Wei Ni

Winter passed and spring came, and in the blink of an eye it was already the fifth year of Qinglong (237 AD).

However, the farce that took place in the Chen Mansion did not fade from people's conversations with the arrival of the new year.

The young scholars were still privately criticizing Xiahou Hui for being too domineering, not even giving him the most basic respect of "a scholar can be killed but not humiliated"; but the court officials were the opposite, secretly admiring Xiahou Hui's behavior of protecting his shortcomings.

The reason was that he had once again submitted a petition to the imperial court asking for Ding Mi to be granted a title of nobility.

As someone in officialdom, who doesn’t want his or her superior to be someone who dares to stand up for his or her subordinates?

Wu Ying is one of those who envy him.

In order to change the unkind posthumous title of "Ugly Marquis" for his father Wu Zhi, he kept submitting memorials to plead for his father, but the officials in the court ignored him, and those who were on good terms with him and those he depended on all stayed out of the matter.

Therefore, when Emperor Cao Rui finally made the final decision in the court on the grounds that "Shu and Wu have not been destroyed, the world has not been pacified, and the hearts of the soldiers cannot be chilled", and agreed to Xiahou Hui's request and divided his 300 households to transfer Ding Mi to the title of Duting Marquis, Wu Ying could no longer hold back and waited for Ding Mi again on his way out to socialize.

Ding Mi considered his request for a private chat and finally agreed.

He knew why Wu Ying came.

Previously, he wanted to exchange interests with Xiahou Hui by telling her that "the mantis stalks the cicada, but the oriole is behind, and there is also a man holding a slingshot". However, Xiahou Hui felt that his attitude of waiting for a price was too high, and after a little contact, he was too lazy to pay attention to him.

After being rejected, you still come back to ask for help. You should be able to put yourself in the right position, right?

You won't take yourself seriously anymore, will you?

This was the idea that made Ding Mi willing to talk to him.

In fact, Ding Mi’s premonition was correct.

Wu Ying now feels that he is isolated and helpless in his official career.

His late father Wu Zhi had such a bad reputation!
Apart from the title, there was no other legacy left to him.

On the contrary, all the officials in the court were alienated from him. Some of those who had been ridiculed or slandered by Wu Zhi were even suppressing him in disguise, treating it as a son paying off his father's debt.

As for the Sima clan he depended on.
Ever since Sima Shi divorced his sister, the relationship between the two families has become much weaker.

Wu Ying’s feelings on this point were very clear.

In particular, at the beginning of this spring, the court agreed to let the Grand Marshal Sima Yi recommend a poor boy named Shi Bao to serve as a Shangshu Lang. This made Wu Ying realize more clearly the fickleness of human nature - both he and his son had actually taken actions to cling to the Sima family, so why didn't Sima Yi think of recommending him?

The Sima family is ruthless and ungrateful, and is not worth your loyalty.

That's what he thought.

He also set his eyes on Xiahou Hui again.

The most embarrassing thing for people who want to make progress is to find a temple with a pig's head in hand.

It just so happened that it was a consensus among the government and the public that the foundation of Xiahou Hui's temple was already solid, so why didn't he bring the pig's head over to see if he could worship it?
His "pig head" is willing to help Xiahou Hui find out the person behind Shi Jian.

Well, he inherited some of Wu Zhi's talent.

Naturally, it can be seen that Shi Jian must have been instructed by someone to dare to provoke.

Moreover, he acted very smart and sensible this time, claiming that after he found out the person behind Shi Jian, he would not require Xiahou Hui to pay any benefits in exchange.

As soon as he heard it, Ding Mi was quite surprised.

He was very humble towards Wu Yinghui, but he didn't expect it to be so humble.
Of course, after the surprise, there comes full vigilance.

The free ones are the most expensive.

Ding Mi wouldn't be so stupid as not to know this.

Besides, Xiahou Hui had already asked his elder brother Xiahou Heng to help him send someone to keep an eye on Shi Jian, so it would not make much difference whether Wu Ying volunteered or not.

Therefore, Ding Mi thought about it and politely declined Wu Ying's kindness.

"I came here with sincerity, why doesn't Yan Jing believe it?"

Wu Ying immediately became anxious. He pulled Ding Mi, who was turning around to leave, and first asked him a question, and then quickly told him about his situation.

Among them, the most talked about thing was that the Sima family treated him like a stranger.

Finally, he bowed sincerely and said, "I know my father was very harsh to General Xiahou in the past, so I volunteered this time without asking for anything in return, in order to win the general's trust and resolve the past grudges. I hope Brother Yanjing will be magnanimous and convey my feelings to the general in person. If Brother Yanjing still doesn't believe me, I swear in the name of my father now!"

Wu Zhi had a very bad reputation, and Wu Ying's behavior of abandoning the Sima family and asking for favors privately was also despicable, but no one criticized his credibility.

Therefore, looking at Wu Ying swearing to heaven in person, Ding Mi felt that he could trust him a little.

"Why is Wen Shu like this? Why is he like this?" Ding Mi quickly helped Wu Ying up, pretending to be moved, and said earnestly, "I don't mean to doubt Wen Shu, it's just that General Xiahou has always been a person who doesn't accept rewards without merit, so I dare not trouble Wen Shu!"

After saying this, without waiting for Wu Ying to argue, Ding Mi made a reluctant expression and said slowly, "However, Wen Shu is willing to swear in the name of the ancestor. If I refuse again, it would be too unkind. Let's put it this way, I will accept this on behalf of General Xiahou. Regardless of whether Wen Shu's private investigation of Shi Jian's people is successful, I will speak well of him in front of the general and do my best to strive for a chance for Wen Shu's request."

Whether or not we can find out who ordered it is not important; what is important is that we can see your attitude.

Wu Ying understood Ding Mi's subtext.

Immediately, he bowed sincerely again and vowed, "Thank you, Brother Yan Jing, for your mediation! I also ask Brother Yan Jing and General Xia Hou to wait and see, I will not make any mistakes!"

After the matter was settled, the two said goodbye and left.

Ding Mi continued to attend the banquet and socialize with a smile on his face.

He was not worried that his unauthorized decision would cause Xiahou Hui's dissatisfaction.

After all, it is unclear whether Wu Ying is sincere in coming to pay homage to the leader, but it is also unclear how Xiahou Hui will use him!

If Wu Ying was sincere, then given Xiahou Hui's limited connections in the government, he would definitely choose to put aside their past grudges and give him a chance to work for him.

And if Wu Ying was pretending to be attached with the intention of acting as a spy, then Xiahou Hui could use him to convey some "special" news.

Ding Mi was confident that Wu Ying's intelligence could not deceive himself and Xiahou Hui.

However, what he didn't know was that he had already fallen into the trap~
Because his opponent is not Wu Ying, but Sima Shi who is still in Wen County, Hanoi.
After divorcing Wu, Sima Shi began to be wary of Wu Ying and even tried to test him - before Xiahou Hui went out to fight Gongsun of Liaodong, Sima Shi used his brother Sima Zhao's friendship with Cao Zhao as a pretext to let Wu Ying find out. Then he also discovered that Wu Ying was very restless and went to meet Ding Mi in private.

Therefore, from then on he began to distance himself from Wu Ying intentionally or unintentionally, making Wu Ying more alienated.

It also prompted Wu Ying to come and ask Ding Mi for help today.

Because what he wanted was that Wu Ying would "play himself" and come to rely on Xiahou Hui, and have the opportunity to become Xiahou Hui's confidant in the future.

Through early correspondence and later observation, Sima Shi knew that Xiahou Hui's intelligence was not inferior to his own. It was difficult to place one's own people around the other party.

Or rather, it is impossible to do.

In this way, prompting Wu Ying to take the initiative to surrender is a good way to seek the next best thing: with Wu Ying's intelligence, he doesn't need too many ways to manipulate and influence Xiahou Hui.

As for whether Wu Ying can be relied upon by Xiahou Hui in the future~
If it succeeds, we will be happy. If it fails, there will be no loss. With the Sima family's background, they will not be short of a Wu Ying.

In the first month, people in Shanchi County of Taishan Prefecture reported that a yellow dragon was seen.

The Grand Historian Gao Tanglong believed that Wei had the virtue of earth, so when the yellow dragon appeared, it was time to change the calendar, the color of clothes, and to favor yellow.

Two days later, General of the Guard Jiang was promoted to Guanglu Xun and given the same position as Shizhong. As the war against Gongsun in Liaodong was over, Xiahou Hui was dismissed from his post as General of the Guard and promoted to Central Guard. Chen Qian, the former Sima of the General of the Guard, was promoted to Sima of the Central Guard.

After the imperial edict was issued, the Supervisor of the Secretariat Liu Fang and the Minister of the Secretariat Sun Zi made another request, saying that the Supervisor of the Secretariat had many complicated affairs and the vacancy of the Vice Minister of the Secretariat could not be long-lasting, and they once again requested the Emperor Cao Rui to appoint an official to fill the position.

Cao Rui ordered Wei Zhen, the Shangshu You Pushe, to select people based on their talents according to their positions.

Wei Zhen appointed Xiahou Hui as the Central Guard General to take charge of the position.

In response to this, Cao Rui changed his style of letting the officials in the court discuss it, and directly approved the request, thereby dismissing Xiahou Hui from his position as Jieshi Zhong.

In fact, the officials in the court would not refute it.

Those who are qualified to discuss such matters are already experienced and wise.

How could one not guess that Liu Fang and Sun Zi's request for advice, or Wei Zhen's recommendation, were all privately instructed by the emperor Cao Rui, and they just followed a legitimate process~
If there is any impact, it is that people have a better understanding and envy of Xiahou Hui's simplicity in the emperor's heart.

Furthermore, the attention of the capital Luoyang has not been on Xiahou Hui recently.

Sima Yi, the only remaining minister of the Three Dukes of Wei, the only remaining minister of the previous emperor, the Grand Marshal and the governor of Yongliang, submitted a petition to the imperial court after the beginning of spring requesting to resign from his post as governor and return to the capital on the grounds that the power of the Shu Kingdom had declined, the kingdom had not invaded for many years, and that he himself was old and often ill.

This time, Emperor Cao Rui did not act arbitrarily, but let his ministers discuss it together.

However, the result of the discussion in the court was also one-sided.

Except for a few foolish officials who claimed that Shu Kingdom had not yet been destroyed and that the imperial physician should be sent to Chang'an to inquire about Sima Yi's illness and allow him to continue in office, most of the old and important officials agreed with Sima Yi's petition to return to the capital.

There is no other reason. Anyone with a discerning eye knows that this was because after Duke Changwen died, Sima Yi retired at the right time and asked to give up his military power in order to avoid suspicion.

This was also the result that Emperor Cao Rui, who had been supporting the royal family and the children of Qiao Pei, had been expecting.

Who would not appreciate such a beautiful story about the relationship between the monarch and his ministers?
Therefore, Emperor Cao Rui readily accepted the suggestion and issued an imperial decree to grant it.

Sima Yi's many years of meritorious service were recorded, his loyalty was praised, a lot of wealth was rewarded, and Sima's sons were granted the title of marquis. He was also asked to submit a memorial to explain the duties, responsibilities, dismissals and deployment of the various departments of Yongliang for the court to discuss.

According to the time required for military deployment and the appointment and dismissal of various officials in the imperial court, he should not be able to officially resign and return to Luoyang until the middle of the year. (End of this chapter)