Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Sun Quan was both annoyed and angry when he encountered such a thing when he first arrived in Jianye.

Prime Minister Gu Yong casually said this to Diao Jia at the dock, and Diao Jia really listened to the Prime Minister's order and mobilized troops?

Just by talking nonsense, Diao Jia and Zhu Ju were able to dispatch another 4,000 soldiers without any orders?
This is in Jianye, the new capital of Wu, at the feet of the emperor Sun Quan himself! Although it was an opportunity to welcome the emperor, if we can mobilize troops like this today, it may happen again tomorrow!
If something really happens, it will be too late to regret.

Sun Quan stared at the terrified Diao Jia for a long time, and then he placed the front end of the scabbard against the back of Diao Jia's neck and slowly slid across it. The cold touch of the gold-inlaid scabbard against his skin almost made Diao Jia think he was close to death.

Kneeling on the ground, his hands and knees were shaking like a sieve.

"That's it!"

Sun Quan looked up at the sky, hung his sword back on his waist, and finally sighed: "Lü Gong, Diao Changshi, the two of you should get up quickly and return to your offices."

"Today's welcoming team can also disperse."

After saying these two words, Sun Quan glanced at Gu Li who was riding on a horse beside him. Seeing this, Gu Li hurriedly led Sun Quan's personal guards into the palace to clear the way. Sun Quan himself then strode inside.

Jiangdong is prosperous, which means that there are generally few people and much land in Jiangdong, and the people often have plenty of money to live on. Compared with the Central Plains during the chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, it is certainly a very suitable and good place.

The nobles and powerful families in each county generally had more surpluses.

But when it comes to government offices and cities under government control, they are far behind those big cities in the north. Not to mention the top cities like Luoyang, Chang'an, Yecheng, and Wancheng, even the second-tier Shouchun City is inferior.

In the 16th year of Jian'an, Sun Quan moved the capital from Jingkou to Jianye.

Jianye was originally named Moling, which was renamed by Sun Quan in the 17th year of Jian'an, which was 20 years ago. The construction of Shitoucheng and Ruxuwu was carried out in almost the same year.

Later, in order to compete with Liu Bei for Jingzhou, Sun Quan moved the capital to Wuchang, so the construction of Jianye came to a standstill.

In short, the Jianye Palace at this moment was not as magnificent as Sun Quan's Wuchang Palace.

Sun Quan paced in circles in the main hall. The door of the hall was open and the cool air poured in unrestrainedly, making the already depressing atmosphere even more desolate.

Shi Yi sighed softly, cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, please take care of your body and don't be too anxious."

Sun Quan finally stood still and looked straight at Shi Yi, silent as if forcing Shi Yi to come up with a plan.

The system of the Wu State has always been similar to that of the Wei State. Even after Sun Quan became emperor, it was still the same, with the distinction between inner court officials and outer court officials.

Prime Minister Gu Yong was the head of the outer court officials and had the power and responsibility to manage the affairs of the Secretariat. In theory, he could manage the government.

Shi Yi had the authority to lead the Secretariat when he was in Wuchang. After Sun Quan became emperor, he was still in charge of the affairs of the Wu Secretariat and was given the title of Shizhong.

There are now three ministers in Wu.

Shi Yi was the Shizhong and was in charge of the Shangshu affairs.

Hu Zong, Shizhong, Right Commander-in-Chief, was in charge of the central army of Wu State.

Xu Xiang, Shizhong, Zuo Lingjun, and Hu Zong jointly commanded the central army of Wu.

These three people were the ones Sun Quan used to control the central army and divide the power of Prime Minister Gu Yong and other outer court officials. They also controlled confidential matters.

The status of Shi Yi, Hu Zong and Xu Xiang in Wu was almost equivalent to the combined status of Wei's central commander Guanqiu Jian, central guard Huan Fan, Zhongshu Jian Liu Fang, half of the recorder Sima Yi and the four attendants Xu, Pei, Lu and Wang.

The most trusted among the trusted.

After all, the State of Wu was much smaller than the State of Wei, and its affairs were proportionally reduced. Compared with the systematic and complicated system of the State of Wei, the system of the State of Wu was only a simplified version.

Easier to manage.

There were only three Shizhong, one less than in the Great Wei.

The three highest officials, namely, Grand Commandant, Minister of the Interior and Minister of Works, were not established. Among the Nine Ministers, the positions of Grand Minister of Agriculture and Minister of the Imperial Household were also vacant.

The only thing compared to the Wei Dynasty is that it has one more crown prince.

Shi Yi's native place was Beihai County, Qingzhou, and Hu Zong's native place was Runan County, Yuzhou. Both of them were from the north.

Among the three, only Xu Xiang was from Wucheng, Wu County. However, Xu Xiang was born in a poor family and had no connection with the big families in the county, such as Gu, Lu, Zhu, and Zhang. He was an absolute confidant of Sun Quan and had been acting as Sun Quan's eyes and ears in Jianye, and was also in charge of military rations.

In the past, when Sun Quan told Cao Cao that "Spring is just coming, you should leave quickly", the person who was sent to Cao's camp was this Xu Xiang.

There were no taboos when these three people talked to Sun Quan.

Shi Yi said slowly: "Your Majesty has moved the imperial carriage from Wuchang to Jianye. There are two urgent matters now. The first is the Wei Emperor Cao Rui's move to Shouchun and the second is the troop movement that Your Majesty witnessed in Jianye City today."

"There are three key people: Prime Minister Gu Yong, Gu Yuantan, Yangzhou Governor Diao Jia, Diao Qixing, and Left General Zhu Ju, Zhu Zifan."

"I think these three are all guilty."

Sun Quan asked in a deep voice, "What are their crimes?" Shi Yi replied, "The Prime Minister ordered Chief Secretary Diao to mobilize troops without asking for permission from His Majesty. Chief Secretary Diao blindly followed the Prime Minister's order, and the Left General believed the Prime Minister's order relayed by Chief Secretary Diao without verifying it."

Hu Zong coughed lightly and said, "Your Majesty, this matter seems to have nothing to do with Yangzhou Governor Lü Gong. Lü Gong, at the age of seventy, has guarded Jiaozhou and Yangzhou for Your Majesty for many years, but he was careless today."

Sun Quan said slowly, "I didn't say that Lu Gong was guilty. The Minister of the Court just said it clearly. It was all the fault of the Prime Minister, Diao Changshi, and Zhu Ju."

"My Prime Minister ordered the Chief Clerk of Yangzhou to mobilize troops right under my nose without even asking. My son-in-law listened to the Prime Minister like this? With just one sentence, he mobilized 4,000 soldiers? He even deployed the soldiers in front of my palace?"

Seeing that Sun Quan was about to get angry again, Xu Xiang hurriedly advised: "Your Majesty, please don't be angry about this. I am willing to believe that everyone is loyal to Your Majesty. Today, the emperor is returning and time is urgent. Everyone is also well-intentioned..."

"Good intentions, good intentions!" Sun Quan said angrily, "The worst thing in the world is to use good intentions as an excuse to undermine my foundation!"

Just as Sun Quan was furious, a eunuch quietly stood outside the palace gate and dared not come in. Hu Zong walked closer and asked a few questions, then turned back and whispered to Sun Quan.

"Your Majesty, the Prime Minister is outside the palace and is asking to enter the palace to inquire about the grand banquet for all the ministers tonight."

"Why hold a banquet?" Sun Quan turned around and waved his hand: "Let him go back. It's just a banquet tonight! I'm not in the mood to have a banquet with them!"

"And you, you have to share my worries!" Sun Quan stared at Shi Yi, Hu Zong, and Xu Xiang. "I am now setting up three new positions. Shi Shizhong is the Central Law Enforcement Officer, Hu Shizhong is the Left Law Enforcement Officer, and Xu Shizhong is the Right Law Enforcement Officer. The three of you will monitor all officials for me and punish lawbreakers, starting today!"

"Call Lu Yi! I want to see him!"

"Yes, Your Majesty." Shi Yi nodded solemnly. Hu Zong and Xu Xiang both looked worried, but they could only accept the decree to confer the title.

Gu Lu Zhu Zhang...

Gu Yong and Zhu Ju accounted for two of them.

Since this incident, Sun Quan has not left the palace for seven days, nor has he summoned the ministers from the outer court.

Seven days later, an imperial edict was issued from Jianye Palace, transferring Yangzhou Governor Lü Dai to Jiaozhou Governor, giving him the title of General Zhennan, and sending him to Jiaozhou that day. Diao Jia, the chief historian of Yangzhou Governor, was transferred to Jiangxia Governor, also to leave that day.

In the next seven days, the political atmosphere in Jianye City gradually dropped to freezing point. Prime Minister Gu Yong and Left General Zhu Ju were investigated by the school official Lu Yi and were confined to their homes and were not allowed to go out. Sun Quan still did not attend the court and did not meet with the ministers.

Liu Ji, one of the Nine Ministers, was appointed by Sun Quan to handle the affairs of the Secretariat on behalf of Gu Yong. The word "分" was added before "平尚书事", which clearly meant to divide the power of Prime Minister Gu Yong.

February 10th, Jianye, Wu State Secretariat.

Early in the morning, Liu Ji had just arrived at the office of the Secretariat. Before he could even sit down and deal with government affairs, the six secretaries of the Secretariat came uninvited and gathered at the door of Liu Ji's duty room.

When Liu Ji looked up and saw six Shangshu coming in, he was stunned:
"Everyone, what do you want to see me for? Today is only my second day on duty."

The six ministers were Xue Zong, Lu Mao, Kan Ze, Ji Liang, Qu Huang and Puyang Yi. When Liu Ji asked, Xue Zong, the leader, bowed and said:
"Greetings, Mr. Liu. We have come to see you today because we are really worried about state affairs. We would like to ask you to help us solve our worries."

"Jingwen, what is there to worry about?" Liu Ji had to pretend to be confused and looked puzzled.

Liu Ji, now 49 years old, is the son of Liu Yao, the governor of Yangzhou during the Han Dynasty. Liu Yao was a member of the Han Dynasty royal family. Although he had fought with Sun Ce for several years, after Liu Yao died of illness, Sun Ce and the Sun family still handled Liu Yao's funeral and took over Liu Yao's remaining power.

Liu Ji was of calm disposition, handsome appearance, and well-mannered, but his talents were only average, and he was always favored by Sun Quan as a mascot.

Everyone has their own way of living. Liu Ji is not a career-oriented person like Gu Yong.

This time, Liu Ji was pushed to the front by Sun Quan, and it was obvious that he was here to take over the transition. "Dividing the affairs of the Shangshu", there had never been such a strange position in the world, so how could Liu Ji get involved in the plots of these Shangshu? His original position of Guanglu Xun was not much different from a wood carving or clay sculpture.

Xue Zong said excitedly: "Mr. Liu, do you know that the Prime Minister was under house arrest for investigation by the school official? The Prime Minister is in charge of the cardinals of the world, and he is in a high position and has great power, but he was humiliated by a mere school official. It is against the rules and the law!"

"Minister Xue is absolutely right!"

"The school officials pretended to be entrusted by your majesty, but they disrespected the ministers and deceived your majesty. They must be punished!"

"Mr. Liu is now the head of the Shangshutai, and we still need Mr. Liu to speak for us!"

Seeing that the voices of the crowd were getting louder and louder, and that they were getting very angry, Liu Ji quickly stood up and bowed to the ministers as a superior:

"I am really surprised that the school affairs are like this. However, the weather has been a bit abnormal these past two days. I am afraid I have caught a cold. I need to go home and rest for two days."

As he was talking, Liu Ji actually moved to squeeze out from among the ministers.

Xue Zong and Lu Mao looked at each other and hurriedly tried to pull Liu Ji. But Liu Ji did not even turn his head, suddenly broke free from the two people's hands holding his sleeves, and ran out in small steps.

"How shameful! How shameful!" Xue Zong was furious.

Kan Ze said slowly, "Now that the Prime Minister and General Zuo are both under house arrest, why not send someone to General Zuo's mansion to report the news."

"General Zuo's Mansion?" Lu Mao asked with a frown.

Xue Zong paused, as if in a trance: "General Zuo is under house arrest, but Princess Zhu is not!"

The so-called Princess Zhu refers to Sun Quan's second daughter, Sun Luyu, who is Sun Luban Dahu's younger sister, Xiaohu. (End of this chapter)