The autumn wind by the Luoshui River finally blew the green leaves yellow and touched the red flowers.
The threshold of the Marquis Mansion in Changling Township has almost been broken through in recent days. As soon as they heard that the second young lady of the Xiahou Mansion was already growing up, most of the city of Luoyang began to commotion. All the famous families in the capital, or the important ministers of the country among the poor gentry, as long as there are still sons in the family who have not married their first wives, they all think and look forward to marrying the Xiahou family, the emperor's confidant, in order to consolidate their family's status. In the eyes of everyone, this girl from the Xiahou family may not be comparable to the princess in the palace.
As for these mixed families, even though their fathers are important ministers of the country and have great abilities, the young masters of each family are not necessarily young leaders. Naturally, there are those who are lazy, frivolous and frivolous. People like these, Generally speaking, they can't pass the two hurdles of housekeeper Gu Ting and young master Xiahou Xuan. Even their people can't see the face of the family master Xiahou Shang, let alone let their betrothal gifts approach the front door of Xiahou's family.
Xia Houxuan has a little difficulty, that is, all the young masters who have some prospects in the capital have some friendship with him, so naturally they can't speak too harshly. If you want to convince these gentlemen, the best way is to have a fair competition.
In the west courtyard of the mansion, in Xia Houhui's boudoir, Princess Cao Jue of Deyang Township was talking about something with her daughter.
"Mother, Hui'er has just had her haircut ceremony, and you are in a hurry to marry your daughter off. Is your daughter so unpleasant?" Xia Houhui pouted, looking angry.
"Silly girl," Cao Jue stroked his daughter's bun and said with a smile, "You are already a big girl. You can't stay with your parents all your life."
Xia Houhui felt that there was no reason to refute, so he chose to remain silent and continued to wipe the guqin carefully.
Cao Jue, who usually didn't talk much, started talking non-stop:
"Your father and I generally know the young masters from those families in the capital. They are all pretty good children. Let me think about it. The eldest son of Taifu Zhong's family became the Minister of Sanqi at the age of fourteen, and now he has reached the age of age at which to marry;
There is also Wei Lie from the family of Wei Zhen, the Minister of Civil Affairs, who is also very motivated;
There is also Xun Can, the young master of the Xun family, who is most compatible with your brother, but unfortunately his temper is too unrestrained;
There is also Fu Gu, the nephew of Lord Fu Xun, the servant;
By the way, there are also your cousins. Apart from your eldest cousin Shuang'er, your cousin Xi is also about the same age as you;
By the way, there are also several young masters from the Sima family who are well matched..."
"Oh, mother, I'm so annoyed." Xia Houhui blushed, picked up the guqin and ran out of the house.
"This kid..." Cao Jue smiled and shook his head.
In the main hall of the mansion, Xiahou and his son were planning the marriage for Xiahou Hui.
"In my opinion, Xuan'er knows your sister best. It's better for you to help Hui'er choose a husband. What do you think?"
Xia Houshang is kind-hearted. For a family leader like him who doesn't pay attention to using marriage to consolidate the family's status, I'm afraid there won't be another family leader in Luoyang.
"Father, in my opinion, as the daughter of a general, my sister first needs to find someone with decent martial arts skills, so that makes sense. Secondly, this person's literary talent should not be too bad. Of course, the most important thing is that this person You must treat Hui'er well."
Xia Houxuan seemed confident.
"As you said, is there any way to select such a person?"
"The child thinks that it is better to have a civil and military marriage. What does the father think?" Xia Houxuan smiled very confidently and seemed to be very satisfied with his plan.
―――
Cao Xi has not been to the Marquis Mansion in Changling Township for several days. For some reason, when he heard that Hui'er had begun to choose a husband, he began to feel inexplicably panic and nervous. Yesterday, he heard his eldest brother casually say: Cao Lin, the king of Hedong, is already planning to propose marriage to the Xiahou family in order to gain the support of the Xiahou family. Today, the hazy feeling has become so real. I actually like Hui'er. I just don’t know who Hui’er is interested in...
―――
Four or five miles north from Ximing Gate, in the southwest corner of the imperial city and west of the arsenal, is the residence of Sima Yi, the Marquis of Xiangxiang.
There is a place full of white camellias in the backyard. In the center of the camellia field is a small pavilion. It was dusk at this time, and the setting sun filled the entire courtyard. In the pavilion, there is a dignified middle-aged man sitting. At this moment, he is holding a volume of "Yin Fu Jing" and studying quietly. Looking at his gray hair, he seems to be fifty or sixty years old. He is very young, but one look at his straight back makes people think that he is just a young man in his thirties. This is the head of the Sima family, Sima Yi, the Marquis of Xiangxiang and Fujun.
"Father." Outside the court, the tall, handsome, mature and steady eldest son Sima Shi bowed and saluted, and then said: "I heard that the Xiahou Mansion is planning to hold a civil and military recruitment ceremony in the near future. My son, I also want to participate."
The old man slowly put down the book, picked up the celadon tea cup and took a sip. I and Xiahou Shang, the head of the Xiahou family, had assisted His Majesty in the East Palace together back then, and we already had a close friendship. It would not be a bad thing if we could further marry into the Xiahou family, the emperor's confidant, but...
"This is a good thing. You can go." Sima Yi put down the tea cup, stood up slowly, and watched the last ray of sunset disappear under the courtyard wall, and darkness returned between heaven and earth.
―――
The autumn night breeze is very cool. In the back garden of the Hou Mansion in Pingling Township, there was a faint sound of piano music, accompanied by the chirping of cicadas in the garden, wandering in the night sky.
Xia Houhui stroked the strings lightly, feeling a little uneasy. She looked up at the bright moon in the sky, seemingly smiling.
I wonder if he will come during this wedding recruitment...
In mid-autumn, Xia Houxuan was finally ready for the wedding. He chose the venue for the literary test south of Luoshui.
As for the venue for the martial arts test that would be held in a few days, he chose the Xuanwu Field at the foot of Mang Mountain in the north of Daxia Gate after asking his father and His Majesty for instructions.
The reason why the location was chosen at these two places was because we did not want to disturb the people, but today the banks of the Luoshui River were still crowded with people.
After all, this wedding ceremony is indeed a grand event, and of course the people want to come and witness it. Even some relatively idle officials took leave today to come and watch.
On a high platform not far away, Xia Houshang sat with many ministers who had come on leave.
On the banks of the Luoshui River, Xiahou Xuan was organizing the literary examination for recruiting brides.
"Gentlemen, please take your seats."
Xia Houxuan bowed and saluted the candidates sitting around the table, and then said:
"Thank you for your favor for my sister-in-law. Xuan would like to thank you here. Since everyone is ready, I won't say anything more. Next, I will tell you the rules of the literary test, and we can here we go."
"Dong...dong...dong..." A servant of the Xiahou Mansion holding a drumstick saw the young master signaling the start. He immediately beat the drum three times and shouted loudly: "The literary test is about to begin. Please come up with the topic."
"Everyone, the literary test is being held here today. The purpose is to test your literary talent. Please listen carefully to the rules of the written test."
Xia Houxuan sat in the middle of the crowd and said loudly:
"This rule is quite simple. You only need to compose a poem within a moment using the word 'Yuanrong', the word for sister-in-law, and then you will judge one or two to determine the winner. Finally, Five winners will be selected as the winners of the literary test.
In addition, only the winners of today's literary test will be eligible to participate in the martial arts test at the Xuanwu Field tomorrow. Do you have any objections? "
Everyone in the audience nodded, indicating that they had no objection.
Some gentlemen are already in a state of deep meditation and are already thinking about the test questions.
"Okay, since everyone has no objections, let's get started. Please don't hesitate to ink." Xia Houxuan struck his palm three times, and saw a servant remove the hourglass piston, while the servant holding a drumstick hit the A beat of drum indicates that the competition has officially begun.
All the princes from famous families, as well as the princes of individual clans, dipped their hands in ink and began to try out the work. Among the people, there are different expressions.
I saw Cao Lin, the king of Hedong, constantly throwing balls of waste paper to the followers with a proud look; Sima Shi, Zhong Yu, etc. were all holding up their pens, thinking carefully, and were not in a hurry to write; and Cao Xi Ze completed the draft carefully, then revised it sentence by sentence, and finally copied it onto a new paper roll.
And almost half of the people in the audience frowned, shook their heads and sighed, looking like they were at the end of their wits.
Seeing that the hourglass gradually became shallower, everyone in the audience looked confident.
"Dong..." The servant banged the drum with a mallet, and then shouted: "The time has come, throw in the pen!"
The ministers watching from the high platform in the distance saw the orderly appearance of the competition venue, and they couldn't help but talk about it and praised Xia Houxuan's hosting skills.
Xia Houshang also smiled happily, obviously very satisfied with the literary examination process.
Xia Houxuan collected everyone's poem manuscripts and began to recite them one by one and select and comment on them.
"I miss Biyuan and want to see her face. This is a poem written by Master Fu Gu." Xia Houxuan held the poem manuscript in his hand and commented loudly: "This sentence has a simple meaning and no decoration, so it can be selected."
The ministers watching commented one after another: "The poems written by Mr. Fu are quite good." "Yes, yes, yes."
"There are beautiful girls in the capital, and their looks are pleasing to the king and grandson. This is written by His Royal Highness the King of Hedong." After Xia Houxuan read this poem, he felt that the meaning of the poem was quite arrogant, but the other party was his Majesty's beloved prince, and this sentence The poem was considered acceptable, but I couldn't refute the person's face in public, so he said: "It can be selected."
Cao Lin boasted that he read a lot of poetry and books, and when he heard that he had passed the literary test, he had a look of arrogance on his face.
Although the ministers who were watching did not dare to say it openly, they all felt that although the structure of this poem was rigorous, the artistic conception was obviously not good.
After eliminating several candidates, Xia Houxuan picked up a poem manuscript with neat handwriting: "Mu Qing's light Yuan shadow, once listened to Yue Rong's voice. This was written by Mr. Cao Xi. This poem is ethereal, gentle, lingering and pathos. , which shows the true feelings and can be selected.”
"Okay, okay..."
"Not bad……"
The onlookers nodded in praise.
"Yuan Shujing, a peach and plum girl. This is a work by Mr. Zhong Yu. It can be selected."
"The son of Captain Zhong is well-deserved."
"Who says it isn't?"
Everyone praised.
"Si Qing Yuan's words are always about love, and I fell in love with her beauty when I first saw her. This is a seven-character rhyme written by Sima Master Sima Gongzi. It is indeed a good poem, enough to be selected." Xia Houxuan also admired it in his heart and nodded.
"This is the first seven-character poem style created by His Majesty [Note 1]. Mr. Sima is indeed extraordinary!"
"Yeah yeah……"
There were exclamations of exclamation all around.
"The people who passed the literary examination today include His Highness the King of Hedong, Master Sima Master Sima, Cao Xi Master, Zhong Yu Master, and Fu Gu Master.
Tomorrow at midnight, the five of them will take part in the martial arts test at Daxia Gate North and Xuanwu Field. If you are interested, the young masters who have not been selected can go and watch. That’s it for today’s essay test. Goodbye, everyone. "
Xia Houxuan saluted and said goodbye to everyone around him.
[Note 1]: The poem "Yan Ge Xing" written by Emperor Wen Cao Pi is said to be the earliest seven-character poem.
[Note 2]: The poems in the article are all written by the author and are not poems by historical figures in the book.
