The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 316 Court Meeting
Sima Zhao was like a good girl who was forced to sell herself at this moment.

His expression was complicated, showing despair, fear, and embarrassment.

Cao Mao dragged him in front of the ministers. Facing their gazes, he just lowered his head and couldn't say a word.

Cao Mao was very enthusiastic. He immediately announced the rewards for the army that suppressed the rebellion in Hebei, and then took Sima Zhao aside to talk with several ministers.

"Lord Xun, has everything been okay in the palace since I left?"

Xun Yi quickly forced a smile, "It's okay, it's okay. Thanks to your majesty, everything is fine."

"That's good. The rebellion in Hebei has been quelled. I don't have anything to worry about now."

Cao Mao chatted with the ministers and then entered the Luoyang city.

He got on the car again and drove all the way to the palace. Cao Mao simply held a court meeting in the Taiji Hall.

This was the second time Cao Mao convened a court meeting.

Sima Zhao was sitting among the ministers at this moment, and many generals were also present.

Cao Mao sat in the upper seat, looking very majestic, and the ministers sat on both sides, looking very respectful.

Now, Cao Mao could finally hold his head up and say that he had defeated the Sima family.

Although the final victory is still a long way off, from today on, he no longer has to live in fear. He has defeated the seemingly unshakable mountain and become the true emperor of Cao Wei.

Cao Mao immediately announced several imperial edicts and rewarded the soldiers who had made contributions.

Then He Zeng and Chen Bengao were promoted to high positions in the imperial court.

He Zeng was once again assigned to the Shangshu Tai, while Chen Ben was directly assigned to the Zhongshu Tai.

Yang Hu took over the position of General Zhenbei.

The post of General of the Northern Expedition has not yet been established.

When the ministers heard about these changes, they were very dissatisfied with the behavior of those two people who suddenly jumped out to compete for the positions of Shangshu and Zhongshu, but they were also helpless.

On the contrary, they did not have much objection to Yang Hu's appointment as General Zhenbei.

Cao Mao knew that after his current appointment, the tolerance of the ministers in the court towards him had probably reached its limit. If someone took the lead, he would then face a situation similar to Sima Shi.

The ministers have held the power of personnel for a long time. He repeatedly skipped the ministers to make appointments and announced the results directly, which naturally caused dissatisfaction among many ministers.

Cao Mao then spoke seriously, "Because of the traitor Gao Rou's actions, many vacancies have appeared in the imperial court. Lord Xun, the Secretariat should do its best to come up with a list of officials who can be appointed as soon as possible to fill these positions!"

When Xun Yi heard the emperor's words, his eyes lit up. For some reason, he was deeply moved.

It’s not easy. The emperor finally remembered to ask us about these things.

The ministers looked at each other for a few seconds and thought, well, let's wait a little longer before joining together to submit a petition, until the commission is completed.

At this moment, the Chief Justice Chen Qian suddenly stood up.

"Your Majesty, I have something to report!"

"Oh?"

"What's the matter?"

The ministers suddenly became nervous. Was Wang Xiang's matter finally going to be discussed in the court?

They hurriedly prepared to respond.

Chen Qian said, "Your Majesty, I previously accepted the case of Lü Xun impeaching the Supreme Court."

"After sending people to investigate, we learned that Lu Xun had been bribed to frame the Minister of Justice. Many beautiful women and a large amount of money were found in his mansion, and he couldn't explain where they came from."

"After questioning his servants, we learned that this man had colluded with the former Captain Feng Xun to frame the Minister of Justice!"

"I have already sent people to apprehend Feng Xun, and he has confessed his actions! He also has many accomplices. These people were dismissed because of Gao Rou's incident, so they have evil intentions and bribed Lu Xun to frame the Minister of Justice, hoping to commit evil!"

Chen Qian spoke quickly and at the same time took out many charges from his body.

At this moment, the ministers were shocked again.

Be it the emperor or Chen Qian, they always seem to play by their own rules. Everyone thought that Chen Qian was busy with Wang Su's affairs, but unexpectedly, he had been secretly investigating Lu Xun's affairs.

If Chen Qian hadn't mentioned it himself, the ministers would have almost forgotten about this matter.

Cao Mao frowned, looked through the charges, and said angrily, "These people have violated the law. How despicable! The Supreme Court should punish them according to the law!"

"only!!"

Chen Qian accepted the order.

The ministers were completely out of ideas for a counterattack. One minister, Yuan Liang, couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty! I believe that since someone has sued the Supreme Court Justice, the Censorate should handle the case. How can we let the Supreme Court Justice handle it himself?"

"I'm afraid this will cause criticism from the world. Feng Xun is the descendant of a meritorious official, and Lu Xun is even more of a famous scholar."

Cao Mao did not refuse and looked at Zheng Chong.

"Duke Zheng, please take care of this matter."

Me again? ?

Zheng Chong was silent for a moment before he stood up and accepted the order.

Yuan Liang is the son of Minister Yuan Ba. He is a famous Confucian scholar in the world. He served as the governor of Henan and later joined the Secretariat. He is a very low-key person in normal times, but for some reason, he is so eager to jump out at this moment.

Cao Mao seemed to be thinking about something, but he didn't point it out.

Then Cao Mao brought up the topic of the court meeting. Jiang Wei is here!
Sure enough, when they learned that Jiang Wei had launched another attack, even these ministers who were scheming against each other united in an instant, cursing Jiang Wei one after another, and then began to discuss how to repel Jiang Wei's attack.

Cao Mao said seriously, "In the past, when Jiang Wei attacked again and again, we were just passively defending because we didn't want to cause too many casualties. But this man keeps attacking us, clearly not taking the Wei Kingdom seriously!"

"I will never let him leave so easily this time!!"

"General Sima and Lord Chen have already delayed him at the border. I intend to personally go to Chang'an and launch an attack with the central army to prevent Jiang Wei from attacking again!"

"It should have been so!"

Xiahou Xian immediately stood up and expressed his absolute support.

Many generals in the court were also eager to try and wanted to make meritorious deeds.

But the civil official's face looked a little ugly.

The ministers of Cao Wei were very noble. How noble were they? They were all pacifists.

Under the premise that Cao Wei had absolute advantages over both Shu and Wu, the ministers had always been very opposed to taking the initiative to attack, and even opposed wars of conquest.

When Sima Zhao wanted to send troops to Shu, he encountered opposition from all the civil and military officials in the court.

This was even more true when Sima Yan later wanted to send troops to the State of Wu.

The first question was why we should not act rashly, and that war was the most important thing and needed to be discussed in detail.

Sure enough, just as Cao Mao had expected, as soon as he opened his mouth, the ministers stood up to oppose him.

The wave of opposition was so great that almost all ministers except the generals chose to oppose it, even Cao Mao's own confidants.

The ministers agreed to repel Jiang Wei, but disagreed with using military force against Shu.

When all the ministers in the court stood on the opposing side, not to mention Cao Mao, even Sima Shi would be helpless.

Cao Mao suddenly understood Sima Zhao's mood later. He did not rush to get the ministers' agreement, and ended the court meeting in the name of continuing negotiations.

When the court meeting ended, Pei Xiu walked out of the palace with an expressionless face.

The young emperor wanted to establish his authority through Jiang Wei and also wanted to control the Yongliang army.

Now the emperor's power is growing, and he has just defeated Sima Zhao and subdued the Hebei army. The ministers will soon understand that with the emperor's current vigor, it is hard to say whether the ministers can stop him.

Just as Pei Xiu was sighing, someone suddenly stood in front of him.

"Hahaha, Ji Yan."

The person standing in front of Pei Xiu was Guo Zhang.

When Pei Xiu saw him, he also bowed and saluted.

Pei Xiu was a relative of Zhong Hui, and he was also a relative of Guo Zhang. His wife was Guo from Taiyuan, the daughter of Guo Huai's younger brother Guo Pei. He and Guo Zhang were truly in-laws.

Guo Zhang took his hand and said enthusiastically, "I haven't visited your home for a long time. Why don't we go for a walk together today?"

Pei Xiu did not resist when facing his relatives, and the two of them just walked along the way.

Guo Zhang first chatted about some family matters. When there were fewer outsiders around, he finally spoke, "Ji Yan, His Majesty is old enough to study. He has begun to rule the country, but he has no family. The ministers all think that something is wrong."

"We are all very worried about Your Majesty. How could Your Majesty not have someone to take care of him?"

"Look, there's a girl in my clan, about the same age as Your Majesty, and she's virtuous. I'd like to marry her to Your Majesty. You're a close confidant of Your Majesty, so do you think this could work out?"

Pei Xiu glanced at him and asked, "Is it because of Sima Zhao's return?"

Guo Zhang was speechless and quickly explained, "The ministers think so, but I don't. I've had this idea for a long time. Besides, we are all relatives, so this isn't a bad thing for either of us. We can all benefit."

Pei Xiu said seriously: "I see, your idea is very good, but you are a little late."

"Huh?? What does Ji Yan mean??"

"Your Majesty's family has already been selected."

"You mean the Sima family's daughter? This is against etiquette!!"

Pei Xiu quickly shook his head, "That's not the case. She's not a girl from the Sima family."

Guo Zhang was furious. "Whose daughter is that?! Who is she? How could she act so quickly? Could she be hoping to get promoted through her daughter? How shameless!!"

"It's from my family."

"Yes"

"Ji Yan? Don't be ridiculous."

Guo Zhang's expression suddenly turned cold.

Pei Xiu smiled and said, "Don't worry, we are all relatives. It's not a bad thing for our daughter to marry His Majesty. We can all benefit from it."

Guo Zhang snorted coldly, waved his sleeves, turned around and left.

Pei Xiu watched the other person leave with a smile, then shook his head in disdain.

What's the point of thinking about His Majesty? What's the point of relatives? They're just a bunch of selfish villains.

However, what Guo Zhang said cannot be taken lightly.

Your Majesty must be informed as soon as possible.

(End of this chapter)