"Sir, you started here by saying: 'Things in ancient and modern times are different, and etiquette cannot be the only one. The government of Ming kings has been different from generation to generation. Confucius respected etiquette, but I don't know where etiquette came from. The respect has disappeared like Shen Yuan. How is it different from carving a boat and looking for a sword to ride the waves without knowing where they are going?' I thought about it for a long time, but I didn't understand."
After receiving the last batch of civilians who had returned from the Baibo Army, Chen Chong took a long breath and was going back to the bathroom. Xu Shu came to ask him to clarify his doubts with "On the Reform of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty". Chen Chong wiped the water drops on his hands with a towel and said with a warm smile: "What, Yuan Zhi, is there anything you don't understand?"
Xu Shu scratched his hairpin and said in confusion: "I am indeed unclear. I studied with you two years ago, and I read your "On the State" before. Your teacher said that in Confucius's life, he advocated nothing more than 'restraining oneself and restoring propriety'. Xu Shushen In order to agree with it, Confucius once said: "Zhou was in charge of the second generation, and he was so depressed! I came from Zhou." It can be seen that Confucius knew all the rites and regarded Zhou rites as the highest, and he only respected Zhou rites. '?"
Chen Chong took the book and said happily: "Yuanzhi, you can think of this level. It is really not easy. Confucius sought the rites of the three generations and followed the Zhou rites. It cannot be said that he did not care. But the Zhou rites are based on the Xia rites and the Yin rites, so why are they different?"
"As I said at the beginning, the trends in ancient and modern times are different, and etiquette cannot be the only one. Confucius saw the political corruption of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty and the disintegration of the princes. He had a heart to help the country, but he didn't know the way forward, so he could only believe in 'restrain oneself and restore etiquette' ', As long as everyone restores the Zhou rites, the prosperous age of the Western Zhou Dynasty will be revived. This is like everyone abiding by the Yin rites during the reign of King Zhou, how could the Yin and Shang dynasties perish?"
At this point, both Xu Shu and Chen Chong laughed, and Chen Chong continued: "So after the Zhou rites were abolished, there was still the Qin law. The Qin law unified the four seas and the kings were destroyed before there was an emperor. Confucius was in troubled times and didn't know the way forward. So, I just want to follow the old road to get out of the embarrassment. How can I know where the etiquette comes from?
I wrote this book "On the Reforms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty" to tell the world that sticking to the old ways is just sitting under a dangerous wall, which will only increase the tragedy. "After that, he turned the book to one page, handed it to Xu Shu and said: "I suggest you read "Guan Zhong III", "Wu Qi VI", "Shang Yang Twelve" directly, and then read "Han Fei" "Five Beetles". "
Xu Shu thanked him and took the book, and was about to leave when he suddenly thought of something and asked Chen Chong: "Sir, the court is now in chaos, just like the rites and music of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. But the Han Dynasty has declined and is not suitable for this world?" Chen Chong He was stunned for a moment, then smiled and said: "Yuan Zhi, it is indeed true."
Xu Shu was solemn, and then asked: "In this case, sir, can you come up with a new way to save the world?" Chen Chong waved his hand, pointed to his forehead and smiled calmly: "The great head is all here. It's a pity that I can't talk to others."
While talking, the chief clerk Yang Huizheng directed the officials to come in and move all the household registrations recorded in the past few days into the house. Chen Chong hurried up to help. While moving, he asked: "Yan Chang, have you counted the people who have returned after today?" ?How many people have come to the Prefect’s Mansion in total in two months?”
Yang Huizheng was so busy that he heard this. He had followed Fu Xie for two years. Fu Xie was already very poor and still had some servants to serve him. Fortunately, the "Xiping Dragon Head" who is famous all over the world has no one. He even asked people to come and cook together to make steamed buns. Fortunately, there were some students who helped. Otherwise, just the people who came last night would be busy just by registering. Stay up all night and don't sleep.
But it has to be said that life here is also very fulfilling. He has seen many people treat Fu Xie as a god, but he has never seen any people treat him like a relative. Yang Hui rested for a while, collected his thoughts, and then replied slowly: "Let me tell the prefect, there were 817 people in total who came to register last night with wooden slips in their hands. Based on this calculation, we will appease the people in total within two months." Six thousand four hundred and sixty-three.”
"Well" Chen Chong responded with satisfaction. The number of more than 6,000 people has exceeded the number of households in Lishi County itself. It can be said to be a major achievement in governance. In these two months, Chen Chong didn't take a day off. He stayed in the prefect's mansion every day and tried his best to receive every citizen who came back. It was hard to say that he was tired, but it was hard not to feel tired.
"Don't be happy, Mr. Fu." Yang Hui couldn't help but have a headache when he thought about the future resettlement: "It's November now, the wind and frost are coming, and it's been very cold every year for the past few years. This winter is not going to be easy for us. If we don't handle it well, most of the 6,000 people will freeze to death or return to the rebel army."
Before Chen Chong could intervene, Yang Hui continued to worry and said: "Furthermore, the Lord of the Prefecture has said before that the Prefecture will provide food for the winter to the people who return to their hometowns anyway, as well as distribute seeds for planting in the spring. Lord of the Prefecture said it." It is very easy, but the government treasury is extremely difficult to support. Governor Zhang has allocated most of the grain to use as military supplies for the Huns. In the past two months, the government has steamed steamed buns and distributed them to the people. I am afraid that it can support at most half a month, but from the beginning of spring to the summer harvest, there is still at least half Zai, Mr. Fu, where are you going to get the money?"
Originally, Yang Hui and Fu Qian asked to see Chen Chong and were quite worried about this "Xiping Dragon Head". Unexpectedly, Chen Chong not only didn't care about etiquette, but also treated others with sincerity and sincerity as if they were brothers. Now he also speaks casually and dares to go beyond his authority and directly ask Chen Chong about his follow-up arrangements. .
Chen Chong sat on the table, made himself a pot of tea, smelled the fragrance of the tea and chuckled: "Yan Chang, what's so difficult about this? Didn't I also bring a hundred gold here? One gold is worth ten thousand, so The governor's office still has one million dollars, so just buy grain."
Yang Huixuan smiled and said: "Master Fu, there is another difficulty. Xihe has suffered from military disasters for many years. The land is barren and the rocks are thick. The harvest is barely self-sufficient. When it comes to food storage, for example, there are many rich and powerful families in Taiyuan County who have food reserves, but Xihe County does not. It’s not even a big family, but now we don’t even know where to buy food?”
"Yan Chang, where did you start talking about this?" Chen Chong pretended to be surprised, and then he laughed. After drinking tea, An Ran said: "How can you pretend that such a big family in Meiji is invisible?"
This statement was as clear as day. When Yang Hui heard it, he woke up and asked, "Do you want to buy food from the Huns?" After saying this, he suddenly stood up, paced back and forth, thinking to himself, "The Huns have been at peace for many years, and they have suffered less from military disasters. Their population has also increased." It has been growing for many years, and I heard that the mountains are full of cattle and sheep, and the warehouses are full of millet, so there is indeed food to sell, but the Huns are not from my tribe, but I wonder if they will sell the food to me?"
Chen Chong said with a smile: "The master's words are wrong. The Huns have lived in Bingzhou for about a hundred years and have interacted with the Han people for generations. Most of their people can understand Chinese and forget the language of the Huns. This is the effect of kingship. As long as we sincerely accept it , instead of making good friends and just selling grain, what's the difficulty? I heard the people who returned said that many Huns sold grain to the bandit army, so we are not as good as the bandit army?"
Having said this, Chen Chong put down the tea cup and sighed: "The difficulty lies in sincerity, so this trip to Meiji has to be done by myself."
Then he jumped down from the table and began to pack his luggage. While packing, he said: "Yan Chang, I have a few important things to tell you over the past few days. You must do it beautifully without making any mistakes. The current situation is We have reached a very critical moment, and we must fight day and night."
Yang saw that he was acting resolutely and prepared as soon as he said he was ready. He couldn't help but wonder: "Master Fu, why is it so urgent?"
Chen Chong said nothing and took out a letter and handed it to Yang Hui. Yang Hui glanced at the information in the letter, and then looked at the four words "Brother Liu Xuande" at the end of the letter. He couldn't help being shocked, and asked in a low voice: "Such a huge change in Youzhou, will it involve Bingzhou?"
Chen Chong also laughed in a low voice, and then sighed: "Yuan Benchu didn't listen to me and shot himself in the foot. Now he knows clearly that he is hitting his own foot, so he can only hit it hard. A careerist in Dongdu There are so many of them, every time I leave Dongdu, I feel like I have escaped from a lunatic asylum, and I feel very lucky."
Before Yang Hui could understand, Chen Chong ordered Yang Hui one after another without taking a breath:
"Yanchang, you should be prepared now. Tomorrow, let three thousand county soldiers escort the common people to camp at the place I have decided. We will make simple repairs to the people's houses first, which will be enough to protect them from the cold. We must comfort the people and don't be afraid. It’s hard work to get through this midwinter, and we’ll repair it again next year.”
"You can bring a boat over from Hequ and let the county soldiers quickly familiarize themselves with the drill. You have to do this secretly and let the soldiers take turns familiarizing themselves in teams of twenty. I will have them there in one month. Forcibly crossing the river, you'd better let Guangyuan keep an eye on this matter."
"You still need to send someone to Hedong County to do two things: one is to ask Wang Shijun to declare that he will borrow a road from the barbarians in Shangjun. He is just waiting for news from Xihe. Within ten months, Xihe will send troops to Yuanyin. In the two counties of Yuanyang, I have made up my mind to annihilate the Baibo army before the beginning of spring."
"The second thing is to ask him if we can borrow food. Relying on the Xiongnu alone can only solve our urgent needs. With the help of Hedong, we will be 100% sure that the people will be safe next year."
"One last thing, Yanchang, except for the matter of shunting the ships, which you have to do secretly, you should publicize all the other things to me. Post a notice to inform the people. Within five days, I want everyone in the county to know , I’m going to the Huns to buy food.”
Yang Hui wrote it down again and again, then resigned and left. Now he couldn't sleep at all tonight.
Chen Chong led Xu Shu out and called Wei Yan up. He saw that the big pot at the door of the mansion was no longer boiling with clouds of white gas. All the lights around him had been extinguished, leaving only the governor's mansion with a little fire left. A night owl turned its head and met his eyes. It couldn't help but tremble all over, hooted and flew away.
Chen Chong suddenly noticed a slight chill on his cheek, which turned into a drop of water and rolled into his clothes. He couldn't help but look solemnly at the sky. He could no longer see the stars and the waning moon in the sky. He could only see the swaying lights of the Prefect's Mansion, and could vaguely see the white snow falling from the sky.
The first snow in four years of Zhongping came unexpectedly.
