One day in May of the fourth year of Yanxing, the weather had become a little hot, making the palace quite stuffy. The emperor proposed that all officials in the court gather in the jujube forest next to Kunming Pool to worship the stone statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl by the river.
Emperor Sejongwu stayed here temporarily to escape the summer heat.
The sacrifice is completed,
Just at noon, the emperor held a banquet with everyone in front of the Statue of the Weaver Girl. Dong Cheng, the general of Jianping, saw that all the food and wine were served. Although a lot of venison and carp were grilled, there were not enough condiments.
Most of them are just sprinkled with salt, so the taste is naturally fishy; there is not enough meat, so only some pancakes filled with vegetables are left.
There were also some pickled salted eggs, tofu, and some unknown round melons on the ground. These could not arouse Dong Cheng's appetite, so he sat down with a glass of wine, drinking and chatting with others.
The emperor obviously also knew that the cost was simple, so he called the accompanying dancers and musicians to play music and dance in public. These were left behind when Dong Zhuo was in power. After the coup, they had no way to go, so they have been adopted by the emperor.
As the sound of zither and harp played, all the officials looked towards the source of the music, and saw that the dancing girl was beautiful in appearance and graceful in figure. She was dancing along with the Liangzhou Yuefu in the banquet. She was not like the ordinary palace maids who were as graceful as butterflies, but instead she was dancing as fast as a butterfly.
Jinghong, leaping like running water, danced continuously for a quarter of an hour without stopping at all. It was not until two-quarters of an hour that the dancer stopped her bow.
It attracted applause and admiration from everyone.
There was music and music, and many people became interested in poetry and began to recite poems to each other. The theme was to praise peace and happiness. After all, in the past few years, the government was in turmoil, Kyushu was in trouble, and there were famines and military disasters everywhere. Whether they lived in Kanto or Kansai,
Everyone has seen the scene of refugees besieging the city, and the land is thousands of miles away. Therefore, everyone is extremely sentimental about the current peaceful scene.
Since ancient times, writing about Pingle has been the most difficult to achieve excellence. Dong Cheng listened half-comprehensively for a moment, and found that the poetry meeting quickly degenerated into praising the emperor and Chen Chong, while a few people simply cursed Dong Zhuo. There was nothing that impressed him.
The famous poem I admired was a strange pair. It was Kong Rong, who had always been famous for his poetic talent. What he said at this time was nothing more than: "From Luo to Weiwei, Chen Gong cared about the country and was selfless. Minus the sweet and fat food in the kitchen, the group of officials led the way."
From Qi Qi, even though I get a salary, I am often hungry, but my heart is filled with sorrow when I think of me." This made his boss bored.
But at this moment, Dong Cheng suddenly realized that although there were many officials from the Si Li Mansion at the banquet, Chen Chong, the captain of the Si Li Mansion, was not here. He turned to ask the chairman of the emperor,
The emperor smiled and said: "Sir, after the sacrifice, he couldn't sit still and said that people were arranging to dig ditches not far away.
Now that all the officials are here, there are few people watching over it, so he went to check out the situation and will be back in about an hour."
After Dong Cheng heard this, he couldn't help but stand up and look into the distance. Under the blue sky, jujube leaves were like a cover, and the pool water was flowing. There was indeed a water channel passing through in the distance, arriving at an unknown place. At the end of the field of vision, there were faintly visible figures, probably...
Although some of the men in short clothes recruited were aware of Chen Chong's style for a long time, it was still difficult for Dong Cheng to associate him with the mud and sewage.
Looking back at the people at the poetry meeting, Dong Cheng couldn't help but laugh a little, and thought to himself: It's really strange that there are so many sycophants even though no one is here!
However, he was immediately attracted by the discussion on the other side. It turned out that several doctors from Taixue were discussing the situation in Hebei. In early May, news of the tension in Youzhou had spread to Chang'an one after another. Just three days ago, Liu Bei
He also submitted a battle schedule, saying that Erhu was involved this time, and planned to mobilize 90,000 troops to enter Youzhou from Yongguan to quell the chaos, and the emperor agreed.
Logically speaking, it is natural to put down the chaos, but this dispatch of troops caused quite a lot of controversy. Even during the banquet hosted by the emperor, some people openly discussed it.
The person currently discussing this matter is Xi Li, a disciple of Zheng Xuan. He is not optimistic about this expedition and said bluntly: "Since Liu Youzhou, Jihou has abused the people without justice and failed to appease them, which has led to the current situation.
Although the general has a large army, the rebellion is even worse. I am afraid that this effort will be in vain."
All the fellow disciples agreed with this, and Zhao Shang also said: "The original strategy for this year was to take advantage of last year's great victory to advance on the remnants of the puppet dynasty and regain the Qing and Xu states. I'm afraid this matter will be over for the general's expedition this time.
It is really inappropriate to postpone it until next year and allow the puppet government to live for another year."
Dong Cheng also agreed, but unexpectedly the conversation immediately turned to criticizing Liu Bei's behavior in recent years. Someone said loudly: "If the general had not been selfish and acted unfairly, let Jihou
How could there be so many things happening when he was in charge of Youzhou? Yuan Benchu was originally a nobleman, and he was in charge of Jizhou. He also heard that the place was peaceful and happy. If Jihou hadn't stirred up trouble for no reason, the country would have been peaceful this year!"
"Moreover, a hundred thousand troops are mobilized every year, and the country's annual revenue cannot be used. Not to mention that Your Majesty is frugal in food and clothing, and even the sacrifices to ancestors are overspared. How can you neglect the important affairs of the country?"
Dong Cheng was about to see who was talking when he heard someone put fire on Chen Chong's head and said: "Mr. Chen is also confused. He actually listens to the general on such a big matter. Could it be that the general asked him to be Liu Xin? He can do it too."
Do you think so?"
When all the officials heard the words, they all changed their expressions. When they looked over, it turned out that the person speaking was the newly appointed Sanqi Changshi Hua Xin. He came from Guandong at the end of last year, followed the path of Yilang Zhao Yan, and was able to be commissioned by the emperor. At this time, he will
Chen Chong is compared to Liu Xin, and Liu Xin is the mastermind of Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty. The meaning has to make people think deeply.
Jian Yong immediately stepped forward and sneered at Hua Xin: "It is the duty of a bureaucrat to discuss state affairs. But it is unjust to use metaphors to slander the prime minister and ministers in public, and to confuse people's hearts. Is that what you can say?" Sili Mansion
Everyone looked at Hua Xin angrily, and the surrounding ministers also felt that Hua Xin was unreasonable and refused to help. The emperor came to the rescue and said: "Chen Qing is the pillar of the country, and he has the most public intentions. Everyone knows this. Hua Qing really shouldn't.
But Jian Qing has always traveled leisurely and leisurely, so why is this so?"
The dispute subsided and the banquet continued.
Baiguan was guessing whether Hua Xin's words were his own idea or the emperor's instruction. In order to ease the embarrassment, Dong Cheng simply suggested to Baiguan: "Since I have heard of Mei music and seen beauty, why not adjust a little or two.
Would you like to bet on shooting?" After saying that, he took out a finger ring as a prize. The ring finger was made of clear jade and seemed to have a faint trace of blood in the middle. It was an extremely rare treasure. Everyone became restless, but also a little embarrassed. Someone said:
"I'm telling Mr. Dong, there aren't many people here who are good at shooting, so let's throw the pot!" Everyone laughed and agreed, so they changed to throwing the pot.
However, this made the boss Dong Cheng unhappy. Although he was a relative of the country and related to the Empress Dowager Yongle, after all, he had acquired the habits of a military general after serving under Dong Zhuo for several years. He deeply felt that riding horses galloping, flying arrows and shooting willows was the ultimate happiness in the world, and
Touhu seems too elegant and depressing.
However, he sat for a while and watched everyone take turns throwing pots, only to find that the game gradually became a competition between several good throwers. At first, it was five-step throwing, then ten-step throwing, and twenty-step throwing. Twenty-step was already an arrow throw.
At the limit, there are only four people who can win, namely Fu Zheng, Dong Zhao, Shi Tao, and Xu Qian.
At this point, someone suggested that we use a screen to block the line of sight and let the four people compete in blind casting. Everyone cheered loudly, and Dong Cheng couldn't help but become interested, so he got down from his seat and went to the screen to watch.
Fu Zheng was the first to throw. He first went to the screen to estimate the distance, then retreated behind the screen and weighed the arrow shaft with his hands. After thinking for a moment, he threw it suddenly, but saw that the arrow shaft passed the screen, fell straight down, and hit the pot.
The mouth was scratched and inserted into the soil, but the copper kettle was still making a "ding" sound, which aroused the audience's regret.
So we went to Shi Tao again. Shi Tao had been preparing for a long time, but when he made a throw, it was not even close to the edge of the pot. Then it was Xu Qian's turn, and Xu Qian also missed. Everyone sighed, it seems that blind throwing is still difficult.
Dong Zhao came on last. He didn't look at where he was throwing the pot. He took an arrow and was about to throw it. Everyone saw the look on his face and thought he didn't care about throwing the pot and just threw it casually. Unexpectedly, after he stood still and threw the pot,
Before everyone noticed, they heard a "ding-dong" sound, and the wooden arrow was already in the pot, and the arrow body was still shaking back and forth at the mouth of the pot. Everyone was dazzled for a long time, and then there was a burst of cheers.
Seeing this, Dong Cheng put his hands on his hands and laughed. He took out the jade finger ring that he had agreed on. He walked forward and handed it to Dong Zhao, saying, "Thank you, Mr. Ren! Today I have discovered the joy of throwing pots." Dong Zhao refused, and said,
He smiled and said, "I think Dong Gong also has some itching, why not give it a try?"
Dong Cheng thought for a while and realized that it was natural to enjoy the same fun with all the officials. So he took an arrow and said to Dong Zhao: "Gongren threw it blindly in front of the screen, so I will try throwing it from behind."
He turned around and meditated, and raised his right hand upwards. The arrow shaft flew lightly across the screen, collided with Dong Zhao's arrow shaft, and then slid into the throwing pot, which looked extremely freehand.
The crowd cheered loudly again, and Dong Zhao also lamented: "Compared to Mr. Dong, what I got just now is just luck." Dong Cheng laughed repeatedly and said: "I have been in the army all year round, so I shouldn't have participated in this matter?
Dong Zhao smiled and said: "Anyway, I lost the competition, so I should return the gift to Mr. Dong."
After that, without waiting for Dong Cheng to refuse, Dong Zhao took out a long sword wrapped in yellow cloth from his waist, held it up with both hands and said: "This is a sharp weapon I got by chance in Hebei. The inscription on the back of the sword is Jianping."
The two characters are in agreement with Dong Gong and are just a gift to Dong Gong."
Dong Cheng drew his sword and looked at it. He saw that the sword was shining like water, and there were two characters "Jianping" in official script on the back. He was very satisfied, so he accepted the sword. Everyone saw that the two of them were laughing as before, and it became a good talk for a while.
At night, when the banquet was over, the emperor rested by the Kunming Pool, but the officials still had many important matters, so they took the bus back to Chang'an City. Logically speaking, Dong Cheng, as the uncle of the state, should accompany the emperor, but
He said that one of his children was ill and wanted to go home to visit him, so the emperor agreed.
Traveling more than ten miles east, when passing by Gufeng Pavilion, Dong Cheng ordered the driver to stop and said he would take a rest in the pavilion and asked his servants to wait by the roadside.
Entering the pavilion, the pavilion chief greeted him with a smile, and Dong Cheng asked: "Where are the others?"
Without waiting for the pavilion chief to answer, Dong Zhao walked out of the pavilion and saluted Dong Cheng: "I have met Mr. Dong."
Dong Cheng took out the yellow cloth and said coldly to Dong Zhao: "You are so brave! You used the yellow cloth to deliver a message in public, wrapped it in the scabbard and handed it to me. You also said that we have important matters for the country to discuss. What do you have?
Intention?"
Dong Zhao did not change at all. He opened the door and said slowly to Dong Zhao: "Of course it is for the country and the country of my great Han Dynasty."