At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

As a result, Xu Shao took a deep breath and added the last sentence.

"But if you are born in troubled times, you, Cao Mengde, may be a hero."

In all fairness, Guo Peng thought Xu Shao's comments were a bit interesting.

Thick-skinned, persistent and unscrupulous in order to achieve their goals, these are the excellent qualities of politicians, and they are also excellent qualities for surviving in troubled times.

Xu Shao didn't care whether he was a person who made a name for himself, but he was definitely a person with real talents and practical learning.

Cao Cao's expression softened after hearing this, Yuan Shao's expression also softened, and most people's expressions also softened, and they didn't have time to ponder the meaning of this.

As long as it's not just belittling and scolding people, everyone's face is okay.

After all, the great god Yuan Shao is here. If Xu Shao is really looking for trouble with Cao Cao, he is going against Yuan Shao. At that time, the consequences will not be acceptable to Xu Shao.

But at that time, Guo Peng heard Xu Shao's words that he might have foreseen that the world would be in chaos in the near future.

What does it mean to say that people are heroes in troubled times for no reason?

Is the Han Dynasty going to be in chaos?

Can this kind of thing be said nonsense?

However, just when everyone was relieved, and when Cao Cao saluted and was about to leave, Xu Shao suddenly said, "You must remember to grow your beard in this life, don't shave it".

As soon as these words came out, Cao Cao didn't even think about it, and when he leaned a little, Cao Cao's complexion changed greatly, and he saw Xu Shao looking at him with a contemptuous smile on his face.

This is clearly a scholar and a man, mocking him that Cao Mengde's ancestor was an eunuch without eggs!

As soon as these words came out, Guo Peng soon found that the Cao family members around him either showed anger or bowed their heads in shame, and there was a burst of laughter in the crowd.

Xu Shao's intentions couldn't be more obvious.

You are allowed to threaten me, but I am not allowed to mock you?

I did what the Yuan family asked me to do, and the rest was what I wanted to do.

Sure enough, Yuan Shao was indifferent, but his expression was somewhat unpleasant.

On the other hand, Yuan Shu, who was next to him, covered his mouth and smiled, Xu You pursed his lips and wanted to laugh, but restrained himself.

Standing on the stage, Cao Cao's face turned blue and white, neither entering nor retreating, his whole body was unbearably hot, and he just felt that he wanted to dig a hole and get into the ground and disappear here.

This is probably the most embarrassing moment in Cao Cao's life.

Guo Peng thought for a while, looked at his small arms and legs, and calculated his age.

Well, the identity of the bear child is definitely bearable!

So he took action.

Stepping on his short legs, Guo Peng ran up to the stage a few times. Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan who were beside him hadn't reacted yet, and Guo Peng had already run behind Xu Shao.

Xu Shao heard the sound and looked back, and saw a very good-looking little doll standing behind him, his face full of anger.

Then, the little doll kicked Xu Shao's ass under the gaze of many people, giving him a staggering kick.

Xu Shao staggered and almost lost his footing, half squatting on the ground, looking at the little doll who kicked his butt with a face full of astonishment.

"You...what are you doing, child?"

Xu Shao looked suspicious of life. .

"My father told me that the deceased is the greatest, and the scholars who were full of reading the scriptures actually insulted the deceased and the ancestors of others. You have lived so many years in vain!"

Then Guo Peng ran directly to Cao Cao's sluggish face and grabbed Cao Cao's hand.

"Big brother, don't be angry with this group of people, let's go and go to his Yuedan evaluation!"

Then Guo Peng pulled Cao Cao away. Cao Cao stumbled at first, and managed to stand firm, but he couldn't help showing a smile on his face, and his steps became more and more brisk.

As for the expressions of the people in the audience at that time, the expressions of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and Xu You, and what disturbances would follow, Guo Peng didn't care at all.

If they really care about eight-year-old children, then Guo Peng considers himself unlucky.

Anyway, the two brothers Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu stared at Guo Peng for a while on the way back. Although they didn't say anything, their expressions were not normal.

After returning to Qiao County, Guo Dan, who knew about this matter, nervously confirmed all the details at the time with Guo Peng, and then looked at Guo Peng and felt a little relieved.

To be honest with an eight-year-old child, it is estimated that Xu Shao will be laughed at by the whole world. Because of his young age, Guo Peng is safe.

And this incident did have an impact on Xu Shao, but it was not without a way to stop losses.

The way is to pretend to be magnanimous, not only not to pursue it, but also to make a fake apology and boast, and to give Guo Peng a good reputation, so as to show Xu Shao's "tolerance and generosity", and everyone will continue to trust he.

Or simply "laughed it off", thinking that he was right and that he didn't have the same knowledge as a little boy.

These are two solutions, and Xu Shao chose the third solution that combines the two solutions in order to maximize his own interests.

He didn't apologize to Cao Cao, it was impossible to apologize to Cao Cao, and there was no need to apologize to Cao Cao. He just forgave Guo Peng's behavior, praised Guo Peng's behavior of showing loyalty at a young age, and then praised him for his courage. Children with courage can take on big things in the future.

Nothing else is mentioned at all.

The scholars naturally cooperated with him, and would not really make Xu Shao lose face, because Xu Shao really couldn't have the same knowledge as a little boy, otherwise how would he behave.

However, Guo Peng got an unexpected joy and became a courageous child. He was a man of loyalty to fight injustice for his friends, and he could take on big things in the future.

This is the special welfare of the bear child, and it is also the benefit of the "Minor Protection Law" in a certain sense that has been in use since ancient times.

Of course, this kind of thing couldn't attract the attention of Yingchuan's family.

Indeed, everyone is laughing at Xu Shao.

Not for anything else, but because he has mastered the high ground of public opinion to judge people.

This kind of person, people rush to him on the surface, respect him, and even revere him, but they are still very dissatisfied.

Who wants to leave themselves to others to judge?

It's okay to say nice things, but what about swear words?

Guo Peng actually gave many people a bad breath.

Cao Cao let out a savage breath.

On the way back, Cao Cao happily rode a horse with Guo Peng. After returning, he sent a lot of gifts to Guo Peng to express his gratitude. After that, he also invited Guo Peng to play and eat at home several times.

A year later, Cao Cao raised Xiaolian and went to Luoyang to be a high-ranking official. After that, he did not forget to send Guo Peng some new things from Luoyang.

Guo Peng's act of loyalty also greatly improved his reputation within the Cao family.

The Cao Clan and the Xiahou Clan, especially the children of the same age, admire Guo Peng's behavior of kicking Xu Shao's butt in front of so many people, and feel that it is very courageous.

Cao Ren and Xia Houyuan saw it with their own eyes, and since then they have admired Guo Peng very much. When Guo Peng is present, if anything happens, they will listen to Guo Peng.

The matter reached Cao Song's ears, that is, from this time, Cao Song began to have the idea of ​​marrying the Guo family.

Then, Cao Song instructed the family to take the young daughter out of the backyard, and let Guo Peng "accidentally meet" the youngest daughter of the Cao family, knowingly or not, so as to get to know each other and start to develop feelings.

Guo Peng's purpose has been achieved.

Cao thinks getting married with the Guo family is a high climb, a great thing, and an important step in clearing his identity, but this is not what Guo Peng wants to accomplish by looking forward to the stars and the moon.

When Guo Dan mentioned his marriage with Cao, intentionally or unintentionally, Guo Peng was holding back the joy in his heart, pretending to be calm and talking to him.

The signs of the troubled world are already present.

More than a year ago, Guo Peng heard people talk about "Tai Ping Dao" on the street, and talked about Zhang Jiao, the great teacher, and knew that Zhang Jiao had already started his activities.

This is not a good thing.

第8章.八 悲惨世界（修）

When he learned that Zhang Jiao had started his activities, Guo Peng had a deep sense of crisis.

In order to survive in a chaotic world, he had to make various preparations in many ways.

Internal, external, industrial, and even military security.

Since his father was the county magistrate, there were still some soldiers in Qiao County, although those soldiers looked weak and had no fighting power at all, just like the handymen.

But it doesn't matter, the Eastern Han Dynasty has come to the present, except for a few central troops, the local troops have long been useless.

The major local families have their own private army to ensure safety, protect their property, agricultural estates, and their own fortresses. If something goes wrong, these handymen in local counties will not be useful at all.

Since Liu Xiu, Emperor Guangwu, replaced the military service system of all people in the Western Han Dynasty with the recruitment system, the mainstream military system in the Eastern Han Dynasty was the recruitment system.

There are several standing armies in the central government, but there are almost none at the local level. They are recruited temporarily when things go wrong, and they are sent home after they are resolved.

This situation was maintained until the late period of Cao Cao's reign, when Sima Yi's eldest brother Sima Lang proposed to re-implement the system of local prefecture-state standing soldiers, and then the local standing soldiers reappeared.

Before that, for a long time, they were recruited temporarily and sent home after exhaustion. This did maintain the necessity of centralization, and local governors could not be separated.

However, this also made the local power weak, and it was okay to make small fights. Once there was a major rebellion, the fragile foundation of the Eastern Han Empire would be exposed.

That's why the Yellow Turban Uprising went on like a raging fire and swept across most of the prefectures and counties across the country, hitting the Eastern Han Empire hard.

At this moment, the mobilization ability that the Eastern Han Empire has lost is simply not enough for it to organize the strength to deal with the Yellow Turban uprising without relying on the local aristocrats.

In the end, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty had to lift the party's shackles, drink poison to quench his thirst, and allow local county governors to privately recruit soldiers, which started the troubled times at the end of the Han Dynasty.

But before that, the local aristocrats had already run and bankrupted most of the peasants and incorporated them into their manors to hide their household registrations. The Han government could not recruit enough soldiers because they were all in the manor of the local aristocrats and became their Private property.

Today, the Cao family has private armed forces, and the Xiahou family also has private armed forces.

Guo Peng grew up in each of their two manors since he was a child, watching the hard work of the tenants in their manor, creating all kinds of objects, and seeing large areas of wheat fields, fish ponds, and even large areas. pear fields and grape fields.

These local aristocrats occupy most of the land and have a large number of tenants and farms, each operating a different industry, farming, iron smelting, food processing, weaving clothes, etc., and they can complete daily business transactions internally and achieve a relatively complete manor economy.

And some of them are directly privileged and do not need to pay taxes. Local local tyrants also have various ways of evading and evading taxes or even not paying taxes directly.

The main body of tax payment is the peasant farmers, whose number is getting smaller and smaller, and they bear extremely heavy taxes.

The Cao Clan and the Xiahou Clan occupy a large amount of land and set up a large number of manors, which is quite self-sufficient.

After seeing these scenes, Guo Peng had a deeper understanding of the saying that "the economic base determines the superstructure".

No wonder Emperor Han Ling wanted to sell officials on a large scale for money.

The Eastern Han Empire is dead. The country has begun to split on the economic level. The split on the political level only needs an opportunity.

Therefore, if Guo Dan does not get the support of these local tyrants, he will not be able to hold the position of the county magistrate at all.

Fortunately, after receiving some help from the Cao Clan and Xiahou Clan, Guo Dan also has a little bit of his own power. As the strength of his own family, it is enough to protect himself.

As the eldest son, Guo Peng naturally has his own security force. This is what Guo Peng himself requested. Guo Dan wants to arrange an attendant for him. He doesn't want it. He asks Guo Dan for money and buys it himself.

To buy the children of farmers who had to be sold because of the poverty of their families.

Guo Yidan bought a total of five boys who were relatively healthy, about the same age as himself, and brought them back to Guo's house to raise them.

He personally took care of their food, clothing, and housing, named them, practiced martial arts with them, and taught them to read.

They all called Guo Peng "Young Master", which was what Guo Peng himself asked. They were the only ones in the whole family who called Guo Peng like this, which seemed very special.

After getting along for a while, they had eaten their fill, put on warm clothes, learned the rules between master and servant, and recognized the characters, so they all followed Guo Peng with determination.

Basically, they are inseparable to protect Guo Peng, except that Guo Peng himself asked them not to follow, basically they follow.

The five of them are stubborn, and although they are young, they look quite imposing, and they don't want Guo Dan to send someone else to protect them.

Guo Peng named them with gold, wood, water, fire, and soil. They were named Guo Jin, Guo Mu, Guo Shui, Guo Huo, and Guo Tu according to their age and birthday. They were very happy and felt that it was an honor to be named by their master.

And being able to read and write is a great gift for them.

When Guo Peng taught them to read with the bamboo slips, they stared at the bamboo slips as if they were watching a god.

Guo Peng doesn't find it strange that in this era when education is a privilege, it is normal for ordinary people not to see a single "book" in their lifetime.

Of course, as attendants, they were given special treatment by Guo Peng to read and write, and martial arts was a compulsory course.

They are the servants of the Guo family, which is equivalent to Guo Peng's private part. From the moment they were bought, their whole life was only for Guo Peng, and their necessary duty was to sacrifice themselves to protect Guo Peng. , just do it.

Because of Guo Peng's own request and relying on Guo Dan's relationship, Guo Peng obtained the qualification to practice martial arts with Cao's and Xiahou's exclusive martial arts masters, and practiced martial arts with Cao Ren and Xiahouyuan.

Cao's Xiahou clan is naturally invisible in culture. Guo Peng learned scriptures from Guo Dan, but in terms of martial arts, Cao clan and Xiahou clan's private martial arts teachers are quite good.

This martial artist is relatively old. It is said that he was a veteran who participated in the crusade against the Qiang rebels in Liangzhou, and he also served as a colony chief.

He was recruited by the Cao family to be a family martial artist for the children of the Xiahou family of the Cao family.

When Guo Peng had such an opportunity, he asked Cao to let his five followers come to learn the skills together.