Chapter 55: The Sacred Heart's Dictatorship

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  Yang Guang's voice was not loud, but it was very clear in Chen Kefu's ears. He knew that this might be Yang Guang's last test, and if he passed, his identity would no longer be a problem afterwards.

  Kneeling on the ground and knocking his head several times, Chen Kefu said sincerely, "It's my fault that Your Majesty is worried about my affairs. I grew up in Zhuo County since childhood, where there was a big clan called Fan Shi, with thousands of acres of land, countless slaves, carriages when going out, and jade food when entering. At that time, my greatest wish was to also build such a large family business and be a rich master every day."

  "Now, I, a humble minister, have come to Liaodong this time, thanks to Your Majesty's good fortune. By chance, I was able to achieve some trivial merit. Now that I know my father is still alive, I dare not trouble Your Majesty and the esteemed officials with thoughts of arranging for me. Of the three requests you granted me earlier, I have used two. Now, I present a third request: I hope Your Majesty will bestow upon me 100 hectares of good land near Chenjiazhuang. If Your Majesty is willing to grant more favor, I have another wish - to reunite with my father in Yuyehan. If Your Majesty does not reject me, I am willing to serve as the Langjiang General of the Yuyehan Eagle Banner. Please fulfill this for me!"

  Chen Kefu's request was beyond everyone's expectations. Chen Kefu is now a third-rank official, a silver-blue light-lü taifu, and also holds the real power of a fourth-rank general with 10,000 elite cavalrymen. Moreover, this time he has achieved such great merit, but now Chen Kefu only wants 100 mu of land, plus a fifth-rank yingyang langjiang, which is really astonishing to everyone. One mu of land is only about 50 acres, and 100 mu of land is just 5,000 acres, which is insignificant compared to his current official position.

  Yang Guang was also startled and after a moment of contemplation, he said loudly, "Chen Kefu, listen to the order!"

  Chen Kefu hastily lowered his head, and his heart was also tense with anxiety. If Yang Guang really agreed to his request, he would truly regret it until his intestines turned green. The fruits of his labor in the numerous battles where he had risked life and death would all be reduced to nothing more than a fleeting cloud. He would either become a landlord or go to the remote northwest with a thousand men. If he wanted to truly achieve his previous ambitions, to establish himself as a great king or overlord in this chaotic world, there was no other way but to follow the example of the peasant rebels and rise up against the government. But that path would be the most difficult one of all.

  He is now betting that Yang Guang will not be too careless about his identity as the Southern Chen imperial family, and more importantly, he is betting that Yang Guang values his talent. The Liaodong war has just begun, and Yang Guang will definitely not want to lose such a great general at this time.

  Pei Shiji, Pei Yun, Yuwen Shu and Li Yuan were also waiting for the emperor's decision. Everyone had some expectations. Especially for Li Yuan, Chen Kefu was now his son-in-law, sharing honor and shame together. If Chen Kefu was dismissed to the northwest like this, he would have to reconsider his daughter's marriage.

  "Chen Pojun has achieved such great merit, and it is only fitting that he be heavily rewarded. Chen Pojun was promoted to the position of Right Gentleman-in-Attendance in the Imperial Court, Left Bodyguard Lieutenant-General, Pillar of State, and concurrently granted the title of Marquess of Xincheng, with a fief of 300 households. He was also awarded 10 kilograms of gold, 2,000 bolts of silk, 1 million cash, a grand mansion in the Eastern Capital, 100 slaves, and 20 fine horses. Additionally, Chen Shen, the Taishou of Hexi, was promoted to Right Gentleman-in-Attendance in the Imperial Court, inherited his father Chen Shubao's title as Duke of Changcheng County, and rewarded with 20 slaves."

  Yang Guang's reward to Chen Kefu was a long string, and the crowd of ministers were all shocked. Chen Kefu only understood the meaning of this string of official titles after listening for half a day. In fact, this string of official titles said that Chen Kefu's position had not changed, still being the fourth-grade left-hand side of the body, the folding collision general, which means Yang Guang still let him lead the 10,000 broken military camp cavalry in his hand.

  As for the others, it's actually very simple. The Sui Dynasty official positions were divided into four categories: scattered officials, job officials, meritorious officials, and noble titles. Scattered officials referred to ranks, which is similar to modern-day departments, bureaus, and sections - your salary depends on which rank you hold.

  Officials can be of high quality and low position, or of low quality and high position, or even of good quality but no position. And the official's job is his errand, whatever post he holds is what kind of official he is.

  Honorary titles are awarded to officials, such as "Advanced Worker", "Winner of the May 1st Labor Medal" and "First-Class Combat Hero". These are famous but not official. As for nobility and honorary titles, they are roughly the same, but nobility can be passed down to future generations, and nobility has fiefs. If there is a food seal, they can enjoy the corresponding tax on the fief. The people in this part of the fief should pay taxes to the imperial court instead of paying them to the owner of the fief.

  Yang Guang granted Chen Kefu a long string of titles, which meant that Chen Kefu could receive a second-grade salary from then on. His position remained the same as before, but the emperor added a title of combat hero to him. If he was promoted to Shang Zhuguo, it would be equivalent to a special-class combat hero. In the end, he also obtained a hereditary title that could be passed down to his descendants, and every year, he could enjoy the taxes paid by 300 households in Xin City. From then on, Chen Kefu and his descendants became nobles of the Sui Dynasty. The long string of titles at the back was a cash reward, and finally, his father's salary grade was also promoted several levels, directly receiving a high salary from the second grade. He also gave him the title that Chen Houzhu had held in the past, and gave him some bonus money.

  Everyone's greatest concern was not how much money they had been awarded or how many ranks of salary they had been increased, but what position Bai Yun and others were most concerned about. As a result, Bai Yun's people were disappointed, Chen Kefu still served as the commander of the Broken Army Camp, still the Langjiang General.

  Yuwen Shu heard the result as if he had received a long string of rewards, and looked at Pei Shiming and Pei Yun with some pride. Li Yuan also wiped his forehead, although Chen Kefu's baron and his own dukedom were still far apart, but at least from now on, he would formally enter the noble circle, and he had kept his position, which was a bright future ahead. His daughter following him was not bad at all. He completely forgot that he had previously thought that if Chen Kefu lost power, he would cancel the engagement.

  "Your Majesty is so generous, I am terrified!" Chen Kefu also secretly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart. Whatever the rank or title was, it was all just empty talk. What he cared about most now was still the position of commander-in-chief of the broken military camp. As long as this position wasn't lost, even if Yang Guang made him pay some money every month, he would be willing to do so.

  "This is what you deserve, and don't worry too much about others' opinions. From now on, just work hard for the Great Sui Dynasty, there are still battles to be fought to pacify Goguryeo, I still need you to conquer Goguryeo for the Great Sui." Yang Guang was also very pleased to see Chen Kuo-fu so grateful and humble, thinking that granting him a noble title could win over a loyal general, which he thought was well worth it.

  "I humbly obey the sacred decree, I am the knife and sword in Your Majesty's hand, wherever Your Majesty points, I will strike there." Chen Kefu was also not stingy with his flattery at this time, anyway, he had already gotten the benefits, so he was willing to flatter Yang Guang some more.

  Yang Guang burst out laughing and said to the tens of thousands of soldiers below the imperial platform, "I have never been stingy with rewards. As long as you all achieve meritorious deeds, I will grant you officials, titles, land, wealth, and riches. This time, as long as we capture Goguryeo and seize Gao Yuan, I promise that all of you will be promoted one rank, granted ten mu of land, 10,000 coins, and ten bolts of cloth. Every single slave and servant of Goguryeo, every woman and treasure, I don't want a single penny, it's all yours."

  Yang Guang's words were like painting a beautiful pie, and for those generals, there was nothing more exciting than this. All the generals boiled up again, from generals to soldiers, everyone excitedly shouted "Long live, long live, long live."

  All the mountain calls converged together, shaking the sky with their momentum.

  Chen Kefu stood quietly to one side, listening as Yang Guang lavishly rewarded the other generals. This time, having achieved such a great victory, Yang Guang was in high spirits. In the eyes of all levels of Tang society, taking down Goguryeo was already imminent, so now rewarding the generals generously was not excessive.

  Yu Wenhai took advantage of his father's power and was originally trying to take credit for the victory, almost causing the entire Broken Army camp to be implicated. In the end, when it came time to report their achievements, because Chen Kefu had shared some of the credit with him in the memorial to the throne, and also because his father had been active behind the scenes, plus the fact that his thousand men had indeed killed three thousand Goguryeo vanguard soldiers, he was awarded second place in the list of meritorious officials and was granted a substantive military appointment as Left Camp Commander-in-Chief with a rank of third-grade. Apart from this, he also received many other rewards such as wealth, slaves, etc., which made this young Long An nobleman feel proud and elated for once.

  If Chen Kefu still remembered that day in the valley, Yu Wen's flustered appearance, it would really be a new generation of elite who inherited the excellent bloodline of Yuwen.

  Yuwen Shu was indeed recorded as one of the three great achievements, but this old man is now a senior official and has been enfeoffed to the maximum extent possible. In the end, the Emperor granted him an additional 500 households' worth of fiefs and a large amount of good land and wealth before it was considered settled.

  As for that day, Gao Liang, who had been protecting Yu Wenrui's high light, was actually the one who led the troops, but he was ignored by everyone. In the end, he only got a large sum of money, and his official position and rank did not change at all. Chen Kefu deliberately glanced at him and found that Gao Liang had a gloomy face, with ten thousand unwillingnesses. This battle from making decisions to fighting to the death was all done by him, but in the end, when it came to rewarding merits, he didn't get anything, and all the credits were taken away by that little white-faced young master who was scared to death that day.

  As for others, such as Pei Renji and others, most of them also rose in rank and received a lot of money, land, and fields. As for Li Benlei, the old master, after this battle, Yang Guang remembered him again, to reward this old general, the old master's official position was promoted to the same level as Chen Kefu's Zhēn Huì Lang Jiang, but still served in the Broken Army Camp, serving as Chen Kefu's deputy. Not only that, but also gave this old master a title of Nan Su Kaiguo Hou, although the fiefdom had 700 households, but only 200 households were actually enfeoffed, which was also to compensate for his family's three generations, three sons and two grandsons who died in Liaodong.

  All the commanders of the Broken Army Corps were promoted one level, and not only were they given numerous rewards and wealth, but also scattered official titles. The entire Broken Army was abnormally excited. Even the deceased soldiers were given double compensation.

  Finally, in order to show the emperor's great kindness, His Majesty was overjoyed and granted one tael of silver to all soldiers, as well as a pot of wine and a catty of meat.

  After the cheers of the soldiers, Yang Guang looked at the soldiers and said, "Today, you can all drink to your heart's content. Tomorrow, the three armies will launch a final attack on Liaodong City together. I will be drinking with you all in Liaodong City tomorrow to celebrate our victory."