Although Zhengde was full of praise for Song Nan, he also expressed his vague admiration for Song Nan for understanding the intentions of the imperial court before the arrival of the imperial decree.

Song Nan was noncommittal about this, he didn't want to spoil the atmosphere at the moment, it was rare that everyone was so happy today, and he also wanted to spend a night of reunion with his family in peace, and some things could be said tomorrow morning. However, in order to avoid Zhengde feeling abrupt, Song Nan still took a preventive shot.

"Your Majesty, although I have reached a contract with the Tartars, the ministers have always been a little worried in their hearts, you don't know the temperament of the Tartars, and you may turn your face when you talk about peace at this moment, and the ministers think that you need to be careful and vigilant, and you can't take it lightly."

Zhengde said with a smile: "Song Nan, some people have also told me these words, but Scholar Yang and the analysis of the day are reasonable; The Tartars were completely defeated this time, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses were almost wiped out, how many soldiers and horses can he have in the Tatar State, this is all his belongings, what do they use to provoke my Daming? ”

Song Nan said: "Having said that, when the minister came to the battlefield in person, he knew that there were still seventy or eighty thousand soldiers in the Tartars, and although these soldiers and horses were not enough to pose a threat to my Ming Dynasty, there was still room for them to raid the border towns and plunder the border people, and it was also a troublesome thing." ”

Zhengde waved his hand and said, "As long as they don't have the ability to attack on a large scale, this attack doesn't matter. For so many years, the Tartars have not been attacking the border towns for a year, and my ears have become calloused. ”

Song Nan was silent, Zhengde saw that Song Nan's expression was wrong, he reached out and patted Song Nan's shoulder and said with a smile: "Okay, okay, this time you have made a great contribution, I said that you will be crushed as soon as you come out of the horse and tartar, I was right to ask you to be the general, some people are blind, and today I just blocked their mouths." Not...... Rest assured, my decree is about to be given, and I will give you a satisfactory reward. ”

Song Nan hurriedly saluted and thanked him, and couldn't help but feel a little sad in his heart, the government and the opposition were panicked when the Tartar soldiers came, but they were complacent when the Tartar soldiers were defeated, the attack on the border towns was not taken to heart, and the sorrow of the people was not taken to heart.

After chatting for a while, seeing that Song Nan looked a little tired, Zhengde was also empathetic, and let Song Nan out of the palace. Song Nan originally wanted to go to Shouning Palace to see the princess, but when he thought about the matter between himself and the princess, he didn't know how many pairs of eyes were staring at him, if he went, he would definitely provoke the queen mother's anger, and someone with a heart would also take the opportunity to fan the flames, so it was better not to go for the time being. So he called Wan Zhi, the commander of the Jinyi Wei Dahan General, and secretly ordered him to bring a piece of jewelry he had selected for the princess to Shouning Palace to express his lovesickness, and he didn't have to go in person.

Coming out of the palace, as soon as he came out of the Zhengyang Gate, Song Nan was suddenly surrounded by a large group of officials waiting here, headed by the British Gong Zhang Lun, a cadre of the battalion Hou Ye, Jinyi Wei Hou Dabiao, Sun Xuan and others were waiting for Song Nan here, seeing Song Nan, everyone smiled and stepped forward to salute, congratulating Song Nan on his great achievements and triumphant return.

Song Nan smiled and bowed his hand in return, and after the marquis of the regimental camp dispersed, Zhang Lun said with a smile: "Brother-in-law, this time you are beautiful, who in the whole world does not know your Song Nan's name, turn the tide of the tide, and set an alliance under the city with the Tartars." It's a pity that I, as the governor of the regiment and battalion, can't go to the expedition with me, otherwise I can get a share of this glory. ”

Song Nan smiled: "Brother brother-in-law, do you still need to share the credit?" As the Duke of the Ming Dynasty, you have long been honored in the world, this time Jiang Bin and Xu Tai are the main forces of the war, don't forget that they are the main force of the regiment and battalion, they have merit, don't you also have a face as an official? ”

Zhang Lun said with a smile: "That's what I said, I am happier than anything else for your meritorious service, the news of your return to Beijing came last night, my sister was as happy as something, when I went to visit your house, I was counted by this Nizi as I was not eye-catching." Speaking of which, if Grandpa is alive, he will definitely change his opinion when he sees today's situation. My son-in-law of the British Mansion didn't disgrace his old man. ”

Song Nan smiled and said: "It's very inappropriate for my uncle to speak today, if I don't make this contribution, will I be disgraced to the old man to give you the British Mansion?" No, it doesn't work. ”

Zhang Lun took Song Nan's arm and walked to the side and said: "You don't know yet, your reward has been agreed, the emperor summoned me to discuss with the scholars of the outer court and the heads of various departments in the afternoon before yesterday about your reward, do you know what the emperor wants to reward you this time?" ”

Song Nan said with a smile: "The emperor didn't say it, I didn't ask, I didn't go to fight the Tartars for the sake of rewarding, even if the emperor didn't give a reward, I have no opinion." ”

Zhang Lun said: "Don't be hypocritical, I'll tell you the bottom first, why did I say that my grandfather was very happy when he was alive, because his granddaughter was married to a grandfather after all, as his old man wished." ”

Song Nan was startled, and said with his mouth half open: "What did you say?" ”

Zhang Lun smiled and said: "The matter has not been announced yet, and the decree has not yet come down, so I can't say anything more, but I can congratulate you in advance on your promotion to the Duke of Daming Town." Grandpa Guo, doesn't this sound pleasing to the ear? ”

Song Nan didn't say anything for a long time, he didn't expect Zhengde to crown himself as the Duke of the Kingdom for this merit, the Ming Dynasty is now the only remaining Duke of the State is not more than a hand, most of the Duke titles of the former dynasty were slowly cut down in the hands of the descendants of later generations, and there was no reward for even a Duke of the State for decades after Hongzhi, which shows the prudence of the court for the reward of the Duke of the State. And he actually became one of the princes of the country, in terms of title, except for the king of the Zhu family, he had already reached the peak.

"Silly, don't be so obvious, you won't go crazy with joy." Zhang Lun joked: "The title of Grandpa Guo is indeed extremely honorable, you are the youngest Grandpa of the Kingdom since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, and you are also worthy of pride, but don't drool with your mouth open, so many people are here, how embarrassing." ”

Song Nan hurriedly closed his mouth and said in a low voice, "Yang Ting and them will actually agree?" ”

Zhang Lun pouted and said: "They are naturally opposed, Yang Tinghe is the most aggressive, and he has counted the precedents of the Ming Dynasty to divide the feudal title, saying that your merits and qualifications are not enough to divide the title of duke, and those officials from the outer court also followed, but this time the emperor is iron-hearted, and they have no choice." In addition, I will naturally help you speak, and the emperor's last words are quite ruthless. ”

"What did the emperor say?" Song Nan asked with wide eyes.

"The emperor said, 'When the Tartars were raging, the Manchu Dynasty was helpless, if it wasn't for Song Nan to come forward, the Ming Dynasty would not know how far it had been. If you don't reward you for your great achievements in Zhenguo, who do you expect to protect the Ming Dynasty for me in the future? Do you expect you? With just this sentence, Yang Ting and them were immediately speechless, and this matter was settled. ”

Song Nan nodded slowly, and said normally: "I know, I have to go back to the house quickly, I haven't set foot in the house yet, and my mother is afraid that she will be angry." ”

Zhang Lun nodded and said: "Yes, yes, you go home, I also have important errands to do here, let's drink in Chunfeng Mansion in the evening, and then you will be the grandfather of the country." By the way, I have prepared the plaque for you at the door of your house, the red background and gold letters are very magnificent, as majestic as the signboard of my British mansion, I will order someone to send it to you in a while. ”

Song Nan said: "What errand are you doing?" I still have something to discuss with you, why don't you go back home with me to talk? ”

Zhang Lun squeezed his eyes and said, "Isn't it your business?" I was ordered to enter the palace to receive the decree to seal you, and when I met these people waiting for you here, I simply waited for you to come out with them. When you get home, take a shower and change into stylish clothes, and wait for me to come to the door to announce the decree. ”

After Zhang Lun finished speaking, he arched his hand and entered the palace.

Song Nan didn't know what to feel in his heart, he felt a little trance, and he felt a little incredible; Many years ago, he was dying in Ulzhou, and at that time, he felt strange when he saw the brocade guards galloping by the freshly dressed and angry horses on the street, and he also experienced the difficulties of the survival of the people of the Ming Dynasty, and he also saw the various faces of the power dumping and the hierarchy. But in fact, in my heart, I also yearn for the day when I can soar. In the past, when I looked at the high-ranking officials of the Ming Dynasty, I was not without a trace of envy in my heart, which was also one of the driving forces for my active efforts.

Now, he is about to become one of the top relatives of the Ming Dynasty, for some reason, Song Nan has a slight loss after the initial joy. If this is the standard of personal success in this era, then he has done it, but Song Nan knows in his heart that personal success does not have the slightest role in promoting this era, the Ming Dynasty is still the Ming Dynasty, and the people's lives have not become comfortable because of someone's rapid prosperity, in a sense, this kind of success is meaningless.

Song Nan is not a hypocritical person, after all, five hundred years later, the future generations have a high degree of freedom of thought and speech, and the self can diverge to the maximum, while paying attention to himself, he also pays attention to the qiē of the world, and at the same time he is successful and expects the peace of the world, from this point of view, Song Nan understands that this qiē is the starting point of his career.