After Cao Rui saw off Xiahou Xuan and Cao Xi, he continued back to Shiqian Hall to wait for Cao Shuang.
Half an hour later, as Cao Rui expected, Cao Shuang rushed over. Cao Rui knows his cousin very well.
Cao Shuang came to the palace. He, who was always cautious and arrogant, knelt down on the bluestone floor tiles with a plop.
"Your Majesty, although Li Gongzhao and Bi Zhaoxian have commented on state affairs without authorization this time, considering their contribution to serving Your Majesty in the East Palace, why are they sentenced so harshly? I beg Your Majesty to be given a lighter sentence."
Cao Rui couldn't help but sigh. He didn't know that Li Sheng and Bi Gui had the power to assist him and follow the dragon. But this time he didn't even let Sima Shi, the eldest son of Sima Yi, the Minister of Gu Ming, let go. What about these baseless ministers?
"Uncle Zhao, don't you really understand my hard work?"
When Cao Shuang heard this, he had a look of pain on his face. He knew that the emperor's heavy punishment for minor crimes was to boost the atmosphere of selecting officials in the court, and it was also an important means for the emperor to rectify the administration of officials. However, he had always valued loyalty, and this time How could Fan bear to watch Li Sheng, Bi Gui, Deng Yang and other friends be grounded for several years one by one?
"Your Majesty, Deng Xuanmao's comments on scholars have always been quite satisfactory, without the slightest intention of showing off to each other, and his talents are outstanding. Your Majesty, can you be accommodating to Deng Xuanmao..."
Seeing Cao Shuang chattering endlessly, Cao Rui finally lost his patience. He shouted, interrupting Cao Shuang's plea:
"Cao Zhaobo, calm down!"
Seeing that the emperor was angry, Cao Shuang immediately stopped his pleas and persuasion.
Cao Rui's expression was stern, but his tone softened a lot. He continued to explain:
"Uncle Zhao, isn't it fair to say that Zhuge Dan, the Minister of Public Affairs, and Sima Shi, the regular servant of Sanqi, are not outstanding in their talents? Isn't it fair to comment on the characters? The reason why I deal with them this time is not because they are not accurate enough in their comments on the characters, but because they are overstepping their bounds. You have trampled on my power to select officials, do you understand it?"
Cao Rui continued to hate iron and said:
"Uncle Zhao, actually the reason why I sentenced Li Sheng, Deng Yang and others severely this time is to protect you!"
After Cao Shuang heard this, he bowed his head dejectedly.
————
The capital of Wei is hundreds of miles east of Luoyang. Mengjin Ferry. This place is located at the mouth of the Luoshui River, which is the junction of the Luoshui River and the Yellow River. You can cross the Luoshui River in the east and the river in the north.
The east wind enters Luo, and everything revives. I saw smoke and dust billowing in the distance, and more than twenty knights were coming from the west of the avenue, holding bridles and riding horses.
One of the knights was wearing a white Hu uniform with narrow sleeves. On his waist was a sword-like weapon that was more than four feet long and flashed with cold light. Under his crotch was a snowball-like weapon, equipped with a silver saddle and silver stirrups. , the sacred white horse with silver bells is very chic.
Another young knight in the lead is wearing a black sleeve armor. The armor pieces collide and make sonorous sounds from time to time. Although this man is in full military uniform, his whole person gives people a soft and calm feeling, without any trace of it. There is no domineering feeling as an officer.
The remaining knights are not wearing armor and official uniforms, but if you look closely, you will find that the tokens and weapons hanging on their waists are all standard military equipment.
The knight in white is Xia Houxuan, the Minister of Sanqi and the Marquis of Changling. The black-armored knight was Cao Xi, the deputy general of the 'Martial Guards'. As for the twenty knights following the two men, they were the 'Martial Guards' in plain clothes from the palace, as well as the Xuanjia Guards of the Xiahou Mansion. Although these twenty or so people were few, they were all elite men carefully selected by the military guard general Cao Shuang and the most elite soldiers of the Changling Marquis Mansion. Therefore, they assisted Xiahou Xuan and Cao Xi in their respective missions. Performing two special tasks will naturally get twice the result with half the effort.
"At the beginning of Taichu, the front is Mengjinkou. If you cross Luoshui to the east, you will reach the territory of Xingyang County in Yanzhou." Cao Xi reined in his horse, looked at the Luoshui River in the distance and said with a smile: "After passing Xingyang County, the two of us will It’s time to go our separate ways, and when we get to the county town later, we brothers will have to have a few drinks.”
"It doesn't matter if I drink a few more drinks. The destination is still far away anyway, but you are different. Don't forget, you are going to Hanoi to investigate the case. Be careful of being drunk and getting into trouble." Xia Houxuan said, shaking the reins of the horse. Running towards the ferry: "Drive!"
"Brothers, take the horse and raft and cross the river!" After Cao Xi ordered the crowd, he tucked the horse's belly between his legs and followed.
"Wei!" The twenty knights listened to the order, followed closely behind Cao Xi, and ran towards the ferry ahead.
Dusk. Everyone rode their horses eastwards and finally arrived at Xingyang County before dark.
No curfew yet. On both sides of the streets in the county, many roadside stalls, inn merchants and shopkeepers are vying to attract customers.
"Hey, gentlemen, brothers, it's getting late. Why don't you go to a small shop to stay for a night and have a rest before leaving." The shopkeeper saw the dress and behavior of this group of people and knew that they were either rich or noble. , the shopkeeper squinted at everyone's horses, and greeted them cheerfully. When Xia Houxuan's 'white bird' came into view, his eyes seemed to be shining, and the shopkeeper couldn't help but go Pulling the reins of the white horse: "Master, let me help you lead the horse..."
"No need, my horse recognizes its owner, I will do it myself!" Xia Houxuan seemed to have noticed something strange about the shop owner, and he couldn't help but become more vigilant.
"Forget it, let's rest here for the night and go our separate ways tomorrow morning. How about Taichu?" Cao Xi had a good impression of this store. As he spoke, he handed the horse rein to the waiter and headed towards the inn. Leave it behind.
A group of more than 20 people stayed in this guest house.
Cao Xi only wanted eight guest rooms and let his brothers rest together in twos and threes so that they could be taken care of. He understood that when going outside the capital, the more careful he was, the better.
"The four of you will live in the wing opposite me and Taichu, and the rest of you will live in the wing rooms on both sides as you please. Do you understand?"
"Understood!" After everyone heard the arrangement, they went back to their rooms to clean up. After Xia Houxuan cleaned up, he still felt uneasy, so he went to the two chiefs who followed the imperial army and told them to drink less tonight and be careful.
"Taichu, come on, we are going our separate ways tomorrow. Let's have a good drink tonight!" Cao Xi picked up the wine bottle and filled the wine bottles for Xia Houxuan and himself.
"Uncle Zhao, did you notice anything wrong today?" Xia Houxuan did not lift the bottle, but listened to the movement outside the window with a vigilant expression.
"No, do you think something is wrong?" Cao Xi heard this and put down the wine bottle in his hand.
At this moment, there was a sudden neighing of horses.
Xia Houxuan narrowed his eyes slightly, and he heard clearly that it was his horse neighing. And he seemed to hear an abnormal trembling sound from the horse's cry.
"Uncle Zhao, it seems that Hanoi County is not the only place that needs you to investigate." After Xiahou Xuan said this, he stood up and walked out the door.
Near the stables, someone seemed to be talking softly.
"How about it, Mr. Zhu, these horses are all good horses, right?"
Xia Houxuan was hiding in the dark at the moment, and he could hear that it was the voice of the owner of the guesthouse. At this time, he heard another unfamiliar accent.
"It's really good..." The man called 'Mr. Zhu' by the hotel owner was patting Bai Que's horse back, causing Bai Que to neigh in discomfort. Then Mr. Zhu praised: "What a good horse, once it's done, boss Zhao will definitely need this money..."
Before Mr. Zhu finished speaking, he suddenly found someone putting a knife on his neck.
"Don't act rashly." Cao Xi held a knife in his right hand and a token in his left hand and said, "We are official servants. Please recruit us as expected. Who are you?"
When the owner of the guesthouse, Boss Zhao, heard that Cao Xi was an official, he was so frightened that his legs became weak and he knelt down and began to beg for mercy. When Mr. Zhu heard this, he frowned slightly, bit the roots of his teeth, vomited black blood, and fell to the ground. Death!
"Damn it!" Cao Xi cursed angrily: "I didn't expect him to be a dead soldier!"
"Young... Young Master... No! You two officials... I know my mistake... I... I don't dare to do it anymore... You two are so noble... Your hands... forgive me... Please spare the young one... Spare the young one..." Boss Zhao's face turned pale with fright, and he just knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy.
"Tell me!" Xia Houxuan looked at Boss Zhao coldly, pointed at the corpse on the ground with the tip of his knife and said, "Who is this Mr. Zhu!"
"I said...I said!" Boss Zhao waved his sleeves and wiped away his sweat and tears, and said in a mournful tone: "This...this Mr. Zhu...no, this thief claims to be...from a wealthy family in Soochow [Note] 1], in fact... he is a horse dealer from the state of Wu. In recent years... he has often purchased horses in Yanzhou with huge sums of money. I heard that Bingzhou and Jizhou also... have their people, and what else... Xiao Zhen... …I really don’t know anymore…Please forgive me, please forgive me…”
[Note 1: During the Three Kingdoms period, the major clans in Jiangdong were headed by the Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang clans. 】
Xia Houxuan was shocked when he heard what Boss Zhao said. He originally thought that the horse trafficking case that His Majesty sent Xi Di to Hanoi County to investigate was just an ordinary small case handed over to Xi Di to practice his skills, but now that he thinks about it carefully , I’m afraid this case has been around for a long time. In the third year of Huangchu, Emperor Wen sent three armies to attack Wu. His father Xiahou Shang defeated Wu general Pan Zhang and wiped out all Sun Wu's few cavalry. Everyone thinks that the Wu Kingdom has naval forces as its main force and has no land to produce horses, so it will not reorganize the cavalry force. However, if what Boss Zhao said today is true, then Sun Wu is probably already in the Northern Wei Dynasty. Jing secretly purchased a lot of horses and began to secretly rebuild the horse team.
Although the number of horses purchased by Soochow horse traders each time is very small, if things go on like this, a small amount will add up to a large amount. When Wu and Wei start a war one day, the Wei Dynasty will be caught off guard and suffer a dumb loss!
If this is the case, then the case that Xi Di took over this time will definitely not be as simple as originally imagined.
"Uncle Zhao, if what Boss Zhao said is true, it means that this case is very involved and will be more difficult." After Xia Houxuan thought about it carefully, he said: "In my opinion, all the brothers brought this time will be retained. Come down and help you investigate the case. I will go to Qingzhou alone tomorrow."
"But……"
"It doesn't matter. I'm not going to break into a dragon's den or a tiger's den. I'm just looking for a famous doctor. Could there be any big trouble?" Xia Houxuan patted Cao Xi on the shoulder and smiled: "This is the first time you have been ordered. When you go out to Beijing to handle a case, you can’t let it go wrong.”
The task His Majesty gave Xia Houxuan this time was to go to Langya, Qingzhou, to find a famous doctor. Queen Mother Bian's physical condition has been declining in recent years, and His Majesty respects and loves the Queen Mother very much, so he wants to visit famous doctors to treat the Queen Mother's serious illness. It’s just that in today’s world, the people with the most superb medical skills in the world are none other than Wu Pu and Fan A. They are both disciples of the late miracle doctor Hua Tuo. Wu Pu knows pharmacology, and Fan Ashan has done acupuncture [Note 2]. Each has its own merits and enjoys a great reputation. As long as he can find one of them and invite him back to Luoyang, he will be done.
[Note 2: "Three Kingdoms·Book of Wei 29·Fang Ji Zhuan": "Guangling Wu Pu and Pengcheng Fan Ah both learned from (Hua) Tuo. Pu relied on Tuo to govern, and many schools helped him. ...A Shanzhen Technique..."]
