The rain came without warning, but I slept from afternoon to dark, so I couldn't blame God. Song briefly told me what he knew. Some mountain strongholds in the south were causing trouble. Meng Jie ordered the nearby strongholds to suppress the rebellion, but many people nearby were watching the situation. The main reason was that Meng Jie had Han Chinese ancestry, so everyone felt that they had more reason to be the King of the South. At this moment, the south was as precarious as the wind and rain outside the window, and I could even feel the raindrops from the south on my face.
Song helped us put down the bamboo curtain by the railing before sitting back down. I continued to have my dinner, listening to the rustling sound of the bamboo curtain being blown up and put back in place, and continued to eat with a lot on my mind. I still didn't let him tell me any solution, because I still wanted to think about it myself. I thought the lady might feel strange. Song also wanted to tell it, but seeing how I looked, they seemed to have no other choice but to give up. I seem to be getting dumber and dumber recently, and I don't even have a clue.
Suddenly there was a flash in the house, and a few moments later a dull thunder was heard from a distance.
"Oh, it's time to plow the fields," I murmured. I'm not a farmer, but I vaguely remember someone talking to me about this.
No one answered me. Song Yudong was staring outside in a daze, and the lady just put some dishes into my bowl. There was no follow-up movement or sound, and I was still thinking about my own things.
My brother's arrival made me put down my bowl and chopsticks quickly, and Song Yu and I sat down next to him to discuss business.
But the Southern King didn't seem to be in such a hurry. He took off his bamboo hat and put it beside him, and asked me who the beautiful woman behind me was. When I said it was his wife, he immediately complained that he didn't tell him that his brother's wife was coming. I smiled and apologized, and asked his wife to come up and greet him.
After all the formalities were completed and everyone was seated, the lady pushed her seat as if she was uncomfortable and wanted to leave. I waved my hand and said it was not necessary, and pointed to the seat next to me and asked her to sit down. This was my plan, which I would never tell others.
"Brother, why did you call me over so late at this time? And you act like this, are you trying to blackmail me?" My brother asked me with a smile.
"Yes, that's right." I answered absentmindedly but sincerely, because I did have something to talk to him about, but I didn't expect him to say this. Suddenly I realized that he seemed to have said some words afterwards, which was not right, but I found that the worse problem was that although I have always had a quick wit, this time I didn't know that he just said blackmail, so I had no idea how to explain it.
The brother's face looked a little unnatural, and he seemed to really start to think about whether there were other explanations for the blackmail.
"Nan Wang, I am originally from Yue. I once talked to Zi Rui about the word blackmail, which is a bad word among us Yue people." Now I know what the word is, but when I was about to give a new interpretation of the word, my wife reinterpreted it for me: "Blackmail means what is said is not true, and fraud means to deceive. Together, it means that what is said is not a deception." (I have not been able to verify the origin and time of the word blackmail, so I have made a note. Please do not be deceived by Guo Pei)
I believed what the lady said at that time, and thought to myself that Yue people were really interesting. But suddenly I thought that this person was familiar with all the schools of thought, and there must be some bad water from famous schools. The teacher once mentioned this matter in the lecture hall, and also mentioned the story of a white horse being not a horse to us. He used this as a topic to debate with us, and none of us could refute him on the spot. But not me, I was sleeping at that time, and it was not until Zishe and Zisheng mentioned this to me that night. However, due to Zisheng's nagging back then, I soon hated this issue, and then I wanted to kill the family of Baima Feima. Later, I couldn't think of a person named Baima Feima, and I thought about cutting Gongsun Long's legs. Later, I thought that Gongsun Long probably didn't even have bones at this time, so I had to give up all my ideas, went to bed and continued to sleep, and I seemed to have a dream of riding a white horse.
But my southern brother believed it completely and he also found it very interesting.
After some chatting and laughing, they began to "blackmail" each other.
"Brother, why did you ask me to come here?" Suddenly there was a roar of thunder, which made me hold back what I was about to say. He also looked out the window, and only turned around when the rain got heavier after a while.
"It's a good rain, just waiting for sowing." I said.
"We have already planted the seeds there. There is probably still snow in the north right now. We can plant the seeds as soon as spring comes out in Tiannan. You can come with us to have a look. It is already very warm there at this time of year, but you will feel very uncomfortable in the first ten days. We still have more than 200 miles to go before we reach Tiannan. I mean 200 miles is the distance that we southerners can go straight over the mountains and ridges. If we follow the road, it will be a thousand miles away. Maybe it is because we have reached the edge of the sky. There are 360 days a year, but it rains for more than 300 days here. After we pass the mountains, it is still wet, but not as heavy as this. It can rain here, but it is not bad. It only rains for 100 to 200 days."
"No wonder the government is unwilling to operate the mine even though there is a good iron mine here. I have heard that the deep holes for digging iron here often collapse, and the diggers are often buried in the holes. But they allow others to dig. If this is the case, how can so many miners dare to take the risk? How can the government continue to operate the mine?" I felt very strange when I heard that we were buying iron in Lingling. There was iron in Guiyang in Jingzhou, but we had to go to Lingling to buy it from those merchants. I felt very strange. When I asked, Ziyue gave me this explanation.
Everyone was silent, but their eyes seemed to disagree with my thoughts. Could it be that Ziyue had concealed some important points from me, and was secretly thinking that he would ask about this matter after the Southern King left, or should he do the important things first
"Mr. Song has a plan to discuss the country with me." I pushed Song to the front, pointed at him, and asked me, "Are you willing to listen to it?"
"Mr. Song is a man of great talent, but I am a crude writer, not familiar with tactics and calculations. I would like to ask Mr. Song for guidance."
"I am an ignorant scholar, but I would like to ask you a question. As the ruler of the South, are you worried about being constrained in making all the major plans?" Song asked sincerely.
Meng Jie was silent for a moment, and it was obvious that Yu Dong's words were not groundless. After another moment, this person seemed to say to himself, "Although I am in charge, I am thinking about my second mother. My mother-in-law is concerned about her relatives and may have some instructions. Jie also cannot bear to go against her mother-in-law's wishes."
"How heavy are the worries of the gossips and the troubles of the people?" Seeing that King Nan's face became more solemn, he thought that his words might have hurt the elders of his family, which was a very bad thing.
"My husband is right. King Nan, please don't doubt it, and don't misunderstand it." Guo Pei suddenly came out to smooth things over for me.
The Southern King immediately became interested and turned his head to me. I also turned to listen to Guo Pei's story: "Gu means to put aside temporarily, Posuo means to hover and stay, and three and six probably mean a lot. Three Gu and six Posuo mean to think carefully, which means that this matter needs to be carefully considered and more calculations should be made to determine the pros and cons. After all, it is not a good idea to blame the mother clan. Qianshan means your southern country; the people's colonization means that the saints of the past said: 'Pardon the old sins, repair the old clan, establish the descendants, and then the people will colonize.' The so-called people's colonization actually refers to the major plan for people's livelihood. If the southern part of the world is not stable, there will be trouble. How serious is this matter! My husband discussed this with Mr. Song and made a major plan after repeated consideration. So I asked the king because I don't know how you can handle the matter."
"Thank you, brother and madam, for your advice." At this moment, although it was not my original intention, I took the madam's intention into consideration, so I volunteered to accept it. Guo Pei actually interpreted my words as "Three aunts and six women are thinking about it, thousands of mountains and thousands of people are suffering, how serious it is!" This made the southern barbarian stunned. There was only one problem. Since it was called "people's cultivation", how could it be modified by "wan". Of course, this problem is my problem. The Southern King may think that people like me who have nothing in their stomachs but still want to sell their own things are mostly fond of erotic sentences. Sometimes, they only need to have the same number of words and the antithesis of each word, and they don't pay too much attention to whether it is appropriate. Then I was made a fool for no reason, although the word "I" and "wronghead" are somewhat similar. For example, I am very wronged in this matter, and my head is also big, but my body is not big enough to show it.
I found that I had a strong tendency to daydream, and they had to wake me up from my thoughts before we could get down to business.
"Many of the mountain kings and princes in the southern part of the world covet the position of the king of the south, but they have different intentions and cannot coexist. Although there are a few caves causing trouble, there are many bystanders, so there is no need to worry. At present, the southern part of the world is experiencing continuous spring rains, and it is difficult to continue to have food and grass. It is not good for attacking, but it is good for defending. The weather is on the side of the defender. The southern part of the world is known as the land of thousands of mountains. The mountains are steep and the roads are difficult to travel. It is also raining a lot. It is not good for attacking, but it is good for defending. The terrain is on the side of the defender. It is the time of spring farming, and the people of the southern part of the world will not want to cause trouble, otherwise they will have nowhere to rely on for the harvest of the year, and the people are inclined not to fight. Once these three items are revealed, what should the king of the south do?"
"You are responding to a fight without a fight?"
"However, if there are 2,000 soldiers in a mountain, there must be tens of thousands of farmers supporting them at the foot of the mountain. If we attack, these farmers will not know right from wrong and will want to protect their fields. Then we will face tens of thousands of soldiers who share the same hatred for the enemy. Therefore, we should not attack these troublemakers without authorization. I have a plan, do you think it is feasible?"
"But please be clear, sir."
"You can invite the Panlong Cave Master to go with you. You have been in danger of being attacked by the Panlong Cave Master, but you were lucky enough to defeat him and surrender. There must be scouts on the side of the mountains in the south. If you let them ride with you, everyone will think that you are broad-minded and will not bear grudges. This step, because the Panlong Cave is powerful and has always been at odds with the King of the South, those who are weak and timid can be defeated without a fight."
Everyone's head, including me.
"If someone comes to pay homage, this step will be successful. We will not order them to send troops, nor increase their tribute. We may even reduce it and allow them to rest. This will further demonstrate the king's grace. Once this is accomplished, those who are eager to see it will come to pay homage one after another."
"But if someone continues to do something wrong, what should we do?" The Southern King had obviously completely believed in Song's plan and had begun to ask about the details.
"We should block the dangerous places in the mountain passes and set up camp in places that are easy to take care of. We need to protect the good farmland in the mountains and appease the people. However, we cannot let these people move around freely to avoid leaking military information. The relatives of the soldiers of the mountain kings and cave masters are mostly farming at the foot of the mountain. They don't know what is happening at the foot of the mountain and are inevitably upset. This plan is called "caging the tiger cub to detain its mother". In the past, there was a tiger hunter who first took advantage of the mother going out to find food, entered the tiger's nest, caught the tiger cub and put it in a cage. The tiger cub was frightened and would call its mother. When the mother tiger returned and saw her cub tied up, she was very upset and it would not be difficult to capture it again. Each of the soldiers has his own mind, so how can they fight with all their heart? It is easy to defeat them. If it goes as we expected, there will be quite a few who will secretly go down the mountain and surrender. However, since this plan is called "caging the tiger cub", the cub must not be hurt, otherwise the mother tiger will be angry and fight to the death, which will be even more difficult."
"If there is a mountain stronghold surrounded by mountains, with soldiers on the mountains and fields in the mountains, what should we do?" Obviously there is such a place, because he immediately said "This guy is quite unruly and difficult to subdue. He is good at fighting and brave, and he has many soldiers. I thought that if we conquer him first, the other places in the south of the country will not be a concern. However, the back is not peaceful, and without full strength to fight, I am afraid it will be difficult to win."
"Then use the troops to control the dangerous places outside, do not let them escape, and do not attack them. Wait until all other places are pacified, then pacify this place. If this place is pacified, the other princes will not dare to offend us again."
"I will remember what you said. I will kill this guy here. Once this thief is gone, the others will be mediocre and not worth worrying about. Once this guy is dead, there will be no need to worry about this place, and other places in Tiannan will be terrified when they hear this, and we can quickly conquer our land. When I first ascended the throne, I led troops to pacify it. At that time, I planned to kill this guy to quickly pacify Tiannan. However, this guy is cunning and never shows up under our arrows. When the two sides fight, he must watch from afar and command the advance and retreat. I couldn't capture him for a while, and there were rebellions everywhere. My capital was in danger, so I had to withdraw my troops."
"I have a plan. You can try it. I'm sure you can kill him." Song cleared his throat slightly and leaned down a little. We followed him forward. When we heard him outline the plan, we all exclaimed that it was a great idea.
After that, we chatted and laughed for a while, and naturally began to talk about Tiannan's future. At this time, the speaker turned from Song to my wife. I had long thought that this must be the case, but I was left out again.
"Please allow me to say something inappropriate, Prince Nan."
Meng Jie was naturally polite and asked Guo Pei to teach him a thing or two. His wife then began to be polite again, which led to this long and beautiful speech on political principles.
"Can you learn from the political system of China? At least follow the Zhou system, set up ministers to assist in government, set up the court to govern, select the strongest to enter the court, and serve them as the three highest officials. The land will still belong to them." When she said this, she looked at me, and then asked me in her heart: "Husband, can I tell the King of the South clearly?"
Guo Pei was really a bit of a nerd. She asked me, "Can I still let you?" And I really wanted her to, so I asked her to hurry up.
"The Southern Heaven is also divided into five ranks like the Zhou Dynasty. There is one emperor, the Southern Lord, who is the first rank; one duke, with three people, called Sima, Situ, and Sikong. These are the official names of our Han Dynasty, and they can be changed. For example, Sima and our dynasty have titles such as Taiwei, Taiwei Gong, and Da Sima. Sima is in charge of the dispatch of the army and horses in the world, Situ is in charge of civilian affairs, and Sikong is in charge of the water and soil of the world. This is the second rank; one marquis, with nine ministers, one is Taichang, who is in charge of sacrifices; the second is The first is Guanglu Xun, the emperor's, in charge of the palace gate; the third is Weiwei, the captain of the royal city; the fourth is Taipu, in charge of the carriage; the fifth is Tingwei, in charge of criminal justice; the sixth is Dahonglu, in charge of external affairs; the seventh is Zhizongzheng, in charge of the affairs of the royal family; the eighth is Si Nong, in charge of grain and finance; the ninth is Shaofu, in charge of the emperor's support; the nine ministers are selected from the weaker ones and keep their land. These are the third ranks; from the lower Bo, Zi, and Nan, they are granted fiefs by the emperor and do not need to stay in the court all the time, but are required to pay tribute every year. "
She paused for a moment and looked at me again, and I let her continue, feeling as if I were being treated as someone whose speech was suppressed.
"Among the three dukes, the Sima position is the most important, and it needs a trustworthy person to take on the responsibility. A monarch must have someone he can rely on. The Book of Changes says that a warrior is a great monarch."
She paused again, as if letting King Nan slowly understand the meaning of these words.
"However, there must also be a way to govern a country. Xunzi said: 'What is the way? It is the way of the ruler. What is the ruler? It is the ability to unite. What is the ability to unite? It is the ability to raise people well, to organize and govern people well, to show and manage people well, and to decorate and adorn people well. People are close to those who are good at raising people, people are at ease with those who are good at organizing and governing people, people are happy with those who are good at organizing and adorn people, and people are honored by those who are good at organizing and adorn people. If the four principles are in place, the world will come to them. This is called being able to unite. If one cannot raise people well, people will not be close to him. If one cannot organize and govern people, people will not be at ease. If one cannot show and manage people, people will not be happy. If one cannot decorate and adorn people, people will not be honored. If the four principles are lost, the world will leave him. This is called being a common man.'"
She paused for a long time at this part, paying attention to the expression of the Southern King. I could only admire my wife's erudition and memory. It would be easier for me to remember this long part than for a pig to run through the eye of a needle. After a while, my brother nodded, and she continued.
"Respecting the Dao and advocating martial arts must be done together. If one only respects the Dao but does not cultivate military discipline, external disasters are not far away. If one only advocates martial arts but does not cultivate political discipline, then chaos will arise from within."
This time my brother was quicker, so I could hear the next part quickly.
"To punish a new state, use light laws. When our Emperor Taizu first entered Guanzhong, he made three laws, which were: 'Those who kill will be killed, and those who injure and steal will be punished.' The words were very simple and easy to remember, and even common people could recite them. For a time, the Guanzhong area was rectified. The one who is facing the Southern King in the south is not the Luàn State, but the new state. After the stability, you can establish your own code of law. For example, our Han Dynasty wrote the "Nine Chapters of Laws" based on the "Law Classics" of Li Kui of the Wei State in the Zhou Dynasty. Later, it was supplemented and now there are nearly 60 chapters. This is to use the medium code for the peaceful state. At that time, the position of Sikou will be established, and those who are upright and upright will be selected to be the position."
In addition to lamenting that this person has too much nonsense in her mind, I also noticed that she omitted the rule of using severe punishments for the state of punishment, which together make up the three codes. However, I really can't remember whether it was proposed by Prime Minister Xiao (Xiao He) at the time or by Prime Minister Cao (Cao Shen) later.
"If we want the country to be stable and peaceful for a long time, it is not a good idea to rely on the hereditary nobles passed down from generation to generation by the leaders of the mountain strongholds. We need to select talents. We can follow our Han system to select talents. One is called "cha ju", where all localities recommend virtuous, upright, filial and honest people to the court; the other is "zheng pi", where the wise among the people are recruited by imperial decree."
Here, Madam has omitted the methods of “selecting talents” in our great Han Dynasty, such as inheritance, bestowal, selling official positions, and selling titles.
When we arrived here, it was already very late at night. The Southern King's men came to ask the Southern King to go back according to the orders of the elders. Although we were very reluctant to let him go, we were very polite and asked us to rest early, and then we went back with some reluctance.
Song also said goodbye immediately. I asked him to rest early and praised him a lot, but in my heart I was lamenting that I really had no ability.
At night, my wife and I slept in an inner room. This room was arranged by Song after my wife arrived.
We were silent while we washed up, but as soon as the lights were blown out, I started talking: "Madam, you saved so many things today, which shows that you are kind-hearted. However, I am afraid that the southerners may not really put it into practice."
Madam's suggestion is indeed a bit too idealistic. I think this kind of reform will inevitably cause a lot of troubles in its implementation. However, I think I may be deliberately finding fault because I can't think of a solution.
"Zirui, since I'm marrying you, I can't hide anything from you. I have something to say to you." She didn't reply to me, but turned to me seriously.
I also turned around and looked at the outline of a beautiful face in the darkness. I couldn't bear to speak loudly, so I just said softly, "Please give me some advice, Madam."
"My husband is young and his words are not restrained, which may hurt others. This is one thing you need to be more careful about."
"Madam, please advise me on the second one..."
"Yudong has a plan, but you didn't ask first, but seemed to want to come up with a plan yourself. You are young and hot-tempered, and you are too competitive and competitive. This will cause trouble in the future. This is the second." She paused, and when she realized that I didn't say anything, she continued: "Third, it is not in accordance with etiquette to keep me here to discuss it, but I still feel very grateful to you for this. You..."
I sealed her mouth with my own, and when I released it, she was silent.
"Since I was brought up by Yinling, I have never agreed with the sayings that women are useless, women cause trouble, and women should not interfere in government affairs. Madam, please don't mind it. I will take care of yours and mine. My son is young and ignorant, and still needs Sister Guo's teaching, just like that matter... Should we remember that there are three reasons for being unfilial? Now our parents are watching us in heaven, we need to work hard." I admit that I am not a good person, but my wife is a good person, so naturally I need to take action first.
The next day, at dawn, I was woken up by someone. I knew it was her, but my first reaction was someone else. She was dressed neatly and sat down beside the couch, but she said to me in a very memorable way, "My husband needs to get up and practice martial arts. Don't be lazy and waste time."
Who could have known that I had tried my best last night to avoid being unfilial, and I had tried my best three or four times, but I didn't have so much strength. I cried out in my heart: God has mercy on me, Zirui should be pitied. I wanted to lie down on the bed and pretend that I didn't know anything.
Unexpectedly, the quilt was immediately dragged away. When I stood up to look, she was smiling at me under the quilt, "Why are you pretending to be asleep? Get up." Then she found clothes for me to put on.
I had no choice but to put on some clothes and get up, but I didn't know how to start. When I went downstairs with my gun and looked around, I only saw a few people cleaning the floor, and the rest were wine jars piled up randomly. I saw that there was still a lot of wine in some of the jars, so I was bored and lifted them up and down, until I was out of breath and exhausted.
Originally I wouldn't be so tired, but as more and more people gathered around to watch, I had no choice but to force myself to be alert and work hard to muster up my strength.
I was a little tired, but my mood was really rising. It was rainless this morning, so I took my gun and mounted my horse and went out of the city. I greeted and fought along the way, and I felt so happy. Maybe it should be like this in the future. Maybe in ten years I can have a real fight with Lu Bu. Thinking of this, I flew out of the city and ran wildly on the grass, waving my arms. There was mostly new grass here, tender and green. It was really fun to go out for an outing.
Over there, a thin mist floated in from the mountains that stretched for thousands of miles, making the trees look sparse and grayish yellow. I rode my horse in it, occasionally hitting the protruding branches, and the twigs broke with the sound. The more I practiced, the more I felt that my skills had been trained back. I became more and more proficient in the chopping back and forth, and my heart became more and more excited.
Then I made a mistake, because I returned at about noon. During that time, Song came to look for me several times, but because I was not there, he sent people out to look for me. My brother asked me about the details of various political principles and laws through the bamboo curtain. My wife was really a wonderful woman, who was very happy to see me. Of course I knew it, and I knew it a long time ago, but this time she really showed it well, and made me feel so clearly that I was such an ignorant person.
After discussing the arrangements with his brothers, he was about to go back. After all, his Tiannan was still in motion, so he let his subordinates work out the details.
He set out in the afternoon of the same day. People from the south are simple-minded, and it only takes them a few minutes to reach the destination.
I escorted him for more than 50 li. At that time, I had asked the troops who were originally accompanying him to stop 30 li behind. From then on, it was just me and Song Yudong who escorted him. He was obviously very confident, so he talked and laughed with me all the way, and even talked about poetry and songs. He often used words with the same pronunciation in succession, which I found interesting. This reminded me of his usual plain and simple language. From time to time, he would write poems with mountains and rivers as the theme, using some words with the same pronunciation. For example: "The sun is shining slowly, and the fan is blowing the mountain." And so on. There was laughter all the way.
We didn't part until we reached a mountain village of Han people. Because something happened that made him leave quickly, and I also had to go back quickly, so we said goodbye to each other and left.
This was a mother and son. The Southern King's men thought they were assassins and pulled them out from the bushes. However, when they saw that the mother and son were in tattered clothes, looked pale and thin, and the mother was crying sadly, the child was only three years old, and they were sure that no assassin would be like this, so they let them go.
But the mother and son were not afraid of us and immediately begged from us. We gave them some, and they immediately devoured the food without hesitation in front of us. I felt a little uncomfortable and asked them why they were like this.
This mother is a Han Chinese, and this place belongs to Jingzhou. Her husband has not returned since he was conscripted as a laborer at the beginning of the year before last. The war outside destroyed all the fields in their village, and most of the villagers fled to escape the famine. She wanted to wait for her husband to come back, so she insisted on staying here, and could only eat wild vegetables and fruits to fill her stomach. After eating a few big mouthfuls, she kept muttering that her husband had already served labor service in the fourth year of Guanghe, so why was he conscripted again
Meng Jie and I were silent for a while. After a while, Meng Jie said that his Tiannan was also in the midst of a flood, and he didn't know how many poor people there would be. He was about to leave, and I didn't stop him, just told him to take care of himself. After he was on the road for a while, I suddenly caught up with him on horseback. In fact, I just asked him for a horse, and he gave me the horse. Only then did we say goodbye. After that, I didn't see him for a long time.
I put the mother and child on my horse and led them to follow me. At that time, the sun was setting in the west. I felt sad and said casually: "The sad wife weeps, sighs at the setting sun, saying that the husband has gone to another husband, and the wife begs for a date to return."
There was no conversation along the way until he returned to Lingling with his army. It was already dark. As soon as he got off his horse, he ordered people to settle the mother and son. He was furious and sat down at his residence. He gestured back and forth on the table with his hands, as if he wanted to break it in one blow.
The lady asked me why I was so angry, and I said with some sadness: "My Jingzhou is not a happy place. The people have been harmed by me. Even if she doesn't hate me, I can't absolve myself of my guilt."
Then, I stood up suddenly and said resolutely: "Tomorrow I will inspect the surroundings and see how serious the harm I have done."
That night the moon was dark and the stars were sparse, and outside the city the crows were calling. In the middle of the night the southwest wind picked up, bringing another night of unexpected rain, perhaps it was spring rain.