cite Han

Chapter 244

Xu Shu said again: "In the past, Liu Zhongda was famous in Chu State for his literary talents and virtues, and now he is famous for his martial arts in Xiangyang.

He has lived in Xiangyang for seven or eight years, and when Liu Jing went north to Xiangyang three years ago, he hadn't met Zhuge Liang yet, so naturally he had no chance to get acquainted with Liu Jing through him.

Among Zhuge Liang's four friends, Cui Jun was the only one who had met Liu Jing. He said, "Three years ago, when Liu Zhongda went north to Xiangyang, Deng Zixiao called him 'the talent of Wang Zuo' when he saw him." Song Zhongzi also praised him as " Guoqi.' I had a meeting with him once, he is handsome, well-rounded, and talented, and he really deserves such praise and fame. I just didn't expect him to have the talent to lead the army."

Shi Tao also participated in the conversation with several people. Like Xu Shu, he is from Yingchuan. Many years ago, the two came to Xiangyang together to avoid chaos and study.

Among the five, only Meng Jian was not very interested in Liu Jing, and he seemed reticent and a little out of touch. It was not because he was arrogant, but because he had been struggling with this matter for a while, and now he finally made up his mind.

When several people stopped talking one after another, Meng Jian said, "Zhouping, Yuanzhi, Guangyuan, Kongming, I want to tell you one thing. I plan to return to my hometown soon."

Meng Jian is from Runan. He has lived in Xiangyang for six or seven years, and he misses his hometown very much.Cao Cao made his capital in Xu County, Yingchuan, and Runan is close to Yingchuan. This is Yuan Shao's hometown. His disciples and guests are distributed in various counties.Cao Cao was deeply concerned. Last year, he made Man Chong the prefect of Runan, recruited 500 soldiers, and led his troops to capture more than [-] dock walls.He lured more than ten people who had not surrendered to Qushuai, and killed them all, which changed the chaotic situation in Runan in one fell swoop.As a result, Meng Jian had the idea of ​​returning home.

Zhuge Liang persuaded: "Chinese Rao scholar-bureaucrats, why travel to hometown?"

Meng Jian shook his head and remained silent. Apart from homesickness, he also wanted to become an official. Now that Cao Cao is serving the emperor to disobey him, the Central Plains has decided that it is time to employ people. With his family background, talents and learning, he will be able to be employed when he returns to his hometown. .

Cui Jun and Shi Tao actually had the same intention, but it was hard to make up their minds for a while.

Zhuge Liang and Xu Shu had no intention of going north. Needless to say, Zhuge Liang would never join Cao Cao.Because Xu Shu was born in a poor family, even if he returned to Yingchuan, it would be difficult for him to be reused. It is better to stay in Xiangyang and wait for the opportunity.

Seeing that Meng Jian had made up his mind, Zhuge Liang sighed secretly, and stopped persuading him.

…………

Pan Jun is resting today. He is in the house, still wearing a high hat and neatly dressed. He is sitting on the couch leisurely, taking out tea leaves from the clay pot and pouring them into the boiling water in front of him. In the smoker.

Pan Jun's habit of drinking tea was naturally learned from Liu Jing. When he drank tea for the first time, he fell in love with the fragrance and elegant taste.

While drinking the fragrant and heart-warming tea, while holding the "Book of Han", every time I read the wonderful part, I can't help but be overwhelmed.

"Is Chengming at home?" Suddenly, a voice came from outside the house.

Pan Jun raised his eyebrows when he heard this, he was very familiar with this voice, it was Wang Can and Wang Zhongxuan.He immediately put down his tea bowl and scrolls, stood up to greet him, and as soon as he went out, he saw Wang Can, who was short and unattractive, standing outside the courtyard.

Pan Jun invited Wang Can into the house, and asked, "My lord, please come in quickly. Why is Wang Jun so free to come to the house today?"

Wang Can said with a smile, "Today the general has something to call for, and he just passed by here when he came back, so I came to see if you are in the house." Then he smelled the fragrance in the room, and said: "It smells good, is Chengming making tea? Just right, I’ve been talking all morning, and my mouth is dry.” Wang Can also drank green tea with Liu Jing in the past.It's just that in comparison, he still prefers to drink.Of course, if he had to choose between tea and water, he would still drink tea.

Immediately, Pan Jun fetched a tea bowl and poured tea for Wang Can, with an elegant and skillful technique, it could be seen that he had put in a lot of hard work in this regard.

Wang Can took a few sips of tea and said with a smile, "I haven't seen you for a long time. Chengming's tea-making skills have improved a lot. I feel that your tea-making skills are almost surpassing Zhongda."

Pan Jun posed modestly and said: "Zhong Da is the master of this. Compared with Zhong Da, I am still far behind."

Wang Can smiled, and asked again: "Chengming, do you know why the general recruited me?"

"Is it related to Liu Zhongda?" Although it was a question, Pan Jun's expression was quite certain.

"Yes." Wang Can nodded.

Pan Jun nodded. Right now, the whole Xiangyang is buzzing because of Liu Jing.This is also the reason why he chose to rest for a few more days to avoid the limelight.

Wang Can sighed and said: "Liu Zhongda is really a blockbuster. Last year, the general sent troops to Jingnan. I was worried about his safety. Now it seems that I was unnecessary."

Pan Jun said: "The king has such a heart, if Liu Zhongda knows, he will be very happy."

Wang Can couldn't help sighing: "I don't know when we will see Liu Zhongda again."

Pan Jun was silent for a while, Liu Jing's battle had disgraced Cai Mao, and the influence of Cai Mao and his family in Xiangyang almost cut off the possibility of submitting to Liu Biao.

In the future, even if Liu Biao cherishes talents and ignores Liu Jing's past, he will definitely be jealous of the Cai family and dare not reuse them. With Liu Jing's ambition, he will never give in.

The day of goodbye is far away...

…………

Liu Jing stayed with Jiang Wan for three days, during which time the two talked very happily, but it is a pity that people like Jiang Wan are not what he is now able to recruit.Although he was entrusted by Zhang Xian to take charge of the nine counties in the south of Changsha, he did not have the right to appoint and remove the magistrates of the nine counties, and his actual position was still a county magistrate.

Liu Jing did not patronize Jiang Wan in the past three days, and the nine counties were his top priority right now.

The specific distribution of the nine counties is like an irregular five-pointed star. The lower left corner is Zhaoling, the left corner is Liandao, the upper corner is Shonan, the right corner is Liling, and the lower right corner is Chaling, Youxian, Rongling and Ancheng. .

Xiangnan in the upper corner is only more than a hundred miles away from Linxiang, and light soldiers can arrive in a day. If Liu Jing sends troops to enter Xiangnan, he will definitely be attacked by the Jingzhou army's infantry immediately.

So Liu Jing resolutely gave up on southern Hunan, and only planned to extend his tentacles to the right corner. Liling, which was three hundred miles away from Linxiang, had enough time for the Jingzhou army to attack if it launched an attack.

Cai Sheng is the best candidate for the person who sits in Liling.His previous camp was stationed in the Liling area. In the past few years, he led the army to defeat all the Yuzhang refugees and thieves who had repeatedly caused chaos in Liling, and drove them back to Yuzhang. Therefore, he enjoyed a very high prestige in Liling.

Zhaoling in the lower left corner and Lian Dao in the left corner can be regarded as one. The location of the two counties is too remote and remote for Liu Jing, so he plans to send his clan brother Liu Xiu to sit in the town in person.

Between Liu Zong and Liu Xiu, Liu Jing had hesitated for a while, but in the end Tianping in his heart still fell to Liu Xiu.

In the lower right corner, there are four counties of Chaling, Youxian, Rongling, and Ancheng. Among them, Ancheng is located in a remote area, adjacent to Yuzhang County, Yangzhou.The remaining three counties have formed an alliance, and the scholars and people of the three counties jointly elected Wenchun, the magistrate of Chaling County, as the leader.

Wen Chun, whose name is Ji Qiu, is from Guiyang County. He is nearly [-] years old this year. His hostage is Zhenliang, benevolent and loving. Du Hui, Minister of the Marquis of Zhong'an County, was not famous.

To be honest, it's useless for Liu Jing to send this kind of person who is old, famous, and official, so he can only do it himself.

However, considering that the situation in the three counties was relatively stable under Wenchun's leadership, Liu Jing did not go rashly, but first wrote a modest and sincere letter to Wenchun, and attached a letter of appointment from the Changsha County Government.

A few days later, Wenchun wrote back, expressing that the three counties of Chaling, Youxian, and Rongling were willing to accept Liu Jing's command.

Liu Jing breathed a sigh of relief after that, but he didn't leave right away, because Deng Yuan was about to give birth, and he didn't want to miss the birth of his child in just these two days.

In ancient times, it was a very dangerous thing for a woman to give birth, so Liu Jing had a breast doctor and a healthy woman who had given birth to many children stand by in the official residence a few days ago.

At night on March [-]th, Deng Yuan suddenly felt severe pain in his abdomen. The breast doctor and healthy woman saw this and immediately knew that Deng Yuan was about to give birth.

They immediately spread a thick layer of straw mats on the bed, and made Deng Yuan lie on it to give birth.

Xu Shen, a great Confucian of this dynasty, wrote in "Huainanzi·Benjing": "A pregnant woman is a woman who is born with grass." The custom of the Han Dynasty was that when a woman gave birth, she could only use mats made of grass such as straw or wheat straw as a mat. The puerperium, up to the royal family, down to the common people, is like this.

Liu Jing was standing outside the door, listening to Deng Yuan's intermittent screams in the room, he couldn't help feeling anxious and restless.

There is a wall between the prime minister's house and the official house where the serious people live, so they rushed here immediately, and saw Liu Jing, who usually would not change his face even if Mount Tai collapsed in front of him, but now he was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, Can't help feeling a lot.At the same time, I also remembered how nervous I was when my first child was born.

Seriously comforting Liu Jing, he said: "Ming court does not need to worry, Madam is much taller than ordinary women, and she will be able to give birth to an heir smoothly."

"I hope it's as Bo Mu said." Liu Jing said so, still nervous and unable to control himself.

Soon after, stepmother Zhang and sister-in-law Lai Ci arrived with Liu He, Liu Rao and Liu Qun.The nine-year-old Liu Qun was obviously pulled up in his sleep, his snow-white and delicate face looked listless.

Stepmother Zhang asked, "How long has Shaojun been in?"

Liu Jing replied, "It's been almost half an hour."

Hearing the intermittent screams of the second sister-in-law in the room, Liu Rao changed his usual coquettish appearance and asked timidly, "Is childbirth so painful?" When her sister-in-law Lai Ci gave birth to Liu Qun, she was only six years old. Already blurred.

The stepmother, Mrs. Zhang, said from the side: "My mother was lying on the mattress before dawn, and she didn't give birth to you until sunset."

"So long?" Liu Rao suddenly fell into great shock and panic. Will she also experience such pain in the future?And, certainly more than once, it's scary just thinking about it.

Seeing Liu Jing's distraught appearance, Lai Ci said, "Young Master is giving birth for the first time and has no experience, so he must be scared. I'll go in and have a look."

Liu Jing frowned and said: "Then I will trouble my sister-in-law."

Lai Ci nodded, pushed the door open and entered.

Time passed by every minute and every second, and it was late at night in a blink of an eye. During this period, Liu Qun and Liu Rao went to the wing room to rest one after another. In the end, even the stepmother Zhang couldn't stand it anymore. Although Liu He was very sleepy, he stayed with him all the time. By Liu Jing's side.

The first ray of morning light bloomed on the sky, and a loud cry of a baby came from the room and fell in Liu Jing's ears, like hearing fairy music.

Liu Jing murmured to himself, "I've become a father?" Xuan Er was overjoyed, and was about to open the door to enter when his sister-in-law Lai Ci came out of the room and said with a smile: "Zhongda, Shaojun gave birth to a son for you, The second generation male heir of the Liu family, in addition to the tiger head, there is another one."

Liu Jing was so anxious that he didn't even bother to answer his sister-in-law, and rushed into the room directly.

I saw a group of people around the bed, besides the breast doctor and the healthy woman, there were several maidservants of Deng Yuan, and his son, Liu Qi, was lying in the arms of the maidservant Ashu.

Ah Shu handed Liu Qi to Liu Jing and said, "Master, the little master looks so cute..."

Liu Jing took over his son. Because he was born naturally, he was dark and hard to be considered beautiful. He had an oval head, no neck, small arms, short legs, pink skin, and looked extraordinarily transparent. , the blood vessels are clearly visible, and covered with a layer of soft down, like an alien.

It may be that Liu Jing was not comfortable in the hug, and Liu Qi couldn't help crying.

At a loss, Liu Jing handed him back to his maidservant, A Shu, and came to the bed, looking pale and sweating profusely, like Deng Yuan who had just been fished out of the water, he held her hand tightly, and said, "Young Master ,Thanks a lot."

Deng Yuan lay exhausted on the meadow, weakly said: "It is my responsibility as a wife to give birth to an heir for Liu Lang."

Liu Jing turned his head and said to the maidservant A Shu, "Let the Young Master take a look at my son."

Ah Shu immediately carried Liu Qi to Deng Yuan's side.

Deng Yuan looked at his son who was babbling in the swaddling baby, tears wet his eyes unconsciously, and felt that all the pain he had suffered before was worth it.

At this time, the breast doctor hid the afterbirth, that is, the placenta, in a bottle and placed it on Deng Yuan's bedside.Because the death rate of babies in the Han Dynasty was astonishing, there was a custom of hiding the afterbirth clothes in bottles and bowls to prevent the babies from being harmed by ghosts and ghosts.

The stepmother, Mrs. Zhang, had also woken up at this time, and hurried over with Liu Rao.

Before Liu Rao entered the door, he said happily: "Let me see my little nephew, let me see my little nephew..."

Liu He couldn't help but give his younger sister a blank look, he really didn't have any vision at all.

At sunrise, Deng Yuan's brother and sister-in-law rushed over. Since Deng's residence was outside the city, they didn't know about it after the city gate was closed last night. They didn't receive the notice until today when the city gate opened. Come here.

Except for Deng Yuan's brother and sister-in-law, all the generals under Liu Jing's command, all the officials of the county temple, and even members of the Liu clan of Longqiu came one after another. For a while, the inside and outside of the official building were crowded with people who came to congratulate.

The birth of Liu Jing's heir is definitely a great joy for Ling County.

(End of this chapter)