Chapter 56 2. Huang Ba: A man who is not an official is a waste of youth

In fact, Liu Bing had made some internal adjustments to Huang Ba and Xiao Wangzhi's work arrangements.This interior is not the interior of high-ranking officials, but the interior of the teacher's school. Both Huang Ba and Xiao Wangzhi came from a teacher's school. Their teacher was Xia Housheng, the academic master of the Han Dynasty. When Xiao Wangzhi was messing around in the countryside, he worshiped Xia Housheng as his master.Many years later, Huang Ba was imprisoned with Xia Housheng and asked Xia Housheng to accept him as a disciple.In terms of seniority, Huang Ba should be called Senior Brother Xiao Wangzhi.The so-called pride makes people fall behind, while humility makes people progress.When Xiao Wangzhi was the censor, Huang Ba became the crown prince's tutor; when Xiao Wangzhi was dismissed and became the prince's tutor, Huang Ba was transferred by Liu Bingji to be the censor doctor.This is equivalent to the two brothers switching jobs.The so-called fat water does not flow to outsiders' fields, Liu Bingji has done a good job in resource allocation.

At the beginning, Xiao Wangzhi went from a remote village to the capital to fight. After several setbacks, he became a political star. It was indeed not easy.In fact, when it comes to Huang Ba, he is also full of twists and turns, and he can't finish talking for days and nights. Huang Ba, courtesy name Cigong, was born in Yangxia, Huaiyang (now Taikang, Henan).When Huang Ba was young, he liked the law very much.He likes law because he wants to be an official.Saying that he wants to be an official is still an understatement. To be precise, Huang Ba is particularly obsessed with being an official.Needless to say obsession, it's useless even if he wants to go crazy, because he has no way to be an official.

Huang Ba, who had no official position, had to wait.Suddenly one day, someone told him that you can be a petty official, but you must have one thing.That thing, of course, is money.In the Han Dynasty, if you have money, you can donate money to the palace to be an errand official.At the end of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, because of his long-term foreign wars, his money was always beyond his means.Later, he had no choice but to sell his official position to raise money. When Huang Ba heard that he could become an official by donating money, he excitedly went to donate money and made him a servant.Unfortunately, Huang Ba, who hadn't tasted the sweetness yet, was driven home soon.The reason was not on him, but because his brother was implicated in a crime and was impeached.

Life is sometimes like riding a mountain bike, climbing in an infinite hole for a long time, finally climbing out of the black hole, seeing a ray of light, but getting into the cave again.Where is tomorrow and where is the future? No one gave Huang Ba an answer. This time, Huang Ba didn't want to wait any longer, he took the initiative to pry around.Finally one day, he got news that if he donated grain, he could become a petty official.So, Huang Ba went to pay the grain, and he became a small official of two hundred shi in North Chang'an City. Huang Ba's petty official, if he is willing to do it, may be a petty official for the rest of his life.At that time, the unspoken rule in the officialdom was that those who paid money and food were not allowed to hold high positions.Sure enough, the leader arranged for Huang Ba to take a part-time job, specifically to collect food for the county and calculate money.

The job is ridiculous, boring, and has no future.However, this job is tricky.In the huge city of North Chang'an, how much money has to pass through Huang Ba's hands a year, as long as he stretches out his hand and bends over, he can still be a little mouse who specializes in gnawing on the country's oil and water. Qin Chao Li Si said that they are also rats, but the rats in the warehouse are different from the rats in the toilet.The rats in the warehouse can sit back and relax and let go of eating and drinking. The rats in the toilet will be terrified and run away when they see a stranger.So Li Si, who believed in the philosophy of rats, spent his whole life in the direction of warehouse rats, and finally became the prime minister of the Qin Dynasty.

There is no evidence to prove that Huang Ba believes in the mouse philosophy as much as Li Si.However, there are many similarities in the life experiences of Huang Ba and Li Si.First of all, they are all from Henan. Secondly, Li Si was a small official in Shangcai and managed the granary. The nature of Huang Ba's work today is not much different from his. Became the prime minister of the Han Dynasty. The only difference is that Li Si met a bastard emperor Hu Hai, and died badly; Huang Ba met Liu, a legendary Ming emperor, who was ill and died in his lifetime.History has fully proved that if a good person wants to live a good life, he can not only rely on himself, but also rely on his fate.

No one knows what kind of dream Huang Ba harbors in his heart as a petty official.For Huang Ba, Li Si's story should be known, but Li Si's path to ascension back then was beyond his imagination.At that time, Li Si had a very high starting point. He was a disciple of the great master Xunzi, and he was a classmate with Han Feizi. Looking up at the peak, Huang Ba has no shortcuts.But he told himself like this, just go like this, the road is under your feet. Give me a fulcrum, and I can pry up the whole earth, as Archimedes said.Give me a starting point, and I can open up a broad road.In Chinese history, there are countless great people who have said such words.In the Han Dynasty, Zhang Chang was one of the people who said this, and so was Huang Ba.

Therefore, Huang Ba worked honestly and behaved honestly.Because of his excellent work, Huang Ba broke the unspoken rules of officialdom, rose steadily, and became more and more famous, until he was promoted to the position of prime minister. However, just as Huang Ba was moving forward smoothly, a gust of wind suddenly blew.The wind was so strong that no one could stop it, and Huang Ba was thrown down together with another bully, and fell into the dark and lightless prison. It was a tornado, and the person who blew the strong wind was Liu Bingji.The thing is like this, Liu Bing has just been the emperor for the second year, and he issued an imperial edict, requiring senior officials above the ministerial level and doctors, etc., to determine the temple name and temple music for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty Liu Che.Therefore, the civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty gathered for a meeting to discuss, and unanimously agreed to pass Liu Bingji's plan.Unexpectedly, at this moment, a powerful man stood up and shouted loudly: I firmly oppose it!

Who do you think was the one who yelled against it?It turned out to be Xia Housheng, the Shaofu of Changxin.Looking at Xia Housheng's life, there are two characteristics: erudition of the ancients and the present, the establishment of the Great Xiahou School, and a lot of academic achievements, this is one; and also. Xia Housheng's voice of opposition was loud, and the reasons were particularly sufficient.He said this: Although Emperor Wu made great achievements in opening up the world and pacifying the barbarians, the army died a lot, the country's economy was in danger of being dragged down, and when droughts and locusts plagued him, he was unable to rescue disasters, and the hungry people ate each other.A good country has been devastated and almost collapsed. Until now, the vitality has not been restored.Therefore, Emperor Wu has little merit and great crime, so he is not qualified to enjoy the temple name and temple music at all.

Everyone thought that it was natural to give Emperor Wu a temple name and temple music.Coming to this meeting today is just a formality, that is, sitting down and talking, chatting, drinking tea, raising hands, and then pat your buttocks and retreat.Now, Xia Housheng, the Shaofu of Changxin, came out to protest in a high-profile way. Xia Housheng might have malfunctioned in his head, so everyone kindly reminded Xia Housheng, don't just shout against it, don't forget, this is a task assigned by the emperor's edict.Xia Housheng still shouted in high spirits: I know it is the task of the emperor, so what.Anyway, I will say whatever I have to say, and I will never flatter my superiors.Even if the emperor blames it, he will not regret it after he dies.

I have seen people who are not afraid of death, but I have never seen Xia Housheng who despises imperial power like this.Regardless of whether Xia Housheng is hyping up, wanting to be famous in the world, or has a problem with his head, since he wants to die, let him be fulfilled.Therefore, the prime minister and the censor immediately drafted an impeachment letter, asking all the ministers to sign it, and jointly impeached Xia Housheng.But there is one person who insists on not participating in the impeachment. That person is Huang Ba, Secretary-General of the Prime Minister's Mansion (Prime Minister Chang Shi). Why did Huang Ba refuse to sign?When the people in the Prime Minister's Mansion heard this, they were immediately confused.Not to mention the Prime Minister's Mansion, other ministers also felt that Huang Ba was unreasonable.Yes, others don't understand Huang Ba because they are mediocre.Let Huang Ba express his thoughts. There are two reasons why he supports Xia Housheng: Huang Ba has always been lenient in governing the world, and he rejects cruel history. This is one of them; Xia Housheng speaks alone, To express Huang Ba's conscience, it is necessary to support Xia Housheng once, and this is the second. The prime minister at that time was named Cai Yi.It is indeed frustrating for subordinates not to maintain the same height as the leader.Cai Yi simply kept doing nothing, and even Huang Ba was included in the impeachment list.The prime minister's mansion charged Xia Housheng with criticizing the edict, insulting Emperor Wu, and treason.Huang Ba was convicted in this way: not to report what he knew, and to cover up and connive. The prime minister's letter of impeachment was sent up, and Liu Bing already gave a quick reply.In this way, both Huang Ba and Xia Housheng were imprisoned.Huang Ba thought that since he was in prison, he should wait to die.So, he waited and waited for a long time, but there was no movement outside.The prison did not say to kill, nor did it say not to kill, so the two of them were kept hanging in the prison. Huang Ba stayed there for a long time, and suddenly felt that the prison was so boring.So one day, he said to his cellmate Xia Housheng: "We have nothing to do when we are free. Otherwise, can you pass on your experience and skills in studying "Shangshu" to me?" Xia Housheng half closed his eyes and shook his head.Huang Ba then asked, "Why didn't you teach me?" Xia Housheng opened his eyes slightly, sighed and said, "We're all going to die soon, what's the use of you learning?" Huang Ba also smiled slightly, and said: "Confucius said that if you hear the Tao in the morning, you will die in the evening. You will not accept me as a disciple, will you?" At this time, Xia Housheng opened his eyes wide and stared at Huang Ba for a long time.Before that, they only knew each other by name and rarely dealt with each other.Xia Housheng advocates the Dao and despises all authority. In this world, he may be the loneliest fighter.Therefore, he didn't understand why Huang Ba supported him and was implicated and imprisoned.However, now he understood. The young man in front of him, like him, has the fearless spirit of daring to pursue the truth and dedicating himself to defending morality.Suddenly, Xia Housheng felt a warm current in his heart, and he decided to take Huang Ba as his apprentice and teach him "Shangshu".