Great Han Empire

Chapter 254 The situation changes suddenly
Several friends of Li Wei's Taixue stood outside the gate of the posthouse, shouted loudly and talked to Li Wei for a few words, and were persuaded away by Lu Ben Ling Wei Duan with kind words.

Li Wei was depressed and walked back to the house in a daze, with a helpless and painful expression on his face.

Li Hong looked at him in surprise, and asked, "Zhong Yuan, what's the matter, what happened?"

Li Wei shook his head, sighed, and said sadly: "A friend, she is getting married."

Jiang Wu patted Li Wei's shoulder sympathetically, and said to Li Hong: "My lord, Zhong Yuan's friend who is going to marry probably has a good relationship with Zhong Yuan. Look at Zhong Yuan's appearance, and he immediately becomes listless when he hears the news. "

Hu Ding stroked his beard and joked, "Does Master Li also want to marry her?"

Li Wei glared at him fiercely, then looked lonely and shook his head again and again, looking heartbroken.

Qi Chen laughed: "If Master Li really has such an idea, our brothers will help you to snatch her back."

Zhao Yun laughed uncontrollably. He pointed at Qi Chen and said, "Qi Chen, don't talk nonsense. This is Luoyang, not the prairie. Han people have the customs of getting married."

Hu Ding said unconvinced: "Whatever his custom is, as long as Mr. Li likes her, our brothers will help you snatch her. What's so great about Luoyang, if we don't just walk in, my lord will also walk out of the palace. Now that Your Excellency has sworn allegiance to His Majesty the Emperor, His Majesty the Emperor will be our backer from now on, and we have such a strong backer, why can't we walk out of Luoyang in a big way? I don't believe it."

Qi Shen encouraged and said: "Zhong Yuan, tell me who your friend is? After a few days, His Majesty will lift the ban on us, we can come in and out freely, and the brothers can start preparing. When we snatch her, we will run away and go back to the west. Cool. We used to do this in the prairie, and we had to do it many times a year, it was fun."

Li Wei looked at them like an idiot, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Jiang Wu cupped his hands at them, feigning admiration, and said with a smile: "The two elder brothers are really master snatchers, even in Luoyang, they dared to snatch them. Accept it, accept it."

Pang De lightly patted Hu Ding's forehead, and said with a smile: "The two brothers are so heroic. There are dragons and crouching tigers hidden in Luoyang City, and there are countless masters. If you just grab someone on the street and ask him, he may be a six-year-old. The officials of Baishi may also be some princes and nobles, the disciples of the aristocratic families. Don't treat this place as the desert and Xiliang, there are many people here."

Jiang Wu smiled and pointed at the two of them and said: "If the ban is lifted in a few days, we will go out in batches, especially the two of you, you must be with us, lest you see a beautiful girl on the street and snatch it, there are only a hundred of you The head is not enough to cut off."

There was a roar of laughter in the room, and the atmosphere suddenly became relaxed.

Although Li Wei was depressed, he couldn't help but shook his head and smiled wryly.Li Hong had already been lying on the table and couldn't straighten up laughing.

The laughter diluted everyone's physical and mental exhaustion, and quietly soothed the daze and fear in Li Hong's heart. He suddenly found out in his confusion that he was already loyal to the big man and His Majesty, so why would he go all the way to kill the big man?Unknowingly, he has been caught in the power disputes among the big men. He was suddenly swept away by this violent hurricane of power struggle. He couldn't tell the difference between south, east and north, and was afraid of the imminent death. For a moment, he completely forgot about life, forgot I lost myself, and I even forgot the belief in my heart.

What am I going to do when I go back to my hometown?I came back to find myself, to protect the family I have never met, the homeland in my heart, I am not loyal to the Han Dynasty, I am not loyal to His Majesty who represents the Han Dynasty, who am I loyal to?I swear allegiance to His Majesty in ignorance, isn't that the belief that supports me to return to Dahan?Who am I doing all this for?I lead countless brothers on the battlefield, who am I fighting for?For whom do brothers die?Only the big man, only His Majesty, the others do not exist at all.

Li Hong suddenly saw the road he was fighting for. He was suddenly overwhelmed with confidence, as if infinite power was pouring out of his body. He stood up suddenly, waved his hands and shouted: "Let's go grab it."

Li Wei and the others looked at the murderous and energetic Li Hong, dumbfounded.

"Bring wine, and dinner."

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Yuzhou is the hinterland of the Central Plains, where talents and heroes have emerged in large numbers since ancient times, especially in Runan and Yingchuan counties with the most surnames.From Emperor Guangwu of this dynasty to Emperor Shun, a group of masters of Confucian classics emerged in Runan and Yingchuan. There were Dai Ping, Zhong Xing, Xu Shen, Zhou Ju, Cai Xuan in Runan, and Zhang Xing and Ding Hong in Yingchuan. , All are well-known at home and abroad. Some of these masters enjoy the reputation of "Wujing Wushuang" and "Five Classics". Some recruit thousands of disciples and become masters of a generation.There are more famous party members here, including Chen Fan in Runan among the "Three Monarchs", Li Ying and Du Mi in Yingchuan among the "Eight Talents", Fan Pang and Cai Yan in Runan among the "Eight Gus", And "Runan Chen Xiang", the number of famous scholars in Ruying is unmatched by other regions.The clans in Runan and Yingchuan are even more famous. In Runan alone, there are the Yuan family clan of the fourth generation and three princes, the Xu clan clan of the third generation and three princes, and the Ying clan clan of great Confucianism from generation to generation.

Because the Xu clan has produced Yixue masters in the past dynasties, they have done a lot of learning, and the "Yuedan Review" in Runan, which is well-known all over the world in recent years, is presided over by the children of the Xu clan, so the high reputation of the Xu clan has already become faint. About the highest in the world.

Xu's clan came from Pingyu, Runan, and his ancestor was Xu Yang, a famous water conservancy expert in history.There is also Xu Jun, who is famous for his divination skills. His grandson Xu Man is a generation of Yixue masters in history.There is also a famous person in their family named Xu Shen, who is the author of "Shuowen Jiezi".

In the middle and late period of this dynasty, Xu Fu, a descendant of the Xu family, and his six generations of descendants were all high-ranking officials, and they have not declined for a hundred years.Xu Fu himself was an official to the government rafters.His son Xu Jingguan went to Situ.Xu Jing's son is called Xu Xun, and he is the head of the three princes.Xu Xun's son is Situ Xu Xiang of this dynasty.From Xu Jing to Xu Xiang, Runan Pingyu Xu's third generation and three princes, Xu Qian, Xu Shao, Xu Jing, Xu family celebrities of the same generation as Xu, all of them are contemporary outstanding people, from this we can see that the Runan Xu family has Become the most well-known and famous Han's first family member of the Tu nationality.

Sikong Xuxiang's son is getting married on the sixteenth day of the first lunar month, so there has been an endless stream of people coming to give gifts recently.

I don't know if it was intentional or a coincidence, Zhongchang servants Zhao Zhong, Zhang Rang and Duan Gui, Shaofu Fanling, Dahonglu Cao Song all came to present congratulatory gifts to Sir Sikong in the afternoon of the same day.

Although Xu Xiang is more than 50 years old, he is very well maintained. He has a handsome appearance, a ruddy complexion, three long beards, and a bit of fairy spirit.Xu Xiang beamed, exchanged pleasantries all the way, and let the adults into the study.

"The leopard has already arrived in Luoyang this morning." Cao Song said, "Your Majesty even avoided the morning court just to see him. What do you think? Your Majesty values ​​the leopard so much. Does he really want to do it immediately?"

Cao Song is in his 50s, not tall and very fat.The old man was in good spirits, with a kind face, a long gray beard, and a smile when he spoke.Cao Song is one of the Nine Ministers, Da Honglu, in charge of the affairs of the ethnic minorities in the border areas and the court affairs of the kings and lords.

Zhao Zhong was also a fat man. He sat next to Cao Song with a fat belly, and said with a smile, "Jugao, Your Majesty was raised by us. What can he do with his courage? Don't worry, he He can’t make up his mind, he’s soft-hearted.”

Fan Ling looks rich and handsome, not as fat as Cao Song and Zhao Zhong. He squinted his small eyes and said with a smile: "It seems that His Majesty attaches great importance to Leopard. He is worried that Leopard will be killed, so he arranged him in Zhangyuetai Temporarily staying, Wei Duan, Lu Benling of the Southern Army, personally led the team and led two hundred cavalry under strict protection. Xia Yun Xiahou was also suddenly driven back to Chang'an by His Majesty. Did His Majesty think that someone in Luoyang must kill the leopard by doing this? Besides, how many Lords want to kill him?"

"It must be killed." Duan Gui sneered, "This leopard is too cruel. If we don't kill him now, he will kill us once his wings are full in the future. In order to prevent problems before they happen, it's better to kill him."

Zhang Rang frowned, his thin old face was even uglier.He sighed and said, "The general wants to deal with us, do you know?"

"I said a long time ago that the position of this general cannot be set, and you don't listen. He Jin brothers and sisters had no power and power back then, of course they tried their best to curry favor with us, but this does not mean that they will not bite us back when their wings grow stronger in the future One bite." Zhao Zhong didn't feel the slightest surprise, he pointed at the people in the room, and said indignantly, "And you, you didn't listen to me at the time. The Beigong incident was so thrilling that we almost died. Now you Have you forgotten it all?"

"Can he kill us now?" Duan Gui curled his lips in disdain, and said lazily, "Without our support, the queen will be abolished by the emperor immediately. Without us, the butcher He Jin just wanted to return home." He can’t even eat pig feces, what’s his air?”

Xu Xiang waved his hand and retorted: "Master Hou despises the general too much. In the past few years, the general has kept a low profile, courted the virtuous and corporal, and recruited many talents. In order to prevent future changes in the imperial system from harming the clan, he has secretly accumulated a lot of power I think this man is very far-sighted, very intelligent, and has good means. We can't take it lightly. Look at his general's mansion. On the surface, it looks like it is full of sages and celebrities. In fact, there are several sets of people behind the scenes. I think his ambition Not small."

Zhao Zhong smiled indifferently, and asked Zhang Rang, "Zicheng, what's your opinion?"

"I think His Majesty is in such a hurry to recall the leopards that he is simply looking for trouble. He is afraid that the world will not be chaotic, and he wants to force us to fight to the death with the butcher." Zhang Rang said through gritted teeth, "If we are all dead, His Majesty's plan will succeed. He He can do whatever he wants."

Zhao Zhong and Duan Gui's eyes lit up, and they nodded in sudden realization.Xu Xiang, Cao Song and Fan Ling were slightly surprised, and then admiration appeared in their eyes.

"What is a leopard? He is a bloody piece of meat in His Majesty's hand. His Majesty is holding it in his hand now, considering where to throw it. If we throw it well, we and the butcher will die together. If we throw it badly, we will die with the butcher." The pig is also a loser, let him slaughter it at will."

Everyone felt cold when they heard this, and they didn't speak.

Cao Song took a sip of water and said slowly, "Zi Cheng and the General are in-laws, and the Empress is very dependent on you Lords, we can..."

"Don't even think about it." Zhang Rang waved his hand vigorously, interrupting Cao Song's words, "This matter is obvious. We are the enemy of all enemies. Everyone wants to kill us except His Majesty. We and Killer A pig's friendship is like a tiger's skin, and it dies faster."

"Then now..." Duan Gui hesitated, and asked, "Should we kill the leopard, and should we eat this piece of meat?"

"Can't be killed." Zhang Rang said resolutely, "Once your Majesty leaves Luoyang, we will start a life-and-death battle with the butcher. Your Majesty is not in Luoyang, what else can we rely on? We don't even have a seal to seal the forged imperial decree." The pig killers include the Northern Army and his own private army. His private army is in Xingyang. With so many troops, what else can we do besides waiting to die?"

"Then what the Marquis means is that you want His Majesty to take the First Prince away and take the opportunity to blackmail the General?" Xu Xiang asked.

Zhang Rang nodded, with a trace of murderous look in his eyes.

"But in His Majesty's mind, he will definitely not take away the First Prince." Xu Xiang said, "Besides, the First Prince is not in Luoyang, so there is no guarantee that the General will not attack us? Unless the General wants to..." Xu Xiang suddenly Startled, his face showed horror.

Zhao Zhong and Cao Song thought of the word "regicide" at the same time, and the room suddenly fell into silence, and the atmosphere was suffocating.

Duan Gui blurted out involuntarily and exclaimed: "Your Majesty is so scheming, no wonder he issued five imperial edicts to force the leopard to return to Beijing, so he has already seen it. Then why didn't he just kill He Jin..." Immediately He thought that what he said was really stupid, why kill him?Can He Jin be killed now?Once He Jin got in a hurry, he would first kill the middle official, then take the opportunity to blame the middle official to kill the emperor, and then use the reputation of punishing the eunuch to unite with the powerful family to support the eldest prince to inherit the imperial line, and then everything will be over. He Jin's wish came true.Can't you see such a simple thing?Duan Gui felt that the butcher really had wings, and now not only was his tail too big to lose, but he was also threatening his own survival.

"Your Majesty recalled the leopard. With the strength of the leopard, it is not a problem to protect him and Xiao Donghou." Zhang Rang said, "If the general wants to kill us, he will naturally get the support of the powerful and powerful. We are the only ones left, a group of unfettered The old man with chicken power. What should we do?" Zhang Rang yelled at the end of his speech.

"Let Fatty Dong go back to Kansai immediately and lead the army to the Hedong garrison. He is the only force we can rely on." Zhao Zhong had regained his composure. He patted his big belly lightly and said slowly , "Didn't you say that there was an ant thief rebellion in Hedong recently, so let's report it to His Majesty for this reason."

"Your Majesty will go back to Jizhou, Zhonghuangmen, Huben Army, Yulin Army, and most of the Southern Army will accompany you. The key is the Northern Army." Fan Ling said, "The Northern Army suffered a lot in the process of suppressing the rebellion in Xiliang. There are about 3 people, and the general is currently recruiting troops to expand his army. If we persuade His Majesty to let the leopards take away [-] northern troops to Jizhou to pacify the Black Mountain Ant Bandit, then the strength of the general will be weakened a lot, and our chances of winning will be great. gone."

"As long as His Majesty is safe and sound, if the general dares to attack us in Luoyang, he will raise his troops to cause chaos, which is an unforgivable crime." Duan Gui sneered, "We are not afraid even if both sides are hurt. If the butcher is injured, he will die. You will be rewarded for your meritorious service." He looked at Cao Song and said, "Brother Jugao, when will Meng De come back? Urge him to come back quickly and let him serve as a captain in the Northern Army. What else can a pig butcher do?"

"Yes, Jugao, why are you coming back? I have already sent people to urge you several times. If something happens in Beijing, we will rely on him to lead the battle." Zhang Rang pointed to Cao Song and said, "Can we come back before the Chinese New Year? ?”

Cao Song said: "It's about the same. It's not like you don't know about Ah Man's bad temper. Can I control it? Probably about the same."

"Then let's do this." Zhang Rang said to Xu Xiang and Fan Ling, "Gong Fu, De Yun, you and Ju Gao jointly wrote a letter to intercede with Dong Zhuo. General Yuan Pang, the admonishing doctor Tao Qian, and Yilang Sun Jian have repeatedly impeached him, but they have not been dealt with so far. In my opinion, let his merits and demerits be balanced, and he should be the general of Polu, and return to Kansai immediately."

Xu Xiang nodded slightly, and said with a smile: "It's rare for us to get together once, let's go, go drink, chat while drinking."

"Okay, okay, let's have a drink first..." Several people talked and laughed, and got up one after another,
Zhao Zhong said suddenly: "By the way, Gong Fu, I see that you wrote a letter to Mr. Xu Shaoxu, asking him to come to the capital and show us the good fortune. What do you think?"

"Please don't move." Xu Xiang nodded helplessly, and said with a wry smile, "The younger brothers are all lofty, and they don't want to associate with me. There is no way."

"You write a letter with a sincere tone, and don't put on airs like a big brother. Your nephew is married to the daughter of Zhu Jun Zhu Gongwei, a great Confucian and Guanglu doctor. Your family is a Han family with many famous people. You can't say that every famous person is the same. It would be too rude not to come. Xu Shao doesn't give you face, but he always wants to give Master Zhu face. You write a letter, and I will guarantee him to come."

Xu Lian nodded repeatedly and said, "It makes sense, it makes sense."

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When Cao Song returned home, he hurriedly wrote a letter, ordering his family to rush Cao Cao to return to Beijing.

Cao Song is the surname of Qiao County, Peiguo. His original surname is Xiahou, but he is the second son of Xiahou.Cao Song's family was poor when he was young, and his father saw that he could not support his two sons, so he left the eldest son Xiahouwei (Xiahoudun's father) behind, and gave the youngest son Xiahousong to Cao Teng, a senior official, and changed his name to Cao Song.

Although Cao Song's adoptive father, Cao Teng, was an extremely human minister, he was by no means a man with power.On the contrary, Cao Teng valued celebrities from all over the world, and was admired by celebrities from all over the world, so that Cao Song was considered a sage when he was young, and he knew etiquette, and he didn't have the pampering temperament of the children of officials and aristocratic families.After finishing his studies as a young man, Cao Song was appointed as Xiaolian by Dunhuang prefect Zhao Zi, and served as the order of Xingyang.It is the story of Cao Song and Zhao Zi that really embodies Cao Song's benevolence, filial piety and integrity.

Zhao Zi was praised by the world for his cleanliness and simplicity. The later officials worshiped Donghai Prime Minister and passed through Xingyang during his tenure. How can Zhao Zi be regarded as a kindness to Cao Song? A group of people rushed away, and Cao Song chased them to the ten-mile Changting Pavilion, but they still couldn't catch up.Facing the benefactor's cold reception, Cao Song was not ashamed, but said: "Master Zhao Zi is favored by people all over the world, but he has avoided seeing him when he passes through my world. People outside will definitely laugh at me for treating my benefactor with contempt!" Jin abandoned Yinshou and followed Zhao Zi along the way to the border of the East China Sea. After the meeting, he said goodbye and returned home. Naturally, the Xingyang Order had nothing to do, so he went home directly.After Cao Teng's death, Cao Song inherited Fei Tinghou.He has successively served as the Captain of Sili, the Da Sinong, and until now the Dahonghe.Cao Song was ranked in the position of Jiuqing in this way. It can be said that he has a high position and weight, and he is naturally rich.

Cao Cao was very naughty when he was a child, but he was trained by Cao Song several times, but he loved to dance with guns and clubs without fame.Fortunately, Cao Song's old friend Lu Boshe also gave Cao Cao a filial piety when he was an official in Shandong, so Cao Cao stepped into the official career under the encouragement of his father.

After Cao Cao sent Chen Yi away, he arranged for his wife Ding to stay in Qiao County, took his concubine Bian with him, and immediately set off for Beijing.

He received another letter from his father in Chenliu.

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Xu Shao received a letter from Xu Xiang inviting him to Beijing at his home in Pingyu, Runan. After thinking about it for a long time, he decided to take a trip to Luoyang after the Chinese New Year.

He ordered his family to send the letter to his cousin Xu Jing, who also invited him.

Xu Shao, styled Zijiang, was fond of talking about ethics and commenting on characters when he was young.Xu Jing's calligraphy is literary, and he has a good reputation as a human being when he was young.Because Xu Shao and Xu Jing are both famous, people in Runan call Pingyuyuan two dragons.The reason why the two are famous all over the world is because of the "Yuedan Review".Yuedan Ping is known as the "No. [-] Ping" in the world, and many people have made great achievements because of Yuedan's high praise.

The official selection system of this dynasty, which mainly focuses on inspection and recruitment, has a huge defect of emphasizing "morality" and neglecting "talent".In this dynasty, "morality" was the top priority in selecting scholars.But morality is a very vague concept, so it is inevitably tainted with a heavy "rule of man" color. The reputation of "morality" mainly depends on the creation of public opinion. Under the investigation system that emphasizes observation and recommendation of people rather than examinations, it is very important for those who seek official positions to obtain the affirmation and praise of important figures in society in advance. .

At that time, if one wanted to become an official, one had to become famous through "personnel affairs", and one had to be extraordinary and get a great reputation first.In the late period of the dynasty, powerful men of powerful clans boasted to each other, self-proclaimed, gossip topics, popular for a while, such as "the name of the village", "the language of the people of the time", "the name of the world", etc., formed a kind of social public opinion, The quality of the public opinion determines the future of the person being criticized.Therefore, the aristocratic families presiding over the public discussion have great authority, and those who can recognize talents and promote scholars enjoy a high reputation.Not only do they have a major influence in the public opinion circle, but they can also influence the court's employment to a certain extent.

For example, whoever is favored by Li Ying will immediately jump into the dragon's gate and become worth a hundred times.Li Ying's fellow villager Nie Jibao was a child of a small family. After his colleague Du Zhoufu recommended him to Li Ying, Li Ying called him home.Nie Jibao sat on the oxcloth at the foot of the stone steps, and after a brief conversation with Li Ying, Li Ying said, "This man is considered a national scholar." Later, it was true, but if Li Ying's question was not asked, Nie Jibao would inevitably die of old age. Under the window, it can be said that it speaks volumes.Some famous scholars who are not officials, and contemporary great Confucians, because they are good at discovering and evaluating people, can also influence public opinion.For example, Guo Tai, who has never been an official, Chen Ye, who is a commoner, and Fan Pang, a celebrity who lives in seclusion in the countryside, are all extremely authoritative talent appraisers, and Xu Shao, the leader of "Yuedan Ping", is even a leading figure who shakes the government and the public.

Xu Shao and Xu Jing tried their best to recommend sages to the imperial court, especially those who were virtuous but poor.Among them, the "Six Sages" recommended by Xu Shao are the most famous.They are Fan Zizhao, Yu Chengxian, Li Shucai, Guo Ziyu, Yang Xiaozu, and He Qia.These six people were all of humble origins.Fan Zizhao is a turban seller, Yu Chengxian is the supervisor (herding cattle and driving carts), Li Shucai is a farmer in the countryside, and Guo Ziyu is the official of the pommel horse, that is, the postman who delivers the letter.After these people were commented by Xu Shao, they were all praised as filial piety by the local county magistrate.After the six people became officials, they were all able to govern the township and county with their talents and virtues, and won the praise of the people.

It's a pity that this kind of behavior of arguing about people's character and personal relationship was abolished due to the occurrence of the party's imprisonment incident, and criticizing and discussing was banned by the imperial court.

Xu Wei, who was the prefect of Runan at the time, admired Xu Shao's name, and took the initiative to find Xu Shao to enlist him as a meritorious service.Xu Shao was upright by nature, not good at communicating with others, and had a tense relationship with his colleagues, so he finally resigned from his position and went home.After that, the government recruited him again, and the imperial court also wanted to appoint him as the county magistrate of Yanling, but he rejected them all.

Xu Jing was one year younger than Xu Shao, and the two had a falling out because of political disagreements, and Xu Shao ignored Xu Jing.Xu Jing, whose life is in trouble, can only rely on horses to grind noodles to survive.A few years ago, Liu Yi from Yingchuan succeeded Xu Wei as the prefect of Runan County. Only then did Xu Jing get a small job as a county official, but his life was still very difficult.

Xu Jing was overjoyed when he saw Xu Xiang's letter, and immediately decided to go to Beijing.

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The custom of "dusting and sweeping the house on the 24th of the twelfth lunar month" has a long history.According to "Lu's Spring and Autumn" records, my country has the custom of sweeping dust during the Spring Festival in the era of Yao and shun.According to the folk saying: Because of the homophony of "dust" and "Chen", sweeping dust in the New Year has the meaning of "removing old and bringing forth new", and its intention is to sweep out all "poor luck" and "bad luck".This custom is entrusted with the hope that people desire to destroy the old and establish the new as well as bid farewell to the old and welcome the new.

This is the second day after Li Hong arrived in Luoyang.

Jian Shuo from the little Huangmen came to Zhangyuetai early, he had some snacks with Li Hong, and then urged Li Hong to enter the palace.

"Is it the court?" Li Hong asked.

"No." Jian Shuo said with a smile, "Your Majesty will not go to court today, he will take you to Yongle Palace."

(End of this chapter)