Since the emperor had said so, Lu Xun no longer had any reason to refuse.
He stood up from the table and straightened his robes, then walked slowly to the center of the hall and bowed solemnly: "Thank you, Your Majesty, for the marriage! I will serve Your Majesty and the Great Wei with my life and loyalty!"
"Although it is the parents' order and the matchmaker's words, I think it is enough to have the emperor and father arrange the marriage in person."
Although Cao Rui was only 25 years old at the time, his calm mentality as a king made him feel no sense of incongruity when he said the words "king and father".
Cao Rui stood up and helped Lu Xun up, saying with a smile: "Now that we are close relatives, we are also close relatives. Since we are close relatives, I will give you everything you had in Jiangdong in the past."
"Someone come here!" Cao Rui shouted loudly.
Jiang Wei, who was standing outside the door, came in and bowed: "What do you want, Your Majesty?"
"Call Secretary Liu to me!" Cao Rui said firmly.
Jiang Wei took the order and left.
Before Cao Rui and Lu Xun had exchanged pleasantries for long, Liu Fang quickly walked into the hall from outside. When he saw Lu Xun, he was obviously stunned, but he still collected his thoughts and saluted, saying: "Your Majesty, what do you want me to do?"
"Draft an edict." Cao Rui said calmly: "Landlord Protector of the Qiang Lu Xun is loyal to the country and dedicated to the king's affairs. He is promoted from Landlord Protector of the Qiang to General Protector of the Qiang, and is granted the title of Marquis of Wu and a fief of 1,000 households!"
Wu Hou? Wu Hou!
When the emperor said this, not only Liu Fang was stunned, but Lu Xun also had an expression of disbelief.
Liu Fang glanced at the emperor, then turned to look at Lu Xun, swallowed his saliva and asked, "May I ask your majesty, what is the fief of this Marquis Wu?"
"Wu County, Wujun, Yangzhou." Cao Rui said in a deep voice.
Liu Fang was shocked, but he did not forget to promise: "I understand. I will write the decree right away."
Since Sun Zi was sent out as the governor of Yanzhou last year, the Secretariat no longer had the power to participate in government affairs. In the Wei Palace, the West Pavilion, the East Pavilion and the Palace Attendant were the most important in everything.
Who would be willing to share power with others? Under the supervision of the four cabinet ministers and the four ministers, Liu Fang really never interfered in government affairs again.
With such a surprising thing just now, he could only express his feelings by using the words of confirmation of the will.
Lu Xun's voice almost trembled.
Wasn't it just a matter of selecting some Qiang people to follow His Majesty's orders? How could he be promoted to a higher rank, betrothed to a princess, and be granted the title of Marquis of Wu?
Lu Xun would not be so stupid as to think that the emperor didn’t know the story of Wu Hou!
However, Lu Xun's many years of service as an official in the Eastern Wu made him grit his teeth and ask, "Your Majesty, the title of Marquis of Wu seems a bit..."
"What?" Cao Rui raised his eyebrows and looked at Lu Xun with a slightly questioning and disdainful look.
Lu Xun was horrified and quickly changed his words, saying, "Your Majesty, you are too kind! Your Majesty took into consideration that I am from Wu County and granted Wu County to me. I really have no way to repay you!"
After all, the word "inappropriate" was not uttered.
Cao Rui smiled calmly and said, "If you really have no way to repay me, then I will repay you slowly."
"Go back and sort out the military affairs. I am tired. Come see me again before you go out to fight."
Lu Xun responded with mixed feelings and then slowly retreated.
It was not until I walked into the yard and watched the afternoon sun shining through the branches of the trees in the yard and shining on my face that this sense of unreality gradually eased.
Thunder, rain, and dew are all your grace.
But today, the "rain and dew" from your majesty is too much! So much that even Lu Xun himself is terrified!
When Lu Xun was an official in Eastern Wu, he was the Grand Commander, the General of the Auxiliary State, the Governor of Jingzhou, and was granted the title of Marquis of Jiangling. His status was extremely precious and he was almost the number one person in the entire Eastern Wu after Sun Quan.
But when he came to the Wei Dynasty, he was just a captain of the Protectorate of the Qiang with a rank of two thousand stones.
Lu Xun had already accepted such a gap, but the emperor's series of marriages and rewards today still surprised Lu Xun.
But then again, who doesn’t want to be rewarded or reused?
It has been nearly a year since Lu Xun entered Wei, and he has never felt as relaxed as he does today.
All his family members were safe in Wuchang, and their lives were not in danger. He was rewarded and given important positions in Liangzhou, not to mention that he was also betrothed to Princess Dongxiang.
Everyone has seven emotions and six desires. No matter how high your official position or how smart your mind is, you can't escape human nature. Now that you have accepted it, then be calm.
For a moment, Lu Xun even wondered whether Princess Cao Ying of Dongxiang was really as beautiful as His Majesty said.
After Lu Xun left, Liu Fang also drafted the edict in the hall, held it in both hands and came before the emperor, ready to request the seal.
Seeing Liu Fang's hesitation, Cao Rui finally said with a smile: "Why, Secretary Liu is also thinking about the title of Marquis of Wu that I will give to Lu Xun?"
The emperor asked, so Liu Fang could naturally answer: "If I remember correctly, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty petitioned to change Sun Ce's title from Marquis of Wucheng to Marquis of Wu. Sun Ce was in office for a total of three years."
"It was only after Sun Quan captured and killed Guan Yu in the 24th year of Jian'an that he was named Marquis of Nanchang by Emperor Wu, and then the late Emperor conferred him the title of King of Wu." "But in the past 20 years, although Sun Quan was not conferred a title, the officials of Eastern Wu all honored him as 'Marquis of Wu', and Lu Xun could not have been unaware of this."
"I did it on purpose." Cao Rui said calmly.
"After Sun Quan was defeated in Huainan last year, he repeatedly gave in to me on the surface. Under the generous gifts and humble words, he was just repeating the past deeds of the previous emperor and harboring evil intentions."
"Since Sun Quan wants to give in, I will take another step forward. Repeat this process until he has no way out and is forced to surrender or rebel completely!"
Liu Fang simply cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty is wise. You really should not show mercy to such a person who is indecisive."
Cao Rui said: "I have tested Lu Xun for a year, and I am satisfied with what he has done in Liang Province. But as a surrendered minister, I cannot risk handing over the Wei army or foreign troops to him. Letting him temporarily command the Qiang troops is already a grace."
"I will tell Lu Xun clearly that he has no room to hesitate as he works for Wei. Now that Wu and Shu are both his mortal enemies, he should just stay in Qinzhou and work for me!"
Liu Fang cupped his hands and said, "If this is the case, in the future when there is another war, the generals of Jiangdong may also consider Wei as their retreat route."
Cao Rui nodded slightly: "Don't people in the court say that I am generous in everything? Then I will continue to be generous until I conquer Wu and Shu!"
"Your Majesty is wise!" Liu Fang bowed.
……
The fastest speed of this era was only equivalent to the four legs of a scout horse.
Just like when Wei and Wu were at war last year, Zhuge Liang was constantly waiting for the battle situation between the two sides in Chengdu, and Sun Quan did the same in Wuchang.
Zhuge Liang sent troops to Hanzhong in November and only sent Jiang Wan to the Eastern Wu on December 1 to inform Sun Quan, who was far away in Wuchang, of the news.
After the Wei Dynasty defeated the Shu army in Lueyang, it was not until after the New Year that it sent people from Shanggui to inform Sun Quan of the victory in Lueyang.
As a result, Sun Quan in Wuchang was extremely conflicted.
On the same afternoon that Lu Xun was conferred the title of Marquis of Wu, Sun Quan received a notification from Wei at the Prince of Wu's Palace in Wuchang, along with the news that his eldest daughter, Sun Luban, was pregnant.
Sun Quan naturally started to think about it again.
Zhuge Jin and Quan Cong were both on external assignments, so Sun Quan could only summon his most trusted men, Gu Yong and Zhang Zhao, to his mansion to discuss such an important matter.
"So, Emperor Cao Rui of Wei informed the Supreme of the battle situation earlier than Zhuge Liang?" Gu Yong frowned and analyzed, "The Han army lost more than 20,000 soldiers. If this continues, I'm afraid Shu will not be safe!"
Zhang Zhao was calmer: "Emperor Cao Rui of Wei sent the news, which is indeed faster than Zhuge Liang in terms of geography."
"If Wei wanted to send a message from Longyou, they only needed to go through the Weishui Road to Chencang, pass through Wuguan to Nanyang, and then go down the Han River."
"And if Zhuge Liang wanted to send a message, he would have to go south from Longyou, along the Shu Road to Badong, and then go down the Yangtze River to Wuchang. It would be a bit slow, so it would be normal."
Sun Quan sighed and said, "I never thought that Cao Mengde's grandson would be so brave and capable of fighting!"
"Cao Rui asked Sima Yi to write a letter to me, clearly stating the time of the military deployment. I calculated that after the Wei army learned of the Longyou news in Luoyang, they did not delay for a single day, rushed to Longyou to fight, and then won!"
"How can you fight like this?" Sun Quan looked at his two important officials. "After marching over a thousand miles, you can win the battle the next day?"
Sun Quan laughed at himself and said, "If the Wei army is like this, then how did Cao Mengde and Cao Zihuan, who fought against me for more than 20 years, fight?"
"Don't worry, Your Majesty," Zhang Zhao said, consolingly, "Only the central army of the Wei army is so capable of fighting. Don't we know how capable the rest of the border armies are?"
"With the great river in the north, Cao Wei will not be able to do anything to Wu. We have time to recover calmly."
"What do you think of Zhuge Liang's request that I send troops eastward to support him in the battle in Yangzhou?" Sun Quan asked, "When Jiang Wan came to Wuchang, I used the excuse that it would take time to send troops. Now it's almost a month, so I have to send troops anyway, right?"
When faced with the issue of sending troops, Zhang Zhao followed his instinctive physiological reaction and avoided talking about it.
Gu Yong asked, "Where does Your Majesty want to attack? I'm afraid you can't mobilize troops. You have the will but not the power! We lost too many troops last year."
Do you even need to say that?
Sun Quan knew that he couldn't send out troops, but he still asked his prime minister: "Can we use Guangling as a deterrent? We don't have to fight, but it would be good to show off our warships on the Yangtze River."
Gu Yong was a pragmatic man, and quickly shook his head and said, "Sending troops is risky. If Cao Xiu uses this as an excuse to march south again, do we really have to fight Cao Xiu again?"
"I hope the Supreme will take the people's livelihood into consideration."
Sun Quan shook his head gently, struggling for a while. But thinking that he was about to become a grandfather, he still felt a little strange.
"Didn't my eldest daughter get married to the Emperor of Wei and be made a concubine?" Sun Quan felt it was difficult to speak up, but in front of his two most capable officials, he couldn't hide it for a while: "She is pregnant now."
"Then Cao Rui threw the problem to me again." (End of this chapter)
