Luoyang.
Only Cao Mao and Wang Yuan were inside Taiji Hall.
In the past, when Wang Yuan and Liu Lu came to report, Zhang Hua would also be at Cao Mao's side to listen, but now, there was only Wang Yuan.
This showed that even among the emperor's palace attendants, there were differences in how they were treated.
With Liu Lu away, Wang Yuan had taken charge of matters great and small within Luoyang.
With Duke Zheng's help, the Office of Affairs had an extremely firm grip on Luoyang. Cao Mao knew the ministers' recent movements and all manner of plots like the back of his hand.
As the center of power for the entire empire, Luoyang was nothing short of a whirlpool of conspiracies, never enjoying a moment's calm.
Open struggles and covert clashes among the ministers, extensions of local disputes, opposition to him, and attacks on his policies.
All sorts of matters cropped up in an endless stream.
At first, Cao Mao had taken these things very seriously and handled them personally, but after experiencing enough of them, he learned what deserved his attention and what he could ignore.
Wang Yuan was now speaking of a major incident that had recently occurred in Luoyang.
As it happened, this matter was connected to the civilizing initiative Cao Mao wanted to advance.
The great clans had originally been indifferent to the initiative. Why had they suddenly taken an interest?
Because they had caught the scent of meat again.
According to Wang Yuan's report, just that morning, more than three ministers of the Nine Ministers' rank had gone together to visit Wang Chang and Wang Su.
They had gone as representatives for a secret discussion.
And what they discussed was submitting a memorial to offer the emperor a plan.
What fine