Chapter 69 Unifying Thoughts

Chapter 69 Unifying Thoughts

Chapter 69 Unified Thoughts
The manor was just a small episode, and Shao Xun soon returned to the city to continue training his troops.

But not long after, he, Mi Huang, He Lun and Wang Bing received an order to hurriedly leave the city to attend an important meeting.

Those present included the military commander Cao Fu, the military advisor Dai Yuan, the left military commander Liu Qia, the attendant Wang Cheng and other staff members.

Wang Cheng was new, but he was able to participate in this kind of meeting. It must be said that this had a lot to do with his high social status.

The status of the four-member Royal Army group was not very high, but at a time when military men were in power, they naturally had to attend the meeting, even if they were just sitting in as observers.

In addition to the old men from Sima Yue's faction, two old faces, Pan Tao and Yu Hua, also appeared.

Sitting next to them were Gou Xi, Shangguan Si, Chen Jing, Cheng Fu, Man Fen and others.

Gou Xi, Chen Jing and Cheng Fu were all generals of the imperial guards who stabbed Sima Yi in the back, and they are still leading troops in the army today.

After Sima Yi was captured in the palace, Wang Cheng, Diao Xie, Shangguan Si and others were released. Wang Cheng joined the shogunate as a military officer, while Shangguan Si joined Sima Yue and continued to serve as a general in the imperial army.

It can be seen that Sima Yue, who was reorganizing the imperial guards, did not dare to randomly place his own people there - He Lun and Wang Bing had not gone yet, not to mention Shao Xun who was ranked lower than them.

It can also be analyzed that Sima Yue is still far from "controlling" the Imperial Guards at present, and at most he is at the stage of "deeply influencing" the Imperial Guards.

Man Fen was the grandson of Man Chong, the Grand Commandant of Cao Wei. He entered the government through family connections and had served as a minister of the Ministry of Personnel and governor of Jizhou. He was currently the lieutenant of the Sili Army and was considered one of the important officials Sima Yue had won over.

The fact that they can come to attend the meeting basically shows that we are extremely trustworthy.

The location of the meeting was quite special, located on a mountain outside the city. Everyone enjoyed drinking tea and appreciating the scenery, which was quite pleasant.

"It's not like a military meeting, it's more like a party." Shao Xun muttered softly while sitting behind Mi Huang.

Mi Huang stole a glance and saw that the Minister of Works was chatting and laughing with Cao Fu and didn't notice them, so he smiled softly and said, "Young Master, this is the style of the nobles, emphasizing elegance. Think about it, if it is according to your preference, during the military meeting, there will be soldiers standing in rows, swords and spears are lined up, and the generals and officers will sit upright with serious faces. When you are tired, you can eat some dry food on the spot and continue the meeting after eating. Is that okay?"

"Is it better to be unrestrained?" Shao Xun looked at Cao Fu who was sitting next to Sikong and asked.

What he actually wanted to say was, wouldn’t it be better to be more professional?

It was April, and the weather was getting warmer. Cao Fu, with her breasts exposed, half leaned on a piece of bluestone and laughed heartily.

Uncle Cao is over seventy years old and a little fat. After he took off his clothes, the old skin and fat on his belly were layered, making him look like Maitreya Buddha, which was an eye-sore.

But Sima Yue turned a blind eye and took it for granted.

Did the scholars of the Wei and Jin dynasties act so impulsively?
Shao Xun, who had just entered the "upper class", was shocked.

To be honest, he kind of missed the scene when Sima Yue held meetings in the study. At that time, everyone was quite serious.

"You haven't seen the real bohemian." Mi Huang smiled mysteriously: "Get close to Cao Junsi. He is old and likes to support the younger generation. He has many concubines at home and can't take care of them all. Maybe he will use them to entertain you. Most of these people present have been to Cao Shangshu's mansion. After the meeting, you can go with him and talk more. Cao Shangshu admires you very much."

Shao Xun smiled.

Cao Fu admired this not-so-handsome military strategist, probably because he was good at fighting.

Wow, this “living fossil” who has lived from the time of Cao Hong to the present is really different. Even Liu Yuan is not as knowledgeable as him.

"The world is in chaos and old friends are becoming fewer and fewer. Sometimes, I want to find a beautiful place in the mountains, build a house and live in seclusion, abandon the world and live out my life there." Cao Fu said with emotion, waving a palm-leaf fan.

"I have the same idea." Sima Yue laughed and said, "Unfortunately, the current situation is like this. As a descendant of the imperial family, I have to take care of this huge mess with great difficulty. Well, when everything is accomplished and the court is rectified, I can put aside these paperwork and live out my days in peace."

"Sikong is an elegant man." Cao Fu said with a smile, "The place where you live in seclusion cannot be too simple."

"I don't ask for much either." Sima Yue waved his hand and said, "A garden with red trees, a pond with green water, three or four Wu girls, five or six Zhao girls, playing the zither and reciting poems, and living a carefree life until old age, that would be enough."

Cao Fu stroked her trembling belly, frowned, and said, "The Zhao girl is in Hebei..."

Sima Yue shook his head and laughed.

"Can you help Sikong Jieyou?" Cao Fu looked at everyone and asked.

"What's so difficult about fulfilling Sikong's wish?" Wang Dao was about to speak, but was interrupted by Wang Cheng. Wang Cheng, who came from a noble family in Taiyuan, put down the tea bowl in his hand and listened quietly to the gurgling water and the singing of birds.

Wang Dao was about to speak again.

Wang Cheng seemed to know what he was going to say, and he spoke: "Since March, Sima Ying has appointed private individuals, lived extravagantly, and levied heavy taxes, which has greatly disappointed the people."

Director Wang's rhythm was disrupted, and he felt depressed because he was holding his breath.

Wang Cheng continued, "The last battle in Luoyang lasted for half a year, and the number of Ye soldiers killed was no less than 70,000, and tens of thousands of them died of serious injuries or fled and did not dare to go home. Sima Ying also sent Shi Chao to lead 40,000 soldiers to guard Luoyang. In this case, how many soldiers are left in Hebei? Moreover, Sima Ying's actions have angered the scholars in Hebei. Will anyone bring their own troops to join the army, or provide food and money? Sikong, don't worry, just advance."

I have to admit that Wang Cheng was a bit pretentious just now, but what he said hit the nail on the head and was quite capable.

I don’t know what’s going on with the descendants of the Sima family. They can still maintain a good image when they are off the stage, but once they come to power, they will most likely mess around and lose the support of the people.

Perhaps, everything that happened before was just an act, and it is their nature to mess around. This is the only explanation.

The only one who could maintain the same personality from beginning to end was probably Emperor Sima Zhong, whose IQ was still not enough as always.

After Wang Cheng finished speaking, he flicked his sleeves, walked straight to Sima Yue, picked up the teapot and poured himself tea, and said with a smile: "I have come up with a plan to earn a bowl of good tea from you, my lord. How wonderful."

Sima Yue didn't take it seriously and just clapped his hands and laughed.

Wang Dao calmed down, a bright smile appeared on his face, and he praised, "This is a truly insightful view." But he thought to himself that someone had interrupted me.

At this point, who can't see that Sima Ying is a bit arrogant? In fact, he is such a person. After winning the superficial victory, he was dazzled by the continuous flattery in the mansion and didn't even know what year it was.

If you offend the scholars in Hebei, the bad consequences will immediately become apparent.

Who provides you with soldiers?
Who provides you with money and food?
Who gives you advice?
How can you accomplish anything without the support of the Hebei gentry?
Thinking of this, he glanced at Shao Xun for some reason.

He admitted that he was not very satisfied with this person's attitude.

It was fine for a scholar, even if he behaved unruly in front of him, it would not matter much. But a small military household was neither humble nor arrogant, which was really hard for him to understand.

But I didn’t really care about it at that time.

But as time went by, this military household actually had a background, and made remarkable achievements many times. Relying on his status as Sikong Guoren, he was promoted step by step. It was heard that now the entire lower army obeyed him, and Wang Bing's power was seized.

This made Director Wang very upset for a while.

But it's just irritation.

The soldiers under Shao Xun's command needed to be fed, rewarded, and trained, which was a huge expense. Who was responsible for raising these expenses? On the surface, it was distributed by the court, but in fact, wasn't it pulled out of the manors by the aristocratic families and sent to Luoyang?
He is just a rootless duckweed. It is better not to let him take root and just keep floating around in Luoyang.

After Wang Cheng finished his "psychological massage", Wang Dao felt much better. He took advantage of the moment when Wang Cheng finished speaking and the others hadn't spoken yet to say, "My lord, I think Sima Ying can only muster 70,000 to 80,000 soldiers at most. Our army only needs to advance step by step, press towards Yecheng, gather troops from all directions, and when we have more than 100,000 soldiers, we will be able to win."

Is it safe to fight Sima Ying with twice the number of troops? It sounds pretty good.

Wasn’t it because of the large number of soldiers that Sima Ying was able to win the Battle of Luoyang?
Now that he has offended the gentry in Hebei, fewer people will support him, and money, food, and soldiers will not be so sufficient. This battle may be able to replicate Sima Ying's strategy when he attacked Luoyang, and he can be worn out to death.

After hearing what Wang Dao said, Sima Yue couldn't help getting excited even though he wanted to maintain his humble and steady personality.

He turned his head and looked at Cao Fu, smiling and said, "Wang's son is not only good at poetry, but also has military strategy. If I can get Mao Hong to participate in military affairs, great things will be accomplished."

Cao Fu smiled slightly.

Wang Dao's abilities are indeed quite good among the children of aristocratic families.

What skills does a child of an aristocratic family need most?
It’s not about marching and fighting, there are military strategies for that.

They are not there to govern the world; the world does not need them to govern it.

What they need is to understand people's hearts, analyze the situation, and win over other families to strengthen their own momentum. If they can do this, they can stabilize the country and leave their names in history books.

He has been observing Wang Dao for a long time. Today, he did not demonstrate his wisdom in this regard, but it did not affect Cao Fu's evaluation of him.

Among all the members of the Wang family, Wang Dao should be ranked first - perhaps Wang Yifu did not think so, because he attached too much importance to Wang Cheng.

"The Tribute to Yu says, 'Taihang Mountain and Hengshan Mountain reach Jieshi and enter the sea.' Some people also say that Taihang Mountain has thousands of peaks competing for beauty, and luxuriant vegetation. When the sun rises, clouds and mist rise above it, which is very beautiful." Sima Yue became interested and seemed to want to express his feelings: "After conquering Yecheng and arresting Sima Ying in front of you to question him, and after the world is at peace, I will organize an elegant gathering on the top of Taihang Mountain. At that time, you must recite poems and compose essays. If you have good works, I will play the zither to accompany you."

"We must not spoil the Lord's pleasure."

"The scenery is different, the mountains and rivers are different. I will definitely accompany Your Majesty to see the beautiful scenery of Taihang Mountains."

"In the cool and clear autumn, Yecheng must have already arrived. Such a beautiful scenery is just right for climbing a mountain to feast, play the zither and recite poetry. I am willing to participate in this grand event."

"Wonderful! Magnificent! Such a grand event is fascinating." Some people even recited poems directly.

He didn't drink or take drugs, but he was just in the mood. He opened his clothes, revealing his hairy chest, and slapped his thighs rhythmically and sang loudly.

Sima Yue laughed endlessly.

Shao Xun looked at several military strategists awkwardly.

Why are you calling us here in this situation?

After hearing this, they only understood one thing: Sikong was determined to launch a northern expedition to Yecheng.

Everyone had no objection to this.

Everyone knows that the two kings of Donghai and Chengdu will fight each other sooner or later.

Let's just march north. I heard that Sikong was actively contacting Fangbo and created quite a lot of momentum. If nothing unexpected happens, there is still a great hope of winning.

The question is, how to play it? It has not been mentioned yet, which makes people confused.

Shao Xun drank several bowls of tea in succession. Just when he felt like he had to pee, Sima Yue slowly stood up and glanced at everyone.

The noise around immediately became quieter.

"Today's meeting is just to let you know." Sima Yue took a few steps and walked to the edge of a cliff. Looking at the spring water, plants and flowers in the deep valley, he said: "From late spring to midsummer, I want to see a warlike army, then clean up Luoyang and swear to march north. I have made up my mind and will never change it."

"Yes." Everyone responded in unison.

Today, we have unified our thoughts, which is an essential task before the war.

(End of this chapter)