Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 44
When Shen Chen was working as a free child laborer for Song Zhong, the general situation of the world was changing.

Since the beginning of this year, the situation in Guanzhong has become more difficult.

Don't talk about drought, just talk about military disasters.

After Li Jue killed Fan Chou, the conflict between Li Jue and Guo Si became completely acute, and the two sides fought violently, causing serious internal friction.

Liu Xie was hijacked by Li Jue, and Guo Si hijacked the ministers of the Manchu Dynasty.

In June, Zhang Ji came forward to mediate, and the two finally decided to negotiate a peace, each using one of their own daughters as hostages, and did not continue the fight.

After the two sides stopped making peace, Liu Xie got rid of Li Jue. With the help of Zhang Ji, he decided to flee Chang'an and return east to Luoyang.

The Kansai area is a mess, and the Kanto area is not much better.

Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan had been at war for the past few years. After the Battle of Jieqiao, Yuan Shao finally drove Gongsun Zan out of Jizhou and gained a chance to develop with peace of mind.

But soon Gongsun Zan wiped out Liu Yu, the shepherd of Youzhou, and occupied the entire Youzhou. Yuan Shao still dared not slack off due to his powerful strength.

Fortunately, at the beginning of this year, Liu Yu's former subordinates Xian Yufu, Qi Zhou, Xian Yuyin and others elected Yan Rou as their leader, gathered a large number of Xianbei, Karasuma and other troops, and gained tens of thousands of Han soldiers and Hu soldiers to attack Gongsun Zan.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Yuan Shao immediately sent general Ju Yi to join them, a total of 10 troops, and defeated Gongsun Zan in Baoqiu. Now he is besieged in Yijing, and the situation is very good.

And Cao Cao's situation is gradually improving. Last year, he fought against Lu Bu and had to stop the army because of insufficient food and grass. This year, he gradually began to attack Lu Bu. He won all three field battles, defeated Dingtao, and forced Linqiu.

After Tao Qian died of illness last year, Liu Bei was elected by Mi Zhu, Chen Deng and others as Xuzhou Shepherd. As a result, not long after taking over at the beginning of the year, Yuan Shu sent a large army to attack. The two sides fought in Xuyi, Huaiyin and other places, and both sides won each other.

In June, Lu Bu was driven out of Yanzhou by Cao Cao, and fled east to Xuzhou to join Liu Bei.Because Lu Bu indirectly saved Xuzhou once before, Liu Bei accepted him, but he didn't know that he was leading a wolf into the house and brought a jackal in.

On the east side of the river, Sun Ce had already crossed the river and defeated Liu Yao, occupying Danyang and Wu Jun.

At that time, Danyang prefect Zhou Shang was Zhou Yu's uncle. Zhou Yu and Sun Ce had a close friendship, so his arrival soon won the support of the Zhou family.

However, Yuan Shu had always been treacherous. He promised Sun Ce that if he took Lujiang, he would be promoted as the prefect of Lujiang.

It was the same this time, as Sun Ce won Danyang, Yuan Shu sent his cousin Yuan Yin to replace Zhou Shang, which made Sun Ce even more disappointed with Yuan Shu.

Here in Jingzhou.

Liu Biao still had nothing to do, except resettling the refugees and farming in Nanyang, he neither sent troops nor expanded the land, and steadfastly guarded his own Jingzhou.

With the increasing number of refugees in Nanyang, Huangmen Pavilion gradually began to grow. According to the arrangement before Shen Chen left, the refugees were recruited, the land continued to be developed, and manor fortresses were built. At the same time, ceramic craftsmen were recruited to use blast furnaces to burn paper. porcelain.

In October, Liu Xie entered Anyi County, Hedong.

At this moment, Yuan Shao is pressing Gongsun Zan to fight, the pressure has been relieved a lot, and because Jizhou Prefecture is strong and rich, its strength has leapt to the top of all the princes, so Jushou suggested Yuan Shao at this time, let him welcome Liu Xie to "take the emperor and make the princes , Animals and horses to discuss the court."

But Guo Tu and Chun Yuqiong believed that the Han Dynasty was weak now, and the banner of the emperor was useless.What's more, if you invite the emperor to Hebei, you have to ask the emperor for everything, which will only increase the trouble, so Yuan Shao is advised not to adopt Jushou's strategy.

After careful consideration, Yuan Shao felt that what Guo Tu and Chun Yuqiong said made sense.In the end, Ju Shou's suggestion was ignored, but Cao Cao paid tribute to Liu Xie, and was appointed by Liu Xie as Yanzhou Mu in October of the second year of Xingping.

At the same time, Lu Bu attacked Xiapi while Liu Bei's main force was fighting Yuan Shu in Huainan. Liu Bei had no choice but to flee to Guangling. Lived the day and fell into a very difficult situation.

Fortunately, before Shen Chen left, he had persuaded Mi Zhu to sell the property in his hometown and stock up on food early to make preparations.Therefore, when Liu Bei was in trouble, Mi Zhu immediately sent someone to deliver a large amount of food and grass to him, which solved the urgent need.

And in Jingzhou, on October [-]th, by the Hanshui River in Xiangyang, Shen Chen and Deng Hong were meeting an old friend.

Zhou Lin was still on the boat, and he saw Shen Chen and Deng Hong standing on the pier waiting for him from a distance, and after landing, he immediately went up and clasped his hands enthusiastically and said, "Mr. Youshuo, Shen Xiaolang, long time no see. "

"Demao, long time no see."

Deng Hong also greeted with a smile, Demao is Zhou Lin's name.

Zhou Lin took out a small wooden box from his arms and said, "Shen Xiaolang, this is for you."

"Thank you sir."

Shen Chen didn't refuse either, this was the custom at that time.

If people who are not familiar with each other or friends who are very familiar with each other visit each other, gifts are often not prepared.

But if it's the kind of friends who know each other but don't know each other very well, and come from a particularly distant place, they have to prepare gifts for each other.

This situation is recorded in the Han Dynasty stone carving "Traveling Map" and many ancient books, and later generations call this behavior a souvenir.

Deng Hong also took a wooden box as a gift in return.

Zhou Lin's gift was a book. At that time, there were all kinds of strange gifts to each other. The more common ones were bamboo slips, jade pendants, wild geese and so on.

Deng Hong's gift in return was a piece of porcelain, a three-color porcelain produced in the Huangmenting cave.

Zhou Lin came here this time because of this.

Last year, he made an agreement with Shen Chen that when he came to Jingzhou to do business again, he would send someone to Xinye to tell him when he passed by Jiangling.

In July of this year, Zhou Lin went to Jiangdong. When he arrived in Jiangling, he sent his servants to Xinye as agreed.

Large-scale merchants like them often have fixed partners, and they are found in places such as Jingzhou and Jiangdong.

Therefore, after Zhou Lin sells Jingzhou and Jiangdong's products in Yizhou every year, he will purchase a large amount of Yizhou's local products and deliver them to Jingzhou and Jiangdong.

So after staying in Jiangling for a few days and handing over the goods to the local partners, he set off for Jiangdong.

Deliver the goods to Jiangdong, and then receive the goods. In this way, it will be September when he returns. At the end of September, he arrives in Jiangling again, and the servants sent out before are already waiting for him, and they still have a cart with them. Fine porcelain.

Zhou Lin realized the business opportunity when he saw these porcelains, because the glaze color of Han Dynasty porcelain was very single, mainly celadon and white porcelain, and there were also a small amount of yellow-green glazed porcelain.

The porcelain that Shen Chen gave him was not only exquisitely made, but also smooth in appearance and fashionable in style, as well as colorful and colorful.

Although I don't know how the sales will be, at least it looks good.

The keenness of the businessman told him directly that these things might be sold, so he stopped the fleet at Jiangling, took a boat from Yunmengze to Jingling, and then entered the Han River from Jingling to Xiangyang.

Both sides brought a few entourages, and under the leadership of Deng Hong, the group headed towards his direction in Xiangyang City.

On the way, Zhou Lin said to Deng Hong: "I heard that You Shuo was an official in Liu Jingzhou?"

Deng Hong couldn't hide his smile and said: "Now he is the chief historian under Liu Shijun's account, in charge of documents and treasury work, not a high-ranking official."

He was promoted last month, from librarian to librarian. The reason was that the former librarian's father died of illness. According to the custom at that time, Ding You was required to go home to observe his filial piety, so that person abandoned his position and left.

And there were only two people in the entire library, once he left, Deng Hong was naturally promoted, and now his rank is three hundred stones, only one level lower than Zhuge Xuan.

Shen Chen curled his lips at the side: "Although Liu Shijun appreciates it and moved it as the master, but the uncle is already 27 years old and has not married a wife. The great uncle has a dark knowledge, and I am afraid it will be difficult to rest in peace."

Deng Hong's face froze, and he lowered his head and said in Shen Chen's ear, "You bastard, can you save some face for your sixth uncle? Besides, I've seen the girl from the Cai family you mentioned before. She's as strong as a fat pig, and she's extremely ugly. , how can I marry this?"

"Uncle, you don't want the clan to grow stronger in Jingzhou, do you. At this time, uncle has to dedicate himself, sacrifice his ego for the clan to complete the big ego."

Shen Chen responded in a low voice: "Besides, she is ugly, but I heard that she is very gentle, and she is a good wife and mother."

After he arrived in Xiangyang, he asked around, trying to help Deng Hong solve life-long issues.

Some time ago, Zhuge Xuan married Zhuge Liang's eldest sister, Kuai Qi from the Kuai family. On the day of the wedding, Shen Chen and Deng Hong went to give congratulatory gifts and drank wedding wine, and then the Zhuge family immediately entered the upper class of Jingzhou. lock up.

This made Shen Chen very anxious. He asked around, and finally heard that the Cai family happened to have a daughter who was waiting to be married. She was the daughter of cousin Cai Mao.

So I tried my best to match Deng Hong.

Both of them are older unmarried men and women at this age. Although the woman's appearance is not very good, her family conditions are good, and she is rich in billions of dollars.

But after Deng Hong heard about it, he secretly thought of a way to catch a glimpse of the woman. Since then, he has tried his best to refuse and never speak again.

It was useless for Shen Chen to do work every day, which made him very headache.

Hearing Shen Chen's words, Deng Hong still evaded: "No hurry, no hurry, work is important, we'll talk about it later."

It is very similar to the words Shen Chen used in the later generations to evade his parents.

Shen Chen sneered: "It's up to you to decide. In a few days, I will write a letter to my great uncle and second uncle, asking them to force you. According to my parents' order and matchmaker's words, now that my great uncle and great aunt are gone, my uncle and the others will be able to help you." Make a decision."

"Achen, you!"

Deng Hong's tears were about to come down, he never expected that he would be stabbed in the back by his grandson!

People say that the elders decide the marriage for the younger generation.

Why are the younger generations making decisions for the elders?
It's turned upside down.

The two whispered and soon arrived in the city. Deng Hong hired two carriages, one for him and Shen Chen, one for Zhou Lin, and the servants walked towards the west of the city.

Deng Hong's house is in the west of the city, the house is not big, and it is a suburb in the west of the city. It is close to the west gate, and it is four or five kilometers away from Liu Biao's pastoral mansion where he works, and more than 20 kilometers away from Xianshan Academy where Shen Chen stays.

But now Xiangyang is very expensive, and it is good to have a suite, so what bicycles are needed.

It took about half an hour to travel three or four kilometers from Beicheng to Xicheng. Deng Hong led a group of people into the house, while the servants stayed outside the door and entered the hall to prepare for the discussion.

(End of this chapter)