"Grand Marshal Cao Xiu has assembled an army of one hundred thousand at Hefei, awaiting an opportunity to advance on Wan City."
At court the following day, a minister was reporting on the eastern front.
"General of Chariots and Cavalry Sima Yi has departed Wancheng with fifty thousand troops and is advancing toward Jiangling."
"Jia Kui, Inspector of Yu Province, is leading thirty thousand troops in support and will act as circumstances permit."
After hearing the reports, Cao Rui turned his gaze toward the foot of the jade steps. "Do any of you have advice to offer?"
The ministers exchanged glances, but no one stepped forward.
Many of them must have learned the emperor's position from Palace Attendant Liu Ye, so naturally they would not invite a rebuff.
After court, Cao Rui returned to the Eastern Hall to attend to government affairs.
This time, he had not summoned the mounted attendants to accompany him. Nor were the usual visitors in the Eastern Hall's government office; instead, there was a man named Zhang Zhong.
He was no high official at court, yet all the lords of the court feared him.
He was the head of the Office of Investigations.
The Office of Investigations was an intelligence agency established in Cao Cao's time. Its main duties were to monitor officials and gather intelligence on enemy states.
Its first head had been Guo Fengxiao, the army's libationer-adviser, and Cao Pi had also overseen it for a time afterward.
But during Cao Rui's reign, the office's notorious reputation had prompted court officials led by Sima Yi to repeatedly urge its abolition.
Whenever Cao Rui heard this, he readily agreed, yet never acted on it.
However, personnel for the Office of Investigations could now only be selected from people of humble standing.
That also made it easier to fashion a suitable "blade."
"Is there conclusive evidence for this intelligence?" Cao Rui's voice was icy.
"We have yet to intercept any related correspondence, but men from Wu disguised as merchants have entered and left the residence of the General Who Inspires Might several times this month." As Zhang Zhong spoke, he produced several bamboo slips. "Please examine these, Your Majesty."
This General Who Inspires Might was Wu Zhi.
He was one of Cao Pi's four friends and had rendered indispensable service during the struggle over the succession.
Thus, after becoming emperor, Cao Pi had appointed him General Who Inspires Might, enfeoffed him as a marquis, and granted him the imperial tally to oversee all military affairs in Hebei.
The Office of Investigations had sent a secret report from Hebei stating that General Who Inspires Might Wu Zhi might be holding secret talks with spies from Wu State.
What they discussed remained unknown for the time being. But with Wei and Wu about to go to war, Cao Rui could not help growing suspicious of this powerful official on the northern frontier.
Cao Rui took the bamboo slips and unrolled them.
On them were sketches the investigators in the north had made on the spot.
The matter had far-reaching implications, and Cao Rui did not dare rashly strip Wu Zhi of his official hat just yet.
He briefly examined the contents of the slips, then snapped them shut. After a moment's thought, he said, "We must proceed cautiously. Have the investigators keep a closer watch."
"Also, quickly investigate whom Wu Zhi's son has been associating with in the Capital lately."
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Zhang Zhong answered, then reported another matter. "Recently, someone also seems interested in forming a marriage alliance with the General Who Inspires Might."
Hm?
"Someone actually wants to become Wu Zhi's in-laws?" Cao Rui was somewhat surprised.
After all, although Wu Zhi was a powerful provincial official who guarded an entire region,
his character was thoroughly rotten.
He liked cultivating the rich and powerful but held people of low status in utter contempt.
Though he himself had come from humble origins, he had immediately drawn a line between himself and those people once he soared to success.
After gaining great power, he had become even more contemptuous of others.
Cao Rui recalled that during Cao Pi's reign, Wu Zhi had returned to the capital to report on his duties. Cao Pi had invited Cao Zhen, Zhu Shuo, Cao Hong, Wang Zhong, and others to drink with him.
At the time, Cao Zhen was somewhat stout, while Zhu Shuo, then serving as Central Army Commander, had a well-proportioned build.
Who would have thought Wu Zhi would use an entertainer's mouth to heap ridicule on Cao Zhen? Naturally, Cao Zhen could not swallow the humiliation and began arguing with him on the spot.
Wu Zhi went further still. He drew his sword and laid it on the table, declaring that Cao Zidan was like a piece of meat on a chopping block-he, Wu Zhi, could swallow him without even chewing.
Things had nearly reached the point of drawn swords, and in the end, everyone had parted on bad terms.
Cao Rui glanced at Zhang Zhong. "Have you found out which family it is?"
Zhang Zhong replied, "The household of Grand Princess Qinghe. The Xiahou family."
"What? The marriage Mother said she was seeking for me a few days ago was with Wu Zhi's family?"
Xiahou Xian had just returned home from duty at the Eastern Hall when he heard the news over his meal and nearly tipped his food onto the table.
"Xian, do not be disrespectful," Qinghe said. "Wu Zhi is the General Who Inspires Might appointed by the late emperor, and the two shared a close friendship."
"I know that, but..."
Xiahou Xian could hardly say that Wu Zhi would be done for in just a few years, could he?
After his death, he would even receive the posthumous title "Ugly Marquis."
"Of course I know what sort of man Wu Zhi is, but none of that matters."
"What I value is the power in his hands. He is already advanced in years. If we become his in-laws, you can take over his political resources after his death."
"It is not impossible that you could one day take office in Hebei and command an entire region."
Only then did Xiahou Xian understand his mother's intentions. He had to admit that Qinghe had considerable foresight.
She had seen that her son intended to pursue a military career and had therefore set out to find him a suitable match.
Of course, she did not want her son going to Yong and Liang or Huainan.
War frequently broke out in those two regions, leaving them highly unsettled.
Even as a commander, his life might not be in danger, but a failure in directing a campaign would still bring him into conflict with the court and the emperor.
Hebei was a fine place, firmly within Great Wei's heartland.
Aside from occasional incursions by the likes of the Xianbei and Wuhuan in the north, there were scarcely any formidable opponents.
That was why she had thought of Wu Zhi first.
Xiahou Xian knew this was not something he could decide, but he still felt a word of warning was necessary.
"Mother, the General Who Inspires Might has a poor reputation. I fear he may incur the emperor's suspicions one day."
Qinghe did not care. "Wu Zhi was an old friend of the late emperor. Surely the emperor would not kill him?"
"Do not trouble yourself over this, Xian. Leave everything to your mother."
Speaking of Wu Zhi's daughter, she was rather pitiable.
In history, after Sima Shi's first wife Xiahou Hui died, Sima Yi had arranged for Sima Shi to marry Wu Zhi's daughter.
Yet within a year, Sima Shi had divorced Lady Wu and turned around to marry a daughter of the Yang family of Mount Tai.
The Sima family had probably started with the same idea as Princess Qinghe, but perhaps they had discovered that the Wu family did not have many resources to exploit and decisively abandoned it.
The following day, Xiahou Xian went to the Eastern Hall for duty as usual.
After Xiahou Xuan's demotion, a vacancy had opened among the mounted attendant gentlemen.
Great Wei normally maintained four mounted attendant gentlemen. Now only Xiahou Xian, Wang Su, and Du Shu remained.
Oh, Mao Zeng did not count.
He was a regular mounted attendant, a Principal Third Rank official.
Mounted attendant gentlemen were only Principal Fifth Rank.
However, according to word from a clerk in the Secretariat, the vacancy would soon be filled.
They really were efficient.
This new colleague was rather interesting.
His name was Xiahou Hui. He was Xiahou Yuan's sixth son, and although he was about the same age as Xiahou Xian, seniority within the clan meant Xiahou Xian had to address him as "clan uncle."
Unlike Xiahou Xian, however, Xiahou Hui had not earned military merit before returning to receive his appointment. He had merely enjoyed a reputation for worthiness from a young age and, upon reaching twenty, had naturally been recruited into office.
Simply because he was Xiahou Yuan's son.
Rewarding the descendants of the founding heroes from Qiao and Pei could also be considered a consolation to the fallen.
Whatever the case, Cao Rui had begun deliberately promoting members of the imperial clan.
While attending the emperor that day, Xiahou Xian merely listened to discussions of government affairs, most of which concerned domestic administration.
Xiahou Xian was in no mood to listen. He kept pondering how to sabotage the marriage with Wu Zhi's family.
Yet that day, after everyone else had left, Cao Rui kept Xiahou Xian behind alone.
Hmm... Seeing Cao Rui's half-smile, Xiahou Xian briefly wondered whether he, too, was about to be demoted.
Could Cao Rui have learned what happened at Xiahou Xuan's residence that day?
But I didn't say anything.
"Come closer." Cao Rui beckoned, then said:
"I am merely curious. Have you found a suitable match and pledged marriage through a matchmaker?"