Chapter 156 Chapter 25: Cao Cao’s Feast on the Bronze Sparrow Terrace (1)

One morning in the early winter of the thirteenth year of Jian'an (AD 208), in a garden of the empty palace in Yecheng, Cao Cao was walking with his hands behind his back; Black beard.This year, he turned fifty-three years old.Most of his career as a soldier and horse has passed. He suppressed more than a million Yellow Turban Army, mastered the desperate Emperor Xian, took the emperor to command the princes, and successively destroyed Lu Bu, Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Liu Biao and other powerful powers, and dominated the north.However, this year, he sent troops to the south to unify China, but suffered a great setback: the defeat in the Battle of Chibi made him feel that it was almost impossible to destroy Sun and Liu.At this time, wandering in the garden, he seemed to have seen a picture of three kingdoms and three kingdoms, which was the last thing he wanted to see.He didn't dare to think about it, he just sighed deeply.

But what made Cao Cao even more sad didn't stop there.A month ago, his beloved youngest son, Cao Chong, died of a sudden illness at the age of thirteen. Cao Chong inherited the inherent intelligence and wisdom of the Cao family. He was a precocious gifted child, so he won the favor of his father.Once the Southern Gentiles sent an Asian elephant to Cao Cao as a tribute. Since China does not produce elephants, everyone was curious.Even Cao Cao wanted to know how heavy this behemoth weighed after seeing it.However, how to weigh it? Where can I find a scale that can hold an elephant? Cao Cao publicly asked for a method of weighing an elephant, but the officials who are usually eloquent became silent before this question.At that time, Cao Chong, who was standing next to Cao Cao, said a wonderful way:

First prepare a boat by the river, lead the elephant onto the boat, mark the draft of the boat, and then take the elephant away.Then, replace it with countless stones. When the water line is the same, lift down the stones, divide them and weigh them. Isn't the sum equal to the weight of an elephant? This is the famous story of "Cao Chong weighing an elephant" in history. However, such a clever child was underestimated by the heavens and died at a young age.In order to lose this young son who had always been optimistic, Cao Cao has ignored his official duties for a month, only depressed.In order to express his nostalgia, he had an idiotic idea, and specially asked Bing Yuan, the secretary of the Sikong Mansion, to bury his daughter who died early with Cao Chong, and the two became a married couple in the underworld.

This Bing was originally the hometown of Zheng Xuan, a great Confucian in the late Han Dynasty, and he was as famous as Zheng Xuan, and they were both two great scholars in the late Han Dynasty.When he was in his hometown, he rejected the election of Kong Rong, Prime Minister of Beihai; after he took refuge in Liaodong, he also refused to accept the recruitment of the local overlord Gongsun Du.However, when Cao Cao pacified Hebei, he took the initiative to accept Cao Cao's appointment. At that time, Cao Cao triumphantly returned to Yecheng after the Battle of Liucheng. After passing through Changping, the literati in Hebei area specially held a celebration banquet for him.

After drinking, Cao Cao looked around at the crowd who came to congratulate him, and said, "When I returned to Yecheng this time, I expected that everyone would welcome me here; but the only one I'm talking about is Bing Yuan who won't come. Today Look at it, it really did not meet my expectations!" Unexpectedly, as soon as the words fell, there was a loud announcement from the door, and Bing Yuan, the former Dongge sacrificial wine, came to pay homage.When Cao Cao heard the news, he was so pleasantly surprised that he didn't even have time to put on his shoes, so he held them in his hands, with only a layer of wrapping cloth on his feet, so he went out to greet him, and when he saw Bing Yuan, he said:

"Sages have always been unpredictable! I thought you wouldn't come, but I didn't expect you to come in vain. My admiration for you is now enough..." Unexpectedly, Bing Yuan didn't say a word, he turned around and left after paying a few gestures.Among the doctors present, hundreds of them abandoned Cao Cao and followed Bing Yuan. Cao Cao was taken aback for a moment, feeling a little unhappy.He felt very strange: why does a scholar with no power have such charm, so many scholar-bureaucrats present even ignored Cao Cao and followed him away to show their admiration? He asked Xun Yu who was sitting beside him.

Xun Yu smiled and replied: "In fact, Bing Yuan is the only person in the world who is worthy of such respect." Cao Cao saw that Xun Yu avoided answering, and said, "I really can't think of a literati's influence. So big!" Xun Yu took the opportunity to say: "A generation of strange people like Bing Yuan is a treasure among scholar-bureaucrats. Why don't my lord try to treat him with courtesy?" Cao Cao hurriedly said: "Of course, this is exactly what I have always wanted!" From then on, Cao Cao respected Bing Yuan even more.Now, the death of Chong'er reminded him of the death of Bing Yuan's daughter not long ago, so he came up with the idea of ​​"marriage in the underworld".

When Bing Yuan heard the words, he knew that he was discouraged by the defeat of Chibi and the death of his youngest son, so he remonstrated: "Even if it is based on love, marrying a child who died young is against the norms; I believe It is impossible to have such etiquette in the underworld. The prime minister is an extraordinary person, how can he do indecent things that even ordinary people don't bother to do? The prime minister once said: I don't like Confucius, but I like his words when he knows what he can't do. Of course, those who say 'do not do' have something else to say. Why doesn't the prime minister hear that Confucius said something else: 'Happy but not lewd, sad but not sad'? If I agree to your good intention today, then, between us The good relationship maintained by etiquette is gone. I dare to say: the prime minister must not hurt Daya with the success or failure of a moment and the survival of a matter, and mess up the position. Don't you see Sun and Liu Huju, coveting each other See?!"

Cao Cao was enlightened when he heard the words, knowing that Bing Yuan not only admonished marriages in the underworld, but also used this to persuade himself to forget the public because of personal interests, and to care too much about the losses in the Battle of Chibi, so he woke up.On this day, he was elated again, with his hands behind his back, thinking of his life spanning all over the world, even though he was close to sixty years old, he still had an aura that wanted to burst out of his chest. He walked around a few times, stopped suddenly, turned around abruptly, strode towards the study beside the Hall of Central Harmony, and shouted: "Servant with pen and ink!"

In a moment, a magnificent poem remained on the paper: Although the tortoise lives long, it still has its time Soaring snake rides the mist, turns to ashes in the end An old man, with aspirations for thousands of miles A martyr's twilight years, full of ambition The period of shrinkage is not only in the sky The blessing of nourishing happiness can lead to eternal life Fortunately, it is even true, singing to sing After finishing writing, Cao Cao threw his pen on the ground and laughed endlessly.Bing Yuan, Xun You, Chen Yu and others rushed over when they heard the sound. After seeing it, they couldn't help but chant in unison: "The old man is standing on the ground, and his ambition is a thousand miles away; the martyr's old age, his ambition is endless!"

After Cao Cao laughed, he said to the officers and men who were still chanting to himself: "The situation of the world needs to be carefully planned. Now I want to go back to my hometown, Qiao County, and think about it carefully. You are still restricted, so you can stay here. Focus on organizing and training the water army. The defeat in Chibi, our northern army is not good at water warfare, so it should be one end."