The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 651: Naked Sheep
"The country has been destroyed!!"

Wen Yang cried out in grief and indignation, grief and indignation emanating from his inside out. Almost everyone could feel the deep resentment in his heart.

What Wen Yang was most worried about finally happened.

His father Wen Qin had made great contributions by capturing Qichun, recaptured Shi Ji's front-line army, and destroyed the State of Wu. He was now escorting everyone to Luoyang to prepare to meet the emperor.

When Wen Yang heard the news, he was struck by lightning.

For a young man whose greatest ambition was to surpass his father, this news was truly sad and infuriating.

Why is Sun Hao so incompetent?

Isn’t Shi Ji known as a general who can fight in hundreds of battles?

Is this the end?
Seeing Wen Yang like this, Yang Hu's mouth corners slightly raised. This guy also has unhappy times.

He cleared his throat and said, "General Wen has made great contributions this time. However, he was just promoted to General Zhengdong. I don't think he will be promoted again in the short term."

Wen Yang breathed a sigh of relief, and Yang Hu immediately said, "He'll probably accumulate some more merits and be promoted directly to General Wei."

Wen Yang closed his eyes in pain again.

General Wei, one of the three great generals!

I, a Pingbei official, have not yet been promoted to Anbei, while my father is about to be promoted to General Wei!
Wen Yang couldn't help but say, "When I first came to Youzhou, I thought there would be a lot of wars, but we've been here for a long time, and apart from pacifying the Yuwen tribe, there haven't been any other wars. It's really depressing."

Yang Hu motioned him to sit next to him and said calmly, "Fighting shouldn't just be about achieving success."

"Look at General Wang. He's not even a bit anxious even after seeing his achievements."

"Oh, he didn't catch up!"

Yang Hu didn't speak, he just stared into the distance, "Since I came to Liao, the Hu people here have become much more obedient. After defeating the Yuwen tribe, we gained a huge harvest, and Liao has become much richer because of this."

"We came to Liao to govern the land, not to fight. Governing the land well can also help us achieve great things."

"Don't think that General Wang has not achieved any fame at the moment, but if he can govern the State of Wu in an orderly manner in the future, Your Majesty will certainly not forget to reward him."

Wen Yang scratched his head and asked in confusion, "But I don't know how to govern a place, so what should I do?"

Yang Hu shook his head. "How could you not know how to govern a place?"

"Weren't you originally in charge of the local government?"

Wen Yang was even more confused.

Yang Hu ordered all his men to leave, leaving only Wen Yang behind. He then said, "What do you think I came to this Liao land for?"

“It’s for local governance.”

“Then how am I supposed to govern this place?”

"Practice benevolent governance and reduce taxes and levies"

Yang Hu was surprised that Wen Yang could say this. He said, "You are not entirely wrong. If I were the governor of Liao, I would indeed govern in this way. But I am not a governor, I am a general."

Wen Yang asked, "Then what should you do?"

"I should protect my own county governor so that he can peacefully implement benevolent policies and reduce taxes and levies."

"I should defeat the foreign enemies, bring enough livestock and food to the local people, and bring enough manpower to the temple."

Upon hearing Yang Hu's words, Wen Yang slapped his thigh violently.

"I knew it!"

Yang Hu said seriously: "What I said is not in line with the way of the saints, but if we don't do this, it will not be easy to develop Liao. If you want to govern a place, you must have people, food, and land."

"The court has been focusing its energies southward for years. If we wait for support from the court here, how long will we have to wait? The climate is getting colder and colder. If we don't make this place prosperous soon, in a few years, many of the people here will freeze to death. What will we do?"

Yang Hu said, "Therefore, the only way is to make the local area stronger as quickly as possible. This is not a bad thing for those foreigners. The climate is getting worse and worse. Farming in Liao land may allow them to survive, but outside the Great Wall, they will surely die."

Wen Yang nodded, "General, there's no need to explain. I already know all this."

"When I was still in my father's presence, the General of Chariots and Cavalry told me many times that I have the spirit of a knight-errant, which is rare, but in battle, you must not take these knight-errant styles seriously. If you can kill the enemy by sneaking up on them, then don't attack them head-on."

When Yang Hu heard this, he couldn't help laughing.

"It was only after many conversations with His Majesty that I finally understood this truth. I didn't expect that the General of Chariots and Cavalry knew it long ago."

"Then do you know how to govern the local area?"

Wen Yang stood up again and rolled up his sleeves. "Just tell me, should we conquer Goguryeo first, or Tuoba first?"

Outside the city of Luoyang, Cao Mao was leading hundreds of civil and military officials, wise elders of the royal family, Liu Chan, Huochuquan, and even the empress dowager, standing on the side of the road, gazing into the distance.

The reason why it is such a big deal is because Hu Zun and others are coming.

Cao Mao stood at the front and no one dared to disturb him. Even the queen mother did not dare to come forward and speak at this moment.

After destroying the State of Wu, Cao Mao's reputation soared again.

This time, Cao Mao's status in Wei completely surpassed Cao Rui, and even to some extent, surpassed the founding emperor Cao Pi. Although Cao Pi was the founding emperor, his achievements seemed to be far behind Cao Mao. Cao Mao was the emperor who officially unified the world, which was an extremely high achievement.

By now, let alone Sima Yi, even if Cao Pi crawled out of the mud, he might not be able to shake Cao Mao's position.

Nowadays, Cao Mao is almost equivalent to a separate page in the family tree.

From then on, two Wei dynasties emerged: one was a separatist regime established by Cao Pi, and the other was a unified regime established by Cao Mao.

Although the two have an inheritance relationship, they are not the same.

Cao Mao smiled and looked into the distance with some anticipation.

Several members of the royal family stood beside Cao Mao and waited with him.

Cao Fang looked into the distance, then walked cautiously to Cao Mao's side.

During the time he stayed in Luoyang, he had obviously gained a lot of weight. His whole face became round, and when he smiled, even his eyes disappeared.

"Your Majesty~~~"

Cao Mao glanced at him and asked, "What's the matter, King Qi?"

Cao Fang hurriedly said, "I learned that Your Majesty had recovered Wu, so I specially wrote a poem to praise Your Majesty's merits. If Your Majesty holds a banquet for the generals later, I am willing to recite this poem for Your Majesty at the banquet!"

Cao Mao sighed inwardly, thinking that he was almost forcing the King of Qi to become the King of Chen Si.

However, for the sake of the power of the royal family, Cao Fang had no choice but to continue on the path of King Chen Si.

Anyway, I didn't give him the same treatment as Prince Chen Si, so his life is pretty good now!

However, the essays this guy has written recently are quite good. Many of them are not written by others, but by himself. It can be seen that this member of the Cao family has some literary talent.

It probably came from the Three Caos of Jian'an, everyone of them would write something.

Today, the royal family has become an increasingly powerful force. After Cao Mao gradually relaxed his suppression of them, they were able to engage in simple confrontations with some large families in the local area.

The demise of Shu and Wu also gave Cao Mao a new idea.

He wanted to divide some of the royal family's descendants into fiefdoms in various places.

The original intention of the feudal system was to allow the emperor to govern those remote and difficult-to-govern places, and there are many similar places in Wei today.

Of course, if the royal family was directly thrown into Nanzhong or Jiaozhou, Cao Mao’s image among the royal family would probably instantly become like Cao Pi’s.

That's not a reward, that's exile.

Therefore, this matter still needs to be considered in the long term. At least, when the relationship between the princes and himself is gradually easing, it is not possible to change the feudal states. This will make many of Cao Mao's previous actions in vain.

Perhaps we could start with those princes' illegitimate sons who don't have the right to inherit, select some capable ones from among them, and have them go to those remote areas to take charge, without forcing them.
Seeing Cao Mao in a daze, Cao Fang didn't dare to say anything more, but Cao Qi took the initiative to talk to him.

After everyone waited for a while, Hu Zun and others finally appeared in the distance.

Hu Zun, Guanqiu Jian and Wen Qin escorted the captives and arrived in Luoyang by water first, while the army was still behind them.

Wen Qin was walking in the front, Guanqiu Jian was in the rear army, and Hu Zun was in the center army.

After seeing the emperor's carriage, the army stopped advancing. The three generals quickly reunited and then escorted Sun Hao to Cao Mao.

Sun Hao's upper body was naked, his hands were tied behind his back, a seal was hanging from his mouth, and a sheep was tied to the other end of the rope that bound his hands. Several clan members around him were wearing mourning clothes.

This set of attire is the ritual of a fallen country, the so-called naked body and leading a sheep.

The difference between him and Liu Chan now is probably that he does not bring a coffin with him.

Cao Mao saw the young man from a distance.

Cao Mao didn't like him very much.

This guy is a murderer and a tyrant. I won't feel safe if he's around. However, the current situation doesn't allow me to execute him directly.

"Your Majesty, your servant Hu Zun pays homage to His Majesty!"

"Your Majesty, your Majesty, receives your servant Wenqin!"

"Your Majesty, I, Guanqiu Jian, pay my respects to you!"

The three of them hurriedly bowed to greet him.

Cao Mao ignored Sun Hao, but smiled and helped several of his old generals up.

"Why are you being so polite? The three generals defeated the bandits for me. From now on, when you see me, don't ever shout your own names!"

"Thank you, Your Majesty!!"

Cao Mao greeted them with a smile, and then asked all the ministers to come and congratulate the generals.

At this moment, Hu Zun finally pointed at Sun Hao and said, "Your Majesty, the King of Wu has surrendered. We dare not accept his gift. Please deal with it, Your Majesty!"

Cao Mao looked around and then remembered that Deng Ai had already gone to Shu.

Otherwise, I must let him take a look. This is the correct procedure!!!
(End of this chapter)