Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

Yangzhou, Danyang Prefecture, Wanling County.

"Your Excellency, Your Excellency!" Hao Ning, an official of Danyang County, hurriedly ran from outside to the main hall of the county government office, carrying a letter box wrapped in a brocade bag in his hands.

It was already past 7:45 PM, time to rest. Xiahou Xuan was also organizing his old works on metaphysics.

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Xuan frowned and looked at Hao Ning: "Why are you so panicked, Hao Jun? I asked you to get the list of copper mines in Guzhang County. Have you gotten it yet?"

"No." Hao Ning breathed softly and handed over the letter in his hand: "There is an order from the Ministry of Personnel in Luoyang. The messenger said that the order was signed by Minister Wei."

"Duke Wei has returned to Luoyang to serve as Minister of Works?" Xiahou Xuan was stunned for a few moments, then opened the brocade bag in front of Hao Ning and took out the letter from the envelope.

He glanced at the letter for a few seconds, then closed it and remained silent.

Hao Ning, somewhat anxious, couldn't help but ask, "Your Excellency, is this decree from the Ministry of Personnel good or bad?"

Xiahou Xuan said, "It's good, not bad. Governor Jiang has been fined three years' salary and stripped of his title by one hundred. The Ministry of Personnel has moved the seat of Danyang County from Jiangning County to Wanling County, which saves me the trouble of moving the location again."

"Congratulations, Your Excellency! Congratulations!" Hao Ning's face lit up with joy, his excitement overflowing. He repeatedly cupped his hands in greeting, "Now Your Excellency no longer needs to worry. The court trusts Your Excellency even more than Lord Jiang; Your Excellency is now even more favored by the Emperor!"

Xiahou Xuan was much calmer than Hao Ning: "Things aren't that simple. I won't go into details, but in short, it's definitely a good thing. You should go back now!"

"Yes, sir." Hao Ning bowed and left with a sense of relief. Xiahou Xuan's gain of the court's support meant that his future path would be smoother, not to mention that he, as a prefect, would defeat a governor! How could this not be exhilarating?

Only after watching Hao Ning's figure gradually disappear did Xiahou Xuan take out another letter from inside the envelope. This letter was in the emperor's own handwriting, and the envelope bore the emperor's unique mark, which looked like several large characters overlapping each other. He had often seen such marks when he was serving as a Gentleman Attendant.

The emperor said this mark was called a monogram.

As he read, Xiahou Xuan carefully packed both letters and took them along with the official correspondence to the back residence of the county government office.

He went to see Wang Yuanji.

"Two letters arrived from Luoyang. One was from the Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, who returned from Guanzhong and became the Right Minister, just as we expected. The second was written by His Majesty himself."

This was the first time Wang Yuanji had seen the handwritten letters between Wei Zhen and the emperor, and she couldn't help but become more serious.

After reading it, Wang Yuanji sighed: "Just as rumored, Duke Wei is a kind and honest elder. He has written down everything about the events in Luoyang over the past few months, the various discussions, and the matters caused by my husband's memorial. He has also given my husband advice on how to be a prefect and handle the affairs of the prefecture. It is almost ten thousand words long."

"My lord, when you return to Luoyang, you must personally pay a visit to Duke Wei to express your sincere gratitude."

Xiahou Xuan also sighed, "Yes, judging from this letter, Duke Wei has done me a great favor, and I must express my gratitude. I never imagined that my memorial would cause so much trouble and even lead to the establishment of Shuozhou."

“When I was in the court, I heard some discussions that said General Tian Yu, the Protector of the Wuhuan, was quite senior, but he had only spent many years pacifying the Hu people on the border, which was a bit of a waste. Now that he has become the governor of a prefecture, it is enough to make him feel at ease for the rest of his life.”

Wang Yuanji said, "I heard my father mention this before, saying that this person had rendered meritorious service, but for some reason he was never given an important position until the Taihe era when his career finally took off." Xiahou Xuan vaguely had an answer, but he didn't want to say it. Instead, he bowed to Cao Rui's handwritten letter, carefully put it away, and then said:
"His Majesty has granted my request to move the prefectural seat to Wanling, and has also granted my request to register the Yue people as commoners. He has also ordered me to take good care of the people in Danyang."

"His Majesty said that the most difficult thing for an official is to strike a balance between protecting the people, cultivating good relations with superiors, and not going against one's conscience. His Majesty has ordered me to travel from Wanling to Jiangning to apologize to Lord Jiang. Yuanji, what do you think I should do?"

Wang Yuanji thought for a moment, then laughed. She stood up from the chair behind the table, stretched, and then wrapped her arms around Xiahou Xuan's chest from the side, whispering:
“His Majesty is indeed doing this for your own good. Your husband will be serving as an official for a long time, and he needs to maintain a good reputation so that he won’t be disliked when he goes elsewhere. If His Majesty orders you to go, then go. Lord Jiang suffered so much, while your husband benefited. It won’t take much effort for him to just lower his head and admit his mistake.”

Xiahou Xuan shook his head and said, "How could I not know that His Majesty is doing this for my own good? It's just that I still feel indignant towards Lord Jiang."

Wang Yuanji said, "Can't I just bear with it?"

“That’s fine,” Xiahou Xuan said. “Since His Majesty has bestowed such a great favor upon me, I should write a letter of thanks and send it to Luoyang immediately.”

"But if we are to write this memorial, we need to come up with a plan for registering the Yue people as commoners, so that the memorial doesn't contain nothing of substance..."

Wang Yuanji tilted her head slightly, stared into Xiahou Xuan's eyes, raised an eyebrow and said, "Is my husband afraid that we will lose the good reputation we gained in Luoyang for loving the people like our own children because of that previous memorial?"

Xiahou Xuan said, "How could it not be? But there is never a way to have the best of both worlds."

Wang Yuanji pressed further, "So, my husband had already planned this all along?"

"Yes." Xiahou Xuan nodded and said, "Although the people of the Yue Mountains should be treated the same as the people of Wei, they cannot be considered people of Wei until they are assimilated and relocated from the mountains and given land to cultivate."

"Yuanji, do you know how the Wu Kingdom relocated the Yue people from the mountains in the past?"

Wang Yuanji's eyes darted around: "I would like to hear the details, my husband, please tell me."

Xiahou Xuan said, "The Wu Kingdom has been fighting against the Shanyue for more than 20 years, with countless battles, both large and small. When the King of Chencang was serving in the Wu Kingdom, he created a method that was extremely effective."

“If we attack the Shanyue at ordinary times, they will usually take their food and supplies and hide in the deeper mountains again, so we will get nothing. People can walk, but fields cannot. Therefore, in the past, Wu would send troops into the mountains to destroy the Shanyue’s fields before the grain was ripe, and lure them out of the mountains to submit with food.”

"This method is extremely effective."

Wang Yuanji couldn't help but cover her mouth: "How could you be so vicious? Does my husband intend to use this method?"

Xiahou Xuan nodded: "Since we are planning for the long term, we cannot be concerned with short-term gains or losses. Even if the mountain people in the prefecture do not understand the court, they will understand sooner or later."

“Yuanji, I wish to write another letter to General Duan of Jiangning, requesting that he lead his troops to Wanling to help me recruit the Yue people!”

Wang Yuanji pursed her lips, then nodded without saying a word. (End of Chapter)