Chapter 329: Conferring a title, knowing when to advance and when to retreat
Warlord separatism!

The lesson of warlord separatism in the Tang Dynasty was right before their eyes, making many ministers nervous.

In essence, the Western Xia and Liao dynasties were the products left over from the era of warlord separatism during the Tang Dynasty!
At this time, the court officials all felt a little regretful. If they had known that the Duke of England and his son were so powerful, they would not have allowed him to fight so far.

If it weren't for the unusual movement in the Liao Kingdom this time, they wouldn't know what excuse to use to bring the Duke of Ying and his men back!
But whenever the whole court thought about Duke Yingguo and Lin Hao returning to Bianliang with more than 100,000 people, they felt a little worried!
Of course, the emperor was also somewhat confused, but the Duke of England had been loyal to him for so many years, so he was much calmer than these ministers.

"Tell us everything! People are about to arrive in Bian Jing. How should we reward them? Come up with a set of rules quickly!" After the emperor said this, he looked at the ministers below!
The civil servants were undoubtedly in a heavy mood at this time. The Duke of Ying and his son had made great contributions to the destruction of the country, which required them to be rewarded.

And the children of Bianliang nobles who they lead also need to be rewarded!
Therefore, they could not turn a blind eye and needed to decide on the rewards as soon as possible, otherwise if the nobles made trouble, there would be no way to resolve the situation.

Everyone knows that the power of military generals and nobles will increase greatly in the next few years, and this is not the situation they want to see, so the rewards have been delayed for so long!
Just as the court was debating how to reward the meritorious officials in the national war to destroy Western Xia, Lin Hao and Duke Ying were on their way back to Bian Jing with their men!
Lin Hao has a problem that needs to be solved urgently:

"Father, what do you think the court will do with these cavalrymen I recruited on my own?"

At this time, Duke Ying smiled and said, "Easy! Send them to the north to guard against the Liao Kingdom!"

Lin Hao shook his head and said, "I'm just afraid that the court will be wary!"

Lin Hao understood what the Duke of England meant. He had recruited more than 70,000 cavalrymen, with more than 10,000 stationed in the northwest, and this time he brought back nearly 60,000.

Not to mention the Emperor of Song Dynasty, even if Lin Hao was in that position, he probably wouldn't feel at ease!

Moreover, these cavalrymen were not trained by the Song Dynasty, but recruited by Lin Hao himself, and they only obeyed Lin Hao. It is conceivable how fearful the emperor and his ministers of the Song Dynasty would be!
At this time, the Duke of England did not speak, but stared at the direction of Bianjing in a trance. After a period of silence, he spoke:
"What do you think?"

Lin Hao shook his head and sighed: "Alas, what a pity, the people of the Song Dynasty have made up their minds!"

Lin Hao looked at the silent Duke of England, then smiled and said:
"Father, what do you say about us getting a prince?"

The Duke of England's eyes lit up, and then he half-closed his eyes and said:

"It's difficult. The Song Dynasty hasn't appointed a king of a different surname for decades. However, this time it's a war to destroy a country!"

"Hahaha! Go!"

"Boom boom boom~!" Lin Hao was followed by tens of thousands of cavalrymen. The roar of their running shocked the pedestrians along the official road!
At the same time, the court of the Song Dynasty was still discussing the reward plan!

"Your Majesty! A king of a different surname is the source of trouble!"

"Although it's just a virtual seal, we still have to be on guard!"

The emperor shook his head and said, "Then what do you think we should do? We can see that the Duke of Ying is getting closer and closer to Bianjing!"

At this time, Master Shi stepped forward, took out his tablet and said:

"Your Majesty, I have an idea. This time, Duke Ying's son Zhang Haolin has made outstanding contributions and led the troops to capture Xingqing Prefecture. Why not give Duke Ying's achievements to his son?"

Then Master Shi said loudly: "Confer the title of Duke!"

One word caused a thousand waves, and the whole court was suddenly in an uproar!

"A family with two dukes!"

"Two titles can be inherited in the future!"

"What a great honor this is! It's no less than being crowned a king!"

At this moment, these ministers in the court were envious to the point of going crazy, and then they all started to think of their own little ideas!
After all the court officials quieted down, the emperor smiled faintly and said:
"My dear minister, what you said is very true. Let's reward you according to this plan!"

At the same time, the emperor also breathed a sigh of relief. This was indeed a good idea. It not only avoided the need to confer a title of king, but also did not treat the Zhang family unfairly!

Then he asked, "What about the 60,000 cavalrymen he has?"

Everyone was shocked again. This was indeed a big trouble!

On the other hand, the Duke of England also asked the same question.

"Haolin, what do you think of these 60,000 cavalrymen?"

But Lin Hao smiled and said:

"Father, these are 60,000 cavalrymen. Of course they should be handed over to His Majesty!"

"Are you willing to do that?" the Duke of England asked in surprise.

Lin Hao said as a matter of course: "Can't we support them ourselves?"

The Duke of England was stunned. He did not expect Lin Hao to give this answer. He thought his son would hold on to the 60,000 cavalrymen. After all, Lin Hao had just inadvertently revealed something!
But think about it, not everyone can afford to maintain cavalry, and the annual consumption of a cavalry that can fight is not small.

Not to mention other things, just the armor, weapons, horses, food, cavalry pay, etc., all added up, at least 100 to 150 strings of money are consumed every year.

And these 600 cavalrymen mean the consumption of 900 to million taels of silver every year!

Of course, this refers to the armored cavalry of the Song Dynasty. Although the consumption of the light cavalry recruited by Western Xia was greatly reduced, it still required more than 300 million taels of silver every year!
This is a huge financial burden!

next day
The army finally returned to the camp outside the city of Bianjing, and then the emperor's edict was delivered.

The eunuch Gao who came to read the imperial edict looked at the ferocious soldiers below the stage, forced himself to calm down, and read out the rewards for these meritorious soldiers!
Finally, he read out the rewards for the Duke of England and his son, and allowed them to enter the palace to meet the emperor!
After the eunuch finished reading the imperial edict, he looked at the Duke of England and his son carefully. They were not fools, and they knew the current situation!
As long as the Duke of England and his son enter the palace, they must return the tiger talisman. Everyone knows what this means!

If the Duke of England and his son accepted the order, everyone would be happy, but what if they did not?

"Hiss! I dare not think about it, I dare not think about it!" Eunuch Gao prayed in his heart.

"Sir, obey the order!"

"Sir, obey the order!"

The Duke of Yingguo and Lin Hao replied at the same time, acknowledging the emperor's reward. The eunuch Gao who delivered the imperial edict immediately breathed a sigh of relief and then stepped forward to congratulate him!

"Congratulations to the two gentlemen. It brings honor to our family. Two gentlemen in one family!" While congratulating the two, Eunuch Gao was also feeling lucky that everything went well!
The Duke of Yingguo and Eunuch Gao were greeting each other, while Lin Hao was looking at the reward written in the imperial edict. He was granted the title of Duke of Rong!

In fact, Lin Hao received the news last night, so he was not surprised, although his plan to become king failed.

But! There is still a long way to go!

At this time, there was laughter and joy on the parade ground. Lin Hao was conferred the title of Duke, making the Zhang family have two dukes, but the other soldiers and noble families who were rewarded were not far behind.

At this time, Gu Tingye took the initiative to come to Lin Hao and said:

"Congratulations, Duke. Two dukes in one family. I'm so jealous!"

Lin Hao joked to Gu Tingye: "Then I also congratulate Master Gu!"

"Congratulations, congratulations! The Duke is so polite!" Gu Tingye said with envy: "Alas! It's a pity that I am just an earl, so I can't compare with you!"

Before Lin Hao could say anything, Liang Han came over to congratulate him:
"My Lord, congratulations!"

"Next time something good like this happens, don't forget me!"

The second son of the Yuan family, Yuan Wenshao, also came to join in the fun:
"Yes, yes! The honor of having two dukes in one family is truly enviable!"

Most of the Bianliang nobles, such as Yuan Wenshao, the second son of the Yuan family, Gu Tingye, the sixth son of the Liang family, Liang Han, and many other nobles, were granted titles, but most of them were earls!

Therefore, the Yuan family now has two earls, while the Gu family and the Liang family have a marquis and an earl, which can be said to be a galaxy of shining stars!

In fact, all of this was done intentionally by Lin Hao. In this way, he wanted to change their original trajectory!
For example, now that Yuan Wenshao has been conferred the title of Earl, it is inevitable that he and Sheng Hualan will separate from the Yuan family.

And now that Gu Tingye has been conferred the title of Earl, he probably won’t be very interested in inheriting the title in the future, after all, it is a title he earned with his own hands!
As for the sickly eldest son of the Gu family, Lin Hao already had a plan.

Gu Laosan is not a bad person. What he can achieve in the future depends on his own efforts. Anyway, he can forget about inheriting the title!
The reason why Lin Hao brought Liang Han from the Liang family with him was because of his mother, Madam Liang. Madam Liang and the Duchess of England were close friends, so this kind of thing was inevitable.

Of course, it is also because Molan married him in the original drama, so Lin Hao has the intention to help Liang Han!
Afterwards, Lin Hao and his son, along with the nobles who had been conferred the title, went to the palace to express their gratitude.

After the thanksgiving ceremony, the other nobles went home, and then a grand banquet was held.

And this warm atmosphere permeated the entire Bianjing!

As for Lin Hao and his son, after they arrived at the palace, they returned the military command without hesitation, and then received a private audience with the emperor.

Then he told the emperor in detail about the war to annihilate the country.

After the Duke of England finished talking about the war, the Emperor looked at Lin Hao in surprise. He didn't expect that Lin Hao really relied on his eloquence to trick 60,000 cavalrymen into coming back!

"My dear, what are your plans for the future?"

Of course Lin Hao understood what the emperor meant. He was asking him what to do with the 60,000 cavalrymen in his hands.
Lin Hao said without hesitation: "Your Majesty has the final say on everything. I will obey your Majesty!"

When the emperor heard Lin Hao's words, he answered without hesitation, with a barely perceptible smile on his face, thinking to himself that this father and son were indeed loyal!

"During this war to destroy Xixia, the Liao Kingdom is ready to make a move and has recently been causing trouble on the border. I wonder if you and your son have any good ideas!"

Lin Hao glanced at the Duke of England, then said to the Emperor:

"Your Majesty, it is not appropriate for the Song Dynasty to come into conflict with the Liao Kingdom at this time!"

"Why?" the emperor asked with pretended curiosity.

Lin Hao said with a serious look:

"It has been more than a year since we started the campaign against Xixia. The three armies are already exhausted and need to rest and recuperate."

"With the current morale, once we face the Liao army, I'm afraid it will be easy to suffer losses and it will be a thankless task!"

Of course the emperor knew that he could not fight any more. After all, he had already spent most of the money in the national treasury in this year!

"Then how should we deal with the matter with the Liao Kingdom?" the emperor asked Lin Hao again.

Lin Hao said with a relaxed look: "It's simple, just an armed parade!"

The emperor really didn't understand this time, so he immediately asked:

"What is an armed parade?"

Lin Hao saluted, then took out the map, drew a line on it, and said:
"Let's have tens of thousands of cavalrymen march around the Song-Liao border and let the Liao see the might of our Song army!"

Then Lin Hao smiled and said, "I think the Liao Kingdom should know what the Song Dynasty means!"

The emperor nodded and agreed with Lin Hao's idea. It not only saved the trouble of fighting a real war with the Liao Kingdom, but also promoted the power of the Song Dynasty!

The main reason is that the Song Dynasty seems powerful now, and its military might is growing, but he knows his own business. The treasury is becoming increasingly empty, which does not allow it to have enough confidence to face the Liao Kingdom!
Lin Hao's suggestion was exactly what the emperor wanted, so the emperor made the final decision:

"Okay! Now I'll leave it to Duke Rong!"

Seeing that the emperor was asking for his arrangement, Lin Hao immediately said:

"Your Majesty, wait a minute. You should arrange for someone else to carry out the armed parade!"

Lin Hao certainly had no interest in armed exercises like this. Instead of spending that time on this, he would rather think about which young ladies in Bian Jing were waiting to be married!
The emperor looked at Lin Hao in confusion and asked, "Why is this?"

"Your Majesty, I still need to study with Master Zhuang!" Lin Hao said seriously.

Of course, this was also his true feelings. It was not a bad thing to acquire more literary knowledge after all, not to mention he had those little sisters!

"Study?" After hearing Lin Hao's words, the emperor said with a smile: "You have been conferred the title of Duke, and you still want to study?"

However, a light bulb went off in the emperor's head, and he suddenly realized why Lin Hao said that.

The Zhang family now has two dukes who hold real power and control a large army. If two people hold military power at the same time, it will actually be a huge threat to him.

Even though this father and son are loyal to each other, he can't take the initiative to hand a knife to someone.

Lin Hao's excuse of studying gave him a perfect excuse. After all, it was Lin Hao himself who took the initiative to ask to study.

Therefore, he could take back Lin Hao's power to command the troops and let him return to the countryside, no, study and cultivate his character!
Lin Hao knew how to avoid suspicion at such a young age, which made him feel relieved. So the emperor said happily:
"Reading is good, reading is good!"

"You are a good kid who knows how to handle things and when to move forward!"

Then the emperor sighed in his heart and was even more fond of Lin Hao. If only he had a princess, he could marry the princess to Lin Hao, and then he could keep the Zhang family firmly by his side!
Unfortunately, he had no princess, not even a prince, and no one to inherit his great cause. Instead, he had to listen to the quarrels of Prince Yan and Prince Yong every day!
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Lin Hao said respectfully.

The emperor nodded, and then he said to the Duke of England:
"Then let's ask the Duke of England to lead the armed parade!"

"This is my duty!" the Duke of England responded immediately.

The emperor then continued, "Thank you for your hard work, my dear minister!"

It was almost time to close the palace gates, so the emperor let the father and son go, and Lin Hao sneaked back to the Duke of Ying's Mansion.

(End of this chapter)