In Yangzhou City, news came that Gao Huan defeated the Qing army, and the city was filled with joy.

This great victory not only resolved the crisis of the Hongguang small court, but also caused a change in the attitude of the gentry and wealthy people in Jiangbei toward Gao Huan.

Before, they were actually very dissatisfied with Gao Huan, but after experiencing the plunder of the Qing army, they saw many families destroyed and the gentry in Jiangnan was robbed by Zuozhen, they began to gradually discover that Gao Huan was actually okay in comparison.

With Gao Huan sending a team of prisoners to Yangzhou, the officials, gentry and wealthy families in the city held a series of celebration activities.

Emperor Hongguang has never been very strict in power, and this time he also led all officials to sacrifice to comfort Emperor Yizong's spirit in heaven.

After a series of celebrations, it is to appease the people, restore people's livelihood and order, and reward those who have made contributions.

However, the territory of the Hongguang court has been lost now, so it is considered that it is a guest living in Liang State. The Liang State government has done it to appease the people and restore people's livelihood.

Now there is only one thing left in Hongguang’s court, rewarding those who have made meritorious contributions.

During the Battle of Jiashan, most of the troops that Hongguang court participated in the war were reimbursed by the war. The main members of the Liang army participated in the counterattack, and the Hongguang court did not need to be rewarded.

The only thing Hongguang court can do now is to discuss how to reward Gao Huan.

At this time, in Yangzhou City, Zhou Yanru and the exiled court officials discussed that Duke Liang almost wiped out the Qing army southward and captured the slave chief Dorgon, and made great achievements.

In the more than 270 years of the Ming Dynasty, ministers from other surnames generally did not grant titles to be kings, and they had to wait for their death to be posthumously awarded gifts.

However, Gao Huan's achievements were too great this time, and the pseudo-Ming court established by the Qing Dynasty had broken the rules, so the Hongguang court could only give Gao Huan the title of king.

Although many pedantic people in the court still held the rules of ancestors, with Zhou Yanru's strong push, they finally decided to grant Gao Huan the title of Prince of Xinzheng.

After the cabinet agreed, it reported to Zhu Yousong. Zhu Yousong immediately used a large seal and sent an internal official to enthrone Gao Huan.

~~~~~~~

June, Xuzhou.

Gao Huan is handling military affairs in the public housing.

At present, the affairs of the Liang State are extremely complicated. The Huaihe River needs to be restored and the Yellow River breaks needs to be blocked as soon as possible. Finally, as the temperature rises, the bodies in the Yellow River area rot, making it easy to form a large-scale plague.

In order to prevent the situation, the Liang State made preparations in advance, and did not take advantage of the opportunity to attack the Qing Dynasty, nor did they have time to deal with Zuo Liangyu and Zheng Zhilong.

At this time, Gao Huan was reviewing the memorial sent by Li Yan, saying that the vassal states had bottomed out of their grain reserves, and hoped that Gao Huan could find a way to buy a batch of rice and grain from Huguang as soon as possible.

After Gao Huan promoted the cultivation of sweet potatoes and corn on a large scale, Henan's grain was already self-sufficient, and Gao Huan would spend a sum of silver every year to go to Huguang to buy grain and store it in the warehouse for emergencies.

But the damage caused to Liang State by the Qing army's invasion of the south was too great.

There is no harvest in eastern Henan this year, and the summer harvest in the two Huaihe Rivers has basically ended.

This made the Liang State's food become tense, and this is one of the reasons why Gao Huan did not continue to use troops.

After Gao Huan defeated the Qing army, Zuo Liangyu blocked the Yangtze River and banned grain merchants from selling grain to Liang State, causing a grain shortage in Liang State.

"The vassal lord, the imperial envoy has arrived in Xuzhou." Yang Yan appeared outside the public housing and reported.

"I understand!" Gao Huan didn't raise his head. He had long known from Gao Yan's letters to him that the emperor had sent an eunuch to come and proclaim him the imperial edict and granted him the king.

At this time, Gao Huan slowly wrote a letter, instructing the guards to send someone to Jiangnan to Zuo Liangyu, and then stood up, put down what he had done, and "summon everyone to wait for the imperial edict in the festival."

Soon, Gao Huan moved to the festival hall, and many officials in Xuzhou City rushed over and gathered together.

Everyone in the hall knew in their hearts that the Liang army had made great contributions to encirclement and annihilation of Dorgon this time, and the people from Yangzhou would definitely reward Gao Huan.

Now Gao Huan is already a Duke of the Kingdom, and it is time to be crowned king in the future.

Everyone is happy for Gao Huan and for themselves. After all, only when Gao Huan is crowned as the king can everyone be promoted to their titles.

A moment later, several eunuchs followed Yang Yan into the festival hall. Gao Huan then stood up from the middle hall, walked up, and smiled and said, "The messenger has worked hard all the way!"

"Duke Liang is so polite!" The eunuch in charge hurriedly said, "This time, the Duke made great contributions, and our family will congratulate the Duke first."

Gao Huan smiled and said, "It's easy to say! It's easy to say!"

At this time, the eunuch saw that Gao Huan was ready, and bowed and said, "Then our family will announce the order."

Gao Huan nodded, and when he saw the eunuch take out the yellow scroll, he immediately swung his python robe and led a group of Liang State officials to bow down.

At this time, the eunuch recited: "The Emperor of Conquest of Heaven and Chengyun, the emperor said: Gao Huan, Duke of Liang, was loyal to the king and was both wise and brave. He destroyed more than 100,000 Jiannu's army and captured the slave leader Dorgon alive. Yang, the power of the Ming Dynasty avenged Emperor Yizong, and the military power shocked the world. Your family is really the tiger minister of the country and my Han Yue. Now I specially sent an envoy to grant you the title of the Prince of Xinzheng to show your achievements. I hope you will follow the general principles of the great army and wipe out Jiannu to help you revive the great cause. Don't let me down! I admire this!"

After reading, the eunuch slowly closed his hand, held it in front of Gao Huan with both hands, and smiled and said, "Your Highness, please accept the order."

After hearing the order, Gao Huan bowed coldly, stood up, and said in a deep voice: "I would like to ask the envoy to tell Your Majesty that this order cannot be accepted by the minister. Duke of Liang is enough to demonstrate his achievements, and there is no need to be appointed as a prince."

As soon as these words were said, the eunuch who was sending the order was stunned, and even the many generals behind him were stunned.

How many people are looking forward to being the king, but why does the vassal lord refuse?

The eunuch who sent the order thought he had heard it wrong and couldn't help but ask, "Your Highness, what's the point?"

Gao Huan waved his hand and said in a deep voice: "Just tell Your Majesty the truth!"

Gao Huan did not accept the edict, and the eunuch had no choice but to salute him and go back to report to Hongguang court.

After the eunuch left, many Liang generals couldn't help but be anxious. Hao Yaoqi asked: "Why can't the vassal lord be the king for such a great contribution?"

Gao Huan looked back and saw everyone at a glance, but said loudly: "It is precisely because of this great contribution that he cannot accept the reward of this prince. Zuo Liangyu and Zheng Zhilong have become princes. If this vassal is to be a king, how can he be with the rats?"

When many Liang generals heard the words, they breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone thought that the vassal lord had a sudden ingenuity and wanted to be loyal to the emperor and patriotism. Now they couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

"Yes! With the achievements of the king, if you want to do it, be the king who will stand shoulder to shoulder." Zhou Fugui and others hurriedly echoed.

~~~~~~

In Yangzhou City, the eunuch informed Zhou Yanru and others about Gao Huan's refusal to accept the order.

When many ministers heard the words, they looked at each other, "Why didn't Duke Liang accept the order!"

Zhou Yanru sighed. He understood Gao Huan's meaning and understood that Gao Huan was not noble, but was dissatisfied with the title of prince and wanted to be a prince. So he said in a deep voice: "Re-print the order!"

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