Time flies, winter goes to spring.

The Han Dynasty sent away Zhongping for three years and ushered in the fourth year of Zhongping.

The new peach replaced the old charm, just after the early spring, in the Chongde Hall in Luoyang City, the first court meeting of the new year was opened.

"Your Majesty, Ministers." The ministers bowed down in unison and saluted the Son of Heaven.

The young emperor sitting on the throne stretched out his hand and patted his mouth, yawning for a long time. Recently, I don't know what's wrong, he always feels a little powerless, and even occasionally has inexplicable irritability.

Fortunately, the good news from the past two days made him feel much more comfortable.

"Zhongqing, two days ago, Liu Yu, the assassin of Youzhou, sent good news, the rebels in Youzhou have collapsed, the Wuhuan people have surrendered, and the three counties of Liaodong have returned to the territory of the Han Dynasty. And the head of the traitor Zhang Chun has also been sent to the Beijing Division, and Zhang Ju is on the run, but my Zhenbei general has already led people to pursue him out of the Saiwai. ”

When Liu Hong said this, he was obviously quite happy.

"Congratulations to Your Majesty, this is Your Majesty's majesty!" The ministers pandered in unison.

Liu Hong was very satisfied with the reaction of his ministers, recalling the five rebellions last year, Zhao Ci, who was entrenched in Nanyang and was the first to be killed by Wang Min, the assassin of Jingzhou; Subsequently, the barbarians of Wuling counties were also suppressed and surrendered by Ding Yuan; The allied forces of the Xianbei Huns not only failed to set foot in Wuyuan County, but even the Marquis of Subu Gudu died on the battlefield.

Later, the Xiliang rebels were repelled by Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo, and retreated to Guanzhong again.

Now Youzhou has also been completely pacified, and it can basically be said that 'the world is peaceful'.

"This time, the general of Zhenbei, Lu Bu, has made an indispensable contribution to the suppression of the rebellion in Youzhou, and I decided to reward it. Zhongqing's family, what do you think? Liu Hong glanced down and asked the ministers.

When the ministers heard this, they had their own calculations in their hearts.

Wu Fu, the counselor, was the first to come out of the ranks, holding a wat board, and after saluting, he said: "Back to Your Majesty, the minister thinks that the rank of General Zhenbei is not low, and although General Lu has military achievements, he is still young in the army. Even if it is a good jade, it needs to be pondered more. What's more, it is the duty of a courtier to beg for the country, and His Majesty's praise is the best reward for the soldiers. This is the foolish opinion of the minister. ”

The ministers nodded their heads in agreement.

Speaking of qualifications, Lu Bu is indeed a lot worse. He has been in the army for less than ten years, and he has sat in the position of general of Zhenbei, which is already a rocket-like promotion, and if he climbs up, he will almost be on par with the status of court ministers such as Jiuqing.

On the other hand, look at these ministers in the court, that one is not a big beard. Among them, the thirties can only be regarded as young offspring.

And Lu Bu is only twenty and seven this year, and he has not yet arrived in thirty.

"What Wu Qingjia means is that the officers and soldiers of the three armies have made meritorious contributions, and they only need to praise them twice, and they don't need to give anything, right?" There was a hint of gloom in Liu Hong's tone, he was ridiculous for so many years, but he was definitely not a fool.

At the very least, the merits are clear, and Liu Hong still understands.

Meritorious deeds should be rewarded, and faults should be punished,

"Your Majesty, Doctor Wu didn't mean that, he hoped that His Majesty could reward General Lu in another way. For example, they were given jewelry, possessions, silk and satin, and so on. Doctor Guanglu Xu came out of the column and said respectfully.

Liu Hong thought about it, it seemed to make some sense, after all, Lu Bu was still very young, and there would definitely be many opportunities for promotion in the future. If you climb to a high position too early, not only will it hurt to fall, but it will also be easy to breed some unnecessary extra thoughts, such as ambition.

The promotion in the barracks was temporarily exempted, but Liu Hong quickly thought of a new plan, he patted his forehead, and said with a smile: "Why did I forget this, it seems that the Lu Qing family has not yet given the title of marquis." In this way, I am happy today, so I will give him a rich township and a thousand households. ”

The marquis of the Han Dynasty can probably be divided into four categories, county marquis, township marquis, pavilion marquis, and Guannei marquis who has a lord but no yi.

There are many sources for obtaining marquises, and there are three common ones: first, marquis because of status, such as relatives of the royal family. Second, it has the merit of supporting the establishment, or assisting the new successor emperor, and the effect is remarkable. The third is to be a marquis because of military merits, such as Dong Zhuo's township marquis.

The marquis of ten thousand households that the people often say is the marquis of the county.

Of course, there are some other reasons besides the above.

For example, out of the ten permanent servants, nine of the twelve people have been made marquis, and they have neither military merits nor the ability to assist the king. What does it rely on, what it relies on is opportunism, flattery, and won His Majesty's favor.

As soon as the Son of Heaven is happy, he doesn't care what a cat or dog you are, and with a wave of his hand, he will directly reward you with a marquis.

The ten permanent servants can be crowned marquis, and Lu Bu, as the general of Zhenbei, is not only a confidant of the Son of Heaven, but also has real military merits there.

The ministers didn't want to say anything more, mainly because of the face of the Son of Heaven, so they could only praise in unison: "Your Majesty Shengming." ”

These flattering words without any new ideas, Liu Hong has long been able to listen to the cocoon.

He yawned, his sickly face seemed to be tired, and the ministers thought that the Son of Heaven was ready to order a retreat. However, at this time, Liu Hong cheered up, took a sip of the ginseng soup on the table, and after scanning the circle of ministers in the palace, he said in a slightly solemn tone: "In addition, I have one more thing to inform you. ”

It is rare for the ministers to see such a serious appearance of the Son of Heaven, and while pondering in their hearts, they said in unison: "Please make it clear to Your Majesty, and the ministers will listen to you." ”

Liu Hong, who was sitting on the throne, turned sideways and beckoned to the palace pillar on the right: "Xie'er, come here." ”

Next to the palace pillar where the two people were hugging, the old eunuch Zhang Rang bowed his head, led a five or six-year-old boy, and walked to Liu Hong.

"The son of the emperor greets his father."

The little boy in the black ink prince dress arched his small palms, and his voice was immature, but he was not rude to his father.

"Come, come to me!"

Liu Hong hooked his palm down, and looked at the little boy in his eyes, there was no longer the gloomy anger of the past, and there was only a father's unique love for his son.

The little prince was not afraid, and when he heard his father call him, he got up and walked a few steps forward. It was only when he walked to the position of the emperor that he stood on his heels.

Liu Hong looked at the little guy, the more he looked at it, the more he liked this son, whether it was his eyebrows, eyes, nose and mouth, or his temperament and hobbies, he was very much like himself when he was a child. He pointed to the vacant spot next to him, and the little prince knelt down obediently.

Then, Liu Hong looked at Zhang Rang and nodded slightly.

The latter understood, took out the edict that had been prepared a long time ago, and read it out loud in front of the courtiers: "The prince Liu Xie, intelligent, clever, benevolent, and sincere to others, has won my heart. From now on, the prince will be my crown prince and the prince of the Han Dynasty! I hope that Zhuqing will assist with all his heart and build a prosperous era of the Han Dynasty, and I will admire this! ”