The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 339 Thank you

After returning to his residence, Sima Yan called his friends over.

Sima Yan has been very distressed recently. Many of his acquaintances have disappeared and their whereabouts are unknown. The rest of his acquaintances don't dare to come out and play with him anymore.

At this moment, he called over a few friends whom he trusted.

These people knelt in front of Sima Yan, smiling widely, each one looking more fawning than the other.

To be honest, Sima Anshi had very low requirements for his friends. As long as they looked like a human being, they would be liked by him.

There were not many people he hated, and Ruan Xian was one of them. After all, this guy drank with pigs, had an affair with his aunt's maid during his mother's mourning period, and when his aunt got married, the maid left with her, and he even stole the guest's horse to chase her.

He was drunk when he met the emperor for the last time. These things do not seem like something a human could do.

Sima Yan was somewhat dissatisfied with him.

This is Sima Anshi’s standard. As long as it doesn’t reach the point of drinking from the same bowl with a group of pigs, he can accept it.

At this moment, Sima Yan looked at the people in front of him with great pride and said, "Everyone, His Majesty has entrusted me with an important task. This is a great opportunity to make a contribution, and I specifically ask for your help."

Upon hearing this, Sima Yan's many friends could not hide their excitement.

During these days, they truly felt the emperor's great grace. Chen Qian's relentless investigation caused a large number of good-for-nothings to lose their jobs. Fortunately, at least they did not lose their heads.

Immediately afterwards, the atmosphere in the entire Luoyang became somewhat different from before. Originally, they could do whatever they wanted, but now, many people were watching them, and once they did something wrong, someone would come to their door immediately.

Cao Mao is different from the Sima family.

The Sima family exercises the emperor's duties as powerful ministers. Many ministers are their allies and need to be appeased and won over. At least if they don't make too much trouble, the Sima family will still give them some face.

But Cao Mao didn't need to do so. He was exercising his duties as an emperor and didn't care whether you were from a big family or not. He was just worried about not having a reason to deal with you, and now you've come to him, how could he let you go?!

These children from noble families were in great misfortune. When they heard that Sima Yan had received the emperor's edict and could lead them to achieve merit, their eyes lit up.

It's good to make meritorious deeds. If you can make great achievements and leave a good impression in front of the emperor, you won't have to live so cautiously in the future, right?

"Very well, we are just worried that we have no chance to repay His Majesty with merit! Please tell us!"

Several people were eager to try it out immediately.

Sima Yan then said, "This is a godsend. We just need to go to Taicang, check the grain reserves, and then inform His Majesty!"

Sima Yan said this happily, and at this moment, his friends in front of him suddenly dared not laugh anymore.

They were stunned, their eyes suddenly filled with fear.

Is this a meritorious service?!

If this matter is thoroughly investigated, how many big families will be ruined?

After the collapse of moral governance, the aristocratic families had long begun to behave like delinquents. The aristocratic families of the Han Dynasty were afraid of moral compromise and did not dare to engage in things like corruption, but how could the ministers at that time care about this?
They all knew it very well. In fact, after Sima Yan, they almost made it public. They came openly and were not afraid of what others said.

No one reprimanded immoral behavior anymore, they only laughed at the wealthy families. The ministers were more extravagant than each other, and their lives were extremely decadent, with all the money in the world going into their pockets.

The current Minister of Agriculture, or "Minister of Finance", dared to show off his wealth to the emperor in person. What kind of scene was that?
When they learned about this, everyone's expressions changed immediately.

"I'm not talented enough to do this for you."

“I have some things to do at home.”

Soon, these people politely declined Sima Yan's offer, and quickly found reasons to hurriedly leave Sima's mansion.

This made Sima Yan very confused. Why not take such a good opportunity?

Not giving up, he contacted several other people, and the results were the same.

Sima Yan had no choice but to contact a group of clan confidants and lead a group of people with the surname Sima to set off towards Taicang.

Sima Yan's enthusiasm was soon dampened.

Sima Yan never thought that such a thing would become so complicated!
It seemed that all the officials in the Ministry of Agriculture were against him, from top to bottom. As soon as he arrived in Taicang, they said that he could not enter without the emperor's edict.

When Sima Yan got the imperial edict, they said that they were carrying out rat extermination in Taicang and it would take a few days.

Sima Yan, this fool, actually believed it. He waited for a few days and went there again. This time he said that the key was in the hands of Taicang Ling, who had returned home for something.

He went there again and was told that all the officials had been summoned to the palace to discuss important matters.

Someone also took out specific documents and asked Sima Yan to take them back to report.

Sima Yan was unwilling to play along, and in the end he had to wait at the gate of Taicang. When he finally got in, the officials started to use all kinds of tricks, either taking him around in circles or saying there were different storage locations.

Sima Yan was busy for nearly half a month without any results, but he lost a lot of weight.

Sima Yan no longer had the satisfaction he had at the time. His eyes were red. He just couldn't believe it. The emperor entrusted him with such a simple task. Could it be that he couldn't do it well?!
At this moment, in the He Mansion, He Shao saw Sima Yan off and then walked into the inner room.

He Zeng sat in the inner room, calmly sipping tea. Ever since the battle, He Zeng had been staying in his own residence. Cao Mao seemed to have completely forgotten about him. Although he didn't say it explicitly, he probably lost his title as General Zhengbei.

Yang Hu replaced Chen Ben, and Chen Ben went directly into the Secretariat.

I have never been idle all day.

But he didn't seem to be in a hurry at all, and his eyes were full of satisfaction.

When his son came in, He Zeng asked, "Why did Sima Yan come to see you?"

He Shao said helplessly: "It's still about the Taicang matter. They asked me to go over and help."

"Then what did you say?"

"Of course I refuse. How can I easily participate in something like this?"

There was some disdain on He Zeng's face. In fact, this was a good opportunity. Sima Yan took the lead in doing this, and with the emperor behind him, no one dared to harm him. At most, they could create some obstacles for him.

Who could stand by Sima Yan's side at this time and go all out? Regardless of whether the matter succeeded or not, it was all in the emperor's heart. Compared with the emperor with real power, what was the dissatisfaction of the ministers? Anyway, they were not the main force, they were just following Sima Yan for a few days.

This stupid son of mine.

For some reason, He Zeng did not remind his son and just continued to drink tea.

He Shao's relationship with his father is a bit delicate now, mainly because of his letters.

In fact, that was not written by He Shao at all.

But no matter how he explained, his father just didn't believe it and insisted that he was the one who wrote the letter to call his father back.

I don’t even know these things!
He Zeng certainly knew who wrote the letter. The letter was sent to him by Zhong Hui. Coincidentally, Zhong Hui had calligraphy skills inherited from his ancestors and was very good at copying other people's handwriting. So who do you think wrote the letter?
Of course, it must be written by my son!!
He Zeng glanced at his distressed son and finally spoke, "The Emperor appointed you as an inner court official before. Why did you refuse?"

"At that time, General Wei was still..."

"What does your Majesty's appointment have to do with General Wei?"

"Didn't I teach you to be loyal to your king?"

He Shao was speechless. You are obviously Sima Zhao's confidant, so why are you criticizing me?

He Zeng ordered: "If you don't want to spend your old age in this mansion, then go catch up with Sima Yan now and follow him to do something."

He Shao instinctively wanted to object, but after thinking for a moment, he accepted the order and left.

He Zeng shook his head and continued to drink tea.

Shortly after his son left, a servant knocked on the door and said that a distinguished guest was coming to see him.

After hearing this, He Zeng finally lost his composure. He suppressed his excitement, hurriedly asked someone to clean up the inner room, and then went to invite the distinguished guest.

After seeing the person coming, He Zeng's eyes became bright.

The man who came was Feng Fu, Feng Xun's brother.

"Mr. He!"

Feng Fu bowed to meet him. Although Feng Fu was older than Feng Xun, he was thin and frail, and looked even younger.

He Zeng quickly helped him up and said with emotion, "You are the first one to come and pay me homage after I returned to the temple. I am even very pleased."

The two men immediately began to ask about each other's well-being. After chatting for a long time, Feng Fu finally spoke up, "Mr. He, my brother has encountered a serious problem that has affected the entire clan. My father used to be on good terms with you, and I treat you as an elder. Today, I would like to seek your help."

He Zeng frowned immediately, "What happened to your brother?"

"My brother was framed and is now imprisoned. Chen Qian tortured him into confessing and wants to bring about the destruction of my family!"

"Ji Kang didn't know the facts, so he published an article to humiliate my family!"

"Mr. He, I really don't know how to solve this problem, so I came here to ask for your advice!"

He Zeng immediately raised his head and said seriously, "Don't worry. Your father and I were very friendly in the past. I have no choice but to help you now that you have encountered such a thing. But you probably see my current situation. I'm afraid we can't accomplish anything just by the two of us."

"How about this, you gather your acquaintances, and I'll gather mine, and together we'll find a solution. We absolutely cannot let the loyal and good people fall into the hands of people like Chen Qian and Ji Kang!"

Seeing He Zeng's expression, Feng Fu was filled with gratitude.

What a good person! He is the only one who is willing to help at this moment.

He Zeng also looked at the other person with emotion.

What a good person! He knows that he has no chance to make any merit, so he comes to me specially. Now I have pledged my loyalty to His Majesty, right?

(End of this chapter)