Wei Ni

Guanqiu Jian's worries were not without reason.

Because he still remembered the "Fu on Afang Palace" clearly.

At that time, Xiahou Hui had only been in office for less than a month yet he dared to speak out against the emperor. Now that he is a lowly but powerful General of the Central Guard, is there anything strange about him writing a poem to satirize him?

Especially considering what Emperor Cao Rui is doing now, he is being criticized and ridiculed, which is well deserved!

Moreover, Emperor Cao Rui summoned him back from thousands of miles away to persuade Xiahou Hui to submit, not to intensify the conflict. If the opposite happened, he would not only fail to live up to the trust, but also be caught in the middle and be a nobody.

"Don't be so young."

Therefore, before Xiahou Hui could speak, he raised his hand to stop him and said slowly, "I know this is difficult, but Zhiquan should also understand your majesty's difficulties. Moreover, your majesty and Wei Shizhong only came here after the court meeting. If Zhiquan has other ideas, you can speak up. Let's discuss it first. If Zhiquan's words make sense, I can persuade your majesty to change his mind."

Persuade the emperor to change his mind?

It’s better to just forget it.

Haven’t you seen that ever since the completion of the Nine Dragon Palace, no matter what Cao Rui did, the ministers and officials kept their mouths shut and no one submitted memorials to advise him?
"I lost my composure for a moment, and I'm sorry to have made Brother Zhong Gong laugh."

Xiahou Hui put away his smile, apologized, and shook his head, "I don't have any other ideas. Well, as Brother Zhonggong said just now, as a minister, I should be loyal to the emperor. Since His Majesty has given me instructions, I will do as you say."

When did you become so easy to talk to, even though you were always unreasonable?
Are you trying to put me off?

Guanqiu Jian's eyes were filled with confusion and disbelief, but he could not find any euphemistic words to question him. After hesitating for a moment, he finally asked directly, "There are no outsiders here, can you take what Zhiquan said seriously?"

"Of course I take it seriously."

Xiahou Hui nodded slightly and smiled.

Seeing that Guanqiu Jian looked hesitant, he could not help but joke, "Could it be that Brother Zhonggong still needs me to swear an oath before he will believe it?"

"That's not necessary, no need."

Lian Guanqiu Jian waved his hand to stop him, saying, "Zhi Quan is a man I can trust."

Having said that, he stroked his beard with one hand and lowered his eyes to ponder.

Mainly because things went too smoothly.

It went so smoothly that he, who had prepared a good speech the night before and was ready to give a long speech, felt it was unbelievable and uneasy.

But Xiahou Hui really thought it through.

I no longer have any hope for Cao Rui.

Moreover, he realized belatedly that he had always been very stupid and naive, and even dreamed of changing Cao Rui through influence!
Cao Rui is the emperor!
How could a political figure who has been self-centered for more than a decade change because of the sincerity of his subjects?
Especially, how old is Xiahou Hui now?
In terms of life experience, ups and downs in officialdom, ambitions and power, how could Cao Rui deny himself and believe in him?
So he decided to give up and stop wasting time on useless work.

No matter how much Cao Rui valued him and placed high hopes on him, he had to give up.

It’s not that he felt that Cao Rui was such a bad person that he was not worthy of being assisted; in fact, from Cao Rui’s perspective, perhaps Xiahou Hui himself was too picky.

But none of this matters.

What’s important is that he suddenly discovered that their ideas were completely different.

There is no room for seeking common ground while reserving differences.

Yes, how could there be room for that?
During the reign of Emperor Wen of Wei, Cao Pi implemented the Nine-Rank System. On the one hand, it was to compromise with the aristocratic families and let them endorse Cao Wei to replace the Han Dynasty; on the other hand, it was to take back the power of appointment and dismissal of reserve officials from the imperial court. However, since Emperor Guangwu of the previous dynasty relied on the local aristocratic families to gain the world, the aristocratic families gradually controlled the discourse power of the prefectures and counties, and had long controlled the national system of selecting talents. The implementation of the Nine-Rank System could not disintegrate the local discourse power of the aristocratic families, but only changed the way of control.

On the contrary, after adding family background as the criterion for selecting talents, it also indirectly makes their means of manipulating the country's talent selection become legitimate!

After all, how many children from poor families and grassroots talents have the opportunity to make their voices heard in the government?

If the system of selecting talents is manipulated, it means that the power of personnel in the government is stolen; if the power of personnel is lost, it means that factionalism and favoritism will flourish. In the end, the government will inevitably be corrupt.

If we can't even manage the government properly, how can we expect the country to survive forever? ?
It has been more than ten years since Cao Rui ascended the throne. His prestige has long been established and the actual power of the country is firmly in his hands. It is now time to implement drastic reforms and eliminate malpractices.

But now it was just a check on the scholars' families, and it was just to show that the monarch must also abide by the law and not arbitrarily torture the people. He actually backed down for a little bit of reputation!

Just back off!

Let me ask, as the emperor, he can whitewash right and wrong, so what qualifications does he have to demand that his ministers abide by the law?
This country belongs to the Wei family of the Cao clan, not to them!

Weren’t they also subjects in the previous dynasty?
This was the fundamental reason why Xiahou Hui no longer placed his hopes on Cao Rui or even on others - the emperor and his minister had originally agreed to use the investigation of the scholars' families as a starting point for reforming the long-standing malpractices in the court. But now it seemed that Cao Rui's position was not firm.

He doesn't have the responsibility.

Therefore, everything that happened before ended up being nothing but a moon in the water and a flower in the mirror.

Therefore, Xiahou Hui also thought that King Qi Cao Fang was still a child.

Given his family background and achievements, Cao Fang would certainly be willing to listen to his advice and support his ideas. Just like when Cao Rui first ascended the throne, he discussed all matters privately with Cao Zhen who stayed in Luoyang. To put it another way, at least before Cao Fang took office, he had to listen to his opinions!

Of course, the prerequisite is that you have a status like Cao Zhen.

Even further.

For example, in the Western Han Dynasty, Huo Guang no longer had the constraints of Shangguan Jie and Sang Hongyang.

Therefore, how can he be short-sighted now?

The highest good is like water; to not contend is to contend.

Birds of prey will strike, fly lowly and fold their wings; beasts of prey will fight, and bow down with their ears closed.

Instead of arguing for a short period of time, it is better to submit and obey Cao Rui's words, so that you can have the opportunity to show your talents and achieve great things in the future!

Furthermore, if one thinks from a utilitarian point of view, when investigating the Luoyang Dian Nong Department, he followed Cao Rui's wishes and did not suffer any personal loss.
In government, whether something can be accomplished often does not depend on whether it is done right or not.

Rather, it is about whether the interests of all parties can be compromised.

Therefore, people do not judge right or wrong based on temporary success or failure.

Their focus is on who first proposed it, who led the implementation, and who else agreed to something.

Identify positions in order to distinguish between like-minded and opposed ones.

Therefore, if Xiahou Hui, who had already made great achievements, could not eliminate all the malpractices when he investigated the Luoyang Diannong Department, it would not affect his personal reputation; on the contrary, as long as he could be as upright as possible within his authority, people would admire his courage of "going to the mountain of tigers even though he knew there were tigers there".

In the political world, this is a display of courage.

Moreover, because the accumulated malpractices of scholar families are real and well-known, it can be regarded as a means of improving one's reputation in official career.

No matter what changes happen to the Shi family in the future, people will remember him.

For example, if the Shi family could not bear the heavy burden and gathered together to rebel, the government would think of him when reflecting and think that he was foresighted; and if someone eliminated the Shi family's accumulated malpractices, the Shi family would also remember that Xiahou Hui had fought for them a long time ago.

Popularity is what Xiahou Hui lacks most now.

He had previously advised Cao Rui to abolish the scholar-official system in due course, and he also argued that it was the duty of a minister to "receive favors from superiors" and that such popularity should not be concentrated on himself.

But now that Cao Rui has discarded it like a worn-out shoe, he wants it back.

Because in the original historical trajectory, Sima Yi, as a regent, abolished the palace service in the name of Cao Rui's will with the consent of Qi Wang Cao Fang; then Sima Zhao was appointed as the General of Agriculture in Luoyang, and exempted the royal family from the heavy taxes and levies imposed on the farmers, and did not arbitrarily conscript them for corvée, so that the scholars did not have to worry about "taking away the farming time". This was known in history as "eliminating the harsh and trivial", which accumulated a lot of popularity for Sima to usurp the Wei Dynasty. Even during the war to destroy Wu, Wu's minister Zhang Ti claimed that Sima and his son "eliminated the harsh and excessive taxes and promoted the fair and beneficial, advised the people and cured their diseases, and the people were loyal to them."

If he doesn't want it, it will fall on Sima father and son.

No matter how hard you try to avoid suspicion, you have to put the country first and not sit idly by and watch this popularity "help the enemy", right?
Yes, even though he no longer had any hope for Cao Rui and wanted to be the Huo Guang of Wei, he still felt that he was a loyal minister of Cao Wei.

Although he knew that the so-called "people's hearts are fickle" did not just refer to one's own heart. For example, there were also factors such as the times, the ambitions of like-minded people and those who depended on him, and so on.

I also know that throughout history, there are very few people who have become powerful ministers and can still be called loyal ministers.

But he still believed that he could hold on.

However, he did not realize that from the moment he felt that Cao Rui could not change, he had taken the step of "if the superior loses his authority, the subordinates will be invaded", and he could no longer regard himself as a loyal minister of Wei.

"Brother Zhonggong, how are Lu Junsheng and Wei Yangyuan doing recently? Have they done anything improper?"

Seeing that Guanqiu Jian was still hesitating, Xiahou Hui, who didn't want to continue to dwell on this matter, changed the subject and asked about the recent situation of Lu Fan and Wei Shu.

"what?"

Guanqiu Jian, whose thoughts were interrupted, raised his head, repeated the question in his mind, and then answered with a smile, "Yang Yuan is kind and self-disciplined, and Jun Sheng is diligent and respectful. They are both talented people."

Perhaps he had sensed Xiahou Hui's thoughts. He paused after answering and then added a joke, "Zhi Quan has been in the army for many years, traveling from north to south, and so far he has only promoted Jun Sheng and Yang Yuan to join the army. He is very careful in recruiting talents. So why do you need to ask if they have done anything wrong? Could it be that Zhi Quan is looking to me and praising me for my ability to judge people?"

"Hahaha~"

Xiahou Hui clapped his hands and laughed, "Although I am shameless, I am not like this, am I?"

"Haha~"

Guanqiu Jian also laughed, and took the opportunity to talk about his actions in Youzhou after the fall of Gongsun in Liaodong.

For a while, the two of them had a very pleasant conversation.

They didn't even notice Cao Rui and Wei Zhen approaching. (End of this chapter)