Sima Qian, who was responsible for writing history books, naturally noticed this problem.
He originally wanted to give the Ministry of Rites a friendly reminder.
However, when the officials from the Ministry of Rites heard the name Guo Kai, they shook their heads and rejected it:
"Guo Kai's greatest contribution to the Great Qin was his years as an undercover agent in the State of Jin."
"But what else?"
"Even some of the generals who followed Lord Cao, such as Cao Ren, had greater contributions than him."
"He can't be ranked among the thirty-six heroes, but we should consider including him among the seventy-two heroes."
Sima Qian said, "I have nothing to do with Guo Kai. However, I wrote about him in the history books for about a few dozen words."
"If he can't even be considered a hero, I'm afraid I'll have to write about him all over again."
Minister of Rites Yan Song slowly said:
"Just write it truthfully. Don't worry about the ranking of the heroes."
"At that time, our Ministry of Rites will write down their achievements below the portraits."
Sima Qian nodded, "That's good."
From this time on, no one in the Qin court ever mentioned the name "Guo Kai" again.
As for the twenty-six heroes, they are as follows (except Yue Fei, they are ranked in no particular order):
Yue Fei, Huo Qubing, Zhao Kuangyin, Wu Sangui, Pan Feng, Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun, Zhao Kuo, Liu Yu, An Lushan, Sima Yi, Qin Hui, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Zheng Chenggong, Xun Yu, Jia Xu, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Yu Jin, Le Jin, Xiahou Yuan, Yan Song, Cao Ren, and Wei Yang.
The last one, Wei Yang, was because he helped the Qin Dynasty complete the important task of land reform.
Only then was he selected among the twenty-six heroes.
Zheng Chenggong was rewarded for his service in Yizhou.
Moreover, he and Huo Qubing were generals of the same period and were qualified to be selected.
As for some of Cao's generals, no matter what, they have risked their lives to help Ying Yuan build his empire over the years.
Naturally, we cannot favor one over the other.
At this point, the ranking of the thirty-six heroes occupying the Tiangang position has been completed.
It is worth mentioning that among the seventy-two heroes, the first one is Xie An.
This was Cao Cao's suggestion.
Back then, when Cai Jing was alive, he took good care of the people from the twelve aristocratic families in Jiangnan.
Among them, he particularly liked to support Xie An and Yu Qian.
The latter has been listed as one of the top ten heroes.
The former, no matter what, must become the first of the seventy-two heroes.
The person ranked behind Xie An was Guo Kai.
This so-called ranking of heroes is actually mainly based on their military achievements.
It is quite difficult to be selected through political means.
There is nothing that can be done about it, and no one will say anything. After all, those generals earned their military merits by risking their lives.
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