When the merchant left the gift and left Cao's mansion happily, Guo Ji frowned.
"My lord, most of these merchants are profit-seeking people."
"It's only profitable for them to get close to you. You can't get too close to them, otherwise, you will definitely suffer backlash."
Guo Ji turned around and saw Cao Mao who was looking through the other party's gifts and didn't even listen to his words, and was immediately angry.
"Lord!"
"You have been led astray by those merchants! How can a gentleman value money so much? Money is not what a gentleman likes!"
Cao Mao ignored him, turned over the brocade cloth left by the merchant, and asked without looking back:
"How about being poor without flattery, being rich without being arrogant?"
Guo Ji subconsciously recited: "Yes, there is no such thing as being happy if you are poor, and you are rich and courteous..."
Cao Mao then stood up and said with a smile: "Look, even the sage said: Rich is something to be desired. Even though I am a whip-wielding man, I am one of them!"
"When I was poor, I did not flatter the rich and powerful. Now I teach these businessmen to do good and make them rich without arrogance. Isn't this what a gentleman does?"
Although Cao Mao has not touched a book for more than a year, his knowledge is not bad at all.
After the two Cao Mao merged into one, they influenced each other and achieved each other's achievements.
Wenbi Chen Si, the great ancestor of martial arts.
It came true.
Even Wang Su couldn't take advantage of him, let alone an honest gentleman like Guo Zu.
Guo Zi wanted to say something, but for a while he couldn't find an excuse to refute.
He sighed and said rather helplessly: "My lord, such behavior will affect your reputation."
"If you have too much contact with businessmen, you will be ridiculed by loyalty and will be known as greedy and greedy. This is not a good thing."
"With all due respect, my lord, although your reputation among the scholars is pretty good now because of your humility, your friendship with rangers, your collusion with merchants, and your harboring of thieves will all discredit you. If the Sima family finds out..."
"How happy they must be!"
Cao Mao interrupted Guo Zi again and he laughed.
"I dare not say, Sima Zhao, but Master Sima definitely wants an emperor like me. How could he not like an emperor who is greedy and loves money, colludes with merchants, is obsessed with profit, and is reckless and ignorant?"
"My lord, are you desecrating yourself?!"
Guo Ji's eyes widened, and then he shouted heartbrokenly: "Why is this happening?"
"You are about to ascend the throne and become the emperor, the supreme one in the world, so why do you need to resort to self-defiling methods? You have a reputation of being virtuous, and all loyal people in the world will be willing to serve you! You are not a minister, you are a real king!!"
"Go and tell Master Sima about this!"
"good!"
Guo Zu turned around and was about to leave, but Cao Mao quickly grabbed him.
"what are you going to do?"
"I want to ask Master Sima why he forced the new king to this point!"
"Then you might as well chop off my head and give it to Master Sima!"
Cao Mao is really helpless towards Guo Kui. He is a good person, a simple and honest gentleman, but unfortunately, he is really stubborn.
However, it was precisely because of this that Cao Mao dared to trust him and plan big things with him. As long as he was not allowed to make suggestions and be an executor, it was still okay.
The monarch and his ministers sat down, and Cao Mao analyzed the next situation for him.
"You have to know that Shilin's reputation is completely meaningless to me."
"If there really was the kind of loyalty you mentioned in today's temples, then Cao Fang would not be deposed."
"No matter how good my reputation is in Shilin, it will not affect Master Sima's attitude. Master Sima has never cared about this. How many of those loyal and good people who only talk empty talk have been executed by Master Sima?"
"Therefore, we don't need to care so much about the reputation of Shilin. Today, wealthy families dominate the local area, annexing land, and plundering merchants. Farmers have lost their land, merchants have lost their livelihood, and a large number of good people have been forced to become rangers. These are our The power that can be harnessed.”
Guo Ji's eyes widened, "You want to use farmers, businessmen, and rangers to fight against Sima Master???"
"In fact, they have extremely powerful power, but they just lack an idea. Of course, I can't organize and lead them now, but they are still a powerful force that I can borrow."
"Think about it, what do the merchants, farmers, and rangers who are dissatisfied with the wealthy people add up to?"
"I really don't know."
Cao Mao pursed his lips and explained patiently: "When I enter the temple, I will be strictly guarded. No matter whether it is the treasury or internal funds, I will not be in charge of it. I will have no money to use, no matter how you hate it." Money, if you want to accomplish anything, you must have money.”
"Businessmen can help me solve my financial problems."
"And with money, you can accept more rangers for your own use. Rangers can solve the manpower problem."
"Of course, the most important thing is to continue to improve your reputation among farmers. It is best to send people to organize them..."
"At the beginning, Master Sima secretly gathered three thousand dead soldiers and brought them back to life."
"My situation is worse than his, but I can also imitate him and bide my time for people in civil organizations who are willing to achieve great things with me. What do you think?"
Guo Zu looked at Cao Mao blankly.
"Lord, I think... your ideas are different from Master Sima."
"It's similar to Zhang Jiao."
"No matter who I am, these ideas are very simple and difficult to complete, but I must try."
Cao Mao looked serious and continued: "However, this matter is not the most important now."
He glanced at the door and then let Guo Zu get closer.
He put his arm around Guo Zi's shoulders and asked in a low voice: "Do you know why Master Sima is willing to compromise with Guo?"
"Is it because of her status as Queen Mother?"
"Master Sima has even dethroned the emperor, how can he still care about this?"
"Two aspects. The first is because the Sima family is unwilling to alienate the wealthy families who are close to them. The second and most important reason is that although the Sima family has no enemies in the temple, there are still people who are dissatisfied with Master Sima locally. The ruling power!"
"And Master Sima can't easily move the people in this place."
Guo Ji's eyes lit up and he said loudly: "Zhen..."
Cao Mao covered his mouth, "Yes, that's the person."
"General Zhendong, Guanqiu Jian."
The person Cao Mao is talking about is the only rare species left today, a loyal minister of the Wei Dynasty!
Who said that the Wei Dynasty had no loyal ministers?
Among the three rebellions in Huainan, Guanqiu Jian was the only general who sincerely sent troops for the Wei family.
Guan Qiu Jian was a native of Wenxi in Hedong and the son of Guan Qiu Xing, a great writer in Cao Wei.
He first succeeded his father in the title of Marquis of Gaoyang Township. During the period of Emperor Wei Wen, he served as Cao Rui's literary advisor and formed a deep friendship with Cao Rui.
After Emperor Wei Ming ascended the throne, he was reused and held almost all important official positions.
In the late years of Jingchu, he cooperated with Taifu Sima Yi to attack Gongsun Yuan, who was separatist in Liaodong, and became the Marquis of Anyi.
During the Zhengshi period, this great writer went on two expeditions, destroyed the Kingdom of Koguryo, conquered the Korean Peninsula, and achieved the best external record since the founding of Cao Wei.
It is such a general who is both civil and military. Now the governor of Yangzhou has an army of 60,000, and the army in his hands is still a very capable elite soldier of the Wei Dynasty.
Hearing Cao Mao's explanation, Guo Ji was overjoyed. Isn't this what he calls loyalty? ?
He hurriedly said: "That's right! With General Zhennan here, what are you worried about? Even Sima Division gave him three points!"
Cao Mao fell silent, because he knew that at this moment, the Zhennan general had begun to prepare to raise troops.
He was extremely angry because his friends Li Feng, Xia Houxuan and others were killed. He also knew that Sima Shixing had abolished the throne and dismissed Cao Rui's son. He was so angry that he decided to launch an army to attack the Sima family, which was known as the Second Huainan Rebellion in history.
The officers and soldiers under Guanqiu Jian's command had family members in the north and had no intention of fighting. Guanqiu Jian, on the other hand, lacked food supplies and was eager to destroy the enemy. He failed to win in repeated battles, which led to the collapse of morale.
As a result, Guanqiu Jian was defeated and killed, and the Sima division who attacked him also died of illness on the way back.
Zhongliang, the most famous person in Wei who held local military and political power, was gone.
The biggest contribution may be that he replaced Sima Division, but the problem is that Sima Division has an eye disease and has never been in good health. He has entrusted Sima Zhao with his funeral arrangements very early, and he just had an operation before the battle. It is not possible that he will be able to survive. No matter how long you persist, it doesn't seem to be a loss at all if you trade with Guanqiu Jian.
Cao Mao pondered for a moment, squinting his eyes.
"Yes, so I can only rely on this general."
"This is why I refuse now. Now Sima is forcing me to become emperor."
"In a few days, when Wang Su comes for the third time, they will regret their compromise with Guo!"
"Get ready!"
"I want to go out!"
