Wei Ni

A few days later, with the departure of Youzhou Governor Guanqiu Jian who returned to report on his work, Emperor Cao Rui, at a grand court meeting, directly issued an edict to restart the investigation of the scholars in the capital on the grounds of changing the reign title.

Wei Zhen, the Shangshu You Pushe, was appointed to be in charge of the affairs, and the Xueshifu assisted in the investigation; Xiahou Hui, the Zhongshu Shilang, was appointed to be the chief military officer, holding the imperial seal and leading 700 infantry and cavalry of the central army, and was allowed to act at his discretion.

In the imperial court, this decree caused a huge uproar.

All the ministers and officials were shocked, but no one tried to persuade Emperor Cao Rui to think twice before acting.

Because they all knew that Emperor Cao Rui would not take back his order.

The previous investigation of military farms by Grand Minister of Agriculture Yang Fu ended in failure, which in a sense showed that the emperor's authority was not strong enough and severely slapped the face of Emperor Cao Rui. Now Cao Rui decided to restart the matter, which meant that he intended to save face and demonstrate his authority to the scholars and common people of the world.

If we dissuade them at this critical juncture
Who, sitting at such a high position in the government, would complain that they have lived too long and want to find some excitement and catch the emperor's attention?
But, I can't help it~
The rumor “I am not afraid of the axe, but I am afraid of the paper book; the axe kills people, the paper book kills names” is still ringing in my ears.

Xiahou Hui is a reckless man. He does things as if he is crazy. He will use any means necessary and will not show any mercy to others!

Now he has been granted the title of a seal-holder, the authority of 700 infantry and cavalry, and the power to act at his own discretion. Only the gods and ghosts know how big a mess he can make.

In any case, the collapse of the military farming system is an indisputable fact.

The various military farms in the capital were the hardest hit areas. How many of the foreign relatives, dignitaries, and high-ranking officials did not get a piece of the pie?

How many people can be upright and not be afraid of their own shadow?

What is even more terrible is the "crime"~
Xiahou Hui, who was not afraid of the consequences of his actions, was investigated and framed by the school officials who wanted to prevent the whole world from being judged. Who wouldn't be worried?
Even some upright bureaucrats had some complaints about the emperor's authorization.

Because the capital is the best place, but also a vortex of power struggle.

It is true that they are honest and dedicated to their work and do not engage in dishonest activities, but that does not mean they can stay out of it and sit back and relax.

In the game of power, whether an official is implicated or framed does not depend on his reputation or self-discipline, or on right or wrong, but depends on the position he holds.

In the temple, position means authority, and each one is fixed.

Therefore, whenever something happens that triggers a change of position in the temple, there will always be people who want to take advantage of the situation and replace a certain position with their own people; there are also countless new waves who want to beat the old waves to death on the shore in order to replace them.

Opportunities for advancement are not only waited for, but also created out of nothing.

It is foreseeable that once Xiahou Hui begins to execute the imperial edict, the court will be ushered in a chaos of those who are trying to take advantage of the situation, those who are in cliques to attack others, those who are eager to protect themselves, and so on.

In order to stabilize the situation, some senior officials were also thinking about how to dissuade the emperor.

They knew that the decision to investigate the military farming system would benefit the country, but they also knew that this move would induce turmoil in the government, so they felt that someone with Xiahou Hui's character should not be in charge.

Therefore, a moment after the imperial edict was issued, officials came forward one after another to offer their suggestions.

Some people claimed that since the purpose was to investigate the military farms in the capital of Luoyang and to crack down on illegal activities, the Chief Justice and the Inspector of the Imperial Guards should also be involved in order to ensure fairness and strictness and to prevent the guilty from escaping (to restrain Xiahou Hui's arbitrary power and prevent the innocent from being implicated in the school affairs).

Some people also claim that the military farming affairs of the scholars were under the jurisdiction of the Taiwei Mansion (which was under the jurisdiction of the Grand Minister of Agriculture in the Han Dynasty), and that the Taiwei Sima Yi was about to return to the capital, so it was not appropriate to have Wei Zhen take charge. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to delay the implementation of the matter and wait until the Taiwei returned?
There are all kinds of excuses.

Knowing that they could not stop the implementation of the imperial edict, they all used the stability of the court as an excuse to tactfully persuade Emperor Cao Rui not to grant Xiahou Hui the power to act recklessly.

It's just a pity.

Emperor Cao Rui not only did not change his mind, but he also simply canceled the court session and left in anger.

He saw through the hidden intentions of his ministers in trying to dissuade him and became angry.

The reason was that when he had previously embarked on a large-scale construction project to build palaces and expand his harem, his ministers had advised him not to empty the national treasury and waste money and labor.

Indeed, the output of the scholars' families went into the national treasury.

But why, when he employed scholars, he was considered to be extravagant and wasteful of people's money and labor; and when he wanted to investigate the aristocratic and powerful families who were swallowing up the military farms, why did it become a cause of unrest in the country?

What is the surname of the Wei Dynasty?
Whose money and grain are deposited into the national treasury?

hateful!

With such anger, Cao Rui even felt a little regretful. At one point he wondered if he had made a mistake in warning Xiahou Hui at Beimangshan Manor not to involve too many people during the investigation.
After receiving the imperial edict, Xiahou Hui went straight to Xuanwu Temple at the north gate of Luoyang after the court session.

The seven hundred infantry and cavalry granted by the emperor were stationed there.

Although he had accepted Ding Mi's suggestion to investigate the affairs of the Shi family in a few days, he still had to collect the soldiers in advance, lest he find that these soldiers were not able to do what he wanted when the time came.

After all, what he was about to do was to offend the powerful and influential people of the aristocratic families~
And who knows whether these central army soldiers who have been stationed in Luoyang all year round have any connection with the powerful; or whether the generals themselves are close to the water and have the upper hand, and have also contributed a little to the collapse of the military farming system.

Of course, these considerations are secondary.

He holds the authority to act at his own discretion, and if any soldier is ignorant and wants to use his own head as a warning to others, Xiahou Hui will not hesitate to help him.

The main reason why he came here specially was to borrow the words of these people -

On the grounds that they would start to check the farming of Luoyang Diannong Department in five days, and would also check Hedong and Henei in the future, which would take two months without a break, he wanted to give these soldiers four days of rest so that they could go home and reunite with their wives and children. Xiahou Hui believed that after these soldiers left the camp, they would be tricked by those with ulterior motives.

They would certainly understand what he meant: if those who embezzled the military farms of the Luoyang Diannong Department or those involved in it could clean up their mess within five days, he would turn a blind eye and not pursue the matter.

If not, don't blame him for handling the matter impartially.

After all, he has given you the opportunity. If you can't seize it, it's your own fault and you can't blame others.

This move can be regarded as a practical action to express the emperor Cao Rui's stance.

However, when he arrived at the military camp, he found that Emperor Cao Rui seemed to want to strictly investigate the malpractices of the scholars' families. The generals of the infantry and cavalry assigned to him were all new to Luoyang and were considered half of his direct descendants.

The commander of the cavalry was Aravana.

He was the younger brother of Kouloudun, the Chanyu of Youbeiping Wuhuan. Before the expedition to Liaodong, he surrendered to Wei and led 200 Wuhuan cavalry to Luoyang in the name of tribute to serve Wei and to show his loyalty.

The commander of 500 infantrymen was Zuo Junbo.

They were the people that Xiahou Hui asked to go out of the border to recruit the remaining pro-Yuan Wuhuan tribes to surrender before the expedition against Liaodong.

In a sense, in the hearts of these two people, Xiahou Hui is more important than Emperor Cao Rui.

The emperor has the four seas and the world in his heart.
If there is nothing to do on weekdays, naturally no one would be in the mood to pay any attention to little people like them.

Xiahou Hui is someone they can contact directly. He is also capable and the only person in the capital who is willing to protect them.

Or, it could be said that it was Xiahou Hui who facilitated their coming to Luoyang to take up the posts. Whether they were willing or not, both the government and the public labeled them as Xiahou Hui.

It becomes easy when you deal with people you know and have connections with.

After meeting them, Xiahou Hui exchanged a few pleasantries and then directly stated that he would come at the hour of Mao on the fifth day and take them to the Luoyang Diannong Department for an inventory. He asked them to arrange their own rest and make preparations for departure.

Afterwards, he was transferred to the Central Guard Army Office.

As early as when he was serving as the General of Zhenhu, Emperor Cao Rui had hinted that Chen Qian should also participate in the reform of the scholar family, but now there is no clear edict, and this investigation is just a rough one, so he wants to ask Chen Qian's personal opinion.

Let him decide whether to get involved.

Chen Qian was a little surprised at first, and then hesitant.

His father Chen Jiao had already privately informed him of Emperor Cao Rui's intention to let him serve as an official under Xiahou Hui, so he had already prepared himself mentally to join the game and follow Xiahou Hui all the way.

no way.

The lesser of two evils.

He could not afford the consequences of offending people and ignoring the emperor's favor by following Xiahou Hui.

Now, he has accepted his fate, and Xiahou Hui actually lets him make his own choice.

Is it a test?

Or does the emperor have other ideas?
For a moment, he was unsure as to the reason for this sudden kindness.

Fortunately, when he was hesitating, he inadvertently caught a glimpse of Yu Song, who was not asked, and had already begun to pack up the cases consciously, preparing to go back and rest for a few days before following Xiahou Hui to investigate the Shi family.

In a moment, he, who was confused by the situation, suddenly got enlightened and immediately stated that he was an official under Xiahou Hui and it was his job to investigate the families of the scholars.

After saying this, he confessed his guilt with an embarrassed look on his face.

"Previously, Yang Shizhong was ordered to investigate the affairs of the Shi family, but in the end, the matter was left unresolved. Now I suddenly heard that Your Majesty has reopened the matter, so I was surprised and confused for a moment, and neglected the general's question. I am ashamed! Ashamed!"

Xiahou Hui would naturally not have any grudges about this.

Chen Qian had no worries about his career, so it was normal for him to be a little hesitant about such things.

Let’s just talk about the actions and not the intentions.

"I heard that Minister Chen has been ill recently. Sima is worried about his father's illness and is inevitably in a trance."

Xiahou Hui also took the initiative to find an excuse for him, "It was my negligence that I forgot about this matter, and I still wanted Sima to run around. Well, let's put it this way, although the Central Guard Office does not have many general affairs, it must be managed by someone. Sima will stay in the office for a few days and take care of it. After I have made progress in the investigation of the scholar's family, Sima will come to help. How do you think?"

"Yes. Thank you for your consideration, General."

"polite."

In this regard, Zhuge Dan was very decisive.

When Xiahou Hui returned to the mansion, he found that Zhuge Dan had come without notice and had been waiting in front of the hall for nearly half an hour. (End of this chapter)