July Liuhuo, as the name suggests, July is the beginning of autumn, and then the weather will turn colder. This traditional description of the season may be a little out of touch as the weather gradually turns colder over the years, but at least in the most basic tradition of the Central Plains dynasty

The Yellow River Basin is still very instructive.

In other words, the summer heat in Weishui in July has dissipated, but the busy autumn harvest and the somewhat cold late autumn have not yet arrived. This is the most suitable time of the year to get in touch with nature.

Of course, this sentence may not be accurate for the Double Ninth Festival after the autumn harvest and the March of Yangchun after the spring plowing.

But back to the Sanfu area at this moment, specifically, if we take into account the brutal killings during the previous year of Dong Zhuo's chaos, the suffering of the people of Henan during the migration process, and the relocation of civilians under successive military operations,

pressure, and the tyrannical posture Gongsun Xun showed before in front of Weiyang Palace... So whether it is the officials of the central court, the local people of Sanfu and the people of Henan who have just migrated, or even the surrendered Dong Zhuo troops and Gongsun Xun

The merging troops they brought seemed to need an appropriate, ceremonial activity to seek a sense of security.

Even if Dong Zhuo was killed, the three assistants were swallowed up, and the central guard general Gongsun Xun was subdued, wouldn't it be necessary to lighten the atmosphere a little to appease the people in the center?

Therefore, this banquet, which was originally scheduled to start 'tomorrow', continued to expand as the preparations continued to involve more and more people participating, thus it was postponed again and again, until tomorrow came tomorrow, and there were so many tomorrows. In the end, it turned out to be

It was successfully held in late July, and the scale of the event changed from an independent banquet for central ministers to a three-day banquet with a lot of involvement.

It is said that perhaps considering the political implications behind this banquet, even Ma Teng, Han Sui and others who led the troops to leave first wanted to hurriedly disband the troops and come back to participate, but were driven back by Gongsun Xun.

Three-day banquet.

On the morning of the first day, General Wei came forward and held a ritual sacrifice. He also summoned the three local elders of Sanfu and the middle-aged ministers of the court. It was more of a political posturing than a banquet. Although it was necessary, it was nothing too important.

So much to say.

From the afternoon of that day to the evening of the next day, the activities became particularly rich.

Among them, there was a Cuju performance that attracted the attention of the people of Chang'an, supporting the elderly and the young, a scripture debating banquet with the participation of a large number of celebrities, and an outing in which young nobles and officials spontaneously participated... which is also a blind date... Of course, the most important thing is definitely openness.

Spontaneous political rallies of various sizes under official activities. From the central ministers down, many military heroes, as well as officials from the Taiwan Affairs Bureau, as well as many local aristocratic figures in Sanfu, have formed their own teams to hold meetings through banquets or

Semi-public exchanges of opinions in the name of various activities.

The only thing worth mentioning is that it is said that Cai Bojie, a famous person in the world who was just married to General Wei and who should be the most suitable for such an occasion, never showed up. On the contrary, it was General Wei himself and Yang Biao.

, Wang Yun, Huang Wan, Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun and other real big shots, as well as the backbone of the shogunate and the core of the army brought by General Wei, one by one, they all showed no airs and spent almost the whole day enjoying themselves with the grassroots on the Weishui River.

.

But no matter what, in short, the effect of this activity is still very good, whether it is from the perspective of having fun with the people or from the perspective of appeasing the hearts of middle- and lower-level officials.

On the morning of the third day, Gongsun Xun, in the name of his master, invited important ministers and key personnel from the court, the army, and the local area to build a silk barrier on a small slope beside the Wei Bridge and held a formal banquet.

Starting from the Grand Sima Liu Yu who just came from Hedong, the three ministers and nine ministers in the court and their subordinates; plus all the ministers, censors, and Huangmen supervisors; and after Dong Zhuo's death, the descendants of the ministers served as

, and then there are the members of the Lang Department who are actually the core guards; there are also the core generals in the army currently stationed in Sanfu and the staff of the general guards; plus the county chiefs of Jingzhao Yin County, and although they have not served in official positions,

Celebrities such as Wei Duan and Zhao Qi who have great reputation in the local area... In other words, all the truly powerful people in Guan Sanfu are here.

In a sense, if the previous meeting in front of Weiyang Palace was to establish Gongsun Xun's supreme authority over the Central and Sanfu areas, then this time it was a prelude and briefing meeting to determine the specific power structure of Guanzhong in the future.

Why is it called a prelude?

Because this is a banquet after all, an occasion used to ease the atmosphere and bring closer relationships, and personnel appointments inevitably involve competition and gains and losses. General Wei was not willing to interrupt the harmonious atmosphere of the previous two days.

In fact, many people believe that Gongsun Xun will probably have to wait until the first court meeting in early August, or simply the first court meeting in early September to officially launch his appointment and arrangements... Especially there are more people who hold the latter opinion.

This is because if a comprehensive personnel sorting is carried out in early September, firstly, Gongsun Xun can calmly complete the political negotiations and formulate a complete list of shogunate and imperial vacancies; secondly, Gongsun Xun can also take the opportunity to first arrange the three assistants for this year's crucial autumn harvest.

It is completed through military control, so as to control the most critical thing for Sanfu in the next year - food.

Sure enough, in the morning, the autumn sun was shining brightly, the blue waves of the Wei River were rippling, and cheers could be heard faintly from the Cuju arena across the river. Gongsun Xun and several important officials in the court, namely Liu Yu, Yang Biao, Huang Wan, and Wang

After Yun, Huangfusong and others took their seats together, they were still smiling and chatting happily... There was no trace of the majesty of the man in the east palace of Weiyang Palace half a month ago who wanted to kill people on the spot, especially when he was sitting here at this time.

The people who were laughing happily there were the prey that were almost eaten that day.

Of course, as General Wei, Grand Sima, Sangong and Jiuqing took their seats together, the atmosphere below quickly became serious - it was difficult not to be serious when these people gathered together.

"For the longevity of General Wei." Now that they were seated, after everyone tentatively tested each other, it was Huangfu Song, the censor Zhongcheng, who took the initiative to stand up and make a fool of himself, making a gesture to Gongsun Xun, his former colleague and junior.

"Longevity for General Wei." Gongsun Xun sat still, but glanced around, and everyone around him, starting from Liu Yu and down, stood up and raised their glasses together.

However, when Gongsun Xun heard this, he just picked up the wine glass, as if he was about to drink it, but suddenly put it down again, and then he still sat still.

There were more than three to four hundred people at the banquet. Except for a few people who knew about it in advance or had expected it, the rest, regardless of their camp origin, became awe-inspiring when they saw this... Then most of them could only stand there holding wine bottles.

There, I was too embarrassed to move, and gradually panicked in my heart.

Of course, there are always people who are born bold and have a clear conscience.

"General Wei, what do you mean?" Zhu Jun, the captain of the city gate, asked angrily while raising his glass. "If you are dissatisfied with us and other people, just deal with it! But I have a word... If you repeatedly regard everyone as your enemy, then How is it different from Dong Zhuo?"

"Zhu Gong thinks too much." Gongsun Xun sighed quietly, but his voice was loud and clear, and he seemed not to be ashamed. "I just saw everyone raising glasses to celebrate my birthday. Such a grand scene naturally reminded me of Master Liu a few years ago. In the wake of my death, I was in Mengjin to cut bottles and face each other with the central officials at that time, and then we made an appointment to attend the ceremony... You all are sitting down... You guys said, let’s not mention that people are different now, why did the ignorant emperor lose his life and the eunuchs were destroyed? But the situation in the world has collapsed to this point?"

After hearing this, everyone sat down again and stopped drinking. Although they knew they had differences, they were speechless. Even Zhu Gongwei, who had just contradicted him, felt a little sad at this time - after all, he and Gongsun Xun left at the same time. Keeping filial piety in Luoyang, and then coming back is such a mess.

"What do you think, General Wei?" After a long pause, Yang Biao, the Guanglu doctor, spoke up. "What's the reason?"

By the way, after opposing the move of the capital that day, among the three princes, Situ Yang Biao and Taiwei Huang Wan were dismissed together and took over the empty post of Dr. Guanglu. Sikong Xunshuang tried to assassinate Dong Zhuo but failed and then committed suicide. This made Wang Yun As Situ, he became the head of the ministers.

But now, the situation has changed. A wave of current ruling ministers headed by Situ Wang Yun were beaten by Gongsun Xun in front of Weiyang Palace. Although they were not dismissed, their political prestige was greatly lost, but something bad happened again. , this allowed Yang Biao, Huang Wan, Zhu Jun, who stood under the right tower with their heads held high that day, and Huangfu Song, who had always had great prestige in Guanzhong, to regain political guidance.

Especially Yang Biao, his family is the third surname in the world after the Yuan family, and has always been called Yuan Yang. Counting Yang Biao himself, he has also completed the great achievements of the Four Generations and Three Dukes... More importantly, His family was originally from Kansai (Hongnong Huayin, west of Tongguan), which gave him both the local reputation in Kansai and the prestige of the central court, so he openly became the representative of the government officials, and in a sense, he was popular among the people.

"What can we do?" Gongsun Xun shook his head and sighed with emotion. "The underlying reason, didn't I make it very clear before in Weiyang Palace? The weak king and chaotic government lead to excessive exploitation, the corruption of the family to the point of blocking the entry of talented people, and the merger of powerful forces. The land has left the people with no place to stand... These chronic diseases of the Han Dynasty that have existed for hundreds of years are there. We are not blind, so why pretend to be ignorant? I heard that a man named Xun Zhongyu of the Xun family wrote an article specifically about it. If you really don't understand these things, you might as well ask Xun Gongda to make a copy and study it carefully. It can only be said that the ancestor of the ancestors at that time had the foresight to travel to the fields, but it was frustrating to have a descendant like the Ling Emperor. "

There was silence for a moment... Speaking of which, it had only been a few days, and these ministers were already used to keeping a low profile when Gongsun Xun spoke.

"However." Gongsun Xun continued. "Today I am not talking about these big principles...but I suddenly thought that when I left, Dong Zhuo was still the pillar of the country, just like he killed a lot of nine ministers, and now he is still Yuan Shaoshang, who wanted to conquer Guandong, was a party leader who only wanted to kill eunuchs for the country. Yuan Jiujiu, who is now across the state and county, was just an ordinary son of the noble family, Liu Yan, Liu Biao, you can think of it Have these people actually divided themselves into one party now?"

"My father just blocked the road because of rice thieves." Several people hurriedly rushed out and knelt down to apologize. It was the three brothers headed by Liu Fan. "Actually, they are dedicated to the Han, not to separatist rule...General Wei, you and my father know each other well."

For a long time, you should know that my father is just a cautious person... Besides, my family is a legitimate Han clan, how could they do such a thing?"

On the side, Liu Yan's cousin Huang Wan also hurriedly came out to speak: "General Wei, I would like to express my sincere words... People like the two Yuans cannot say that they have no different intentions now, but people like Liu Junlang, Liu Jingsheng, and Tao Gongzu of Xuzhou

, People like Kong Wenju in Beihai are just hindered by current events and have no choice but to raise troops to protect themselves. They may not have different intentions. If the imperial court orders and the road becomes clear, they will definitely obey the imperial order."

"Do you know that Jia Wenhe has taken the head of Li Jue in Wuguan?" Gongsun Xun shook his head for a moment, but then raised his lips to indicate. "And now that Wuguan is open, a memorial from the south will be sent to... Jia Kui, you will

The memorial sent by Liu Biao from Wuguan the day before yesterday was shown to Mr. Huang."

Huang Wan was at a loss and didn't understand. He reached for it and opened it. After just a few glances, his face turned pale and he was speechless.

Liu Fan, the eldest of the three brothers next to him, saw his cousin's expression change. He knew something was wrong, so he didn't care much. He quickly stood up and squeezed over to take a look. He only took one look before his expression became frightened, but he immediately said loudly: "General Wei,

This must be Liu Jingsheng who framed my father! He knew that you had pacified Guanzhong, so he did this to divert trouble to the east!"

Gongsun Xun didn't take it seriously and just asked Jia Kui to take the memorial and show it to the ministers one by one. One by one, almost everyone looked at it under the bright sunshine and felt as if they had seen a ghost.

It turns out that Liu Biao's memorial clearly stated that after Liu Yan repelled Dong Zhuo's attack, he was so proud that he actually imitated the emperor's ceremonial guard and built thousands of emperor's carriages in Yizhou! As a result, there were soldiers from Nanyang

The people who fled to Yizhou couldn't stand it and ran back directly to tell Liu Biao.

Regarding this, Liu Biao did not forget to express his views elegantly in the memorial. He said that Liu Yan's theory was "similar to Zixia's theory of doubting the saints in Xihe"!

Zixia was one of the ten philosophers of Confucius, but he abandoned the idea of ​​"denying oneself and restoring rituals" and actually became one of the ancestors of Legalism. The so-called Zixia was mocking Liu Yan. As a clan member of the Han Dynasty, he actually wanted to start a new business...

...It is self-evident what it means for the Han clan clan members to start anew.

The memorial was passed down all the way. After the three gongs, nine ministers, ministers and censors, Jia Kui read it again in front of the censors, Huangmen, Langguan, subordinate officials and celebrities below.

This time, everyone looked really wonderful.

"I like to be direct, and I don't want to hide anything when I speak." Gongsun Xun laughed loudly from above. "Huang Gong, based on this memorial, let's be honest, either Liu Junlang really had evil intentions, or he was

Liu Jingsheng is framing him... And if Liu Jingsheng, the former Eight Horsemen, framed Yizhou Mu in this way, there is only one way to say it, and that is what Liu Fan said just now. It was Liu Jingsheng who wanted to cause trouble when he saw me attacking Dong Gongcheng.

Dongyin... But if this is the case, doesn't it mean that Liu Jingsheng also regards Jingzhou as his own territory and does not want me to touch him? Therefore, two Han clan clan members, two moral models recognized by the world in the past, two for one

Among the chief officials of a state, there is always one who has different intentions, or even both of them have different intentions, right?"

Huang Wan couldn't answer.

Gongsun Xun laughed more and more, then picked up the wine glass and drank it all in one gulp. He stood up again, held up his knife, looked around, and raised his voice: "It sounds a bit ugly to say it, but you guys, let me tell you, this is natural! The so-called people are poor.

But shortness of breath, poverty and subjugation, this is probably what it means. They are also forced by current events... Sir, have you ever seen the common people change their sons and eat in the years of disaster?"

There was cheering from the Cuju court on the other side of the Wei River, but there was almost silence in the curtained banquet where Gongsun Xun was sitting.

"If you haven't seen Yi Zi eat it, then you should have seen the common people killing and abandoning babies, right?" Gongsun Xun continued to sneer. "You are all people who have read poetry and books, and you should understand that killing babies is probably

It is the most unscrupulous behavior in the world, let alone parents killing their children? But everywhere in the world, if there is one place, infanticide is not allowed. And where is infanticide regarded as a real thing?

How to deal with crimes? Why is it so... Mr. Yang, why is it so?"

"Because the people are poor and mean, and they can't feed them without killing babies." Yang Biao stood up helplessly and answered with his hands in his hands. "For parents, it is better to kill them earlier than to be unable to raise them in the future..."

"That's the problem." Gongsun Xun leaned over to pick up the empty cup, and Jia Kui beside him immediately helped fill it up. Then the general Wei drank it down again in full view of everyone, and then continued. "The people are poor.

, one more person will not be able to eat, so they have to be killed. Over time, infanticide becomes a matter of course... It is not just common people who are accustomed to it, but also famous officials like you, although you know in your heart that this is a bad thing.

, but I can only sit back and ignore it...is this what you mean?"

"Exactly."

"Then Liu Biao, Liu Yan, Tao Qian, Er Yuan, and even Dong Zhuo, aren't they all the same thing?" Gongsun Xun held the empty bottle thoughtfully. "It's just that for them, the world is poor.

It’s just about the overall situation! We just talked about why the loyal ministers and generals of Mengjin in the past were like this. Isn’t this the reason? Emperor Ling brought the world to ruins, and everything from the center to the localities was irreparable, so the overall situation of the world began to become poor, and they

These people are in this kind of chaos and predicament. Everything they see and hear is killing, looting, robbery, robbery, rebellion, and usurpation.
To be continued...