Chapter 17 kill the donkey

With Cao Mengde's order, ten counties in Jinan took action at the same time.Zhang Jing, Liu Yan and other county magistrates personally led people to arrest the wizard alchemist and destroy Zhu Xuhou's ancestral hall. Although in just two months, more than 200 Liu Zhang's ancestral halls in Jinan were all razed to the ground, but people's private worship at home has been repeatedly prohibited.How many notices have been issued and how many portraits have been confiscated, even Cao Cao himself can't remember clearly, but there is still little effect.After a long time, he also felt relieved: the emperor was fatuous and the government orders were onerous, and the people's worship of Liu Zhang had actually become a kind of ideological sustenance. How could this kind of dependence be broken by external forces?Fortunately, all the wizards cheating money have been beaten out of Jinan, and the leading squires have also been punished. As for the superstitions that the common people practice at home, let them go.

At this time, a series of news from the capital aroused Cao Cao's uneasiness. First of all, a big storm broke out in the capital. The emperor used this name to accuse San Gong of being immoral, and dismissed Taiwei Deng Sheng.During the Yellow Turban Rebellion, Deng Sheng was ordered to sit down in Luoyang to take care of the overall situation, but now he hastily kicked out of the public office.Immediately afterwards, the titles of Huangfusong and Zhu Jun's left and right chariot generals were removed.Zhu Jun was demoted to Guang Luxun; Huang Fusong was deprived of the title of 6,000 households, and even the honor of leading the governor of Jizhou was also deprived.The imperial court appointed Zhang Wen as the Chariot General, leading Dong Zhuo, Zhou Shen, Tao Qian, Sun Jian and others to continue the crusade against Xiliang rebels.Later, there was shocking news that Wang Yun, the governor of Yuzhou, and Xu Qi, the governor of Jingzhou, were successively convicted and sent to prison.

Cao Cao had to hesitate: what's going on?It is by no means a coincidence that all the heroes who quelled the chaos last year were either dismissed from office or imprisoned.Is the emperor going to kill the donkey?Or is it another ten servants playing tricks?Deng Sheng was a generation of loyal men, Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song were famous generals in hundreds of battles, Wang Yun and Xu Wei were ministers who overcame thorns and thorns. Now that Xiliang is not in peace and Montenegro is not settled, these people need not be dismissed.Before the flying birds are exhausted, the good bow is broken first; before the cunning rabbit is caught, the lackeys are already cooked. Who will be willing to work for the country in the future?

Then Cao Cao realized that the next one to be hit would be himself?Destroying the statues of the ancestral hall of the clan heroes, what an easy thing he did to make people catch him!But there was no time to inquire about these things in detail, and the new errands sent by the court came again. The emperor's bad ideas are always one after another, regardless of whether the officials and the people can accept it or not.He has always been worried about the burning of the Nangong Palace. In order to restore the palace as soon as possible, he ordered all the officials who were expropriated to pay the palace repair money to the court before taking office.As soon as the decree came out, the world was in an uproar. How is this different from the Yellow Turban's previous behavior of selling officials?Officials at the county guard level were transferred and promoted, and the money for the construction of the palace was exploited from top to bottom. After careful calculation, it cost 20 to 30 million yuan, which was more powerful than selling officials back then.The most damning thing is that once you are promoted and transferred, you will not be able to resign even if you want to.The officers and soldiers in the West Garden ransacked your home to collect money, coerced you to take office, forced you to dig three feet of ground to fish and meat the common people, until you got all the money for the palace repair—how is this kind of government different from robbers?

Now that we have the money to repair the palace, we need to raise materials.With a swipe of his pen, Liu Hong ordered the counties of Taiyuan, Hedong, and Didao to transport timber, and the land of Kanto also transported iron ore and grain stone.After it arrived in the capital, the eunuchs checked and paid for it, and Gou Dun, one of the ten permanent attendants, ordered Song Dian to sit in charge. When it came to Jinan, Cao Cao was very busy. He picked and picked and picked the stones. In order to buy these things, he almost spent all the warehouses in Jinan counties. Shipping in Malaysia.After finishing the purchase with great difficulty, and considering that the Black Mountain Army appeared and looted property, Zhang Jing from Tai County personally led the team, and Lou Yi led Xiangyong to follow the escort.With more than a hundred people in a car and a mighty crowd, they finally left Jinan with a lot of noise.

Cao Cao thought that this errand was dealt with, but he didn't know that after less than ten days of quiet, Lou Yi ran back from Luoyang as if he couldn't wait.It turned out that the eunuch was so picky about the stone materials that he asked them all to be transported back for repurposing.Seeing that the treasury of the prefectures and counties was almost empty, a hundred people were trapped in the capital, and the stones were still piled outside Luoyang city in the wind and sun, Cao Cao was in a hurry.He immediately summoned several nearby county magistrates, together with He Ya's meritorious officials, to discuss countermeasures.

But this is not a discussion, it has become a complaint meeting.The county magistrate complained about the lack of money to do things, the meritorious officials complained about the hard work of purchasing, and even the small officials were full of complaints.Cao Cao became more and more anxious. It would be fine if his family paid 18 million yuan, but those grain stones were very valuable. The county government money was spent on these things, even if his father cleaned up the family, he still couldn't afford it. With a sad face, Lou Yi told everyone: "My lords, those eunuchs are too bullying. I accompanied County Magistrate Zhang to Nangong to pay the stones, but the eunuch pointed at my nose and complained that the stones have edges and corners! Listen, everyone, Can a big rock have no edges and corners?"

Liu Yan, the county magistrate of Zouping, was so angry that he blew his beard and stared: "What a shame!" "Master Zhang said, since he picks up the edges and corners, let's grind them for him. We unloaded the stones when we got back to Duting Station. Those big rocks piled up into mountains, and we grinded them for two days and two nights for nothing!" "So what?" "I still don't want to accept it! The eunuch said that the pattern of the stone is wrong. There is nothing to choose from the pattern of the stone used to pave the throne!" When everyone heard the words, they all shouted and scolded.Liu Yankou was blunt, turned his head and asked Cao Cao: "My lord, these eunuchs are clearly looking for faults on purpose, do you have any grudges against that Goudunling Song Dian?"

Fearing that the knife had been sheathed, Liu Yan's words hit his heart.Cao Cao is also thinking about the strangeness of this. A group of anti-rebellion heroes have been relegated one after another. Could it be that this time he is deliberately looking for trouble for him?Lou Yiwen waved his hand: "No, that's not right! My lord and Song Dian don't know each other at all, and they didn't just pick us. There's a group of wood deliverers from the east of the river, and they've gone back and forth three times, and those eunuchs just pick their noses up. Picky, life and death refused to accept and pay for the materials. In the end, the eunuch reluctantly stayed and only gave one-tenth of the money!"

Cao Cao felt at ease when he heard this, and said with a sneer, "Hmph! Those eunuchs are just greedy for bribes, so let's give them to him." Lou Yi bowed and said, "My lord, this time it's not that simple. If it can be solved with a few dollars, County Magistrate Zhang will deal with it himself. We used words to seduce them, and those eunuchs didn't even bother to talk to each other. Song Dian spent the whole day Living in the palace and not showing up, even if you want to bribe him, you can't find a way." "Weird, weird! What are you going to do?" Cao Cao was a little confused, "You didn't go to find my father, tell him to think of a way?"

"I went to find the master, and this time the master can't do anything, and he can't see Song Dian either." Cao Cao's brows were frowned into a big pimple, and he couldn't figure it out: "It's weird! What's going on here... Is the emperor in a hurry or not? With this selection of materials, when will Nangong be finished?" "Finished?" Lou Yi sneered, "There is not even a shadow of the start of work, and the collected materials are piled up on the ruins of Nangong. The good wood is exposed to wind and rain, and some are rotten! Collected I don’t know what they think if they don’t keep the good news and keep pushing for new ones.” Everyone was even more surprised when they heard this remark, and then speculated whether the emperor and the ten permanent attendants were frightened stupid by the Yellow Turban Rebellion.When there was a lot of discussion, an officer came to report: "Report to the Prime Minister, Mr. Huang, the governor, has arrived, and I will meet him outside." He said and handed over a famous card. "What's going on here? The governor didn't send an announcement in advance when he was coming." Cao Cao took the famous assassin and said, "What did you guys do? You didn't even know when you drove into the city, and they didn't know when they arrived at the gate of the mansion. tell me." "Return to your lord." The guard looked distressed, and explained: "Master Huang came here in a micro-service, without a car." "I'm really confused." Cao Cao got up quickly, "Master Huang must be visiting in a micro-service, I have to go out to meet him." Liu Yan said from the side: "Since Mr. Huang is here, we county magistrates should also go out to greet him. Today is really lively, and the third-level officials of the prefecture, county and county have gathered together, which is rare in a hundred years!" All the officials teased The robe end bands followed out one after another. This group of people rushed out of the house, startling Huang Wan, governor of Qingzhou.He didn't wear an official uniform and didn't take an official car today. He only brought three servants to pretend to go out. He wanted to talk to Cao Cao about some secret matters.Unexpectedly, as soon as the gatekeeper of Guoxiang's mansion reported, more than ten officials came out.From Cao Cao, the Prime Minister of the country, down to the county magistrates and meritorious officials of counties and counties, when they saw each other, there were people who bowed and bowed, and they immediately confused him. Before he woke up, he was praised by the stars Let him into the mansion. Huang Wan, styled Ziyan, was from Jiangxia.His great-grandfather, Huang Xiang, was a famous scholar of his generation. Wen Xi touched the world with his filial piety;Huang Wan originally became an official very early, but because he was promoted by Taifu Chen Fan, he was framed by eunuchs as a crony, and was imprisoned at home by the court for twenty years, until the party's imprisonment was lifted.Yang Ci recommended him to be an official again, but the time in his life that should have made great achievements has long been missed. At the age of forty-five, his hair is full of white hair without a black strand, all because of too much suffering. Everyone took their seats one after another, Huang Wan looked around the room full of officials, and asked, "Why are you all gathered here?" He has been imprisoned for a long time and has become weak-tempered, with a bit of timidity in his words. "My lord, you must have something important to do when you come from afar, so you should talk about it first." Cao Cao treated him very respectfully.In terms of official rank and salary, the prefect of the country is two thousand shi, and the state governor is only 600 shi.Especially after the Yellow Turban Rebellion subsided, the governor of the state had the power to lead troops to quell the rebellion, so his status was even more different. Huang Wan was not polite, and said slowly: "The imperial court is mobilizing timber and stone materials from various places to rebuild the Nangong Palace. Also because the eunuchs are harsh and difficult, most of them cannot be handed over smoothly. Now there are many officials in other places exploiting people's wealth under the banner of replacing stone materials. He oppressed merchants and took the opportunity to fill his own pockets. Two months ago, Jia Cong went to Jizhou Governor, and announced in advance that he would punish all bribers, big or small. Unexpectedly, when he took office, all Hezhou officials fled. Dong Zhao, the magistrate of a small Yingtao County, dared to stay in office, and the corruption of officials is really shocking." Cao Cao couldn't help shaking his head and sighing: "My lord, if you go out in low clothes, you must be checking whether the officials in this state are clean or not." "I can't help it. I can't believe the words of my subordinates now." Huang Wan waved his hand, "I don't know if I don't investigate, and I will scare people! Qi State is not bad under my eyes, and there are piles of corrupt officials in Pingyuan and Beihai counties. What's more serious is Donglai County. I wrote a letter to dismiss the Donglai prefect, but I somehow leaked the news. The Donglai prefect sent a small official named Tai Shici to go to Luoyang to destroy my impeachment memorial. It has become a world wonder!" Cao Cao couldn't laugh or cry when he heard it: "Corrupt officials are very difficult to deal with." "I've been going around, but Jinan under Mengde's rule is the best. All county magistrates are here, and I will tell you frankly. I have gone to all your places in private, and the people still think highly of you. If you all Like you Jinan, I, the governor, will not be in a hurry." Cao Cao shyly shook his head: "Your reputation is too high, sir! Jinan is not much better, have you forgotten? I dismissed eight county magistrates as soon as I took office... like these two are Licheng magistrate Wu Zhou and Dongping Lingling Hou Sheng, just arrived this month." Wu Zhou and Hou Sheng hurriedly greeted each other again, Huang Wan couldn't help nodding his beard and nodding when he saw that they were behaving in a dignified manner. Cao Cao pointed at Liu Yan with a smile: "To tell you the truth, the only county magistrate here is the one who slipped through the net, and everyone else is new." Huang Wan purposely sized Liu Yan up a few more times: "Well, County Magistrate Liu is a good official." Liu Yan raised his hand and declined: "The next official has no achievements and is extremely mediocre, not a good official." "You must not be humble. Now there is no talk of making political achievements. If you don't take bribes, you are considered a good official. If a persimmon rots, a basket will rot. If you don't serve them with Shi Chang... Sigh!" Huang Wan was imprisoned for twenty Years, it can be said to be unforgettable, I dare not say anything about eunuchs in public, so I quickly changed the subject, "Why are you all together?" This troublesome matter came up again, Cao Cao bowed his head and said, "It's still because of the matter of transporting stones, the eunuchs are picky and picky and don't accept them!" "Hmph!" Huang Wan sneered, "Don't worry, they haven't picked the time yet, and they will accept it when the time comes." "Oh? Why?" Cao Cao asked, but Huang Wan kept silent and just sneered.Seeing this, Liu Yan expected that he had something private to say to Cao Cao, so he got up tactfully, "Since this is the case, I still have a lot of business to do in my office. When he said this, Wu Zhou and Hou Sheng also stood up, and the others also found excuses to leave, and they left in a short time. Seeing that Huang Wan was alone, Cao Cao asked, "My lord, from what you just said, what is the mystery behind this incident?" "The matter of repairing the palace is false!" "What?" Cao Cao frowned, "How do you say that?" "If you think about it carefully, you'll understand. Those eunuchs charged 10% for all the materials they selected. Then where did the remaining 90% go?" "How come the remaining 90%?" Huang Wan patted him on the shoulder: "Meng De, Meng De, you really don't know or pretend to be confused with me. Song Dian pays money from the treasury, how can he really spend 10% of the money, he must report 10%! " "Did the eunuch swallow the remaining 90% of the money?" "No, no, no matter how greedy the Ten Permanent Attendants are, they dare not hide so much money. The amount is too large. The only possibility is that the money went into the Zhongzang treasury without a sound." Cao Cao was taken aback: "That's... that's the emperor's money (private money)." "That's right, the money has turned into the emperor's private money. Think about it, how much did you earn by selling the officials? After the Yellow Turban incident, he had no choice but to take out all the money and distribute it to the soldiers of the Northern Army. Can the palace be repaired?" How many materials are used, why do you have to collect materials from all over the world? This is a shame for Long live today. It is not good to embezzle the national treasury openly and use this topic to make money. I want to get back the money that was scattered at the beginning. I am afraid that the collected materials will be repaired. A palace is enough." Cao Cao only felt a bang in his head, as if the sky was falling.His chest seemed to be burning like a raging fire, and he finally uttered the words that had been suppressed for a long time: "The big man is finished...he is really a fatuous and senseless king of subjugation!" Huang Wan was taken aback by saying that it was a crime of beheading and exterminating the family. He had suffered a lot, so he quickly covered Cao Cao's mouth: "Keep your voice down, I'm not afraid that the walls have ears. I'm telling you this to tell you Don't worry, you don't need to worry about the stone materials, sooner or later the eunuch will pay 10%." "The king can deceive the people, but not the heaven!" Cao Cao was furious. "The money in the world is divided into yin and yang, and it belongs to the emperor. Why does he have to do everything possible to amass money? Does he have to squander it all before he gives up? He behaves like this, The national treasury and the local government are both empty, and they have become Chinese Tibetan money. Isn’t it killing the chicken to get the eggs? If there is a catastrophe, what will the officials use to relieve the disaster?” Huang Wan was silent for a long time, then sighed: "Actually, I'm here today not only for business, but I also have a private matter to tell you. The imperial court secretly sent a superintendent to order those who have made military achievements, you should be careful!" Now, Cao Cao is also thinking about it: "If you want to lose your official position, just lose it. Huangfusong, Zhu Jun, Xu Wei, Wang Yun, everyone will be demoted and sent to prison. It's my turn." "These criminals have their own hidden secrets, do you know?" Cao Cao snorted angrily and said, "If you want to commit a crime, there is nothing wrong with it." "This is not entirely true. The reason why Huangfu Yizhen was banished was because he offended Zhao Zhong. He was in Pingzhangjiao, Hebei, and passed by Yecheng and saw Zhao Zhong's house, which was built in a row of houses. He returned to the court to visit According to the play, the emperor was worried about having no money, so he confiscated Zhao Zhong's house to fill the treasury. Later, he and Dong Zhuo discussed Beigong Boyu, and the two got along badly, so Dong Zhuo conspired with Zhao Zhong to demote him. " "Ten Servants... Ten Servants... Are there any bad things in the world that they haven't done?" Cao Cao slapped his thigh, "Where are Xu Wei and Wang Yun?" "Xu Shijun's case is similar. He offended Empress Dowager Dong's nephew, who also joined forces with Zhao Zhong to sue him for not doing enough to hunt down the thief, and ended up in prison." Huang Wan regretted, "As for Wang Zishi's matter, there is something wrong. Trouble. He handed in a secret letter, which was written by Zhang Mancheng, the anti-thief "God Envoy" to Zhang Rang, claiming that he found it while counting the relics of the Yellow Turban in Yingchuan." "Oh?" Cao Cao's eyes widened. "However, this letter may not be true. There is no proof of Zhang Mancheng's death. It is likely that Wang Yun deliberately forged it in order to overthrow the ten permanent servants. He and Zhang Rang argued endlessly in front of the emperor. As a result, the ten permanent servants began to slander. He was sent to prison. This reminded Zhang Rang, he suggested to the emperor to send a postal supervisor, apparently as an assessment officer, but in fact he wanted to eliminate military meritorious persons." "I see." As Huang Wan was talking, he suddenly wanted to laugh: "Evil people have their own troubles. There was a boy named Liu Bei in Jizhou. Because of his military merits, he made up the captain of Anxi County. He was targeted by the post office in Hebei within ten months after he took office. Then Liu Bei was really daring, galloping his horse into the post, tied up the governor alive, whipped him 200 times, and then escaped from office with his seal on his seal." "Hahaha... well drawn!" Cao Cao praised, "This is how it should be for villains who work for tigers. If there is a chance, I really want to get to know this Liu Bei." "It's a good smoke, but it also touched the bad luck of Shi Changshi. Since this incident happened, the governor has hated military meritorious people more and more. We also sent a governor from Qingzhou, and they are on the way now. I'm afraid it will take a day or two. It’s coming, and you have to be careful when you deal with it.” "Thank you, Mr. Shijun, for my little matter, I thank you for making a trip yourself." Cao Cao hurriedly saluted. "I didn't dare to send my subordinates. I was afraid of leaking the news, so I came to tell you in person. Don't tell Duyou that I told you..." "Of course I won't say it, my lord, don't worry!" Cao Cao couldn't help sighing when he saw his flustered expression: He was framed and imprisoned for twenty years. Although this man was full of enthusiasm, he lost all courage.But the more this is the case, the more he shows his care for him. Huang Wan was silent for a while, then turned around and said, "Meng De, you did something that deeply touched me." "Oh? What did the lower officials do to impress the envoy?" "You destroyed Zhu Xuhou's ancestral hall. Do you know that decades ago, the old lady Fu Chen Fan was only the governor of Qingzhou, and he destroyed Liu Zhang's statue. What you do today is exactly the same as him When he said this, Huang Wan looked out the window, as if searching for distant memories, "I became an official because of Chen Taifu's recommendation, and because of Chen Taifu's involvement, I was banned, and Xiao He failed Xiao He." Cao Cao was grateful for sending Huang Wan away, and couldn't help thinking: Chen Fan died at the hands of eunuchs. Although I admire him, do I really want to have the same ending as him? At that moment, he began to waver. He felt that the officialdom was so scary and the prospect was so dark that he might as well abandon his official position and return to his hometown.But he was not reconciled to the ten years of hard work, and he didn't know what to do.After thinking about it for half a night, Cao Cao decided to give it a go and take a risky move...