One day in May of the fourth year of Yanxing, the weather was getting a little hot, making the palace quite stuffy. The emperor proposed that all the officials in the court gather in the jujube forest next to Kunming Pool to worship Sejong at the stone statue of the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl by the river. Emperor Wu also stayed here temporarily to escape the summer heat.
After the sacrifice was completed, just at noon, the emperor held a banquet with everyone in front of the statue of Weaver Girl. Jianping General Dong Cheng saw that all the food and wine on display were more ordinary food and wine. Although a lot of venison and carp were grilled, there were not enough condiments. Most of them were just sprinkled with salt, so the taste was naturally fishy. There was not enough meat, so there were only some pancakes stuffed with vegetables, some pickled salted eggs, tofu, and some unknown round melons on the ground. None of this whetted Dong Cheng's appetite, so he sat down with a glass of wine, drinking and chatting with others.
The emperor obviously knew that the cost was simple, so he called the accompanying dancers and musicians to play music and dance in public. These were all left behind when Dong Zhuo was in power. After the coup, they had no way to go, so they have been adopted by the emperor.
As the music played, all the officials looked towards the source of the music, only to see the dancing girl with beautiful appearance and graceful posture. She was dancing along with the Liangzhou Yuefu in the banquet. She did not look like the ordinary palace maids dancing as gracefully as a butterfly, but instead danced as fast as a butterfly. Jinghong, leaping like running water, danced continuously for a quarter of an hour without stopping at all. It was not until two-quarters of an hour that the dancer stopped her bow, which attracted everyone's applause and admiration.
There was music and music, and many people became interested in poetry and began to recite poems to each other. The theme is to praise peace and happiness. After all, in the past few years, the government was in turmoil, Kyushu was suffering, and famine and military disasters were everywhere. Whether they lived in Kanto or Kansai, everyone had seen the scene of refugees besieging the city and the red ground thousands of miles away. Therefore, everyone is extremely sentimental about the current peaceful situation.
Since ancient times, writing about Pingle has been the most difficult to achieve success. Dong Cheng listened half-comprehensively for a moment, and found that the poetry meeting quickly degenerated into praising the emperor and Chen Chong, while a few people simply cursed Dong Zhuo, and there were no famous poems that he appreciated. Even Kong Rong, who has always been famous for his poetic talent, said nothing more at this time: "From Luo to Weiwei, Mr. Chen cared about the country selflessly. Minus the sweet and fat food in the kitchen, the officials followed Qi Qi. Although they received a salary, I'm always hungry. Thinking of me is bitter and cold, and my heart is sad." This made him feel bored.
But at this moment, Dong Cheng suddenly realized that although there were many officials from the Sili Mansion at the banquet, Sili Colonel Chen Chong was not here. He turned to ask the chairman of the emperor. The emperor smiled and said: "Sir, he couldn't sit still after the sacrifice. He said that people were arranging to dig ditches not far away. Now all the officials are here, and there are few people watching over there, so he went to see the situation. , I’ll be back in about an hour.”
After hearing this, Dong Cheng couldn't help but stand up and look into the distance. Under the blue sky, jujube leaves were like a cover, and the pool water was flowing. There was indeed a water channel passing through in the distance, arriving at an unknown place. There were faintly visible figures at the end of the field of vision, probably... Some men in short clothes were recruited. Although he had known Chen Chong's style for a long time, it was still difficult for Dong Cheng to associate him with sludge and sewage.
Looking back at the people at the poetry meeting, Dong Cheng couldn't help but laugh a little, and thought to himself: It's really strange that there are so many sycophants even though no one is here!
However, he was immediately attracted by the discussion on the other side. It turned out that several doctors from Taixue were discussing the situation in Hebei. In early May, news of the tension in Youzhou had spread to Chang'an one after another. Just three days ago, Liu Bei also submitted a battle schedule, saying that the two Hus were involved this time, and planned to mobilize 90,000 troops to enter Youzhou from Yongguan. The emperor also agreed to quell the chaos.
Logically speaking, quelling the chaos is a matter of course, but this dispatch of troops has caused considerable controversy. So much so that during the banquet hosted by the emperor, some people openly discussed it.
The person currently discussing this matter is Xi Li, a disciple of Zheng Xuan. He is not optimistic about this expedition and said bluntly: "Since Liu Youzhou, Jihou has abused the people without justice and failed to appease them, which has led to the current situation. Although the general has a large army, the rebellion is even worse, so I’m afraid this effort will be in vain.”
All the fellow disciples agreed with this, and Zhao Shang also said: "The original strategy for this year was to take advantage of last year's victory to advance on the remnants of the Puppet Dynasty and regain the Qing and Xu states. I'm afraid this matter will be over for the general's expedition this time. It’s really inappropriate to postpone it until next year and allow the puppet government to live for another year.”
Dong Cheng also agreed, but unexpectedly the conversation immediately turned to criticizing Liu Bei's behavior in recent years. Someone said loudly: "If the general had not been selfish and unfair, and let Jihou take charge of Youzhou, how could there have been so many things? Yuan Benchu was originally a nobleman, and he was in charge of Jizhou. He also heard that the place was happy. If If Jihou had not stirred up trouble for no reason, the country would have been peaceful this year!"
"Moreover, an army of 100,000 people is mobilized every year, and the country's annual income cannot be used. Not to mention that Your Majesty is frugal in food and clothing, and even the ancestors' sacrifices are excessive. How can you neglect the important affairs of the country?"
Dong Cheng was about to see who was talking when he heard someone put fire on Chen Chong's head and said, "Mr. Chen is also confused. He actually listens to the general on such a big matter. Could it be that the general asked him to be Liu Xin? He can do it too." Do you think so?"
When all the officials heard this, they all changed their expressions. Looking over, it turned out that the person speaking was the newly appointed Sanqi Changshi Hua Xin. He came from Guandong at the end of last year, followed the path of Yilang Zhao Yan, and was commissioned by the emperor. At this time, he compared Chen Chong to Liu Xin, and Liu Xin was the mastermind of Wang Mang's usurpation of the Han Dynasty. The meaning has to make people think deeply.
Jian Yong immediately stepped forward and sneered at Hua Xin: "It is the duty of a bureaucrat to discuss state affairs. But it is unjust to use metaphors, slander the prime minister and ministers in public, and confuse people's hearts. Is that what you can say?" Sili Mansion Everyone looked at Hua Xin angrily, and the surrounding ministers also felt that Hua Xin was unreasonable and refused to help. The emperor came to the rescue and said: "Chen Qing is the pillar of the country and has the most public intentions. Everyone knows this. Hua Qing really shouldn't. But Jian Qing has always traveled leisurely and leisurely, so why is this so?"
The dispute subsided and the banquet continued.
All the officials were guessing whether Hua Xin's words were his own ideas or the emperor's instructions. In order to alleviate the embarrassment, Dong Cheng simply suggested to the officials: "Since I have heard of Mei music and seen beauties, why not adjust a few things and bet on shooting?" After that, he took out a finger ring as a prize. The jade of this finger ring is clear, and there seems to be a faint trace of blood in the middle. It is an extremely rare treasure. Everyone was agitated, but also a little embarrassed. Someone said: "Tell Mr. Dong, there are not many people here who are good at shooting, so let's throw the pot!" Everyone also smiled and agreed, so they changed to throwing the pot.
However, this made Boss Dong Cheng unhappy. Although he was a relative of the country and related to the Empress Dowager Yongle, after all, he had acquired the habits of a military general after serving under Dong Zhuo for several years. I deeply feel that in the world, galloping horses and shooting willows with arrows are the ultimate happiness, while throwing pots seems too elegant and depressing.
However, as he sat for a while and watched everyone taking turns throwing pots, he found that the game was gradually becoming a competition between a few good throwers. At first, the pot is thrown in five steps, then in ten steps, and then in twenty steps. Twenty steps is the limit for throwing arrows, and only four people can be hit, namely Fu Zheng, Dong Zhao, Shi Tao, and Xu Qian.
At this point, someone suggested that either use a screen to block the line of sight and let four people compete in blind casting. Everyone cheered loudly, and Dong Cheng couldn't help but become interested. He got down from his seat and went to the screen to watch.
Fu Zheng threw first. He first went to the screen to estimate the distance, then retreated behind the screen and weighed the arrow shaft with his hands. After thinking for a moment, he threw it suddenly, but saw that the arrow shaft passed the screen, fell straight down, and hit the pot. The mouth was scratched and inserted into the soil, but the copper kettle was still making a "ding" sound, which aroused the audience's regret.
So he went to Shi Tao again. Shi Tao had been preparing for a long time, but when he threw it, it didn't even reach the edge of the pot. Then it was Xu Qian's turn, and Xu Qian also missed. Everyone sighed, it seemed that blind betting was still a bit difficult.
Dong Zhao came on last. He didn't look at where he was throwing the pot. He took an arrow and was about to throw it. Everyone saw the look on his face and thought he didn't care about throwing the pot and just threw it casually. Unexpectedly, after he stood still and made a throw, before everyone noticed, they heard a "ding-dong" sound. The wooden arrow was already in the throw pot, and the arrow body was still shaking back and forth at the mouth of the pot. Everyone was stunned for a long time, and then there was a burst of cheers.
Seeing this, Dong Cheng clapped his hands and laughed, took out the jade ring he had agreed on from his hand, walked forward and handed it to Dong Zhao, saying, "Thank you Gongren! Today I have just discovered the fun of throwing pots." Dong Zhao refused, He smiled and said, "I think Mr. Dong is also a little itchy. Why not give it a try?"
Dong Cheng thought about it and realized that it was natural to enjoy it with all the officials. So he took an arrow and said to Dong Zhao: "Gongren threw it blindly in front of the screen, so I'll try throwing it from behind." He turned around and thought quietly, raised his right hand, and the arrow flew lightly across the screen. , collided with Dong Zhao's arrow shaft, and then slid into the throwing pot, looking extremely freehand.
The crowd cheered loudly again, and Dong Zhao also sighed: "Compared to Mr. Dong, what I got just now is just luck." Dong Cheng laughed repeatedly and said: "I have been in the army all year round, so I shouldn't have participated in this matter? Dong Zhao smiled and said: "Anyway, I lost the competition, so I should return the gift to Mr. Dong."
After that, without waiting for Dong Cheng to refuse, Dong Zhao took out a long sword wrapped in yellow cloth from his waist, held it up with both hands and said, "This is a sharp weapon I got by chance in Hebei. The inscription on the back of the sword is Jianping." The two characters are in agreement with Dong Gong and are just a gift to Dong Gong."
Dong Cheng drew his sword and looked at it. He saw that the light of the sword was like water, and there were two characters "Jianping" in official script on the back. He was very satisfied, so he accepted the sword. Everyone saw that the two of them were laughing as before, and it became a good talk for a while.
At night, when the banquet was over, the emperor rested by the Kunming Pool, but the officials still had many important things to do, so they took the bus back to Chang'an City. Logically speaking, as the uncle of the state, Dong Cheng should accompany the emperor, but he said that one of his children was ill and wanted to go home to visit him, so the emperor agreed.
Traveling more than ten miles east, when passing by the Gufeng Pavilion, Dong Cheng ordered the driver to stop and said he would take a rest in the pavilion and asked his servants to wait by the roadside.
Entering the pavilion, the pavilion chief greeted him with a smile, and Dong Cheng asked, "Where are the others?"
Without waiting for the pavilion chief's reply, Dong Zhao walked out of the pavilion and saluted Dong Cheng: "I have met Mr. Dong."
Dong Cheng took out the yellow cloth and said coldly to Dong Zhao: "You are so brave! You used the yellow cloth to send a message in public, wrapped it in the scabbard and handed it to me. You also said that we have important matters for the country to discuss. What do you have? intention?"
Dong Zhao didn't change at all. He opened the door and said slowly to Dong Zhao: "Of course it's for the country and the country of my great Han Dynasty."
