"Shiji."
"Are you doing it for the Sima family, for me, or for yourself?"
Cao Mao suddenly asked.
A eunuch brought tea for the two of them and placed it in front of them. Zhong Hui did not rush to answer the emperor's question, but started to eat the tea.
He took a sip and seemed to enjoy it.
"Your Majesty, what difference does it make?"
Zhong Hui looked at Cao Mao and said seriously: "Is there any difference between the three?"
"Whether it is His Majesty, Sima Zhao, or the ministers, our interests are the same. We all want to help the country, govern the country of Wei, contain the ministers, and protect the country from their poison."
"Since the goals are all the same, why does Your Majesty subdivide them in such a way?"
Cao Mao laughed and shook his head.
"No, no, who said the goals are the same?"
The smile on Zhong Hui's face solidified a little.
"Is it possible that Your Majesty is unwilling to govern the country of Wei well?"
He really couldn't see any reason for the emperor to refuse. In the current situation, what was the personal grudge between the emperor and the Sima family?
Besides, isn't it because of the Sima family that you became emperor? The Sima family is quite polite to you. You have made good friends with Sima Yan, Sima Wang and others. Sima Shi is also dead. Now you join forces to deal with the main enemy. What's the problem?
Do you want to despise temple affairs because of personal grudges? ?
Zhong Hui's expression suddenly became serious.
If Cao Mao is really like this, then he is not a holy king worthy of assistance.
Cao Mao looked at the change in his face and could roughly guess his inner thoughts. This made Cao Mao feel incredible that he was quite powerful and could actually see the thoughts of such an abnormal person.
Cao Mao asked, "What is Shi Ji's ambition?"
"Assist the Holy King and support the country."
"Where's your Majesty's?"
"Support the country and bring peace to the people."
Zhong Hui said nothing, his meaning was very clear, we are the same people.
Cao Mao said at this moment: "Shi Ji, although we all have the same idea, I think that the prosperous age in my heart may be somewhat different from the prosperous age that Sima Zhao thinks of."
"oh?"
“What difference could the prosperous times make?”
"It makes a huge difference."
Cao Mao said something and looked at Zhang Hua and Wei Shu. They nodded and walked to the door to watch.
Cao Mao then looked at Zhong Hui and said, "Let's talk about my father-in-law's plan first."
"He is so worried about the Sima family that he wishes he could chew up the rice and feed it to the clan."
"Let me think about it, the governors, governors, and generals from all over the place are all being used by you, right?"
"Mr. Guanqiu left in a hurry, presumably to inform our General Zhendong about what happened here? Although General Zhendong is in Huainan, all his military exploits came from Hebei, and he also has many old troops in Hebei. He was involved in this matter, Right?"
"Deng Ai, Wang Ji and others don't need to say more. They will definitely implement the general's orders."
"Deng Ai is in Yanzhou, which is the closest to Luoyang. Is he responsible for communicating with the temple in a timely manner? Including this time, he intimidated the ministers and clearly told them that if the temple did not have a general, the turmoil in various places would continue, and there would be more How many wealthy families are involved?"
"Hu Zun, Shi Bao, and He Zeng, these three are all close associates of the general."
Zhong Hui couldn't help but interrupt Cao Mao, "Your Majesty is wrong. Hu Zun was involved. After all, although he is from a wealthy family, he is from a frontier family. He is not strong in Confucian classics and is discriminated against by the clans in Henan. Even if he is determined, , he won’t get high quality either, so he’ll get involved.”
"Shi Bao also participated, but his task was to keep an eye on Hu Zun. The general knew Hu Zun's character and was afraid that he would lose control, so he asked Shi Bao to keep an eye on him and restrain him if necessary."
"He Zeng has never participated."
Zhong Hui laughed, "I kicked him out of the planning process."
"Oh? Why?"
"Because I don't like this person."
"Besides, when such a big event happens in Hebei, we need someone who is diligent and dedicated to getting rid of thieves. Why did I come to be this loyal minister? He should thank me."
"In Hebei, the person who was really involved in this matter was Chen Ben."
"I have a good relationship with him. I personally wrote all the letters to him. When he saw these letters from the general, he agreed."
Cao Mao was not disappointed either. He nodded, "I really don't know this."
Zhong Hui couldn't help but praise: "Your Majesty has never seen these people. Sitting in the inner room, you can think of so many things. In fact, Holy King, if you have the help of my ministers, what do you have to fear? I will He is your Majesty’s remaining marquis, Marquis Fou! Your Majesty has ministers like a fish in water!”
Zhong Hui started by bragging about Cao Cao, but then he started bragging about himself.
It was always the king who said these things to his ministers. This was the first time that Cao Mao heard a minister say this to the king.
However, no matter how outrageous things are, they will be very reasonable when it comes to Zhong Hui.
For example, this matter of directly attacking the family and cutting off the roots of the family. This matter would be a bit out of place for Master Sima. I think he is too radical. But if Zhong Hui is the person who handles it, oh, then it will be fine. .
As for Zhong Hui comparing himself to Zhang Liang and Xiao He, he really wasn't talking nonsense.
In history, he began to make suggestions for Sima Zhao, and everyone in the world called him Zhang Liang of the time.
Being able to make those who hate him pinch their noses and call Zhang Liang shows how fierce this person is.
Maybe Zhong Hui was indeed right. The combination of Master Sima and Zhong Hui was the most powerful combination in the world. If Master Sima had lived longer, maybe things would have been completely different.
Cao Mao ignored this narcissistic guy and continued: "So the general broke with Sima Fu in advance and asked Sima Fu to follow the ministers just for this day."
"In the beginning, Lu Yu forced the general to make concessions by triggering civil unrest. The general directly triggered civil unrest and used the pretext of quelling it to force the ministers to make concessions."
"From this point of view, the general is still more skilled. Oh, no, it is Zhong Shiji who is more skilled."
Cao Mao added: "Lu Yu's family has been hurt now and his reputation is in disrepute. It would be good if he can save his life. His political career is ruined. As for Gao Rou, the Shangshutai has become a mess. I don't know if he has the confidence to take over. , Gao Rou has never done anything at Shangshutai."
"Sima Fu has become a good candidate at this time. The ministers may introduce this person to make the transition. But here as the general, Deng Ai, Wang Ji, Hu Zun and others only recognize Sima Zhao, right?"
"He also specifically asked you to come to me just so that I could help Sima Zhao and Sima Fu get into this position."
Cao Mao sighed: "My father-in-law is really lucky. He knew that Sima Zhao could not take over, so he used this method to divide the minister and the general into two, and divide the clan into two and inherit them separately."
"If my surname was Sima, I would have to kowtow to him a few times."
Zhong Hui enjoyed it very much. Listening to Cao Mao's narration, he felt even more relaxed.
"Your Majesty, since you have seen it all, you should also understand that this will not do you any harm. Let's join forces."
"Make Sima Fu the minister, and Sima Zhao the general."
"Let's stabilize the situation in the world first."
"The next step is to let the two of them come out to fight, and divide these big families through geography, family status, and classics."
"Nowadays, many aristocratic families have been damaged, which will cause new disputes over classics. This is an opportunity we cannot miss."
"As long as the power and authority of Confucian classics are taken back to the temple for use, then the powerful families will be the dogs raised by the temple."
"If we can completely conquer them, we will spend three years rectifying the country, and the fourth year we will go to the Kingdom of Shu"
Zhong Hui has a very clear plan in his mind.
Perhaps Master Sima discussed it with Zhong Huisu before he died?
Cao Mao narrowed his eyes, "So, Shi Ji wants to use Confucian classics to deal with these wealthy families?"
"This is the foundation of aristocratic families. They have a monopoly on knowledge. If we want to dig out their roots, we must allow more poor families to have the opportunity to study and study classics."
"We must use the dispute over Confucian classics to make them fight fiercely!"
"Your Majesty, don't worry. These wealthy families are not worth mentioning in my eyes."
Zhong Hui's tone seemed to be coaxing a child. What he meant was to tell Cao Mao that I have prepared everything. You just need to nod. I will lead you to win. Don't be disrespectful.
Cao Mao's eyes were particularly bright.
This optimal solution is only the optimal solution in the eyes of Master Sima.
Master Sima thought of many things.
Then why don't you think about whether you will follow his plan?
Looking at the confident Zhong Hui in front of him, Cao Mao did not reject him directly.
Be gentle with this guy.
"Shiji, let's go back to the previous topic, the difference between prosperous times."
There was a hint of memory in Cao Mao's eyes.
"When I was very young and had just arrived in Yuancheng, I was in the mansion and could not go out. I heard people talking about the life outside. They said that Hebei was prosperous, all industries were prosperous, and the people were wealthy. It was really a paradise."
"I believe it."
"But when I went out in person and had some fun, I realized that the prosperous age I talked about was different from what others said."
"Guo Jun told me that the temple practiced benevolent government, gathering people to reclaim farmland, and stationed fields in various places to guard the borders and settle the people. He also did not tell me that those people who followed the temple to reclaim farmland, their harvests belonged to the temple, and they followed the temple. The only difference between those tenant farmers out there is the people they serve.”
"The temple only gives them a certain amount of food per capita, saying that it exempts them from taxes, which is benevolent government, but isn't this just hiring people to farm their own land? Without the order of the temple, they can't even sow seeds?! "
“I saw the roads in that prosperous age were piled with the corpses of abandoned babies. I saw the old people in the fields falling to the ground one by one and never got up again. I saw the merchants gathered together, crying about the plundering of the officials along the road. I saw that those craftsmen were always summoned by the government to build equipment for free, and their families were ruined."
"I don't know what Master Sima is thinking. Anyway, the prosperous age in my eyes is not like this."
"Everyone can have food to eat, clothes to wear, the elderly can be taken care of, and children can grow up healthy."
“You don’t have to be afraid of foreign enemies, you don’t have to suffer bullying.”
"This is the prosperous age I want!"
"Therefore, I will not join forces with them!"
