There was no doubt that the surrender of the northwest generals was an important factor in the success of the Mawei Front Army's northern expedition.
At that time, Li Wen had led an army of one hundred thousand to attack Ma Wei, but Ma Wei only had sixty thousand soldiers. However, the situation had dramatically changed in the end. Of Li Wen's army of one hundred thousand, more than ninety thousand joined Ma Wei's side. Ma Wei had quickly gathered more than a hundred thousand soldiers to attack Guanzhong. With the momentum of a ferocious tiger descending the mountain, he charged into Guanzhong and rampaged.
After the fall of Li Wen, the Northern Expeditionary Army only spent a few months to take over the Guanzhong and several large military districts in the northwest. The power of the Ming Army collapsed and surrendered one after another. Among the high-ranking civil officials, there were two who surrendered, one was the Ningxia Inspector-General Zhu Zhengse, the other was the Gansu Inspector-General Tian Le. The rest of the low-ranking officials were countless.
There were also many officials who were arrested, such as Li Wen and Liu Guangguo. More importantly, the King of Shu, Zhu Xuanqi and his family were among those who were arrested.
As a result, Zhang Yanshou, who took the lead in surrendering, was conferred the title of Marquis of Order, Niu Bingzhong was conferred the title of Marquis of Jia, Du Tong was conferred the title of Marquis of Ganquan, and Li Ruzhang was conferred the title of Marquis of Chunhua.
The former Marquis of Feng City was killed by Shen Yicheng. Deng Zilong happened to be from Feng City, so he was conferred the title of Marquis of Feng City.
Liu Chi was also conferred the title of Marquis of Nanchang due to his outstanding military exploits.
Ma Wei was the main general and had contributed the most. He was conferred the title of Marquis Shunyi.
Wang Hui's experience could be said to be legendary. He was conferred the title of Marquis of Pacifying Invaders, which Xiao Ruxun had once obtained, to show his favor.
Ma Jin, a descendant of the Ma family who had surrendered to the Xuan family, was conferred the title of Marquis of Xincheng.
There were more than twenty people who were conferred the title of Earl. There were those who did not have sons in the Ming Dynasty, so Xiao Ruxun picked up the title of Earl again and rewarded them greatly.
Although everyone was curious about why Xiao Ruxun wasn't conferred the title of Duke, they didn't think too much about it. Xiao Ruxun hosted a banquet in the Extreme Emperor Palace to entertain his generals. The generals all attended the banquet in high spirits.
They really didn't expect that they would become the founding fathers of the country. When this unexpected surprise hit them on the head, they still couldn't believe it. Later on, they gradually accepted the reality, and then they were ecstatic.
What could be more interesting than suddenly becoming a founding hero?
Becoming a meritorious contributor to the founding of the country, obtaining the title of a founding noble, not having to worry about being attacked, obtaining wealth, power, and dignity. Was there anything happier than this?
They didn't need any persuasion and immediately became generals of the Daqin.
His speed was really fast.
The banquet was a joyous one for the emperor and his ministers. They were all sent to the mansion that Xiao Ruxun had prepared for them in the capital to rest.
However, the disciples of the Ma Clan were all left behind.
Currently, in Xiao Ruxun's army, three of the Ma Clan's children were conferred the title of Marquis.
Ma Wei was conferred the title of Marquis of Shunyi.
Ma Chong was conferred the title of Marquis of Fang Shan.
Ma Jin was conferred the title of Marquis of New City.
There were also a few children who were conferred viscounts and barons. In short, the children of the Ma Family had more titles than the children of the Li Family. The two great families of generals who were known as the Li Family of the East and the Ma Family of the West in the Great Ming Dynasty were equally illustrious in the Great Qin Dynasty.
The Li Clan was compensated for offering the power of Liaodong, while the Ma Clan was purely because they bet on Xiao Ruxun. Most of the family turned to Xiao Ruxun. There were more than 20 active disciples of the Ma Clan in the army. They were very brave and good at fighting. During the early establishment of the Zhennan Army, they provided a lot of help to Xiao Ruxun who lacked officers.
And now, Xiao Ruxun had a very good gift to give them.
"I have a gift for you."
With a smile on his face, Xiao Ruxun clapped his hands. Suddenly, the disciples of the Ma Clan saw the door of the side room was opened, and then Ma Gui came out.
The disciples of the Ma Clan were surprised and delighted. They looked at Xiao Ruxun and Ma Gui with surprise and joy.
Then, Xiao Ruxun told them about Ma Gui's experience in the past half a year, and they all felt very sad.
Taking this opportunity, Xiao Ruxun let Ma Gui return to the military world and return to the sun as a reward for Ma Gui handing over Mei Guozhen.
Ma Gui was conferred the title of Marquis of Boye, and four disciples of the Ma Clan had been conferred the title of Marquis. Suddenly, they surpassed the Li Clan and became the first family of generals in the Daqin Dynasty.
Looking at the surprise of the disciples of the Ma Clan, Xiao Ruxun smiled slightly and asked them to go back to reminisce about the old days. Then, he called Zhou Yao and Zhang Wu.
Zhang Wu arrived at the capital one day earlier than the northwestern generals and was ignored by Xiao Ruxun for a day. Obviously, he already knew why Xiao Ruxun had ignored him. After seeing Xiao Ruxun, he expressed in fear and trepidation that he had made a mistake and hoped that Xiao Ruxun would not blame him and give him a chance to turn over a new leaf.
"I can give you a chance, but what will you give me in return?"
Xiao Ruxun stared at Zhang Wu, causing Zhang Wu to break out in cold sweat.
"From now on, Black Water will deal with the military and the external forces, while Black Poison will deal with the internal forces. Each of you will perform your duties. Zhang Wu, hand over all the surveillance tasks and manpower you have. From now on, you will be responsible for spying on the military intelligence. I want all the spies of Black Water to infiltrate the countries around the Great Ming Dynasty. Whether it's Korea, Nihon, or Siam, infiltrate them all.
Zhang Wu quickly knelt on the ground and nodded repeatedly.
"I understand!"
Then, Xiao Ruxun gently instructed Zhou Yao, "From now on, all the surveillance and execution tasks will be handed over to you. Whether it's the generals or the civil officials, you have to keep an eye on them, especially those on the blacklist. They may be holding back now, but they will take action sooner or later."
Zhou Yao knelt on the ground and kowtowed, "Thank you for your trust, Your Majesty!"
Then, Zhou Yao immediately showed his professionalism to repay Xiao Ruxun's kindness.
"High Duke Cheng seems to have some complaints about His Majesty not giving him any real power. He even went to High Duke Wei to discuss it."
"What was the result?"
Xiao Ruxun asked.
"High Duke Wei said that it's normal for His Majesty not to give him any real power. He wants High Duke Cheng to be honest and keep a low profile. He doesn't want to jump up and down all the time. High Duke Cheng seems to accept it on the surface, but secretly, he seems to have some complaints. He thinks that His Majesty is not kind enough to give him 500,000 taels of silver without giving him any real power."
"Not kind enough?"
Xiao Ruxun chuckled, "Those who are not kind should all be captured and tortured to make them spit out all their family property. I even let them keep their family property, their lives, and even their titles of nobility. Now, it seems that I've been too kind to them, so they don't know what kindness is."
Zhou Yao immediately asked, "What does His Majesty plan to do? Do you want to … "
Zhou Yao made a throat-slitting gesture on his neck.
"Nothing, nothing, just endure it."
Xiao Ruxun smiled and said, "Either we don't do it, or we go to the extreme. If we hit the grass now, it'll be easy to alert the snake. How are your preparations for the things I've arranged for you?"
"The preparations are almost done. As long as His Majesty gives the order, we'll definitely be able to take Zhao Shiqing's life immediately. Clean."
"Hmm, don't do anything first. We have to wait and see what else those monsters want to do. It's best if they all show their heads so I can kill them in one go!"
The cold light in Xiao Ruxun's eyes shone brightly.
"As you wish!"
Zhou Yao immediately took the order.
Then, after giving some instructions, Xiao Ruxun asked Zhang Wu and Zhou Yao to leave together.
"Commander Zhang, I'll send someone to get the list of people in charge of all the surveillance tasks in Black Water. Please prepare it."
Zhou Yao briefly explained to Zhang Wu what Xiao Ruxun told him.
Zhang Wu frowned.
"Don't think that you can do whatever you want with His Majesty's order. Boy, when I followed His Majesty to Myanmar and Nanyang, I don't even know where you were. Be polite to me, or I'll teach you how to respect your seniors."
Zhou Yao sneered.
"I'm His Majesty's dog. I just do what His Majesty tells me to do. Commander Zhang, be careful not to do too many things that His Majesty doesn't tell you. Otherwise, if Commander Zhang is on His Majesty's blacklist, it'll be very difficult for me to be your brother."
Zhang Wu's pupils shrank.
"You …"
"Hush ~"
Zhou Yao raised a finger and grinned. "We're officials of the same court, so we'd better cooperate sincerely. Otherwise, it'll be a small matter if we hurt our friendship, but it'll be bad if His Majesty gets angry."
After that, Zhou Yao grinned and walked away.
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