"Okay." Hu Yin originally thought that these stories were true. After hearing what was said ten years ago, he was even more certain. In addition, his private opinion was reiterated, so he finally expressed his agreement.
However, although it was to be sent privately, by this point, Yang Yi Zhong, one of the Eighteen Kings beside Emperor Zhao, had already become completely uneasy, and seeing that the conversation was about to end, he was almost ready to step out and apologize.
Unexpectedly, after Hu Yin glanced at Yang Yizhong, he couldn't help but continue to ask: "Your Majesty, is there really no dispute over merit this time? Why do I seem to have heard some things from others? Looking at the final result of the title of king, it seems to be somewhat confirmed?"
"Someone did fight for the throne." Zhao Jiu was silent for a moment, but he finally stood up, pinched his beard, turned to the river, and admitted the matter with his back to Hu Yin. "But it wasn't so straightforward. The first few fought for the second few... It was still decent."
Hu Mingzhong's expression remained unchanged, and he understood everything.
You must know that after the Battle of Huolu, the one whose prestige really increased, or the one who gained the greatest reputation and power, was none other than Emperor Zhao, who was so bored that he hid by the Yellow River to write novels.
Compared with this one, the other generals are really not worth mentioning. There is no such thing as unrewarded merit. There is only the reality that the official authority is growing day by day and he does whatever he wants.
So it is completely conceivable that before the throne was announced, facing the distinctive character of the Zhao official, the low-level drama of competing for merit and position was indeed difficult to appear... No one dared to joke about their own future and results. However, human desires are endless, and it is impossible not to fight, so in the end, it is nothing more than fighting in a different way.
For example, using the power of the collective and the faction to fight and make exchanges. Instead of fighting for yourself, let your subordinates fight for you, and let your superiors and colleagues fight for you.
This way of competing for credit not only effectively avoided Emperor Zhao's bad feelings towards the parties involved, but also mainly highlighted that they could use the tiger's skin as a banner, form gangs, and leave a good reputation for each other.
"Did the government let them win the fight?" Hu Yin came back to his senses and thought about the final result, but he found it interesting again.
"Most of them didn't." Emperor Zhao didn't even turn his head, but laughed. "But there were two people I couldn't do anything about, and they really got it..."
"One is the King of Qin, and the other is..." Hu Yin asked with great interest.
"One is Qu Duan, the Prince of Zhenrong, and the other is me." Zhao Jiu said shockingly. "It has nothing to do with Han Shizhong."
Hu Yin was stunned for a rare moment.
"Qu Duan lost too many people in the Imperial Camp Cavalry in this battle. In my opinion, his temperament has changed a lot... After the battle, I looked at the casualties and felt really sorry. At first, I hesitated whether to give him the title of a prince. After all, he is a legitimate commander-in-chief with military exploits and experience, but he has some bad past. If he is given the title of a prince, Wang Shu will not be able to explain it. So I took the initiative to find him and ask if he wants to be a county prince with a big banner?" Zhao Jiu did not keep him in suspense, but just stood there with his hands behind his back and explained calmly. "But Qu Duan took the initiative to say that he did not want the big banner, but hoped to change the throne for Liu Qi."
"Liu Ji's title of Prince was obtained by Qu Duan?" Hu Yin was getting more and more confused. He knew that Qu Duan had rejected the Daqi, but he didn't know about the request for Liu Ji's title of Prince. "It's not appropriate for these two to be in the Imperial Camp Cavalry, right? I thought Liu Ji's title of Prince was given by the Emperor for Zhang Xianggong's sake."
"In fact, I was also surprised at the time." Zhao Jiu nodded in response. "But after thinking about it for a while, I feel that this is a good thing... Especially since Qu Duan has always been at odds with his colleagues and has had such an overly selfish experience, now he can have a broader vision and stand higher, knowing that the cavalry should be viewed as a whole, which should be encouraged... It is always better for the generals and ministers to get along than to fight secretly."
"That's true." Hu Yin seemed to be thinking. "But based on Qu Duan's personality, I'm afraid outsiders will still think that the government is using Liu Qi to control him, but they didn't expect that it was actually what he asked for..."
"It's a good thing." Zhao Jiu finally smiled and turned back. "I just said that the other person vying for credit was me, and I also had my own selfish motives... So, Qu Duan's actions made me suddenly realize the truth, so I took advantage of the situation to use Jie Yuan to block Han Shizhong, used Li Qiong's Eight Character Army achievements to block Wang Yan, and used Tian Shizhong to pacify Zhang Jun."
Hu Yin stood with his hands clasped, looking at Emperor Zhao who turned his head to look at him, and Yang Yizhong who looked uneasy on the side. His expression remained unchanged, but his heart was filled with confusion.
Of course he knew where Emperor Zhao's selfish motives lay, that was Yang and Liu... The fact that these two could be ranked as kings was precisely Emperor Zhao's selfish motive. No wonder the emperor would say that only he and Qu Duan were successful in gaining credit.
In this way, the slightly strange arrangement of the last few princes makes sense.
Of course, the Imperial Cavalry is very useful, and it is a good thing that Qu Duan has made such a contrasting progress. Moreover, this person has also implicitly taken on the dissatisfaction of two senior generals, Wang Yan and Wang De, on behalf of Emperor Zhao, which can be regarded as killing two birds with one stone.
In other words, if he had not taken on the extra dissatisfaction, it is likely that a large banner alone would not have been enough to exchange for Liu Qi's title of a prince.
At this moment, Hu Yin suddenly realized something and asked again, "Your Majesty, I wonder if you have any other intentions in calling me here today to read the novel first and then talk about this matter? Are you worried that I will hate Qu Duan like Wang Shu, so you are explaining it to me?"
"No." Zhao Jiu stood sideways and looked at the other party calmly. "I just mentioned Qu Duan's matter casually. What I really want to tell Mingzhong is that I participated in the competition for merit..."
Hu Yin said nothing and just stared at the official.
"People are not saints, and they are proud of their achievements, just like swords and armor that have been left for a long time and naturally become dull and rusty... Mingzhong." Zhao Jiu responded seriously. "I want you to come because I want you to organize people, point out my greedy nature, and write a story about a Zhao Song official who was revived and became prosperous in just 30 years, but ended up like Emperor Minghuang of Tang, with the country collapsed and the four fields collapsed... I have already written about the eighteen kings, and I plan to write about the stories of Lü Haowen, Hu Yin, and Zhang Jun who ruined the country in the future... But I can easily write about the stories of meritorious officials who ruined themselves, so who will write about my own mistakes? After thinking about it again and again, not only do you happen to be here, but the key is that there are not many people who dare to write my story... So in the future, I still need you to write more about my stories."
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