Chapter 980 Canonization

Chapter 980 Canonization

Chapter 980 Canonization
On the second day of the winter month, Wang Yan returned to the Prime Minister's Mansion after an absence of several months.

The first thing to do when starting work is Shaw’s family affairs.

Should the Shao family pursue a higher title?
Wang Yan asked for instructions, and the emperor asked about the old events of the Han and Wei dynasties, so it was very clear that he would not be posthumously honored.

This is because Cao Cao, Sima Yi and others were the founders of the dynasty and made the greatest contributions. It is not an exaggeration to say that they were founding monarchs, and it would be unreasonable not to posthumously honor them.

But if there is no merit, there will be no posthumous title.

The second matter is still Shaw’s family affair.

Wang Yan did not dare to handle the task alone, but called upon the Minister of Rites Cui Yu, the Minister of the Chancellery Chu Huo, the Shangshu Zuo Pushe Liang Fen, Chen Jing, the Zhongshu Jian Zhang Bin, and the Shizhong Yang Man.

"Your Majesty is very filial, so you should avoid mentioning your parents' names, but you don't need to avoid mentioning the word 'Xun'." Wang Yan shook his head and said, "This is indeed convenient for the people of the world, but if you don't avoid it, what if someone uses witchcraft?"

This may sound a bit ridiculous but this was the original reason for taboo. As for showing respect, they all evolved later.

Don't be shy about mentioning your name. If I know your real name, I will have to use witchcraft!

"Why don't you ask your majesty to change the name?" said Cui Yu, the Minister of Rites, "There is an old precedent in the Han and Wei dynasties."

Of course, changing the name cannot completely solve the problem.

It may not be difficult for the current emperor to change his name, but he may not agree with the retired emperor or retired empress to change their names.

In this case, wouldn’t the “Xiucai” have to change back into the “Maocai” of the Later Han Dynasty?
"What the Grand Master said makes sense." Wang Yan said with a smile, then looked at the others and asked, "Then let's submit a petition to the emperor and ask for divination of a new name?"

Cui Yu cursed inwardly at the old dog. He didn't bring it up himself, but insisted that others bring it up, and even got others to agree.

"No." Just when everyone agreed, Shangshu Ling Chu Huo spoke out in objection.

"Although the word 'Xun' is not uncommon, it is not necessarily impossible to change or avoid it." He said: "If the word 'Xun' needs to be avoided, does your Majesty's nickname need to be avoided?"

When these words were spoken, everyone felt both amused and annoyed.

There is a classic line in Wei Lue: "If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be able to get Jizhou."

Among them, the two characters "某甲" are "阿曼".

Cui Yu and Liang Fen were a little curious. What was the emperor's nickname?
Wang Yan was somewhat displeased when he heard Chu Huo's words, and said, "The emperor is honored, and his reputation is difficult to know but easy to avoid. What do you mean by planning for the future?"

Chu Huo cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty's achievements are unparalleled in the universe, why do you need to change your name?"

Wang Yan glanced at him and said, "Let's put this matter aside for now. I'll deal with it after I go to the palace."

After that, he took out another list and said, "This was drawn up by your majesty. He thought that many of the old ministers had passed away. Now that the country has been established, they should be posthumously conferred official titles to honor their contributions."

Everyone took the list and passed it around.

The first one is Yu Chen.

According to the previous meaning, the highest rank for a minister was Duke of a County, but here it says that Yu Chen was posthumously named "Duke Xu".

Lord Xu is now a Duke.

Although it was only a posthumous title, and Yu Liang was conferred the title of "Duke of Hedong County" (a founding title), it was still a great honor.

To be honest, Wang Yan felt a little sour when he saw it. He always wondered if he had passed away before the founding of the country, would the emperor have conferred him the title of Duke posthumously? It was unlikely.

In addition, what made Wang Yan even more envious was that the emperor personally proposed the posthumous title for Yu Chen: Kang.

Looking back on Yu Chen's life, he had the heroic feat of defending the isolated city of Ji County, as well as governing the world.

"Kang" means "able to bring peace to the people", which is a beautiful posthumous title.

In addition to Yu Chen, Lu Zhi was posthumously named "Duke of Qinghe County" and given the title of Grand Tutor. The emperor also proposed a posthumous title for him: Xiang, that is, Duke Xiang of Qinghe.

"Have made contributions in affairs" is called "Xiang", and "have great power and virtue to satisfy people far and wide" is called "Xiang", which is very appropriate.

He also re-conferred the title of founding Duke of Qinghe County on his son, the Secretary General Lu Chen - in terms of merit, it was actually not enough, as this founding Duke of Qinghe County had at least half the contribution of Lu Zhi.

Pei Kang was posthumously named "Duke of Bohai County", given the title of Taifu, and given the posthumous name: Si.

Wang Yan secretly complained that this posthumous title was quite interesting.

"Being gentle and able to encourage oneself" is called thinking, and "regret past mistakes" is also called thinking.

If Pei Kang had been able to act decisively and promise Your Majesty that as soon as Sima Yue passed away, he would abandon his dignity and strongly support Concubine Pei to marry Your Majesty, then what would be the point of Empress Yu?

This posthumous title was decided by His Majesty himself. Wang Yan was very curious as to what he was thinking at the time.

Pei Kang's son Pei He was re-ennobled as the founding Duke of Bohai County.

Cao Fu was posthumously named "Duke of Dingtao County", awarded the title of General of Cavalry, and given the posthumous name: Zhe.

Because Cao Fu's son died early, his grandson Cao Yin was re-ennobled as the founding Duke of Dangyang County.

In addition to these four people, there were many other civil and military generals who died young or in battle, but none of them had their own posthumous titles, let alone any titles or official titles.

All these have been handed over to the Taichang Temple to handle and will be finalized within half a year.

Including the posthumous title of the late Jin Emperor Sima Chi, it had not been decided before the abdication. Some Taichang doctors wanted to give him a beautiful posthumous title, after all, the dead are the greatest, but some people just wanted to give him a neutral posthumous title, and they had endless disputes, so it was handled all at once this time.

After reading the list, everyone felt the same as Wang Yan, but no one had any objections.

The emperor is indeed nostalgic, which is a good thing for his subjects.

"One last thing—" Wang Yan looked at everyone and said, "In ancient times, there was a ritual of two kings and three kings. Your Majesty intends to posthumously confer titles on the Han, Wei, and Jin dynasties. Jin has Duke Teng, who is the one from Han and Wei?"

"Where are the descendants of King Chenliu?" asked Shangshu Ling Chu Huo.

"He has moved south." Minister of Rites Cui Yu said, "How about waiting?" "I'm afraid we can't wait." Attendant Yang Man shook his head and said, "The descendants of the King of Chenliu are not blessed, so we can look for one among the royal family. How about the Duke of Dangyang?"

"The Duke of Dangyang is the great-grandson of Cao Hong. Isn't that too far away?" Cui Yu disagreed and said, "If we want to find him, we have to look for him among the descendants of Emperor Wen of Wei."

"Then choose one from among the descendants of Wei Wen."

"I'm afraid it's hard to find."

……

Wang Yan listened quietly to their discussion but did not participate.

He still enjoyed the feeling of having the final say, which made him feel that he was the real leader.

******
After leaving the post, Wang Yan returned to his home.

In fact, the court prepared an official residence for him, but the old king didn't need it and preferred to live comfortably in the old house.

The servants asked all the visiting guests to leave, and closed the door tonight, not accepting anyone. After all, he was really over seventy years old, and even if he was in good spirits, his body was still aging.

I was busy all day yesterday and again today, so I need to take a good rest.

"I don't know what you're busy with all day." Mrs. Guo slammed the tea bowl on the table and said, "You've already gone home, but you're still reading letters. Just read, why don't you do something useful?"

Wang Yan was surprised and asked, "Is selecting officials not a serious matter?"

"Although it is a serious matter, how does it compare to your daughter?" asked Guo.

Wang Yan finally reacted and remained silent for a while.

"Third Madam, Ninth Concubine, you count it yourself." Wang Yan said after a moment.

Guo was stunned for a while, then asked, "Who is the Third Madam?"

"Noble Concubine Pei, Madam Yang, and Noble Lady Le."

"What?" Guo was a little surprised: "It's fine if she enjoys it on weekdays, but how can Empress Hui be the 'Third Lady'?"

"Empress Hui was from the previous dynasty." Wang Yan said unhappily, "Although it may cause criticism, it is not a big deal. She is just a woman, outsiders are too lazy to care."

Guo was speechless.

If Yang Xianrong becomes the lady, then there will be no hope for her two daughters.

There are only three positions: noble concubine, madam, and noble lady, and Pei, Yang, and Le occupy them. The others can only compete for the position of the ninth concubine, which is a bit bad.

To put it bluntly, when later dynasties compiled history, the biographies of concubines would at most write about the third wife, and there was most likely no chance for the nine concubines.

Even if they gave birth to children, so what? It would just be an extra sentence: "Wang Jieyu" gave birth to a certain king.

Who is Wang Jieyu? No one will mention it at all.

But when writing about Yang Xianrong, one would write “Mrs. Yang’s name is Xianrong, a native of the south city of Mount Tai…”, a long and flowing paragraph.

Guo loved her daughter dearly and didn't care whether her daughter's name was included in history books or not, but she still wanted to fight for her status and treatment.

"What use do I have for you?" The more Guo thought about it, the angrier she became. She said, "You are still the Prime Minister? You show off your power on weekdays, but when it comes to taking action, you are timid. Can't you think of a solution?"

"Is there any solution?" Wang Yan asked after taking a sip of tea.

"Let the emperor change the system of the harem." Guo said, "Why must we follow the old system of the Wei and Jin dynasties? Why not just add more ladies?"

Wang Yan wanted to say that even if one or two more were appointed, it might not be his two daughters' turn, but the words were too hurtful, so he didn't say it in the end.

"When Emperor Wen of Wei ascended the throne, he made extensive selections. Emperor Wu of Jin also made selections more than once, and took concubines from Wu and Shu into his harem, even riding a sheep cart in the hope of favor." Guo said, "The emperor is founding a country, so it's time to make selections, but how many people does he have in his harem? If he had chosen more, Jingfeng, Huifeng and the others would have been--"

"Women's views!" Wang Yan scolded, "One queen, three wives and nine concubines is an ancient system. Even if they are selecting, they will not change this. Besides, your majesty is not lustful."

"Humph!" Guo sneered, "Do you believe this?"

Wang Yan was speechless.

Was Emperor Shao lustful? It seems that he was not lustful, because the number of concubines in his harem was extremely shabby. This was not the number that a son of heaven should have. More than a hundred was about right.

But his daily performance...

"I don't want to talk to you any more." Wang Yan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "My daughter is one of the nine concubines, so don't think too much about it."

In addition to the three wives, there were nine concubines, namely: Shufei Yin, Shuyuan Guanqiu, Shuyi Yu, Xiuhua Xun, Xiurong Lu, Xiuyi Liu (Liu Xiaohe), Jieyushi Wang (Wang Huifeng), Ronghua Wang (Wang Jingfeng), Chonghua Liu (Liu Ye Na).

Below the nine concubines were the beauties Cui, Song, Jing, Zheng, and the Jin sisters.

In addition, there are four talented people: Fan, Xuan, Liu, and Wang.

Including Empress Yu Wenjun, there were a total of twenty-three people - among the twenty-three people, fifteen were "remarried" for the second time.

As for the concubines, there were three of them, Cheng, Guo and Wang, who had no official status.

This lineup is indeed a bit thin.

But Shao Xun was too lazy to add more, because there were seven or eight of them below thirty, and five or six between thirty and forty, which were enough for him to enjoy.

Unless you recruit a wave of fresh blood in the future when you conquer Li Xiong of Chengdu and Sima Rui of Jianye, otherwise you will be too lazy to look for it and still have a good reputation - others all choose daughters of officials and nobles, but you don't, you are a sage king.

After coaxing his chattering old wife Guo away, Wang Yan calmed down and thought about the enfeoffment of princes.

(End of this chapter)