Lei Heng led Sui Sheng, Lin Sheng, Zhao Hu and others all the way north, through the county, and after more than a month of trekking, he finally arrived in Luyang County.

It was the late summer of the sixth year of Guanghe (182 AD). Calculated that the journey was less than half, and there were only a few months left before the "Yellow Turban Rebellion". Lei Heng was extremely anxious. Regardless of Zhao Hu and others' dissuasion of "the path may be disaster", he chose some shortcuts and paths to travel day and night.

On this day, the group continued to walk through the ancient road of the dense forest.

When they arrived at the middle of the sun, they saw that everyone was hungry and thirsty, Lei Heng ordered: "Stay here for half an hour, eat some dry food before going on the road." Seeing that the water in the bamboo tube had finished, he had to say again: "Three monkeys, go and get some water..."

Taking advantage of the time when everyone was resting, Lei Heng quickly found a secluded place and took out dozens of steamed buns from the (storage space) and gave them to everyone one by one.

Although these steamed buns are novel and delicious, they are hot in summer and have been traveling for more than half a day. Everyone felt dry mouth and tongue, so they were not in a mood to swallow. They looked into the distance one by one, hoping that the three monkeys would get the water soon.

Lei Heng shook his head and smiled bitterly. If he had known it, he would not have saved that little space. If he had stored a few buckets of wine in (storage space), there would not have been such an embarrassing scene.

"There is an enemy..." A scream interrupted Lei Heng's thoughts. The warning sound of three monkeys came from the forest. Lei Heng and others didn't care about their luggage, so they stood up and rushed to the source of the sound.

A dozen men holding swords surrounded the three monkeys and a man dressed in the middle. A one-eyed man with a leader was searching for several packages, and the ground was covered with scattered clothes and bamboo slips. The blue shirt on the scribe's shoulder was torn apart, and bright red blood kept flowing out along the wounds on the skin, making the scribe's face pale. The three monkeys were also covered in blood, and were holding a knife and leaning against a big tree, panting heavily.

Seeing this scene, Lei Heng felt regret and worry. Although the three monkeys were smart, they were not good at martial arts. It was really important to send Lin Sheng to walk with him.

"Kill me!"

Lei Heng issued a massacre order angrily, and Lei Heng had no mercy on this group of bandits.

Lin Sheng's martial arts were obviously much higher than that of the three monkeys. He rushed to a few steps behind a bandit. Before the other bandits could react from the daze, he waved his sword to cut over the two bandits next to him. Seeing this, the one-eyed leader was furious and stabbed Lin Sheng with his gun. The other bandits also rushed forward and fought with Zhao Hu and others into a group. Sui Sheng followed Lei Heng closely and acted as a personal guard.

Lei Heng took the opportunity to run to the three monkeys. Seeing that most of them had skin injuries, he was relieved and quickly bandaged him briefly.

"Little brother, can you take time to take care of me, the person who is caught in the attack..." At this time, the scholar reluctantly expressed his dissatisfaction.

Lei Heng apologized repeatedly, stepped forward and tore his clothes torn apart, tied up the scribe's shoulders, which temporarily stopped the blood, and then called Sui Sheng to support the scribe.

In the battle circle, Lin Sheng was very fierce. After slashing the one-eyed leader, he actually abandoned the steel knife and swung his body as a weapon to rush forward, scaring the rest of the bandits to scatter.

Zhao Hu and others did not chase after him and retreated to the formation to clean up the mess.

Lei Heng breathed a sigh of relief, turned around and bowed to the scholar and said, "Linjiang Lei Heng, Lei Zheng said!"

"Linjiang? Linjiang County, Ba County?" The scholar was stunned when he heard this and returned calmly: "Yingchuan County, Xi Zhong."

Xi Zhong?

Lei Heng felt aroused in his heart and asked tentatively: "But the opera artist in Yangzhai County, Yingchuan County?"

The scholar was stunned, but generously admitted: "It is! The eldest son of the Yangdi family, Xi Zhong and Xi Zhicai."

It’s Xi Zhicai?!

Lei Heng, who had longed for a strategist for a long time, immediately saw information about Xi Zhicai: "The Three Kingdoms: Biography of Guo Jia" records that "At the time, Yingchuan was a planner, and Taizu was very capable of it. He died early. Taizu and Xun Yu wrote: "After the demise of a strategist, no one can do anything to do with him." This was the most respected strategist in Cao Cao's early days, and one of the top strategists he longed for.

Lei Heng was very moved.

Since he is the son of his father and old friend, he should get the moon first when he is close to the water. However, a top strategist has a very high vision and ambition, so how could he fall in love with each other because of his old friends? It seems that he has to think of some more solutions.

By the way, you can use the precious classics in the (storage space). Since it is a well-educated scholar, it will not be able to move them, but if you want to suit them, it will be better than countless gold and silver.

I happened to have military writings such as "Sima Fa" and "Wu Zi". I took out some content every day to tempt it step by step, so I didn't have to worry about the play and wanted to stop and was willing to serve myself.

He did it just by saying that, and Lei Heng was not pretentious. He used the name of urination to find a secluded place, took out several volumes of Sima Fa from (storage space) and put them in his close-fitting pocket.

"My father's name is Su, whose courtesy name is Chudao, is now Linjiang Order. When he was sent to Beijing to visit Master Han, he repeatedly told him, "On the way, you must visit Xi's house in Yangdi, Yingchuan, and unexpectedly meet his brother here." Lei Heng handed the jade pendant to Xi Zhong, while secretly observing his reaction.

Xi Zhong's expression was as normal, he took the Yu Jue and looked at it, and replied calmly: "It is indeed the relics of my father."

"Relics?" Lei Heng was stunned.

"My father died of illness before the age of a year. When he was dying, he entrusted a piece of jade pendant and told me that 'If someone holds the same jade pendant to come and find it, he must repay the kindness of the past.' Since this is such a 'coin', I would like to tell my brother upright and say nothing about it, and I will never refuse."

One thing? How can you miss such a talented person easily? Lei Heng did not answer the topic, took out several volumes of "Sima Fa" from his arms, handed it to Xi Zhong, and said with a smile: "Brother Zhicai is really a man of loyalty. This book was obtained by Heng by chance. He knew that his talent was a little unfaithful and could not bear to waste natural resources. He was willing to give it to his elder brother..."

"Oh?" Xi Zhong obviously did not expect that Lei Heng not only did not make any requests, but instead gave him a book. He reached out to take the letter and took it suspiciously. After closer inspection, he was shocked. "Sima Fa? Is it the military book written by Sima Rangju in the rumor? It was not that it had been lost during the Warring States Period and how could it fall into your hands?"

Lei Heng smiled but refused to answer.

Xi Zhong quickly looked at the detailed review. The "Ren Boral" chapter mainly discussed the view of war based on benevolence; the "Son of Emperors" chapter summarized the various laws of military education; the "Ding Jue" chapter comprehensively discussed various preparations for war, such as politics, thoughts, materials, military and natural conditions, and the principles of the application of formations; the "Yan Fei" chapter discusses the composition of formations and how to use various formations to fight; the "Ying Zhong" chapter mainly discusses the strategies and strategic principles of waiting for the enemy at the moment, using the masses to use the few, avoiding the real and attacking the virtual.

The more Xi Zhong read, the more she felt that the content of "Sima Fa" was unfathomable, which made her more amazed than what she had learned in the past. Her hand holding the Shu Jian couldn't help but tremble slightly. This appearance and reaction made Lei Heng very happy, and she felt like victory was in sight, but she was stunned in the blink of an eye. Xi Zhong actually closed the Shu Jian, raised it respectfully over her head, and handed it to him.

"As the saying goes, 'No reward is received without merit.' I dare not accept such a heavy courtesy. I have to record a lot of things in the book. However, Zhong made an oath here and did not give it a legitimate word and personally. Xi Zhong would never use every method or policy without authorization. If he had a desire to violate the oath, he would definitely..."

Lei Heng looked at Xi Zhong's attitude and was about to make a poisonous oath. He quickly grabbed his hand and dissuaded him: "This gift of the book comes from Heng's original intention, only respecting Brother Zhicai's knowledge. Besides, this book is the work of the ancestors, and you and my descendants can study it, and you must be determined so clearly?" After a pause, he said: "Why is Brother Zhicai no longer coming to Luyang alone at home in Yingchuan?"

Xi Zhong still refused to accept it anymore, and stubbornly held the book and replied: "What Zhong wished in his life was to show his strengths and protect the people. Since Yingchuan Academy finished his studies, he wanted to go to work as an official and do something, but during this period... I have been delayed. Now I am alone, just looking for a wise ruler to join the country and seek a wise ruler..."

"Heng heard that Yingchuan Academy has produced many talented people, and countless senior officials and nobles have been in the court. Why did Brother Zhicai not visit his friends in Luoyang and go south to Jingzhou?"

"Teen to this court? Hum..." Xi Zhong seemed disdainful and snorted coldly.

"I heard from Brother Zhicai's tone, I don't seem to be optimistic about the future of the man..." Lei Heng asked with the flow, and Xi Zhong also smiled but did not answer. Lei Heng had no choice but to set off for a long journey and had a detailed discussion with him along the way.

It turned out that as early as the first year of Guanghe (178), Emperor Ling of Han, who had been in power for ten years, was still young and was in the prime of his life. If he could work hard to govern, he might have made a difference. But this year, the young emperor focused on selling officials and focused on generating income. After he ate all the already exhausted treasury, he began to sell official positions publicly, first "selling the Guanneihou, fake gold seals and purple ribbons, passed down from generation to generation, and earning five million yuan" ("Book of the Later Han Dynasty"). After tasting the sweetness, he set up an exchange for buying and selling officials, "There are differences in the number of officials in the West Palace to sell officials" ("

Tongjian), determine the official price based on the size of the official and the quality of the place of office (just selling official positions is fair, after all, the oil and water are different), and even important positions such as the three dukes and nine ministers are clearly marked and sold publicly, "Privately ordering the left and right to sell official positions, tens of millions of dollars, five million yuan," ("Book of the Later Han Dynasty"). Except for the emperor's position, nothing can be sold. If there are many people buying and fierce competition, bidding will be won. This shows that Emperor Ling of Han made extraordinary moves from the beginning, and the high level of official positions sold and the wide range of coverage are absolutely unprecedented.

The price of an official position is calculated based on the annual salary of an official. For example, the price of an official position with an annual salary of 2,000 stone is 20 million yuan, and the price of an official position with an annual salary of 400 stone is 4 million yuan, "2,000 stones are 20 million yuan; 400 stones are 4 million yuan" ("Tongjian"). Later, Liu Hong "set up a warehouse in the West Garden to store it" ("Tongjian"), and specially built a warehouse to store these income from selling official positions, which were used for special purposes, and all of them were squandered by himself. It is similar to the nature of some people who secretly set up accounts overseas. The difference is that Liu Hong can come blatantly.

Those who spend a lot of money to buy officials will never think about what to do in good governance and benefit the people. Investment wants to be rewarded. In order to make a profit, they can only plunder and exploit the people, use any means to squeeze more money, and then buy bigger officials, forming a vicious cycle. Such social reality disappointed some loyal ministers and officials at that time, as the saying goes, "Selling officials and receiving money, the loyal and loyal people in the world are resentful" ("Book of the Later Han Dynasty").

Emperor Ling of Han was debauchery and incompetent. The eunuchs in the court took power, the court rule was corrupt, and the court was ineffective. He worked hard on his own, so the whole country was formed with a scattered and decayed wind. In this case, the only one who was unlucky was the people. In addition, during the reign of Emperor Ling of Han, there were many earthquakes in the country, floods, droughts, locust plagues, epidemics and epidemics. People were in trouble for a while, how could the Han Dynasty last long?
Chapter completed!