When Ji Han and his men traveled to the Three Kingdoms crew

Chapter 19: Wind Rising in Luoyang
Luoyang.

The heart of the Han Empire.

The roosters crow and the sun rises.

Convoys from all over the place arrived one after another, like blood vessels, continuously transporting fresh blood to the center of the empire.

Even though the dynasty had reached its twilight years and various deep-rooted problems were difficult to reverse, the Han Dynasty's capital, Luoyang, was still the most prosperous city in the world.

The entire city is about nine miles long from north to south and about six miles long from east to west. Looking from a high place, it looks like an irregular rectangle.

The total length of the tall city wall is an exaggerated 31 miles, with a total of 12 city gates.

Such a huge city is considered a thousand-year-old ancient city in today's Han Dynasty. However, it seems quite small compared with Chang'an, being only one-third of the size of Chang'an City.

The Nangong and Beigong took up more than half of Luoyang's area, and the offices of the Three Dukes and middle and low-level bureaucrats took up another part. The remaining area of ​​Luoyang City was only enough to accommodate various markets.

The residential houses that should have been located in Luoyang City had to be distributed in the four directions of east, south, west and north outside the city.

The roads in the city were crisscrossed and divided into 24 sections, also known as the 24 streets of Luoyang, each of which was at least 20 meters wide. Each street was further divided into three sections, with ministers and officials walking in the middle and passers-by walking on both sides.

The roads outside the city are crisscrossed, dividing the residential areas into dozens of neighborhoods. The main roads are straight and wide, as if cut by a knife, and can allow five or six carriages to run side by side at the same time.

The convoys coming and going are huge and lively.

The pavilions on the roadside are adjacent to each other, wine flags are fluttering in the wind, shops have opened early, and the cries of selling wine are endless. Before entering Luoyang City, all kinds of snacks and small items have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, which is dazzling.

Knights dressed in gorgeous clothes like to linger here, and scholars from noble families chat happily, walking into the tavern talking and laughing.

No one had a bitter look on their face, only pride and abundance. Even the busy waiters in the shop would puff out their chests with pride at the thought of being able to come into contact with scholars and heroes, even if the reward was not even a fraction of what others gave them.

"Eunuchs are really abominable!"

A young scholar in the restaurant slammed his wine glass heavily on the table, startling everyone in the store and causing them to look sideways.

His companion hurriedly comforted him: "You are drunk, be careful with your words!"

"No, I'm not drunk! If it weren't for the eunuchs, how could the Han Dynasty be in this state? There are the Hu people rebelling outside and the Yellow Turbans rebelling inside. Now it's a critical moment for the survival of the country, and the eunuchs are still thinking about how to make money and suppress scholars like us. They are reluctant to lift the ban on political parties. They are simply parasites of the country. Where is justice!"

"Eh" the companion covered his face and sighed.

The waiter, following the advice of the shop owner, hurried forward to remind the two not to talk about state affairs. Although the scholars were about to curse the eunuch to the sky, they were cursing in their own mansions. Cursing the eunuch in public, at least keep your voice down. You are not afraid, but are they not afraid? Can this shop still be opened?
"Hey guys, this is a batch of good stuff our boss just bought in. Would you like to try it?"

"Oh? What's the good stuff? Let's try it."

The young scholar restrained himself a lot. He saw the waiter bring a fine porcelain jar and exchanged a glance with his companion. He wondered what medicine the jar was selling and what needed such a porcelain container? Was it the fine wine?
Not only the two of them, but the scholars and knights present had seen this before. What was this strange, half-hidden situation? But it was new.

When the young scholar opened the porcelain jar and the answer to the riddle was revealed in front of him, everyone in the store was dumbfounded.

The scene fell into embarrassment for a while.

The irritable ranger was furious, "Isn't this just pickled vegetables? Are you kidding me?!!!"

This sound seemed to set off a chain reaction.

People were talking about it

"That's right, it's just pickled vegetables? You are just fooling fools."

"Do you really think we are the common people?"

"Disappointed, extremely disappointed."

The waiter became flustered. He had clearly rehearsed the event beforehand, but facing the gazes of the group of scholars and knights, his mind went blank and his hands and feet trembled uncontrollably.

A big hand pressed on the waiter's shoulder. The waiter turned his head stiffly. It was a familiar face.

"Dong, Dongjia," the waiter lowered his head in shame.

The shop owner did not blame the waiter. He asked the waiter to help in the kitchen for a while. He himself, with a smile on his face, apologized to everyone one by one.

The shop owner who could open a shop in Luoyang was indeed not an ordinary person. He was eloquent and would call a knight a hero when he saw one, and would say a scholar was a pillar of the country when he met one.

He knew very well that his social status was far lower than that of this group of people. Not to mention being humble, he should not even have any attitude at all. But the problem was that this group of scholars looked down on those who had no dignity.

They all hated eunuchs, but as shop owners, they couldn't openly scold eunuchs, so they could only beat around the bush and scold them to a new level, and scold them in a fresh way. After a lot of effort, the resentment of the heroes and pillars was finally dissipated.

The shopkeeper said, "Gentlemen, don't underestimate this pickle, it has a very interesting origin."

"Origin? What could it be?"

The innkeeper then asked, "Do you know General Gongsun?"

"General Gongsun? Is he the Gongsun Bogui who recaptured the Wuhuan tribe and was appointed General of the Central Army by the imperial court?"

The shopkeeper nodded and said, "It was General Gongsun Bogui. This pickle was exactly what General Gongsun strongly recommended."

"Gongsun Bogui."

The young scholar who opened the porcelain jar had a fanatical look in his eyes. He greatly admired Gongsun Zan, who could achieve great things. As a traditional Confucian scholar of the Han Dynasty, he was completely different from the corrupt Confucian scholars of the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties. They regarded self-cultivation, family management, governance of the country and peace in the world as their highest ideals. Even Cao Cao Mengde, the later King of Wei who killed three sages with one shot, also wanted to be the Han Dynasty's General of the Western Expedition when he was young.

Not to mention the young scholars who are easily impulsive.

The scholar stood up suddenly, looked up to the sky and shouted, "Gongsun Bogui, a real man should be like this!"

"Since it is something that Gongsun Bogui strongly recommended, it must be extraordinary!"

In the eyes of this scholar, pickles at this moment are not just a kind of food, it is like Gongsun Zan galloping on the grassland.

He decisively put down his chopsticks, picked up a large piece and stuffed it directly into his mouth.

“Salty, salty, salty!!!”

The scholar shouted excitedly, he seemed to taste the pain of crawling on ice and lying in snow on the battlefield, and the exhilaration of drinking the blood from the necks of the barbarians.

The shopkeeper took advantage of the situation and said, "Gentlemen, this pickle has a sad story. Let me tell you about it in detail."

The store owner retold Liu Bei's story to everyone in the store, but the story was passed down by word of mouth and was far from the original version. The protagonist's name and origin, as well as his acquaintance with his wife, were filled in very completely, as if it really happened. The plot of the story has many twists and turns, but the protagonist was harmed by the eunuchs and could not meet his wife on New Year's Day. The ending of tears seeping into the pickles is still the same.

silence.

Everyone in the store fell silent.

Some people are listening to stories, some people are looking in the mirror.

"Gentlemen, is this kind of pickle normal?"

The silent crowd burst into a loud voice, "Not ordinary!"

The store owner let everyone try it, and even those who were used to eating delicacies from land and sea couldn't help but marvel at the unique taste of this pickle.

"So is one thousand coins expensive?" asked the shopkeeper.

“Not expensive!”

"One thousand coins is only worth a little more than a stone of rice."

"Mr. Lu is right. It's a good deal to be able to buy the eunuch's ugly face with such a small amount of money."

"Wait a minute, this guy is from Zhuo County in Youzhou, right? The filial son Liu Bei Liu Xuande who is in the limelight recently is also from Zhuo County, right?"

"Who is Liu Bei?"

"? You don't even know Liu Bei? He is the filial son who made the Filial Piety Chair!"

The man who heard the explanation suddenly understood

"It turns out to be him!"
-
At this moment, Lu Zhi in the tent also received a letter.

"It's a letter from Bok-gyu."

Lu Zhi, who was wearing armor, opened it and read out the familiar yet unfamiliar name.

"Liu Bei."

(End of this chapter)