Three Kingdoms: I am not Cao Rui

The posthumous titles of empresses and empress dowagers are always related to the posthumous titles of their husbands.

Cao Cao's posthumous title was Emperor Wu, so Empress Dowager Bian's posthumous title was Empress Wuxuan Bian. Cao Pi's posthumous title was Emperor Wen, so Empress Zhen's posthumous title was Empress Wenzhao Zhen, and Empress Guo's posthumous title was naturally Empress Wende Guo.

Leaving aside the various intricacies of national mourning, the funeral was conducted smoothly and solemnly. Both the Ministry of Rites and the Court of Imperial Sacrifices made suggestions to bury Empress Guo with Emperor Wen in the same tomb at Shouyang Mausoleum, but Cao Rui explicitly refused.

Cao Rui stated that Emperor Wen was magnanimous and would not care about such trivial matters. Opening another mausoleum would only disturb the deceased. Therefore, he only approved the construction of a side mausoleum next to Shouyang Mausoleum, with a similar scale to Emperor Wen's, both being simple burials.

The national mourning period ended at the end of April, and it wasn't until mid-June that Jiang Ji, who was furthest away, finally arrived in Luoyang.

When Jiang Ji was first summoned, the court knew that he would not be able to attend the funeral. However, the emperor had already given an order that all the high-ranking officials who were enfeoffed as kings and dukes should be treated the same as the princes of the imperial clan.

According to the system of rites, other officials serving outside the capital could choose not to come and could set up sacrifices on the spot, but the officials in charge of the sacrifices had to come.

In other words, if the important ministers such as the Three Kings and Ten Dukes were to be ranked alongside the princes of the imperial clan, Cao Zhen, as a prince of a commandery, would stand at the front, while Cao Zhi and Cao Yu, princes of a county of the imperial clan, would stand with Lu Xun and Dong Zhou, and Wei Zhen, Huang Quan, and Jiang Ji, who were granted the title of duke, would stand further back.

In conclusion, these officials who had been granted titles of king or duke were fundamentally different from ordinary officials.

The first thing Jiang Ji did after returning to Luoyang was, naturally, to pay a visit, accompanied by his direct superiors, Wei Zhen, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel, and Wei Dan, the Grand Master of Ceremonies.

On the way back to Luoyang, the three traveled together in the same carriage, which was about to return to the North Palace of Luoyang.

This also gave Jiang Ji an opportunity to give Wei Zhen a detailed report. Jiang Ji spoke in great detail, while Wei Zhen listened most of the time and rarely spoke.

The affairs of a single prefecture are too complicated to discuss. Seeing that the carriage was not far from Luoyang, Jiang Ji then asked about other topics.

"Lord Wei," Jiang Ji asked cautiously, not being familiar with the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of Personnel and having little dealings with him, "Am I the last person to visit the mausoleum since I came from Jiangning?"

Wei Zhen thought for a moment and then replied, “You can be considered the last one. Among all the kings and dukes, the King of Chencang arrived in Luoyang on the third day of this month, and you arrived more than ten days later than him. He traveled through Jiangling, Xiangyang, and Nanyang, which was much faster than your journey, so there is no need to worry about it.”

"Understood, sir." Although Jiang Ji held the same rank as Wei Zhen, he still adopted a humble attitude: "Is Guanqiu Zhonggong not coming from Jiaozhou?"

“I’m not coming.” Wei Zhen shook his head and replied, “News from Jiaozhou has always traveled through Xiangzhou into Jingzhou and then directly to Luoyang. It’s normal that you don’t know about it.”

"Four counties in Jiaozhou have rebelled."

"Four prefectures rebelled?" Jiang Ji's eyes widened in shock. "Jiaozhou only has eight prefectures in total. How could half of them rebel? It's really..."

"What's so special about it?" Wei Zhen glanced at Jiang Ji's slightly exaggerated expression and calmly said, "In a place like Jiaozhou, if there's a rebellion, so be it; we can just quell it. However, this rebellion is still related to the Shu Kingdom." Jiang Ji was momentarily puzzled: "The Shu Kingdom sent people from Nanzhong into Jiaozhou?"

“That’s not all,” Wei Zhen explained. “Previously, the court thought that Sun Deng had been annexed by Liu Shan and Zhuge Liang of Shu, but that’s not the case. According to Guanqiu Zhonggong’s report, Shu gave Sun Deng the two prefectures of Zangke and Xinggu that they had established, in exchange for the land of Xiling.”

Jiang Ji frowned: "Zangke and Xinggu were the Zangke Commandery during the Han Dynasty. At that time, Yizhou and Yangzhou were indeed vast, with one commandery comparable to half a province in the Central Plains."

Wei Zhen continued, "After Sun Deng acquired the land of Zangke County, he recruited the local barbarians, built cities, and promoted agriculture. Within a few years, he regained momentum, and it is said that his army numbered tens of thousands again."

“Sun Deng sent someone from Jincheng County in the south to Jiaozhi Commandery to inform Jiaozhi Commandery and several surrounding commanderies that Sun Deng was still alive. Although the commanderies did not act rashly, they did not report the matter to Jiaozhou Prefecture. It was not until the beginning of this year, when Sun Deng led 10,000 troops from Wanwen and Jincheng to Longbian in Jiaozhi Commandery, that Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen, and Rinan Commanderies began to rebel and raise troops simultaneously. Hepu Commandery, which is close to Jiaozhi, also rebelled subsequently.”

Of the several counties that received the news, only Yulin County did not rebel and instead informed the state.

“Lord Wei, I really can’t remember much about remote places like Jiaozhou and Yizhou. I’ve only heard of Jincheng County, but I’ve never paid any attention to it.” Jiang Ji shook his head: “When I was in Yangzhou, I rarely encountered people or powerful families who missed the Wu Kingdom. But I never expected that such a remote place like Jiaozhi would still remember the Sun family. It’s really a strange thing.”

Wei Zhen said expressionlessly, "Guanqiu Zhonggong has already said that Jiaozhi, Jiuzhen and Hepu were all former close ministers of Sun Quan. Although it is absurd that he rebelled with Sun Deng, there are still some clues to be found."

"So how is it now?" Jiang Ji pressed.

"How is it?" Wei Zhen sighed softly. "The last military report was from April. Guanqiu Zhonggong had just gathered 10,000 troops and arrived in Yulin County, and had not yet launched an attack on Hepu County. As you know, in the tenth year of Taihe, when Jiaozhou was supposed to have submitted, most of the infantrymen who followed Guanqiu Zhonggong on his southern expedition were from Huainan and Yanyu, and were not accustomed to the climate of Jiaozhou. There were 15,000 of them, not to mention the 5,000 Xianbei light cavalry."

"Most of these troops have been withdrawn, leaving only four thousand elite soldiers and a lieutenant general, Pu Zhong, to accompany Guanqiu Zhonggong there. Cao Zhao and Zhang Hu have both been transferred to the vicinity of Jiangling. Guanqiu Zhonggong said he wanted to train troops in Jiaozhou, but he only trained two thousand soldiers each in Nanhai Commandery, Cangwu Commandery, and Yulin Commandery. If it weren't for the troops in Yulin Commandery, Yulin Commandery would probably have rebelled as well..."

Jiang Ji sighed repeatedly, "That's a difficult situation. Has the imperial court transferred troops from Man Zhengnan in Jingnan?"

"No." Wei Zhen was about to say something more when he noticed that the carriage had stopped. He then realized that the carriage was approaching the North Palace, so he said, "We'll talk about the details later. First, come with me to see His Majesty."

"Alright." Jiang Ji was quite sensible: "I will follow Lord Wei's arrangements."

Taichang Wei Dan tactfully took his leave and returned to his official residence. Wei Zhen and Jiang Ji had just arrived at the door of the study when they found that a meeting was being held inside. Liu Ye and Xu Shu from the Privy Council were present, as were the four members of the Cabinet, Huang Quan, the Left Vice Minister of the Secretariat, and Wang Ling, the Minister of War.

"Master Wei and Minister Jiang have arrived?" Cao Rui glanced at them briefly and then waved his hand: "Please sit down. I am discussing matters concerning Jiaozhou."

Wei Zhen bowed respectfully: "Could it be that there is another new report from Jiaozhou?"

"Yes." Cao Rui nodded. (End of Chapter)