The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 528 Results
Zhang Yi was led out of the door by several soldiers.

Zhang Yi has been imprisoned in the mansion all these days and is basically unaware of the situation outside.

It can be seen that the food in Wei State is quite good. Zhang Yi is also fat and white at the moment. In any case, he has not suffered any grievances in Wei State.

Led by the soldiers, he soon arrived at a mansion.

Zhang Yi looked around the mansion in front of him and asked, "Who are you taking me to see this time?"

These days, Zhang Yi is often dragged out to meet guests.

Well, just take them out to meet the captives and surrendered officials from the Wu State.

Whenever someone from Wu came to surrender or was captured, Cao Mao would send someone to take Zhang Yi to meet these people.

On the one hand, it was to demonstrate the national strength of Wei State and to show the people of Wu that the General of the Northern Expedition of Shu State was a guest here!

In addition, it also shows them how tolerant we are. Look, Zhang Yi, at a level like him, has not been humiliated. He has good food and drink and is well entertained by us. He is fat and plump.

He plays the role of a mascot.

Although Zhang Yi was helpless, he could do nothing about it. He was different from Jiang Wei, who was determined to die. Although he never surrendered, he did not commit suicide either.

The officer in charge of his care laughed and said, "You'll find out later."

This smile made Zhang Yi have some bad guesses.

As I walked into the mansion, I saw a man walking towards me with a smile on his face.

Zhang Yi took a closer look and immediately lost his composure.

"His Majesty!!"

"His Majesty!!!"

Zhang Yi staggered forward and knelt down with great respect, and Liu Chan hurriedly helped him up.

"Mr. Zhang, it's been a while since we last met. Are you well?"

Hearing Liu Chan's question, Zhang Yi was unable to recover at this moment, "Your Majesty, how could you, the Han..."

Liu Chan looked at Zhang Yi, who was almost collapsed in front of him, and sighed deeply, "I have already surrendered to Your Majesty. From now on, please do not address me as Your Majesty. I am now a minister in the same court as you."

Zhang Yi's face was dull at this moment.

During these years, he was imprisoned in the palace and knew nothing about the major events in the world. He could not understand why the Han Dynasty perished.
How could it perish so quickly?
"Jiang Wei. Where's Jiang Wei?!"

Zhang Yi asked.

"he died."

Liu Chan replied.

Zhang Yi's eyes were first filled with surprise, then anger, and then grief.

His expression kept changing, and in the end, he just sighed helplessly.

"Ugh"

Liu Chan didn't care about these things. He just took his hand, invited him back to the inner room, let him sit next to him, and then started chatting with him.

Zhang Yi just answered Liu Chan's questions numbly.

When Zhang Yi walked out of the mansion in a daze, the soldiers did not send him back to his mansion, but directly brought him to the Taiji Hall.

Cao Mao sat in the upper seat with various memorials placed in front of him. He looked at Zhang Yi who was sitting next to him.

"Mr. Zhang, how is it? Have you met Lord Anle?"

Zhang Yi didn't say anything.

Cao Mao said, "I thought you had thought of this day a long time ago."

"How can it be so easy to fight against the whole world with the strength of a single state? With a wise ruler, virtuous ministers, brave generals and elite soldiers, a united people, and sufficient food and grass, we can still fight. But what advantages does Shu have?"

"The more Jiang Wei wants to save Shu Han, the faster it will fall. He can't just sit back and watch the Han Dynasty fall. Zhang Gong, what are your plans for the future?"

"Will you continue to be a trophy, waiting to follow your former master to meet the fall of the Wu Kingdom, or will you strive to establish yourself and accomplish something?"

Cao Mao's question was quite direct, and he got straight to the point as soon as he opened his mouth.

Zhang Yi was stumped by his question and fell silent again.

Cao Mao was not in a hurry. "Mr. Zhang, you can go back and think about it carefully. You are not yet as old as Liao Hua and others. The current Wei Dynasty is also lacking capable and skilled generals. Come, send Mr. Zhang back to rest!"

The soldiers then led Zhang Yi away.

Cao Mao was not in a hurry. He had said what he needed to say and done what he needed to do. Now it all depended on Zhang Yi's thoughts.

After seeing Zhang Yi off, Cao Mao began to summon many ministers.

During the time when Cao Mao left Luoyang and headed for Chang'an, many major events happened in the court.

These ministers were all eager to meet him.

The first person Cao Mao wanted to summon was Wang Chang.

After all, the Secretariat was the foundation of government, and Wang Chang was undoubtedly the most knowledgeable about what was happening in the court these days. Wang Chang had already prepared and was waiting to be summoned, so Cao Mao soon met the Secretary of State of Wei.

Wang Chang looked a little regretful.

Speaking of which, Wang Chang should be the most experienced general in the Wei Dynasty. After all, among the four expeditions, his status was the highest, slightly higher than Hu Zun, and Zhuge Dan could not compare with him.

However, he was unable to participate in this war to annihilate the country.

Cao Mao looked at Wang Chang's expression and said with a smile, "What a pity! Your Excellency is so overbearing in governing. Otherwise, you could have become the commander-in-chief!"

Wang Chang replied, "If I had known this would happen, I would not have offered Your Majesty the advice on governing officials."

They both laughed.

Wang Chang also had a lot of emotion about this war. "After so many years, Shu has finally been pacified. I didn't expect the war to be so quick."

"From now on, there will be no more Yongliang in crisis."

Wang Chang said this, but Cao Mao shook his head.

"Shu was pacified, but Yongliang was not."

"Thanks to our General who destroyed Shu, Yongliang's anger has been fanned by him. If he can't be appeased and educated, something terrible will happen sooner or later."

Cao Mao frowned.

Deng Ai's killing could only delay conflicts, not eliminate them. Using killing to suppress conflicts is the easiest way, but it is also the easiest way to cause problems.

However, this matter still needs to be discussed slowly.

The tribes from all over Yongliang surrendered again at this moment. Although they had already surrendered, this time was different. They were directly taken into custody as captives.

Zhuge Xu and Sima Wang kept writing to Cao Mao asking how to deal with these people.

Cao Mao thought for a long time and finally decided to let Pei Xiu come up with a solution for him.
Such a good thing of making great achievements and becoming famous in the future should naturally be handed over to capable people. It is a blessing!
The two stopped talking about these things and started talking about the Shangshu Tai.

Wang Chang took out the memorial and carefully recounted the many situations in the Secretariat during this period.

First of all, in agriculture, Lu Zhi, in accordance with Cao Mao's request, began to abolish the military farming system in various parts of the Wei Dynasty.

The military farming system saved many people in the past, but it has become a burden now. The system is also bloated. Without the government's order, the people can't even get seeds.
Corruption is rampant and accounts for a disproportionately large portion of annual farming expenditures.

Although abolishing the military farming system organized by the government and adopting a rented farming system would reduce direct income, it would also reduce a lot of costs. The government no longer had to provide all kinds of things to the people, nor did it have to maintain such a large military farming system. Moreover, many links were eliminated, and there was less room for corruption.

Starting from the fourth year of Zhengyuan, Cao Wei completely abolished the military farming system and adopted the method of renting public land.

Cao Mao still trusted Lu Zhi quite a bit, and Wang Chang talked about other things about public land.

"Following General Hu, provincial governors across the country also began surveying and investigating public land. They discovered a large amount of occupied land, and more than eight county governors have been held accountable. The total amount of occupied land has yet to be fully calculated."

As Wang Chang spoke, he suddenly stood up and bowed deeply to Cao Mao.

"Your Majesty, I failed to discipline my subjects. My people have even bought up public land. I have ordered their arrest and ordered them to hand over all their land as compensation, old minister."

Wang Chang looked very embarrassed.

Cao Mao pursed his lips. If this situation occurred everywhere, it could only mean one thing.

Even among the prominent families in the government today, almost none of them have escaped, and most of them have been involved in similar things.

This may not be considered an illegal act among the big families, and it is a private consensus. Starting from Emperor Wen, the court did not care so much about these things and took a tacit attitude towards the behavior of the big families.

During the reign of Emperor Ming, there was an attempt to rectify the situation, but he soon gave up.

Cao Mao now probably understood why Emperor Ming gave up, because too many people were involved.

If he was determined to kill anyone who touched the public land, then all of Cao Mao's confidants would be killed.

No one ruled the world for him.

Cao Mao couldn't just use people like Zhang Hua and Wang Jing who came from humble backgrounds to do things, right?
Seeing Cao Mao's unhappy expression, Wang Chang couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, the situation in this place is really difficult to deal with."

"Okay, just return it, no problem."

Cao Mao finally spoke, his expression no longer so serious. One day, these ministers he relied on might also stand against him when he began to impose comprehensive sanctions on these powerful families.
However, there is no need to worry about these issues for now.

Wang Chang then talked about the work of other departments.

During this period, apart from the Ministry of Agriculture, the busiest department was still the Ministry of Personnel.

The Ministry of Personnel completed the assessment of the previous year's political achievements. According to the assessment standards set by Zhong Hui, it promoted a large number of capable people and punished those officials who failed to meet the standards.

Zhong Hui's competition system seemed a bit cruel, but it did motivate local officials very well and prevented them from being negligent. However, there were also cases of malicious performance improvement, and the Ministry of Personnel did not show any leniency in such cases.

Every year, many officials ran into trouble, and Cao Mao was used to it. What made Cao Mao feel a little relieved was that the number of officials was getting smaller and smaller.

Zheng Mao has done an excellent job these days. Well, it's time for his title to be promoted.

The highlight came from the Ministry of Rites.

During the time that Cao Mao was away, Pei Xiu was also fully committed to handling the important affairs of Bingzhou. He sent several Shangshulang from the Ministry of Rites to the local area.

It is said that those Shangshulang have not returned yet.

(End of this chapter)