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

Chapter 438: A letter from an old friend in Yedu, a talented person must marry twice

April
Kou Feng, who traveled under the stars and wore the moon all the way and changed several identities, finally arrived at the capital of Zhao State, Yedu.

Since Yuan Shao made Yecheng his seat of governance, most of the elites in Hebei, except for Chaoge, have gathered here to seek a way to make a living for themselves.

Now that King Zhao has established his capital here, it has attracted even more barbarians who came from the north hoping to gain wealth, and scholars who came from the south who were attracted by Liu Bei's order to recruit talents.

Different from the former Han and Han Dynasties, the Hu people did not enter the Han court. After hundreds of years of integration, especially in Hebei, there are many people of mixed Han and Hu blood, such as Xian Yufu and Chunyu Qiong, among whom are representatives.

And because the Han people have an absolute advantage here, within the Han territory, most of these Hu people whose ancestors migrated into the Han territory are attached to the powerful families of the Han people. Their living customs, language and writing are no different from those of the Han people.

Therefore, Kou Feng, who has been in the south for a long time, this is the first time that he sees the faces of Hu people so clearly in a Han city, but they are wearing Han clothes and speaking with a pure Han accent.

Although there are barbarians in the south, they are never the same as the Han people. On the contrary, many Han people, unable to stand the oppression of the nobles, cut off their hair and tattoos and voluntarily became barbarians.

Therefore, there are Han people in the north and barbarian tribes in the south.

Speaking of this, we have to mention the key factors.

The first person to take in the Hu people and appoint them as officials was General Changdong who was appointed during the reign of Emperor Jing.

At that time, in order to guard the inside and outside of the Great Wall, General Changdong continued a group of local elite troops to protect the interests of the Han Dynasty in northern Xinjiang from the Huns.

Therefore, the Changdong General's Mansion recruited a large number of Xiongnu soldiers who were protected by the General's Mansion. The best among them was the Luqiu clan who was the first to attach themselves.

His ancestor, Lu Qiuwu, served under General Changdong until he was a partial general. He was later recommended to the central government as a Langguan, and then was sent out to become a lieutenant under Wei Qing. Finally, he returned home with the title of Marquis Ting.

Nowadays, it is a large family in Yanmen County, and many of its children hold important positions in the frontier army, and some also serve as officials in the central government.

Afterwards, the Bai family saw the advantages of having Hu people inside, and began to continuously recruit Hu people who had returned to the Han in all aspects, and entered Fuyuan (schools, academies). Among them, the Chunyu family was the most successful example of the Bai family.

Eventually they moved south to Yingchuan and became a wealthy family in Yingchuan. Chunyu Qiong was their descendant.

Nowadays, many of the generals and civil servants under Liu Bei are of Hu origin. For example, Yan Rou, the general who conquered the Liao Dynasty, is of mixed Han and Hu origin, and his ancestors are from Xianbei people.

After submitting the invitation, Kou Feng entered the Xu Mansion under the leadership of the concierge.

The Xu Mansion was the residence of Xu Shu, the imperial censor of Zhao State. In order to enable Xu Shu to better provide for his mother, Liu Bei would be the first to reward Xu Shu with his mansion every time he moved to another place.

Of course, Xu Shu is now in his fifties, and his mother passed away three years ago. In the past three years, Xu Shu has been in the period of filial piety, so he often wears white clothes to show off to others.

Liu Bei also authorized Xu Shu to wear white clothes instead of official uniforms when going to court. Xu Shu's imperial censor was also called Sikong, one of the three Dukes of the Han Dynasty. Therefore, people often called Xu Shu "White Clothes Duke" to praise his filial piety.

"It's been fourteen years since I said goodbye to Xiangyang in the fourth year of Jian'an. I think it's been seventeen years. Time flies. My hair has turned gray, and so must Kong Ming."

Xu Shu was dressed in white with no accessories. The colorful pheasant tail fan that he used to carry has not been seen again in the past three years. It must have been sealed away.

"What Mr. Xu said is true. I have worked with Mr. Kong Ming for several years, and we often talked over wine. Mr. Xu drunkenly said many times:

'The year has passed, but still nothing has been accomplished, useless to the country, and useless to the people. Even if there are talents like Guan Zhongleyi, they will be buried in the gravel. '

However, since Mr. Kong Ming and our general entered Sichuan, I rarely see him drinking, and his energy is getting stronger day by day. "

"Haha, he has seen the future of his ambition. As expected of Kong Ming, even though he lives in a remote county, he can still stir up troubles in the world."

Xu Shu had finished reading Zhuge Liang's letter at this time, and answered Kou Feng with joy on his face.

"What Kong Ming said in the letter is very urgent, and I need to discuss it with the king.

You must also know the current crisis of your general, so I will stay with you soon. You will have a good night's rest in my house. I will write a reply to you tomorrow and deliver it to Kong Ming as soon as possible. He will know how to act. "

"Kou Feng will act according to your orders."

After settling down Kou Feng, Xu Shu quickly took the letter and went to the palace to find Liu Bei.

And met a person opposite Liu Bei, it was the former Bai Kingdom walking Bailu who arrived in Yedu today.

"Oh? Yuan Zhi is here too, haha, you came just in time. Gu Zheng is preparing to discuss with him. He has a new son today, exactly three months ago. Gu also has a new daughter, and he is planning to marry him. How about you being a witness?"

When Xu Shu heard about this good thing, he quickly agreed and said that if his second son got married, he would be the witness.

"No problem. When the time comes, Yuan Zhi will write the words and witness the marriage of these two people. I think it will be an honor for the two sons." Bai Lu was okay with Liu Bei's proposal.

"Well, the matter is settled like this. The engagement letter will have to be written in Yuan Zhi's hand."

"It's a small matter."

Because before Liu Bei came to Xuzhou, he had been wandering all year round. He was not married when he was over 30 years old. Only when he was in Xuzhou, he married Mi Zhu's sister and took her as his concubine, but he never had any children.

Later, she accepted Mrs. Gan and finally gave birth to Liu Chan. He was thirty-seven years old at the time, so he was naturally overjoyed. Now his wife, Mrs. Bai, also had no heirs for several years for some unknown reason. When Mrs. Gan died of illness, Mrs. Bai took Liu Chan over and raised her as her own.

In order to have more children, Mrs. Bai personally took in concubines for her, and she took in no less than three or four concubines before and after, and finally got a daughter today, which is really rare.

Now that he has chosen an excellent husband for his daughter, Liu Bei is naturally very happy and asks the waiter to serve wine and food. He wants to have a few drinks.

"I'm afraid the king won't be able to drink to his heart's content."

Seeing that Liu Bei was about to host another banquet, he was afraid that he would not come back drunk again. He would beat chopsticks while drunk and dance with swords in front of others, but Xu Shu quickly stopped him.

Liu Bei was a little unhappy and blamed him: "Yuan Zhi is the same. He is ruthless. There has been nothing happening recently. The Battle of Hedong just ended, and Sun Quan did not dare to invade. There is no war on the border. After fighting for so many years, I can't do it alone." Enjoy it?"

Xu Shu smiled bitterly and said: "Your Majesty, I remember that I mentioned to you many times before that I am my good friend Zhuge Liang."

"That Crouching Dragon, Zhuge Liang, whom Ma Hui of Shuijing Company calls Crouching Dragon and Phoenix? Why, he has come to Ye already. He is such a talented person, why didn't Yuan Zhi bring him along with him?"

Hearing Zhuge Liang's reputation, Liu Bei immediately became interested, because Xu Shu had always said that Zhuge Liang was more than ten times as talented as him. He was as talented as Guan Zhong Leyi in ancient times, comparable to his own Bai Dian.

He deeply recognized Bai Dian's talent. Without Bai Dian's support, he would not have been able to launch so many wars.

"No, Kong Ming didn't come, but sent a letter saying that he had a big gift for the king."

After saying this, Xu Shu handed Liu Bei the letter written by Zhuge Liang to himself.

After receiving the letter, Liu Bei quickly ignored the reminiscences between the two and focused on several key words mentioned in the letter, "Yongzhou", "Yizhou" and "Tianxia".

After a full two-quarters of an hour, Liu Bei put down the letter without finishing it, and sighed: "Looking at the leopard in the tube, from the letter, we can know that Zhuge Kongming is extraordinary and lonely. If he can sit with him and discuss the world, it will be so fun."

Then he said to Xu Shu: "I always thought that Yuan Zhi's words about his great talent were Yuan Zhi's humble words. Now I see that he is indeed a genius. However, I still think that Yuan Zhi's talent is better than ordinary people."

At this time, Bai Lu interjected: "I have heard about Zhuge Liang a little bit. I was in Yingchuan when I was looking for heroes in the world. A Yingchuan hermit told me that in addition to a few good people in the world, there is also one person named Sima. emblem.

However, Sima Hui liked to be quiet and was unwilling to serve as an official, so he retired to the mountains and forests, so his reputation was not as good as that of Er Xu Xian.

In this case, since Sima Hui recommended Zhuge Liang and Pang Tong so highly, they must be extremely talented. "

With Bai Lu's approval, Liu Bei believed what the letter said even more.

"If that's the case, then we will do what we said in the letter, take advantage of Cao Cao's fall into Shu, seize Yongzhou and Liangzhou in one fell swoop, and then subdue Yizhou. If most of the world is alone, there is no need to worry about the loss of the Han Dynasty."

At this time, Xu Shu had to pour cold water on Liu Bei:
"Your Majesty, we only mobilized 200,000 people last year. We have very little financial and material resources left, and our manpower is quite exhausted. Can we still launch another big battle?"

"This..." Liu Bei hesitated a little. Xu Shu's words were true. If he launched a campaign forcefully, it would probably cause indelible damage to the place, and he might make Yuan Shao's mistake again.

After thinking over and over again, Liu Bei was ready to forcefully conquer the three states, because as long as he captured the three states, he could only rest and recuperate for three to five years. After three to five years of repair and improvement, he could conquer the world in one fell swoop.

"The opportunity cannot be missed, the opportunity is fleeting, and the decision is made alone..."

"Your Majesty, please wait!"

Bai Lu forcibly interrupted, and with Liu Bei's slightly puzzled eyes, he slowly said: "I may have a way to solve part of the king's military rations.

I heard that when the king first took control of Xuzhou, there were wars every year, either to conquer Yuan Shu in the south or to conquer the Yellow Turbans in the north. Fortunately, the wealthy Mi family in Xuzhou came to help with their family, so they even conquered Pei County and Jiujiang and swept away the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou.

Now that the king is suffering from no money, why not help another rich man in the world, the Zhen family. If Mrs. Zhen can help, the king's worries can be relieved. "

Liu Bei was a little angry and said: "Who do you think I am, Liu Xuande, sir? How can I do this and seize people's wealth?"
The Zhen family, like the Mi family, had worked hard for several generations to enrich the country. If they wanted wealth through force, it would be no different from Yuan Benchu, and they would not want to do it. "

Bai Lu shook his head and said: "Please don't be angry, Your Majesty. The King did not take it by force, but Zhen gave it to her voluntarily, just like Mi's back then."

"for what?"

"Your Majesty, you don't know. At first, Yuan Benchu ​​wanted to get the Zhen family's wealth, but he was afraid of rumors, so he used his son Yuan Tan to forcefully marry the Zhen family's daughter, and asked her to add the Zhen family's assets as a dowry to provide Yuan Shao with military supplies.

But the Zhen family had long seen that Yuan Shao was a withered bone in the grave. Sooner or later, Hebei would be acquired by the king, so she was willing to follow it, so she used some small tricks to prevent Yuan Shao from getting married for the time being, and took the Zhen family's daughter to the Bai Kingdom to seek asylum. to this day.

Now that Zhen's daughter has reached the age of hairpin, after going through Yuan's old affairs, Zhen has thought clearly that being rich will not only fail to repay the family wealth, but will also cause unreasonable disasters. Therefore, she has always wanted to spend all her family wealth to seek shelter for Zhen.

Your Majesty is worried about money and food now, and Mrs. Zhen is worried about too much money and food. Isn't this just a stroke of heaven? Also, the crown prince Liu Chan is about to get his haircut and is not yet married. The daughter of the Zhen family has recently got hairpins and is smart. Isn’t this a gift from God? "

Liu Bei stretched out his face and said with a smile, "Is this really Zhen's voluntary choice?"

Bai Lu said: "There are often rumors among the people that Zhen's daughter has the fate of Tianfeng."

Liu Bei laughed loudly and said indifferently: "In that case, please ask your husband to be a matchmaker for me, marry the daughter of the Zhen family, and make me the crown princess myself, so that this Tianfeng's destiny can be confirmed."

(End of this chapter)