In a blink of an eye, the celebration has arrived.
When the celebration in Xu County was underway, Liu Xie, the protagonist of the celebration, was not in the main hall at this moment, but in a quiet room in the palace.
Emperor Liu Xie wore a crown and a crown on his head. The crown was seven inches wide and one foot two inches long. It was round in front and in the back. It was wrapped with vermilion-green silk and satin, with black jade beads strung in series to form a curtain.
The front and back of the crown hang four inches in the front and three inches in the back. The jade beads on the front and back must all be twelve stripes of white jade. On the crown, gold and silver threads are embroidered on the crown to represent the sun and the moon.
, stars and other patterns from Chapter 12. The upper part of the crown is black and the lower part is vermilion, the ribbon is colorful, and under the feet are climbing boots. Even the upper part of the boots has patterns that represent auspiciousness.
Wearing such a set of crown clothes is actually quite difficult. There are more than a dozen people serving in front and back. After putting it on, you can't move much and can only sit quietly. After all, the clothes in the Han Dynasty were tied with belts.
There are no buttons or other fastening methods, so if you move too much, the clothes will not only become uneven and wrinkled, but also loose and collapse, naturally losing their dignity.
As the emperor, Liu Xie not only couldn't watch the opening vaudevilles and other excitement before the celebration, he also had to sit quietly in this small quiet room alone, boring and lonely, waiting for the auspicious moment.
s arrival.
Fortunately, Liu Xie was somewhat accustomed to boredom and loneliness, so he closed his eyes and sat alone in a quiet room.
In the quiet room, agarwood burned quietly in the incense burner, the fragrance lingered faintly, and everything seemed silent.
The hustle and bustle is outside.
Silence within.
Just like a celebration is a celebration, the excitement has nothing to do with the tranquility here.
The Huangmen eunuch standing outside the quiet room would secretly glance at Liu Xie from time to time.
As a servant of the royal family, or a vassal of the imperial power, the life and death of the Huangmen eunuchs are tied to Liu Xie, or the emperor of the Han Dynasty...
Of course, as vassals, they can also choose other emperors to serve, but for most emperors, they will basically train their own team. As the legacy of the previous generation of emperors, these people often end up not being very good, so
For them, the only hope is Liu Xie. The power of the eunuchs comes from the emperor. The emperor is strong, so these eunuchs are naturally strong, but the problem is that the emperor is not strong now.
In the corridor, a small yellow door came hurriedly. When he got closer, he was glared at by the eunuch at the door of the quiet room. He immediately slowed down, walked to the eunuch quietly and whispered a few words.
In fact, Liu Xie was awakened by the sound of footsteps. His eyelids moved slightly and he slowly opened his eyes, "Has the auspicious time arrived?"
The eunuch at the door quickly replied, "Your Majesty, an auspicious time is coming. Please take off."
Liu Xie nodded, "Good. Living in a quiet room, but it is difficult to meditate."
The eunuch hurriedly stepped forward and helped Liu Xie stand up, "Your Majesty, the river is now clear and the sea is flowing, and the princes and people are congratulating you. Your Majesty is upright and youthful, just like the rebirth of the rising sun, the resurgence of the Han Dynasty, and the advancement of the Spring and Autumn Period are all under your control. Why should your Majesty worry?
Too much?"
Although the eunuch's words of comfort to him may not have been expressed accurately or well, Liu Xie still smiled and didn't pay too much attention, and patted the eunuch on the shoulder and said, "The ancestors left
After all, this family fortune cannot be lost in my hands... I know you want to comfort me, but now that the world is in such a messy situation, how can I feel at ease?"
Liu Xie is indeed very preoccupied these days.
As the emperor, Liu Xie wanted to control the overall situation all the time.
It's not that Liu Xie had any great hatred for powerful officials such as Cao Cao or Fei Qian. It's just that as his authority gradually declined, as an emperor, he naturally had irreconcilable conflicts with such powerful officials.
It's just a pity that Liu Xie has to rely on powerful officials to deal with the situation in the world. Whether it's Cao Cao or Fei Qian, without these powerful officials sitting in charge, people like Dong Zhuo would mess up and destroy without any rules.
I can't stand the trouble...
It's the same with Cao Cao, and it's the same with Fei Qian.
As an emperor, he increasingly feels that balancing the ministers is an important task. Just like Xiao Wenjing suppressed the vassals, Liu Xie has made this matter his first priority. If Guanzhong is strong, he must help Cao Cao suppress Fei Qian.
If Cao Cao is domineering, he needs to go through Guanzhong to restrain Cao Cao.
It's better to cultivate some talents of your own...
Liu Xie took a breath and exhaled slightly.
This is, on the contrary, the most difficult.
Liu Xie originally wanted to use Kong Rong's case to weaken and divide him in front of everyone during the celebration. Unexpectedly, Cao Cao had already finished the matter before the celebration, so that none of the surrounding gentry disciples even gave a shit.
, which made it very difficult for Liu Xie to handle.
However, after so many years of hard work, Liu Xie has become somewhat mature. He knows that if he is not fully sure and acts rashly, he will probably cause chaos. Therefore, if something is immature, it is best not to act rashly.
Just like the old eunuch said, just rely on yourself to be young and endure.
After all, he was the Emperor of the Han Dynasty, and he was not a very stupid Emperor of the Han Dynasty.
He is me, a loner.
Others can be friends with others, but if they cannot be friends with others, they cannot be friends with others.
Therefore, he has to worry about the Han Dynasty after all. No matter what changes happen in the future, his ultimate goal is to revive the Han Dynasty. For this goal, he can give up everything, including temporary tolerance and temporary dignity.
Now Liu Xie feels that he is obviously unable to handle various local affairs personally. He still needs the help of local princes and nobles, so he must constantly identify and promote talents so that the children of these nobles can succeed generation after generation.
Take over the affairs of governing the country.
As long as he is still the emperor of Han Dynasty.
As long as he is the protagonist in this celebration...
……|··|*~●……
More than a hundred miles east of Xu County, there is a river called Jishui.
This river is not as famous as the Yangtze River and the Yellow River, but it actually has a lot of history.
According to legend, the Yellow Emperor once established a tribe in the Mishui area, named Youxiong. At that time, the river was still nameless, and one of Huangdi's subordinates suggested adding three dots of water in front of "you" in the name Xiong. The Yellow Emperor agreed, and it was decided.
The first river in the world to be named by an emperor was named Mishui.
Going down the Mishui River, probably less than a hundred miles, we arrived at Xinji County.
This place was once prosperous and was an important county in the Spring and Autumn Period of Zheng and South Korea. However, times have changed and now it is a bit old.
There is a saying in the Book of Songs, "The water and the water are flowing together. The gentleman and the girl are flowing together."
Perhaps the boys and girls back then would have thought that Mishui was a place with beautiful scenery and beautiful scenery, but now, only filth and aging remain.
Chang Fang came to Xinji.
Chang Fang is the guard captain of Xu County Guanyi.
He and Chen Bin cover for each other, but most of the missions that require going out are done by him.
As the intelligence center in Xu County, Chen Bin received a request from the county below, so he forwarded it to Chang Fang.
Originally, Chang Fang had some trouble trying to get out of Xu County. After all, people from the Cao family were often monitoring the area around the post station. Fortunately, Xu Ju took away a lot of attention, and Wang Chang and others also came from time to time.
Moving around reduced a lot of the power originally used to monitor Chen Bin and Chang Fang. In addition, the celebration was about to be held, and it was the most chaotic time inside and outside Xu County. Chang Fang easily left Xu County and rushed all the way to Xinji.
.
The staff in Xinji reported a very important matter.
At this moment, Chang Fang was wearing an ordinary coarse cloth robe, a bamboo hat, and a sweat scarf tied around his neck. He was dusty and dusty, and he was not much different from other pedestrians on the road.
His destination was a wine shop in the east of Xinji City.
He had never been to Xinji before, but he knew this place and that there were personnel stationed here.
Xinji County is the same as most cities in the Han Dynasty. The north of the city is a wealthy area, the south is a slum area, and the east and west of the city are where ordinary people live. The so-called ordinary people generally have a standard, which is to allow their children to have a better life.
More play time for the family.
The children of poor people have become masters early, not because they want to, but because if they don't work, they have nothing to eat. In the face of survival, whether they play or not naturally takes a back seat.
In the east of Xinji City, you can still see children chasing and playing on the street, which shows that the living standards of the people living here are acceptable, and the wine shops will have some business. If it is in a slum area, most of the children are
I have to work with the adults and do things within my ability. It is a luxury to have food and clothing every day, let alone having spare money to buy drinks.
Cao Cao had banned alcohol before.
The ancients banned alcohol for three main reasons. The first was to save food. Whenever the year was bad, rulers often took measures to prohibit alcohol. The second was to stabilize order. When the number of cases of causing trouble and disrupting social order due to drinking too much increased,
The imperial court often considers banning alcohol; the third is to worship heaven and eliminate disasters. When any disaster occurs, rulers often express their respect for the gods by eating vegetarian food and fasting, and they also suspend luxuries such as drinking and pray to heaven.
Show respect in the hope of averting disaster.
But Cao Cao's alcohol ban didn't last long.
Even in order to avoid the limelight, the gentry children used secret codes when drinking in private. They used "sage" to refer to the poor quality liquor, "sage" to refer to the better quality sake, "Taizu banned alcohol, but people"
He drinks it secretly, so it is difficult to talk about wine. He regards white wine as a sage and clear wine as a sage."
Anyway, an alcoholic can think of any way to drink.
Later, Cao Cao's economic situation improved a lot after the war between the Yuan Dynasty and Yuan Dynasty, and the alcohol ban was gradually relaxed. What's more, the alcohol ban was often banned for ordinary people, officials, or those with some connections.
He still continued to drink. Even during the period when Cao Cao's prohibition on alcohol was enforced, for example, Xu Miao "drank privately until he was drunk". Someone happened to come to him with something, and the drunkard answered "the sage"...
When Cao Cao found out, he was furious and wanted to punish him. Fortunately, others interceded and Xu Miao was spared the punishment. Later, Cao Cao's son Cao Pi came to the throne and joked with Xu Miao about this incident, "Isn't he a saint?"
So in reality, this alcohol prohibition is just that.
There were neither many nor few people in Xinji County. According to what he had learned before, it didn't take long for Chang Fang to find the edge of an unnamed pond in the east of the city.
No one knows the exact name of this pond.
Maybe this pond once had a name, but the people around it only care about whether the pond can be used to fetch water and wash. As for what the name is, it doesn't matter at all.
There should be running water in the pond, so it is not too dirty, but the surrounding environment is still not very good.
After all, cattle and horses drink water here, clothes and tuberose are washed here, and there are no wells at home, so they can only come here to fetch water for cooking...
There are three locust trees beside the pond.
Chang Fang looked at it and nodded secretly, yes, this is it.
After walking under the locust tree, Chang Fang inspected the street not far away.
Not far away, there is a wine shop.
The girl in the wine shop was standing at the counter, serving drinks to the customers.
Chang Fang waited for the wine-selling customer to leave, then slowly walked forward.
The female recruiter saw Chang Fang and showed her habitual smile, "What would you like to order, sir? We have some new corn wine, do you want to try some?"
Chang Fang looked at the waitress, then stretched his head to take a look inside the store, "Where's your shopkeeper?"
The female recruiter was stunned for a moment, but she didn't say anything more. She yelled at the top of her lungs, "Shopkeeper, we have a customer!"
Someone in the back hall of the wine shop responded. After a while, a person came out and came to the counter. He looked Chang Fang up and down, "This brother..."
"I want some Western Rose Peach Wine." Chang Fang said, "It's not much, just bring twelve jars first." Chang Fang has never been here before, and no one knows him, so it's impossible to bring it out as soon as they meet.
When the token comes, you can only tell the secret code first.
The shopkeeper's eyebrows jumped, "Sir, this Western Region Rose Peach Wine is worth a lot of money. Twelve jars are not a small amount. Do you really want so much?"
"It's okay, I have a heavy drinking capacity. I drink one jar in an hour and finish it in one day." Chang Fang laughed and said, as if he was joking, "But less is fine. How many jars do you have?"
The shopkeeper said in a low voice: "To be honest with you, sir, there is not a single jar here."
Chang Fang waved his hand and said, "You don't even have a restaurant, why do you still open a wine shop?"
The shopkeeper stretched out his hand to invite, "Sir, please forgive me... If you are really interested in purchasing, you might as well come in and discuss in detail..."
Rose peach wine in the Western Regions is expensive. If you are in Xu County or a relatively large county, wine shops and restaurants may have some inventory, but how can a small wine shop like Xinji sell peach wine?
But let’s say it’s not the case. Sometimes the transactions these days are not necessarily settled with cash, but in many cases they are also purchased through subscription. So if you want to make a reservation with a wine shop first, there doesn’t seem to be any problem.
Chang Fang nodded and followed the shopkeeper in.
After entering the inner hall of the wine shop, the shopkeeper stretched his head outside the door to see that no one was in the corridor window, and then hesitantly asked Chang Fang: "Sir... what are you..."
Chang Fang then took out the token representing his identity from his arms.
The shopkeeper took a look, moved closer to the light, and carefully checked the code on the token. Then he breathed a sigh of relief, handed the token back to Chang Fang, and then whispered: "I have seen the inspector..."
』
Chang Fang nodded, put away the token, and then whispered: "Are you Chengjiro? Is this your real name or a fake name?"
Chengjiro replied: "I have been using this name for many years in Xinji... As for my real name, I have forgotten it..."
Chang Fang was silent for a while, "Okay, let me ask you, you reported that there is something abnormal in the north of the city and you need the help of experts to check. What is going on?"
Cheng Erlang nodded and said: "There is a family in Fu'an in the north of the city. The family does not seem to have much property, but the expenses are not small, and the food and clothing are of the highest quality..."
Chang Fang frowned a little after hearing this.
The north of the city is a wealthy area, so food and clothing are of the highest quality. Is this an anomaly?
"These are nothing at first..." Cheng Erlang continued, "But one time, I went to the north of the city to deliver drinks, and happened to see Xun Lingjun's son disguised as a simple man and entered the house..."
Chang Fang frowned and said, "Do you recognize Xun Lingjun's son?"
Cheng Erlang's originally bent waist straightened up a bit, "Not to mention he is the son of Xun Lingjun, I recognize most of the gentry sons in Yingchuan. Do you want to give the inspection a try?"
Chang Fang thought for a moment and waved his hand, "Continue."
Xinji is not too far from Xu County. As an intelligence officer who has been in Xinji for many years, it is indeed entirely possible that he knows important people in Yingchuan, including their children.
Of course, there are also people who are born face-blind, such as Brother Dong, who are less suitable to be intelligence officers.
"The Xun family is very big in Yingchuan, so it's normal for people to be more or less related to each other..." Cheng Erlang said slowly, "I didn't care about it at first... but then, I happened to meet that person.
The husband of the family just tried a few words. He originally wanted to see if he had any connection with the Xun family, but he never thought... The husband of the family not only denied that he was related to the Xun family, but also looked a little flustered...
I just got suspicious..."
"Huh?" Chang Fang frowned.
Generally speaking, if a small county like Xinji in Yingchuan can have any connection with the Xun family of Yingchuan, it is something worth bragging about. How can it go out of its way to deny it and look flustered?
"I just feel strange. I think maybe I was wrong. What I saw that day was not Xun Lingjun's son..." Cheng Erlang continued, "But just a few days ago, I saw Lingjun's son coming...
…』
This is somewhat interesting.
Chang Fang understood.
Situations like this are indeed worth reporting.
Chang Fang thought for a moment and said, "In this case, I will gather some experts to investigate!"
