The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

Guanghe six years, summer, severe drought.

Outside Yangzhai City, Xun Zhen squatted on the edge of the ground, grabbed a handful of dry soil, and looked worriedly at the distant fields. There was a drought last year. Fortunately, the county government bought food in advance. Not many people died of starvation. I didn’t expect it to be drought again this year, and the severity of the drought was especially severe last year.

The sun was poisonous and the weather was sweltering. He squatted on the edge of the field for a short while before his towel and clothes were soaked with sweat. Suspecting the hilt of the sword, he moved the short sword tucked into his waist to the side, and summoned his hand to signal Xuan Kang, who was standing not far away, to come over.

"Did Zhong Gong Cao, Du Cao Ran and the others go to see the mansion yesterday?"

"went."

"how?"

"Still failed to convince the prefect."

"Fujun still refuses to buy food?"

"The lord of the government said, as a result of the drought last year, the county's tax collection was reduced. In April last year, the prefect Yin-gong bought a large amount of grain, and there is not much left over in the government treasury. I can afford to buy food again; secondly, last year and this year, the two droughts affected not only our county, but also other counties, and even if there was money in the treasury, they couldn’t buy food.”

"Then what's the rule of thumb for this year's drought?"

"Like the previous few times, the mansion only said: 'This is a natural disaster', saying that he would recite the "Book of Filial Piety" day and night, hoping to impress the gods to rain in the morning."

Xun Zhen endured and endured, not uttering the word "ridiculous". Now that you know it's a natural disaster, can you beg for rain after reading the "Book of Filial Piety" a few times? He was in a bad mood, so he threw the dry soil in his hand on the ground and said, "Look at this dry soil, there is no moisture at all! I don't have money to buy grain, so I always organize some people to water the soil! How can I just watch the bare ground How about a thousand miles and no rescue?" He stood up and ordered the guards Cheng Yan and Xiao Ren who were in the distance, "Bring the horse here. I'm going to the prefect's mansion and ask the manor to organize disaster relief."

Xuankang said, "Mr. Xun, you were reprimanded just the other day for persuading the lord of the government to buy food, so go back today?"

"The world is not benevolent, and the people are miserable. As the postal supervisor in the north, how can I sit idly by? Not to mention being reprimanded, even if I lose my post because of this, I can't ignore it."

Cheng Yan led the mount. Xun Zhen got on his horse, whipped his whip and rode, and Po La La galloped away along the official road. Xuankang, Cheng Yan, Xiaoren and others hurriedly got into the car, rode, and caught up with him. A group of more than ten people rushed to Yangzhai.

...

A year has passed since last year's severe drought, and a full year has passed since Zhang Zhi's banquet at night with Xun Zhen.

A lot has happened this year.

The biggest one is the change of a prefect in the county. The former prefect, Yinxiu, was praised by the scholars for his outstanding political achievements and was promoted to the imperial court three months ago. The newly arrived prefect surnamed Wen, also from Nanyang, belonged to Wenzhi and Wenpin.

This Prefect Wen is different from Yin Xiu. He is very pedantic and self-willed. I don't know if he listened to anyone's slander, or if he didn't like the fact that Xun Zhen and Xun Yu were side by side with the county court, and he was afraid of losing power and becoming a puppet like Zongzi and Cheng Jin. In short, since he took office, Xun Zhen has The good days in the county are over.

Not long after he took office, he said to his trusted confidants brought from Nanyang: "The Xun brothers are side by side in the county and they are in power both inside and outside of the county. "The words were quickly spread by his close associates.

At that time, Xun Zhen was in Lay Xing County, and Xun Yu was in the county. How smart is Xun Yu? Hearing Xiange's sense of elegance, he understood the meaning of the new prefect: he wanted the Xun brothers to resign themselves. If you want to "get rid of one of them", you can simply order the dismissal. Why bother to say this again? Having said these words, and letting these words come out, there is only one possibility: that is, the new prefect wants to remove one of the Xun family brothers from the official position, but he is concerned about the Xun family's clear name in the county, and is afraid of causing criticism. Therefore, he deliberately said this, and deliberately released the words, nothing more than to want the Xun brothers to resign one of them wisely.

Xun Yu immediately made a memorial, and took the initiative to resign, saying: "Mu Chu Shi's exercise, long-awaited and gone." After a few words of hypocritical persuasion, Prefect Wen took back the seal and let him go home. The next day, a trusted confidant was appointed to take over as the county clerk.

After returning from Xun Zhenxing County, he learned about this, and hurriedly went to him, and also asked to resign.

Prefect Wen inexplicably became angry and scolded: "Brother, do you want to learn Erkong? Come back when the battle is over!"

Xun Zhen didn't expect him to mention "Er Kong", so she was startled, so she stepped back and said nothing.

"Er Kong" refers to the brothers Kong Bao and Kong Rong. When the party was in trouble, Zhang Jian died in the rivers and lakes, and went to the Kong family to join Kong Bao. Unfortunately, Kong Bao was not at home. Kong Rong was only twelve years old at the time. Zhang Jian saw that he was young and did not tell him the truth. Kong Rong saw his embarrassment and said, "Although my brother is outside, can't I make the decision?" Yin kept him here. Later, Zhang Jian fled, Kong Bao and Kong Rong were arrested and imprisoned. Kong Rong said, "I am the one who left Zhang Jian." Kong Bao said, "It is not my brother's fault that he came to beg me." The brothers fought to the death. The prefectures and counties could not decide, so they had to ask the court for instructions, and finally convicted Kong Bao, and Kong Bao died because of it.

Xun Zhen and Xun Yu scrambled to resign, which was originally a good event of "brother, friend and brother respect", but did not expect to be dragged by Wen Taishou to "two Confucians fighting for death", which implied a threat. After Xun Zhen stepped back, he thought about it and couldn't understand why the new prefect was so angry. When talking with Xi Zhicai about this matter, Xi Zhicai thought for a while and knew the foundation.

He said: "You and Wen Ruo are fighting to resign from office, although you are brothers and sisters, but what kind of person does Lord Wenfu become? The more famous you and Wen Ruo are, the more notorious he will be. How could he not angry?"

Xun Zhen suddenly realized, smiled bitterly, and said, "In this way, it is my fault."

"You are not wrong, and Wen Ruo is also not wrong. The only fault is that this gentleman is not open-minded and smart enough."

"Oh?"

"If he is open-minded, he will not force you and Wen Ruo to resign. If he is smart, after seeing you and Wen Ruo vying for resignation, he should immediately invite Wen Ruo back. In this way, both you and Wen Ruo can be fulfilled. If the good name of brother and brother Gong can also fulfill his reputation of loving and virtuous, but he not only refused to ask Wenruo, but threatened you with 'two kong fighting for death', which can be said to be extremely faint. …, Zhen In addition, although the ruler of the old government cannot eliminate evil, he can achieve good; the ruler of the new government is so narrow-minded, you may have a hard time in the future."

Xi Zhicai's judgment was absolutely correct.

Maybe it was because he was afraid of getting a bad name, and at the same time, he was afraid of Xun's high reputation.

Xun Zhen also figured it out later, you ignore me, I just focus on practicing Qingxia, so I just take this free time and start to formally and systematically teach the people in Xixiang the art of war.

Not everyone teaches, only those who are "very long" and above. Every five days, a group of five people was asked to come to Yangzhai Governor Post House in batches. Every time I go to the Sanya after get off work, I stay behind closed doors, or I explain to them the military arts of various schools, and explain the essentials of personal understanding of military training; or I explain some ancient battle examples to them and combine them with theories. Comparing the terrain, mountains and rivers of Yingchuan County, city, forest and trees, he called Cheng Yan, Xiaoren, and Xuankang to build a quite large sand table. Wherever they were happy, everyone divided into two factions and deduced battles on the sand table.

Including Xun Zhen, none of these people in Xixiang had experienced war. At most, they were like Chen Bao. There were elders in the family who fought against the Qiang and Xianbei people with the army, but they were all just pawns. Understand, but this does not affect their interest in "war". What man doesn't aspire to make contributions to the frontier? Especially in the era of the Han Dynasty, when the folk customs were sturdy and aggressive.

Everyone has a great time learning. Xun Zhen also just took this opportunity to judge the ability of the people in Xixiang to lead troops. "Talking about soldiers on paper" is definitely not enough, but if you can't even do "talking about soldiers on paper", it is estimated that it will not work on the battlefield.

Take a shower every five days. He didn't go home on holidays, sometimes drinking with Xi Zhicai and others, and sometimes taking people to Xixiang for hunting.

...

Speaking of Xixiang, Xu Zhong and Jiang Qin have done well this year. If Jiang Qin's name was as Xun Zhen expected, it would spread all over the south of the county. Now he is no longer "Chengxi Boqin", but "Junnan Boqin", even the prefect of Wenfu Jun, who has just assumed office. After hearing his name, I asked Wenpin, "Who is Jiang Boqin in Xixiang, Yingyin?"

Yin Xiu left, Yingyin county magistrate Zhu Chang was also transferred out at the end of last year, Wen Ping's uncle Wen Zhi followed Zhu Chang away, Wen Ping did not leave, he still stayed in Yingyin and studied under Xunqu. . Prefect Wen was rude to Xun Zhen, and took good care of Wen Ping, a distant relative, and planned to put him in the prefecture and serve as an official. excuses refused.

With the support of Xun Zhencai and Shi, Xu Zhong and Jiang Qin gained great reputations, and most of the heroes from the counties and townships in the south of the county had contacts with them, and there was an endless stream of warriors who came to defect. It has doubled in size and now has more than 200 people. The other courtyard has long been unable to live, except for a few people who stayed behind, the rest all moved to the newly completed manor.

The newly completed manor is located in Fanyangting, which was bought by Feng Gong's family, not far from Feng's Zhuangzi. In order to obstruct people's eyes and ears, Xu Zhong and Jiang Qin followed Xun Zhen's instructions and bought hundreds of acres of farmland around Zhuangzi, saying only that they raised so many people for farming.

And following Xun Zhen's orders, Xu Zhong bought about forty or fifty sturdy slaves from people from all over the world. Usually these big slaves are responsible for farming. During the slack season, these big slaves were organized to practice shooting, just like the people who were trained in Fanyangting. With the support of the money stolen from the Shen family and Guojue, it was easy to arm these big slaves and the light chivalrous warriors who had defected. In addition to arming them, there are also a lot of long and short weapons, bow and crossbow light armor, which are temporarily stored in the village.

Whenever Xun Zhen went to Xixiang, most of the time he settled in this new village.

Zhuangzi is located in Fanyang Pavilion, which has many advantages. Every few days, I can meet with Chen Bao and Feng Gong, and I can also monitor the training of the people in Fanyang Pavilion by the way, and I can meet with Yuan Pan and other old acquaintances of Fanyang Pavilion from time to time. It's not far from Xu Zhong's house, and I can often visit his house, which is also convenient for Xu Zhong to take care of his grandmother and younger brother.

Since the arrival of Prefect Wen, Xun Zhen often felt stuffy in Yangzhai, but every time he went to Xixiang, he felt relieved. After a long time, he unconsciously had the idea of ​​voluntarily resigning. I have this idea again, not only because my career is not going well, but also because I see the uprising of the Yellow Turbans approaching. This year is the sixth year of Guanghe, the year of Guihai, and next year is the year of Jiazi. In other words, in less than a year, the Yellow Turbans will be uprising.

In the past three years, he has grown from being a horse and a single gun to now having more than 200 young men and more than 100 people trained, which is not easy. With the approaching of the Yellow Turban Uprising day by day, he really wanted to put aside his official duties, concentrate his energy, and rectify the gestures of the gathered people. The reason why he has not resigned so far is not because he is afraid of angering the prefect again, but because he did not expect another major drought this year.

Next year will be the Yellow Turban uprising, and this year will be a drought again. If the disaster relief is not effective, the severe situation that will be faced next year can be imagined~www.wuxiaspot.com~ He probably remembered that the Yellow Turban uprising was in February. In February and March, it was green and yellow, and it happened just after the drought. Once the yellow turban raises the flag, the people in the county who have no food will swarm in order to survive. Therefore, he had no choice but to put aside his thoughts of resigning, hoping to persuade Prefect Wen to follow the old practice of Yin Xiu last year and go to another county to buy grain.

Unexpectedly, this Prefect Wen did not take his words seriously at all. In desperation, he negotiated with Zhong Yao, Du You and others, and asked them to help persuade him. After persuading several times, Prefect Wen was perfunctory at first, and then he simply said: "The people do not know propriety, so there will be natural disasters. I will burn incense and bathe, and recite the "Book of Filial Piety" to the sky to help the people. Go by yourself."

This is really dumbfounding!

...

The scorching sun was like fire, and the hot wind rushed to the face.

Xun Zhen rode on the horse, while riding the Mercedes-Benz, while recalling the past, he thought: "In any case, even if the government does not agree to buy food, this time I will persuade him to organize manpower to fight drought and disaster relief!"

——

1. Prefect Wen.

This prefect of Wen was mentioned in "The Monument to Gao Biao of the Yellow Order", which probably means: Gao Biao's "upholding the master" Yingchuan prefect of Nanyang Wenrenfu Jun was recruited to the court, and Gao Biao gave up his office and followed him to Beijing. And in June of the seventh year, Bingshen died in Dao.

In the seventh year of Guanghe, which was the first year of Zhongping, Gao Biao died in Dao in June, so Prefect Wen was recruited to the court in May or June. This time happened just after Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and Cao Cao broke the Yingchuan Yellow Turban and pacified Yingchuan. At this time, he was recruited as a court captain. Obviously, this prefect Wen did not fulfill his duties as prefect when he served in Yingchuan, and he should take some responsibility for the "Yellow Turban Rebellion" in Yingchuan.

Gao Biao) raised the general Yingchuan prefect of Nanyang Wenfu Jun Zheng to the court, ..., (Gao Biao) donated officials to go to justice, officials and people climbed the car, ... the seventh year of Guanghe ..., in June Bingshen, death".