If the magistrate of a county went to Liu's house to express gratitude and give gifts, it would be impossible for him to suddenly come to visit him. This would be too disrespectful. He would definitely send someone to deliver a famous assassin and inform him in advance. This is more in line with the rules.
When the news reached the Liu family, Liu Zhou and the Hu family were naturally overjoyed. They immediately slaughtered dogs and sheep, prepared fine wine, and welcomed the distinguished guests.
But Liu Jian, who was thinking about it in the bullpen, obviously wasn't in such a good mood after hearing the news.
However, he was not distressed because Gongsun Zan's power was within his expectation.
What later generations see more is that he lost the trust of his subordinates, was defeated by Yuan Shao, was trapped in a high building, and committed suicide by setting fire to fire. However, they often ignore that in his more than forty years of life, his defeat was only delayed for four years.
Seventy-eight percent of his life was successful.
The Han Dynasty has a population of tens of millions. You cannot think that just because he lost to Yuan Shao, he is worse than the other tens of millions.
The world is not easy to mess around with. Gongsun Zan is quite wise, but Cao Cao, Yuan Shao and his like are not known to be what kind of people they are.
…
"Senior brother is indeed a senior brother. People who have been in the officialdom are really difficult to deal with. They cracked it for me with just one move, but you have no way to do anything about it."
Liu Jian leaned on the haystack, holding a piece of straw in his mouth, with a helpless expression.
Liu Bei sat cross-legged next to him, also with a sad look on his face: "No, I thought that because of his reputation, he would let you and me work in the county office to find something to do, but it turned out that he would rather give us a hundred thousand yuan as a reward than recommend you and me as a righteous person.
Official."
"deliver?"
Liu Jian took off the straw, shook his head and said, "Brother Xuande, you are naive."
"Not for delivery?"
"It's a gift!"
"Then how naive am I?"
"Do you really dare?"
Liu Bei was speechless for a moment.
He thought carefully about it for a while, and his expression became more complicated the more he thought about it.
"Okay, this is a waste of time." Liu Bei finally came to a conclusion.
"Forget it, after all, we are still weak and of no great use in the eyes of others. Since he is determined not to use it, then you and I don't need to deliberately try to get him. We can just think of a way. As for this Senior Brother Gongsun, haha, he
Sooner or later you will regret today."
Liu Bei reached out and patted Liu Jian on the shoulder: "My brother has great talent, but it will be too late for him to regret it!"
"Don't praise me. It's you who are talented."
Liu Bei laughed so hard that the muscles on his face hurt.
"It's okay for me to be your helper. The word "talent" has nothing to do with me."
Liu Jian frowned and looked at Liu Bei carefully.
"What do you see me doing?"
"Brother Xuande, I think you seem to be losing your original vigor?"
"When have I ever had the energy?"
"Do you still remember that when you were a child, in Lousang Village, you clamored to ride in a Yubaogai carriage?"
"Hey! You are talking about me when I was eight years old! As long as you are here, I will be even more energetic. Just following you is enough."
A strange feeling suddenly arose in Liu Jian's heart.
This Liu Bei must have been crippled by him, right?
…
The next day, Gongsun Zan personally sent people to visit him, presented him with gifts, and thanked his two classmates for their "escort".
Naturally, the news spread like wildfire throughout Zhuoxian County, and he, Gongsun Zan, could just use this incident to, like Liu Jian and Liu Bei, gain the reputation of "a drop of water repays the favor with a spring of spring".
It can be said that no one among the three brothers suffered a loss in terms of reputation.
When the county king came, Liu Zhou and Hu were overjoyed. They immediately held a banquet in honor of them, and they took the two troublesome boys out of the cowshed and drank with them at the banquet.
The Han Dynasty was different from the later Tang and Song dynasties, with restaurants everywhere and rich nightlife. In a large county, there were generally only a few wine houses, and the area was generally not very large. It was impossible to get high at all, so if you want to
If you want to eat and drink to your heart’s content, you usually have fun in your own home, which is commonly known as self-excitement.
Even though Gongsun Zan was the magistrate of Qianshi County, and Liu Zhou claimed to be a clan relative, once these two people started having a banquet, they would be really crazy.
Even though it was the first time we met, it was really like drinking to death.
This is definitely not the style of Yan and Zhao. People in the Han Dynasty generally drank like this:
Knowing the seats, being able to toast, being able to dance - hoo hi yo.
Toasting each other is a necessary procedure, and there are strict rules for toasting and receiving wine. In the Qin and Han Dynasties, there was a certain distance between people when they were sitting, so there was no possibility of touching each other, so the movements of drinking were particular.
For example, when Liu Zhou proposes a toast to Gongsun Zan, he must ‘lead the wine up’. To put it bluntly, he holds the wine vessel and raises it forward and upward.
But if Gongsun Zan toasted to Liu Zhou, it would be a bit tiring for Liu Zhou. Because of his low status and white body, he had to leave his seat when receiving the wine and bow down to the ground to thank him, which is commonly known as "avoiding the banquet".
Under this premise, an interesting scene appeared when drinking today.
As soon as Gongsun Zan killed him, Liu Zhou got up and ran to the aisle to lie down on the ground and drink wine.
Gongsun Zan raised his 卮 again, and Liu Zhou got up and ran to the aisle to lie down on the ground and drink wine.
The problem is that Gongsun Zan always carries the cup, and Liu Zhou always has to accept the wine, and always accept the wine...
After several rounds, Liu Zhou was so tired that he was sweating profusely and felt dizzy.
After only a few drinks, I actually knelt down.
Anyone who has drank alcohol knows that the most taboo thing when drinking is "moving". The more frequently you move, the faster you will get drunk.
As expected, Liu Zhou got drunk very quickly, and his speech became stumbling. He lost the restraint he had when drinking with Gongsun Zan at the beginning, and started to brag with his big tongue.
"Ming Ting doesn't know that these two children were taught by me personally. Every skill of both of them is inseparable from my personal teaching!"
"oh!"
Gongsun Zan looked stunned and glanced at brothers Liu Jian and Liu Bei: "No wonder he is so brave and can kill strong thieves. It's true that a tiger father has no dog son."
"What's the point of just a few thieves? It's not my arrogance. Regardless of my age, if the county office gives me a piece of leather armor and a good horse, I will hold a halberd and a bow, and walk a short distance to Yuyang Shanggu.
Even if he suffers, he can still serve the country by decapitating a hundred and eighty thieves!"
Gongsun Zanle's face turned red: "At your age, Mr. Liu, don't you forget to kill thieves and make meritorious deeds?"
Liu Zhou's face flushed: "Ming Ting thinks I want to kill the thief to gain fame?"
"Who isn't?"
"Although his meritorious service is good, it is useless for a man of my age! To be honest with the county prince, how can a big man be controlled by the Xianbei Hunu? I really don't want to. If I were twenty years younger, I would definitely kiss him
He was willing to go to the border counties and surrender his troops to fight against the Hunu, and return with his horse and leather body wrapped in his body."
Hearing this, Gongsun Zan put away his smile and showed some respect on his face.
He pondered for a moment and then sighed: "If all the great men and young men are as enthusiastic as Liu Gong, even if there are ten more sandalwood locust trees in the desert in the north, how can it cause harm?"
Then he raised his wine bowl and gestured to Liu Zhou from afar.
Liu Zhou stood up in a hurry and walked to the aisle. Just as he was about to thank him, he suddenly fell to the ground with a thud.
Gongsun Zan was startled and stood up quickly: "Liu Gong!? Why is this?"
Liu Jian was also startled and hurriedly got up and ran to Liu Zhou's side!
Wasn't it just a moment of excitement and drinking to death?
"Father, Dad!"
Liu Jian picked up Liu Zhou who was face down from the ground and reached out to pinch him.
Before anyone could touch him, Liu Zhou was already snoring slightly.
Liu Jian's hand stayed in mid-air, showing a helpless expression.
My old father actually drank himself to death on the spot!
I'll let my mother know later, but I don't know how to deal with him.
He has finally come to the end of his evil ways.
After hearing this, Mrs. Hu hurried over, cursing Liu Zhou for being useless, but at the same time, she still asked people to help Liu Zhou back to his room with concern, and even cooked by herself to make sobering soup for Liu Zhou.
…
After the banquet, it was time for Gongsun Zan to say goodbye.
But before leaving, he had to go to the toilet to clear out his own mess. After all, he drank a lot of wine today.
"Ah Jian, could you please accompany me to the toilet?" Gongsun Zan specially greeted Liu Jian.
When Gongsun Zan left the table to go to the toilet, even if he didn't say hello, Liu Jian, as the host, should accompany him.
At that moment, he personally led Gongsun Zan to the back house.
The Liu family's toilet is for one person and one pit. Two people enter through one door respectively. There is a wooden board in the middle. Each other can hear the sound of the other party opening the gate and letting out water.
"Good brother!"
Suddenly, Gongsun Zan's voice came from the other side of the door.
Liu Jian was stunned and secretly thought that Gongsun Zan was asking for toilet money?
"Here, please give me the county master's orders."
On the other side of the door, Gongsun Zan was silent for a long time and then said:
"Why do you and I need to be so polite in private?"
Liu Jian frowned, feeling a little unhappy.
Listen to what Gongsun Zan means...does he want to have a heart-to-heart relationship with himself?
If you want to chat, there's nothing wrong with it. The question is... why did you choose such a place? Is this a place for heart-to-heart talk?
"The county prince and I are very different in status, so Jian Jian dare not try to catch up."
The person in the toilet next to him seemed to be thinking about his words. After a while, he finally heard Gongsun say:
"Do you think that my brother, who has entered the official career over the years and has a smooth official career, has long forgotten that you old friends and classmates have fallen into the mud like the noble families in the Central Plains?"