The Most Romantic of the Three Kingdoms

Xun Zhen looked at the fertile fields from inside and outside the solution, and felt that the people's livelihood was difficult, and asked Xuankang if he knew what he was thinking. Xuan Kang said he did not know. He didn't say any more, just said "I'm thinking..." and then closed his mouth, no more words.

It's not that he doesn't want to say it, but that there are some things he can't say. He was thinking of Emperor Gaojo and Emperor Sejo.

Gaozu and Shizu were two commoners, one conquered the world in seven years, and the other became emperor in three years. Why? The former is because Qin has no people's hearts, while the latter thinks of Han because of the people's hearts. It has been more than three hundred and eighty years since the two Han Dynasties, and the Qingming government of that year has long since become a cloud of smoke. Today, eunuchs are in power in the court, and the emperor openly sells/officials; in the local area, the tyrants are rampant, and the long officials are tyrannical and cruel. Tigers and wolves shepherd sheep, and the people are unbearable. The entire empire is in decline. What if there are one or two wise officials? Look at the smog in the north of this county! As the so-called building will collapse, not a single tree can support it.

Back on the official road, he looked at Yangguanju again, and when he thought back to the situation when Emperor Guangwu fought in Kunyang, he was no longer just fascinated, but more than two points of sigh.

He thought to himself: "The Yellow Turban Uprising is so powerful, it is impossible for all Taiping Dao believers, and there must also be desperate people. The night before yesterday, Wen Ruo said to me: For the sake of the people's livelihood and the reputation of the clan, I need to agree to Zhong. You asked me to clarify Junbei's request. Now, it seems that even in order to reduce the momentum of the Yellow Turbans and reduce the "anti-people" in the future, I have to clarify this Junbei well, for the sake of Junbei The lives of the people are resolved and the suffering of hanging upside down is relieved."

Clarifying the north of the county can not only relieve the people from hanging upside down, but also slightly benefit the future. Both public and private are good things. If it is said that when he first appeared in Yangzhai, his attitude towards this matter was only half positive, but now, after seeing the difficult life of the people here, he can't wait. He turned his gaze back, glanced at Xie Li again, and thought again: "The name of this place is Xie Li, but it happens to coincide with the meaning of 'Jiemin Hanging upside down'."

After Xuankang wrote down what he saw here on paper and wrote it down, the three urged the horses to drive on.

Every time I went to the village, I would do some inquiries. When I arrived in Yangcheng, I would conduct a micro-travel in the county. All the officials and tyrants and illegal things were secretly recorded in my heart, and in the evening, Xuankang recorded them one by one. In this way, Xiaoxing stayed overnight. When there was a pavilion to live in, he stayed in a pavilion. When there was no pavilion, he stayed in a private counter-brigade. It took more than half a month for Xunzhen to visit all the counties in the north of the county. once again.

The more he went, the heavier his heart became. When he just came out of Yangzhai, he was still in the mood to watch the spring and visit historical sites. After arriving, although he still watched the mountains and rivers, and still studied the ancient battlefields, he rarely talked with Xuankang about the ancient wars. .

The last county on this trip is Yingyang. "North of the water is Yang", Yingyang got its name, as the name suggests, because it is in the north of Yingshui. There are two surnames in the city, one is the Ji clan and the other is the Wang clan, they are the descendants of Ji Zun and Wang Ba respectively. Ji Zun and Wang Ba are all heroes of ZTE, and they are all among the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai. Most of the descendants of the Ji clan were frontier officials.

Yingyang is between Yingyin and Xiangcheng, and the distance between the two places is only 20 to 30 miles away. As Xuankang said: Yingyin and Xiangcheng counties have many famous and sages, which may be affected by this. There are also heroic surnames in the county. However, despite this, the three of them still heard the evil deeds of many officials and tyrants.

Stayed in Yingyang for one night and left the city the next day.

Out of the city, walking to a place where there are few people, Xun Zhen raised the whip and pointed, and asked Xuankang: "At the end of the Qin Dynasty, when a group of heroes competed for the deer, this Yingyang city was also subjected to frequent wars. Shuye, do you know?" Xuankang replied: " I heard that King Huai once sent Gaozu west to take Guanzhong, and Gaozu crossed Yingyang and pulled him." Xun Zhen said, "Not only pulling him, but also killing him." He sighed.

Xiao Ren said: "Xun Jun, you have been sighing more and more along the way."

"To fight for land is to fight, killing people to enrich the wild. Fighting for a city is to kill people to enrich the city. Lao Tzu said: 'Where the teacher is, thorns will grow; where the army passes, there must be a fierce year'. All the veterans around King Huai said that Gaozu was a lenient elder, and because of Gaozu’s generosity and kindness, when he was in the army, he could not help but slaughter the city, so…”

"What's the matter?" Xuankang playfully learned what Xiaoren said just now, and smiled, "...Xunjun, you've been talking more and more halfway along the way." - Although he also hated the county The tyrannical official and tyrant of the north, after all, young and cheerful, and not like Xun Zhen's reincarnation, he knew that the world was going to be in chaos, and he had something on his mind, so he could still joke.

Xun Zhen didn't take it seriously, and only said with emotion: "It's shallow on paper, and I absolutely know that this matter has to be done."

Usually I know that it is not easy to live and live, but I lack direct observation. I went to Xixiang the year before. I thought that the people in Xixiang were already hard enough, but now I know that the people in the north of the county are even more difficult than Xixiang. Is this still in the mainland, or around the capital Luoyang, at the border? What about in the South? What about in remote places? How bad could the situation be?

The morning breeze was cool, so he cheered up and stopped thinking: "After Yingshui, another forty or fifty li will be Yangzhai. Let's go out this time, and we can go for a long time. Uncle Ye, drive fast on the road. Point. Xiaoren, urge the horses! Try to get back to Yangzhai before the curfew." Yangzhai is on the south side of the Yingshui River, and he has to cross the river again to go back. It was not a short time to come out this time. Even Xuankang wanted to go back early, so he and Xiaoren promised loudly. Facing the rising sun, the carriages and horses galloped across the river, and the three of them hurried until dusk, and finally arrived under the city of Yangzhai before the curfew.

…

After running about fifty miles in one day, the horse was covered in sweat. Entering the city and returning to the post office, Xun Zhen handed over the mount to Xiao Ren, asked Xuankang to come over for his booklet, put it in his arms, and told them to go back to the house to rest first. Go to the Prefect's Mansion.

After entering the mansion, he did not go directly to Yin Xiu, but to Zhong Yao first.

The twilight was already deep, and under the crimson sunset, the pavilions and trees in the prefect's mansion were covered with a layer of blood. When it was early after the break-up time, the courtyards of Cao Cao were all deserted, and there were a small number of "seats" with lights in their hands, who were either on night duty or had not completed their official duties that day. Xun Zhen passed through several Cao Yuan and came to the Gong Cao Yuan, which was located in the middle of the official office. Zhong Yao is not here.

Xun Zhen didn't know where Gong Cao's house was, so she had no choice but to go to another courtyard, find a small official who didn't leave, reported her name, and asked him to help find Zhong Yao. When the little official heard that he was the new northern postmaster, he didn't dare to neglect him and left quickly. After waiting for about half an hour, the twilight turned to night. When the dark night drove out the **** dusk, Zhong Yao hurriedly arrived.

"Zhenzhi, when did you come back?"

"County where dusk enters."

Zhong Yao looked up and down and said with a smile, "You leave the city in late spring and come back in early summer. You'll be there for 20 days. You'll see the dust on your face, and the journey must be hard. Why don't you go back to your house and rest for the night? Why does the night call me here? Hurry up!"

"It's not the urgency of chastity, it's the urgency of the people in the north of the county."

Zhong Yao put away his smile and asked, "Is there anything I can gain from the investigation?"

"Twenty days of virtuous walking, I traveled through nine counties, I saw along the way, there were many sorrows, I couldn't bear to hear what I heard along the way, the people in the north of the county were like fire and water, and the suffering was so bad! ..., Lord Zhong, I want to see the Lord tonight. ." Xun Zhen took out Xuankang Ji's booklet and handed it to Zhong Yao, "Everything I've seen and heard along the way is in this booklet. Zhongjun, take a look first."

Zhong Yao took the booklet and ordered the clerk who was looking for him to avoid the courtyard first, and read it by candlelight. The booklet has more than 20 pages, with an average of five or six events per page, a total of more than one hundred events. He asked, "Is all the information from the nine counties here?"

"right."

"There are disabled people in all nine counties?"

Xun Zhen nodded: "The three counties of Jiaxian, Xiangcheng, and Yingyang are slightly better, while the three counties of Yangcheng, Lunshi, and Wuyang are the worst."

The booklet is recorded in the order of Xunzhenxing County. The first three pages are all about Yangcheng, and the first one is "Jieli Killing Son". Zhong Yao's expression immediately became solemn.

Following this, there were also "Yangcheng expelled 36 times last year, with more than 600 money", "Haoyou took possession of his own family and hid his family", "Tie Guanchang Shen Xun traveled and drove arrogantly", "A thief with a big surname killed people." , you will be exempted from travel expenses”, “The chief of Yangcheng receives allowances, and the family iron tax is less calculated”, “Yangcheng decrees, the prime minister sees and knows the reason” and so on, there are more than 20 tyrants and officials in Yangcheng alone. illegal thing.

Looking further down, in addition to the above illegal and evil deeds, there are also tyrannical evil deeds: "A tycoon has a city membership and does not enter the rent tax", "a tycoon hides himself to death", "a tycoon knows someone and sells it a little bit." With Jia", "Hoo Qiang burnt a house", "Hao Qiang married a wife", "Hao Qiang was not filial". The evil deeds of officials include: "a county magistrate is not straight in the prison", "a county magistrate guards his own robbery", "a county officer rapes his wife", "a county magistrate borrows money with the character of the prime minister", "a county magistrate appoints a person to be an official". , any injustice" and so on. The common crime of the two is: "killing slaves and servants without authorization".

Zhong Yao saw half of it and couldn't take it anymore, so angry that he almost dropped the booklet. He said, "I know that the northern part of the county is dirty, but I don't know how dirty it is! Zhenzhi, let's invite Wen Ruo first, and then we will go to see the mansion together." find. When Xun Yu arrived, before talking to Xun Zhen, he read the booklet first. Check it out. Zhong Yao said, "The government in the north of the county is punishing violently, and the tyrants are cruel to the people. I would like to ask the lord of the government to strike with eagles and falcons, so as to eradicate evil for the people. Wen Ruo, would you like to go with me?"

Xun Yu was silent.

"Why are you silent?" Seeing that he didn't speak, Zhong Yao was immediately displeased and said, "Why is the people's livelihood so troubled, why are you indifferent? You are silent, is it because you have doubts in your heart, afraid of being attacked by those filthy officials and tyrants? Is it revenge? When you were a boy, He Boqiu in Nanyang praised you as a 'Wang Zuocai'. Now you are young and famous in the county. Wouldn't it be better if you were a child?"

"I'm not afraid of retribution."

"Then why are you silent?"

"I'm worried that Fu Jun will have doubts in his heart!"

"how do I say this?"

Xun Yu said slowly: "The ruler of the government is cautious in nature, and he is lenient and gentle. Since he took office in this county, although he has done good deeds, he has been constantly improving, but I have never seen him do anything serious. Punishment. In the nine counties in the north of the county, officials are corrupt, tyrannical and violent. If they want to rectify, they must be punished with severe punishment. I am afraid that the lord of the government will not easily agree."

Zhong Yao said: "Mencius said: 'Yu thinks that there are drowning people in the world, and he is still drowning them; Ji thinks that there are hungry people in the world, and he is starving himself, so it is urgent.' ? To eliminate harm for the people, I have to do it as a last resort. There, I will persuade the ruler of the government!"

"Having said that, it's better to think about what to say first."

"It's not too late to go and see the mansion. Zhenzhi, what do you think?"

Xun Zhen said, "You must follow the meaning of Gong Cao."

…

The three of them were discharged from the hospital and went straight to the back house. When they saw Yin Xiu, Yin Xiu was very surprised. He wondered why they had come to see him so late.

Zhong Yao presented the document, and when he finished reading it, he did not beat around the bush, and said bluntly, "You ask the Ming government to follow the sky and kill the thieves in nine counties for the people!" If Xun Yu expected, Yin Xiu's face appeared Difficult.

Zhong Yaogu invited him. Yin Xiu said, "The chief officials of the nine counties, which account for half of the county, must not be deliberately considered. The planner, Guo Tu, is known for his tact, so he can be summoned to discuss it together."

—

1. "The north of the water is Yang", Yingyang got its name, as the name suggests, because the county is in the north of Yingshui.

Yingyin is located in the northwest of Yingyang and north of Yingshui, so it is named Yingyin, probably because it is located on the south bank of Yingshui. In the territory of Runan County, the Yingshui merges into the Yingshui, which can be regarded as a tributary of the Yingshui. There is still the Qinglu River in Xuchang City, which is the mother river of Xuchang. There are amusement parks on both sides of the river, and the trees are lush in spring and summer. There are many barbecue restaurants on the bank, and there are tables facing the river. Every evening, the wineries are full.