Chapter 23: The Earnings of the Eating King The music started again. The Hu women danced Western dances, and the Hu men continued to perform their best tricks, even breathing fire from their mouths. Different from the heated scene when the Hu people swallowed the knife just now, all the ministers present were quiet, holding their breath and watching Cao Rui with an angry look on his face and Liu Fang handing over the document. No one spoke, and no one asked the Hu people to stop their performance. Cao Rui took the document, read it quickly, then slammed it shut and placed it on the table. After a while, he picked up the bamboo slips from the table and read them carefully from beginning to end, word by word. With a "pa" sound, the bamboo slips were slammed onto the table. Cao Rui glanced at the audience and fixed his eyes on the face of the Minister of Personnel Wei Zhen. "Master Wei, do the ministers of the Shangshutai have the authority and responsibility to advise and remonstrate?" Wei Zhen stood up and saluted, then answered slowly, "Your Majesty, according to the example of the previous emperor, the responsibility of admonishing and remonstrating is mostly undertaken by close ministers, such as the ministers and the imperial guards."
"The Shangshutai has many officials. Apart from the Shangshuling and Shangshu Pushe, only the Shangshu who manages the six ministries can directly write to Your Majesty." "All told, there are nine people in the Shangshutai who have the authority to submit letters directly to His Majesty." The structure of the Wei Dynasty's Shangshutai was the same as that of the Han Dynasty. The chief official was called Shangshu Ling and the deputy official was called Shangshu Pushe. The six departments of the Shangshu Ling were called the "Six Caos", and the chief official of each Cao was called Shangshu. At the same time, each Cao had six grassroots officials under him, who were called Shangshu Lang. This is the core of Wei’s power. When Cao Rui just ascended the throne, he summoned the attendant Liu Ye to the palace for the first time. Sima Yi and Chen Qun invited Liu Ye to the Secretariat. Liu Ye said that Your Majesty was similar to Emperor Wen of Han. Wei Zhen was present at the time. It can be said that Wei Zhen was both Cao Pi's confidant and Cao Rui's confidant, which was a rare species among the ministers in the court. After listening to Wei Zhen's explanation, Cao Rui understood that the person who wrote the letter of remonstration had not exceeded his authority. However, Cao Rui was still angry that this person wrote a letter of remonstration when Cao Rui appointed close officials on a large scale for the first time. A new official starts with three things to do when he takes office. Are you going to stop my first one? Don't give face to the emperor. Cao Rui looked at the slightly worried expressions of the people present and knew that this letter of remonstrance not only offended the emperor, but also blocked the way for these people. Cao Rui decided to make the remonstrance public and hear what his old ministers and confidants had to say. See what they think of this bold man. Cao Rui said, "Where is the Minister? Read this letter of remonstrance for me." There were three attendants present. Liu Ye took the first step and walked towards Cao Rui's desk. Xin Pi and Huang Quan were a little slower and could only look at Liu Ye's back. Liu Ye did not say anything. He walked up to Cao Rui, bowed, picked up the bamboo slips from the table, and began to read aloud. "Your servant Sima Fu advises..." As soon as Liu Ye finished reading the first sentence, voices of discussion were heard among the ministers. "Sima Fu?" "Isn't this Sima Gong's younger brother?"
"Why is Sima Shuda doing this?" Cao Rui listened to the discussions of his ministers below and signaled Liu Ye to continue reading aloud. Liu Ye continued reading, "Even if there were Yao and Shun, there must have been Ji and Qi. Now that the successor has just been appointed, he should promote the talents of the country, but he is still worried about not being able to do so. How can he expect to recommend himself based on the circumstances? If the officials fail to fulfill their duties, the ones who are promoted are not worth much." After hearing Sima Fu's advice, all the ministers were furious and said that Sima Fu's words were nonsense. Sima Fu's advice bombarded everyone present today. The first person to be attacked was Cao Rui. It was said that Cao Rui intended to appoint old and close officials around him instead of talented people from all over the country. The words used to attack Cao Rui were relatively subtle. Secondly, he bombarded everyone present. Cao Rui invited all his relatives and friends to the palace today to watch the Hu people's acrobatics. It would be a win-win for everyone, and everyone can get promoted. Isn't that wonderful? Look at what Sima Fu said: "How can we recommend ourselves just because of the chance?" What I mean is, how did you, a bunch of old officials, find this opportunity to seek official positions? It's no wonder that everyone was angry. Sima Fu was equally critical of everyone in the hall, saying that you were seeking official positions on your own, which was destroying everyone's reputation. Guanqiu Jian was the first to stand up. He stood in the center of the hall, saluted Cao Rui and said, "Your Majesty, Sima Fu made irresponsible remarks about Your Majesty. His words were flowery but not substantial. Please punish Sima Fu." Guanqiu Jian was once a literary minister under Cao Rui when he was Marquis of Pingyuan. The two had a very good relationship and were like a monarch and his subject getting along well. After listening to Guanqiu Jian's words, Cao Rui neither agreed nor disagreed, but remained silent on the stage. Cao Shuang, the son of General Cao Zhen, who was sitting in the audience, saw Cao Rui was silent, glanced at everyone present, and said loudly: "Sima Fu was born into a noble family and has an official position, so why would he care about the life and death of others!" Cao Rui glanced at this close relative of the Cao clan and said, "Zhao Bo, please don't be rude." Cao Shuang also stood up and said, "Your Majesty, it was Sima Fu who was rude first. I was just discussing the matter at hand." In Cao Rui's memory, the general direction of the future situation was clearly remembered. In the original timeline, when Cao Rui was alive, Wei was still doing well. After Cao Rui's death, the Wei Kingdom was entrusted to Cao Shuang and Sima Yi. In any case, although Cao Shuang was greedy and stupid, and he monopolized power for wealth and honor, he never had the intention of usurping the throne. There were many such ministers in the 400-year history of the Han Dynasty. Compared with those powerful ministers in the Han Dynasty who deposed and enthroned emperors, or even poisoned emperors, Cao Shuang was just a younger brother. Sima Yi, on the other hand, was a shrewd and calculating man. He seized power in the Gaopingling Incident, but he had no regard for political ethics and executed Cao Shuang and his cronies, eventually usurping the throne from the Cao family. During the most crucial power-grabbing event of the Gaopingling Incident, Cao Rui remembered that the person who stationed troops at Sima Gate and controlled Luoyang City was Sima Yi's younger brother, Sima Fu. The original Sima Fu was still hypocritical and pretended that he had been a loyal minister of the Wei Dynasty all his life. Are there such loyal ministers? Cao Rui, who was already wary of Sima Yi, became more and more convinced that Sima Fu was not a good person and even wanted to kill him as soon as possible. But Cao Rui found that he had no reason to kill Sima Fu. In fact, according to political tradition, he should reward Sima Fu to commend his advice! This was outrageous. Seeing Cao Rui showing an impatient expression after listening to what Guanqiu Jian and Cao Shuang said, Wei Zhen hurriedly tried to persuade him. Wei Zhen said: "Your Majesty, Sima Shuda dared to speak out and he should be commended for his courage to speak out." Wei Zhen was Cao Rui's trusted minister, and Cao Rui had to listen to his opinions.
Cao Rui suppressed his anger and said slowly: "Sima Fu is a minister who dares to speak out and make suggestions. His actions are commendable. However, there is no need to avoid relatives when selecting talents. My original intention remains unchanged and the Shangshutai will still execute it." Liu Ye, who was standing beside Cao Rui, had been speculating a lot about Cao Rui's thoughts recently and could be said to be the one among Cao Rui's close ministers who understood Cao Rui's psychology best. Liu Ye cupped his hands and said, "Your Majesty, I do not agree with what Sima Fu said. He can give advice, and I can also write a book to refute his words." Cao Rui glanced at Liu Ye and said, "Whatever the Minister wants to write, it has nothing to do with me." Liu Ye quickly agreed. The originally bustling hall was thrown into disarray by Sima Fu's letter of remonstrance. Seeing that the Hu people's performance had stopped, Cao Rui signaled the Hu people not to be restrained and to continue his performance. The music sounded again, but the graceful dance of the Hu woman and the wonderful performance of the Hu people seemed unable to attract the crowd anymore. There is one more chapter before twelve o'clock~ (End of this chapter)