Cao Rui smiled lightly: "The Marquis of the great Commandery, General of the Great Commandery, Governor General of the Commandery of Support, and General of the Commandery of Suppression, there are four important ministers in the secretariat. What else do I have to worry about?"
Cao Xiu said, "We have not seen Your Majesty for half a month, and there is some unease in our hearts."
Cao Rui raised his eyebrows: "Oh? What's the matter with the Marquis of the great Commandery?"
Cao Xiu said, "Your Majesty, our great Wei is still mourning the national loss. The affairs of state we have handled these days are mostly related to communication with various local officials to reassure them."
"In fact, by the time, both the Eastern Wu and the Shu Han should have known about our great Wei's national mourning."
Cao Rui nodded, national mourning is difficult to keep secret. If the Wu and Shu Han do not take advantage of this opportunity to stir up some trouble, it would be strange indeed.
Cao Xiu continued to say: "Your Majesty, if Wu and Shu Han have any abnormal actions, our great Wei should how to respond? We each have some ideas, but we still want to please the Your Majesty's opinion."
The four ministers all turned their eyes towards Cao Rui, but the meaning in their gaze at this moment was clearly different from that at the last imperial session.
In fact, regardless of any era or dynasty, ministers to the emperor are more like those who share power with the emperor rather than assisting hands.
To govern the world, ministers and the emperor are like hands and heart, both are one entity.
If the emperor makes wise decisions, the ministers will dare not conceal anything and will give their all to carry out the emperor's arrangements.
But if the emperor is an average character, although the ministers will also work diligently, there will inevitably be many things that they will keep hidden, such as information, details, and people.
Power that is concealed is too illusory.
This was the first formal exchange between the four ministers and the emperor Cao Rui. Cao Rui understood that this was not a request for instructions from the four ministers, but rather a mutual test and a mutual trial.
The emperor tests the political inclination of his ministers and whether they are greedy for power. The ministers test the intelligence level and policy direction of the emperor.
Very few ministers have ambition from the very beginning. Ambition mostly comes from indulgence, and the ambition that follows indulgence spreads and grows wildly like wild grass after a spring rain, except for people like Sima Yi.
At this moment, Cao Rui felt that he could no longer hide his talents and should reveal them appropriately to give the four ministers a little bit of shock.
"Marquis of the great Commandery, what are your thoughts?" Cao Rui asked the ministers about their ideas.
Cao Xiu replied, "Your Majesty, the strength of Shu Han is declining and is not worth worrying about. Sun Quan of the Eastern Wu has long been a border troublemaker, and I fear he might cause trouble on the frontier. I believe we should gather troops in Jingxiang and Xuyang."
"If the Eastern Wu dares to attack, let them return with nothing but rags. If they do not attack, then our great Wei can cross the river to punish them."
As soon as Cao Xiu finished speaking, Cao Zhen also immediately said, "Your Majesty, I also think that we should attack the Eastern Wu. The late emperor attacked the Eastern Wu three times, and Your Majesty should also inherit the ambition of the late emperor to eliminate the Eastern Wu as soon as possible."
Cao Rui smiled and nodded: "Marquis of the great Commandery and General of the Great Commandery, what do you two think?"
Sima Yi's tone was calm: "I think that although the Eastern Wu is a border troublemaker, its capabilities are limited to defending along the river, and it cannot pose a threat to our great Wei. Your Majesty should remember Zhang Liao and Zhang Wenyuan. The ten thousand army of Sun Quan could not even capture the city of Helu."
"I think that whether to attack the Eastern Wu or not is up to the Your Majesty's decision."
Cao Rui nodded and turned to Chen Qun: "What do you think, Minister Chen?"
Chen Qun bow his hand and answered seriously: "Your Majesty, I believe it is not wise to attack. Large-scale battles are very costly, and the late emperor's three attacks on the Eastern Wu put great burden on the border provinces of Jingzhou and Yangzhou, which have still not recovered to this day."
"I think that we should send orders to all generals to strengthen our defense and strictly defend our cities."
Cao Rui understood that the debate among these four people about whether to fight or not is actually a divergence in their respective policies.
Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen, as royal generals, have their place in battlefields. Moreover, as they currently lead the entire army of the country, they are at the peak of their ambitions and will not have any fear or hesitation towards marching south.
Sima Yi is a bit more slippery. He has never been in charge of the army before, and although the opening of war will not benefit him, it may not take away his power either. Cao Rui does not believe that Sima Yi would genuinely care about the country.
As for Chen Qun, Cao Rui believes he is a loyal and patriotic man. Chen Qun's reason for not engaging in war is very real; the ruins of the counties and prefectures are real, the decline of all trades is real, and the shortage of food and manpower is also real. Naturally, there are reasons not to fight.
Facing such serious differences, Cao Rui's decision is crucial.
Recently, Cao Rui has been studying the articles of Emperor Wu and Emperor Wen, which he calls a study of literature. In reality, he is constantly analyzing past political affairs and the opinions they held about various officials in the text archives of Cao Cao and Cao Pi.
The opinions of the four ministers have initially confirmed some of Cao Rui's views in his heart, but Cao Rui still needs to further confirm some things.
Cao Rui said, "I understand your opinions. Marquis of the great Commandery, you said you want to attack the Eastern Wu, right? The late emperor attacked the Eastern Wu three times but failed to conquer it. I want to ask you all, why was the Eastern Wu not conquered?"
The four ministers were all taken aback at this time, feeling that Cao Rui's question was somewhat absurd. There are too many reasons why the Eastern Wu cannot be conquered. For the past twenty years, Cao Cao and Cao Pi have repeatedly failed in their military campaigns, and the reasons are numerous.
Cao Rui saw that the four ministers had no words at the moment, so he followed up with a different question: "I'll ask in another way. Emperor Wu and Emperor Wen made how many attempts to conquer the Eastern Wu?"
Cao Xiu thought for a moment and said, "Emperor Wu launched a southern campaign against Sun Quan and Liu Bei in the thirteenth year of the Jian'an era. He then conducted two southern campaigns to Yanzhou in the seventeenth and twenty-second years of the Jian'an era. In total, it was three times."
"Emperor Wen launched a three-pronged campaign against the Eastern Wu in the third year of Huang Chuang, twice visited Guangling for military observation in the fifth and sixth years, and it was also a total of three times."
Cao Rui continued, "A total of six times to conquer the Eastern Wu. Let's not mention the far ones. Just Emperor Wen's three attempts."
"In the third year of Huang Chuang, it was the largest scale of the late emperor's campaign against the Eastern Wu. Marquis of the great Commandery, weren't you responsible for the Eastern route at that time?"
Cao Xiu nodded in agreement, "I was the commander of the Eastern Route at that time. I led Zhang Liao and Zhang Bao to attack Guangling."
Cao Rui asked, "Why did the Eastern Route army fail to win?"
Cao Xiu said, "At that time... At that time, I took advantage of the fact that the Eastern Wu had no preparations and sent Zhang Bao with a thousand elite troops across the river. However, because there was no foothold on the southern bank of the river, they eventually withdrew back to the north."
"When Wu's reinforcements arrived, my army failed to defeat them in naval combat, so we were unable to succeed."
Cao Rui said, "I know about the situation of the Eastern Route army. General, were you in the Western Route?"
The questioning, as if giving a name, made everyone's nerves tighten up.
Cao Zhen hurriedly replied: "I was in the Western Route army. At that time, I was responsible for Xiahou Shang, Zhang Heng, Xu Rang, and others. We besieged the city of Jiangling for more than six months, and eventually, due to an increase in military epidemics, the late emperor ordered a retreat."
Cao Rui stared straight at Cao Zhen, and Cao Zhen, feeling ashamed, shifted his gaze away. After all, it was a defeat, even though it had happened years ago, and it was not a matter of pride to face the emperor.
Cao Rui continued, "As for the central route, wasn't it led by Loyal Minister Cao Ren?"
Sima Yi replied, "It was indeed Cao Ren, but he died on the battlefield after the Central Route army's failure."
Having their defeats brought up to be ashamed of, the war advocates Cao Xiu and Cao Zhen both looked somewhat dejected.
"Cao Rui did not care about the face of these two people at all and continued to ask:
"How come they didn't even dare to cross the Yangtze River during the second and third campaigns?"
