The elite did not migrate south

Chapter 719: Managing the World Like Managing Family Affairs
"His Majesty!!"

Lu Kang knelt down again towards Cao Mao.

"Your Majesty has treated me with sincerity. I dare not betray your Majesty's favor any longer. I am willing to assist your Majesty wholeheartedly to repay your kindness!"

Lu Kang's face was covered with tears.

Cao Mao trembled all over and looked at him in astonishment. He gasped with excitement and hurriedly helped Lu Kang up.

Cao Mao was so excited that he couldn't speak, and his eyes were also red.

"I have loved Lu Youjie for a long time. I am so lucky to have him today!!"

"His Majesty!!"

"Youth Festival!!"

The two held hands and looked at each other. This touching scene was so moving that even the servants in Lu Kang's family couldn't help but shed tears.

What a touching scene!
Cao Mao hurriedly pulled Lu Kang to sit next to him, held his hand tightly, wiped his tears, and laughed again.

"I have Lu Youjie. Isn't this a blessing from heaven?"

"Good reign title, good minister!"

Lu Kang hastened to reply, "Your Majesty is surrounded by talented people. The ministers of the Three Palaces are all virtuous and virtuous people in the world. The twenty provincial governors are all good officials in governing the land. I am just a sinner. It is because Your Majesty does not despise my incompetent talents that I have the opportunity to serve Your Majesty. How dare I accept such praise from Your Majesty?"

"Youjie, I will let you lead the cavalry now. From now on, you can enter and leave the palace at any time and participate in major events. After a while, I will let you take on important tasks at Santai."

"Your Majesty, I thank you!"

Cao Mao was overjoyed and said to his attendant, "The food is cold. Heat it up and feed the young boy!"

Lu Kang hurriedly called out to the man.

"Your Majesty, the food is best at this time. There is no need to heat it up."

After saying this, he didn't care about his status as a famous scholar and started eating the cold food in big mouthfuls.

Cao Mao felt distressed when he saw this and quickly asked someone to prepare hot tea and wine.

After eating and drinking, Lu Kang instantly got into the state.

"Your Majesty, I heard that you relocated many of the great clans in Jiangdong, and that rebellions often occurred there?"

"Is such that."

"There are many powerful families in Jiangdong. They lie about their farmland and tenants, and they also hide armor and powerful crossbows. They all have their own private armies and are violent. They harm the people and collude with local officials to commit illegal acts!"

"I want to govern Jiangdong, but a minister said: Governing Jiangdong is like cultivating the land. If we don't remove the weeds, it will be difficult to sow the seeds."

"I will then issue an order to relocate the many lawless nobles of Jiangdong to the north to fill the frontier population."

"They were all moved to Pingzhou."

Lu Kang was stunned and asked in surprise, "Pingzhou?"

Cao Mao then explained, "I have designated the Liao counties as Pingzhou."

Lu Kang suddenly understood. He smiled and said, "Some people from Wu came to me to complain. They only said that Your Majesty was tyrannical and had their clans relocated, but they never mentioned the situation in Pingzhou."

Cao Mao threw his head back and laughed.

He explained: "When Sima Yi went to attack Liaodong, he killed too many Wei people, but also moved the Murong, Duan and other tribes to Liao, which led to the increasing number of local Hu people."

"In some counties, the population is almost entirely dominated by Hu people. Even the local Wei people have begun to become Hu people."

"I will establish a separate Pingzhou here and relocate some of the Hu people here to Youzhou. I will also relocate the Wei people from Youzhou here. I will also relocate many of the powerful families in Jiangdong here to enrich the population here. This will help educate the Hu people and make them become Wei people as well."

Cao Mao spoke his thoughts seriously, and Lu Kang nodded from time to time.

Lu Kang was not that concerned about Cao Mao's treatment of the Jiangdong clans.

Even though it was an era of aristocratic families, there were always people who cared more about the country than their clans.

For example, Wang Chang, who came from a prominent family and proposed weakening the power of the aristocratic families; Zhang Hua, who was suppressed after implementing anti-aristocratic policies; Lu Kang, whose entire family died for the country; and Jiang Wei, Zhuge Zhan, and others.
Even in such a bad era, it cannot cover up the brilliance of these people.

After Cao Mao finished speaking, Lu Kang said, "Your Majesty's idea is correct, but it is a little crude."

“Rough?”

Lu Kang smiled and said, "The great clans of Jiangdong are different from those of the north. Although they are intermarried, they fight fiercely among themselves. The minister sent to govern Jiangdong only needs to order them to expose each other's crimes, and they can migrate legitimately without causing any rebellion."

Cao Mao suddenly realized what was going on. He shook his head and said, "It's a pity that I didn't ask Lu Youjie back then!"

Lu Kang added, "Actually, this is not bad. My previous method might have taken a long time, but this one-size-fits-all approach has cleared out the Jiangdong nobles in just one year. This will be more conducive to subsequent governance."

Cao Mao did not hide anything and simply talked about the things in Shu.

"Wu is currently experiencing constant rebellion, while Shu is quite peaceful. I suspect that the Shu clans may not feel threatened and are well-fed and well-drained, or perhaps they are plotting something major. I am about to issue an order to begin the relocation of the Shu clans."

"When I first recovered Shu, I did a lot to appease them. Many of Shu's ministers also worked by my side. How do you think I should go about this?"

When Lu Kang heard this, he hesitated for a long time before asking, "Your Majesty, how prepared are you to migrate?"

"I have always done things to the utmost. If I can relocate everyone, I won't leave a single household behind."

Cao Mao's response was crisp and clear. Lu Kang then said, "I don't know much about Shu, but since Shu was the first to submit, the people's hearts should be gradually turning to Wei. If Your Majesty wishes to relocate the Shu clans, you must stabilize the local people's hearts. If a rebellion breaks out in Shu, it will undoubtedly be more serious than that in Wu."

The two men discussed for a long time, and it was not until the evening that Cao Mao said goodbye and left.

Lu Kang escorted the emperor all the way to the door. Looking at the carriage going away, Lu Kang stood for a long time, gazing into the distance, not knowing what to say.

When Cao Mao returned to Taiji Hall, it was completely dark.

The winter night is colder than the day.

Cao Mao quickly returned to Changqiu Palace, where Zheng Xian was still waiting for him.

When Cao Mao left here, he said that he would come back after he was done with his work. Zheng Xian knew what kind of person Cao Mao was.

He always keeps his word and will do what he says.

Therefore, she had been waiting for Cao Mao to arrive. When Cao Mao walked in, Zheng Xian walked up to him with heartache, touched Cao Mao's cold hand, and hurriedly brought him hot tea to warm him up.

Cao Mao just shivered and said, "Forget about the tea, just get on the bed!"

Zheng Xian glanced at Cao Mao and said, "You should have some tea first. You actually left the palace in such a cold weather. You can't just sleep like this. I asked someone to make some mutton soup. Your Majesty, please have some and then we can rest."

Cao Mao did not continue to argue with the queen. He first drank tea and then ate mutton soup.

The body temperature gradually rises.

"Your Majesty seems very happy today?"

"Hahaha~~"

Cao Mao was waiting for Zheng Xian to ask, and immediately said impatiently: "Of course, today, I have gained a great and wise minister!"

"You know Lu Kang from Wu, right? He's a man of both civil and military talents, with noble character, a model of a loyal official. Moreover, he's still very young! He's about the same age as Zhong Hui and Zhang Hua!"

"In another ten or twenty years, Zhong Hui will be able to become the Prime Minister, in charge of government affairs, Zhang Hua will be able to become the Minister of State, in charge of government affairs, and Lu Kang will be able to become the Grand Marshal, in charge of military affairs!"

"Your Majesty! Avoid it! Avoid it!"

Zheng Xian hurriedly persuaded.

Cao Mao grinned and said, "You don't know, my great-grandfather was very open-minded and generous. With my current achievements, he wouldn't be angry even if I mentioned his name to his face!"

"That won't do. Your Majesty is the Son of Heaven. All your actions are a model for the world. How can you do this?"

"There's no outsider here, so just continue to listen to me!"

Cao Mao vividly described his actions at the opponent's door today, "As soon as I saw the heavy snow, I knew in my heart that the opportunity had come!"

"I've shown kindness to Lu Kang several times before, but each time I fell just a little short. He's different from Jiang Wei. If it were Jiang Wei, he definitely wouldn't waver, but Lu Kang will. This time, I'll put on some thin clothes, rub my face hard until it's red, and slap it a few times before going in to find him."

After hearing Cao Mao's story, Zheng Xian couldn't help laughing.

"Your Majesty has resorted to all means to obtain this wise minister."

"The foundation of governing the world lies in people. The more talented people there are, the more prosperous the government will be. Even if an emperor doesn't know anything else, as long as he knows how to use people, he can do everything well."

Cao Mao no longer considered Zheng Xian an outsider at all.

He could tell Zheng Xian many things that he could not tell others.

The two also became a real couple and a family.

Zheng Xian asked, "Your Majesty said Lu Kang was so smart, wouldn't he have figured it out?"

"Even if he knows, so what? I've already done this much for him. Even if I have a heart of stone, it will melt, right?"

Zheng Xian laughed again.

"Your Majesty said it doesn't seem like he's recruiting capable officials, but rather pursuing beautiful women."

"It's true that since ancient times, kings and ministers have been husband and wife."

"Governing ministers is like managing household affairs, and governing the empire is like managing wives and concubines!"

"Why don't you see why Zhang Hua isn't liked by the ministers? It's because I'm too close to him. In the eyes of those ministers, he's just a concubine who uses her beauty to seduce her beloved husband!"

Zheng Xian smiled and asked, "What about Zhong Hui?"

"Zhong Hui held an extremely high position. In the eyes of his ministers, he was probably just a jealous wife."

Zheng Xian laughed so hard that she fell backwards. She jokingly said, "So, isn't Lu Kang someone else's wife?"

“This is my family tradition!”

Cao Mao made a joke and then picked up Zheng Xian. Zheng Xian screamed and Cao Mao carried her to the bed.

"It's freezing cold today, and the children are not around, so we can take control of the world for a while!"

Zheng Xian's face flushed red as she was held in Cao Mao's arms. She couldn't help but say, "Your Majesty, please keep your voice down!"

The two fell asleep.

(End of this chapter)