After the ministers left Shiqian Palace, Cao Rui, who had not yet asked Empress Dowager Bian and Empress Guo to calm down, was not in a hurry to leave the palace, but headed towards Yongshou Palace.
The clouds were thick and it looked like it was going to rain.
Cao Rui was guided by his chamberlain and walked towards Yongshou Palace step by step.
At this moment, he had mixed feelings in his heart.
He didn't understand why his father clearly asked him to stay in Luoyang, but he chose to hand over the imperial military power to Cao Lin.
He didn't understand why his father forced his mother to die and entrusted him to the rumored murderer of his mother, the Guo family.
Cao Rui's eyes couldn't help but turn red when he thought of this.
"His Royal Highness King Pingyuan, Yongshou Palace has arrived."
The words of the chamberlain awakened the angry and sad Cao Rui.
"There is a noble man named Laonei."
He adjusted his emotions and entered the Yongshou Palace with steady steps.
At the palace gate, he met the Empress Dowager's nephews: the guerrilla general, Bian Lan, the regular servant of the cavalry, and the two brothers, Bian Lin, the infantry captain.
"I have met His Royal Highness King Pingyuan in this humble position."
"How are you, cousins?" Cao Rui bowed his hands towards Bian Lan and Bian Lin, and asked with a smile: "Is the Queen Mother in the palace?"
"Your Highness, Lan is about to join your Majesty in the southern expedition. I just said goodbye to my aunt, who is currently in the palace." Bian Lan smiled slightly and said, "Her Royal Highness the Queen and Qiu Zhaoyi are also in the palace."
When Cao Rui heard this, he frowned slightly.
He was about to start preparing to deal with all the matters of staying in Kyoto. I was afraid that he would not have time to visit his grandmother in the next few days, so he thought of coming to Yongshou Palace to see his grandmother today. However, he did not expect that Guo and Qiu were also here. .
The enemy who killed his mother, or Cao Lin's mother, any one of them is a thorn in his heart.
"I know, thank you cousin for reminding me."
"Your Majesty, please leave."
Bian Lan and Bian Lin bowed and bowed before leaving.
It wasn't until the figures of the Bian brothers disappeared far away from the covered bridge that Cao Rui came back to his senses. He straightened his clothes and walked steadily towards the palace again.
After a muffled thunder sounded in the sky, raindrops fell in a steady stream.
————
"Brother Xuan, it's raining!"
Yu Huan, who had already mastered the song "Zhu Shui", stood on the chariot and shouted loudly.
"Tiger, let's go!"
Xia Houxuan shook the reins of the horse in his hand, and the white bird obediently turned around and headed north.
"drive!"
Yu Huan also rode his little black horse, followed behind Xia Houxuan in his chariot, and headed towards Kaiyang Gate.
In the pouring rain, Xia Houxuan saw two hazy figures, as if they were grabbing a paper kite and running together in the rain. When he rode forward, he realized that it was Cao Xi, whom he had not seen for many days, and a leader. Girl wearing a curtain hat.
The girl was still holding a wet paper kite in her hand.
"Xidi!"
"Axuan." Cao Xi looked at his cousin and was speechless for a moment. Being a little shy, he subconsciously wanted to take out his left hand that was held by Wei Yuan, but Wei Yuan did not let go and instead held on tighter.
"My little lady has met Mr. Xiahou."
"Girl, you don't have to be polite." Xia Houxuan smiled and said to Cao Xi, "Brother Xi, why don't you take Miss Wei into the car?"
"Um."
Cao Xi smiled shyly, grabbed Wei Yuan's hand, and jumped into Yu Huan's carriage.
————
Sima Mansion.
In the study, Sima Yi, who was about to go south with the emperor, was sitting in the room, meditating on something.
"Father."
Master Sima respectfully bowed to Sima Yi.
Sima Yi looked at the eldest son in front of him, who was only a teenager, but more mature and steady than before, and nodded happily.
"Master, when your father is not in the capital, you must be good at running the household."
"The child knows."
"In addition, you should pay more attention to the matters at Qingqingyuan during this period. It is best to go there in person a few times."
Sima Shi, who was newly married to Xia Houhui, felt that it was extremely inappropriate for him to enter and leave such a fireworks place. He looked embarrassed at this moment:
"Father......"
"What, you have doubts?"
Sima Yi couldn't help but frown slightly.
"Father, can you let Zhaodi go to this matter..."
"Absolutely not!"
Sima Yi slapped his palm on the desk in front of him. He seemed a little angry:
"Zhao'er has little experience and is completely unaware of the affairs of Qingqingyuan. If he is sent there in a hurry, I'm afraid there will be mistakes!"
Master Sima sighed, cupped his hands and said:
"Yes, please remember my child, and please don't worry, father."
Seeing that Master Sima had figured it out, Sima Yi's expression softened a little, and he said seriously:
"Master, you must remember that you must not ruin the important affairs of my Sima family just for the sake of personal affairs between your children."
"My child, please follow your father's teachings."
————
East Palace, inside the Talent Recruiting Pavilion.
Cao Shuang, Cao Zhao, Bi Gui, He Zeng, and Guanqiu Jian were accompanying Cao Rui to discuss the matter of staying in Luoyang this time.
Throughout the dynasties, the prince or prince stayed behind in the capital. This was said to be staying behind, but in fact, it was a test for the king to test his heirs.
And while we are here, there is no guarantee that big trouble will not happen.
When your Majesty was once guarding Yedu, he encountered a rebellion.
What's even more troublesome is that this time His Majesty directly handed over the power of Luoyang's military aircraft defense to Cao Lin. This means that if there is trouble in Luoyang and Cao Lin cannot deal with it completely, then all the sins will be
I, the prisoner of the country, was left to guard His Highness Prince Pingyuan.
At present, the only soldiers and horses he can mobilize are his own bodyguards, the Donggong Guards, who lead a thousand men.
The East Palace Guards totaled a thousand people, led by Cao Zhao.
Under the guard command, it was divided into two guards, Huben and Sima. Each of the two guards commanded 500 Donggong guards and soldiers.
The current governor of Huben is Cao Zhao's younger brother, Cao Zuan.
Cao Zuan, like Cao Zhao, was the general who conquered the East and the son of Cao Xiu, Cao Wenlie, the Cao family's thousand-mile horse. Therefore, he was not only familiar with military strategy, but also proficient in martial arts.
Not only that, Cao Zuan was born with great strength and bravery, so he was deeply loved by Cao Rui and took charge of the five hundred tiger warriors in the East Palace.
In addition, the person who served as Sima Governor and was in charge of five hundred Sima Governors was Wei Lie, the eldest son of Wei Zhen, the Minister of Personnel.
Excluding the Qiandong Palace Guards, Cao Rui had almost no soldiers at his disposal.
Of course, in the event of an emergency, Cousin Bian Lin's infantry battalion of 10,000 people, as well as the guerrilla battalion of 10,000 men formerly belonging to Cousin Bian Lan, which he temporarily commanded, are not incapable of being mobilized, but this is against the rules after all, and he will definitely be able to mobilize them when the time comes.
Implement the reality of the population.
He was not afraid of others. What he was afraid of was Liu Ci, the school official who his father planned to stay in the capital this time.
This person is purely loyal to his father and is very skillful in his actions. If he or Cao Lin does anything illegal while he is in prison, he will probably be reported to His Majesty.
In addition, I have always been afraid that my father will accuse me of forming a clique. Therefore, except for Shangshu Wei Zhen and my Pingyuan King Fu Gaotanglong, I have almost never dealt with any foreign ministers. This time, I stayed in Luoyang and served as a prisoner. In handling state affairs, how to deal well with Liu Fang, Sun Zi's Zhongshu Sheng, and Zhao Yan's temporary ministers is also a big problem.
As for Zhijinwu Zangba, who was once a powerful tyrant of Qingxu, although he has a high position, he is not trusted by His Majesty. Therefore, the three thousand soldiers in his hands are also a big variable.
Not only that, he had to worry about all the affairs of Xianbei and Xiongnu in the north, Gongsun in Liaodong, and even Western Shu who had just been defeated by Sun Quan.
Cao Rui felt unprecedented pressure, and he also had a hunch that if he really passed His Majesty's test this time, his status as Crown Prince would never be threatened by anyone again.
In other words, this time in supervising the country, behind him was an abyss, while in front of Cao Lin was a golden light.
"Your Highness, I'm late, phew..."
At this time, Wei Lie came to the Zhaoxian Pavilion with a long cry. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and gasped loudly:
"Before I went out, my father explained a few more words. My chariot broke down again and my horse was injured, so I came here on foot and was late. I hope your highness will forgive me."
Cao Rui looked at Wei Lie, who was sweating profusely and running all the way, and showed a teasing smile:
"Wei Qing, there is no crime of wasting time. It's just forcing the palace. Please get up quickly!"
Wei Lie had just stood up and suddenly realized that he had forgotten to let the East Palace Guard come in to report!
Wei Lie, who had just stood up, felt as if he had been electrocuted, and immediately collapsed and knelt on the ground. He often hung out with Gao Xun, who was well versed in laws, so of course he knew the consequences of breaking into the palace.
"Your Highness, I, I am guilty, I am guilty... Your Highness..."
After a moment of suffocating silence, Cao Rui, Cao Zhao, Bi Gui, Guan Qiu Jian, and several others burst into laughter.
Wei Lie understood that he had escaped and Cao Rui was not that stingy.
"Get up and go to the guard leader tomorrow to get the five military staffs."
"My lord, thank you, Your Highness."
As soon as Wei Lie got up, he heard an announcement from one of the guards, saying that Gao Xun, the minister, wanted to see him.
Wei Lie quietly sighed, if he had known that he would have waited for Gao Xun and taken his time together, he would not have to bear the five-army staff.
——
Zhuge Dan, the newly promoted Shang Shulang, can no longer wander around Luoyang City freely as before. It's not that he doesn't want to, but that he is too busy at the moment to stop.
His Majesty was about to leave Beijing, and he had no time to take care of some of the trivial matters of government affairs, so he left them to the Chancellery and the Ministry of Education.
Liu Fang and Sun Zi's Zhongshu Province was not bad, at least there was no shortage of manpower in the province, but the Secretariat of the Secretariat was more miserable.
The Shangshutai of this dynasty is different from the previous dynasty. The basic organizational structure is mainly headed by the Shangshu Ling, followed by two servants on the left and right, and then there are five Cao Shangshu. These eight big figures are what Shangshu Lantai is commonly known as the "eight seats" , "Eight Ministers".
Under the Five Cao Shangshu, there are the "Twenty-Three Langs" of the sixth rank, including Zhuge Dan.
And this time His Majesty's southern expedition, not only the two leaders, Shangshu Ling Chen Qun and Shangshu Pushe Sima Yi, went south with His Majesty, but also the first of the five ministers, Wei Zhen, the Minister of Civil Affairs, went south together.
Not only that, the two ministers Zhao Yan and Jiang Ji did not stay.
This is basically like tearing down half of the Chancery's desk.
Du Xi, the minister who has always been in charge of few things, has completely begun to implement the "do nothing" policy this time, and Fu Xun, the uncle of Fu Gugna, also wants to take this opportunity to train his disciples, so this large number of conditions
Chen Cering drifted like snowflakes to the desks of Zhuge Dan, the newly appointed sixth-rank minister.
As one of the twenty-three men, Zhuge Dan, who is subordinate to the Minister of War and manages military affairs, mainly handles some military-related matters, but for him who has been working hard for days, even if it is
The military that he loved most had now become a burden.
[Note 1: Before Qinglong in Cao Wei, there were twenty-three men. After Qinglong, Erlang was added to the list, and it was twenty-five men.]
It's better to be a third-gong man, since he doesn't have to deal with worldly affairs and has a generous salary.
"Alas!" Zhuge Dan looked at the "hill" piled up on his desk and sighed: "It's really like that little star. He is in the east on March and May. He marches solemnly at night and is on duty all day and night. His fate is different!" [Note 2]
: "The Book of Songs. Little Star"]
————
In August, Emperor Cao Pi personally rode the dragon boat, and led Sima Yi, Chen Qun, Wei Zhen, Liu Ye, Jiang Ji, Zhao Yan and other civil and military officials, as well as Bian Lan, Xun Wei and other regular attendants, to command his mighty water.
The division and the 10,000 Imperial Army guards began to march toward the southeast.
