Chapter 34 cold road

In the winter of the fifth year of Xiping (AD 176), the 22-year-old Cao Cao was framed by eunuchs, and left his position as a captain in the north of Luoyang to serve as magistrate in Dunqiu County under the administration of Yanzhou Dongjun.I don't know if it was specially arranged by Cao Jie and others, or it was just a coincidence that the time when he left Beijing was the coldest day in the middle of winter. Before Cao Cao set off, he ignored a problem and sent Qin Yilu to pick up the Bian brothers and sisters at his hometown in Qiao County overnight, so the materials for taking office were actually only half prepared.He was born rich, and he was always careless about housework, so he didn't care.After leaving the east gate of Luoyang, I felt that the journey was difficult after traveling for dozens of miles.

In ancient times, the emperor and the courtiers in one dynasty, even a small county magistrate, had his own confidant followers.However, Cao Mengde came out angry, and acted hastily. He only took Chang Sui Louyi and four ordinary servants on the road.All the way up the stairs, Yi rode in front, Cao Cao rode in a chariot, two family members straddled the chariot, and two others followed on foot. The cold northwest wind was blowing violently without stopping for a moment.Although it was traveling eastward with the wind, but the gust of wind hit the back of the head, which made people feel cold and swollen, and dizzy one after another.Pity the master and five servants, only Cao Cao has a thick fur coat, the others are wearing cotton coats and thick cotton cloaks, I really wish I could wrap my whole body in it.Lou Yi rides Cao Cao's mount, a good horse from Liangzhou, fat and strong, with great endurance; but the horse that pulls the cart was bought temporarily from the Luoyang horse market. Although it is not skinny, it is not top-grade after all. , pulling this small carriage with three people inside and outside and stuffs, it is almost strenuous.Unexpectedly, Che Shi still had the pair of five-color sticks that he couldn't bear to throw across.Whenever encountering a ditch, not to mention the driver, even Cao Cao himself needs to get out of the car to help push it over.A few people walked forward like this, and they will reach Yanshi County in one day.

After staying at Xunyi station, Cao Cao started to worry: How long will it take to reach Dunqiu at such a speed?But after thinking about it, there is nothing to do.Although he has traveled a few times, they are all commuting between Qiao County and Luoyang. Not to mention that he is familiar with the roads, he often chooses to travel on a clear autumn day, and he has never had such a difficult journey.If Gongxian, Xingyang, Chenggao, and Zhongmou go all the way, they will definitely not be able to reach it in less than half a month.While feeling depressed, I saw Lou Yi walking in with a sad face.

"What's wrong? So listless?" Lou Yi sighed and said: "It's too cold, there's not much fodder in the post station, and a large number of them haven't arrived yet. There are also a few police officers who went to Beijing on business with their legs. Everyone's horses have nothing to eat. I I sent the little ones around to chop up some dead grass, that's all for that bad horse, the grown-up's horse has a high taste, so I won't eat it!" If the taste is too high, I refuse to eat ordinary withered grass... Cao Cao savored this sentence carefully, did he mean himself?In all fairness, since I became Xiaolian, have I ever encountered some ups and downs?Luoyang Beibei Wei, a light and idle beauty job, it's ridiculous that he didn't know the blessing when he was in the blessing, and he still went to ask for the Luoyang Order.Where are the rich clothes and jade food now?Which side is the servant girl?Yes, my taste is too high. If I was a small local county magistrate, why would I lament the bitter cold here today?

"Lou Yi, I've thought about it, it won't work if this goes on, we have to move fast." "How fast?" "The two of us will go first, and let the four of them walk slowly behind with their things." Lou Yi smiled: "My lord, what else do you have? We came out of Luoyang without even bringing any extra money with us. We took all the household utensils back to the mansion. If we talk about things, only our extra clothes and clothes are left. That's a pair of sticks." "Ah..." Cao Cao sighed bitterly, "That's all! Go to bed early, so we can hurry tomorrow."

"My lord, go to bed first. The person in charge of the station said that there will be fodder arriving at night, so I can rest after feeding the night grass." "Let the little ones do it." "My lord, I'm sitting on a horse anyway, but the boys have been walking for a whole day!" Cao Cao couldn't help being moved for a while, what a caring Lou Yi.How can he enjoy the slightest blessing by following me?He is not as good as Qin Yilu in terms of words, but he only knows how to keep his head down.Every time I go to a banquet, Qin Yilu eats and drinks spicy food with me, and he watches horses for me outside.How did I not discover his preciousness until today?It seems that I was wrong. My eyes, Cao Mengde, only know how to look upwards. When did I pay attention to what is below?

"Light the lamp, let's gossip. Let's wait for the fodder to come!" "According to me, my lord, you should go to bed early! People can't run without a head, and birds can't fly without a head. In this terrible weather, if you don't eat or sleep and fall ill, what will we do?" "Okay, I'll sleep..." Lou Yi left behind a lamp and went out quietly.Cao Cao couldn't fall asleep at all, and lay there staring at the oil lamp in a daze.The experience in life is really strange, yesterday I was drinking with Bao Xin, and today I am suffering here under the thin quilt.

In a trance, it seemed to hear bursts of crying.At first I thought it was a hallucination, but the crying became louder and later mixed with shouting.Cao Cao couldn't sleep anymore, so he got up, put on his clothes, and went out to watch.Under the hazy moonlight, I saw a few ragged people standing guard at the gate of the official post, crying, and a soldier of the post house was waving a whip to reprimand and drive them away. "Stop! What are you doing?" Cao Cao stopped him. "They are beggars, sir, ignore them, go back and rest." The soldier prevaricated casually.Cao Cao saw them all in rags and tattered clothes, their faces were ashen, and their hair was loose. In this weather, some people were barefoot, so he felt compassion and said to the soldiers: "It's a cold day, don't freeze people to death. , let them in."

"My lord, this, this... is against the rules." "Can rules be more important than human life? Give them some food, and find a place for them to spend the night. If not, I'll give you money!" Cao Cao glared at him. The official station is not a private store, even if it is paid, it is against the rules.But the soldier also knew the details of Cao Cao.Although he has moved abroad now, but the tiger will not fall if he dies, how can Cao Song's son be blamed?He only persuaded him patiently: "Lord Cao is so kind, who doesn't grow up from human flesh? It's not that I am a soldier who is cruel, but there are too many such things now, and you can't handle it."

"It's fine if I don't meet them. If I meet them, I have to take care of them! Tell them to come in." After receiving this sentence, seven or eight beggars staggered in, knelt down in front of Cao Cao and kowtowed their thanks.There was no place to fit in any room, so I had to call Lou Yi and the soldiers to fetch firewood and light a fire, and then everyone sat in the middle of the courtyard.Both Cao Cao and Yicheng brought them dry food, but they still had little to eat, so they asked Lou Yi to go to various rooms to find officials and officials to ask for some. After all, there are still many kind-hearted people, and after a while, all kinds of thick and big pancakes were brought. These beggars saw the food as if they were alive, and grabbed it all in an instant.

Cao Cao saw that most of these people were not old or weak, but young men in their twenties. Among them was a woman holding a child. They spoke a Jizhou accent, and they were very surprised. Farming at home, leaving home and coming to Henan to do?" Don't ask, it's all right, this question made a lot of tears, and a man replied: "We were arrested and repaired the garden for the emperor." It was two years ago that the emperor ordered the renovation of Shanglin Garden, Lingkun Garden, Forbidden Palace West Garden and other imperial gardens.After the completion of the project, Liu Hong felt that those gardens were too small and too old, so he planned to reclaim wasteland in the west of Luoyang City and spend a lot of money to build a better garden—the West Garden.Before the edict was formally issued, there was already a lot of opposition in the court, especially the admonishing doctor Yang Ci, who deliberately expressed his dissuasion. However, Xiao Xiao’s flatterers who were born as scholars in the Hongdu Gate continued to confuse the emperor. The servants Ren Zhi and Le Song even observed their words and said: "In the past, King Wen's confinement of a hundred miles was considered small; Qi Xuan's five miles, people thought it was big. Today and The common people share it, and it does no harm to the government." It's even better than King Wen of Zhou!Who dares to speak out like this?As a result, Liu Hong refused to accept the loyal advice and insisted on going his own way.After the land was allocated to the West Garden, skilled craftsmen from all over the country and the people in Gyeonggi struggled for two years, and the cost of resources was incalculable, so the garden was only half built. Cao Cao was horrified: "Did you not get paid after two years of work?" "Where is the wages? My lord, you don't know, those supervisors are not human!" The iron man wiped away his tears, "They want to divert water from the Yi River to build a pond, and they will send more than 400 people with whips to dig the canal , when the river channel was dug through, a gust of cold water came down, and how many people were drowned alive. Take a look, my lord!" He took off his shirt as he spoke, and saw that his scrawny body was covered with whip marks, the longest of which was two feet long. How long, with bright red bloodstains, "I can't eat enough, I can't wear warm clothes, I have to work and be beaten. If I continue to work, I will be tortured to death sooner or later. We all escaped!" The woman holding the child cried again: "My slave, I am from Goushi County. The man also went to repair the garden for the emperor's house. He didn't have any skills, so he was arrested by the county people. There has been no news for half a year. , My mother and son were not found, so I went to Luoyang to look for him. Who would have known that the child's father...was called to the soldiers to kill him a long time ago!" After saying that, he howled, and the child was still young, and when he saw his mother crying, he also cried. The adults were crying and the children were making noise, which made Cao Cao more irritable: "The tyrannical government is fiercer than the tiger! I didn't expect that there would be such tyranny in a place so close to the capital." An official from Yangzhou who was standing next to him interjected after hearing the words: "Your Excellency must be a Beijing official and doesn't know much about the current situation. The three auxiliary areas of the capital are not bad, and the people outside the Sili prefectures are not as good as them Well! I come from Kuaiji, not only the common people can’t afford to pay taxes, but those local tyrants also keep their eyes on the fields. A few years ago, Xu Shao rebelled. He was an ordinary tenant. There is no other way!" An officer over there who speaks Youzhou dialect also sighed: "Bianjun can't even mention it. A Tanshihuai came out of the Xianbei people, and he led troops to harass our northern border all day long, robbing food, livestock, and women. The common people suffered greatly. My Liaoxi prefect worked hard to repair the border defense and protect the territory. I wrote to the court several times, asking for money to start construction, but the emperor and his elders turned a deaf ear. I would rather use the money to repair the garden than to repair the city defense! " "Actually, sandalwood and pagoda tree are nothing, but handsome Hu with no plans. Back then, Zhang Huan and Duan Jiong were near the town, and he dared not go half a step into Heshuo." Cao Cao sighed, "But now General Zhang is paralyzed in bed, and Duan Jiongli made the Zhihun party attach to Wang Fu, and no one can deter the Xianbei savages anymore." On this night with gusts of north wind, all the people gathered around the fire to share their worries and sorrows. Unknowingly, the east has turned pale.Cao Cao went back to his room, covered his clothes and fell asleep for a while, then got up to prepare his luggage. At this moment, Lou Yi came in and said, "My lord, those skippers are from Jizhou, begging to go with you. Is this possible?" After all, Cao Cao is an official of the court, wouldn't it be inappropriate to walk with a beggar?But now there are very few accompanying people. In case of danger and cannot be dealt with, it is good to have a few more companions.He immediately complied. When I went out, I saw the woman holding the child still crying. "What's wrong?" "The child was fine last night, and he can't wake up now." Cao Cao personally hugged it and came to see it.This child is two or three years old, but he is starving and not eating enough, so he has a big head.Touching his forehead, it felt hot.Cao Cao turned his head and said to the follower: "The child is sick, take them to the county town to find a doctor." "My lord, it's getting late, we still have to hurry." "This..." Cao Cao felt sorry for this woman.My husband is dead, and I am still holding a sick child in my arms in a foreign country. How can I return to my hometown?After thinking for a while, he said to his followers: "You two stay here, accompany them to see a doctor, and then drive them back to Gou's. After everything is done, go to Dunqiu County." "No." Two of the attendants responded. "Wait a minute, if you see that they are struggling to make ends meet when you arrive at Gou's, you can sell the carriages and horses and give them some money to live on." Hearing Cao Cao's arrangement, the woman fell to her knees and said, "Thank you for the reward, my lord! The little slave family is grateful for your kindness and virtue!" Kowtowed like a chicken pecking at broken rice. It was also inconvenient for Cao Cao to chat with her, so he continued on his way with the rest of the people.Now there is a carriage and two servants missing, so Cao Cao has to ride a horse, and Lou Yi leads the fleeing people to accompany him, only the remaining two servants have to suffer, and they have to carry the heavy pair of clothes on a long journey. Five-color stick.It was freezing cold and a group of people walked slowly on the post road, but fortunately there were too many people talking and laughing.The two servants carrying the five-color sticks kept joking: "It's not easy for an official in the world to become an adult like you. After going out for a day, the car was lost!" Cao Cao laughed loudly on the horse, but didn't take it to heart.