Cao Rui raised his eyes to Yang Fu in Simlue, his side vision catching a glimpse of Jiang Wei standing beside, holding a inkstone and waiting for Yang Fu to start writing.
"Bo Qiao, you heard what the emperor and Minister of Justice, Zhong Shou said just now, right? As a native of Longyou, you can also say which word is better?"
Jiang Wei placed the inkstone in his hand aside, cupping his hands and said, "Your Majesty, this is a matter of state importance. My position is lowly and I dare not make arbitrary comments. However, I believe it would be better to adapt to the local conditions and name it according to the place."
Cao Rui smiled and said, "Bo Qiao is indeed smooth, why is there a need to hide his talents in front of the emperor?"
Jiang Wei felt embarrassed and smiled, then bowed and stepped back.
Yang Fu finally thought of what to write, holding the brush he had been squeezing in his hand for a while, wrote something down, turned his palm over, and gestured towards the emperor and Sima Yi.
Cao Rui and Sima Yi also followed the same movement, after everyone else had seen it, they all burst into laughter together.
Cao Rui spoke softly, "The character in my hand is 'Qin', the character in the hands of Minister of Justice is 'Long', and the character in the hands of Yang Viscount is also 'Qin'."
"It seems to be two against one," Cao Rui laughed. "Both of you, tell me why you think 'Long' and 'Qin' should be used."
Sima Yi coughed lightly and bowed, saying, "This place is situated west of the Long Mountain, hence it is commonly referred to as the Western Border. However, the area east of Long Mountain is known as Guanzhong and not Eastern Border."
"So, the word 'Long' can be used as a combined term for the four counties on the western border of Long Mountain, as well as subsequent Wudu and Yingping. It seems quite appropriate."
Cao Rui nodded lightly.
It is obvious that Sima Yi's naming method is very simple and casual. If this place is commonly referred to as the Western Border, then call it the 'Long' State, which is very practical.
Cao Rui lightly pointed to Yang Fu, whose argument as a native of Longyou seemed more refined.
"Your Majesty," Yang Fu said seriously, "Today, there are thirteen states in the realm, most of which originated from the Nine States of the Yu Gong and the division in the Zhou Li."
"During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, there were thirteen prefectures established. At that time, Liang Province was renamed to Yizhou, which was named after the Yizhou Prefecture. The new established Liang Province was named for its 'western border' and 'cold and cool' climate."
Yang Fu continued, "Since the emphasis is on meaning, the most important place in Longyou is Jixian and Shanggu, both of which are located in the Tianshui Prefecture. Tianshui Prefecture was the fief of Qin State during the Zhou Dynasty. Why not name it after the character 'Qin'?"
"The western Jǐng metal governs conquest and subjugation, so the name 'Qin' is indeed appropriate!"
"Ha ha ha." Cao Rui laughed loudly, pointing to Yang Fu, "Yang Qing, you said so much, but your last sentence touched my heart."
"To name it after 'Qin' for the conquest of Shu is quite appropriate."
The hall was filled with laughter.
The three of them talked for a long time until it was time for Sima Yi and Yang Fu to leave. Before they did, Yang Fu stood up, looking as though he wanted to say something but didn't.
"Is there something you want to say, Yang?" Cao Rui asked.
"Your Majesty, just now you wrote the character 'Qin' on your palm, but I don't know why Your Majesty chose this character," Yang Fu said frankly.
Cao Rui whispered, "The conquest of Shu by Qin, as smooth as breaking bamboo, is quite reasonable."
Yang Fu bowed and slowly withdrew.
After the two left, Jiang Wei said beside him, "While Your Majesty was conversing with the two ministers, I heard outside that Marquis Yongqiu has caught a cold, so I reported it to Your Majesty."
Cao Zhi caught a cold?
Cao Rui was about to sit down, but Jiang Wei's words stopped him.
"Bo Qiao, now that there are no trivial matters for me to attend to, come with me to visit my uncle."
"Submissive." Jiang Wei bowed.
Lueyangedong is not large, and most of the houses in the city had been destroyed by Zhang He's men twenty days ago to accommodate soldiers.
Now in the city, apart from the county office where the emperor resides, the few remaining decent houses have all been requisitioned as public offices.
However, Cao Zhi is a prince and his residence is not far from the county office. With Jiang Wei and Cao Rui accompanying him, followed by guards, they all arrived at Cao Zhi's residence in less than half a breath.
"As soon as he entered, Cao Rui directly asked, "How is my uncle? I heard you caught a cold?"
"Report to Your Majesty," Cao Zhi supported himself up from the bed, bowed and saluted, "I only need a few days of rest and should be fine. Your Majesty's concern is too kind, and I am not very worried."
"What is there to be worried about?" Cao Rui smiled lightly, "If Your Highness needs medical officials or medications, you can send someone to get them. Don't let the illness delay."
In this era, catching a cold is not a minor matter. Fortunately, there are medical officers accompanying the army, so it should not develop into a serious illness.
Cao Zhi tried to get up from the bed, but Cao Rui's hand stopped him.
Cao Zhi had no choice but to sit on the bed and say, "I know my own condition, and I really don't have any serious problems. The only thing is that Your Majesty ordered me to assist in the logistics of grain and provisions yesterday, and I really can't help it."
Cao Rui waved his hand, "It's all right, just a small matter. With Chen Jiao here, there should be no problem."
"However, on the way to visit Your Highness today, I happened to recall an interesting anecdote."
"What is the anecdote?" Cao Zhi also became curious, kneeling on the bed and asking seriously.
Cao Rui pondered for a moment, then said, "While I was in Luoyang, I gathered and sorted various old stories about Yongliang. I once saw a record about Wei Xiao in an official chronicle in the palace."
"Wei Xiao?" Cao Zhi slightly furrowed his brow, "I know Wei Xiao. During the time of the chaos caused by Wang Man, Wei Xiao claimed hegemony in the Western Border and tried to partition it, but he was eventually defeated by various generals sent by Emperor Guangshi of Han."
"I remember that Emperor Guangshi of Han sent Xie to take Lueyangedong, Wu Han and Shen Peng surrounded the county of Xiji, and Geng Yan and Gai Yan surrounded Shanggu."
Cao Rui nodded, "Your Highness is right, but you've only told half of it."
"Emperor Guangshi of Han was in Chang'an supervising the army, seeing that various generals were encircling Wei Xiao's cities, he returned to Luoyang. However, later on, Wu Han's Han army withdrew due to lack of food supplies. The subsequent attacks by Chen Qunsi and Gao Yang against An Ding and Northern Territory were stopped by Wei Xiao, and several counties in Longyue and Tianshui were regained."
"Next year, Han's army returned to Longyue, and it was only then that Wei Xiao was finally defeated."
Cao Zhi sighed lightly, "This is the importance of logistics and supplies. Your Majesty ordered me to assist in the affairs of grain and supplies, but being sick, I have been unable to fulfill my duty, which truly falls short of Your Majesty's expectations."
"Your Highness is being so polite to me, and I am not sure if I should tell you this," Cao Rui explained. "I wanted to ask Your Highness to write an edict for me, aimed at intimidating the Qiao brothers and their followers."
"Edict?" Cao Zhi repeated these two words, but after a moment of thought, he said with calm expression, "I will certainly be able to do this! In the past, Chen Lin and Chen Kongzhang wrote an edict for Yuan Shao. Emperor Wu had a headache attack at that time, but he immediately felt better after reading the edict."
"How does Your Majesty wish to write it? I assure You that I will write it better than Chen Lin's edict!"
Actually, bringing Cao Zhi along on the journey from Luoyang to the Western Regions to fight against the Shu Han army was originally for the sake of stabilizing the rear guard and avoiding any complications.
A few days ago, Cao Rui noticed that Cao Zhi had nothing to do in the army, so he sent him to help Chen Jiao and arranged some logistics tasks for him. However, he had to stop due to a sudden cold attack.
It seems that Cao Zhi can't do anything else, so he might as well return to his old profession of writing articles! Clearly, Cao Zhi himself is also very confident in his writing abilities.
When Cao Zhi asked, Cao Rui spoke out the rough outline of what he had thought of:"I have roughly thought of three or four places, Your Highness. Please listen and write it out in the edict."
"Your Majesty, please speak," Cao Zhi bowed and responded. Afterwards, he put on his cover robe, stood up, and knelt at the table to start grinding ink.
Cao Rui stood with his hands behind his back in the room, speaking in a low voice, "Firstly, talk about the old stories of Wei Xiao and Sun Quan to Zhuge Liang and these literary and military officials of Shu."
"Wei Xiao claimed hegemony in the Western Border and ultimately starved to death. Sun Quan claimed the throne in Shu and also met with death and extermination of his tribe."
Cao Zhi had already ground the ink, and he wrote in a freehand style reminiscent of Zhang Zi's calligraphy on bamboo strips, briefly recording the points the emperor had just mentioned.
Seeing Cao Zhi pause, Cao Rui continued, "The second point is that Sun Quan was besieged in Shu, calling himself the White Emperor, and Liu Bei, who also claimed the throne in Shu, died in the White Emperor City. This shows that there's no imperial aura in Shu."
"Sun Quan claimed the throne for twelve years before his downfall. Liu Bei exceeded the throne in Year 2 of Huang Chao, and it has been six years so far. In this calculation, the party of Liu An can only survive for another six years at most."
Jiang Wei stood silently on the side, listening to the twisted logic coming out of the emperor's mouth. He couldn't help but smile from the corner of his mouth, almost to the point of suppressed laughter.
Cao Rui caught a glimpse of Jiang Wei's expression through the corner of his eye and smiled lightly, "Bo Jiao, do you find this amusing?"
"I am not laughing." Jiang Wei pursed his lips, bowed and saluted.
"It's fine to laugh. Whether it's writing letters to the enemy or edicts, it is indeed necessary to exaggerate. Just like in old battle reports, it was always comparable to multiplying one by ten, and even chopping a thousand heads would be exaggerated as a thousand."
"In the past, when Emperor Wu passed away, Liu Bei sent a man named Han Ran to send a message of condolence. Your Majesty read that letter last year. In this short letter, there was a combination of insults, threats, requests for friendship, and reminiscences. It made the late emperor extremely angry, and he even ordered people to behead Han Ran."
As an ordinary scribe of the district, Jiang Wei would have no way of knowing such palace secrets. He couldn't help but be surprised.
Cao Zhi, standing by, smiled and said, "Your Majesty is right. The aim of an edict is to intimidate, backed by military power. It's fine to exaggerate the language."
Jiang Wei bowed to the emperor and replied, "It is my lack of understanding."
"Then let us have a greater understanding of the affairs of the court." Cao Rui didn't mind, and continued to speak, "The third point is that after Han Guangwu conquered Shu, he not only exterminated the family of Sun Quan but also exterminated his officials as well."
"But Your Majesty's generals are more compassionate than Wu Han. I also have a benevolent heart. All the officials who surrender from Shu, I will certainly grant them lifelong prosperity and ensure that their families will flourish for generations."
Cao Rui laughed and clapped his hands, "That's all for now! How long will it take, Your Highness?"
Cao Zhi remained silent for a moment before responding, "This matter is of great significance. Please allow me three days, Your Majesty. I will certainly weigh every word and refine it, spreading the glory of the Great Wei! By today's twenty-sixth day, I will definitely present it to Your Majesty!"
Cao Rui nodded: "I am aware of Your Highness's literary talent. So be it! At that time, I will send an envoy to deliver Your Highness's text to Zhuge Liang!" (This chapter is complete)
