Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

In the past two years, with the replacement of armor, the combat power of the Central Army has become stronger. When conquering Liaodong, only 20,000 Central Army troops were mobilized. Your Majesty is the emperor on horseback, and it is reasonable for him to hold the Central Army more and more tightly in his hands.

However, according to the configuration of the six chambers of the Privy Council, it seems to be the same as the six ministries of the Shangshutai? Then, isn't Liu Ye, the Right Supervisor of the Privy Council, similar to the position of the Right Minister of Shangshu? Wouldn't all the military officers of the Privy Council take advantage of this opportunity to rise to the top and become two thousand stone officials?
It’s time and destiny!

Liu Ye nodded and continued, "My second question is about the official rank. May I ask what rank these six secretaries are at? Once the rank is determined, people's hearts will be at peace. I hope Your Majesty will give your instructions."

Cao Rui said calmly: "I have checked. The military officers who were in charge of all matters were all paid 1,000 stones, but now they have been promoted to 2,000 stones."

Two thousand stones can be divided into middle two thousand stones, two thousand stones and two thousand stones, and their salaries are different. According to the current division of positions in Wei, the six ministers are similar to the nine ministers, all of whom are middle two thousand stones. So, the six privy councilors are lower in position than the ministers?

But this is inevitable. After all, before, they were all in charge of the army with a 1,000-stone rank, and now they are all promoted to 2,000-stone rank, which can be regarded as the emperor's great grace. Your Majesty has always been generous in doing things, even the change of the Privy Council is the same.

Liu Ye paused and asked, "I have one last question.

"Your Majesty just said that the affairs of the Central Army will be handled by the Privy Council and the Ministry of War respectively, and the rest will be handled by the Central Commander and the Central Guard. So how should the division of responsibilities between the Privy Council and the Ministry of War be made clear?"

Cao Rui smiled and said, "Mr. Liu is indeed very wise. I will invite both of you, the Privy Councilors, as well as the Minister of Works and the Minister of War, to come here today to divide the divisions for you."

"In short, all matters related to command are handled by the Privy Council. From pre-war command to defense deployment, it's all like this. The Ministry of War is only responsible for armor, horses, selecting soldiers, and military rations, and does not involve command."

"Can you four understand what I am saying?"

Sima Yi and Wu Zhou hadn't spoken yet, and Liu Ye was still thinking, but Wang Guan stood up and bowed to the emperor:

"Your Majesty, there is something I don't understand. I hope Your Majesty can teach me."

Wang Guan had always been quiet during audiences, but today he took the initiative to ask something, which Cao Rui found somewhat novel: "What do you want to ask, Lord Wang?"

Wang Guan said, "According to the previous system, the Privy Council can manage armor, horses, and military rations. Will these matters be handed over to the Ministry of War in the future? In this case, the four branches of Guanxi, Jingzhou, Yangzhou, and Hebei will have to communicate with the Ministry of War everywhere, and it may not be as fast as before."

As soon as Wang Guan finished speaking, all eyes in the hall turned to him.

Sima Yi snorted in his heart at this time. Is it not as fast as before? What we want is that the armies of all four directions are restricted by the Ministry of War!

Anyway, the Central Army is directly under the control of His Majesty. If there is any matter, he can just issue an order to the Ministry of War. In essence, it is not controlled by the Ministry of War.

Before Cao Rui could speak in person, Pei Qian, who was standing in front of everyone, began to explain for the emperor:
"So that Wang Zuojian knows that the original intention of establishing the Privy Council was to command the armies of the four directions for the emperor, and to be the emperor's minions and to control the four directions together with the Ministry of War. In the final analysis, the Privy Council and the Ministry of War are one and the same, but they handle official business in different places, and the details are slightly different. The Privy Council only needs to command and dispatch, and the Ministry of War will cooperate with the rest of the matters, which seems to be more efficient."

After Pei Qian finished speaking, Cao Rui's eyes lit up when he looked at Pei Qian. Even Sima Yi and Liu Ye felt a little surprised at this moment.

How come I didn't know Pei Qian was so good at speaking before? More importantly, what Pei Qian said just now was to reconcile the emperor with his ministers, which was the basic quality of a minister in power!
Wang Guan remained silent, not knowing whether he was rebuked by Pei Qian's words or was struggling with himself. After a moment of silence, Wang Guan said:

"I am asking this out of public interest. There is a war going on in Jingzhou right now, and Yangzhou and Guanxi are likely to be at war soon. This is a critical moment. I have no opinion on how the central government should be changed. I just hope it will not affect the deployment of troops in other places."

Cao Rui said quickly: "I understand what you mean. You have always been prudent and careful in your work, so you don't need to explain to me."

"Yes." Wang Guan lowered his head slightly.

At this time, Wu Zhou was also a little restless. The Privy Council was obviously streamlined, but with so many things thrown to the Ministry of War, it was difficult for him to manage it.

"I have something to report to your majesty." Wu Zhou slowly stood up from her seat and bowed to the emperor. In terms of age, Wu Zhou Shangshu was indeed older than Sima Yi, Liu Ye, Wang Guan and others in the hall.

Cao Rui nodded: "Please speak, Wu Qing."

Wu Zhou bowed and said, "If the military rations, armor, horses, and conscription are all handled by the Ministry of War, I am afraid that the Ministry of War has too few people and too many things to do, and it is really difficult to take care of it."

Cao Rui was decisive: "If there is any military food issue, the Ministry of War will send a letter to the Ministry of Civil Affairs to handle it. For armor, ask the chief architect. I let the Ministry of War take charge, but I don't want you to do everything yourself."

"I understand." Wu Zhou nodded slightly.

"Well, if there is no objection, this is settled." Cao Rui looked around and found that Sima Yi had not spoken, so he asked:
"What do you think, Sikong?"

Sima Yi cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty and Minister Pei have made a very good division, and I naturally agree with it. From my point of view, during the Taihe period, the central government's various functions were gradually adjusted to cope with all aspects of Wei's national affairs and military affairs." "Take the Privy Council and the Ministry of War just now as an example. The central government is clearly divided, but the General's Mansion in Guanxi, Zhao Dujian's Office in Jingzhou, Chen Situ's Office in Yangzhou, and Wang Dudu's Office in Yingzhou have different powers and responsibilities. After this war, the court should also make unified plans for the several Dudus and Dujians."

Cao Rui took a breath and said, "What Sikong said makes sense, but it is a little early to say this now. Sikong, please remember this for me. When you have time at the beginning or middle of next year, put this matter on the agenda."

"I obey your order." Sima Yi nodded in response.

……

At the same time, outside Guantao City, Man Chong, who had returned with the entire army from the expedition to Liaodong, also parted ways with Lu Yu here.

The route of Man Chong's return was almost the same as the route of the grain transport in various places in Hebei. Guantao was at a fork. From here, going west, you can go directly to Yecheng. From here, going south, you can go directly to Liyang near the Yellow River. Man Chong had received a military order before, and he was to lead the entire army southward, passing through Dongjun and Chenliujun to Xuchang.

Here the army was divided into two groups.

One was led by Man Chong, including 15,000 cavalrymen from the Central Army Wenqin Division and the Five Colonel Battalions. There were also 5,000 Liaodong cavalrymen and 5,000 Liaodong infantrymen led by Bei Yan, totaling 25,000 troops.

The other group was the Xiongnu cavalry returning to their hometown. According to the assignment given by His Majesty in Youzhou, Lu Yu was to escort 3,000 Xiongnu cavalry back to Taiyuan County.

After the separation, Lu Yu, accompanied by the Xiongnu cavalry, gradually headed westward. As soon as he left the army, five Xiongnu commanders rode their horses around Lu Yu, asking for advice or flattering him, saying all sorts of good things about him.

It was pleasant to hear one or two words of flattery. But when the five Huns had been talking in front of Lu Yu for half an hour, even though Lu Yu had such a good temper, he could no longer bear it. He pulled the reins and stopped where he was, looking at everyone:
"How come I didn't hear you guys talking so much when I was marching beside General Man? What do you want from me? Tell me now!"

The five Huns looked at each other, and finally Liu Bao came out to answer.

"Mr. Lu, we do have a request, please report it to the court for us."

"What's the matter? Why didn't you let General Man report it?" Lu Yu looked at Liu Bao with a colder look. These Southern Xiongnu people were different from the Wuhuan and Xianbei people. They had been surnamed Liu for hundreds of years, and they spoke Chinese with a Taiyuan accent. The Xiongnu people knew all about the Han people's affairs.

Liu Bao said in a somewhat euphemistic way: "Lord Lu, General Man is indeed too harsh. Moreover, we are also afraid of Ke Bineng's surrender, so we really dare not report it to General Man."

"Then you dare to tell me?" Lu Yu asked back.

Liu Bao was a little embarrassed. "We have heard of Lord Lu's wisdom and character in Bingzhou. Lord Lu, we have discussed this for a while and are willing to send 3,000 soldiers from our clan to obey the imperial court's orders for a long time!"

Lu Yu said: "Your Majesty and the other ministers have discussed before that two thousand light cavalry will be recruited from the Xianbei Kebineng and Budugen tribes respectively. As for the Wuhuan and Xiongnu, they are not included in the list of recruits!"

"We have heard about this." Liu Bao said carefully, "But we are also citizens of the Great Wei, and we also have the heart to serve our country! Now that the Great Wei is confronting Wu and Shu in the southeast and west, it would be good if we could contribute a little more! That's why we reported to Lord Lu, can these 3,000 cavalrymen not go back, and let me lead them to follow Lord Lu to serve His Majesty?"

Lu Yu said in a deep voice: "You have such an idea, which is better than Wuhuan and Xianbei..."

"Of course we are better than them!"

"Mr. Lu is right. How can the Xianbei thieves be compared with us?"

Seeing several people showing off their achievements, Lu Yu quickly signaled these Xiongnu people to stop:

"Your Majesty is in Xuchang now. We are in the wilderness, so it is not appropriate to wait here. Let me report this matter to General Man and then send an envoy to report to the court. You and I will go back to Guantao City and wait. It will take at least ten days, at most fifteen days, and the court will give us a reply."

"Thank you, Mr. Lu!"

"Thank you, Lord Lu, for your advice to us!"

Looking at these "loyal" Huns in front of him, Lu Yu couldn't figure out whether they really wanted to serve the Wei Dynasty, or were afraid of Kebineng's deeds and wanted to be more closely bound to the Wei Dynasty.

But in any case, having 3,000 more Xiongnu light cavalry is not a bad thing. But where can these Xiongnu cavalry be used? Let's wait for the court's reply.

Lu Yu thought secretly. (End of this chapter)