Chapter 1 A Simplified Ceremony

After all, this was Jindong,
After all, this was Fengxin City,
The ceremony of bestowment was, after all, somewhat simplified.

But this simplification did not mean a lack of sincerity.

Tens of thousands of Jingnan Army knights arrayed for you, drew their sabers for you, cheered in unison for you; this scene was grand and imposing enough.

What's more,

On the periphery,

Many other soldiers, laborers, and auxiliary troops were rushing over to watch the excitement; in comparison, pure civilians were in the minority among the minority.

This kind of atmosphere,

Is actually healthy, is masculine,
Is the taste that conferring titles for military merit should have!

If you don't believe it, let the First Prince choose,
See if he wants the meticulous, grand, and festive ceremony in Nanwang City,

Or if he wants to feel the authentic clash of iron and horses here;

A soldier must have backbone.

The wind of Jiangnan in the Qian Kingdom is certainly charming; the wind of the Jin region is certainly intoxicating; the wind of the Chu Kingdom is certainly solemn;

However,

The wind of Great Yan,

Is truly pure;

Sabers, iron hooves, and those neat rows of fluttering Black Dragon Flags,

Are the most powerful unyielding spirit in the East today.

You can say that Great Yan is squandering its resources on war, or that the Yan Emperor is fond of boasting about his achievements,

But at least,

The current Great Yan,

Unless internal strife arises, a mutiny occurs, or a secessionist rebellion breaks out,

Otherwise,

External forces simply dare not send troops to invade.

Thinking back to the past,

The Jin army took advantage of Yan's attack on Qian to proactively invade; the wild men crossed the pass, daring to try to test their strength; the Chu people were even prepared early, wanting to plot and scheme;

The Qian people dared to clamor for a northern expedition, and the barbarian royal court dared to offer its services to the highest bidder;

Scholars often lament in their writings,

The hardship of the people's livelihood,
The successive years of disasters,

To put it bluntly,

No matter how great the famine, how merciless the wrath of Heaven, how troubled the internal situation, even if the national treasury is so empty that mice starve to death, and officials' salaries have to be paid with paper money;

It's always better than enemy troops entering the country and the state being overthrown;

This is not purely thinking from the perspective of those in power,

In fact,

When a country is invaded and enemy troops ravage and trample on its territory, those who suffer the most and endure the greatest hardship are often the lowest-level common people.

The Situ family still holds the title of Prince, hereditary and irreplaceable; most of the old bureaucratic system of Yingdu has been preserved; the Yu family is enfeoffed as the Prince of Jin, enjoying wealth and glory in Yanjing;

When the Yan army attacked Qian, the large clans and wealthy households in the north rushed south in carriages and on horseback; when Zheng Boye led his troops to dig up the graves of nobles in the Chu Kingdom, he deliberately spared those nobles.

The natives of southwestern Qian liked to live in bamboo buildings, with the lower level suspended to isolate moisture; people lived on the upper level, while the lower level was mostly used to raise pigs;

Those in power are, as the name suggests, living on top, while those at the bottom are...

Zheng Boye, sitting on the Pixiu, was now filled with many thoughts,

To be honest,

His soul carried a special quality, not meaning that he was also full of spiritual energy, but that his views on things from two lifetimes were somewhat different from ordinary people.

Even so,

Since waking up in the Tiger Head City's inn room in this life,

Although he invariably mentioned being pulled by the Princess to be a forced laborer to be sent to his death as bait, he often lamented that it was his first lesson in understanding this world.

But what cannot be denied is that,

When you first saw the Iron Cavalry of the Zhenbei Army crush the warriors of the Shatuo tribe into the mud,
When you first saw Marquis Jingnan sit on the threshold in front of Lingtai,

When you first saw Marquis Zhenbei sitting in the Imperial Garden roasting a leg of lamb,

When you first saw the Yan Emperor give you a token after knowing that you had crippled his son, allowing access to the lakeside pavilion;

The screams and fire of the Tian family that night,

Marquis Zhenbei dismantled the Zhenbei Army that had been passed down for a hundred years,

The Yan Emperor decreed that, starting from him, anyone in the court who dared to criticize the military affairs at the front would be executed without mercy.

In these years,

Going south to the Qian Kingdom, all the way to the foot of Shangjing City to enjoy the snow;

Invading the Jin capital, scraping gold from the statues in the ancestral temple to amass wealth;

Advancing north into the snowfield, beating the wild men into a chaotic rout;

Attacking the Chu Kingdom, enjoying the fireworks outside Yingdu City;

Although each time he would deliberately say it, deliberately remind himself,

That he had no feelings for this Great Yan,
No sense of belonging,
No loyalty,

That he would not be subservient to others, would not be willing to kneel forever;

But the more he reminded himself, the more he said it,

The more he inevitably felt a sense of saying one thing but meaning another;

Asking himself honestly,

He,

Liked this Great Yan,

What he liked wasn't Xiao Liuzi,
Wasn't His Majesty the Yan Emperor,
Wasn't the Great Yan court,
Nor was it the people and customs of Great Yan,

What he liked,

Or rather,
Under the influence of gradual change,
Had become accustomed to being under that Black Dragon Flag,

With a group of Great Yan knights dressed in black armor,

Charging together,

Fighting together,

Crushing the enemies in front of them, no matter which country they came from,

Into powder!

This liking was very direct, with no room for sentimentality, but to forcefully say that he loved this land so deeply would be too fake and too pretentious.

"Tiger!"
"Tiger!"
"Tiger!"

Tens of thousands of knights raised their sabers,

Cheering!

Zheng Boye drew his Wuya and raised it high.

In the distance,

Waves upon waves of soldiers and civilians were rushing over, in extremely large numbers.

If it were an ordinary grand event, with ordinary people watching the fun, the usual yamen runners and some conscripted soldiers from the capital garrison would be enough to maintain order.

But this was still considered the front line, with soldiers in the majority, who were not as easy to talk to as common civilians, so the organizers had sneakily announced the wrong direction for Zheng Boye's entry into the city in advance.

So by this time, the other soldiers who wanted to watch the excitement had arrived, and by then, tens of thousands of Jingnan Army soldiers had already blocked off the roads.

This was also because Pingye Duke's prestige in the army was too high,

In addition to the conferring of titles for military merit having great symbolic significance in Great Yan, it was easy to excite these soldiers;

Therefore, it was indeed necessary to first trick them away, then stabilize the order, and prop up the scene in advance.

Having already won a great victory in the campaign against Chu,
The morale of the army was high,

And then encountering this scene,
For a time,
The cheers like the roaring of mountains and the crashing of seas rose and fell one after another.

Fortunately, each unit of soldiers watching the fun had its own officers who could restrain the order, and fortunately, the Jingnan Army knights had already secured the scene in advance;

Otherwise, tens of thousands of soldiers might have swarmed over, lifted Zheng Boye up, and tossed him into the air in a relay.

In the Qian Kingdom, those who had their names called at the Donghua Gate were good men; in the Chu Kingdom, those who swayed their long sleeves by the Mi River, possessed outstanding demeanor, and had superior bloodlines were the true talents;

In Great Yan,
Those who obtained military merit,
Were outstanding figures!

Zheng Boye did not know if he would have liked the romantic atmosphere of Jiangnan, the atmosphere of embracing courtesans with his left arm and holding poetry books with his right arm if he had been born in the Qian Kingdom;

But right now,

Zheng Boye really enjoyed this rough and simple rendering;

"Wuwuwu!!!!!"
"Wuwuwu!!!!!"

Horns sounded,

This was the horn for gathering troops.

After all, they were soldiers who had just come down from the battlefield of the Chu campaign, and after hearing the horn, they immediately began to straighten up.

At this time,

A young eunuch holding a horsetail whisk walked quickly.

In front of the surrounding soldiers, he was as weak and helpless as a quail;

There were also visible beads of sweat on his forehead.

He came to Zheng Boye,

Raised a jade pendant in his hand,

And shouted;

"Zheng Fan, Pingye Duke, General of the Great Yan Xuehai Pass Garrison, General of Cheng Country, Imperial Son-in-Law, advance on horseback and listen to the decree!"

The young eunuch was holding the Yan Emperor's personally bestowed item, which here, meant "as if the Emperor were present."

Logically speaking,
For a major event in the Yan Kingdom like conferring a title, the Emperor should be present.

But firstly, the journey was long, and secondly, the Yan Emperor's physical condition was like that, so it was unrealistic to have His Majesty appear here to confer the title;

And it was also unrealistic to have Zheng Boye go to Yanjing to receive the title with the princess as he had done at the beginning of the year, because the place of Jindong was too important and must be arranged and garrisoned as soon as possible.

Zheng Boye did not dismount the Pixiu, since the imperial edict said to advance on horseback, then naturally he did not need to dismount his steed.

Continuing forward,
A ground paved with yellow silk appeared, with a group of officials and attendants standing on both sides.

"Please dismount, Duke."

The Pixiu snorted, very dissatisfied.

Zheng Boye got off the Pixiu,

And walked forward,

At this time,

A group of young eunuchs pulled up light gauze curtains, encircling Zheng Boye.

"Please remove your armor, Duke."

Several young eunuchs stepped forward to help Zheng Boye remove his armor.

After the light gauze was removed,
Zheng Boye stood there in white undergarments.

"Wuwuwu!!!!!"

Horns sounded again,
The surrounding soldiers struck their weapons against their armor, gradually forming a neat rhythm.

Zheng Boye continued forward,
Ahead,
Li Fusheng and other generals stood there.

"His Majesty has decreed, bestowing upon Pingye Duke Zheng Fan a set of Xuanlin Battle Armor."

In fact, armor also belonged to the category of "divine weapons and instruments," the latter not only including knives and swords, and in the folk, the value of a knife was often far less than the value of a set of armor.

Great Yan had been established for eight hundred years, and the palace's collection of treasure armor was naturally not small.

This kind of treasure armor did not refer to how rare the materials were, or what formations were embedded in it; often, the value of the treasure armor lay in the imprint left on it, which, in a more literary way, was probably its historical heritage.

Its former owner, its former story;

The Xuanlin Battle Armor was made two hundred years ago, and was once owned by a royal prince of the Ji clan, who later died in the desert; the treasure armor was recovered and put into storage.

Of course,

Regardless of the heritage or history, the armor itself was certainly of excellent quality.

Most importantly,
Its main color scheme was black!

Although restrained, when viewed up close, one could also feel the shimmering luster, presenting a high level of impressiveness;

But no matter what,
At least when viewed from a distance, it would not be so conspicuous!

Zheng Boye breathed a sigh of relief,

He was very satisfied with this set of armor.

At the same time,

He was also fortunate,

Fortunate that he could finally get rid of the previous set of golden armor that had been bestowed.

Li Fusheng, Ren Juan, Luo Ling, Gongsun Zan, Gong Wang, and other generals, each took a part of the armor, stepped forward, and personally helped Zheng Boye put on the armor.

Before each person retreated, they would deliberately punch Zheng Fan on the shoulder.

People in the military would inevitably compete;

But what could not be denied was that this rising little brother of the past, his rise was fast, but today's conferring of the title was extremely convincing.

The battle achievements were there for all to see, truly making it impossible to find fault.

In addition to Marquis Jingnan's almost blatant support, because of Marquis Jingnan's powerful prestige in the army, the little bit of thorn that remained in the hearts of the generals was also smoothed out.

Everyone was a dragon among men in the military, and they all understood the rules of the military, and they were all immersed in the military atmosphere.

In the military, to climb up, ability was the first priority, and second, one still had to rely on connections; the former was the foundation, determining your lower limit, while the latter determined your upper limit;

And to this colleague whose ability and opportunity were both unparalleled,

One could only say,
They were convinced.

However, seeing Zheng Fan being conferred the title of Marquis, it was impossible for these generals not to be envious.

Although they somewhat knew that the higher-ups seemed to be planning to temporarily cease military operations, it was ultimately impossible to completely disarm and let the horses graze on Nanshan;

After a few years of rest, a few years of restoring the national strength,

Everyone would train their soldiers for a few more years, honing them for a few more years,

Seeking a title on horseback in the future was by no means an empty boast!

There would be more battles to fight.

Although the Yan Emperor had never said that unifying Zhuxia was the mission and responsibility of every Great Yan general;

In the eyes of these brave generals of Great Yan,

The Chu Kingdom that had just been tidied up, the pitiful Qian Kingdom,

And even,

The old opponent, the desert,
Were all steps for them to be ennobled in the future!

Years of continuous warfare had raised the status of soldiers, enhanced the military atmosphere, and increased the enthusiasm for military merit,

What followed was the rise of the military group.

With Marquis Jingnan present,
With the Yan Emperor present,
And with the current national situation,
Everyone could lower their heads and endure it;

But this endurance was destined to be temporary;

Some people had already tasted the meat, such as the one in front of them, but everyone else was still hungry.

In order to expand externally, the imperial court mobilized a large army, and the army, to a certain extent, would also bind and coerce the national policy.

But, these were all things for later.

Zheng Fan finished putting on his armor,

Stood there,
Raised his hands,
Clenched his fists,
And pounded them against his chest twice.

Subsequently,
All the garrison generals stepped back a few steps, stood in a circle, cupped their fists in salute, expressing their respect.

Although Zheng Boye's title of Pingye Duke was higher than everyone present, it was only higher by half a head;

And right now, the true conferral had not yet begun,
The title of Marquis had not yet been confirmed,

Once he was truly ennobled as a Marquis,

Everyone,
Would have to kneel down and salute.

The title of Marquis was truly a chasm in Great Yan.

This was not a royal title; this was a military merit ennoblement, and, if nothing unexpected happened, there would be an addition in front: hereditary and irreplaceable!

Hereditary and irreplaceable was a form of validation, and at the same time, it was paving the way for the upcoming fiefdom; without these four words, this conferring of the title would not be perfect, not grand enough, and most importantly, not legitimate enough.

This time, Zheng Boye did not return the salute,

But nodded slightly,

Then,
The generals stepped aside, giving way to the main path.

Zheng Boye, in his Xuan armor, walked slowly forward.

"His Majesty has decreed, bestowing upon Pingye Duke a gray-luster cloak."

"His Majesty has decreed, bestowing upon Pingye Duke a Mang-imprinted Tiger Tally."

"His Majesty has decreed, bestowing upon Pingye Duke two four-clawed Mang Robes with official seals."

"His Majesty has decreed..."

Every time he walked forward a distance,
A eunuch would step forward, holding a bestowed item, to bestow a reward, showing the Emperor's vast grace.

Finally,

Zheng Fan reached the largest platform in front,
And ascended the steps.

The decree-announcing eunuch, Huang Gonggong, stepped forward,
Opened the imperial edict,
And said:
"Zheng Fan, General of the Great Yan Xuehai Pass Garrison, General of Cheng Country, Imperial Son-in-Law, Pingye Duke, receive the decree!"

"Your subject, receives the decree!"

Zheng Fan removed his helmet and placed it aside, then knelt down.

For a time,
The originally noisy surroundings also quieted down.

Although everyone knew what today's award ceremony was for,
Although both the person involved and the onlookers already knew the result.

But when this result was about to be announced, everyone was still looking forward to it, no, they were looking forward to it immensely.

Huang Gonggong was very pleased with the quietness of the scene at this time,

He deliberately paused for a moment,
Before beginning to read:
"By the Mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Zheng Fan, Pingye Duke of Great Yan, has repeatedly established military merit, opened up territory for the country, and in the campaign against Chu, displayed our national prestige, We are very pleased..."

The Yan Emperor's edict,
If he wrote it himself, it would often be very casual;

But this kind of very formal style, one could tell at a glance, was drafted by a minister and then printed.

In the imperial edict,
The merits that Zheng Boye had established since joining the army were reviewed,
And the Yan Emperor's principle of rewarding merit was reiterated,

Then,
The people of the Yan Kingdom were called upon to take Zheng Fan as an example and serve the country.

Finally,
"Therefore..."
Upon reaching here,
Huang Gonggong paused.

In fact, imperial edicts were sealed, and according to the rules, even he, the eunuch announcing the decree, was not allowed to open it in advance, although he knew what was in the edict.

Therefore, the edict that Huang Gonggong was reading was the one he had just unsealed from the treasure box in front of everyone, and he was truly seeing the specific words on it for the first time.

"Therefore...
Zheng Fan,
The title of Marquis,
We bestow upon you,
Hereditary and irreplaceable,
We,
Also bestow upon you!

We,
Have treated you well!

What Our wish is, you, Zheng Fan, should know.

The snowfield, you, Zheng Fan, must watch over it carefully for Us;

The Chu Kingdom, you, Zheng Fan, must also keep an eye on it for Us;

The Three Jin lands,

Have entered Our Yan territory,

Guard Jindong,
And the Three Jin lands will be worry-free!

We hope to see,
A hundred years from now,
The flag of your Pingxi Marquisate,
Still flying in the lands of Jindong!

Make those wild men,
Make those Chu people,
Like the barbarians of today, fear it when they see it, and be terrified when they see it!

Today,
You, Zheng Fan,
Guard the borders for Great Yan;

The Ji family,
Promises the Zheng family,
A hundred years of Marquisate!"

The last paragraph,
Must have been written by the Yan Emperor himself, or rather, dictated by the Yan Emperor.

It was very disrespectful,
But the Emperor, already, had no etiquette that could restrain him.

"Your subject, Zheng Fan, thanks the Emperor for his grace!"

Zheng Fan kowtowed,

Then,
Raised his hands, palms open.

Huang Gonggong stepped forward and placed the imperial edict in Zheng Fan's hands,

Fawningly saying:
"Marquis, this humble servant is here to congratulate you. Please wait a moment, Marquis, while the Le'an Marquis bestows the crown upon you, completing the ceremony."

Bestowing the crown was bestowing the Marquis's court crown, which was the so-called official hat.

The Le'an Marquis was the imperial envoy for this decree, the Yan Emperor's youngest brother, who was representing the Yan Emperor.

Holding the court crown in his hand, Le'an Marquis, with his elegant beard, stepped forward and walked to Zheng Fan.

Marquis Zheng raised his head,
Looking at him;
Seeing this, Le'an Marquis also gave Marquis Zheng a warm smile.

He was the Emperor's younger brother, that was true, but to be honest, in front of this generation of Yan Emperor, he had no ambitions whatsoever, and even had to live in fear.

Le'an, Le'an,
Listening to the name, one could probably know what kind of life His Majesty wanted you to live.

Even for the sake of his own descendants, he could not offend a new military merit Marquis who was about to rise in Great Yan.

But,

Before Le'an Marquis could place the court crown on Marquis Zheng's head,

He saw Marquis Zheng slowly rising.

Huang Gonggong and Le'an Marquis were both surprised for a moment,

But Marquis Zheng did not take it to heart,

Smiling at Le'an Marquis,
Le'an Marquis swallowed subconsciously; he was a wealthy idler, lucky enough to have only come of age after his brother ascended the throne;

Therefore, although he was a member of the royal family, he had not seen much of the world, and at this time, under the direct gaze of Marquis Zheng after he stood up, his body actually began to tremble slightly.

Marquises were truly completely different.

Not only was the weight of the title different,
But the person,
Was also vastly different.

"Marquis, this..."
Le'an Marquis no longer knew what to say, and just held the court crown, at a loss.

Marquis Zheng reached out,
And brazenly took the court crown from Le'an Marquis's hand,

Then,
Faced the audience below the platform,

At this time,
Countless passionate and respectful gazes were falling on him.

Marquis Zheng raised the court crown,
And placed it on his own head.