Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Chapter 85: Lure for gain
Of the thirteen provinces in the world, Wei controlled nine.

With such a large number of officials, even if he only promoted officials in some key positions, this workload was still too much for Cao Rui to complete by himself.

Before deciding on a reward for a minister, one must examine his age, place of origin, resume, merits and demerits, and also make an assessment of his personal ability and character. Not only does one need to look through various records and documents, but one must also make a detailed summary.

Therefore, this great reward was worked out by the emperor and the four ministers in the North Palace. They worked overtime for three consecutive days to complete all the work.

It is both a reward and a comprehensive summary and review of all officials in key positions.

A few days ago in the Northern Palace, the Minister Xin Pi originally felt that such a reward was a bit inappropriate. In Xin Pi's opinion, rewards should be a compliment to officials who have made great contributions to the country. If it is just like this, everyone gets a share, like water is poured out and everyone gets a share, isn't it too cheap?
As early as when Cao Pi ascended the throne, Xin Pi felt that it was not appropriate. When Xin Pi wanted to advise the emperor, he was directly blocked by the emperor.

It was not a gagging in the physical sense, but before the emperor asked the Shizhong to study the rewards for the outer court officials, the emperor himself decided on the rewards for the four Shizhong and two Zhongshu.

Those who were originally Guannei Hou are now Ting Hou; those who were originally Ting Hou are now Xiang Hou.

When this reward fell on his head, who would be reluctant to accept this title? Although Xin Pi's ancestral home was Longxi, he was born in Yangdi, Yingchuan. He changed from Guangping Tinghou to Yingxianghou. The word "Ying" alone was enough to buy Xin Pi.

When Xin Pi tentatively asked the emperor why he wanted to reward the ministers, Cao Rui smiled and said, "I promoted Xin Shizhong first, and then thought of the ministers. They all have to thank Xin Shizhong!"

Faced with the emperor's jokes, Xin Pi could only laugh and cry.

Cao Rui asked the eunuchs to make a large screen, which was covered with Zuo Bo paper. The first step was to select the list of people to be rewarded, and the second step was to determine the specific rewards. Drawing on the screen was obviously much clearer and more straightforward.

Although most people’s awards were evaluated quite smoothly, some individual awards were still questioned.

For example, Meng Da.

As a person, you must know how to seize the opportunity, and as an official, you must know how to seize the opportunity. Meng Da is a master at seizing the opportunity.

Shortly after Cao Cao's death, when Cao Pi had just been named King of Wei but had not yet become emperor, Meng Da led more than 4,000 of his followers to defect to the Wei Kingdom in Shangyong when Cao Pi was in urgent need of prestige and achievements.

What Cao Pi lacked at that time was prestige. With all the people in the world submitting to him and the enemy generals surrendering voluntarily, he made a huge profit in terms of both face and substance.

When Meng Da arrived at Qiao County to meet Cao Pi, he was so elegant and eloquent that everyone was impressed. Cao Pi even rode in the same car with Meng Da when he went out, and even grabbed Meng Da's hand and joked, "Are you not an assassin for Liu Bei?"

Meng Da was favored by Cao Pi, who not only appointed Meng Da as Palace Attendant, General Jianwu, and Marquis of Pingyangting, but also merged Fangling, Shangyong, and Xicheng counties into Xincheng County, made Meng Da the governor of Xincheng, and entrusted Meng Da with the responsibility of the southwest.

But Cao Pi has passed away, and the current emperor Cao Rui knows all too well what kind of person Meng Da is. To sum it up in four words: a treacherous villain.

When talking about Meng Da's reward, Liu Ye was the first to express his opposition.

Liu Ye said to the emperor: "I think Meng Da is a man who surrenders and changes his ways. He also relies on his talent and is good at tactics. How can such a person be influenced by rewards? Moreover, Meng Da is stationed in Xincheng. If Meng Da rebels, wouldn't it be very harmful to Xiangyang and Jingzhou?"

Cao Rui was also quite surprised that Liu Ye was indeed very good at judging people. In the original history, during the first Northern Expedition, Zhuge Liang persuaded Meng Da to rejoin Shu Han, but Meng Da was persuaded by Zhuge Liang to rebel.

And it is only the end of the seventh year of Huangchu, and the new emperor has not even changed the reign title since he ascended the throne. If we evaluate Meng Da's situation at this time, it should still be quite stable.

Cao Rui then asked Huang Quan, who had served in Shu Han, "Do you think Meng Da should be given a higher title?"

Huang Quan thought for a moment and then said, "I am quite familiar with Meng Da."

"Meng Da was from Fufeng. His father, Meng Ta, became the governor of Liangzhou by bribing Zhang Rang. Meng Da's style of doing things in the future was just like his father's, quite opportunistic."

"Meng Da and Fa Zheng led Liu Bei into Yizhou together, but Meng Da was only appointed as the governor of Yidu. Fa Zheng, who planned this together, was taken as a confidant and was appointed as the governor of Shu County and the general of Yangwu by Liu Bei. He received the highest reward from Liu Bei along with Zhuge Liang, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei."

"Liu Bei took Fa Zheng as his adviser and marched north to occupy Hanzhong. After Liu Bei was named King of Hanzhong, he appointed Fa Zheng as Shangshu Ling and General of the Guard. At this time, Meng Da was still stationed in Shangyong, a remote place far away from Chengdu."

"Meng Da and Fa Zheng had known each other for decades, and the gap between Meng Da and Fa Zheng made Meng Da feel quite unfair. In addition, when Guan Yu attacked Xiangfan in the north, Meng Da and Liu Feng had refused Guan Yu's request to send troops. After Guan Yu's death, Meng Da was always afraid of being punished, and he was at odds with Liu Feng, and Liu Feng took away his drum, so he chose to lead his troops to surrender to Wei."

Huang Quan actually defected from Shu Han, so it was a bit strange for a surrendered general to comment on another surrendered general. However, Huang Quan did not hide his disdain for Meng Da in his words.

The most interesting thing about Meng Da is that before he surrendered to Wei, he actually wrote a personal letter to Liu Bei!

At the end of his personal letter to Liu Bei, Meng Da said: "I am a villain, I cannot stick to my word." And "I have never heard bad things from you when you break up with me, and never heard complaints when you leave me." The general meaning is that I, Meng Da, am a villain, but you, Liu Bei, are a gentleman! Although I have surrendered to Wei, you will definitely not treat me the same way, right? It is extremely sarcastic.

Huang Quan concluded: "If Your Majesty wants to stabilize the three eastern counties, it is better to summon Meng Da back to the court to serve as an official and select another wise man to guard the three eastern counties instead of conferring a title on Meng Da and making him arrogant."

Cao Rui smiled slightly after hearing Huang Quan's words: "Huang Shizhong, you are indeed a gentleman. This is to judge a villain with the heart of a gentleman. But I think that if I issue an edict to let Meng Da return to the court when I confer titles on the ministers, do you believe that Meng Da will directly rebel after receiving the edict?"

"What should we do?" Huang Quan frowned and asked, "Does it mean that we can only continue to reward Meng Da?"

Cao Rui smiled and shook his head: "Since Meng Da is undoubtedly a villain, then Meng Da should be neither loyal to me nor to Shu. If Meng Da is wavering between Wei and Shu, it is nothing more than seeing who offers the highest price."

"By the way, what is the current title of Zhao Yun, the general of Shu Han?"

Liu Ye usually studies many people in enemy countries. At this moment, he said: "Your Majesty, if I remember correctly, Zhao Yun should have been named Tinghou after Liu Chan ascended the throne."

Cao Rui thought for a moment and said, "Zhuge Liang is only a marquis of a county now, right? Marquis of Wu County, right?"

Liu Ye nodded: "Just as your majesty said."

Cao Rui smiled and said, "Then I have an idea. Remember, change Meng Da's title of Tinghou to Xianghou, and let him be on the same level as Zhuge Liang. Also give Xiahou Mao's title of Anxi General to Meng Da."

"Didn't Liu Feng take Meng Da's drums and trumpets? Then I will give Meng Da the drums and trumpets again to show that I haven't forgotten him. Minister Liu, please write a private letter to Meng Da for me."

"I don't believe that Zhuge Liang could offer Meng Da more than I did."

Liu Ye also responded at this time: "If your majesty is like this, there is no need to worry about Meng Da for the time being."

Cao Rui said: "Yes, it's good to be worry-free for the time being. Everything is just for the war in the southeast."

……

December 2nd, Luoyang, Imperial College.

The Imperial College in Luoyang was first built during the reign of Emperor Guangwu of the Western Han Dynasty. Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu visited the Imperial College many times to watch the debates on classics and personally examined the students' homework. During the reigns of Emperor Shun and Emperor Ling, the total number of students in the Imperial College once reached 30,000.

The terrifying scale of more than 30,000 people was slightly larger than many famous universities in later generations. In order to accommodate so many students, the Imperial College was expanded again, with 240 classrooms and 1,850 dormitories. For a time, the academic atmosphere in Luoyang was extremely prosperous.

With so many students and teachers, it was extremely difficult to unify the textbooks without printing technology. Therefore, Emperor Lingdi approved the proposal of Cai Yong, a councilor, and ordered 46 stone tablets to be erected outside the gate of the Imperial College, each of which was about ten feet high and four feet wide.

Unfortunately, the stele was damaged during the Dong Zhuo Rebellion, with about half of it broken. When Cao Pi came to power, he had the damaged parts of the stele repaired. He also renovated the Imperial College, rebuilt many buildings, and recruited students and lecturers.

Originally, the affairs of the Imperial College were handled by Zhong Yao, the Grand Tutor, but Zhong was indeed old, so the daily affairs of the Imperial College were handled by Gaotang Long, a doctor, and the teaching affairs were handled by Zheng Cheng, the great-nephew of Zheng Xuan, the "God of Classics".

Although the Imperial Academy was a school, it was funded and run by the imperial court, so it inevitably involved many things other than studying, and enrollment in the Imperial Academy was one of them.

Luoyang Imperial College had no tradition of entrance examinations or graded admissions, nor did it have a unified study period or graduation. Since the school system was so chaotic, who to admit and who not to admit was a matter of the imperial court's decision.

It’s nothing more than dividing the cake!
Since the new emperor wanted to make the Imperial College better and bigger, the quality of the students must also be controlled. So where are the best sources of students? Of course, Ruying, Wanluo.

Among the first batch of 500 places, the four counties of Ru, Ying, Wan and Luo, Runan, Yingchuan, Nanyang and Henan Yin accounted for 200 places.

The remaining seventy or eighty counties and kingdoms were divided from the remaining three hundred places. After so many divisions, when it came to the border counties such as Tianshui County in Yongzhou, Tianshui County only had one pitiful place.

Everyone is equal when it comes to studying, but when it comes to admissions, some places are just more equal.

Sima Shi arrived at the Imperial College a little early today, and stopped outside the door to read the stone scriptures.

After a while, Sima Shi, who was reading the stone scriptures, heard someone calling him from behind.

Sima Shi looked back and saw that the person coming was Xiahou Xuan.

Dear readers, I am doing my best to write 6,000 words a day. After all, I can only stay up late at night to write. I admit it if you say I am short! I will work hard to improve my hand speed in the future!
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(End of this chapter)