Chapter 97 Pack lightly and travel lightly, seek medical advice 【1】
After Cao Rui saw off Xiahou Xuan and Cao Xi, he continued back to Shiqian Hall to wait for Cao Shuang.
Half an hour later, as Cao Rui expected, Cao Shuang hurried over. Cao Rui knew his cousin very well.
Cao Shuang came to the palace. He, who was always cautious and arrogant, knelt down on the bluestone floor tiles with a plop.
"Your Majesty, although Li Gongzhao and Bi Zhaoxian have commented on state affairs without authorization this time, considering their contribution to serving Your Majesty in the East Palace, why are they sentenced so harshly? I beg Your Majesty to give them a lighter sentence."
Cao Rui couldn't help but sigh. Didn't he know that Li Sheng and Bi Gui were able to assist him, Conglong Zhigong, but this time he didn't even let go of Sima Shi, the eldest son of Sima Yi, the Minister of Gu Ming, let alone What about these baseless ministers?
"Uncle Zhao, don't you really understand my hard work?"
When Cao Shuang heard this, he had a look of pain on his face. He knew that the emperor's heavy punishment for minor crimes was to boost the atmosphere of selecting officials in the court, and it was also an important means for the emperor to rectify the administration of officials. However, he had always valued loyalty, and this time How could Fan bear to watch Li Sheng, Bi Gui, Deng Yang and other friends be grounded for several years one by one?
"Your Majesty, Deng Xuanmao's comments on scholars have always been quite satisfactory, without the slightest intention of showing off to each other, and his talents are outstanding. Can Your Majesty, please be accommodating to Deng Xuanmao..."
Seeing Cao Shuang chattering endlessly, Cao Rui finally lost his patience. He shouted, interrupting Cao Shuang's plea:
"Cao Zhaobo, calm down!"
When Cao Shuang saw that the emperor was angry, he immediately stopped his pleas and persuasion.
Cao Rui looked stern, but his tone softened a lot, and he continued to explain:
"Uncle Zhao, is it possible that the talents of Shang Shulang Zhuge Dan and Sanqi Changshi Sima Shi are not outstanding, so it is unfair to comment on the characters! The reason why I dealt with it this time is not because their comments on the characters are not accurate enough, but because they are overstepping their bounds. You have trampled on my authority to select officials, do you understand it or not?"
Cao Rui continued to hate that iron cannot become steel and said:
"Uncle Zhao, actually the reason why I sentenced Li Sheng, Deng Yang and others severely this time is to protect you!"
After Cao Shuang heard this, he bowed his head in despair.
————
Baili east of Luoyang, the capital of Wei, is the Mengjin Ferry. This place is located at the mouth of the Luoshui River, and is the junction of the Luoshui River and the Yellow River. One can cross the Luoyang River in the east and the river in the north.
The east wind entered Luo, and everything revived. Only smoke and dust were billowing in the distance, and more than twenty knights were coming from the west of the avenue, holding bridles and riding horses.
One of the knights was wearing a narrow-sleeved white Hufu, hanging on his waist was a sword-like weapon that was more than four feet long, flashing with cold light, and looked like a snowball under his crotch, and was equipped with a silver saddle and silver stirrups. , the sacred white horse with silver bells is very chic.
Another leading young knight is wearing a black sleeve armor. The armor pieces collide and make sonorous sounds from time to time. Although this man is in full military uniform, his whole person gives people a soft and calm feeling, without any trace of it. There is no sense of arrogance as an officer.
The remaining knights are not wearing armor and official uniforms, but if you look closely, you will find that the tokens hanging on their waists and the weapons are all standard military equipment.
The white-clothed knight is the Cavalry Minister, Changling Hou Xiahou Xuan. The black-armored knight is Cao Xi, the deputy general of the "Wuwei Army". As for the twenty knights following the two men, they are all dressed in plain clothes. The Wuwei Army', as well as the Xuanjia Guards of the Xiahou Mansion. Although these twenty or so people are small, they are all elite men carefully selected by the Wuwei General Cao Shuang and the most elite family soldiers of the Changlinghou Mansion. Therefore, there are They assisted Xia Houxuan and Cao Xi in carrying out two special tasks respectively, so naturally they got twice the result with half the effort.
"At the beginning of Taichu, the front is Mengjinkou. If you cross Luoshui to the east, you will reach the territory of Xingyang County in Yanzhou." Cao Xi reined in his horse, looked at the Luoshui River in the distance and said with a smile: "After passing Xingyang County, the two of us will
It’s time to go our separate ways, and when we get to the county town later, we brothers will have to have a few drinks.”
"It doesn't matter if I drink a few more drinks. The destination is still far away anyway, but you are different. Don't forget, you are going to Hanoi to investigate a case. Be careful of being drunk and getting into trouble." Xia Houxuan said, shaking the reins of the horse.
Running towards the ferry: "Drive!"
"Brothers, take the horse and raft and cross the river!" After Cao Xi ordered the crowd, he put his legs under the horse's belly and followed him.
"Wei!" The twenty knights listened to the order, followed closely behind Cao Xi, and ran towards the ferry ahead.
At dusk, everyone rode their horses eastwards and finally arrived at Xingyang County before dark.
There is no curfew yet. There are many roadside stalls on both sides of the streets in the county, and merchants and shopkeepers in hotels are vying to attract customers.
"Hey, young masters and brothers, it's getting late, why don't you go to a small shop to stay overnight and have a rest before leaving." The shop owner saw the clothes and behavior of this group of people and knew that they were either rich or noble.
, the shopkeeper squinted at everyone's horses and greeted them cheerfully. When Xia Houxuan's 'white bird' came into view, his eyes seemed to be shining, and the shopkeeper couldn't help but go.
Pulling the reins of the white horse: "Master, let me help you lead the horse..."
"No need, my horse recognizes its owner, I will do it myself!" Xia Houxuan seemed to have noticed something strange about the shop owner, and he couldn't help but become more vigilant.
"Forget it, let's rest here for the night and go our separate ways tomorrow morning. How about Taichu?" Cao Xi had a good impression of this store. As he spoke, he handed the horse rein to the waiter and headed towards the inn.
Leave it alone.
A group of more than twenty people stayed in this guest house.
Cao Xi only wanted eight guest rooms and let his brothers rest together in twos and threes so that they could be taken care of. He understood that when going outside the capital, the more careful he was, the better.
"The four of you will live in the wing opposite me and Taichu, and the rest of you will live in the wing rooms on both sides as you please. Do you understand?"
"Understood!" After everyone heard the arrangement, they went back to their rooms to clean up. After Xia Houxuan finished packing, he still felt uneasy, so he found the two chiefs who followed the imperial army and told them to drink less tonight and be careful.
superior.
"Taichu, come on, we are going our separate ways tomorrow. Let's have a good drink tonight!" Cao Xi picked up the wine pot and filled the wine bottles for Xia Houxuan and himself.
"Uncle Zhao, did you notice anything wrong today?" Xia Houxuan did not raise the bottle, but listened to the movement outside the window with a vigilant expression.
"No, do you think something is wrong?" Cao Xi heard this and put down the wine bottle in his hand.
At this moment, there was a sudden sound of horses neighing.
Xia Houxuan narrowed his eyes slightly, and he heard clearly that it was his horse neighing. And he seemed to hear an abnormal vibrato in the horse's honking.
"Uncle Zhao, it seems that Hanoi County is not the only place that needs you to investigate." After Xiahou Xuan said this, he got up and walked out the door.
Near the stables, someone seemed to be talking softly.
"How about it, Mr. Zhu, these horses are all good horses, right?"
Xia Houxuan was hiding in the dark at the moment, and he could hear that it was the voice of the owner of the inn. At this time, he heard another unfamiliar accent.
"It's really good..." The man called 'Mr. Zhu' by the hotel owner was patting Bai Que's horse back, causing Bai Que to neigh in discomfort. Mr. Zhu praised: "It's really
There is only one good horse in a million. After everything is done, this money will definitely be indispensable to Boss Zhao..."
Before Mr. Zhu finished speaking, he suddenly found someone holding a knife to his neck.
"Don't act rashly." Cao Xi held a knife in his right hand and a token in his left hand and said, "We are official servants. Please recruit us as expected. Who are you?"
When the owner of the guesthouse, Boss Zhao, heard that Cao Xi was an official, his legs became weak from fright, and he knelt down and began to beg for mercy. When Mr. Zhu heard this, he frowned slightly, bit the roots of his teeth, vomited black blood, and fell to the ground.
Death!
"Damn it!" Cao Xi cursed angrily: "I didn't expect him to be a dead soldier!"
"Young... Young Master... No! You two officers... I know my mistake... I... I don't dare to do it anymore... You two are so arrogant... Your hands... forgive me...
Please spare me...please spare me..." Boss Zhao's face turned pale with fright, and he just knelt down and kowtowed to beg for mercy.
"Tell me!" Xia Houxuan looked at Boss Zhao coldly, pointed at the corpse on the ground with the tip of his knife and said, "Who is this Mr. Zhu?"
"I said... I said!" Boss Zhao waved his sleeves and wiped away his sweat and tears, and said in a mournful tone: "This... this Mr. Zhu... no, this thief claims to be... from a wealthy family in Soochow [Note]
1], Actually... he is a horse dealer from the state of Wu. In recent years... he has often purchased horses in Yanzhou with huge sums of money. I heard that Bingzhou and Jizhou also... have their people, and what else... Xiao Zhen...
[Note 1: During the Three Kingdoms period, the major clans in Jiangdong were headed by the four clans of ‘Gu, Lu, Zhu and Zhang’. 】
Xia Houxuan was shocked when he heard what Boss Zhao said. He thought that the horse trafficking case that His Majesty sent Xi Di to Hanoi County to investigate was just an ordinary small case that was given to Xi Di to practice his skills. But now he thinks about it carefully.
, I'm afraid this case has a long history. In the third year of Huang Chu, Emperor Wen sent a three-pronged army to attack Wu. His father Xiahou Shang defeated Wu general Pan Zhang and wiped out all Sun Wu's few cavalry. Everyone thought that Wu
The country relies on the navy as its main force and has no land to produce horses, so it will not reorganize the cavalry force. However, if what Boss Zhao said today is true, then Sun Wu may have secretly purchased the cavalry force in the northern border of the Wei Dynasty.
With fewer horses, we began to secretly rebuild the cavalry team.
Although the number of horses purchased by Soochow horse traders each time is very small, if things go on like this, the small amount will add up to the large amount. When Wu and Wei start a war one day, the Wei Dynasty will be caught off guard and suffer a dumb loss!
If this is the case, then the case that Xi Di took over this time will definitely not be as simple as originally imagined.
"Uncle Zhao, if what Boss Zhao said is true, it means that this case is very involved and will be more difficult." After Xia Houxuan thought about it carefully, he said: "In my opinion, all the brothers brought this time will be retained.
Come down and help you investigate the case. I will go to Qingzhou alone tomorrow."
"But……"
"It doesn't matter. I'm not going to break into a dragon's den or a tiger's den. I'm just looking for a famous doctor. Could there be any big trouble?" Xia Houxuan patted Cao Xi on the shoulder and smiled: "This is the first time you have been ordered to do so.
When you go out to Beijing to handle a case, you can't let it go wrong."
The task given to Xia Houxuan by His Majesty this time is to go to Langya, Qingzhou, to find famous doctors. Empress Dowager Bian's physical condition has been declining in recent years, and Your Majesty respects and loves the Empress Dowager Chong very much, so he wants to visit famous doctors all over the place to provide the Empress Dowager with
Treatment of chronic diseases. But in today's world, the most skilled people in the world with medical skills are none other than Wu Pu and Fan A. They are both disciples of the late miracle doctor Hua Tuo. Wu Puming pharmacology, Fan Ashan acupuncture [Note 2]
, both of them have their own merits and are famous. As long as I can find one of them and invite him back to Luoyang, he will be successful.
[Note 2: "Three Kingdoms·Book of Wei 29·Fang Ji Zhuan": "Wu Pu in Guangling and Fan Ah in Pengcheng all learned from Tu Tu of China. Pu followed Tuo's rule and was administered by many schools... Ashanzhen
