“The King of Wu has acted recklessly, which is probably inappropriate. The King of Xu is known for his literary talent, so I order him to go to the Yang residence to offer condolences.” Zhu Yunying spoke directly, which can be considered as setting a tone. “Issuing the imperial treasury to provide one hundred taels of gold and one thousand taels of silver, Zhong Ning is honest and upright, so the court will bear the cost of the funeral. The court should also support Zhong Ning’s family.”

This also excited some civil officials, and the emperor's statement pleased many. This was probably a sign of the court's respect for the virtuous and capable. With the emperor showing such respect for the virtuous, it was natural for some to think, "If the emperor treats me as a national talent, I will repay him as a national talent."

The imperial court bestowed funeral honors, which was not an particularly extravagant honor. Not to mention high-ranking officials, even some civil and military officials of relatively high rank would receive some form of support from the court after their deaths.

Looking at the civil and military officials, Zhu Yunying continued, "He will be posthumously granted the title of Junior Tutor to the Crown Prince Zhongning and will be buried in the Eastern Mausoleum."

This surprised some people. If Yang Jing were to be buried with the Emperor Xiaoling Mausoleum, it would be understandable, since he was a minister promoted and entrusted with important responsibilities by the retired emperor. Or, if he were to be buried with the Emperor Changling Mausoleum, it would also be understandable.

However, it's a little unfortunate that he's now buried alongside the 'former emperor' in the Eastern Mausoleum.

Zhu Yunying could see what the civil and military officials below were thinking, and before they could object, he said, "Zhongning served as the Crown Prince's tutor in his early years, in charge of assisting the late emperor with etiquette and correcting his mistakes. When Father Emperor was alive, he also praised Zhongning many times. Now that Zhongning is buried with the Emperor in the Eastern Mausoleum, it is also a good story."

Since Zhu Yunying had already said so, there was naturally no way to continue opposing him. Because Yang Jing's resume did indeed include experience serving under Zhu Yunying, it wouldn't be a big problem to call Yang Jing a 'veteran of three reigns'.

Moreover, many people are well aware that after Zhu Yuanzhang established the Ming Dynasty, he not only promoted imperial power and restored the system of pre-built mausoleums, but also made significant reforms to the mausoleum system of the Han, Tang, and Song dynasties.

Zhu Yuanzhang had previously established the system of burying people alive with the deceased emperor, which was only abolished after Zhu Yunying ascended the throne.

As for the names of the imperial tombs, they were basically all Emperor Zhu's ideas. In fact, logically, Emperor Zhu and Empress Ma's tombs should have been 'ancestral tombs,' but Emperor Zhu decided on the name 'Xiaoling' early on. This wasn't just because Empress Ma's posthumous title was 'Xiaoci,' but also to emphasize the idea of ​​'ruling the world with filial piety.'

The reason why the tombs of Zhu Yunying and his wife, Lady Chang, were designated as "Changling" was mainly because Zhu Yunying ascended the throne and posthumously honored his parents as emperor and empress. Otherwise, the tomb of Zhu Yunying, the "executive vice emperor," would only be "Tomb of Crown Prince Yiwen," since he had not yet ascended the throne.

The tomb site that Old Zhu chose for Young Zhu was "Dingling," which naturally meant "establishing the dynasty." However, Zhu Yunying panicked as soon as he heard this; he didn't want to be dragged out and have his bones crushed and scattered hundreds of years later.

It's better to have 'long-term peace and stability', so Zhu Yunying's tomb was also named 'Changling', located to the west of Xiaoling. With Changling to the left and right, it can be said that it can accompany Zhu Yunying for a hundred years.

This was one of the things Old Zhu was most proud of, and Zhu Yunying even felt that Old Zhu was still encouraging Little Zhu. Perhaps in the future, the so-called Ming imperial tombs would not be concentrated in Huangtushan, Changping, Beiping, but would be concentrated in Zijinshan.

However, Zhu Yunying felt that these things were not something to be forced. After all, the capital would definitely be moved to Beiping in the future, and it was impossible to wait until the emperor died and then transport it back from afar. Zhu Yunying felt that it would be fine to just transport it back to Zijin Mountain after his death. Old Zhu probably felt that as long as his son and grandson were by his side, it was enough, and whether his great-grandson was around or not was not necessarily that important.

Zhu Yunying glanced at the civil and military officials and said, "Zhongning has passed away. What posthumous title do you, my dear ministers, think he should have?"

Posthumous titles were not unfamiliar in the Ming Dynasty. For example, Xu Da, Zhu Yunying's father-in-law, was posthumously named "Wuning," which essentially confirmed that "Wuning" was the highest posthumous title for military generals in the Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yunying's maternal grandfather, Chang Yuchun, was posthumously named "Zhongwu," a title also bestowed upon the famous Yue Fei during the Southern Song Dynasty. Li Wenzhong was posthumously named "Wujing," and Mu Ying was posthumously named "Zhaojing."

While there may not seem to be any strict restrictions on the posthumous titles of military generals nowadays, some adherence to conventions is still evident.

Unlike previous dynasties, and especially at present, there is no strict requirement that the first character of a military general's posthumous title must be '武' (wu, meaning martial/military).

However, everyone understands that Chang Yuchun and Mu Ying's cases were special, so they were only slightly special. As for the other military generals, their posthumous titles all started with the character "武" (wu, meaning martial/military), so it was impossible for them to surpass Xu Da.

As for civil officials, the rules for posthumous titles have not yet been fully established.

The renowned Li Shanchang died without a posthumous title, as did Song Lian, Zhu Yuanzhang's "teacher." Liu Bowen, too, did not receive a posthumous title.

This once again proves that at the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, military officials were valued more than civil officials, and all the military generals received the posthumous titles they were entitled to. As for civil officials, Yang Jing is now almost the first officially recognized important minister to be given a posthumous title.

This also stirred up many civil officials, who had long harbored discontent with their positions.

In the early days of the dynasty, the military officers frequently flaunted their power in front of them. Those arrogant and fierce generals also did their share of ostracizing and suppressing these civil officials. But there was nothing they could do; the retired emperor himself did not particularly like civil officials, and the phenomenon of civil officials being valued more than military officials could not be reversed in a short time.

For a moment, many civil officials were moved to tears, feeling that the current emperor had truly been wronged.

When the current emperor was still the crown prince, many people had heard of his precocious intelligence and high status. However, at that time, they also heard that the crown prince was not close to Confucianism, preferred martial arts, and even had some unorthodox remarks and behaviors.

This chapter is not finished yet. Please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!