Chapter 550: Three Eternal Immortals
For other countries, there are probably only two relatively explosive events in recent days.
First, Wu Zetian died, and a woman named Wu Meiniang ascended the throne and became emperor.
Second, as soon as Liu Bang established the Han Dynasty, he announced in a high-profile manner that he would surrender to the Qin Dynasty.
Originally, the State of Chu was considering joining forces with the State of Shu or the State of Tang to attack the Han.
Now, this plan has failed.
After Yan lost half of its land, it changed the country's name to "Tang".
This is what Ying Yuan meant.
In addition, two major events occurred within the Qin territory.
First, Ying Yuan decided to create the 'Lingxiao Pavilion'.
The portraits of ministers who have made great contributions to the Qin Dynasty will be placed in the attic.
To put it bluntly, this pavilion is the "Lingyan Pavilion" of the Qin Dynasty.
Second, build the "Great Qin Monument" in the central area of Xianyang City.
This action is to commemorate the loyal martyrs who sacrificed their lives for the Qin Dynasty.
There is no name on the monument.
Just because the Qin Dynasty’s sacrifices were too numerous to count.
Therefore, Ying Yuan personally wrote three lines of words on the stele:
[Over the past two years, the heroes of the Qin Dynasty who sacrificed their lives in the battles against Yan and in the resistance against foreign invaders will be immortalized!]
[For the past twenty years, the heroes of the Qin Dynasty who have sacrificed their lives in resisting foreign invasions and for the development of the country will be immortalized! ]
[From this, we can trace back to three hundred years ago. Since then, in order to resist foreign invasions, fight for national independence and the freedom and happiness of the Qin people, the heroes of the Qin Dynasty who sacrificed their lives in various struggles will be immortalized!]
Later historians called these three great sentences the "Three Immortalities".
Ying Yuan did this simply because he wanted to do his best to do more for those lovely people.
If possible, he would like to emulate some great people.
But he knew very well that social progress could not be achieved overnight.
That was not something an emperor of his time should consider.
The Ministry of Rites was responsible for the construction of Lingxiao Pavilion.
For them, building a huge attic is not a problem at all.
But how should these top ten heroes be ranked?
According to Ying Yuan's intention, five people each should be selected from the civil and military ministers to represent the ten great meritorious officials and announce them to the world.
This is a great event that will be passed down through the ages.
Many officials of the court were trying to gauge the Ministry of Rites's opinion.
Now, the Ministry of Rites was in chaos.
They didn't know how to arrange it, and if they made a mistake, they would offend some bigwigs in the court.
In desperation, they had to ask Yan Song, the Minister of Rites,
"Sir, we've been arguing for days, but we haven't even decided on the first candidate. Could you please give us some advice?"
"Your Majesty wants us to have the Ministry of Rites evaluate their merits in all aspects and select ten individuals in total, who will then be ranked by Your Majesty. However, I'm afraid the order of ranking determined by our Ministry of Rites will have a huge impact."
"The most meritorious official must be the King of Wei. After all, he supported Your Majesty when Your Majesty was in power and served the country. It was the King of Wei who won the crucial battle against Chu."
"Yue Fei, Bai Qi, Zhu Di... these people all played a crucial role in the Three Kingdoms War."
“…”
Faced with the various questions they raised, Yan Song didn't know how to answer for a moment.
If this matter is not handled properly, it is very likely to ruin one's political destiny.
However, the number one candidate is undoubtedly the King of Wei.
"Based on existing merits, the King of Wei should indeed be ranked first."
The meaning of Ying Yuan's order was very clear.
If someone achieves great merit in the future, the ranking will be re-arranged.
However, the top ten will only have their rankings changed, and their names will not be changed.
"Your Majesty is currently placing great importance on Lord Qian Yu. Should Lord Yu's name also be written on the list?"
An official from the Ministry of Rites suggested.
But it was quickly rejected by Yan Song.
"During the early years of the Chengping era, my Great Qin faced several life-or-death battles without your participation."
"And Lord Yu has no meritorious service to the Dragon, but he has made some achievements over the years and resisted the invasion of the Hu bandits."
"But even so, it's not enough to be in the top ten..."
The official from the Ministry of Rites wanted to write Yu Qian's name second.
However, Yan Song believed that in terms of merit, Yu Qian could not even be in the top ten.
Not only Yu Qian couldn't do it, I couldn't do it either.
Having said that, Yan Song still has some self-awareness.
"Then which sir is suitable for the second candidate?"
Someone asked.
Yan Song thought for a moment and asked:
"Do you think the King of Wei is a civil official or a military commander?"
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone looked at each other, stumped by this question.
Gradually, they began to discuss:
"I think he should be considered a civil official. After all, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei is the prime minister of the dynasty!"
"However, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wei once led troops on his own and achieved great military success..."
"It's hard to define such a versatile talent, isn't it?"
“…”
Yan Song stroked his beard and said, "It must be defined. Otherwise, how can we choose the five civil officials and five military generals? How can we strike a balance?"
Everyone was suddenly in trouble again.
Suddenly.
Zhu Xi, the newly appointed Minister of Rites, bowed and said, "I believe that Prime Minister Cao is a civil official, because even the common people only know Prime Minister Cao and are unaware of the King of Wei."
Yan Song nodded and said, "Since Prime Minister Cao is considered a civil official, then the second meritorious official should be a military general."
Military general?
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