Of course, what Cao Song said is the truth, and Cao Chi is also clear about this.

"The truth of the world is in the mouths of these scholars, they say that black is black, they say white is white, even if it is like today's party, it is not a long-term solution, how can it be so easy to deal with? After a long time, there are not enough talents in the court, and the party must be lifted. ”

Cao Song nodded and sighed slightly.

"There are only so many people who can govern the country with literacy and literacy, who else can they use? Therefore, our ancestors also have a long-term vision, created a good reputation, and gave our family some room for turnaround, but our Cao family is a turbid current that started as a eunuch after all. ”

Cao Song said the best of the Cao family's current situation, it seems that the flowers are blooming, the family members have power in the Korean and Chinese armies, and the military and the government are in full bloom, but if you look closely, it is really a dangerous egg.

After all, the Son of Heaven still has to rely on literati to govern the country, and literati are scholars.

The Son of Heaven noticed that the literati clan held official positions and formed parties with each other to encroach on the foundation of the Han Dynasty, first engaged in the three mutual laws, and then implemented the party system, but how long can the party system last?

Can it go on forever?

Even now, these people who follow the Son of Heaven to make profits are not without thinking about their own retreat, and there are always some smart people who are sober and will not be carried away by the momentary scenery.

The Cao family is such a smart family.

So two years ago, Cao Song's eldest son Cao Cao was adopted by Wang Fu, the prime minister of Pei, and Wang Ji, the minister of Peiguo, was filial piety and honesty.

The purpose of this risky action was to give Cao Cao Bo a good name.

Public opinion is controlled by the nobles, and in the eyes of the nobles, the eunuchs are heinous bastards.

Your Cao family started as a eunuch, so you are naturally a bastard.

Cao Song saw this very accurately, and he was helpless here, but he couldn't affect Cao Cao's generation, so even if he took a little risk, he had to let Cao Cao get rid of the connection with the eunuchs.

From the beginning of becoming an official, you must have a clean contact with the eunuchs, and you must not continue to "collude".

After killing Jian Tu, Cao Song begged his grandfather to tell his grandmother to activate all his connections, and spent countless amounts of money to barely let Cao Cao pass.

Now Cao Cao has left Luoyang and gone to Dunqiu to do the Dunqiu Order, but he has already gained some fame in Beijing, and he has initially realized Cao Song's Cao family whitewashing plan.

For this, Cao Song also paid a heavy price.

If it weren't for the fact that the eunuch team was really short of talents, it is estimated that they really had the idea of disposing of the Cao family, but the current wind direction is unknown, and they can't kill all the people of Cao Teng's lineage.

Cao Teng has been a eunuch for decades, served four emperors, was named the Marquis of Feiting, and has a very high rank among the eunuch groups.

But this is not enough, Cao Song's performance is not enough, and the Cao family needs further performance.

The second step of the whitewashing plan is to marry Guo Peng, the eldest son of Guo Dan's family, and marry Guo Peng, the eldest son of Guo Dan's family, to Guo Peng, and form a family with Guo to form a family of children.

If this step is completed, Cao's can be regarded as a preliminary whitewash, and he has seen a little glimmer of hope.

And after that, whether the Cao family can really be successfully whitewashed and get rid of the identity of relying on eunuchs depends on how Cao Cao and Guo Peng behave in the officialdom in the future.

Cao Song has high expectations for them, especially Guo Peng.

"Although the Guo family looks inconspicuous now, but after all, it is a well-dressed family, let's push it behind the back, sending charcoal in the snow, it is better than icing on the cake, and I look at Guo Peng, he can be regarded as a talented and intelligent person, and my family Ah Pu appreciates him very much.

At a young age, so diligent and hard-working, both civil and military, and courageous, if you worship a famous teacher after entering Taixue, with his talent, you can't get the inheritance, and in the future, you will open a sect to recruit disciples, and the protégés will be all over the world, it is not impossible, when the time comes, my Cao family will benefit from it! ”

When Cao Song said this, his eyes were full of strong yearning.

Cao Chi also clenched his fists.

Leaning less, the two relaxed together, looked at each other and smiled.

"It seems a little too early to talk about this now, after a while, Guo Dan's door-to-door proposal is really done, and we can start arranging for Guo Peng."

Cao Song twisted his beard and smiled: "However, our Cao clan must not sit still, Guo Peng, but this is our breaking point." ”

Cao Song has already thought of the overall plan, as long as the marriage is settled and the dust settles, he will definitely help Guo Peng enter Taixue, let him learn enough knowledge, and let him become a generation of grandmasters, so that the Cao family will not be developed?

Or use it here to be popular with those literati?

They are clear streams, deserve to be turbid currents?

Bah! A belly of conspiracy and calculation, male thieves and female prostitutes, what a thing!

Cao Song and Cao Chi are ambitiously carrying out the Cao family's whitewashing plan, and in their hometown in Qian County, Guo Dan has already sent a matchmaker to bring some simple gifts to the door to talk about family affairs.

Guo Peng and the daughter of the Cao family are twelve years old and eleven years old, and they have not yet reached the age of marriage, at least Guo Peng has not yet performed the crown ceremony, so it is impossible to get married now, but it is possible to marry.

There are also procedures for determining relatives, as well as rules and regulations, and the Han Dynasty has come to this day, and the extravagance in society is quite prevalent.

Guo Peng found that at this time, some of the customs and habits of everyone getting married and doing happy events were really very similar to modern times, and they were all big things, and even borrowed money.

Originally, according to Zhou Li, weddings were not allowed to be held in a big way, and Zhou Li thought that the wedding was a quiet ceremony, and it was good to complete it quietly, and even celebrations were not allowed.

It was not until Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty issued an edict that the county guards in various places should not be confined to the Zhou ceremony to obstruct the celebration of civil weddings, so the tradition of celebrating each other with big weddings began to be established.

Nowadays, the bride price and dowry are a lot of banquets and so on, the better it is, the more face-saving it is, the rich people are desperate to hold weddings, and those who have no money are very ashamed of their inability to hold a decent wedding.

So from this time on, all those who can't afford to get married can blame Emperor Xuan of Han.

Guo Peng even heard that some people have to prepare money for weddings as soon as their children are born.

In some places where the customs are more extravagant, a wedding can drain the savings of an ordinary family for decades, and even borrow money.

Although the Guo family has no façade, Guo Peng's grandfather was a taishou, and his father is still a county magistrate, so he can't even get the money for marriage.

This is not to say that you can buy an official if you have money, but the Han government believes that you will not be corrupt and corrupt to loot the people's fat and ointment, although this is groundless.

Regarding the marriage between the two families, it was the Cao family who took the initiative to bring it up, and the process was quite interesting.

Guo Peng's grandfather Guo Yong died relatively early, and although he was too guarded, he failed to leave too much inheritance to Guo Dan.

Guo Dan did not have the help of his family, and he did not want to take the road of grammar officials, in order to seek filial piety, he relied on the thin noodles of Guo Yong, who died early, and sent all his family funds out, so he was promoted to filial piety.

When I came to be the county magistrate, there were only a few servants around me, and I didn't have any property or helpers.

The reason why the county order is done steadily is also due to the cooperation of the Cao family and the local Haoqiang Xiahou clan.

Because of Guo Dan's surname and background, the Cao family and the Xiahou family were friendly with Guo Dan from the beginning, so Guo Peng often went back and forth between the Cao family and the Xiahou family when he was young, and got along happily with a group of Cao Xiahou children of the same age and generation.

For example, Cao Ren and Cao Chun, who get along best, as well as Xiahou Yuan, who is a little older, and Cao Hong, have a good relationship with Guo Peng.

The relationship between Guo Peng and Cao Cao is also very good, which is also quite interesting to say.

Cao Cao was ten years older than Guo Peng, Guo Peng followed Guo Dan to Qian County at the age of three, he was too young, even if he had the heart to make friends with the future Emperor Wei Wu, but he really didn't have a chance, and at that time Cao Cao had already mixed up with Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and Xu You, who were from Runan.

The intersection between the two only happened when Guo Peng went to Cao's house to play with Cao Ren and Xiahou Yuan, after all, they were of similar age and had a common topic, and Cao Cao disdained to play with little children.

As for how the two got acquainted, the situation is quite special.

That was what happened when Cao Cao was eighteen years old and Guo Peng was eight years old.

At that time, Cao Cao performed the crown ceremony and got married, and the Cao family began to seek an official career for him.

Although Cao Song and Cao Chi were both officials in the court at that time, they wanted to give Cao Cao a widely recognized step forward, so it was their pursuit to be filial piety and honesty.

At this time, the promotion of filial piety and honesty had become a way for local nobles to tout each other's monopoly official positions, and it was their political capital.

Originally, the Cao family, which relied on eunuchs to make a fortune, was naturally not in their eyes, so how could they enjoy it with them?

But there are always exceptions.

Afterwards, Guo Peng analyzed carefully and felt that the Cao family had the right time, place and people during this period, and Cao Cao would be sorry for the luck of the Cao family if he didn't make a career.