The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 532: Evil Will Be Repaid with Evil

During these days, Cao Mao met with all the ministers in the Secretariat one by one.

Except for Du Yu and Chen Qian who left with him, he met almost everyone else once.

It can be said that they did a pretty good job.

Anyway, Cao Mao didn't find anything that made him dissatisfied. They were all very diligent and had outstanding achievements.

The only dissatisfaction is probably the issue of public land.

However, this can be resolved later.

After meeting with the ministers of the Secretariat, Cao Mao also wanted to meet with the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers.

During the time that Cao Mao was away, Wang Su achieved good results in the study of classics. Wang Su then gave several lectures and gave away several of his books.

Immediately, the ministers strongly demanded that these books be placed in libraries across the country.

Wang Su repeatedly pushed and pulled, and finally agreed with no choice.

After these books compiled by Wang Su were published, they caused a scramble among the people. No matter whether they were children of wealthy families or from humble backgrounds, they all rushed to read Wang Su's books.

The demise of Shu Kingdom seemed to prove the correctness of Wang Su's theory.

Many people have linked the demise of Shu Kingdom to Wangxue, and the value of Wangxue has been enhanced again.

As a master who is proficient in both Confucianism and metaphysics, Wang Su will not be afraid no matter who he faces.

He is not afraid of others refuting his knowledge, he is just afraid that others will not come!
Wang Su sat next to Cao Mao and spoke proudly about his behavior in recent days.

But Cao Mao was a little worried.

Because Wang Su's health is not very good at the moment.

He was thinner than before, and although he looked very energetic, he looked a little tired after just saying a few words.

Cao Mao said, "Situ Gong, I know your contribution. It is best for you to rest in the mansion these days and not go out."

"Let Huangfu Mi take care of your health. Leave the academic matters to your trusted confidants."

Wang Su still felt that he could do it. He firmly believed in the words of the alchemist and felt that he would live a very long life.

However, Cao Mao did not dare to let him continue. If something happened to him now, there would be no way to move forward with the academic research.

Seeing that the emperor was so determined, Wang Su had no choice but to accept it.

Seeing everyone taking Wang Su away, Zhang Hua finally spoke up, "The prince may not be truly ill."

Cao Mao glanced at Zhang Hua and asked, "What do you mean?"

"Sima Zhao."

"Your Majesty wants to investigate the Sima family's faults, so of course Situ Wang has to look a little haggard."

Zhang Hua said, "When he led the ministers to greet Your Majesty, I saw that he was terrified. I think he was worried that his son-in-law's crime would bring him trouble."

Cao Mao didn't think so much about it. Wang Su had made mistakes in the past, but his current achievements were enough to make up for them.

He was not willing to pursue the matter any further. Even if Wang Su had deliberately gone to rest, Cao Mao would not say anything more.

But when it comes to Sima Zhao, Cao Mao has to talk to Zhang Hua in detail again.

After killing Cao Mao, Sima Zhao went on to destroy the Kingdom of Shu, while Cao Mao killed Sima Zhao after destroying the Kingdom of Shu.

Cao Mao originally wanted to kill Sima Zhao by punishing him.

It means to open court and question the guilty openly.

But if we take this approach, it may cause some problems.

The first is the issue of sentencing.

Considering Sima Zhao's original crime of attacking the emperor and attempting to regicide and usurp the throne, what crime should he be charged with?
It would not be excessive to kill all three clans.

That would be a big problem. First of all, it would be his wife's family. Wang Su would die first, and then his brothers. Then Du Yu would not survive, and Yang Hu would also be finished. Zhuge Dan, Wang Chang, and even Xun Yi and Pei Xiu, anyway, basically no one who could be named in the court would survive.

The three generations of the Sima family have been engaged in crazy intermarriage, which started from the time of Sima Yi, and the extermination of three clans will take these people away together.

But if the sentence is light, it would seem very unfair and may even leave a worse impact.

Therefore, Cao Mao decided to let Sima Zhao commit suicide to take the blame.

First, he confessed his guilt and his crime has been made public. Second, he is dead and there is no need for trial or conviction.

This is what Cao Mao thought was a more reasonable approach.

After Sima Zhao "committed suicide", He Zeng stepped onto the stage. He knew why Sima Zhao committed suicide at this time, and of course he also understood what to do next.

He began to purge the members of the Sima family based on the evidence of crimes left by Sima Zhao.

Members of the Sima family were dismissed and punished one after another. Unless they were very capable and could be used by His Majesty, the rest suffered heavy casualties. Among Sima Zhao's many brothers, except Sima Jun, almost all of them were arrested.

At the beginning, Sima Fu took the initiative to distance himself from Sima Shi and Sima Zhao through opposition, but he himself was involved in Gao Rou's rebellion case.

Therefore, Sima Zhao's cousins could not be saved either.

There were constant cries in Wen County for several days and nights.

The Sima family suffered a severe loss of personnel. Perhaps to prove his loyalty to Cao Mao, or perhaps to distance himself from their many connections, He Zeng struck a harsh blow, more severe than ever before. After Sima Gan was captured and tortured, he died in prison.

If other people were killed in this way, it is possible that the ministers in the temple would overthrow the Censorate.

But since the dead person was from the Sima family, the ministers did not dare to say anything more.

Because if I speak up for them at this moment, I will easily get myself involved.

He had never made things difficult for the Sima family's marriage, which was already a great favor to them.

Although Cao Mao was still on the road at that time, he was well aware of everything that happened in Luoyang.

He knew He would do that.

And this is what the Sima family deserves.

If you want to wash away the reputation of Luoshui, you have to use the blood of the Sima family!

After investigating and collecting evidence, He Zeng finally pointed the finger at Sima Yi.

Cao Mao originally didn't dare to bring Sima Yi up.

The main problem was that many ministers were Sima Yi's disciples and former officials, such as General Hu.

Cao Mao was afraid of causing their dissatisfaction and bringing trouble upon himself.

But at this moment, Cao Mao was obviously not afraid. After destroying Shu, his prestige reached an unprecedented high. Even Sima Yi's old colleagues did not dare to be dissatisfied with Cao Mao because of him.

Even if you are dissatisfied, you can only hide it.

He Zeng issued an order in the name of the Censorate, believing that the crime started with Sima Yi, and after Sima Yi got rid of Cao Shuang, he became the new powerful official.

He undermined the power of the King of Qi, persecuted his ministers, and killed many loyal officials.

These lists appeared one by one, but no one dared to refute them.

Cao Mao also decided that he would do the same to Sima Yi as he did to Sima Shi, revoke all his official titles, dig him out, destroy his coffin, and then rebury him according to the standards of a civilian!

Of course, after all, there are two people here who have never been attacked.

Wang Su's two grandsons.

Sima Yan and Sima You.

Facing these two guys, He Zeng did not dare to take action directly, probably because he was considering the emperor.

Zhang Hua looked at Cao Mao at this moment, and actually didn't quite understand what the emperor was thinking.

The emperor had a very good personal relationship with Sima Yan, but if he wanted to deal with their family, he could not avoid this person.

But Cao Mao did not take the initiative to mention the matter of Sima Yan, so Zhang Hua did not dare to ask rashly.

Zhang Hua only talked about those who felt uneasy about the Sima family's affairs.

"Your Majesty, let me handle the aftermath of this matter. He Zeng is a man who will do anything to achieve his goal. He was closest to Sima Gan, which is why Sima Gan died first. I even think he's deliberately concealing some of his crimes."

After hearing Zhang Hua's words, Cao Mao said, "He Zeng is a man of great wisdom, but he appears foolish. He is working so hard just to stay alive."

Cao Mao looked at Zhang Hua calmly and said, "Don't get involved in these dirty things."

"Just contact Pei Xiu and do the work for Yongliang."

"only!!"

The Sima family has met its end this time. The big tree has been chopped into pieces, the thick branches have fallen down, and even the roots have been dug, leaving only a few thin branches.

But Cao Mao was not in a hurry, because he was not only dealing with the Sima family, but all these big families were within his attack range.

However, we still have to wait for great unification.

The progress of the war between Wang Ji and Wen Qin was just as Cao Mao had expected. When the Wei army attacked Shu, Wu was still in internal strife and did not send troops. But when they broke into Wu and began to affect the interests of the major families in Wu, the major families could no longer sit still.

Lu Kang began to stand up. As the eldest son of the Lu family, his going to the front line also represented that the big families began to actively maintain their own interests.

The big families of Wu State were unable to go out and attack, but they still tried very hard to protect themselves.

Wang Ji and Wen Qin's achievements can probably only be maintained at taking over Wuling and most of Jianping. If they advance further, the cost will become increasingly greater.

Cao Mao didn't want to make such a waste of time, but he could wait.

Next, they focused on building warships. When Wei’s warships were launched one after another, it would be the time when Wu was destroyed.

Even Lu Kang couldn't hold on under such a disadvantage.

These big clans also have one thing in common. If they find that they can't hold on and that resisting will cause big problems, they will immediately choose the best way to preserve the clan, which is to surrender.

Lu Kang himself has very high morals and talents, but he is not the same type of person as Jiang Wei.

Lu Kang has a large family that needs him to take care of. If his persistence will cause damage to the family's interests, he will not continue.

Just look at his sons and you will know that they were very active after the country was lost.

Therefore, the next key is to build warships and continue to widen the gap with the State of Wu. When the major families of the State of Wu feel despair, it is time for the ministers of the State of Wu to surround the emperor and surrender.

Their strength is much stronger than Qiao Zhou and others!

(End of this chapter)