Chapter 23 The county government was humiliated

Now that he had made up his mind to become an official again, Cao Cao turned his back on his promise and prepared to go to Beijing to take up his post.First, I sent out to Luoyang at a different speed to inform the old man, and then asked my younger brother to buy chariots and horses.But since he had already rejected the court's call, he had to go to the county mansion to pay homage to Pei Guoxiang Yuan Zhong and ask for documents before he could enter Beijing. Yuan Zhong, whose courtesy name is Zhengfu, was born in Ruyang, Runan. He was known for his integrity and integrity.However, there are nine kinds of dragons, all of which are different, and they are all descendants of the famous official Yuan An, but Yuan Zhong's personality and temper are completely different from Yuan Shao.

Yuan Shao's branch has become more and more wealthy since his grandfather Yuan Tang, and even Yuan Feng and Yuan Kui became three princes one after another. Yuan Ji, Yuan Shao, and Yuan Shu have all been officials in Beijing since they became officials; getting poorer.In fact, his family also had three generations of sheriffs in succession, and the scriptures and calligraphers were far better than Yuan Tang's lineage, but they were only expensive but not rich.It's all because his family pays more attention to fame and festivals than benefits, and has never bought real estate. Although Yuan Zhong was famous, he had a lot of misfortunes.In his early years, he had a close relationship with Fan Pang, a felon of the party, so he was abandoned by the court for more than ten years. It was not until the Yellow Turban incident that the party ban was lifted that he succeeded Chen Gui as the Prime Minister of Peiguo.But just as his official career improved, his only son, Yuan Mi, died again.As an official of Runan County, Yuan Mi assisted Zhao Qian, the prefect, to fight against the Yellow Turbans. When the battle was unfavorable, he rushed into the enemy's line and died heroically to cover Zhao Qian's breakout.Yuan Zhongben had an arrogant personality. After experiencing setbacks in his career and losing his son in middle age, his temper became even more surly.

Cao Cao had heard Yuan Shao say before: "Although Yuan Zhengfu is clean and self-sufficient, he is extremely stinky, tough and mean." Today he came to see this person with a foolish face, and he wanted to ask for paperwork from him, so he couldn't help but feel a little muttered in his heart.It stands to reason that such a visit is embarrassing, and one should bring more or less gifts, but Yuan Zhong is also known for his incorruptibility, so Cao Cao decided not to follow the customary etiquette after careful consideration, and went alone empty-handed. When he came to the gate of the county mansion, he announced his name and surname. A gatekeeper went in to inform Cao Cao, but he came out after a while and told Cao Cao: "My county general went to greet King Pei early in the morning. Please wait here for a while, Mr. Cao." Prime Minister Pei Guo, paying homage to the princes and kings is definitely a first-class event.But his subordinates were somewhat neglectful of Cao Cao.After all, Cao Cao was a high-ranking official of the imperial court and a hero in the fight against chaos, and now he is a close relative of the Taiwei.Not only did he not invite him in for tea, he didn't even give him a stool, it was too unreasonable for such a big man to let him lead his horse and stand outside the gate of the county mansion.

People had to bow their heads under the low eaves. Cao Cao knew that he was here to ask for help, so he couldn't care about anything, so he waited patiently.From time to time, servants of officials came in and out, and the gatekeepers greeted and sent them to their respective errands, but none of them came to say a polite word to Cao Cao. After standing for half an hour, he heard the noise of carriages and horses, and Yuan Zhong returned to the county mansion.A servant boy had rushed up, raised the curtain of the car and helped him down.Cao Cao glanced at him——Yuan Zhong was in his early forties, seven feet tall, wearing a half-worn official uniform, with a long face, dragon eyebrows, phoenix eyes, straight nose, straight mouth, three black beards hanging down, and his every move was cautious rigid.

Cao Cao saw that Yuan Zhong was about to step into the government office, but the gatekeeper didn't say a word about his affairs. He hurried forward a few steps, bowed to the ground, and said loudly, "Cao Cao pays homage to the Prime Minister in Xiaqiao County." Now He is Bai Ding, so he had to declare his hometown. Yuan Zhong glanced at him and didn't return the salute, he just raised his hand slightly and said: "Please come inside." When he said these three words, he didn't even stop walking, and walked forward to the gate of the mansion unsteadily.Seeing the situation, Cao Cao knew that this hard bow was not easy to pull, so he handed over the horse to the gatekeeper, and followed closely at every step.

It stands to reason that Cao Cao used to be an official, and such an informal meeting should have a knee-to-neck conversation in the study, but Yuan Zhong didn't even turn the corner in front, and led him straight to the county hall.In this way, the officials are the officials and the people are the people, and the etiquette cannot be wrong at all, and Cao Cao has to stand upright and talk to him.Yuan Zhong sat down upright, turned over the documents on the official case, called the little official with his hand, ordered the official affairs one by one, and threw Cao Cao aside. Cao Cao looked at it with his hands in his hands, and saw that Yuan Zhong was handling official affairs in detail, from emphasizing the government's decree to asking about trivia in the yamen, without even looking at himself, he was busy for another half an hour.After everything was arranged properly and the officials in the middle class retreated one after another, Yuan Zhongcai raised his head and asked slowly, "Your Excellency is Cao Mengde, the former Prime Minister of Jinan?"

"It's right here." Cao Cao cupped his hands. "Long admiration, long admiration." Having said that, Yuan Zhong didn't even lift his butt, so there was no sign of long admiration. Cao Cao felt that the atmosphere was too embarrassing, so he wanted to set up a friendship with him: "I am quite friendly with Yuan Benchu..." Before he finished speaking, Yuan Zhong interrupted: "Don't mention Yuan Shao, although we are of the same clan, we haven't moved around for more than ten years." One sentence choked Cao Cao back.Yuan Zhong seemed to be suspicious of him, and continued to explain, "My Yuan family was originally known for its integrity and talent, and did not seek high officials and dignitaries, but Yuan Kai's uncle and nephew were extravagant and flashy, and they often claimed to be four generations and three princes. They cut off their relationship and stopped communicating." His excuse was somewhat reasonable, but it seemed a little bit unfeeling for the brothers of the same clan to treat him as strangers—it was no wonder Yuan Shao held prejudice against him.

Cao Cao felt that the words were not speculative, and was racking his brains to find another topic, but Yuan Zhong cut to the chase and said, "Is Meng De here to ask for my official documents?" "Huh?!" Cao Cao was taken aback for a moment, then said in a low voice, "Exactly." "Heh heh heh..." Yuan Zhong sneered for a while, "I knew that Junfei was someone who could endure loneliness. The paperwork has already been written for you, so you can just take it to Beijing." Cao Cao was even more surprised: "I am stupid, how can I ask you how I know what I think?"

Yuan Zhong's face sank, and he said in a strange voice: "It's just because I have a good friend, Huan Shao, who is from your hometown, and now I work in this house. The former Fan Jun refused the imperial edict, and Huan Shao said to me, 'Cao Mengde is not How can a person with a lot of desires be willing to guard Linquan? This refusal is nothing more than to raise his status. Fix the document for him as soon as possible, so as to save time and trouble!' This official is as good as he is, so he wrote the document." Yuan Zhong's words were tantamount to face-to-face humiliation, Cao Cao blushed with embarrassment, and suddenly felt resentment in his heart.In the past, he beat Huan's family to death for saving the Bian family, and Huan Cao's family became enmity. Now Huan Shao is slandering his reputation in the county, it is really despicable and hateful.Yuan Zhong is probably being polite when he says that he is "excessively lustful" at this moment, and it is unknown if he is said to be a greedy rascal behind his back.Thinking of this, Cao Cao quickly explained: "Then Huan Shao and I..."

Yuan Zhong interrupted with a sneer: "Forget it, I don't want to hear about your trivial matters. Hurry up and go with the paperwork. Your father is now a Taiwei, and he has a great reputation! The great future of the king is important!" A roll of bamboo slips was pulled out from under the desk case, and he shook it twice. Cao Cao became more and more angry——Yuan Zhengfu can be regarded as an upright official, how could he behave so harshly in the world?Even if Huan Shao is your friend, no matter what he says, don't you believe all nonsense indiscriminately? Yuan Zhong had already seen that he was unhappy, so he put the bamboo slips on the table, stood up, turned around, turned his back to Cao Cao and said, "Here is the document, let you take it yourself!" He even handed the things to Cao Cao Not even in the hand, this is simply treating him as an extremely dirty person.

Cao Cao really wanted to turn around and leave, but how can he give up halfway and be insulted when he has already come here?He suppressed his anger and stepped forward to pick up the paperwork.Unexpectedly, Yuan Zhong sighed again: "Alas... It seems that you can't be Xu You, you can only learn to be Liu Xiahui." After saying that, he left him here and went into the back hall without turning his head. A well-educated person curses harder.Xu You is an ancient hermit, who obviously has the virtue of enlightening the world, but he is willing to keep himself clean; Liu Xiahui is a doctor of the Lu State in the Spring and Autumn Period, who is able to build a reputation in a filthy court.At first glance, Yuan Zhong didn't seem to say anything bad, but in essence he was ridiculing Cao Cao for not being a hermit, and he was focused on climbing up. Cao Cao gritted his teeth, but there was still nothing he could do about him, so he left the lobby dejectedly.Afraid that Yuan Zhong might say something bad in the document, he hurriedly stood at the entrance of the hall to read it carefully.Fortunately, Yuan Zhong is considered a gentleman, so he didn't write any slanderous words.Closing the bamboo slips, he raised his head suddenly, and saw an engaged-looking man standing under the steps, covering his mouth with a smile—it was Huan Shao! When Huan Shao saw him coming out, he quickly stopped laughing, and said in a strange tone: "Brother Meng De, please go." After speaking, he flung his sleeves and left.At this moment, Cao Cao knew in his heart - no wonder the gatekeeper just came in to report and treated him rudely. It turned out that it was Huan Shao who did it. Cao Cao glared viciously at Huan Shao's back, the humiliation he suffered today was unprecedented in his life.He angrily left the government office, got on the horse, still couldn't help turning his head and yelling: "It's not too late for a gentleman to take revenge for ten years, the mountains don't turn around, Yuan Zhong and Huan Shao, let's wait and see!" After speaking, the gatekeeper with a look of astonishment on his face walked away... In the spring of the fifth year of Zhongping (188 A.D.), Cao Cao took Bian's family, Cao Pi's mother and son, and Huan's family, who was still a maid at that time, became an official for the third time.This time, the position waiting for him is the Captain of Dianjun, which has never been established since the beginning of Han Dynasty. No one knows what this official is in charge of.Along with him, there is also Cao Chun who has just been promoted as Xiaolian. He doesn't know what he should know, but what he shouldn't know already knows what kind of official he is going to be.With just a few words from old Cao Song, the Minister of Selection obediently appointed Cao Chunnei as the servant of the Huang family. This prince bought with money is not ordinary!