The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 246 The Fool

Yecheng.

Sima Zhao sat in the upper seat, with He Zeng and Chen Ben sitting on his left and right.

Sima Zhao looked at He Zeng and couldn't help asking, "This rebel was causing so much trouble earlier, why did they collapse as soon as I showed up?"

He Zeng quickly replied, "This is all due to the great power of General Wei. When the rebels heard you were coming, they were terrified and no longer dared to fight against the imperial court."

Hearing this flattery, Chen Ben couldn't help but close his eyes.

This guy really has no moral integrity of a scholar.

Even though he comes from a prominent family, he still behaves like such a mean person.

But Sima Zhao liked this. When he heard He Zeng's flattery, a smile flashed across his face, but he quickly put on a serious face and said seriously: "This is because the many ministers in Hebei are unable to work together and each has their own selfish motives!"

"The governors acted independently, ignoring orders from their superiors. The generals competed for military merit and even intercepted supplies. How audacious!"

Only then did He Zeng look at Chen Ben.

"General Wei, you don't know that this is because of some villain."

Sima Zhao pretended not to see He Zeng's actions.

The situation in Hebei has been stabilized. He Zeng described it as very serious. In his memorial, it seemed that Hebei had completely returned to the period of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

But in fact, although the unrest broke out quickly, the Wei Kingdom was not the Han Dynasty. The Wei Kingdom fully absorbed the drawbacks of the Han Dynasty's demise, including the solution to the rebel army.

The provincial governors and prefects of the Wei Dynasty all had military power in their hands, and there were four expeditionary forces and four garrison commanders with large armies stationed in various places. It was unlikely that a rebellion as quickly as the Yellow Turban Rebellion would sweep across half of the country. Even if the army in Hebei was not as good as the army in Huai and Si in the northwest, it was still a fully armed army of tens of thousands. It was not that difficult to quell the rebellion.

He Zeng described the situation as serious, largely to cover up his own incompetence.

He Zeng was not good at military strategy and did not know how to fight. This time, so many powerful families got into trouble, and he was unwilling to take responsibility, and even more unwilling to become the public enemy of the powerful families in Hebei.

He could only push everything onto others, such as Chen Ben and Lu Yu.

Sima Shi and Zhong Hui did not inform He Zeng when they were handling this matter.

There are many reasons for this. One of them is that Zhong Hui doesn't like He Zeng at all.

Secondly, Zhong Hui wanted to find someone of high status to stab Lu Yu in the back.

Thirdly, this person is timid and his family is extremely powerful. If he knew about this, he would probably betray and refuse to cooperate.

However, He Zeng was always one step behind in getting news from the court. He only just learned that Sima Shi was dead, and had no idea that the era of competition among ministers had arrived.

Chen Ben is different.

Chen Ben was the main planner of the Hebei operation. He had never gotten along with He Zeng, and this time he pretended to compete for military merits, causing trouble for He Zeng everywhere and preventing him from carrying out his rebellion suppression work smoothly.

He never judged others by himself. If he found out that Chen Ben was in big trouble, he would definitely oppose him in every way and make him unable to recover. Therefore, he did not doubt Chen Ben's position, but just felt that this person was taking advantage of his misfortune.

As for Sima Zhao, he knew everything that happened in Hebei.

He knew that Chen Ben carried out all this in Hebei at the behest of his brother, and he also knew that He Zeng was probably unaware of it.

Therefore, Sima Zhao's current questioning was just for He Zeng to see, not to hold anyone accountable.

This can also be considered a disguised protection for Chen Ben.

Sima Zhao frowned and said seriously, "Although my brother has passed away, I am still here. If any of the officials in Hebei neglect government affairs or use personal interests to undermine public interests, I will not forgive them lightly."

A smile appeared on He Zeng's face, and he looked up at Chen Ben.

Chen Ben remained calm and said nothing.

"Alright, you all go back first. I need to rest. General He, please stay."

"only!"

All the ministers filed out, and no one stayed by Sima Zhao's side.

After everyone left, Sima Zhao finally put away his serious expression. He smiled and looked at He Zeng, "Yingkao, don't worry. I'm here at the temple and I won't let you bear any responsibility. The rebellion in the local area was caused by Lu Yu's willful behavior, and the failure to suppress the rebellion was due to General Zhenbei."

"I know that without you, Hebei would not have been pacified so quickly. You have made a great contribution this time."

"Even the great clans of Hebei should be grateful to you. If it weren't for Ying Kao, wouldn't the clans of Hebei have suffered even greater casualties?!"

He Zeng's face was full of flattering smiles. He was the same type of person as Jia Chong. They both came from top families, but he looked like a mean man and was flattering. Moreover, his talent was not as good as Jia Chong's, otherwise he would not have been a lickspittle for Jia Chong in history. Jia Chong had always been a lickspittle for Sima Zhao. He Zeng was a lickspittle of a lickspittle.

Sima Zhao, however, liked to make friends with such people, not just to listen to them praise themselves, but most importantly, these people dared to do things that ordinary ministers did not dare to do.

Take Jia Chong for example. Apart from him, who else would dare to commit regicide?
"General, this is what I should do. Besides, you were the one who put down the rebellion. How can you say it's my credit?"

"Ying Kao, it would be great if all the officials in the court could be as loyal as you."

He couldn't help but say, "Among the ministers, there are not many who are as sensible as you."

He Zeng was stunned for a moment, then said angrily: "Could it be that these people dared to embarrass General Wei because they saw that the general was gone?"

"How dare these traitors, who hasn't received the favor of the general?" "General, is there anything I can do for you?!"

Looking at He Zeng who was eager to try, Sima Zhao's mood suddenly improved a lot. Although this person was good at flattery and did not have much talent himself, he did not need to be too cautious when using him.

"Ying Kao, don't be impatient. These people in the court won't be causing trouble for a few more days. You don't need to do anything. Just keep an eye on Hebei and make sure there's no more trouble."

"General, this is what I should do."

"However, General, you may not know that Chen Ben is deliberately making things difficult for me this time, making it difficult for me to carry out many of my tasks."

He Zeng directly complained about Chen Ben. Sima Zhao listened to his complaints, suppressed his inner smile, and also showed a very angry look, "Don't worry, Ying Kao, I will definitely investigate this matter thoroughly!"

The two talked for a long time, and Sima Zhao once again brought the topic to the ministers.

He hinted that some unpleasant things would happen between him and his ministers after he returned to the court.

He Zeng also firmly stated that he would stand with Sima Zhao and would not allow others to bully him.

The matter went very smoothly, and Sima Zhao sent him away.

I just called Du Yu in to discuss the rest of the matters.

After He Zeng left this place, he hurried back to his mansion.

"Father! You're finally back!"

He Zeng's son He Zun looked very anxious. When he saw his father coming back, he was about to speak, but He Zeng had the door closed.

He Zeng had two sons. Although He Zun was the eldest son, he was not born of a legitimate wife, so the family resources were not wasted too much on him.

He had served as a Sanqi in the past, but because he liked luxury goods, he secretly colluded with palace craftsmen to make luxury goods for the emperor exclusively. He was impeached by the ministers and dismissed.

A general like He Zeng would definitely have his son stay in Luoyang. He Zeng's legitimate son He Shao stayed in Luoyang, even in the general's mansion.

But the deposed eldest son stayed with his father.

He Zun hurriedly said, "Father, I have asked everything clearly."

"Things in the court aren't that simple. I heard that when the general was still alive, the ministers had already started fighting, and Lu Yu and others had seized power, including this incident."

"Shut up!"

He Zeng frowned and asked unhappily, "Who asked you to inquire about these things?"

He Zun was helpless and hurriedly explained: "Father, these things are very important. The current situation in the court."

"Who are you? A commoner who has been dismissed, dare you discuss important matters in the government?"

He Zun felt very aggrieved. He was also running around for the interests of the clan. Why couldn't his father see through what was going on in the temple?
I'm still entangled with Chen Ben.

But facing his father, he did not dare to refute him, and said helplessly: "Father, the court officials want to assign our family a rank of second rank. You don't know that the Zhongzheng system is going to be reformed."

He quickly informed his father of several policies in the government.

He Zeng finally stopped interrupting him and waited patiently for him to finish.

After He Zun finished describing the many things that happened in the temple, He Zeng sneered, "So it wasn't you who went to ask them about the situation, but they found you and wanted you to be their lobbyist?"

"Father! What do you mean?"

He Zun said in disbelief, "Isn't this a good thing? How can you call it lobbying?"

He Zeng said with a stern face, "What do you know, little brat?"

"This Hebei incident is clearly because of Chen Ben. As for the affairs of the imperial court, huh, what does that have to do with you? If you have time to dwell on that, you should think more about how to shed your previous bad reputation."

He Zeng was very unhappy. He cursed a few words and turned to go into the inner room.

He Zun looked at his father who was leaving, and seemed to be hesitant to speak.

He sighed again.

Alas, this was originally a good opportunity for the clan to rise, but it was ruined by my father.

As he walked into the inner room, a look of disdain appeared on He Zeng's face.

idiot.

What does this have to do with our family? What's wrong with the current situation? Are you hungry? Or are you freezing?

Do you really think those benefits are easy to come by?

Climbing too high or being too smart is not a good thing.

It would be much better to be a little stupid. No one would be afraid of you, and everyone would try to win you over. You could be a little man following behind the lord, without worries, and protect the clan. Why bother getting involved in these troublesome things?
These two foolish sons of his don't realize their own abilities and are so eager to step forward. After his death, I'm afraid something bad will happen to the clan.

(End of this chapter)