, in the future, there will be a time to employ people, Your Majesty will promote Lin Zhenjiang to the third grade today, how should he be rewarded in the future, so that he can continue to serve the imperial court? ”

Zhu Youxiang was shocked when he heard this, stroked his beard and said, "Hmm...... Ma Ge's old words are reasonable, Lin Zhenjiang's credit is great enough, but it is unprecedented to be promoted to five levels in a row, how can he be promoted to seven levels in a row? ”

Zhang Shenyan bowed slightly: "What Master Ma said is also reasonable, then according to what His Majesty said, Lin Zhenjiang will be promoted to the fifth level and canonized with the title of a fourth-grade chief military officer, right?" ”

In order not to offend Shi Kefa, Ma Shiying said again: "In this troubled era, there are too many general military officers of my Ming Dynasty, there are one and five products, and the canonization of Lin Zhenjiang is not enough to show His Majesty's Longen, and the minister thinks that Lin Zhenjiang should be rewarded with the title of Ming Wei General of the fourth grade." ”

Zhu Youxiang nodded happily and agreed: "Quasi-play!" Spread my will, canonized Lin Zhenjiang as the general soldier of Guangling, and awarded the title of General Mingwei. ”

The four cabinet ministers bowed together: "Obey the Holy Message!" ”

After making a decision, Zhu Youxiang felt good, glanced at the four courtiers under his feet, and looked forward to Zixiong: "In this way, Lin Zhenjiang should be the highest-ranking military general in Yangzhou City, right?" ”

Zhang Shenyan said coldly: "Back to Your Majesty's words, the general soldier of the fourth grade is far behind, and the highest position in Yangzhou City is the former Liaodong chief soldier Liu Zhaoji, who was just awarded the title of Governor of Zuodu and Prince Shaobao by His Majesty last year, and the grade is Zhengyipin." ”

There is a strange thing in the Ming Dynasty, the grade of military generals has always been very high, and it is relatively easy to obtain, such as Yuan Chonghuan, Wu Sangui and others have all ascended to the high position of a first-class military attaché. After Zhu Youxiang ascended the throne, in order to win the hearts of the people, he even added officials to the warlords who held military power, and rewarded them lavishly.

Among the four towns in Jiangbei that supported meritorious service, Huang Degong was awarded the title of Marquis, Lord of the First Rank of Zuozhu State, and the title of Prince and Prince. Gao Jie, Liu Zeqing, Liu Liangzuo and other three were also awarded the title of Prince Shaobao or Prince Shaofu respectively, and awarded the earl of meritorious service.

In addition to the four towns in Jiangbei, Zuo Liangyu, a warlord who claimed to have 800,000 troops, was awarded the title of Marquis of Nanning and rewarded with the title of Prince Shaobao of Congyipin.

In addition, several commanders with military power in their hands were also rewarded, such as Zheng Zhilong, Liu Zhaoji, Fang Guoan, Wang Zhiren, etc., who were either named earls or added to the title of prince Shaobao, and the second-class Fang and Wang also hung the seal of the Zhennan general.

Zheng Zhilong, who is entrenched in Fujian, has the most powerful naval division in the East, with more than 700 warships and more than 80,000 soldiers on land and water. However, Liu Zhaoji was awarded the titles of Zuo Du Governor and Prince Shaobao, which made Zuo Liangyu very dissatisfied, and even scolded him.

"It's just that the four martial artists in Jiangbei plus Zheng Zhilong, the pirate leader, are tied with Zuo, he Liu Zhaoji has no more than 10,000 soldiers, and no more than 1,000 horses, what kind of thing is it? What qualifications do you dare to be tied with Zuo? ”

"I, Zuo Liangyu, have 800,000 troops, who in the world doesn't look sideways? One person can drown Liu Zhaoji's soldiers and horses with a mouthful of saliva, Zhu Youxiang, this bastard, actually asked me to be awarded the crown prince Shaobao with him, it is a great shame for someone Zuo! ”

Zuo Liangyu's complaint soon reached Zhu Youxiang's ears, which frightened the nominal emperor, and hurriedly issued a decree to confer Zuo Liangyu as the crown prince, but he still could not satisfy this arrogant and domineering warlord, resulting in a huge contradiction between him and Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng.

Zuo Liangyu relied on the large number of soldiers and generals, and rebelled in a fit of rage, and led the "800,000 army" from Hankou under the slogan of "Qing Jun's side, Zhu Ma Ruan" and took hundreds of warships down the river to take Nanjing.

Ma Shiying was shocked after receiving the report, and urgently transferred Huang Degong and Liu Zeqing to march west to defeat Zuo Liangyu's rebels, which led to the emptiness of the troops of the Southern Ming garrison in Jiangbei, and was driven straight into Yangzhou by Duoduo and the Qing army.

Before Chongzhen, although the rank of some military generals was high, if they did not have their own descendant troops, the real power could not compete with the civilian officials, because the cabinet ministers such as the military department and the official department were in charge of the promotion of the military generals, and the cabinet composed of civilian officials also excluded the military generals from the center of power, resulting in the military generals Although the military generals were higher than the civilian officials, the real power was not as great as the civilian officials.

"Oh...... It turns out that Liu Zhaoji has arrived in Yangzhou? ”

Zhu Youxiang patted his head, "I don't know about Liu Zhaoji's aid to Yangzhou, with him in Yangzhou, Lin Zhenjiang will naturally take a back seat." ”

Chinese New Year's EveNine-year-old Liu Zhaoji was born in Jiangmen, and his ancestors were hereditary commanders, so his starting point is very high, and he is a senior military attache with four grades as soon as he comes out.

And Liu Zhaoji himself was also very competitive, brave in battle, good at strategy, and was successively promoted to the commander of Tongzhi, the deputy chief soldier of Liaodong, and the chief officer of Liaodong, and was later falsely accused of being dismissed from his post in the eleventh year of Chongzhen.

After Zhu Youxiang ascended the throne, Liu Zhaoji invited himself to serve in the army, because of his outstanding qualifications, Zhu Youxiang awarded him the title of Governor of Zuodu and Prince Shaobao, and ordered him to garrison Jiangbei to assist Shi Kefa, who guarded Yangzhou, to defend the north gate of Nanjing.

Shi Kefa had only about 10,000 soldiers and horses in his hands, so he allocated 2,000 people to Liu Zhaoji and ordered him to go to Gaoyou to sit in the town and recruit troops on his own to defend the front line of Yangzhou.

Half a month ago, Duoduo led 100,000 Qing troops to the south, and Liu Zeqing, one of the four towns stationed in Huai'an, surrendered without a fight, and led 50,000 horses to surrender, and the Qing army was able to take Huai'an without blood, bypassing Gaoyou Lake and attacking Yangzhou.

Shi Kefa was shocked when he got the news, and hurriedly repaired the book to ask Zhu Youxiang and the towns for help, and Liu Zhaoji alone led 4,000 soldiers from Gaoyou to Yangzhou, and Shi Kefa guarded the north gate of Nanjing City.

Ma Shiying echoed: "When Yangzhou was in danger, only Liu Dudu rushed to the aid alone, which shows his loyalty and should be rewarded." ”

Zhu Youxiang nodded: "It should be rewarded!" Shi Kefa and Liu Zhaoji should be added to the ranks! Spread my will and reward Shi Kefa with the title of 'Jingzhong' and Liu Zhaoji's 'Earl of Yiyong', hereditary replacement. ”

After Zhu Yuanzhang founded the People's Republic of China, it was stipulated that "all knights who are not awarded for their military merits are not allowed to be knighted, and titles cannot be given unless they are specially intended", in short, civilian officials cannot be knighted, only by virtue of military merits.

But now Shi Kefa's identity is the governor of Yangzhou and the commander-in-chief of the front line, and it is not impossible to say that he is a military attaché, not to mention that in this troubled world, the earl is no longer valuable, and he can catch it everywhere.

It is better to reward Shi Kefa with a nominal earl than to let him ascend to the official position of a product, Ma Shiying naturally will not object, not to mention that he also sold Liu Zhaoji a favor along the way.

"Your Majesty Shengming!"

Ma Shiying bowed down and promised, "The old minister will go to the Hanlin Academy to draw up a decree to reward Shi Kefa Jing Zhongbo and Liu Zhaoji Yi Yongbo, and Lin Zhenjiang will be promoted to Guangling General and awarded the rank of General Mingwei." ”