At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

After killing Jiantu, Cao Song begged his grandfather to tell his grandmother to mobilize all the connections. After spending countless money, he barely let Cao Cao pass the test.

Now Cao Cao left Luoyang and went to Dunqiu to be the order of Dunqiu, but he was already quite famous in the capital.

For this, Cao Song also paid a heavy price.

If it weren't for the lack of talent in the eunuch team, it is estimated that they really have the idea of ​​​​getting rid of Cao's second or fifth child, but the current trend is unclear, and they can't kill all the people in Cao Teng's lineage.

Cao Teng has been an eunuch for decades, served four emperors, and was named Marquis of Fei Ting. He was very senior among the eunuchs. Although he had passed away, he left a rich political legacy to future generations, enough for Cao Song to survive. Difficulty.

But this is not enough, Cao Song's performance is not enough, the Cao family still needs further performance.

The second step of the whitewashing plan is to marry Guo Peng, the eldest son of the county magistrate Guo Shan's family, the branch of Guo's family in Qiao County, and betroth his youngest daughter to Guo Peng, and form a family with Guo's son and daughter. .

If this step is completed, Cao's will be regarded as a preliminary whitewash, and he will see a little bit of hope.

After that, whether Cao's family can truly clean up and get rid of the identity of starting as a eunuch depends on how Cao Cao and Guo Peng behave in the future officialdom.

Cao Song had high expectations for them, especially Guo Peng.

"Although the Guo family looks inconspicuous now, but after all, it is a family and a family. Let's push behind the back and give help in the snow is always better than the icing on the cake. Moreover, I think that Guo Peng can be regarded as a talented and intelligent generation. Appreciate him very much.

At a young age, he was so diligent and hardworking, with both civil and military training, as well as courage. After entering the Imperial Academy, if he had received a famous teacher, with his talent, it would have been possible for him to be passed down. In the future, he would open a school to recruit disciples, and his disciples and former officials would spread all over the world. It's not impossible, when the time comes, my Cao Clan will benefit from it! "

When Cao Song said this, his eyes were full of strong yearning.

Cao Chi also clenched his fists.

Leaning less, the two of them relaxed together, looked at each other and smiled.

"It seems a little too early to say this now. After a while, Guo Dan's door-to-door proposal is really done, and we can start making arrangements for Guo Peng."

Cao Song twisted his beard and smiled: "However, our Cao family must not sit still and wait for death, Guo Peng, but this is our breaking point."

Cao Song has already thought about the overall plan. As long as the marriage is settled and the dust is settled, he will definitely help Guo Peng enter the Taixue, let him learn enough knowledge, and let him become famous and become a great master of the generation. Hasn't the family developed along with it?

Are you still using the bird's anger from those literati here?

They are clear currents, should we be turbid currents?

Pooh!A conspiracy to plot male thieves and female prostitutes, what kind of thing!

Cao Song and Cao Chi are ambitiously carrying out the Cao family's whitewashing plan, and in their hometown in Qiao County, Guo Dan has sent a matchmaker to bring some simple gifts to the door to talk about their marriage.

Guo Peng and Cao's daughters are 12 years old and 11 years old, and they are not yet married. At least Guo Peng has not made the crown ceremony yet, so marriage is impossible now, but engagement is possible.

There are also procedures and rules and regulations for getting married. The Han Dynasty has reached today, and the luxury of society is quite popular.

Guo Peng discovered that some of the customs and habits of people getting married at this time are really very similar to those in modern times.

Originally, according to Zhou Li, weddings could not be held in a big way. Zhou Li believed that the wedding was a quiet ceremony, and it was good to complete it quietly, and even congratulations were not allowed.

It was not until the Emperor Xuan of the Han Dynasty issued an edict that the county governors and magistrates in various places could not obstruct the celebration of private weddings due to Zhou Li, so the tradition of celebrating each other with great weddings and events began to be established.

To this day, there are not a lot of betrothal gifts and banquets. The better you do it, the more face you will have. Rich people try their best to hold weddings, and those who have no money feel very ashamed that they can't hold a decent wedding.

So from this time onwards, everyone who can't get married can blame Emperor Xuan of Han.

Guo Peng even heard that some people have money for weddings from the moment their children are born.

In some places where customs are more extravagant, a wedding can drain the savings of an ordinary family for decades, and even borrow money.

Although the Guo family has no appearance, Guo Peng's grandfather was a prefect, and his father was a county magistrate, so he couldn't even get the money for marriage.

In today's season, when you are an official, you also need to look at the wealth of your family. The more wealth you have, the easier it is to become an official. This does not mean that you can buy an official if you have money, but the Han government believes that you will not be corrupt if you have sufficient wealth. Looting people's fat and people's cream, although this is baseless.

The matter about the marriage between the two families was brought up by Mrs. Cao, and the process was quite interesting.

Guo Peng's grandfather, Guo Yong, died relatively early. Although he was a prefect, he failed to leave much legacy to Guo Dan.

Guo Dan had no family support, and was unwilling to follow the path of a court official. In order to seek Xiaolian, he relied on a little face from Guo Yong, who died early, and gave away his family, so he was honored as Xiaolian.

When he came to be the county magistrate, there were only a few servants around, no property, and no helpers.

The reason for being a county magistrate is also due to the cooperation of the Cao clan and the local tyrant Xiahou clan.

Because of Guo Dan's surname and background, the Cao family and the Xiahou family were friendly with Guo Dan from the beginning of the fight, so Guo Peng often traveled between the Cao family and Xiahou family when he was young, and got along with a group of Cao Xiahou children of similar age and seniority. rather pleasant.

For example, Cao Ren and Cao Chun, who get along the best, and Xiahou Yuan, who is a little older, and Cao Hong, have a good relationship with Guo Peng.

The relationship between Guo Peng and Cao Cao is also very good, which is also very interesting.

Cao Cao was ten years older than Guo Peng. Guo Peng followed Guo Dan to Qiao County when he was three years old. He was too young. Even if he wanted to make friends with the future Emperor Wei Wu, he had no chance. Moreover, Cao Cao had already been hanging out with Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Xu You from Runan at that time. together.

The intersection between the two only happened when Guo Peng went to Cao's house to find Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan to play.

As for how the two got to know each other, the situation is rather special.

That was what happened when Cao Cao and Guo Peng were eight years old.

At that time, Cao Cao got married after a crown ceremony, and the Cao family began to seek an official career for him.

Although Cao Song and Cao Chi were both officials in the court at that time, they wanted to give Cao Cao a widely recognized entry level, so it was their pursuit to be filial and honest.

Juxiaolian has become a way for the local gentry to tout each other's monopoly of official positions, and it is their political capital.

Originally, the turbid family of the Cao family, who made their fortunes by eunuchs, was naturally not in their eyes, so who was worthy to enjoy it with them?

But there are always exceptions.

Afterwards, Guo Peng made a detailed analysis and felt that the Cao family had the right time, the right place, the right people, and the complete set of people during this period.

Chapter 6. Six you, Cao Mengde, are undoubtedly a traitor

There is no doubt that the fortune of the Cao family was due to Cao Teng, a great eunuch who served four generations of emperors.

Beginning with Cao Teng, the Cao family began to follow him to the sky with chickens and dogs, jumping from an ordinary farmhouse to a local tycoon.

As for the later so-called Cao Cao being the descendant of Cao Can, the prime minister of the Western Han Dynasty, it has been determined by modern technology that it is a political whitewash.

Cao Teng is really a character. In the late Hanzhong period when eunuchs and scholars fought tit-for-tat for power, he wandered in the middle, walked out of a gray area, and became the very difficult centrist among eunuchs and scholars.

As an eunuch, he "sympathized" with the scholars and protected them many times without harming them. Therefore, he seemed unusual and even received praise from the scholars.

At the same time, in order to protect himself, Cao Teng resolutely followed the line of the emperor and the line of sympathy for the scholars. He did not work with the eunuchs and colleagues, but he did not directly conflict with them. Hou, this kind of power is really talented.

It is precisely because of Cao Teng's alternative that it left the Cao family a chance to cleanse the white, and the luck of the Cao family began to soar from this time, which belongs to Renhe.

The so-called "time of the day" is because Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty took the throne a few years ago. In order to maintain the imperial power, the second disaster of party restraint began. It lasted for more than ten years, and the local nobility was tortured unbearably. The contradiction between the imperial power and the local nobility was comprehensive. break out.

The gentry were imprisoned and were not allowed to be officials, and the turbulent currents were fully promoted.

At the same time, the Cao clan also inherited Cao Teng's political legacy and continued to follow the middle line between eunuchs and gentry. Under such a large environment, the Cao clan has attracted some more flexible gentry figures.

Among them, including the world-famous gentry, the Runan Yuan clan.

Next, there is the geographical advantage. The Yuan family base camp is very close between Ruyang County in Runan and Qiao County in Peiguo, and the Cao family and the Yuan family are very close.

The heads of the two families, Yuan Feng and Cao Song, were officials in the same dynasty, and they looked at each other. Under the big party environment, Yuan Feng would naturally think of winning Cao Song and giving Yuan some room to turn around.

And the "friendship" between the fathers naturally continued to the next generation's main children. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were just like that.

Of course, this is the limit of the friendship of the "Scholar Yuan Feng". As for marriage and so on, when it comes to such core issues, the Cao family doesn't even think about it.

Being friends with you is not enough to give you face?Who are you and who am I?

Of course Cao Song understood.

So, Cao Song set his sights on Guo Peng.

And that happened at the time.

"That matter" is the matter that Cao Cao asked Xu Shao, a native of Runan, to comment for him on the Yuedan Review in order to gain fame.

Being commented on by celebrities, gaining fame, and then being praised by everyone, and then being praised for filial piety, this was a common trick used by the scholars at that time, which is the so-called commercial mutual praise in modern times.

Xu You and Xu Shao are from the same clan. With Xu You's relationship, Cao Cao was able to meet Xu Shao for comment, but Xu You's face was obviously not enough to make Xu Shao moved.

For this Cao Cao "after the eunuch", not every scholar knows how to be flexible, especially Xu Shao, who cherishes his name.

He can move the world with this name. If people know that he has commented on an eunuch's son, will anyone come to him to comment on himself in the future?

Does he have such a beautiful future?

Xu Shao firmly refused.

But Cao Cao was also thick-skinned and kept asking for constant visits, and the two engaged in a tug-of-war.

This matter caused quite a stir in the Xiahou family of the Cao family in Qiao County. Guo Peng was a frequent visitor to the Cao family, so naturally he also knew about it.

It doesn't matter if he is rejected once or twice, but many times, Cao Cao was very embarrassed at the time. When everyone asked, he was very upset and pushed it away.

Later, I don't know what happened. Guo Peng happened to be playing at Cao's house that day, and Cao Cao suddenly announced with satisfaction that he would definitely get Xu Shao's review and would show everyone together.

So Guo Peng went to Runan with Cao Ren and Xiahou Yuan, and regarded it as a trip.

It was the sixth time that Cao Cao went to Runan to ask Xu Shao, and he prepared a lot of gifts. The group went to Ruyang first, met Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu, and then went to Pingyu.

At that time, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu were both teenagers, Yuan Shao was one year older than Cao Cao, Yuan Shu and Cao Cao were the same age, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu had already received the reviews of Yuedan Ping at that time, and they were ready to be filial and honest. At that time, Cao Cao was missing. .

Guo Peng still remembers that at that time, Yuan Shao reached out and patted Cao Cao on the shoulder, and said very boldly to Cao Cao, "Don't disturb Mengde, if the old dog doesn't give you a review, watch me pull out his beard".

Cao Cao thanked Yuan Shao very gratefully, saying "Thanks to Ben Chu".

At that time, Guo Peng knew that this matter had been settled, and there was nothing on the ground of Runan that Yuan couldn't do.

The third prince of the fourth generation of the Yuan family, the family passed down the "Meng Shiyi", and made a fortune from this, and his disciples are all over the world.

The meaning of the former official of the disciple is different from that of the student. In this era, the former official of the disciple means obedience in a certain sense.

In the early years of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the great Confucian Ouyang She embezzled tens of millions of dollars when he was an official in Runan. After the incident, he was arrested by Emperor Guangwu Liu Xiu and imprisoned to be executed. As a result, more than a thousand students taught by him wrote a letter together The emperor was asked to spare the death of the teacher, and a 17-year-old student wrote a letter expressing his willingness to die on behalf of the teacher.

The world shakes.

If you change to a more cowardly emperor, maybe this matter will be over. Fortunately, Liu Xiu is the emperor immediately, and he can distinguish the importance of it, so he resolutely killed Ouyang She and safeguarded the dignity of the law.

But it can be seen from this that the relationship between teachers and students in this era can be above the law.

It is only because of being taught by a teacher that he can be promoted to be an official with filial piety and integrity, and only because of a teacher can he be an official. Therefore, an official who is a disciple of an official must obey the teacher.

This obedience is the "obedience" that Yuan Shao raised his arms and called the whole world to respond when he attacked Dong Zhuo!

This obedience is the "obedience" of the local against the power of the center!

These are the strengths of the Yuan family, and they are definitely not something that Xu Shao can fight against.

It's okay if Yuan Shi didn't speak, but when Yuan Shi spoke, Xu Shao was still not obedient, and it was purely shameless.

That's why Cao Cao is so confident.

So after arriving in Pingyu County, Guo Peng watched Yuan Shao and Cao Cao enter Xu Shao's mansion unimpeded. It didn't take long for the two to come out triumphantly.

Cao Cao felt that he was in control of everything, so he arranged accommodation for everyone with him, waiting for the arrival of a new round of monthly reviews at the beginning of the month.

However, Xu Shao was also a somewhat famous "celebrity at home". Although he was helpless because of Yuan's prestige, he still had a sense of arrogance in his heart.

It is estimated that Yuan Shao was rude when he threatened him, and Xu Shao was very shameless, so Xu Shao embarrassed Cao Cao at the monthly meeting.

He called Cao Cao to the stage, pretended to read Cao Cao's article symbolically, and then stared at Cao Cao for a long time in front of many scribes in the audience, seeing Cao Cao a little puzzled.

Then he spoke.

"If this world is a time of peace, you, Cao Mengde, are undoubtedly a traitor!"

Chapter 7. Seven Courageous Guo Peng

As soon as Xu Shao said these words, Cao Cao's expression changed.

The expressions of everyone in the audience also changed, thinking that Xu Shao was going to start cursing.

It is incredible to scold him, it is a matter of reputation for a lifetime, and this year, the reputation is the most important.

So Yuan Shao's expression changed suddenly, and his eyes were full of anger when he looked at Xu Shao.

It doesn't matter if you scold Cao Cao, but Yuan Shao greeted him in advance, and then scold Cao Cao again, he just didn't give Yuan Shao face.

Yuan Shao was very upset, and this matter was very big.