Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Guan Yu successfully captured Wei County, and the eastern front was no longer defended by the Wei army, and the entire city of Ye became empty.

After resting for a day, his soldiers and horses immediately pulled out of the camp and marched towards Yecheng.

Soon in mid-November, four days after Guan Yu captured Wei County, Sima Yi also received the news in Dangyin County, Hanoi County.

Knowing that Xia Houyuan committed suicide and the entire Wei army on the eastern front was wiped out, Sima Yi knew that Cao Wei was completely hopeless now, so he immediately summoned trustworthy generals to the county government office to discuss matters.

The lights in the hall are very dim. Hanoi has been cloudy these past few days, with light rain and snow falling. The wet and cold weather makes people feel bitingly cold. Even the charcoal fire in the room seems to be unable to emit much heat in the howling cold wind.

Guo Huai, Jia Kui, Wang Ling, Xu Zhi, Wang Ji, Huan Jia, Li Zhen and more than ten generals were summoned one after another. In fact, Tian Yu and Qianzhao were also among the Wei army.

Tian Yu and Qianzhao had been guarding the border of Youzhou before. Later, when the war in the south was unfavorable, Cao Pi transferred them to the south with Youzhou iron cavalry, hoping to use the cavalry to restore the decline.

But it is a pity that after Zhuge Liang came out of the mountain, Cao Jun on the center line never took advantage of it, and the cavalry was useless in many battles, so it was not taken seriously.

Or because Tian Yu and Zhao Zhao Yan Rou and others are not Sima Yi's direct troops and cannot be fully controlled, and Tian Yu and Qian Zhao had a close friendship with Liu Bei in the early years. Now that Cao Wei has reached this point, Sima Yi is afraid of their rebellion, so he deliberately guards against them.

At this moment, many generals came to the hall. Sima Yi sat on the main seat with his face sinking like water. After everyone saluted him and took their seats, he slowly said, "Report from the rear, the general has been defeated by Guan Yu!"

"Is it so fast? In just over half a month, Guan Yu has already conquered Wei County?"

"My God, the Han army's offensive is so fast."

"Then what should we do?"

As soon as these words came out, there was a mess below, and everyone looked at each other in blank dismay. In just a few days, Guan Yu had already defeated Xia Houyuan, which was something no one expected.

Sima Yi sighed, and then said: "After the defeat of the general, Guan Yu's army will go straight to Yecheng. It seems that the general situation cannot be changed, and it is beyond human power to go against the sky. Now that the big man is thriving, we really need to find a home. What do you think we should do?"

"Governor, we have discussed it before. If the matter has reached the point of no return, then we should indeed make a decision. We all support the choice of the great governor."

Guo Huai was the first to stand up and speak.

Jia Kui also said: "It is true, the governor, and we are only waiting for the governor."

"Ah."

Sima Yi nodded and said, "It's meaningless to continue to resist. Even if the Han army doesn't come to attack, without food and grass in the rear, we will be besieged and destroyed here in half a year at most. I plan to send envoys to the Han camp to discuss surrender."

As he said that, he looked around at the people below, scanned around, and hesitated a little.

This task must be done by a confidant, preferably his relatives, because it is related to the fate of himself and the family in the future. If you want to negotiate with the other party, you must naturally hold the conditions in your own hands.

But when he went out, Cao Rui was very wary and confined his family in Luoyang. Later, after moving the capital, he moved to Yecheng.

So at the moment none of Sima Yi's relatives are present, it would be great if only the eldest son, Sima Shi, was present.

He sighed inwardly, and looked at Guo Huai, Jia Kui and Wang Ling. Among the three, Guo Huai didn't have a close relationship with him. In history, Guo Huai didn't fight with Sima Yi until 231 AD. He only knew him for a short time now, so he was naturally not a confidant.

In Jia Kui's words, he has a little friendship with him, mainly because Jia Kui met Wang Ling Sima Lang in his early years and they were friends.Sima Lang is Sima Yi's elder brother, so he knew him relatively early.

However, acquaintance is acquaintance, but the relationship is not deep, and the acquaintance is not deep.

In the end, Sima Yi set his sights on Wang Ling. Wang Ling was a little better, besides being Sima Lang's friend, he was also Wang Chang's elder brother.

Wang Chang was Cao Pi's imperial literati before, and later he was an official in other places, and wrote many policy opinions to the court. As Cao Pi's auxiliary minister, Sima Yi appreciated Wang Chang's suggestions very much, so he often wrote to him.

After going back and forth like this, Wang Chang and Sima Yi gradually got acquainted. When Cao Rui first came to power last year, he was thirsty for talents, hoping to get useful talents, so Sima Yi recommended Wang Chang.

In this way, Wang Chang was transferred from a local official to the central government.

It's a pity that even if there are talents, now that Cao Wei is in decline, no matter how talented they are, it is useless, so Wang Chang basically has no use for him.

However, the friendship between Sima Yi and Wang Chang, who is both a teacher and a friend, has been preserved, making their relationship quite deep.

The Han Dynasty was the era when the most important relationship was between the big families. Both Wang Ling and Wang Chang were born in the Wang family of Taiyuan, and Wang Chang always regarded Wang Ling as his elder brother. The relationship between the two parties was naturally different.

So with the relationship between Sima Lang and Wang Chang, Sima Yi valued Wang Ling more.

Thinking of this, Sima Yi looked at Wang Ling and said, "Yanyun, I intend to send you to the Han camp as an envoy, what do you think?"

Wang Ling trembled all over, cupped his hands and said, "Attempt by the Commander-in-Chief."

"Ah."

Sima Yi nodded and said: "Then today's military meeting will come here first, you follow me."

Said get up and leave.

Everyone looked at each other and left with a heavy heart. Only Wang Ling got up and followed Sima Yi to the backyard.

In the backyard of the Dangyin County Government Mansion, there are dense trees and dead leaves flying all over the sky.The light rain was mixed with icy edges and snowflakes falling, and the howling north wind made people feel the bone-chilling chill.

When the two arrived at the corridor of the pavilion in the backyard, Sima Yi stood with his hands behind his back, raised his head and looked at the gray sky in the distance, and Wang Ling stood behind him with cupped hands.

After a while, Sima Yi said, "Yan Yun, do you know why you were asked to come?"

Wang Ling shook his head and said, "I don't know."

Sima Yi smiled and said: "You have always been calm, and you have always been close friends with my brother and Wen Shu. Of course, I can trust you. I hope you will never tell a third person what I want to tell you."

Wang Ling hurriedly said: "Please rest assured, the governor, I will keep my mouth shut."

"Ah."

Sima Yi said in a deep voice: "Since we want to surrender, we still need to negotiate terms. If we can't guarantee our interests with the clan, why bother to surrender? What do you think is the best terms we should negotiate?"

Wang Ling thought for a while, and said tentatively, "Keep the clan's population and land, and hope to continue to serve as an official after the surrender?"

"Ha ha."

Sima Yi smiled and said: "There is no such good thing in this world. We are surrendered generals. If it is still in wartime, surrendered generals are useful and can be reused. But if the south wins this battle, the world will be peaceful. What will the surrendered generals do? As for the clan population and land."

Wang Ling looked at him eagerly. The Taiyuan Wang family is a big family, but its organizational structure is relatively loose. As the leader, he cannot fully represent the interests of the entire Wang family, so what he hopes is to retain his own population and land.

But Sima Yi shook his head and said: "It's also very difficult. Separating the population of the family and reducing the land of the family is the national policy of the great Han in the south. Back then, Emperor Guangwu made the Land Duling Order because he was able to conquer the world with the support of the family. But Liu Bei has many poor families under his command, and I don't know how many southern families have been killed by him. How can this national policy be abolished?"

After Liu Xiu established the Eastern Han Dynasty, he also wanted to alleviate the increasingly acute land problem through land reform, but he succeeded in winning the world with the support of Nanyang and Hebei aristocratic families.As a result, when Du Tian made an order, there were many opponents. Under the pressure of the aristocratic family, Liu Xiu had no choice but to let the order go.

And when Liu Bei established the Han Dynasty in the south, his main supporters were Liu Qi and Jingzhou's poor family, and even a few families such as the Pang family, Huang family, and Ma family in Jingzhou still supported him in land reform and betrayed the big families with ideals.

Under such preconditions, Liu Bei quickly gained the support of the low-level civilians in Jingzhou through the Land Revolution, and then he had an excellent source of soldiers and horses, so he did not need the troops of the family.

After that, he seized Bashu and Jiangdong non-stop, and with the help of low-level civilians and poor families, he continued to suppress the power of the aristocratic family, and even recruited one faction to fight the other. Some of the aristocratic families won’t confiscate all the land and population, and leave some of them for them, and prioritize them as officials.

Under a series of operations, land conflicts in the south have been greatly eased. Although new interest groups may form new families in a few years, at least for now, land reform is the national policy of the great Han, and it will never change because of Sima Yi's surrender.

Hearing Sima Yi's words, Wang Ling was a little disappointed and said, "If the clan can't continue, and the population and land can't be preserved, then what's the point of surrendering?"

Sima Yi smiled and said: "We can give future generations a chance to hand over the population and land. After the surrender, the South will probably not embarrass us too much, just like after the Jiangdong family surrendered, most of them will be awarded official positions. The position is not high, but there is always hope. What's more, we brought 12 people to surrender, so the position will not be low."

"What the governor means is that the most important thing for us is to be properly settled? Get an official position that can be promoted?"

Wang Ling asked tentatively.

"Yes, in addition to these, there are titles, casual officials, and honorary officials. I know all about the restructuring of southern officials. I don't want to have a real high-ranking official with a generous salary, but I hope to find a ladder for future generations."

Sima Yi nodded: "Although imperial examinations are implemented in the south, how many people can read and write? I heard that officials in the south still come from aristocratic families. According to this development, in the future, most officials in the world will come from aristocratic families. Our clan has the possibility to grow!"

It has to be said that although Sima Yi has a bad stomach, he did know himself and the enemy.

Although the official system in the south still retains the system of Sangong and Jiuqing, it has actually been restructured and divided into rank officials, titles, honored officials, and scattered officials, which are comparable to those in the Tang Dynasty.

Moreover, the Sangong and Jiuqing have no real power, and the three provinces have become the real power positions of the central government. In history, there were six departments in the Sui and Tang Dynasties. At present, the southern Han Dynasty has not yet opened six departments. The functions of the six departments are mainly concentrated in the six Cao Shangshu in the three provinces.

So basically as long as the Liucao Shangshu is changed to six, the whole system is basically no different from that of the Tang Dynasty.

Since the power of the aristocratic families in the Han Dynasty was still great, and the literacy rate of the common people at the bottom was not high, even if Shen Chen held the imperial examination in the south, most of the officials were descendants of the aristocratic families.

Sima Yi believed that they could hand over their land and population, but they also didn't want the big men in the south to treat those who surrendered badly. Apart from the high-ranking official positions they should have, the most important thing was to be able to keep their children's upward path.

According to the current system of the Han Dynasty, titles, casual officials, and honorary officials are not so easy to confer.

Even Shen Chen himself, with the title of Marquis of Wuxiang, the honorary officer of Shangzhu Kingdom, and the official of Hussar General, has no loose official position.

Zhuge Liang has a scattered official position. His full official title is Doctor Jin Ziguanglu, Zhengzhi Shangqing, Wen Anhou, and Prime Minister.

Originally, according to Liu Chan's meaning, the important officials of the country like Guan Yu, Shen Chen, Zhuge Liang, and Zhang Fei should be awarded to the top.

But Zhuge Liang resolutely refused to do it, and repeatedly advised Liu Chan to be cautious when awarding scattered officials and titles, and he must not award rewards at will.

The reason is that it seems that the titles of scattered officials and honorary officers are useless, but they are actually of great help to the protection and growth of the family.

Just as titles were very precious in the early Han Dynasty, now scattered officials and honored officials are also very precious.

In other words, scattered officials and honored officials above the fourth rank are more precious.

Because according to the law of the Han Dynasty, scattered officials and honored officials above the fourth rank and above, as well as knights above the Guanneihou, all have family shadows.

If an official has Kaifu Yitong Sansi, Shangzhu Kingdom, and County Marquis Sanguan Huanguan and titles, then he can let his three sons directly enter the official position.

This means that if a family has top officials, dismissed officials, and titles, at least one heir can be guaranteed to enter the officialdom smoothly, and the starting point is still very high.

At the same time, if the sons and daughters are more outstanding, they can be reused and continue to be promoted, and they can also get top officials, dismissed officials, and titles, then the prosperity and wealth of this family can continue forever.

It looks a bit similar to the Four Generations and Three Dukes, but there is still a big difference between the two.

In the four generations and three lords, the three lords had real power in the early and middle period of the Han Dynasty. Coupled with the complex network of relationships, the disciples and old officials were all over the world, so they could support their children to rise all the way and let their descendants continue to be the three lords in power.

However, the system of the southern Han Dynasty was basically the system of the Tang and Song Dynasties. The top officials of the Tang and Song Dynasties, scattered officials, and knights were all able to have family shadows, and even the emperor often gave special gifts to those who came from Jinshi, but there were basically no powerful families born.

Just like Lu Yijian, the power minister of the Song Dynasty, all his sons entered the officialdom, and there was no Lu Shi family.

So on the surface, this system seems to maintain the long-term interests of the family, but in fact, whether it can get important or not often depends on the king, so it is still very difficult to actually implement it.

But even so, it will still give those descendants of important ministers a shortcut to rise up. That's why Zhuge Liang proposed to be cautious about dismissing officials and ennobling them.

And Sima Yi's goal is to obtain a relatively high honorary officer, casual official or title, so as to ensure that the family's interests will continue for a long time.