Three Kingdoms

The "simple", or rather perfunctory, proposal to give the hussar general a title of nobility and enter the city was ultimately rejected.

Granting a title to a city may seem okay, but is it actually...

Even if it is a real ennoblement, if it is given too much, it will invisibly strengthen Fei Qian's control over the northern land of Guanzhong? Wouldn't it be better to add some trouble to Fei Qian and help him in return?

At the same time, Fei Qian's accumulation of food and property was also very high.

Although in the history of the Han Dynasty, there were some rewards for food towns with tens of thousands of households, but that was the standard for royal honors. For Fei Qian's current meritorious service, it is somewhat unreasonable to give him a few hundred, but to give him one or two thousand, and then Coupled with Fei Qian's original food town, although it is not close to the standard of ten thousand households, it is obviously getting closer.

If there really is something else going on, if this reward continues, is it possible that there will be thousands of households with different surnames in the food towns? You know, when talking about Wanhuhou with different surnames, the Han people will first think of three people, Xiao He, Zhang Liang, and Cao Shen. And what virtue and ability does Fei Qian have, can he stand shoulder to shoulder with these three people?

Such signs must be killed, and no more food can be given to Fei Qian.

Then it would not be appropriate to confer a title alone without enfeoffing the city.

The too flat title system in the Han Dynasty resulted in few buffers between princes.

Now that Fei Qian is an iron-clad Marquis of Guannei, is it possible for him to be given to a "gong" if he gets higher up? Didn't you hear that Zhuge Jin said that "Fei Gong" is long and "Fei Gong" is short? Doesn’t it mean that you want this? But if we really want to follow this idea, then where will Lao Cao’s face go?

What's more, there is another tricky thing...

Xun Yu glanced at Cao Zhen, the young man, and said slowly: "Longyou was lost to the Qiang people in the early years, and the Western Region was also lost. Now it has been restored by the Hussars. This contribution cannot be denied, but since the Emperor Since the capital was moved, the country had been in turmoil, and titles and salaries were awarded from time to time. If the hussar was asked to return his salary, why would the court respond? 』

Because Fei Qian is not a king yet, the food town is not a feudal state. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, Fei Qian cannot manage the administrative and military affairs within the food town area. He only enjoys the right to tax the corresponding area, but in fact The courts in these areas have never been able to send people to manage them, and at the same time they have not collected a penny of taxes, so in fact these are all false, you know, I know, everyone knows...

For things like this, when everyone acquiesces, it makes sense. But when someone is unwilling and exposes it, it makes no sense.

Cao Zhen is the son of Cao Hong. After he became the young eunuch of the Emperor's Young Mansion, everyone knows some of the things he did. Liu Xie's previous young eunuchs either died or ran away, and no one was willing to take the post for a long time. Cao Zhen, the young eunuch, was naturally like the deputy managers who took charge of work in later generations and became the young eunuch. Words matter.

Zhuge Jin always said "Fei Gong", is there any need to say more about this?

Xun Yu's meaning seems very simple on the surface. It seems that he is pretending to be stupid now to fool Fei Qian. If Fei Qian is not satisfied, he will come back to you and ask for money, whether it is for the salary owed by the previous court. It's still the debt that the Young Mansion owes in the past few years. What will we do then?

After all, since the time when the emperor Liu Xie moved the capital, the court has not given Fei Qian a grain of rice or a penny of salary. Now if Fei Qian is offered a title, an increase in salary, etc., then Fei Qian will ask for it. What should we do if we pay off all the arrears in one lump sum first? What words can I use to explain this?

Cao Zhen sneered. He was now in charge of the affairs of the Young Mansion. He was basically responsible for the emperor's purchasing behavior. He felt that Xun Yu seemed to be accusing him of these things overtly and covertly. He couldn't tolerate it, so he said: "If this is the intention of your Majesty, could it be that you want to add "recording matters to the minister"? 』

Cao Cao immediately glared over, "You bastard!" What Wen Ruo said was a serious word, how can we be scornful of it and not apologize to your Majesty! 』

Cao Zhen may not listen to what others say, but if Cao Cao has spoken, how can he be disobedient?

So Cao Zhen swallowed his saliva, saluted Xun Yu, and said that the boy was shapeless and his words were unintentional.

Xun Yu nodded slightly, but did not use the topic or say anything more. .

In fact, the establishment of the "Xijing Shangshu Desk" for Fei Qian means that Fei Qian was given the authority to "Ping Shangshu Affairs", which can even be said to be half of the "Leading Shangshu Affairs". Many things are "I knew it earlier" and I regret "I shouldn't have done it in the first place", and Xijing Shangshutai is obviously such a type of thing.

At that time, Fei Qian's troops came to Xu County, and the war was about to break out. At least half of Cao Cao's main force is still in Jingzhou. Sun Quan from Jiangdong is eyeing him, and the nobles in Jizhou are swaying. It is not an exaggeration to say that there are internal and external troubles. In addition, Xu County is not so stable, so a truce is temporarily suspended and Fei Qian retreats. Avoiding two-front or multi-faceted battles became Cao Cao's best choice at that time.

As for the title of Shangshutai in Xijing, I felt at the time that Fei Qian wanted to appoint some official positions on his own. After all, even if he was not given this title at that time, Fei Qian would still appoint it on his own, just like what Yuan Shao and the princes from various places appointed. When a prefect appoints a governor, he will report it to the court. Will he not be appointed without the approval of the court?

So at that time, most people thought that this matter was not a big deal, and that they were taking advantage of Fei Qian, but now they know that this is not the case.

Although it is said that the Xijing Shangshutai does not have the authority to appoint officials of Jiuqing and above, Fei Qian actually does not have it at all, or in other words, he did not intend to form a decision-making team according to the structure of the Three Gongs and Jiuqing from the beginning, so this "restriction" , in fact it is of no use at all!

Moreover, Fei Qian in turn expressed to the children of the Guanzhong gentry that he had "restrictions" in this area, so he created some weird institutions, and then the children of the Guanzhong gentry couldn't say anything...

Fei Qian is already thinking of ways to bypass restrictions and provide benefits to everyone, what else can he say? Any other comments? Saying that it does not comply with the previous rules of the Han Dynasty means that everyone will not receive benefits and have no chance to be promoted and make a fortune? Will those who object be dragged out to play Xiaojiji? Therefore, the "restrictions" conceived by these people in Shandong to impose on Fei Qian, to a certain extent, actually facilitated Fei Qian's smoother implementation of the New Deal in Guanzhong!

Do you regret it?

regret.

But is regret useful?

So now, when it comes to commending and rewarding Fei Qian, we are more cautious and more cautious, lest it happen like what happened at the Xijing Shangshutai. They thought they could restrict Fei Qian, but in the end they helped Fei Qian.

Therefore, everyone couldn't help but feel that they had to think carefully about the "Fei Gong" issue proposed by Zhuge Jin.

Xun Yu's previous words were superficially referring to "salary", but in fact there were several layers of meaning behind it. However, Cao Zhen was young on the one hand, and also a party involved, so he did not fully understand the meaning behind it. Only then did he feel that Xun Yu was targeting the young master, so he spoke to contradict him, but was scolded by Cao Cao.

Cao Cao could generally guess the unfinished meaning of Xun Yu's words...

In addition to the previous meanings that sound relatively easy for everyone to understand, Xun Yu said that "the work of the Hussar to restore the Western Regions of Longyou cannot be ignored." In fact, the hidden meaning is that everyone is shameless. If he says this For his meritorious service, he was stingy and gave me three melons and two dates, which was inappropriate.

This kind of thing needs to be recorded in history!

Can the reward be as small as possible for Fei Qian, and then Boss Cao can make a big profit himself? Even if Fei Qian and Cao Cao didn't deal with each other at the moment, they still hadn't completely broken up with each other after all. Fei Qian still respectfully sent things, prisoners of war, and the emperor, and then he didn't care about business like the Shaofu...

To put it simply, Fei Qian, the branch manager, is still "loyal" to Dahan Corporation, but he has some conflicts with General Manager Cao Cao. Deliberately suppressing Fei Qian in terms of rewards seems cool now, but what about the future? Don't forget that the lands under Cao Cao's control are not monolithic!

The manager in charge of other places took a look and said, Oh, Boss Cao turns out to be such a person. He quickly took a notebook and wrote it down. The next time Boss Cao said something upright, he would start delivering cheat sheets during the meeting. Come, take a look, don’t listen to what Boss Cao says, look at what Boss Cao has done...

Do you still want the character that Cao Cao worked hard to build before?

Some people originally talked about Cao Cao's unclear rewards and punishments, and his nepotism!

As for what Xun Yu said later, "After the emperor moved the capital, all the titles and salaries were awarded from time to time", was it just "the titles and salaries were awarded from time to time" to just Qiao Qi? No, all the officials of the three auxiliaries in Guanzhong have not received their salaries from the court, and this is also true for all local princes. The emperor has lost the ability to collect taxes from various places, and naturally there is no way to pay them to various local officials. Salary. Including Cao Cao himself.

Therefore, Xun Yu's final question is easy to understand, "If the hussar is invited to return his salary, why will the court accept it?" 』

The unspoken rule is that everyone plays together, but what if there is a serious falling out?

In addition, it is absolutely impossible to bypass the "imperial court" with this kind of edict to commend the Cavalry General Fei Qian. In other words, it must be to let the emperor Liu Xie pass his purpose. What will the emperor think when he sees it?

Strictly speaking, the battle between Cao Cao and Qingxu was just a fight between men and women, but Fei Qian's victory over the Western Qiang and the opening up of the Western Regions can truly be called a message to heaven and earth and to the ancestors...

"If we use Wen Ruo's intention, what should we do?" ” Cao Cao asked with a frown.

Xun Yu ignored the gaze of Guo Jia who was staring at him, lowered his head and said in a deep voice, "May I be given the honorary title of General Hussars, ranking above the three princes..."

"Hmm..." Cao Cao frowned.

During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, the generals were ranked according to their rank. The first was naturally the general, the second was the hussar general, the third was the cavalry general, the fourth was the guard general, and below that were the front, rear, left, right, and four expeditions and four towns... …

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty first appointed Wei Qing as the General, and then created the post of Hussar General for Huo Qubing. After the Battle of Mobei, the post of Grand Sima was established. Wei Huo was promoted to the rank of Grand Sima, and Huo Qubing was added as the General of the Hussars, with a salary. Equal to the generals, the generals of Sima and Hussar are both above the Three Dukes.

The atmosphere suddenly became a little strange, and then Cao Cao pondered for a moment, waved his hand and said: "This matter... I still need to think about it for a while, and we will discuss it tomorrow..."

Everyone stood up, excused themselves and filed out.

Xun Yu did not go to Shangshutai, but returned to his home.

Not long after arriving at home, Guo Jia came angrily. After entering the house without saying a word, he entered the room, patted the table and asked Xun Yu's housekeeper to get the wine...

Butler Xun Yu glanced at Xun Yu.

Xun Yu closed his eyes and waved his hand slightly helplessly.

The butler lowered his head slightly and went down.

There was silence in the courtyard.

After a long time, Guo Jiacai whispered: "Why?" 』

Xun Yu was silent and did not answer immediately.

"Checks and balances...you just want to have checks and balances!" ” Guo Jia patted the table, “You don’t think the Lord will know? ! 』

Xun Yu closed his eyes and said, "Then what do you think we should do?" 』

"..." Guo Jia suddenly fell silent.

Suppressing and delaying Fei Qian's sacrifice was to free up more time for Cao Cao. This was a check and balance. Similarly, Xun Yu's suggestion was also to check and balance on the issue of Fei Qian's reward, but this time The object of checks and balances became Cao Cao.

The hussar general ranks above the three princes.

The general is also ranked above the three princes.

Regarding this, I believe Cao Cao knew it, and the emperor Liu Xie also understood it.

Then Fei Qian in Guanzhong would probably be able to accept such an improvement...

After all, the asking price is high and the money is paid back on arrival. Zhuge Jin's so-called "Fei Gong" can be regarded as an ordinary honorific, or it can be regarded as a "bargain", and this parallel status is the "counter-offer" given by Xun Yu.

But the problem is that Cao Cao will not be happy. This is obvious.

"If you don't do this, it will be difficult to convince the public, and you may even lose your prestige in the court..." After a while, Xun Yu said slowly, "You don't know, hussar, that we are delaying the sacrifice of prisoners?" I wonder if the young man is greedy? I wonder if the emperor wants to take back power? 』

"..." Guo Jia looked gloomy and did not answer.

Xun Yu raised his head and looked at the sky, "Or is he personally leading all the troops and horses to Pingyang in Guanzhong?" 』

The current Han Dynasty is not like Cao Cao's family in history. Even in some aspects, some aspects under Fei Qian are stronger. Even if Cao Cao is now rushing to catch up, there is still a considerable gap. This was especially reflected in this confrontation with Jiangdong.

The half-baked mechanical method learned from Cao Cao caught Jiangdong Army off guard. So what if Cao Cao's imitated mechanical method meets Fei Qian's side?

Although Cao Cao has never discussed this issue, how could people like Xun Yu and Guo Jia not know about this issue?

So in such a situation, what's the point of trying to keep up your face?

"If this reward is given, it can lead to arrogance and greed for power... If the hussar is fooled, even if he will not raise an army to investigate the crime, he will use this as an excuse to publicize it in Qinglong Temple... At that time, you and I... ...Or how will the people in the court explain it? ” 』

Under Xu County, of course, there are mouthpiece media similar to the "official". What is said and what words are used will be controlled, but what about Qinglong Temple? Xu County over there is beyond reach. If a trend of thought is formed and returned to Shandong, is it possible that the Emperor Liu Xie will come up with another "Party Prison III" just like the discussion of the Imperial Academy back then?

Guo Jia frowned and said, "That's why... I'm afraid Hussar might not fall into the trap... And I think you did it on purpose..."

Xun Yu sighed and did not answer the question.

on purpose……

perhaps.

After all, Xun Yu also knew that if the hussar could be arrogant, extravagant, or greedy for beauty, then this condition had already been in place, and he would not have suddenly become arrogant now...

However, if you don’t do this, what can you do?

After all, Xun Yu's surname was not Cao, but Xun.

The most important thing is that Xun Yu is not confident that he can win now that he is fighting Fei Qian. Therefore, we can only place our hope on the population base and cultural heritage of Jizhou and Yuzhou, and then rely on time and development to eventually accumulate a greater advantage than Feiqian, and then achieve the final victory. Of course, if some opportunities can be found during this stalemate, such as civil strife in Guanzhong or something like that, maybe...

Anyway, Cao Cao is currently in a situation where the economy is tight, the soldiers are not as good as the soldiers, and the equipment is backward in technology. Even if he wants to turn against him, he does not have the capital.

"Nowadays, among the big men, there are only lords and hussars..." Xun Yu sighed again, "Previously, the lord fought hard with jujubes, was not afraid of power, and was favored by everyone... But now..."

As for Sun Erluzi, in fact, most people don't regard him as a big deal.

Guo Jia tilted his head slightly and looked at the sky to the west. Just like Xun Yu did before, he didn't know what to say. After a while, he sighed, "My lord... you are forcing me." Lord! You...sigh..."

Guo Jia's previous anger gradually turned into helplessness, "Those people...are they worth it?" 』

Xun Yu smiled, his handsome and clear face unknowingly mixed with a bit of sadness, "I don't know..."

Guo Jia frowned, "What if my lord can't understand your painstaking efforts?" Have you ever thought about it? 』

Xun Yu was silent for a moment, but still smiled and said, "I don't know either..."

"you! ” Guo Jia couldn’t help but stood up and walked to Xun Yu, as if he was about to kick him, but he turned a corner and walked past Xun Yu, only bringing his big sleeves to Xun Yu’s head. It was as if he was caressing his face gently.

Xun Yu still sat there, looking like a wood carving.

After a while, the housekeeper came with some drinks and food. Seeing that Guo Jia had left, he couldn't help but be stunned for a moment and asked in a low voice: "Master, this... Guo Langjun..."

"gone. Xun Yu said slowly.

"Then this drink..."

"..." Xun Yu exhaled and said, "Bring it on, I'll use it..."

"ah? Ah...yes..." The butler didn't know what was going on, but he did as he was told.

Xun Yu poured a glass of wine and placed it on the table.

Then he poured another glass, then picked it up himself, gestured slightly towards the first glass of wine, and then raised his head to drink...