Three Kingdoms

Where to sit and what to say.

When Cao Cao found that the conflict between him and Liu Xie was inevitable, Cao Cao naturally began to distinguish between his allies and opponents. Just like the new leaders of many units in China will basically treat them to a meal when they take office. In fact, what they treat is not the meal, but their performance and attitude at the dinner table.

Xun Yu was silent for a moment and then said: "My lord, the Han Dynasty has conquered Huanling. The emperor lost his control, the mausoleum was too late to revive, and the country was wasted in chaos. The weakness has led to disadvantages. To this day, it is already in decline. However, the update of the court, The people have not been abused, the Liu family's benefits have not been exhausted, and the hope of the world has not changed. Therefore, those who conquer are served as Han, and those who are worshiped and rewarded are called emperors. The importance of famous weapons means that they will not be Han for a day. I hope my lord will think twice."

Xun Yu was so direct that others couldn't help but look at him with suspicion. But think about it the other way around. If you talk about this kind of thing openly, it will appear upright and open. If you cover it up and avoid it, it will probably make people feel sneaky.

Cao Cao was silent for a long time, and then a smile slowly appeared on his face, and he said: "You are indeed my son's wife!" He immediately ignored the matter and turned to ask about other people's livelihood and government affairs. It seemed that The thing that forced everyone to express their opinions just now does not exist at all.

It has to be said that Cao Cao, a small political group, handles government affairs much more efficiently than the court meeting. Basically, most things are solved in a very short time, and you can even get some from others. Additional suggestions, because everyone is in a different position, so the perspective on the problem is also different. Sometimes some indirect suggestions are actually very good.

Therefore, after finishing the business, everyone dispersed. After leaving Cao Cao's office, Guo Jia caught up with Xun Yu's car from behind, then said hello and climbed straight into Xun Yu's car.

The servants and guards around Xun Yu obviously seemed to have become accustomed to this matter. Therefore, the only one who expressed dissatisfaction with Guo Jia's behavior was Xun Yu. However, the way Xun Yu showed his dissatisfaction was to glare at him and then subconsciously look at him. He moved a little to the side to make some space for Guo Jia.

"You have always been smart, why don't you understand the Lord's intention?" Guo Jia was not polite and asked as he came up.

"..." Xun Yu was silent and did not answer immediately.

The vehicle swayed and rolled over the bluestone slabs. The wheels without any cushioning and the hard board made it really not comfortable at all. The curved so-called canopy inserted on the vehicle was actually just a piece of cloth with hanging strips. It's just a big umbrella, it doesn't feel "luxurious" at all, and because the center of gravity of the entire canopy is not on the central axis of the vehicle, the driver of the vehicle has to deflect a little to keep the vehicle in a straight line. Marching, but even if such a simple vehicle drove by, there were still many pedestrians on both sides of the street casting either envious or expectant looks...

Because this is not a car, but represents an authority.

Authority...

Xun Yu looked up at the sky and found that half of the sky was covered by the "canopy" installed on the vehicle. The sun shined through behind the clouds, drawing a golden edge to the clouds, but he was unable to tear the clouds apart to reveal his figure. The wind blew the flags on the canopy, and also blew the ribbon on Xun Yu's crown, but it could not blow away the faint worry between Xun Yu's brows.

"..." Guo Jia looked at Xun Yu and was silent for a while, and then said, "I plan to give advice to my lord... Your Majesty has no heirs now, and the country is not at peace. You can choose a beautiful girl from an innocent family to extend the lineage of the Han family. Zhou Ye..." Cao Cao's eldest daughter is now almost at the age of marriage.

"You!" Xun Yu turned his head sharply and looked at Guo Jia.

"What's wrong?" Guo Jia glanced at Xun Yu indifferently, raised his eyebrows and said, "In this way, Your Majesty and Lord can feel a little more at ease, right?"

Xun Yu took a deep breath and whispered: "It's just for the time being!"

"It's okay for the time being..." Guo Jia sighed quietly, "If this person is injured, he always needs to rest for a while. It's better to muddle through than to be ripped out and dripping with blood, right?"

Xun Yu's cheek twitched twice, he hesitated to speak, and finally turned into a sigh: "Oh, if this happens, you... will have a bad reputation..."

Guo Jia's shoulders twitched, as if he heard something funny, and laughed in a low voice: "Notoriety? Haha, haha, there are so many things happening in the world, who is good? Who is evil?"

It seemed that the sunlight was too strong, or for some other reason, Xun Yu slowly closed his eyes, and after a while he said: "...After all, there is still a difference between good and evil... If there is no good and evil, what is the difference with animals?" different……"

"Exactly..." Guo Jia said disdainfully, "If you come here like a baby, drink blood, capture the land and live there, you will become the Three Emperors, conquer the barbarians, bully the weak and pay tribute, you will become the Duke of Zhou... What is good and evil? What is good and evil? ?”

Xun Yu was silent. Although he didn't speak, he still shook his head. Between the brows and eyes, there is still a kind of stubbornness blooming in it, just like the crooked umbrella handle on the canopy car. Although it has been bent into a twisted posture, it still expresses its texture and persistence firmly. .

………………………………

Liu Xie sat behind the desk. The sweating behind him gradually stopped and his heartbeat returned to normal. In fact, Liu Xie is still a little scared when he thinks about Cao Cao's strong side at the Great Court Meeting.

What if Cao Cao falls out on the spot?

What if Cao Cao doesn't pay attention at all?

just in case……

There were many assumptions. Liu Xie had no plan at all, but he still did it because he really didn't want to be in the same state as before in Chang'an and Luoyang, where he was raised in a pig pen. status. Liu Xie wants to make his own voice known to the world, instead of just eating, sleeping, and eating all day long!

Liu Xie has a lot of ideas and a lot of expectations for the future of the Han Dynasty. If he can't make his voice heard, how can he change things and how can he be revived?

Fortunately, Cao Cao seemed to back down.

Liu Xie let out a long breath.

From this point of view, Cao Cao is still different from those rebellious officials and traitors. Choosing Cao Cao in the first place was the right thing to do after all.

But what’s next?

"Your Majesty..." Xiao Huangmen reported outside the palace, "Your Majesty Xun, please see..."

"Huh? Please!" Liu Xie sat upright, straightened his back, and said in a loud voice.

After a while, Xun You came and approached. After paying homage, Xun You handed over a written document and said, "This is the written document sent by Cao Sikong to Jizhou. Your Majesty, please read it."

Liu Xie was stunned for a moment, and then asked the eunuch on the side to take the manuscript and unfold it. He was a little disappointed, frowned, and slowly placed the manuscript on the table and said: "Xun Aiqing, this seal , have you ever looked at it?"

Xun You is currently serving in Shangshu Ling, which is the central gathering place of the court and is also responsible for drafting many relevant laws and documents, so naturally he has read this letter and nodded.

"In that case, what do you think of this seal?" Liu Xie asked.

"Not bad." Xun You said.

"Is it acceptable?" Liu Xie frowned and repeated. Although the words of this soft letter are gorgeous, from top to bottom it talks about the principles of the ethics of heaven and earth, and then about the laws of the universe and other vague words. Even Liu Xie himself felt that it was simply an article when he read it. Nonsense, and then Xun You said it was okay?

"Your Majesty..." Xun You raised his head, glanced at Liu Xie, and said, "In the past, Old Dan had something to say, the Tao can be said, but it is not the famous Tao... This is what this seal is like..."

"..." Liu Xie was stunned for a moment.

What does this mean?

"What does Cao Sikong mean?" Liu Xie asked.

Xun You said: "Your Majesty, Cao Sikong has seen it and has nothing to say."

After a moment of silence, Liu Xie handed the written text to the eunuch beside him and asked him to pass it on to Xun You, saying: "Since Cao Sikong agrees, so be it..."

Xun You took the text, but did not leave immediately. Instead, he took out a slightly quaint book from his sleeve, "Your Majesty...I accidentally got a Taoist scripture written by Taoist Qingniu, and I would like to offer it to you." Your Majesty..."

"Tao Jing?" Liu Xie asked with some confusion.

"That's right... I'm resigning..." Xun You bowed again and left without any explanation.

Liu Xie flipped through some ancient books and frowned at the written words on them.

"The Tao can be Tao, the Tao is very Tao, the name can be named, the nameless, the beginning of heaven and earth, the mother of all things, so there is always no desire to see its wonders, there is always the desire to see its wonders. These two have the same origin, different names, the same name, the mysterious and mysterious, and the door of all mysteries. …”

This is an ordinary copy of the Tao Te Ching, with no inclusions or abnormalities. Of course, this is what books in the Han Dynasty were like, with no punctuation from beginning to end.

What exactly does this mean?

What did Xun You want to express through this Taoist scripture?

Liu Xie looked at it and seemed to understand something, but he didn't seem to understand it completely...

………………………………

Sichuan and Shu.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..." Liu Zhang swept all the items on the table to the ground. They were either smashed, scattered, or rolled along the floor to a distance.

"Huh...huh..." The servants below the hall were so frightened that they all crawled to the ground. They could only hear the heavy breathing of Liu Zhang sitting in the hall.

Pang Xi looked at Liu Zhang indifferently, as if he were looking at his own descendants. Well, the look in his eyes was more like looking at the dog he raised, as if he were a bitch from the Ara family...

"Why can't we fight!" Liu Zhang roared angrily, "If you say you don't have soldiers and armor, you will buy them and cut down on food and clothing to provide for them! If you say you don't have food and pay, you will empty your warehouse and raise money in every possible way to provide it! Now! Just saying that we can't win for now is considered an explanation!"

Pang Xi frowned and said: "There are many things involved in the matter of soldiers and armor, among which the food and salary of soldiers and armor is the most important! Now..."

"I don't listen!" Liu Zhang shook his head and said, "I just ask, can we fight and can we win?"

"..." Pang Xi stared at Liu Zhang and was silent for a while before saying, "We can't fight for the time being... If you want to fight, you still..."

Liu Zhang raised his palms and said: "I know! Pang Lingjun can go now!"

Pang Xi opened his mouth, but looking at Liu Zhang who had turned away, he finally shook his head and resigned.

When Liu Zhang heard Pang Xi's footsteps gradually go away, Fang turned his head, with a very complicated look in his eyes, as if he was thinking about something, but after all, he said nothing more.

Pang Xi was Liu Yan's special assistant minister to Liu Zhang before his death. However, during the period when Liu Zhang and Pang Xi got along, after a honeymoon period, they inevitably entered a period of exhaustion.

The discord between Pang Xi and Zhao Wei was originally arranged by Liu Yan intentionally. Pang Xi is a foreigner to Sichuan and Shu, while Zhao Wei is a native of Sichuan and Shu. Therefore, to a certain extent, the two people can complement each other, but the problem is that it has always been an ideal seller's show and a real buyer's show. Xi and Zhao Wei turned against each other due to their struggle for power shortly after Liu Yan's death.

At first, Liu Zhang was like a child watching his parents and elders quarreling or even fighting at home. He was in a state of confusion and fear. He also tried to find ways to mediate and restore the relationship between Pang Xi and Zhao Wei as much as possible. However, all these efforts eventually turned into a river of spring water flowing eastward.

Just like parents quarreling at home, the cause may be over a glass of water, a bowl of rice, or some trivial matter. But in fact, the reason why two people make fierce words or actions may be because they feel that the other party cannot understand and is not considerate enough. , cannot be shared, and all these things that can be expressed are actually superficial. Children cannot understand and cannot be comforted, because children will never understand. In fact, more than 90% of the quarrels between parents are caused by the consequences of life. A kind of helpless emotional vent under the heavy pressure.

Therefore, Liu Zhang couldn't understand why the two people who got along so well at first became so incompatible now.

If you want military power, that's fine. Let's sit down and have a good talk and divide it. Is it necessary to create the current situation?

One, three, five, two, four, six, the rest of the day is enough for one person and half! What is there to argue about?

Zhao Wei was in Qu Ren and refused to return life and death. He controlled the military power in his hands and acted as if he was the second government in Sichuan and Shu. He neither listened to the instructions nor the propaganda. He even said that if there was no Pang Xi in Sichuan and Shu, there would be peace. The remarks came out, and then he said that if Liu Zhang did not get rid of Pang Xi, he would never return.

Pang Xi, who was on the other side, emphasized that Zhao Wei was just a melon boy, and at the same time stepped up his efforts to gather the troops, recruiting only retainers, showing the attitude of a polite corporal, tightly holding the military power of Chengdu Sakon, and forming a confrontation with Zhao Wei. .

After Liu Zhang issued articles to Zhao Wei several times, and after his persuasion failed, he became angry and asked Pang Xi to send troops to quell Zhao Wei's obviously rebellious move. However, Pang Xi delayed again and again, first saying that he did not have soldiers. , then he said there was no money and food, and then he gave some miscellaneous reasons and theories. To sum up, it was just one sentence, it was not time to start the war...

Why not when the war begins? !

This was what Liu Zhang was dissatisfied with. What conditions were he dissatisfied with? Speak it out and solve it. What is the point of procrastinating it day by day?

Zhao Wei's behavior and Pang Xi's behavior made Liu Zhang gradually doubt whether the assistant ministers his father left behind before his death had the ability and whether they could maintain his power and status. Perhaps, when it came time to do so, It's time for some changes...