Since Hu Zhen committed suicide, and Tingwei Wang Xiang searched the residences of Hu Zhen and Dong Yue, he could not find any convincing evidence. The result is obvious that Hu Zhen's shocking words at the banquet were indeed just drunk. It's just nonsense. This conspiracy, which attracted considerable attention from the DPRK and the Central Government, could only be concluded innocently.
In fact, in the long run, this matter is not a big deal. After all, Liang people now respect the three towns of Longyou, and the remnants of the Dong family have long since declined, which only caused sighs of relief for a moment. Moreover, Chen Chong handled things appropriately: after Dong Yue was released, the court first paid him a year's salary, and then posted a notice at the city gate to rectify his name. Even after Hu Zhen died, he treated his family and descendants favorably. His son Hu Kun inherited the title and was exempted from military service and taxes for a generation.
But for Chen Chong personally, Hu Zhen's suicide deeply touched him. He thinks he doesn't have much murderous intention, but just a little search can make people die of fear. This is the role of power. He mentioned this matter at court meetings many times and preached to all the officials that the court would not punish people without committing crimes, let alone take care of human lives. Therefore, no matter how big an event you are involved in, you should not commit suicide easily, otherwise why would you do it to your family?
When people in the court heard this, most of them responded with compliments, but how much they truly believed him was another matter.
Then Chen Chong re-selected candidates for the long history of the Western Regions and the governor of Dunhuang. After much deliberation, he decided to use Zhang Xiu. Although it was not good-looking for him to inform his colleagues in private, it also showed that his loyalty and caution to the court were always no problem. Now that Zhang Xiu's deeds are well known, it is difficult for him to gain a foothold among his old friends. At this time, transferring him to Dunhuang can be regarded as easing the atmosphere in the DPRK.
Soon in February of the eleventh year of Yanxing, Guan Yu led 40,000 soldiers to march from Chang'an, and Chen Chong led hundreds of officials to Weibei to see him off. The people around Gyeonggi Province have been waiting for this moment for a long time. For a time, there were so many people watching along the road as a sea of clouds. When they saw the vanguard of the army stepping across the Wei Bridge, they couldn't help but cheer. But some people also talked to each other: "Since the fifth year of Yanxing, the country has always used troops, always with hundreds of thousands of people. This time the number of troops has been reduced by half, and the leader of the troops is only a captured veteran. I really don't know if it will be possible." success."
In fact, Chen Chong had heard this kind of remarks, and even Guan Yu asked him in private why he would be the main general in this expedition to the west? Chen Chong smiled at Guan Yu and said, "If you want Longyou to be eliminated, the Western Regions to surrender, and the country to prosper, you need to recruit more generals. How can I do it all by myself? Yunchang is a national scholar, can't he share my worries?"
When Guan Yu heard this, he felt a great responsibility and replied in a deep voice: "In that case, Ting Jian will wait for my good news in Chang'an." Chen Chong finally stopped at Lanchi and watched the smoke and dust of the army slowly dissipate.
This Western Expedition was extremely long. Chen Chong, Xun You and others had discussed it before and conservatively estimated the time: the army would go out for a hundred days, fight for a hundred days, return for a hundred days, and rest for sixty days. This time, it would be a whole year. time. Although it was not the war that used the most troops since Chen Chong came to power, it was indeed the longest one. Time is the most precious thing now, but for Chen Chong, this huge gamble initiated by him has now moved forward according to his own logic. He can only wait for the result in Chang'an.
The first batch of grain and fodder materials have been allocated at the end of the year. During the war, it is not suitable to carry out more system reforms and personnel changes. Stability should be the priority. Therefore, Chen Chong had a lot of leisure for a while, and even the Sili Mansion became deserted.
Zhao Shang, the doctor of Taixue, saw that Chen Chong was free, so he asked Zheng Xuan's son Zheng Yien to come forward and invite Chen Chong to give lectures in Taixue, so as to ease the relationship between the two schools, which had been relatively lively in the past two years. Chen Chong couldn't refuse, so in April, during the Gengzi period, he took Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and other students to the Imperial Academy as guests.
Originally, before the great changes in the Seven Years of Yanxing, Chang'an Imperial Academy had made considerable progress. Although it was not as old as Luoyang, looking at the world, only Liu Biao's Xiangyang Academy could compare with it. However, after the Lu Bu Rebellion, there were many casualties in Guanzhong. Young people who originally came from Shuzhong in Guandong to study all fled back to their hometowns. Not to mention that Taixue was suspected of being a party to the emperor and became increasingly unpopular. Even if Chen Chong came several times in eight years, it would not help. Today, there are only a thousand people left in Taixue. In the empty stone forest in the courtyard, there is often no one to be seen for more than a hundred steps, making it look extremely lonely.
On this day, Chen Chong came to Taixue, and the doctors set up a banquet and altar in the forest of steles of the "History of the Nation" that Chen Chong had supervised, and asked Chen Chong to chair it. Chen Chong was not polite and immediately talked about "Spring and Autumn" in front of the students, describing the similarities and differences in interpretation from the direct descendants of various schools. However, Chen Chong's conversations were always divergent. After talking about some specific historical materials, he suddenly raised a question: "Zhong Ni's "Spring and Autumn" is full of criticism. Is it a good history or a bad history?"
Zhao Shang quickly replied: "Zhongni wrote down the policies of Lu Shi, tested their authenticity, and planned the ceremony. He can follow the legacy of Zhou Gong and follow the laws of the Ming Dynasty in the future. Naturally, it is a good history."
Chen Chong said: "Since it is a history book, how can it follow the legacy system and the Ming Dynasty law?"
When Pang Tong heard this, he immediately laughed and said, "Teacher, you are saying that the Spring and Autumn Annals are classics and not history!"
Chen Chong nodded slightly, then stroked his beard and said: "That's it, history is the foundation of all scriptures. The most important thing is to record it in detail. If you can't know the whole picture, you won't be able to distinguish right from wrong, let alone say it is the Zhenming Sutra." Although "Spring and Autumn" is not straight-forward, I don't like the so-called subtle words and great meanings."
Speaking of this, Chen Chong saw that everyone was thoughtful and sighed: "People's hearts are fickle. Who is the rarest person since ancient times? A person of pure quality. Who is the most common person since ancient times? A repetitive person." Chen Chong Ping succeeded in protecting himself, while Dong Hu died in a straight line. But people can only do things when they are alive, so many merits and demerits cannot be explained clearly. Writing history, in the final analysis, is a matter of living people writing books for dead people. , and then the living people will also die, and only the history books can be left. It is better to leave the criticism of merits and demerits to future generations."
The topic has come to an end here, but Chen Chong actually still has something to say. When he talked about Chen Ping and Dong Hu, he subconsciously wanted to talk about his evaluation of Liu Xiu when he was discussing with Guan Yu in Yang Ping when he was young. But when he said the words, he remembered that this was in public. , it was not suitable to speak directly, so he hid it again. He thought with some self-mockery: How can we write history directly if some words cannot be spoken clearly? I also deceived myself a bit.
Change the source app and view the latest chapters of this book on multiple sites at the same time. 】
After the lecture, Zhao Shang invited Chen Chong to have a banquet in another courtyard. The attendees were all old people. In addition to Zhao Shang, the doctor who offered wine, there were also Zheng Xuan's only son Zheng Yien, his direct descendant Cui Yan, brothers Cui Lin, Zhang Yi, Xi Lu, Guoyuan, Liu Yan and others. Liu Xie, Dong Yao and other descendants who were related to Chen Chong were also present.
It had been a long time since Chen Chong had gathered with so many old friends. Being together now was filled with emotions. Everyone chatted for a few words, and naturally they all followed Zheng Xuan.
Cui Yan toasted and said to Chen Chong: "When Longshou went to Xihe, the teacher was extremely worried. Even among the Imperial College, he often sighed, thinking that Longshou would be like Laozi when he came out of Han Valley. He was tired of the world and was far away, and he would never know. Missing."
Chen Chong didn't know about this, so he turned to ask Zheng Yi'en. Yi'en replied with a smile: "My lord, when he divined his own divination, he always thought that his literary background was no better than that of Hangu. He said that talented people encountered disaster when they encountered the West. Until later, I heard that the Huns were in rebellion. He also performed a divination for the envoy, and got a Meng hexagram that was considered auspicious, so he didn't say much more."
Chen Chong couldn't help but smile after hearing this. He seemed to see the old man who liked to joke with Wei prophecy again before his eyes. He said, "It's a pity that I don't know how to look at Qi. I don't know how many times Brother Zheng has laughed at me in private."
While he was joking, Chen Chong looked around and found Zheng Yi'en silently crying in the audience. He hurriedly stepped forward to ask why. Zheng Yi'en wiped his tears from his sleeves, shook his head and replied: "When your Excellency was still alive, there was often such a lively scene in the house, but now it is rare. Fortunately, the envoy is here today, so I can see it again." Such a scene."
Chen Chong also sighed after hearing this. When I left Luoyang and went to Xihe to take up my post, I still vividly remember the farewell scene of my friends at Baima Temple. At that time, I was accompanied by Xu Shu, Meng Jian and other students. But today, Cao Cao turned against him, Kang Ju died tragically, Zheng Xuan died of illness, and most of the students also passed away. The people around me have changed a lot without realizing it, but the changes are so great that only people can know the taste after tasting it afterwards.
Unexpectedly, Liu Xie listened to Yi En's words and interjected: "Since you are so filial, sir, you should work hard on Confucian classics and be better than the old Confucian master. But in the end, he shed tears in public. It is too hypocritical." ”
The people around him were greatly embarrassed after hearing this, and Zhao Shang scolded him: "Intelligence varies from person to person, so how can you force it? But having a heart of pure filial piety is extremely rare."
After hearing this, Liu Xie became more and more dissatisfied. He asked, "Is it possible that when the old man was still alive, he liked to see people cry bitterly? It is only filial piety when there are successors. Weeping in mourning is just for self-entertainment."
These words are quite unconventional, but Liu Xie's eyes are as if there is Shen Yuan in them, which is awe-inspiring. In the end, it was Chen Chong who smoothed things over and said: "When a son loses his relatives and has no one to rely on, he will naturally feel sad. But what Ajian said was to continue the path for relatives and friends. This is a truth that only an expert like Zhuang Zhou can wake up to! But Educating all peoples cannot be balanced by this."
Liu Xie then gave up and ate alone and unhappy. After the meeting, Yi En said to Chen Chong: "The son of the general is really an extraordinary person. I have also seen swords and wars, but when I saw this child's eyes just now, I was so frightened that I couldn't speak."
Chen Chong didn't say anything, but he was very surprised in his heart. He thought that Liu Xie was only thirteen years old, but he was already so decisive. If he inherited Liu Bei's position in the future, would he still be as tolerant as his father? This made him feel a little pessimistic, and he felt that time was extremely urgent: he was already over forty, and although he was not considered an old man, a new generation was beginning to grow up.
The replacement of the old with the new is a natural law, but one cannot leave any difficulties to future generations. Chen Chong felt anxious because of this, and he was even more eager to win this expedition to the west.
