After the customary banquet and other formalities, Cao Mao took Guanqiu Jian straight to his Western Hall.
Only Cao Mao, Cao Wen, and Guanqiu Jian were present.
Guanqiu Jian spoke about the many developments in Hebei.
There were no real threats beyond the pass now. In Guanqiu Jian's view, no enemy worthy of Great Wei's vigilance would emerge there for at least fifty years.
This expedition had not merely eliminated the disobedient; it had wiped out even the potential threats.
Of course, the court ministers actually had quite a few objections to this expedition.
After all, neither the Tuoba Xianbei nor the Gao Family's Goguryeo had shown any hostility toward Great Wei. They had been thoroughly respectful and wanted only to coexist peacefully, yet Great Wei had shown rather poor martial ethics by attacking even after they had sent hostage princes.
Had this happened during the Two Han Dynasties, it would certainly have drawn condemnation from the people of the realm.
For a great nation to break its promises and abandon morality-would that not invite the contempt of all the barbarians under heaven?
Even the commander-in-chief would likely have faced a barrage of denunciations, spoken and written.
But in Great Wei, tearing up promises was, well, tolerable. It was not as though it had never happened before.
Ever since the Sima Family had dragged down the moral baseline, the moral outlook of the Two Han Dynasties and that of Wei-Jin had become somewhat different.
The people of the Two Han Dynasties had been stubborn.
Though several centuries had passed since pre-Qin times, those people had still carried something of that ancient spirit.
Especially after the Former Han, Confucian thought advocating governance through morality had gradually become mainstream, and morality had become a universal consensus.
While sons beyond the pass were