Chapter 793: Enfeoffed as Prince!

“Fine work! Reward him!”

The Emperor reached into his pocket and pulled out a silver ingot.

He was not an Emperor who had never experienced ordinary life. If anything, the streetwise air about him was stronger than either the princely or imperial air he carried. If he had changed into common clothes and gone out without a little silver in his pocket, that would have been the strange thing.

He raised the ingot as though to throw it, then stopped.

Turning to Eunuch Wei behind him, he asked:

“Do you have any small silver?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Eunuch Wei took out a handful of broken silver, along with a string of copper cash.

The Emperor was traveling incognito and taking the Empress through the streets. How could a slave like him possibly fail to prepare everything properly?

“Mm.”

The Emperor nodded in satisfaction. He picked out one piece, hesitated, then added another and tossed both inside.

A storyteller’s apprentice might be useless at storytelling, but his skill at catching tips in a sieve had to be first-rate.

Years ago, Marquis Zheng had also liked going to teahouses to listen to stories. He had once joked with Little Sixth about how keen-eyed and quick-eared those apprentices were. Clearly, it was all trained.

Little Sixth had asked whether such men could be recruited into the army.

Marquis Zheng had laughed and cursed him for being an idiot. On a battlefield, men instinctively dodged arrows. These fellows instinctively lunged toward whatever came flying at them!

The apprentice swept his sieve sideways and twisted his body. Both pieces of silver slid neatly inside without spilling a thing already in the sieve.

He stopped dead, opened his throat, and drew out a long cry:

“Tha-a-ank you for the reward, Master!”

The Emperor was satisfied.

He clapped his hands and left the teahouse with his Empress.

As the victory couriers spread news of the great triumph in eastern Jin, the entire street had already become a sea of celebration.

In truth, the Yan viewed the surrounding states and peoples very differently.

Toward the Barbarians, wariness had been carved into the bone. Their ancestors had fought one another for centuries. But over the past hundred years, the Barbarians had been beaten so miserably by Yan that they had spent generations acting like obedient grandsons, sending women, observing rules, and in the end still losing their Royal Court.

If one stripped away empty rhetoric and the political correctness of Great Yan, there was not actually that much terror or fresh blood hatred toward the Barbarians among the people living today.

The Savages had produced a Savage King, true, but in the end they were not even equal to the Barbarians. In the eyes of Yan, they were simply something unfit for the main stage.

As for Qian... a century earlier, the first Marquis Zhenbei had defeated five hundred thousand men with thirty thousand. Even the origin of the name Yinlang Commandery had long since inflicted social death upon Qian in the Yan imagination.

Qian belonged to the category of something you could squeeze when you wished and knead however you liked. Yan had simply never had enough free hands or time to go “favor” it properly.

Chu was different.

The first defeat at Wangjiang had genuinely hurt.

Afterward, a Chu musician assassinated an imperial prince, triggering a national war. The people of Yan and Jin had been drained nearly dry by that campaign. They had come frighteningly close to true misery.

The results were glorious. Zhennan Pass had been taken. Great Chu’s capital had been burned by their own Prince Jingnan.

But how to put it?

The Yan had been spoiled.

Every surrounding state and tribe had been beaten down by their armies. Since all of them lost anyway, the one that forced Yan to struggle harder and pay more naturally inherited the greatest resentment.

Why did you resist?

If you were going to lose to us anyway, why make us spend so much extra effort?

That was the Yan way of thinking.

It was the arrogance of a tiger-and-wolf Great Yan whose foreign wars had gone almost entirely its way for years, whose iron cavalry stood unrivaled beneath Heaven, and whose generations had produced gods of war like Prince Jingnan, Prince Zhenbei, and now Marquis Pingxi.

Absurd, perhaps.

But extraordinarily real.

So if trampling the Barbarian Royal Court into the ground had been about fulfilling the ancestral wish of “when you make offerings to the family dead, do not forget to tell your old father”... then another victory over Chu was something the Yan people of this generation could genuinely celebrate for themselves.

Most importantly, unlike the previous war that mobilized the strength of the entire state, this time there had been no mass levy of labor, no additional taxes, and barely any time at all before the fighting ended.

The Emperor walked through the street with a smile on his face, truly sharing the people’s joy.

Empress He was smiling as well.

Behind them, Eunuch Wei wore his standard smile, but deep inside he could not stop thinking.

When a general outside the capital... no.

When a regional military command that had effectively become its own military fief could fight a great state by itself... and the man ruling that command possessed this kind of popularity among ordinary people... what would an Emperor feel after witnessing it with his own eyes?

Earlier, when the storyteller had raised his arm and shouted, Wei Zhonghe had seen the change in the Empress’s gaze too.

Clearly, even she had worried about the same thing.

But they were all among the Emperor’s intimate circle. Marquis Pingxi, in a sense, belonged to that same circle of “close people.”

So they could not conveniently speak on such a matter.

Perhaps they could not speak at all.

The ministers of the outer court, by contrast, could plant their banners openly on the Emperor’s side.

Were they wrong?

No.

Were they right?

Not necessarily.

The Emperor continued wandering through alleys and streets with the Empress. Since they had already come out, naturally he intended to take her back to visit her family.

Everyone knew the Empress had come from common stock, but most people only knew she had emerged from Lu Residence. Very few knew where her actual family lived or what they did.

At the pork stall, He Chu was changing the price board according to his wife Bihe’s instructions.

Pork prices were going up.

Whenever good news arrived, people wanted to celebrate. They became more willing to spend.

And for ordinary households, few things brought more straightforward happiness than buying a little meat for the family.

The moment Bihe saw the victory riders pass, she smelled a business opportunity and immediately told her husband to raise prices.

“Aiyo. Raising the price the moment I arrive?”

“Heh-heh.”

He Chu smiled awkwardly. He was simple by nature and felt a little embarrassed about taking advantage of the moment like this.

Given the temperament of father and son, on a day of great national celebration they would have been perfectly willing to give away pork instead.

Neither man dared call himself some grand imperial relative, but Old He’s son-in-law was the Emperor, and Old He’s grandson was the Crown Prince. If Great Yan had something worth celebrating, surely the He family ought to bleed a little too.

Unfortunately, father and son were both cowards before Bihe. She had scolded them from top to bottom.

Now Bihe was pregnant as well. It was still early, but this daughter-in-law already had the entire He household wrapped firmly around her fingers.

Neither man resented it.

She was capable. She kept the house in order, managed the business, could read, and was skilled with needlework.

A wife like that was hard to find even with a lantern.

So she was fierce.

So she ran the household.

Old He had nothing to say about it, and He Chu, that blockhead, had even less.

“It’s fine. I’ll sell it to you at the old price...”

He Chu raised his head.

The person before him was his brother-in-law.

He froze.

Not recognizing the voice immediately was perfectly normal. They had not met often. After his brother-in-law became Emperor, he had only occasionally invited Father over for half a day.

Then his gaze shifted to the woman beside his brother-in-law.

Who could she be except his own little sister?

He Chu split into a huge delighted grin.

Then he remembered who these two people were.

His knees weakened.

His smile stiffened.

His whole body twisted between kneeling and standing until he looked as though he had caught a fever chill.

“Brother, where’s your wife?” He Sisi asked.

“She just threw up, so I sent her back to rest. She told me to change the sign.” He Chu immediately pointed down the alley. “Father. Father’s over there.”

Every afternoon, unless it was windy or raining, Old He would sit down in that alley with his in-law, Old Guang, and share a cup of wine if the sunlight was decent.

More customers were already coming to buy meat.

Empress He looked at her husband.

The Emperor smiled.

“Go help.”

“All right.”

The Empress rolled up her sleeves, stepped behind the stall, took up the cleaver, and chopped it down onto the block.

“Brother, I’ll help you.”

“I... you... this...”

Ji Chengjue felt guilty toward his wife over what he had done with their eldest son. For once, he was willing to let her forget etiquette and propriety, relax completely, and taste her former life again.

But how could the Empress fail to understand her husband’s intention?

That was exactly why she stepped forward so willingly.

She wanted herself to enjoy this half-day.

And if she could enjoy it, perhaps she could ease some of the guilt in her husband’s heart.

That was marriage.

Two people fitting themselves around each other and living their days together.

In truth, Ji Chengjue had asked the He father and son whether they wanted to live as proper imperial relatives.

Both men refused with absolute determination.

Old He had gone farther.

His words had almost carried the determination to die.

He did not understand grand truths, he said, but if the Emperor truly granted them some damned noble title, he would go home and hang himself that very night.

The old man had believed all his life in behaving honestly and keeping to his place.

He had been that way before the late Emperor.

He was that way before his imperial son-in-law.

Their present prosperous life had come precisely from “knowing their place.”

He was content.

So the Empress’s maternal family continued living as ordinary people in Yanjing.

Father and son kept the truth from their in-laws and from the daughter-in-law, without even worrying much about accidentally letting something slip.

As far as Bihe knew, her husband’s younger sister had married into a strict household somewhere in Yanjing.

And in this age, a daughter married out was water thrown from the basin.

Some married daughters visited often.

Others rarely came back.

Both were normal.

Her husband’s younger sister and brother-in-law simply belonged to the second sort.

Father and son were not even worried about talking in their sleep or drunkenly letting the truth out.

Suppose they drunkenly claimed to be imperial relatives.

Suppose they said the Emperor of Great Yan was their son-in-law and brother-in-law.

Wasn’t that the most standard sort of drunken nonsense imaginable?

Who would believe it?

The Empress took over the cleaver and began selling pork.

Ji Chengjue walked voluntarily into the alley.

Eunuch Wei naturally followed.

When Old He saw his son-in-law coming, he instinctively rose.

Since the enthronement, the family met far less often. Only he was occasionally invited to see his grandson.

He was still nervous.

But he had grown slightly accustomed to it.

Old Guang was a member of the imperial clan, though a fairly impoverished branch. Otherwise his son would never have been trapped by such a small shortage of money when disaster struck the family, ultimately forcing his granddaughter to negotiate a marriage for bride-price.

He had opportunities to enter the palace during great festivals.

But people like him stood at the very back.

From that distance, the Emperor was little more than a fuzzy black dot.

They both carried the surname Ji.

That did not mean Old Guang recognized Ji Chengjue.

“Son-in-law, you’re here.”

Old He bent slightly at the waist.

Someone who knew the truth might call the gesture “neither servile nor arrogant.”

Someone who did not know... such as Old Guang... snorted.

“Old He, I’m not trying to criticize you, but what father-in-law stands up when the son-in-law arrives? There’s no such rule beneath Heaven.”

Then Old Guang slanted a glance at Ji Chengjue.

Seeing the young man calmly accept the gesture only made him more irritated.

“I don’t care what business you do outside. Government yamen, trade, whatever it is. You still ought to understand proper manners. What, do you really think you’re His Majesty the Emperor?”

Ji Chengjue nodded.

“You’re right.”

Seeing that the young man neither frowned nor grew angry, Old Guang’s irritation faded.

That was simply what kind of man he was.

He took rules seriously.

And practiced what he preached.

Besides, his granddaughter had married into the He family. This man before him was merely the He family’s son-in-law.

The relationship was distant enough that they barely counted as relatives.

“Sit.”

Old Guang somehow carried a little air of authority.

He turned another cup upright and poured wine.

Ji Chengjue sat down naturally.

Old He sat as well.

Old Guang did not ask Ji Chengjue exactly what he did for a living or what his household circumstances were.

He had already inquired before.

This son-in-law was not especially close to the He family and rarely visited.

He had not even attended the wedding when Old Guang’s granddaughter married He Chu, despite living right there in Yanjing rather than some distant corner of the realm.

Not coming meant distance.

If they were distant, there was no need to flatter him.

Old Guang had his pride.

He was close only to Old He.

“Right. Where was I?”

“Forgotten. Forgotten,” Old He said quickly.

“Oh.”

Old Guang patted his forehead and began trying to remember.

Old He absolutely did not want him to remember.

A moment earlier, this damned old friend had been complaining that the new sovereign was even harsher toward the imperial clan than the late Emperor had been!

“Ah! Another victory. Hahahaha.”

Old He forcefully changed the subject.

Old Guang stopped thinking and followed the new topic.

“Yes. Marquis Pingxi is Prince Jingnan’s final disciple, after all. And he accumulated enormous military merit very early. His marquisate is a genuine military title, far more solid than our First Master’s.”

When the late Emperor lived, members of the imperial clan had addressed the First Prince as First Highness.

After the late Emperor died and Sixth Highness ascended the throne, the clan began calling the First Prince “First Master.”

Compared with Marquis Pingxi’s military marquisate, the First Prince’s own title did indeed contain a fair amount of water.

Even the First Prince admitted that.

Court and countryside shared one general consensus.

Any military merit earned against Qian should be cut in half before you counted it.

Even if the original report contained no exaggeration at all.

And even leaving half intact was already showing respect.

“Killed one Pillar of State. Captured one Grand General alive. Tsk, tsk.” Old Guang drank some wine, tossed a piece of dried tofu into his mouth, and continued chewing. “In Qian terms, that’s like Marquis Pingxi killing two more Governors-General of the Three Frontiers. Heh-heh. Two whole shares of the merit our First Master used to earn his marquisate.”

Ji Chengjue reminded him:

“He also captured one of the Regent of Chu’s younger brothers alive. The eighth.”

“Oh? Did he? Your information is pretty quick. But capturing a royal clansman is mostly something colorful to talk about. It isn’t worth much in practical terms. Take me. I’m imperial clan too. Would capturing me be useful? So what if he’s the Regent’s younger brother? Of our current imperial Masters, only First Master is worth a damn. Lose one of the others and they’re not worth as much as a Garrison Commander. Back when Prince Jingnan broke into Ying Capital, a whole string of Chu princes burned to death. Aiyo. The Chu imperial clan really isn’t worth much. Not even their princes.”

Ji Chengjue nodded along.

“You’re right.”

Yan and Chu had fought several times over these past years.

By now, people cared far more about practical value.

Years ago, when Marquis Zheng killed Prince Fu of Qian, the merit had seemed great because the war had just begun.

But everyone knew perfectly well that Qian’s regional princes were essentially pigs being raised inside pens.

Old Guang continued with the subject.

“Marquis Pingxi has earned another enormous merit. So what comes next depends on whether our present Emperor has the breadth of heart the late Emperor possessed.”

Old He’s eyes widened in panic.

He immediately blurted:

“How could he not? How could he not? His Majesty and the late Emperor are the same. The same!”

Old Guang shook his head.

“Not necessarily. Not necessarily.”

Ji Chengjue asked:

“Why?”

“The late Emperor was harsh toward the imperial clan, true. But he was a genuine sovereign of towering talent and great strategy. Prince Jingnan. Prince Zhenbei. In any other state or dynasty, having even one man like that would make the Emperor want to kill him to the last. But our late Emperor did not. And precisely because the late Emperor possessed the breadth to tolerate such men, Great Yan became what it is today! As for our present Emperor and this Marquis Pingxi... well...”

Ji Chengjue asked:

“I heard His Majesty and Marquis Pingxi became friends when neither had risen in the world. Their relationship is supposedly... like brothers.”

“Pah!”

Old Guang waved one hand dismissively.

“Sharing hardship is easy. Sharing wealth and honor? Hard. And besides, they were hand-in-hand brothers back then. What are they now? Sovereign and subject. The gulf between sovereign and subject is deep as an abyss. The more rules appear, the less human warmth remains. How much closeness could still survive?”

“The late Emperor could tolerate two Princes. Why can’t the present Emperor tolerate one Marquis Pingxi?”

“Prince Jingnan came from the Tian Clan. Prince Zhenbei came from the Li Clan. Both were great houses with centuries behind them. Marquis Pingxi rose from the common people. That is different.”

“Oh? The great clans have already fallen. Does Yan now judge men by birth again?”

“No, no. I am not judging men by birth. There is meaning behind it. A wealthy house that has enjoyed glory for generations receives rank and riches almost by inheritance. Because those things come so easily, the people born there do not always cling to them quite as fiercely. But a man who rises from nothing and suddenly catches the wind... in one lifetime, he reaches a position other families required generations and a hundred years to achieve. Such a man’s heart can easily become unsatisfied.”

Ji Chengjue shook his head.

“How do I feel it is the suddenly wealthy who cling hardest to money and refuse to let it go?”

“True. Most people are like that.”

“Then...”

“But Marquis Pingxi is already one of Great Yan’s military Marquises, yet he still took the initiative to begin another war...”

“The Chu provoked him first.”

“Oh, spare me. That excuse is for fooling people.” Old Guang drank another mouthful of wine and continued smugly. “The Chu had their capital burned. Look how little time has passed. Instead of resting for several years, you think they are already desperate to start another war of revenge against Great Yan? Were they kicked in the head by a donkey?”

“That makes sense.”

“See? In my opinion, Marquis Pingxi’s hunger for advancement has not died. He still isn’t satisfied.”

“If he isn’t satisfied, what happens?”

“Exactly what I said earlier. Men like that eventually achieve merit so high it shakes the ruler. Then there is nothing left to grant them. Who can guarantee that one day Marquis Pingxi won’t suddenly get an itch in his backside and decide he wants to sit on His Majesty’s Dragon Throne for a while, just to see what it feels like?”

Ji Chengjue nodded.

Well... the bastard really had sat on it before.

Cold sweat had already begun running down Old He’s back.

If the circumstances had permitted, he genuinely wanted to stand up and slap his old in-law across the face.

Talk too much.

Talk too damned much!

Great Yan had always possessed a rougher public atmosphere. It never watched and controlled popular speech as tightly as Qian.

Of course, there were still subjects one handled carefully.

But this matter was much like the ministers openly impeaching Marquis Pingxi for arrogance earlier.

As long as your backside clearly stood on the Emperor’s side, you occupied the natural political high ground.

Guarding against a powerful minister.

Helping the Son of Heaven protect the stability of the state.

What could possibly be wrong with that?

By contrast, if someone wanted to accuse Marquis Pingxi of abducting common women or scraping the land three feet deep... few would dare.

Marquis Pingxi was still Marquis Pingxi.

Without political high ground and the protection of safety in numbers, hardly anyone wished to challenge a military Marquis alone.

Old Guang was also an imperial clansman surnamed Ji.

In the truest sense, he belonged to the family.

That lowered the risk of saying these things even further.

Ji Chengjue asked with genuine interest:

“Then do you hope His Majesty will be broader-minded, or do you hope he takes precautions before trouble begins?”

“Ai.”

Old Guang rubbed his face hard.

“The late Emperor and present Emperor have both treated the imperial clan poorly. That is obvious. I’m not afraid to say it. But precisely because the imperial clan has already declined so far... for a hundred years, defense against the Barbarians depended on the Li Clan. Now defense against the Savages and Chu depends on the Zheng household. The only member of our imperial clan who can still be brought out as a respectable military figure is First Master, and what does he defend against? Damned Qian men. Soft Qian men so tender you could pinch water out of them. Prince Zhenbei is gone. Prince Jingnan supposedly rode west after some young Barbarian prince. It has been so long and there is still no news. Great Yan has already lost two Princes. Fortunately, there is still Marquis Pingxi standing there and holding up appearances. What ordinary people want... is simply to feel secure.”

“Yes,” Ji Chengjue said firmly.

“But is anything beneath Heaven ever truly secure? If the late Emperor had been content with security, could Great Yan have become what it is today?”

“Mm.”

“His Majesty should understand that.”

“You’ve confused me now,” Ji Chengjue said. “I thought you knew what should be done.”

“Heh. I only know how to drink wine and talk nonsense. How could I truly know what should be done? That is His Majesty’s problem. Come. Another cup.”

Perhaps deliberately trying to show off in front of Old He’s son-in-law, Old Guang drank another cup. Color rose into his cheeks and his mouth opened again.

“Actually, family is family and state is state. What is good for one family may not be good for the state. And what is good for the state may not necessarily make one family safe. But I suppose...”

“You suppose?”

“I’m imperial clan.”

“Yes. You mentioned that.”

“There are some things ordinary people don’t know. People like me still hear scraps of talk from time to time.”

“You have good sources.”

“Ai.”

“Why sigh again?”

“Powerful ministers throwing states into chaos. There are countless examples through history. But under the late Emperor, Great Yan somehow created a precedent. We had powerful ministers and Princes stronger than anything the old histories warned about... and everything remained stable. You know what His Majesty told the civil and military officials and all the people beneath Heaven on the day of his enthronement? He said he would inherit the late Emperor’s final wish... and unify all Xia. So what happens next depends on how His Majesty chooses.”

“Chooses regarding whom?”

“Marquis Pingxi, of course.”

“What are the possibilities?”

“If His Majesty treats this lightly, adds another honorary title or two, and gives some gold and silver, ordinary men would be overwhelmed with gratitude. For Marquis Pingxi, it would mean almost nothing. That would tell us His Majesty seeks stability.”

“And the other possibility?”

“If His Majesty rewards him on a grand scale and grants exceptional favor beyond ordinary measure, then it means His Majesty’s ambition is not one bit smaller than the late Emperor’s!”

“Which do you think it will be?”

Old Guang patted his forehead.

Then lowered his voice.

“The Crown Prince has already been sent by His Majesty into eastern Jin. What else could it be? Probably the second.”

Ji Chengjue smiled.

“How would His Majesty show exceptional favor?”

Old Guang dipped a fingertip in wine and wrote one character on the little table.

Duke.

“A Duke of the Realm?” Ji Chengjue asked. “Back when Prince Jingnan and Prince Zhenbei were rewarded, they were raised directly to Prince.”

At the founding of Great Yan, noble titles for men outside the imperial surname had originally stopped at Marquis.

Old Guang shook his head.

“You need to leave some room. Besides, Prince Zhenbei and Prince Jingnan had the merit of destroying states and following the dragon to victory. Marquis Pingxi is still a little short of that. Leave one more step, and you leave yourself more ease for the future. Let him earn another great merit. Then raise him to Prince. There is no need to rush.”

Ji Chengjue shook his head.

“You disagree?” Old Guang asked irritably.

Ji Chengjue dipped his finger in wine as well.

Then, with great seriousness, wrote one character on the table.

Prince.

“I think if you’re not going to grant it, then don’t. But if you grant something... grant Prince directly.”

Old Guang snorted with disdain.

“You don’t understand. Raising him straight to Prince certainly feels satisfying. But what about later? Do you really think His Majesty is as shortsighted as you are?”

“Maybe he is.”

“Impudent! You dare insult His Majesty!”

Old Guang pointed at Ji Chengjue.

Old He immediately sprang up and covered Old Guang’s mouth.

“He’s drunk! He’s drunk! He’s drunk!”

“I’m not drunk. Let me... mmm! Mmm!”

Ji Chengjue sat there and looked at the character he himself had just written on the table.

He smiled.

...

Several days later, at the grand court assembly, more and more reports had arrived from the front.

The civil and military ministers now understood far more of the details of that campaign.

Because of distance and the delay in information, however, the extraordinary deed of Marquis Zheng publicly castrating Great Chu’s Grand General before tens of thousands of troops had not yet reached Yanjing.

The court that had earlier raged with impeachments against Marquis Zheng now stood in complete silence.

The Emperor’s position had first been established by sending the Crown Prince into eastern Jin.

Then, several days earlier, an edict sent to the Grand Secretariat had made his meaning perfectly explicit.

And after the Emperor began accepting the petitions of several elderly ministers to retire and return home... the atmosphere had been prepared completely.

The ministers standing in court had resisted.

They had struggled.

They had fought for what they wanted.

But they could not change the result.

They had barely survived the late Emperor’s era of “the sovereign decides all beneath Heaven” and “imperial authority above everything”... only to find the new sovereign dragging them back into it.

They had barely endured the curtain falling on two great Princes of different surnames... only for Marquis Pingxi to awaken once more the old terror of living beneath the shadow of a Prince holding vast military power.

His Majesty had decided.

Great Yan’s structure would return once more to the pattern everyone knew so well.

Because its regional Princes possessed terrifying military strength, Great Yan always looked dangerously unstable. A rebellion capable of overturning the entire court could theoretically erupt at any moment.

Yet precisely because those Princes remained “of one heart” with the Emperor, imperial authority gained something beyond even the Mandate of Heaven.

Everyone had to obey the Emperor.

Because the Emperor possessed the ability to mobilize armies... and rebel against himself!

Ji Chengjue sat upon the Dragon Throne.

He greatly enjoyed the expressions on his ministers’ faces.

And more and more... he began to understand how... comfortable... his father must have felt when sitting on this same throne.

If he had never sat here himself... perhaps he truly could never have imagined that kind of pleasure.

Ji Chengjue raised one hand and pointed toward Wei Zhonghe.

“Wei Zhonghe. Read the edict.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Wei Zhonghe stepped forward.

He opened the imperial decree.

“By mandate of Heaven, the Emperor decrees: Zheng Fan, Imperial Son-in-Law, Grand General Who Completes the State, Grand Tutor to the Crown Prince, and Marquis Pingxi, has served the realm with public loyalty and won repeated merit in war. He stands as a wing of the state and guards Heavenly Yan. His name shines in the present age, his achievements shall endure for a thousand autumns. Now, in accordance with Heaven’s will, We hereby enfeoff Marquis Pingxi Zheng Fan as a Prince of Great Yan... Prince Pingxi!”

[End of Chapter 793]