The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 250 It’s All My Brother’s Fault
Cao Mao's feelings towards Wang Jing were somewhat complicated.

In the first week, Cao Mao could no longer bear it and decided to lead the charge and kill Sima Zhao.

He summoned three ministers to conspire on this matter. Only Wang Jing did not betray him and advised him to be patient, but Cao Mao did not listen.

Wang Jingming knew that the other two would betray the emperor, but he did not follow them to inform on them.

He was eventually killed by Sima Zhao.

He protected his moral integrity with his life.

Therefore, this time, Cao Mao would listen to him.

In Cao Mao's eyes, this man, like Guanqiu Jian, was a loyal minister worthy of trust. He was promoted by the Sima family. At that time, Sima Zhao was extremely powerful and no one could control him. All the ministers had surrendered.

The other two wise men from prominent families trembled with fear and called on Wang Jing to go with them to inform on the matter, but Wang Jing resolutely refused them.

Faced with such a situation, Wang Jing still chose to die with the emperor.

Finally, when Sima Yan came to power, he talked about Wang Jing, saying that he was a rare loyal minister, so he pardoned his crimes and summoned his grandson to serve as a doctor to accompany him.

"Lord, how do you think we should plan this matter?"

Cao Mao asked.

Wang Jing frowned and said seriously, "Your Majesty, although the ministers in the court are fighting, if Your Majesty were to take action against them, they would definitely unite."

"Earlier in the Secretariat, the ministers discussed many times how to deal with Your Majesty."

"Sima Fu said he would replace the people around you and send you to Xuanwu Pavilion to be imprisoned, with no contact with the outside world."

"You now have the help of the Protector General, so they dare not act rashly."

"They didn't dare replace the Protector General, so they sent people to replace his officers. Those incompetent men who had fled from the Central Army were assigned to the Imperial Palace Guards by the ministers, hoping to use them to undermine the Protector General's position."

"Once the ministers feel they are strong enough to challenge the Protector General, they will immediately take action and imprison Your Majesty. I'm afraid Your Majesty will have difficulty communicating with the outside world."

"Your Majesty can join forces with General Wei. General Wei doesn't want to see the ministers controlling the government. If he were watching, the ministers wouldn't dare treat Your Majesty this way."

"Once His Majesty loses contact with the outside world, given the Queen Mother's personality, she will undoubtedly turn to the ministers. With the Queen Mother in her hands, the ministers can directly bypass General Wei and govern the country, and even dismiss him again."

"General Wei thinks he has an army at his disposal, but maintaining an army requires the support of the imperial court."

"Besides, if the Queen Mother's edict were to be passed on to the army by the ministers, the officers would not necessarily obey the orders of the General."

Wang Jing analyzed the current situation.

Cao Mao nodded, "What you said makes a lot of sense."

"When General Wei comes back, I will have a good talk with him about this matter."

Wang Jing sighed deeply and said helplessly, "Your Majesty, if you want to accomplish such a great task, you must not be impatient. Your Majesty is still young. Once you reach the age to rule the country, many things will become much easier."

Cao Mao also knew that what Wang Jing said was right, but the problem was, the ministers also had to grow up to that level, right?

Judging from the current style of the big families, I am afraid that I won’t be able to survive until that time, and I will either be dismissed or encounter an accident.

Originally there was only one powerful minister, but now there are powerful ministers in the whole court.

However, Cao Mao did not tell Wang Jingming about his many thoughts. It was not because he did not trust him, but mainly because he was afraid that he would not be able to understand what he meant for the time being.

The chaos in the Secretariat has spread to the entire Luoyang.

The Imperial College became a mess.

Hundreds of people gathered at the gate of the Imperial College, divided into two factions, and cursed each other.

"Unfilial! Extremely unfilial! Since ancient times, I have never heard of a young person insulting an adult!"

"Impossible!"

"Disobedient villain!"

Some students' faces turned red as they shouted insults at the students around them.

The impact of the Dongtang Banquet was still fermenting, and the first place to be affected was the Imperial Academy. Ever since the emperor personally commented on the two people from the Xun family, and Sima Yan sacrificed his own relatives for the sake of justice and blocked the door of the Taifu and cursed him, the atmosphere in the whole Luoyang became weird.

In line with the principle of keeping the wealth within the family, many young scholars began to enhance the reputation of their elders.

Of course, there were also some failures, for example, Gao Rou's grandson Gao Tao was hung up and beaten by Gao Rou just because he scolded Gao Rou in person. After the beating, Gao Rou threw him into the central army for training, or directly sent him to Ma Long's camp, threatening to break his legs if he dared to run!

But most people still succeeded, and this was also due to the indulgence of their elders.

After all, the world is different now. You need reputation to climb up. You have reached this position now, and you won’t fall down if you get scolded a few times. Why not help your juniors to gain reputation so that they can make progress in the future?

The high-pressure policy that had lasted for many years was suddenly relaxed, and the scholars suddenly became excited.

When Sima Shi was in power, he did not allow scholars to discuss state affairs. Even after Cao Mao wrote "Empty City Sparrow", he directly ordered that scholars be forbidden to discuss this poem, and those who discussed it would be punished.

But now, no one cares what they say, and the emperor personally asks them to speak their minds.

In the eyes of the ministers, this was not a bad thing. After all, the original high-pressure policy was not only aimed at young scholars, but even they, the ministers, were persecuted by this policy.

The ministers were no different from the young scholars; they were all literati-officials, and Cao Mao wanted to remove the shackles from the literati-officials, which was not a big problem for the ministers.

It may be somewhat detrimental to their current rule, but it is not fatal.

No matter how much trouble they make, they are still the younger generation in the family. And this kind of heavy-handed attack on the elders is even considered a good thing by some ministers. You personally asked us to write a letter of admonition?

Since our younger generations can speak frankly to us and advise us, we can naturally speak frankly to the emperor as well.

This is like handing the blade to us.

Perhaps because there had been silence for too long, when the scholars began to speak, the whole of Luoyang became extremely lively.

There were also several factions within the Imperial College.

Those who are pointing fingers and cursing at everyone today are the traditionalists. They still admire the moral governance model of the Han Dynasty and attach great importance to etiquette and laws.

Even when Sima Shi was in power, their status was very high. After all, ruling the world still requires the assistance of etiquette and laws.

He Zeng is a representative figure of this type of celebrities. He Zeng strictly abides by the etiquette. To what extent does he abide by the etiquette?

According to etiquette, he met his wife three times a year. When he went to see his wife, he was always dressed neatly and treated her like a guest. He faced south while his wife had to face north. He would serve her wine before he did other things.

After Ruan Ji's mother passed away, Ruan Ji did not abide by the etiquette, but ate and drank lavishly, completely disregarding the matter. He Zeng was extremely angry and asked Sima Zhao to exile him. He believed that Ruan Ji had "polluted China" and destroyed China's moral society.

If you observe carefully, you will find that those who support etiquette and laws are those who hold high positions and are deeply trusted by the Sima family, while those who are unruly and despise etiquette and laws are mostly rebellious.

They use this to vent their dissatisfaction.

For Cao Mao, both factions had their own advantages and disadvantages.

There's no need to explain the ritual and legal faction. Ritual and law are the foundation of ruling the world. The emperor's ruling power is strengthened by ritual and law. Without ritual and law, there's no need to respect your own superiors, so why should we respect you, the emperor? The result of the demise of the ritual and legal faction is that "the emperor is the one with the strongest army and the most powerful horses!"

Then there will be situations like "beating the emperor with three punches" and "dog-footed emperor".

The disadvantages are also obvious: they will protect whoever is in power.

As for those metaphysical schools, they despised etiquette and laws, and some of them even directly abandoned Confucianism and began to rediscover the extinct Huang-Lao school and Taoist school.

The advantage is that they are not bound by etiquette and laws, they tear apart the shackles of thought and dare to speak the truth.

At this moment, there were countless factions of various schools in the Imperial Academy. Because of the Dongtang Banquet and the loss of suppression by powerful forces, many parties went to war directly.

Faced with the attacks from the ritualists, the metaphysical school did not give in at all.

"Is it filial piety to watch your own parents make mistakes without stopping them?"

"This is the greatest act of filial piety!"

"You use etiquette and law as an excuse to disregard the righteousness of the world. How can you be qualified to talk about morality?!"

The verbal conflict between the two sides soon escalated into a physical conflict.

Fortunately, the government intervened in time to stop their vicious fight and prevent the conflict from escalating further.

Zhong Yu was sitting in the Supreme Court, and he felt a headache when he saw the many scholars sent in.

How to deal with these people?

They are all guys from big families. If we deal with them all, something bad might happen.

Zhong Yu first looked at the ritualists. If these people hadn't been blocking the door and cursing, would such a conflict have occurred?
It seems that their leaders must be severely punished, otherwise they will become even more lawless.

"Who's taking the lead?"

Zhong Yu asked.

The soldiers immediately looked at the leader.

He was a young scholar with a bruised face and nose, who hurriedly saluted Zhong Yu.

"He Shao pays his respects to Lord Zhong."

Zhong Yu fell silent. He looked at the metaphysical school again. Although the ritual and legal school took action first, it was actually because of these metaphysical school that they started the trouble first.

It seems we have to start with them.

"What about you guys?! Who's the one who started this trouble?!"

Zhong Yu's expression became more serious and he asked loudly.

Everyone's eyes were fixed on a young man at the front. The man walked out slowly and bowed to Zhong Yu.

"Pei Kai pays his respects to Mr. Zhong!"

Zhong Yu said with a stern face, "Take these two people out and lock them up."

The clerk beside him was horrified. One was the son of General Zhengbei and the other was the son of the Governor of Jizhou. How could they dare to arrest them?

"Hurry up!"

"only!!"

Immediately, a soldier pushed the two men away from there.

Zhong Yu's face darkened, and he couldn't help but curse at his brother in his heart!

Look at what you've gotten me into. Can't you just quiet down, you little brat?
(End of this chapter)