Huan Wen sighed helplessly. He didn't even have the power to discipline his son now.
On the contrary, it was Huan Xi who helped speak:
"My mother was wrong, and my father's experience was also of great benefit to me.
"If it weren't for official duties, Xi'er would like to stay with her father and listen to his teachings."
Huan Wen was greatly relieved when he heard this. After so many years, his son finally looked towards him.
Sima Xingnan was not annoyed. He put down the food box and brought a bowl of tonic soup to Huan Wen. He no longer hindered the conversation between father and son and left the room.
Huan Wen blew the soup and said:
"But you didn't do anything wrong this time. Wang Meng is in charge of Chang'an and has overall power. Now that someone is trying to frame him, you should act decisively and express your attitude. Don't be vague, causing people to misunderstand your meaning, which will make the fight in the rear more intense. .
"It's just that after you go back to Guanzhong, you must appease the scholars."
Of course Huan Xi understood this truth. A scholar's heart can be easily restored, but if indecisiveness leads to trouble in the rear, he will regret it.
Now he clearly expresses his trust in Wang Meng. More importantly, his confidants will put aside their worries and unite closely around Wang Meng to help him stabilize the situation in Guanzhong.
There can be no chaos in Guanzhong.
Huan Xi nodded and said:
"My dear, thank you very much for your father's teachings."
In fact, Huan Xi did not know what happened in Guanzhong until this time. He only knew that a conflict broke out between Wang Meng and the nobles.
This sudden change completely disrupted his plan, making it impossible for him to lead the people northward in person.
How can we go fast with 30,000 households?
Huan Xi asked Huan Wen:
"Father, my plan goes ahead. Deng Xia has already gone to Wuguan. I still need someone to lead the troops and escort the people for me."
Knowing that a son is better than his father, what was Huan Xi thinking about? Huan Wen asked:
"Who does Xi'er want to lead the escort?"
Huan Xi replied:
"Please also allocate General Ying Yang to Zhou Chu and five thousand soldiers to lead his people to the north."
Huan Wen muttered:
"You can borrow soldiers and horses, but after escorting the people to Guanzhong, you are not allowed to leave them in Chang'an."
Huan Xi didn't expect to really leave an army of guards. He said:
"How about leaving Zhou Chu alone? Five thousand soldiers will go south under the leadership of the deputy general."
Huan Wen thought about it carefully and said:
"You should talk to Zhou Chu about this. If he is willing to follow you to Guanlong, my father will let you go."
Huan Xi was overjoyed and immediately said goodbye to Huan Wen and went to find Zhou Chu.
When Zhou Chu heard about this, he naturally agreed.
Just when Huan Xi decided to leave the people behind and set off first, rumors in Guanzhong were rampant.
Many people are saying that Wang Meng's rectification of officialdom is false, but taking the opportunity to eradicate dissidents is true.
As the saying goes, "three people become tigers", if the rumor spreads to more people, the falsehood can also be heard as true. Zengzi's murder is an example.
Now that Huan Xi is not in Guanzhong, people are uneasy. Even some of his generals have begun to doubt Wang Meng's intentions. Only Quan Yi has always firmly supported him.
Wang Meng is willing to bear infamy in order to rectify his officialdom, and is now facing tremendous pressure.
There was another urgent report in Wuguan. Zhang Ju left his post without authorization and went to Jiangling to complain. Everyone felt that Wang Meng was in danger, but Wang Meng himself remained calm and composed.
He believed that Huan Xi would not let him down, just as he would never let Huan Xi down.
On August 20, the sixth year of Yonghe (AD 350), Huan Xi took his newlywed wife to the ferry to say goodbye to his family members who came to see him off.
With tears in his eyes, Sima Xingnan warned him tirelessly:
"Be sure to take care of yourself when you are away from home."
Huan Xi nodded solemnly and said:
"Children understand that mothers should also take care of their bodies."
As he said this, Huan Xi couldn't help but look at Huan Wen aside, as if he should say this to his father.
Huan Wen held Sima Xingnan's shoulders and kept comforting his wife.
After some reluctant words, Huan Xi finally said goodbye to his family and boarded the deck of the ship. While the thousand soldiers accompanying him were still boarding other ships, Huan Xi waved to his parents on the shore.
When the ship left the ferry, Huan Xi was still standing on the deck, but he was already thinking about the matter in Guanzhong.
Earlier, an urgent message was sent from Chang'an. Huan Xi roughly figured out what happened, which also made him have mixed feelings.
Unexpectedly, Wang Meng did such a big thing behind his back.
Huan Xi never regretted killing Zhang Ju.
It is true that politics is the art of compromise, but there are some things that cannot be compromised and there is no need to compromise.
Huan Xi was not afraid of confronting the Guanlong gentry. He knew that the gentry also had its weaknesses.
No matter how much you suppress, there will still be people willing to become officials.
The reason is that for the nobles, they cannot live without their own pillars in the officialdom.
Once this pillar is lost, you can refer to the Yingchuan Yu family after Yu Yi's death.
The Yingchuan Yu family, who once made courtiers fear them, has been completely marginalized.
Even the Langya Wang family was not as good as before after the death of Director Wang.
If the nobles do not cooperate with the rulers, new nobles will naturally appear to take their place.
There is no need for Huan Xi to remind them of this truth, they themselves understand it better than anyone else.
Tuoba Tao exterminated the Cui family of Qinghe on the grounds that Cui Hao's exposure would bring shame to the country. His in-laws, including the Lu family of Fan Yang, the Guo family of Taiyuan, and the Liu family of Hedong, were all exterminated.
Of course the Han people were disappointed, but for the benefit of the clan, they still had to seek cooperation with the rulers of the Northern Wei Dynasty.
After all, Huan Xi really didn't care much about what these northern nobles thought.
After years of turmoil in Guanzhong, the people longed for a stable life, and the policies implemented by Huan Xi were also supported by the people.
This means that the people's hearts are in his hands, and the Guanlong gentry want to rebel, but they don't even have a mass base.
If the people are coerced, as soon as the king's master comes, the people who are coerced will also take off their armor and surrender.
Moreover, Wang Meng is not a comprehensive crackdown. His original intention is to kill chickens to scare monkeys. Even fishing law enforcement only selects notorious people and punishes them.
No matter how close the relationship between the Guanzhong nobles is, they can still be punished for corruption and bending the law, putting the entire clan in danger and personally participating in the rebellion.
Of course, even if the nobles really adopted a non-violent and non-cooperative attitude and decided not to contribute to the Huan family, Huan Xi would have his own solution.
The right way is easy to get thousands of armies, but hard to find a general. Great sages like Xiang Meng are hard to find, but there is no shortage of depressed and unachievable children from poor families in Jiangnan.
When the poor people from the south of the Yangtze River went north, they would go out on their own to serve the Huan family without Huan Xi's invitation.
The reason why Huan Xi did not break up with the northern gentry was because he cared about the gentry in the south of the Yangtze River. Otherwise, he could have kicked the northern gentry away and reused the Han gentry.
The most important minister under his command was framed. He was still afraid of wolves in front of him and tigers in the rear. He did not dare to make a decisive decision and expressed his firmest support in a clear-cut manner.
Even if they take over the world, they will only be the Eastern Jin and Northern Song Dynasties.
