"You are right. Without Li and Zong's determination in making decisions, the country would have been gone long ago. How could there be those things later on... Zong Zhongwu is older and has already devoted his life to the cause until his death. So let's put Zong Zhongwu first and Li Gongxiang second." At this point, Zhao Jiu raised his glass and looked around. "My lords, let's make a big announcement for the two of you who are fighting against the Jin and Chi banners."

No one dared to be negligent, even Li Yanxian, who had hurriedly returned from Taiyuan and was wanted by Li Gang, raised his glass calmly - in fact, among the civil officials, on the surface, it is difficult to rank the best, but in reality, as Lin Jingmo said, everyone has a scale in his heart.

Moreover, the position of prime minister is special, so most people have an idea of ​​the candidates for the eighteen positions, except for the last few positions.

Sure enough, after Lü Haowen proposed Zong Ze and Li Gang, Zhao Ding proposed five more people: Lü Haowen, Lü Yihao, Wang Boyan, Yuwen Xuzhong, and Xu Jingheng.

These five people were the ones who had been in power since the Nanyang period. They were the ones who actually maintained the country's operations and the anti-Jin cause during the most difficult times in the early days... They were indispensable.

Zhang Jun then added the name of Zhang Suo, who died for his country.

When it was Liu Ji's turn to speak, the deputy prime minister of the current dynasty was a little unexpected. He bypassed himself and Chen Gui and proposed Zhao Ding, Zhang Jun, Hu Yin and Lin Jingmo together.

The reason was that these four men were the backbone of the anti-Jin army and the government's strongholds who had served the emperor since Mount Bagua.

Chen Gui took the opportunity to add Liu Ziyu who followed after Bagua Mountain.

Next, it was Lin Jingmo and Liu Ziyu's turn to speak. Naturally, the two of them reciprocated the favor and each pushed out Liu Ji and Chen Gui, two prime ministers of the Nanyang clique.

By this time, there were already fifteen people. No wonder even Wanqi Xie didn't dare to ask for such a position.

However, the last three people are inevitably more controversial.

Some people proposed Wang Shu, arguing that Wang Shu not only had a firm stance against the Jin army, but was also the military and political leader of Guanzhong before the imperial court took control of Guanzhong... Some people even directly pointed out that Qu Duan intimidated Wang Shu and that Wang Shu stood firm on his stance.

Fortunately, Qu Duan stayed in Yanyun, otherwise it would have been another embarrassment.

Some people also proposed Hu Hongxiu, believing that Hu Hongxiu had made extraordinary contributions to Western Xia.

Some people suggested Li Guang and Ma Shen, some suggested Liu Hongdao who was serving as an ambassador of appeasement in the northern border, and some even suggested Zhang Que who died in Huainan after the Battle of Bagua Mountain.

In the end, Zhang Jun, who came along the same path, couldn't help but interrupt and mentioned Wanqi Xie at an inappropriate time.

However, in response to these suggestions, Emperor Zhao just drank by himself and let the debate go on. At the end, he waved his hand and made a final decision: "What you said is all right... but if we put them all up, it will be too much... My meaning is that Wang Shu can be in the list. Otherwise, if Qu Duan is crowned as a king and he loses the election, wouldn't it be hard to convince people?"

Many people nodded. This is indeed a problem... It's not just the merits and qualifications of the civil officials that count. The military officials also have to be considered. Apart from Wang Shu, the most obvious example is that Lin Jingmo and Hu Yin are the 'guarantors' of Zhang Rong and Yue Fei respectively.

Of course, Wang Shu’s qualifications, position, and achievements are second only to the prime minister, and he is also the one with the least controversy.

"There must be a position for the censors." Zhao Jiu continued to drink a glass of wine, and then pointed to a person at the table. "If the Chief Censor is not vigilant at all times, the country may fall into the state of the whole army and lose its dignity... Li Zhongcheng is worthy of this job."

This time, Li Guang really did not object. Instead, he stood up and expressed his gratitude.

Ma Shen, on the other hand, knew that with Li Guang around, he might have no chance. Even though he claimed that he was not a man who lived in vain, he couldn't help feeling a little depressed at this moment.

As expected, Emperor Zhao glanced at Ma Shen and continued to pour a glass of wine, but paused again: "My lords, the achievements of the ten years of Jianyan that we are talking about today are the achievements of resisting the Jin Dynasty and succeeding the Song Dynasty. As for Zhang Que, Prime Minister Zhang, and even Zhang Shuye and Liu Qian who came before them, they are of course heroes, but there is no need to crowd them here."

Everyone nodded, which made sense.

"As for the remaining spot, I want to give it to Liu Hongdao." Zhao Jiu drank the glass of wine and finally made up his mind. "It's not that Hu Hongxiu's achievements are insufficient, but I want to use his extraordinary achievements in Xixia to let him take the lead, so that others will not be dissatisfied... And Hu Jinglie is still young after all, and our dynasty will need to use him more in border affairs in the future, so his future is indispensable... Ambassador Liu, starting from the great defeat in Qingzhou, has gone through untold hardships, defeated and won battles, and taken care of people's livelihood and logistics. In the past ten years, he has traveled across rivers and seas, north and south, and has always stood firm and made many contributions. He should also be given an explanation."

As soon as these words were spoken, all eighteen people were listed. Many of the bureaucrats present who had no position looked disappointed, but some also looked relieved... This matter had tormented them for a long time.

"These eighteen people are Zongze, Li Gang, Lü Haowen, Lü Yihao, Wang Boyan, Zhao Ding, Zhang Jun, Hu Yin, Yuwen Xuzhong, Xu Jingheng, Liu Ji, Chen Gui, Zhang Suo, Lin Jingmo, Liu Ziyu, Wang Shu, Li Guang, and Liu Hongdao." After Zhao Jiu finished reading them one by one, he gave a serious order. "Tell the Ministry of Rites to prepare. All the prime ministers will be granted the title of princes. The rest of the princes... don't refuse, this is what you deserve... The following commanders and other meritorious officials will also be granted the titles of duke, marquis, and earl... Then the thirty-six civil and military officials should have their biographies written and their portraits preserved, and then divided into two copies, one to be hung in the Secret Pavilion, and the other to be hung in the Shangshutai in Yanjing."

The scene suddenly came to a standstill.

"I know what you want to ask."

Just as Zhao Ding was about to stand up, Zhao Jiu waved his hand. "Yes, I have made up my mind to move the capital to Yanjing... There are three reasons. First, after ten years of war, the North has lost population and its economy is weak. If the central government cannot make an absolute gesture, it is afraid that it will not be able to revive the North from the root."

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It’s even more exciting later!