Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 118 All the wise men have arrived, young and old have gathered together!
However, Liu Bian no longer cared about He Jin. He did not want to kill his own uncle like Emperor Xiaowen and Emperor Xiaowu did. But if He Jin was not sensible, he would not mind dismissing He Jin from office and demoting him back to his hometown of Nanyang, and having the Embroidered Uniform Envoy supervise him for the rest of his life.

It was this inexplicable power that gave him the title of "General of Heavenly Strategy", the power to command the Chinese and foreign armies, to enter the palace with a sword and shoes, and to enter the court without bowing, that made Liu Bian a little dazed. He always felt that he, the prince regent, had the air of a powerful official.

Since he had already been rewarded, he naturally could not forget his trusted ministers. However, for many officers who had made meritorious service on the battlefield, these rewards were a bit meager. They were not directly granted promotions in official positions, but were promoted to titles of nobility. However, the strength of the rewards was obviously deliberately suppressed.

Among the captains of the five schools of the Northern Army, Sun Jian had the greatest military achievements and was granted the title of Marquis of Huating, with a fief of more than 800 households; Lu Bu was granted the title of Marquis of Changpingting, with a fief of 400 households; Liu Bei was granted the title of Marquis of Yichengting, with a fief of 400 households; Gao Shun and Huang Zhong had the least military achievements and were granted the titles of Marquis of Gaoyangting and Yunting respectively, with a fief of only 200 households; and Guan Yu and Zhang Fei each only had the title of Marquis of Guannei.

Cao Ren, the left cavalry supervisor of the Yulin Army, was granted the title of Marquis of Guanting, and Xiahou Yuan, the right cavalry supervisor of the Yulin Army, was granted the title of Marquis of Hanting, with each of them receiving a fief of 300 households.

It's not that Liu Bian was stingy and didn't want to reward his meritorious service, but compared with the official ranks of the officials in the Prince's Mansion, the official ranks of the Five Schools of the Northern Army could not even be considered as exceptional promotions. In other words, his position as the prince had not yet been recognized by all officials, so he could only act according to the exigency of the situation.

For example, Liu Bei, a commoner, was suddenly promoted to the rank of Changshui Cavalry Captain, which was higher than the rank of 2,000 stones. This was really beyond the ordinary, so this time the many contributions of everyone were counted together to make up for the lack of merit in the original extraordinary promotion. But even so, the prince still made them marquises to show his honor and favor, and everyone had no complaints about this.

Having followed the Crown Prince for more than half a year, everyone understood that he was a man who valued friendship and loyalty. As His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's close confidants and old servants of the palace, they had already been granted titles before they even reached the age of thirty. There was no need for them to worry about being rewarded with official titles and ranks; it was only a matter of time.

After awarding the five schools of the Northern Army and the left and right Yulin Cavalry, Liu Bian continued his announcement to the court, following his pre-written plan: "Yuan Pang, the Chief of the Imperial Guards, is promoted to Guanglu Xun, with a rank of 2,000 dan, and is granted the title of Marquis of Jieting, with a fief of 500 households; Xun Shuang, the Junior Tutor of the Crown Prince, is promoted to Chief of the Imperial Guards, with a rank of 2,000 dan; Wang Yun, the Governor of Yuzhou, is promoted to Marquis of Quqiuting, with a fief of 500 households; Cai Yong, the Governor of Xuzhou, is promoted to Chief Architect, with a rank of 2,000 dan, and is granted the title of Marquis of Yejingting, with a fief of 500 households."

"Zhang Zhao, the Chief of the Imperial Guards, was appointed Chief Censor, with a rank of 1,000 dan; Zhang Hong, the Chief of the Imperial Works, was appointed Chief of the Ministry of Agriculture, with a rank equivalent to 1,000 dan; Chen Lin, the Prince's Groom, was appointed Chief of the Ministry of Finance, with a rank equivalent to 1,000 dan; Qian Zhao, the Prince's Groom, was appointed Chief of the Imperial Guards, with a rank equivalent to 1,000 dan; Guo Tu, the Prince's Consort, was appointed Chief Supervisor of the Imperial Court, with a rank equivalent to 1,000 dan."

"Jian Yong, the Grand Secretary of the Crown Prince's Office, was appointed as the Deputy Secretary of the Umbrella Office, with a rank of 1,000 stones, in charge of the Umbrella Office; Xu Ding, the Grand Secretary of the Crown Prince's Office, was appointed as the Commander of the Northern Palace Guards, with a rank of 600 stones, in charge of the Northern Palace Guards; Li Su, the Grand Secretary of the Crown Prince's Stables, was appointed as the Commander of the Chariot Office, with a rank of 600 stones, in charge of the imperial carriage and its chariots."

As the appointments were read out one by one, those who were called out all came out to express their gratitude with joy on their faces.

Regarding the new appointments of officials in the Prince's Palace, the Prince did not announce too many people. They were all appointed to positions in the Prince's Palace by his close associates who had entered the Prince's Palace earlier and were removed from their original positions.

The three officials of the Nine Ministers level, Grand Minister of Agriculture Cao Song, Minister of the Treasury Tian Fen, and Chief Justice Cui Lie, looked at each other, and after their eyes met, they all chose to remain silent.

The prince had already firmly secured his position by suppressing the rebellion, so naturally he had to place a large number of his confidants in the court. The three of them were all chosen by the prince, and the Minister of Agriculture, the Minister of the Treasury, and the Chief Justice were their deputies respectively.

However, none of the three of them had any objections. The Cao family of Qiao County was already deeply bound to the prince, and the prince also valued the Cao family very much. In Cao Song's eyes, this arrangement was just a normal means of checks and balances.

Needless to say, Cui Lie is now eager to leave the position of Nine Ministers and be promoted to Three Dukes. How could he oppose the prince's order?
Besides, Cui Lie was quite happy with Guo Tu. Who knows, one day this guy might really drive Yuan Wei out and make room for him to be promoted to one of the Three Dukes.

Moreover, any discerning person could see that Guo Tu's position in the prince's party was just like the Legalist cruel officials like Zhufu Yan and Zhang Tang of the former Emperor Xiaowu. He was the future emperor's lackey, and he was also a member of the Yingchuan Guo family. Sooner or later, he would take over his position as the Minister of Justice.

It would be better to make a good friend of him and help the prince train him, which would also be considered as a favor.

Tian Fen was the person with the least say. His situation was similar to that of Sikong Zhang Ji. He was originally from the faction of the emperor and the eunuchs. Without the emperor and the Ten Attendants as his backers, he could not even save his life if he did not rely on the prince. Naturally, he would not have any objection to this.

As for the other Nine Ministers, a moment's reflection would reveal that the Crown Prince hadn't yet assigned them deputies. This was simply because there were no more officials left from the original Yuan Cong Prince's Palace, not because the Crown Prince had no intention of placing anyone. After announcing the rewards for the meritorious individuals, the Crown Prince ordered Gao Wang to adjourn the meeting. He had many other matters on his plate and didn't intend to attend to them immediately, but rather to digest the gains he had made.

After the court was dismissed, the officials of the Crown Prince's Mansion joyfully escorted the Crown Prince's carriage back to the East Palace. Even the two Crown Prince tutors, Lu Zhi and Xun Shuang, were no exception. Their faces were flushed, they stroked their beards, and whispered a few words to each other from time to time, their joy beyond words.

In the end, the two of them actually happily joined Huangfu Song, Zong Yuan, Dong Zhuo and others, and followed this group of young people to escort the prince in the carriage, and they did not feel tired at all all the way to Yong'an Palace.

In the main hall of Yong'an Palace, Liu Bian looked at the ministers who were still making a lot of noise, especially those old subordinates from Liang Province under Dong Zhuo, who were making strange cries like ghosts and wolves howling. He did not think it was rude, but instead showed a joyful smile and shook his head slightly at Tian Feng who wanted to persuade him.

Although Tian Feng was upright, he was not an unsympathetic person. To be rewarded for one's merits was one of the greatest joys in life. Moreover, among the group of people gathered in the Prince's Mansion, those who were granted the title of Marquis of Ting could not be counted on one hand, and those who were granted the title of Marquis of Guannei were countless. Naturally, he could not help himself.

After everyone finally quieted down a bit, Liu Bian stretched out his hand and gestured downward, signaling everyone to be quiet for a while.

Although Li Jue, Guo Si, Fan Chou, Hua Xiong and other former subordinates from Liang Province did not receive Dong Zhuo's orders, they immediately quieted down.

They had little contact with the prince, and had not even met him a few times. However, this young and immature prince was able to convince their boss Dong Zhuo and make Dong Zhuo swear allegiance in front of the gate of Yong'an Palace. He was definitely not an extraordinary person.

If an ordinary child saw Dong Zhuo in this state, he would probably be scared to tears. Even if he didn't cry, he would be trembling with fear and dare not speak. How could he have the courage and demeanor of the prince?

And what the prince gave was really too much!
Among these old subordinates from Liang Province, all those who were above the rank of colonel were granted the title of Guannei Hou. If they work harder, it would not be difficult to earn the title of Ting Hou for their children and grandchildren.

After so many years, these young men from the border counties of Liangzhou have finally waited for such a wise and benevolent ruler who has no prejudice against one's place of origin, and they are all willing to die for such a prince.

Liu Bian noticed the obedience of these old subordinates from Liang Province to him, and was somewhat surprised.

After all, these people were supposed to be the thieves who brought disaster to the Han Dynasty and undermined its foundation, but now they have become officers who support him. This still makes Liu Bian feel a little emotional, but that's all.

The Prince's Mansion is now full of talented people. In addition to Zhao Yun, he also brought back three Yu Lin Lang from Jizhou. One is Zhang He, whose courtesy name is Junyi, who volunteered to fight against the Yellow Turbans in his hometown of Hejian State; one is Yan Liang, whose courtesy name is Zishan, and one is Wen Chou, whose courtesy name is Boyi, who also volunteered to fight against the Yellow Turbans in their hometown of Bohai County. All three of them are quite brave.

Looking around at the nearly packed crowd in the main hall of the Crown Prince's residence, he recalled the desolate scene on the eve of the coup, when only twenty guards and six female riders were at his service. Comparing this to the grand occasion today, he couldn't help but sigh, "This truly is a gathering of the best minds, young and old."

(2562 words)
PS: I wasn’t being lazy during the day, I was just organizing some information.

With so many people being promoted and having their positions adjusted in the story, I also need to sort out some information about my own official rank and other records to avoid the situation where the position has been adjusted but the book is still written according to the old position. This also includes many historical figures whose birth and death years are not recorded, and their ages are roughly estimated based on their deeds and the information. I hope everyone can understand.

(End of this chapter)