Kuangfu Han Dynasty

Chapter 18 The tiger’s beard has been stroked

Zhang Shao inquired yesterday that he had to hold a tiger filled with water and be responsible for pouring water for Boss Cao to wipe his face, wash his hands, and rinse his mouth after meals. At first glance, it sounded quite easy.

It wasn't until he took over Huzi from the soup official who was responsible for managing water that he secretly thought something was wrong.

Damn, this thing really sinks when filled with water!
This object is made of celadon and is shaped like a tiger lying on the ground with its head raised and a big mouth. There is an inscription on the belly of the tiger: "In the [-]th year of Jian'an, the work of the temple worker of the Shaofu of Xudu was in charge."There are handles on the tiger's back for carrying, and adults can pick it up and walk away. However, Zhang Shao's body is just that of an eight-year-old child. He must hold it in his arms to avoid being shaken by gravity when walking. shake.

Behind Zhang Shao was another servant, carrying a copper basin and a cloth towel on his shoulders. Huandeng said that this man was just an ordinary servant with no background, so he couldn't even ride in the cart.

Huandeng walked in front of Zhang Shao, holding a silver-gilt copper wine pot with light rice wine inside.The leader was the food officer Wang Jie. He was carrying a small food case with a black lacquer food box containing food.

Their motorcade was very close to Prime Minister Cao's chariot, and the military guards were also quite dense. There were posts every ten steps and one sentry every five steps. Zhang Shao caught a glimpse of Xiahou Ba standing beside the car majestically with his sword drawn. He was transferred from the Dian Army. Those who enter the Wuwei camp are still the commanders of the villages, and they should have 80 people under their command.Even though he became a small leader, Xiahou Ba didn't dare to say hello to Zhang Shao when he saw him because Xu Chu, the captain of the Wuwei School, was nearby.

Xu Chu was the last barrier leading to Cao Cao's banquet. When Wang Jie came over, although he had met him countless times, Xu Chu still opened the food box to check, and then let him and Huan climb over, but Zhang Shao was The two stopped.

Zhang Shao saw Cao Cao sitting sideways on Xiao Hu's bed, leaning on a tiger skin cushion behind him, holding a roll of bamboo slips in his hand, looking quite fascinated.Wang E came to the table, knelt down, held the food case high with both hands, and then carefully placed it on the table in front of Cao Cao.After opening the food box, it was not the eight big bowls Zhang Shao had imagined. The staple food was very simple. There were only a few palm-sized Hu cakes, dotted with some flax, and dried dried meat carefully cut into small pieces and placed neatly on the small lacquer table. On the plate.

After placing the chopsticks, Wang Jie took out a red lacquer ear cup and signaled Huandeng to pour wine. After everything was ready, he bowed to Cao Cao respectfully and said, "Prime Minister, it's time to eat."

Cao Cao nodded, without saying anything or taking chopsticks. He stretched out his free hand to take the oily Hu cake. His right hand was still holding the bamboo slip, and his left hand held the Hu cake and chewed the edge of the cake. After finishing one piece, Cao Cao nodded. He just stuffed pieces of dried meat into his mouth, or picked up the ear cup and drank it all in one gulp, without even noticing that the wine spilled on his long beard.But Huandeng just stared at it, filling his ear cup as soon as it was empty.

No one dared to disturb him during the whole process. He ate like this for more than half a moment. Nearly half of the biscuits and dried meat were consumed. Cao Cao must have been full. After drinking another drink, he burped and waved his left hand. Put away all the food boxes and food tables, hold them in your hands, and step back slowly and respectfully with Huandeng...

After returning to where Zhang Shao was standing, Wang Jie winked at him: "What are you doing standing still? Go and clean the Prime Minister's hands!"

Xu Chu only let Zhang Shao pass this time, and Cao Cao finally looked away from the bamboo slips, frowning and staring at his oily left hand. He also saw Zhang Shao holding a tiger beside him. He poured water into the copper basin. Cao Cao casually After washing, he stretched out his hand and waited. Another servant quickly knelt down and gently wiped away the water drops for Cao Cao with a cloth.

Only when he was so close did Zhang Shao notice that the skin of Cao Cao's left palm seemed a little different, as if there were old burn scars burned by flames...

Then he saw that Cao Cao's long beard was still stained with spilled rice wine. Zhang Shao suffered from obsessive-compulsive disorder, so he reminded him: "Prime Minister, there is still wine juice on his beard."

Only then did Cao Cao realize it and signaled the waiter to help him wipe it off. The waiter must have been timid. He stared blankly at Cao Cao's beard and did not dare to move. He was afraid that if he accidentally pulled out one of his beards, he would be punished with death. He just knelt down and kowtowed continuously.

"Don't you dare?"

Cao Cao laughed and looked at Zhang Shao: "Zhang Shao, come and wipe it!"

"What? You don't have any hands yourself?" Zhang Shao really wanted to tell Cao Cao this.

But Zhang Shao could only mutter in his heart that he didn't have the guts to really clean up the workplace on his first day at work.

He had no choice but to reluctantly take the cloth, put it in front of Cao Cao's long beard, and stroke it from top to bottom!
Cao Cao saw that Zhang Shao was not panicking at all and finished the job quickly, so he teased him: "Boy, others think that I am a jackal, afraid of making mistakes and being killed, but you are not afraid at all and dare to stroke my beard!"

Zhang Shao looked calm and responded: "Didn't the Prime Minister say yesterday that Shao is a tiger's son?"

"How dare you stroke a tiger's beard!"

"Hahaha, it's an interesting thing today to hear this little boy's wonderful match." Cao Cao was so happy that he held up his hands, but he didn't say much. He waved Zhang Shao to leave, and he continued to read.

When Zhang Shao came out with the tiger zi, he saw that the food officers Wang Jie and Huan Deng were looking at him with strange eyes, especially Huan Deng, whose eyes were widened and his mouth was slightly open, with shock on his face.

Wang Jie didn't say anything. He only asked a few people to hurry back to the convoy. They also had to fill their stomachs as soon as possible. They only took a break at noon. Today's journey was less than half of the way, and the camp would start again soon.

However, when Huandeng was walking with Zhang Shao, he squeezed to his side and whispered: "Zhang Shao, it's only your first day here, and the prime minister can actually call you by your name."

Huandeng was full of grievances and shouted: "I have been with the army for almost three months since setting off from Yecheng, but the prime minister doesn't even know my last name!"

Huandeng now not only admires Zhang Shao's courage to stroke the tiger's beard, but also feels that this son can let Cao Cao know his name. His identity is really not simple, and he has five points of respect for Zhang Shao.

Zhang Shao began to breathe heavily when talking to him now. The two of them leaned against the car and chewed the few pieces of biscuits that Cao Cao had not eaten. Zhang Shao pointed out: "Aden, you have been a waiter for three months. , but you are still careless in what you say."

Huandeng hurriedly asked him for advice. Zhang Shao laughed and said, "You previously scolded Ah Hei, who was in charge of the Prime Minister's dirty utensils, because you thought he smelled bad, but you didn't think carefully about it. What he was cleaning was the Prime Minister's feces and urine. How can this be said to be smelly?"

Hiss... Huandeng took a breath of cold air.

The Huan family was not a noble family, but a small family in Pengcheng. It was only because of Mrs. Huan that they were favored by Cao Cao. Their family's chickens and dogs ascended to heaven and lived in Yecheng.But Cao Cao didn't like his wives and concubines making profits for their mother's family, so Mrs. Huan rarely spoke for the Huan family.

Their family had no tradition of studying, and they had no children of the right age to fight for Cao Cao, so they had to find another way, and became a servant of Cao Cao in the Prime Minister's Mansion, and served as a boy in the camp around Deng fortress.I just hope that he will look familiar in front of the prime minister, so that he can naturally become a trusted attendant in the future. The adults have repeatedly warned him to watch his appearance and be cautious in his words and deeds.

Now being deceived by Zhang Shaoyi, Huandeng was immediately annoyed by his careless words... Zhang Shao shook his head and said: "From now on, when you pour wine for Prime Minister Cao, even if he farts on the spot!"

"You can't frown, and you have to show a comfortable expression, just think that this fart smells good!"

Huandeng's admiration for Zhang Shao reached the point where he hurriedly cupped his hands and said, "Deng has learned a lesson!"

Zhang Shao secretly laughed, and then his smile twisted, but he felt a pain in his stomach. Could it be that this biscuit is poisonous! ?
Of course it's impossible. Zhang Shao probably drank too much raw water in the past few days, or the porridge he drank in the morning left him overnight, which made him feel bad. He had to find a convenient place to go.

So Zhang Shao stood up in a hurry, pulled a few yellow leaves from the roadside, and ran to the bushes not far away.

Unexpectedly, someone immediately rushed over to stop him. It was a tall and powerful guard soldier. This man held a ring-shaped sword in one hand and looked at Zhang Shao with alert eyes: "Boy, where are you going!?"

Zhang Shao was startled. He saw this person wandering around the food officer's convoy this morning, and glanced at him from time to time. He thought he was a military guard who happened to be on duty nearby, and didn't take it to heart, but now he suddenly understood. Already...

"Cao Cao specially arranged for someone to keep an eye on me!"

……

"Arden, do you know what the young military guard is called?"

After Zhang Shao came back from solving the problem, he asked Huandeng, who had been camping for two months and claimed to know many people.

Huandeng had never seen this person before. He asked Zhang Shao to wait for a moment, and ran to the back for a walk, chatting with a few young children. He came back before the convoy set off. Zhang Shao stretched out his hand. Pulling him to the car: "How?"

Huandeng said: "I asked, this person is a corps commander of the Wuwei camp, his surname is Zhao, he should be a descendant of Xu Duwei Huairu's old family."

The corps leader personally came to keep an eye on his child!He was so dedicated. Just now, Wu Zhang Shao was not allowed to leave the team's sight, and he had to poop in front of him.Fortunately, Zhang Shao was thick-skinned and calmly unbuttoned his lower garments, defecated a lot, and after wiping his buttocks, he used a branch to pick out the feces on the ground to see if there were any parasites or suspicious eggs. ...Wuchang Zhao frowned in disgust at the sight.

"As expected of Arden." Zhang Shao praised Huan Deng: "You said that you have a lot of connections in the camp team, and it is indeed true."

"That's natural." Huandeng was proud and took the initiative to introduce other institutions to Zhang Shao.

"The convoy of the Prime Minister's entourage is led by the general servant Cao Yu, and there are five subordinates below, and the food official is just one of them."

Zhang Shao now also understands that the Prime Minister's Office is equivalent to a large department, and the various Cao Cao are bureaus with different functions.The so-called 掾 is the chief officer of a Cao, and the subordinate is the adjutant.

Huandeng continued: "In front of us, the one driving for the Prime Minister is the chariot master. Have you seen the horses following the car? They are all mounted by the prime minister's favorite horses and are specially raised by the shepherd boys under the chariot master."

oh?Zhang Shao thought, he should take a closer look next time he goes to Cao Cao's carriage. Are there Jueying and Zhuhuang Feidian inside?

Huandeng continued: "Behind us, there are several cars belonging to the medical officers. The cars carry silver needles, medicine jars, and medicinal materials. If the prime minister feels unwell along the way, the medical officers will immediately take the medicine boy with him. , carry the medicine bag and go over for diagnosis and treatment."

"By the way, I heard that this medical officer's surname is Li, and he is a disciple of Hua Tuo, the miracle doctor of Qiao County!"

Is it?When Zhang Shao heard this, he immediately became interested. His experience of being sick for a long time in his previous life made Zhang Shao understand the importance of the body.A child's body immunity is low. In these ancient times, any minor illness such as headache and fever could kill him.Besides, Zhang Shao still has a dull pain in his left leg!

Although he had some medical knowledge from later generations, it was far from being able to cure himself. Since he was so close to "Hua Tuo's disciple", could he find an opportunity to ask someone to take a look at him?

Huandeng then introduced that behind the convoy there were people who were in charge of Cao Cao's clothes, hats and armor, and people who were responsible for taking care of his daily life. Their main job was after setting up camp or settling in the city... But Zhang Shao was only thinking about it. Medical Officer Li no longer cared about this and only nodded perfunctorily.

On the way south, Wuwei was still staring at Zhang Shao, and Zhang Shao was also observing him carefully. Sure enough, after Wu Zhang left, two more people were replaced to continue on duty. It seemed that they were indeed watching in one shift. Very tight.

It doesn't matter, Zhang Shao is not stupid enough to run away on the road. With his lame leg, he can't run far at all. He can easily be caught by the cavalry. His treatment will definitely not be as good as now, so why bother?
There were many things on his mind. Zhang Shao was thinking about it and fell asleep in the car unknowingly. When he was pushed awake by Huandeng, he realized that the sun had already turned west and the convoy was driving into a city wall. In the low town, we finally stopped next to a courtyard.Zhang Shao saw Cao Cao's chariot across the street, and Xiahou Ba was leading his guards to inspect every room.

"Get out of the car quickly!"

The food officer, Wang Ge, called to everyone: "The Prime Minister has ordered us to stay here tonight. There is a well in this courtyard and a kitchen. Come quickly to fetch water, wash rice, cook the stove, and roast the meat!"

At noon, he could only give the Prime Minister a mere Hu pancake. Wang Jie felt very sorry and worked hard to make a good meal: "It's time for us to show off our skills!"

These things seemed to have nothing to do with Zhang Shao, so he was too lazy to get involved. He just covered his yawn and helped Huan Deng move the wine vessels from the car, and asked casually: "Aden, where are you? ?”

"I heard from the emperor that it is a township fifty miles south of Dangyang City." Huandeng held two copper bottles and said, "This place seems to be called..."

"Maicheng."

(End of this chapter)