Three Kingdoms

  Chapter 13 Each Plays His Own Chess

  This night, for many people, is a sleepless night.

  Yuan Kai drove out all the subordinates at this time, and set up the chessboard in the study alone, slowly making moves, and after a while, the next game was laid on the chessboard.

  Eight ways of nourishing qi have not been formally proposed in the Han Dynasty, but the Confucian way of calming the mind and nourishing qi is something that everyone who studies Confucianism must understand and practice. Hand talk gradually became popular in the Han Dynasty, and became one of the ways of nourishing the qi of the gentry. Even Ban Gu wrote a special article "Yi Zhi" for Go, which established the status of Go among the high-level people in society at that time.

  Yuan Kai was influenced by his brother Yuan Feng, and he also preferred this way. Once upon a time, the two brothers often talked with each other. It had nothing to do with winning or losing, only the friendship between brothers.

  Facing this endgame, Yuan Wei's old eyes were a little watery.

  This game is the last unfinished game between him and his elder brother Yuan Feng, and today he will finally finish it.

  That night happened to be the time when the disaster of the party's imprisonment was launched. At that time, the whole city of Luoyang will be ablaze with flames all night long, and soldiers and armor will scream. I don't know how many Qingliu literati's families will be destroyed and their heads will be in different places.

  That night, Yuan Kai and Yuan Feng were terrified, forced themselves to calm down and sat against each other in the hall, waiting for the unpredictable verdict. Fortunately, Emperor Han Ling did not agree with the eunuch's opinion on Yuan Feng's handling, and Yuan Jiafang was spared. But after that, although his elder brother Yuan Feng never dismissed from office, he was implicated a lot for a while and fell into a slump from then on, which eventually led to Yu Yu's death.

  Since then, Yuan Kui hated eunuchs deeply, but what he could do was that the eunuchs were so powerful at that time, so Yuan Kui could only bear with it.

  Tonight is also the same as that time, the flames are shining in Luoyang, and the soldiers are running around, but the difference is that the heads of the eunuchs fell to the ground this time.

   Years of layout has finally come to an end.

  Yuan Wei didn't have any hatred with He Jin. Strictly speaking, the Qingliu class of the gentry and aristocratic families would spray their relatives as much as they could on weekdays, but not many people really regarded their relatives as their life and death enemies.

  Because the aristocratic family knows that relatives often change, at most a few years, when the favored person in the palace fades, and when he grows old, even the most popular relatives will fall one day.

  But eunuchs are different, beauties are often changed, but eunuchs are not!

Yuan Kui waited for a long time, and finally waited for the opportunity. Taking advantage of the new emperor ascending the throne, the older generation of eunuchs could not immediately get closer to the new emperor, so he provoked the conflict between his relatives and eunuchs, and continued to add fuel to the flames, even at the expense of using Yinzi, who had been lying in wait for many years, finally pulled all his opponents into the abyss of death.

  He Jin, the great general of foreign relatives, died.

  The eunuchs, Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and other cadres died.

  Yuan Wei stretched out his hand and picked up the dead black dragons on the chessboard one by one, threw them on the ground, raised his head high, and looked at the black chess pieces rolling down on the ground with contempt.

  A cold smile appeared on Yuan Wei's mouth.

   "It's a pity that we can't do all the work..." Yuan Kai tapped the two small black pieces that were struggling to survive at the corner of the chessboard, "Forget it, after all, the Dao is fifty, and the sky is fourty-nine, so the fate of these two people is great..."

   "However... in the next game, will you still have such luck?"

  ****************

   A group of mighty soldiers and horses meandering, they are the soldiers and horses under the jurisdiction of Xiliang Dong Zhuo.

Li Ru and Li Wenyou are using a wind lamp in the carriage at this moment to set up a chessboard. The black and white chess pieces are fighting each other on the chessboard. I am in you, and you are in me. In the end, both of them became robbers. living situation.

   Is the outcome five or five?

  Li Ru squeezed the chess pieces, examined carefully that it was indeed impossible to play any more, snorted coldly, and swept all the chess pieces aside.

  Since the old game can no longer be played, let's start a new game!

Li Ru opened the door curtain of the carriage, and issued an order in a sharp voice: "Pass my military order, the left and right wings should spread out for twenty miles each, and raise more torches and flags to strengthen the momentum! The whole army speeds up and marches towards Luoyang! We must arrive at Luoyang before tomorrow's eclipse! Those who lose their promise, beheaded!"

  Suddenly, Dong Zhuo's army swelled up suddenly, heading towards Luoyang City as quickly as a big net.

  **********

  Fei Qian and Cui Hou were also in the hall of the small courtyard, setting up chessboard players to talk about a game.

  Although the noise in the city gradually subsided, the two of them didn't feel any sleepiness after the commotion, so they went to play chess in the small hall to pass the time.

   "Brother brought back two people, I think they are either rich or noble, and I don't know which son is in trouble..." Cui Hou took a picture of his son and asked casually. Cui Hou didn't use his thoughts on those two children at all. He guessed that some young master who caught fire in Luoyang City ran away in a panic.

  Fei Qian also replied very casually: "I don't know either, but seeing that the two of them are young and still in shock, it's not easy to ask in detail. Let's talk about it after dawn."

  Cui Hou let out a "ha" and jokingly said: "Your brother still says you are young, how dare you ask me how expensive you are this year?"

   "The old man is actually just young-faced. In fact, the old man is already sixty-five!" Fei Qian also cooperated and said with a positive face.

  Cui Hou laughed loudly after hearing this, grabbed a handful of chess pieces and put them on the chessboard, "Okay, okay, I'm convinced, you win..." He ordered all the maids serving on the side to go down and make some new tea for some pastries.

After the maid walked away, Cui Hou wiped away the tears from his eyes, and bowed his hands to Fei Qian when he left the seat: "My family thanked you very much, Mr. Cui! Today, the Cui family inherits this friendship. Must obey!"

  Fei Qian quickly helped Cui Hou up, "Is An Neng receiving such a big gift from brother?"

"You deserve it! To tell you the truth, my brother, this place is no less than the nectar of a long drought to my family." Cui Hou smiled wryly and nodded around, "Don't look at it now, in fact, my Cui family has It was done by the strong from the outside.”

   "How could this be?"

  Cui Hou nodded, and slowly explained to Fei Qian.

  Every family has scriptures that are difficult to recite.

The Cui family originally originated from the Jiang surname. The first ancestor was Jiang Taigong, and the originator was Yandi Shennong. In the Western Zhou Dynasty, Ji Zi, the eldest son of Ding Gongji, the king of Qi State, had eaten food in Cuiyi. , so Linzi, Shandong is the birthplace of the Cui family.

  However, during the process of the Cui family's branching and spreading, Cui Lie's branch has made quite a lot of achievements in business. It has accumulated continuously through the generations, and it has gradually developed from Shandong to the Heluo area, and took root in Luoyang.

  By the time of Cui Lie's generation, the Cui clan in Shandong had declined somewhat, and the position of Patriarch fell to Cui Lie's branch.

   Of course, there is still a fierce competition here, which is unknown.

Cui Lie, who won the competition, was originally wealthy. At that time, Cui Lie was a businessman and a scholar. When he first became a Situ, he was indeed in the sky. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. After Cui Lie was beaten by the eunuch, he lost his official position. The house was ransacked, and 100% or 80% of the family property had been lost. Then Cui Lie became ill and finally passed away.

  Although Cui Lie passed on the position of Patriarch to Cui Yi before his death, this position is no less than a hot potato at this time, because there are already side branches eyeing the position of Patriarch.

The head of the family has a lofty status in the whole family. In ancient times, the head of the family controlled the family tree and the ancestral hall, and it can be said that he had a powerful right to destroy the family members-removal power, which was no less than life and death for the disciples of the ancient family. power.

   Therefore, he lost his official position and lost his fortune. If he loses the position of Patriarch at this time, then Cui Yi and Cui Hou will be completely degraded, and there will be no future for them.

Fortunately, Cui Lie still had a lot of affection in the court, so Cui Yi was able to temporarily protect the position of Patriarch. How much money is distributed, not only to maintain the manor's manpower expenses, but also to make friends with the ministers of the DPRK and China. After a few years, even the family's wealth is almost empty.

  But these high-ranking officials and nobles in the court basically don't pay attention to ordinary gold and silver, and they like some rare treasures, but these rare treasures are not weeds in the fields, so how can they be found everywhere?

   As a last resort, the Cui family could only gather around, and every time they collected one, they basically paid tribute to the senior officials in the court.

   Feiqian nodded secretly, so that's the case, no wonder there are rumors that the Cui family designed deceitful treasures, it seems that the reason is here.

Now, with Fei Qian's improved method of making colored glaze, the Cui family will embrace a hen that can lay golden eggs. First of all, they don't need to search for treasures like headless flies, and their colored glaze is a treasure. ; Secondly, it also opened up a new way of making money, which changed the situation that the Cui family's expenditure was greater than its income, which was of great benefit to stabilizing the position of the head of the family.

Maybe Feiqian may have other secret recipes, but for the current Cui family, it is the most important and correct thing to consolidate what is in hand and grasp the existing ones, so after the master craftsman at home tried it out, he confirmed Feiqian's colored glaze When the secret recipe had a miraculous effect on improving the color and brightness of the colored glaze, Cui Yi simply made the decision to befriend Fei Qian.

   This is also in line with the consistent rule of the family - the family comes first.

  If it wasn't because Fei Qian was just a branch of Fei's family, Cui Yi would have even asked to thank him personally. This time, Cui Hou and Fei Qian explained clearly the reasons behind the Cui family, and did not ask how Fei Qian obtained this recipe or any other methods. There are two meanings: one is to show that the Cui family will no longer defend against Fei Qian and treat each other with sincerity; the other is that they will no longer greedily peek at the source of Fei Qian's secret recipe and will keep it secret.

  As for Fei Qian, if he needs the Cui family to do something in the future, the Cui family will naturally measure it based on the value of this secret recipe, and give equal or more rewards.

  Of course, these so-called measuring standards all depend on Fei Qian's status and the Cui family's status in the future. For example, for a poor man who is starving to death and a rich man who is full of wine and food every day, the same meal has different meanings for the two people.

  At this time, the maid outside the door brought freshly brewed tea and some pastries, and asked if it was almost time for the rooster to crow, if they wanted to prepare some washing.

  Fei Qian and Cui Houwen knew that this long night had passed quietly and a new day was coming. Fei Qian raised the tea bowl and respected Cui Hou, "Brother Yongyuan, how about taking this tea to bid farewell to the old days and celebrate the new beginning together?"

  Cui Hou immediately reacted, and also swung the teacup: "Your brother is indeed a wonderful person! Let's bid farewell to the old days and celebrate the new beginning together!"

  (end of this chapter)