Chapter 39 dismissed from office

The first year of Guanghe (AD 178) was a year full of disasters.For the Han Dynasty, this year heralded decline from the beginning. At the beginning of the first month, a large-scale uprising broke out in Jiaozhou.In the beginning, only the barbarians in Hepu and Jiaozhi counties were dissatisfied with the persecution by the imperial court and launched a rebellion. Unexpectedly, this move resonated with the poor people. In less than half a month, the flames of war spread throughout Jiaozhou.The officers and soldiers hadn't practiced for a long time, and they were beaten by the rebels and fled in all directions. The deserters plundered other counties, which caused even greater losses.The counter-insurgency has not yet been figured out. In February, another major earthquake broke out in the capital.Numerous houses were damaged, even many towers and pavilions in the palace were not spared.

On Bingchen day in April, there was another aftershock in Luoyang. Although the palace was not damaged this time, the palace staff found that a hen in the Shizhong temple had changed its appearance during maintenance.This hen has grown a big rooster's feathers and raised a long colorful tail, and this is just the beginning of a series of weird events. In the early morning of Renzi Day in May, the sky was dark, and the people in the palace were still sleeping.No one would have thought that there was a mysterious figure in white who walked into the palace silently. He passed through the Yimen Gate and passed through the Fudao. .Huang Menling was taken aback and threatened: "Who is it?" The guy who was all white like a ghost replied Lang Lang: "Someone is Liang Boxia, who is the emperor in the palace!" He ordered the Habayashi soldiers to capture him, but the man in white went to the corner of the hall and disappeared in a blink of an eye.Huang Men Ling, Ye Ting Ling, General Zhong Lang of the Five Senses, Doctor Guang Lu, and Zhi Jin Wu each led their troops to search the inside and outside of the palace, but they never saw the mysterious man in white again.

On Dingchou day in June, a puff of black air of more than ten feet rises from Wenming Palace in Beigong. Its shape is like a black dragon hovering in the air, and it takes a long time to dissipate slowly.This incident made people terrified. According to the usual practice, Taiwei Meng Yu and Sikong Chen Dan were dismissed as disasters.However, the strange things did not stop there. Just after July, the Pingcheng Gate of the Nangong Palace, the outer wall of the arsenal, and the front and rear walls of the East Wall collapsed for no reason. It is unbelievable that these walls were still strong when they were overhauled after the earthquake.

This series of strange incidents aroused Liu Hong's fear. After discussing with the Queen Mother, he issued an edict to call Yang Ci, the doctor of Guanglu, Ma Rixun, the doctor of advice, and Cai Yong, the doctor of Yilang, into the palace to inquire about all kinds of strange things. meaning.Cai Yong took this opportunity to hand over the secret papers and impeached the eunuchs while explaining the strangeness, but Wang Fu and Cao Jie were safe and sound, Cai Yong was instead convicted and exiled in Shuofang. However, disappointment was disappointment, and even more sensational incidents happened next.In October, the eunuchs actually searched out witchcraft from the queen's palace.Liu Hong was furious, and immediately put the Queen Song family into prison, and within a few days, all the Song family were executed for treason.

With the collapse of the Song family, the Cao family began to suffer bad luck.Cao Ding was of course the first to be affected, and he was dismissed immediately.Immediately afterwards, all kinds of evil deeds of corruption, bribery, and oppression of colleagues in the past were exposed, and the family relationship in the case of King Bohai was brought back, and Cao Ding was finally imprisoned in the prison.The Cao family was dismissed from their official positions from the Dahonglu Cao Song down to the Jiuqing and down to the county officials. When the imperial court issued a letter of appeal to Dunqiu County, Cao Cao was still arranging to arrest Taipingdao.He casually tore through the official document, and when he opened it, it was like a bolt from the blue.He pondered for a while, then sighed: "It's inevitable, and this day has come." He picked up a pen and carefully dealt with the files in hand, and then called Xu Tuo to entrust full power to the official affairs, and repeatedly instructed to arrest the thief. Then he went back to the back hall to inform the Bian brothers and sisters, and sent Qin Yilu to Beijing to inquire about the news, and everyone planned to return to the next day.

Somehow, news of Cao Cao's dismissal spread like wildfire.In the early morning of the next day, people in Dunqiu County rushed to the county government to keep the young county magistrate who was willing to speak for the poor.These people came from all over the county, some were tenant farmers who were able to avenge Liu Lang's case, some were widowed old people who were donated by the yamen, some were rescued young men, and some came here specially to see it with their own eyes. The famous county magistrate. Men, women and children, old and young, were all blocked at the gate of the county government, making it impossible for Cao Cao's chariots and horses to leave.

He had no choice but to send Lou Yi and Qin Yilu with the government servants and servants of Hefu to persuade the people to go back, but after a long time of persuasion, most of the people still refused to leave.In desperation, Cao Cao had no choice but to walk out of the gate to watch in person with his hands behind his back. "That's the magistrate!" Someone yelled at the top of his voice, and the crowd became commotion, with those in front crowded and those in the back shoved. Lou Yi and the others couldn't stop them, and the people rushed in like a tide. Cao Cao came forward and surrounded him tightly. One shouted, "The county magistrate, don't go!" The other shouted, "Master Cao, don't you want us?" The scene suddenly became chaotic.

Cao Cao looked at the people surging in front of him, and all the gloom in his stomach was swept away in an instant, and he said to himself: "Although life and death are uncertain in the imminent disaster, I, Cao Mengde, won the hearts of the people, and this official is not in vain!" He yelled loudly with a smile: "Folks! Stop shouting, everyone, sit down! Sit down!" The people really listened to him, a few elderly villagers helped to make arrangements, and everyone stopped shouting.From near to far, everyone sat down in unison, looking eagerly at Cao Cao.Seeing that everyone was seated, he yelled with a smile: "It's cold in October. Let me make a long story short. It's cold underground. I can't bear it after sitting for a long time!" Sit by the stone on the horse in front of the yamen.

"As long as the master doesn't leave, it doesn't matter if we suffer a little cold!" A young man took the lead in shouting.Cao Cao looked carefully and saw that it was Wang San, the farmer who sued Liu Lang, so he said with a smile, "Wang San, how have you been doing since you brought down that guy?" "Thanks to the master, I, Wang San, have also begged for a wife! Now she is pregnant, and we will spend the new year together, and the baby will be born, and we will hug the baby and greet you!" He said naively. When Pi Laiyan said this, everyone around laughed so hard.

"Okay, okay!" Cao Cao nodded, rolled his eyes and asked again: "Wang San, everyone in the county knows about your case. I don't understand something, and I always wanted to ask you." "Young master can still have things you don't understand, I don't believe it." Wang San scratched his head. "I'm curious..." Cao Cao wrote lightly, "Why didn't you want Liu Lang's money back then, and risked your life to sue Liu Lang to avenge your father?" "Does it matter? My family is poor, and my mother died early. My father worked so hard to pull me up with shit and urine. I didn't expect to be killed by a surname Liu because of a cow or two. Everyone said The revenge of killing my father is unshakable. Don’t say that what the Liu family gave me was money, even if they gave me gold and silver, I couldn’t abandon my father’s revenge! People have human relationships and things have reasons, and they are all in front of my eyes. The filial piety of being a son!" Wang San has a thick body and a loud voice. After finishing his speech, many villagers present shouted: "Good boy! Filial piety! You are a good man!"

Cao Cao waved his hand to signal everyone not to shout, and said to Wang San: "Wang San! Let me ask you again, do you hope that your son will be as filial as you when he grows up, or do you hope that he will ignore you in the future?" "My lord, what you are asking makes no sense!" Wang San blew his beard and replied, "As the saying goes, there is no shit on the bed, and there is no burning paper in the cemetery. Raise a son to guard against old age, raise a son to guard against old age, and have a son If you don't support yourself, what do you need him for?" "You're right!" Cao Cao looked up to the sky and laughed, "Then you're being unreasonable!" "Why am I being unreasonable?" Wang Sanyi put his hands on his hips. "You Wang San is a filial son, and you still have to teach your son to be filial to your son, but why don't you let me be a filial son? You said your mother died early, but you don't know that I also had no mother since I was a child. My father and several uncles brought me up. Now my Cao family has been convicted of crimes related to the Song family, and all the family members are dismissed. Now that my father and uncle are also white, they must return to their hometowns to be punished. I also I have to hurry up to them and fulfill my filial piety! You...and fellow villagers don’t tell me to go, isn’t this preventing me from being a filial son?” Cao Cao spread his hands as he spoke, pretending to be distressed.After he finished speaking, the people sitting on the ground started whispering, and after a while, a white-haired old man dressed as a farmer tremblingly shouted: "Master, you are right. But you are different from us, you But what about the official position! You have to decide for us! Now that you are here, the landlords dare not bully us. If you just leave like this, who can restrain them?" "Yes! Yes! You still can't go." The people echoed again. "Everyone, don't shout! Listen to me, listen to me..." Cao Cao waved his hand for a long time before stopping his discussion, "I have entrusted the affairs of the county to Xu Gongcao. He has done things fairly all these years, and everyone has seen it. If the future magistrate of the county is unreasonable, you can argue with him and ask him to be a ginseng official! He will make decisions for you!" "That's not okay, what if he leaves too? Master, we brought all the pen and ink. Today we will go to the Wanminbiao and give it to the emperor, asking him to keep you in Dunqiu!" The old man was really motivated.Other people also shouted: "Yes! People say that there is a Wanqian in Dong'e, Cao Cao came to Dunqiu, two upright officials under the rule of Yanzhou, and the people of the two places have enough to eat! If you leave, who will be in trouble for us?" Still care?" "Quiet! Quiet!" Cao Cao almost broke his throat, "I'm a criminal now, and this matter is related to the royal family, and dismissal is already a very light punishment. If you keep it like this, you will give me more This crime is really embarrassing for me. If the court pursues it, my head will be moved! Will you be able to compensate me then?" "I will compensate you! I will compensate you!" Wang San shouted without thinking. "I won't ask you to pay! Your head is not as decent as mine!" Cao Cao joked.The common people laughed and laughed too. "Master, I mean if the emperor kills you, my surname Wang will die for you!" Wang San quickly explained. "Nonsense! How can life and death be replaced? Folks, the court's national laws are not a joke!" Cao Cao said earnestly, "I am now punished for crimes. This is not a joke." The common people were a little moved, and then Discussions started, and finally someone suggested: "Then let's go to the county to ask the master for orders." "What if it doesn't help?" Cao Cao asked. Everyone fell silent, but one person said: "Let's go to Changyi and talk to the envoy." "If we go to the state and find Lord Inspector, will it be useless?" Cao Cao continued to ask.The people sitting around fell silent, but Wang San shouted loudly, "Let's go to Beijing to look for..." He didn't know who to look for in the middle of talking. "Can you still go to the capital to find the emperor?" Cao Cao continued with a smile, "Okay! Don't try to keep everyone, the so-called banquet in the world is always coming to an end, everyone has this kind of heart, I, Cao, have been here for the past two years Dunqiu didn’t do it in vain! From tomorrow onwards, everyone who farms the fields, weaves cloth, and sells donkeys, do what they should do. If someone because of me Cao missed everyone’s livelihood, then I will come here to do it What's the point of these things? I, Cao Cao, left, but my pair of five-color sticks did not leave. I kept them for the next county magistrate to see, so that he would know how I, Cao Cao, governed this small county! Fellow folks, There is no need to stay with each other..." After finishing speaking, he glanced back at Bian Bing and said, "Good brother! Bring the wine quickly!" Bian Bing handed over a jar of wine, Cao Cao picked it up, and opened the clay seal himself: "The imperial court banned alcohol in the year of great famine, but we want to drink it today! Our Dunqiu County has a bumper harvest this year, and no one died of freezing or starving to death! We drink well Pick up this jar of wine! Today I will break the rules and share this wine with everyone as a way of saying goodbye! Come on! I will respect everyone first!" After saying that, he lifted up the jar and took a big sip, and then handed it to the side just now The old man who spoke; the old man took a sip tremblingly, and handed it to Wang San; Wang San held back his tears and poured it down, and handed it to the third person... Just like this, each person took a sip of wine, and the jar of wine was finished in a while.Cao Cao got up and stood on the stone on the horse and said, "Fellow folks! I, Cao, drank this jar of wine with everyone today, and we will be a family from now on! I will leave early tomorrow morning. The two mountains will not meet, but people always When I have time to move around, if I, Cao Cao, come back here or pass by here in the future, I will definitely have a drink with everyone again! Maybe I will have to ask everyone in the future!" He took this matter as a word of relief, Little did they know that the people of Dunqiu would really be used in the future. "Okay! We are waiting for you to come back! Tomorrow we will see you off!" Wang San was the first to shout, and then everyone agreed in different ways. Tears welled up, and it took a long time before they gradually dispersed. Cao Cao breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that all the people had left, turned around and entered the Yamen and said to Lou Yi who was following him, "Pack up your things quickly, we will leave after noon!" "Ah? You don't explain..." "What are you doing tomorrow?" Bian Bing interjected, "If you surround me tomorrow, you still won't be able to leave!" Cao Cao kicked Bian Bing's thigh: "Hey! Why did I tell you! You swear! Bian Bing was kicked by him somersault, got up and patted the dirt and said, "Brother-in-law! You teach me a lesson, and I obey! But one time, I just moved my mouth, and you move your legs, who is better? Moreover Having said that, you are now an ordinary commoner, and I am no longer an official, so it is not a crime to say a few painful words!" Cao Cao laughed when he said this, pointed at him and said, "I really take you There’s nothing you can do, boy! Come on! Find your sister to pack up, we ordinary people are packing up and going home!” "You don't need to tell me, I packed it up early in the morning, I have all the cars ready, let's go to eat, and we will set off after Louyi and the others finish packing up!" The whole family had lunch indiscriminately, and several family members quietly left the county government office in two carriages. Except for Cao Cao and his party, only Xu Tuo and two government servants saw him off.The carriage left the city and was on the post road. Cao Cao and Xu Tuo sat in the carriage silently.Xu Tuo didn't know what to say, and Cao Cao didn't know how to say it.It took Cao Cao a long time to hesitate and say, "Brother Xu!" "Oh? My lord, don't call me that." Xu Tuo was still terrified. "I should call you that, I'm no longer an official!" Cao Cao smiled awkwardly, "I want to ask you something." "What do you want to ask, my lord? Just say it." Xu Tuo looked at his polite look, and remembered their first meeting, and their strict style in the past two years, which seemed like a world away from now. "Brother Xu! You are an old criminal. In all fairness, how well have I done civil affairs in the past two years?" Xu Tuo smiled slightly, and complimented: "Your talent is superior in intelligence, and his achievements are obvious to all." "Don't say that. In the past two years, I know what my scholars and colleagues have said about me. Can you tell me something honest?" Cao Cao's expression was serious and sincere. "Okay..." Xu Tuo lowered his head and thought for a while before saying, "I think your lord is really a good and honest official, but his actions are not very clever!" "Oh?" Cao Cao was taken aback, and bowed his hands to salute, "Cao would like to hear more about it." "Well. You are a clean and upright official, and you are daring to do something, and you have won the hearts of the people, but... you are not very fair." "Unfair?" Cao Cao felt a little dissatisfied when he heard this. Xu Tuo saw that his color seemed to have changed, so he quickly explained: "Don't be wronged, what I mean by injustice is not favoritism or fraud, but that you always do things with preconceived ideas. When a poor man sues a rich man, you don't ask whether he is right or wrong. You are courting the poor, and the rich are suing the official, and you are courting the rich, in short, you are biased towards the weak, but you don’t know that this in itself is unfair.” "Unfair?" Cao Cao laughed, "The axioms of the world are set by powerful people, so they are not fair!" "Even if what you said is true." Xu Tuo swallowed, "But if you do this, publically speaking, it's easy to indulge the weak and have nothing to worry about; privately speaking, you might offend the powerful and damage your future. You don't believe it? To be honest, you are safe and sound because of your identity here, Hongluqing's eldest son, would it be possible for someone else?" Cao Cao was silent for a while, then forced a smile and said: "You can't say it like this. It is because I am the son of Dahonglu that I can do these things for the people." Xu Tuo expected that he was already an ordinary person, so he simply shook his head and smiled, "But have you ever thought about it, you can take care of the things that happen to you, but what about the things that don't happen to you? Can you take care of all the injustices in the world?" ? If someone more powerful than you persecutes the people, what can you do? You were a nobleman at the beginning, and you were called out by Bainuo, but now that you have been convicted and dismissed from office, what kind of people can you control? Rich people There are ways of living for the rich and the way of living for the poor, and there are ways for the poor to live..." "Shut up!" Cao Cao couldn't help being furious when he heard him say that his political achievements for more than a year were useless. Xu Tuo was taken aback by him, and felt dissatisfied when he saw that he asked for other people's opinions but refused to accept them.But people will always change. Sooner or later he, Cao Mengde, will accept his fate and bow his head. Besides, the centipede is dead but not stiff. Although the Cao family fell, he did not dare to offend him. Thinking of this, Xu Tuo cupped his hands in embarrassment: "Cao Young Master, please calm down... I have to say goodbye after sending you off for thousands of miles, I should go back too." After saying that, the shouting stopped. Cao Cao knew that he had been rude, so he stopped keeping him and sent him off the carriage. After the outburst just now, he couldn't say anything more about parting. When he looked up and saw Bian Bing riding listlessly on the horse, he said, "Little brother-in-law, why are you drooping your head?" La?" "Brother-in-law! I have something to discuss with you. I'm too old, and it's not honorable to go home with you. Please let me go alone. I have to eat on my own." Bian Bing said with a sad face. "Look at what you said, you two are helpless, where can you go? Come with me! Go back and I will help you arrange a marriage. In the future, you will find an errand in the village. Your boy has suffered so much for me. I have to repay you well! Come on! Get in the car with me, bring your flute! Play a tune for me to relieve my boredom.” As he spoke, he pulled Bian Bing off his horse and got into the car. Xu Tuo left Cao Cao, and before he got on his horse, he saw a horse galloping in a hurry in the distance-it was the new head of the yamen team. "Master Gongcao!" The team leader hurriedly got off his horse. "In the afternoon, a few people of unknown origin spread rumors in the city. They said that the queen was killed and punished by heaven, and they said that the Taiping Avenue saved the world. It seems like Those who spread evil methods. I led people to arrest them, and the leader was a boy named Yu Du, who said he was a man of some kind, and he was carrying several volumes of books, what do you think we should do?" Xu Tuo took over A volume of books, unfolded and read: 〖Keeping the law of one Ming is the root of longevity.The ancestors of all gods, come out of the gate of light.Watch out for a shrewd moment, like when a fire is first born, be on guard so as not to lose it.It is red at the beginning, white at the end, green for a long time.The hole is far and far away, and it can be used to cure the one, and there is nothing unclear inside.To get rid of all kinds of diseases and guard them impeccably is the art of longevity.Observing the law of one brightness, there is the light of sunrise, the brightness of mid-day, this is the first goodness to obtain the longevity of heaven.Live in a leisurely place, never lost.Keeping the law of the moment, the good and the bad of the way.What is the husband's way? 〗 "Shou Yi Ming Fa Jue!" Xu Tuo's eyes lit up, and he sneered, "This should be the "Tai Ping Qing Ling Shu", an evil book that was confiscated by the imperial court! Cao Mengde repeated orders to ban Tai Ping Dao, but in the end these people still sneaked into me Dunqiu County." "Ah?" The team leader was also terrified, "What should I do?" Xu Tuo closed the bamboo slips and said: "This matter must not be publicized! There is no county magistrate to stand up to it, and our group can't stand it if something happens. Drive those people out of Dunqiu as soon as possible! The farther the better! All the books were burned!" "Let's do it, little one!" the team leader said and turned to leave. "Wait!" Xu Tuo called to stop him, "We can't take advantage of those missionary boys, hit forty boards hard, and confiscate all their property. We have fought famine with Cao Cao for more than a year, and it's up to us men to make some money gone." Xu Tuo turned his face to look at the carriage going away, as if he was talking to the team leader or talking to himself: "People like Cao Mengde won't ask for mercy even if they are killed. Don't look at his hard-spoken words, and he suffered such a near-death situation." , Is it hard for him to understand in his heart!" What he said was true. At this moment, Cao Cao was sitting in the car, listening to the sound of Bian Bing's flute, feeling sad in his heart: Is my Cao family going to fall like this?When Qin Yilu went to Luoyang, he didn't know what news he would bring back, and his father didn't know what happened. Can he withstand such a blow... What about the three uncles...