The Pinglinghou Mansion, which had been silent for more than half a year, finally became lively.
As soon as Cao returned home, he went to the Dongxiang Hou Mansion to visit his brother Cao Zhen and several nephews. Xia Houshang listened attentively to his son's story about the past year.
"Hahaha..." Xiahou Shang couldn't help but laugh when he heard the child called Master Yu Gui: "Since when did Brother Yu also like to accept apprentices, hahaha..."
Xia Houhui also pursed his lips and snickered.
"Oh, by the way, dad, why didn't Aunt Han and little sister go home together?" Xia Houhui suddenly remembered and asked.
Bihan is her father's only concubine. He is humble and gentle, so he has always been respected by everyone in the house. In fact, my mother has a very good relationship with Aunt Han, and they are not as jealous as outsiders rumored. Xia Houhui and his brother also heard from people in the mansion what happened that year.
It is said that before his father met his mother, Cao, he had already fallen in love with a woman, and that woman was Aunt Han. My father has already made outstanding achievements in military affairs. Naturally, there are many famous families in the capital who want to recruit my father as their son-in-law. However, due to the early death of my grandfather, my Xiahou clan has always been made by my father. Therefore, those who come to propose marriage are of people were rejected.
It was not until later that the late king intervened.
The Xiahou and Cao families have always been married to each other and are as close as one family. His father has reached the marriageable age and is a young leader of the Xiahou family. Naturally, he is highly valued by the late king Cao Cao. My father originally wanted to ask for a marriage in front of the late king and marry Aunt Han, but he didn't want to be too late. As soon as the late King Chrysostom opened his mouth, he betrothed his adopted son Cao Zhen's biological sister, the princess of Deyang Township, to his father. People from both tribes strongly agreed with this marriage. In addition, since the king's order could not be violated, his father married the princess of the township. And Aunt Han also became her father's concubine.
[Note 1: Xiang Princess, the title of Cao Wei in the Three Kingdoms, the people below the princess are Xiang Princess, and the people below Xiang Princess are Ting Princess. The princess of Deyang Township is the lord of Deyang Township, the sister of Cao Zhen, and the wife of Xia Houshang. 】
Later, Princess Xiang gave birth to herself and her brother Xia Houxuan for her father, and Aunt Han gave birth to a little sister for her father. After so many years, the family is harmonious and respectful to each other.
"Han'er, she said that she hadn't returned to her hometown to visit relatives for many years, so she left for Qingzhou a few years ago." Xia Houshang looked at the flames dancing in the brazier, his mind wandering.
"No wonder my father's ceremonial guard was missing by more than half. It turned out that he was escorting Aunt Han and my little sister." Xia Houxuan said with a smile.
"Mother is back." Xia Houhui said as he got up and ran outside the house.
"Madam is back, come in quickly." Xia Houshang stood up to greet him: "Have Zidan and Shuang'er returned from Chang'an?"
"Brother, he arrived earlier than us, and everything is fine in the house, but..." Mrs. Cao frowned slightly, looked at Xiahou Xuan and said: "Xuan'er, you have caused such a big trouble, why didn't you tell me Parents?"
"Mom, have Xi'er told you everything?" Xia Houxuan lowered his head.
"That boy Xi'er is trying to protect you. If Xun'er Yan'er hadn't told you, I wouldn't have known about it." Mrs. Cao seemed to be angry: "Do you know how dangerous that dog poison is? Fortunately, it's cold and there's no disease. Otherwise, if something happens to Mr. Sima, your father won’t be able to bear it. Do you know that you are wrong?”
"Mother, the child is just..."
"Since you don't know what's wrong, then go to the ancestral hall and kneel down to think about it for two hours. If you can't finish kneeling, you won't be allowed to eat."
"Yes..." Xia Houxuan raised his head, glanced at his mother a little aggrievedly, got up and went to the ancestral hall. Looking at the child's stubborn back, Ms. Cao felt a little reluctant to give up.
"Master, madam, the Jiao Er soup is ready. Eat quickly." The cook Magu and several servants placed several food plates on the tables. [Note 2: Jiaoer, or dumplings, is said to have been created by Zhang Zhongjing of the Eastern Han Dynasty. 】
Magu is an old woman in her forties. For more than ten years, she has become an indispensable part of the family. Everyone is used to eating the food she cooks and seeing her kindness. smile. And she has long regarded this place as her home.
"It's so delicious." Xia Houhui couldn't wait. She didn't even wait for her parents to use the chopsticks first. She already took action. However, Xia Houshang didn't care about these false gifts. Plus it was New Year's Eve, so he wouldn't mind even more. .
"Hui'er." Ms. Cao picked up a food plate and said, "Give this to your brother, or it will get cold later."
It was very quiet in the ancestral hall. The wind outside the door blew into the house, making the young man's fingers feel cold. Suddenly something slippery and warm touched the back of his hand. When he lowered his head, he discovered that it was Amo who had sneaked into the ancestral hall. Xia Houxuan touched the puppy's furry head.
In the wide incense table, dozens of ancient spiritual tablets were hidden in the blue-purple smoke. When he was young, he made mistakes, and his mother punished him by kneeling in the ancestral hall. But this time, he couldn't figure out where he went wrong.
"Brother!" Xia Houhui rushed into the ancestral hall with a food box: "Look, mother asked me to get you some delicious food!"
Xia Houxuan took out a small cauldron in the food box that was used to worship ancestors, and placed it on the incense table. Then he took out his own cauldron of Jiaoer soup in the food box and started eating. .
"It's so delicious."
"Brother, eat slowly." Xia Houhui looked at his brother's eating appearance and couldn't help but laugh: "Like a little beggar."
"By the way, let's feed Amo some too." Xia Houhui saw the swallowing puppy and picked up a dumpling.
"Be careful...cough..." Xia Houxuan almost choked: "Be careful it bites you."
"No, no, don't worry." The little girl touched the puppy's head.
An hour had passed, and Xia Houxuan's knees were aching. He gritted his teeth and changed the center of gravity of his legs. This was his experience of kneeling in the ancestral hall since he was a child. Only by constantly changing the center of gravity could he kneel for the prescribed time.
"Xuan'er." I don't know when Xia Houxuan came behind him, but Xia Houxuan, who had been in a trance, didn't notice it.
"Get up quickly." Xiahou Shang placed a jar of wine on the ground and helped his son up: "Tonight, our father and son will stay together to watch the New Year."
"Dad, I want to hear you talk about what happened to you before my sister and I were born."
"Back then..." Xia Houshang opened the wine seal and looked at the flying snow outside the door.
The moonlight shines on the snow, and the snowflakes fall slowly. In the cold light of the moon, they look like withered laurel flakes in the Guanghan Palace.
The winter in the early years of Jian'an seemed to be a little warmer than before.
Han Prime Minister Cao Cao welcomed the emperor back to Luoyang and began planning to build a new capital.
At that time, Luoyang was dilapidated and the air seemed to be filled with the smell of rotten wood and fireworks.
On the edge of Luoshui River in the south of the city, near the former site of the Imperial College in the Han Dynasty, a boy of seven or eight years old stared at the ruins in a daze. He is the second son of the prime minister's family, Cao Pi.
"What are you thinking about?" Suddenly someone tapped him on the shoulder, which made him tremble in fright. When he turned around, he saw that it was a boy about the same height as himself, and he saw a bit of heroism between the boy's brows. , but with endless gentleness, making people want to rely on him involuntarily. A thought suddenly flashed through Cao Pi's mind. It would be great if he had a brother like this.
"My name is Xia Houshang, and you are." Seeing that the other party kept looking at him, the boy reported his name.
"My name is Cao Pi."
"When I was eight years old, I met Zihuan." At this moment, Xiahou Shang did not address his Majesty, but called him by his name affectionately: "From that day on, he often came to play with me and talked to me. Regarding his ambition, I still remember him once looking at the ruins of the Imperial Academy and saying that he wanted to build a prosperous city on top of the ruins. At that time, he was only seven years old."
During the Jian'an period, there was Xudu Academy.
Xu County was just a small town before. Since the Prime Minister Cao Cao moved the Emperor here, it has become the capital of the world.
This small school also became the place where Prince Xudu’s grandson received lessons and practiced martial arts.
The Six Arts of a Gentleman: Ritual, Music, and the Imperial Book. This lesson is all about archery.
Fourteen-year-old Xia Houshang has grown tall and handsome. He raised his wooden bow, nocked an arrow, and aimed at the target dozens of steps away.
"Whoosh——" The arrow was like a locust, nailing the target.
"Good shooting skills!" I saw a 12-13-year-old boy wearing a tight-fitting black Hu uniform walking towards him. His voice was very loud, and his face and eyebrows were even more heroic and majestic. This is exactly what he said. The adopted son of Prime Minister Cao Cao, Cao Zhen. The other young man walking with him had long eyebrows and narrow eyes, and looked very calm and rational. He was Cao Xiu, the son of Cao Cao's clan.
"I wonder what my brother is called?" Xia Houshang put away his long bow and asked.
"These are the two cousins I often mention to you, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu." Cao Pi introduced Xiahou Shang with a smile: "They planned to join the army not long ago, so they rarely come to this school."
"Join the army..." Xia Houshang's brows twitched slightly.
"The four of us have become sworn friends since then. We often get together, drink, compete with swords, talk about poetry and military affairs, and I also followed your uncle into the Xudu Forbidden Army Camp. Although your uncle and I, and you Uncle Cao Xiu was both a general, but we had never really practiced in a military camp, so we still suffered a lot. In this way, after half a year of training in the Forbidden Army, a bold wish sprouted in our hearts. That is, enter the Tiger and Leopard Rider.”
[Note 3: Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, a powerful cavalry force in Cao Wei of the Three Kingdoms, has always been led by the Cao clan, such as Cao Chun, Cao Zhen and Cao Xiu. 】
"The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry is a mysterious cavalry battalion. It is said that it was founded when the former king first started to rebel. By the time the emperor entered Xudu, this team was already full-fledged. Although its entire army was no more than There are more than three thousand people, but they have amazing combat power. Any soldier will be eager to join the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, and we are naturally no exception."
"Although your uncle, me, and uncle Cao Xiu were just teenagers back then, we still participated in the selection without hesitation."
In the Jian'an year, more than 300 miles south of Xudu, we were in the suburbs of the Sili military camp.
The sergeants who participated in the selection were all elites from various military camps, and most of them were even middle- and lower-level officers of each battalion. And all of them have only one purpose, which is to pass the selection and become a member of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry.
Everyone wears heavy thick armor, holds a spear, and hangs an iron sword on his waist. He carries three days of food. As long as he reaches the outskirts of Xudu, which is more than 300 miles away, within three days, he will be considered to have passed the physical test. Selection.
This is an extremely simple method, but in fact it is almost impossible to complete the task.
Many sergeants fainted in the middle, and many gave up, but the remaining ones were still strong-willed.
At night, in a dense forest, some candidates were resting here temporarily.
"Brother Zhen, tell me, can the three of us make it in the evening the day after tomorrow?" Xia Houshang rested comfortably on a broken piece of wood.
"Let me tell you, at our current speed, it's impossible to get there..." Cao Zhen leaned on the tree trunk, squinted his eyes, and whispered.
"According to what you said, did you already have a solution?" Cao Xiu raised his eyebrows, leaned over and asked in a low voice, fearing that the other sergeants in the forest would hear.
"Come to a place with me." Cao Zhen suddenly stood up and walked towards the west. Xiahou Shang and Cao Xiu hurriedly followed.
"So, have you passed the test and made it to Xudu?" Xia Houxuan asked curiously.
"That night, your uncle took the two of us and found a small river to the west of the woods. It was a tributary of the Lishui River and could lead directly to the western suburbs of Xudu. We found wood and spent a night making a small river. There is a raft for two people, and there are a lot of rotten trees in the forest. We can’t find more wood, and we don’t have more time. This means that one of the three of us will lose. Let’s talk about it. , were unwilling to abandon anyone, so your uncle proposed the method of drawing lots."
"It wasn't until later that we realized that your uncle's three lots were all the same. He chose to abandon himself."
At the military camp on the outskirts of Xudu, General Cao Chun, the leader of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, finally waited for his new recruits. [Note 4: Cao Chun, courtesy name Zihe. Cao Ren's younger brother and Cao Cao's cousin. 】
Xiahou Shang and Cao Xiu looked at their general timidly.
This is a young general in his mid-twenties, only more than ten years older than the two of them. It is said that Cao Chun, who was only twenty years old, became the commander of three thousand tigers and leopards. It has been five years now. He has a very high prestige in the army. If you look closely, you will find that this young commander has a mask on his face. Full of vicissitudes that do not match his age.
"Commander Cao Chun..." Xia Houxuan seems to have heard of this name. He is the cousin of the late king. I heard that he is very popular among the military. To this day, there are many retired veterans in Luoyang City who are talking about him. s story. It's a pity that I heard that he passed away more than ten years ago.
"Your uncle Cao Xiu and I finally got our wish and entered the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry. That place did not disappoint us."
"That hell-fire-like training is indeed no longer boring. It is a real military camp."
"We seem to feel that we are no longer mediocre. Each of us has been immersed in pain and pride since then. When we ride on the black horse, wear black armor, put on the face-protecting leopard-shaped helmet, we wave in the wild When holding a heavy spear and sword and drawing a powerful curved crossbow, every drop of sweat was condensed into pride..."
