A thousand-year-old family that began with the Battle of Makino

Chapter 315: Good friend, a gentleman like Mo Ruyu, a young master like no other in the world
Bai Zhi, born in the Bai family of Luoyang, was Ban Chao's good friend during his time in Luoyang.

At first, Ban Chao graduated from Taixue and became a civil servant in Situ's Mansion. He was responsible for copying documents and writing edicts issued by Situ's Mansion. He also needed to organize official documents from all over the world that were concentrated here.

But unlike ordinary civil servants, they came from Taixue and were future officials prepared by the country. Therefore, their entry into the Situ Mansion could only be said to be internships and accumulation of government experience.

Ban Chao was born in the Pingling Ban clan of Fufeng, a well-known wealthy family in Youfufeng. His ancestor was Ban Jieyu, the former Emperor Cheng of the Han Dynasty. The Ban clan of Pingling in Fufeng has prospered since then.

Ban Chao's father was Ban Biao, a historian of the imperial court, responsible for compiling official history. His brother Ban Gu is now the Lantai Lingshi, in charge of and collating the royal books. Now his son inherits his father's business and continues to compile the history after the Taishi Company Ma Qian.

Bai Zhi was Ban Chao's classmate when he was at Taixue University. At first, the two had no intersection, they were just classmates. Later, they were both assigned to the Situ Mansion as civil servants.

After Ban Chao stated his ambition in the official office, Bai Zhi regarded him as a confidant, and the two often corresponded and talked with each other. Later, Ban Chao accompanied Dou Gu on an expedition to the Huns and served as a fake commander in the Northern Expedition. Because of his talents, he was valued by the army's commander, Fengche Duwei Dou Gu, and recommended him to Emperor Ming, who was responsible for his mission to the Western Regions.

Since then, Ban Chao and Bai Zhi have not seen each other for seven or eight years. Bai Zhi, with his talents, was soon promoted to the position of Minister Lingshi with a salary of 200 shi, and was responsible for the clerical work of the Shangshu Desk.

Although his salary is low, his position is very critical and he has access to many secrets of the Han Dynasty.

Even though Bai Zhi already had a much higher position than his peers, he still thought about what Ban Chao shouted: How can a real man do nothing as a copywriter?

Therefore, he wrote a letter to ask Ban Chao who was far away in the Western Regions.

After reading Bai Zhi's letter, Ban Chao keenly realized that the opportunity he had been waiting for seemed to have come. He picked up the attachment that accompanied the letter and read it carefully.

After his analysis, he had reason to believe that Dahan had recovered from the natural disasters in the previous two years, and it was now time for Dahan to have the strength to return to the Western Regions.

Thinking of this, he immediately returned to his residence, found a piece of dry sheepskin, and carefully took out the brush in his arms that had lost much hair due to many uses.

The writing brush was a rare and high-end product in the Han Dynasty. Because the production required a lot of manpower, and the slow work required meticulous work, the loss was very large. The writing brush produced by the Bai Kingdom, which invented the writing brush, was praised by the world's literati as the best writing brush in the world. First, it is called "white pen".

In particular, the jade pens produced in Bai country use jade as the pen holder and the armpit hair of various precious animals as the pen tip. Because the material is expensive, production is difficult, and the technical requirements are too high, it has become a very precious object, and only a few jade pens are produced every year.

A jade pen is worth no less than hundreds of horseshoe gold, and you can't buy it if you have money. Nowadays, those who can own a jade pen are either high-ranking officials or great scholars.

Secondly, the jade pen was not for sale in the Bai Kingdom and could only be given as a gift. It became the tribute paid by the Bai Kingdom to the Han Dynasty.

Banchao asked someone to find a few pieces of charcoal, mash the charcoal carefully with stones, then add water and some animal fat, grind it finely until it becomes sticky, and put the pen tip in his mouth to soften it. , dipped it in the water on the side, and then stuck on the charcoal ink.

He wrote furiously and wrote a reply to Bai Zhi. About a quarter of an hour later, a piece of sheepskin the size of a facial scarf had been written with regular, dense Chinese characters, and the overall format was vertical writing.

After finishing writing, he put him aside, took one of his clothes, chopped it into pieces of cloth with his sword, then sat upright, dipped the brush in ink again, thought for a moment and then started writing carefully.

The writing this time took twice as long as the reply to Bai Zhi. After writing, I took out my Western Region Long History Seal, found out the little ink pad, clasped it with my fingers, and spread it evenly on the seal. The bottom covers the end of the letter.

After tidying up and writing the two letters, Ban Chao called over a Han, one of the few Han people following him. Nowadays, there are only a few dozen Han people under Ban Chao, most of them are old officials of the Duhu Mansion, and the rest are recruited from various countries in the Western Regions who can read Chinese characters and speak Chinese.

"Lu Sheng, I need you to take these two letters to Luoyang. The one on the left is a document written to the court in a wooden tube, and the one on the right wrapped in cowhide is a letter written to my friend in Luoyang.

Remember, you must give it to my friends in Luoyang first, and then write to the court. Then the opportunity for us to build our merits will come. "

Lu Sheng saluted and said, "I have written it down. Please rest assured, Chief Shi."

Ban Chao handed him two things and told him: "Remember, take the south road and be careful of horse bandits on the road."

"Yes!"

Looking at Lu Sheng who was walking away, Ban Chao was filled with hope.

December

Because he was a special messenger and rode alone, Lu Sheng traveled very quickly and arrived in Luoyang in only ten months.

It was winter at this time, with white snow flying all over the sky. The tall gray-black Luoyang city wall in the past had now turned into a vast expanse of white, like a thousand-mile ice wall in a world of ice and snow.

Facing the sunlight reflected on the city wall, Lu Sheng, who squinted his eyes, took off the felt hat on his head and exhaled a long breath of hot breath.

Although it is extremely cold outside, Lu Sheng's heart is full of fire at this time. He is from Wuyuan and was born in the Lu family of Wuyuan. This is his first time coming to the capital of Han Dynasty.

He has been stationed at the border all year round and followed Ban Chao to the exotic Western Region. This was the first time he saw the capital he protected. It was so big.

"Is this the big man I protect? That's great!" This was the sigh in Lu Sheng's heart.

Because he was near the city gate, he dismounted and led the horse forward slowly.

"Yuzhenfang, Taibai Street, No. 23, this is it, right?" Lu Sheng stared at the address on the leather bag in his hand and looked up to see if there was a house number.

"Hey, that guy holding the horse, what are you looking for?" A porter put his hands in his sleeves and shouted to Lu Sheng with a shrug.

Lu Sheng held the horse rein in one hand and clasped his fists in both hands and said: "Brother, you are polite. I am looking for No. 23. I don't know where it is. Can you please tell me."

When the concierge heard the number B 23, he asked warily: "Who are you? What are you doing with the number 23?" Lu Sheng smiled and said: "I came from the Western Regions to pay for my boss Ban Chao to a friend named Bai Zhi. Deliver the letter.”

When the concierge heard about Bai Zhi, he immediately took out his hands and bent his waist more and more, "Are you looking for Bai Zhi? Are you sure?"

"Exactly!"

"Oh, what a coincidence. This is No. 23 B, Bai Mansion of Yuzhenfang. That's right, Bai Zhi is the fifth young master of Bai Mansion. Please tell me your name and wait in the concierge first. I will inform you. .”

Seeing that he had found his destination, Lu Sheng said happily: "That's troublesome, brother. I'm just a messenger. I'm afraid it won't be useful to mention my name. When I saw Mr. Bai Zhi, I just mentioned Ban Chao's name. , he should know."

The concierge nodded repeatedly, placed him under the eaves of the side door, moved a small stone pillar for him to rest, then closed the door and ran into the house in small steps.

Not long after waiting, a burst of urgent footsteps sounded. Before the person arrived, the voice arrived first: "Brother Zhong Sheng, where is Brother Zhong Sheng?"

"Sir, it's outside the side door!" the porter's voice sounded.

"Open the door quickly, we can't keep Brother Zhong Sheng waiting any longer."

Hearing the voice, Lu Sheng immediately stood up and waited, "Squeak!" The side door opened, and a man in his twenties, with handsome features, a face as sharp as a knife, dressed in blue, with a jade on his waist, and an elegant man walked quickly come out.

"you are?"

Seeing that it was not Ban Chao but a stranger outside the door, Bai Zhi asked in confusion.

Lu Sheng quickly replied: "I'm Lu Sheng, a junior official under the command of Ban Chao Chang Shi. On the order of the Chang Shi, he returned to the capital to submit a letter to state his affairs. Now there is a letter from the Chang Shi to be delivered to Bai Zhi. Is the young master Bai Zhi?"

Lu Sheng was not a fool. Seeing the gatehouse and the threshold and lintel of the mansion, as well as seeing Bai Zhi's demeanor, he must be a member of the largest family in the Bai Zhi family, so he was given the honorific title.

Bai Zhi saluted and said, "I am Bai Zhi."

Lu Sheng returned the gift, and then quickly handed over the leather bag in his hand: "Inside are the letters and some items that Chang Shi gave to the young master."

After Bai Zhi took it, he did not open it immediately, but asked: "You must be very tired after coming all the way from the Western Regions. It's freezing today, why not go into the house and drink a cup of hot tea to show your friendship to the landlord, and He expresses his gratitude to me and brother Zhong Sheng for sending letters thousands of miles away."

Lu Sheng's heart warmed up, but he still refused: "Thank you very much, sir. However, I am on this trip for official duties and I dare not stop here at will. I also need to go to the official office to report on my work and to write to the court on behalf of the chief minister. If not Chang Shi specifically ordered that the letter be delivered to the Young Master first, and it is already in the official office."

Bai Zhi nodded and made it clear: "I see that you are covered in wind and snow, and you must have traveled a lot. It's cold today, and since you don't agree to go to the house for a rest, why don't you take a sip of hot soup to warm yourself up? .”

Lu Sheng couldn't help but accept.

"Who is it? I just saw you boiling a pot of hot soup in your room. It smells like ginger soup. Go and pour a bowl for Brother Lu."

The porter quickly agreed, and then walked to his duty room. This was the ginger soup prepared by his wife for him. She was afraid that he would catch the cold while guarding the door, so she would make a pot for him every morning and let him bring it to the duty room.

The entourage behind Bai Zhi also followed the concierge in, not knowing what they were doing in the mansion.

After a while, the concierge carefully brought out a bowl of steaming ginger soup. After Lu Sheng took it, he raised the bowl and bowed slightly to the concierge and Bai Zhi, then drank it all while blowing on it.

As soon as the ginger soup was in his stomach, Lu Sheng felt warm in his abdomen, and the coldness in his hands and feet quickly dissipated.

After returning the bowl to the concierge, Lu Sheng thanked Bai Zhi again. Bai Zhi's entourage happened to run out sweating and handed Bai Zhi something wrapped in red cloth.

Bai Zhi opened it, and inside there were several copper wires strung with ropes and a horseshoe. This was a large amount of money, enough to buy a small courtyard for one person to live in a good area of ​​Luoyang.

Bai Zhi offered it with both hands: "In a hurry, I can only find these yellow and white things, please don't refuse.

Not long after you came back from the Western Regions, the coldness has not gone away from you. In addition, the bitter cold in the Western Regions means that you must not have enough money, and you have to do things, whether it is to exchange favors or buy things for the brothers in the Western Regions to go back to, it is also indispensable. of these things.

Ban Zhongsheng and I are good friends, and Ban Zhongsheng is your boss, so I will take care of you brothers who are far away in the Western Regions and are serving the country on behalf of Ban Zhongsheng. It can also be regarded as my common people in Luoyang, thank you for your contribution to the Han Dynasty in the Western Regions.

You have also seen that there must be no shortage of these things for my high-end family. Please don't refuse. It is also a thank you for passing the letter to me and Brother Zhong Sheng. "

"this···"

Lu Sheng was overwhelmed by Bai Zhi's enthusiasm and words. Seeing that he really couldn't refuse, he finally felt cruel. He took it with both hands and saluted: "Well, I am indeed a little short of money. The brothers in the Western Regions also need me to help them." They bought some things, and now with the help of the young master, they can bring more things back to them.

I, Lu Sheng, a native of Wuyuan, have accepted the young master's great love for me. Lu Sheng here assures the young master that in the future, if the young master is driven by something, please do not hesitate. I am willing to go through fire and water without hesitation. "

Bai Zhi helped Lu Sheng up: "Brother Lu, you're serious. You'd better go to the court to return your orders as soon as possible. It's too late, and I'm afraid the court will blame you."

Lu Sheng looked into Bai Zhi's eyes, nodded heavily, then put the things in his arms, tightened them tightly, clasped his fists and said, "Goodbye, young master, please stay."

After saying that, he took the horse and turned around and left.

(End of this chapter)