At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Page 558

Moreover, as the queen's elder brother and the prince's uncle, Cao Cao's status is very special. Cheng Yu, who was born as a servant of Guo Peng, really didn't have the guts to make an enemy of Cao Cao.

Moreover, in the previous commercial tax struggle, Cheng Yu actually supported the introduction of commercial tax, and his position was no different from Cao Cao's.

So Cheng Yu unilaterally "magnanimously" forgave Cao Cao, eased the relationship with Cao Cao, made further intimate contacts, and tried to reach a political alliance with Cao Cao to fight against the rebellious forces in the Shangshutai led by Tian Feng in his fantasy.

In Cheng Yu's view, as long as Cao Lan is still the queen and Guo Jin is still the prince, Cao Cao will be invincible.

Although Cao Lan did not express any relevant opinions in the previous turmoil, and did not discuss any related issues in front of Guo Peng, this is also Cao Lan's cleverness.

As long as Cao Lan is still there, the Cao family cannot be shaken.

Even if Guo Peng and Cao Lan are gone, Crown Prince Guo Jin still has the blood of the Cao family, so it is impossible to really target the Cao family.

Cao's existence is really buggy.

So in order to fight against the advantage of half of Tian Feng's relatives, Cheng Yu chose to take the Cao's route.

Cao Cao led the cabinet to connect with Shangshutai, and whenever something needs to be done, it is difficult without the cooperation of Shangshutai.

The deterioration of the relationship with Tian Feng had already made him very embarrassed. The Grand Canal work with the Ministry of Industry has reached an impasse, and it has been unable to proceed normally for a long time.

Guo Peng asked about this matter several times, and when he learned that the progress was limited, he already felt blamed, thinking that Cao Cao hadn't worked hard.

The helplessness in Cao Cao's heart.

He was very annoyed at Tian Feng's non-cooperation, but he felt powerless. At this juncture, he certainly didn't want to continue to offend Cheng Yu. If he offended Cheng Yu again at this time, would life be difficult?

Therefore, the friendship between Cao Cao and Cheng Yu seems to be a matter of course.

Both of them have hearts, and it's normal to have a good relationship. Now Cheng Yu and Cao Cao are very close, and the relationship has greatly eased.

After Tian Feng heard about these rumors, he felt deep fear and guard.

For more than a year, Tian Feng had struggled to cope with Cheng Yu's blows and threats.

He felt that the reason why Cheng Yu hadn't killed him yet was because he worried that his family had someone in the harem, and he had a daughter who was quite favored by Guo Peng.

He had reason to suspect that Cheng Yu took the initiative to win over Cao Cao in order to counteract the advantage of the Tian family in Guo Peng's harem and offset the advantage of the Tian family.

Regarding Cao Cao, because of Empress Cao Lan, Tian Feng was especially wary of this matter.

Not to mention Guo Peng's importance to Empress Cao Lan, but only his Tian clan's power, without the support of the scholars led by the Cui clan, it is impossible to fight against the Cao clan, let alone add Cheng Yu.

This is equivalent to Shang Shutai and the cabinet attacking him together. Can he survive?

Tian Feng thought about it, thinking that Tian Rou once told her family members who were visiting her that she had a better relationship with sisters Xiaoqiao.

This seems to be a breakthrough.

Chapter 985 Nine hundred and ninety-five Cheng Zhongde, you forced me!

The number of people in Guo Peng's harem is relatively small. Together there are only one queen, five concubines, and six women.

But among these six women, there are also distant relatives.

Women have never really been in a group. It is normal for a big circle of four to include five small circles.

In the harem, the situation is similar.

As far as Tian Feng secretly learned, Cao Lan and Xia Houlin had the closest relationship because of the kinship between the Cao family and the Xiahou family.

The big and small bridge sisters are naturally connected by blood, so there is no need to talk about the relationship.

Mi Zhu is an old minister of Guo Peng's family. Although his background is very low, his status is very important.

For Guo Peng's career, the Mi family has paid a lot, so after Guo Peng ascended the throne and proclaimed himself emperor, he also wanted to give the Mi family some compensation.

Mi Zhu was deeply trusted by Guo Peng, and Guo Peng even handed over the post of governor of Qingzhou to Mi Zhu to show his honor to Mi Zhu.

In addition, many children of the Mi family also served as officials in the court and the army. The Mi family caravan traveled all over the country, with a wealth of wealth and strong financial resources.

With such a background, and Mi Zhen served Guo Peng very early, and the time spent with Guo Peng is second only to Cao Lan, so she is a good object of curry favor in various senses.

Tian Rou once tried to get closer to Mi Zhen, and used Mi Zhen as a backer to further open up the relationship between Tian and Mi.

But Mi Zhen is calm by nature, likes to be alone and form a circle of her own, she just politely refuses Tian Rou's intention of taking refuge.

Tian Rou had no way to get closer to Cao Lan and Mi Zhen, and her relationship with Xia Houlin was neither salty nor weak, so she had no choice but to get close to the latecomer sisters Xiaoqiao and report to the two sisters to keep warm.

This time it was relatively successful. Facing the weak personality of Daqiao and the big-chested and brainless Xiaoqiao, Tian Rou quickly took the initiative and had a good relationship with the two sisters.

These are the more obvious three circles.

As for whether there are other circles, it is hard to say.

However, the harem is a small society. Although each has its own affiliation, because of the overly stable position of Empress Cao Lan, there is no real struggle in the harem, only distant relatives.

Thinking of this, Tian Feng thought of Yushi Zhongcheng Qiaorui.

Qiao Rui was originally a subject of Yuan Shu, the puppet emperor of the Chen Empire. He was defeated many times in Guo Peng's war to suppress the Chen Empire, and then surrendered to Guo Peng.

Then he exchanged his two daughters for a bright future, and was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by Guo Peng.

This is actually a slight stain. Although everyone dared not say anything publicly, they still looked down on Qiao Rui in their hearts.

But this did not prevent Qiao Rui from quickly entering the power core of the Wei Empire.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Qiao Rui entered Yushitai and served as Yushi Zhongcheng, and together with Yushi doctor Guo Hong, he assumed the responsibility of picking up Wei officials.

In other words, the main target of Yushitai is Shangshutai, the central office of the empire.

The Shangshutai is the department that has been targeted the most by the Yushitai, and the cabinet and the staff desk have basically not been targeted in this regard.

Yushitai is a knife in the emperor's hand, this sentence is not wrong at all.

And this knife was aimed at Shang Shutai.

Among the three divisions, Captain Sili is mainly involved in major cases, and only those with serious circumstances will participate, and he doesn't participate much in small fish and shrimp.

The Ministry of Punishment is more responsible for law enforcement, and can participate in various cases across the country. Civilian officials have more complicated management.

The Yushitai is specifically aimed at officials.

The more officials in Shangshutai, the more oppressive Yushitai will be on Shangshutai.

Qiao Rui will not talk about it, half a relative.

Guo Hong can basically be regarded as the patriarch of the Guo family in Yingchuan. He served as a court lieutenant in the previous dynasty and was a legal authority.

During the great chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, Guo Hong resigned on his own initiative and took his whole family to Qingzhou to join Guo Peng.

Because of the close relationship between Yushitai and Guo Peng, Yushitai was able to get away with many things, and compared with Shangshutai, who had many people and complicated affairs, Yushitai was much simpler.

If I can have some helpers in Yushitai, a little help, I think I can turn my unfavorable situation around.

Cheng Yu has no relationship with Guo Hong, and looks down on Qiao Rui, thinking that he is a shameless person who sells his daughter for glory, so he chooses to win over Cao Cao, and joins hands with Cao Cao to target the Ministry of Industry and Tian Feng everywhere.

Tian Feng felt that he could not sit still and watch Cheng Yu and Cao Cao team up to overthrow him, losing his position and family future, so he decided to try to join forces with Qiao Rui.

He didn't ask for anything else, he just wanted to use Qiao Rui's power in Yushitai to protect himself.

In fact, this matter is unlikely to involve the harem, as both Cao Cao and Cheng Yu know that the harem is not allowed to interfere in politics.

Those women are used to save their lives, not to fight. It is impossible for Cao Lan to really fight with Tian Rou and the Xiaoqiao sisters.

This is a symbolic existence.

The real key is that Cao Cao, who holds audit power, has a strong lethality against the Ministry of Industry controlled by Tian Feng. If Cao Cao keeps an eye on the Ministry of Industry, Tian Feng really can't guarantee that he can retreat unscathed.

In order to counter Cheng Yu and realize self-protection, Tian Feng also needs a trump card that can target officials.

Before, Cao Cao and Wang Can set off this large-scale Cui Qu case. The case involved a wide range of areas, and basically messed up the previous situation of the court.

As one of the three divisions, Yushitai, the Ministry of Criminal Justice, and Sili Xiaowei were in charge of trying many cases. Under Guo Peng's high pressure, they had to handle them impartially, which offended many people.

The scholar's family is connected with each other, and if one of them is killed, there are three, four, five or six other families. Unless the whole family is exterminated, it will be a future trouble.

The third division was also worried that this kind of future trouble would bring some kind of threat to them, but under Guo Peng's high pressure, they had to deal with it impartially.

Now the people in the third division have opinions on Cao Cao and others.

Inside Shangshutai not only had opinions on Wang Can, but also many people had opinions on Cao Cao and others.

This group of people was only intimidated by Cao Cao's special status and the power of auditing in their hands, so they dared not express this kind of anger, for fear of offending the empress and the future emperor.

Therefore, Tian Feng felt that in order to arouse their anger against Cao Cao and others, make them dare to fight against Cao Cao, and rearrange the political forces that can be used at once, it is necessary to win over a key player who can counter Cao Cao.

If there is a suitable helper, Cui's former political power can be integrated and turned into his own backing and assistance.

After talking with Cui Yan in private, Cui Yan supported Tian Feng's idea.

Tian Feng also felt that what he did was right, and there was nothing wrong with it.

Cheng Zhongde, you insist on killing me every step of the way, do you really think that I am made of mud and will shatter when touched?

snort!

Tian Feng decided to fight back.

Since Cheng Yu can use Cao Cao to attack Tian Feng with economic means, forcing Tian Feng to be timid and unable to deal with it, then Tian Feng can also use Yushitai to counter Cheng Yu in turn.

Only when this kind of countermeasure is achieved can the strengths of both sides be balanced, otherwise Tian Feng feels that he will be killed by Cheng Yu sooner or later.

If I don't commit crimes, I can't guarantee that the hands and feet of the officials under him are clean. Even if one is caught, I will be in danger. Cheng Yu will definitely hold on to it and expand the situation.

At that time, once Guo Peng's anger is aroused and a strict investigation is ordered, Tian Feng will be finished.

At that time, Tian Rou will save Tian Feng's life at most, and Tian's political future will be very difficult to say.

Look at the Xun family and the Chen family. Xun You and Chen Qun are now basically synonymous with lonely ministers. Because of the previous disasters, although Xun You and Chen Qun have power and status in the Staff Office and the Minister's Office, no one dares to approach them. Xun You and Chen Qun.

Tian Feng once thought about getting close to Xun You and Chen Qun, but after thinking about it, he felt that he was asking for a dead end. He probably had to be killed by Guo Peng before he was killed by Cheng Yu.

So Tian Feng gave up, and was even more afraid of losing his political future in the future.

With the help of Qiao Rui, using the energy of Yushitai to fight against Cheng Yu and Cao Cao, the situation can be balanced to a certain extent.

At least it won't be killed.

To be honest, at first, Tian Feng really didn't want to fight with Cheng Yu.

As a surrender, he did not dare to confront an old minister like Cheng Yu, but Cheng Yu bullied him too much, oppressed him too much, repeatedly pushed him, even if he wanted to put him to death, he couldn't find a way to surrender.

Cheng Zhongde, you are unkind, don't blame me for being unrighteous!

You want me to die, will it be that simple?

I didn't want to fight against you, you forced me!

A cold light flashed in Tian Feng's eyes, and with strong dissatisfaction and hatred towards Cheng Yu, he started to take the Qiaorui route.

Using some means and power to help Qiao Rui with some insignificant favors, after several times, in the second half of the third year of Yande, the relationship between Tian Feng and Qiao Rui became closer.

Both families have quite a lot of money led by Guo Peng and invested in the Mi's caravan to do business together. In terms of business, the two families have quite some contacts.

Although there were not many contacts in other senses before, as a scholar, it would not be difficult for Tian Feng to establish a good relationship with Qiao Rui.

The Qiaorui family was born in a powerful place, and their identity is not as good as Tian's. Even though they are both relatives, their degree of intimacy is not as good as Tian's.

However, Qiao Rui took the initiative to make friends with Guo Hong by taking advantage of his close relationship. Guo Hong is also the patriarch of the Guo clan in Yingchuan, so he can speak well in front of Guo Peng, so Qiao Rui, who has two life-saving talismans, is quite safe. .

As long as he doesn't cause trouble, no one will take the initiative to provoke him.

It seems that Qiao Rui seems to be quite willing to associate with Tian Feng, and Tian Feng is not unhappy because of Tian Feng's deliberate approach, which makes Tian Feng very happy.

In the second half of the third year of Yande, Tian Feng spent several holidays with Qiao Rui.

Or meet to drink, or meet to appreciate antiques together, anyway, the exchanges between each other have become a little frequent.

The two got closer and closer, and seemed to be friendly with each other from the standpoint of half-relatives, which made others dare not discuss it.

Then because of this incident, many people began to have close contacts with Tian Feng. The scholars and bureaucrats who lost their leaders because Cui Yan was knocked to the ground seemed to have a new backbone.

The power groups that once collapsed under the oppression of Cao Cao, Wang Can and others gradually tended to reunite.

The alliance between Wang Can, Cao Cao, and others was a little stronger, and none of them received any real blows. The actual blows were all on the group of people who opposed commercial taxation, including Cui Yan.

So after the Cui Qu case ended, there was still a situation of ebb and flow.

Cui Yan fell, the new leader did not appear, and some people were at a loss.

It hurts them to be taxed.