Chapter 13 Sympathy

Cao Mengde was still not interested in the delicious dishes on the table.Early in the morning, my uncle disturbed my dream and sent me to Hu's residence to pay my respects.When he arrived at the Hu Mansion, there were many people and the atmosphere was chaotic. Officials, scholar-bureaucrats, and those boring subordinates from various mansions were talking in an official tone and empty words. Play Cuju with my fourth uncle. Hu Guang, courtesy name Boshi, lived through the six dynasties of An, Shun, Chong, Zhi, Huan, and Ling. He was favored by the Liang family only because of his merits in filial piety to the emperor and the establishment of the Liang empress. He was the Taiwei, Situ, and Sikong all over again, and was honored as the Taifu after Chen Fan's death. He was eighty-two years old, and he had been in the officialdom for fifty-five years.But this man is also a typical official slicker. He has no rigidity and smooth nature. He has been smearing mud between the emperor, his relatives, eunuchs, and party members, and displaying his golden mean.There is a folk proverb, "If you don't care about everything, ask Boshi, there is Mr. Hu in the middle of the world", which can be seen.Now that he is dead, he is given the posthumous posthumous title of Wen Gonghou, and given the original mausoleum for burial. All the officials of the Manchu Dynasty came to express their condolences due to the high degree of his holy family.

When I was young, the funeral was over, and the Hu family arranged for the officials who came to the detention center and their children and relatives to eat.Cao Cao was aggrieved when he came, and he also entered the table with the intention of not eating for nothing, and going home after eating.Because he did not become an official, he had to sit in a few cases in the courtyard.But even the seats in this courtyard are also divided into three or six grades: the children of the princes and the Confucian scholars are at the front, then the children of the Jiuqing County Guard, and then the Zhulang officials, the local Qingliu, and the minister Cao Congguan. relatives.Cao Cao was also invited to the second-class seat because his father was honored as Da Honghe, one of the nine ministers.

He was originally in high spirits, but after sitting down, he regretted it a bit—there was no acquaintance nearby, so how could those strange princes and princes open their mouths to greet him, an eunuch and ugly man?Now I can feel the embarrassment of my father back then. At this time, several servants were serving a young man in extraordinary clothes and walked over.Cao Cao looked up: this man is eight feet tall, with broad shoulders and a strong body. He wears a black crown that reaches the sky, a blue Shu brocade deep suit, a gold thread ribbon inlaid with jade embroidered around his waist, and thick-soled black cloud shoes on his feet. Quite dignified and elegant; if you look closely at his face, he has a wide forehead and white face, a pair of thick and thick eyebrows straight into the temples, his eyes are big and energetic, his nose is straight and his mouth is wide, his big ears are facing his arms, and his teeth are white. Red, slightly three strands of thin beard -- what a handsome and beautiful person!

Cao Cao was taken aback: Isn't this Yuan Shao?Why was he also given the second seat? This Yuan family in Runan is unusual. It is a family of Confucian classics who has studied "Meng Shi Yi" for generations.Yuan Shao's great-grandfather, Yuan An, was Situ during the period of Emperor Zhang; his great-grandfather, Yuan Jing, was the prefect of Shu County, and Yuan Chang was convinced by Liang Ji and served as Sikong; Three men.Yuan Shao's father, Yuan Chengying, died young, and now he lives with his uncle.Now the two uncles, Yuan Feng and Yuan Wei, are also very popular in the court.

It stands to reason that the Yuan family is a family of Confucian classics and belongs to the third prince, so they should be in the first class seat. How could Yuan Shao sit next to him? "You are lucky to be next to brother Benchu! How are you doing recently?" Cao Cao didn't know him well at all, they just nodded acquaintances, but since he was sitting next to him today, he couldn't help being polite. "It's Meng De! All right, but I'm born with a bad luck." Yuan Shao said calmly with a gloomy face. Cao Cao heard that there was something in his words, and he was at a loss as to what was wrong with him.Are you ashamed to sit with yourself?But after thinking about it again, Yuan is a very kind person and pays attention to etiquette, he definitely would not openly make fun of others, so he asked: "What's the matter, Ben Chu, are you in a bad mood?"

"How could it be? It's so good, it couldn't be better! I'm not a serious descendant of the Yuan family, how can I deserve to be emotional?" The more Yuan Shao said, the more people didn't understand. Cao Cao heard that the words were wrong, so he couldn't talk to him anymore, so he just picked up his chopsticks and ate his own food.He took two chopsticks in his hands in a dull manner, but Yuan Shaoqian sat there without touching the food, but just looked angrily at the first-class seat over there.Cao Cao thought it was funny: This Yuan Benchu ​​is usually a generous person, but today he was angry because he didn't get a first-class seat, which shows that he is also a narrow-minded person!

"Meng De!" Yuan Shao said suddenly, "Do you know my brother?" "Oh?" Cao Cao, who had never heard of him having a brother, looked in the direction of his finger.I saw two people sitting in front of one of the first-class seats: one was Yuan Feng's eldest son, Yuan Ji who was currently Yilang, and the other was a thin young man about his own age. "It's the boy who is as thin as a skeleton." Yuan Shao actually described his cousin like this. "I don't know what to call Brother Ling?" "Yuan Shu and Yuan Gonglu, he is different from me, he is an out-and-out descendant of the Yuan family!" Yuan Shao's words were tinged with sarcasm.

Only then did Cao Cao realize that Yuan Shao's cousins ​​and cousins ​​were all sitting in the first-class seats, but he was the only one sitting here. "You...why don't you sit with them?" "Sit together?" Yuan Shao sneered, "Am I worthy?" "What's wrong?" "The family members of the Hu family invited us to sit down just now, and there are only two seats left in that table. Just as I was about to sit down, my good brother pushed me aside and said in front of the servants, 'I want to entertain the sons of the third son. You are just raised by the concubine of the Yuan family, and you are also an adoptive person. What kind of serious descendant of the Yuan family?'Listen, is this still a human language? My elder brother didn't even bother to teach him, but advised me Xi Shi Ning sits here, you are really insulting my dead father!" Yuan Shao almost shed tears when he said that.

Seeing that he was disturbed, Cao Cao quickly persuaded him, "Brother Benchu, don't be sad, Brother Lu may be just a joke." "Joke? I don't know how much I squeezed in on weekdays. Living in his house, he even cares about an extra bite of food! I really don't have any feelings at all. If my father is alive, would he dare to abuse others like this?" Cao Cao listened to him. It is also a bit emotional to say this: he has no father and I have no mother, both suffer the same.He glanced at Yuan Shu who was sitting on it again, that Yuan Shu was naturally sallow and thin, with a long face, thin eyebrows, flat nose, sharp mouth, and monkey cheeks. There was no demeanor after that, sitting there playing and laughing, it was unpleasant to watch.There is such a world of difference in the same family.Guessing that they are uncles and brothers, it is not easy to say anything about closeness, so he simply laughed: "Ben Chu, Ben Chu! People say you are clever, and today I see that what you said is true."

"how do I say this?" "You can even find a place to cry! Weeping at the condolence table, those who know well know that you are crying about family affairs, but those who don't know think that you are crying about Hu Guang!" "Hey!" Yuan Shao was so teased that he laughed, "I won't cry for him!" "Crying who is not crying? Anyway, he is also a member of the public platform and Rongjia Taifu." "Rongjia Grand Tutor? In terms of talent, he is not as good as Qiao Xuan, in terms of reputation, he is not as good as my grandfather, and in terms of character, he is far behind Chen Fan! He is a grand tutor who has a toothache." After the jokes just now, Yuan Shao's tone was friendly Quite a few, "Meng De, sometimes I think, under the worldly situation, officials are wise and safe, why should the scholar-officials nowadays?"

"This..." Cao Cao felt that this question seemed too profound, and he would not think about it even if he was free, so he said casually, "Serve the king with loyalty and treat the people with kindness." "That's not what I mean. I mean, which is more important than civil and military?" "Little brother is stupid, what's your opinion?" Yuan Shao put down his chopsticks: "Since the revival of Emperor Guangwu, the classics in my dynasty have been extremely prosperous, and even the warriors are also close to Confucianism. Just talk about the generals in Yuntai: Deng Yu is good at reciting, and he was trained in Chang'an; Kou Xun studied rural studies and taught "Zuo Shi Chunqiu"; Feng Yitong's "Zuo Zhuan" and "Grandson"; Jia Fu, the Marquis of Jiaodong, was familiar with "Shangshu"; Geng Yan knew the way of "Laozi"; he worshiped and begged for money to learn scriptures, and took pleasure in throwing pots; Li Zhong liked etiquette and changed customs; Liu Long traveled to Chang'an..." Cao Cao listened to him enumerating the deeds of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai, and he was already amazed: This man is so proficient in the history of famous generals in this dynasty, does he intend to serve in the battlefield? "That's why warriors also practice literature, and what they do is to keep their careers. In this way, cessation of military affairs can also govern civil affairs and promote enlightenment. Therefore, martial arts cultivation is very important. The safety of the country is at the top, and the honor and disgrace of the body are at the bottom. On the contrary, literati should also be familiar with martial arts." One The rational and well-founded remarks came to an abrupt end, but he never mentioned the usefulness of martial arts. "I have benefited a lot from listening to the lectures on the first day of junior high school." Cao Cao originally thought Yuan Shao was unrestrained, but now he realized that this man has extraordinary insight, and added, "Ma Yuan gave up his studies to join the army, and Ban Chao joined the army. They are all heroes of the generation!" "So I'm studying the art of war recently, just in case." "Oh?" Cao Cao really felt a little confidant to him, he was already familiar with the art of war.But unlike Yuan Shao, he studied the Art of War for mischief and fighting in groups, but now it is just for entertainment. Unknowingly, the distance between the two has shortened a lot, and their words are not so polite.They talked about the art of war to the war in the northwest, from hunting and riding to the warriors in the court, and from family trifles to the coldness of the world.One was an official who was ugly and was looked down upon by others, and the other was an orphan of the Hou family who was bullied and sympathized with each other. They both felt a little bit like seeing each other late, and later they simply called each other brothers. When the banquet was over, Yuan Shao didn't want to look for Yuan Ji and the others, so he held Cao Cao's hand and said, "Brother Mengde is very knowledgeable! You can't judge people by their appearance! In the future, please come to my house often to chat. There are often a few friends who can be introduced to you." Cao Cao nodded repeatedly. Talking and walking, the two of them stepped out of the gate of the Hu Mansion, only to see a lot of traffic outside, officials big and small dispersed separately.The servants and servants of the two of them were far away, and it took them a long time to find Yuan Shao's family members who were leading the horses in the crowd. Yuan Shao came up to him and got on his horse, then cupped his hands and said, "I have other things to do today, don't let them go, Meng De will definitely come someday when he is free." "At the beginning, wait a minute!" Something unexpected happened, the servant who was leading the horse for Yuan Shao interrupted!Since ancient times, there is no reason for the host to interrupt the conversation with the guests, not to mention the fact that he calls the host directly.Cao Cao was stunned, and Yuan Shao was also shocked.I saw that servant reached out and grabbed Cao Cao's saber: "Qingzhi sword... Qingzhi sword..." "How did you know my sword?" "Brother," the man said tremblingly, "Don't you recognize Brother Yu?" Only then did Cao Cao take a closer look at the servant.I saw that he was haggard and withered and yellow, but there was a special temperament in his eyes.This feeling is familiar... It was a dark night five years ago. "Brother Boqiu! Is it you?" Cao Cao couldn't believe his eyes. This plainly dressed servant with a wretched appearance turned out to be the handsome, talented and admired He Yong.He escaped because of his failure to break into the palace, and with the help of Cao Cao to escape from the capital, his appearance changed so much in just five years.The original unruly and heroic spirit is completely gone, and it has become so vicissitudes and sorrows that Fang already has a lot of gray hair on his temples at the age of thirty.What's even more strange is, how could he become the servant of the Yuan Mansion? "Brother Yu has been thinking about you all these years..." He Yong sighed. Seeing that the two of them knew each other, Yuan Shao quickly got off his horse and said, "You two, don't talk too much, there are many eyes and ears here, if someone recognizes you, it will be troublesome! You follow me." Then he pulled the rein, and walked away as if nothing had happened. .He Yong bowed his head and led the horse, following carefully.Only now did Cao Cao realize that Yuan Shao had known who he was, and deliberately disguised him as a servant to hide his eyes and ears.Thinking about it so far, he didn't care about his horse boy anymore, and followed them down. It is a crime to hide a fugitive, and it is a serious crime to hide He Yong, a party member who has been arrested by the court, and is suspected of treason. At this moment, Yuan Shao was the most difficult to deal with. Seeing that the two of them knew each other, he needed to find a place to talk.But if it is too public and eye-catching on the street, the wine shop will inevitably have ears behind the walls, and Cao Cao has never been to the house if he wants to go back, so it must be troublesome to enter the door for introductions and greetings.Thanks to his meticulous mind and method, he took the two of them around twice and left Luoyang City from the north. Luoyang is adjacent to Yishuimang Mountain in the north, and there are almost no pedestrian houses outside the city.The three of them went straight to a deserted place before stopping.He Yong couldn't bear it for a long time, and knelt before Cao Cao lifted his clothes: "My benefactor, please accept He Mou's worship." "I killed my brother! I can't afford it." Cao Cao hurriedly helped him up, and said, "It's good that brother is okay." Only then did Yuan Shao understand: "I have heard Brother Boqiu say that he was able to get away with the help of a young knight-errant. It turned out to be Meng De, Brother Yu admires him!" "Where did you come from, brother Benchu? You dare to bring brother Boqiu with you in disguise, and flaunt yourself on the streets of Luoyang City. My little brother admires you!" "Let's sit down and talk." He Yong held one hand and sat on the ground, and said slowly: "The two virtuous brothers are my benefactors, so-and-so He will get revenge one day, and I will never forget your kindness." It was only then that Cao Cao realized that he Yong hadn't seen him for five years. He Yong was still so stupid, and he still spoke so impassionedly: "Brother He, you don't need to be polite. Have you been pretending to be a servant in Yuan's Mansion these past few years?" "Hahaha..." Yuan Shao laughed, "Brother Boqiu is such a character, how can he condescend to my house to be with such lowly slaves? These years he traveled to Hebei to contact righteous men, and lived in Zhang Mengzhuo's place in Dongping for a while." He It is said that Zhang Mengzhuo, whose name is Zhang Miao, has always been good at making friends. Because he spends money like dirt and donates money, he is listed among the "eight cooks" of the party members. However, He Yong said sadly: "Brother Yu, I am really an incompetent waste! If you go forward, you can't give up your life for righteousness and go to death with all brothers... If you go back, you can't reverse the situation and avenge everyone. You can only live on the edge of life, dying, and want to die quickly. I hate Wang Fu and Cao Jie, the gang of vicious eunuchs who harm the country and the people, and Hu Guang and Duan Jiong, those flattering eunuchs. Shameful villain! Old man Hu Guang died well, he should have died a long time ago!" The last two sentences almost yelled out through gritted teeth. Cao Cao pondered, "Brother He, what do you want to do when you come back from this adventure?" Yuan Shao still didn't trust Cao Cao much, so he hurriedly said, "Brother He just came back to see an old friend." "Be careful at the beginning! Mengde has the grace of life for me. If he wanted to sell me, he would have sold me when the pursuers were desperate. How could it be today?" He Yong rolled his eyes at Yuan Shao, "To be honest , I am returning to Beijing this time to contact all the virtuous brothers of Taixue, and everyone will jointly write a letter to protect the party banned people." "Brother He is done already?" He Yong nodded: "Now that the emperor has personally handled the government affairs, he must intend to cheer up the court, and with this momentum, the eunuchs can be eradicated." Cao Cao disagreed with his point of view: the emperors of the Han Dynasty from Suzongzhang to the throne were all young, grew up in the deep palace, and were raised in the hands of the women's temple.In the past hundred years, only the filial emperor has been arbitrarily determined, but he died early, and the latter was controlled by eunuchs and relatives.How can such emperors be expected to succeed?But Cao Cao saw that He Yong and Yuan Shao were full of confidence, so he didn't want to pour cold water on them, so he said: "Brother He must be cautious about this matter, if it succeeds, it's okay, if it doesn't work, you need to leave Beijing quickly to avoid future troubles." He Yong patted his chest: "If Baozuo fails, I will sneak into the palace and kill Wang Fu, Cao Jie, Zhang Rang and the gang of thieves!" "Assassination?" Cao Cao was really taken aback, "There are many feathered forests in the palace, how can Brother He put himself in danger?" "If you don't enter the tiger's den, how can you catch a tiger's cub! Besides, I have friends in the palace to support me. Since I was able to escape back then, I can sneak in again." Yuan Shao also persuaded: "Assassination is horrifying. If you miss it, not only Brother He will die, but there will be many victims involved. Brother Boqiu, you should think twice." He Yong shook his head helplessly, and sighed: "I can wait, but I'm afraid that some people's lives are dying, so I can't wait any longer." "Oh? Life is at stake?" Cao Cao's heart shuddered, and he exchanged a glance with Yuan Shao. "I came from Hebei, and I heard private rumors from officials and people that Wang Fu was extorting bribes from Liu Kui, the king of Bohai. I thought that the prince of Bohai was a compatriot of the late emperor, and he was well-known, so how could he flatter a villain. Wang Fu sent another When people come to Hebei, they will be punished for the crime of the prince, and he will be put to death for the crime of communicating with the princes." He Yong gritted his teeth with hatred, "Wang Fu, a dog who is hacked into pieces, is not enough to persecute the scholars, but also to kill the clan. If you don't kill this thief, there will be no peace in the world!" When he said this, Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were shocked.Although the imperial court has been influenced by eunuchs for several generations, there has never been a single eunuch domineering enough to frame the clan prince. Wang Fu's crimes have surpassed those of his predecessors. "In this case, my little brother is willing to help!" Yuan Shao immediately expressed his opinion. "I am also willing to do the work of dogs and horses." Cao Cao also agreed on the spur of the moment. "No!" He Yong quickly waved his hand, "At first, after the Gongmen, Meng De's family is now trusted by the eunuch, and the two virtuous brothers have a bright future. In case the foolish brother dies, the important task of cleaning up the wronged party members will be It falls on the shoulders of you people! I am just a desperado, but you are different. In the future, you are expected to become officials and improve the society, how can you go to danger with me?" Having said that, it is difficult for the two of them to invite Ying.Cao Cao untied the green sword and said, "Little brother, who is mediocre in intelligence, is not worthy of owning this sword. When I was ignorant and ignorant, I was trusted by the virtuous brother, and I kept it for five years. Now it is returned to the original owner, and I will help you to kill the national thief!" "Meng De, if you didn't help me out of righteousness back then, why would my brother have my life? I have already given it to you, so you don't need to refuse. A hero comes from a young age. If you claim to be unworthy of this sword, who in the world is worthy? " It was the first time Cao Cao heard someone call himself a hero, and he was very happy...