I am the prince of the Ming Dynasty, I don't give up

Chapter 376 How to reward King Jing for his merits?
The only person who didn't get rewarded.
Who is this person?
Everyone present knew it.

A while ago, Zhu Houzhao had rewarded his meritorious officials with great fanfare. Everyone present received a reward, saying that they had made contributions to the planning of the capital, and everyone present accepted it with peace of mind.

Although they did not plan at all, this battle of Yingzhou was the easiest and most leisurely one for them. They only had to hand over the money and supplies to the Royal Group, and then it was over.

In the past, they had to take care of all sorts of messy things like conscription of civilians, transportation of food and fodder, repair of weapons, etc. This time, they didn't take care of anything.
And then there are rewards, but the person who actually does the most work and coordinates the whole process doesn't get any rewards at all.
Although that person looked like he didn't need any reward, from Zhu Houzhao's perspective, you can refuse it, but I can't refuse the reward. These are two different concepts.
"Please teach me how to reward the King of Jing." Zhu Houzhao had been observing the expressions of the ministers and brought up the topic very straightforwardly.

At this time, all the ministers were also in a headache. Zhu Houxuan was now a prince, and his theoretical status was only below the emperor and the empress dowager. Now he was still asking for rewards, and judging from Zhu Houzhao's attitude, he was still preparing for a big reward. This matter was indeed not easy to handle.
"While serving as regent, His Royal Highness Prince of Jing handled state affairs at the same time as coordinating the logistics of the army, often working day and night. He has indeed worked hard and made great contributions, and he deserves a reward." Grand Secretary Mao Ji said. He also knew Zhu Houzhao's character, he was very stubborn. Since Zhu Houzhao had so formally summoned all the ministers to discuss this matter, he must have cared about it very much. So he had to first affirm Prince of Jing's achievements and please Zhu Houzhao, so as not to arouse his dissatisfaction.

Zhu Houzhao nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "It seems that Mr. Mao has made up his mind. Please teach me."

"I think we can increase the salary of His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing." Mao Ji said stiffly. He knew that Zhu Houzhao would definitely not be satisfied with his plan.

"Salary increase? How much?" Zhu Houzhao looked surprised.

"Your Highness the Prince of Jing's annual rice salary is 10,000 dan. I think it can be doubled." Mao Ji said more carefully.

"It's too light, not enough to reward the King of Jing for his contribution." Zhu Houzhao's expression turned cold and he refused very straightforwardly.

Even if the rice allowance doubled to 1 dan, what would it matter? The price of rice was relatively stable now. One dan of rice cost half a tael of silver, and dan cost taels of silver. It seemed a lot for a prince, but it was not much. After all, no prince's mansion relied on the rice allowance to survive now. If they relied on the rice allowance that was often discounted, they would starve to death sooner or later.

The most important thing is that the person who was rewarded was Zhu Houxuan. Now in the whole Ming Dynasty, whoever mentioned His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing would raise his hands and respectfully say "God of Wealth"

It was a bit ridiculous to give such a person an annual salary of less than 5,000 taels. It was no wonder that Zhu Houzhao said it was too light. Zhu Houxun had plenty of money.
"Anything else?" Zhu Houzhao looked around at the ministers, while Mao Ji quietly retreated.

"I think His Royal Highness the Prince of Jing can be rewarded with land and houses." Grand Secretary Jiang Mian stood up and said.

"Land and houses? How much reward?" Zhu Houzhao asked expressionlessly.

"You can enjoy thousands of acres of fertile farmland." Jiang Mian said quickly.

One thousand hectares of fertile land is 10 acres, so Jiang Mian is still relatively restrained.

"I know the Prince of Jing very well. He has never liked any land or houses. I previously gave him 500 hectares of fertile land, but he refused. This is inappropriate." Zhu Houzhao said immediately.

All the ministers present exchanged glances quietly, knowing that this time Zhu Houzhao would have a hard time. Everyone knew the relationship between Zhu Houzhao and Zhu Houxun. Given their relationship, if they did not come up with some constructive and groundbreaking suggestions today, the emperor would definitely not be satisfied.
All the ministers present came to their senses at this moment, and cursed Mao Ji and Jiang Mian in their hearts. They had answered the simplest suggestions first, and they could now stay out of it, leaving them here to be tortured by Zhu Houzhao's words.
"Do you have any other suggestions?" Zhu Houzhao continued to urge. Now the ministers who knew Zhu Houzhao's thoughts well were silent, and no one wanted to be the first to speak out.

"Li Qing, you are the Minister of Rites, so you tell us how to reward them." Zhu Houzhao began to call out names.

Minister of Rites Li Xunxue shrank back when he heard this, but still stepped out and said, "Your Majesty, I don't have any better suggestions."

Zhu Houzhao snorted coldly, glared at Li Xunxue and continued to call out names: "Shi Qing, tell me something."

Zhu Houzhao called all the important officials in the palace, but no one gave any useful suggestions.

"Is this so difficult? You are all my loyal subjects, is there no one who can share my worries?" Zhu Houzhao said in a deep voice. Since he had been on the battlefield and seen the mountains of corpses and the sea of ​​blood, his authority had become even greater. Now his deep voice put great pressure on those present.
The palace of Heavenly Purity suddenly became so quiet that one could hear a pin drop. If this matter goes wrong, one will be cursed.
"I have a suggestion." A voice sounded in the hall.

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and found that the person who spoke was the Minister of War Wang Qiong.

Wang Qiong was a man of great calculation, political skills, and good at making friends. After the Zhengde reign, he had been working in the six ministries in the capital.

His rise to prominence was full of collusion with eunuchs and favored officials, so it was reasonable for him to speak out first.
"Oh? Mr. Wang, please tell us quickly!" Zhu Houzhao said excitedly.

Wang Qiong, under the pressure of his colleagues' gazes, said, "Your Majesty, I think Your Majesty can give His Royal Highness the title of Three Orphans to the King of Jing."

Wang Qiong felt that the pressure behind him was slowly decreasing, and he felt relieved.
"Three orphans?" Zhu Houzhao fell into thought, and nodded slowly, saying, "This suggestion is not bad."

In the Ming Dynasty, there were three dukes (Grand Tutor, Grand Preceptor, and Grand Protector, all of the first rank) and three orphans (Jiao Shi, Shao Fu, and Shao Bao, all of the second rank) in the central government. They were assistants to the emperor and had lofty positions, but no fixed number of people and no specific responsibilities. They were actually honorary titles.

In addition, there are three masters (the Prince's Grand Tutor, the Prince's Grand Preceptor, and the Prince's Grand Protector, all of the first rank) and three juniors (the Prince's Junior Tutor, the Prince's Junior Preceptor, and the Prince's Junior Protector, all of the second rank).

Wang Qiong's suggestion was a breakthrough, because in the history of the Ming Dynasty, only civil officials, military officials, honorary officials and relatives of the emperor had been awarded the titles of Three Dukes, Three Orphans, Three Masters and Three Young Masters, while members of the royal family had never been awarded these titles.

This suggestion was acceptable to everyone in the hall, because there were precedents of relatives of officials being given the titles of the Three Dukes and the Three Orphans, and there were quite a few of them.

The relatives of the emperor are the maternal relatives of the Ming Dynasty. If the maternal relatives can be added, then it is not unacceptable to add the royal family members.
(End of this chapter)