The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

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Hearing that Xu Chu came in and reported that it was a person who claimed to be Cai Mao, and that Xun Zhen was eating, he was overjoyed, dropped his chopsticks, and went out to greet him. ——But Xun Zhen had just come back from duty, and only had a few bites of the meal.

See you at the gate of the house, there is a person standing outside.

At this time, although it was already night, there were lanterns hanging at the door. With the help of the light of the lanterns, I could clearly see the person's appearance and figure.

Seeing that this man was in his thirties or forties, his stature was not tall, but he was quite strong, with a belt around the waist, a thick beard, and he was standing by his sword, but he was not Cai Mao. Xun Zhen laughed loudly, and as she walked forward, she stretched out her arms and said, "De Gui! I heard the news from Kunyang earlier that you entered the country, and I was thinking, when will you be able to arrive in Xu County? It's only been two days. It's here, how fast."

"De Gui" is Cai Mao's character.

Cai Mao bowed down and saluted, saying: "Duke Xun! I have been away for many years. In the past few years, I have only heard about the heroic deeds of the public. However, I have never been fortunate enough to see Duke Ming's beautiful face again, so he entered Yingchuan County. Afterwards, Mao was impatient and urged his followers all the way, but it was not until tonight that he was able to pay homage to Duke Ming. The Duke said that Mao came so quickly, and Mao was too late."

Xun Zhen had already descended the steps, and when he got to him, he took his hand and said with a smile, "If you want to say it's late, it's really too late. Luckily, the sage moved to Yingchuan before arriving at Yingchuan, and when he was on his way, he arrived early. I gave Liu Jingzhou an edict, but why did you arrive today?"

On a hot day, Cai Mao hurried a day's journey and didn't wash his hands all day. Not only was the palm of his hand very sticky, but when he gripped it hard and rubbed it a little, he felt some wet ashes from the grip, but Xun Zhen had nothing to do with it. Feeling disgusted, he clenched Cai Mao's hand even tighter and shook it twice.

Cai Mao replied with a smile: "Duke Ming, the decree of the Holy Lord calling Liu Jingzhou for the pilgrimage is indeed to Xiangyang before, but the journey from Xiangyang to Xuxian is not far, but this road is really difficult to travel, without advance notice. Get ready, Mao Ruo will set off hastily, if you are not careful, if Yuan Shu is caught halfway, don't say that you are lucky enough to see Ming Gong's beautiful face, I am afraid that you will be separated from Ming Gong from now on. Ming Gong will be separated again. I won't see Mao, and I won't see Ming Gong again."

Xun Zhen laughed and took a half step back. In the darkness of the night, she looked at Cai Mao carefully by the reddish candlelight from the lantern.

After not seeing him for a few years, Cai Mao has changed quite a bit. He is fatter than the last time I saw him. Not only does he have a big belly, but his cheeks are bulging. At first glance, his face is full of flesh. Soldier's spirit. As mentioned above, the Guan family in Xiangyang is the most prosperous of all Cai Mao. Cai Mao's mother is the wife of Zhang Wen, the former Taiwei of Nanyang County, and his eldest sister is the wife of Huang Chengyan, a first-class celebrity in Jingzhou, and his second sister will be married now. Liu Biao is Liu Biao's successor. Cai Mao is from such a wealthy family, and he has a valiant and heroic spirit, but his appearance has changed in this way. gallant.

After looking at it, Xun Zhen smiled and said, "De Gui, I haven't seen you for many years, and you still have the same demeanor."

They were friends in the past, but when they first met Xun Zhen, Xun Zhen went to Jingzhou in desperation; now it is different, there is a difference between high and low, Cai Mao did not dare to look at Xun Zhen as casually as Xun Zhen looked at himself, but he also noticed that compared to Xun Zhen. Going forward, Xun Zhen now has obvious changes. In the years since she parted ways with Cai Mao, Xun Zhen's status has gradually increased, and now she is the most powerful person in the court. The appearance has not changed much, and the majesty is far from comparable to the past.

Cai Mao replied: "I don't dare to be a false praise of Ming Gong, I have self-knowledge, these years, there has been no other change..." After speaking, he took his hand out of Xun Zhen's hand, patted his stomach, and said with a smile, "Only this The stomach is getting bigger and bigger." He bowed to Xun Zhen again, bowed, and said in a compliment, "Compared with the past, Duke Ming has a more graceful bearing."

Only Cai Mao was waiting on the road outside the mansion, no one else followed.

Xun Zhen asked, "De Gui, why are you the only one? Where are your followers?"

Cai Mao replied, "They are all vulgar servants. How dare you let them disturb Duke Ming? I told them to go to the post house to rest."

Next to his mount, he took off a brocade box from the saddle, and went back to Xun Zhen. He respectfully held the brocade box to Xun Zhen, and said, "It's a small gift, it's a piece of Mao's heart."

[The book chasing app recommended to me by an old book friend who I have known for ten years, Mimi read! It's so easy to use, I rely on this reading aloud to pass the time before driving and before going to bed, you can download it here]

Xun Zhen caught it and opened it to see.

This brocade box is not big, and the contents in the box are not big, but the fluorescent light is clear, but it is a treasure, and it turns out to be a pair of white jade.

Xun Zhen didn't know much about jade, but just from the appearance of the pair of white jade bi, she knew that it must be expensive.

Cai Mao said: "Duke Ming is well-respected, he has a lot of knowledge, and he has seen a lot of rare things. Ordinary things must be overlooked. There is nothing else that can be dedicated to Duke Ming. Nanyang jade is quite well-known and dares to endure. Duke Ming, these two jade bi are produced in Dushan, Nanyang, carved by the best craftsmen, dare to offer Duke Ming."

The jade produced by Dushan Mountain in Nanyang is famous in China and is one of the four famous jades in later generations. Dushan Jade, also known as Du Yu. Zhang Heng from Nanyang, a famous minister of this dynasty, once praised this jade in the "Nandu Fu", describing it as: "Its treasures are rare and strange, it is a golden jade, and it glows with the pearl." There are even rumors that the "complete jade returns to Zhao" in the story. He's jade is made of Dushan jade.

Dushan jade has many colors, and the permeable white is the most precious. The two pieces of jade that Cai Mao presented to Xun Zhen were carved from the top-quality permeable white of Dushan jade. It is still a novel to say that they are expensive. These two pieces of jade are really valuable. Liancheng.

Xun Zhen said, "How dare I accept such a generous gift?"

Cai Mao said: "I have heard that Xu Shen, a sage in Gongzhou of Ming, once said that 'jade has five virtues', and also heard that a gentleman is like a jade, and the Duke of Ming is like a gentleman who runs the sea. These two jade pieces are just like jade! Duke, apart from Duke Ming, no one is worthy of it!"

Xu Shen, a famous scholar in Runan in the Zhang and Huan periods, said in his "Shuowen Jiezi" that jade has five virtues, "the beauty of jade and stone has five virtues. Moisturizing is warm, and benevolence is the prescription; , you can know the middle, the righteousness; its sound is soothing and eloquent, and it is only heard from a distance, the wisdom is the prescription; the indomitable and broken, the courageous; Because of these characteristics, since ancient times, jade has been used to compare gentlemen.

Xun Zhen laughed, closed the box, handed it over to Xu Chu, who came out of the entourage, and said to Cai Mao with a smile: "De Gui, you really know how to talk. This is not a place to talk, you and I will talk in the hall. "He grabbed Cai Mao's hand again, led him to the hospital, and went to the lobby of the reception. Xun Zhen asked him, "Have you eaten yet?"

Cai Mao replied: "As soon as I arrived in Xu County, I came to see Duke Ming impatiently, and I haven't eaten yet."

Xun Zhen instructed Xu Chu to call the back kitchen to deliver the food, remembering something, and asked Cai Mao again, saying, "De Gui, you are new to Xu County, how do you know that I live here?"

"Mao Ben didn't know, before coming to Minggong's house, Mao went to Shangshutai first, and a night-time commander in Taichung told Mao that Minggong had just finished his duty and returned home, and Mao asked him to tell Mao where Minggong's house was. , This Ling Shi took the initiative to take the package outside Duke Ming's house, and he was able to visit Duke Ming."

"Where is Ling Shi?"

"He brought Mao inside and out, and he returned to the book desk, but he didn't even have time to thank him. ..., Duke Ming, when Mao was on the book desk, he saw a piece of the mansion door behind the shadow wall. On the ring stone, there is written 'Ermen's income and Erlu, the people's fat and the people's cream, the common people are easy to be abused, and the heaven is hard to deceive'. Dare to ask Ming Gong, are the words on this ring stone written by Ming Gong?"

After Xun Zhen arrived in Xu County, he set up this stone of precepts in three official offices, namely, the General Mansion of Chaqi, Shangshutai, and Sili Xiaowei's Mansion.

Hearing Cai Mao's question, Xun Zhen smiled and said, "It can also be said that I wrote it."

Cai Mao said: "These four sentences are deafening and deafening. From the middle, you can see the heart of Ming Gong's diligence and love for the people. Mao admires it. After returning to Xiangyang, Mao will report to Liu Jingzhou and ask Liu Jingzhou to pass the word. In Jingzhou's counties, The official temples in the county also erected such a ring stone to remind the officials not to deceive the people.”

The best kind of flattery is to do what the chief does, and then do what he does. Regardless of Cai

Does Mao think that Xun Zhen's ring stone is well written and well placed, but his words can make Xun Zhen feel better.

When they got to the hall, the two sat down.

Not long after the conversation, the servant came in with two food trays, one for Xun Zhen and one for Cai Mao.

Cai Mao asked in surprise, "Ming Gong hasn't eaten yet?"

Xun Zhen smiled and said, "I was having dinner when you arrived just now. I heard that you are here, how can I still eat? Why don't I rush to greet you? So I haven't eaten yet. Are you starving? Say, I'm starving too. Let's eat first, otherwise, we'll talk about it after dinner."

The Master said, "Eat without speaking", but there are not many who can really follow this rule, even if they are scholars and officials.

Saying it's something else, I'll talk about it later. When the two of them were eating, they still chatted a lot.

Xun Zhen asked Cai Mao and said, "De Gui, I heard you say that although Xiangyang is not far from Xu County, it is not suitable to pass Nanyang. How did you get to Nanyang this time from Xiangyang to Xu County?"

Cai Mao replied, "Mao and his party, disguised as merchants, passed through Nanyang."

"When entering the Nanyang Realm, did Yuan Shu's garrison detect?" The implication was that Xun Zhen didn't quite believe that the border between Yuan Shu and Liu Biao's territory would be so loose that Cai Mao could pass through.

Cai Mao smiled and said: "Ming Gong does not know, 'Yuan Changshui, the fierce ghost in the road', how can he get a false name? Yuan Gonggong is already corrupt, how can his soldiers be better? All of them are no different from him, like wolves Tiger, he only has money in his eyes, and he only thinks about harassing and robbing the people all day long. For the merchants in the past, the main thing is not to find out their identities, but to exploit them. So it's cheaper. Song, pass the checkpoint... This is something that Mao Ben never thought of before. After entering the Nanyang Realm, along the way, I encountered several patrols and horses under Yuan Shu, but all of them were bribed and waited. Let go."

"Changshui" is also ~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Changshui Colonel, this is a position Yuan Shu held in his early years.

Xun Zhen nodded and said, "So it is."

Cai Mao was really hungry, he devoured it, and while he was talking, he ate all his food.

Xun Zhen smiled and said, "I should have a banquet and drink a few cups with you, but in order not to miss your visit to the sage, I'll talk about it tomorrow." He asked Xu Chu to order the official to present another portion.

Cai Mao's appetite is not small, and he ate this quickly.

Xun Zhen asked, "Are you full?"

Cai Mao rubbed her stomach, replied Xun Zhen with a smile, and said, "Ming Gong, you're full."

Xun Zhen also put down her chopsticks.

The servants entered the hall, cleaned up, and served ice cream and tea soup to the two of them.

When the words got to the point, Xun Zhen asked, "De Gui, does the sage know that you are here?"

Cai Mao said: "Returning to Duke Ming's words, it was already evening when we arrived in Xu County. Since I didn't submit the form to ask the Holy Master, Mao plans to submit the form tomorrow to ask to see him."

"It's alright to ask to see you tomorrow. You'll stay in my house for one night tonight to keep your spirits up."

Cai Mao replied yes.

Xun Zhen suddenly remembered something, patted her forehead, and said to Cai Mao with a smile, "De Gui, seeing you here, I was just happy, but I forgot to ask your two clan sisters to come out and meet you." He ordered Xu Chu, who was outside the hall, to go to the back house and ask Cai, the big and small, to come over and meet Cai Mao.

Xu Chu took the order, and sent a military official to the back house to pass Xun Zhen's order.

Cai Mao said: "Duke Ming, the sisters of Mao's clan are not in a hurry to meet, but Mao has a big event, but I want to ask Ming Gong to show it first."

"What's the matter?"

Cai Mao's expression became serious, and he said, "When Mao set out from Xiangyang, Liu Jingzhou ordered Mao to ask Mao to see Duke Ming, when will he plan to attack Yuan Shu?"