Chapter 18 Duke Cao pays homage to Prime Minister

In June of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (208 A.D.), a major event happened that changed the fate of the Han Dynasty and even Cao Cao's personal destiny. Situ Zhao Wen, who had just been deposed, publicly wrote a letter, asking for the abolition of Sangong and electing Cao Cao as prime minister. This proposal immediately shocked the ruling and opposition parties.If someone still has doubts about Zhao Wen's conquest of Cao Pi, then through this letter, he can see the face of this 70-year-old official, and he is clearly a pawn of Cao Cao.The three princes are gone, and the prime minister monopolizes the power. This ancient so-called "holding the prime minister and assisting the emperor with all opportunities", from now on, not only Jizhou will be under the jurisdiction of Cao Cao, but all the civil and military officials in the prefectures, counties and counties of the world will become his subordinates. Bai, just like the emperor who doesn't wear dragon robes.

Regarding this change, civil and military officials generally have three attitudes: most people are just indifferent, the fact that the Cao family has been in power for many years, the struggle is useless, and the initiative to cater is against the way of the courtiers of the Han Dynasty, it will rain and the mother will marry In addition, the officials and subordinates who were promoted after Cao Cao came to power, Dong Zhao, Chen Qun and others in the court praised Zhao Wen's proposal, and expressed that they were bosses. People are "very mature and loyal to the country, and loyalty is commendable". Mr. Cao should ascend to the position early to comfort the hearts of the world. One hundred stones raised to six hundred stones, everyone benefits, why not do it; but there are also people who are against it, there are not many such people, but they are all old ministers who returned from Chang'an, and they are full of nostalgia for the Han Dynasty. But except for the "big speaker" Kong Rong, no one dared to speak up, at most they cursed in private.The state of the Han Dynasty is important, but the head is also very important. Who is not afraid of the butcher knife in Cao Cao's hand?

The most difficult thing is actually the ritual system officials in Taichang Temple. The Han Dynasty did not have a prime minister for more than 200 years, and suddenly the ancient system was restored. Who knows what the ceremony of worshiping the prime minister will be like?Those who searched the ancient books, those who read the history books, had to select jade and rush to make the seal. After a long time of effort, they couldn't verify the etiquette of the old emperor's appointment of Xiao He as the prime minister.Fortunately, Cao Cao did not embarrass them. After three times of resignation, he made it clear that there is no need to care about etiquette, just send me the seal of the prime minister!

The prime minister did not accept the canonization of the emperor in the palace, but asked the court to send him the seal. Who is the master and who is the minister?Cao Cao just wanted to show this spectrum, to let the whole world know his dignity.So a lively farce of paying respects began.Emperor Liu Xie personally issued the imperial edict, enumerating Cao Cao's achievements. Taichangqing Xu Wei took over the imperial edict and the seal, and went to the Sikong Mansion to grant the seal on festivals.Those who knew it were planned by Cao Cao in advance, but those who didn't know thought that Cao Cao didn't want to be the emperor, and the officials of the Manchu Dynasty begged him to be the emperor.

After busy preparations, Taichangqing Xu Qiu knelt in the palace to accept the edict and talisman festival. In fact, it was only a few steps away from Cao's mansion, but it was very complicated according to the etiquette requirements.First of all, you have to take the ambassador's car, which symbolizes the messenger of the emperor, with four red wheels and a white cover with red curtains; there are two Gong Cao chariots, thief Cao chariots, ax chariots, and supervisor chariots to accompany the guard team on the left and right, and four more follower chariots behind. Carrying high-ranking officials of the rank of Jiuqing, servants, and doctors; directly in front of the team, there are forty Zouqi and twelve crossbowmen, all of whom are Lang Guan, who are responsible for guiding the team to show their majesty.There was a large procession and the accompanying officials, the ones in front had all reached the gate of the Cao Mansion, and the ones behind had just left the palace.Scholars, farmers, businessmen in and out of the city, how can they not take to the streets to watch the excitement?The people gathered in the street to watch, Cao Cao's face can be regarded as showing his feet.

Cao Mansion's preparations are also very thorough. The plaque of "Sikong Mansion" has been removed, and the new plaque of "Prime Minister's Mansion" has not yet been hung. Wang Bi led the golden armored warriors to block the streets and alleys. According to regulations, Sikong's subordinates can have at most 70 people, and the number of subordinates appointed by the prime minister can reach up to 380 people. This team will grow even stronger in the future.As soon as the envoy's convoy arrived, all the subordinates immediately fell to their knees and shouted long live. The momentum was so great that the streets and roofs trembled in awe, and all the officials had to salute in return.Although one side is a humble subordinate and the other is a crowned courtier, everyone knows which side is real and which side is false.After saluting, everyone retreated, and a lane of people flashed out. Xu Yan got out of the car with the help of the audience, held the imperial edict in both hands, and went straight into the gate of the mansion. When paying homage, the envoy holding the festival is equivalent to the presence of the emperor.

Xu Wei is now an old man in his seventies. He was put under house arrest by Yuan Shu for many years without yielding to his ministers. In the end, when Yuan Shu died of illness, he stole the Jade Seal of the Kingdom and returned to the court, so he was granted too often.State affairs are only worshiped and Rong, and Taichang is the head of the Jiuqing. Without the Sangong, he would be the biggest official below Cao Cao.Xu Yu is hale and hearty and steady, with a solemn face and eyes fixed, but his heart is full of indignation——24 years ago, during the Yellow Turban Uprising, he followed Zhu Jun to suppress the rebel army and worked with Cao Cao. Cai, who would have imagined that the boy in those days has now become the prime minister with power over the world, and he himself acts as an envoy to deliver seals to others, it is really unpredictable!He suppressed his mood, and came to the lobby, but saw that the couch had been vacated, and the incense table had been set up; but Cao Cao, who was about to be appointed, was nowhere to be seen. Could it be that the great prime minister who "resigned three times and then accepted" still wanted Are you playing tricks?

Xu Wei didn't know it. At this moment, Cao Cao was pacing up and down in the back hall, troubled by an annoying matter.Before returning to Xudu, he ordered Yu Jin, Zhang Liao, Zhang He, Zhu Ling, Li Dian, Lu Zhao, and Feng Kai to station seven armies near Yingchuan. Since then, these seven big tigers have not stopped for a day, and they are all military exploits. No one would obey anyone without Cao Cao in front of his eyes.Today there is a little conflict over the distribution of food, and tomorrow there will be a battle with equipment and weapons, and afterward, each will write a report and hand it to Cao Cao.Cao Cao still counted on them to contribute to the war, so he could only turn a blind eye and close his eyes, and didn't bother to care about it.It's fine to have a little conflict, but this morning, a military report suddenly came out, and Zhu Ling's Zhonglang General Cheng Ang incited the soldiers to rebel!

"What did Zhu Wenbo do?" Cao Cao groaned angrily. "At the beginning, I repeatedly told the soldiers in Hebei to be lenient when they first surrendered. Why did he ignore my words? You haven't conquered Jingzhou yet, so call him first." Look at the joke! These generals are self-confident and lawless, so I must use Zhu Ling to teach them a lesson!" Although Zhu Ling had captured and killed Cheng Ang and wrote a letter of self-reproach at the first time, it still caused a bad influence. Some Hebei soldiers were dissatisfied with their treatment and escaped to return home.Yu Jinsu didn't agree with Zhu Ling, so he sent a letter to report to Cao Cao, exposing his willfulness, whipping soldiers, insulting generals, and looting food and grass, which was nothing more than adding fuel to the fire.

Chief Shi Xueti followed Cao Cao closely, wandering around like an idiot and persuading him: "Forget it, forget it, Zhu Ling has already admitted his mistake, Yu Jin's words are worthwhile, and the loss is not big..." "Although the pain is unbearable, it's unbearable!" Cao Cao didn't hate this little loss, but when he was appointed as the prime minister, there was a disturbance. Didn't this smear his face? The chief secretary Wen Hui was very calm: "Because the matter happened at this juncture, my lord should turn the big thing into a small thing and turn it into nothing. Now, if you deal with the general, it's even more a joke? Xu Taichang is still waiting outside, don't be negligent." gone."

"Hey! Endure it." Cao Cao gradually stopped, feeling a dull pain in his head, and muttered, "There is nothing that makes me happy on a good day. That old fellow Hua Tuo somehow did it. He doesn’t work when he’s not working, and he won’t get better if he doesn’t use acupuncture, does he want to leave a root cause to threaten the old man?” After a few complaints, he finally returned to the topic, “I won’t pursue the matter now, let’s call Le Jin and Zhang Liao to send some soldiers to him first. Zhu Ling. Write back to him now, and I tell you to write." The reporter Chen Lin had been waiting on the sidelines for a long time. Seeing that his evil fire had finally disappeared, she hurriedly listened and wrote: Chen Lin was clear-eyed—Cao Cao did not reprimand Zhu Ling, but compared him to the famous ZTE general Deng Yu.But these are all perfunctory words, and in the end he pointed out that "I have written a letter of sympathy, and I have taken the blame too much, so it may not be what I said", which may not be a suspicion of Zhu Ling.If Zhu Ling is sensible, he should be a man with his tail between his legs in the future. The school officer Zhao Da glanced at the document with ulterior motives, and said in a nonchalant way: "A traitor in the army is due to ineffective supervision. Even if Zhu Ling is not to be blamed, the history of the assassination order should be investigated." In fact, it makes sense None, the assassin did not serve in Zhu Lingjun at all, so it is understandable that he didn't know about it.But Gao Rou is in this position, Cao Cao used him to vent his hatred, and Zhao Da spared no effort to make trouble. Cao Cao was having no way to vent his anger: "That's right! Gao Rou fined him a salary for one year as a sign of punishment." Punishing a salary but not dismissing him, and keeping him to continue to suffer, is simply playing with a mouse. Wen Hui felt that it was unfair and had nothing to do, so he said: "It doesn't matter who is punished and who is not. You should send someone to the army to reconcile the generals. Yu Jin and Zhu Ling are both fighting for power. If no one can persuade them to coordinate , such things will inevitably happen again in the future.” "It makes sense...who is the right one to send?" Cao Cao tapped his forehead and thought about it. Wen Hui already had someone to choose, but he didn't say anything: "If I follow my advice, I should choose someone with a good temper and a slow temper." "Good-tempered and slow-tempered." Cao Cao's eyes lit up, "Speed-tuned Zhao Yan will serve as the Chief Guard of the Seventh Army!" Guards, those warriors can't grind him no matter how bad-tempered they are. In any case, this matter was settled, and everyone rushed to help Cao Cao tidy up his clothes and hurried out.But I saw Cao Pi and Cao Zhi coming in a panic.Cao Cao asked while tightening the jade belt: "What are you doing here? The angels have arrived, why don't you kneel in the yard to meet them?" Cao Pi was sweating profusely: "Chong'er, Biao'er, and Lin'er have gone somewhere. Didn't father see him?" Father was appointed a high-ranking official, and all the sons had to dress up to attend. They had to kneel in the porch to thank Shengen. Put them on, but now they can't find anyone. "Oh! I haven't seen them before." Cao Cao stomped his feet anxiously, "Where did these little bastards go to play? Why don't you look for them! What are you doing in a daze, go and find them for me!" After Cao Cao yelled, there was a lot of excitement behind.Sikong's mansion is not small, with rooms connecting rooms and courtyards. Even Cao Pi, Chen Lin, Xue Ti and their wives, servants, and maids ran around shouting and looking for them, regardless of the difference between inside and outside.It stands to reason that there is nothing wrong with a few young children not participating, but Cao Cao's attitude is very serious-Cao Lin was born to his remarried wife, Du, and Cao Biao's biological mother, Sun, is just an ordinary maid in the mansion. These two sons are not important; The one who cares is Cao Chong, the son of the Huan family.Cao Chong is the heir chosen by Cao Cao in his heart. Whether he is the emperor or a minister in power, everything after his death will be handed over to this son. Therefore, at such a glorious moment today, we must let this child show his face and show it to the ministers of the court.For this reason, Cao Cao deliberately "grabbed the championship" for him a few days ago, and named him Cangshu. Cao Cao was in a hurry as he walked across the courtyard, when he suddenly heard a servant shouting not far away: "My little ancestor, why did you come here! I found it!" He hurried over to have a look - this is the first gate within two gates. In the side courtyard, there are several low rooms and stoves, where the cooks prepare wine and food. Who would have thought that your son would come here to play?At this moment, Hua Tuo was leading his disciple Li Dangzhi to cook medicine by the stove; two newly recruited disciples Wu Pu and Fan A were also at the side, but they couldn't understand what they were doing, and they were twisting their bodies and putting on a weird look. Wu Pu touched the ground with one foot, stretched his arms and shook up and down, like a big bird; Fan A shrunk his shoulders and back, scratched his ears and scratched his cheeks, like an ape.Looking to the side, Cao Cao was very angry——Cao Chong, Cao Biao, and Cao Lin were lying on the ground, pretending to be imitating a bear or a tiger, and their new clothes were stained with dirt. "What are you doing!" Cao Cao snapped. Wu Pu hurriedly fell to his knees: "Qi Si... Prime Minister, this is the 'Wu Qin Xi' compiled by the master after imitating the technique of guiding the ancients. Practicing this can strengthen your body." "Nonsense!" Cao Cao grabbed Cao Chong into his arms, "What kind of people do you think they are? How can the son of a dignified prince act like a beast!" Hua Tuo hurriedly made amends: "I didn't dare to teach the young masters without authorization, they just watched it for fun..." Before he finished speaking, Cao Cao interrupted Leng Sensen: "Mr. Hua, this old man is very polite to you. I have not blamed you for not eradicating the old man's illness. From now on, you disciples are not allowed to stay in my residence." Live, move out for me! This is the prime minister's mansion, not a market place!" Seeing his father getting angry, Cao Chong suddenly pointed to the medicine stove and said, "Dad, look at the medicine stove. The fire is on the bottom and the water is on the top. The child just learned it the day before yesterday. It is called 'water and fire are both good' and 'both good'." Isn't it the meaning of consummation? Daddy is appointed prime minister today, and our family is consummated, how auspicious it is!" This was originally a sentence of persuasion, but Hua Tuo's disciple Fan A is a straightforward person, so he couldn't help interjecting: "Young master, you can't understand it well. The hexagram of 'Water and fire are both economical' has a saying 'Heng Xiao, Li Zhen. At the beginning The auspicious end is chaotic.'Yu Yueman will lose water and overflow, this hexagram has a nice name, but it is not auspicious..." Halfway through the sentence, I realized that I had slipped my words, and quickly shut up and kowtowed. The matter of Zhu Ling has already troubled Cao Cao, and he must be angered if he speaks ominously on a good day!Fortunately, Wen Hui had a quick mind and hugged Cao Lin: "My little son, let's go! The civil and military officials of the Manchu Dynasty are waiting outside! How can the ministers discuss it if we delay?" Talk to the kids and talk to the adults.Cao Cao knew that he was urging him, suppressed the anger in his chest, gritted his teeth and stared at Fan A: "Get out now! Don't come here to disturb, or you will be killed! Mr. Hua, you can do it yourself." After saying that, he led the child and walked away. go. When Cao Cao appeared in the lobby with a dignified demeanor, Xu Wei was already a little impatient.I have never seen such a receiver in Fengtian Xuanzhao, who kept asking the envoy to wait for him in the hall for more than a moment, but he couldn't sit down, and the edict couldn't be left behind.If you don't take the messenger seriously, how can you take the emperor seriously?Xu Qi was quite comfortable. There were two visitors behind him, one was holding a talisman and the other was holding a photo seal. Both things were not light. They both trembled after holding them up for a long time. Greetings" over and over. The members of the Cao family knelt quietly along the eaves of the corridor, and Cao Chong and Cao Pi lined up at the front, one on the left and one on the right.Xu Qi unfolded the imperial edict and read it out in public, and Cao Cao bowed three times and kowtowed nine times.But at the moment when he took over the Prime Minister, he declined again: "Cao is so talented and unworthy of virtue. Xu Gong is a veteran of the three dynasties. You should be the prime minister." Xu Wei was taken aback. Seeing that he was still acting coy when the situation came to an end, he quickly stepped back a few steps and bowed to the ground: "Mr. Cao has made great contributions, and the old man is hard to look back on. I hope Mr. Cao will take the world as the most important responsibility." "I hope Mr. Cao will take the responsibility of the world as the most important thing!" All the ministers in the hall shouted together. "Ah!" Cao Cao sighed hypocritically, "Since there is no one in the world, I will forcefully be the prime minister." In this way, Cao Cao "modestly" finally sat on the position he had planned for a long time, at the age of fifty-four.Xu Yan, who was still an angel just now, retreated to the corridor and led all the officials to pay respects, and everyone bowed at his feet.Cao Cao said a few polite words, and invited the officials of the Manchu Dynasty to come to the mansion for a banquet in the evening, then turned back to the back hall and stripped off the dress, and then went to plan the strategy of the Southern Expedition...