——AD 186——
Qingzhou, Jinan official road.
Since Cao Cao had effectively controlled the entire territory of Qingzhou and was accompanied by a thousand Cao family members, Dian Wei and Xu Chu, there were no accidents on the way back to Jinan from Beihai.
After entering Jinan, Cai Wenji finally no longer had to hide in the car, so she rode an alpaca equipped with pieces of armor to pretend to be a war horse and ran around the convoy.
Cai Wan had no choice but to find an opportunity to grab the alpaca and threaten her, saying, "If you fall over her, I'll make you into mutton soup." Then she handed the carriage to Xu Chu, who followed him all the way and finally started to sweat a little. , and got into Cao Cao's carriage.
"It seems that you have decided to follow the 'Legalist' way?" Cai Wan pinched Cao Ang's little face and asked Cao Cao.
"Let go of my son," Cao Cao said. "If you think there is something wrong with the current approach, just say it. It's easy to change the problem in just one state."
"The implication is that there is no need to change the situation in the world?" The "substitute" was standing nearby, staring at Cao Ang's slightly red cheeks, looking like he wanted to take advantage of him.
With a wolf in front of him and a tiger behind him, Cao Ang could only stand there motionless.
"Currently, there is indeed no problem," Cai Wan pointed to a green farmland outside the window. "The 'Green Crops Law' you formulated has had immediate results after it was promoted across the state."
"But." "But?" Cao Cao and the "substitute" asked in different tones. Of course, Cai Wan could not hear the latter sentence.
"But, Meng De, you should know that the pre-Qin Dynasty was destroyed because of their unkind and harsh laws." Cai Wan continued.
"Hey, how did the great man who 'deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism' die?" the substitute laughed.
The big man is not dead yet! Cao Cao glared at the "substitute" covertly.
"Oh, Zhenji, are you talking about Chen Sheng and Wu Guang's 'Death is also a death, a great plan is also a death'?" Cao Cao shook his head, "It seems that the shortcoming of being knowledgeable is that it is easy to overlook details."
"Speak humanly." Zhenji took out the log of the harp and made a gesture to unfold it.
In front of his son, Cao Cao naturally couldn't show his timidity. He just continued calmly, "Aside from escaping and causing trouble, why didn't they 'continue to march to the border as originally planned'?"
"Huh? Isn't it 'if you miss the deadline, all laws will be cut off'?" Cai Wan thought about the relevant books. However, Cai Yong's collection may have history books, but it is impossible that there are also law books from previous dynasties.
"As the former Qin Dynasty governed the country according to Legalism, how could it be possible to have such a simple and crude decree without any additional clauses? 'Anyone who fails to meet the deadline' is a punishment that they deliberately delayed without any hindrance. However, according to It is mentioned in the history book that it will rain heavily, which itself is applicable to the additional clauses that can reduce or even exempt the punishment." Cao Cao responded.
"I haven't seen this in any books, but it sounds very reasonable." Zhenji said with some doubts.
"The only real reason why they had to flee or cause trouble was that more than four of the soldiers they escorted took advantage of the heavy rain to escape, and there was no possibility of recapture. In this case, the escorting officer wanted to 'kill them all' or Cao Cao shook his head and said, "Chen Sheng and Wu Guang were the commanders of the villages at that time. If they were to be exempted from punishment, their positions would be reduced to the rank of 'head of Guizhou', that is, civilians. This is unacceptable to them. Combined with the previous article," It is said that the bird knows the ambition of the swan, so it is not surprising that it follows the trend."
"So Mr. Sima's books need to be read backwards..." Cai Wan sighed and put away the combined harp, "But how did you know?"
"Of course I went to the place where the historical files are stored in the palace and read them myself~" the "substitute" responded proudly.
"How should I put it? If someone swears to tell me a certain 'truth' that I don't know the cause and effect of, no matter how authoritative he or she is, I can't help but doubt and verify it, for example -" In order to prevent myself Rolling his eyes at the "substitute", Cao Cao turned to look out the window at the busy farmers and field soldiers "——This is the way to govern the world."
————
Jinan, County Sheriff's Mansion.
Although Cao Cao was promoted to governor, he still used Jinan as his seat of government. Liu Kang, the leader of Jinan, had no intention of finding a new prime minister. He still handed over the power of Jinan to Cao Cao, seemingly intending to express his respect for him. support.
In this regard, Cao Cao is really grateful. No matter how he counts, the only counselor he has now is Xi Zhicai. Although he and Cai Wan can help, it is not a long-term solution, so he would rather Liu Kang quickly come from somewhere It would be nice to find a prime minister, as long as he is not too bad and can share the work.
As for generals, the tiger and leopard cavalry trained by the Xiahou brothers have begun to show results. Zhang Jue and his Qingzhou soldiers can also be regarded as elites. Li Dian and Le Jin, who lead ordinary soldiers, are also very popular in the army. Cao Chun's subordinates Qingqi scouts traveled throughout Qingzhou, capturing Xiaoxiao and at the same time popularizing the laws formulated by Cao Cao to the people, while Cao Ren took charge of the defense of the whole state.
Although it seems that there are many talents and prosperous development, their actions themselves have also produced many jobs that only civilian personnel can handle.
Even though it was specifically stipulated that the lower-level and middle-level officials such as clerks, chief clerks, managers, and chief historians had the right to handle some work within the scope of their authority, when Cao Cao returned to the county governor's office, Xi Zhicai had a case on the table in front of him. The books are still piled up.
"Lord, you came just in time. There are two good news and two bad news. Which one do you want to hear first?" Xi Zhicai put down his feet on another chair and turned around as if nothing happened. , said to Cao Cao.
News discovered while working on official documents? Cao Cao thought for a while and asked, "If it's good news... but the 'Recommendation Order' has achieved results again?"
Due to the lack of talents in Jinan - specifically civil servants, Cao Cao originally planned to issue a "seeking talent order", but was stopped by Xi Zhicai. The reason was also very good. This way, in order for talented people to consider themselves "virtuous", they have to personally The government order that came to his door would never come based on his previous temper.
But the "Recommendation Order" is different. It only targets the neighbors who know the "great talent". As long as the person recommended by the recommender is indeed "virtuous", he will be given a certain reward. If someone is recommended by many people at the same time, If recommended, then this person can be called a "great sage". After being gathered to Xi Zhicai, senior officials of the corresponding level in Qingzhou will go to invite him depending on the situation.
The reason why it is "again" is because there was a response soon after the order was issued. A wise man who was good at political affairs was invited, named "Du Ji"... and the "substitute" laughed intermittently for two hours because of this name.
"I know the person recommended this time," Xi Zhicai said. "His name is Xu Shu. He is a classmate of mine in Yingchuan. His hometown was originally in Sili. Recently, his family moved to Qingzhou to avoid chaos."
"Oh? Since you are a student of Yingchuan, you don't have to worry about Wisdom," Cao Cao responded, "Wherever his home is, I will go and visit him."
"Well... the bad news is that I went to find him and he refused to apply," Xi Zhicai spread his hands. "There is an old mother in his family who thinks that the governors of various states are the 'dog emperor''s 'legs', and Qingzhou is well governed. It’s the work of a middle- and low-level capable official, so he’s not allowed to serve as an official—a dog or something, that’s the exact word.”
"This..." Cao Cao was a little dazed, "If Zhenji is allowed to go..."
"Wenji is pretty much the same," the "substitute" said, "Old ladies with sons like little girls who are about the same age as their sons."
"No!" Cao Cao blurted out.
"Well...it really doesn't work," Xi Zhicai, who thought Cao Cao was talking to him, responded, "If we don't agree with each other, Miss Cai might kidnap them all back."
"Are you really planning to use her to catch Zhao Yun?" The "substitute" said again, "Although... I like Zilong quite a lot, the beauty trap is still too much."
This time Cao Cao refused to respond and asked Xi Zhicai, "I have written it down. So, what about the other bad news? Which great sage refused to recruit?"
"No," Xi Zhicai opened an official document, "The lord's father, Mrs. Cao, was attacked by an unidentified army on his way to Qiao County to visit relatives——"
call--
With Cao Cao at the center, the temperature in the governor's office suddenly rose, even causing the bamboo slips and books to smell slightly mushy. Cao Cao's clothes and cloak moved automatically without wind, while his originally empty hands were filled with smoke. A strange long sword with a red base and green embellishments, shaped like a flame, appeared out of thin air.
As the instigator, the expression on Xi Zhicai's face was a combination of "as expected" and "as expected", which seemed quite strange.
"You didn't report this kind of thing immediately?!" Cao Cao took a step forward and shouted at the same time as the "stand-in" who had rushed in front of Xi Zhicai and was flexing his teeth.
"Uh... this..." Xi Zhicai was still in a daze.
No... After a slight loss of composure, Cao Cao quickly reacted. If something really happened to his father, even if it was a minor scratch, Xi Zhicai would never have this attitude. Considering that he still had good news to share, he Playing some kind of trick.
"Hmph," as Cao Cao became calmer, the high temperature and the flaming sword also disappeared. "Tell me, what is the good news?"
"The good news is..." He was only slightly startled, and now he began to look at Cao Cao's play with curious eyes before he replied, "We probably discovered a move that the emperor used to save himself. If we use it well, we can This makes Princess Wannian’s succession justifiable.”
"..." Cao Cao said nothing and continued to stare at Xi Zhicai.
"In addition..." Xi Zhicai felt that the air temperature had risen a bit, so he wiped his sweat, "Old Madam Cao was rescued by the most handsome one-eyed man in Kunlun Mountain who has the most gorgeous moves."
"speak English."
"Rescued by Xiahou Dun."
"..."
