In the third year of Zhengyuan, the first month.

Wang Ji, the general of Cao Wei Zhennan, led 80,000 troops to attack Wu.

For a time, the South was terrified.

The soldiers of Shu who were fighting in Gong'an and other places all stopped fighting.

The Shu State began to continuously increase troops in the direction of Baidi City and Yong'an, and began to transport a large number of supplies, so that the right general Yan Yu and Yong'an Governor Zongyu reorganized their troops and were ready to attack at any time.

And just when Shu sent the army to Yong'an, Deng Ai, the general of Cao Wei Zhenxi, began to gather a large army, and ordered Zhuge Xu, Sima Wang and others to open the way and prepare for logistics, and advance in the direction of Hanzhong with a large army.

This made Shu suddenly jump and jump.

Shu hurriedly stopped the increase of troops in the Yong'an area and began to move part of the troops towards Hanzhong, Liu Chan worshiped the general Jiang Wei as the general, and ordered him to go to Hanzhong to resist Deng Ai and others.

In the same month, the general of the Che Cavalry, Biqiu Jian, returned to Huainan and began to gather a large army and display it on the front line.

Hu Zun in Qingzhou and Wen Qin in Yuzhou also began to prepare a large army, and in response to Biqiu Jian, they made a posture to attack Wu.

At this moment, the pressure came to Wu Guo's body.

When Sun Qi heard the news, he was shocked, hurriedly stopped his advance, and decided to transfer the troops from the Jingzhou front to resist Cao Wei's army.

The situation in the world has changed dramatically.

In an instant, both Shu and Wu were horrified to find that the gap in strength between the three kingdoms seemed to have been pulled to a huge level within a year.

The sense of oppression brought about by Cao Wei today is really disturbing.

The kingdoms of Shu and Wu once again began to go on a rampage, and officials ran wildly in all directions, preparing for this huge war that might come.

At this moment, Luoyang is exceptionally peaceful and peaceful.

People came and went in the city, and even the heavy snow did not stop everyone's enthusiasm.

Today, there is an official festival in Luoyang, mainly to celebrate the beginning of the new year, and pray for the same good weather this year.

Cao Chao sat with a few people in the restaurant, and the door of the restaurant was open, and you could see the lively scene.

Cao Qi looked out in astonishment, his hands trembling with excitement.

"Brother, it turns out that Luoyang is like this!"

"I don't know"

Every time he saw a different person passing by, Cao Qi could exclaim.

Sima Yan sat opposite them, looked at Cao Qi with some pity, and said to Cao Chao in a low voice: "Your Majesty, imprisoning the clan is really not a benevolent and righteous act, it is your own relatives, how can you be so harsh?" ”

Don't ask me about this, you go and ask Emperor Wen!

Cao Chao complained in his heart, and then replied: "I know that it will get better and better in the future." ”

Sima Yan asked the boss to bring Cao Qi some things that children like to eat, and these things almost filled Cao Qi's case.

Cao Qi's eyes were full of gratitude when he looked at Sima Yan.

"Thank you, Sima Gong!"

"You don't have to be called a father, you can call yourself a brother."

Cao Chao still looked out, ignoring the actions of the two people.

No wonder you can become good friends with the Cao family clan.

In the restaurant, it was full of customers at the moment, and even the location was a little insufficient, and even Sima Yan couldn't help but sigh: "I have never seen so many people in Luoyang." ”

Cao Chao knows the reason, which is a sign of business recovery.

The commercial development of the Great Wei Dynasty has always been greatly hindered, and this obstacle comes from the instability of social security, the monopoly of the big clans, and the suppression of the temples.

The people's consumption power is low, and it can even be said that there is almost no consumption power, in the Cao Cao period of the Great Wei, that is a very pure military government, the temple organizes tuntian, these cultivated land is public land, the people are only responsible for labor, work for the temple, and receive food that does not die of hunger every year.

Emperor Wen carried out a number of reforms, and his first reform was the grain and silk market, which allowed the people to trade grain and cloth.

At that time, Wei also had five baht money, but the circulation of the people was very low, and it was not until the time of the Ming Emperor that the five baht money was circulated again.

The big people with spending power, they will not consume, they encounter something they like, and they prefer to get it by grabbing and letting the other party give.

The monetary system is unstable, and it is difficult for commerce to develop.

After Cao Chao took the throne, the big clan began to converge, social security was strengthened, the big clan no longer grabbed things, and began to buy with money, and then there were more businessmen in Luoyang, it was so simple.

Among the Three Kingdoms, Cao Wei's currency was even the most stable, Shu's was fine, and the most unstable was Wu's currency, which was rampant with counterfeit money in their country, causing the people to not recognize the official currency

Just when Cao Qi and Sima Yan were communicating enthusiastically, Cao Chao suddenly stood up, left the money, and walked out of here quickly.

Cao Qi and Sima Yan were stunned for a moment, and hurriedly walked out.

Zhang Hua stopped them and said to Cao Qi with a smile: "King, let's go here today, please go back first." ”

Cao Qi was already very satisfied, he had been trapped in the palace in the past, and he had never had such an opportunity, he got into the car very obediently and left immediately.

Of course, Sima Yan followed behind Cao Chao.

The two of them came all the way to the door of the county office, Sima Yan's eyes were sharp, and he saw the notice put up by the county government at a glance.

There were a lot of people gathered around, looking at the notice.

This notice is about the list of the opening of the township test.

The so-called township test examines the basic moral reputation, which requires a letter from the local "three elders" to prove that the person has the qualifications to participate in the assessment.

If a person who has a bad reputation on weekdays and is not loved by the township also gets such a certificate, then the person who issued the certificate to him will be punished.

In the Later Han Dynasty, the three elders even developed to the point of the three elders of the county and the three elders of the country.

However, in the Great Wei Dynasty, there are no longer the three elders who have really accepted the appointment, but the people still have a "township covenant structure", that is, the people from all over the country will spontaneously gather together and elect a respected old man to represent them and connect with the government.

Although this person is not an official person, he still occupies a great influence among the people, but after the collapse of the moral society, the local officials do not care about these civil representatives.

These non-governmental representatives cannot simply be equated with local tycoons.

This is a different concept from the squires of the future.

Cao Chao noticed that most of the scholars gathered here were people from poor backgrounds, which could be distinguished from their clothes, although today's big clans like to wear rags, but there is still a good difference between pretending to be poor and really poor.

As they stood there, reading the notice of the county government, a few of them frowned.

"This is to find an old man from his hometown to give proof"

They whispered, Cao Chao listened to them, and many people felt that it was a little unnecessary.

The assessment is the assessment, why do you want to do any proof and the like, it is simply redundant.

Listening to everyone's complaints, Sima Yan on the side couldn't help but speak: "Brother-in-law, I don't value the three elders in the court, why do you have to let them be selected?" Wouldn't it be nice to let Zhongzheng take a look? ”

Cao Chao turned around and left here, and followed Sima Yan into the carriage.

"This move is to reset the three elders."

"If there are no three elders to educate the locality, it will corrupt the atmosphere of the world."

"There are many thieves today, and they hurt morality, all because the three elders do not exist."

Sima Yan suddenly understood, and he asked, "Is this really the case?" ”

"It's not."

"Huh??"

Sima Yan's face was full of confusion, and Cao Chao said: "Actually, this has little to do with the imperial examination, and even has little to do with morality, mainly to protect the people." ”

"In the former Han Dynasty, the three elders of the township would lead the people to confront the officials, and whenever the officials needed to build water conservancy and use the people, they would get up to discuss, and even when something happened to the emperor's family, they would write letters to the emperor to advise"

"They can write directly to the emperor to inform them of local affairs, so the officials dare not be too presumptuous."

"When it came to the Later Han Dynasty, the three elders were generally served by Haoqiang, who took the initiative to take on the errands of the common people, and no longer spoke for the people."

"Therefore, when it comes to our dynasty, the three-old system is no longer valued."

"Then why did you set it up?"

Sima Yan was a little puzzled, and Cao Chao said: "Haoqiang came to serve as the three elders, and he could follow the system of the former Han Dynasty, stipulate the conditions for the three elders, and limit their age and origin, so that the people can choose qualified old men to serve by themselves." ”

"Of course, this may not be completely preventable, but it will prevent officials from exercising their power unscrupulously."

"The big clans, the princes, the cool officials, the strong and powerful, in fact, each of them is a factor that is unfavorable to the Great Wei, but they can contain each other."

"At the beginning, I thought that governing the country was to kill one fierce beast after another, and kill them cleanly."

"Later, I found out that the fierce beasts cannot be killed, and if you want to rule the world, you must put the fierce beasts in a cage, let them confront each other and restrict each other."

"I am now reusing the cool officials in the temple, and there will definitely be people in the local area who will follow suit, and they will ignore the situation of the people and do anything wrong for their own political achievements, at this time, it is necessary to release another fierce beast to deal with the cool officials."

Sima Yan frowned, "But what if those officials really want to do things?" Will they not also be held hostage by the localities? ”

"Officials are already in a strong position in the face of the locality, if they can't even clean it up, then what's the use of them?!"

Hearing Cao Chao's words, Sima Yan asked with some concern: "There are too many fierce beasts, what if they break out and hurt people?" ”

"The meat is just one piece, not enough for the fierce beasts to share, and the fierce beasts are greedy, as long as the superior is not a person like Sun Qi, there will be no situation where the fierce beasts will attack in groups, and they will definitely pull each other."