"The Change of Heaven"
Volume 2: The Horizon
Chapter 135: Brotherhood
"According to the internal rules of the Han Dynasty court, princes and princesses are not allowed to reveal their identities when traveling alone. If I am correct, she can only be Liu Ru, the emperor's eldest princess." I ate the last piece of wild duck meat I had reserved for the last, and said with a reluctant look, "You don't mind me calling you brother-in-law, right? She has to call me brother when she sees me."
"She follows me, so you have to call her sister-in-law from now on." He also smiled. He knew that I was planning to take advantage of her, and I also knew that he didn't want me to.
"Don't be like this, brother-in-law. We are all brothers. And I fully support your good deeds." I also know that I will never get it.
"Hey, that's enough, let's stop talking. We don't know what's going on right now." I had just finished my meal and was in high spirits, ready to pick a fight, but he interrupted me. However, he said something very important: "What should we do next?"
"Teacher, no. I was thinking the same thing. We can't go south. We should either stay in the mountains or go back to Xiliang. When did the teacher give you this poem?"
"yesterday."
"Oh, that was after meeting me."
After hearing what I said, Ziyu looked at the brocade again and pointed at the horse pattern on it: "Let's go to Xiliang."
Liangzhou is very strange. From the map, it can be divided into three parts. The south is densely forested and has abundant water resources. The north is a vast desert with few clear streams. In the middle, there are grasslands connecting the north and the south. The Great Wall of the Han Dynasty goes to the extreme west from Yumen Pass in Dunhuang County. Huo Qubing drove away the Huns there, and also protected the Han Dynasty from foreign invasion for hundreds of years. In order to ensure that the border will never be disturbed by others, the whole territory of Liangzhou was opened up to raise war horses in preparation for wartime needs. Longyou is an excellent horse ranch.
When talking about the horse ranch, we have to mention the story of Emperor Xiaowu of the Han Dynasty who got the Ferghana horses from Dayuan in the Western Regions. He tried to give them to them the first time, but failed. He tried to buy them with a huge sum of money, but failed. He tried to buy them for the third time, but failed. Finally, he sent troops to snatch them back. Twenty years later, the iron cavalry of the Han Dynasty could sweep across the Xiongnu. It was so refreshing. (There are many books describing the glory of the Han and Tang Dynasties in China, so I will not write more. Dear readers, that is the demeanor of China. Dear Chinese sons and daughters, do not damage the soul of China and do not bring down the reputation of China. The author, as a Chinese, notes)
Later, I heard that Luoyang was fine, and the next day, everything was back to normal. Everything seemed to be as if Ziyu had never been missing, and there was no wanted notice. I once "slandered" Brother Ziyu to a few idle people I will talk about later, saying that he was worthless, and I was almost retaliated by him.
When we arrived at Gudao County, Wudu County, Liangzhou, we could finally rest in peace, as that was our territory. We were surprised that we hadn't heard any news along the way, so we stopped and went into the city to inquire.
No one knew what happened in Luoyang, but the local "Five Pecks of Rice Sect" was more popular. Merchants were also unusually quiet, except for the midsummer census of fields. Ziyu and I naturally did not appear in front of any outsiders.
After asking around, we stopped there to rest for a night and set off again the next day. Suddenly, we encountered a rain that was not too heavy and lasted for three days. The few fallen leaves on the houses on the street and in the houses where the windows were forgotten to be closed told us that autumn had arrived.
We didn't set out for those three days. The lower-ranking brothers either looked at the rainy sky and complained, or used their reward money to drink in groups of three or four, or even gambled. I didn't restrict them too much, just asked them not to cause trouble or lose all their money.
My brother Ziyu and I usually stayed upstairs in the tavern, warming our wine, looking at the street scenes, and chatting about the world.
"Cao Cao and the teacher seem to have an alliance relationship." This kind of sigh followed by a lukewarm remark can only be the character of Zi Yu. If it were me, I would definitely say it with a smile first, and then say: "Cao Cao and the teacher will join hands and will surely achieve great things."
"Why did they form an alliance? What happened?"
"Cao Cao is the adopted son of a eunuch." Zi Yu said slowly, "I think you should have heard of it."
"But he is so cruel to the eunuchs!" I disagreed.
"Obviously, he wants to get rid of it, but no matter what, the eunuchs now have little power. Most of the original locals have been swallowed up by the guys who now occupy the place, and Yuan Shu in Runan swallowed up a lot of them."
"Yuan Shu?" I felt terribly annoyed. "How could it be him?"
"What can we do? Yuzhou was originally ruled by the eunuchs. Once the eunuchs fell, the surrounding powers were eyeing them covetously, but it was difficult to take action. Yuan Shu understood some of the situation and quickly collected these. You have to ask Yuan Shu for details."
I almost vomited on the ground, but I couldn't bear to ruin the feast, so I held back my vomit and spit it out into the muddy pond outside. I really looked down on this person, so I suspected that he had a capable person under him.
Brother Fan saw me like this, advised me, scolded this guy a few words, and then changed the subject, but then he changed to another place: "After all, he is a member of the Yuan family. Once He Jin died, Dong Zhuo was surrounded by you, and the Yuan family became the most powerful in the world. When the spoils were divided in the court, Yuan Huai kept saying good things to his family. Even Yuan Yi, the governor of Bingzhou, became a great hero. I didn't see him do anything. When a group of bastards threatened to "clean up the court" and deployed troops outside the pass, he didn't have the courage to take advantage of it. Now he wants a reward. Looking back, the matter just now is not over. Cao Cao is the descendant of a eunuch, and the teacher used to be a commoner, but he actually donated a state governor. Look at the courtiers, one by one, they look down on Han Chugong, and often speak ill of him behind his back. She heard it and told me, and she still wants my heart."
"Okay, don't be so upset about this. How should the teacher deal with this?"
"In April, there was an earthquake in Luoyang..."
"Oh, it's shaking again?" I thought of Father Pingzi and wondered where the seismometer is now.
"Well, it's OK, not too serious, I just felt shaken. Several regents discussed and decided to seize this opportunity, follow the old precedent, and write to the emperor to order each state and county to nominate one virtuous, upright, talented, filial and honest person, and knowledgeable scholar." When I hear Brother Ziyu speak in this tone, I usually have an illusion: Doesn't he know what I'm asking him? Of course, later I always find out that he still knows: "In mid-May, basically all of them have arrived, hundreds of them, not old or young, and the next step is to conduct interviews by subject. I was responsible for verifying the identities of the scholars, and found out that my teacher, Cao Mengde, your father, Wang Situ, old man Cai Yong, and Kong Rong from Beihai were all commoners. The rest of the people nominated, oh, General Tian nominated a few people from the military, and the others were basically either rich or noble, or they were related to the people who nominated them. The emperor asked them questions and the superiority was immediately clear. , most of those sons of common families are good talents. The rest, except for a few people who were recommended by Liu Biao of Bingzhou and Gongsun Zan of Youzhou, are mediocre and pedantic. You should know how to use them. Keep the ones who are useful and get rid of the useless ones. However, those people are still used. Of course, they are sent back to their original territories to fill the vacancies. In this way, more people without such family backgrounds and sects will be selected, and such voices will naturally disappear in the court gradually. "
"But, they have no objections?" I pointed around randomly.
"Meng De's words silenced these people. I have to admire Meng De's courage. You know, this is not a joke. If things go wrong, these people will bear a grudge against him. The instructor didn't dare to think of it. Your father also plans to leave a few people who know nothing but are obedient in the capital to appease these people." It's rare for Zi Yu to praise someone. I am also very interested in seeing how Brother Meng De does it: "Meng De gathered all the adults who recommended him together and showed them their countermeasures. If the adults are not satisfied with the emperor's evaluation, they can sign their names and post them at the city gates, and discuss with the people of the world. Those people understand it, and with the emperor's evaluation, they have nothing to say."
"Okay, haha... That's great. However, Brother Meng De, if you do this, you will inevitably offend these people."
"It's different now. Brother Cao has some power in his hands, and he manages the government in the name of assistant ministers. Although there are many people outside, they cannot be united and dare not act rashly." Brother Ziyu suddenly sighed. It was similar to Brother Yan's habit of slamming the table before everything. He was so slow and lukewarm, and everyone would sigh: "In fact, at this moment, everyone is trying their best to pretend to be confused, so confused that it seems that he doesn't understand why you kill him. At this time, if you are too smart, it will be over soon. So teacher, slowly bully, hold back, don't bully too much, that's all. When you are bullied to the extreme, you have to give benefits. Now that you are almost bullied to the end, you will give benefits soon."
"What the hell."
"In the past, sages attached great importance to agriculture, and China prospered." Zi Yu suddenly said this in an ups and downs manner, and then turned to the main topic: "Issued imperial decrees to let them disband their troops and return to farming, and issued imperial decrees to order all places to conduct a census of the size of farmland and the number of households; although they cannot all do it, there must be lies, but we sent people to watch them, and they will eventually be more honest. Some places turned a blind eye and let them go, but we have basically dug up their past, and the army has also been slightly weakened." Zi Yu actually began to get excited, which is rare: "And these guys, especially In particular, some people are local governors, and their salaries are only 600 stones. How can they bring tens of thousands of troops? On the contrary, the prefect cannot do that? Because the local wealthy people, in fact, are basically supported by a group of wealthy families without official ranks and salaries. Otherwise, who can mobilize troops when there was a severe drought in the sixth year of Guanghe, the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the seventh year, and the floods in the Yangtze, Huai and Han rivers in the first year of Zhongping? These wealthy people also took this opportunity to collude with the higher-ups. They gave food and grass and gold in order to get official ranks and salaries. If the court takes on all the things, it will be difficult to take care of everything, and the world will be in chaos again. So... Teacher, it's time to be with you... You know it, haha, let them divide it themselves, and make a fuss if they can't divide it evenly!"
"I didn't expect it to be so lively during this period. I didn't expect it. It's a pity that I'm not here."
"Yes, it's a pity for you, teacher. You are too ruthless. However, your plan is indeed almost successful. But even if it succeeds, you can't return to your original position."
I smiled and said it didn't matter.
"I suddenly understood why the teacher knew you would come from Xiliang and asked us to go back to Xiliang." Ziyu was silent for a while and suddenly said.
"I'd like to hear more about it."
"I just thought about the census of households and fields, and you told me how you got here, so I figured it out. Although Luoyang is only one day's ride from Nanyang, except for Guanjun, Wancheng, and Yecheng, I have all kinds of troops and horses along the way, and the frequent exchanges will inevitably leak secrets; and there are not many people on the way west. It's almost the same when we return to Xiliang. There is another thing, that is, the transmission of official reports. Generally, official reports from the capital come from official roads, and the local county magistrates or chief clerks of the counties they pass through copy all official documents, which takes half a day before they can move forward. There are more than a dozen counties along the hundreds of miles from Luoyang to Nanyang, and there are several more counties in Xiangyang. If we go west, if we take the official road from Tongguan, Chang'an, and Tianshui, there are only six or seven counties along the way. Although the journey is longer, it will save a lot of delays along the way, so I have to wait in Tianshui instead of Xiangyang. When we return to Tianshui, we must pay attention to the timing of official reports."
I nodded yes.
On the fourth day, the weather was fine and the ground was a bit muddy, but we still set out. We didn't stop until we reached Tianshui.
Autumn has just arrived, and the harvest has not started yet. But it seems that this year's harvest is not bad. This depends on the people's mood. The rain in the past few days has helped. When the soil was loosened for the last time during the summer plowing, it caught up with this small rain and the soil was soaked.
Deng and Lie Ya greeted us. Deng and Ziyu seemed to have a good relationship. They hugged each other very hard, and it felt like they were about to fight. Ziyu seemed to be physically weak, but Uncle Jiang was a former military officer. Under the guidance of Uncle Jiang and later with the guidance of his master, his strength and spear skills were among the best among the people of Jingzhou.
Lie Ya is a person who doesn't know how to learn well, but he can learn some... He actually wanted to hug me too, and he used force from the beginning. I remembered that a master I had once had helped to mitigate the consequences of these two hugging me, so when I felt that he was getting excited to compete with me, I turned around and threw him to the ground with a big back kick.
Usually in Jingzhou, if there was a fight, Zishe would be behind, I would be in front, Ziyu would help, and Zisheng would watch. Then, Yinling would grab me by the collar and take me home, while Uncle Jiang would take Ziyu home. Zisheng would speak well of me like a good kid, and Zishe would help Ziyu. But here, you throw me, I throw you, he throws me, I throw him, he throws you, you throw him, and it goes on and on in a boring cycle, while everyone gathers around to watch us. Finally, they go home to eat, and we go home to eat after the fight.
Since we were at the table, there had to be wine. So we talked and drank; we drank and talked. Ziyu drank too much, and kept thanking everyone for saving him. He told us to call him if we needed help in the future, and he would help us in any way he could. We were all pretty well, and we were all brothers. If we needed anything, we could come to our brothers. No problem. I cried after hearing that. I banged my head against the table, feeling painful that I should have thought of the people in Sichuan earlier, and rushed to Dong Zhuo with tens of thousands of people to kill him; I ignored the defense of the southwest, and the brothers of the whole city died.
By the time I was a little sober and could remember things, the four of us were already naked in the hot water pool in the public bathhouse. Everyone was still drunk at that time, and there were only the four of us in the pool. We saw some white statues of people who were naked like us, very much like people from Deng's tribe, placed around the pool. Deng was newly sent in, made by their craftsmen, and he himself had not seen it. The four of us were very bored and compared our height, body strength, and even whether we were more handsome with these clay dolls. I still remember that I patted Deng's belly and told him that he had no waist; Deng Ziyu was too short; Ziyu Beihai had hair on his body; Beihai pointed at the part below me that looked most like this sculpture.
We started out running from far away, then jumped high into the water at the edge of the pool, trying to see who could make the biggest splash; we splashed water at each other and had a water fight; we continued to wrestle; we even fought each other underwater.
And that's just the things we can recall being fooled about. The only things we weren't fooled about with came much later.
At that time, Ziyu was sitting in the water, panting and looking at us who were also panting, "Shall we become sworn brothers?"
"Okay!" All the voices said this.
This is the drunken record of a group of young people, fortunately it is not entirely bad.
When I woke up the next day, I was lying naked on a stone slab that looked like a couch, covered with a thin blanket. My mouth was so dry that it felt like it was burning, and my head was aching. I struggled and staggered to a pool, and drank some water, but found a new scar on my hand. But I didn't have time to care about it. I kept scooping water with my hands, and then I just put my mouth in and drank it.
As soon as I had enough to drink, I sat by the pool. I had no idea what time it was or what had happened, and I almost forgot who I was.
Just when I remembered that I was Xie Zhi, Po Liu Han Lie Ya appeared in a similar manner to me and did similar things. Then he also sat there, looking at me and grinning with me.
After a while, Deng and Ziyu held hands, and Ziyu slipped, pulling Deng into the pool with him. However, as soon as they stood in the pool, they started drinking.
Finally they sat in the pool and we sat by the edge, grinning at each other.
"What have we done?"
Finally, we put our left hands together, each with a new scar, and went to look through our clothes, and found that the blade of our sères dagger was covered in bloodstains.
And so we became sworn brothers.
It was the third day of the seventh month of the first year of Chuping. According to age, Deng was the eldest, Ziyu was the second, I was the third, and Lieya was the youngest. The first major task faced by the four sworn brothers was to find some decent cold water to drink.
The three of us moved in unison, but there were three different voices:
"Lieye, you go."
"Old Four, you go."
"Beihai, you go."
As for the matter of sworn brotherhood, it was not over yet. On that day, after we were completely sober, we performed it again according to our Han customs. Deng felt that those words were complicated, and Ziyu and I actually took a long time to memorize them, but Lieya learned them very quickly.
During those days, we mostly discussed things together. Ziyu and I didn't care and could only wait. There was nothing important in Beihai. Deng also told us everything. He hadn't taken a break for more than 300 days, so he just happened to take a break now. (In ancient China, there was such a rest system for officials. In the Han Dynasty, when there was no war or emergency, it was usually officials, including some soldiers, who took one day off every ten days. You can save up. I may have noted this before. Author's note) The places we discussed included bathhouses, the wild, and public toilets; the time covered riding out to play, fighting on the parade ground, and so on.
At this time, we had just become brothers, so we talked about everything and the atmosphere was harmonious. Of course, we talked more about anecdotes, from the streets to the palace, and most of them ended up talking about women, especially beautiful women. When we got tired, we would still restrain ourselves a little and talk about business or serious matters.
There are two things happening in this area. One is the disturbance caused by the Qiang people in the western mountains. The other is the "Five Pecks of Rice Sect" which is thriving in the north of Hanzhong and south of Wudu. I had heard of it on the road.
The first one is an external matter. The Qiang people in the western mountains seem to have a much better life than the Qiang people in the southern foothills of Kunlun Mountain mentioned by Brother Chen. They have been attacking us. They came last autumn and dragged on for three months. The farthest they reached was Linqiang. Thanks to the bravery of the brothers, the Qiang people failed to capture it. They just looted some things and left. It snowed heavily, so they retreated. They came again in spring this year, still in Linqiang, and dragged on until summer. The Qiang camp was infected with plague or fever, so they withdrew without looting.
Deng told us that the territory of these Qiang people might be very large; Ziyu also told me that there seemed to be miasma in the place where the Qiang people lived. When the scouts sent out to scout came back to report, they all went west from Jincheng County and rode for half a day to a large marsh. To the north was Kunlun, and to the south the mountains gradually became higher. Gradually, they felt short of breath, dizzy, and unable to sleep, so they had to flee back quickly. They had discussed it before and unanimously agreed that it was not appropriate to attack, so they did not rashly go on an expedition. However, there was another main reason: there were three northwest wolves in the north.
Linqiang's walls are tall and solid, and the Qiang people on horseback are not good at attacking cities. So we may have to rely on Linqiang to resist and repel the Qiang army in the future. But it doesn't seem good to be beaten by them all the time. The reason why they came is that the feud should be traced back to Emperor Xiaowu. Either we have to consider letting our neighbors take over, or we have to consider how to appease these Qiang people.
It seems that this matter is not a big problem for the time being, or it is not useful for us to worry about it in the short term, because now we have no contact with these Qiang people at all. Every time they send an envoy to us, they either ignore us or simply kill us.
Then another thing is the internal affairs that we can consider in depth. The leader of the "Five Pecks of Rice Sect" is a little bit of a head. He claims to be the grandson of Zhang Tianshi, named Zhang Lu, and has some medical skills. This spring, there was an epidemic in Hanzhong and Xiliang. He practiced medicine and preached along the way, accepted some disciples, and founded the "Five Pecks of Rice" sect. The reason for this name is that you have to pay five pecks of rice to join the sect. In Taoism, it is called the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, which sounds a bit like the Taiping Qing Dao; what this person did is also very similar to what General Tiangong did before the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
In fact, his mother is more interesting. Based on this, she colluded with the local nobles who fled into the mountains, and some of them had sex, so that this guy named Zhang Lu had a relatively solid and even somewhat fearful strength behind him. Fortunately, with the Yangtze River as the boundary, the difference between the north and the south is unimaginable. There are few counties and kingdoms in the south. The original Jingzhou could not be passed down for a few generations, and "no son, the country was abolished". Jiaozhou did not even have a county and kingdom. The nobles in the north, that is, the "heroes" among the common people in the local area, are quite strong. Their power extends to the lowest administrative places such as Tingli. Although they have no title and salary, they dominate one side. The upper level is a headache, but there is nothing they can do. This does not make sense. There is no explanation except to believe that they are backed by dignitaries. I have seen countless towering towers around Wancheng, most of which were built by these nobles. According to the Yellow Turban Army, they did not take down a few of them when they attacked, which shows that their military strength is strong. But there are almost no such people in Jingzhou and Yangzhou. I think there may be barbarians in any nearby hilltop, and such people generally don't want to stay there. Therefore, it is really difficult for people in Jingzhou to use this word, but it may appear more often in the future.
The "tyrants" are the sharp-haired pigs native to the southern counties. The "strong" are the bugs in the rice. (Modern people call cockroaches "strong", which is not a joke, but also has a literal meaning, the author's note) The "people" are the people of the vassal state, as opposed to the officials. Therefore, the "tyrants" are the officials who have soldiers and food, and are unruly and sharp; the "tyrants" are the people who are rich and powerful and secretly collect weapons. These two kinds of people will surely be a disaster for our Han Dynasty. It is better to let these two fight against each other, and we will sit back and reap the benefits.
But regarding Zhang Lu's "Five Pecks of Rice Sect", everyone came to the conclusion that they should take advantage of the current situation, take it for themselves first, and then deal with it later.
For the rest, I just remember that I was very tired and fell asleep as soon as my head touched the pillow every day.
The imperial edict of July 7 arrived in Tianshui on the 9th. It was very long, but only one sentence was useful to me: "Xie Zhi, who was summoned to Xiangyang, came to Luoyang to meet the emperor (Luoyang. At that time, the word Luo was written in this way. The rulers of the Eastern Han Dynasty believed that they corresponded to the fire virtue and established the capital in Luoyang, so they removed the water and added the good. Since this word appeared in the text of the imperial edict for the first time, it should be used in accordance with reason, author's note)."
I immediately set off for Xiangyang, because only there would my imperial edict be delivered, and I didn't know which eunuch would deliver it, so it seemed that he would have to wait a little longer, and this time, I could only go alone. My brothers sent me to Wudu, which touched me very much, but they happened to be out hunting, so I didn't know whether to be touched or to curse, but in the end I was still touched.
One day later, I met Zhou Mi and Zhou Cang in Hanzhong. I talked to them about the internal and external affairs of this place. Their considerations were similar to ours. Zhou Mi also told me that he had asked someone about the past events. When Dong Zhuo was in Longxi, the Qiang people never attacked. Therefore, Dong Zhuo must have had something to do with the Qiang people. There are continuous snow-capped mountains to the west of Shuzhong. It is extremely difficult for a large army to cross, but it is reasonable for a few envoys to cross. If this is true, then we may not be able to rest in peace unless we can subdue the Qiang people.
The rest is a journey of day and night. On the way to Xiangyang, someone actually tried to rob me. A ragged young man rushed over from the mountain road with a kitchen knife. In the end, I didn't have time to take care of him and just ran away. Looking at his appearance, I knew that such a person was pitiful and helpless, but I couldn't do anything. The former Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun, now a commoner, turned out to be just the same waste. If this is really the case, it would be more reassuring to be a county magistrate in a remote place. (That was how it was called at the time. A county with a population of 10,000 was called a county magistrate, and a county with less than 10,000 was called a county magistrate, author's note)
As expected, there was someone delivering the imperial edict waiting for me in Xiangyang. He was an acquaintance of mine, the one who was supervising the construction in Xunyang and was currently looking after the Huangmen Temple.
"Oh, thank you, sir. I finally got you." He maintained the usual courtesy and etiquette of an eunuch, and should be considered a eunuch with relatively good professional ethics: "General Chen asked me to wait for a few days. You must return to Xiangyang within a few days. This is right. It doesn't cost me to stay for a few more days."
"Eunuch Zhang, you are too polite. I am just a commoner." But I was much more casual. I threw down the reins and searched for Guo Pei's shadow wherever I could see it in the house. Suddenly I remembered that Guo Pei couldn't stand up at all. I had to put my mind at ease and hurried over to receive the order.
After this scene, Eunuch Zhang also blessed me and then left. I also know some rules, especially after listening to his complaints about the pain of waiting, I know what I should do, so I asked Nalan who appeared in front of me to quickly take out some money. When the money was handed out, this guy pretended to be honest. In fact, if he was really honest, he would have left earlier. He also waved his hand and said that the lady had already given it. I don’t know whether it was given by my mother or Guo Pei.
But he still respectfully took the money and left. Only Nalan and I were left in the courtyard.
"Where is the madam?" I asked Nalan while looking at the imperial edict, hoping to see something else.
"My lord, she is in the lady's room." This girl knows my good points and smiled.
"Where's the Madam?"
"My Lord, I left at the beginning of the month and I have to go back to prepare for the sacrifice to the deceased."
"Yeah, that's right. It's July now, it's time for the festival. Where are the others?"
"My lord, Kong Ming and the others have gone to the academy." If she still has a problem, it must be because she has stayed in officials' families for too long. She used to call me Marquis, but now she calls me Master; it's just that there weren't so many reports before, but now there is this one.
"Am I old? Don't call me master. Just do your job." I raised my head, rolled up the imperial edict, and went to see my wife. The imperial edict asked me to arrive in Beijing before August to pay respect to the Honglu Temple, and also asked the Honglu Temple Minister to deal with me and send me to the palace for them to have fun. The former Honglu Temple Minister was Dong Chong, I don't know if he is still the same person now, but since it is an imperial edict, even he can't do anything to me. It just feels a bit wrong to let the Honglu Temple Minister deal with me.
We greeted each other politely. I asked her how she was. She was fine and could move her legs. The doctor said she should massage her tendons and meridians frequently. Nalan often helped her recently. That day, I also massaged my wife's tendons and meridians for an hour or two. She asked me when I would leave, and I waited for two days.
Actually, this was not what I meant, but I couldn't leave immediately.
At the same time, my newly sworn brothers were making a bet in Xiliang. Ziyu bet that I would stay at home for two days before leaving, while the other two would leave as soon as they got home.
In the end, Ziyu won. If I had known this earlier, I should have asked someone to place the bet for me.
As soon as he set out, he ran to the capital like crazy, hoping to catch up with Eunuch Zhang who had set out two days earlier, so as to get some information. But he didn't catch up with him, in fact, he certainly couldn't catch up with him, because later he found out that he had an imperial edict to deliver.
My arms were still a little sore when I arrived in the capital, so I always thought of my wife. Especially when I felt that it was hard to predict whether it would be good or bad, but it was mainly good, and I didn't know how good it would be, I would always feel a little bit lazy, and at this time I would think of my wife even more.
But what makes me a little uneasy is that I was thinking of two different people in these two situations, just because I have two wives.
Luoyang in autumn is still the same. It doesn't drop more leaves because of my arrival, nor does it stop dropping leaves because of my absence. So when Zishe stood in front of me and suggested building a bird's nest on my head, I knew that leaves had fallen on my head, although I didn't see them falling along the way. Sometimes, what you see with your eyes is not the whole truth, and I am becoming more and more aware of this.
At that time, the weather was still warm, even hot during the day, but it became noticeably cooler at night. So, when someone claimed to be sick and did not attend the morning court the next day, I did not think it was entirely an excuse.
As a commoner, I have my own place to stay. This place under the eaves, together with the eaves and the main hall, and even this "large courtyard", is usually called the Weiyang Palace. I also led cavalry to ride here. But in fact, it is not. The real Weiyang Palace was originally in Chang'an. After Emperor Shizu's restoration, the capital was moved to Luoyang. The Chang'an Changle Weiyang Palace, which had been looted many times during the war, completely declined. Now it is probably in ruins. But everyone still likes to call it the Weiyang Palace in private and formal occasions. Weiyang means there is no end. Since we are the continuation of the Han Dynasty, we hope that it will continue to be happy and Weiyang.
That morning, I waited for a long time, but there was no place to sit. I felt uncomfortable wearing too formal clothes. The birds in the palace are also worthy of envy. Unlike me, I can't fly or walk. The sun hasn't risen yet. The servants in the palace began to mow the weeds growing in the cracks of the tiles in the square beside the palace avenue. Two or three piles, one or two pick the grass, and the rest throw the grass into the basket. They carry the grass they have picked up along the way. Slowly, the square becomes clean and flat, and the sky becomes brighter. Until the sun rises, it illuminates the place brightly. The bricks and stones are neat and flat, without any flaws. In fact, it will never be these big figures inside who make this place look brand new, but these people who will never appear in historical sites. There will always be unfair things in the world, and this should be the most easily overlooked place. At least I used to think that grass doesn't grow here.
Finally, the time came for the imperial decree to summon me to see the emperor. I heaved a sigh of relief and followed the eunuch who led the way into the palace. I silently repeated what the teacher had told me in advance: first, others can be rude, but you, Zirui, cannot; second, the emperor is supreme in everything. As for the second point, I only understood the exact meaning of the teacher's words later.
After shouting "Long live the emperor" three times and bowing, he knelt down and covered his face with his hands raised to avoid looking at the emperor directly, which would be considered disrespectful, and waited for what to do next.
"Is the man from the rank Xie Zhi from Xiangyang?" The emperor's tone was not serious. Although he was very majestic, he was still very gentle. I thought it was probably not that my plan to kidnap my son had been exposed.
"Your Majesty, I am the humble commoner."
"Lord Dong, it's up to you now!"
"Listen up, Xie Zhi, a commoner from Jingchu!" He stole a glance at Dong Zhong, who looked very proud and condescending. He began to read from his white scepter. I don't know how long he had prepared: "Yuzhou Governor Tao Qian reported that Xunyang County Marquis was stabbed to death by a thug, and his son was also tortured to death. As a result, he had no descendants and his country was abolished. Checking what the army heard, it was all because the son of Xunyang County Marquis kindly accepted a commoner named Xie Zhi as a guest. Because this person was tyrannical, he fought and killed the son of Xunyang over a disagreement, and then killed his father. His evil deeds were heinous. According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, it is a crime to execute nine generations of the clan. The emperor has issued an order to recruit you because he is afraid that you will flee far away to avoid disaster. Don't think that you can get promoted. Now you are under the emperor, let's see how you explain it!"
The ministers were silent, and it seemed that they all knew.
He was not afraid of this kind of scene and was a little nervous at first, but after hearing Dong Zhong's bad words, his heart was open and calm, and he said slowly: "I beg the emperor to listen, and say this to all the adults: Prince Xunyang heard of my past reputation, and was proud of his talent, so he was very dissatisfied, so he tricked me away, knocked me out with medicated wine, and wanted to kill me; when he heard his father wanted to let me go, he actually killed his own father. He was such a beast and acted like an animal. Your Majesty is magnanimous and benevolent, and advocates filial piety in the world; as the emperor's subjects, how can you let go of such a rebellious son and traitor? On that day, Eunuch Zhang, who was in charge of the Linshui Palace, was in the courtyard. He knew everything that happened, and he would know it if he was called over and asked. Your Majesty is here, please don't judge people arbitrarily." Dong Zhong was speechless for a moment, and coughed twice as if he was considering countermeasures.
Everyone was silent for a moment, and it seemed that they all understood.
"Eunuch Zhang is not in the palace today. Don't try to argue. You are neither His Majesty's envoy nor the governor of a state. How dare a commoner kill the son of a county marquis without the emperor's order?" A stupid guy suddenly said something behind his back. Isn't that asking for trouble? It seems that these adults are not good at arguing. At least they should distinguish the pros and cons before arguing.
"My Lord, please listen to what others say." I almost called you a beast, but I stopped talking when I remembered what my teacher had told me. I argued with him, "I didn't know that Eunuch Zhang was behind me that day. And after the prince of the county killed his father, he executed all the other people who knew about it, and then he wanted to execute me. If I die, I will bear the injustice, but I am afraid that this matter will never be exposed to the world, which will bring shame to the royal family. Although he is dull, he still knows the dignity of heaven and the great power of the emperor. If this unrighteous and rebellious son is allowed to live in the world, it will not disappoint your majesty. As a subject of the emperor, don't you care about your majesty's honor?"
Everyone remained silent, as if they were in another world.
"In April, there was an earthquake in Luoyang. A Taoist got up and said: Knowing the sun is in the west, you can expose it to the east. Saying that you are an inch and shooting it is a foot." Another voice suddenly sounded. This time I completely understood it. Obviously, it should be a conspiracy to deal with me. I understood that nonsense as soon as I heard it. He was wasting his breath. The use of the word "tongzhihuzheya" was even more ups and downs: "Although the words are strange, it is not difficult to understand. Knowing the sun is wisdom; basking is violence; the east is the eastern capital Luoyang, and it can also be called the moving one by a homophone. It refers to the earthquake. Therefore, the word is called: One is to call the wise man to go west and show that Luoyang has an earthquake; but why? Look at the next sentence, the word "a inch" is combined into "xie", which means the people under your majesty. If it is divided, it is self-deprecation. If it is self-deprecation, it is actually taking advantage of it. Why did this person kill the son of the Xunyang emperor's clan? It is to plot against my Liu family's Han Dynasty!"
It was obvious that this person was a clan member. It seemed that he had also boarded Dong Zhong's pirate ship.
"This sir is serious. This is just someone who took apart people's names and made up some bluffing words to defraud money. Don't be fooled. First, he is just a commoner. How can a commoner traveling west cause an earthquake? If killing a rebellious son who does not know his king and father for your majesty can cause an earthquake, then in the seventh year of Guanghe, during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, millions of mobs slaughtered the families of more than a hundred county kings in Qing, Xu, Yan and Ji. Why did the world happen to be free of disasters at that time? Second, according to the words of the Taoists, "The court, our dynasty has a new precedent. Have you forgotten that Zhang Jue is also a Taoist? In the seventh year of Guanghe, the Jupiter was in the Jiazi position. Didn't the Yellow Turban bandits also make up such treasonous words as "the blue sky is dead, the yellow sky should be established, the year is Jiazi, and the world is auspicious"? If it is also called auspicious words, then how can our Han Dynasty survive?" I thought about this very clearly. If I argued with them on every word, played tricks, and fought with textual research, it would obviously fall into their trap. They must have disassembled such words for a long time, and they thought I couldn't explain it clearly, so they did so. Therefore, the best way is to ignore him and accuse him of another crime. Now I began to fully understand what the teacher meant. If I didn't respect these officials in my speech, even if I was right, I would violate the Han law; and if everything was related to the emperor, it would make it difficult for them to continue to speak on the original topic.
"The words of divination from ancient times and the words of folk alchemists should not be trusted lightly. However, this was predicted by the Imperial Astronomical Observatory, so we cannot but believe it." Dong Zhong's tone was obviously a little soft, so he picked up a softer topic that he felt confident about and continued, hoping to put pressure on me a little.
"Master Dong is wise. That is why when King Wu attacked King Zhou, the divination predicted a bad omen, but King Wu did not believe it and defeated the tyrant King Zhou at Muye, thus establishing the Zhou Dynasty which lasted for 800 years. Who can trust the divination of the government?"
"Haven't you heard that whenever there is a disaster from heaven, there must be something sinister going on? But when the earthquake happened, only Xunyang was affected. How do you explain this?"
"This gentleman is exaggerating. What does 'whenever there is a disaster from heaven, there must be evil deeds' mean? First, let's ask what the earthquake means?" I asked back. Of course, I didn't mean to ask him to answer. If he did, he would definitely let me talk to him about the following questions. It's better to avoid the latter questions. So, after asking, I paused for a moment and continued, "The earthquake is the movement of the sky."
I paused again, he said nothing, I couldn't see his face, I could only hear him sneer with contempt. In fact, I looked down on him even more, but there was no such element in his words, instead it seemed like he was defending something righteously.
"What is the movement of heaven? It is because it is not subject to human control and changes. In the ancient times, during the reign of Emperor Shun, there was a flood that was overwhelming and the people suffered. It took Yu 13 years to pacify it. Shun was a wise king in ancient times. He had double pupils and could distinguish right from wrong. He said that this was caused by some sycophants?" I paused. I knew that there was no such record in the book (Shangshu), so I continued: "That is why Xunzi said: 'The movement of heaven is constant. It does not exist for Yao and does not die for Jie.' If it is as your Majesty said, then this earthquake is still a minor one; but what sycophants were responsible for the severe drought in the sixth year of Guanghe? For example, when Emperor Shizu ascended the throne, there were earthquakes in Luoyang for many years (the situation was not very serious in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, but it was serious in the eighty years thereafter). In the past 40 years, China has experienced more than 20 major earthquakes. Zhang Heng was a person of that era. It seems that geological activities were relatively frequent in that era. In the records of other civilizations, they did not seem to record similar things in that era. It seems that this was a unique plate geological change in China at that time. Author's note) Which jiān-wanderers were responsible? Who should be responsible for the drought and locust plague during the reign of Emperor Gaozu? People are stupid, please teach me, sir. "The first time I chose was when we in Jingzhou were still commoners, but he had already climbed to a high position because of his relatives. At that time, He Jin was powerful, and he could not escape his status as a relative of the emperor. The latter two were both the most prosperous times of our ancestors in my Han Dynasty, and no one dared to say anything bad about them. It should be that the laws and decrees of my Han Dynasty in this regard are beneficial to me. (The laws of the Han Dynasty were actually very strict. If someone badmouthed the previous emperor, he would be sentenced to public execution, and in serious cases, his entire family would be executed. The two emperors mentioned by Zirui were both founding emperors, and both were known for their ability to make good use of talents. Author's note)
At this time, there was some discussion among the ministers, but the chatter was so vague that it was impossible to hear anything.
The emperor came out to stop our argument, but in fact, it seemed more like I was bullying them. I was enjoying myself, so I could only thank him and kowtow to end it. There was nothing to do with me in the morning court that day, so they asked me to leave first, and ordered the Minister of the Honglu Temple to arrange an apartment for me, and asked me to stay in Beijing for a few days to wait for my fate. I know that I am a commoner and cannot listen to state affairs in the court according to etiquette. And I think there is a side that is beneficial to me, because yesterday the teacher "inadvertently" mentioned that Dong Chong was promoted from the Minister of the Honglu Temple to the Imperial Censor of the Middle Two Thousand Stones, and he promoted a man named Shen Gongju, who seems to be called Xun Shuang. I have never seen him, or if I have seen him, I don't know who is against whom. But since it was my father who promoted him, he should not pose any threat to me.
The Honglu Temple was originally used to entertain barbarians from all directions, but now it is used to deal with me. Something is wrong. I can only guess that there may be other actions. And this time, it was Dong Zhong's idea to find me, which is also very "strange". The Imperial Censor is responsible for supervising officials all over the country, but he chose to target a commoner like me. I am afraid it is not acceptable without deep intentions.
In fact, as long as I saw that I was being closely watched by dozens of people dressed as Yulin soldiers inside and outside the mansion, I could feel the difference in the atmosphere. Yulin soldiers were originally specially responsible for protecting the emperor, but now they were guarding me alone, which was also very puzzling.
Everyone knows that the current situation will be shaken, but I cannot judge its direction. It is because I am not in it, I have not seen its actions, I have not heard its voice, and naturally I do not understand its reason.
Later, the teacher came to me and praised me. In fact, the teacher had no intention of letting me win the debate. Because Dong Zhong's followers were already prepared to deal with me. His admonition to me was just to ensure that I would not make any mistakes in the court even if I couldn't answer the question; but I obviously didn't, and it seemed that others made some mistakes. But he, I came too hastily, and, well, it's okay.
Politics is strange as hell, but I think I understand what it means.
I stayed there for a few more days, but I still couldn't remember what the house looked like, because just looking at the outside gave me so many things to think about that who could pay attention to what was inside.
The street in front of the courtyard where I live is the north-south street that leads to the gate. There is an earthen wall in front, and the road is inside the wall. The courtyard faces east and sits west. Most of the houses on this street are for various barbarians who come to pay tribute or to meet the emperor. I may be the only resident at this moment. The street on the other side of the road is for the residences of various marquisates when they come to pay tribute. There seems to be no one there now. Imagine that in the past, when the emperor was lucky enough to pass through the road, all the people who came to pay tribute would bow down outside the earthen wall and shout "Long live the emperor". No one dared to be disrespectful or lazy. However, at night now, it is all black around, as deep as a bottomless cave. It looks like a dead street from north to south. The former glory of the Han Dynasty is no longer seen. The street on the other side is the same, but there is a difference inside. The black on this side means that my Han Dynasty is not favorable to the outside world, and the barbarians do not follow the teachings; while the black on the other side means that the current situation is too "profitable" internally, and the counties and kingdoms that have been eliminated are almost all over the world.
However, all these sad descriptions can only be described in the streets and alleys along the city wall to the west. This is the only place where I can face it easily, and even drown in it. In fact, no matter how noisy the higher-ups want to be, or how noisy they will be, the common people still have to live. Where there are common people, at this time of year, there will be the slightly choking smoke from dinner and the aroma of cooked rice. The people's laughter and anger will also be accompanied by the singing of dancers. The rest will be the sound of chickens and dogs, and the streets will be full of riots. To me, an outsider, it looks much more relaxed and comfortable than this lonely and gorgeous house. It even reminds me of the happy streets of Xiangyang. But when I turn my head to the east, the warmth of this residential house will immediately disappear. Except for the lights in the palace, the rest, like this road, are all shrouded in darkness, dead and gloomy, but also hidden with murderous intent. A kind of depression is back, but it cannot be cut off.
During those days, I could only practice lance in the courtyard and build up my strength, which caused the Yulin Army to watch every time, almost practicing with me. Except for the teacher, no one came to see me again. The teacher also mentioned that everyone was "inconvenient" recently. This unclear statement inevitably made me have all kinds of speculations and ideas, and therefore, I was not surprised at all about what happened later.
On the 15th day of the seventh month of the first year of Chuping, it was the time for sacrifice. The Imperial Censor Dong Chong was executed along with his entire family for forming a clique and plotting suicide. Thousands of people were imprisoned and executed for being suspected of forming a clique.
This is the politics that the teacher has taught us, a game that I never want to play; but I have to play it again because it’s still not me who will die this time.