Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

At this time, Cao Rui was still in the military camp outside the city with Guanqiu Jian and Pei Qian. These young men who had served as Palace Attendants sat down in the duty room and were quite quiet.

Interestingly, although except for Xiahou Xuan and the other three, Fu Gu and the other five had served as military farm officials in Longyou, these five people did not have many opportunities to meet each other during the three years from the first year of Taihe to the fourth year of Taihe, and they could not be said to have formed their own faction.

Among the eight people, Xiahou Xuan, who was the most outstanding in reputation, family background, talent, and appearance, was the leader. Except for He Chu and Xiahou Hui who entered school later, Xiahou Xuan and the other five were the first batch of scholars to enter the Imperial College in the seventh year of Huangchu. At that time, Xiahou Xuan had already stood out among the crowd in the Imperial College.

However, Xiahou Xuan did not have the slightest intention of communicating with anyone. He stood gracefully inside the door, with his back to everyone, looking towards the yard outside the door silently, as if he had a lot on his mind. Seeing this, the other knights in the room were no longer restrained and began to chat in low voices.

Zhuge Xu looked at Fu Gu standing aside and said, "Lan Shi went to Fanchang, right? How are the farming and people there doing?"

"It's hard to explain in a few words." Fu Gu shook his head. "Among all the states in the world, Yuzhou was the first to start farming, and Yingchuan was the first among all the counties in Yuzhou. This place has been farming for nearly forty years."

"Forty years, Youming, that's enough time for two generations to grow up. The first garrison official I met in Fanchang was called Liang Jing. When I talked to him privately, I asked him what he would think if the garrison was abolished, and he was at a loss for words."

They were all people who had worked hard in Longyou for three years, and they had no lack of experience as grassroots officials. As the first batch of graduates from the Imperial College, they were not only very knowledgeable, but also very smart and could see the big picture from the small details. What Fu Gu and his five knights lacked was the vision of a high-level official.

Zhuge Xu sighed: "You are at a loss as to what to say? To be honest with Lanshi, I have also encountered such a petty official in Yanling."

"Forty years, their grandfathers and fathers have been in charge of farming, and they have been in charge of farming since they came of age. For them, farming is a matter of course, like the sun rising in the east and setting in the west, or the Yellow River flowing east into the sea. How can they change it?"

"It's hard to reverse the situation." Fu Gu nodded and said with emotion: "These four words describe this situation."

The room was quiet, and everyone heard what the two of them said. Chen Ben, who had the same feeling, also stood up and walked over. He stood in front of their chairs, lowered his head and interrupted, saying:

"Lanshi, Youming, what I saw and heard in Changsha was not much different from what you two saw. The officials were unwilling to change the status quo, and the people who settled in the garrisons were at a loss. The local county magistrate knew my noble status as a minister of the imperial guards, and he readily acknowledged me, saying that he would follow the orders of the court and the governor. But when I asked them what to do specifically, they were all silent for a moment."

Chen Ben was inspired and confided his feelings over the past ten days to Fu Gu and Zhuge Xu. Yu Jun and Li Xi on the side also joined in and talked about what they had seen and heard during these days, as well as the similarities and differences between the military farming in Yingchuan and that in Longyou.

Xiahou Hui sat quietly, holding the brush in his hand, staring intently at the document he had drafted, and making circles and corrections on it from time to time.

He Chu walked to Xiahou Xuan's side and asked, "Why is Taichu standing here alone? Is there something on his mind?"

After hearing He Chu's question, Xiahou Xuan sighed, as if he had been waiting for He Chu to say this.

During the Han and Wei dynasties, scholars were inseparable from the word "fame".

Perhaps it was because he was born with a good appearance, Xiahou Xuan had always been proud of it for many years. When he was making friends in Luozhong, he often impressed others with his appearance and demeanor.

In other words, he had become obsessive about his appearance and manners. For a talented person like Xiahou Xuan, this was not a bad thing, but in the eyes of the older ministers, his attitude was indeed a bit too pretentious, but no one would remind him.

Xiahou Xuan said, "Zi Qi, I was actually thinking back to December of the seventh year of Huangchu, when Your Majesty was at the Imperial Academy asking questions about government affairs. I was a bit arrogant at the time and proposed to Your Majesty that we should reform the system."

"Four years have passed, and every time I think about this, I feel that I was too reckless and careless at the time. There are many systems in the world, and one move affects the whole body. How can they be changed at will? The cause and effect, the details, all need to be paid attention to, so as to avoid chaos."

"Take the issue of military farming for example. I heard everything they discussed. We need to agree with the people of the world on common affairs and do them in a practical way."

He Chu laughed after hearing this: "Isn't this normal? Taichu is worrying too much."

"The Holy Lord is in power, and the court is full of people. Whatever you ask us to do, we should just do it. Why is Taichu thinking so much? When Taichu can become the Minister, it will not be too late to worry about it."

Xiahou Xuan nodded, but remained silent.

At this time, Xiahou Xuan thought of two people in his mind. One was Jiang Wei, who was once a Sanqi with him, and the other was Sima Shi, who had been friends with him in Luozhong and often exchanged letters with him.

If these two people were asked to do this, how would they do it?

……

The Xiaowei Battalion was originally a new army that was separated from the Wuwei Battalion and other battalions during the reform in the second year of Taihe. Psychologically, they had always been looking forward to a major battle to make the word "Xiaowei" famous.

It's just that there has never been a chance.

It is never a bad thing for soldiers to seek war. Cao Rui also personally talked with the generals and deputy generals in Yingzhou for a long time, and also met with all the military officers and the Sima of Qianshi in the army.

When Cao Rui returned to Xuchang Palace from the Xiaowei Camp, the sun had already set, and the red light from the sunset dyed half of the sky. Guanqiu Jian went to inspect the defenses inside and outside the palace, and only the attendant Pei Qian followed closely behind him. "Your Majesty, the imperial guards have entered the palace and are waiting in the imperial guard duty room." Bi Jin stepped forward and whispered.

Cao Rui nodded and said, "Well, let the eight of them come to my study and bring their drafted reports."

"According to the order."

Soon, the eight imperial assistants received the order and entered the study together. Pei Qian, who was also responsible for teaching the eight imperial assistants, walked forward, collected the documents in each of their hands, neatly arranged them, and placed them on Cao Rui's desk.

"Okay, then. I'll take a look at your reports." Cao Rui nodded slightly, stretched out his right hand and took the top report from Chen Ben.

"The rich and the poor are all equally involved in the farming, and the people are working on the fields..."

Cao Rui read the first two lines of the poem that Chen Ben had written on the first page of the report, then frowned and looked at Chen Ben:

"Chen Ben, what did you do in Changshe?"

Chen Ben was startled. Under everyone's gaze, he took a half step forward and explained with his hands clasped, "Your Majesty, I was ordered to go to Changsha to investigate the military farming issue. I have written down everything I saw, heard, and felt in the report."

Cao Rui said: "I am asking you, why do you write poetry on the first page?"

Chen Ben stammered, "Your Majesty, I just felt something in my heart, and I have no other intentions."

Cao Rui picked up the red brush on the table, raised his hand and drew a huge red cross on Chen Ben's poem, and said:
"Everyone in the world knows that I love literature. But do you know that I hate ostentation and pretense? If you want to write poetry, you can. If it's good, I will send it to Chongwen Temple for you, and it may not be a problem for me to help you become famous in the world."

"But this time I asked you to investigate the military farms, not to show off your literary talent. Is this the place to write poetry?"

Chen Ben's face turned pale: "Your Majesty, I know I was wrong, and I will never make the same mistake again."

Cao Rui shook his head and turned to the second page:
"Chen Ben, how many people did you meet in Changsha? How many officials, how many common people? How many villages did you visit?"

Chen Ben tried to answer, "Your Majesty, I have been in Changsha for ten days. I have met with the county magistrate of Changsha County, talked with sixteen garrison officials, and met with thirty-five civilians, and had private conversations with each of them."

"Don't you have numbers?" Cao Rui drew a horizontal line on the second page of Chen's manuscript with a red pen: "What you wrote here is that the dozens of people I met in Changsha had different views on the issue of military farming, and their positions were different, each with its own merits."

"Why write dozens of people? Is there no specific number? If there is, why not write it? What does it mean that each has its own merits?"

Chen Ben was already frightened and said in a low voice, "It was my fault for not reporting enough details. Your Majesty, please punish me."

Cao Rui raised his eyes and looked at Chen Ben: "You have studied in the Imperial College for a year, and have done practical work in Longyou for three years. You know everything you should know, which is good. But why is it so vague in the report? I can't see your contribution to the things you have already done. Why bother?"

After saying that, Cao Rui put Chen Ben's report aside and picked up the second one.

The second one is from Xia Houhui.

Cao Rui just opened it and took a look at it, then flipped back four or five pages and laughed out of anger: "Zhi Quan likes to write fu, right? It's so long, with four-six parallelism, and it includes Yao and Shun, King Wen of Zhou, and Emperor Wen of Han. Are you giving me a report, or are you letting me appreciate your literary talent?"

Xiahou Hui also lowered his head: "It is my fault."

Cao Rui opened the next article written by He Chuan and shook his head helplessly: "He Chuan! Why did you put the minutes of your conversation with a group of officials at the beginning? Do you think I have enough time to care about what every petty official in Xinji County is thinking?"

He Chu bowed and said, "I missed something. Please allow me to go back and revise the report before presenting it to Your Majesty for review."

Cao Rui sighed, threw He Xun's report on the table, raised his head and looked around:
"I won't read the rest. I asked eight of you to do one thing, but eight of you handed me eight different styles of writing. Even if I am diligent, how long do you want me to spend reading your reports?"

"Mr. Pei, send someone to call Sikong over, and then call the six ministers together!"

Pei Qian saw that the emperor was angry today. Although all the officials in the Secretariat had already left their duties and it was time for everyone to have dinner, he still hurriedly accepted the order and left.

Half an hour later, Sima Yi and the six ministers arrived at the palace together.

Cao Rui frowned and looked at Sima Yi and Wei Ji: "Why, did Sikong and Wei Shangshu just drink?" (End of this chapter)