Thousand-year-old family: its rise began with Shang Yang’s reforms

Chapter 345: Encounter Many Years Ago
Standing next to Chen Zhulou was a young man who had not yet put on a hat. He was also standing on tiptoe and looking into the crowd.

He was obviously a kind-hearted person, and he answered Chen Zhulou's words while watching.

"It is said that the Chang'an Wei is teaching those noble family children a lesson."

Chen Zhulou became interested, and he quickly walked up to the young man, and then the two of them tiptoed together.

In the center of the crowd.

Cao Cao stood there at this time, his expression calm and unchanged. He just looked at the several noble family children who fell to the ground because of the "trip rope", and then said softly: "According to Han law, how should we deal with them?"

The soldier beside him whispered back: "According to Han law, he should be punished with forty strokes of the cane."

Cao Cao put his hands in his sleeves and nodded casually: "If that's the case, then let's execute him."

He stood in front of this man, and the soldiers beside him had already forked him and pressed him to the ground. The strange thing was that the young man from a noble family was neither angry nor upset, but just waited to be beaten.

Cao Cao squatted in front of him, listening to the soldiers counting, and asked in a low voice: "Is this worth it?"

"Given your physical condition, after forty strokes of the cane, you'll probably be bedridden for the rest of your life."

"I won't give your family any face."

The young man who was pinned to the ground grinned and said, "The family has given an order, and no one dares to disobey."

"I have lived happily in Chang'an for more than 20 years relying on my family. Now that my family needs me, how can I shrink back?"

"Even if I am paralyzed in bed, my family will send someone to take care of me for the rest of my life."

He groaned and some blood flowed from the corner of his mouth.

Cao Cao just sighed, stood there with his sleeves gathered up, and looked up at the sky.

He didn't want to get involved in this huge nest of disputes, but there was no way out now.

Since he was selected as an official for his filial and incorruptibility in the fifth year of Xiping, he has been serving as the Chang'an Northern Prefect in Chang'an City. Later, in the second year of Guanghe, he was promoted to Chang'an Prefect, and the public security of the entire Chang'an City was under his jurisdiction.

Since he became an official, the public security in Chang'an City has improved a lot. Not to mention the children of noble families, even the relatives who were officials and favorites in the court no longer dared to do anything against the law.

When he was just the Northern Commander, he dared to kill the uncle of Jian Shuo, one of the Ten Attendants, by beating him to death with a five-colored stick. After he became the Chang'an Commander, who would dare to do anything?
But now, a mere unpopular dandy from an aristocratic family dares to ride a horse in the street. If you say there is no conspiracy, even a three-year-old child would not believe it.

What's more, it's at this time.

Cao Cao stood there, his thoughts drifting away along with the muffled groans of the young man from aristocratic family and the dull sound of the stick hitting his skin. What time is it now?
Dong Zhuo is about to enter Chang'an City, the Yuan family is powerful, the Ten Eunuchs want to save their lives, and General He Jin is also unscrupulous. The current emperor is incompetent and the people everywhere are in chaos and living in misery.

more importantly.
Today is the second day that Chen Chengji, the head of the Chen family, the current King of An, the current Prime Minister, the head of the Three Dukes, and the leader of the world's number one family, has arrived in Beijing.

Cao Cao's expression became even gloomier.

He has offended many people over the years, including countless aristocratic families. These aristocratic families could not do anything to him, so they asked him to kill the children of the aristocratic families at this time to provoke dissatisfaction among Chen's subordinates and deal with him.

The head of the Chen family is indeed an upright gentleman, but Chen has many disciples under his command.

The head of the No. 1 family has just arrived in Beijing, and you beat a member of the family half to death in the market? Do you want to make an enemy of the family?
In this case, Cao Cao could almost figure it out with his toes.

But at this time, he still did it without hesitation.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, this Captain Cao is really cruel and ruthless. How dare he do such a thing at this time?"

The man next to Chen Zhulou had an expression of admiration on his face. He said, "Isn't this an insult to King An? I'm afraid someone will use this as an excuse to punish Captain Cao at tomorrow's court meeting."

The young man sighed, then shook his head and prepared to leave.

Chen Zhulou was a little curious. He looked at the man and asked, "My dear, why do you say that this person offended King An? Could it be that the person who was beaten is a descendant of the Chen family?"

The man shook his head and waved his hands, obviously not wanting to say anything.

Chen Zhulou's mind moved, and after looking the man up and down, he pulled him to the tavern nearby and said with a smile: "I am Zhulou, I just came to Chang'an, and I don't know much about these things. I will treat you to dinner today. How about you tell me about them?"

At this time, the young man came down with a humble smile on his face.

He looked at Chen Zhulou and said, "Why are you so polite?"

He cupped his hands and said, "My name is Liu, my given name is Bei, and my courtesy name is Xuande."

Liu Bei stood there with a frank expression. He knew that Chen Zhulou saw his embarrassment, so he said such words, but he did not feel ashamed.

His father died early, and many of his uncles were unkind. He and his mother made a living by weaving shoes. Later, relying on his family connections, he became a disciple of the great Confucian scholar Lu Zhi. Chang'an City was so big that it was not easy to live there.

Saving every penny counts, there's nothing to be ashamed of.

The two of them sat in the tavern and didn't go far.

Liu Bei sighed and said, "You look young, so you must have come to Chang'an with your elders to gain some experience, right?"

He said calmly, "The Chang'an City three years ago was not like it is now. At that time, it was extremely chaotic. The children of various noble families rode horses and many pedestrians were injured. These people had to compensate the children of the noble families for scaring their "horses."

"But the people have no choice but to swallow their anger because of their overwhelming power."

"These people have relied on their family's power to commit many evil deeds. The matter of riding a horse just mentioned is just a small matter. The rest of the things are dirty and unbearable to listen to."

Liu Bei glanced at Chen Zhulou. At this time, Chen Zhulou was only twelve or thirteen years old, which was why he was still young.

He sighed again, ignoring the obvious "curiosity" in Chen Zhulou's eyes, and continued, "When Commandant Cao first became an official, he was appointed as the Northern Commandant of Chang'an. He beat to death the uncle of Jian Shuo, a favorite of the emperor, who was drunk and walking at night."

"Then he followed the example of Chen Ye, the former Qin Sikou, and punished the Cao family members who made mistakes according to the law. It was because of this that the atmosphere in Chang'an City was cleared up."

"The noble families can't do anything about this guy. After all, the current emperor respects the Chen family, and this guy is learning from the practices of the ancestors of the Chen family."

"No one dares to test whether Chen will associate this person with his own ancestors."

Liu Bei sneered, "After all, this person did the same thing as the Chen ancestor did. If he is punished for this, or demoted in name only, doesn't that mean the Chen ancestor was wrong?"

"Who in the world would dare to say something like this? Even a hint?"

"It was precisely because of this that Commandant Cao was not punished in the first year of Guanghe, but was promoted to Commandant of Chang'an."

Chen Zhulou asked curiously, "What does today's incident have to do with King An?"

He was really curious.

Liu Bei looked at Chen Zhulou in surprise and said, "Because King An entered the capital last night, but the news was not announced yesterday and was only announced today. Everyone thought that King An arrived today."

Chen Zhulou was even more confused: "So what?"

Liu Bei looked at Chen Zhulou speechlessly. Just as he was about to say something, a calm voice came over: "So, if I beat this noble family kid today, people with ulterior motives will say that I am dissatisfied with King An, so I killed this man today to give King An a warning."

"After all, there hasn't been such a thing in Chang'an City for a long time."

"Such a coincidence in timing is bound to make people suspicious."

Liu Bei and Chen Zhulou both turned around and saw a young man walking slowly beside them with his hands in his sleeves. It was Cao Cao, the Chang'an Wei.

Cao Cao cupped his hands and smiled at the two men, saying, "I have worked diligently in the past few years and have never been lazy." "After what happened today, I'm afraid I'll be demoted after the grand court meeting tomorrow, so I might as well be lazy for a day."

"I just happened to hear you two discussing what happened just now. I wonder if you could let me join you?"

Both of them felt a little embarrassed. After all, talking about others behind their backs and being heard by others was not a good thing to say.

He immediately smiled and nodded.

After Cao Cao sat down, he was quite calm: "This young master must have rarely left home, right? That's why he is so innocent and brilliant. I don't know how human nature is and how worldly he is."

He said this with emotion, after all, he was like that back then.

Chen Zhulou blinked slightly, he was quite confused.

he?
Innocent and gorgeous?

real or fake?

This was the first time he heard someone evaluate him in this way.

He did not refute, but just smiled and asked: "Why do you say that, Captain Cao?"

Cao Cao smiled and waved for the storekeeper to bring a bowl of wine. He drank it and said, "If it weren't for this, how could I not understand the trick?"

"not to mention"

He laughed loudly. "What's more, the young master looks no more than twelve or thirteen years old. Although the clothes he wears are not gorgeous, they are very durable if you look closely. If I am not mistaken, they are made of fabrics commonly used by children of noble families."

"I have met the children of all the great families in Kyoto, but I have met at least 80% of them."

"So I guess that the young master must have come to Chang'an City with his elders to gain some experience."

Chen Zhulou nodded and chuckled: "Indeed."

He was quite calm because he didn't say anything.

He said his name was Zhu Lou, because his name was indeed Zhu Lou, but he did not say his surname was Chen.

He said that he came to Chang'an with his elders to broaden his horizons, which was true. However, he did not say that his elders were his father, the King An as they called him.

Chen Zhulou smiled and said, "My two brothers, I really don't understand."

He said curiously, "I have also been to Guandu City. The Chen family has always had a good reputation. Even if King An knew about this, he would think that Commander Cao was right. How did he offend King An?"

Cao Cao and Liu Bei looked at each other, shook their heads and smiled bitterly, and explained the seriousness of the matter to Chen Zhulou one by one.

Finally, Cao Cao said: "This is the face of the powerful."

"Even if I did nothing wrong, even if what I did was right, I did this on the first day King An came to Chang'an. If I am not punished, where will King An's face, the Chen family's face, and the face of the world's number one family be?"

After hearing this, Chen Zhulou remained silent.

If you were to sum up his feelings, it could be four simple words.

Can you do this?

This is a deviation in thinking.

The people of the Chen family and the head of the Chen family never care about face or not, because face is earned by oneself.

Even if Chen trampled on his own face, others would still say that he did a good job. King An really has good feet. He must have done this to let us know how noble Chen is!

Even though it is covered with dust, this dust also represents Chen's closeness to the people and his humbleness.

The rest of the people in the world felt that Chen's face was very important and that Chen's people would definitely care about it.

This is the difference between the two.

Chen Zhulou shook his head and laughed wantonly: "I was fortunate enough to meet King An several times in Guandu City. He doesn't seem to be the kind of person who cares about face. What's more, this has nothing to do with the so-called face at all."

"I think Brother Cao doesn't need to worry too much."

Cao Cao waved his hands, expressing the same opinion as Liu Bei: "Brother Zhu, you don't understand. Although it is rumored that King An is a very humble person, they don't have to do these things. Chen's disciples will naturally do it."

"After all, 'the master humiliates the servant and the minister dies'."

He picked up the bowl, drank the wine in it, and then threw his sleeves and said: "I still have official business to attend to, so I will leave first."

"You two, I will resign from this position someday and drink with you two again."

Cao Cao pulled out a business card from his sleeve, handed it to the two of them, and then left in a leisurely manner.

Liu Bei sighed: "Only people like Commander Cao can be considered heroes of the world."

Chen Zhulou also felt emotional inwardly.

Many years later, the three people took different paths, but they still remembered their encounter that day many years ago.

At that time, Chen Zhulou was also sighing about this encounter in his life, perhaps it had been destined.

The title of the Three Heroes of Chang'an has long disappeared in the sea of ​​clouds.

An Wangfu
Chen Zhulou told Chen Chengji in detail what happened today, and then felt a little emotional.

Chen Chengji shook his head and chuckled.

"Besides what Captain Cao said, did Louer see anything else?"

Chen Zhulou said softly, "This is a test from the noble family. It must be the work of the Yuan family, and perhaps also the work of the general and those in the palace."

He put the chess pieces in order and chuckled.

"The emperor, the ten eunuchs, the generals, the Yuan family, and all the major noble families are playing this chess game to test my father's attitude."

"Has the Han Dynasty's rebellion become so deep-rooted?"

Chen Chengji didn't answer, but just raised his head.

Outside the courtyard, a servant hurried over and said in a low voice, "Sir, Xiliang Commander General Dong Zhuo wants to see you."

Outside the Anwang Palace

Dong Zhuo, Jia Xu and Niu Fu came alone.

He didn't bring any soldiers with him.

Humble and respectful.

(End of this chapter)