The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 269 It’s Done
The palace gate was opened again, and the ministers walked out in despair.

Cui Zan looked anxious and a little annoyed.

Xun Yi actually stayed in the Taiji Hall. If I had been more proactive just now, the position of Pushe might have been mine?

"Alas, it turns out that we were defeated by His Majesty."

Cui Zan said, shaking his head.

"Your Majesty is only fifteen years old, yet you possess such great talent and vision. It is truly astonishing."

Zhonglang Ling Yu Chun suddenly sighed.

Cui Zan looked at the young Zhonglang Ling beside him and said nothing more.

At this moment, the ministers all felt extremely complicated.

They never expected it to end this way.

Not long ago, they were still talking shamelessly in the Secretariat about how to divide power, but now, they can't say anything.

The emperor was far more terrifying than they had imagined.

At this moment, the ministers seemed to have just believed Zhong Hui's evaluation.

He was like Taizu in military affairs and like Chen Si in literature.

This young emperor actually did all this. They were still a little confused at the moment and had to go home and calm down.

At this moment, Cao Mao had already arrived at the place where Sima Gan and other captains were imprisoned.

Xiahou Xian, Ma Long and others stayed here and did not leave.

When they saw Cao Mao, they hurriedly bowed to him, and Cao Mao helped them up with a smile.

No matter what, in the temple, the central army is the key to him.

Cao Mao looked at Xiahou Xian with sincerity in his eyes, "I have to thank Zhongfu for making this happen."

Xiahou Xian was Cao Mao's elder in terms of seniority and a cousin of his father. He quickly replied, "I dare not! If it were not for Your Majesty, how could this be accomplished?"

"Your Majesty is mighty and powerful. The fact that our Great Wei has such a wise ruler is truly a blessing from our ancestors!"

Thinking of the grievances he had suffered over the years, and then thinking of the fear on the faces of his ministers today, Xiahou Xian felt indescribably happy.

Cao Mao then looked at Ma Long, Ji Kang, Li Zhao and others.

“Hahaha, when I first met Xiaoxing, I knew he could accomplish great things!”

"Sure enough!"

"If it weren't for your majesty's promotion, I would be nothing more than a local warrior. I will repay your majesty's kindness with my death!"

Cao Mao finally looked at Li Zhao, and they both laughed at the same time.

"Greetings to Your Majesty."

Cao Mao helped him up and said, "Today, we can finally stop hiding from others!"

Jiao Bo also smiled and said, "Your Majesty, there is no need to give the book to the land."

When talking about the past, the three of them had a bitter look on their faces.

The layers of surveillance at the time made the three of them suffer a lot, and Jiao Bo and Li Zhao were the first to surrender to Cao Mao, and were the first group of confidants of Cao Mao after he arrived in Luoyang.

Cao Mao grabbed one person's hand and said with emotion, "I was alone back then. If it weren't for the two of you, how could I have achieved what I have today?"

"Propagate my decree, conferring upon Jiao Bo and Li Zhao the title of marquis! Grant them six pieces of brocade robes, three precious swords, and two chariots!"

"I don't deserve it!"

Both of them wanted to decline. After all, the emperor had not yet rewarded anyone else, and they did not dare to be the first to claim the credit.

Cao Mao was very resolute. He said to the crowd, "When I first came to Luoyang, these two men served me wholeheartedly, risking their lives. They should be the first to be rewarded."

Zhong Hui frowned, looking a little unhappy, but didn't say much.

After meeting with everyone, Cao Mao said to Xiahou Xian, "Please take all the captains back to the central army and reappoint them. Jiao Bo, you should also go with us."

Xiahou Xian frowned, "Your Majesty, I'm afraid this won't be that easy."

"No problem. I'll give you the imperial edict. Take Xun Xi with you and go release the people Sima Gan has imprisoned. As for the specific appointments, you can ask Captain Ma more. He is most familiar with the military situation."

Xiahou Xian accepted the order and immediately led many captains away from there.

Only then did Cao Mao walk into the inner room.

In order to prevent them from having the opportunity to communicate, these central army generals were imprisoned in different rooms. Fortunately, there were enough houses in the palace.

Sima Gan sat in the house depressed, his face pale.

When he saw the emperor come in, he had no intention of standing up to salute, but just stared at the emperor.

He never expected that he would be defeated so quickly.

My brother handed over the power to me before he left, but I failed to live up to his high hopes.

"just kill me."

He spoke.

Cao Mao looked suspicious. He stepped forward and untied the ropes on Sima Gan.

"Why do you say that, Zhongfu?"

Cao Mao asked in confusion.

Sima Gan sneered, "Since Your Majesty has already succeeded, why would you humiliate me?"

"You are my father-in-law's younger brother. How could I humiliate you?"

Cao Mao said helplessly, "My father-in-law married her to me so that I could complete the work he hadn't done. I had no choice but to attack you because I was afraid that the central army would fall into the hands of those aristocratic families."

"Now that General Wei is away, Gao Rou is already preparing to take action. I am helpless. In order to fight him, I can only conceal the truth from you temporarily."

Sima Gan was very wary. After what happened to Zhong Hui, he would never trust a word Cao Mao said again. "Are you trying to use me to deal with my brother?!"

"What are you talking about? An Shi and I are as close as brothers, not to mention we are family. How could I lay hands on him?"

"When General Wei returns, the central army will still be trained by him."

When Cao Mao said these words, he was really calm and sincere.

"Uncle Zhong, it's still very dangerous outside the palace. How about this? You go talk to Li for a while and stay in the palace. Once Luoyang is pacified, I will personally escort you back!"

Sima Gan didn't say anything else.

He was deceived so badly by Zhong Hui that he was afraid it would be difficult for him to believe others again in the future.

But Cao Mao didn't care about this. He had no need to kill Sima Gan, and he had a better way to deal with Sima Zhao.

Sima Zhao still has his army, and there are still many foreign generals who obey his orders. Cao Mao does not want to turn against him or start a civil war. It is most appropriate to resolve the issue in a friendly way like today.

This is also the reason why he chose to let Sima Fu go.

Sima Zhao doesn't know what happened in Luoyang yet. I have many ways to deal with him. The simplest one is to imitate the trip to Yunmengze.

Even if it can't be done, it doesn't matter. Well, among the four camps led by Sima Zhao, two have actually surrendered to the emperor.

Cao Mao brought Sima Gan and Sima Xun and walked towards the Shiqian Palace with a smile.

When she walked in here, Sima Yi was very surprised. She quickly put down the work in her hands and stood up to greet him. Guo Ping also rushed to Cao Mao with a smile.

Cao Mao rubbed his head, then took Sima Gan's hand and said to Sima Li, "Li, Zhongfu is here as a guest. Hurry up and prepare the food!"

Sima Yi bowed to Sima Gan. Although Sima Gan was embarrassed, he still returned the greeting. After all, this was his real niece.

When several people sat here, the atmosphere became extremely awkward.

Sima Gan looked at the emperor eating and drinking in front of him, and he couldn't understand how the emperor could be so shameless.

They clearly launched a coup and captured me, but now they are talking about family affection and eating with me, and they are eating so happily!

After a busy day, Cao Mao finally ate his fill and stood up. He said to Sima Yi, "I still have things to take care of. Please stay with Zhongfu and chat for a while until I come back."

Without waiting for Sima Yi's answer, he turned around and left.

There have been no problems with Cao Mao's deployment so far, but Cao Mao did not dare to relax completely.

At present, he controls the capital city inside and outside, but the power of the ministers is still huge. Their people are distributed all over the Wei Dynasty. Even if he captures them, Cao Mao cannot kill them.

We even have to divide and win over people.

It can be seen from the selection of people for the Secretariat that Cao Mao has no confidants at all to appoint.

He couldn't even find a confidant who could serve as the head of the Secretariat.

This is even more so for the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers. We can't let young men like Zhang Hua take on these positions, right?

This is the power of the ministers, a power that even Sima Shi finds difficult to deal with.

You can't trust them, but you can't do without them.

It is said that there is no shortage of people who want to be officials in the world, but the high-ranking positions in the temple are different. Not everyone can take up this position, nor can it be given to others just because they want to.

When Cao Mao returned to Taiji Hall, Zhong Hui and others were planning their next move.

"General Zhendong."

Cao Mao immediately spoke up, saying seriously, "Send someone to Huainan to inform the General Zhendong of what's happening in the palace. Have him gather his troops and prepare for battle."

"If Sima Zhao were to lead an attack from outside, he would need the assistance of the General Zhendong. He must be the first to know about this."

Zhong Hui nodded in agreement.

Zhang Hua hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, I think we can also contact Governor Chen in the west."

"If we can gain his support, we will have the strength to suppress all the foreign generals."

Zhong Hui said disdainfully: "Not just him, all foreign generals should be won over, but we have to prioritize them."

"We can't tell Chen Tai yet. Otherwise, it will affect the morale of the army and lead to their defeat by Jiang Wei. That would be disastrous."

"I think there are two people we should win over now: Guanqiu Jian and Zhuge Dan."

"With these two people helping me, I can rest assured."

They discussed a lot more, and it was unknown how long they talked before the sky began to darken.

Cao Mao then interrupted the discussion and said, "Everyone has been busy all day, go back and rest first."

"Shiji, please pay more attention to the things happening everywhere and make sure nothing goes wrong."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty. I will watch over it."

After sending them off, Cao Mao said to the eunuchs around him, "You all should leave as well. I have something to do."

The eunuchs saluted Cao Mao and then left the West Hall.

Cao Mao was the only one left in the West Hall.

Cao Mao stood up, walked a few steps, then found a good place and lay down.

Cao Mao just lay on the ground calmly.

He breathed a sigh of relief and then started laughing. As he laughed, he covered his mouth.

Tears kept flowing from his eyes.

He just lay on the ground in the west hall, crying silently.

ps: After finishing the last chapter, I lay directly on the ground, but I didn’t cry. I have never written like this in my life. I wrote nearly 500,000 words last month, with a minimum of four chapters every day, from morning to night, without a day off. Today I felt I couldn’t bear it anymore, but fortunately I gritted my teeth and finished it.

Fortunately, the first climax had no impact, and I am personally quite satisfied with it. If you have any comments, you can leave a message and I will try my best to correct it.

(End of this chapter)