Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

February 4th, afternoon, Shen time.

Cao Rui led 21,000 cavalrymen, along with their fleet and officials, and finally arrived at Jianye, the capital city that Sun Quan had occupied for many years, from south to north.

Compared to when the people of Wu welcomed Cao Zhi into the city, the scale of the procession welcoming the emperor into the city this time was more than ten times larger.

The banners of the Great Wei were planted all over the walls of Jianye. All the officials of the Wu Kingdom, from the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat Gu Yong down, knelt to welcome them thirty miles outside the city. Members of the Wu Kingdom’s royal family, the Nine Ministers, and a whole host of other miscellaneous court officials also knelt to welcome them.

Cao Rui had little interest in putting on an act with Gu Yong and the others, and there was no need for him, as the emperor, to do so at the moment.

Cao Rui simply sat on his horse, looking down at Gu Yong and the others with an air of imperial majesty.

Huang Quan, the Left Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel who accompanied the emperor, immediately issued an official certificate appointing Gu Yong as the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel of the Great Wei, and appointed Kan Ze, Xue Zong, Qu Huang, and Ji Liang as Ministers of the Great Wei. He also announced in public that all Wu officials would be recruited by the Great Wei at a lower rank, which earned him a heartfelt shout of "Long live the Emperor!" from the Wu officials.

Gu Yong, as the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat in Wu, was promoted to the position of Vice Minister of the Imperial Secretariat in Wei, which was equivalent to a full rank advancement. The same was true for Kan, Xue, Qu, and Ji. Those who originally held the position of one of the Nine Ministers in Wu were naturally satisfied to be appointed to a position of two thousand piculs of grain in Wei!
I thought I would be slaughtered by the Wei people, but the court was so lenient. If I had known this would happen, I would have surrendered much earlier.
The only person Cao Rui publicly summoned and spoke with was Zhuge Ke.

In the second year of the Taihe era, when Cao Rui was at Chiting, he sent Jiang Wei to the Shu camp three times, where Jiang Wei met with Zhuge Liang each time. Cao Rui himself never met Zhuge Liang, but he did meet Zhuge Liang's nephew in Jianye.

"So you are Zhuge Ke? Raise your head and let me see your face."

"Your subject obeys the decree." Zhuge Ke knelt on the ground and carefully kowtowed three times before standing up straight, but his gaze remained lowered, not daring to look directly at Cao Rui's face.

Cao Rui chuckled lightly: "Liu Shumi just bestowed upon you the seal and official certificate of General of Annam. I heard from my uncle about your merits in surrendering Jianye, which is why I granted you this position. However, I do have a few questions for you."

"My court has no need for timid generals; you can look directly at me."

Zhuge Ke responded softly, glancing at Cao Rui's face for a moment before quickly looking away. Although he had heard from Handan Jia that the emperor had extraordinary looks, he never expected the emperor's appearance to be so outstanding, radiant as if by a god! He had lived in Wu for thirty years and had never seen anyone with such a face.

Zhuge Ke compared what he had just seen with Sun Quan in his mind... This is the appearance of an emperor!

Cao Rui asked, "Let me ask you first, who is Sun Quan?"

Zhuge Ke thought for a moment, then cupped his hands and replied, "Your Majesty, Sun Quan is a traitor who separatizes himself. This traitor relies on the rivers and mountains for his own benefit and has been separated from the court for a long time. Now that the Great Wei is about to rise and the Wu Kingdom is about to be destroyed, Sun Quan's demise is only a matter of time."

Zhuge Ke spoke with righteous indignation, but Gu Yong, Kan Ze, and the others standing nearby felt uneasy. But what could they do? They could only maintain a smile. They had already surrendered; how could they risk their lives arguing with Zhuge Ke over a few words?
Cao Rui laughed and said, "I have heard that you are very talented in Jiangdong, but why did you hold so many official positions under Sun Quan instead of surrendering to Wei earlier?"

Zhuge Ke was taken aback at first, then bowed and said, "When I was in Jiangdong, I could see Jianye, but not Luoyang. The other day, I saw the royal army bathed in the king's rule in Jianye, and I immediately opened the city gates to surrender. Although it was late, it was not too late."

"Well said, 'Though late, it's not too late'! Sharp tongue!" Cao Rui raised his whip and pointed at Zhuge Ke: "I have also sent someone to deliver your letter to your father, Zhuge Jin, to General Man in Jingzhou. Let me ask you, when do you think your father will submit to the Great Wei?"

Zhuge Ke finally remained silent. After a moment's thought, he bowed deeply, kowtowed three times, and then answered loudly: "Today I have the honor of seeing Your Majesty's countenance and have witnessed the might of Great Wei. My father has served Sun Quan for many years and has received much kindness from him. If my father does not surrender upon seeing this letter, I will certainly continue to write to him to persuade him. If one letter is not enough, I will write two; if three are not enough, I will write five or ten. I am certain that I can accomplish this for Great Wei!"

"Very well, I await your letter." Cao Rui chuckled, lightly nudged his horse's flank, and the cavalry continued forward.

As Cao Rui marched from the south of the city into Jianye, the surrounding populace knelt along the way. Hearing these shouts of "Long live the Emperor!" in Yangzhou accents, Cao Rui felt little satisfaction, but rather a sense of irony.

Presumably, when Sun Quan was still in Jianye, these people also knelt to welcome him in this way, right?
Throughout the journey, Cao Zhi continuously reported military intelligence to Cao Rui.

"In short, after my troops entered the city, we captured more than 5,300 surrendered soldiers. After counting, there are still 62,000 civilians in the city. I have sealed up all of Wu's household registrations, records, documents, etc., and they are awaiting the court's inspection. The Stone City in the northwest of Jianye City is well-defended, and there are still 4,000 Wu soldiers stationed inside. I have ordered my troops to surround the Stone City to prevent them from coming out. The Wu generals inside have tried to persuade us many times, but they insist on not surrendering."

"Furthermore, Your Majesty, I have another matter to report..."

Cao Rui turned to Cao Zhi and said, "Uncle, what do you want to say? Please speak frankly."

Cao Zhi coughed lightly: "Your Majesty, shall we stay overnight in Sun Quan's palace?"

Cao Rui glanced at Cao Zhi: "Didn't my uncle go to the palace to check? Can I stay here?"

Cao Zhi replied, "Your Majesty, apart from Sun Quan's palace, all the other houses in the city are simple and dilapidated, with only the Yangzhou prefectural government office being somewhat respectable. My question is, should Sun Quan's Jianye Palace be preserved?"

Cao Rui smiled noncommittally: "Jianye is not Liaodong. Gongsun Yuan built a monstrosity in Liaodong's palace, which I dislike and therefore do not live there. Sun Quan's palace is certainly better than Gongsun Yuan's. I can stay there temporarily, and later we can reduce the size of the palace and rebuild it into a temporary palace. I may come here again in the future."

"Your Majesty, I understand," Cao Zhi replied. "Your Majesty has two more matters to discuss."

Cao Rui chuckled, "Why is Uncle making such a fuss today?"

Cao Zhi said, "Firstly, it concerns the affairs of the Wu royal family."

"We'll discuss this later." Cao Rui waved his hand. "I don't want to appoint them to official positions or grant them pardons for the time being. Let's see when Sun Quan can pacify the region."

"The second matter," Cao Zhi continued, "I originally intended to send Sun Quan's family members to Shouchun. Now these people are being held in the palace, including Consort Sun's mother and sister. Would Your Majesty like to see them in person?"

Cao Rui raised an eyebrow: "Bu Lianshi and Sun Luyu?"

"Yes." Cao Zhi nodded.

Cao Rui then said, "I will go to see him tomorrow. Imperial Uncle, please lead the way for me." (End of this chapter)