Chapter 105 The small group raised by the stepmother

Chapter 105 The small group raised by the stepmother

Chapter 105 The small group raised by the stepmother

At Cao Fu's mansion, Yu Hua, Pan Tao and others arrived as promised.

Yu Hua took the powder skillfully and felt ecstatic.

Pan Tao waved his hand, indicating no.

There were several other young men, including Yu Liang and Xu Lang, who looked eager to try, but when they saw that Pan Tao did not move, they could only suppress their thoughts and glanced at those beautiful concubines.

Unexpectedly, Mr. Cao waved his hand and the concubines left one after another.

"The Northern General of the Army and the Duke of Pingchang were given the title of General Ningshuo (fourth rank) and went to garrison Ye." In the middle of winter, Uncle Cao was still fanning himself and talking eloquently: "Wen Xian was granted the title of Duke of Daling County, with a fief of 1,800 households, and remained the governor of Jizhou."

Ma Mo of Pingchang Company is Sikong's younger brother. He was originally a Palace Attendant (third rank) and now serves as a governor, guarding Yecheng and directly grabbing the biggest piece of fat.

To be honest, other people might have some opinions.

Doesn't Sima Teng want to move? Bingzhou is not a good place.

What about Sima Lue of Qingzhou? Isn't he jealous of Yecheng?

Not to mention, Sima Mo did nothing and had no merit at all, but just because he was Sima Yue's younger brother, he jumped from an idle royal family member to the lord of Jizhou.

I guess many people are waiting to laugh at him.

As an idle member of the royal family with no government, how many trusted people can you have? Can you control Jizhou?

Wen Xian was originally the governor of Jizhou.

During the Northern Expedition, he fled back to Luoyang, and then followed the expedition. After the failure, he fled back to his hometown to wait, and was unexpectedly reinstated and awarded a title for his "meritorious service".

Speaking of the titles of the Jin Dynasty, it was definitely one of the most chaotic in history.

In the first year of Taishi, the "new five ranks of nobility" were established - if the king is included, there are six ranks of nobility.

The title of king can only be conferred on the descendants of Sima family. Let’s not talk about it for now - originally there was only prince, and later there was also the title of county king, and only a few people could be conferred the title.

There are five ranks of nobility: Gong (there are two types: Duke of a county and Duke of a county), Marquis (Marquis of a county and Marquis of a county), Earl, Viscount, and Baron. People with other surnames can be conferred the title, and descendants of royal princes can also be conferred the title when their ranks are reduced, such as Ma Teng of Dongying Company.

Most of the five ranks of nobility conferred on people of other surnames were conferred when Sima Yan founded the country. They are usually added with the word "founding the country" and can be further divided into Duke of a county, Duke of a county, Marquis of a county, Marquis of a county, Marquis of a county, Marquis of a county, Earl of a county, Son of a nation, and Man of a nation.

After the five ranks of nobility, there are also Xianghou, Tinghou, Guanneihou, Guanwaihou, etc.

During the Taishi period (265-274), there were also Guanzhong Hou and other officials, and the situation was very chaotic.

In the third year of Xianning (277), Xun Xu submitted a memorial, arguing that "the five ranks are too long to be a system for governing a country," and that "they are just empty names... and are roughly the same as the old counties, towns, and pavilions."

Xun Xu felt that the five ranks of nobility were no different from the feudal system of the Han Dynasty, and asked for "judgment". The final result was that the dukes and marquises were still based on the old system, and there were basically no titles below the dukes and marquises. Even if there were, they were obtained by the descendants of dukes and marquises when their titles were reduced, and they had no fiefdoms, but only enjoyed some economic benefits.

Dukes and marquises were given fiefs. Even if a marquisate had less than 5,000 households, it could still have an army of 1,000 soldiers.

When Sima Lun usurped the throne, he once conferred titles arbitrarily, even conferring titles on his own servants. But other than that, titles below the rank of duke or marquis were rarely conferred, which was considered a reconstruction of the previous chaotic title system - in fact, if there were only dukes and marquises, it would be clear, but too few.

Along with Wen Xian, Gao Guang, the Duke of Yanling County, and others were granted fiefs of 1,800 households.

Wen Xian was born in the Wen family of Taiyuan and was the grandson of Wen Hui. Gao Guang was the son of Gao Rou, the Grand Marshal of Cao Wei. Both came from prominent families.

They did nothing to get the title.

The soldiers who followed the emperor into battle and fought desperately were not given any titles.

Reasonable, really reasonable.

"Duke Dongying was promoted to General Anbei (third rank). There are many troubles in Bingzhou. I don't know if he can handle the situation." Cao Fu continued.

Sima Teng was the second brother of Sima Yue and the elder brother of Sima Mo. He was the governor and commander-in-chief of Bingzhou.

Last year, he led his army to defeat Ye General Wang Bin and made great contributions to the final downfall of Sima Ying.

But there was nothing to reward him.

The General looks expensive, but it has no territory and no soldiers, so it is not very cost-effective.

This was one of the reasons why Shao Xun would rather not be promoted to the rank of General and continue to command the troops.

Titles below the rank of duke and marquis, and various general titles, are just icing on the cake and not worth expending much effort pursuing.

Between his second and fourth brothers, Sima Yue finally chose his fourth brother Sima Mo, who had no territory yet, to go to Yecheng. For some unknown reason, he chose Sima Mo as the fourth brother.

In this way, from west to east, Bingzhou, Jizhou and Qingzhou were all in the hands of Sima Yue's three younger brothers. If he himself took Xuzhou, his cousin Sima Hu was in Yuzhou, and his nephew Sima Shi was still the governor of Wancheng, the momentum of Sima Kui, the fourth brother of Sima Yi, would be very powerful.

As the "head" of this lineage, Sima Yue is the undisputed leader, although his military ability is a bit weak.

"Military Commander, why are you saying this?" Yu Hua said with some resentment, "When will Sikong return to Luoyang? I heard that many scholars have gone to Donghai recently to seek refuge with Sikong. Could it be that he has established a government in Donghai and will not care about us anymore?"

"Yes." Yu Hua raised his head. Someone sighed and continued, "If Xuzhou is taken, Sikong will definitely take over as the governor and governor of Xuzhou. In order to suppress the situation, he will definitely have to stay there for a while. Can he return to Luoyang this year?"

"Will the King of Dongping move? Leave early. Sikong should finish reorganizing Xuzhou as soon as possible so that he can return to Luoyang earlier."

"I heard that Sikong promised Yanzhou to King Dongping, but King Dongping is still hesitating."

"What are you still hesitating about! If you continue to hesitate, declare him a traitor and all the townsmen will attack him together. Sima Mao will end up in an even more miserable state."

"Who says it's not true? I hope he can figure it out soon."

Cao Fu shook the fan vigorously a few times.

Everyone stopped talking and looked at him.

The huge Donghai Wang Group was now vaguely divided into two parts, the East and the West. The Donghai Wang lived in Donghai, and the Wang Cheng who fled with him became the governor of Donghai. Liu Qia was responsible for recruiting soldiers and became the de facto lieutenant. Considering that many people had recently gone to Donghai and requested to join the court, more and more scholars gathered around the Donghai Wang.

As a result, those who stayed in Luoyang were embarrassed.

Led by the military commander Cao Fu, there are more than ten staff members and court officials. Their momentum is not as strong as the other side, but they hold the military power and are closer to the emperor. They really need to consider carefully what to do next.

Someone once planned to flee east to Xuzhou to work for Sikong, but was dissuaded by Cao Fu on the grounds that there were not enough talented people in Luoyang.

But this is not a solution.

The people left behind in Luoyang are almost like being raised by a stepmother. Every day they see those people from Donghai surrounding Sikong and flattering him, while Sikong has no idea what they are doing. Over time, their future will not be good.

In fact, this is a factional problem, which is difficult for any group to avoid. Sima Yue's absence just magnified this problem.

Cao Fu knew very well what was going on. He knew that the only way was to increase their strength, build more merits, and make Sikong pay attention to them.

People tend to focus on the people in front of them, and ignore the people far away. Then use the weight that cannot be erased to force Sikong to focus his attention.

"What did Mi Zihui say?" Cao Fu turned to Pan Tao and asked.

"He will be able to take up the post of governor of Hongnong in February or March. It has already been agreed that he is willing to compete for the position of commander-in-chief of the Western Expedition." Pan Tao said.

"Then help him fight for it!" Cao Fu said without hesitation: "I have served the Minister of Works for many years, so I still have this bit of face."

"He Lun and Wang Bing want the positions of left and right guard generals." Pan Tao continued, "The Minister of Works also wants to employ Chen Jing, Wang Hu, and Qi Bao. They are all former generals of the Imperial Guards. There are many deserters among the new recruits, so they are easier to lead."

"He Lun and Wang Bing are short-sighted," Cao Fu commented, and then asked, "Where is Shao Xun?"

"When I met Shao Xun, he was hunting in the Imperial Garden and training soldiers." Pan Tao replied, "He has also occupied some land in recent days. I heard that he wants to hire dancers and female musicians, and he also wants his nephew and third brother to be enrolled in the Imperial College..."

"That's all?" Cao Fu asked.

"That's all." Pan Tao looked at Cao Fu calmly and answered.

"A young man who has suddenly ascended to a high position cannot resist temptation." Cao Fu sighed and said, "Well, he still knows how to train the soldiers, that's enough. I can use beauties and money to make friends with him in the future."

Of course, Cao Fu would not believe everything Pan Tao said.

But it seems reasonable.

An eighteen-year-old boy, full of vigor and vitality, with status and power, how could he resist the urge to indulge in sensual pleasures?
The young man who was once highly regarded cannot continue to degenerate like this.

"Send someone to inform Wang Yifu." Cao Fu added, "I don't want to argue with him. He is in charge of the selection of officials in the Ministry of Personnel, and I won't interfere. He should not interfere in what I want to do. Yuan Gui, you go there."

"Yes." Yu Liang replied softly.

"Military Commander..." Xu Lang suddenly spoke.

"What's the matter?"

"Pei Kuo and Pei Xia are back, and Sikong may want to employ them," said Xu Lang.

Cao Fu thought silently.

Pei Kuo was originally the General of the Central Guard (fourth rank), so it was only natural for him to join the Imperial Guard and take charge of the troops.

Pei Xia was Wang Yan's son-in-law, and had not yet entered the government. If the Minister of Works wanted to use him, he would most likely recruit him into the government.

"Wang Yifu..." Cao Fu sighed softly.

How come this person is so good at scheming?
After the failure of Sikong's Northern Expedition, he remained silent for a while, probably waiting to see what would happen. Later, he found that Mi Huang, Shao Xun and others knew the rules, so he came out again.

Wang Yan is the best at playing by the rules, and he fears people who don't follow the rules the most.

He recently appointed Du Xi, the former literary official of the Changsha Palace, as Shangshu Zuocheng (sixth rank), and his relationship with the Du family has become increasingly close.

Of course, the big families are intermarried, and the relationships are complicated and confusing.

It can’t be said that they are very harmonious. After all, sometimes the relationship is very good, and sometimes it deteriorates due to conflicts of interest.

But Wang Yifu is really good at weaving a web of relationships, like a spider.

Compared with him, Wang Dun, Wang Dao, Wang Cheng and others have to be thrown away.

As Wang Yan's followers and allies in the court increased day by day, the prime minister actually acquiesced, which shows that he was also afraid of the consequences.

The simplest thing is that Luoyang still needs supplies from other states.

Without the sons of scholars recruited by Wang Yan to serve as officials in the court, it would be hard to say whether everyone would still recognize this court, and how much money and grain other states could send to the capital.

Sikong was helpless as he had to give up power and win more allies because he failed to win the war decisively.

Forget it, just get along well with Wang Yifu, the paperhanger, and both sides will keep out of each other's way.

"Send someone to persuade Shao Xun." At last, Cao Fu couldn't help but say, "If it doesn't work, let him get married and change his mind. You guys help keep an eye on him."

"Yes." Everyone responded.

Shao Xun is now the most capable thug in the Luoyang clique. He fights with others for land every day and is so greedy for money that it is really ugly.

An eighteen-year-old general in the palace will naturally get on the right track after getting married - well, he will be passively put on the right track, because the legitimate wife will control the coquettish bitches very well, and the milk can only be drunk by her, and the milk that leaks from her mouth can only go to the coquettish bitches.

"Let's go." After saying the last thing, Uncle Cao felt a little exhausted and waved his hand.

(End of this chapter)