The disgraced official I took care of was actually Zhu Houcong's childhood friend.

Chapter 700

Wen Zhengming always felt guilty about accepting the credit, since he was captured by Mang Ruiti from beginning to end, Zhou Chu was the one who planned it, and Hu Zongxian and Zhao Zhenji were the ones who carried it out.

Wen Zhengming naturally dared not acknowledge Yang Shen's words.

"Third among the meritorious officials of the Zhenwu Hall: Lord Wen Bi, Wen Zhengming."

Huang Jin's voice rang out again.

Wen Zhengming was ranked third, which was added by Jiajing at the last minute. The original third place was Lu Bing, after all, Jiajing had some favoritism towards his childhood friend, and the civil and military officials could understand it.

However, Wen Zhengming's actions in Southeast Asia made it difficult for Jiajing to rank him after Lu Bing. After all, Lu Bing's apparent achievement was the reconquest of Annam. Although Annam was reconquered by Yun Jin, they were all family, and Yun Jin had long ago given the credit to his elder brother.

However, the difficulty of recovering Annam and recovering the rest of Southeast Asia is obviously not on the same level. Even though Jiajing favored Lu Bing, he could not rank Wen Zhengming after Lu Bing.

Moreover, Wen Zhengming resolved everything from the pretext of sending troops to the eventual unification of Southeast Asia without even requiring the Ming Dynasty to send troops.

The pretext for sending troops against the Le Dynasty was provided by Ouyang Bijin.

There is basically no objection to Wen Zhengming's ranking. In fact, many people think that Wen Zhengming's ranking is too low and that he should be ranked second. However, these thoughts are just kept to themselves and no one would say them out loud.

Everyone offered their congratulations to Wen Zhengming.

Wen Zhengming himself was somewhat bewildered. He had thought he would enter the Zhenwu Hall, but he never expected his ranking to be so high. This made him feel increasingly guilty, wondering if he could only achieve such a high ranking because of the contributions of the two young men, Hu Ruzhen and Hu Ruzhen.

"How could I possibly deserve third place?"

Wen Zhengming said.

"Teacher, there is no need to be modest. You have solved the problem of having a legitimate reason for war for the Ming Dynasty and completely wiped out the Southeast Asia. No one can compare to your achievements. You are worthy of being ranked third."

Seeing Wen Zhengming's expression, Zhou Chu knew what he was thinking. Zhou Chu had always known that Wen Zhengming did not fully appreciate his own merits. After all, from Wen Zhengming's perspective, he hadn't actually done anything. In fact, Wen Zhengming felt that since he hadn't died in the Dongyu Dynasty, how could he be worthy of such great merits?

But whether from Jiajing's perspective or from the perspective of others, Wen Zhengming's contributions are well-deserved and without any exaggeration.

"Fourth Meritorious Official of Zhenwu Hall: Lord Lu Bing, Lu Wenfu".

Huang Jin continued reading.

At this moment, Lu Bing stood beside Jiajing, protecting his safety. He was quite far from the others, who all glanced at him to express their congratulations.

"Ranked fifth in the Zhenwu Hall: General Lu Yunjin, the Northern Garrison Commander."

"Ranked sixth in the Zhenwu Hall: Lord Yang Yiqing, also known as Lord Yang Yingning."

"Ranked seventh in the Zhenwu Hall: General Lin Lu, who has been sent to pacify the land."

"Ranked eighth in the Zhenwu Hall: Lord Ouyang Bijin".

"Ranked ninth in the Zhenwu Hall: Lord Meng Ji."

"Ranked tenth in the Zhenwu Hall: General Wang Zhi".

............

As Huang Jin read out the rankings one by one, some people were happy while others were sad. Wang Xian, Zhang Cong, and Han Jie were all extremely happy. They had entered the Zhenwu Hall and their rankings were not low, all in the teens.

The happiest people are those who were unsure if they could get in, but still did. Although their rankings were a bit low, they were still admitted to the True Martial Hall. As for their rankings, they have plenty of time to work hard and improve them later.

The saddest are those who had a chance to get in but didn't.

Soon, Huang Jin finished reading out the names of the thirty-six meritorious officials of the Zhenwu Hall.

The reason there are thirty-six is ​​because Jiajing chose the number thirty-six of the Heavenly Gang.

"My dear ministers, this ranking is one that I have carefully considered before deciding who will enter the Zhenwu Hall. Do not be complacent, as you may be squeezed out by others in the future. Those who did not make it should not be discouraged, as there will be plenty of opportunities in the future."

Seeing the varying reactions of his civil and military officials, Jiajing stepped forward and began to paint a rosy picture for them.

Upon hearing this, the officials, who had been somewhat disheartened, immediately perked up.

Yes, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future, so why be upset about temporary gains or losses?

"I deliberately chose the number 36. The Lingyan Pavilion of the Tang Dynasty had 24 meritorious officials, but I feel that 24 is not enough for me. After all, the Ming Dynasty will definitely surpass the Tang Dynasty. In the future, the Ming Dynasty will surely produce many famous officials and fierce generals. As for Hu Ruzhen and Zhao Mengjing, they have not yet entered officialdom, so I will not include them in the list for now. We will discuss it after they enter officialdom. In my opinion, even 36 may not be enough, but this is the only way."

Jiajing laughed.

As soon as Jiajing said this, the atmosphere at the scene immediately relaxed a lot.

"Your Majesty, Holy Might!"

Yang Yiqing said loudly.

If anyone is most satisfied with this ranking of the True Martial Hall, it would undoubtedly be Yang Yiqing. Yang Yiqing never dared to hope to be ranked in the top three. This ranking is the highest ranking Yang Yiqing has ever thought of. At his age, to be able to catch this last train, Yang Yiqing has a dreamlike feeling.

More than a decade ago, during the reign of Emperor Zhengde, Yang Yiqing was still scheming against his colleagues. The young Yang Yiqing was not like this now; back then, he harbored ambitions to govern the country.

But after actually entering officialdom, Yang Yiqing discovered that the officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was far darker than he had imagined. This darkness did not originate from the emperor; it seemed that there was a dark hand pushing the entire officialdom from behind the scenes.

Later, Yang Yiqing realized that the mastermind behind this was none other than the interest group in Jiangnan, or rather, not only the interest group in Jiangnan, but the entire officialdom of the Ming Dynasty was divided into several factions, among which the Jiangnan faction held a dominant position.

This made Yang Yiqing increasingly cautious and ruthless. When it came to his colleagues, Yang Yiqing would never show mercy if he could kill them.

As for his childhood dreams, Yang Yiqing had long forgotten them.

But things are different now. The court is now peaceful and efficient, and everyone is trying their best to contribute to the Ming Dynasty. In the past two years, Yang Yiqing seems to have returned to his youth, and he also remembered his dream of governing the country when he was young.

This feeling deeply moved Yang Yiqing.