"Duke Pei has been extremely busy lately, yet he seems rather unwilling to see me."
"He dislikes Lord Hua, so he dislikes everyone in the Ministry of Personnel as well."
Cao Mao shook his head. This fellow had quite a checkered record, much like Zhong Hui. He was overbearing, thought nothing of anyone, always liked putting on airs, and could trade a few barbs with anyone.
With this fellow, he still had to be a little forceful and give him a knocking now and then!
Luoyang had been exceptionally busy lately.
Ever since the emperor changed the era name, the entire court of Great Wei had begun operating at full speed. Previously, the generals had been busy; now it was the court's turn to deal with the aftermath.
With such a vast territory suddenly incorporated, there were countless matters to resolve.
It was the same old problem: how to divide the local commanderies and counties.
This was quite a brain-racking business.
If handled poorly, it could even lead to very serious consequences.
The senior ministers, led by Wang Chang, had consistently advocated subdividing the provinces and commanderies.
They wanted to establish several additional provinces in the south. They even planned to split Jiaozhou in two, establishing Guang Province around Longchuan and other areas so that it and Jiaozhou could support each other.
As for Jing and Yang, they also intended to subdivide the commanderies and counties, breaking those few large commanderies into a dense patchwork of small ones.
But the younger faction, led by Zhong Hui, opposed this method of division.
They believed it would waste manpower, needlessly increase the court's expenditure, and create a great many additional posts.
Zhong Hui even declared publicly that Wang Chang and the others wanted to establish more provinces and commanderies to provide more