Not long after the victor was decided, the eunuch from before appeared again to summon Zhang Dingguo and Hu Jinghui on behalf of the Emperor.
Moreover, this eunuch had specially informed them that the Emperor was very satisfied with the process of this competition. It could be said that the Emperor was very happy and would definitely reward the two lords heavily!
"This humble subject has completed the competition under your orders. Please instruct me, Your Majesty!”
"Yes, it's alright. The two beloved ministers can be said to be the brave champions of the three armies. For our Great Zhou to obtain your tiger generals, it's really the heavens that favor the Great Zhou!”
Wu Zetian didn't notice that Hu Jinghui's face wasn't red and he wasn't panting. However, Zhang Dingguo had not fully recovered due to the intense exercise. He was still breathing heavily. Or maybe he had noticed it, but he just didn't want to talk about it.
"Jinghui."
"I'm here!"
"Your performance today was not bad. You displayed the heroic bearing of a royal guard. I'll reward you with a thousand taels of silver!”
"I thank Your Majesty for your kindness. Long live my Emperor!”
After Hu Jinghui finished thanking him, he retreated to the sides a little happily.
With this unexpected fortune, he could buy some exquisite jewelry for his beloved Princess Big-Boobs. Although Li Qing Xia was the princess of Yi Yang, she was still a member of the Li Tang royal family, so her life was not very good. She did not have much money to enjoy.
He did not expect that he would be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver just because he had competed today. Was this all thanks to Zhang Dingguo? Should he find an opportunity to thank her in the future?
After rewarding Hu Jinghui, it was Zhang Dingguo's turn.
"Dingguo."
"Your humble subject is here!"
"In this martial arts examination, you first won the first place in weight bearing, foot archery, and riding archery, and then in the last round of horse battle, you suppressed all the talents. Therefore, I want to appoint you as the martial arts champion of this martial arts examination. I will also reward you with a thousand taels of silver and a mansion in Luoyang.
As for what official position to give you…
Xiaojie, I wonder if there are any vacancies among the guards in the capital?”
Although Zhang Dingguo's reward seemed to be more than Hu Jinghui's, this included the reward for the top scorer, so it was not that Wu Zetian was biased.
As for the Xiaojie Wu Zetian mentioned, it was the Great General of the Right Wei Wei, Wang Xiaojie, who appeared for the first time in the Chongzhou case.
However, he was much more awe-inspiring than when he was in Chongzhou! A year ago, he had defeated the Tubo army. After winning the victory, he was promoted to the Minister of War, the Third Rank of Tongfeng Pavilion and Luan Tai, and was granted the title of Qingyuan County Male. This was the time when he was most favored by Wu Zetian.
"Your Majesty, what rank do you want to give the scholar? If he was above the sixth rank, since the Ministry of War had already filled the vacancies of the guards in the capital at the end of last year, there would probably be no suitable positions for the top scholar in the short term.”
Rank-6 official? What kind of concept was that? According to the official position of a general, the highest was Zhao Wu Lieutenant.
At Rank-5, even the lowest rank below Rank-5 was a guerrilla general.
Although the difference wasn't big, one was the highest-ranked lieutenant, and the other was the lowest-ranked general. But a general was a general, at least it sounded better than a lieutenant! Moreover, did the Zhang family go against the lieutenant? Was it that difficult to be a general?
However, Zhang Dingguo could not say anything. After all, he had just entered the court as an official. It was normal for him to be ranked first.
Moreover, a sixth-grade official was not a small one. For example, Zeng Tai, a literary scholar, was still a seventh-grade county magistrate after more than ten years.
However, just as Zhang Dingguo was about to accept his fate, Wu Zetian did not want to settle Zhang Dingguo down so easily.
"Rank-6? It was too small. No matter what, it should be given to a fourth-grade official!
Why don't we do this, Dingguo, I will grant you the title of General of the Inspection School Guard, below the fourth grade.
Work first, familiarize yourself with military affairs, and then learn the art of war from Xiaojie. When there's a real vacancy in the future, I'll transfer you!”
What shocked the officials was that Wu Zetian actually promoted Zhang Dingguo to a fourth-grade Lieutenant General. This was a high-ranking military position!
Although this wasn't the first time Wu Zetian had directly promoted a person to Rank Four, for example, a few years ago, wasn't Shaer Han directly promoted from the market to Rank Four General Supervisor? However, a general supervisor was only a person who made things. It was not a big deal who was appointed as a supervisor, but a military position was very different!
Could it be that Wu Zetian was in such a hurry to cultivate the military power that was directly under the Wu family because her body was not good enough? Or did he want to abolish the Crown Prince and directly make Wu Sansi the heir? Or was there some other reason?
In any case, Wu Zetian's decision to make a decision like this had caused all the civil and military officials in the court to let their imaginations run wild…
"I thank the heavens for their kindness. Long live my emperor!”
Zhang Dingguo was too lazy to care about what others thought. He had to get the benefits first.
Moreover, wasn't he just a general of the school's security guards? To put it bluntly, wasn't it just for show? Other than saying that it was very prestigious, wasn't it actually a virtual position with no real power?
For example, Li Yuanfang, who had once served as a Lieutenant General of the Inspection Thousand Bull Guard and even the General of the Inspection Thousand Bull Guard. This official position sounded really nice, but in reality, wasn't it just Di Renjie's Guard Captain? Didn't he only manage eight people? (Four of the eight commanders had died in the line of duty.）
Therefore, no matter what official position it was, as long as the word " inspector " was added, it was equivalent to the person only enjoying the treatment of the official position but not the real power of the official position.
However, for Zhang Dingguo, who was only twenty years old and had just entered the imperial court, an official position below the fourth rank was already a pretty good starting point. He would probably wake up laughing even in his dreams…
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