Chapter 3507: King and Minister, Father and Son

Chapter 3506: Monarch and Minister, Father and Son

During the brief pause without war on the western front, Shandong should have stepped up its repairs and made preparations to meet the thunderbolt strike that the General of the Cavalry might strike at any time. However, in fact, during this brief pause, the Shandong people were busy preparing for the overthrow of Cao.

This is almost a semi-open secret...

Unity?

Unity around yourself, yes.

Unity around others, it depends on how much reward is given.

At present, anyone who makes free contributions and free support will most likely be considered a fool, or have ulterior motives.

No one wants to be a fool.

For example, Cui Yan, of course, is not a fool.

When an official position reaches Cui Yan's level, it is already considered that there is no room for promotion.

If you continue to move up, you will enter the central system of the court, and this opportunity is obviously not given by the Yuzhou faction.

In the ancient officialdom, most people would not think there is anything wrong with those who make rules.

Appoint people based on personal connections?

If not based on personal connections, would you appoint someone who is against you every day?

Wouldn't that just make things difficult for yourself?

So once there are a lot of speeches in the feudal court, expressing the need for "execution power", it is often the time when nepotism is most likely to occur!

Only when there is "nepotism" will there be no opposition to the orders from above, no matter how outrageous they are, and they will be executed in one go!

Cui Yan is obviously not a "nepotist" of the Yuzhou faction, so it is difficult for him to be promoted to this position.

These days, Cui Yan often goes to the palace and appears in front of Liu Xie, contrary to his usual behavior. In fact, since Cui Yan was promoted to the governor of a state, he rarely sees Liu Xie, and he has never been so attentive.

When Liu Xie saw Cui Yan like this, he would not refute Cui Yan's face in the court, but cooperated with him, and from time to time ordered Cui Yan to come to the court to ask about the situation and local customs.

Liu Xie actually had a high tolerance for such changes of his ministers. After all, as the emperor, he really has no airs to put on. In general, if you put aside the identity of the emperor, Liu Xie is still a good person. In history, after Liu Xie abdicated, he did not complain about himself, and he also lowered his status to learn medicine to treat the people. Compared with other emperors who were dismissed or deposed in history, Liu Xie was much better. It’s just a pity that Liu Xie waited until he was deprived of the throne before he realized the importance of the people...

In the past few days, Liu Xie has been busy every day.

In addition to the annual winter sacrificial activities that the emperor should prepare, and the preparations for the spring farming and sericulture, Liu Xie also has to take time to meet with ministers and discuss state affairs. Although most of the state affairs are not Liu Xie’s turn, at least he has to show such an attitude.

Cui Yan’s intentional approach is undoubtedly a thing that makes Liu Xie feel proud.

Before, Liu Xie could only find the children and grandchildren of Cui Yan and others, but now it is an improvement.

In fact, for Liu Xie, he also knew that the phenomenon of cliques in the court was very serious.

But what could he do?

Grouping is the foundation for humans to form a country and build a society. Even if some people do not have the consciousness of grouping, cliques, or the concept of hierarchy, they will still gather together subconsciously.

In a company, there are newcomers and old employees.

In a village, there are locals and outsiders.

Hierarchy is a relatively broad concept. It is not necessary to have a self-level consciousness to be called a hierarchy.

Normally, multiple social groups with different identities, different status, wealth, etc., and different ideologies can be called hierarchical, without the need for some people to extract certain spirits in a certain level, or to make some directive binding treaties, in order to be called a level.

At the same time, in most cases, oppression, opposition, and infringement of interests often form between levels.

For example, the old people want the new people to do more work...

In the court and the country of the Han Dynasty, Jizhou and Yuzhou, high-ranking officials of the court and local tyrants with economic and population strength but no political power, etc., are all in opposition to each other. Fei Qian in Guanzhong and Cao Cao in Shandong are just the spokespersons of these opposites and contradictions.

Contradictions never exist alone and remain alone.

Just like now, for Liu Xie and Cui Yan, their common opposite is Cao Cao.

Although Cao Cao failed to attack Guanzhong, he still has a deep foundation in the court and the country, especially Cao Cao still retains a certain military strength, as well as the garrison soldiers around Yingchuan, and Ren Jun is in charge of the army in Xu County...

So if Cao Cao is really forced to jump off the wall, it is obviously not in line with the expectations of Liu Xie and others. They hope to let Cao Cao give up some of his interests through negotiation.

Liu Xie believes that the Han Dynasty needs balance.

Foreign relatives, eunuchs, and clean streams are a kind of balance.

Jizhou, Yuzhou, and Guanzhong are also a kind of balance.

Now Cao Cao is seriously injured, Guanzhong has risen, and the Heluo area in the middle cannot be regarded as a suitable buffer zone. Overall, gathering the strength of Jizhou, Yuzhou, and even other states to fight against the increasingly powerful Guanzhong is undoubtedly the best balance strategy.

But the problem is that once anything involves cliques, it will be a bit troublesome.

Everything must be balanced and discussed in advance, otherwise even if it is enforced, it will be dragged down and nothing can be done in the end.

So now Liu Xie thinks it is a great opportunity to get Cao Cao to sit down and talk.

Cui Yan also thinks so.

For Liu Xie and Cui Yan, Cao Cao is not that bad.

Cao Cao's attainments in classics are not bad, his literary talent and poetry are good, his military skills are also outstanding, and he is not so cruel and rude to his subordinates. Overall, he can be regarded as a hexagonal warrior, but the problem is that Cao Cao's control desire is too strong and his suspicion is too heavy!

Yingchuan used to provide Cao Cao with money and people, which can be regarded as supporting the operation of Cao Cao's political group, but now after a war, it is naturally more difficult for Yingchuan to continue to provide or make up for the deficit in this regard. Moreover, Cao Cao used to hold the emperor as a banner, which also maintained the legitimacy of his rule over the Central Plains, and now there is naturally a problem.

As Cao Cao's power grew, Liu Xie became more and more uneasy and wanted to replace Cao Cao with a new balance, but Liu Xie also knew that if he was not careful, there would be greater turmoil.

Fortunately, the cavalry did not continue to attack.

The terrible thing is that the cavalry did not continue to attack...

Smart people have realized that the administrative system in the Central Plains region of the Han Dynasty is no longer orderly and excellent, and the management structure of the entire county is simply a mess.

Before Liu Xie took the throne, the court system was almost paralyzed, and it has not improved much until now.

These smart people know that if you want to do things well, you must have a strong person in power, but this is also the problem. All smart people hope that they are the person in power!

Liu Xie also wants to be this person in power. He wants to sort out this contradictory system that is like a tangled mess, but he doesn't know where to start.

Reducing Cao Cao's power and giving up some of the benefits to the Jizhou faction is a good balancing strategy that Liu Xie has figured out at this stage. It is also a key to re-sorting out the upper and lower levels and making himself more powerful as the emperor. However, such a move is also very dangerous. If you are not careful, it will definitely cause a chaos!

By then, even if the cavalry army does not come, the Central Plains will probably be torn apart!

From the failure of the march to Guanzhong until the winter of the ninth year of Taixing, Liu Xie did not have a few days of comfort, thinking about where the situation in the world will go...

But the more Liu Xie understood the mess of the Han Dynasty, the more he felt cold.

No money and food.

Taxes from all over the country could not be collected, whether it was to form soldiers or maintain order, it was a problem. Even if it was like Xun Yun who prepared his own dry food, it was not a long-term solution.

The operation of the Han Dynasty's court had already begun to overdraw as early as the reign of Emperor Xiaoling. The constant debts caused the local governments to report to the government, which was a joke. Even if Liu Xie really sent some angels to collect taxes to collect money and grain from various places, most of the local governments would throw up their hands, indicating that they had already spent money on grain in the next year, and the granaries were empty and there was nothing.

No money and grain, no people.

This is a very straightforward problem.

A few years ago, Liu Xie would still think that he was the emperor. As long as a big flag was waved a few times, righteous men from all over the world would gather. If he took some money from his left pocket and put it in his right pocket, he could produce food and grass for tens of thousands of people out of thin air...

Now Liu Xie knows that this is not possible.

It is not difficult to recruit people. Even if the soldiers are not paid, it is difficult to provide these people with food and drink every day.

Therefore, all Liu Xie could think of was the Jizhou faction.

So, Cui Yan came.

However, the two sides did not enjoy the harmony between Liu Bei and Zhuge Liang in history, nor did they support each other like Sun Quan and Lu Su did. Instead, they were cautiously testing each other, weighing up in a roundabout way, and adjusting with mutual suspicion...

The so-called loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, and righteousness, the so-called monarch, father, and minister, this kind of integrity that was emphasized and strengthened in the early Han Dynasty, has basically disappeared in the Han Dynasty. Everything is about money and power. Only those who can make money and seize power are capable. After all, whether it is a white dog or a black dog, the one who can bite the meat is a good dog, and as for the rest, they are all secondary matters.

The same is true for Cui Yan.

If Cui Yan were to sit on the stage and talk about loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness, he could probably talk for a whole day without repeating himself, and he could also speak in a rhythmic and inspiring manner, citing classics and elaborating, making the listeners feel deeply moved and reflect deeply...

But if Cui Yan were to give up his family wealth and devote himself to the great cause of reviving the Han Dynasty for the sake of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence and righteousness...

That is absolutely impossible.

Cui Yan dragged his fatigue and returned to his residence.

Today, he talked with Liu Xie for a day, and it seemed that some results were discussed, but it also seemed that there was no progress at all.

After Cui Yan came back, he drank some warm water all the time, and then asked Mei Ji to relax his bones and massage his feet to relax his mind, and then asked Mei Ji to leave and asked someone to summon Cui Qin.

Although this residence is just Cui Yan's place to stay in Xu County, it is not a big property, but it has all the luxury things that should be there. Four copper basins and silver charcoal were burned and placed in the four corners of the house, making it warm as spring even in winter. You only need to wear a single layer of clothes, which is even more relaxed than in Liu Xie's Chongde Hall.

Not long after, Cui Qin came.

Cui Qin actually despised his father Cui Yan in his heart...

Not only did he think his father was a little inconsistent, he even thought his father had stolen his merits!

In the past, it was Cui Qin who was negotiating with the emperor and risked being caught and beaten by Cao Cao. But now, when Cao Cao's momentum was not right and he was looking to reap the rewards, his father cut off Hu!

Can you bear this?

Well, I still have to endure it.

Cui Qin stepped forward in a polite manner and saluted respectfully.

Cui Yan rubbed his head. On the surface, he obeyed Liu Xie, as if he was obeying the emperor's orders, but in fact, he hoped more to pull the emperor's flag, establish his own territory, and fight against Cao Cao. But this struggle does not have to be a fight to the death, but Cao Cao must recognize Cui Yan's control over Jizhou and give up Jizhou's personnel, financial, military and other rights...

Otherwise Cui Yanguang has the title of Jizhou Governor, and even if he is promoted to the State Shepherd, it will be of no use.

Cui Yan wanted to get some benefits from Liu Xie, so he asked Liu Xie to stand in front and block Cao Cao's knife.

However, it happened that Liu Xie thought so too...

Cui Yan raised his eyes and happened to see Cui Qin secretly casting his eyes at him. He was stunned and his heart trembled!

Although Cui Qin saw Cui Yan raise his head, he quickly lowered his head and acted obediently with his eyebrows lowered, but the resentment in Cui Yan's heart remained in Cui Yan's heart!

Cui Yan has been busy blending with Liu Xie these days, but he has neglected Cui Qin.

Originally, Cui Yan wanted to ask Cui Qin to help with something, but after seeing the look Cui Qin cast, Cui Yan suddenly understood that this boy was probably...

Just like Cui Yan is polite to Liu Xie on the surface, but does Cui Yan actually take Liu Xie seriously?

Now Cui Qin is also polite to Cui Yan...

Cui Yan originally wanted to discuss something with Cui Qin, but now, she felt something was wrong.

Cui Yan gestured for Cui Qin to sit down, and then said slowly: "Today, things are in chaos, and foreign enemies are around. You and I, father and son, are of the same mind, and we should work together to deal with external changes..."

"Father is right. ” Cui Qin responded readily.

Seeing Cui Qin speaking so cheerfully, Cui Yan couldn't help but move his eyes slightly.

silence.

After a while, Cui Yan sighed softly.

"Although the war between the East and the West has paused for a while, there will definitely be some movement this winter and next spring as the Hussars garrison Hanjiao. ” Cui Yan said, “In the past, the traitor Dong controlled the army of Xiliang. He was domineering and tyrannical, causing harm to the country and the people. Today, the Fei clan has brought fierce soldiers from Liang. It is definitely not a good thing. This is why we should unite as one and work together to fight against the enemy..."

Cui Qin didn't even think about it and answered directly, "Yes, Father said that..."

Cui Yan paused for a moment, "If the hussars come with troops, you shoulder the heavy responsibility of the court and are favored by His Majesty, how should you deal with it?" 』

"Um? Cui Qin raised his head and glanced at Cui Yan, "Of course we should unite everyone, gather all the counties, and join forces to fight against it!" 』

"oh? Just like jujube? Cui Yan asked.

Cui Qin blinked, "Ah, it's just like a jujube... Father, is there... something wrong with this?" 』

Cui Yan didn't say anything, but lowered his head and smoothed the wrinkles of his clothes. It seemed that this wrinkle made Cui Yan very uncomfortable, so he stroked it over and over again, but the wrinkle had been there for a long time, so how could it be restored to its original state after just a few strokes?

"Father?" ” Cui Qin was a little confused.

"Oh..." Cui Yan seemed to have come to his senses and said, "You are right!" It seems that you have gained something in these days, very good, very good..."

Cui Qin was stunned for a moment and replied, "This... is just a little small..."

"In this case, I recommend to Your Majesty that you go to Qingxu and recruit troops to prepare for emergencies... What do you think?" Cui Yan stared at Cui Qin and said.

This is Cui Yan's last attempt.

Can father and son always be intimate?

In the face of interests, can flesh and blood and family ties be able to withstand the test?

How many children are always filled with anger from their "original family", gnashing hatred towards their parents' incompetence? Why can other people's parents do anything, but my parents can't do anything?

The relationship between Cui Yan and Cui Qin's father and son did not suddenly deteriorate immediately.

Just like the current situation of the Han Dynasty, it did not become so decadent in one day.

So, is the current situation in the Han Dynasty the fault of the monarch or the fault of the ministers?

Cui Yan, Cui Qin and his father have become increasingly alienated and estranged, and have even developed hatred. Whose fault is it?

Cui Yan tried to make one last effort.

He proposed that Cui Qin go to "Qingxu" to recruit troops. On the one hand, it allowed Cui Qin to avoid the conflicts that would inevitably follow in the next stage. On the other hand, it also hinted that if Cui Qin wanted to develop, he could only leave Jizhou. and Yuzhou, heading to areas similar to "Qingxu".

However, Cui Qin was unwilling. He thought Cui Yan was just trying to get rid of him. What can he do in Qingxu? It was really just to recruit soldiers, which was really a joke, so Cui Qin hesitated and made some excuses, not wanting to go.

Cui Yan listened and did not expose Cui Qin, but asked: "In that case, what do you want to do?" 』

Cui Qin was stunned. What does he want to do? Isn't this simple? He just wants to become Cui's official heir and return to Jizhou to be popular and drink spicy food! But these thoughts can be thought secretly, but it is difficult to talk about it. Otherwise, where would he put his brother?

Therefore, Cui Qin pretended to be very obedient and said: "My child... I don't want anything... I just rely on my father's instructions..."

This is actually the same as going shopping with some people in later generations, saying it's almost time for dinner and saying what to eat, and then saying "whatever".

Really "casual"? When others say something, they refute something. They keep objecting until they get what they want in their heart, and then they give you the face and "reluctantly" agree to go.

Cui Qin thought, waiting for Cui Yan to say something, and then he would find an excuse to evade it as if he was opposed to going to Qingxu. Unexpectedly, Cui Yan nodded slowly and said: "Since you have no idea ...So, my father has been feeling exhausted and dizzy recently, and he cannot bear the weight of the documents. He is planning to beg for his bones and retire to his hometown... What do you think? 』

"ah! Cui Qin's eyes widened instantly, "How can this be done?" ! 』