The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 223 I refuse

"Shiji."

"Are you doing this for the Sima family, for me, or for yourself?"

Cao Mao suddenly asked.

A eunuch brought tea to the two men and placed it in front of them. Zhong Hui did not rush to answer the emperor's questions, but instead started drinking the tea first.

He took a sip and seemed to enjoy it very much.

"Your Majesty, what difference does it make?"

Zhong Hui looked at Cao Mao and asked seriously, "Is there any difference between these three?"

"Whether it's Your Majesty, Sima Zhao, or me, our interests are the same. We all want to support the country, govern the Wei Dynasty well, curb the ministers, and protect the country from their harm."

"Since the goal is the same, why does Your Majesty divide it so subdivided?"

Cao Mao laughed and shook his head.

"No, no, who says the goals are the same?"

The smile on Zhong Hui's face froze a little.

"Could it be that Your Majesty is unwilling to govern the Great Wei?"

He really couldn't see any reason for the emperor to refuse. In the current situation, what did the personal grudge between the emperor and the Sima family matter?

Besides, wasn't it because of the Sima family that you became emperor? The Sima family has been quite polite to you. You're on good terms with Sima Yan, Sima Wang, and the others. Sima Shi is dead now. Now, why would you join forces to deal with the main enemy?
Are you going to neglect the great affairs of the court because of personal grudges?

Zhong Hui's expression suddenly became serious.

If Cao Mao is really like this, then he is not a sage king worthy of assistance.

Cao Mao looked at the changes in his expression and was actually able to roughly guess his inner thoughts. This made Cao Mao feel incredible. He thought he was quite capable as he could actually see through the thoughts of such an abnormal person.

Cao Mao asked, "What is Shi Ji's ambition?"

"Assist the Holy King and support the country."

"And your Majesty?"

"Support the country and bring peace to the people."

Zhong Hui didn't say anything, but his meaning was very clear: we are people of the same kind.

Cao Mao said at this moment: "Shi Ji, although we have the same idea, I think that the prosperous era in my mind may be slightly different from the prosperous era that Sima Zhao imagined."

"Oh?"

"What difference can there be in prosperous times?"

"That makes a huge difference."

Cao Mao said this and looked at Zhang Hua and Wei Shu. They nodded and walked to the door to keep an eye.

Cao Mao then turned to Zhong Hui and said, "Let's first talk about my father-in-law's plan."

"He's been really worried about the Sima family, and he's almost willing to chew up the rice and feed it to the clan."

"Let me think about it. I'm afraid you've used all the provincial governors, prefects, and generals in these places, haven't you?"

"Guanqiu Jun left in a hurry. I think he was telling our General Zhendong about what happened here? Although the General Zhendong is in Huainan, his military achievements were all in Hebei, and he has many old subordinates in Hebei. He was involved in this matter, right?"

"There's no need to say much about people like Deng Ai and Wang Ji. They will definitely carry out the general's orders."

"Deng Ai is in Yanzhou, the closest to Luoyang. Is he responsible for communicating with the imperial court in a timely manner? Including this time, he threatened the ministers and clearly told them that if the imperial court did not have a general, the unrest in various places would continue, and more powerful families would be implicated."

"Hu Zun, Shi Bao, and He Zeng, these three are all close confidants of the general."

Zhong Hui couldn't help but interrupt Cao Mao, "Your Majesty is mistaken. Hu Zun is involved. After all, although he is from a prominent family, he is a frontier family. He is not strong in classics and is discriminated against by the Henan clans. Even if he is ranked, he will not get a high rank. Therefore, he will participate."

"Shi Bao also participated, but his task was to keep an eye on Hu Zun. The general knew Hu Zun's character and was afraid that he would lose control, so he sent Shi Bao to keep an eye on him and to contain him if necessary."

"But He Zeng has never participated."

Zhong Hui laughed and said, "I kicked him out of the plan."

"Oh? Why?"

"Because I don't like this person."

"Besides, with such a major event happening in Hebei, we need someone who is diligent and dedicated to eliminating the bandits. He Zeng has come to be this loyal minister, and he should be grateful to me."

"In Hebei, the person who was actually involved in this incident was Chen Ben."

"I have a good relationship with him. I personally wrote all the letters sent to him. After he saw the letters from the general, he agreed."

Cao Mao was not disappointed. He nodded and said, "I really don't know these."

Zhong Hui couldn't help but praise him, "Your Majesty has never seen these people before. Yet, even sitting in the inner chamber, they can think of so many things. They are truly sages. With me as your assistant, Your Majesty has nothing to fear. I am Your Majesty's Marquis of Liu and Marquis of Ying! Your Majesty will find me like a fish in water!"

Zhong Hui started by praising Cao Mao, but then he started praising himself.

It was always the king who said these words to his ministers. This was the first time Cao Mao had heard a minister say this to the king. However, no matter how outrageous the matter was, it would make perfect sense when applied to Zhong Hui.

For example, this time, the matter of directly attacking the aristocratic families and cutting off their roots would be a bit inappropriate if it were Sima Shi, as he would be considered too radical. But if the person in charge was Zhong Hui, then it would be fine.

As for Zhong Hui comparing himself to Zhang Liang and Xiao He, he really wasn't talking nonsense.

Historically, he began to offer advice to Sima Zhao, and people all over the world called him the Zhang Liang of the modern era.
The fact that he could make those who disliked him hold their noses and call him Zhang Liang shows how fierce he was.

Maybe Zhong Hui was right. The combination of Sima Shi and Zhong Hui was an extremely powerful combination in the world. If Sima Shi had lived a little longer, perhaps things would have been completely different.

Cao Mao ignored the narcissistic fellow and continued, "So the general broke with Sima Fu in advance and let Sima Fu follow the ministers, just for this day."

"Lu Yu initially forced the general to make concessions by provoking civil unrest. The general directly provoked civil unrest and used the excuse of calming it to force the ministers to make concessions."

"It seems that the general is more skilled. Oh, no, it's Zhong Shiji who is more skilled."

Cao Mao added, "Lu Yu's clan has been damaged, his reputation in tatters. He's lucky to have survived, but his political career is ruined. As for Gao Rou, the Secretariat is now a mess. I'm not sure he has the confidence to take it on. Besides, Gao Rou has never worked in the Secretariat before."

"Sima Fu becomes a good candidate at this time. The ministers may push for this person to make the transition. As for the general, Deng Ai, Wang Ji, Hu Zun and others only recognize Sima Zhao, right?"

"He also specifically asked you to come to me so that I could help Sima Zhao and Sima Fu and help them ascend to this position."

Cao Mao sighed, "My father-in-law has been incredibly hard-working. He knew Sima Zhao couldn't take over, so he used this method to split the Shangshu Ling and Da Jiangjun positions into two, and the clan into two, with each inheriting separately."

"If my last name was Sima, I would kowtow to him."

Zhong Hui enjoyed it very much, and he felt even more relaxed as he listened to Cao Mao's story.

"Your Majesty, since you have seen all this, you should also understand that this will not harm you in any way. Let's join forces."

"Appoint Sima Fu as the Minister of Chancellery, and Sima Zhao as the General."

"Let's stabilize the situation in the world first."

"The next step is to let the two of them fight each other, and divide these aristocratic families based on geography, family background, and Confucian classics."

"Many aristocratic families are now suffering, which will lead to new disputes over classics. This is an opportunity we cannot miss."

"As long as the power and status of Confucian classics are taken back to the imperial court, the powerful families will become the temple's dogs."

"We can completely subdue them. We will use three years to rectify the situation at home, and in the fourth year we will attack Shu."

Zhong Hui had a very clear plan in his mind.

Perhaps Sima Shi discussed this with Zhong Hui before his death?
Cao Mao narrowed his eyes. "So, Shi Ji wants to use Confucian classics to deal with these powerful families?"

"This is the foundation of the aristocratic families. They monopolize knowledge. If we want to uproot them, we must allow more people from humble backgrounds to have the opportunity to study and learn the classics."

"We must use the controversy over classics to make them fight each other!"

"Your Majesty, don't worry. In my eyes, these powerful families are not worth mentioning."

Zhong Hui's tone was as if he was coaxing a child. What he meant was to tell Cao Mao that everything has been prepared, all you have to do is nod your head, and I will help you win easily, so don't be ungrateful.

Cao Mao's eyes were particularly bright.

This optimal solution is only the optimal solution in Sima Shi's eyes.

Sima Shi thought about many things.

Then why don't you think about whether you will follow his plan?
Looking at the confident Zhong Hui in front of him, Cao Mao did not directly reject him.

Be gentle with this guy.

"Shiji, let's get back to our previous topic, the difference between prosperous times."

There was a hint of reminiscence in Cao Mao's eyes.

"When I was very young, I had just arrived in Yuancheng. I was in my mansion, unable to go out. I heard people talk about life outside. They all said that Hebei was prosperous, all industries were thriving, and the people were wealthy. It was truly a paradise in a prosperous era."

"I believed it."

"But after I went out and traveled around, I realized that what I called a prosperous age was different from what others said."

"Mr. Guo told me that the imperial court implemented benevolent policies, recruiting the people to cultivate the land and establishing military farms in various places to guard the borders and settle the people. He also failed to tell me that the harvest of the people who followed the imperial court to cultivate the land belonged to the imperial court. The only difference between them and the tenant farmers outside was that they served different people."

"The government only gives them a certain amount of food per head, claiming it's exempting them from taxes and calling it benevolent governance. But isn't this just hiring the people to farm for them? Without the government's orders, they can't even plant seeds?!"

"I saw the roads of that prosperous age littered with the bodies of abandoned babies. I saw old men in the fields falling to the ground one by one, never to rise again. I saw merchants gathering together, crying out against the looting by officials along the way. I saw craftsmen constantly being summoned by the government to make tools for free, their families torn apart and their lives destroyed."

"I don't know what Master Sima thinks, but this is not the image of a prosperous age in my eyes."

"Everyone can have enough food to eat and enough clothes to wear, the elderly can be cared for, and children can grow up healthy."

“There is no need to fear foreign enemies, and no need to suffer humiliation.”

"This is the prosperous era I want!"

"Therefore, I will not join forces with them!"

(End of this chapter)