Chapter 19: Storm is Coming

Jin Shang, who set out from Chang'an to take up his post in Yanzhou, was in high spirits. The governor of Yanzhou was a frontier official who was in charge of both military and political affairs. As long as he could successfully take office, he would become a local lord. Moreover, he got the news that Cao Aman had repelled the Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou on the way. As long as he relied on the imperial edict to make Cao Aman give up Yanzhou, he would definitely achieve something.

Jin Shang looked down on Cao Cao, who was born as a eunuch bureaucrat. Although Cao Cao's grandfather Cao Teng was very different from other eunuchs, such as making friends with scholars and officials, and using his position as a close minister of the emperor to promote famous scholars, the ministers in the court had a good impression of him. He also paid 100 million to buy the position of Taiwei, which was also among the three officials, but he was a eunuch after all. In the eyes of the orthodox scholars and officials, the Cao family was still a "poor family" without political privileges, and their status was much lower than that of the orthodox aristocratic families.

But even if he looked down on it, Cao Cao's reputation still made Jin Shang a little scared. It is said that Cao Cao was unruly before he entered the government. Once, he even broke into the bedroom of Zhang Rang, the eunuch who was favored by the emperor. Zhang Rang was resting his eyes. When he found a stranger breaking in, he thought it was an assassin sent by the person he persecuted and immediately screamed. The guards closed the door tightly and rushed in with swords and spears. Cao Cao took a hand halberd and beat the guards from the bedroom to the outside, and beat them so hard that they ran away. Finally, they watched him climb over the wall and leave.

Especially in recent years, the world was in an uproar over the Yellow Turbans, the assassination of Dong Zhuo, the issuance of false edicts, and the alliance of princes. Everyone knows the names of Cao Cao and Cao Mengde. So although he looked down on Cao Cao, it would be a lie to say that he was not afraid at all. In addition to bringing his own 2,000 soldiers, Jin Shang also deliberately turned to Nanyang to ask Yuan Shu for help.

Yuan Shu, who was entrenched in Nanyang, believed that he was the legitimate son of the Yuan family, while Yuan Shao was just the son of a "maid" born out of wedlock, and he should respect himself in the Yuan family. But this time, Yuan Shao was promoted to be the leader of the alliance, which made Yuan Shao's reputation and strength far surpass his own. Yuan's disciples and old officials all attached to Yuan Shao instead of himself, so he was very dissatisfied. At present, Yuan Shu is fighting happily with Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shao and Liu Biao. If he can get Yanzhou to join, his chances of winning will be even greater. So when he saw Yuan's disciple and old official Jin Shang came to ask for his help, and took the initiative to propose that he would form an alliance with him and respect him as the leader once he entered Yanzhou, he readily lent 5,000 soldiers to Jin Shang.

With the imperial edict, these 5,000 soldiers and his own troops, which were known as 30,000 troops, Jin Shang was full of confidence and had begun to imagine how to govern the territory and realize his ambitions after taking over.

When Cao Cao received the news, he was very angry. He had just stabilized Yanzhou after working hard for a year, but the court sent people to receive his results at this time. How could he not want to curse his mother. But in order to deal with this crisis, he had to suppress his anger and summon his main subordinates to discuss countermeasures.

The current meeting is very different from the past. In the past, there were only four or five people at the meeting, but now dozens of civil and military officials filled the main hall of the governor's mansion. The civil officials include Cheng Yu, Xi Zhicai, Xun Yu, Xun You, Chen Gong, Wan Qian, Liu Ye, Man Chong, etc., and the military officials include Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Xiahou Dun, Xiahou Yuan, Zhang Miao, Yu Jin, Li Dian, Le Jin, Mao Jie, Lu Qian, etc.

When Cao Cao entered the meeting hall under the escort of Dian Wei and sat down, he said: "I urgently summoned you here because I heard that Jin Shang, the newly appointed governor of Yanzhou, is about to arrive with an imperial edict. I wonder what you think about this matter?"

The civil and military officials in the room looked at each other and kept silent. People like the Cao family and the Xiahou brothers who started their careers with Cao Cao certainly don't want to be interfered with by others, but at present, several of them, including me, are not in a position to express their opinions first, and the newly joined civil and military officials are unwilling to speak on this matter. So everyone is waiting for someone to express his attitude first. The attitude of local officials represented by Wan Qian, the governor of Yanzhou, towards Jin Shang, who was sent by the court this time, directly affects whether Cao Cao can gain a foothold in Yanzhou.

Time passed by minute by minute, and the hall was filled with an uneasy atmosphere.

Wan Qian was very embarrassed at this time. On one side was Cao Cao, who fought hard for Yanzhou, and on the other side was Jin Shang, who carried the edict of the current emperor. Although the local officials of Yanzhou were aware of Cao Cao's military exploits to protect Yanzhou, Jin Shang, who was appointed by the official edict of the court, was the legitimate governor of Yanzhou.

However, there were some who were not afraid of death. Seeing that no one was talking, a local official in Yanzhou cleared his throat and stood up and said, "The envoy has brought the emperor's edict. We should respectfully invite Governor Jin Shang to take charge of Yanzhou." After saying that, he glanced at everyone in the hall with a smug look. Wan Qian was so angry that he really wanted to kick this unknown person out.

Cao Cao nodded and said, "The envoy represents the will of heaven, so we should respectfully invite him. Who else has this intention?"

After hearing Cao Cao's performance, the people had different opinions. Five or six unknown people immediately praised Cao Gong for his loyalty, righteousness, and wisdom, and said that he was a model of the court. Several wise counselors watched coldly, and many generals also watched the performance of several jumping clowns with a smile.

Seeing these local petty officials so incompetent, Wan Qian felt his face flushed and cursed in his heart: "They are incapable of doing anything, but more likely to cause trouble." But if he did not express his opinion at this time, it was estimated that few local officials would be able to walk out of this door standing today, so he stepped forward and drove them away and said: "Mr. Cao, it is still a rumor that the envoy brought the imperial edict this time. I don't know whether it is true or not. Therefore, before you see the envoy and the imperial edict, please continue to manage the government affairs of Yanzhou."

Xi Zhicai and I exchanged glances. From each other's eyes, we can see that we are both very surprised by Wan Qian's words. With Wan Qian's upright character, it should be impossible for him to say such smooth words. Is there some master behind the scenes? I cast my eyes on Chen Gong, while Xi Zhicai looked at Zhang Miao.

Cao Cao was quite satisfied with Wan Qian's attitude, and nodded and said, "That's great. Xiahou Yuan, Cao Hong, and Le Jin listen to your orders."

The three of them said loudly, "I am here."

Cao Cao said, "There are thieves everywhere now. In order to ensure the safety of the envoy, I have ordered you to lead 20,000 troops to welcome the envoy. There must be no mistakes."

The three of them replied, "Yes!"

Cao Cao said, "Where is Ying Shao?"

Taishan Prefect Ying Shao stepped out and clasped his fists and said, "I am here."

Cao Cao picked up a letter and said, "My father Cao Song is now living in seclusion in Langya County. You take my letter to invite him to come. I want him to spend his remaining years in Yanzhou."

Wan Qian and other local officials saw that Cao Cao first sent troops to stop Jin Shang, and then sent someone to bring his father over. Let's not talk about whether the troops sent out can stop Jin Shang, just the fact that Cao Cao was so impatient to send someone to bring his father over clearly showed that he was unwilling to give up Yanzhou. Although I was unhappy, Yanzhou now belonged to Cao Cao, so I could only let him do whatever he wanted.

"Cao Song... Langya County... Xuzhou! Liu Bei... Lu Bu!" After the meeting, I muttered these things and slowly walked behind the crowd.

(I didn't want to say anything, but after reading many book reviews, I couldn't help but say a few words about the parliament. Why is the name of Chapter 17 in the book called nonsense? It's because my setting is that the parliament is not in line with the historical situation in China, and the explanation in the book is that the parliament "is composed of scholars, wealthy families, and knowledgeable people among the poor in order to prevent the court from being monopolized by relatives and eunuchs. It has the right to pardon ministers and people who are wrongly arrested and the right to veto the court's wrongful orders." This is obviously not a national election, but it is somewhat similar to the privilege of recommending filial and honest people in the clan system, except that the recommendation of young people as officials has been changed to the recommendation of prestigious people or senior officials. An institution that can slightly control the imperial power. And the reason why I proposed the parliament instead of the Council of Elders is because I am lazy and I will never type three words where I can type two words. In addition, the reason why I changed the parliament so messily is... I can't say more, otherwise the future settings will be exposed! And about some book friends saying that the protagonist's strength exceeds that of N princes as soon as he comes out, I feel very helpless. Maybe everyone has different understandings. The strength of the princes is not just about how many soldiers and horses they have. It depends on the potential behind him. For example, Cao Cao and Liu Bei had people sponsoring food and soldiers when they started their businesses, which is potential. Yuan Shao's four generations of three officials are potential, and Liu Bei's descendants of Zhongshan Jing Wang are also potential. )