—174 A.D.——

Luoyang Northern Lieutenant, as the name suggests, is the military position that governs the security and defense of northern Luoyang, and there are three lieutenants in the west, south and east at the same level...... It can't be managed.

However, Cao Cao's appointment of the northern lieutenant was the worst of the four.

Unlike the other three provinces, which contained a large number of dwellings, the eastern and western cities, and the workshop and commercial port, in the north, there were only imperial palaces and the mansions of many high-ranking officials, and the head of any family had the power to ignore the small lieutenants.

Zhang Rang arranged Cao Cao here, obviously suspecting that the guy who robbed him of his song and embarrassed him was ordered by an official who was dissatisfied with the eunuchs, and by the way, he knocked Cao Song, who has been in the limelight recently, as for the possibility that Cao Cao himself was a prisoner...... He probably didn't even think about it.

At this time, in the study of Caofu, Cao Song, the great farmer of Xiu Mu, was talking with his son.

"Meng De, if you take a wrong step in this position, you will be cut off from your career, do you know?" After leaving his son to Cai Yong to teach, Cao Song was not worried about Cao Cao's own ability at all, and only in areas where Cai Yong was not good at - such as politics - he would come forward to guide Cao Cao, and this kind of "guidance" looked more like a heart-to-heart conversation between officials at the same level than father and son.

"My son knows." Cao Cao responded, "The key is 'balance'. ”

Whatever the substance, Cao Cao now "has the right" to deal with the violations and prohibitions in the entire northern part of Luoyang, and those officials and scholars who are not very clean have a strange double view of the low-level officials in such positions.

If you are too strict with them, it is to "challenge authority", if you are afraid of their power and shrink your hands, it is also "tending to be inflammatory", no matter which side you are inclined to, it will always anger some people and be suppressed or idle, so it is the most important thing to grasp a good degree so that both sides cannot grasp the handle.

"Fathers don't think you know what 'balance' is." Cao Song raised his chin and gestured towards the courtyard where Cao Cao lived.

Cao Cao snatched the singer that Zhang Rang wanted to come back, and seemed to be preparing to accept him as a concubine, which not only annoyed Zhang Rang, but even the Ding family, who was originally interested in introducing the daughter of the family to his son, was quite dissatisfied - before you asked to marry someone else's daughter as a wife, you first accepted a concubine, do you want to marry or make a feud?

"If you want to extinguish a fire, in addition to watering it, it is also a good idea to light a bigger and stronger fire next to it," Cao Cao replied, "If I provoke another powerful person, my mother will be worried about my safety, instead of urging me to marry." ”

"You want to provoke another one?!" Cao Song stared at him for a while and had nothing to say.

"Among the ten permanent servants, Zhang Rang has a good relationship with Zhao Zhong and Feng Zhen, and provoking them will only cause the same hatred and hatred, Duan Qi, Cao Jie, and Hou Lan are not friends or parties, and they concentrate on making money, and it is a little difficult to offend them," Cao Cao said eloquently, "Jian Shuo, Cheng Kuang, Xia Yun, and Guo Sheng are not on good terms with the first three because they are not favored by His Majesty, and they are always flying and domineering on weekdays, so they can start from them and cause internal conflicts among the ten permanent servants, and the mother naturally does not know such secrets, and she should not care about any singers when she is worried." ”

So how do you know!? Cao Song hesitated, but finally didn't ask, after all, his son is an adult, and it is normal to have his own secrets.

"You have to keep yourself safe," Cao Song finally said: "The Ten Constants have Wang Yue's guidance, and their skills are outstanding, and if you want to deal with me, it will be difficult to get out of the way." ”

"So my father wanted to deal with them?" Cao Cao looked at him with a strange expression: "My son just wants to clean up their relatives who are doggy." ”

“…… Go back to your room, immediately! ”

————

When Cao Cao quietly investigated the crimes of the relatives of the Ten Standing Servants in order to find an opportunity to punish the crimes, Xu Shao Xuzi, a famous scholar from Runan, came to Luoyang and temporarily lived in the northern part of Luoyang, so a large number of visits followed, so that Cao Cao's actions had to be interrupted.

Xu Shao and his brother Xu Jing, the most famous Qing talkers of this time, organized a meeting at the beginning of each month to evaluate the famous people in the world, and invited participants to participate in the meeting, depending on their location at the time, called "Yuedan Commentary".

At this time, the way to enter the official is roughly divided into two types: "inspection" and "expedition", if it is famous, it is beneficial to both of them, so Xu Shao's "Yuedan Commentary" is sought after by many people.

However, due to the limited number of famous people, it is impossible to emerge a few newcomers every month for its evaluation, so Xu Shao will count the tasting of characters over the years into a list, and when there are no newcomers to evaluate in the Yuedan evaluation, he will select the list of people who have changed their evaluation because of what they have done to "re-evaluate", although there is the possibility of increasing popularity twice, but if their own evaluation declines, the person who is "re-evaluated" will become the laughing stock of the month.

Because the list was first published in Xu Shao's hometown, Langya in Runan, it is also known as the "Langya List".

"Meng De," Yuan Shao, who was dressed in civilian clothes, followed Cao Cao, who was wearing the dark blue and ink official uniform of the northern lieutenant, and looked at the endless stream of cars and horses in front of Xu's house: "If I run to ask that Xu Zijiang to give me a taste, what do you think he will say?" ”

"What else could it be," Cao Cao glanced at him: "'The fourth world and the third duke, those who see it bow'." ”

"No, no," Yuan Shao didn't hear Cao Cao joking at all, "I asked, and those scattered participants didn't mention it, and this Xu Zijiang's evaluation of people is generally only three sentences, roughly 'someone in a certain place, what kind of talent, what kind of person can be'." ”

"That's 'Luoyang Yuan Shao, the talent of the three princes, can be the county order'." Cao Cao replied.

Yuan Shao, like him, was promoted to filial piety as soon as he became an adult, was appointed as the commander of Puyang County, and was about to take office in the near future, but Cao Cao was very skeptical that he could govern a county well.

"If you want to mock him, 'the talent of the county order, you can be the third public' is more direct." "Stand-in" interjected.

"Hey, hey, hey~ 'Three Princes' or something, Mengde, you think too highly of me." Yuan Shao really didn't understand, and was smirking and scratching his head.

"......" Cao Cao looked at his "stand-in" speechlessly.

After officially taking office as the "Lieutenant of the Northern Governor of Luoyang", there was finally a significant difference between Cao Mengde and the "stand-in", the "stand-in" seemed to dislike the official uniform that was mostly dyed blue, and converted the blue-black color scheme into a red and white color scheme.

"Don't be in a daze, have you forgotten what you're here for?" The "stand-in" pointed to the blockage in front of the Xu Mansion.

That's right, sorting out the traffic is also the duty of the "northern lieutenant of Luoyang", and there are other trivial matters such as cleaning the streets when the emperor comes, fighting at night, arresting night travelers, etc., of course, these do not have to be done by Cao Cao himself, and there are small officials in the yamen who implement the law according to the law.

However, if the chief has to participate, it is a different matter.

"Do it! Get rid of these guys who are clogging the roads! Cao Cao paused abruptly on the ground, the five-colored long stick in his hand, and shouted to the military officials behind him who were whispering to see the chief's jokes.

This five-color long stick, made of cork, is wound with five colors of cloth and silk thread, not only has no lethality, but even holds up the "weapon" that will bend down by itself, specially used to maintain law and order in the north of Luoyang, unless it is confirmed that there are outlaws or foreign enemies invading, and there is an order from the officials, it is not allowed to use swords and other sharp weapons - so many imperial relatives, high-ranking officials and soldiers, who have accidentally injured their relatives, those small military officials can not afford it.

However, before coming here, Cao Cao had already explained to them: "Those who rushed to ask for Xu Shao's evaluation must be relatives of undesirable officials, just beat, and this level of trouble can be borne by the officials themselves." ”

"Whew!" "How do you beat people around!" "We just asked to see Mr. Xu Shao, what mistake did we make!" "Who is your superior? I'm going to send him up! "Do you know who I am? Jian Shuo has to call me uncle-hew! ”

Cao Cao heard a certain key name in the chaos, so he immediately chased after the man with Yuan Shao and beat him, and shouted: "Investigate the case on the orders of Zhang Rang, the regular servant of the Zhongzhong!" Obstructors are all blamed! ”

"You wait for me—" The seekers around Xu's house fled one after another, and the street was once again unobstructed, and when a carriage and a sedan chair approached at the entrance of the street, they all turned around when they saw the five-colored stick.

Cao Cao asked a cadre of military officials to arrange five-colored sticks at the door of Xu's mansion, and then Shi Shiran took Yuan Shao and the "stand-in" into the mansion to meet him - the porter didn't dare to stop him at all.

"Mr. Xu! Let's see what I'm capable of? Before he arrived in the living room, Yuan Shao shouted.

Since this day was not the day of the Yuedan Commentary, Xu Jing among the Xu brothers went out to collect materials, only Xu Shao was at home, he did not comment on what Cao Cao had done outside before, but looked at Yuan Shao and said: "Wang Zuozhicai can lead the land of Sanzhou." ”

"Tri-state? Not the Three Princes? Wait......" Yuan Shao sounded rather disappointed, and then began to think blankly about which side was bigger, Sangong or Sanzhou.

"As for Cao Gongzi, you can't say it." Xu Shao looked at Cao Cao, shook his head and did not directly comment on it.

"I don't want to know," Cao Cao glanced at the "stand-in" beside him: "My talent is not something that ordinary people can see." ”

"Hmm, that's a good point." "Stand-in" answered.

"The method of agitation is useless to a certain one," Xu Shao couldn't see another Cao Cao: "If Gongzi Cao has nothing else to do, please go back." ”

"I'm not here to ask myself," Cao Cao looked at Xu Shao: "What does Mr. Xu say about the person 'Merlin'?" ”

"Hmm......" Xu Shao groaned slightly, and said: "[Jiangzuo Meilin, the talent of the unicorn, you can win the world if you get it]. ”

"Uh-huh...... Hahaha! Cao Cao looked up to the sky and laughed, and went out.

"Ah, Mengde, wait for me-" Yuan Shao woke up from his daze and hurriedly followed.

"This person ......" Xu Shao looked at Cao Cao's back, and finally said his previous judgment on him: "'The capable minister who rules the world, and the traitor who is in troubled times'?" ”