Chapter 254: His Majesty is always wary of the nobles
As soon as Yang Zhengshan finished writing the letter, Zhou Lan and Wang Bin came to his tent together.

Wang Bin sat next to Yang Zhengshan carelessly, picked up a tea bowl, shook his sleeves, took out a wine jug from somewhere, and poured a glass of wine for Yang Zhengshan.

"Taste it!"

He winked at Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan was stunned and looked at him and Zhou Lan strangely.

Drinking is prohibited in the military, where did these two guys get the alcohol!
Wang Bin ignored the dazed Yang Zhengshan and poured another glass of wine for himself and Zhou Lan, while Zhou Lan took out a bag of beef jerky and placed it on the table.

"Where did you get this?" Yang Zhengshan smelled the wine and it was good wine.

"It's a reward from the Marquis!" Wang Bin laughed.

Yang Zhengshan suddenly realized, and he said, it is not easy to get wine in the army, but if there is no wine in the army, there must be some in Fushan City.

"Come on, have one!" Zhou Lan picked up the tea bowl and drank it all.

Yang Zhengshan didn't care about military law anymore and just raised his head and drank it in one gulp.

This wine is sweet and mellow, with a hint of sweetness in the aftertaste.

"It's worthy of being called Pear Blossom Wine. It's really a good wine!"

Wang Bin laughed.

"Pear Blossom Wine!" Yang Zhengshan raised his eyebrows and thought that this wine was good.

Zhou Lan smiled and said, "Pear Blossom Wine is the fine wine of the Hu people. This pear blossom is not the flower of the pear tree, but the snow that falls in the coldest time of winter. Every winter, the Hu people will collect snow after a heavy snowfall to make wine. Every time there is a heavy snowfall, the thickness is more than one foot, so this wine is also called One Foot Snow!"

After Zhou Lan finished speaking, she raised her head and drank another glass of wine.

Yang Zhengshan smacked his lips, savoring the mellow taste of the pear blossom wine.

This is different from the wine he brews himself. The wine he brews is mixed with spiritual spring water and many medicinal herbs. It has many unique effects, but in terms of taste, it is indeed much worse.

However, he is also improving his wine-making process. Wine-making is a technical job. If Yang Zhengshan wants to make fine wine that has special effects and tastes good, he still needs to work hard.

The three of them were drinking and chatting, and the atmosphere seemed relaxed and comfortable.

Suddenly, Wang Bin asked, "What kind of reward do you think we can get this time?"

Although he was asking you, his eyes were always on Zhou Lan.

Reward!

Zhou Lan, who is familiar with the court, naturally knows more about this matter.

Zhou Lan glanced at him first, then thought for a moment before saying, "Don't hold your hopes too high."

Yang Zhengshan's expression changed slightly, and he understood what the two were talking about.

What Wang Bin asked about was naturally not an ordinary reward, but a title for military merit.

He fought for thousands of miles and expanded the territory for Darong. With such achievements, it is not impossible to be granted a title.

"Why?" Wang Bin asked somewhat disappointedly.

Zhou Lan shook her head slightly and said, "Although our dynasty has the practice of conferring titles for military merit, since Your Majesty ascended the throne, no one has ever been granted a title except for the royal family!"

"Your Majesty has always been wary of the nobles. Although he has promoted many nobles in the court, he has never granted them titles or promoted them. Instead, he has stripped them of their titles and demoted them many times!"

"In fact, it is not difficult to guess what your majesty is thinking. There are more than a hundred noble families in our Darong. Except for the Marquis of Changping Mansion, most of them were awarded the title in the past two hundred years."

"The most conferred title was during the chaos a hundred years ago!"

At this point, Zhou Lan lowered her voice, "After the chaos, Emperor Dezong pardoned the whole country and granted titles of two dukes, seven marquises, and eighty-three earls."

"The late emperor was very dissatisfied with this, so after he ascended the throne, he only conferred titles on the royal family and relatives. When it came to your Majesty, he also continued the late emperor's will and only conferred titles on the royal family and relatives!"

"Although we have expanded the territory for the court this time and solved the problem of the northeastern border for the court, you and I both understand that the Hu tribe in the East China Sea is just a minor disease, and the north is a bitter and cold place."

"These are not enough to change His Majesty's mind, and the ministers in the court will also obstruct the conferment of the title!"

Zhou Lan spoke slowly, and Yang Zhengshan only understood half of what she said. Now he has a much deeper understanding of the court, but he is rarely in the court, so his understanding of many things is still superficial.

As for the affairs of Emperor Chengping and the late emperor, he knew nothing about them.

Zhou Lan said that the late emperor was dissatisfied with the large number of titles bestowed by Emperor Dezong on nobles. This kind of thing is probably unknown to ordinary people, not to mention many officials in the court. Only nobles and aristocratic families like the Ningguo Mansion, which has been passed down for hundreds of years and has been in the court for a long time, can understand it.

"That's such a pity!" Wang Bin felt even more disappointed.

Before, he just wanted to be promoted, but as the results of the battles became greater and greater and they gained more and more military merits, he began to think about conferring a title.

Yang Zhengshan did not consider the issue of being conferred a title. He was just a garrison commander now, far from being eligible for a title.

Rather than being conferred a title, he felt that he should be more realistic and consider where he would be promoted next.

Promotion is certain, there is no doubt about that.

Given his military achievements, it would be unreasonable for the court not to promote him.

But how many levels to upgrade is a problem.

He is currently serving as the garrison commander of Songzhou Guard, and if he is promoted again, he will either become the commander of a guard, or join the Dusi Yamen as the deputy commander or deputy commander of the Duzhi. That is, the third rank or the second rank, and it is almost impossible to get any higher.

However, the most important thing is not the rank, but whether one can hold other official positions.

In Darong, military officers in garrisons who did not serve as garrison officers had little chance of promotion, and at most they could be promoted within the garrison.

Only by serving as a garrison general can one have the opportunity to gain military merit and more chances for promotion.

Just like Yang Zhengshan, he was first the commander-in-chief of Songzhou Guard and later the garrison commander of Anyuan City. However, in terms of authority and status, the position of garrison commander of Anyuan City was more important than that of the commander-in-chief of Songzhou Guard.

It was precisely because he was the garrison commander of Anyuan City that he had the opportunity to go on the expedition. But someone like Tan Jingtai had no chance to go on the expedition and could only handle military farming matters in the garrison and assist the lieutenant general's shogunate with logistical tasks.

Yang Zhengshan wanted to ask Zhou Lan what she thought about his next official position, but he swallowed the words back when they came to his lips.

By now, Zhou Lan could no longer help him arrange an official position.

If you want to help him, you have to do it in Kyoto. The government offices that need to be mobilized are not only the Central Military Governor's Office, but also the Ministry of War.

Perhaps Zhou Lan would not refuse to help, but this would definitely be a very troublesome matter.

Let’s wait and see the situation now. If the reward is not satisfactory after it is given, it will not be too late to ask Zhou Lan or others for help.

However, Yang Zhengshan did not expect that Zhou Lan brought it up instead of him.

"I will definitely go back to Kyoto when I get back. I want you to take over as the Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard!" Zhou Lan looked at Yang Zhengshan with flashing eyes.

She had this idea because she believed in Yang Zhengshan. She believed that Yang Zhengshan would not let her efforts over the past few years go to waste and would not let Jianningwei become a mess again.

The second reason is that she wanted to help Yang Zhengshan again and let him make further progress. This should be the last way she could help Yang Zhengshan in officialdom.

If she still wants to help Yang Zhengshan in officialdom in the future, she can only rely on the Ningguo Mansion, and the Ningguo Mansion alone may not be able to help Yang Zhengshan.

Yang Zhengshan put down the cup and looked at her, thinking, "If I go back to Jianning Guard, then Jianning Guard may need major changes!"

"What big change?"

"Try to transfer all the descendants of the Yang family away!" Yang Zhengshan said.

After a moment's thought, Zhou Lan understood what he meant.

Today's Jianning Guard, no, it should not be Jianning Guard, it should be the various camps, guards, city garrisons, etc. under Zhou Lan, have too many descendants of the Yang family.

These Yang family members are now middle and low-level officials. If Yang Zhengshan passes away, then the question is, should Zhonglu of Chongshan Town be named Yang?

When Zhou Lan was around, Yang Zhengshan could place as many of Yang's descendants as possible in positions of power, but if he became the Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard, he would not be able to do so at will.

The reason is simple. He cannot allow the army under his command to become his own private army.

The court would not allow any general to do so.

Generals can cultivate their own confidants and form personal guards with their own people, but if they eliminate dissidents on a large scale and place their own people in positions of power, that would be a big taboo.

what do you want?

Want to raise private soldiers?
Or do you want to have your own army?
Although Yang Zhengshan did not have such an idea, the emperor and the officials in the court might not necessarily trust him.

Therefore, if he were to serve as the Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard, he would have to let as many of the Yang family members leave as possible. It’s not that not a single one could stay, but that the number should not exceed ten.

In fact, there are now more than forty Yang family members under Zhou Lan, which is more than the number under Yang Zhengshan.

The reason for this is that in the past two years many of the Yang family's descendants have gone to join Yang Mingzhi, Yang Mingwu, Yang Chengze and others.

Of course, there were also people who came to Yang Zhengshan for help, but those who came to him were all recommended by Yang Zhengxiang.

The people recommended by Yang Zhengxiang are all those with relatively better talents.

"I will try my best to transfer them away!" Zhou Lan agreed with Yang Zhengshan's idea and said.

Yang Zhengshan smiled and said, "You can also take them to Kyoto. Although they can't help you much, they are still worthy of your trust!"

As more and more Yang family members joined the army, Yang Zhengshan had long wanted to disperse the Yang family members.

It is not a good thing for so many people to gather together, as it is easy to give others an advantage. If they disperse and make their own way, their future may be hindered, but after the test of time, those who are truly capable and talented will still be able to come to the fore.

Zhou Lan smiled and said, "Then I'm going to take Yang Mingzhi away!"

"Uh!" Yang Zhengshan hesitated. "Mingzhi should stay. He has been a little slack in his training in recent years. I want to keep him by my side to encourage him for a while!"

What he said was not false. Now Yang Mingzhi also had the fourth level of acquired cultivation, but compared with Yang Mingcheng, he was already behind.

Yang Mingcheng broke through to the sixth level of the acquired realm not long ago. The two brothers had similar starting points, but now there is a gap of two levels between them.

Even Yang Minghao has caught up with Yang Mingzhi and is now also at the fourth level of the acquired realm.

The reason for this is, firstly, that after Yang Mingzhi left Yang Zhengshan, it was difficult for him to get the nourishment of the spiritual spring water; secondly, because Yang Mingzhi followed Zhou Lan and was busy with official duties all day, he would definitely slack off in his cultivation.

"Then let Mingwu and Chengze follow me to Kyoto! Well, Zhao Yuan will also go back, and then let him take Chengxu with him! The three of them are enough!"

Zhou Lan is quick to accept good advice. Although she values ​​Yang Mingzhi the most, Yang Mingwu and Yang Chengze are not bad either. Having these two people around to help is enough.

Besides, Kyoto is the home of the Ningguo Mansion, and she has no shortage of people to employ in Kyoto.

(End of this chapter)