The day after Mi Heng passed the news to Deng Ai that Cao Zhi was willing to stay in Yangzhou, Chen Wen issued an official document, declaring Cao Zhi the captain of Yangzhou, and the official seal was also delivered as soon as possible.
In the hands of Cao Zhi.
The next day was the day when Cao Zhi took office. Cao Song was so happy that he couldn't close his mouth when he saw the captain's seal that Cao Zhi brought. On this day, the whole family was immersed in a happy atmosphere.
In the early morning of the next day, Cao Zhi, dressed in military uniform, accompanied by Cao An and two hundred personal guards, went to the Yangzhou capital and took office.
When Cao Zhi arrived at Yangzhou Mansion, Zhou Cang was already waiting on the steps. When Zhou Cang saw Cao Zhi, he performed a standard "Su worship ceremony (a type of military salute in the Eastern Han Dynasty)". Cao Zhi quickly stopped him and said humbly: quot
"Brother, why do you need to do this? Brother, I entered the door later than you!"
"Hey! Eldest brother will be my boss from now on, so there is no need for etiquette." Zhou Cang said with a smile.
"You and I are brothers who have suffered in life and death. There is no need to be like this if we are not in the army."
Although Zhou Cang still insisted on a few words, it was still clear from his expression that he liked Cao Zhi's words.
Accompanied by Zhou Cang, Cao Zhi and Zhou Cang arrived at the study where Chen Wen and Lu Kang had narrated that day, and met Chen Wen first. Deng Ai was also there, and he was now Chen Wen's right-hand man.
Of course, Lu Kang was nowhere to be seen today. He rushed back to Lujiang after the birthday banquet, and he would not be missing there for a moment.
Chen Wen enthusiastically pulled Cao Zhi to the table and welcomed Cao Zhi's formal joining.
After the pleasantries, everyone here was familiar with each other, so they stopped being polite and went directly to the topic. Cao Zhi was surprised to find that Chen Wen had already put the plan to conquer Danyang on the agenda. Under Deng Ai's explanation, Cao Zhi
Zhi has a general understanding of Chen Wen's overall plan.
Chen Wen really wanted to be the governor of Yangzhou, but unfortunately, when he took over, Yangzhou was no longer the Yangzhou where soldiers were recruited during Emperor Guangwu's period, and the military strength of the county was very weak. During the reign of Emperor Ling, some county guards
With the division of power and the strengthening of military strength, as the provincial governor's envoy, it was actually difficult for Zhou Mu to control the counties under his control. The same was true for Yangzhou. Among the six counties under Yangzhou's system, except for Lu Kang's Lujiang County, they also obeyed the orders of the authentic imperial court.
With the exception of Chen Wen, the appointed ambassador to Yangzhou, the rest of the counties either acted against it or simply ignored it. This gave Chen Wen a headache, so he urgently needed to establish his authority. Chen Wen's first choice was to attack Zhou Xin of Danyang County.
Chen Wen, who wanted to show off the chicken to the monkey, should take advantage of Danyang and shock the other counties under the control to show him that he, Chen Wen, is not just a piece of paper.
After understanding the general situation, Cao Zhi couldn't help but sigh, the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty was really chaotic, and he didn't know what kind of chaos awaited Cao Zhi next.
After finishing talking, Chen Wen asked Cao Zhi to go to the meeting hall to meet his colleagues in Yangzhou.
The meeting hall is located in a side hall on the left side of the central hall. Cao Zhi's first impression after entering was that there was an obvious feature in Chen Wen's selection of state officials. Chen Wen was fond of the young and strong faction. Officials from all walks of life who attended the meeting,
Most of them are only in their thirties or forties, and there are almost no old men in their fifties or sixties.
When officials at all levels in Yangzhou saw Chen Wen come in, they all lowered their hands and stood respectfully. They waited for Chen Wen to take a seat and signaled for everyone to take a seat before they sat down in an orderly manner.
Chen Wengao sat in the temple. After looking around, he first introduced Cao Zhi, the new captain who joined Yangzhou, and introduced Cao Zhi's background. Then he clarified Cao Zhi's scope of authority and "shared the responsibility with Zaozhuan".
Yangzhou has six thousand soldiers and horses." As soon as this statement came out, it immediately shook the whole audience. In other words, Yangzhou now has two leading commanders, Cao Zhi and Zaozhuan, each with three thousand soldiers and horses.
Of course, there are more than just these soldiers and horses in Yangzhou. According to the allocation, each county also has 3,000 soldiers and horses. But Chen Wen can't mobilize the soldiers and horses. It's not bad if they don't mess with you. Lu Kang's Lujiang has 3,000 soldiers and horses, but
Chen Wen also did not dare to move, because Lujiang was close to Jiangxia in Jingzhou, and barbarians from Jiangxia (commonly known as Jiangxia barbarians) crossed the border from time to time to harass Lujiang, so Lu Kang hurried back. The six thousand soldiers and horses now are actually stationed in Liyang, the seat of Yangzhou.
In fact, it cannot be said that these soldiers and horses are Yangzhou soldiers and horses, but there is nothing we can do now. Chen Wen called this army Yangzhou soldiers and horses for the sake of face.
When Cao Zhi heard this arrangement, he frowned slightly and glanced at Zao Zhuan, who was sitting on his right, wondering if he would be unhappy. Chen Wen's arrangement obviously reduced his power.
Zao Zhuan showed no displeasure. When he found Cao Zhi glancing at him, he turned around and gave Cao Zhi an indifferent smile.
Cao Zhi felt very embarrassed. He originally thought that although Chen Wen had presented him as a captain, his actual position was at most Zaozhuan's deputy. Unexpectedly, he arranged to fight against Zaozhuan in a separate court, with one person holding half of the military power.
Chen Wen also didn't care. After announcing the personnel changes, he continued to discuss various matters in Yangzhou.
Although Cao Zhi was sitting upright with his eyes at his nose and his nose at his heart, he still felt all kinds of different eyes directed at him, from which he naturally sensed goodwill and jealousy.
After finally getting through this cadre meeting, as soon as Chen Wen left, Deng Ai took Cao Zhi and introduced him to a group of colleagues.
Zaozhuan and Zhou Cang need no introduction, they all know each other, but most of the remaining officials Cao Zhi have only met each other once, and they don’t know their official positions or surnames. I saw Deng Ai introducing them one by one. This is a minister.
The county is engaged in so-and-so, the government is engaged in... the meritorious officer is engaged, the chief clerk is engaged in, the bookkeeper is engaged in, the military officer is engaged in, the literature is engaged in, the martial arts is engaged in, the gate chief is engaged in, and the planner is engaged.
After going around in circles, I spent the whole morning just chatting and saying hello to a dozen officials.
Before leaving, Deng Ai said that Ambassador Chen had left them to take care of themselves in the afternoon, and told him to take him to the military camp in the afternoon.
In the cold wind, Cao Zhi, escorted by fifty military guards, rode to the military camp. Another one hundred and fifty military guards had already moved into Cao Zhi's military camp. Chen Wen considered the current separation of military powers and moved the original
The 6,000 soldiers and horses were divided into two camps, the east and the west, with 3,000 soldiers and horses stationed in each. Cao Zhi's station is the Xinkai West Camp. This afternoon, Zao Zhuan took 3,000 soldiers to hand over.
Zao Zhuan, who was still the captain of Yangzhou in the morning, was already the captain of Dongying in the afternoon. He and a group of generals were seen greeting Cao Zhi and others at the gate of the newly built military camp outside the west camp. Seeing Cao Zhi, Deng
When Ai and his party arrived, they immediately greeted them.
When Cao Zhi saw that Zao Zhuan had arrived first, he felt very regretful and said to Zao Zhuan, "Brother Zao Zhuan arrived early, and I... I was a little late for lunch."
Cao Zhi didn't say that he was staying late for lunch with Chen Wen. The lunch was at Chen's Mansion, just Chen Wen, Deng Ai, and Cao Zhi. If you say this, others will misunderstand that you want to show off your boss's love for you.
.In fact, he and Chen Wen really have no special relationship, but others often think so. Chen Wen didn’t keep Zao Zhuan. I really don’t understand. Chen Wen doesn’t seem to be the most satisfied with Zao Zhuan, his second son-in-law.
Cao Zhi felt that Zao Zhuan was a very approachable person and had a good impression of him. However, Chen Wen's behavior seemed to completely ignore Zao Zhuan's feelings, which also made Cao Zhi very uncomfortable, especially when facing Zao Zhuan.
Zao Zhuan still wore his signature friendly smile, chatted with Cao Zhihan for a few words, and then introduced the Sima assigned to him as Zhu Bin.
This man was obviously dissatisfied with Cao Zhi, his new boss. When Zaozhuan introduced him to Cao Zhi, he didn't even make a military salute, but just bowed his hand, which was regarded as a courtesy to Cao Zhi.
Cao Zhi was not that arrogant, nor did he care about his full stay. He thought that this woman was also born in Jianghu, and was not very polite, so he and Zao Zhuan went to the camp together without arguing with him.
Along the way, Cao Zhi and Zao Zhuan walked side by side. After walking for a while, Cao Zhi couldn't help but stop, took Zao Zhuan's hand, walked aside, and said seriously: "Brother Zao Zhuan, although you and I have said
We haven't met twice, but we immediately fell in love with him. I really wanted to make friends with Brother Zao. When I agreed to Chen Ci to come to Yangzhou to serve, I always wanted to be Brother Zao's deputy and practice more, but I never expected that.
, Chen Ci tried his best to cut off half of Brother Zao's military power, and Brother Zao felt..."
Zao Zhuan interrupted Cao Zhi with a smile, "Since Brother Zhi doesn't mind calling me Brother Zao, then I won't be polite to call you Brother Zhi. In fact, brother, I also treat Brother Zhi at first sight."
, I know that Brother Zhi is an honest person. He feels guilty for taking half of my troops. In fact, there is no need. Brother, I will tell you the truth. Being a captain is really hard for me. I have never liked it since I was a child.
These are really just to live up to the expectations of my father-in-law, and I have persisted until now. Alas... I think my father-in-law has already seen that I am not the material, so I invited Brother Zhi here. There is really an urgent need under my father-in-law's account.
General.quot;
Speaking of this, Zaozhuan couldn't help but Cao Zhi didn't know how to persuade him, so he had to stand aside silently.
Zao Zhuan is an optimist. Troubles come and go as quickly as they come. He followed what he just mentioned and continued with interest: "I heard that Brother Zhi is already experienced in hundreds of battles at a young age. He has been through many battles all the way from the capital."
When we returned to Qiao County, it was rumored that you and your brother almost killed Dong Zhuo?quot;
"That's... exaggerated, I'm ashamed to say it. My younger brother has participated in two battles, and he is still protected by his elder brother. So he has experienced hundreds of battles..."
Cao Zhi wanted to explain again and wanted to know Zao Zhuan's interests and aspirations. Zao Zhuan smiled and pulled Cao Zhi towards the camp.