At this time, Bai Lang still felt that it was a good thing that he had not broken through the fourth level. He could not do anything to those women, but he was naturally doing them justice - "I will be gone in ten years at most. It would be troublesome if I leave behind a group of wives and concubines... It is better not to provoke them from the beginning." Bai Lang felt that he was a rare good person who could even think about other people.
"Maybe this is what it means to be cowardly..." Bai Lang thought about this while imitating the actions of the senior military officers and nobles standing next to him and performing the formal etiquette. He still stood out very much - young and tall, with a similar appearance. The Emperor Chongzhen above him could clearly see Bai Lang who was standing in front of him.
At this time, the impatient emperor was very satisfied with Bai Lang. After the three kneelings and nine kowtows at the grand court, the ceremony began, and the officials from the Ministry of Rites read out the announcement of Bai Lang's award. "I'm really just a step away from getting a title." Bai Lang thought, but he didn't have any idea about the three kneelings and nine kowtows - modern people just go to any temple to worship Buddha.
But having a title is actually nothing, a military commander becomes a noble with a title, and nobles are now nothing more than trash. Bai Lang felt very proud when someone read out his reward, "It's worth the fight on the battlefield. As expected, fame and fortune can only be gained on horseback, what a hero! It's better to train your muscles and bones for ten years in the battlefield to fight for fame and fortune with swords and guns than to learn from the scholars who study hard for ten years! Only then can you live up to the man's lifelong ambition!"
Bai Lang naturally revealed a look of self-boasting and pride, the kind of pride that came from fighting his way to fame among thousands of soldiers. A smug smile appeared on the corners of Bai Lang's mouth, without any of the "humility" of a traditional scholar-official. He seemed to be glowing, and everyone else could feel his complacent aura.
"It's good to be young!" The "old man" of the Prime Minister actually muttered, and Emperor Chongzhen was in a good mood, thinking that the young prince's guardian in front of him was really a meritorious official of the Ming Dynasty. But there was something in the last part of the announcement, which Bai Lang felt was somewhat ironic - that was the reward formulated according to the ancestral system of Taizu, "a reward of fifty taels of silver"...
This is the reward for completely defeating Li Zicheng's army, forcing him to disappear, and basically suppressing the rebellion of the bandits... Fifty taels of silver is really ugly to say, even more ugly than the 200,000 taels of silver Cao Bin of the Northern Song Dynasty received for destroying the Southern Tang Dynasty - although in terms of calculation, they are both about the same, and the things given by the superiors are just as little...
After the grand court meeting, Bai Lang was summoned by the emperor along with other cabinet leaders. Since most of the bandits had been pacified, the priority now was to stabilize the local area, otherwise the bandits would continue to come. After Li Chuang Wang was gone, another Zhao Chuang Wang would appear. If things continued like this, the Ming Dynasty would be doomed. Bai Lang was not allowed to speak in this regard. He could only stand aside and listen. When it was his turn, he would basically receive a few compliments, but he would not be given anything else to do. "Is this what it means to worship him?" Bai Lang thought.
Anyway, it was not his turn to take care of it, and Bai Lang did not want to take care of it either - just thinking about it gave him a headache, so he should let the people who should take care of it take care of it themselves, he was just a warrior who killed people for reward. "Fortunately, I remember that after Zhang Xianzhong and Li Zicheng became powerful and were defeated and eliminated, a lot of people died... So, in this way, the people in the disaster-stricken areas in the north during the Little Ice Age should have died, right? The remaining people should be able to survive..." Bai Lang thought about the knowledge he had gained from studying history and reading online articles.
During the Little Ice Age at the end of the Ming Dynasty, grain production in the north dropped significantly. To solve this problem, one must either have efficient administrative capabilities to send grain from the south to the disaster-stricken areas in the north and distribute it fairly, or eliminate the population by oneself. Once the number of deaths is below a certain level, the problem is solved... The Ming Dynasty was completely unable to achieve the first point, so it could only achieve the second point. From this perspective, the so-called appeasement is actually completely useless...
Bai Lang was thinking about this question by himself, and for a moment he didn't notice that everyone's topic had turned to him. Fortunately, he quickly reacted, and the emperor smiled and said, "The name that Sun Aiqing gave Bai Aiqing is also good! Bai Yuzhu, it is indeed the white jade pillar that supports the sky and the purple gold beam that spans the sea of ​​my Ming Dynasty! And Sun Aiqing and Deng Aiqing should be the first to pacify the bandits this time!"
The rest of the discussion also did not require Bai Lang, but the emperor asked the eunuch to take Bai Lang to see the prince, which was a great favor. The prince was only five or six years younger than Bai Lang, and he was very curious about meeting the youngest minister and the prince's guardian of this dynasty.
However, the prince of the Zhu family was well educated. Although he was curious when facing Bai Lang, he was not at all impolite. He did not ask Bai Shaobao, "You must be very happy to kill people? Tell me so that I can be happy too?" Although Bai Lang did want to talk nonsense with the prince, it seemed that the prince just talked to him in a proper manner at the beginning.
But in the end, the prince couldn't help but say, "Bai Shaobao charged into battle, beheaded generals and cut flags, this martial arts must be very strong, right? I heard from my father that Bai Shaobao is invulnerable to swords and spears?" Bai Lang laughed, "Your Highness is right, I have indeed practiced a magical skill. The Thirteen Taibao practiced the Golden Bell Cover, and I have made a small improvement, I am indeed invulnerable to swords and spears!"
However, Bai Lang couldn't perform martial arts in front of the prince. Fortunately, the Forbidden City had its own aura to suppress him. Bai Lang's evil spirit was not very obvious here. The tiger's power was restrained and did not scare the prince. Since he was an official in the Ming Dynasty, as his master, he could naturally counter Bai Lang's tiger power. When he was on your side, I'm afraid that his tiger power was not strong enough...
The prince listened to Bai Lang's talk. Bai Lang took the initiative to talk about his own achievements in the battlefield. The prince listened with great interest. However, under the eunuch's suggestion, he still comforted Bai Lang according to the rules and went back. Bai Lang also sighed, "This is really not happy!" Except for a few, the emperors of the Ming Dynasty could only wander around in the Forbidden City all their lives. At most, they would go out for a trip to worship the gods and ancestors, and they would go around Beijing.
How could it be that Bai Lang, a military commander, could theoretically go anywhere. Speaking of which, since Bai Lang was appointed as the Left Commander of the Crown Prince's Guard, he has not actually held any position, and seems to have been kept in Beijing. "This courtyard is quite nice!" The courtyard in the city that was given to him was indeed worthy of the position of the Crown Prince's Guard of the Ming Dynasty, and Bai Lang thought it was good to settle down and practice martial arts seriously now. "The way of civil and martial arts is to relax and work hard, and you can't just rely on chopping heads on the battlefield to practice."