Kuangfu Han Dynasty

Chapter 6 But I Was Shocked
Thinking of this, Zhang Shao's eyelids began to tremble and he fell into a deep sleep. On the first day of time travel, his little body had experienced too many things.

Early the next morning, Xiahou Ba did send a doctor over, but Zhang Shao didn't rush to let him look at his legs. Instead, he pushed Xiao Liu Di over first.

"My sister has talked a lot since she was a child, but she hasn't said a word since yesterday." Liu Ruyu looked at her half-sister distressedly. She had experienced too much yesterday and was so dizzy that she didn't realize anything was wrong until this morning. No matter how she After being coaxed, Liu Di still didn't say a word, just nodded and shook her head, and opened her mouth to make a sound.

The doctor tried it and found that Liu Di's mind did not seem to be damaged. He reached out and pinched her arm hard. Liu Di immediately cried and threw herself into her sister's arms. However, no matter how she was induced, she still couldn't. Can't say a word.

The doctor said decisively: "I was probably frightened on the battlefield. I will be fine after a few days of rest."

Liu Ruyu was full of guilt. She only regretted that when she was hiding under the car yesterday, she had told her sister not to make a sound...

Next it was Zhang Shao's turn. The doctor asked him to take two steps to check. Then he asked him to stamp his left foot on the spot and asked him if he was numb.

"numb."

"Just numb it!" The doctor casually touched his left leg and only said, "It seems that no bones were injured. He will be fine after a few days of rest." Then he hurried away without even prescribing half of the medicine. .

This was to allow him and Liu Di to heal themselves. Zhang Shao felt very uneasy and muttered: "Isn't this a well-trained doctor?"

Although the pain in his leg was not as obvious as yesterday, Zhang Shao lay down as much as possible after a hundred days of strain.

Although food and drink are provided in this cell, the most worrying thing here is the sanitary condition. People have to poop. As the day goes by, the smell of urine gradually becomes stronger.

Although the dry straw could barely keep out the cold, there were also a lot of bedbugs and fleas in it, which bit several children all over their bodies. The red bumps made Liu Ruyu's skin even whiter.

Although the three of them did not have good food and clothing since childhood, they had never experienced such a situation. However, Mrs. Xu was quite experienced. She skillfully caught lice for several people, and when she caught them and strangled them to death with her nails, she made a beeping sound. Liu Di was amused by the crisp sound and giggled, but still did not speak.

Zhang Shao touched the bump on his scalp worriedly, for fear of contracting some fatal infectious disease. He began to think about whether to shorten his hair later.

Liu Ruyu was taught to observe etiquette since she was a child, and she would sit upright even in prison. She often stared at the light vents in a daze. Mrs. Xu asked her, and she said she was worried about the safety of her mother and brother Adou...

At that time, Zhang Shao was about to fall asleep. After hearing this, he casually mentioned: "Don't worry, with General Zhao Zilong's protection, Adou will be fine."

In the early morning of the third day, Zhang Shao was awakened by calls from his sleep. He got out of the straw and saw Xiahou Ba standing outside the fence, waving for him to go out.

After leaving the cell door and turning down the narrow corridor, Xiahou Ba was waiting for him, holding something in his hand: "Zhang Shao, does this thing belong to your brother?"

Zhang Shao's heart skipped a beat. It was a red scarf used to wrap his head. After he took it, he found that it was embroidered with black fine lines of flying swallows and was stained with some blood...

Zhang Shao confirmed it several times: "It was the turban that my brother was wearing, and he happened to be wearing it when he died."

It turns out that in the past two days, Xiahouba was responsible for supervising the forced conscripts to clean up the Changban battlefield: moving the carriages blocking the road, cutting the flesh of the dead horses, and cutting off the heads of the dead Liu soldiers. If they encountered the unfortunate Cao soldiers killed in battle, The corpse was also collected and buried nearby.

After clearing it up bit by bit, Zhang Bao's body was found - it was indeed not difficult to find, after all, there were two Cao cavalry who died with him.

"Brother Ru is really impressive for being able to kill two warriors on my tiger, leopard and cavalry." You put up a wooden sign and wrote 'Brother Zhang Bao's Tomb', maybe you can still find it in the future..."

This has far exceeded Zhang Shao's expectations. Xiahou Ba did things properly. It seems that the second uncle's cry was not in vain. He carefully folded Zhang Bao's only relic and stuffed it in his lap, and saluted Xiahou Ba: "Second uncle is kind and kind, and my nephew will never forget it!"

Xiahou Ba waved his hands noncommittally, but at this moment, a dispute broke out in the prison, but it was Shi Changfeng Hongzai who Xiahou Ba brought with him, urging Mrs. Xu angrily: "Come out quickly! We are not escorting you to be beheaded. , is a better place to live.”

Mrs. Xu, however, stubbornly sat on the ground and did not move. She only held sister Liu Ruyu in her arms, raised her head and said, "If Marquis and A Shao don't go, the old woman won't leave until she dies!"

Fifth Hong did not dare to use force and looked at Xiahou Ba helplessly: "Captain, this..."

Xiahou Ba glanced at Zhang Shao and said, "Okay, let's let him go with us and move over together."

……

The place where Xiahouba escorted several people was not far away. Just opposite the county temple, there was a small courtyard with green tiles and white walls. It should have been the residence of a certain Dangyang County official in the past.However, the family left in a hurry during the war. After Cao Jun occupied the county town, they came in and plundered the house, leaving the yard in a mess, with wooden barrels dumped on the ground and fragments of clay pots everywhere.

When Zhang Shao and others arrived, several servants in the courtyard were ordered to clean up, but they only piled debris into the corner.

But even a place like this is as good as heaven compared to a cold prison!Although the sparrow is small, it is fully equipped with a kitchen, a dry toilet, a well, etc. The couch in the back room is very spacious, and there are rumpled beddings...

Xiahou Ba pointed to the courtyard and said: "You will live here today. You can move around the courtyard as you like. There are guards outside the courtyard and you are not allowed to go in or out. Servants will bring you food."

After saying that, he ordered the door to be closed and locked the four people inside. Madam Xu, Liu Ruyu and others looked at each other and looked at Zhang Shao in unison.

"Don't look at me, I don't know." Monk Zhang Shaoye was confused. He only felt keenly that something must have happened in the past two days, which caused Xia Houyuan's treatment of them to change suddenly.I just regretted that the information was blocked, and Cao Bing was still tight-lipped. Zhang Shao had tried his best these past few days, but failed to get any useful information.

"Now that you've come, let's make peace with it." Zhang Shao comforted a few people, and pointed at the well and said with a smile, "I have to take a bath as soon as possible, my body will become a bedbug nest these days!"

The standard of accommodation has been improved not only, but also the food has been changed from thin porridge to real rice, and they even cooked a fish!

Seeing this fish, Mrs. Xu missed her son again, and lamented: "The old woman likes fish, but Yuan Zhi doesn't like it. But when he was in Xinye, he always bought good fish to eat with me, and endured the fishy smell by himself. taste……"

Zhang Shao and Liu Ruyu had to say a few words of relief to Mrs. Xu before they started eating. Although the fish had an earthy smell in the mouth, which made Zhang Shao doubt the skill of the chef, it was meat after all. For the four of us, you have a chopstick and I have a pair of chopsticks. After sharing the food, we finally had a full meal.

An even more bizarre thing happened after the meal. The door was opened from the outside, and two maids came in. They were holding a set of decent women's clothes woven from fine Gebu cloth, saying that the general wanted Mrs. Xu to change into...

"Old woman, I won't change." Mrs. Xu had been absent-minded when eating just now. Now she was even more suspicious. She asked the maid, what did Cao Jun mean?But they were just domestic servants of Dangyang County Magistrate, working on Xiahou Ba's orders, and they didn't know anything about the rest.

It seems that the other party's solicitude is mainly aimed at Mrs. Xu. Now it is easier to guess. Zhang Shao recalled the plot in the novel and compared it with the reality he encountered, and he really found the highlight!

It is completely different from the novel. Mrs. Xu was actually captured with herself at this time, and her son Xu Shu was still with Liu Bei. Wait, could it be...

Mrs. Xu thought in the opposite direction and said firmly: "Kill if you want, why entertain the old woman like this? If you want me to persuade Yuan Zhi to abandon General Zuo and join Cao Cao, it is absolutely impossible!"

Before he finished speaking, the door was pushed open again, and it was Xiahou Ba who led a dusty middle-aged scholar into the hospital.When the man saw Mrs. Xu, he burst into tears. He took three steps at a time and then two steps at a time, and bowed heavily to the ground.

"My son is unfilial, and my mother has suffered!" Zhang Shao took a look, and saw that the person who came was in his thirties, wearing a ge turban cloth robe, black shoes with soap ribbons, and a few strands of short beard under his chin. He was the mastermind of Liu Bei's account. Xu Shu, Xu Yuanzhi!

……

"Your Majesty, you are really awesome. With a little trick, my family has made another great contribution." When he brought Xu Shu in, Xiahou Ba was full of admiration for his father.

As we all know, the prime minister is famous for his love. Not only does he try his best to exploit and conquer the scholars and military generals in his territory, but he also often hates that he cannot use his family's advisers and generals for his own purposes.

Especially Liu Bei's subordinates, Cao Gong was particularly concerned.

Xiahou Ba heard from his father that when Liu Bei was beaten by Lu Bu and forced him to abandon his wife and children and go to Xudu, Cao Gong not only brought all the talented people such as Yuan Huan and Chen Qun who had been favored by Liu Bei into the shogunate, but also the unknown Mi Mi Both Zhu and Mi Fang were willing to confer the post of prefect of Erqianshi.It's a pity that these two brothers were stupid and determined to follow Liu Bei, so they abandoned their official positions and left, taking with them their millions of wealth.

The most typical one is Guan Yu. In the fifth year of Jian'an, Cao Gong personally conquered Xuzhou and drove Liu Bei to Hebei like a rabbit, and then captured Guan Yu and returned.Because he loved his martial arts and bravery, Cao Gong worshiped Guan Yu as a partial general and treated him with great courtesy.Guan Yu did not live up to the favorable treatment, and performed a miraculous feat of killing Yan Liang in Baima. Unexpectedly, he later used the gift from the prime minister, bowed to the letter and said goodbye, and went to Yuan Jun to join Liu Bei...

Even Xia Houyuan had to admit that Liu Xuande, an old soldier, seemed to have some kind of indescribable charm in him. No matter how much he lost or how miserably he was defeated, he could still attract talented men and women to risk their lives to follow him.

And Mr. Cao also has a personality. The more unavailable people are, the more interested he is!Nearly ten years have passed, and I still often lament that Guan Yu is not used for his own purposes.

Although he was busy conquering Hebei and annihilating Wuhuan in these years, Duke Cao still asked the southern garrison officials from time to time: "Xuande recently went north to Ye County and defeated Xiahou Yuanrang and Yu Wenze at Bowangpo. This is considered to be capable." Who is it that is planning this?"

That could only be Xu Shu. This Yingchuan scholar has been Liu Bei's think tank for the past five or six years. It was he who helped Liu Bei disturb Wanye externally and win the hearts of Jingzhou scholars internally.Xu Shu was a name that frequently appeared in border reports, and it was someone that Duke Cao kept in mind. However, even if Liu Bei was defeated, it would still take a lot of effort to get Xu Shu to join him.

But now Xia Houyuan succeeded in making money from Xu Shu just by capturing his mother as a hostage!
In the morning, he learned from the patrol office that Xu Shu had returned to Changban to find his mother. Xia Houyuan quickly ordered Mrs. Xu to be moved out of the prison, her treatment was upgraded from a prisoner to a guest, and Xiahou Ba was asked to go outside the city to welcome Xu Shu.

This Xu Shu does not look like a layman, but his biggest weakness is filial piety. Xu Shu loves his mother very much. He just met Xia Houyuan and without saying a few words, he asked to see his mother to confirm her safety.

This was not an excessive request, but what Xiahou Ba didn't expect was that the mother and son would cause a scene in front of him and Zhang Shao.

But they saw Xu Shu weeping and worshiping in the hall, and Mrs. Xu was greatly surprised: "My son, you are not with General Zuo, why are you here?"

Xu Shu raised his head and responded in a hoarse voice: "Mother, when the disaster broke out the day before yesterday, my son only focused on breaking out with his lord, and actually left his mother among the rebels. It is really unfilial!"

"We crossed into Hanjin, and my lord took a boat to the other side of the Han River, where he had a moment of respite. However, because his mother had not returned, he had been waiting at the ferry. After dark, family members returned one after another, and he did not sleep a wink all night. I looked up until dawn, but still couldn't see my mother. I knew that there would be less good and more bad luck, so I thought of returning north."

"Yesterday morning, another refugee fled to Jiangjin, saying that his mother was captured by Cao's army and imprisoned in Dangyang. Xiahou Miaocai said that if I can go to Cao Gong in the north, my mother will be spared. Then my son said goodbye to his lord. At this point in the starry night... I'm lucky that my mother is well, otherwise, I would really regret it if I died!"

"you!"

Unexpectedly, after he said this, Mrs. Xu was so angry that her eyes turned white, she staggered back a few steps and almost fell to the ground. Fortunately, Zhang Shao was on guard and Liu Ruyu supported the old lady from behind.

When Xu Shu saw her mother fainting, she immediately hurried forward and took over to hug her. Unexpectedly, as soon as Mrs. Xu woke up, she waved her hand and slapped her son hard on the face!
"I'm confused!"

Mrs. Xu scolded: "You were fond of fencing when you were young. You killed someone in revenge for your fencing teacher. You also ran away with your hair and face painted, and were captured by the officials. If you didn't answer their name, the officials tied you to a car. , beating drums and walking in the busy city."

"I was also selling bamboo shoots in the market at the time. When I saw you being caught, I was heartbroken, but I also saw that you would rather be humiliated and beaten than reveal your name, let alone betray your companions. I know that you killed someone righteously, so I didn't say anything. In order not to injure my companion and mother, I could only endure not to recognize you, until my fingers were bleeding, and only after sunset did I go find your fellow ranger and pray that they could save you..."

"After this incident, although you were forced to hide your name and go away for several years, and I also lived a hard life because of it, but in my heart, I am still quite proud of my son, who is loyal and righteous, and shows his great disgrace to his mentor! That's good Man, who in the county would not praise him?"

Speaking of this, Mrs. Xu said with disappointment: "Why is it that more than ten years later, my son has made great progress in knowledge and has become more and more famous, but his loyalty is not as good as before?"

These words made Xu Shu burst into tears, which were stained on his beard. He paused on the ground and said, "It is because of that incident that my son realized that his behavior was biased. He acted impulsively, acted carelessly, and harmed his mother. It violated his filial piety." . After much reflection, I gave up my sword and halberd, put on my scarf and single clothes, and began to study wholeheartedly, not only to learn how to be a good person, but also to find an official position in my hometown and often serve my mother."

It turns out that his original intention in studying hard was actually his guilt and filial piety towards his mother?Mrs. Xu looked at Xu Shu with a distressed look. She stretched out her hand to caress his red face, but then she took her hand back and sighed: "But loyalty and filial piety cannot have both. I only hope you can Choose loyalty.”

"Since you fled south to Jingzhou more than ten years ago, you have witnessed the chaos in the world and the innocent people suffering. I have seen it in my eyes. You have also been looking for Mingzhu everywhere, hoping to show what you have learned, but Liu Biao and others In name, we are recruiting talented people, but in fact, Mr. Ye is so fond of dragons that he cannot use you."

"Only General Zuo humbles himself, treats others with respect, and has a reputation of benevolence far away. Not only celebrities and refugees have come to join him one after another, but also Huangtong, old people, Muzi, and woodcutters in Jingzhou know his name. After you meet him, He was overjoyed and said to me, 'General Zuo is truly a hero in the world. I will assist him now and win his master.' Now that I have met the master of the Ming Dynasty, I should have a beginning and an end."

After talking about justice, Mrs. Xu began to talk about personal affairs again: "Since then, you took me to settle down in Xinye. General Zuo and Mrs. Gan treat me like an aunt! Whenever there is a delicious meal, they will send someone to serve it immediately. Sharing in front of the case, the monarch, his subjects, the army and the people are like one family. This kind old woman cannot be enough, I only hope that you can devote yourself to planning for General Zuo."

Her words were full of nostalgia. The few years she spent under Liu Bei's wings in Xinye were a rare and stable life for Mrs. Xu in the rest of her life.The son was also given a high priority. Seeing the light in Xu Shu's eyes when he was beside Liu Bei and pointing out the country, Mrs. Xu was also happy for him, and she became more energetic in weaving.

It was Cao Jun's march south that broke this tranquility and caused disaster to hundreds of thousands of people in Jingzhou. It is up to people's minds to decide whether Cao and Liu are bright and dark.

After Mrs. Xu was captured, she was ready to die. She thought: "As long as my son can continue to assist General Zuo and realize his long-cherished wish to calm the world, my death is worth it."

Thinking of this, Mrs. Xu became angry again and beat Xu Shu, hating that iron could not become steel: "Unexpectedly, today for the sake of a useless old woman like me, you actually betrayed General Zuo when he was in the most critical moment."

Xu Shu's face turned red after being scolded by his mother's words, but he still tried to explain himself. He pointed to his left chest and said:
"It's not that I don't work hard to repay my lord. I originally wanted to work with my lord to achieve the goal of Qi Huan and Jin Wen, but it was all based on this small area. However, my loving relatives were detained, and my heart was in chaos. In the past few days, I have been I can't even walk or breathe, let alone make any plans, so I have no choice but to say goodbye."

"The Lord also understood my situation, so he allowed me to return to the north... He also said, 'Mother and child are natural relatives. Go straight away, don't take any precautions'..."

Unexpectedly, Mrs. Xu became even more angry: "General Zuo has failed my family, and my family has failed General Zuo!"

She began to chase Xu Shu away: "Since you have abandoned the light and turned to darkness, go to see the new master to ask for rewards. What are you doing here?" After saying this, Mrs. Xu actually got up and left, crying and turned into the house in the courtyard.

With these words, Xu Shu was scolded and fell to the ground, not daring to look up.

Xiahou Ba was stunned by these words and didn't know how to speak.

These words also shocked Zhang Shao.

As a time-traveler, it is indeed difficult for him to understand Mrs. Xu's view of loyalty, but he agrees more with Xu Shu's choice - his mother's safety is of course more important than his boss's career!
Since it is difficult to understand for the time being, Zhang Shao can only show respect. When the time is right, he will even take advantage of this loyalty!

Recalling the story in the novel, Zhang Shaoduo kept it in mind, hurriedly raised his hand to Xu Shu, and then followed Mrs. Xu quietly.

(End of this chapter)