Three Kingdoms

Some people are sad, and naturally some people are happy.

Qiao Bing is very happy now.

Because he finally received the mission from the General's Mansion.

His own personal mission.

For a long time before, Qiao Bing thought that he had been forgotten or abandoned, but now he was full of energy.

Qiao Bing arrived in Longxi overnight, took a short rest, and then devoted himself to work with full energy.

Because the pilgrims in the snow area are approaching Longxi at this time and are about to enter the Sanfu area of ​​Chang'an.

For these pilgrims, they saw a beautiful and picturesque scenery, or a painting as beautiful as a scenery.

In the faint morning light, at the end of the slanting branches stretching towards spring, some delicate elves dressed in yellow and green clothes are dancing in the spring breeze.

city, street.

Shops, pedestrians.

Just like those in later generations who were tired of living in reinforced concrete and came to the wilderness with an indescribable admiration and longing, these people who traveled long distances from the snowy deserts faced the When the towns of the Han Dynasty grew bigger and bigger, there was an inexplicable fear and admiration.

If urine and various smells are the demarcation of territory by animals in nature, then the roads and towns created by human settlement are undoubtedly humans' declaration of sovereignty over a certain area.

Big man.

This is the big man.

People who learn the scriptures are very excited.

This is the Han Dynasty in the minds or fantasies of these pilgrims who came from afar. When they knew that the majestic town in front of them was not the center of the Han Dynasty, but just one of the surrounding counties, the pilgrims fell silent. , they became more and more in awe, but also more and more afraid.

The pilgrims will never forget that they walked out of the distant mountains with heavy and tired steps, and then saw a large black city wall suddenly appearing in front of them.

At that time, they felt that this city wall was extremely high, as if it was so high that it seemed to have no end, covering half of the sky. This city wall was extremely wide, as wide as a mountain range, traversing the earth.

This "huge" city outline stood so gloriously and silently between the sky and the earth. While the pilgrims were ecstatic, their eyes widened and they cautiously walked to the official road and looked at the majestic city in front of them. , looking at the crowded crowd on the official road not far away, they stopped a pedestrian, carefully and stammeringly asked: "Excuse me, is this... is this... Chang'an, Chang'an City?" 』

The pedestrian laughed and pointed to the words on the city wall, "This is the Golden City!" Not Chang'an! 』

At that time, those who learned the scriptures realized that the big man was really big.

The Han people in Longyou are undoubtedly a bit more heroic. They are not like those people in Shandong, who seem to have to wear Han robes with long sleeves to be called clothes, and they will not sneer at the sight of Hufu.

The Han people in Longyou tend to be simple and plain. Many people wear short shirts with small sleeves and flat shoes, which looks particularly neat. Occasionally, there are men with large sleeves. Most of the cuffs are rolled up and tied to the arms with ties, with their hands hanging outside the sleeves. .

After all, Longyou is a martial artist, and his long robes and long sleeves will affect the speed of pulling out the sharp sword in the sheath on his waist.

There are also people wearing Hu costumes and felt hats who are familiar with the roads and shuttle between the restaurants and shops without being coaxed out.

In the shops and restaurants on both sides of the street, some literati or businessmen were drinking while leaning on the railings. The aroma of food and wine made the pilgrims shed tears involuntarily...

They thought the place was extremely prosperous, they thought it was like a city dominating the world, but it turned out to be just a city in Longyou and Longxi...

Of course, as the core town in Longyou and Longxi, and also the base camp of Jia Xu, it is indeed qualified to be so wealthy and prosperous.

What about Chang'an?

People who learn from scriptures dare not think about it.

According to the requirements of the Han people, the pilgrims stayed at the post station, and then took a fragrant bath for the first time, ate soft and white pasta for the first time, used delicate and exquisite red lacquerware for the first time, and It was the first time I drank a drink that was sweet and fragrant but not harsh on my throat, and I received treatment from a Han doctor for the first time...

After the pilgrims rested and recuperated, they left Jincheng and slowly headed east.

The further east they go, the more excited the pilgrims become.

The branches are still swaying in the spring breeze.

The elves on the treetops are still dancing.

The cities of the Han people were built one after another.

The fields stretch from horizon to horizon.

Is this where the Han people live?

Isn't this the legendary heaven of the five gods?

Then they arrived at Linwei City and saw Qiao Bing in Linwei City.

Qiao Bing appeared like the messenger of the Five Heavenly Emperors they imagined.

A touch of white clothes, as white as the clouds passing over the fairy sea.

A touch of blue, like pure water in the fairy sea.

There are also various complicated patterns outlined by gold and silver threads on the snow-white and blue, representing the symbols of the five gods, which once again shocked the hearts of these Buddhist pilgrims...

They knelt down quickly, and then kowtowed like the surrounding believers, saying that they were blessed by the five gods.

After Qiao and his disciples arrived in Longxi, he did not go to meet them directly. Instead, he first took his disciples and disciples to perform a ritual.

Spring is coming gradually.

Spring plowing has become the most important thing for the Han people, a nation that mainly focuses on farming.

The execution ground that Qiao and his disciples and descendants conducted was, of course, to pray for the mulberry trees, report to the gods of the five directions, and pray that the five emperors would take care of the grain, and that the year would be safe, without insects or disasters...

Such Dharma meetings are naturally very popular with the public. Even people who do not believe in the five gods will be infected by such Dharma meetings and whisper, for example, if there is a good harvest this year, I'm just here to make a wish or something.

Well, only in Chinese sects do the gods have some human touch and can bargain with them.

As Qiao Bing expected, pilgrims were also attracted by the large Dharma gatherings.

Qiao recalled Fei Qian's instructions to him in the Husband's office...

For Da Han, due to the limitations of the geographical environment, the snow area can never become Da Han's real enemy.

However, there is no need for people in snowy areas to become enemies of the big man.

The example of Fei Qianju is simple.

The poor live in the busy city and no one cares about them, the rich live in the mountains and have distant relatives.

For now, the big man is wealthy, while the snowy area is barren.

Therefore, the Han Dynasty will inevitably have some "poor relatives" who come to fight against the autumn wind. They can prevent it for a while, but they cannot prevent it forever. Therefore, the Han Dynasty must have a strategy for long-term peace and stability.

The Great Wall is a solution, but it is not a good solution. Qin Shihuang can testify.

Dragon City is a strategy, but it is not a good strategy. Emperor Xiaowu can testify.

Fei Qian told Qiao that the Buddhist scripture seekers in the Snow District are an opportunity for Dahan, because the Snow District is relatively weak now, and being weaker means that there are not so many ambitions and not so much greed...

Therefore, it is the best time. If the snow area becomes as powerful as the Huns back then, even if the big man shows his kindness, these jackals will not be satisfied.

Qiao Bing agreed with this and felt that the burden on him was very heavy. Before, he thought it was General Hussar who was snubbing him, but he didn't expect that General Hussar was testing him.

Well, it must be a test.

"Therefore, when Heaven is about to entrust a person with a great responsibility, he must first strain his mind and will, strain his muscles and bones, starve his body and skin, deplete his body, and confuse his actions. Therefore, if he is tempted to endure, he will benefit what he cannot do..."

Qiao Bing muttered softly. Anyway, with the green smoke and fairy spirit surrounding him, no one would hear what he muttered in a low voice. Even if he just opened his mouth and recited one, two, three, four, five, it would still be considered a Dharma gathering. The lines in the drama.

Right now, we just have to do this "big job" well!

On this point, Fei Qian did not deceive Qiao Bing.

The reason why the dry cloth strips could jump at that time is because the time period when the dry cloth strips happened to be the past of the Little Ice Age, and the entire China entered a longer warm period, which was even warmer than that of the Han Dynasty. The temperature Higher, barley and wheat can be grown in areas that were originally unable to be planted in the snowy areas. The sudden increase in food has caused a large-scale increase in the population of the snowy areas, and the large population has promoted the unification of the snowy areas.

Of course there are advantages and disadvantages.

As a result, after the snow area was unified, the population was still exploding, and there was no way for the cloth banners to show like some cult that eating children for a hundred days would lead to promotion and wealth, so everyone came together to kill children, so they had no choice but to transfer the internal conflicts to the outside.

From this perspective, Li Shimin's marriage policy may have been a mistake. In a certain way, the marriage strengthened the reputation of Ganbujie, which allowed Ganbujie to suppress the dissatisfaction of the ruled tribes, and nothing like the rebellion of the Six Kingdoms occurred, so Ganbujie was passed on smoothly. Wet cloth strips.

Therefore, Fei Qian suspected that the reason why the snow area dispatched pilgrims this time was probably because the snow area also suffered from the severe weather effects of the current Little Ice Age, which caused a very serious reduction in food and caused the tribe's collapse. turmoil……

If you are poor, you will naturally want to change.

Those who were barefoot and not afraid of wearing shoes grabbed those rich people and hung them on the street lamps, and everyone shared the meat!

If you are rich, you only want to monopolize.

We must maintain the existing class gap and don't let those poor people climb up!

That's basically it. Just like Xuanzang left in the early Tang Dynasty. If it were in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, even if there were eminent monks who wanted to imitate Xuanzang, they might not have the courage.

Since a strategy needs to be formulated, although Fei Qian said that a new strategy will be discussed within three days, is it possible that there really is some strategy that can be decided within three days?

So Qiao Bing was dispatched. On the one hand, he was responsible for the delay, and he delayed it skillfully so that these pilgrims would not think there was any problem. On the other hand, he also wanted to find out more information. After all, there were some words about the envoys sent by Xun You. Officials, these people may not say that, but for believers who also believe in the five gods, or even the pope of the five gods, there may be no need to keep it secret...

With the addition of information from Xining and multiple channels, the possibility of Fei Qian being deceived was avoided.

After being busy at the Dharma conference for nearly a day, Qiao He returned to his temporary residence.

Although it is spring, at night, the breeze outside Longyou is still relatively cold.

It was different inside the house. It was very hot and there were some wine and snacks, which was not very comfortable.

The Five Directions God Sect has no taboos. There are no restrictions on meat, vegetables, spices, or even whether or not to kill animals. The only requirement is that individuals should practice and accumulate merit. This relatively broad requirement may look down upon some ascetic monks, but for ordinary people, especially the development of pan-believers, it is very easy.

But similarly, there are also disadvantages, which is that the contemporary "pope" of the five gods, at least as Qiao Xi claims to be, does not have many mysterious attributes.

Qiao is not a military commander, and he does not have many skills. In addition, without a sense of mystery, even the "Pope" as the God of the Five Directions cannot arouse any awe in people. Qiao Bing was also worried about this, so he had to perform rituals first to enhance his sense of mystery in front of the Buddhist scripture seekers.

"Have those Buddhist practitioners come to the meeting?" Qiao Bing was on the high platform at that time and did not fully notice the situation below the stage. He could only ask his disciples after the Dharma meeting.

"coming! They're all here! Take it seriously! "The apprentice who was responsible for paying close attention to the Buddhist scripture collectors said with excitement, "Master, you don't know, they are kneeling on the ground and kowtow, that bang..."

Qiao Bing smiled and waved his hands and said: "Don't talk about this... If you are not pious to the gods of the five directions, you will not come after a long journey... By the way, I heard that Mr. Wei Shaolang is here again during the day?" Is there any words to explain? 』

"I came, but when I saw the master doing the magic on the altar, I told him to come back in the evening..." the apprentice said, "I didn't say what it was about..."

When Wei Kang came, he obviously wanted to get a share of the pie. Or else he came all the way from Zhangye just to see the scenery? This matter is a major political event in the spring of the seventh year of Taixing. As the son of Wei Duan, it is of course impossible that he has not received any news.

"The barren man came from the east, my lord took advantage of it..." Qiao Bing said slowly, "This Mr. Wei Shaolang, haha... forget it, I guess it's almost time to arrive..."

While he was talking, someone reported outside the house that Wei Kang was visiting.

Qiao Bing curled his lips, then put on a calm expression, asked his apprentice to greet him, and then stood at the entrance of the small courtyard to greet him.

"I've met Master Qiao Tian!" ” Wei Kang handed over his hand as a gift.

Qiao Bing shook the fly whisk and said, "Five Directions Heavenly Lord!" I met Wei Lingchang. 』

Both of them were smiling.

Hand in hand, they walked into the house like good friends.

In fact, the two of them had no friendship before.

But this is the case for political figures. Friendship is just to make it easier to talk about things. If you don’t have friendship, you have to talk about it to create friendship.

Just like the current Wei Kang, he praised the previous Dharma assembly very much, saying that when he saw people standing on the altar, burning incense in the furnace, pouring water into the bowl, and burning the talismans, the wind and clouds in the sky suddenly appeared, and there was a faint presence of gods. The light flashed, and it turned out to be a powerful mana, which was admirable...

Qiao laughed loudly, saying he didn't dare, but also grumbled in his heart, even if Wei Kang praised him to the sky, he would not speak easily.

Wei Kang had no choice but to see that Qiao did not accept this trick, so he slowly asked the key point: "I wonder if the heavenly master has decided to teach me any scriptures when he comes?" 』

To learn from the scriptures, of course you must first have the true scriptures.

But it is not certain what the specific scripture is...

You must know that the so-called Taoist scriptures are not actually all about the "Tao" in its purest form.

After hearing Wei Kang's words, Qiao Bing understood why Wei Kang came to flatter him.

Qiao Bing smiled slightly and said: "Since the deserted people have traveled thousands of miles to ask for it piously, then naturally we will not accept false scriptures... The gods of the five directions have five volumes of heavenly books, corresponding to the five directions and the five emperors. As for what the deserted people can ask for. Sutra, then it depends on whether Huangren himself is destined..."

Five volumes of the Heavenly Book of the Gods of the Five Directions?

Wei Kang raised his eyebrows.

There are many legends about this five-volume heavenly book of five directions and five emperors. Wei Kang heard about it when he was in Chang'an.

Some people say that the Book of Heaven records the will of the Five Emperors of the Five Directions transmitted to the human world. Some people say that the Book of Heaven contains the predictions of the future events of the world by prophets and sages. Some people say that the Book of Heaven itself is a magic weapon that gathers the power of the supreme gods and can be used. Come and slay demons...

As for the more outrageous claims that the Heavenly Book is a book of immortality, as long as you write your name on it, you can be reborn and become an immortal, or that the dead can be brought back to life from the Nine Netherworld, etc., these rumors are about the gods of the five directions. The teacher has never specifically refuted the rumors. He only said that there was a heavenly book, but kept silent about the specific details.

Wei Kang was in Chang'an at the time. Of course, there was a considerable distance between his life and these so-called heavenly books, so he didn't pay attention to these things, just like listening to a story or a joke. He didn't believe in the existence of any heavenly book at all. Even now that Qiao Bing confirmed that there was a heavenly book in front of him, Wei Kang still doubted that this heavenly book was not the so-called book of the emperor of heaven, let alone some magical weapon that could shake the heaven and the earth. , but it is just an ancient book written by a certain person.

That's right, it's me.

What is Wellcome’s core goal?

Wei Kang's goal has not changed from beginning to end. He does not want to contribute his youth, wisdom and strength to the land of Longxi. His only goal is to climb up.

Therefore, Wei Kang doesn't care at all about who is learning the scriptures, nor does he care whether Qiao Bing tells the truth or a lie. Wei Kang only wants to gain benefits from this incident to lay the foundation for his promotion. .

What's more, since Fei Qian implemented the new "four, three, two, one" county system in Longyou and Longxi, the authority of the county magistrate has been cut and divided. If it could be called a "county official" before, then now it is at most one He is just a "county magistrate", and any order he issues requires gathering everyone for discussion, which is completely different from the previous arbitrary system model within a county.

Under such circumstances, how could Wei Kang like to stay in the position of county magistrate for a long time?

After learning about the pilgrim, Wei Kang felt that his opportunity had come.

What can the Taoist scriptures have?

Not me yet?

As for Laozi’s Tao Te Ching, Wei Kang is familiar with it!

Isn't it just "the Tao can be Tao, but it is not Tao"?

But Qiao Bing was talking nonsense?

Isn't this bullying?

It's just enough to bully the illiterate people in the Southern Wilderness, or ordinary people, but also make fun of and pretend to be stupid in front of the dignified Guanzhong Weishi. Isn't it a bit insulting to the IQ?

After all, Wei Kang was young, and his expression changed to some extent immediately. Then he was caught by Qiao and saw it. He smiled, flicked the fly whisk, "This heavenly book is ordered by the Lord... It is definitely not an ordinary book..."

In fact, Qiao didn't know whether Fei Qian was settled, but this did not prevent him from deceiving Wei Kang.

As for the Heavenly Book, it is just a book that describes the origins of the gods in the five directions and various miracles. It doesn’t matter if it is a Taoist scripture, but it does not matter if it is a “heavenly book” with great power, or a “true scripture”, eh …

"How can we ordinary people know the master's plans?" Qiao glanced at Wei Kang.

If Wei Duan comes, Qiao Bing will give him some face, but as for Wei Kang, he doesn't say anything and just wants Qiao Bing to help...

Haha, do you think you are being arrogant?

Wei Kang's eyes widened, "Your Majesty's decree?" What book has your lord ordered? 』

Wei Kang was at a loss in his mind, why didn't this hussar give him any chance?