"Wechen retires!"

Yang Tian was a little disappointed in his heart, Cao Cao did not immediately summon Zhong Xuan, indicating that he still had doubts in his heart, and it also showed that Duke Wei had reflected on the case of Jian'an's Seven Sons two months ago, which was exactly what Yang Tian was most worried about, he had done too many things that hurt heaven and reason, lest Duke Wei use him as a scapegoat.

Yang Tian retired, Cao Cao began to examine the impeachment and confession on the table again, his heart was like a mirror, the eldest son Cao Pi rushed to Taiyuan overnight, which just showed that this matter was Cao Pi's mastermind, Cao Pi wanted to take the opportunity to get rid of Zhong Xuan.

In order to ensure that the succession of power could be completed smoothly, Cao Cao did not hesitate to connive at Cao Pi against his original intention to launch the Jian'an Seven Sons Case, and did not hesitate to remove Xiahoudun, who supported Cao Zhi, from military power, and completely eradicated the forces that supported Cao Zhi.

But Cao Cao also knew that this kind of officialdom cleanup was a double-edged sword, although it could ensure a smooth transfer of power, it would also cause the Wei people to be disheartened, especially in the context of the growing strength of the Han State, this kind of cleanup could easily trigger a wave of official flights, thus shaking the foundation of the Wei State.

In fact, Cao Cao's fears had become a reality, and he received reports from Xu Yi that dozens of local officials had already abandoned India and surrendered to the Han state, and this was only the beginning, and Cao Cao feared that this wave of exodus would spread to Hebei and the Central Plains.

So he has begun to reflect on the Jian'an Seven Sons case, he realized that he had gone a little too far, in this case, the removal of such an important minister as Zhong Xuan would only completely intensify the contradiction, even if Zhong Xuanzhen and Han Guo did not act properly, he had to think twice.

Cao Cao suppressed Yang Tian's impeachment letter, and in the afternoon, Zhong Xuan came to Tongque Palace to officially report to Cao Cao on his trip to Jiaozhou.

Cao Cao and Zhong Xuan sat opposite each other, Cao Cao's expression was calm, and he listened attentively to Zhong Xuan's report, "Qi Wei Gong, Liu Bei was very enthusiastic about Wei Chen at the beginning, and seemed to have great hopes for Wei State, but he became very cold when he actually met with him, and the whole meeting process ended in less than half an hour, Wei Chen suspected that maybe it was the Han envoy Sima Yi who gave Liu Bei some promise, so that Liu Bei gave up his alliance with Wei. ”

Cao Cao didn't have much hope for the alliance between Liu Bei and Wei, and it was extremely inconvenient for them to communicate with each other by the Han State, but Cao Cao was very interested in what promise Liu Jing gave Liu Bei, so he asked with a smile: "What kind of promise does the military advisor think it will be?" ”

"What promises were given, Wechen didn't know very well, but Wechen knew two things, the first was that Sima Yi sent an envoy to Jiaozhou, asking that the Jiaozhou army not enter Jian'an County; The second thing is that Sima Yi met with the representatives of the barbarian and Zhan tribes in Panyu, which caused the two tribes to react fiercely, and the representatives immediately rushed back to Jiaozhi, from which Weichen deduced that the Han State may have wanted to use the barbarian and Zhan tribes to contain Jiaozhou. ”

Cao Cao laughed, "This is also a hint to Liu Bei that the Han army will not attack Jiaozhou for the time being, so Liu Bei is not very enthusiastic about forming an alliance with us." ”

Zhong Xuan nodded, "Duke Wei is right, whether Liu Bei believes the hint of Han or not, but at least the sense of urgency of the alliance between Jiaozhou and Wei has been weakened, and Liu Bei still wants to wait and see, so that Han has reached the attempt to sabotage the alliance between Jiaozhou and Wei." ”

"It's like a bow with a tight string, the arrow is on the string, and it has to be sent, but at this time, Han Guo loosened the bowstring, and the arrow couldn't be sent, Liu Jing's wrist was really unexpected."

Cao Cao sighed slightly, he changed the topic, and asked lightly, "Does the military advisor have anything else to report?" ”

"There's nothing to report for now."

"Really? But I heard that when the military adviser came back, he went to Chang'an again, why is this? Cao Cao looked at Zhong Xuan with a smile.

Zhong Xuan thought about this on the way back, he knew that it was difficult for him to go to Chang'an to hide Cao Cao's eyes and ears, so he had to face Cao Cao's questioning, he had already thought of a response in his heart, he said unhurriedly: "Back to Wei, go to Chang'an is because of the repeated invitation of the King of Han, Weichen is difficult but warm, so he has to go to Chang'an to have a look, Weichen thinks that this is a private matter, and has nothing to do with official affairs, so he did not report to Wei Gong." ”

Zhong Xuan's answer was eloquent, so that Cao Cao didn't know what to say, if the minister's dealings with the Han State were fornication and betrayal, then what was his Cao Cao's marriage of his daughter to Liu Jing? Therefore, without evidence of collaborating with the enemy, Cao Cao could not be furious and immediately punish Zhong Xuan.

Cao Cao laughed dryly and said, "Does the military advisor think Chang'an has changed a lot?" ”

Zhong Xuan nodded, "It's a earth-shaking change, Weichen really can't recognize it, Guanzhong is full of vitality, and the people live and work in peace and contentment, I can only say that Liu Jing has governed well." ”

Zhong Xuan's frankness finally made Cao Cao's face a little embarrassed, which made him secretly annoyed, so Cao Cao took out Zhang Qi's confession and Yang Tian's impeachment letter, and handed it to Zhong Xuan, "In the imperial history, Cheng Yang Tian impeached the military division for fornicating with the Han Kingdom, as well as the confession of an entourage of the military division, the military division will take a look first!" ”

Although this was also expected by Zhong Xuan, he didn't expect Yang Tian to move so quickly, he only came back yesterday afternoon, and he began to impeach, and even the confession was ready.

He carefully read the impeachment book, and then read Zhang Qi's confession, and then pointed to the confession and said to Cao Cao: "This confession is basically true, but Duke Wei doesn't look at this person and makes a conclusion, he is just an ordinary practitioner, he only knows where I went and who I met, as for why I went, or what I talked about, he didn't know anything." ”

Zhong Xuan pointed to Yang Tian's impeachment letter and said angrily, "This is even more nonsense, fabricating charges, making up something out of nothing, clearly trying to put me to death, let me ask, if I talk to the King of Han, I am collaborating with the enemy, then what is the marriage between the Duke of Wei and the King of Han?" ”

The last sentence made Cao Cao very embarrassed, this is indeed an unavoidable fact, Cao Cao hurriedly reassured Zhong Xuan and said: "I didn't believe Yang Zhongcheng's words too much, after all, he was not present when the military advisor and Liu Jing were talking, after all, as a military advisor, if Liu Jing didn't meet him, he couldn't talk about it, so I don't know what Liu Jing and the military advisor talked about?" ”

"What can Liu Jing talk to me about, it is nothing more than to talk about the changes in Chang'an, talk about the decree of the Duke of Wei, and ask me for a few pieces of calligraphy, only second, but Sima Yi came to see me on behalf of Liu Jing, hoping that I would go to the Han Kingdom as the prime minister and take up the post of Zhongshu Ling, but I politely refused."

Zhong Xuan was very frank and did not hide from Cao Cao, with his identity and qualifications, he also disdained to make up lies, and telling the truth was his consistent principle.

Cao Cao long: 'Oh! It seems that Zhong Xuan did not hide it, Cao Cao also believed his words, he pondered for a moment, and then asked: "I don't know what Liu Jing said about my Ding Order?" ”

Cao Cao didn't want to make a big deal out of it, so he avoided the truth and asked an unrelated matter, but he did want to know Liu Jing's opinion on Ding Ling.

"Back to Duke Wei, Liu Jing said that Duke Wei's order is bad for the present, and the merit is in a hundred years, he agrees with Duke Wei's direction, but he does not approve of Duke Wei's methods."

"What do you mean by that?"

Cao Cao asked suspiciously: "What does it mean to be bad at the present, and the merit is in a hundred years?" ”

"He said that the forcible occupation of land by wealthy families and the hiding of the population is indeed a big problem, and the southern region is slightly better, but there is also this kind of problem, if this problem is solved, the world will gain a hundred years of prosperity and tranquility, so he is very much in favor of Wei Gong's Ding order, but with the current implementation methods of Wei Gong, I am afraid that it will do more harm than good."

"Is he saying I'm too impatient, too violent?" Cao Cao understood the meaning of Zhong Xuan's words.

Zhong Xuan nodded, "He did say this, the Han State spent ten years to solve this problem, and now it is far from success, Jingzhou and Guanzhong are the best, and Bashu occupies a very strict area, and a large number of people are also hidden, and the Jiangdong region, which has just been incorporated into the Han State, is also very strict, and the Han State is ready to spend another ten years to solve this problem, but he said that the Duke of Wei is ready to complete it in one or two years, which is unrealistic and will also cause a very strict problem." ”

"What's the problem?" Cao Cao asked again.

Zhong Xuan sighed slightly, "King Han said that the local government is basically controlled by the family, and the Duke of Wei used the army to force the Ding Order, first targeting the Shi clan, I am afraid that it will trigger a strong backlash from the local officialdom and cause the local government to be unstable."

Cao Cao didn't speak, a few days ago, dozens of magistrates in the state hung up their seals and left, more than 20 counties did not have county orders and county officials, Cao Pi has rushed to deal with it, although he still doesn't know the reason, but it is very likely that Liu Jing said it.

Cao Cao felt a little uncomfortable in his heart, he snorted coldly and said: "He doesn't have a backache when he stands and talks, if he is willing to send back all the yeoman farmers who fled to the Han Kingdom, why should I make such a big move?" ”

"Wei Gong, Weichen also thinks that Liu Jing's construction is somewhat reasonable"

Without waiting for Zhong Xuan to finish speaking, Cao Cao interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "Don't talk about this matter anymore, no matter how turbulent the local government is, the order must not be abandoned halfway!" ”

Cao Pi wanted to impeach Zhong Xuan, but Cao Cao did not accept the impeachment of Zhong Xuan in the end, he did not want to cause turmoil in the officialdom because of this matter, so he put the impeachment book on the shelf, and soon, the New Year of the twenty-third year of Jian'an finally arrived.

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