Volume 1, Chapter 124: The Great Zhou Emperor's Reward and Wrath
In the Golden Palace.
All the military generals have come out and asked the Emperor of Zhou to reward Bai Qi, which makes the Emperor of Zhou look very ugly.
He had originally planned to find an opportunity to deal with Bai Qi after the war with the Huns was over.
After all, he wanted to kill Bai Qi before.
But now Bai Qi has made great contributions, and it would be unreasonable if he is not rewarded now.
This will make all the generals feel disheartened.
Although we have defeated the Huns, there are still Western Chu, Northern Liang and Southern Barbarians.
There were too many times when the Great Zhou Dynasty needed military generals.
The Emperor of the Great Zhou glanced at his civil officials, wanting them to come out and oppose him, but now all the civil officials were immersed in great joy.
Because so few people died in this battle, the court did not need to spend money to provide relief to the soldiers, so they don't want to bother with the Emperor of Zhou now.
Moreover, if anyone speaks out against rewarding Bai Qi now, he will definitely be scolded by the people.
As cunning and experienced civil officials, they did not want their reputation to be as bad as that of the Emperor of Zhou.
The Great Zhou Emperor waited for a long time but still no one came out to object, so he could only accept it and said depressedly:
"Bai Qi achieved great success in this battle, defeating the Xiongnu coalition and killing 180,000 enemies."
"Two more Xiongnu Khans were captured and one Xiongnu Khan was killed."
"Therefore, I reward Bai Qi and promote him three levels!"
When the Emperor of Zhou said this, a civil official finally came out to remind him.
"Your Majesty, Bai Qi is now a second-rank military commander."
"If you are promoted three levels, you will be at the point where there is no more room for promotion!"
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone realized that Bai Qi had achieved this level in just one or two years.
The Emperor of the Great Zhou also looked depressed. Has Bai Qi no longer been able to be given any more titles?
That’s perfect, we can kill him!
Thinking of this, the Emperor of Dadu smiled. He was just worrying about how to deal with Bai Qi! I will now make you the most disgraced person I can be. That way, if I take action against you again, no one in the court will object.
Then the Emperor of Great Zhou waved his hand and said generously:
"Since Bai Qi has made extraordinary achievements, he should enjoy the same glory."
"Since there is no more official position to be given, then I will make an exception and promote Bai Qi to the position of Grand Marshal!"
"From then on, Bai Qi took charge of half of the military power of the Great Zhou Dynasty."
As soon as these words were spoken, the whole place fell silent.
General Cao Changqiu had an ugly look on his face. As a general, he was the chief marshal of the army of the Great Zhou Dynasty and was in charge of the right to dispatch troops across the country.
When the Emperor of the Great Zhou said this, his power was directly cut in half.
Although these troops may not necessarily obey his command, this is his power as the general.
At this moment, Cao Changqiu's eyes changed when he looked at the Emperor of the Great Zhou, and he thought, could this guy be trying to kill someone with a borrowed knife?
The military generals looked at each other in bewilderment. They had not expected that the Emperor of Zhou would play such a trick. If you apply the means of checks and balances in the court to governing the country, how could you become a tyrant?
The civil officials smiled knowingly, it seemed that the Emperor of Zhou was really going to take action against Bai Qi.
But it’s better this way. Now that the war with the Huns has ended, Bai Qi has no value anymore. He can just die.
Then the civil officials stepped out one by one and said, "Your Majesty is wise!"
Just when the Emperor of the Great Zhou was preparing to leave the court, another report of war came from outside.
"Report!"
The messenger captured in the battle at the front has arrived.
The Great Zhou Emperor frowned and said reluctantly: "What's going on with Yang Wudi? Why do we have to report the military situation in two groups?"
Then he asked someone to bring the messenger up and said impatiently, "If you have something to say, just say it quickly!"
The messenger immediately reported: "Your Majesty, General Bai Qi won the war and captured a lot of spoils!"
When they heard that a lot of things had been seized, both the Emperor of Zhou and all the civil and military officials in the court became interested.
Especially the civil officials, their eyes were shining.
You know, war is the most expensive thing. In this war, the Great Zhou almost exhausted all its wealth. If we can seize a lot of things, we can make some money back.
In this process they can also reap some benefits and exploit people at every level.
Isn’t this an opportunity to make a fortune?
After all, in order to fight against the Huns in the past one or two years, these civil officials have become thin and hungry, and the maids in the mansion cannot be replaced.
A group of people looked at the messenger with sparkling eyes, and someone asked anxiously: "How much did you capture?"
The messenger swallowed his saliva and said word by word: "First, General Bai Qi has seized a total of 50,000 war horses!"
“I’ll go!”
The generals were excited, as war horses were the most scarce resource.
The war horses of the Great Zhou Dynasty often had to be purchased.
It was Yang Wudi in the northwest who was able to form an iron army composed entirely of cavalry.
The Duke of Qin's fiefdom was in the northwest, and he also had a large number of war horses.
The remaining generals still had mainly infantry under their command, and not too many cavalry.
It was Yue's Divine Spear, a warhorse borrowed from Duke Qin and Yang Wudi.
This shows how important war horses are.
Fifty thousand war horses are enough to form an elite cavalry!
Then the civil officials were also ecstatic, this was a considerable income! But soon they lost interest, after all, the war horses had to stay in Honghua City.
I heard that in the last battle, Yang Wuji ate all the war horses.
One civil official felt that there was no advantage to be gained, so he said impatiently: "Is that all? It's just a small thing, is it worth making a fuss?"
He also glanced at the general.
The generals sneered and said, "You know nothing!"
In the past when there were no war horses, we couldn’t catch up with the Huns even if we wanted to fight them. Now you think war horses are useless? idiot!
At this moment, the messenger was also unhappy, thinking that we are fighting bloody battles in the front, but you are here giving orders.
I will let you know how powerful General Bai Qi is later. He said proudly: "Our general also seized 70,000 scimitars and 60,000 longbows."
The civil officials were ecstatic about this.
The scimitars and longbows are basically not used in Honghua City, so they must be shipped back, as they cost money.
Especially the scimitar, which is made of iron.
Salt and iron are both very important strategic resources. They can make a fortune by reselling some salt and iron.
What’s more, these are 70,000 scimitars.
Maybe there is no need to recast it, and you can directly sell it to the Huns in the future and make a fortune.
This business can be done!
There is profit to be made!
The civil officials even remembered how to smuggle with the Huns.
The Emperor of the Great Zhou was not interested, because he felt that it was worthless. He yawned and said impatiently, "Is that all? Then you two just stop communicating. I have to go back to the palace first."
As soon as he stood up, the messenger continued, "General Bai Qi looted the Dragon Court on the grassland this time and obtained a total of gold and silver utensils, countless silks and valuables, worth 800,000 taels of silver."
The steps that the Emperor of the Great Zhou had just taken stopped immediately, and he was fixed in place as if petrified.
Then, without caring about the emperor's dignity, he rushed down with a brisk step, and said with a look of surprise: "800,000 taels of silver? Did I hear it right?"
The Emperor of the Great Zhou stared at the messenger as if he was seeing an unrivaled beauty.
Money!
This is money!
The civil officials around him were also dumbfounded.
800,000 taels of silver is equivalent to the military expenditure of the Great Zhou Dynasty for four years. It is an unimaginable amount of money.
If corruption were allowed to take place, everyone would become rich.
It can be worry-free for three generations.
The messenger said proudly, "Your Majesty, it is indeed 800,000 taels! Not a tael less."
This has been appraised many times.
It's even an understatement.
After all, Bai Qi and his colleagues calculated the prices of many gold and silver utensils according to the price of gold, not the price of the utensils.
If calculated based on the artifact, the value would go up.
"Then bring it back quickly! I will reward Yang Wudi handsomely this time!"
The Emperor of the Great Zhou was so excited that he was spinning around in circles, and he was even thinking about whether he should confer the title of a prince on Yang Wudi.
It's the kind that cannot be inherited.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter if Yang Wudi is crowned king, he can just stay in Honghua City all day.
Just when he was delighted, the messenger said, "It is estimated that it cannot be brought back. General Bai Qi and General Yang have already spent 400,000 taels to provide relief to the soldiers and civilians in Honghua City."
What! ?
The eyes of the Emperor of Great Zhou turned blood red instantly.
It felt like someone had stolen his concubine.
That’s 400,000 taels of silver! It was all spent?
"Great, great, great Bai Qi and great Yang Wudi!"
The Great Zhou Emperor was furious, and then issued an order: "Pass on my order, Yang Wudi failed to defend the city, and he used the seized silver without authorization. He should be immediately dismissed from his post as the Grand Marshal of the Anti-Xiongnu Campaign, and taken back to the capital to be tried by the three courts!"
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