The person who spoke was a young soldier in the infantry battalion under the command of the fifth school camp. When Xia Houxuan raised his eyes and turned around, he found that the man looked to be in his twenties.
Xia Houxuan looked at the young man in front of him, and suddenly felt that there was something very familiar to him between his eyebrows, but he couldn't remember who he was for the moment.
"General, do you still remember the little beggar you saw in the bustling city of Lihu County ten years ago?"
"Ten years ago...you were..."
Xia Houxuan thought carefully for a while. In the year when he had just grown up, he rushed to Qingzhou alone to hire a famous doctor. The incident of rescuing a little beggar on the road suddenly came to his mind. He suddenly realized it and immediately stepped forward to hold the young soldier's shoulders. He shouted happily:
"You are Su Mu!"
"You are just a villain. If you hadn't pointed out the way for Su Mu, Junhou, I'm afraid Su Mu would have starved to death on the streets by now!"
The little beggar who was fourteen or fifteen years old back then has now grown into a tall and brave young warrior.
And that young man in white who had just reached the age of 18 has now grown into a thirty-year-old Central Guard Army.
Time flies by, really like a fleeting moment.
————
By the side of Bronze Camel Road, there is the General's Mansion.
A group of staff are currently discussing the temple matters with the general and Wu'an Marquis Cao Shuang.
Now, Cao Shuang has mastered the power of the imperial guards in Suwei Palace City. The Shizhong Temple among the three major pavilions has previously arranged for two famous officials of the dynasty, He Zeng and Sun Yong, and has basically been controlled by him. Except for It is necessary to master the two important places of Shangshutai and Zhongshu Province as soon as possible. In the capital, Cao Shuang knew that he had no other worries for the time being.
As for the prefectures and counties, Cao Shuang was most worried about Yangzhou, which was very important.
Previously, in order to get rid of Sun Li, he sent him to be the governor of Yangzhou. Although Yangzhou was still guarded by the veteran Wang Ling, and he also arranged for Zhuge Dan to contain Sun Li, Cao Shuang felt more and more that this was not enough.
After careful consideration and discussions with Ding Mi and other staff, Cao Shuang decided to recruit two more people and arrange for them to go to Yangzhou.
These two people are the descendants of famous generals and ministers of this dynasty. One person, whose surname was Qin and whose courtesy name was Zhongruo, was the son of Emperor Wu's favorite general Wen Ji and a fellow countryman of his. As the son of a famous general, Wen Qin has always been known for his bravery and decisiveness. During the reign of the late Emperor Taihe, Wen Qin once served as the school governor of the fifth battalion and the general of Yamen. However, because this man had a rough temperament, was violent and rude, and was often arrogant, he offended many people in the army. Emperor Ming thought that he was the heir of a famous general and a talented man. Although he often beat Wen Qin, Wen Qin still refused to change despite repeated admonitions. In desperation, Emperor Ming could only transfer him out of the capital and become a small Huainan Ya goalkeeper.
Before Wen Qin left Beijing, Cao Shuang, who was serving as General of the Military Guard, had deliberately tried to win over this person. Now that it was time to hire someone, Cao Shuang suddenly thought of this person.
The second person Cao Shuang decided to appoint was named Zhang Ji and given the courtesy name Jingzhong. He was the son of Zhang Ji and Zhang Derong, the former governor of Liangzhou in this dynasty. During the reign of the late Emperor Taihe, Zhang Ji started his career as the magistrate of Wen County. He became famous because of his good governance. Later, when Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of the Shu Han Dynasty, invaded the Central Plains, Zhang Ji wrote a letter to offer advice. The Ming Emperor saw Zhang Ji's report and admired Zhang Ji very much, so he appointed Zhang Ji as the Cavalry Commander to follow the then general, now the Grand Tutor Sima Yi. Went to the front line together. After the war, Zhang Ji was awarded the title of Shangshulang for his meritorious service and was able to serve in the court.
After Cao Shuang discussed with Ding Mi and others, they finally decided to transfer Wen Qin to the post of governor of Lujiang County and champion general; Zhang Ji moved to the post of governor of Dongguan County as Zhongshu Lang.
Cao Shuang believed that with these two men, one martial and one literary, restraining Sun Li from the south and the north, and with Zhuge Dan keeping an eye on Sun Li, the power of Yangzhou should be firmly in his hands.
After everyone discussed the matters in Yangzhou, Cao Shuang pondered for a long time, with a lot of thoughts in his mind. Originally, there were Pei Qian and Pei Wenxing in the previous Taige as ministers, so he didn't have to be impatient, but Pei Qian's father passed away a few days ago, so he had to resign. Ding You kept his filial piety. This change caught Cao Shuang off guard, who was already short of manpower. Whether it was based on qualifications or reputation, Sima Fu, who had served as the branch minister for many years, was the best candidate for the ministerial order.
Although Cao Shuang also wanted to arrange for his close confidant Li Feng, but Li Feng had just been promoted to Shangshu Zuopushe, and his basic reputation was quite insufficient. Moreover, all the ministers in the palace were disciples and followers of the Sima family. This allowed the Sima family to take advantage of the loophole.
Today, the Shangshutai is headed by Sima Fu, and is divided into five categories: "Li Cao" is in charge of civil official elections, "Zuo Min" is in charge of household registration and taxation, "Ke Cao" is in charge of diplomacy, "Wu Bing" is in charge of military affairs, and "Du Zhi" is in charge of Treasury expenses. And all of the five ministers in charge of the five ministers were from the Sima family. Although he also arranged for Xu Yun, Cui Zan, Wei Lie, Chen Ben, Zhong Changling and others to be ministers, not only were they unable to compete with several ministers, but they also had to contend with Chen Qian, Wei Guan, Jia Chong and Du Yu. Waiting for Shang Shulang who is attached to the Sima family to fight. Therefore, the power of the Chancellor is currently in a complete defeat. As a result, Cao Shuang naturally did not dare to delay any longer. He finally expressed his desire to take control of the cabinet as soon as possible:
"In my opinion, with the strength of the heroes of General Gu's shogunate, I am fully capable of handling the world's government affairs on my own, and there is no need to rely on Taifu Sima. However, now that Shangshutai is firmly controlled by Taifu, Shangshu Ling and Those ministers are all members of Sima's party. The affairs of the DPRK and Central Government are either sent directly to the Taifu's Mansion by the Minister's Desk, or sent to the Imperial Secretariat of the Palace for Liu Fang and Sun Zi to handle. We have no way to intervene. Get started, what should I do?"
Among the people, the one that Cao Shuang valued the most was Ding Mi and Ding Yanjing, who had a goatee. After thinking for a moment, he sat on the table and talked:
"General, don't be discouraged. Please listen to your humble duty and speak slowly." Ding Mi bowed to Cao Shuang and continued: "The general has already controlled most of the imperial guards in the palace, and there are also false yue, governors of China and foreign countries. Regarding all military powers, although the "Five Soldiers" and one Cao Cao have specific control over the dispatch of troops and horses, with the power of the general, no matter who the Minister of Bing Cao is, they cannot block the orders of the general. Therefore, there is no need to worry about the power of the Bing Cao for the time being. As for Du Zhi, although he controls the financial power of the treasury, Da Si Nong can share his power, so we can take a different approach and directly control the post of Da Si Nong, Du Zhi Yi Cao, or we can ignore it for the time being."
Cao Shuang deeply agreed with Ding Mi's words. The most embarrassing thing for me now is that there are not many people available under me, and they are all low-qualified. Therefore, it is impossible for me to control the many official vacancies one by one. If I can seize some important job vacancies, it will naturally be for me. Save a lot of manpower.
Ding Mi saw Cao Shuang nodding, so he continued:
"From this point of view, for us, among the five Cao Cao today, the Li Cao who controls the election of civil servants and the Zuo Min who is in charge of household registration and taxation are the most important, followed by the Ke Cao who is in charge of diplomacy. In other words, now the general wants to To control Taige, you only need to control Li Cao, Zuo Min, and Ke Cao!"
"Wonderful, wonderful, what Yan Jing said makes sense!"
After hearing Ding Mi's words, Cao Shuang suddenly felt enlightened. He couldn't help but raise his palms and nodded with a smile:
"But having said that, apart from the princes, the current shogunate is quite short of manpower. Who should we find to fill these positions?"
"Don't worry, General." At this time, Shi Dengyang, the shogunate chief who had recently arrived under Cao Shuang, stood up and said, "I have a few candidates here that I can recommend to the General."
"Oh? What's Xuan Mao's plan?" Cao Shuang looked at the slightly sinister middle-aged staff member in front of him, his eyes full of expectation.
This Deng Yang, whose courtesy name was Xuanmao, was from the Xinye family of Nanyang. He was the leader of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai in the former dynasty and was the successor to Deng Yu, the Marquis of Gaomi.
During the Ming Dynasty, this man had successively held important and promising positions such as Shangshulang, Luoyang Ling, Zhonglang, and Zhongshulang. Cao Shuang had some friendship with Deng Yang at that time. It is a pity that Deng Yang was dismissed from office by the late emperor because he was involved in the "glorious case" during the Taihe period, and he was ordered never to be hired.
Now that Cao Shuang became the auxiliary minister, Deng Yang turned over and became the general and commander of history.
Deng Yang was quite greedy and lustful. Rumor has it that he had negotiated with a man named Zang Ai, and that as long as the other party gave him his father's beautiful concubine, he would grant Zang Ai an official position. Although this matter is not visible to the public, as the saying goes, bad things can spread thousands of miles, and paper cannot contain the fire. Therefore, everyone in the capital city gave Deng Yang a nickname: "Deng Xuanmao changed his official position to his wife."
However, Deng Yang was a lustful person, and his talents were not bad. This was why he was valued by Cao Shuang. Now, in the general shogunate, his status is second only to Ding Mi.
Deng Yang bowed his head to Cao Shuang and said:
"General, when the late emperor was still alive, I and several of my friends were all ministers, and they often gathered at Huang Gong's wine shop to criticize and praise each other. The late emperor always tabooed the formation of cliques among ministers, so he was disgusted with us. Abandon them. Now, fortunately, my humble position has been appreciated by the general and I can serve in the shogunate. However, all my friends in the past are still at home with nothing to do. It is a pity. If the general is interested, I am willing to recommend these friends to the general. "
"Oh? Really? Xuan Mao, if that's the case, that's great!" Cao Shuang was overjoyed when he heard this. He raised his hands and laughed and asked, "But I don't know who Xuan Mao wants to recommend?"
"To report to the general, there are three people I want to recommend. These three people are Prince Consort He Yan, Uncle Ping, Li Sheng, Li Gongzhao, and Bi Gui Bizhaoxian, the former governor of Bingzhou."
Naturally, Cao Shuang had heard of the three people recommended by Deng Yang.
He Yan was the adopted son of Emperor Wu and the husband-in-law of Princess Jinxiang. He was known as a child prodigy when he was young, and his name was famous all over the world. This person needless to say; Li Sheng and Li Gongzhao traveled around the capital when they were young. They had some friendship with him before, but they were later removed from office and detained by the late emperor because of the "glorious case". , are not allowed to go out, so they have cut off contact with themselves in these years; as for Bi Gui Bizhaoxian, when Emperor Ming was still in the East Palace, this person served as Pingyuan Wang Literary, and he was also a minister of the late emperor, so he was naturally the most familiar Later, he served as governor of Bingzhou in the northern border. He was dismissed from his post because he underestimated the enemy and advanced rashly, ruining the military affairs.
"Very good. I have heard about these three people for a long time. However, since I was appointed, my affairs have been too complicated and busy, so I forgot about them for a while."
Cao Shuang pondered for a while and said to Cao Xi, who had just returned from the Forbidden Army camp's defense change:
"Third brother, I heard that Prince Consort He Yan is very talented, and he always likes to talk about literature with scholars. And those scholars who talk about literature always have Taichu as their chief leader, so I want to let you and Taichu Er What do you think, if I find an opportunity to pay a visit to Prince Consort He in person?"
"Yes, brother." Cao Xi was promoted to the rank of General of the Middle Base not long ago. He had just received the title of Marquis of Anxiang Ting a few days ago. He was very excited, so he accepted this task without hesitation.
After a while, Ding Mi said again:
"The general, Huan Fan Huan Yuanze, the governor of Yanzhou, has always been on good terms with me, and his talents are of great use. Now the general wants to use the post of chief minister to divide the power of the minister of finance. I think this person is the superior. The choice!”
Hearing this, Cao Shuang nodded and said:
"Huan Yuanze is known as a think tank. I have heard about it for a long time. In this case, the post of Chief Agriculture Officer should be given to Huan Yuanze."
At this time, young Pei Xiu seemed to suddenly remember something. He stood up and saluted Cao Shuang, and then said:
"General, now that the candidates for the Chancellor's Desk have been identified, the General should plan as soon as possible to arrange suitable positions for the people who occupy the Secretariat's Desk!"
When Wang Bi saw Pei Xiu offering advice, he also remembered something:
"General, not only that, although the two old men in Zhongshu Province cannot be touched lightly for the time being, General, you might as well give them a few tall hats first, at least to stop them from acting rashly!"
After hearing what Pei Xiu and Wang Bi said, Cao Shuang was immediately reminded. He immediately thought of Zhong Yu, Wang Su, Liu Fang, and Sun Zi who were beside the emperor, as well as Zhao Yan, Lu Yu, and Wang Guan, the stumbling blocks in the pavilion. Sima Fu is Sima Yi's biological brother, and he has always been impeccable in everything he does. There is nothing I can do against him for the time being, but I still have ways to transfer Zhong Yu, Zhao Yan, Lu Yu, and Wang Guan out of Taige. Previously, I was just suffering from a lack of manpower and no suitable people to fill these vacancies, so I didn't plan as early as possible. But now, Cao Shuang thought of this and nodded:
"I will report to Your Majesty tomorrow and ask Wang Su to serve as the prefect of Guangping. As for Liu Ziqi and Sun Yanlong, I will report to Your Majesty and grant them the title of Guanglu doctor. In addition, although Chen Tai and Chen Xuanbo have an old relationship with the Sima family, But he has a close friendship with Taichu, and he was promoted to a guerrilla general. If this person can be used by me, he will be a strong support. In addition, the governors of Weijun and Hongnong are about to retire. , there are always vacancies in Yongzhou, and when the third brother invites some wise men, we will arrange for Zhong Yu and Zhao Yan to go out!"
"The general has made a clear decision!"
Everyone felt a lot more relaxed when they saw that the situation was quite clear.
