General Qin

The visitor's voice fell, and the entire hall fell silent for a moment.

Except for the First Emperor and the Lord Lieutenant who knew about it in advance, all the officials in the palace looked at the edict in astonishment, and at Zhao Tuo who was also stunned.

What followed was countless gasps.

Because Li Si was old, he inhaled too hard and even coughed on the spot.

unusual!

The marquis of Zhenguo.

The name of this title is really special. It is completely out of the ordinary marquis name.

According to the Qin State's practice of ennobling princes and princes, the titles of general princes are mostly named after the name of the fiefdom they are granted, or based on their own abilities or achievements.

For example, Lord Shang, Shang Yang, Marquis of Rang, Wei Ran, and Marquis of Ying, Fan Ju. These people were named after the places they enfeoffed, such as Shang Yu, Rang, and Ying, highlighting a simple and easy-to-remember feature.

As for the titles of Lord Wu'an Bai Qi, Marquis of Wenxin Lu Buwei, and Marquis of Changxin Lao Ai, they are derived from their own merits and abilities. Just look at the titles and you will know whether they have made contributions in "literary" or "military" aspects. A knighthood.

Including Zhao Tuo's own Marquis of Wugong, Wang Jian's Marquis of Wucheng, and Feng Wuze's Marquis of Wuxin, all of them start with the word "武", and they follow the rules.

Before Zhao Tuo came back, many people were secretly speculating that Zhao Tuo might be named Marquis of Wu Zhong, Marquis of Wu Wei, etc.

Some people even secretly thought that it would be better to grant the title of Marquis of Wu'an to see if this young lieutenant could withstand the lethality of this title.

Unexpectedly, the First Emperor did not take the usual path and made a marquis of the country.

Zhenguo.

Is this kind of title something a minister can get?

As soon as this number came out, it already surpassed all the marquis.

Li Xin looked at Zhao Tuo blankly.

Is the young monarch in front of him, this man who stands at the top of the military merit system, really the young man he promoted from the army in the past?

All kinds of past are passing before my eyes.

Li Xin closed his eyes and smiled at the corner of his mouth. He whispered in his heart: "I fell in love with Zhao Tuo in the past. It was the most correct thing I, Li Xin, did in my life."

Standing next to Li Xin, the Marquis of Wucheng Wang Ben also had a complicated look on his face.

The Wang family had generations of Qin generals, and generations of ancestors had made meritorious service in the Qin campaign. It was only when Wang Jian was finally able to rely on his contribution to the destruction of the country that he was granted the title of Marquis, which became the greatest honor of the Wang family.

But now in front of Zhao Tuo, the prince of the country, the efforts of several generations of the Wang family seem a bit dim.

He had mixed feelings in his heart, but Wang Ben couldn't bear to feel jealous.

Because the other party does have this qualification.

He joined the army at the age of fifteen, conquered Yan, attacked Wei, destroyed Chu, and swallowed up Dai and Qi.

Defeat the Yueshi Xiongnu in the north and capture the land of Baiyue in the south.

He destroyed many countries and opened up thousands of miles of territory.

Such a record was enough to make Zhao Tuo the pillar of Qin.

As long as he is here, no one in the world dares to be an enemy of Qin.

Why not call it a country?

Therefore, even though countless people were surprised by this title ban, no one dared to object.

Even Li Si, Wang Wan, and even the envious Qiang Yu felt that Zhao Tuo deserved this title.

"His Majesty."

Zhao Tuo woke up from his surprise and looked at the emperor who was smiling at him on the imperial couch. His heart was already ups and downs and his eyes were slightly moist.

From the emperor's expression, he could tell that the other party was sincere.

The so-called sayings such as "high power shakes the master" and "the bird is gone and the bow is hidden" do not seem to work for him.

Zhao Tuo bowed down and thanked the emperor.

The grace is not over.

The First Emperor smiled and said: "Qing Zhao, come to my case."

"only."

Zhao Tuo respectfully obeyed the order and walked to the emperor's case under the envious eyes of everyone.

Looking at the man approaching gradually.

The First Emperor's slightly cloudy eyes seemed to be in a trance.

This moment seemed to break the boundaries of time, and he saw the boy from Yan State walking towards him seventeen years ago.

"The world."

The First Emperor murmured.

All the heroic words from back then still echo in my ears.

The former boy had already realized his ambition of becoming a marquis.

But he, the king, is old.

The First Emperor sighed softly, stretched out his hand to the brocade box placed on the case, and opened it. Inside was a gorgeous seal and purple ribbon.

Name and implement.

This is the most important thing for a person since the beginning of Chinese civilization.

A name is a publicly given identity, such as a monarch or a minister.

A container is an object that matches its name.

The emperor's reward for Zhao Tuo was "fame".

The gold seal and purple ribbon in front of him, which symbolizes the identity of the princes, is his "vessel".

With this golden seal engraved with the word "Zhenguo", Zhao Tuo is truly the marquis of Daqin Zhenguo.

Zhao Tuo knelt on the ground and took the golden seal and purple ribbon handed by the First Emperor with both hands.

"The Marquis of Zhenguo, although his bold words in the past came true, he will continue to work hard for the Qin Dynasty in the future."

The First Emperor spoke calmly, staring at Zhao Tuo's face.

Hearing this, Zhao Tuo's hand holding the seal trembled involuntarily.

The emperor said "the whole world of Qin", not "I".

Zhao Tuo said in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty's great love, I will bear it in my heart. Zhao Tuo will devote his whole life to the Qin Dynasty until he dies!"

"Dedicate yourself to the best of your ability and die...good! I like it!"

The First Emperor laughed, looking at Zhao Tuo with tears in his eyes, the smile on his face became brighter.

After the sealing, this time the reward is coming to an end.

Regarding Zhao Tuo's achievements in conquering Baiyue from the south and opening up thousands of miles of frontiers, the First Emperor not only promoted him to a noble title, but also granted him an additional two thousand households with food towns.

Zhao Tuo was already a Marquis of Ten Thousand Households before, but now there are two thousand more households, reaching 12,000 households at once.

"Your Majesty has reached the advanced stage of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Lao Wang's food is six thousand households, which is one thousand six. I am twelve thousand, which is two thousand six."

Zhao Tuo secretly lamented the emperor's obsessive-compulsive disorder, not realizing that this was actually the emperor's compensation for the emigration of people.

As for Han Xin, he had already received the reward of being promoted to the right concubine.

This time, he was not promoted to Zuo Geng in the previous court. After all, he was just a supporting role here, and his achievements were far less dazzling than Zhao Tuo's.

However, the First Emperor still waved his hand and gave Han Xin a reward of 500 gold. The reason was that he captured King Luo, made great contributions to ending the war of conquest of Yue in advance, and captured and killed the thief Xiang Ji.

"Is Xiang Ji's two hundred gold reward included in this?"

Han Xin blinked.

Previously, when Xiang Ji's head was sent to Xianyang, the bounty was not immediately distributed because it needed to be verified. Now the emperor simply paid it together and settled the matter.

"There are two hundred gold here that belong to Liu Bang. I, Han Xin, am a man of faith and cannot take it alone. But the amount is too large and I cannot ask anyone to send it. I should write a letter to Yue and tell Liu Bang in the future. Come to Xianyang to find me, and I will give this bounty to him personally. Before that, just leave it here with me."

As the reward ends.

After the First Emperor left the court meeting, he held a grand celebration banquet for the meritorious soldiers as usual.

At this kind of celebratory banquet, the theme is basically all kinds of flattery. At the same time, the ministers invite the meritorious generals to talk about the war in the south.

Zhao Tuo has a distinguished status now, so naturally he will not play the role of storyteller.

The task of telling the story vividly was left to Han Xin.

This is actually a good opportunity for Han Xin to get to know the Manchu ministers.

Maybe his future father-in-law will be at this celebration banquet.

Amidst the bursts of praise and flattery, Zhao Tuo's attention has always been on the First Emperor.

It was a pity that the First Emperor only showed up at the beginning of the banquet and then left. All matters of the banquet were handed over to Prince Fusu to preside over.

This situation made Zhao Tuo more and more worried.

At the end of the banquet, he expected that the emperor would send Zhao Gao to summon him to the palace late at night to meet him, but it did not happen.

The night was already dark and the party was dispersed.

Zhao Tuo and Han Xin walked out of the palace.

He couldn't help but look back at Qin Palace, which was shrouded in black.

"Your Majesty, are you okay?"

He called in his heart, but there was no response. Only the night wind blew against the palace wall, making a whimpering sound.

Zhao Tuo sighed quietly.

Saying goodbye to all the ministers one after another, he stepped onto the carriage waiting outside the palace gate.

Qin Shihuang went on an expedition in the thirty-second year and returned in the thirty-seventh year.

After five years, he is finally going home.