The Shiqian Hall was filled with the sound of hearty laughter. After the emperor came to the early court, he summoned Cao Zhao, Cao Changsi, the regular servant of Sanqi, Cao Zun, Cao Desi, the general of Wu general, and Guanqiu Jian, the minister, to come to Shiqian Hall to drink, throw pots, chant poems and have fun.
Cao Shuang, who had just been promoted to General of the Military Guard, could not come to celebrate because he had the important responsibility of guarding the imperial city and surrounding the imperial city.
Cao Shuang, Cao Zhao, and Cao Zuan have been accompanying Cao Rui since they were children. They are almost brothers who grew up with Cao Rui. Later, when Cao Rui was in the East Palace, Cao Shuang, Cao Zhao, and Guanqiu Jian and others also tried their best to assist Cao Rui, who was the king of Pingyuan. Therefore, the current emperor's trust in brothers Cao Zhao and Guanqiu Jian is no less than the trust that Emperor Wen had in Cao Xiu, Cao Zhen, Xia Houshang and others.
Moreover, two years ago, the fathers of Cao Zhao and Cao Zuan, the Grand Sima and the Marquis of Changping, Cao Xiu and Cao Wenlie, died for the country, so Cao Rui doted on these two brothers even more.
The emperor, who was usually stern and majestic in the court, only became cheerful and cheerful when he was in front of his brothers.
The emperor was making a bet with Cao Zhao. The two of them bet on the accuracy of their respective pot throws. As long as whoever hits nine arrows in the pot first will win the bet, and their bet is a good bow from Cao Zhao and an embroidered dark coat from the emperor. Cao Wei has always practiced frugality. As early as the time of Emperor Wen, even the emperor would not wear embroidery. After Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, he slightly changed this rule, that is, the emperor could wear embroidery. Now he uses his own embroidered clothes as Gambling also shows his connivance and trust in Cao Zhao.
Cao Zhao has always enjoyed a high reputation among the clan's sons. Some people commented that Cao Zhao and Cao Changsi were the most talented people in the world. And this is indeed the case. Cao Zhao was not only talented in literature, but also elegant and elegant. Even the skill of throwing pots was exquisite.
Cao Rui and Cao Zhao each placed a pot with arrows in front of them. There were beans in the bottom of the pot to prevent arrows from popping out after entering the pot.
I saw Cao Zhao holding a feather arrow for throwing a pot in each hand. With a flick of his wrist, the two arrows drew two graceful curves in the air. With two jingles, the arrows were inserted into the pot. Cao Zhao repeated this four times and had already shot eight feather arrows. Seeing that Cao Zhao was about to win the bet, Cao Rui had an idea and changed his strategy. When Cao Zhao's last feather arrow flew out, Cao Rui suddenly shot himself All the remaining feather arrows in his hand were thrown at Cao Zhao's arrow. The arrow was naturally disturbed and fell to the ground.
"How about it, Changsi, let's consider this bet a draw." Cao Rui smiled, took Cao Zhao's good bow, and started playing with it.
"Okay, okay, I have to give your Majesty some face, hahahaha..." Cao Zhao said, taking Cao Rui's embroidered dark coat and wearing it: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for giving me the embroidered coat."
[Note 1: After Cao Xiu died, Cao Zhao attacked the prince. Cao Zhao had a special appearance, and Emperor Wei Ming favored him, and he was always the same when he was sleeping. He tried to bet with the emperor on clothes, but failed to get anything. He often entered the imperial tent and walked out of the clothes. He saw relatives and pets like this. 】
"This dress looks quite good on Chang Si." Cao Rui patted Cao Zhao on the shoulder. Cao Zuan and Guan Qiujian couldn't help laughing, and laughed together with the emperor.
At this time, a chamberlain walked into Shiqian Hall, bowed and said:
"Your Majesty, the school official sent someone to report that the students in Huang Gong Jiulong who formed a group without authorization and discussed state affairs have been detained in the Taipei School building. Xia Houxuan, a regular servant of the Rogue Cavalry, and Cao Xi, the deputy general of the Wuwei Army, have also been brought to the hearing hall. Wait, please forgive me, Your Majesty."
"Okay, Changsi, you go ask Taige to draw up an edict for me, and say: 'The quality of the world changes with teachings. Since the war, the study of classics has been abolished, and young people can't help but learn from it. How can it be that the teachings are not consistent? , Don’t those who are going to be employed show their virtues? Those who have learned the classics before being appointed as herdsmen, those who are promoted to high positions in the doctoral examination, are urgently needed; those who are flashy and do not follow the Taoism, they will all be dismissed.', Also, it was called Shangshutai, which issued an edict to Sangong and Taixue doctors, instructing them to carve Emperor Wen's "Dian Lun" into a stone tablet and set it up outside the gates of Taixue and ancestral temples, so that students could understand that the way to practice writing lies in pragmatism. Study. Go quickly."
[Note 2]: "Three Kingdoms·Wei Shujuan 3·Ming Emperor Ji": "At the beginning, the Luoyang ancestral temple was not completed, and the god was in the Ye temple. In November of the third year of Taihe, the temple began to be completed..." It shows that in the fourth year of Taihe, The Cao Clan Ancestral Temple in Yedu has been officially moved to Luoyang City.
"Follow your orders!" Cao Zhaobo heard this and remembered the emperor's words verbatim. After saluting the emperor and saying goodbye, he turned around and left Shiqian Hall. After Guanqiu Jian and Cao Zuan said goodbye, they went back to their posts.
After Cao Rui washed his hands in the copper basin handed over by the palace maid, he then ordered:
"I will go and teach these two boys a lesson personally."
"Wei." After receiving the order, the chamberlain immediately went to arrange the chariot.
Tingyi Temple is located in the northeast corner of the imperial city. It was originally named Pingwang Temple. More than a year ago, in the winter of the third year of Taihe, Cao Rui officially changed its name to Tingyi Temple. Tingyi Temple is divided into two rooms, the inner and outer rooms. The outer room is mainly responsible for making decisions about the palace attendants, The inner chamber was specially used to determine the culpability of the royal children.
Cao Rui came to the inner room of the Litigation Temple. This seems to be a very ordinary house. The only furnishings in the room were a few tables and a bookshelf. The bookshelves are filled with laws and regulations that restrict the children of the royal family. Apart from that, there is nothing else.
At this moment, Cao Rui was sitting at the table. Cao Xi and Xia Houxuan knelt quietly in front of the case.
There was another uncomfortable silence. Cao Rui just enjoyed the silence, because this silence would only bring pressure to the ministers, but not to the emperor.
"I know I was wrong, please punish me!"
Xia Houxuan finally couldn't bear the oppression and chose to speak first. However, although he admitted his mistake, his body was straight, which was obviously not really admitting his mistake.
Cao Rui couldn't help but smile in his heart when he saw Xia Houxuan's stubborn and unruly look. But he still showed an extremely stern appearance.
In fact, Xia Houxuan still felt that he was not wrong in the first place. He was just leading all the clan princes and imperial students to talk about literature. As for flashy meetings and discussing talents, it was none of his business. I just admitted my mistake just to give the emperor a step down.
But what Cao Rui wants is this step. He understood that Xia Houxuan was aloof and aloof, and would not bow his head easily. As my cousin, he is willing to give me a step down, which is already considered very good.
The reason why I used such thunderous means to attack these so-called "flashy" scholars this time was actually because these celebrities' children criticized each other's scholars and directly interfered in the official selection activities of the central government.
You must know that the official selection system of this dynasty was the ninth-grade official law formulated by Emperor Wen and Marquis Chen Qun of Yingyin just after he succeeded the Han Dynasty. This nine-grade official method selects talents by evaluating their virtues and talents. Nowadays, all the scholars in Luoyang comment on the merits and demerits of talents without authorization, which naturally greatly affects the evaluation vision of Zhongzheng officials.
If it weren't for the fact that the scholars' actions affected the selection of officials in this dynasty, it wouldn't matter even if they praised each other to the sky. Cao Rui naturally didn't bother to care.
And when he used the school affairs office in a big way, he didn't really want to do anything to those nobles and students. I just wanted to intimidate people's hearts and make them learn to restrain themselves. These people are all young leaders from wealthy families, such as Xia Houxuan, Zhuge Dan, Sima Shi and others. They are not only famous, but also have real talents and learning. How could he be willing to move? There are also Cao Xi and others, who are the princes of the clan and cannot be severely punished for such a big or small crime. Therefore, I can only choose to forgive them and let them truly believe in me.
"Taichu, Uncle Zhao, I understand that maybe you have just been implicated this time, but you have to understand that one of you is a son of the clan, and the other is a royal in-law, and both of you are my brothers, whether it is now or in the future. , all need to rely on you. Since you have chosen to be the leader of this group of literati, you must learn to control them and make them be careful in their words and actions. Do you understand my painstaking efforts?"
"I know I was wrong..." Xia Houxuan sincerely apologized this time. He understood that what the emperor said was true. I heard that Li Sheng, the former literary aide of King Pingyuan of the East Palace who had assisted Jin Shang, was banned for two years by His Majesty's decree just because he beguiled General Cao Shuang of the Military Guard to participate in this flashy meeting that was advertised by each other! And his brother-in-law, Sima Shi, was directly deprived of his official position as a regular servant by His Majesty, and he was thinking about it at home. Even Zhuge Dan, a third-rank official who had just been promoted to Minister of Civil Affairs and was known for his impartiality, integrity and diligence, was deprived of his official position by His Majesty!
Compared with Li Sheng, Sima Shi, Gong Xiu and others, Xia Houxuan and Cao Xi both understood that they were being trained this time, which was a blessing from His Majesty the Emperor's extrajudicial mercy.
"Since you two have already acknowledged your mistake, I won't punish you two more."
Cao Rui stood up from his seat and stretched beautifully. A sly and humorous light flashed in his eyes at this moment:
"Actually, I called you two here this time because I have a more important task for you."
Xia Houxuan and Cao Xi were immediately curious when they saw the emperor's mysterious appearance.
Cao Rui took out a letter sealed with fire paint from his sleeve, stood up, and handed it into Xia Houxuan's hands. He patted Xia Houxuan and Cao Xi's shoulders, and said seriously:
"Taichu, Uncle Zhao, the tasks I have entrusted to you two are written in this secret edict. You can go back for the time being, and after discussing it, set off on a different day to complete it."
"My ministers, please obey His Majesty's orders!"
Xia Houxuan and Cao Xi saw that the emperor was so solemn and did not dare to neglect. After the two people collected the secret edict, they bowed and said goodbye.
At this time, the emperor seemed to suddenly remember something and called Cao Xi:
"By the way, Uncle Zhao, you go to the Forbidden Army Guards Camp immediately and guard the camp for your elder brother. I think he must have something to say to me now."
"only!"
After Cao Xi sang "Nai", he bowed and left.
