Biography of the Han Empire

Author: Scarlet Polyp

The Legend of All Beings VIII

Jiangnan Scholars(8)

"You're going to Liangzhou?" Zhu Jun was slightly stunned, and asked noncommittally, "What are you doing there?" ”

Li Wei said confidently: "Liangzhou connects the Western Regions, Sanfu and Yizhou, and is the key place in the world. If the west is cool and flat, the Western Regions will be unimpeded, and the division will benefit from all peace; If the Western Liang is chaotic, not only will the Western Regions not be protected, but the division and benefits will also be in danger. Sili is the most anointing place in the world, and Yizhou is the land of Gaozu Longxing, known as Tianfu, if these two places are not guaranteed, then the Han world is not guaranteed, which shows the importance of Xiliang. In the past few months, students have read "The Theory of Hidden Husbands" with the teacher, and they deeply feel the mystery, especially the three treatises on saving the side, the real side, and the side theory, and the students think that it is really the best way to stabilize Xiliang today. Li Wei saw that Zhu Jun nodded slightly in approval, so he continued, "Students are greatly inspired, but as the saying goes, it is better to see than to hear." The students plan to enter Xiliang as a small official, conduct field investigations, and make a paving stone for the future of Liangzhou, hoping that the teacher will be successful. After saying that, he bowed down.

Zhu Jun was overjoyed, stepped forward to help Li Wei, and said with a smile: "Okay, Zhong Yuan, don't be in vain for my teachings, a man should indeed be ambitious in all directions, you have this ambition, I am glad for the teacher." However, the situation in Liangzhou is complicated and very dangerous at this time, I think it is more appropriate for you to follow your Senior Brother Sun to join the army in Liangzhou to participate in the military? ”

"Teacher Xie cares, but marching and fighting is definitely not what students are good at, so wouldn't it be for the Northern Army to feed an idler?" Li Wei shook his head again and again, "What's more, if you join the army, you won't be able to go deep into the people of Liangzhou, and you won't be able to experience many situations personally, so the meaning of students going to the cold will be greatly lost." Students are still willing to be a small official. ”

"That's as you said, but now that there is still a little left to complete the revision, I want to bring it to Liangzhou after all of it is completed, and hand it over to my teacher's son Wang Jian for me, which can be regarded as living up to the trust of the old man." Zhu Jun smiled and said, "Don't be too anxious, just spend the New Year in Luoyang, and wait for the New Year to get cold, how about it?" ”

"Yes, the students are all arranged by the teacher." Although Li Wei said that he was generous, in fact, he still couldn't let go of these good brothers and good friends in Luoyang. And the one who can't let go of it is Xiao Lan, who can get along for more time now, and still feels a little happy.

When everyone learned about Li Wei, they were very reluctant to praise him, so in the following days, in addition to concentrating on reading, they also increased the number of times they got together. Everyone visited the famous places around Luoyang, climbed high and looked into the distance, pointed out the rivers and mountains, and the joy did not know how time passed.

In the second year of Zhongping in the Han Dynasty (186 AD), on the sixteenth day of the first month, outside the north gate of Luoyang, a group of people saw off Li Wei, who was about to go cold.

Xiao Lan cried all night last night, and fell asleep until the fifth watch, and finally didn't come to see him off, Xie Ming didn't know what date he went to, and he didn't show up. Li Wei said goodbye to everyone one by one, and Zhu Jun patted Li Wei on the shoulder: "Zhong Yuan, go to Liangzhou to work hard, your boss Hanyang Taishou Fu Xie Fu Nanrong Although he is feared in the officialdom, he is very decent, as long as you don't bend the law for bribes, or eat a vegetarian meal, you don't have to be afraid of him." When you arrive at the palace of Wang Jian Wang Shibo of Anding County, you can also ask him more about the essence of "The Theory of Hidden Husbands", although he is indifferent and a little high, but his knowledge is still high. Remember to write back more often. ”

Li Wei thanked Zhu Jun, said goodbye to everyone, and boarded the car on the road. Riding in the car, I reluctantly looked at the towering city gate of Luoyang. I have only been in Luoyang for ten months, and I have experienced almost more people than I have in the past nineteen years, and I also have a lifelong relationship. Luoyang, this dream of the royal city, when will I be able to return to your arms. "Ahh Li Weimeng found that on the city tower in Luoyang, there was a white slender figure, waving desperately, and seemed to be shouting something. Li Wei's eyes moistened, Xiao Lan, even if Xiliang is a sea of swords and fire, and there are thousands of troops and horses in front of me, I will go back to Luoyang to marry you, who in the world can stop me!

The car went very fast, not long after, the huge Luoyang City has become a small black spot in the distance, Li Wei picked up a roll of bamboo slips, just wanted to pass the time with reading, but heard the shout of "stop, stop" from outside the car, Li Wei looked out of the car, only to see Xie Ming riding a horse from behind, busy telling the coachman to stop. Xie Ming ran forward, didn't say much, and told the coachman to put his horse on the car, throw the burden and sword on his body into the car, and the person jumped into the car quickly, dusted off his clothes, sat upright, and regardless of Li Wei's stunned expression, he ordered the coachman to set off.

"What do you want to do? You don't have to bring any baggage with you to send me off. Li Weiqi said,

Xie Ming: "Hehe, yes, I'm naturally here to see you off, but I want to send you to Xiliang, so of course you have to prepare some outfits." ”

Li Wei suddenly found that his seemingly elegant friend was actually a guy who was difficult to understand inside, so he had to smile bitterly: "That's really hard work." ”

"My brother is polite." Xie Ming didn't know where to take out a feather fan and shook it, "I have also wanted to travel to Xiliang for a long time, and this trip is just as I wish, and I can still be accompanied by Zhong Yuan on the way, wouldn't it kill two birds with one stone?" ”

With Xie Ming with them, the two of them were talking hand in hand, or watching the mountains and rivers, or arguing about the history along the way, which was really pleasant. Sili is the most developed area of the Han Dynasty, from the capital Luoyang to the western capital Chang'an, passing through Henan Yin, Hongnong County, Jingzhao Yin three counties, are densely populated. There are often market villages on both sides of the road for more than ten miles, the pedestrians and cars on the road are bustling, there is often a blockage when passing through the fork road, often can only stop and wait, there are many small traders who set up stalls to sell beside the road, attracting passers-by. Although it is still only early spring, there is still some bleak winter in the eyes, but you can already see the spring ploughing farmers working in groups in the fields, a scene of peace and prosperity.

Xie Ming shook the feather fan and said with emotion: "Dahan, it is also a place of thousands of miles, which is a bit ****. ”

"If even these three auxiliary places are in chaos, then will the Han still have a place for the people to live?" Li Wei said with a smile, "Since the founding of the Han Dynasty, Si Li has lived in the middle of the world, with the benefits of the river, Weishui (the Yellow River and the Wei River), the tiger prison, the danger of Tongguan, the people live in peace, the fertile land is thousands of miles, and thousands of merchants gather. But as the old saying goes, Sanfu is flat and the world is decided, but when the world is in chaos, Sanfu must be the first to be soldiered. ”

Xie Ming pointed to the west, "Zhong Yuan, you are right, now the disaster is coming from the west, if the two thieves of Hanbian cannot be pacified within the year, so that they can invade Zuo Fufeng, Zuo Feng Ling and the two counties, and threaten Chang'an, this rich and peaceful land of Sizhou will no longer exist." ”

"That's right, but I think that now that the ant thieves in Hebei have been pacified, I think that soon the imperial court will be able to raise the elite of the whole country to extinguish the thieves in Liangzhou." Li Wei said optimistically.

Xie Ming sighed when he heard this: "Zhong Yuan, what you think is too simple, why is this Liangzhou so unstable?" Although there are many reasons, the most important thing is the disaster of the Qiang people, and several famous generals of this dynasty have used almost any method, whether it is killing or pacifying. However, the Qiang people are still unruly, and this time in Xiliang there are Han people and Haoqiang to join the rebellion, and the form is more complicated. I'm afraid that relying on the power of the court alone is already powerless, unless 。。。。。。 ”

"Unless it's that Hebei leopard, don't make him a general." Li Wei saw that Xie Ming was a little unconvinced, and said with a smile, "I naturally also know how powerful this black panther is, in Hebei, he can kill 200,000 ant thieves with 10,000 cavalry, and his soldiers are almost not under the emperor's command." But even if this Li Hong has Wu Qi, Le Yi's ability, and can lead the troops into Liang, he can only fight to calm Liang, unless he can kill all the Qiang people in Liangzhou, otherwise the focus of Pingliang is to rule after the war, not in the war. Xie Ming nodded slightly, as if he had an understanding.

Chang'an, the only city in the world that can be as famous as Luoyang,.

After the Han Dynasty moved eastward, the political center of the Han Dynasty moved from Chang'an to Luoyang, but it did not reduce Chang'an's status as an economic center in the slightest. When the dynasty was at its strongest, Chang'an not only brought together merchants from all over the Central Plains, Bashu, Hebei, Jiangnan, and the Western Regions, but also guests from the distant Dayue clan, rest, body poison, and even the legendary Great Qin State. Although the situation in Xiliang has been out of control since Emperor Xiaohuan, and the road to the Western Regions has been slowly cut off, Chang'an's commerce is still full of vitality. After the Baling, it is a wide stone road that can be used for eight carriages in parallel to lead directly to Chang'an City, the road is full of traffic, there are many stone beast statues of the Han Dynasty and even the Qin Dynasty on the roadside, lifelike, people can't help but feel that although Chang'an is no longer the city of the Son of Heaven, there is still a vague imperial hegemony.

Li Wei was enjoying the scenery on both sides of the avenue, and suddenly saw a group of people gathered in front of him, who seemed to be watching something, and suddenly found that Xie Ming didn't know when he had jumped out of the carriage and ran over to join in the fun.

Li Wei followed and got out of the car, came to the crowd, and took a closer look, it turned out that it was a person who passed out on the side of the road, only to see that the person was extremely thin, wearing a shabby Confucian robe, lying on the ground, not knowing life or death. The two separated from the crowd, stepped forward to help the man up, only to see that it was a young man in his early twenties, his face was blue, Xie Ming probed the man's snort, took a pulse, and said to Li Wei: "It seems that he is hungry and faint, quickly help him into the car." ”

The two helped the man into the carriage, pried open the man's mouth and poured half a pot of soju into it, only to hear the man's "cough, cough" a few times and opened his eyes, Li Wei hurriedly took out a box of food for him, the man was obviously hungry and anxious, and he was not polite, he thanked him and took it and ate it. After eating a few bites, he suddenly stopped, divided the rest of the food in half, took out a hand towel from his bosom, wrapped half of it and put it in his bosom, and then continued to eat. Li and Xie were stunned, but it was inconvenient for them to ask, and when the man finished eating, Xie Ming asked, "Brother Tai, there is not much food, why don't you eat it all?" ”

The man wiped his mouth, saluted respectfully, and said: "Thank you two gentlemen for saving your life, he will repay him one day, the villain's surname is Xu Mingling, and the word Boyu." The ancestor was a member of Yangzhou Huiji, and later followed his father to live in Youfufeng. The villain was in business at the beginning, and made some money, and then he had the heart to study, so he went to Luoyang, but he couldn't enter Taixue after all his money, and then he was deceived to entangle, so he fell here. I wanted to go back to my hometown to visit my mother, but I didn't eat rice for three days, and I fainted here. It's very close to my hometown, I have been away from home for several years, and I don't know how my mother is, so I want to bring some food back to my mother. ”

The Han Dynasty rules the world with filial piety, the most important filial piety, the two of them heard that they were still filial sons, and immediately stood in awe, Li Wei said: "Brother Xu might as well eat that half first, I am preparing a copy for you in Lingtang." After saying that, he gave the money to the driver and told him to park the car on the side of the road and go to the shop to buy some dried food and dried meat. Xu Ling thanked him again and again, ate the rest of the food, drank the remaining half a pot of soju, and the whole person was refreshed. The three of them exchanged names and surnames, and they talked, Xu Ling heard that both of them had passed the scriptures, and he was in awe: "I heard that Luoyang Taixue's scripture exam is extremely difficult, and many well-known Confucian students in the local area can't pass, and the two of them can really envy and admire me for having such knowledge." ”

"Brother Xu has won the award, but since you are a merchant family, why do you want to give up business to study?" Xie Ming asked

"Hey, it's hard to put into words." Xu Ling's face was bitter, "Although the Han Dynasty is not restricted to trade, after the self-esteem of Confucianism, he thought that merchants did not guard their homeland and were lowly occupations, and the status of merchants in this dynasty became extremely low, far worse than that of the pre-Qin period. Although the merchant ostensibly has the wealth of the world, he is actually exhausted, and half of his income has to pay various miscellaneous taxes. Nowadays, as a businessman, if it is not for the hands and eyes of the sky, even if there is Bai Gui and the talent of Yidun, it is also difficult to make ends meet. ”

Li and Xie were both born scholars, and it was the first time they had heard of such businessmen's remarks, so they quietly waited for Xu Ling to follow.

"My father suffered deeply, so before he died, he instructed me to get rid of the goods and cheap business, his old man meant, he wanted me to use the money to go to Luoyang to buy an official position, but I was young and vigorous at that time, how could I be willing to do such a thing? So he took his daughter to study in Luo. At first, I didn't know how to go and spent a lot of money, but later I learned that Luoyang Taixue generally only recruits the children of scholars, and it is very difficult for ordinary cloth children to enter school, let alone the children of businessmen like me. But I didn't give up, and insisted on staying for a few years, and finally spent all the money, I wanted to buy a carriage to return to my hometown, but I was knocked out by the owner when I picked up the car, and when I woke up, I was gone, and I wanted to go to the official but no one accepted it, so I was rescued by the two of them. When Xu Ling said about the grief and indignation, he couldn't help crying.

Li and Xie looked at each other, and they didn't know what words to use to comfort this unlucky businessman's son for a while, but Xu Ling first got rid of his grief and indignation, and began to tell the two of them some interesting experiences when they were doing business in the past, and the customs and customs of various places opened their eyes. When talking about the situation in the Western Regions, Li Wei asked curiously: "Could it be that in the west of the Western Regions, there are really Kangju, Dayue, and these countries to rest in peace?" ”

"Of course, not only that, but I heard a merchant in the Western Regions say that there is another world to the west of their country, there is a powerful country called Great Qin, and there are many small countries, and my previous ambition is to go to those countries to open up trade routes." Speaking of this, Xu Ling's face turned gloomy again, "I didn't expect to be so depressed today, it seems that there is no hope in this life." ”

Li Wei hurriedly persuaded: "How can Brother Xu be so depressed, Mencius Yuntian will be entrusted with the great task of the Si people, and he must first suffer his mind, strain his muscles and bones, and starve his body and skin." I see that Brother Xu has great ambitions, how can he wear down his will for a momentary setback, Zhong Yuan has no money to spare, today he is willing to give Brother Xu a good horse, and he can get more than 100,000 yuan if he sells it, so as to help Brother Xu make a comeback, what does Brother Xu think? ”

Xu Ling hurriedly excused himself, but Li Wei insisted on sending it, and soon the coachman came back from buying grain, Li Wei instructed the coachman to untie a horse, load the grain on the horse's back, and hand the reins to Xu Ling. Li Wei looked at the back in the distance, sighing, Xie Ming was stunned for a while, and suddenly clapped his hands and smiled: "I really didn't come in vain, if I hadn't come, I was afraid that Zhongyuan would have no horses, so I had to go to Xiliang with the book on my back." The two looked at each other and laughed.

After Chang'an, Zuo Fengling, Anding County in Xiliang is in front of you. Since the division was subordinated to Liangzhou, the number of cars, horses and pedestrians on the gallop road has decreased significantly, and the sides of the road have become more and more desolate. Li Xie and the two of them felt drowsy when they saw the yellow grass of the mountains and mountains all day, and suddenly heard the coachman's "ahhhhh