Chapter 46 third quarter

As soon as Zhao Yan stepped into the territory of Wen County, Hanoi County, he encountered a cold reception.When he presented the talisman issued by the Sikong Mansion, the attitude of the local officials could not be said to be bad, but it was by no means enthusiastic, and the conversation always seemed awkward. The root of this strange attitude is: Wei Zhong, the prefect of Hanoi, was appointed by Cao Cao himself, but Wei Zhong has a history of running away.Right now, Yuan and Cao are about to go to war, and officials from all over the country don't know what attitude Wei Taishou will take, and which side he will fall on, and naturally they are unwilling to show a clear inclination.

Before Deng Zhan came to Wen County to investigate, he went directly to the Sima family, so the county guard could turn a blind eye.But Zhao Yan was too inexperienced in politics, so he showed the talisman of the Sikong Mansion when he came up, which was tantamount to forcing them to express their views. Faced with this stunned young man, the local officials are very embarrassed about it. It is not good to obey, and it is not good not to obey.So when Zhao Yan proposed to visit the weaving room, the county magistrate took it for granted that the envoy just wanted to ask for some bribes, so he hurriedly agreed and wanted to send him away as soon as possible.

In the weaving room, Zhao Yan found an old weaver.It was an old woman in her fifties who had been weaving all her life and had thick calluses on her fingertips.When Zhao Yan came in, she was still busy sitting in front of the loom. "Please take a look at this thing." Zhao Yan explained the purpose of coming, and respectfully handed her the piece of white silk.The old weaver stopped the loom, took it tremblingly, rubbed it with his palm for a moment, held it up to the light, squinted his eyes, and nodded. "This silk cloth is indeed made by us, and it should be made by the wife of the Li family."

"Are you sure?" Zhao Yan asked.He believed that the method of silk weaving could be determined from a scrap of cloth, but it was almost as inconceivable to guess who made it at a glance, and to name it. The old weaver replied with some displeasure: "I have been weaving cloth all my life, how can I read it wrong! The looms, pedals, and horse heads of different looms are of different sizes, and the weavers' twisting techniques and coordination of hands and feet are also different. , the woven silk cloth will naturally have slight differences. You laymen all look the same. In my eyes, I can tell who made the silk cloth by looking at the warp and weft. , only a lady like the Li family can do it."

Zhao Yan apologized for his abruptness, and then asked: "Since the silk cloth of this lady of the Li family is so good, it must be selling well, right?" The old weaver picked up the shuttle and couldn't help but let out a sneer: "Sale market? The Li family's wife only weaves a dozen bolts of silk cloth every year, which is not enough for the wealthy family in Wen County. How can there be more for sale?" ?” "Local clan?" "Of course it's the Sima family," the old weaver added, "Even in the Sima family, there are not many who are qualified to wear the silk cloth of the Li family's wife. That is, the relatives of the Sima clan chief, the elders of the clan, and a few princes. .”

Zhao Yan silently took the silk cloth back. It turned out that the person who entered the palace came from Sima's family? The Sima family has always kept a low profile. Sima Fang's idea is to hibernate the dragon and wait for the right time. It has never been heard that this family has any relationship with the imperial court or the Cao family. Suddenly a bolt of lightning flashed in Zhao Yan's mind.He remembered that time when he visited Yang Jun and asked him why he lost his arm. Yang Jun replied that he encountered bandits on the way to pick up his son from Wen County to Xudu—and on that day, there happened to be a fire in the dormitory.

Thinking of this, Zhao Yan asked a few more insinuating words, asking the old weaver if he knew Yang Ping.The old weaver called a small worker and told her to go out to bring some water, and then told Zhao Yan that Yang Ping had been fostered in Sima's house all along, and was raised by Sima Fang as his own son.Everyone in Wen county knew about this. "Sima Fang loves him very much. In other words, Yang Ping is qualified to wear the silk cloth of Mrs. Li's family, right?" "Well, Master Sima loves him very much, and he is no different from the young masters of the Sima family in terms of treatment." At this time, the old weaver asked in surprise, "What happened to that child Yang Ping? Recently, people always come to inquire about his affairs." .”

Zhao Yan was startled when he heard the words: "Who else has inquired about it besides me?" "Just a few days ago. A soldier came here, claiming to be from Xu Du, and came to ask me how Mr. Yang looks like." Zhao Yan suddenly became short of breath.After he overheard the conversation between Tang Ji and Sun Li that day, he knew that the person who came to Wen County was Deng Zhan.It seems that what Deng Zhan inquired about was Yang Ping's appearance. He returned to his command, but was attacked halfway, and finally the portrait fell into Guo Jia's hands. In other words, Yang Ping is indeed the core of all these contradictions.This young man obviously died halfway, yet he has attracted the attention of so many forces.Not only Guo Jia personally paid attention, but Tang Ji and the unknown force behind her were also eager to get the portrait.

How could an ordinary young man attract so many people's attention?Could it be Yang Ping's ghost who sneaked into the bedroom that night? Zhao Yan's thoughts were a little confused, and he suddenly thought that the old weaver in front of him was the key to solving these questions.He adjusted his breathing and asked slowly, "Can you describe Mr. Yang's appearance to me?" "I have to say it again." The old weaver was reluctant, Zhao Yan asked repeatedly, and she reluctantly began to describe.Zhao Yan is not good at painting, but in order to please Concubine Dong, he has mastered some techniques.According to the old weaver's description, he drew a human face on a piece of paper and kept revising it according to the description.

When the portrait was finally completed, Zhao Yan picked it up and looked at it, his whole body froze in place as if struck by lightning in an instant.The strong storm set off a huge wave in his heart. The face in the portrait was too familiar to him.Every night after Concubine Dong passed away, this face would appear in Zhao Yan's dream; every court meeting, Zhao Yan would stare at this face for a long time.Every wrinkle, every outline is deeply imprinted in Zhao Yan's heart, and he is very familiar with it. "Son of Heaven?!" Zhao Yan couldn't help blurting out. Yang Ping, who looks like the emperor, the emperor who has a sudden change in personality, and the strange fire in the dormitory, all these clues are blown up into the air by the storm, and combined with each other, an answer that Zhao Yan has been searching for is about to come out.

Zhao Yan put down the portrait and stared at the old weaver with eyes like two sharp eagle claws, trying to dig out more secrets from her body.The old weaver moved his butt back in panic, not daring to meet his eyes. Suddenly, the back of Zhao Yan's head was hit by a huge object, his vision went dark, and he passed out. A burly servant put down the log in his hand and dragged the unconscious Zhao Yan away.A man in a brocade robe walked into the weaving room, glanced around, with a gloomy expression on his face.The old weaver hurriedly fell down on the ground, and said a little nervously: "My lord, I will follow your instructions. Once I find out that this person is snooping on Mr. Yang's details, I will immediately notify the Sima Mansion." Sima Lang let out a "hmm", leaned over and picked up Zhao Yan's portrait that had fallen on the ground, glanced at it, and asked, "What did he ask?" The old weaver recounted the conversation between the two just now, and Sima Lang frowned, picked up the scrap of cloth and held it in his hand. A piece of silk cloth belonging to Sima's family came from Yilang who came from Xudu.This made Sima Lang deep in thought. "What else did he say?" The old weaver said: "When he looked at the portrait, he seemed to say 'Son of Heaven'. But the voice was too low, and the old man couldn't hear it clearly." "Remember, you didn't hear or see anything, understand?" Sima Lang said word by word. The old weaver nodded in fear.Although Sima Lang has no official position, the Sima family is very powerful in Wen County. It is easier to kill a small weaver than to strangle an ant. After warning the old weaver, Sima Lang left the weaving room.The county magistrate who was waiting at the door saw him coming out, went up to him and rubbed his hands nervously, saying: "My lord, this is someone sent by the imperial court, if something happens, we will investigate it..." Sima Lang glanced at him coldly: "Our Sima family will naturally give an explanation to the court." The county magistrate retreated without hesitation.Now that the authority of the imperial court has been lost, most of the magistrates in various counties and counties are useless. Without the approval of the local big clan, they may lose their lives if their buttocks are not warmed up.Sima Lang was able to give him an explanation, which was considered a great deal of face. After dismissing the county magistrate, Sima Lang ordered his servants to smuggle Zhao Yan to a hidden Wubao, then returned to Sima Mansion in Xiaojingli, and went straight to find his younger brother.At this time Sima Yi was lying on the couch, holding a book in his hand, reading it with relish.His right leg was thinly wrapped with a layer of cloth and stretched out straight, and there was a bowl of medicinal soup beside his leg.The bowl was full of soup and medicine, and I didn't take a bite. "Zhongda, why don't you take medicine?" Sima Lang blamed. "My mouth is hurt. Drinking this kind of thing will flow out from the corner of my mouth and stain the quilt." Sima Yi kept staring at the scroll. Sima Lang shook his head, and said helplessly, "You are here again. Every time you are asked to take medicine, you pretend to have a stroke and spit out the medicine soup from the corner of your mouth. I think when you are seventy or eighty years old, you will not stop would be so rascal." "It depends." Sima Yi didn't feel any guilt at all. ※※※ After the two brothers completed the task of sniping Deng Zhan, they successfully retreated to Wen County without being discovered by anyone.Sima Yi's right leg was injured by Deng Zhan, and he ran in the snow for a long time, the injury was quite serious, so he had to lie that he was scratched by a tiger while hunting, and he was lying in the mansion to recuperate, unable to move at all. Sima Lang told about Zhao Yan, Sima Yi put down the scroll, showing a strange expression. "He said 'Son of Heaven'?" "That's right." Sima Lang handed the portrait to Sima Yi, who took a look at it and threw it aside.He already had a few conjectures, but Zhao Yan's "Son of Heaven" overthrew them all, and he had to rethink.What happened to his good brother is becoming more and more confusing now. Seeing Sima Yi hanging his head in thought, Sima Lang pointed out the window, "Do you want to ask that Zhao?" Sima Yi knew what Sima Lang's "ask" meant, so he gently waved his hand to signal to his elder brother. Don't be impatient. "Anyway, he is also a Yilang, and he still holds the Sikong Mansion's talisman. It's okay to kill him, I'm afraid it will be used by someone with a heart." Sima Lang silently bent over to pick up the portrait, and threw it into the stove beside the bed.Soon the paper turned to ashes under the licking of the flames, and the temperature in the room rose a little—maybe it was just an illusion. Hanoi is adjacent to Bingzhou, and the people and gentry on both sides migrated to each other and have a close relationship.The Cao camp has always held a view that the foundation of Hanoi is not stable, and it is likely to be affected by the Bingzhou controlled by Yuan Shao, and it must be guarded against. If necessary, the Hanoi clan can be uprooted and forced to move to the south. At this sensitive moment when the war is about to start, if the Sima family kills—or injures—or insults a court envoy who holds the Sikong Talisman, it is tantamount to publicly declaring their support to the Yuan family.This will trigger a series of cascading effects, which will cause a huge change in Cao's policy towards Hanoi and plunge the gentry into turmoil.Even if Cao Cao temporarily adopts appeasement, this matter will sooner or later become a hidden worry for the Sima family. "I'm afraid we won't be able to keep him even if we stay." Sima Yi rolled up the bamboo slips and knocked on the edge of the couch, making a crisp sound, "Rescue him early and send him back to Xudu." Sima Lang said urgently: "Go up." The portrait painted by Deng Zhan last time, we took a lot of painstaking efforts to cut it down, and you put a leg in it. Now if we put Zhao Yan back, wouldn't we have wasted all our previous efforts?" Sima Yi moved his lips and gave his brother a stern smile: "The people who came to Xudu these two times were obviously not on the same boat. It seems that the struggle over there was fierce. What my father said was right. It's too deep, I don't know which lotus leaf is hiding fish. We can't easily get involved and harm the Sima family." "Then shall we stand by and watch?" "Hmph, that boy Yang Ping, who has made us suffer so badly, is better off himself, if he doesn't even send any news, he will have to suffer a bit." Sima Yi said bitterly. When Sima Lang heard this, he finally felt relieved.His younger brother never said what he meant, and since Sima Yi said he wanted to make Yang Ping suffer, it meant that he would not give up on this matter.So Sima Lang casually asked a few more words about his physical condition, then picked up the cold medicine bowl and left. After he left, Sima Yi half stood up, moved his body with great effort, and inadvertently touched the wound on his thigh, causing him to gasp in pain.With difficulty, he moved to the other side of the bed, stretched out his hand, and took out something from the small cabinet.