The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 229 The Real Enemy

"The matter of rebellion is fully under the jurisdiction of General Wei."

"But we still need to assist with supplies to quell the rebellion."

Inside the Secretariat, all the ministers gathered here again.

This was originally a place where only the Shangshu could appear, but at this moment, almost all the important officials in the court appeared here, and they all understood each other tacitly.

The ministers are trying to gather all the affairs of the court in the Secretariat. They want to break out of the circle of court discussions and keep all the governing power in the hands of the ministers. After all, neither the empress dowager nor the emperor can enter the Secretariat.

At this moment, the ministers began to discuss spring planting, material distribution, and many other issues related to alleviating the people's livelihood in Hebei.

The officials in the temple are very selfish, but they are not without talent.

In a short period of time, they came up with several feasible solutions. After all, these people were elites from aristocratic families.

When there is no strong conflict of interest between them, their abilities can be easily demonstrated.

Zheng Chong sat in the upper seat, silent, like a wooden sculpture.

After the ministers discussed all the important matters that needed to be handled next, things finally quieted down again.

"The Zhongzheng system cannot be delayed any longer."

Wang Xiang suddenly spoke.

All the ministers immediately looked at him.

So much had happened in those days that they hadn't had time to think about it.

Although they also wanted to do it, there was some hesitation in their eyes, wondering whether now was a good time.

Wang Xiang said seriously, "We must first determine the quality of the clan."

The ministers looked at each other for a few seconds before asking, "Is now the time to do this?"

Wang Xiang spoke again, "During this rebellion in various places, the generals have made many contributions. Their families can naturally be ranked high."

Hearing these words, the ministers' eyes lit up.

They also understood Wang Xiang's idea. They exchanged glances, and Gao Rou said, "What the Lord said makes a lot of sense."

Gao Rou narrowed her eyes and said, "The clans of Hu Zun, He Zeng, Chen Ben, Zhuge Dan and others should be ranked first."

The ministers nodded without hesitation.

"As it should be."

Sima Fu looked at the crowd and then said, "In addition to assigning rank to these people, we must also pay attention to the affairs of Hebei. The people of Hebei are suffering, and we should help them."

"Yes! Yes!"

The ministers each expressed their own ideas.

While everyone was discussing, Gao Rou suddenly spoke up, "The most important matter at the moment is His Majesty's business."

"Your Majesty is so young, yet you spend all day hanging out with eunuchs. This is truly heartbreaking. I believe that the eunuchs around Your Majesty should be replaced. We should select some eunuchs with talent and good moral character to serve Your Majesty."

"Also, your Majesty's eunuchs must be people of high moral character."

"After all, I serve His Majesty all day long. If I don't have any talent, how can I teach His Majesty well?"

"There are many scattered cavalry!"

Everyone immediately started talking, and Gao Rou looked at Wang Xiang and said, "Prince, you are the emperor's teacher, you should pay more attention to him."

Wang Xiang shook his head and looked at Sima Fu across from him. "I am merely enlightening Your Majesty. The Grand Tutor is the Emperor's teacher. Therefore, the responsibility for educating Your Majesty should naturally rest with the Grand Tutor."

The ministers nodded again, agreeing deeply.

Sima Fu did not refuse and said firmly: "I will teach Your Majesty to be good. You don't have to worry."

Now that the general is dead, the Queen Mother's problem must be solved.

Sima Fu said seriously, "The problem now is that Your Majesty is in the imperial palace, which is extremely luxurious, and Your Majesty is surrounded by many eunuchs. These people have bewitched Your Majesty and made Your Majesty lose interest in your studies."

"I think that the place where Your Majesty will study can be set up in Xuanwu Hall."

At this moment, all the ministers were shocked.

Gao Rou was overjoyed and wanted to take Sima Fu's hand and toast him with a glass of wine.

Why didn't I think of that?

The Empress Dowager is easy to deal with, but the Emperor is difficult to deal with!

The Empress Dowager trusted and doted on the Emperor extremely, and every time he made plans with her, this guy always ended up doing something bad.

But there was nothing he could do to prevent the two from meeting. The emperor going to see his mother was filial piety, so who would dare to let the emperor be unfilial?
However, if the place of study is set up in Xuanwu Hall outside the city, and more academic tasks are arranged, the emperor will not be able to go to Zhaoyang Hall frequently. No, he should be allowed to live in Xuanwu Hall to study directly, and then return to Taiji Hall after a period of time, without giving them time to be alone together.

In this way, wouldn’t the Queen Mother completely become his own person?

Gao Rou said loudly, "Grand Tutor is absolutely right. I believe that the current emperor is a man of extraordinary literary talent and intelligence. He is undoubtedly a wise ruler of the Wei Dynasty. We should pay more attention to him and not let him neglect his studies. We must be worthy of the late emperor."

"Correct!"

"That's how it should be!"

Zhong Yu suddenly said, "Not only Your Majesty, but the Queen Mother should also be served by wise men."

"After the general's death, many of his subordinates will need to be reappointed. We can find virtuous and reputable people among them to serve the empress dowager." He looked at Xun Xi who was standing aside. "Xun Xu from your clan is a good choice."

Zheng Chong sat in the upper seat, listening to the ministers talking about these things, and felt uneasy.

Everyone knows what the ministers are thinking now.

They simply wanted to completely sideline the emperor. They were even more extreme than Sima Shi. What was he talking about studying in Xuanwu Hall? Were they trying to drive the emperor out of the city?

Zheng Chong was dumbfounded. How could he dare to do this?

These ministers are not afraid of bad reputation at all. After all, they are the ones who decide what is good and evil, and as long as the ministers say it is good, then it must be good.

They have no restrictions and no bottom line.

Zheng Chong was getting a little restless. They were doing these things in his own name. People in the world would say that it was an order from the Secretariat and the Shangshu Ling Zheng Chong, but they would not say that it was an order from a group of ministers.

Zheng Chong doesn't like to stand out, but he also doesn't like to take the blame!

He cleared his throat, interrupting the ministers' discussion, and slowly said, "These ideas are all good, but we must first prioritize local affairs. It won't be too late to do these things after the rebellion is quelled. The Secretariat has a lot of things piled up, so there's no need to distract ourselves from these matters."

"It would be bad if we were misunderstood by foreign troops."

Zheng Chong did not say it explicitly, but the ministers knew who he was talking about.

Guanqiu Jian.

However, the ministers were not worried about Guanqiu Jian. After all, Guanqiu Jian was supposed to be in the same group with them. If he classified his family as second-rank, he would have to be crazy to continue to oppose the ministers!

Despite this, the key now is indeed at the local level, and we cannot be too hasty about things in the palace.

The internal meeting of the Shangshutai ended so hastily.

Wang Xiang looked at Gao Rou and Sima Fu who were talking happily, but did not take the initiative to approach them.

It would be better to let them handle the task of disciplining the emperor.

This favorite student of his is not so easy to deal with. Until now, he doesn't know how many cards he has hidden. Let alone other things, Zhong Hui alone is enough to make many people suffer. The court officials don't even know that this person has surrendered to the emperor.

Wang Xiang walked slowly towards the door, but many thoughts came to his mind.

He had already climbed to the position of the head of the Nine Ministers, and the only ones who could nominally surpass him were Gao Rou, Zheng Chong, Sima Fu, and Sima Zhao.

If you want to deal with these people, you have to find an opponent for them.

It is unlikely that they will fight each other now.

Let the emperor have a good fight with them.

"Raja."

Suddenly someone called him. Wang Xiang turned around and saw that it was Xun Yi.

Xun Yi smiled and said, "Prince, if there is nothing urgent, why not come back with me? I have some good wine at home."

Wang Xiang said, "I have to go to the palace to teach the emperor now, so I can only visit him another day."

Xun Yi immediately laughed and took Wang Xiang's hand. "We can't delay this matter, we can't delay it. Your Excellency must teach me well!"

Wang Xiang chatted with him for a few more words and agreed to meet again another day.

Wang Xiang then went to the East Hall.

Cao Mao was waiting for him in the East Hall.

When he saw Cao Mao, Wang Xiang frowned and sighed.

"Teacher? What happened?"

Wang Xiang motioned Zhang Hua to leave, then whispered to Cao Mao, "Your Majesty, today the Shangshutai discussed important matters, and they mentioned your Majesty's affairs."

Wang Xiang told Cao Mao truthfully what Sima Fu, Gao Rou and others had said.

A hint of anger flashed in Cao Mao's eyes.

Even though he had known for a long time that these people were not good people, Cao Mao was still extremely angry when he heard that they were so eager to attack him.

These people's methods are really more hateful than those of the general. Sima Shi has never thought of driving himself out of the palace!
The great Emperor of Wei couldn't even stay in the palace?

How audacious this is.

But the ministers were different from Sima Shi. They had nothing to fear. They were not trying to usurp the throne. They were all doing it for the emperor's good.

Sooner or later, the emperor will understand their "good intentions".

From what they said, they wanted to completely imprison me, replace everyone around me, and even prevent me from meeting the Queen Mother.
Wang Xiang said seriously, "Your Majesty, don't be afraid. There are still veteran ministers in the court who will never allow them to act recklessly!"

Cao Mao looked at his teacher with emotion.

Fortunately, we have this teacher. I think it was this teacher who took the initiative to bring up the issue of decentralization in the Secretariat. Otherwise, they haven’t even settled the local affairs, so how can they have the energy to deal with these things?
His teacher really wanted to make progress, and Gao Rou, Sima Fu, Zheng Chong and others were standing in his way.

So if you want to fight them to the death, it’s better to drag one of them into the water and create an open space for him?
Cao Mao suddenly relaxed and wiped the sweat from his forehead with a smile.

"Great!"

"With the teacher helping me, what else do I have to worry about?"

"Then I will ignore it. I will leave these matters to the teacher!"

(End of this chapter)