The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

First more.

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"Scholar" as a class was first born in the Spring and Autumn Period.

From the Spring and Autumn Period, the Warring States Period, the Former Qin Dynasty, and the Former Han Dynasty to the present, the "scholar's style" has generally been in the same line. But there are also obvious differences.

In the pre-Qin period, the scholars pointed out the country, promoted the writing, and were full of pride. Where the Dao is, although millions of people will go to me; if the Dao does not work, I will float in the sea on a raft. Mencius said: "The people are the most valuable, the society is the second, and the ruler is the light". He has a strong and independent personality. Although he is very enthusiastic about politics, most of them only regard politics as a means to enforce the Tao, and do not flatter power. .

Since entering the former Han Dynasty, in the early days, the scholars were still quite warriors in the Warring States period. However, since Emperor Xiaowu, due to the stability of the regime and changes in thinking, the overall "scholarship" gradually changed from "aiming for "Tao" has turned to "following the king", and the insistence on "Tao" has also changed into the pursuit of "utility".

Scholars of the Han Dynasty did not shy about utilitarianism.

Ban Chao devoted himself to the army, and when he was a small official, he said boldly: "A man has no other ambitions, he should follow Zhang Qian's achievements in a foreign country in order to win the title." Afterwards, he said again, "The boy is An Zhizai of a strong man"? Another example is Yan, the father of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, who said that "the husband does not eat five cauldrons when he is born, and he cooks on five cauldrons when he dies". Another example is Liang Rong, the great-grandfather of the domineering general Liang Ji of this dynasty, who tried to climb high and look far, sighed, and said, "A man lives in the world, he is born as a prince, and he is dead as a temple food. Otherwise, living alone can raise one's aspirations, and poetry and books are enough to entertain oneself , the position of state and county is in vain." Even the "state and county" can't be seen.

This pursuit of utilitarianism ran through the two Han Dynasties, and thus formed the strong enterprising spirit of the Han people.

In this dynasty, in addition to advocating benefits and wealth, compared with the former Han Dynasty, there was another obvious difference, that is, under the vigorous promotion of Emperor Guangwu, scholars paid special attention to famous festivals. "In the Han Dynasty, Xiaowu commended the six classics. Although the teachers and Confucians were prosperous, but the righteousness was not clear, ..., in view of this, Guangwu respected the righteousness, honored the reputation and truth, ..., and the customs changed." "Repeating the name and honoring the festival" gradually became the fashion of the scholars, and the scholars competed to flaunt it with the famous festival and deliberately pursued it. At the end of the development of this fashion, "party people" naturally appeared, and "clear opinions" of the characters appeared.

With the increasingly dark politics and the more and more people living in poverty, in recent years, the style of scholars has begun to change.

Scholars, or "to the prosperity and to avoid the decline, to make friends and to become rich and noble", completely abandoned the morality that scholars should have, threw themselves into power, and joined eunuchs and foreign relatives. Or go with the flow and eat vegetarian meals, only for the purpose of "promotion" and only for the pursuit of power. Or still maintain a conscience, but for various reasons cannot help bowing to the powerful. Among the three, those who follow the trend are the mainstream.

In addition to these three, there are those who are unwilling or unable to enter official positions. In this era of great change, they cannot live in seclusion, or they pretend to be scholars, self-cultivation and self-cultivation, or they say that they are crazy, and they are self-willed. Needless to say the former, the latter believes that "life is easy to perish, and the name does not last forever, but you can enjoy yourself when you are restrained." With such a thought, in terms of behavior, these people tend to act grotesquely and vulgarly. Just like the "Qing Yi" of the characters in the title, they are actually the origin of "Wei Jin Shi Feng".

…

Although the Yingyin Xun clan is a famous contemporary Confucian family, there are many children in the clan, each with different ideas and different external influences. Therefore, everyone is as gentle and elegant as the "Eight Dragons" and Xun Yu, like Xun Qu. Because of being implicated by the party's calamity, he has the ambition to clear the world, but he is trapped in a room and cannot go out. There is a strong contrast between ideals and reality. "All the way, he likes to sing mourning songs, and he has become a "crazy life" in the eyes of outsiders. In the eyes of most clansmen and outsiders, they are also aliens of the Xun clan.

Including Xun Zhen, when he asked himself to be the head of Fanyang Pavilion earlier, he could not be understood by most of the clan.

Some people have said in private: "Xun Zhen is fond of learning when he is young, and he is very old, but he asks him to be a fighting officer. This is probably because he is influenced by Xun Zhongtong!" Under the influence of Xun Qu, some people attributed his act of asking himself to be the pavilion chief to Xun Qu.

In fact, Xun Zhen has been studying with Xun Qu for more than ten years, and he will definitely be affected by some influences, but he has come from time to time. He was originally an adult with his own world outlook, outlook on life, and values, and he was under pressure from the Yellow Turban Uprising. , He was thinking about how to save his life all the time, but overall, he was not greatly influenced by Xun Qu. It's just that, it's not enough for outsiders.

…

The clan banquet that night was scattered at three shifts.

After the clan feast, the activities on the day of Zhengdan are over, but according to customs and etiquette, in the next few days, it is still necessary to visit relatives and friends, "Hehe Jun, teacher, old general, clan, father and brother, father and friend, friend , relatives, and the elders of the township party”, congratulating them on the New Year, expressing wishes and greetings. Xun Zhen used this as an excuse to ask the county for a few days' leave in advance. - The township Youzhi is a hundred stone official, and has already entered the "rank". Although he is mainly responsible for the county, the power of appointment and dismissal is still in the county, so he can only ask the county for leave.

According to the law, leave is allowed, as long as it is not too long. "Officials should be exempted when they are sick for 100 days." Take sick leave as an example.

In the next few days, Xun Zhenxian went to the county to pay homage to the magistrate Zhu Chang. This time, Zhu Chang met him, not only himself, but also Xun Yu, Xun You and other descendants of the Xun clan, chatted with them for a long time, and finally said encouragingly: "Jun Yin is here to serve in the middle of the county. , you are all talented talents in this county, you will be of great use sooner or later, study hard, and don’t slack off!”

Xun Zhen knew in his heart that Zhu Chang must have known about the in-law relationship between the Xun family and the Yin family, and he must have known about the fact that Yin Xiu had summoned Xun to meet him a while ago, so he said this.

After paying respects to Zhu Chang, Xun Zhen kept on going, and then paid respects to the teachers and elders of the Xun Qu, Xun Ke and other clans. In Xun Qian's house, he also received a gift of wine from Xun Qian. Before leaving, he asked Xun Yu, who was taking him out: "Wen Ruo, are you going to Yangzhai these days?"

Xun Yu heard Xiange, knew Yayi, and replied, "Are you trying to talk about Xizhicai?"

"Yes. Since I met him at your house last time, except for a few letters, I haven't been able to see him again. If you go to Yangzhai these days, or if he comes to visit you, you will Can you tell me something?"

Xun Yu said: "In a few days, I may go from Jiajun to Xuxian, and after going to Xuxian, I will go to Tang's house. I am afraid that Yang Zhai will not have time to go. However, if Xi Zhicai comes, I will definitely send it. Someone will tell you." After a pause, he smiled again, "Zhenzhi, Xi Zhicai thinks highly of you!"

Xun Zhen was flattered, which was unexpected.

When he met Xi Zhicai, they just chatted with each other and didn't say anything too deep. Later, their correspondence was very polite. I really didn't expect Xi Zhicai to "evaluate him very high". He stabilized his mind and thought: "You have a very high opinion of me? If so, I really have to make time to go to Yangzhai to see him as soon as possible." In the original history, although Xi Zhicai died early, in There are not many things left in the history books, but the talent is unquestionable, and it can be almost as famous as the later Guo Jia.

Thinking of Guo Jia, he thought again: "I hope that one day, I can meet Guo Jia."

After coming out of Xunlai's house, he paid tribute to the elders of the clan, and then he went to pay tribute to the friends of the same generation and the younger generation in the clan.

Although he was despised by many clansmen because of his self-appointment as the patriarch, but after all, it has been more than ten years since he has traveled, and there are a few good clansmen in the clan. For example, the clan brother who likes to collect tiles, named Xun Cheng, has a good relationship with him. Another example is Xun You and Xun Qu's son Xun Qi, who accompanied him to study all the year round, and their friendship was even better.

In addition, he also paid tribute to the county officials Qin Gan, Liu Ru, and Wen Zhi who had not known each other for a long time.

- Wenpin didn't go home, and came to see him on the second day of Zhengdan. Wenpin had no friends in the county, and he often followed him in the past few days. When he went to pay homage to Xun Qu, Xun Lai, Xun You, Xun Cheng, and Xun Qi, he was accompanied by Wen Pin, which also allowed him to get to know a lot of people. How are things going?"

Where there is no need to hide, Xun Zhen told it bluntly. The things that need to be concealed, such as Du Mai, Chen Bao, Xu Zhong forging evidence, etc., Xun Zhen only vaguely covered it with the idea that one less person would be more insurance. Counting with his fingers, while busy, the vacation he asked for was over in an instant, and the day before the end of the vacation, Gao Bing came again and didn't say much, only brought a message from Xu Zhong: "Everything is done as expected. Everything has been done according to Xunjun's orders."

Xun Zhen understood, Xu Zhong was implying that the evidence was ready.

With witnesses and evidence, you can then report to the county.

However, one thing is quite strange. Half of Xunzhen's reason for taking leave is to visit relatives and friends, and the other half is to temporarily avoid the third clan. For this reason, he also specially explained the gate of the prison, and if anyone who does not know comes to him, he will be blocked from the inside and outside. However, this has been going on for several days, and no one from the third clan has come to ask for it. I don't know if it's because they haven't realized that Xunzhen is going to kill them, or because they are arrogant and do not take it seriously?

He asked Gao Bing, "Is there any change in the third clan recently?"

"Except for the next day of Zhengdan, a guest of the third clan came to Fanyang Pavilion to intercede with Lao Du, hoping to release Hu / Ping, and there was no other news."

"Oh!"

Xun Zhen nodded and thought for a moment, unable to guess the current situation of the Third Clan, so she stopped thinking about it, and said in her mind, "I don't care if he moves or not, no matter what he thinks, I just follow mine. Step by step, step by step." He said, "Tell Du Jun and Jun Qing that you will start within two or three days, and teach them not to be careless, to take good care of Hu / Ping, and to put all the evidence. Okay."

Gao Bing complied and left.

After he left, the next day, Xun Zhen's vacation ended, and he brought Tang Er, Xiao Xia, and Xiao Ren, and drove an ox cart and horse back to the official temple in the township. As soon as I entered the gate of the Guan Temple, I felt that the atmosphere in the temple was a little strange.