Cao Cao knew very well that the biggest reason why Luoyang could have its current achievements was that it did not allow the wealthy families of Luoyang to develop.
Because Cao Zhi had started with the Great Wei Academy, the civilian education, and the gradual reform of the garrison system, and although Luoyang was a large place, it was already a mess due to years of war. There weren't many government affairs. Relying on Yang Xiu, the Ding brothers, and some of the lesser scholars who had been attracted by his group, they could completely manage the affairs underground. Therefore, they didn't give the local wealthy families of Luoyang the chance to intervene.
Moreover, after Luoyang fell, most of the wealthy families in Luoyang had already moved away. Even if they stayed, they would never dare to go against Cao Zhi, the son of the Prime Minister.
It was precisely because of these factors that Cao Zhi was able to cast aside the nobles of Luoyang and develop steadily.
Until now, among the bureaucrats in Luoyang, only a few were descendants of aristocratic families. They could not cause any trouble at all.
As for the aristocratic families from other places who had their eyes on the big cake of Luoyang and wanted to interfere, they were all blocked by Cao Zhi's iron-blooded methods.
He directly gave the Ding brothers a certain amount of military power and let them guard Luoyang. As long as other aristocratic families dared to interfere, Cao Zhi gave them the power to act first and report later.
Even if they killed the heirs of these wealthy families, Cao Zhi would also take the blame for them.
This was how strong one was!
After all, Cao Zhi was now in charge of two of the six divisions. His strength was enough to cover the sky with one hand. This was something that he could still do.
When Cao Cao heard that Cao Zhi had given the Ding brothers such great power, he was a little worried and said,"Although these Ding brothers are my son's close friends, they are still members of an aristocratic family. The Ding family they belong to is also one of the top families.”
Hearing Cao Cao's words, Cao Zhi knew that his father's paranoia was acting up again. Cao Cao was just like that. He was always suspicious of forces that he didn't trust.
"No worries." Cao Zhi was very confident." Father, you might not know this, but these Ding brothers are not only my best friends, but they are also my trusted aides. Furthermore, during that year in Luoyang, your son had already familiarized himself with their personalities. They would definitely not do anything that would let your son down. They treated their sons and ministers like Xun Yu treated his father.”
Hearing Cao Zhi's analogy, Cao Cao nodded his head and reluctantly believed it.
The facts proved that the Ding brothers had really done it and did not let anyone touch Luoyang's cake.
Seeing Cao Zhi's firm attitude, the other aristocratic families tried a little, but after meeting a hard obstacle, they stopped trying.
Only the Han Clan, one of the great clans, didn't mind that the other great clans had met with a setback after seeing Luoyang as a cake. They directly sent the heir of the Han Clan with most of their people to communicate with Ding Rong. They wanted to rely on the Han Clan's power to buy a large piece of land in the west of Luoyang.
He had thought that he would be able to succeed, but he was rejected by Ding Rong.
Buying land? What a joke, no!
Hmm? The Han Clan was instantly dumbfounded. The Ding Clan, which Ding Rong was from, had a very close relationship with the Han Clan. They were both scholarly clans and had many interactions with each other. The disciples of the two clans also sang poems and sang poems. Why did his attitude towards her become so cold now? It was as if he had turned hostile and refused to recognize her.
Without comparing themselves with the Han Clan, Ding Xiong directly passed their strategy to Zhou Feng, who had already been promoted to the head of the Luoyang Garrison Division.
Seeing Ding Rong's actions, the Han Clan thought that Ding Rong was embarrassed to reject them because of Cao Zhi's orders. In fact, he was still willing to help them get in through the back door. Therefore, he was happy for a while.
However, when they saw Zhou Feng in person, they realized that this was not the case at all.
After hearing their intentions, Ding Feng immediately put on a straight face and replied with a 'no'. He then ordered the soldiers behind him to chase the Han clansmen out, not giving them any leeway at all. He was even more ruthless than Ding Rong.
Encountering such a stubborn temper, the Han Clan was furious. As a great clan, when had they ever suffered such humiliation? He immediately decided to mess with him, so he bribed some officials from the Ministry of Rites and used some power to harm Zhou Feng. In the end, he did not expect that the current Minister of Rites, Cao Zhi, would find out.
Cao Zhi had always been paying attention to this imperial examination champion called Zhou Feng. Now, he even heard that when the other aristocratic families were retreating in the face of difficulties, this Han family was actually so arrogant and actually dared to target his Luoyang. This was simply not knowing what was good for him!
So in the end, Cao Zhi had to personally come forward and find a reason to remove the Han family's heir's official position with a groundless crime. Then, he ruthlessly suppressed all the officials in the Han family to settle the matter.
It was not out of Cao Zhi's expectations. Seeing the Han family being suppressed like this, not only did the other aristocratic families not lend a helping hand, but they even hit the Han family when they were down and rushed to seize the vacant positions that were left because of the suppression of the Han family. In any case, no one wanted to help them.
Actually, it was true. The Han family originally wanted to monopolize the cake. Now that they had fallen, they had no obligation to help him anger Cao Zhi. Therefore, they naturally watched the show and did not care about the Han family's prosperity or decline.
The Han family's matter was nothing in Cao Zhi's eyes. Even if the Han family did not bump into the muzzle of a gun, he would still want to kill another chicken to warn the monkeys. It was just that since the Han family had delivered themselves to his doorstep, he would not be picky anymore.
However, through this incident, Cao Zhi had a slight understanding of Zhou Feng's character. This person was a one-track minded person, just like Tian Feng and Wei Zheng, who were resourceful but too upright.
Later, Cao Cao wanted to take action in Yingchuan. He wanted to arrange an important official in Yingchuan to slowly weaken the wealthy families in Yingchuan.
Under Cao Cao's command, the largest aristocratic family group was none other than the aristocratic families of Yingchuan. Other than the Han Clan that Cao Zhi had just wiped out, the Zhong Clan that Zhong Yao belonged to, the Chen Clan that Chen Qun belonged to, and the Xun Clan that Xun Yu and Xun You's uncle and nephew belonged to were all prominent clans that had their roots in Yingchuan.
Therefore, if he wanted to move against Yingchuan, it was the most important thing to shake the foundation of the Cao Wei aristocratic family. It was also a move that had to be made. Only a capable person could do it.
After racking his brains, he couldn't find any talents. Cao Cao asked Cao Zhi who he should send. Cao Zhi immediately suggested Zhou Feng.
Only someone like Zhou Feng, who had strategy and courage, and was not swayed by interests, could take on such a great responsibility.
When Cao Cao heard Cao Zhi's recommendation, he couldn't help but think of his brilliant policy paper. He also thought of the last sentence that this person had added,"In the Battle of Red Cliff, Ming Gong was no different from Yuan Shao." He couldn't help but laugh out loud and nod in agreement."Alright, it's him."
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]