The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 611 Funeral
Luoyang, Taiji Hall.

There was silence in the hall. Several important officials including Zhong Hui, Wang Chang, and Hua Biao sat beside Cao Mao with serious expressions.

At this moment, letters from the State of Wu were placed in front of them.

The number of these letters suddenly began to increase dramatically, at least ten times more than before, and now the desk is full.

Several people were silent at this moment.

Zhong Hui pondered for a moment before speaking, "Sun Hao abducted Zhang Bu's daughter, humiliated and tortured her, and then asked her, 'How did your father die?'"

"This woman said she was killed by a traitor."

"Sun Hao beat her to death with a wooden stick. A few days later, he missed her so much that he had a statue of her made and placed it nearby."

"He asked others if Zhang Bu had any other daughters. He learned that Zhang Bu had an older daughter who was married to the minister Feng Chun, so he snatched her away."

Hua Biao couldn't help but shook his head, "I've never seen such a cruel person."

Hua Biao continued, "This man issued an order in the court that no one was allowed to look at him. No matter who they were, they had to bow their heads when they saw him, otherwise their eyes would be gouged out. Countless eunuchs and attendants had their eyes gouged out for looking at him."

"Shi Ji submitted a memorial saying: If one cannot see the emperor, one cannot feel his grace and authority...So Sun Hao allowed Shi Ji to see him."

Wang Chang's emotions were mixed. He asked, "He's only a new king, and his time on the throne is short. Are the Wu ministers so indulgent towards him? Aren't they willing to unite and expel him?"

Zhong Hui sneered, "After this man came to power, he stopped building lake fields, rewarded the soldiers generously, and repeatedly killed important officials from powerful families and their clans, distributing their property to the poor people and soldiers. The people and soldiers of Jiangdong have been tormented for so long, and the emperor slaughtered those officials. Who knows how happy they must be!"

Zhong Hui looked at the people present with a meaningful look, and these people felt terrified.

At this moment, Cao Mao was just sighing.

Sun Hao obviously cannot be treated as an ordinary person.

This guy is crazy.

Anyway, his mind is a little abnormal.

Such a guy ruled the Wu State for many years, oppressing the big families and making them cry bitterly. In the end, when the Wei State attacked, they surrendered and few resisted.

As for why he was able to rule the Wu State for so long, it was because his opponents were similar.

At the same time, the Wei Kingdom had many things that refreshed people's views. Killing the king in the street was comparable to many of Sun Hao's behaviors. Later, the Jin Dynasty harmed meritorious officials, corruption was rampant, and a group of drunkards opposed Anshi's attack on Wu every day.
There is another important reason. In the early days, Sun Hao did not harm the common people and soldiers.

Sun Hao was a cruel person, but he only killed people around him, such as royal family members, wives, close ministers, some ministers, generals and the like.

Moreover, he almost never takes action against capable people. For example, he did not care about Lu Kang's repeated admonitions and some upright ministers' letters to him. But you can't guess what he is thinking. He may treat you as a favorite minister one moment and want to peel off your skin the next.

Extremely emotionally unstable.

This man is half crazy.

Cao Mao exchanged glances with several important ministers, but none of them were happy about Sun Hao's crazy behavior.

They just felt surprised and ridiculous.

How could such a person become the emperor?

It’s really the most ridiculous thing in the world!
Zhong Hui narrowed his eyes. "We can expose Sun Hao's tyrannical behavior to the public and then order an attack on him."

Cao Mao nodded and said, "Alright, also, prepare more boats. I think there might be a lot of people running here from Wu."

Sun Hao's series of actions after he came to power made the people of Wei really at a loss for words.

Zhong Hui finally got Sun Xiu to reopen the lake fields, but Sun Hao terminated it. It seemed to be disadvantageous to the State of Wei, but his actions did not seem to be disadvantageous to the State of Wei.

Wang Chang and Hua Biao stood up, said goodbye and left, only Zhong Hui stayed.

"Your Majesty, I don't know how to proceed."

With the new emperor of Wu taking the throne, Zhong Hui should have changed his original strategy and chosen a strategic system suitable for dealing with the current problems of Wu. However, Zhong Hui was a little confused at the moment.

He easily saw through Sun Xiu, could guess Sun Xiu's thoughts, and could simply use letters to make him fall into his own trap, but Zhong Hui could not understand Sun Hao.

He didn't know what this person was thinking or what he wanted to do.

Cao Mao was not in a hurry. He said, "Shi Ji, don't worry about Wu for now. Wu is just a fish on the chopping board. It has no power to resist. Once it has enough warships, it will be destroyed."

The power gap between Wei and Wu has reached a terrifying level. Cao Mao is not worried about the unification at all. It is only a matter of time. Now in several war zones south of Cao Wei, various warships are being launched continuously, and the number is increasing. It will only be a matter of time before they surpass Wu.

After all, in an era of competition for the worst, as long as Cao Wei remains stable, it will be a crushing force.

Zhong Hui also left, leaving Cao Mao alone.

Cao Mao once again looked through the intelligence sent from Eastern Wu.

Less than a month after he came to power, he dismissed the empress dowager, and less than half a year later, he killed Zhang Bu and Puyang Xing. He then began a crazy massacre of royal family members, important ministers, and even close ministers.

But while this guy was killing people, he also knew to cherish the people's strength, not to impose corvee labor, and distributed food and valued the military generals.

It was not until the middle and late stages of his administration that he began to frantically impose corvee labor on the lower classes. Perhaps by that time, the people around him had been tormented enough that he wanted to torment the lower classes as well.

It's really between crazy and half crazy.

Just as Cao Mao was thinking about the situation in Jiangdong, Cheng Ji rushed in in a panic. "Your Majesty, someone came to the Situ Mansion and said that the Situ was seriously ill!"

When Cao Mao heard this, he was shocked.

Inside Wang Su’s mansion.

Wang Su lay weakly on the bed.

During these days, Wang Su had been recuperating at home and had never participated in state affairs.

Many ministers believed that Wang Su was afraid of the Sima family being held accountable, and that this was a temporary strategy to avoid being held accountable.

However, while recuperating in the mansion, Wang Su's condition did not improve, but became more seriously ill. Although Wang Su did not feel any pain and did not become thinner, in Wang Su's words, he did not look like he was dying, but he was indeed becoming more and more weak.

Huangfu Mi kept shaking his head. At this point, Huangfu Mi had no choice.

This is the end of life, and it is beyond human control.

Wang Su looked around and saw his two sons standing beside him, their eyes full of sadness.

Wang Yuanji, with her two sons, also stood beside Wang Su.

In the distance there were several of Wang Su's grandsons, as well as his disciples.

Looking at these people, Wang Su's expression softened a lot.

Just recently, Wang Su was still quite confident, thinking he could live another ten years and write a few more books.

But now, Wang Su probably realized something.

He was not afraid.

Wang Su slowly looked to the left. Wang Kai trembled and hurriedly approached Wang Su.

"Father! What do you want to tell me?"

"Get out of my way!"

Wang Su scolded him, then turned his gaze to Kong Chao, who was standing farther away, and motioned him to come closer.

Kong Chao and Wang Su had a relationship of both teacher and friend. Kong Chao came from a prominent family and was a descendant of a sage, but he admired Wang Su's classics very much. From the very beginning, he supported Wang Su's doctrines, learned a lot from him, and also debated with others with him in the past.

Wang Su looked at him and said seriously, "I still have some unfinished things here, so I leave them to you. I hope you can complete them for me."

Kong Chao bowed deeply and agreed.

Wang Su then looked at everyone and said, "Yuan Ji and Yan stay, the rest of you can go out first."

Many of the descendants stood up and walked out, leaving only Wang Yuanji and Sima Yan.

Wang Yuanji has become very silent these days. Her beloved was killed and her husband's clan was almost massacred. The Wang family is not having a good time either. Because of Wang Su, they can still get protection, but if Wang Su is gone, it is hard to say whether she can still protect her children.

After all, they are direct descendants of Sima Zhao.

In the eyes of outsiders, Cao Mao was able to let these two guys go entirely because of Wang Su, because Sima Zhao's other sons were implicated.

Wang Su looked at them, frowned, and pondered for a moment.

"Anshi, what have you been doing these days?"

Sima Yan looked much more haggard. When he heard his grandfather's question, he looked up blankly and said, "I'm reading."

"What book are you reading?"

"Your book."

Hearing this, a smile appeared on Wang Su's face.

"Did your mother order it?"

Sima Yan nodded.

Wang Su then looked at Wang Yuanji and couldn't help but sigh, "I never thought that among my children, my daughter is the most outstanding, while my sons are as stupid as pigs and dogs."

Wang Yuanji was worried, "Father."

"I know what you're worried about. Don't be afraid, I can still protect your family."

Wang Su pondered for a moment, then said weakly to Sima Yan, "Anshi, your father is a wicked man."

Scolding one's father in front of his son is a very serious act.

Sima Yan suddenly raised his head. If someone else had said this, he would have fought to the death, but the person who said this was his grandfather.

Wang Su said self-deprecatingly, "Don't be angry. It's not just your father, your uncle, your great-grandfather, but also me. We are all evil people."

"Your eldest grandfather betrayed his loyalty, your uncle slaughtered innocent people, and your father and I even plotted to kill the emperor and replace him. I may be even more evil than your father. To save my family and myself, I switched sides and betrayed your father."

When Wang Su talked about these things, his expression was particularly natural.

(End of this chapter)