"Sir, wait a moment."
Seeing Sima Yi slowly stand up after receiving the order, Cao Rui called him back and said, "I still have a few more assignments to make. Please wait for Secretary Liu to draft the decree together."
"Yes." Sima Yi replied with a bow.
Cao Rui held his forehead with his hand, looked around at all the ministers in the hall, and said in a low voice: "Everyone stand up, I have something to tell you."
All the ministers stood up and stood solemnly in the hall with their hands clasped, not daring to say anything extra.
Cao Rui said: "I have some ideas that I need to consider again, but now I will explain them directly to you all."
"Xiahou Kangren!" Cao Rui raised his right hand and pointed forward. Xiahou Xian immediately took half a step forward and bowed in response.
"Chen is here!"
Cao Rui said softly: "Appoint General Anbei Xiahou Xian as General Tiger Teeth and send him back to Henan with the army."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Although Xiahou Xian did not know the inner reason, but when he heard His Majesty say that he wanted to return to Henan, it was either to return to the central army to command the troops, or to go to the prefectures and counties in Henan to command the troops, which was not a bad thing.
I have been in Youzhou for two years, and it is time to reward myself.
Sima Yi, who was standing in the hall and looking down at the ground, was as surprised as Xiahou Xian. Empress Dowager Bian had passed away, so why did they start talking about Xiahou Xian?
"Stand up." Cao Rui didn't say much, just waved his hand, and Xiahou Xian stood up tactfully and stood behind Man Chong.
"General Man, Yuan Ze."
"I'm here!" Former General Man Chong and Central Guard General Huan Fan saluted together.
Cao Rui said: "The emperor orders Duan Zhao, the infantry lieutenant, to be the general protecting the Xianbei and station his troops at Lulong Pass in Youbeiping County. The emperor orders Bian Lan, the Marquis of Kaiyang, to be the infantry lieutenant and to go to Yecheng to receive orders after the funeral."
"As you wish." The two responded in unison.
"Zhongshu! The late Empress Dowager's grandfather was posthumously named Marquis of Kaiyang Gong, and my father was posthumously named Marquis of Kaiyang Jing."
Liu Fang bowed and responded: "I obey your order."
Xiahou Xian was in the hall, so Cao Rui could directly announce his job change. Duan Zhao and Bian Lan were not there, so the order was passed to Man Chong, the cabinet minister in charge of the Privy Council, and Huan Fan, the Central Guard General who was temporarily in charge of the Five Colonels Camp.
Posthumously honoring the ancestors of the Grand Empress Dowager Bian was not a big deal. However, when His Majesty issued an edict to appoint Bian Lan as an official, although no ministers in the hall said anything against the atmosphere, many of them showed a thoughtful look.
Bian Lan, also known as Bian Zichu, was the nephew of Empress Dowager Bian and a typical in-law.
At the beginning of the year in Yecheng, His Majesty appointed Zhen Xiang, the nephew of Empress Wen Zhaozhen, as the commander of the Yue cavalry, and sent him north with the army.
A few days ago, Cao Zhi, the Prince of Yongqiu, was appointed as the Grand Herald, and today Bian Lan was appointed as the Infantry Colonel. He is both a relative of the emperor and a member of the royal family. Could it be that the wind direction of the Wei Dynasty has changed?
Cao Rui took in everyone's expressions and said softly, "Do you think I am making great use of my relatives?"
Man Chong immediately replied: "According to the old system during the Former Han Dynasty and the Huangchu period, the five-school officer system was originally led by the emperor's relatives. Bian Zichu was appointed as the infantry captain, which is in line with the old system."
"General Man is right. The position of infantry captain is not a big deal." Sima Yi came over and said.
"That's true, but you are all important officials of the Wei Dynasty, so I still need to explain it to you." Cao Rui shook his head slightly: "Just like I unsealed the titles of the close relatives of the royal family, I first appointed the kings to the real positions in Luozhong and appointed the King of Yongqiu as the Grand Herald. The foreign relatives are my relatives, so they should be unsealed together."
"During the previous war, Zhen Xiang led a thousand cavalrymen and did a good job in military affairs. I know my limits and will not allow my relatives to rise to high positions suddenly and restore the old system of the Han Dynasty."
"Give the relatives of the emperor a chance. If they do a good job, they will be promoted together with ordinary ministers based on their merits and virtues. If they are not capable of being used, they will be kept in idle positions. The Wei Dynasty can still afford the salary."
The ministers in the hall bowed one after another: "Your Majesty is wise!"
Cao Rui smiled at himself in his heart.
When it comes to power distribution, the only way is to keep trying, just like we did with Cao Zhi, Zhen Huan and Bian Lan, in order to find a suitable balance.
How could Cao Rui give a perfect answer to something that later generations had not figured out for nearly two thousand years?
The use of relatives by marriage brought chaos to the Han Dynasty. In the Han Dynasty, ordinary people could be appointed as generals to assist in government affairs. This is impossible in the Wei Dynasty today. It does not involve the highest power, and the official positions of relatives by marriage are directly appointed by the emperor. This is the natural imperial party that depends on the emperor himself.
These royal family members and relatives will first be placed in unimportant positions for training. We don't ask them to make achievements, but only to avoid mistakes. If they can really stand out, then we will use them!
How can you know their talents without giving them a try? Moreover, Cao Rui already knew the talents of Zhen Xiang and Bian Lan, and that their talents were above average, which was enough.
Sima Yi saw that the discussion in the hall had stopped for a while. Based on his professional experience in handling the funeral of Emperor Wu, he bowed and tentatively said:
"Your Majesty, I have two matters to decide before I return to Luoyang."
"Yes, the Minister of Works reminded me. It should be about the posthumous title and the mausoleum." Cao Rui looked at the ministers in the hall and asked, "What should the posthumous title of the Empress Dowager be? Mr. Lu, is there any explanation in Cai Yong's posthumous title law?"
Lu Yu bowed and said, "Your Majesty, according to Cai Yong's posthumous title system, being kind and loving to one's parents is called Xiao, being holy and kind is called Xuan, being gentle and kind is called Yi, and being kind and benevolent to the people is called Shun. You should choose from these four posthumous titles."
Cao Rui thought about it silently. Cao Cao was Emperor Wu, so the first character of Empress Dowager Bian's posthumous title should also be Wu.
Wuxiao, Wuxuan, Wuyi and Wushun, among these four posthumous titles, only Wuxuan and Wuyi sound better, but Cao Rui did not want to use the word "Yi".
"I think the two words 'Wu Xuan' are very good. Do you have any objections?" Cao Rui asked.
The ministers in the hall all said that the word "Wu Xuan" was excellent.
How could anyone find fault with such a thing? Perhaps they think they have lived long enough. Lu Yu was a learned man, and the four words he gave were all appropriate. If the emperor wanted to choose, let him choose.
Cao Rui said calmly: "As for the mausoleum, Sikong will escort the coffin back to Gaoling for burial."
After that, Cao Rui stood up and walked to Sima Yi in front of all the ministers and said, "This journey is long, I'm sorry to trouble you, Sikong, to be my envoy."
Sima Yi bowed his head slightly: "How dare I say hard work? Serving the emperor is my duty."
Cao Rui sighed, "In the 25th year of Jian'an, Emperor Wu passed away, and it was the Minister of Works who presided over the funeral in Luoyang. I think with the Minister of Works in Luoyang, there will be no mistakes in the funeral."
"The trip went well."
"Thank you, Your Majesty." Sima Yi bowed. On the other side, the Minister of the Central Secretariat Liu Fang had already drafted an edict. There were three edicts in total. The first one was about the posthumous title, burial in Gaoling and posthumous title. The second one was about Sima Yi, the Minister of Works, being the emperor's envoy to preside over the funeral. The third one was about Bian Lan being the lieutenant of the infantry.
In the 25th year of Jian'an, after Cao Cao died in Luoyang, Sima Yi, Jia Kui, Xiahou Shang and others escorted his coffin back to Gaoling in Yecheng for burial. This time when Empress Wuxuan Bian was buried in Gaoling, Sima Yi and Bian Lan also went to Yecheng together.
Maybe I can meet him in Yecheng.
The emperor issued an edict, and it was an urgent matter for the country, so Sima Yi did not dare to neglect it at all. After receiving the edict from the Secretary of State Liu Fang, he was personally escorted out of the Liaodong Prefecture by the emperor. After a simple arrangement, he led a hundred cavalrymen, each with three horses, and galloped westward in less than half an hour.
It is four thousand miles away, but regardless of the horsepower, it is still possible to travel one hundred and fifty miles a day, and arrive in more than twenty days.
I'm afraid that after arriving in Luoyang, I will lose a lot of weight.
After Sima Yi led the cavalry out of the west gate of Xiangping City, he turned around and looked at the Xiangping City Gate, which still retained some traces of the war, and smiled at himself.
How come I became a funeral expert!
Cao Rui had just sent Sima Yi out of the main gate of the prefectural mansion and was returning to the hall when Liu Fang brought him another secret report from Wei Zhen.
In front of the curious eyes of his ministers, Cao Rui opened it slightly, glanced through it, and then closed it again.
"Save it!" Cao Rui put the secret report in Liu Fang's hand.
"As you wish." Liu Fang agreed.
The emperor did not want to say more, and none of his ministers asked. As for the secret report, it was just the news that Yin Shuping, a disciple of the emperor who graduated in the third year of Taihe, an outstanding scholar who was determined to serve the country, had arrived in Wu.
……
July 15th.
Yuzhou, 50 miles southeast of Xuchang City, next to Jiahou Canal.
Xuchang was still unbearably hot in mid-July. There were nearly forty construction sites of all sizes along the Jiahou Canal, which was nearly 200 miles long.
The prosperity of the Wei Dynasty was inseparable from the military farming system. As the first place where Cao Cao implemented the military farming system, Xuchang ranked first in the Wei Dynasty in terms of the number of military farmers and the vastness of the military farming land.
In addition to paying a proportion of their harvest, the people in the garrison had to perform corvée labor according to the orders of the state. In the past, corvée labor was an unnecessary burden for the garrison people, but starting from the second year of Taihe, corvée labor was not only provided with adequate food, but also a few coins per day for each laborer.
Strength is something that can be used up by sleeping and will grow back the next day. Not to mention that there is money to be made, so why not do it? This is a great policy of the court!
The common people were willing to participate in corvee labor, but the officials in charge of command might not be so willing.
At the end of last year, all the hundred Taixuelang who graduated from the third year of Taihe were assigned by the emperor to the vicinity of Xuchang to serve as the most basic military farming officials.
Sima Zhao, as well as Shan Tao and Shan Juyuan, who were related to him, also wore bamboo hats and directed the people to dredge the river.
At noon, when the sun was at its hottest, the people followed the order and spread out under the trees to enjoy the cool air.
Sima Zhao wiped the sweat from his forehead and complained to Shan Tao beside him: "Brother Juyuan, you said that we have been working here for more than 30 days, why is there no end to dredging the canal? Ordinary people can take turns to rest, but you and I can't!"
"Lord Dong has taken a look and said that there are no problems and we can call it a day. But then a man named Zhao came from the state and said that the mud from the dredged canal should be piled up into low dams on both sides of the canal! Isn't this just idleness!"
"Zi Shang, calm down." Shan Tao, who was six years older than Sima Zhao, handed over a ceramic bowl filled with cool well water. "The heat is unbearable, drink some first. The Jiahou Canal is two hundred miles long, and Lord Dong can only govern a small half of Yingchuan County. It still depends on the state's decision."
"Perhaps Envoy Huang's request is a bit high. We will just follow his orders." (End of this chapter)
