Chapter 260: Commander of the Guards, Lady of Imperial Order

The incense table was set up and everyone knelt down to worship.

Eunuch Zhang walked to the incense table holding the imperial edict and read aloud: "By the grace of Heaven, the Emperor, Yang Zhengshan, the garrison commander of Anyuan City, is a man of both talent and virtue, brave and resourceful, who has made plans and marched forward courageously on the battlefield..."

The first part of the speech was mostly praising Yang Zhengshan, and Yang Zhengshan was a little confused.

Although he had read many books after coming to this world and his classical Chinese level had improved by at least three levels, he was still confused when he heard the imperial edict.

"Sharp talent and brilliant virtue"

"Since the wealth of armor and weapons in my heart has been achieved"

"He can be said to know military affairs"

Yang Zhengshan felt a headache after hearing these words, and it was difficult for him to understand.

But fortunately, he knew that this was a compliment to him, and that was enough.

Soon, Eunuch Zhang read to the end, and Yang Zhengshan finally heard what he wanted.

Yang Zhengshan, the garrison commander of Anyuan City, was promoted to commander of Tenglong Guard and was granted the title of General Dingguo and the title of Honor Guard.

Yang Zhengshan thought the imperial edict had ended there, and he was ready to kowtow to express his gratitude, but he didn't expect that Eunuch Zhang took a deep breath and continued to read: "The imperial edict says: Ministers should be loyal to their duties, and use their inner virtues to improve their relationships. The court has the grace of a distant title and treats all husbands equally as noble, and the virtuous example is more prominent and respected. I give you the wife of General Dingguo Yang Zhengshan, Yu, a beautiful woman with a moon-like room and a brocade thread through the clouds. I give you a battle robe, and you are well-known for your good conduct, so you should also be honored and favored. Therefore, I will give you the title of Madam, and grant you the imperial edict in Xi, with the emblem of the orchid room, as majestic as the mountains and rivers, and the ceremonial ceremony in the laurel palace is as vigilant as if you are flying. The golden letter is just coming, and the purple edict is coming from afar."

Yu Qingyi raised her head in confusion and looked at Yang Zhengshan with surprise, "Are you talking about me?"

Yang Zhengshan was amused by her confused expression.

Madam Gaoming!

The imperial edicts for the ladies of Darong can be roughly divided into the first rank as Madam, the second rank as Madam, the third rank as Shu Ren, the fourth rank as Gong Ren, the fifth rank as Yi Ren, the sixth rank as An Ren, and the seventh rank and below as Ru Ren.

There is a first-rank title before the first-rank lady, and the second-rank title is just lady. If it is the mother of a posthumous official, she will be called the grand lady.

A person without rank or title is called a wife.

In other words, Yu Qingyi could not be called Mrs. Yang before, but could only be called the eldest lady of the Yang family.

However, this is the formal court system. In fact, in private, as long as someone is the official's wife, everyone likes to call her Madam, just like in the previous life anyone could be called Mr. or Manager.

Eunuch Zhang finally finished reading, and Yang Zhengshan hurriedly thanked him, "Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace. Long live the emperor."

Everyone in the Yang family also shouted "Long live the emperor".

"Haha, Lord Yang, get up quickly!"

"Thank you, Eunuch Zhang!" Yang Zhengshan stood up, clasped his fists to express his gratitude to Eunuch Zhang again, and then winked at Wu Hai who was standing next to him. Wu Hai immediately understood and took out the purses he had prepared long ago and distributed them to the followers behind Eunuch Zhang one by one.

Yang Zhengshan also stepped forward, handed a small purse to Eunuch Zhang, and said with a smile: "Eunuch Zhang, you have worked hard on the journey. My humble home is simple and I don't have anything good to offer you. Please have a cup of tea, Eunuch Zhang!"

Although the purse is small, it contains a lot of money, a full five hundred taels!

The other purses also contained fifty taels of silver.

In just a short while, Yang Zhengshan spent nearly one thousand taels of silver.

I have to take care of the soldiers of Wuxiang Zuowei later, and I have to spend several hundred taels of silver.

Do you think it’s easy to be an official?

If you don't give them some benefits, when they return to Beijing they might say something bad about you. It doesn't matter if one person says it, but if three people say it, it becomes a tiger, and as the word spreads, they will portray you as an arrogant and domineering person who doesn't know etiquette.

Eunuch Zhang also accepted the purse tacitly, and the smile on his face became more friendly, "Master Yang, this is Madam Yang's imperial robe!"

Then two young eunuchs came forward holding a gorgeous piece of clothing, and Yang Zhengshan quickly asked them to take it.

A wife follows her husband's rank. First, Yang Zhengshan was conferred the title of General Dingguo, a second-rank official, and then Yu Qingyi was conferred the title of Madam.

This imperial robe has a bright red round collar decorated with rank patterns. It is worn with a long jacket and long skirt inside, and a phoenix crown or a set of gold and silver headwear on the head, which looks extremely luxurious.

However, whether it is the title of General Dingguo or the title of Lady of Imperial Concubine, they are actually empty titles. They only have rank and salary, but no power.

Yang Zhengshan's two titles, General Dingguo and Guardian, are both honorary titles with rank but no real power.

Of course, having two titles is not without its advantages. The most obvious advantage is that Yang Zhengshan can call himself "General" in the future.

If he is called upon or appointed to other official positions in the future, the Ministry of War and the Central Military Governor's Office will give him priority.

After another round of enthusiastic courtesy and hospitality, Eunuch Zhang had lunch at the Yang family. Yang Zhengshan also gave him ten jars of medicinal wine he brewed himself before sending him away.

The excitement faded, but the hearts of the Yang family members were still burning with passion, especially Yu Qingyi. After returning to the main courtyard, she changed into the imperial robes and touched herself all over.

"I am a royal lady now!"

"Master, am I really a royal lady?"

This is the tenth time she has asked!
Yang Zhengshan next to her looked at her helplessly, "Really, it's absolutely true!"

"Okay, take off this clothes and go have some rest!"

This imperial robe looks luxurious and gorgeous, but it is really uncomfortable to wear. With so many jewels on the head, it looks tiring.

Besides, Yu Qingyi probably won’t have the chance to wear this thing out for a while.

Imperial robes were usually only worn when entering the palace to meet the emperor or participating in important court ceremonies. Yang Zhengshan was not a Beijing official, so Yu Qingyi naturally had no chance to enter the palace to meet him or participate in any ceremonies.

Yu Qingyi still took it off reluctantly. As a woman of the Jianghu, she never thought that one day she would become a noble lady.

At this moment, she really felt like she was dreaming. Everything seemed incredible and unreal.

"Look, your son is laughing at you!" Yang Zhengshan carefully picked up little Mingzhao and let the little guy take a good look at his stupid mother.

The little guy seemed very happy and giggled non-stop. Seeing her biological son, Yu Qingyi finally came to her senses, took off her clothes and jewelry, and took the little guy.

No matter how good this lady is, she is not as important as her son.

After coaxing Yu Qingyi and the little guy to sleep on the kang, Yang Zhengshan came to the main room, stood under the eaves and looked at the peaceful night sky.

Commander of the Tenglong Guard!

All other titles are empty, only this one is his official position.

After hearing the imperial edict, this official position came to his mind.

Plans can never keep up with changes.

Yang Zhengshan had discussed with Zhou Lan before and planned to seek the position of Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard, but he did not expect that the emperor would directly appoint him to an official position.

According to Yang Zhengshan's plan, the best position for him right now is the Lieutenant General of Jianning Guard or the Lieutenant General of Songzhou Guard. With the recommendation of Zhou Lan and Wang Bin, and the support of Liang Chu and Duke Ningguo, it will not be difficult for him to be promoted to these two positions.

But now he has become the commander of Tenglong Guard.

The commander of the guards was only of the third rank, which meant that he was only promoted one level, but he also held the title of General Dingguo, so it could be considered that he was promoted two levels.

The old emperor probably gave him the title of General Dingguo to make up for this. Otherwise, based on his military achievements, he would not have been promoted only one level. The title of Lady of Imperial Noble Consort should also be a compensation.

However, the commander of the Tenglong Guard is different from ordinary guard commanders.

To be more precise, the Tenglong Guards should be the Tenglong Four Guards, namely the front, back, left and right guards.

At the beginning of Dayong Dynasty, the emperor had twenty-six guards. In addition to the existing twelve guards, there were also the Four Yunlong Guards, the Four Tenglong Guards, the Four Huben Guards, as well as the Miwu Guards and the Shangwu Guards.

Later, the Secret Guards continued to exist, but they moved from the open to the secret and were no longer considered the emperor's personal army.

The Shangwu Guard has always existed, but has always been stationed at the imperial mausoleum as the imperial mausoleum's royal guard, and has been separated from the emperor's personal army. In addition, the Shangwu Guard has also become a place for the royal family to inherit martial arts. All talented royal children will enter the Shangwu Guard for training.

Therefore, Shangwu Guard became exclusive to the royal family.

The remaining Yunlong Four Guards, Tenglong Four Guards and Huben Four Guards were separated from the emperor's personal army a hundred years ago. They were transformed from the emperor's personal army into ordinary guards, but the basic structure was retained.

Among them, the four Yunlong guards guarded the northwest, the four Tenglong guards guarded the northeast, and the four Huben guards guarded the southwest.

The predecessor of the Yunlong Guard under Liang Chu was the Yunlong Four Guards.

Ever since the Yunlong Four Guards were separated from the emperor's personal army, they began to decline. Apart from the difference in their organizational structure, they were actually no different from other guards.

It took Liang Chu more than ten years to train the Yunlong Guard into an elite force.

Today's Tenglong Guard is similar to the original Yunlong Guard, except for the different organizational structure, it is the same as other guards.

What Yang Zhengshan was thinking about was why the old emperor asked him to be the commander of Tenglong Guard?
Tenglongwei is in Qinghua Prefecture, and there is a King Qing in Qinghua Prefecture.

King Qing!

Yang Zhengshan took a deep breath.

Is this asking me to go over and keep an eye on Prince Qing?
The Secret Guards have been silent for the past few years, and Yang Zhengshan thought they had given up on Prince Qing's Mansion, but now it seems that is not the case at all.

The Secret Guards should still be keeping an eye on Prince Qing's Mansion, and the old emperor is also worried that something might happen at Prince Qing's Mansion, so he asked him to go over and keep an eye on it.

Why choose him?
it's actually really easy!
He helped the Secret Guard investigate cases of treason and knew some things he shouldn't know.

As for his humble background, he certainly had no connection with Prince Qing's Palace in the past, so the old emperor could use him with peace of mind.

The most important thing is that he is good at training soldiers and fighting, so it is most suitable for him to go to Tenglongwei.

Yang Zhengshan thought about it carefully and felt that this was probably the emperor's preparation for the new emperor to ascend the throne.

The old emperor believed that as long as he was still in power, even if Prince Qing had ulterior motives, he would not dare to act rashly.

But if a new emperor ascends the throne and the political situation is shaken, Prince Qing is likely to take risks.

As for why the old emperor did not arrest Prince Qing on a trumped-up charge, after all, if the emperor wanted to kill someone, there was no need to find any evidence.

Yang Zhengshan could actually understand this point.

The old emperor is a man who cares a lot about his reputation.

Especially now that he is old, he cares more about his reputation after death.

He had seized the throne by force. If he now killed the descendants of the previous crown prince on trumped-up charges, how would history books record this? How would future generations evaluate him?

"Oh, Tenglongwei is not a good place!" Yang Zhengshan sighed softly.

If Prince Qing really has ulterior motives, then Qinghua Mansion is his old nest. Who knows how many arrangements he has made in Qinghua Mansion.

The Tenglong Guard is in Qinghua Prefecture. Do you think the King of Qing has arranged some personnel in the Tenglong Guard?

Well, let’s not talk about these for now. Let’s first say that if he went to Tenglongwei, he would be a thorn in the side of Prince Qing’s Mansion. If Prince Qing wanted to start a rebellion, he would probably be the first one to be killed.

The most important thing is that he cannot target Prince Qing openly. He is a prince, and I am just a third-rank guard commander. I have to be respectful when meeting a prince.

If the old emperor asked him to kill Prince Qing, he would still be willing to do it. Isn't it just killing a person? Simple.

But the old emperor asked him to keep an eye on Prince Qing, which made him very uncomfortable.

Yang Zhengshan had already anticipated the days he would have to be cautious after arriving at Tenglongwei.

We must be on high alert and be extremely cautious both internally and externally.

(End of this chapter)