"Now I will choose to participate in the scattered cavalry. It will be of great use if the young people under my sect know how to return home. I want all the people in the world to experience the scattered cavalry first, and then go out to occupy the prefectures and counties. This is my original intention."
When setting up the Sanqi regular attendants and ministers, Wei Wen Cao Pi issued a special edict to explain the significance of the Sanqi official position in this way.
And at the beginning of its establishment, it was also "the right time for the cavalry to be chosen by talented and talented people".
It's just that rules are meant to be broken.
During the period of Wei Wen and Cao Pi, Meng Kang relied on Empress Guo's nepotism to be selected as a Sanqi official.
This move also aroused dissatisfaction between the government and the public. When things could not be changed, Meng Kang was called "Ajiu" and ridiculed by the court.
And when the emperor Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, a similar situation also occurred.
Mao Zeng was the younger brother of Empress Mao. He was born in a family of "Dianyu lathe workers". He was stupid and vulgar. He could read less than ten, but he was able to join the ranks of Sanqi!
At that time, Xia Houxuan, who was known as "as bright as the sun and the moon in my arms", also lived in Sanqi and sat with him. People at the time said that he was "leaning against the jade tree" and ridiculed him.
This is the reason why Xia Houxuan was hated by Emperor Cao Rui and moved to the left.
Because when he sat at the same table with Mao Zeng, he felt deeply ashamed and his anger was beyond words.
Of course Xia Houhui would not follow suit.
In other words, as a soul of later generations, he has no concept of family status.
Regardless of whether they are princes, generals or ordinary people, they will all be nothing but a handful of loess after a hundred years. Moreover, most of those who were born rich will not find peace after death. They have been buried for hundreds of years and will have their coffins opened and their bones exposed in the wild. ending.
In this way, there is nothing to despise.
Of course, although he doesn't despise her, he won't get close to her either.
Knowing that the other party is not knowledgeable about literature and the identity of a relative, but still making warm friends is a sign of clinging to power and will be ridiculed by scholars.
"Disrespect, disrespect, Brother Mao, please take a seat."
Xia Houhui, who was thinking a lot for a moment, smiled and said politely, then walked to the lower seat on the right and took a seat, and continued to focus on himself with his eyes closed.
Emperor Cao Rui's test was just to see what his temper was like.
For example, if he is left hanging outside the palace for a long time, whether he looks embarrassed or calm, this can determine whether he is capable of doing his job.
After all, Sanqi is the emperor's job to promote his trusted ministers.
As it happened, he had no previous contact with the emperor Cao Rui, and he had been away from Luoyang for three years, so he had no corresponding reputation for his character.
There was only one person left in the office, Mao Zeng, and I wanted to see how he treated Mao Zeng.
If he maintains his own identity like Xia Houxuan, or if he is pretending to be close and deliberately making friends, then it goes without saying that Cao Rui will find a reason to move him to the left and leave him idle in the near future. And if he behaves calmly as usual, he can continue to stay. He is still employed and will make a decision after his character is demonstrated in the future.
However, Xia Houhui was also puzzled by this.
Cao Rui, who is the emperor, must be very clever if he wants to test the character of his subordinates!
Why would you use such a shameless trick?
Why bother with this?
Is it possible that there are still twists and turns in the sudden appointment of me to the court as the minister of Sanqi?
It’s just that the elder brother didn’t mention it yesterday!
With such doubts, Xia Houhui sat there until the palace door was locked at sunset. During this period, except for a small official who brought meals, no soldiers or eunuchs came to accompany him.
As for Mao Zeng~
He only stayed in the building for half an hour and then left.
The next day, he returned to the palace.
Although he was no longer blocked outside the Sima Gate by the palace guards, he still sat and waited in boredom.
The only difference was that while Mao Zeng was around, Xia Houhui asked about trivial matters such as water, where to change clothes, and the scope of activities when not following orders.
Mao Zeng knew everything about this.
It was precisely this small problem that showed his "usefulness" that he could do his best to make his expression relax a lot. He was no longer as restrained as he was yesterday, and he was no longer on pins and needles because Xia Houhui was by his side.
On the third day, Xia Houhui began to like this kind of quiet leisure.
Not only did he change his mentality of taking things as they come, but also because he had already asked the imperial guards that he could bring some books and personal belongings into the palace.
If you have something to do to kill time, you will naturally no longer worry about the emperor summoning you to accompany you.
Anyway, that's a matter of time.
And time will also give the answer to the specific thoughts of Emperor Cao Rui, so there is no need to disturb your mind.
Quan should be still studying in Sangziqiao County.
What he brought was the map of Hanzhong County and the records of Yongliang scenery.
The map is very small and recorded on silk; it is also very rough. The mountains, rivers, roads, etc. are only represented by ink dots and dotted lines. Those who have not seen the maps used for marching will definitely not be able to distinguish them.
In fact, when he left Luoyang, he copied it by himself based on the maps collected at home.
The Records of Yongliang Fengwu are miscellaneous words similar to essays.
It originated from the fact that both Xia Houyuan and Xia Hourong died in Hanzhong County in the early years. The family has always had a long-cherished wish to recapture Hanzhong County to avenge their shame and to welcome back Xia Houyuan's body. [Note 1]
Therefore, over the years, the family has collected and recorded the historical records of Yongliang scenery in books, so that they can be used in the future when they have the opportunity to conquer Hanzhong.
Xia Houhui also made a copy of it himself and used it for reference from time to time.
This was not because he had any intention of conquering Hanzhong.
At least until Zhuge Liang, the Prime Minister of Shu, had not set his sight on Wuzhangyuan, he would not have had such an idea in any case.
There is no other reason, so why go ahead and humiliate yourself without knowing your own abilities?
The reason why he is so concerned about Hanzhong County now is that in his memory, Cao Zhen will soon be promoted to Grand Sima and will soon launch the Battle of Hanzhong.
Although he was of humble status, he had no ability to prevent this battle from happening.
But he could rely on his responsibilities as a close minister to look for opportunities to comment on the war and let Emperor Cao Rui know that he had a military strategy so that he would be generous to him in the future!
Cao Xiu was already dead, Cao Zhen's time was running out, and Sima Yi was about to become the number one man in the Wei army.
If he doesn't use some scheming to seize the rare opportunity, how can he fight with Sima?
Time passes quietly while reading and entertaining myself.
Before he knew it, he had been in the palace for five consecutive days, and also ushered in the "five days and one rest" holiday.
In the past few days, even Mao Zeng did not come to the building to stay in a daze.
And he, who sat reading all day long, only met another colleague.
Therefore, the minister's servant shot Du Ji's son, and Du dismissed Du Wubo.
Du Shu was appointed as the Minister of Sanqi last year. He was honest and simple, and did not make friends or support. Therefore, when Xia Houhui bowed and wanted to chat, he only mentioned his name and said nothing else.
Moreover, he entered and exited the building in a hurry twice, so the friendship between the two ended with a nod of greeting.
It is true that "the friendship between gentlemen is as light as water".
With nothing to do and no one to talk to, Xia Houhui packed up his belongings as the sun turned to the west, reported to the Shaofu Office, and then went back to enjoy the next day's rest.
He still remembered what he had said to Xia Houxuan about having a family dinner.
Even if he knew that Xia Houxuan would definitely make excuses not to come to the banquet, whether others would come and whether he would invite him or not were two different things.
Your husband must keep his word, so how can he not be trustworthy?
The next day, the Shidian was built.
After the emperor Cao Rui finished attending court, he turned around and went to the East Hall (where the emperor usually conducted business).
On the carriage, I occasionally turned my eyes away from the attendants who were accompanying the carriage, including the regular attendants, Gei Shizhong, the attendants, and others. Suddenly, I remembered something. I also looked at the general Xiaoqi who was accompanying me and gave Shizhong Qin Lang waved and asked, "Asu, it seems that Xiahou Zhiquan has been in charge of the palace for a few days, right?"
——
[Note 1: Zhang Fei’s wife, Xiahou, was Xiahou Yuan’s daughter. When she learned of Yuan’s funeral, she sought permission from the late lord to bury Yuan in Hanzhong. A separate tomb was built in the Yuan family in Xuchang, which is the tomb. 】