"The Change of Heaven"
Volume 2: The Edge of Heaven
Chapter 139 Cangwu County
Following the exclamations of nearby soldiers, the team immediately began to fight, but fortunately there was no disaster.
Gritting my teeth and bearing the pain, I immediately turned my horse around and faced the direction of the arrow. Immediately, a soldier handed me a shield. I smiled and said I didn't need it. In fact, it was because I was shot in the right back and I felt that I couldn't lift my right arm, and I had to hold the Tianlang with my left hand.
At the same time, I could already see that Han Lieya, who was not far behind me, had quickly drawn his bow and shot a few arrows, causing the other side to stop immediately.
"Third brother, should we chase him?" Po Liu Han Lieya asked me while he rode his horse close to me while drawing his bow and guarding on the mountain.
I pointed at Tianlang, looked at the slightly reddish earth slope of Nanling, and said through gritted teeth, "Take some skilled archers and horses to take a look, but don't chase too far. If you can catch one alive, come back. If not, search around and kill a couple of these assassins to dampen their spirit." I gritted my teeth not because I was angry, but because the arrow hurt.
Soon, there was a burst of hurried horseback riding and dust rose up, and several riders ran straight up the mountain past us.
Then the generals around me came closer. I was irritated, but I said calmly, "I'm fine. You all go back and be alert. Send more people to patrol the mountain. Sun Yuhai, take some people with General Po Liuhan to provide some cover for him from behind."
In order to let them go back with peace of mind, I pulled out the arrow from my back very casually. Of course, only I know the actual situation. Fortunately, the armor was good and the arrow only penetrated a little, but it still caused bleeding. Hua Rong is really his father's son. This seems to be nonsense, but he can easily take out something from his arms and sprinkle it on the wound on my back armor. This skillful treatment is inherited from his father. He also used his fingers to insert into the hole in the armor and rubbed it a little. The medicine was a bit pickled. Although my right shoulder trembled, my whole expression and body still seemed relaxed. They praised me a few times, which seemed to be flattering, and then said goodbye and left one after another.
But I was also a little worried. I was the commander-in-chief of the three armies, and I was a vassal of the Han Dynasty. If I was in trouble, it would not be a good thing, especially for me. Therefore, I recruited some cavalrymen with swords and shields to guard me from front and back, and sent some people to the mountain to explore casually, in groups of two, and they would go and come back immediately. In order to prevent them from attacking again, Dong Zhuo or his men seemed to have known that I was coming and had planned to kill me. Otherwise, who among the Wuling barbarians had such a great hatred for me that they had to snipe and kill me in the midst of thousands of troops.
Zhang Jian was sitting in the carriage in front, and when he heard about this incident, he got off the carriage and waited for me on the roadside. I had to get off the horse to meet this uncle, and I found that my right arm was not very obedient, and I grimaced when I got off the horse.
"Uncle Zhang Jian, what can I say to you?" I insisted and bowed very respectfully.
"Where was Yue Hou injured?" He was a little surprised.
"Uncle, it's the scapula behind my right arm." I told him the truth.
"Doesn't it hurt?"
"Fortunately, it's just a flesh wound."
The uncle was finally relieved, but he didn't expect that he would start talking again: "Yue Hou is the new ruler of a place, but he doesn't have any direct guards. I think it's wrong. I think that there was a big rebellion in Jiaozhou at that time, so Yue Hou was ambushed and killed by the rebellion. How can you not be on guard now..."
I think young people definitely don’t have so much to say, and they will just say a few words when they meet; they will never be like Uncle Zhang. However, if they were to face the enemy, and let Uncle Zhang face the enemy, if the enemy has the patience to listen, he might bring his bed and quilt to take a nap. This is a good idea to tease a polite opponent, but I am afraid that the other party will eventually lose his temper and rush over to kill him at all costs.
Finally, I invited him to ride with me on a horse-drawn carriage that was originally loaded with grain, but became empty this morning and was loaded with various sundries on the way out. Zhang Jian did not refuse and got on the carriage. He sat on it and continued to ride with me. But there was really no other way, so I listened. However, putting aside what I said before, it is still helpful for me to build my own court. I asked him if there were any celebrities in Jiaozhou. He was not more or less. But just when I started talking about the sentence "The three heroes of the Chen family are all from Cangwu", Lie Ya came back. He was smiling and carrying a living person who seemed to have fainted in front of his horse. Just by looking at his body, I knew who to ask: "Please ask General Gong Yi Nu to come."
This prisoner pretended to be a Wuling barbarian, and of course he might be a Wuling barbarian, anyway, he was dark and strong. I thought that their words should not be much different from those of the locals. But on the scene, these two people stared at each other, chattering in a shrill voice that was completely incomprehensible, and in the end they shook their heads, obviously they didn't understand either. Finally, I gestured and said, "Go away, let him go." Si had some opinions, and I thought you had made a contribution, but it would be better to let this man go today, so Si gave up. In fact, I was thinking in my heart whether the Wuling barbarian would change his attitude towards me this time; and further thinking about the performance of the Xiliang people after they knew about the matter. In short, I think it is better to let my Nanman King brother and Ba Hou deal with the Wuling barbarian, and I'd better be gentle to stay out of it. The situation in the south is not clear now, and there are all kinds of news, which is enough to bother me.
I thought about the arrow that shot me. It was extremely sharp, with a straight shaft and neat tail feathers. It was definitely a top-grade arrow. Even without considering its current appearance, I believe that the arrow that could pierce Lingxi armor from a hundred steps away was not something that Wuling Man could have. Otherwise, Zheng Ge would not have to make weapons for his sister-in-law. And a few people came just to assassinate me, which was not something Wuling Man would think of doing on their own. (Don't think I am mocking Wuling Man. In fact, this ethnic minority was very powerful in history, and in the end they were mainly assimilated into the Han nationality, not other ethnic minorities, author's note, but some may have been assimilated into the Hani or Zhuang nationality, etc.)
We set out in the morning and crossed the Nanling Mountains in the evening. This cannot be attributed entirely to the army, nor to me, but because the road under our feet was really good.
"It's almost straight!" When I got out of the mountain, I looked at the almost straight road on the mountain behind me, which looked like it was split by a giant axe. I was a little shocked: "And it's been four hundred years. Is this really something that a human can do?"
This is the "new road" of Qin. (Part of it is still usable today, usually called the Linhe Ancient Road, author's note) In comparison, I can no longer remember the name of the section of the mountain we passed today. (Dupang Ridge, author's note) I only know that we haven't finished walking yet, there is still more below, and I can already see the straight belt of white light that crosses the mountains and ridges in the moonlight.
Our first stop was Xiemu Pass, which was the first gateway from Cangwu County to the north guarding Lingnan. According to reports from scouts, it was more densely populated than some counties to the south, and the taxes collected from various merchants were huge.
The guard at the pass was very conscientious in his duties. He only saluted me slightly after checking my identity, and his expression did not change at all. I stopped to ask his name and asked someone to write it down so that I could check his situation later. If he is really good, he can be promoted. Behind the pass, you can see Xiemu City under the moonlight (today's Shanggantang Village, Jiangyong, Hunan, author's note). It was established in the early years of Emperor Xiaowu's Yuanding period. Emperor Xiaowu decided to call it this name at that time just because it was the confluence of a river called Xieshui and another river called Mushui. It had nothing to do with a person named Xie and Mu. Coincidentally, the person with this name was the guard at the pass, so when I passed by, I said to him intentionally or unintentionally: "Well-named."
These two rivers also happened to serve as moats for the city. However, the two rivers did not seem to be very large. When they flowed together under our feet, they were only about three feet wide, not much wider than the Lingqu Canal. The city walls did not look very high either.
The teacher taught us: Don't disturb the people. And in fact, such a city couldn't accommodate nearly 20,000 troops, so the army finally set up camp five miles away from the city. When they settled down, they sent people to invite the county magistrate to come.
It was quite interesting when the county magistrate came. At that time, I was listening to Po Liu Han Lie Ya describing the situation of chasing Wuling Man at that time. Everyone also proposed to have officers and soldiers similar to Wei Wei and Yu Lin Lang; or warriors who were called personal guards; or fearless people who were called carrying knives. As soon as I heard this, I knew that there were really all kinds of people among my future ministers and officials. However, since Zhang Jian didn't mind, Song Yudong and Tian Jian didn't care, and the others didn't care at all, I didn't care. Lian Gong Yi Nu always laughed. I asked her how much she could understand, but she didn't answer me, but still laughed. I had to continue laughing. I noticed the weapon behind her, a long-handled broadsword, but the blade was square, not like the arc of our Han broadsword. Then we all heard the mooing and howling of at least two cows complementing each other.
“Oh, just arrived in Jiaozhou, and the brothers have already started to cultivate the new fields?” I didn’t understand what he meant, but it was still a complete joke. After all, most of the soldiers under my command were farmers from the north.
Everyone laughed, but some people went out to check. But Bō didn't laugh, he was listening the whole time, and suddenly he said very seriously: "The cow that died (shi) is going to die (shi)."
Everyone was suddenly speechless. Gao Sheng thought for a while and said, "Brother Bō, are you referring to the cow that did that job?"
Bō just shook his head. Now, everyone laughed even more happily. Nan was the happiest. He jumped up, covered his mouth, and gasped for breath while laughing. He asked reluctantly, "Ha... Bō... Bō... Bō... Brother, you... you... how... did you know?"
Bō did not answer. He suddenly covered his mouth with his hands, and then he let out a roar that was as powerful as a bull, which shook the entire tent and almost flew away: "Moo... Ao... Ao... Ao... Ao!" Then, regardless of everyone being silent and looking at him in disbelief, he said to Liu Nan sincerely: "If you didn't go, you will be a monk if you die (this is the sound)."
The tent was strangely quiet for a moment. Suddenly, everyone could not help but break free from their seats; some leaned forward, some laughed backward, and the laughter was like a huge flood that broke through the dam, bursting out from all places and surging uncontrollably; even I lay on my desk and pounded on it with my fists. If it weren't for the fact that my lungs were strong and I was almost dead, it would have been painful if the armor on my back had sharpened the wounds, so I could have held back some of my laughter. But there was no such suppression among the people present. Except for a few who tried their best to maintain their image as scholars, most of them had lost their elegant image. Even Gong Yi Nu stood with her hands on her waist, showing her teeth, which were very neat, but a little dark. She seemed to notice that I was looking at her, and she covered her mouth a little embarrassedly; and Nan could only hop around to vent his feelings. Only Bō looked at everyone calmly, but if you looked closely, you could notice a kind smile under his big beard.
E Huan obviously missed this good show. When he looked at the mess in the tent with a look of astonishment, he could only tell us hesitantly: "The county magistrate of Xiemu County is here."
"Okay, okay, be serious." He still gave me face. The fourth brother was a little more fearless, and he deserved to be beaten. He was the closest to me, so my six-and-a-half-foot tall figure, which I always boasted of, came in handy. Sure enough, this man immediately became much more honest.
This official was either a completely honest official or a treacherous villain. Although his official uniform was very old, it was still clean and tidy, but there was a patch on the collar of his shirt that didn't fit well. It was invisible, but as soon as he arrived at the door of the tent, he bowed and saluted, waiting to be summoned.
"This gentleman... is the local county magistrate?" I asked him while looking him up and down.
"Reporting to the Marquis of Yue, I would like to thank Lou Lie, the magistrate of Mu County." He saluted again.
"Oh, good, stand up. Um... wait for me. Hey, Fourth Brother, why does the name Loulie sound so familiar?" I turned my face to the Fourth Brother. I felt that I had some relationship with him. This guy was already laughing secretly, but he still whispered in my ear: "Third Brother, have you forgotten? We met in the north. It was when I was saving the land, Jinglie. This sound means big dog in Wuhuan language."
"Oh, look at my memory. Oh, I haven't seen Ta Lie and Qin for a while. I forgot." I said to him, "Well, there is bound to be war here. He has his adoptive father's will, so it's right for the teacher not to let him come with us."
"Ah, I'm sorry, Lord Lou, your name sounds like... my friend's elder brother... uh... you are Han Chinese, right?" I turned to him again, but noticed that Yan Rou, who was sitting next to him, also had a smile on her face. I was sure that this Lou Lie was not a good person in Wuhuan language, so I continued, "You have a northern accent, and it sounds a bit like our Jingzhou accent."
"Reporting to Lord Yue, I am originally from Changsha in Jingzhou." He said respectfully. Compared with my subordinates, this is rare. There are no more than five people under me who can speak so politely.
"Oh, it's my fellow countryman from Jingzhou!" I laughed. "Great, I ran into a fellow countryman as soon as I arrived in Jiaozhou. It's a good thing, a good omen!"
He didn't say anything, so I paused and started asking, "How many households and people does Xie Mu have?"
"Reporting to the Marquis of Yue, the statistics have just been reported. At that time, there were 2,217 households and 10,070 people in the city. (Initially, the Chinese did not care about adding zeros, so it should be called 17,000 people. For the convenience of everyone, this book has added them. The author's note) There are still 321 households and 2,042 people in the village. But recently, 11 households and 64 people moved here from the southern part of the county and became citizens. In addition, there were four more people in the city, three boys and one girl. The village has not reported it yet, so for the time being..."
"Well, you did a great job!" I interrupted him quickly. This guy was obviously very serious about his work, but he seemed a little verbose.
"How come there are so many people in Xiemu? But why is the population in the countryside so small?" I was a little surprised by this place, because from a distance, Xiemu looked like a village with walls, but I didn't expect it to have so many people. However, generally there are more people in the countryside than in the city, and in some places there are even more. It's strange here and I don't know what's going on.
"Reporting to the Marquis of Yue, to the north of Cangwu, Xiemu has always been a large population. Several counties to the south, such as Fuchuan, Linhe, and Fengyang, are near a large river called Fengshui (now Hejiang, author's note), but the banks of Fengshui are rugged and steep, and the water is also turbulent and fast, making it inconvenient to travel by water, so there are relatively few houses. This place is slightly flatter, and the water is slow, so both land and water are smooth. There is also the Xiemu Pass, so there are frequent exchanges between Jing and Jing, so it is prosperous. Most of the villages here are in the mountains, but this place is flat, and it is inconvenient to travel in the mountains. Some people simply hide in the mountains to evade taxes and do not register. Those who are registered are those who need our army to protect them. Most of them live in places close to... Wu... Such foreign races... Naturally, there are not many people, for fear of being..." He hesitated more and more at the end. At this point, he unconsciously looked at Gong Yi Nu. Obviously, this female general-like person was very similar to the Wuling barbarians in his mind, and he seemed to have just discovered it, so he was obviously a little nervous. Gong Yi Nu's facial expression didn't change much. I doubted that she understood anything the county magistrate was saying.
"Oh, this General Gong Yinu is from Jiaozhou. She originally served in Jingzhou. This time I brought her back to her hometown to serve." I smiled and quickly dispelled his worries.
"I've heard that my hometown in Jingzhou now employs more female officials. After seeing it today, it's true." He nodded, feeling a little relieved.
"What's the big deal? There are many women who are well-educated, knowledgeable, virtuous and upright. I will also use them in the future. Besides, there are one man and three women in the world today. Isn't the ratio of men to women in Jiaozhou better?"
"Reporting to the Marquis of Yue, I don't know the positions in other places in Jiaozhou, but in Xie Mu, there are seven boys and ten girls, with slightly more girls. Although there has been no war, the south is humid and full of miasma, and many boys die young." I have heard this before, and I am still hesitating whether Kong Ming should take it over in the future.
Later, when we talked about the animals he brought with him, he was surprised that I could tell that they were castrated cows, and naturally people around laughed. When I asked him why he didn't use horses, he said that he was in Lingnan, where there were far fewer horses than in the Central Plains, and all the horses were under the management of the commander, so he bought some castrated cows to use as legs.
This person is a person in charge anyway. He also presented me with various documents of Xie Mu's official warehouse. After a quick look, they were indeed detailed and neat. So after a while, I pointed to Song Yudong and asked him to write this person down for future reference. This person was originally the chief clerk of the county magistrate. The county magistrate suffered from boils and died of boils. The original county magistrate was recruited by the prefect in Guangxin and asked to transfer to the position of county magistrate. Xie Mu was originally called Xie Mu. Later, everyone was used to writing official documents. When writing him, they all wrote Xie Mu. In the end, he simply changed his name to Xie Mu. Xie Mu is Xie Mu's county lieutenant. This sounds very interesting. If there is a county called County Lieutenant County, and the county lieutenant of County Lieutenant County is also called County Lieutenant, it will be more interesting to read. Most of the people in this city are farmers, and the fields are outside the city. This is mostly because there are bandits and pirates nearby.
This is what the teacher once did. Many of his seemingly insignificant things must have their internal connections. If a county has a low city wall, a low pond, a large number of people in the city, and a large number of people in all directions, then most of the places here have both agricultural and industrial enterprises, and can be relaxed without worry; if the city wall is not high, the pond is not deep, the people in the city are few, and there are many people in the countryside, then most of the merchants and craftsmen are not prosperous, but the farmers can still be self-sufficient. There are many situations below, and Xie Mu's situation can be classified into one of these types. I still remember that it was a rare class that I didn't fall asleep. The key was that Ziyuan was sick and took leave that day, and there was no shelter in front of him, so he could only force himself to be awake and listen to the class.
Finally, he praised him with a few words and told him to go back and rest. Not long after he left, he heard the mooing of a cow in the distance and laughter broke out in the big tent.
"Okay, do you have anything else to do?" I looked at everyone who was smiling non-stop, "If you have nothing else to do, then go away. Rest early, as we have a long way to go tomorrow."
In the end, only Zhang Jian stayed and talked to me for a while, while the others bowed to me and left.
I returned to my tent, and she was still waiting for me. She seemed to be reading a scroll, but as soon as she saw me, she immediately put down the scroll and asked me anxiously, "Did your husband get hurt this morning? Where is he?"
"You knew?" I was a little touched. I felt so sorry for her, and she was so good to me.
“How could I not know? It’s because I’m in the car at the back of the team, so I can’t move rashly and disrupt the morale of the troops. Also, my legs and feet are inconvenient, and I’m afraid that I will cause trouble to the army…” She looked me up and down, but couldn’t find the wound on my body.
"Help me take off my armor, and you'll see it then." I suddenly rushed forward, hugged her who was still slumped, and kissed her, "Madam, you have stabilized the morale of the troops in the rear, which is a great achievement."
I lay on the camp couch, her hands fluttering around my back under the quilt. When they were about to touch the wound, she nimbly dodged it, but kept asking me if it still hurt.
"It's okay, the armor is solid, only a little skin is broken." I smiled. Although I couldn't see her, I didn't need to see her at all, I could still hold her slender waist accurately. Hearing her breathing getting louder, I first reviewed my mistakes: "I know I was a little careless, please forgive me, madam."
"In fact, my husband is much better than before." She seemed to have a hard time finding the words to describe him. "At that time, you guys were so loud that I could hear you in the tent next to me. I thought you would immediately promote me to the position of county magistrate."
"Some things are not necessarily right as they appear to be. Even if they are right, it is not necessarily better to praise them right away. Even if they are praised, they may not be sincere. Even if they are sincere, sometimes you have to find a special way to do things." I said this calmly, as if I was used to it.
"My husband has really changed a lot." Guo Pei said softly, not knowing whether she was happy or sad, and I felt the same way.
"Will it be okay if it doesn't change?" I sighed. "There are not many things that can be done in Luoyang. Complicated things are passed over in passing, but simple things need to be discussed for several days. It's because complicated things are complicated because of the complicated entanglement of forces behind them, so they have to be let go; simple things have to involve the interests of many families, and everyone has to fight for them; so there will never be any problems in the officialdom. Having seen so many things and experienced some myself, I feel more and more that the foundation for my Han Dynasty to be stable to this day is not there, but it is very likely to be the support of the most capable and loyal officials like Lou Lie and Xie Mu. I am the lieutenant of Sili and the assistant minister, which is a very important position. Well, you were not here at that time, so you don't know the situation at that time. At that time, the emperor gave me the legal books and asked me to inspect Luoyang according to the law. Because I have such a bad memory, I spent several days memorizing it, because I wanted to take good care of it and put an end to the bad habits of these powerful people. But when I came out to check it out, I found that the carriages of various princes, nobles, princes and ministers were actually the same as the emperor's, or jumped a few levels higher. According to the law, this should basically be handed over to the court for investigation and severe punishment, but I found it out and confiscated it. The situation I handed it in, but when I went to my father's place for lunch at noon, I asked and reported all the people. My father thought about it and said, "Don't worry about it. Just give them a little scolding and let them go." That was it. I went to release them in the afternoon. There was no follow-up article. I have the law code of my Han Dynasty in my hand, but when it comes to these people, I have no way to deal with it. What's the reason? In the end, I gave up. Anyway, the big plan will be decided by the teachers, and then the emperor will be pleased, and then all parties will have no major objections. Only then can the policy be roughly decided. In this case, why should I worry about it? I suddenly understood why there are so many hermits in the world. The court is like a group of snakes strangling each other. If I strangle someone today, other snakes may come to strangle you tomorrow. In short, it is a place where you can die at any time. As long as you understand these things, who would go there to die for nothing? But now that I am still alive, I have nothing to complain about. And now that I have been sent to this place, I think I can do something to make the people have a better life. Staying in that place for three months, can't you and I understand more things?"
"Well, I really don't know whether it is a good thing or a bad thing." She hesitated.
"I completely agree with my wife's opinion." I was very serious because I believed that if I continued, I would just get angry. My wife would try to comfort me, so it would be better for me to jump out of it myself.
She laughed, and I laughed too. After all, as long as I can still laugh, there is hope. But I don't know when I can start to have hope for the next generation, as it seems that Yinling and Guo Pei have not made any progress so far.
That night I also asked a lot of questions about Cangwu County and Jiaozhou. Obviously, there was absolutely nothing wrong in asking her, and I could be sure to get all the answers I needed. I could also do bad things while asking questions. This is not a pleasure that ordinary people who ask questions can get.
Finally, we discussed the merits and demerits of Emperor Xiaowu. Although it is now in my territory, we are still very careful to keep this issue under the covers. The reason is that most of the place names in Jiaozhou were set up during the reign of Emperor Xiaowu. From the good side, no matter how he "expends military power" and "loves glory and glory", before him, our Chinese people have never been able to actively attack the nomadic peoples outside the Great Wall, and can only rely on the Great Wall for defense. Since him, the Hu people outside the Great Wall no longer dare to look down on our Han Dynasty, and they are no longer the kind of people who come and go as they please. The analogy given by Guo Pei is very appropriate. A sheep that cannot resist foreign enemies, no matter how strong it is, can only attract the wolves; if it has horns that can go out, although it still cannot completely guarantee its safety, it can already make these wolves have some concerns. On the negative side, no matter how "talented" and "brave" he was, he made life miserable for the common people for decades. He was still a familiar figure. In one year or another, Emperor Wu increased the head tax, in another year, he collected land tax for some reason, and in another year, he added corvée due to war, which led to the decline of the people's strength. Later, during the reigns of Emperor Xuan and Emperor Yuan, the country gradually declined. Later, the eunuchs of the imperial family gradually became powerful, and the great rule of the Former Han Dynasty was eventually replaced by Wang Mang's Xin. However, in the end, when we want to make a final conclusion, we still have to admit that Emperor Xiaowu still made great contributions to our Chinese descendants. Without him, I really don't know where the border between us and the foreign barbarians would be today.
Regarding the people assigned to me by the teacher this time, Guo Pei also told me some things that I had not thought of at the beginning, but now I can figure it out quickly. I finally understand why Brother Yang and the others said that to me about the people I brought. The reason is that Guo Pei often talks with the aunts of various families. You can still get something from those gossiping aunts. Obviously, Guo Pei seems to be developing in this direction. I think saving her from falling into the quagmire seems to be more serious than the later problems. But let's get back to this topic first: Obviously, I pull people everywhere, and some of the people I promote too rashly are not very popular with the brothers. They have to work with some of the people I promote, and even compete with them; finally, a situation of being at peace in public and secretly competing in secret is formed. In the end, it seems that the people I recommended and promoted gradually formed a clique with me as a cover and cohesion. This term should not be very good, after all, the party means black (dang); but thinking about the party that has a great relationship with me, it seems that the party is now a good word. Let’s stop talking nonsense and get back to this matter. I think the teacher also saw the problem in this aspect, so that’s why he gave me back all the things he had promoted so generously.
We'll talk about something else, after all, Guo Pei suddenly remembered one thing: Taishigong Xiongnu is the descendant of Xia Jie. In the end, this dispute seems to be a dispute within our Huaxia clan. And when it comes to a dispute within the clan, it is inevitable to talk about the possibility that such a situation of internal strife will occur again in the world in a few years, and I don't know what will happen to the world in the future. No matter who makes a fuss, strength is still used. Among our four regents, I must be the one with the least strength. Once something goes wrong, maybe I can still protect myself because of the geographical advantage, but the affairs of the world must be supported by my father and master; the only person who makes me a little uneasy among the other three people besides me is Brother Meng De, because of Xu Zijiang's "a hero in the world of luàn, a capable minister in the world of peace" This is the opposite. Of course, the uncertainty of this sentence makes it difficult for me to be completely relieved. If I were still in the capital, I would not be so worried. There, I would definitely be the irreplaceable link among the three regents. But now, I am no longer that. It is difficult for me to understand what will happen among the regents in the future. I don’t know which side Brother Meng De will eventually go to, and this is what I am most nervous about.
The next day I was very sleepy. We talked for a long time yesterday, and I had to get up early today. This is the disadvantage of taking on a big task. I let the army go first, and I went to Xie Mu in civilian clothes to investigate. I took a few brothers with me, wandered around the city, found a few ordinary people, talked nonsense, and asked a few serious questions, but knowing the answers, I could only sigh.
If Lou Lie and Xie Mu still surprised me, the officials along the way here already made me feel very normal. This is what I just learned. Cangwu has more than 20,000 households and more than 100,000 people, which is the population of a county in Nanyang, but it has government-run schools, and there are schools in every city. The government is well-governed and the people know the laws. Although it is called Jiaozhou Yiluàn, it is relatively stable here. It's just that there may be some people dressed strangely walking on the hills here, but nothing happened along the way.
All the county towns below are located near Fengshui. The mountains here are not high, but they are rugged. The water is not deep, but it is fast and winding around the mountains. Going upstream requires a group of strong men to pull the boat upstream; going downstream requires a rudder in front to control the direction, and an experienced boatman is needed to steer the boat. The boat sails between the rocks on the shore, appearing and disappearing, sometimes soaring to the top of a mountain, sometimes falling into a deep valley, and the water often submerges the boat. The dangers are far beyond what I can describe.
I still remember that one day we camped by the water, and everyone went to see the water view. After seeing this scene, no one wanted to take a boat down to Guangxin. I only talked about the beauty of the scenery here and its dangerous situation. But I heard Han Xian mention that the scenery to the south of Shi'an (now Guilin) was like a fairyland, with mountains like the fingers of immortals and water like the belt of fairies. Several people who were traveling with me also nodded in agreement. After hearing this, I had to look around. I still only saw the danger here. Only when I looked again could I see its beauty. I thought to myself that maybe my responsibilities were too heavy and I forgot the beauty in front of me. Then I put on a smile and went to appreciate the scenery to the south. The boatmen passing by on the other side always flashed in my mind.
On the way back, even though they were very careful, Deng Mao's foot was still hurt by a stone. When several Yellow Turban brothers were helping each other, a barefoot woman they knew ran past them. This scene was really interesting. As a result, these northern men began to consider whether the feet of the southern barbarians' women could be used to smash stones, and contacted the blacksmith's hammer. As a result, Jianfeng was not there that day, and there was no blacksmith here, so they did not discuss a more professional result.
After a few days, we passed Fengcheng, Fuchuan, Linhe, Fengyang, and arrived at the end of Fengshui, where it flowed into Linshui (now the Pearl River). Here, the water flow suddenly became clear. All the cities along the way were inspected. Cangwu County was actually not much different from the Central Plains, except that there were fewer Han people in the city, more barbarians in the mountains, fewer regular fields, and more exotic fruits. Everything seemed to be calm here. The officials here were pretty good, and some of them still had good governance capabilities. After walking the Qin Straight Road, we arrived at Linhe, and there was the official road of our Han Dynasty below. This official road was called Jiao Road on the Qin Road, and it must be admitted that it was much worse than the Qin people's. Although it doesn't look much different now, theirs has been left for four hundred years, so we really don't have to be embarrassed.
Guangxin, the seat of Cangwu County, is still a little upstream of Linshui. There is not much road left at the intersection where Lishui flows into Linshui. I think Cangwu is good, so I plan to make Guangxin the capital of my Yue. Instead of Panyu, which my father recommended at the beginning, and now the seat of Jiaozhou. No one has come to greet us yet, and I don't expect anyone to greet me, especially those who are armed with swords and guns, bows and arrows. When I saw the city wall, I set up camp. Seeing that it was still early, I took a few accompanying generals and some accompanying soldiers and galloped away.
The city gate was solemn, and an official-looking man in plain clothes knelt down in front of the city gate. Looking at the soldiers standing next to me, I rode ahead on my horse. After my wife’s various teachings and the indoctrination of the court reports, when I got off the horse and stood still, I asked the person in front of me his name as if I was familiar with him: "May I ask if this gentleman is the governor of Cangwu, Xu Zheng?" (A historical person, as seen in "Guangxi Tongzhi", author's note)
"It is I who am the guilty minister." He did not even raise his head, but lowered it slightly.
"What crime have you committed?" I spoke in a very friendly tone, but I was muttering in my heart, not knowing what this thing was.
"The former Marquis of Yue died. I was guilty of failing to give effective advice, which led to the death of the former Marquis of Yue in Cangwu." I knew a rough idea about this matter. There were such useless people among the royal relatives who didn't care about anything and just liked to travel around. I thought he must have been bored of playing in Yinli, Henan. I heard that the scenery above the water in the north of Lipu was extremely beautiful and difficult to describe. So these princes and ministers couldn't hold back, and went out to play together, went boating on the river together, encountered robbery together, and met a bunch of idiots who were helpless, so they were slaughtered together. Now even their bodies can't be found. Maybe he was fed to the fish, but I think my imagination is very problematic. I immediately reflected deeply and began to expand my associations. In the end, I thought there were several possibilities. First, he was not killed. Perhaps he was kidnapped by a fierce woman like Gong Yi Nu and became her husband, or he forgot his last name and stayed in a barbarian village with drooling and his head tilted. Second, he might also be half-dead and might have been raised as a pig or a dog. The difference between the two is huge, which determines who is in the circle and who is outside the circle. Third, if he died, if we exclude the possibility of being fed to the fish, he might also be buried in the ground for sacrifice, so he could be considered to have made some contribution to this world.
"Do you think you can be the master of Yue Hou?"
"I dare not."
"Then what is your crime? Get up, I have a lot of things to do." I went to support him directly, and held his hand and talked to him about the situation in Cangwu. I didn't know all this originally, but now I know his predecessor (should be Gan Ding, Zhang Shu, author's note); this must be my credit. He has been the prefect for nearly 20 years, and his official age is longer than mine. It must be that he is a "capable" prefect. Think about it, over the years, the three officials in the court have been appointed and dismissed many times, but he is still the prefect with a salary of 2,000 stones. In this corner of Lingnan at the end of the sky, there has been no trouble. In fact, his life is the best. My words with him are very political, but I have become very smooth; I actually remembered the feeling that Zhou Cang had. It was a bit uncomfortable at first, but then I became numb, and finally I got used to it. Now I feel that I feel the same way, but the most similar comparison is killing.
Things were quite simple in the next few days. I sent out orders to various places, ordering the officials of each county to report the situation in all places in full, and I also sent people to check. I also sent people to the east to Nanhai County to meet Yin Ling, who I thought should be arriving soon.
And I also have to draft a list of officials in charge, and decide what these people under me should do. But that day, when I was halfway through writing, when I was writing about the navy, I suddenly thought: Yinling will not go by sea, but I must not encounter strong winds. At this time, I suddenly felt the wind blowing in from the hall door. The wind started, the southeast wind, blowing from Nanhai County!
Moreover, it was getting stronger and stronger! An hour later, a heavy rainstorm came unexpectedly.
I am very worried about Yinling.