The ordinary four years of Zhongping came to an end simply without the hustle and bustle of fireworks or the reunion of dumplings and glutinous rice balls.
Spring has not yet begun in January, but it snows heavily in Qingzhou. Snowflakes as big as goose feathers fall, dyeing Mount Tai in white.
This year there was an inexplicable earthquake in the officialdom of Qingzhou, and many officials were dismissed.
After Chen Mu left, many officials appointed by the imperial court began to return to their old ways. Seeing that Qingzhou was getting richer, they thought they could use their hands to collude with the powerful to oppress the people.
But all this was detected by the spies of the Military Intelligence Department secretly dispatched by Jushou, and reported to the Chancellor. After verification, he was dismissed and arrested.
In terms of personnel appointments and removals, the Qingzhou Group paid for all official positions, including county governors and county magistrates.
In the final analysis, there are still enough available talents. With Taishan Academy as a talent training base, a steady stream of people who can be officials can be mass-produced, so that the Qingzhou Group will not have no one available.
It's just that they are all ordinary internal affairs talents with intelligence above 90. Currently, there are only two people, Chen Mu and Jushou.
Chen Mu actually thought about looking for Guo Jia, Jia Xu, Chen Gong, Xu Shu and others at the central government, but there was no point in going to him on his own initiative.
All along, Chen Mu has always let nature take its course, and he doesn't have to force himself if he can find the best one.
the reason is simple.
Now is not a time of chaos, nor is it a time to directly recruit someone if you hear that he is famous, and he will be used by you.
Let alone Chen Mu, a ministerial order, or a subordinate of less than three hundred stones recruited by the governor, those arrogant people may not take it seriously.
Even if the emperor or the three gongs and nine ministers proposed a campaign, most people would refuse.
For example, Zheng Xuan, the emperor and the three ministers and nine ministers recruited him many times. Except for one time when he was forced to have no choice but to go there, he refused at other times and concentrated on teaching.
What's more important is that these people will be famous in later generations, but their fame now is not as good as some ordinary celebrities with intelligence below 50.
Therefore, there is no reason to conquer them rashly. Secondly, it will make people alert. Thirdly, it will be difficult to convince the public.
Moreover, Chen Mu is now a famous person in the world, and his status is far from ordinary people. According to the rules of the Han Dynasty, only famous people can recommend themselves to him, and there is no reason for him to come and invite him in person.
Even for Jushou, because we all knew each other before and became friends, there was enough reason to help promote him. For ordinary people, there is really no need to lose his identity like this.
Now that you have fame and status, talents will naturally come to your door when the time comes. There is no need to rush for a while, which will only cause unnecessary trouble.
In the ice and snow, Liu Bei gently exhaled a white breath. The ox tendon bow string in his hand had been stretched to the limit. The entire rhinoceros horn bow made a "crack" sound. The arrow cluster was aimed at a deer twenty feet away in front of him.
The deer was hiding in a birch forest, chewing a pile of withered leaves peacefully, unaware of the impending disaster.
On such a cold winter day, the sparse woods did not provide any decent protection. Bare branches and bushes stretched out in front of it. In the vast white snow, the brown deerskin provided no protection.
Expose it completely.
call out!
An arrow with green feathers was shot in response to the string, and it was firmly nailed to the trunk of a birch tree only a few inches away from the elk.
The frightened elk jumped suddenly, causing the trees beside it to shake. Then it flew its hooves and fled into the depths of the woods in a panic, and soon disappeared.
Liu Bei calmly pulled out the arrow shaft that was nailed to the tree trunk, smoothed the slightly crooked tail feathers, and inserted it back into the arrow pot.
"Brother, my archery skills have deteriorated."
Chen Mu smiled and walked forward. At such a close distance, there was no way Liu Bei's archery skills could miss him.
Liu Bei smiled and said, "If I were so hungry right now, I would definitely shoot this deer to death. But now that I have no worries about food and clothing, if I kill this deer, I will just take it home and eat it. I will leave it to hunters in need."
"That's a doe. She's about to give birth. My eldest brother saw it too, so he didn't want to kill it."
Guan Yu took two steps forward, and everything was peaceful in Qingzhou this year. Although Wuhuan invaded at the beginning of spring, Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan beat him back to his hometown. At the end of the year, Qiu Liju finally couldn't hold on anymore and offered Zhang Chun Zhang Ju's head to lead the crowd.
Surrender.
Now Gongsun Zan is the governor of Youzhou, using the wealth he saved from distilled wine to do business with the Wuhuan people of Xianbei, making a lot of money, and the border is much more stable.
Chen Mu took advantage of the end of the year to take a rest and took a boat trip all the way. In the morning and in the evening, he returned to Qingzhou to help Liu Bei celebrate his victory.
Because of their contribution to the pacification of Qiu Liju, both Gongsun Zan and Zou Jing were granted the title of marquis, and their official positions were further improved. Although Liu Bei was not promoted, he was originally the Marquis of Duxiang and was now promoted to the Marquis of Ting.
Some people may be confused when they see this. Why did the Marquis of Xiang become a Marquis of Ting when he was promoted?
But in fact, both Dutinghou and Duxianghou are empty positions, and they are the lowest rank. Above Duxianghou is Tinghou, who not only enjoys a pavilion of food, but also has certain powers, such as appointing pavilion soldiers.
, and further up are the township marquis and county marquis.
Therefore, Liu Bei was previously promoted from the Marquis of Duting to the Marquis of Duxiang. When he was promoted normally, he would have to remove the word "du" and change from a virtual position of receiving food from a distant place to a real position where he could intervene in local affairs.
It's a pity that Liu Bei's fiefdom is in Youzhou, and it's only the size of a pavilion. He can only manage a radius of ten kilometers. There is no difference between whether he has this actual job or not.
Liu Bei said with a smile: "It is said in "Zuo Zhuan" that a gentleman will not catch two hairs unless he is seriously injured. Lu Zi also once said, if you fish in the lake, you won't get something, but there will be no fish next year; if you burn the fields, you won't gain something, but next year you will have no fish.
There are no beasts. The sages have long taught us that only by having a long-term plan can we survive."
Big Brother actually understands the path of sustainable development. This idea is really avant-garde. But if you think about it carefully, this idea did exist in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, but it was not taken seriously. Big Brother's philosophy of governing the country is still somewhat different from the current mainstream.
difference.
Chen Mu praised: "Brother is right, only by taking a long-term view can we continue to thrive. But for now, we still have to work hard to develop. As the saying goes, if a worker wants to do his job well, he must first sharpen his tools and destroy nature before it can be repaired.
nature."
“How can we restore nature by destroying it?”
Liu Bei did not understand the meaning of this sentence and asked, "What does this mean?"
"It means develop first and then manage."
Chen Mu thought for a while and said: "Manpower has its limits. Only by cutting down trees and using them to make tools can we increase work efficiency and feed a larger population. After development in the future, governance will be restored, but this is not a matter of one generation.
, is a matter of several generations.”
"Hahaha, fourth brother's words are always so hard to understand."
Zhang Fei walked out of the forest on the other side, holding two rabbits in his hands, and laughed loudly, causing the snow in the forest to fall rustlingly: "Brother, second brother, and fourth brother, look what I caught.
, two live rabbits, we will make braised rabbit meat tonight."
"Just two are not enough for third brother to eat."
Liu Bei thought for a while and said, "Look again and see if I can catch two more wild pheasants."
The four brothers continued to explore the mountain forest with one foot deep and one foot shallow.
In the bushes not far away, a crossbow arrow quietly stretched out, aiming in the direction of Liu Bei.
"Whoosh!"
The sharp arrow clusters passed through the gap between the branches in an instant, pierced the back of the man's neck, cut open the steaming flesh and blood, and penetrated his neck.
"withdraw!"
After realizing that he had been ambushed, the assassin quickly ordered a retreat.
But it was too late. Zang Ba and the spies from the Military Intelligence Department quietly drew out their swords, jumped out from the snow farther away, followed them, and killed them.
"Remember to stay alive."
Chen Mu ordered loudly.
Zang Ba led dozens of people and the assassins chased and escaped, gradually disappearing.
An assassination attempt against Liu Bei was eliminated invisible.
"These clowns."
Liu Bei snorted coldly. He suppressed powerful people in Jinan and forced them to pay taxes. Many people wanted his life.
You must know that it is not that simple for the emperor to collect land taxes. Many powerful people colluded with local officials to hide their fields in order to pay less land taxes.
Only Liu Bei was so dumbfounded that he personally led people to measure the land, count the powerful properties, and force them to pay high taxes.
Old and new grudges completely broke out after Liu Bei quelled the rebellion and disbanded the army.
In fact, Liu Bei had been assassinated two years ago. At that time, Chen Mu asked Hou Xu to investigate the matter. However, all the assassins were dead at that time. Even though their portraits were drawn and claimed, no one knew the identities of these people, so there was really no way to investigate.
This was the case in ancient times. If these assassins were desperadoes from other places and were hidden by the local powerful, you would not be able to find out because this is a common phenomenon.
Not to mention local powerful people hiding murderers, many famous families and even relatives of the emperor do this.
The most famous one is the Cangtou murder case. Liu Xiu's biological sister, Princess Huyang's slave, murdered someone. Dong Xuan forcibly arrested the person and shot the Cangtou to death in front of Princess Huyang. For this reason, Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu almost killed Dong.
Declared to be killed.
This is the story of Qiang Xiang Ling, and many people should have heard of it.
Even the royal family members hide murderers, let alone ordinary local tycoons.
In history, there were many upright officials like Dong Xuan who caught powerful people hiding murderers, but there was still a survivor bias. It was precisely because they were few that they were written down in the history books.
Most of them are not recorded in history books at all. These hidden murderers all went unpunished and became powerful tools, instructing them to assassinate enemies. They were countless in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
These matters are unresolved, which is a worry for Chen Mu. After all, there is always someone who wants to kill you, and you will feel uncomfortable no matter what.
So taking advantage of this vacation, Liu Bei also took advantage of Liu Bei's opportunity to disband his army, deliberately luring the snake out of its hole and creating an opportunity for them.
How was Liu Bei resolved when he was assassinated last time?
Relying on Dian Wei's flying ax and Tai Shi Ci's bow and arrow, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were completely useless.
Not taking Dian Wei and Tai Shi Ci with him this time would make the enemy think that Liu Bei had already relaxed his vigilance. It would also give the enemy the illusion that without Dian Wei and Tai Shi Ci, Liu Bei would no longer be able to fight back.
Unfortunately, this was a trap. Chen Mu had made a plan a few days ago, determined the ambush location, and then dug a cave in advance. He hid the person in it last night and used the snow on the branches to cover it up.
The assassin thought there were only Liu, Guan, Zhang and Chen around, but he didn't know that there were people from the Military Intelligence Department ambushing him everywhere, waiting for them to come to his door.
An assassination did not ruin the mood of several people. The four of them walked out of the mountain forest. At the foot of the mountain, there were pale-headed soldiers lighting a fire and waiting.
When they saw them coming out, they all said, "The envoy is back."
A group of people stepped on the fire, and those who led the horses led the horses. Others poured hot wine into skins and handed it to them.
"Well, go back."
Liu Bei took the horse and waved his hand to indicate that he would not drink. Zhang Fei was not polite and picked up the wine bag and took a big sip. He felt that his whole body was unbearably hot, and he could not feel the cold at all in the ice and snow. He was so refreshing.
The four of them got on their horses and galloped away with many of the blue-headed attendants, not caring at all that there was a fight in the forest behind them.
No matter how capable these assassins are, they can't escape from Zang Ba's grasp in the mountains and forests.
Returning to Dongpingling County, the mansion has been covered with snow. The bushes in the flower bed in front of the courtyard are covered with a thick layer of snow. A thin layer of ice has condensed on the bluestone at the door. A servant of the mansion is standing there.
Use a shovel to remove thin ice.
The servant was a young man of fifteen or sixteen years old. When Chen Mu passed by, he looked at him and saw that he hurriedly narrowed his eyes and stood aside awkwardly and saluted: "Your Majesty, the second general and the third general."
Seeing that he didn't seem to recognize Chen Mu, Liu Bei smiled and said, "Wu Xun, you don't recognize him anymore. This is my fourth brother Chen Zigui."
Wu Xun?
Chen Mu's pupils shrank, remembering the child in Guangnian four years ago.
"I've met the four generals."
Wu Xun salutes.
Chen Mu nodded politely and entered the hall. After sitting down, he asked: "Brother, what's going on?"
This chapter is not over, please click on the next page to continue reading! Liu Bei explained: "Hu Zhi adopted this child. He was supposed to follow Hu Zhi and Hu Ping to farm for a living, but the child couldn't bear his temper and wanted to find something to do.
So he became a guard in the mansion."
Hu Zhi is already in his forties, and can be considered an old man in this era. He has long since put down his weapons, returned to the fields, and makes a living by farming at home with his eldest son Hu Ping.
At that time, there were more than a thousand people who followed Liu Bei in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, including the Youzhou group and the later Luo Shi thieves group.
Now there are only five or six hundred people left, and most of them have been disbanded. Some have received rewards and returned to their hometowns, and some have taken root in Jinan. Currently, only the second son of Hu Zhi, Hu Yong, is still working with Liu Bei as a garrison.
long.
After all, although the team has been disbanded, there are usually thousands of standing soldiers in a county. They are all veteran soldiers who have been streamlined by Liu Bei and are willing to continue serving as soldiers. Their combat effectiveness is quite strong.
"I see, brother is still as kind-hearted as ever." Chen Mu nodded, and he would not nag anymore about this point.
As a person who believes in benevolence and righteousness, and who can say "Do not do evil because it is small, and do not do good because it is small", Liu Bei's values cannot be changed. In the future, he told Hou Xu to be careful.
Just stick to Wu Xun.
"Come on, come on, we brothers finally got together again, we must not get drunk today!"
Zhang Fei threw the rabbit in his hand on the table and shouted: "Come here, roast this rabbit, ask the kitchen to get some chicken and fish, cook the wine, and bring them all up."
Liu Bei's wife, Mrs. Li, came out of the back hall and said with a smile: "The three uncles are gathered together today, and brothers meet each other, so let me cook."
Seeing his wife, Liu Bei thought of Guan Yu's wife, and said to Guan Yu: "Today's family dinner, why not call my sister-in-law and A Ping."
Guan Yu said: "Okay, I'll call them."
"Yeah yeah."
At this moment, a three-year-old child staggered out of the back hall and ran towards Liu Bei with a vague voice.
"Hey, eldest nephew."
When Zhang Fei saw the handsome Liu Feng, he immediately became happy. He went up and hugged him, and tried to rub his steel-thorn beard on the child's face.
Chen Mu quickly went up and snatched Liu Feng from his hand, and rolled his eyes at Zhang Fei: "Third brother, I'm afraid little Feng'er will cry if your needle-prick beard pricks him."
Zhang Fei's face was filled with grievances.
Liu Bei came over happily and teased his son: "Feng'er, my name is Fourth Uncle."
"Fourth uncle."
Liu Feng's eyes were watery and he shouted in a sweet voice.
"Whoa whoa whoa!"
Another shocking cry came from the back hall.
"Ahou is crying."
Liu Bei hurried to the back hall.
The brothers followed and found a crying baby wrapped in red and black cloth on the bed in the back hall.
Last year Liu Bei gave birth to another fat boy named Liu Hou.
At first, when Chen Mu found out that Liu Bei's eldest son was called Liu Feng, he was surprised that his ambition was Feng Chan?
Only now do I know that his ambition is to become a marquis.
After all, the Han Dynasty was proud of its title of marquis. Liu Bei had been fighting for several years, and now he had removed the false position of "capital" and became the lowest Tinghou. This shows how much he longed to become a real prince.
"Oh, little Ahou, why are you crying?" Liu Bei's mother came in from the side door of the back hall. She lived in the backyard. She heard the cry and came over with the support of her maid.
"Mom."
"My aunt."
Liu, Zhang and Chen quickly saluted.
The old woman was only in her fifties this year, her eyesight was already very poor, and her body was stooped. When she saw everyone, she squinted her eyes and looked around for a while before she saw that the newcomer was Chen Mu, and said hurriedly: "It turns out that Xiaosi is back.
.”
"Yes, my aunt is getting better and better."
Chen Mu replied with a smile.
The old woman was happy: "What's good? Half of my body has been buried in the ground. I haven't been alive for a few years, and my body and bones are getting worse and worse. Bei'er, give me Ah Hou. You go to the front hall.
Just sit down."
Liu Bei left Liu Hou in the hands of his mother. He was indeed not very good at raising children.
Chen Mu hugged Liu Feng, stroked his little head, and said to Liu Bei in a rather naughty tone: "Brother, Feng is almost four years old. He should be old enough to go to school."
Liu Bei smiled and said: "Yes, I was thinking of sending him to Taishan Academy a few days ago, but he is not yet old enough."
"Tsk tsk."
Chen Mu pinched Liu Feng's face and said regretfully: "Poor child, your happy life is about to end."
Liu Feng's eyes flickered. At a young age, he still didn't understand the horror of going to school.
What's more, he didn't know that in another year, his fourth uncle would return to Qingzhou to teach, and then his education would all fall into Chen Mu's hands.
At this time, Guan Yu had already brought Hu and Guan Ping over.
Guan Ping was already ten years old and had grown a lot taller. When he saw Chen Mu, he hurriedly cupped his hands and saluted, "Fourth uncle."
"Good boy, how are your grades this year?"
Chen Mu's eyes lit up.
Liu Feng and Liu Hou were still too young, so they only felt like elders in front of Guan Ping.
The corners of Guan Ping's mouth twitched slightly, and his already bronzed skin turned darker.
Take a look at the livid faces of his father and mother when they think about his grades.
Then I saw the fourth uncle’s evil smile that was like spring breeze.
The area of young Guan Ping's psychological shadow is growing infinitely.
well.
The happiness of the elders is so simple and boring.