Wei Ni

There is nothing new under the emperor's feet.

Within a few days, the war and actual situation in the four counties of Liaodong were known to the capital and other places, and people began to discuss it.

Because the heroic spirit of the Qin and Han dynasties had not yet completely disappeared, both the government and the public held the attitude that they should raise troops to attack Goguryeo and Han Ye in order to demonstrate the power of the superior country.

Some people with ulterior motives have already begun to work privately, hoping to join the expedition and gain military merit.

This is also normal.

The road to Shu is difficult, Wu is across the river, and each country relies on something. It is really difficult to win military merit from these two hostile countries.

But Goguryeo and Han Ye were different.

How could the three generations of Gongsun Du, who were destroyed in a battle by the State of Wei, successively dominate the East of the Sea? How did they resist the military force of the State of Wei?
In this bitter and cold land, with long and deep roads and continuous mountains, can the battle lines be crisscrossed?
The Book of Songs says, "The road is long and obstructed, but if you keep walking you will reach your destination."

In the face of the feat of destroying nations and bringing disaster to states, no one would find these problems difficult.

Of course, not many people have the opportunity to share the spoils of war - for small states like Goguryeo and Han Ye, even if the imperial court sent troops to attack them, it would only let Youzhou fight on its own, and would not mobilize the Luoyang central army.

At most, it would just allow Jizhou and Qingzhou to transport food, fodder, and supplies.

Therefore, many powerful families or important officials in the court sent their sons to Youzhou with letters, asking Guanqiu Jian to allow them to follow the army as unofficial soldiers in view of their enthusiasm for serving the country.

Those who were not of sufficient status to have contact with Guanqiu Jian turned their attention to the soldiers currently stationed in Liaodong.

Xiahou Heng, Marquis of Anning Pavilion, who has held a trivial position in the court for many years and has had little presence, has recently received countless invitations to banquets; even on his way home from court, he has met many acquaintances by chance.

Xiahou Heng was very troubled by this.

If he accepted the request, he was worried about causing unnecessary trouble to Xiahou Ba; if he did not accept it, he felt that keeping people at a distance was not in line with his image as a "good guy".

After much thought, I decided to take sick leave and stay at home.

This sick leave will last a long time.

Autumn and winter are the times for military operations in the Central Plains, but considering the freezing conditions in Haidong and the time it takes to transfer food, fodder and supplies, it would be good if Guanqiu Jian could lead the troops to march in the summer of the following year.

Some people also plan to seize this opportunity on their own.

For example, Deng Yang and Li Sheng whose official careers were restricted by the Vanity Case, and He Zeng who felt that it was difficult for him to achieve great things and his official position was too low.

They were people who were affiliated with Cao Shuang and Cao Zhao respectively.

The so-called struggle is naturally to encourage Cao Shuang or Cao Zhao to participate in the war so that they can follow the expedition.

Both Cao Shuang and Cao Zhao wanted to fight.

Or, stimulated by the fact that Xiahou Hui stood out among the many royal family members of Qiaopei with his military achievements, and the fact that the previous emperor Cao Rui decided to appoint Qin Lang to replace Tian Yu to guard Hetao, both of them felt a sense of crisis that they had "fallen behind others".

And they all know that their opponents have each other.

Firstly, in recent years, Emperor Cao Rui has been training the young men of the royal family from Qiaopei, which is obvious to all in the court and the country.

When a war breaks out, as long as they volunteer to participate, Cao Rui will certainly reward them generously and assign them positions as much as possible to allow them to accumulate merits and enrich their resumes.

Another thing is that Xiahou Hui will not compete with them.

It's not that he thought Xiahou Hui was a magnanimous person, but he knew that Emperor Rui would not favor one over the other.

We should keep everything equal, right?
Previously, when we were fighting against Gongsun Yuan in Liaodong, Emperor Cao Rui sent Xiahou Hui to lead the army; now it is their turn to fight against Goguryeo and Han Ye.

As for Xiahou Xian.
When Tian Yu submitted a petition to return home last time, he declined on the grounds that he had just been transferred to the post of Henan governor. Now, only a few months have passed, how can he have the nerve to change his mind and argue?

What is rare and precious is that both of them are very sensible and spontaneously asked to be appointed as deputy generals.

Rather than a commander-in-chief or a military supervisor.

This made Cao Rui feel relieved, but also a little torn.

The palms and backs of your hands are all made of flesh.

They all understood his intention to cultivate his old friend Guanqiu Jian, so how could he disappoint their desire to serve the country?
Fortunately, the latest military information about the rescue of Xi'anping, Lelang and Daifang County had not yet been reported back, and the court was not in a hurry to issue an edict to attack Goguryeo and Han Ye, so Cao Rui had enough time to think and decide on the final candidate.

Xiahou Hui soon learned about this.

He has a younger brother who is always by his side and is well-informed about such news.

While retelling the story, Xiahou He also complained angrily - in terms of emotion, reason and job, his second brother Xiahou Ba was the most suitable deputy general! But Cao Zhao and Cao Shuang took advantage of their proximity and actually intervened and snatched the position!
In this regard, Xiahou Hui did not share the same hatred for the enemy.

After all, he knew that as long as his second brother served in Liaodong, he would definitely get a share of the credit. And when the emperor announced the establishment of the Haidong Protectorate, he would also increase his second brother's authority to achieve the purpose of restraining the Haidong Protectorate.

On the contrary, he felt it was a pleasant surprise.

Previously, taking advantage of Tian Yu's return to the court, he had finally persuaded the emperor to send Qin Lang out of the capital Luoyang to take up a local post!
Who would have thought that Cao Shuang and Cao Zhao would now ask for permission to go out on their own!

Therefore, when he learned that Emperor Cao Rui had not yet made up his mind, he was thinking this: since they were so considerate, should he secretly do some work to help one of them get what he wanted as soon as possible?

Of course, this thought was just a thought.

Emperor Cao Rui was too smart and suspicious. It would be better for him to pretend that he knew nothing, so as not to add unnecessary details and achieve the opposite effect.

With this in mind, Xiahou Hui has been very well behaved these past few days. When asked about the war in Liaodong, he refused to talk about it on the grounds that "Your Majesty and the gentlemen will make the decision." He also occasionally slacked off from his work and went to Chongwen Temple to listen to scholars debate on classics.

Emperor Cao Rui, who lived during the period of the Three Caos and the Seven Masters of the Jian'an Period, was not bad in literary attainments and was quite generous to scholars. For example, Chongwen Temple was an official office set up by Cao Rui during the Qinglong period to accommodate scholars of literature.

Most great scholars were not interested in a career in government, and instead taught in opposition.

Therefore, Chongwen Temple, which gathered scholars from all over the world, was the place where the students of the Imperial College, the doctors of the Five Classics, and the doctors of the Imperial Rites would hang out when they had nothing to do.

But Xiahou Hui, a military officer wearing a military cap and a crimson and green ribbon court robe, came uninvited and mingled among them, which made him seem out of place.

Even his maternal uncle, Wang Su, the chief priest of Chongwen Temple, had some complaints.

Because he knew that Xiahou Hui had bad intentions.

A few days ago, when Xiahou Hui returned to visit his relatives with his wife and children, he privately told them that the emperor had asked him to recommend the prefect of Hongnong and the Sima of the Central Guard Army. Then he lamented that he was not in Luoyang in his early years and did not know many people, so he could not share the worries of the emperor.

The meaning was so obvious, how could Wang Su not know why his son-in-law suddenly came to visit him?
It's just that he wants to use the Wang family's connections.

To be honest, Wang Su was quite satisfied with this son-in-law, and he didn't mind using the connections accumulated by his father Wang Lang on Xiahou Hui.

A family doesn't speak the same language.

Anyway, his sons are still young, and he will definitely ask Xiahou Hui to help one or two of them in the future.

But good steel should be used on the blade!

Although Xiahou Hui has made many achievements, his position is only the Central Guard General. He is still a long way from opening a government and recruiting assistants! The talented people or assistants recommended by his father are now all two thousand stone officials. How can Xiahou Hui make use of them?

When it comes to favors, use them as little as possible.

No matter how eager Xiahou Hui is, he can't waste it like this, right?

Therefore, at that time, Wang Su seemed unaware of his hint.

Even though Xiahou Hui had made it clear, he remained unmoved and clearly refused, "My father has passed away for nearly ten years, and most of his former colleagues and officials have lost contact. I am obsessed with academics, and there are few people who share the same aspirations in my career, so I am sorry that I cannot do anything about Zhiquan's request. In my opinion, Zhiquan is a native of Qiaopei and has served in many places. If Your Majesty values ​​him, and you show your intention to recruit talents, there will be no shortage of talented people who will come and ask for you to join us!"

Xiahou Hui is not a person who would make trouble.

At that time, he immediately bowed his head and respectfully accepted the instruction.

Then he would come to Chongwen Temple from time to time.

It is also called "learning has no end". Emperor Wu was a man of great talent and strategy, but he was still "learning even when old"; Emperor Wen also said "writing is the great cause of governing the country and the immortal event". I was young and served as the Central Guard General. I was always worried that I was not talented enough and felt ashamed of your majesty's promotion. So I came to the palace to listen to the lectures and seek to improve myself through learning.

After hearing this reason, Wang Su was speechless.

Most of the scholars selected by the court to enter the Chongwenguan were Confucian scholars who had devoted their entire lives to studying classics.

If they were to discuss the meaning of classics and allusions, they would talk about it day and night, but beautiful articles were used to whitewash the situation, while the meaning of classics and allusions were used to promote morality!
How much does it have to do with the strategy of governing the country?

What can make Xiahou Hui "benefit"?

It is clear that he still has evil intentions and has even gone further, treating his office as a private recruitment office for talents - with Xiahou Hui's current status, there will be no shortage of people trying to curry favor with him.

It was not just some frustrated scholars, even the students of the Imperial College were not immune to this.

Inevitably, the atmosphere of Chongwen Temple has gained a utilitarian flavor.

Wang Su was very dissatisfied with this, but there was no way to drive him away.

This brat even brought up Emperor Wu and Emperor Wen. Anyone who dares to refute him will be driven away!

What made Wang Su feel a little relieved was that Xiahou Hui was quite tactful. Whenever he came, he would really sit there and listen quietly, and rarely speak. When facing some people who wanted to curry favor with him, he would just respond with a few polite words.

Oh, just bear with it if it's disgusting.

Flies without buzzing are still tolerable.

In the Chongwen Temple, all those who disliked Xiahou Hui, who was wearing military court robes and destroying the literary atmosphere, had no choice but to hold their noses and endure it.

Actually, Xiahou Hui doesn't want to be disliked.

The reason why I had the audacity to come to Chongwen Temple so often was just to get familiar with two people.

One of them was Ma Jun, who was transferred from a doctor to a secretary.

Ma Jun's ingenuity was unrivaled in Luoyang.

It's a pity that Emperor Cao Rui asked him to create "Water-powered Hundred Plays" to increase entertainment; the ministers and officials did not pay much attention to the silk looms, catapults, dragon-bone water wheels, etc. that he improved.

Therefore, Xiahou Hui did not want his talent to be forgotten, so he looked for opportunities to let him make full use of his talents and make preparations for the future.

The other person is a talented person who just resigned.

The governor of Hongnong, Meng Kang, and the governor of Hedong, Du Shu, both praised him in their letters. (End of this chapter)