It is the hottest summer in July and the weather is hot and dry.
The official road in the southeastern suburbs of Luoyang, which should have been bustling with activity, is now desolate.
This does not mean that there are fewer dignitaries on the road, but it means that dignitaries alone cannot support the word "lively". It should be noted that this is an agricultural society, so even in the suburbs of Luoyang, the capital, if there are fertile fields on the roadside,
There are no farmers working, and if there are no plainly dressed peasant women carrying earthen jars to deliver meals on the road, it will definitely make people feel that something is wrong.
And if all the farmers in sight can only sit under the bare trees and sigh, then it's not just a matter of something wrong.
"It's a plague of locusts!" Not to mention other people, even the newly engaged Lu Fan shook his head. "Fortunately it's in Luoyang."
"Brother Ziheng, what do you mean by this?" Liu Bei on the side was puzzled. "No matter where there is a locust plague, it is bad, right? I still remember a few years ago, there was a severe drought in Hebei first, and then there was a severe locust. That scene, even though I was young,
I'm young, but I still feel frightened when I think about it... You don't know, there is a big mulberry tree in front of our house. I don't know how old it is, but it was chewed up overnight..."
"Then what?" Lu Fan asked. "What happens after the mulberry tree is gnawed clean?"
"Then naturally the mulberry tree sprouted new buds and survived!" Liu Bei said with emotion. "We villagers all say that the mulberry tree growing in front of my house has magical powers. Not to mention the height of five feet, when the branches and leaves are flourishing,
, it looks like a car hood from a distance..."
"I'm not asking you about mulberry trees." Lu Fan was extremely speechless. "I'm asking you whether there will be bandits after the locust plague? Will there be refugees? Will there be big families that invade middle-class homes? Will there be civil unrest?"
Liu Bei looked confused.
"How old was he then?" Gongsun Yue said with a smile. "How could he know these things?"
"Brother Yue is not much older than me!" Liu Bei said angrily. "You remember it even if I don't remember it?"
"Of course I remember." Gongsun Yue replied proudly. "You come from a small family, but I am from the Gongsun family. I still remember that it was just the drought the year before, and the family members, under the urging of my aunt,
We built ditches and diverted water from Luan River to irrigate the fields around Lingzhi, so that there was still a lot of harvest that year. But when the locust plague came the next year, there were no locusts in our local area, but a group of locusts flew over from Youbeiping, and then my aunt
After warning the clan members, they finally led people to line up to kill them, and even taught them to eat locusts..."
"Eating locusts?" Liu Bei looked horrified.
"I remember this too!" Han Dang also suddenly interrupted. "That day, every family in Lingzhi City shared several kilograms of locusts. Although they only ate them for a few days, the taste was truly unforgettable... However, eating locusts is better than eating them.
It seems that when I was eating locusts, I heard people talking about your Zhuo County. It is said that there are hungry people there who have begun to eat people. Then two months later, in the autumn, there are refugees who have returned to their hometowns and lost their land in Yuyang.
If they rebel, the county will send reinforcements to attack them."
"This is what I mean by 'fortunately'." Lu Fan took advantage of the situation and shook his head. "Lingzhi is where the foundation of Xundi and his Gongsun family lies, so the Gongsun family will never sit back and watch Lingzhi suffer, while other places will not
You must be so lucky, because there are refugees, thieves, cannibalism, and even war disasters."
"I understand what Brother Zi Heng means." Liu Bei looked at the situation around him and sighed while riding on his horse. "After all, Henan is at the feet of the emperor. Not to mention that the emperor will not sit back and watch the capital suffer, even the dignitaries around Luoyang will not allow it.
There was chaos around my manor, so although these victims lost a harvest, they did not starve to death... This is indeed more 'lucky' than other places."
"And there are terrain barriers." Lu Fan continued to explain. "After all, there is the Yellow River in the north and the Songshan Mountains in the south. The locusts will most likely be locked up in the Henan Yin territory. If the riot really starts from Hebei and the Central Plains, I’m afraid there will be another big disaster!”
This indeed makes sense, so everyone nodded.
And just when everyone was talking about it and unconsciously arrived at the foot of Fengshi Mountain, at the intersection, several servants of the Gongsun family who were waiting here came up quickly and stopped a few people.
It turned out that Lu Zhi came down from the mountain a few days ago and lived in the other courtyard of the Gongsun brothers at the foot of the mountain... Specifically, it was the courtyard that was vacated after Gongsun Zan left, and he gave lectures there from time to time.
As for the servants waiting here, it was actually Lu Zhi who had given orders, saying that he wanted Gongsun Xun and others to go directly to the other courtyard to find him when they came back!
"Does the teacher actually live at the foot of the mountain?" Gongsun Xun, who had never spoken, frowned slightly. To be honest, he really didn't want to spend time with Lu Zhi, because this person really made him feel scared.
Lu Fan glanced at Gongsun Xun and quickly reminded him calmly: "It's a good thing that the teacher can always be around to give you advice."
Gongsun Xun immediately said seriously: "That's it. Let's go quickly and don't keep Master Lu waiting."
However, after Lu Zhi met a few disciples, he didn't say anything else. He just asked the reactions of the great scholars and senior officials in Runan in detail. After hearing that all the people who received the letter had a firm attitude, he directly Let everyone rest. And he himself officially announced that he would use Gongsun Zan's small courtyard to bathe, change clothes, and fast for three days, and then submit another letter!
Gongsun Xun actually wanted to ask the other party about the locust plague, but in the end he was a little timid and had to withdraw in a depressed manner.
However, this feeling of depression did not last long. On the evening of the second day, good news suddenly came - Jia Chao was back!
It is said that Jia Chao was sent home by Gongsun Xun to deliver a message.
After all, as soon as the news of Lu Zhi's return to Beijing came out last time, Gongsun Xun learned that his three brothers had unintentionally fallen into a dispute over modern and ancient texts. In desperation, he couldn't help but ask his brother The woman who claims to have known it for 1,800 years sent a request for help... I had no other intention, I just wanted to ask the other party if he still had any impression of the Xiping Stone Scripture, and what was the result? Then who was the final figure in the struggle between ancient and modern texts? Who wins and loses, and how should I deal with it? And between Liu Kuan and Lu Zhi, how should I, a little kid, deal with it?
No matter what, you, the old man, cannot watch your son studying hard behind closed doors in Luoyang... Read, read, get a doctorate, what would it be like?
Of course, the traffic level is very poor these days, and Lu Zhi came too fast and violently. Gongsun Xun came back here in the afternoon to finish writing the letter, and then asked Jia Chao to take people to deliver it quickly to western Liaoning. In the evening, he Teacher Lu directly slapped the wooden bowl on the table in the charity house opposite.
Then, the next day they called Liu Kuan to sign an unequal treaty.
It seems that the question of how to deal with Liu Kuan and Lu Zhi no longer needs an answer. However, after all, my mother holds the 'truth', and her letter will definitely be valuable... Besides, Li We have been home for such a long time, and my mother-in-law wrote a letter. Even if she just said a few nonsense words, it is still very happy!
Therefore, Gongsun Xun, who was lying in his small courtyard enjoying the breeze, almost couldn't wait to let Jia Chao in.
The letter was written on silk, and then placed in a brocade bag wrapped with lime. It is said that it can prevent the ink on it from spreading due to moisture... Needless to say, this 'tip in the bag' belongs to Aunt Gongsun.
'Invention', she always has a lot of inventions.
However, now that the letter has been obtained, Gongsun Xun, who sat up from the recliner, was not in a hurry: "Get up, mother, do you have anything to tell me?"
"The mistress didn't have any instructions." Jia Chao straightened up and replied. "She said everything she wanted to say is in this letter..."
"I see." Gongsun Xun nodded. "Then did you learn anything during this trip?"
"There's not much else, but there is one thing that I heard when I passed by Julu, my hometown, when I came here. I think Shaojun might want to hear it."
"Julu..." Gongsun Xun's eyelids twitched. "It can't be that Zhao Zhong's nephew has come back to life, right?"
"It's not about this." Jia Chao shook his head repeatedly, and then replied seriously. "It's because Taiping Road suddenly rebelled!"
Gongsun Xun was stunned, and then when he came back to his senses, he felt his heart was beating wildly, and his forehead was getting hot. In the end, he became unsteady and fell directly onto the rocking chair behind him.
The Sanhan maid who was fanning next to her, Tu Fu who was standing far away at the door of the yard, and Jia Chao in front of him, almost all rushed to help... but were scolded by Gongsun Xun:
"It's okay! It's hot. It's just a bit hot. Stay away from me and let me lie down and get some fresh air!"
Everyone quickly returned to their places.
"This...this Taiping Road..." Gongsun Xun lay on a chair and looked at the sky, grabbing his wife's brocade bag. He felt that he was sweating profusely and his mouth was dry. "Why is this Taiping Road reversed?"
?”
"This is what makes this matter surprising." Jia Chao replied carefully. "This Taiping Road has a high reputation in Jizhou during the day. Not only the people are convinced, but the sect advocates..."
"Cough...cough...keep talking, seriously!"
"That sect Zhangjiao is also a famous person from our Julu." Jia Chao glanced at the other party and saw that the other party was indeed fine before he dared to continue. "He has always been considered to be very virtuous and has a wide circle of friends. It is said that he has close ties with the imperial court.
All high-ranking officials and famous scholars in the country have contacts... Therefore, his sudden rebellion this time is really baffling to the whole of Hebei."
Gongsun Xun, who was lying there, nodded... He believed this, because throughout the Han Dynasty, Taoism was actually an orthodox academic, and was even considered a kind of classics. If you have to talk about gods and ghosts,
On the contrary, the theory of prophecy and prophecy is particularly prevalent in the official scholarship of the imperial court today, that is, in the Confucian Classics and Classics!
Therefore, in the eyes of the world, this Zhang Jiao is not so much an alchemist as a partial scholar. It is really strange that such a person suddenly rebels.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Gongsun Xun was thinking, but to his surprise, Jia Chao had already shut up.
"What else can you say?" Jia Chao was puzzled. "It's this corner that leads the Taiping Road. Everyone thinks it's strange. I also think I should tell Shaojun..."
"What happens after you rebel?" Gongsun Xun turned around and asked speechlessly. "How many people were mobilized, how many cities were conquered, and how many people responded? You are a native of Julu, and you happened to pass by Julu on this trip.
You always know something, right?”
"Please forgive me, Young Master," Jia Chao looked embarrassed. "I really don't know this, because the Taiping Dao rebellion happened in April, and it was said that it was captured by the county guards in less than three days.
And now because of the amnesty, Zhang Jiaodu has returned to Julu to preach again. I...but...I just couldn't help but go home on the way and listened to what my brother said. And I heard what my brother said,
Now Taipingdao has changed its way of preaching, what kind of 'square' is it going to establish, and then it has sent eight of its proud disciples to set up 'squares' all over the country to preach, it seems like it has to establish thirty-six 'squares' or something...
...I think that leader Zhang was confused for a while, so he needs to change his mind and start a new life, right?"
Gongsun Xun was stunned again, and then immediately became speechless... He was accumulating experience, or maybe he became successful in the future because of this lesson, so why should he worry so much here?!
As soon as he thought about this, he huffed and sat up again feeling refreshed.
"In order to be a general, you must first treat your mind. If Mount Tai collapses in front but does not change its color, if a deer rises to the left but its eyesight does not blink, then you can control the interests and harms, and wait for the enemy." - "The Art of War of Yanwu", Chapter on Mental Techniques
PS: Thanks to Piao Hong for Tianma Xingkong Ma Xingkong... This should be an old friend... What is his name in the group?
By the way, Zhang Jiao did do the same thing once during the Xiping period. He didn't even make waves, so he was just pardoned.
There is also a new book group. Interested students can add it at 684558115.
