Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

At the end of September, on an ordinary morning, when Chen Jiao was about to leave his house to go to the cabinet of Shouchun Palace to take up duty, his second son Chen Qian was already waiting outside the bedroom with an umbrella.

In addition to the umbrella in Chen Qian's hand, he also had a cloak hanging in his arm. When he saw Chen Jiao coming out, he hurried forward and put it on his father.

"Father, it's raining today and it's a bit cold. Please be careful." Chen Qian said carefully.

Chen Jiao sighed, "It's only the end of September and it's already so cold. This is Yangzhou! It's really getting worse every year."

Chen Qian asked curiously, "Our clan is in Guangling, and the climate should be similar to Shouchun. Was it warmer when my father was young than it is now?"

Chen Jiao was not in a hurry to go out, so he started talking to his son on the porch: "When I was young, it was much warmer than it is now. I remember that the rivers in Huainan never froze. It was not like these years when we had to arrange labor service to break ice on the Fei River when it was cold."

"Give me the umbrella, I'll hold it myself." Chen Jiao stretched out his hand.

Chen Qian said softly, "Father, please keep your hands warm in your sleeves. I will escort you to the carriage."

"Okay!" Chen Jiao nodded.

After being sent to the carriage by Chen Qian, the carriage swayed and moved towards the direction of Shouchun Palace. Chen Jiao was in a daze, and suddenly remembered that the previous sea fleet had left in June. According to the time, in more than a month, his eldest son Chen Ben would return with the fleet.

Chen Jiao was lost in thought until the carriage arrived at the palace gate and a eunuch came to greet him with an umbrella. Only then did Chen Jiao come to his senses, nodded, and walked with the eunuch towards the cabinet.

Cao Zhen was on duty yesterday, so there was only Cao Zhen in the cabinet duty room. In addition, it was raining today and the emperor had not returned to Shouchun, so Dong Zhao and Sima Yi came later, or maybe not at all this morning.

"General, was on duty last night? Was there anything wrong?" Chen Jiao asked.

Cao Zhen leaned back in his chair, looking a little tired: "Nothing happened, it's another peaceful day!"

Chen Jiao nodded and said, "Your Majesty will return to Shouchun tomorrow, and your Zhaobo should come back with him. Speaking of which, Zhaobo has been the Archery Captain for three years, right?"

Seeing Chen Jiao chatting, Cao Zhen also accepted everyone and nodded in response, "That's right, it's been three years. Ji Bi, you don't know, in the first year of Taihe, I left him in the army as a soldier, but I didn't expect Zhao Bo to make a name for himself. He first accumulated merits under Tian Yu and became a sergeant, then a dubo, and a Sima under Xiahou Xian. After Your Majesty conquered Liaodong, he became a two thousand stone archery lieutenant!"

Cao Zhen said this while smiling, his words were full of satisfaction with Cao Shuang, it can be said that he really felt something.

Chen Jiao asked: "Zhao Bo is indeed outstanding. Now that the war against Wu is about to start, isn't the general planning to change Zhao Bo's position? At this time, he should have made more achievements."

Cao Zhen laughed a few times. He knew the importance of his clan status, and also knew Cao Shuang's status and the personal friendship between him and the emperor. Logically speaking, for such a major event as the conquest of Wu, Cao Shuang must be given credit.

Cao Zhen said, "Yes, I am also wondering where to send Zhao Bo. In my opinion, it is no problem for Zhao Bo to lead 5,000 infantrymen or 2,000 to 3,000 cavalrymen by himself. Either let him go to the Yulin Left Army or let him go to the Wuwei Army to lead the troops."

Chen Jiao asked: "Then it is still in the Central Army? Now that the navy has been established, I think the navy is also a good place to go."

Cao Zhen shook his head. "No matter how good the navy is, Zhaobo's future is not in it. The navy is either in Chaohu Lake, on the Yangtze River, or sailing, which is too far from Luoyang and Your Majesty. Zhaobo is my eldest son, and I can take care of his other affairs, but he can only be in the central army and cannot be assigned to other posts."

After hearing what Cao Zhen said, Chen Jiao actually shook his head and sighed.

Cao Zhen asked, "What happened to Ji Bi?"

Chen Jiao said: "The general placed his eldest son in the central army, but what about my eldest son? If I hadn't called him to my side, he would have been hiding from me in Shouchun. Now he is on his second voyage. If something happens, what will happen to our family?"

After hearing Chen Jiao's complaints, Cao Zhen had no choice but to smooth things over: "The navy is also a place to make achievements..." Halfway through, Cao Zhen took back what he said. He had just said that Cao Shuang should not be allowed to join the navy, so why did he say that the navy was good? It was illogical!

Chen Jiao looked up at Cao Zhen and said, "General, my eldest son is not up to the task, and I just want to find a good future for my second son."

"My second son, Chen Qian. The general should have met him."

Cao Zhen nodded: "Xiu Yuan is well-informed, has a strong memory, and has an extraordinary demeanor. He is a young and talented man."

What Cao Zhen said was not false. In his opinion, Chen Qian was only slightly inferior to his nephew Xiahou Xuan, but much better than Sima Shi and his ilk.

Of course, this also took into account some factors of appearance. Although Chen Qian looked like Chen Jiao, he was much more handsome than Chen Jiao.

Chen Jiao finally stated his purpose at this moment: "Xiu Yuan was dismissed from the military farm last year. I told Yang Yishan to come with me to Shouchun to serve. I wonder if there are any vacancies in the general's mansion?"

Cao Zhen understood, it turns out that you talked for so long because you were waiting for me here.

"Of course." Cao Zhen said calmly, "I opened my own government, I can recruit as many people as I want, and your Majesty doesn't care about these trivial matters in my government. Ji Bi said this, is it intended to let your Xiu Yuan serve as an official?"

"Yes." Chen Jiao sighed again: "His qualifications are not enough to be appointed as Shangshu Lang, so I came to ask the general."

"No problem, it's a piece of cake." Cao Zhen said with a smile, "Then let Xiu Yuan go to my general's mansion first and be the chief clerk, and draft some documents for me, okay?"

Chen Jiao stood up and bowed to Cao Zhen: "Thank you, General. From now on, my Xiu Yuan will eat the rice provided by the General."

"They are all state-funded rice." Cao Zhen smiled and said, "Ji Bi, please ask Xiu Yuan to come to my house tonight so that I can have a good talk with him."

"Thank you, General." Chen Jiao responded.

It was still raining outside, Chen Jiao sat in the cabinet for a while, Dong Zhao and Sima Yi had not come yet. Chen Jiao had something on his mind, and couldn't sit still for a while, so he stood up and went out, holding an umbrella, and walked to the Shangshutai not far away, to find the Ministry of Personnel, Ministry of Rites and Ministry of Punishment, which he was in charge of.

After sitting in the Ministry of Personnel for half an hour and chatting with Huang Quan about some vacant positions in the court recently, he stood up and walked to the Ministry of Rites.

Minister of Rites Xu Xuan was always good at observing people's expressions. Seeing that Chen Jiao's mouth was always slightly smiling today, he asked tentatively:

"Is this a happy event that happened to you today?"

"That's right." Chen Jiao nodded. "My son Xiu Yuan has been appointed as the chief clerk in the General's Mansion. As a father, can't I just smile?"

Xu Xuan concentrated on thinking for a few moments, and also responded with a smile: "If I remember correctly, Xiu Yuan is only 22 years old this year. He is so young, and he has been appointed as the chief clerk of the general. He has a promising future."

"In my opinion, Xiu Yuan is much better than Pushe."

"What do you mean?" Chen Jiao asked, a little confused.

Xu Xuan smiled and said, "If I remember correctly, when Pushe was young, his first job was just as a county official. Now Xiu Yuan has just started his career and has become the chief clerk of the general. Isn't this better than Pushe?"

"Hahahaha." Chen Jiao stroked his beard and laughed. (End of this chapter)