The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 359: General of the Eastern Expedition
"I heard that the emperor is plotting a rebellion!"

"What do you think, Mr. Shi?!"

In Xia Pi City, Xuzhou, Hu Zun was lying on his couch and asked a rather explosive question.

General Fenwu Shi Bao looked at Hu Zun in front of him in astonishment and shuddered suddenly.

Qingzhou and Xuzhou now have two generals, General Hu Zun, who is in charge of the Eastern Expedition, and General Shi Bao, who is in charge of the Military Force.

Hu Zun's authority was certainly higher. As the general of the Four Expeditions, he could crush Shi Bao in terms of official rank, reputation, qualifications, military exploits, etc., even his background was the same.

Hu Zunke came from a prominent family and was the governor of the Qingxu war zone.

Shi Bao was only the governor of Qingzhou and was nominally under the jurisdiction of Hu Zun.

Shi Bao came from a very humble family, perhaps not even from a poor family, but he was very handsome. People at that time said: Shi Zhongrong, beauty is unparalleled.

At the beginning, he was selling iron in Luoyang and was discovered by Sima Yi, who promoted him to be an official in the Secretariat. In fact, the person who truly appreciated Shi Bao was not Sima Yi, but Sima Shi.

Sima Yi once said: Shi Bao is lustful and has bad behavior, and is not worthy of being reused.

However, Sima Shi thought that this person was very talented and could be used by him. Later, Sima Shi also warned Sima Zhao that this person could be used, but he had to be disciplined slightly. This made Sima Zhao always feel that his brother did not like Shi Bao.

Later, Sima Zhao led generals such as Hu Zun and Zhuge Dan to fight against Zhuge Ke. In one battle, the entire army was lost, but Shi Bao retained his strength, allowing Sima Zhao to save some face.

This made Sima Zhao very happy. He felt that his talent surpassed Hu Zun and Zhuge Dan, and he also gave him temporary authority so that he would not be restricted too much by Hu Zun.

Historically, this person's performance was considered good. By the time of Sima Anshi, some people said that he was conspiring with the State of Wu to rebel. Some fortune tellers also said that someone in the State of Wu was plotting a rebellion. Various nursery rhymes with the word "stone" were also circulated.

He sent people to investigate, and it happened that Wu had an unusual troop deployment, and Shi Bao was storing food and grass. Sima Yan was shocked and sent people to summon his son to him, but his son refused to come. Sima Yan immediately determined that this man was plotting a rebellion.

When Shi Bao discovered that the army was going to attack him, he hurried forward to apologize, and Sima Yan did not continue to deal with him.

Later, Sima Anshi felt that what he had done might be a little unfair, so he appointed him as Si Tu as compensation.

Shi Bao had a spotless life and never did anything bad. He could be considered to have performed his duties conscientiously. His only black mark was probably that he had a son.

His son's name was Shi Chong. That's right, the one mentioned earlier who robbed and killed merchants, chopped off the heads of beauties because he couldn't finish his wine, built large-scale projects in the toilet, and let his servants wear luxurious clothes to meet the emperor, and the protagonist who committed countless evil deeds, was his son.

At this moment, Shi Bao's reputation had not yet been ruined by his son. He was still an ambitious and capable minister who was striving to become one of the Three Dukes.

He is no longer young, but he still looks very handsome, a mature handsomeness.

He looked at Hu Zun in front of him in astonishment, his mind going blank.

Hu Zun looked at him and asked again, "Didn't you receive any imperial edict?!"

Hu Zun and Zhuge Dan both disliked Shi Bao, of course, because Sima Zhao used Shi Bao to step on them.

Shi Bao was also very clear about this, and at this moment he replied helplessly: "General, I think the person who said this should be dragged out and beheaded."

"How could there be an emperor who plotted rebellion?"

"Appalling!"

Hu Zun said, "There are only you and me in the room, no one else. So tell me what you heard."

Shi Bao hurriedly said, "I've heard that your Majesty is a man of great talent and vision, inheriting the legacy of the Ming Emperor and the ambition of the great general to govern the world and eliminate traitors."

Hu Zun sneered, "Then who do you think is the traitor?"

Shi Bao was sweating a little at this moment.

Although the two men were governors of different states respectively, they were completely different on the military level. Shi Bao was simply unable to resist Hu Zun and could not defeat him. Moreover, there was a superior-subordinate relationship between them. If there was a conflict with Hu Zun, Shi Bao's soldiers might not listen to him.

This is also the reason why he came to meet the other party alone.

"I believe that Gao Rou, Sima Fu and others are traitors in the court."

Hu Zun's complexion improved a little, but he frowned and looked unhappy.

"Zhuge Dan actually went to Luoyang. I heard he was going to be appointed Grand Marshal. Guanqiu Jian has long been with the emperor. The important affairs of Hebei are actually being handed over to a brat who is still wet behind the ears!"

"I am the General of the Eastern Expedition, yet I have not received any imperial edicts. Am I also a traitor?!"

Hu Zun was really angry now, he felt humiliated.

If he hadn't been feeling well recently and caught a cold, he would have insisted on leading the army in training to let the emperor see that there was a great general here!

You even tried to win over Zhuge Dan, so why didn't you see that there was another person here?
Shi Bao did not say anything. Hu Zun came from the frontier and was a rough man with a strong style of a general. The so-called style of a general was reckless and brutal.

He has a personality similar to Wenqin.

He was a general following Sima Yi from the very beginning. Under Sima Yi's command, he fought many brilliant battles, but the number of times he commanded the army himself was very limited.

At this moment, he was quite proud of his military achievements and thought about many things with the mindset of a general.

Shi Bao was very respectful to the emperor.

After learning of the emperor's resounding victory, Shi Bao decided to follow this wise emperor. He was a relatively easygoing person. Sima Zhao had already bowed his head, so why should he, as a minister, be dissatisfied? He was a brave general who was not even as good as the four governors. He should forget about achieving anything great.

After hearing Hu Zun's words, Shi Bao suddenly realized that this seemed to be a good opportunity for him to make a contribution.

He was worried that he couldn't get close to the emperor!

Shi Bao immediately said, "General, I feel that His Majesty thinks highly of you."

"Oh? You value it?"

Shi Bao said seriously, "The generals in Hebei have been dismissed by Your Majesty, Zhuge Dan has also been recalled to the court, and those in the west have also been replaced. Only in the east, Your Majesty has not done anything. Isn't this Your Majesty's trust in you?"

"Since the passing of the Grand General, His Majesty has not yet made any appointments. I believe that His Majesty is very likely to summon you to be the Grand General!"

"What did you say?!"

Hu Zun suddenly sat up, his face a little surprised, and then said, "Don't talk nonsense here, what evidence do you have?!"

Shi Bao smiled and said, "General, the position of Grand General is used to command the entire military. It must be the one with the most military achievements. And in terms of military achievements, who in the Wei Dynasty today can compare to you?"

"The general commands a large army and is the governor of Qingxu, yet His Majesty has not sent anyone to read the imperial edict. He simply asked you to rest assured here."

"This shows His Majesty's trust in you. His Majesty must have other plans for you. Besides being the general, what else could it be?"

After Shi Bao said this, Hu Zun became a little excited.

But he still shook his head, "Not likely."

"General, I am willing to go to the temple on your behalf, meet the emperor, and inquire about important matters."

Hu Zun narrowed his eyes, "Are you so anxious to leave Qingzhou?"

"Then you can also delegate someone else to make the inquiry. When a new Saint ascends the throne, someone should be sent to pay respects. You are ill now, and no one would dare to say anything if someone else were to pay respects to His Majesty on your behalf."

Hu Zun reluctantly agreed to Shi Bao's proposal. "How about this? I'll send someone to accompany you to Luoyang to meet the emperor."

"I was ill and unable to attend the audience. I asked the Emperor not to mind my rudeness."

"The last general takes command!"

Shi Bao left this place happily.

After he left, Hu Zun called his son Hu Fen over. Hu Fen had been running around everywhere these days and was very tired.

Hu Zun sneered and said, "Shi Bao is using me as a stepping stone to climb up the ladder. He's planning to use me to achieve merit!"

"No wonder Duke Xuanwen said that this person was unfit for important positions."

"Just as he expected!"

Hearing his father's words, Hu Fen nodded in agreement.

Although my father is reckless and rude, he is not stupid. A stupid person cannot be a general of four expeditions, let alone lead the entire clan to take off on his own.

However, many people underestimated his strategy because of his rough image.

"Father, what should we do now?"

"What else can I do? Tell me, why does the emperor dare to look down on me so much and not even send anyone to appease me?"

Hu Fen pondered for a moment, "I think we are sure to win."

"You are quite right. Judging from the emperor's previous behavior, he is definitely not an arrogant or rude person. But he treats me with such contempt. Obviously, he has someone to rely on."

"These four expeditions and four towns have probably all submitted to him. Perhaps everyone around us is already his people, so he dares to be so fearless."

Hu Zun could only think in this direction, and of course he could not think of the real reason. Cao Mao knew that he had less than a year to live.

"Go to the Emperor on my behalf and express your loyalty to him. Tell him that I am willing to assist His Majesty and accomplish his great cause."

Hu Zun said seriously, "He probably doesn't want to really force me to rebel. He's just putting pressure on me, trying to make me surrender. You go first and surrender. I'll stay here and see what happens next."

The father and son immediately began to compete with the emperor in wits and courage. They guessed which people around them had secretly surrendered to the emperor, and they also plotted how to counter his majesty's plan.

Just at this time, a fast horse arrived in Qingzhou.

The messenger brought news from Luoyang. The emperor sent the minister to rectify the administration and asked the four expeditions and four garrisons to cooperate fully.

Hu Zun confidently handed the imperial edict to his son to read.

"Sure enough, we were right! You see, this is the emperor testing us! He wants to see if we will obey his orders!"

"Your Majesty is truly resourceful!"

(End of this chapter)