Once a person is old, he will be particularly worried about his children and grandchildren, and he will regard the things behind him as more important than the things in front of him.

British Gong Zhang Weixian is like this now, especially after being sick and bedridden for a long time again and again.

It's not that he's worried that he won't have a successor, because now he has a full house of children and grandchildren.

His eldest son, Zhang Zhiji, is over forty years old, although he is not outstanding, but he is better than the old man.

And his eldest grandson Zhang Shize was also over 16 years old, and he was sent to the lecture hall in Tongzhou.

From a rough point of view, there is a successor to the British Duke, and he should have nothing to worry about.

But the rules set by the emperor himself before made him more worried.

The British dukedom, which was originally hereditary, is now likely to face the problem of someone inheriting it but may not succeed smoothly.

Because of his eldest son Zhang Zhiji, although he was born with the official position of Jinyiwei commanding affairs, he did not like to dance with knives and guns to be a martial artist, but often recited poems and wrote poems and ink to dance and write as a scholar, and he was a scholar.

This time, the emperor wanted to fight in Juyongguan in person, and the British prince Zhang Weixian wanted to accompany his eldest son, but he could not make the trip because of the recurrence of his old illness, and the eldest son Zhang Zhiji was also ordered by the emperor to stay in the British palace to serve.

At such a time of national war and war, such a good opportunity for meritorious service, but the British Duke and his heirs were unable to participate, which made him feel very uneasy.

If he is healthy and healthy, then everything is good, and with his status as the first noble master of the Ming Dynasty, he will have the opportunity to make meritorious contributions in the future.

Even if Emperor Chongzhen made Emperor Chengzu clear that the hereditary title of British dukedom in the future would also be reduced to hereditary succession, he could slowly think of a way.

And in his opinion, the dukes are divided into three classes, and between the first class and the third class, it is just an equal difference in the salary, and the British duke has a great business, and it does not care about the difference in the court.

It's a pity that since October last year, the British public Zhang Weixian has been on the sickbed for several months, knowing that his fate is not long, although there are many opportunities in the future, but he can't wait for the future.

He sent his eldest grandson Zhang Shize into the lecture hall, which can be regarded as paving the way for his grandchildren to inherit in advance.

But the son's generation needs the emperor's special decree and the help of the other two ministers of military aircraft.

Therefore, when discussing the affairs of the knighthood at this imperial meeting, the British Duke Zhang Weixian not only fully supported the emperor's proposal, but also personally recommended two candidates for the knighthood.

One is Li Banghua, a cabinet minister and minister of military aircraft.

The other is Sun Chengzong, who is a cabinet minister and minister of military aircraft and a secretary of the military department.

Now Li Banghua has the title of Earl of Pingyang, and according to the rules set this time, he is the first class earl.

This time, Zhang Weixian proposed to directly promote him to a first-class marquis.

And Sun Chengzong, who originally did not have a title, Zhang Weixian proposed to make him a first-class earl.

Zhang Weixian dragged his sick body and did this abnormally, of course, he took a fancy to the status of these two people in the emperor's heart, and at the same time, he also took advantage of the opportunity in front of him to talk and be able to speak, and befriended Li Banghua and Sun Chengzong.

Although this time, the two of them have military merits, and Emperor Chongzhen will definitely reward them, but the proposal of the marquis and the uncle was put forward by himself, and in the future, Li Banghua and Sun Chengzong should also be kind to their children and grandchildren no matter what.

As soon as Zhang Weixian's words of recommending Sun Chengzong and Li Banghua came out, Emperor Chongzhen and the two cabinet ministers knew about his thoughts.

But I don't want to say anything.

Emperor Chongzhen immediately agreed to the proposal of the British Duke Zhang Weixian, and accepted his proposal as it was.

Changed the title of Pingyang Bo Li Banghua to the first-class Dongsheng Marquis, Shilu annual salary of 6,500 Chongzhen silver yuan, and gave 400 hectares of Dongsheng land as Yongye Field, in order to praise its naturalization and restoration of the Hetao.

At the same time, Sun Chengzong, the minister of the cabinet and the minister of military aircraft, was the first-class Ningcheng Bo, and the Shilu annual income was 5,000 Chongzhen silver yuan, and 300 hectares of Ningcheng land in the north of the Rehe Town Shoufu were given as Yongye Field, in order to praise its merits in passing through the north of the Ji and the barrier outside the barrier.

Dongsheng is far away in the Hetao, which was originally the location of Dongshengwei in the Ming Dynasty, and was later occupied by the Ordos tribes, the guard moved inward, and the Han people fled, so it became a place for the Mongols to herd sheep and horses.

Now that the Ming army has returned to the Hetao, the top priority is to fill the land with immigrants, and one of the best ways to encourage immigrants is to give these places to meritorious officials and meritorious soldiers.

Four hundred acres, according to the standards of the Ming Dynasty, that is four thousand acres.

Such a contiguous field is basically impossible in the Jiangnan water town.

Even in the Central Plains, it is a remarkable number.

It's just that this figure is not an astonishing number when placed in the vast and sparsely populated Hetao area, especially in the vast and endless Monan area in the north pole of the Great Wall.

The title of the Ming Dynasty, since Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was settled, all the methods adopted are fictitious, there is no land, only Yulu.

The original age of the prince was 10,000 stones, and the prince of the clan and below, including the princes, marquis, and uncles who were not the lords of the clan, had equal differences.

The main thing is to give food, just raise it, except for the clan vassal king, there is no land that actually owns.

Therefore, the princes and uncles who have meritorious lords basically live at the feet of the Son of Heaven in Jingshi City, because they do not have fiefs.

This time is different, after Emperor Chongzhen made great contributions, he didn't want to concentrate them in captivity in Beijing, but to let them continue to go out to fight for the Ming Dynasty.

If you don't give them a certain fiefdom, how can you stimulate their motivation to fight for the country?

It is to give them a small part of the land they have conquered or hold onto, and give them a small part of it as the land that their family inherits forever, which is an attractive approach for these people.

As for the title of Earl Ningcheng, the same is true.

Ningcheng originally belonged to the Ming Dynasty, but it was later occupied by the Mongols who went south, and the Han military household had already fled.

In this life, the establishment of the Rehe Town Shoufu made some of the Han people in Beizhili start the process of reclamation in the north again.

In the second year of Chongzhen, Sun Chengzong inspected the northern border of Ji as a cabinet veteran and minister of military aircraft, dispatched a lot of manpower, spent a lot of powerlessness, and built castle fortifications in Balihan and Ningcheng and other places.

At present, it can be regarded as one of the outposts of the Ming army going north to Horqin in addition to the city of Ulan Hada (later Inner Mongolia Chifeng), which is inhabited by the Karaqin people.

Conferring the title of Earl of Ningcheng on Sun Chengzong, who was born in the north of Zhili, is definitely conducive to mobilizing the enthusiasm of these people to look to the north in the future.

And this time, Sun Chengzong didn't seem to make much movement, and he didn't get many heads of Jianyu, but the operation outside the edge of Jizhen since last year was also the reason why Huang Taiji didn't dare to go south from here.

As the saying goes, those who are good at fighting have no great achievements, and it is exactly like this.

Of course, the current Emperor Chongzhen also knows the evaluation of Sun Chengzong by later generations, and knows that many people believe that it is Sun Chengzong who repeatedly advocated the construction of a large number of castles and strong fortifications in Liaodong, which consumed a lot of material and financial resources of the Ming court, so that the Liao salary increased again and again, and finally dragged down the finances of the Ming Dynasty.

At that time, there was indeed a strategic idea that was completely different from Sun Chengzong's proposition, that is, the proposition of Wang Huazhen, Wang Zaijin and others.

That is, to abandon all the land outside Shanhaiguan and let the army of Liaodong Town retreat to Shanhaiguan for defense.

In this way, firstly, there is no need to build castle fortifications in the western Liaoning corridor and reduce financial pressure, and secondly, it is possible to gather troops and guard Shanhaiguan with heavy troops, and then attract the enemy to attack, and the Ming army will wait for work.

This is also a train of thought.

It's just that this idea is not quite in line with the temperament of the Ming Dynasty, nor is it in line with the temperament of the Ming Dynasty's monarchs and ministers.

Now it's hard to say which of these two lines of thinking is better.

Therefore, now the Chongzhen Emperor neither let Yuan Chonghuan, who was the most resolute in implementing Sun Chengzong's strategy, go to Liaodong, nor did he let Sun Chengzong, who has a high voice, to preside over the matter of fighting against Jianyu in Liaodong.

This is not because Sun Chengzong's strategy of building a city and defending the land is wrong, but that the current Emperor Chongzhen feels that this strategy is used in the wrong place.

The Ming army's construction of additional cities north and east of the Daling River almost inevitably provoked a reaction and attack from the Jin State after the capture of the Ming army.

However, this problem does not exist after being placed outside the north edge of the thistle.

To occupy and hold a place, it is necessary to have a certain number of garrisons, and to have a garrison there must be castles.

Is there a problem with this idea? No problem.

Especially for places where the land is vast and sparsely populated and there are relatively few Han people, such as the Saibei grassland.

If you don't build a city to defend, you can't hold these places, and even if you hold it for a while, you will lose it sooner or later.

This is also the reason why Emperor Chongzhen happily accepted Zhang Weixian's proposal, named Sun Chengzong as a first-class uncle, and named him a first-class Ningcheng uncle.