Wei Ni

Although the appointment to the new official position has been made, the latest time for the handover is the end of the month. Xiahou Hui plans to go to the Central Guard Army Office to hand over and the Zhongshu Jian Office to take up the position on the last day.

In order to avoid causing them resentment.

Needless to say, Liu Fang and Sun Zi had long been vying for power, and Jiang Ji had been serving as the lowly but powerful General of the Central Guard for more than a decade. If he rushed in to take over power, leaving them no time to make arrangements, wouldn't that just make them unhappy?

As for the petition submitted by Grand Commandant Sima Yi to return to the capital, it has been approved.
He was also calm and at ease.

Things are bound to happen. If you are not prepared to face them, just take it one step at a time.

Now, he is heading out of the city with Fu Gu.

Years ago, Fu Gu had interacted with Yu Song several times and had even greeted him, saying that he might bring his friends to have fun together someday. If it had not been for the death of Duke Changwen, Xiahou Hui would have visited him long ago.

However, after the spring, Xiahou Hui was no longer in a hurry.

He would wait until the government granted him a new official position before going there.

Not only was it after the official position was confirmed that he could legitimately ask Yu Song whether he was willing to accept the position of Zhonghujun Shishi; it was also because he had met Wei Zhen before.

The reason why Wei Zhen kept him to talk that time was not only to tell him that Emperor Cao Rui wanted the two of them to jointly promote the reform of the scholar family - he was not that free, he just wanted to tell him for the sake of telling him.

The real purpose was to let Xiahou Hui prepare in advance.

Because in his early years, Emperor Cao Rui appointed Yang Fu as the chief official to thoroughly investigate the military and civilian settlements of scholars and families throughout the capital.

The result was nothing.

It’s not that Yang Fu, who was known for his uprightness, couldn’t even get to the bottom of things happening in the capital, but that he really didn’t know where to start.

First, he was excluded.

As a native of Liangzhou, he did not get along well with his colleagues in Luoyang, who were mainly scholars from Guandong. Also, because he was upright and outspoken and was not liked by others, his colleagues adopted a style of shirking responsibility and doing nothing on many things, making it difficult for him to do anything even though he wanted to do something.

Secondly, decades of bad debts are difficult to sort out.

It has been forty years since Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, adopted the suggestions of Zao Zhi and Han Hao to develop military farming!
The chief officers of positions such as the General of the Central Army of Tuntian have changed several times, and the Tuntian soldiers have also been in the same family for two generations. How could it be easy to conduct a thorough investigation?

Third, the military farming system has inherent deficiencies in supervision.

The governors and provincial governors of counties and prefectures were not allowed to interfere in the affairs of their military farming departments. This was a decree issued after the military farming system was established.

Although the unique status effectively guaranteed the output of military and civilian settlements, the lack of supervision and constraints also made the chief officers of the settlements self-centered and gave rise to greed.

For example, when Cao Cao and Ma Chao fought in Guanzhong, Jia Kui, then governor of Hongnong, was ordered to lead the county soldiers and Shijia to the front line, but found that Shijia was insufficient in number. He suspected that the military commander was hiding Shijia (combining Shijia as his own followers), so he went to negotiate with him, but was rebuffed by the military commander on the grounds of "no coordination".

Even when Cao Cao, Emperor Wu of Wei, was alive, the chief officers of military farms had concealed people's lives, let alone today, decades later!

The actual number of scholars is far lower than the number on the list.

What made it even more difficult for Yang Fu to conduct a thorough investigation was that Emperor Cao Rui was helping these corrupt officials in disguise.

Since Cao Rui ascended the throne, he has never stopped large-scale construction projects.

For example, repairing the Taimiao, palaces and buildings, building high-ranking officials for trusted ministers, etc., each of these projects required the labor of scholars.

This also gave the chiefs of the various military farms an opportunity to count some of the output that was embezzled in the early years as losses and to include the hidden population in the records of labor casualties.
If the matter involved nobles, Yang Fu could still punish them without sparing the powerful and wealthy, but since it involved the emperor, how could he investigate thoroughly?

So in the end, with Cao Rui's tacit approval, the matter came to nothing.

Wei Zhen specifically told Xiahou Hui that day that the first step in promoting the reform of the Shijia system was to thoroughly investigate the current situation of the military farming system. If he could not solve the predicament encountered by Yang Fu, he should advise Emperor Cao Rui to take a long-term view on the matter and not to act on enthusiasm alone and follow in Yang Fu's footsteps, which ended in a hurry and damaged the emperor's prestige!

During these days, Xiahou Hui often sought advice from Ding Mi and Fu Gu.

This also delayed the time for visiting Yu Song - he was destined to do something that would offend people. If he couldn't even promise him a career, how could he recruit Yu Song to work for him?

Furthermore, he knew that once he was appointed to the new position, he would be very busy and would not have time to show courtesy to the wise and humble and win Yu Song's heart and soul by offering him food and clothes.

He had no choice but to use some tricks and extraordinary means to get Yu Song onto his chariot.

As for, those who practice deceit will not last long~
In his current situation, he can only seize the day to have a glimmer of hope, and he can only do what he can.

However, Yu Song's current official position is Lingshi of the Three Dukes' Household, which is not high up in the official ranks and his salary is very low, so the residence he rents outside the city is also very remote.

Xiahou Hui and Fu Gu, who came to buy wine and meat, were dressed very simply, no different from ordinary scholars who came to visit. Even their followers were asked to follow them from a distance, so when Yu Song saw Xiahou Hui, he just treated him as an ordinary person for a while.

Although I think Xiahou Hui is a bit sturdy and has a rather imposing demeanor, I think on second thought, Fu Gu is a descendant of an official, and many of his friends hold important positions in the court, so this is normal~
"It is a pity for you two to come to my humble home."

Hearing the voice, he came out to greet them, bowed politely with a smile, and then extended his hand to invite them, "You two, please come in."

"Shumao, I'm here to visit you again." Perhaps because they had been getting along quite well in previous interactions, or perhaps because he was of similar age to Yu Song, who was only 23 years old, Fu Gu greeted him carelessly, bowed slightly, and walked in.

Of course, Xiahou Hui would not be so casual.

"It is extremely rude of you to come visit me without permission. I hope you will not be offended by this, Uncle Mao."

After politely returning the greeting, Xiahou Hui, smiling, also extended his hand to lead the way, insisting that Yu Song go first and then introduce himself, "I am Xiahou Hui from Qiao, with the courtesy name Zhiquan."

Yu Song, who was just walking into the house, paused, turned his head suddenly, his eyes full of surprise.

Of course he knew who Xia Houhui was.

He also knew that given his current status and position, it would be a kind of condescension for the other party to visit him in person.

In any case, although he was quite talented, he was just a young scholar of low official position, the kind of person who had to give way to Xiahou Hui's carriage when he saw it from afar on the road.

"No, it's the Central Guard General in person."

After a brief moment of surprise, he regained his composure, nodded and smiled, "I apologize for not coming to meet you in person. I apologize."

Xiahou Hui was impressed by this neither humble nor overbearing behavior. He was about to start a conversation, but was interrupted by Fu Gu who had already walked into the small courtyard. "I say, you two, instead of chatting in the courtyard, wouldn't it be better for us to have a drink around the fire and talk freely?"

After saying this, he raised the wine bag in his hand and shook it.

"Haha~"

Hearing this, Xiahou Hui and Yu Song looked at each other and smiled.

After Fu Gu's interruption, the strangeness between the two of them faded a lot.

After calling out the old servant to take the meat away for processing, Yu Song led the two men into the house, sat down, and talked around the stove while warming the wine.

At the beginning, Fu Gu and Yu Song mainly discussed academic concepts.

Xiahou Hui, who had no interest in this area, just treated himself as a listener and only occasionally raised his glass to invite someone to have a drink.

For this reason, Yu Song would occasionally talk to Xiahou Hui so as to prevent him from feeling that he, as the master, was impolite and being neglected.

But after three rounds of drinks, when both of their faces were slightly flushed, he found that he could not get a word in.

Because Fu Gu and Xiahou Hui did not care about the occasion or the presence of him as an "outsider", and they talked directly with great interest about the shortcomings of the current situation and how to break the deadlock.

For example, the capital city was full of requests for favors, the county officials were not well governed, and the local nobles oppressed the people.
For example, since the Nine-Rank System and the Recommendation of Filial and Incorrupt Officials System were put into practice, has the selection of talents in the imperial court improved?
There is also a mention of the fact that a few years ago Yang Fu was ordered to thoroughly investigate the military farming issues in various parts of the capital, but the matter ended up in nothing.

Although it was common for scholars to discuss current affairs privately with lower-level officials, inheriting the previous dynasty's style of clear discussion, Yu Song still felt very embarrassed.

He is not familiar with Xiahou Hui!

Even with Fu Gu, who had a very similar personality, we had only met a few times!
How can you talk about deep things with someone you just met?

If you drink too much, you should also avoid these things. Is that okay for me to listen to?
Yu Song was speechless, but he had no way to dissuade him.

He couldn't just lose face and kick them out, right?
In particular, these two people asked for his opinions from time to time, just as he was worried about neglecting Xiahou Hui just now.

After a few ambiguous replies, he returned to his normal state.

Although he had just turned twenty and had little experience in official career, he lived up to his reputation for talent and intelligence, and he vaguely guessed the purpose of Xiahou Hui's visit.

It's just an attempt to recruit him.

Otherwise, as a popular and favored minister of the emperor, how could he be so idle as to come to his humble abode to drink wine around the fire?
And asking him this question from time to time should be a test of his talent.

Therefore, he also began to think carefully about the topic of Xiahou Hui and the other person, and when asked, he would occasionally explain his own views, and no longer simply deal with it with the excuse that he was not well-informed and had little knowledge.

As for why I only answer seriously occasionally~
He felt a little angry.

Since you have condescended to visit us and shown respect, why do you still have to use this method of forcing people into the car and blocking their escape?
Yes~
Xiahou Hui blocked his retreat.

When he was discussing with Fu Gu just now, he mentioned many confidential matters intentionally or unintentionally.

Given the close friendship between Xiahou Hui and Fu Gu, it is understandable that they discussed the matter privately. However, his friendship with the two of them was so limited that how could they force him to participate in the discussion?

If you behave like this, you are definitely a bad guest!
Furthermore, his background is sensitive and his mother’s family has a grudge against Cao Wei!
If he didn't want to get into trouble in the future after hearing these secrets for no reason, wouldn't he have to take the initiative to turn himself into Xiahou Hui's confidant?

In this case, it would be strange if he didn't feel angry! (End of this chapter)