The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 282 I won’t force you
"The teacher is right!"

"I'll take my leave now."

When Cao Mao heard Wang Xiang's words, he immediately nodded in agreement, then stood up, turned around and was about to leave.

Wang Xiang became anxious and quickly stood in front of him.

"His Majesty!!"

Cao Mao was not in a hurry at all. It seemed that his teacher did not understand the current situation. He came to you this time not to discuss these things with you.

This incident has no impact on me at all.

Wang Su has ruined your reputation and brought shame to your clan, but that has nothing to do with me. It will be done as it will be.

If you feel you are not qualified to refute Wang Su, then fine, it's up to you.

Cao Mao looked at Wang Xiang in front of him, his attitude becoming much colder. "What else do you want, Your Majesty?"

Wang Xiang's grief and anger at this moment are difficult to express in words.

How could it become like this?

As a pioneer of this new era, Wang Xiang naturally knew how great the influence of classics was. He was unwilling to be the knife in the emperor's hand to deal with his own people, but the problem was that if he did not become the knife now, his clan would be in trouble.

This person is hanging on a cliff. If he wants to climb up, he can only pull his own people down and step on their corpses to climb up.

Wang Xiang looked at the emperor in front of him with a calm face and felt a chill in his heart.

Could it be that when he first helped me ascend to the position of Grand Minister of Rites, he had already made all the preparations?
He looked at the face, the slightly narrowed eyes, the unchanging expression, and the faint smile at the corner of the mouth.

How similar to Xuanwen!!!
Wang Xiang had no room to back down. He took a deep breath and said, "Your Majesty, I have never stolen anything."

Cao Mao waved his hand, not caring at all. "This is a matter between you and the prince. If you really didn't steal, even the prince can't frame you. I will stand up for you."

"The prince will be coming to see you soon, so please make some preparations."

"The Dongtang Banquet over there is actually a great place for classic debates."

Cao Mao seemed to be hinting at something, but he left Wang Xiang's residence without further explanation.

Only after the emperor left did Wang Xiang put away all his disguises. He slumped in his seat with a dejected look on his face, his eyes filled with despair.

The emperor has pushed him into a desperate situation.

But Wang Xiang still didn't want to follow the emperor's thinking. He probably understood the emperor's thinking now.

The emperor obviously wanted to interfere with the interpretation of classics.

Wang Su said that he had stolen it and explained it himself, and everyone had the right to interpret it. Then the emperor would personally step down and say, "Stop arguing, let me be your judge."

This is a huge hidden danger for the new era of the family.

The emperor could easily cause internal strife among his ministers in the temple by manipulating the classics. Whether it was sorting the classics or setting standards for the classics, it could cause civil war among the major families.

If the classics were taken away, the wealthy families would be no different from the powerful and would be at the mercy of the emperor.

Wang Xiang frowned. He absolutely could not let things proceed according to the emperor's ideas, and he also had to preserve his reputation.

We must find a way!
Cao Mao sat in the carriage and thought seriously. With Wang Xiang's character, he was afraid that he would not give in easily. It would be better to recruit more talents in this area to compete for him. He could try to win over the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove.

Wang Su's return will definitely cause a huge impact in the court.

But I am not afraid of them.

Cao Mao looked into the distance, which was his next destination.

Chinese army camp.

With the end of the coup, traffic within Henan Yin has returned to normal, and the central army left Luoyang and returned to the camp.

The defense of Luoyang County was mainly the responsibility of the county government and the city gate captain.

The Luoyang magistrate has not been replaced yet, but the captain of the city gate is no longer Xun Biao.

The current captain of the city gate is called Zhuge Chong.

This person is the son of Zhuge Xu, the prefect of Mount Tai. Of course, he is still a member of the same clan as Zhuge Liang.

Zhuge Chong was able to serve as the captain of the city gate because he made great contributions in this coup.

He originally worked for the Supreme Court. When the Central Army entered the city and took control of the Supreme Court, this man actively cooperated with the Central Army officers and soldiers, and provided the Supreme Court with information on the secret investigation of Gao Rou and others, confirming Gao Rou's rebellion.

Because of such merits, in an era when everyone else lost their official positions, Zhuge Chong not only did not lose his official title, but was received by the emperor, rewarded, and became the captain of the city gate, looking like the emperor's confidant.

Zhuge Chong stood at the city gate, looking at the children of the big families who were glaring at him in the distance, and felt a little dizzy.

His reputation is now infamous.

Those children of the big families wanted to go out, but they didn't dare to go directly, so they tried to test the waters from a distance. Obviously, the Marquis of Chengmen would not allow them to go out at will.

They directed all their anger at Zhuge Chong.

You little bastard!
He looks honest and loyal, but he is actually timid and fearful on weekdays. He actually deceived us all!

I didn't expect him to be such a ruthless villain who would stab us at the critical moment and use us to get close to the emperor and become his confidant. Zhuge Chong had a blank expression on his face, but he sighed in his heart.

His father had originally sent him to Luoyang, instructing him to assist the Sima family with all his strength, build up his reputation, and revitalize the family in the future.

And that's exactly what he did.

He was deeply trusted by Zhong Yu in the Court of Justice. Zhong Yu told him some of his ideas, saying that the court officials would take action against the emperor, and then he would summon the central army to eliminate the traitors.

What else could he think when he saw the central army coming?

He really thought that this was the royal army sent by Zhong Yu to eliminate the traitors, so he decisively took out the many files that Zhong Yu had prepared in advance to fight against the traitors and presented them all to him.

Thinking of this, Zhuge Chong wanted to slap himself a few times.

He still remembered the suspicious look in the captain's eyes when he looked at him. When the captain patted his shoulder and said that he was a loyal minister, he kept expressing his loyalty.

He sent Gao Rou in just like that, and also sent his own people in as well.

He unknowingly became the emperor's confidant and a traitor to his ministers.

And was rewarded for it.

Now I have become the captain of the city gate, in charge of the defense of Luoyang. I am finished. If my father knew this, he would definitely tie me up and beat me to death.

But this can’t be entirely my fault, right?
It was clearly Sima Gan and his men who rushed in at that time. Who would have thought they were helping His Majesty?!

Just when Zhuge Chong was falling into self-doubt, he saw a group of people coming towards the city gate. Zhuge Chong quickly put aside his thoughts and led his people to meet them.

The one who left the city was naturally Cao Mao.

Cao Mao couldn't help laughing when he saw Zhuge Chong saluting not far away.

This unlucky guy.

Cao Mao still remembered the wonderful expression on this man's face when he held his hand and expressed his gratitude for his loyalty.

It was impossible for Cao Mao to allow Xun Yi's family to dominate the situation. The Zhuge family actually had considerable influence in Cao Wei. Not to mention Zhuge Dan, even Zhuge Chong's father Zhuge Xu was a clerk of two thousand stones and later became a high-ranking official among the Nine Ministers.

Zhuge Dan was neither a loyal minister like Guanqiu Jian, nor a rebel like Sima Shi.

He is somewhere in between the two. In other words, he is an ambitious person who pursues fame and status, but at the same time he is concerned about his face and reputation after death and does not dare to go too far.

If Sima Zhao asked him to come to the court, he would dare to rebel, but if Cao Mao asked him to come to the court, it would be hard to say.

If possible, Cao Mao still hoped to conquer Zhuge Dan through gentle means.

Although the number of soldiers under his command was not as large as that of Guanqiu Jian, they were elite soldiers who had fought in battles for many years. Cao Mao did not want to see his country's strength being wasted in a civil war for no reason.

There are many vacancies in the temple now. If he can give Zhuge Dan enough respect and let him be listed among the Three Dukes, Zhuge Dan may not be willing to continue to be a local emperor.

Historically, Sima Zhao invited him to the imperial court and gave him the title of Sikong.

Although Sikong was one of the Three Dukes, it was obviously not very attractive to him compared with the title of General Zhennan.

Of course, the official rank of the imperial court is higher than that of the local official rank, but if he loses his military power, Sima Zhao can deal with him at will.

The status of the Four Garrison Generals was slightly lower than that of the Nine Ministers, the status of the Four Expedition Generals was equal to that of the Nine Ministers, the General of Guards, the General of Chariots and Cavalry, and the General of Hussars were higher than the Nine Ministers and lower than the Three Dukes.

The general was on equal footing with the Three Dukes, and even higher than them.

Zhuge Dan cared a lot about official titles and reputation, and perhaps he could use this to recover his troops in Yuzhou.

Wen Qin can be appointed as the General of Zhenxi.

Wen Qin and Guanqiu Jian controlled Henan and Huai, making them almost invincible in the Central Plains.

Letting Zhuge Chong serve as the captain of the city gate was the emperor's goodwill towards the Zhuge family.

Cao Mao set out from Luoyang and galloped towards the central army camp.

Inside the Chinese army camp.

Xiahou Xian frowned as he sat on the chariot. Some knights held up the general's flag. Xiahou Xian galloped back and forth in the camp, going to the garrisons of each camp and inspecting the training of each camp.

Xiahou Xian almost wanted to curse out loud about the current central army.

With this performance, you still dare to call yourself the Central Army? If my grandfather were still alive, he would be pissed to death by you!

His great-grandfather, Xiahou Dun, was the first great general of Cao Wei.

During his time, the central army was still the strongest force of Cao Wei, and all foreign armies had to give way. The army was composed of elite soldiers who had followed Emperor Wu all the way and were veterans of hundreds of battles.

It's only been a few years, and the central army has become so weak!

This is also why Xiahou Xian was unable to see the central army forty years later. The performance of the central army during that period was what really angered Xiahou Dun to death.

Xiahou Xian had led the central army more than ten years ago, but the central army at this moment was completely different from what it was then.

After Xiahou Xian took charge of the central army, he began drastic training.

He extended Ma Long's training method to the entire central army, first forcing out those pests who came to gild themselves, clearing out these people, and then promoting those soldiers and low-level officers who performed well in training.

(End of this chapter)