Guo Peng is very aware of Cao Cao's worries, and he is also very aware of this world, everyone's anxiety about loyalty.

Because there is a very fundamental problem in this era.

Han Tianzi is still here, and everyone is nominally a courtier of Han Tianzi, whether it is Guo Peng, Yuan Shao, or Yuan Shu, they are all courtiers of Han Tianzi.

Including their respective subordinates, they are basically the courtiers of the Han Emperor.

During this period of history, there have been many incidents of rebellion and rebellion within the major warlord forces, which is understandable.

Because strictly speaking, during this period, according to the rules of the dual monarchy, many of their subordinates were not their former officials, and those officials were often officials who had existed in a certain place after they led their army to occupy a certain place.

It was appointed by the imperial court.

Therefore, as long as the Emperor of Han is still around, these officials only need to take the Emperor of Han as the monarch, and do not need to use the warlords who occupy the place as the second monarch to serve allegiance, and there is no actual moral baggage.

It's like Lu Kang rebelling against Yuan Shu, Lu Kang's Lujiang Taishou was appointed by the imperial court, and he himself is not a former official of the Yuan family, what qualifications does Yuan Shu have to criticize him?

If you can't touch any of the two monarchs, why should people be loyal to you?

The reason why Dong Zhuo killed Yuan Kui and Lu Bu killed Ding Yuan is widely criticized is because Yuan Kui is Dong Zhuo's master, and Ding Yuan is also Lu Bu's master, which is tantamount to killing the king, can it not be criticized?

Guo deeply understands how terrible the existence of this kind of hidden worry is.

When his power grows greater, it becomes even more fatal, because quite a few powerful subordinates are nominal Hanchens like him, and neither of the two monarchs can touch the side, there is no need to be loyal, and there is no moral baggage for rebellion.

Therefore, Guo took precautions, and used his power to open the government in Shanggu County to recommend all the core strategists and generals, so that they all became his former officials, and later continued to do so.

The earliest two Cao and Liang Xiahou, Cheng Li, Mi Zhu, later Zhao Yun, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Cao Chun, Gu Yong, Zao Yi, Xi Zhong, Guo Jia, Guo Rui who visited during the vacation.

There are also Yu Ban recommended by Bao Xin, Le Jin who came to seek refuge by himself, people recommended by Zheng Xuan in Qingzhou, such as Guoyuan and Xi Wei, Xun Yu who took the initiative to take refuge, and talents who went to Yanzhou to visit, such as Chen Gong.

As long as they don't have the relationship between the old officials who are still in effect now, they all entered Guo Peng's general's mansion and the state minister's mansion first, and established Guo's identity as their second monarch, and then they were released as officials.

It means that all these people have served in Guo Peng's mansion, and they have received the money given to them by Guo Peng, and now they no longer hold positions in the mansion, but they are all Guo someone's former officials.

This is called the former official of the Guo family.

Fewer people, but just as useful.

With this relationship, coupled with the quality system and double insurance, the risk of betrayal can be minimized, and then Guo will release them as officials and lead troops.

Now Guo still does it.

As long as they do not have official positions and existing relationships with former officials, they will first enter their own mansions to take up official positions, receive the money they have issued to them, and recruit them to be officials by themselves, and then release them outside.

Many of the faithful subjects of this age had a special relationship with the Lord to whom they were loyal.

For example, Zhuge Liang and Liu Bei, Zhuge Liang is equivalent to Liu Bei's former official, Liu Bei is not only the first monarch to him, but also the second monarch, can he be disloyal?

Now the core group of power under Guo Peng's command is mainly composed of Guo's former officials, supplemented by the quality system, which can make this constituent organization quite solid and secure, and Guo's power is getting bigger and bigger.

Therefore, Guo Peng wants to appoint Zhang Liao as a senior official and enter the core group, so he will be questioned and opposed so much.

Because Zhang Liao and Guo Peng did not have any reliable political connections, Zhang Liao once had the opportunity to become Guo's former official, but he did not seize it.

Zhang Liao and Guo Peng have no recommendation relationship, and they are also people who have done 2,000 stones, so they can no longer enter Guo Peng's mansion to serve.

Without this relationship between the former officials of the Guo family, why did you enter the core group and share the core power with us?

Although Guo Peng has the intention to promote Zhang Liao, the resistance to him in the group will not relax and weaken, unless he can be recognized by everyone with his own efforts in the future, otherwise, his road is still not good.

Later, Xi Zhong came to meet Guo Peng, and Guo Peng wanted to ask Xi Zhong about the benefits of attacking Hanoi County, and give him a strategic consultation.

Now Guo Peng has a lot of advisers, and Cheng Li, the most trusted retainer, is responsible for guarding the base camp for him, so he doesn't take it with him.

Xun Yu, who has some strategic vision, is more handy in government affairs, so he was arranged by Guo Peng to promote the strategy of locust control, and it seems that he himself is also very happy.

The people who often bring military and strategic targets with them are Guo Jia and Xi Zhong, and Chen Gong can also be regarded as a standby.

However, at the moment, Guo Peng is still asking Chen Gong to supervise the transportation of grain and grass, because Chen Gong has no military experience, so he can only be regarded as a trainee strategist, and he will not be able to become a regular until he exercises for a while.

Guo Jia was studying Hanoi's strategy with Han Hao, the Hanoi Leading Party, so Guo Peng came to Xi Zhong, discussed this matter with him, and asked him for his opinion.

"There is no doubt that the capture of Hanoi is extremely important, Hanoi can be seen as a hand stretched out by Ming Gong, on the one hand, he can threaten Yuan Shao's Jizhou core, and on the other hand, it is also very close to Luoyang, and once something happens, it can react."

When Xi Zhong said this, he sighed a little: "If Zhu Gong did not go to the court to take up his post, Ming Gong could support Zhu Gong with some grain and straw, so that Zhu Gong could occupy the land of Luoyang to resist Li Wei's ravages in the Yingchuan area." ”

Xizhong is a native of Yingchuan, and he naturally has feelings for his hometown.

In May of this year, Guo Peng was still training and preparing for war, and Zhu Jun, who was being jointly elected as a Taishi by Tao Qian and the pastors of various states, received an edict from the Son of Heaven, asking him to enter Beijing as an official, be a Tai Lieutenant, and record Shang Shushi.

There is no doubt that this order was not Liu Xie's own will, but an edict issued by Li Dao in place of Liu Xie at the suggestion of Jia Xu.

Everyone knew that this was Li Wei's trick, and they all persuaded Zhu Jun not to go, but Zhu Jun thought that as a Han minister, the Son of Heaven was despising the imperial power and despising the emperor, which was a big disrespect.

You have to go, you have to go with dignity.

Then Zhu Jun explained to the people around him, saying that as long as he can be by the emperor's side, he may not be able to find an opportunity to kill Li Dao like Dong Zhuo, and he may not be able to eradicate the traitors, and then serve the Son of Heaven and revitalize the dynasty.

Zhu Jun thought that there was hope for him to go, as long as he could protect the emperor, he would be able to revive the Han Dynasty.

So Zhu Jun resolutely set off, and another attempt at an alliance by the Kwantung princes failed.

Zhu Jun is still in the court as a lieutenant, recording Shangshu affairs, Li Wei respects him on the surface, but secretly, his power is very limited, Shangshutai's power is controlled by Jia Xu, and the decrees are basically from the instructions of the Liangzhou group.

For example, Li Dao continued to send troops to loot Kanto and the like.

Yingchuan is dilapidated and has lost its use value, although Xi Zhong has long moved his small family to Qingzhou to settle down, but he also misses his hometown a lot.

Xi Zhong's family can only be regarded as a small scholar clan in Yingchuan, because the population in the family is relatively small, the people are not vigorous, but they are only a third-rate scholar clan, and the family property is not very rich, which is far inferior to the Guo family.

Compared with a bigwig-level family like the Yingchuan Xun family, it is indeed impossible to play cards.

At present, only Xi Zhong is in his family under Guo Peng, because he is closer, so he is more valued, and he is also close to Guo Peng's Guo family, and the close relationship is no worse than Guo Jia.

"We can't interfere with Zhu Gong's choice, but we must be sure of the future."

Xi Zhong understands it like this.

Guo Peng nodded.

"If Zhicai also supports it, I will be relieved."

The two walked together for a while, and Guo Peng suddenly asked, "Is Zhicai still unwilling to be a local magistrate?" ”

Xi Zhong shook his head.

"Loyal or not good at governance, or more like the military, Ming Gong is willing to use the loyal counselor military, loyal to the grateful."

Guo Peng was not reluctant, nodded slowly, continued to walk forward, walked a few steps, and said: "Zhicai thinks that in this battle, do we gain a lot, or do we have a greater loss?" ”

Xi Zhong pursed his lips, and a gleam flashed in his eyes.

After a little trade-off, Xi Zhong knew what to do.

"For the people of Yanzhou, it must be a big loss, but for Ming Gong, it is a greater gain."