The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 306 Ways of Survival

"My son, please don't talk about me giving up my position anymore."

"How can the world's affairs be separated from you?"

Empress Dowager Guo's attitude changed drastically at this moment.

She probably realized how important Cao Mao was to her. If Cao Mao chose to leave at this moment, she would be left with no one by her side.

Cao Mao said seriously, "Mother, if I stay here, it will only make you more worried."

"No, no, my son is in Luoyang, how could I feel troubled? We are mother and son together."

There was a hint of fear in Empress Dowager Guo's eyes. She grabbed Cao Mao's hand and was unwilling to let go.

Sima Zhao is in Hanoi and Jiang Wei is in Yongliang. How could this stupid woman dare to fight with such people?
Unknowingly, Cao Mao had become her only support and protector.

When Cao Mao said he was leaving, she really felt scared.

Empress Dowager Guo persuaded him for a long time before Cao Mao finally sighed helplessly.

"Mother, you were the one who made me emperor. If you are tired of me, you can naturally let me go back. It's just a matter of a word from you."

"But now we are facing a powerful enemy, and you are so worried about me. How can we accomplish anything great?"

"If Mother is dissatisfied with me, please speak frankly and do not do such things again."

Empress Dowager Guo nodded in agreement. Cao Mao saw her lower her head and then looked at Zhang Hua, who was standing beside him. "Mr. Zhang, go and call the three people from the Guo family to me!"

"They dared to be disrespectful to their mother. I must demand an explanation from them!"

"only!!"

Zhang Hua left in a hurry, and Cao Mao continued to say to Queen Mother Guo: "Mother, if something like this happens again, just come to me directly. However, with me here, no one will dare to bully you again."

Just as Cao Mao was comforting Empress Dowager Guo and bringing a smile to her face, the three members of the Guo family finally arrived at the Taiji Hall.

Cao Mao looked at them and snorted coldly. The three of them immediately knelt on the ground and apologized.

"How dare you be disrespectful to the Queen Mother?!"

Guo Zhi hurriedly said, "Your Majesty, we weren't being disrespectful to the Queen Mother. We simply refused because we didn't dare ask her to pardon our crimes. We were not being disrespectful at all!"

Empress Dowager Guo looked at the three people kneeling before her in fear and trepidation, but she felt no joy in her heart.

The completely different performances of the three people made Empress Dowager Guo react immediately.

The person the ministers were kneeling to that day was not themselves, but themselves who were standing next to the emperor.

The three members of the Guo family were not apologizing to themselves. They were apologizing to themselves who were sitting next to the emperor.

Only by staying by the emperor's side could she be the empress dowager respected by everyone. If she lost the emperor, she would lose everything.

In the end, Cao Mao did not punish the three members of the Guo family too severely. After asking them to apologize, he let Zhang Hua send them away.

Empress Dowager Guo looked at Cao Mao and said sincerely, "My son, I was wrong to have hurt you. From now on, I will definitely treat you as my own child."

Empress Dowager Guo's eyes were particularly sincere. She held Cao Mao's hand like a truly kind mother.

Cao Mao was deeply moved and said, "I will definitely not let you down and will treat you as my own mother."

Cao Mao spoke very sincerely, but there was no fluctuation in his eyes.

He no longer believed in this nonsense.

This is not the first time this has happened, but it will definitely be the last.

There will be no more opportunities to cause trouble.

Yecheng, the headquarters of the General who Conquers the West.

He Zeng frowned and sat inside the house.

Now he is directly controlled by Sima Zhao.

Everyone inside and outside the mansion was arranged by Sima Zhao. He Zeng never expected that Sima Zhao would be so decisive.

I have shown enough loyalty to him, but he still doesn't trust me and uses this method to take away my military power. It is really disheartening.

But He Zeng was powerless to do anything about it and dared not speak out despite being angry.

Sima Zhao left Hebei with a large army, saying that he was going to quell the rebellion, but He Zeng didn't believe it at all. Does suppressing the rebellion require taking away my military power?

Are you afraid that I will side with the thieves and betray General Wei?
This is obviously impossible.

Sima Zhao led a large army to attack Luoyang.

He Zeng couldn't help but let out a long sigh. He didn't know what the outcome of this battle would be.

However, no matter who wins, he will be in a very passive position.

Just as He Zeng was lost in thought, a sound suddenly came from outside the house.

He Zeng was very alert and immediately noticed something strange. He suddenly drew his sword and looked outside the door. A moment later, several people broke into the house.

When those people came in, they did not point their weapons at He Zeng, but instead bowed to greet him.

"Greetings, General Zhengbei." The men saluted together. He Zeng narrowed his eyes and looked at the people in front of him. "Who are you?"

A man walked up to He Zeng with a letter in his hand and said, "General, we have come here specifically to rescue you. This is a letter from your son."

He Zeng took the letter and found that it was indeed written by his son He Shao. The content of the letter was that Sima Zhao wanted to harm him and specially sent someone to welcome him back to Luoyang.

He Zeng suddenly fell silent.

Different people have different ways of living, and every minister has his own pride.

And the way to survive is to hide your shortcomings.

He Zeng is a rather complicated person. When facing different situations, he can always adjust his personality. He is very polite and filial, and is famous for this. At the same time, this person shows a greedy, flattering, and cowardly character, which makes people despise him.

When ministers described He Zeng, they always said that this person observed some small etiquette but did not know the big principles, and was not smart enough.

The contempt of the ministers made He Zeng advance step by step, and before anyone could react, he became the General of the Western Expedition of the Wei Dynasty.

But even after he became the General of the Western Expedition, his officials still did not think highly of him.

In history, this person lived peacefully until his death. Before he died, he said to his children: Your generation will suffer a great disaster.

Everyone knew what happened next.

He Zeng realized at this moment that this person could not have been sent by his son to save him. His son did not have this ability. He also knew that this was not from Sima Zhao. Sima Zhao could not have a handwritten letter from his son.

Then, it is most likely that these people were sent by the ministers.

He Zeng's eyes widened, "I never thought my son would be so worried about my safety!"

"I'll get ready now and we'll leave secretly!"

The warriors looked at each other with smiles in their eyes.

Sure enough, this person is not smart.

He Zeng did not ask them how they got rid of the surveillance personnel outside. He got in the car as they were instructed. Taking advantage of the night, they arrived at the gate of Yecheng. Someone had secretly opened the gate long ago, and they disappeared on the road.

He Zeng discovered something was wrong again. No matter how powerful the aristocratic families were, could they extend to Hebei?
The big families in Hebei suffered heavy losses. The majority of people in Yecheng are from the Cao family, and these people don't get along with the big families.

But he still didn't say much, just looked confused.

Soon, they successfully met with another carriage. He Zeng roughly knew that the person sitting in that carriage should be Chen Ben. He didn't know why Chen Ben was willing to get on the carriage with them. Could it be that he also wanted to take the opportunity to surrender to the ministers like himself?

Their route was obviously carefully chosen. They did not take the official road, but instead took a small path. These people were not afraid of encountering bandits at all, which made He Zeng even more surprised. They did not even encounter bandits along the way.

They traveled like this for several days, and He Zeng's basic needs were met in the carriage. Those people did not allow him to come out, saying that his life was the most important thing.

He Zeng had already discovered that the carriage was indeed heading towards Luoyang, so he didn't do anything more.

When they bypassed many small roads and successfully arrived at the Sili area, the carriage finally slowed down.

He Zeng vaguely felt that the carriage had stopped. He squinted his eyes and continued to sit in the carriage, motionless.

"Mr. He!!"

He had never heard someone calling his name before. The voice was very familiar.

When He Zeng got off the carriage, he saw Zhong Hui standing in front of him with a smile.

He Zeng was horrified, "Isn't he my son? How could it be you?"

Zhong Hui laughed. There were many fully armed soldiers around him, looking around vigilantly.

"General, don't panic. I asked you to come here to protect your safety. I have absolutely no intention of murdering you."

Just as Zhong Hui opened his mouth, Chen Ben also got off the carriage. Sure enough, the person in the other carriage was Chen Ben.

Chen Ben's reaction was completely different. He quickly walked up to Zhong Hui and bowed to greet him.

Zhong Hui was not rude to him and quickly returned the greeting.

He Zeng felt something was wrong. Why did Chen Ben look so confident?
Chen Ben asked, "Are we going to see His Majesty now?"

Zhong Hui shook his head. "This is urgent. Lord Chen, please come with me. Once this is accomplished, I'll need you to recruit the troops from Hebei. Your Majesty will come personally then."

"If this fails, I'll have to trouble you to come forward and accuse Sima Zhao of treason."

"Tell your old subordinates not to follow him in causing chaos."

He Zeng took a deep breath, and suddenly realized something. He looked at Zhong Hui in astonishment, but he didn't know that Zhong Hui was also looking at him.

At this moment, Zhong Hui frowned.

This guy actually reacted?
how could be?

He Zeng hurriedly asked, "What kind of rebellion? What kind of rebellion?!"

Zhong Hui finally dispelled his suspicions. He smiled and said, "Mr. He, a lot of things have happened in the temple. Come, I will tell you slowly along the way."

Chen Ben was obviously an insider and didn't ask any further questions.

The three of them changed carriages again and rushed towards Luoyang.

(End of this chapter)