Wei Ni

Sunset, Anning Tinghou Mansion.

As soon as Xia Houhe stepped into the house, a young man walked over, saluted and said, "Uncle Qi, my father is waiting for you in the pavilion in the garden."

He is Xia Houji, the eldest son of Xia Houheng.

In the fifteenth year of the year, the character is Dinggong, and he was just entered into the palace by Enyin this year as a man.

It is not difficult to see from the name that Xia Houheng hopes that he can have the achievements of his grandfather in the future, instead of being a noble and redundant official in the court like himself.

"Well, I'll go."

Nodding with a smile, Xiahouhe turned around and walked towards the main house, stopped after walking a few steps and looked back, "Is there something else to do with Dinggong?"

Think about it.

As the eldest grandson, Xia Houji was waiting behind the gate of the mansion, how could it be just to spread the word.

Sure enough, as soon as his words fell, Xia Houji quickly walked over and said in a low voice, "There is something that my nephew can't decide for himself, so I want to ask Uncle Seven to discuss it. Uncle Seven feels that if I get married when Uncle Six Is it appropriate to tell Xiumu on the day?"

Do you want to attend the sixth brother's wedding?

Xia Houhe smiled when he heard it, and was about to say something, but suddenly reacted.

Why is this kid asking him~
He clearly knew that Xia Houheng would not let him go to the wedding, so he begged himself to fight for him when he was talking to Xia Houheng!

"Um"

After pondering for a while, Xiahou Hecai said, "I can ask your father about this matter, but you also know your father's temperament, so you probably won't agree. So I think, if you really want to sue Xiumu, You should go to your mother and talk about it. You are the head of the family, and you have already been crowned and married, and Wang Changshi's wife is a relative in the family, do you understand?"

Looking for my mother to talk about?

Hearing this, Xia Houji was slightly taken aback.

But soon he reacted, and waved his fist excitedly, "Nephew understands, hehe! Thank Uncle Qi for pointing me out, I'll go find my mother right away. By the way, Uncle Qi, don't worry about this matter with my father." mentioned."

"I know, let's go."

Xia Houhe looked at the back of him leaving excitedly, laughed a few times, and then went to the garden of the main house.

Walk slowly along the corridor to the small pavilion.

I saw Xia Houheng sitting inside alone, without lighting the grease lamp, the twilight swallowed up the expression on his face, making it impossible to see whether he was happy or angry at this time.

Xia Houhe was already used to this.

Since Xia Houhui returned to Luoyang, the eldest brother Xia Houheng has been waiting here every day for him to return home.

Everyone in the family thought that it was because he was still in contact with the sixth brother who was expelled from the house, so Xia Houheng asked him to report his daily actions to prevent him from being led by Xia Houhui to do things that did not care about the family.

But Xia Houhe knew in his heart that it was just that the eldest brother still cared about the sixth brother, so he wanted to know how the marriage preparations were going through his mouth.

After all, the eldest brother has been like a father for so many years.

Whether it is to drive Xia Houhui out of the house, or to sever contact with others, the bond of flesh and blood cannot be broken.

Therefore, Xia Houhe didn't say anything else.

As soon as he stepped into the small pavilion and sat down, he put the wine bag in his hand on the desk, and directly talked about today's events, "Brother, your majesty gave the sixth brother the grape wine. Today, I ate with the sixth brother. ,said."

Xia Houheng, who was sitting with his eyes closed, remained silent the entire time, as if he had fallen asleep.

He didn't open his eyes until Xia Houhe roughly told the story and got up to leave. He looked at the grape wine on the table quietly, and he sighed after a long time.

In fact, he has been in correspondence with Xia Houhui.

According to the previous agreement, Xia Houhui asked the apprentices to transfer the letters to the family members who served as county soldiers in Gucheng, and then the county soldiers transferred them to Xia Houheng's confidants in charge.

The most recent letter is to inform the specific date of the marriage.

In the letter, Xia Houhui also added a sentence, "Everything about the in-laws and brothers is as good as it should be, but I hate not being able to thank my elder brother on the day of marriage."

At that time, Xia Houheng watched it, feeling very melancholy.

He has disciplined his younger brothers on behalf of his father for many years, and he also wants to take care of Xia Houhui's marriage in person.

Because only in that way can he fulfill the responsibility of the head of the family and the eldest brother, and he can also comfort the spirits of his parents in the sky in his heart.

Therefore, he also felt that the family had wronged Xia Houhui.

Clans are loved in life and mourned in death.

But now Xia Houhui has been deprived of the most basic family affection and friendship.

If not, he has fulfilled what he asked, and the right should be compensated by the family?

Xia Houheng, who picked up the stuffed grapes and drank slowly, felt the slightly bitter, sour and sweet taste in his stomach, and asked himself quietly in his heart.

After returning to Luoyang, Xia Houhui asked him to help with two things.

One is to select followers.

After learning the lesson of Taishan County's retinue abandoning him, Xia Houhui thought about recruiting tribal retinues from the old descendants of his father Xia Houyuan, so as to ensure his loyalty.

Naturally, Xia Houheng had to approve and handle this matter in person.

Because Xia Houheng is the head of the family.

Whether it's Xia Houyuan's title or his kindness to the old ministry, he inherited it.

Especially now that Xia Houhui has been expelled from the family, and according to the conventions of the world, in the eyes of Xia Houyuan's old department, he is no longer worthy of enjoying his father's legacy.

Originally, Xia Houheng was willing to help with this kind of thing.

The reason why he hesitated was because Xia Houhui also made a request.

He claimed that if possible, he would try his best to find some young subordinates. The most important thing is to have talent and martial arts skills, and they will be able to supervise the troops alone in the future.

At that time, Xia Houheng saw it, and his heart suddenly trembled.

How could this kind of request be recruiting followers?

My sixth younger brother clearly wants to cultivate confidantes who can be placed in the army in the future!

He has just been awarded the title of a backbone general, and he is a hundred and eight thousand miles away from being entrusted with the post of governor of the town, so he is already planning to cultivate his direct lineage in the army? !

The second thing Xia Houhui asked was to let Xia Houheng really feel his ambition.

He actually wanted Xia Houheng to help cultivate some eyes and ears in Luoyang.

The reason is that he is not liked by the ministers and officials, and he has offended too many people because of the abuse of farming, so he must always pay attention to the news of the capital and keep informed, so that when he is criticized by others , It is good to have a buffer time to think about the countermeasures.

Of course, Xia Houheng forgot such an absurd reason.

He's not dead yet!
If someone in the capital slanders or criticizes Xia Houhui, how can he not know?

What kind of eyes and ears do you need to be more informed than him and Xia Houhe, who is a close minister of the emperor!
Therefore, he could also guess Xia Houhui's original intention, or Xia Houhui didn't intend to hide it from him at all—it was nothing more than that Xia Houhui wanted to establish his own private intelligence system.

But what he couldn't figure out was why Xia Houhui suddenly wanted to do such a taboo thing?

Obviously, Emperor Cao Rui has a lot of trust in him~
Even if he became a lone minister, wouldn't it be enough for him to feel safe enough to have the protection of the emperor and his status as the empress of Qiao Pei?

Furthermore, he has been awarded the title of a backbone general!
As a general in the Chinese army, shouldn't he walk on thin ice and avoid things that are easily suspected by the emperor?

Building your own intelligence system is no different from committing suicide! ?
Naturally, Xia Houheng didn't feel that his brother had a disobedient heart.

So he was also wondering whether this matter was Xia Houhui's own idea, or the emperor Cao Rui's instruction.

The reason is that he had previously held secrets for Emperor Wen Cao Pi.

Yes, Xia Houheng is actually not simple at all.

Perhaps in the eyes of many people, he who is a redundant official is just a person who enjoys glory and wealth by relying on the favor of his father's generation.

No extraordinary talent.

But if you understand the character of Emperor Wen Cao Pi, and look at Cao Pi's kindness to Xia Houheng, you will know that Xia Houheng is not simple at all.

Cao Pi's behavior is a typical "nepotism".

Among them, this "kinship" does not only refer to the "kinship" of flesh and blood relatives, but also the "kinship" of close people.

People who were kind to Cao Pi, such as Cao Zhen, Xia Houshang, Xia Houmao, Sima Yi, and Chen Qun, all received generous returns after Cao Pi succeeded to the throne.Even Jia Xu, who has a bad reputation, was promoted to the position of Sangong by Cao Pi because he used Liu Biao as an example to persuade him to be the chief when Wei Wu Cao Cao was hesitant to the prince. The matter was so ridiculous that even Sun Quan couldn't help but laugh .

There were people in Xiahouyuan's family who were kind to Cao Pi.

For example, the third son, Xia Hou, said that he and Cao Pi were friends in common clothes, and the fifth son, Xia Hourong, often appeared at Cao Pi's banquets when he was young.

It's just that they both died early unfortunately.

Therefore, after Cao Pi succeeded to the throne, Xia Houba was only awarded General Pian to serve in Yongliang. Friendly relationship, when Cao Pi was in power, he was a ranger and never served as an official.

But Xia Houheng was favored by Cao Pi during this period!
Why?
Even Cao Pi, who was close to his brother and benefactor of his late father, had to think of a way to judge him to death. Could it be possible that Xia Houheng would treat Xia Houheng very kindly because he married his younger sister?

Of course not.

The reason is that when Cao Pi was in the Han Dynasty, he delegated a lot of power to the officials.

For example, the school office, which was loathed and feared by the public and officials, was once in vain.

But in fact, how could Cao Pi, who had personally handled Wei Satire's rebellion case and was good at fighting for power, give up the power to monitor his courtiers?
He just turned the school office from bright to dark.

And Xia Houheng, who holds a noble position and has no real power, is one of the chief directors in charge of the school affairs office for Cao Pi.

However, once the emperor and the courtiers.

After today's son Cao Rui succeeded to the throne, Xia Houheng took the initiative to push out this power.

But no matter what, he has been in office for nearly six years after all, and he still has some secrets in his hands.

After all, the identities of these dark children who act as eyes and ears are not visible.

And the sources are complex.

Or a tenant, or a dying knife and pen official, or even a maid, cook, or groom.

The way they transmit messages is also very secretive. It has always been one-way and one-point. As long as there is a layer of separation, no one will know who is who.

Moreover, individual people who have become An Zi do not even know that they are An Zi.

For example, a few people who are servants in a powerful family just think that they have met a bold person and are often willing to invite him to drink, but they don't realize that when they are drinking and having fun, they are tricked by the other party about many things about the master's family.

Therefore, there are some dark sons Xia Houheng who cannot be handed over.

It was precisely because of this that he also wondered whether Xia Houhui's desire to cultivate his eyes and ears came from the emperor Cao Rui's instruction to let him use some hidden talents that he had given up long ago?
After all, in the past few years, the temple has not been so peaceful.

The power of the monarch and the power of the ministers have confronted many times.

Alas, that's all.

In the matter of recruiting followers of trilogy, I fulfilled the meaning of childish power.

Take it as making up for the debt owed to him by the family.

As for the taboo thing of cultivating eyes and ears, you can also plan ahead. As for whether to transfer power to him, let's wait until we figure it out.

When his wife Cao sent her maidservant to look for her, Xia Houheng finally made a decision.

Time flies.

Before you know it, it is the end of March in late spring.

In Wang Su's mansion in the south of the city, today there are lights and festoons, and the guests are full. Even the streets outside the gate are full of carriages and horses from noble families.

Today is the day when Wang Su's eldest daughter gets married.

It is also a day to demonstrate the potential strength of Donghai Gaomen and Sangongmen.

Xia Houji came over early.

I am also thankful that I came early.

If it is later, I am afraid that I have to get off the car and walk on foot outside the two streets of Wang's mansion.

At Xiahouhe's suggestion, he begged his mother to persuade Xiahouheng to come here today as a relative of Wang Suxuxian's wife Xiahou's family to congratulate her.

Naturally, it also aroused whispers from some people.

As the man's nephew, he actually came to the woman's house for a banquet, which shows that Xiahou's family is really split.

In particular, Xia Houheng didn't show up, but let a young man act as a front.

I just don't know if Wang Su betrothed his daughter to Xiahou Zhiquan, does he regret it now?

Will the late Wang Situ's judgment on Wang Yuanji's sentence "The one who makes my family prosperous must be a woman, but unfortunately not a man", will it become a joke in the future?
Some unscrupulous guests among the guests are trying to figure it out maliciously.

And Sima Fu, who came to congratulate on behalf of the Sima family, the moment he saw Xiahouji after being welcomed into the door, he quietly said in his heart: "Those who rejuvenate the Xiahou clan will be blessed!"

There is no reason for him.

A person rejected by the clan is destined to become the most trusted person of Emperor Cao Rui.

Combined with the fact that Xia Houhui is not favored by the public officials and officials, and is the initiator of the reform of the scholar family and the rectification of the abuses in the farmland. Sima Fu, who has been immersed in official career for many years, it is not difficult to guess that the emperor Cao Rui will not hesitate to grant Xia Houhui power in the future. .

When I was young, Xia Houhui's wedding party arrived.

The team is shabby.

There were only five guests: Chen Tai, Chen Qian, Du Shu, Fu Gu, Xia Houhe, including the retinues driving the wedding carriage and the servants carrying gifts, there were only twelve people.

When Sima Fu saw him, he confirmed his decision just now.

After all, the Wang family belongs to the family of Sangong, and also belongs to the Guan family of Xuzhou; Chen Tai is also from the family of Sangong, with Yingchuan scholars standing behind him; .

It can be seen from this that Xia Houhui is not an isolated minister!

Therefore, a thought came to Sima Fu's mind——

My nephew Sima Shi declined Xia Houhui's invitation, isn't it a bit reckless? (end of this chapter)