There is no doubt that the power of Cheng Yu and Tian Feng is declining, and the traditionally strong political forces in the three states of Qingdao, Yanji and Hebei are being suppressed.

And Zhang Zhao and Xu Jing are becoming representative figures of the newly rising power.

The emperor became dissatisfied with the powerful political groups in the three prefectures of Qingyan and Hebei, and decided to suppress them and help the weaker ones.

As a native of Yanzhou, as a scholar from a traditionally strong region, although Mao Jue was slightly unhappy, he did not have the fierce views of Cheng Yu and Tian Feng and others.

In terms of political stance, he is more pragmatic and has a long-term vision.

He had long realized that a political bloc could not be strong forever.

When the power of a political group develops to the point where the emperor is embarrassed, the emperor will inevitably suppress it.

The better and stronger you are, the closer you are to your end.

Unless this emperor is too useless.

No well-informed and crisis-minded emperor would allow a political bloc to grow too strong.

As a person within this political group, Mao Jue sees this trend and believes that it is irreversible, at least for a long time.

As a result, Mao Jue saw the infinite possibilities contained in Zhuge Liang.

Therefore, Mao Jue does not mind investing, not for himself, but also for future generations to leave possibilities.

If you have political capital, no matter how you can guarantee it, you won't fall too hard, but future generations are different, and the political legacy you leave behind may not be enough for them to eat.

They had to forge a new path in order to keep the Mao family business.

In the foreseeable future, scholars from other regions will slowly rise and gradually suppress the traditional strong groups of Qingyanji.

Through this anti-corruption campaign, Mao Jue feels more and more that the choice he made before was correct.

Maintain a good relationship with Zhuge Liang, so that Zhuge Liang has the opportunity to be promoted, how can this not leave a chance for his future self?

Zhuge Liang had a discussion with Chen Zhen later, talking about the process of Zhuge Liang's discovery of this corruption case, Zhuge Liang praised Mao Jue's help to him.

So Chen Zhen also believes that Mao Jue has an indelible role in the smooth resolution of this big case.

Mao Jue was secretly happy about this.

Later, Mao Jue even arranged for Zhuge Liang to assist Chen Zhen as a special envoy to go to the army garrison around Yumen Pass to conduct an in-depth investigation, strictly investigate the corruption problem within the army, and give Zhuge Liang room to play.

Then, Mao Jue called Sima Yi to Guzang County.

"Zhongda, this matter is still thanks to you, if you hadn't informed me in advance and let me wait for precautions, this time, the entire Liangzhou officialdom would have been completely cleaned."

Mao Jue poured Sima Yi a cup of tea with his own hands - he liked this very expensive tea very much, but he didn't have the place to buy it himself, and these tea leaves were given to him by Cao Cao.

Sima Yi took the cup of tea with both hands and took a sip slightly, only to feel that his mouth was full of fragrance.

"It is the duty of the subordinate officials to do things for the king, and the subordinate officials are just doing what they can."

Sima Yi was very humble.

"Hahaha, don't say anything about our duty or not, we are all Your Majesty's courtiers, and it is our duty to be loyal to Your Majesty."

Mao Jue smiled, rolled his eyes, and said, "Zhongda, I heard that you had a pretty good relationship with Zhuge Kongming when you were in the capital, is there such a thing?" ”

“……”

Sima Yi seemed to realize something, pursed his lips, and nodded: "Yes, I am friends with Kong Ming, when I first joined the cabinet, Kong Ming gave me a lot of help, I have always kept these things in my heart, thank him very much." ”

"This matter was also discovered by Zhuge Kongming first, right? Of course, he didn't intend to tell me at this time, as if he thought I had something to do with it, and you told me about it......"

Mao Jue smiled and didn't continue, but Sima Yi already understood the meaning of his words.

It seems that Mao Jue has figured out everything that should be figured out.

That's right, how could the seniors who have been up and down in the sea for almost 20 years not understand this kind of careful thinking?

However, this is not a betrayal, this is nothing at all, Zhuge Liang did not suffer a loss at all because of this incident, but he was also praised, didn't he?

Sima Yi thinks so.

"What the envoy said is right, Kong Ming was the first to discover this matter, and after that, Kong Ming informed me of this matter, and I knew the whole process clearly."

"After that, Zhuge Kongming didn't plan to tell me about it, he planned to report it directly to Luoyang, but you told me about it, you also went to find Cao Zixiao first, and then came to me, think about it, you also have concerns, right?"

Mao Jue took a sip of tea.

"Because the lower official has an old relationship with the Cao family, the Cao family has contributed to the career of the Sima family, and there is no old relationship with the envoy, the lower official is worried that the envoy will not believe in the lower official and has doubts about the lower official, so he does not dare to inform the envoy directly about this matter."

Sima Yi explained a little.

Mao Jue recognized this explanation and asked: "In this matter, you have not done anything wrong, and Zhuge Kongming has not done anything wrong, but if this matter is known by Zhuge Kongming, it should not be the situation you want to see, right?" ”

Sima Yi looked at Mao Jue and lowered his head again.

"Kong Ming was not damaged by this incident."

"It's true that it didn't hurt, but it made a profit, but it ......"

Mao Jue put down the teacup in his hand, and his tone became serious: "If Zhuge Kongming didn't have a brother who was being the right attendant of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, if his brother didn't have such a good and close relationship with the Ministry of Officials, I wouldn't be so polite to Zhuge Kongming."

He is just a county magistrate, and he actually wants to report the local situation directly to the Luoyang Third Division, even if it is reasonable and legal, but it is also a taboo in officialdom, once someone is damaged by this, all the people who are damaged will hate him and be afraid of him, and his career will end here. ”

Sima Yi's heart tightened.

But Mao Jue's words still didn't stop.

"If I hadn't taken into account that Zhuge Kongming had such a deep background, thought of his brother and Zhang Zibu, and thought that Zhuge Kongming came out of the cabinet like you, maybe Jane was in the emperor's heart, I wouldn't have praised him so much.

If I hadn't been the first to know about this kind of thing and dealt with it in advance, if he stabbed him to Luoyang, what would I face, Zhong Da, you should know that if Zhuge Kongming really let him do it this time, the entire capital would inevitably have a bloody storm. ”

Mao Jue stared at Sima Yi, and Sima Yi's breathing was a little rapid.

"Xiaguan...... also knew Kong Ming's identity, so he insisted on informing the envoy in advance, in order to avoid such a thing, and at the same time to protect Kong Ming. ”

Sima Yi insisted that he thought so, and had absolutely no other thoughts.

Mao Jue stared at him for a long time, and then suddenly smiled.

"Hahahaha!"

Mao Jue laughed for a while, making Sima Yi a little stunned.

"Make the ......"

"Zhongda, I admire people like you very much, you are very smart, I appreciate smart people."

Mao Jue walked to Sima Yi's side with a smile and patted Sima Yi's shoulder: "If your identity and background are not as good as others, you must learn to take advantage of any opportunity that can be used, otherwise, how can you go up?" As an official, if you don't advance, you will retreat. ”

Mao Jue's smile was a little meaningful, and Sima Yi also understood.

"Let the king's teachings be understood by the lower officials."

"It's good to understand, Zhongda, I heard that you have eight brothers in your family?"

Mao Jue picked up the tea bowl and blew the steaming tea, his face was flat.