Faced with Zhang Rang's abrupt words, Liu Bei didn't feel surprised.
"oh?"
Liu Bei looked at Zhang Rang's calm expression and smiled: "What's unusual?"
"Such a humble background can eventually make you a scholar."
Zhang Rang sighed and said: "Your Majesty grew up in the Marquis Palace. Although he was not rich and powerful, he did not suffer hardships. Therefore, Your Majesty does not understand how much effort it took for you to become a scholar from a mat weaver and shoe seller to the scholar you are today. What's more, Besides, you are only twenty-one years old, and people like you are rare to see in fifty years."
"you know me?"
Liu Bei put away his smile.
"You think I don't understand? If I had your talent, forbearance, and opportunity, why would I abandon this ****, betray my family, and become a despised eunuch?"
Zhang Rang suddenly smiled, a bit sad.
"I come from the same background as you. We don't have a rich family, and we have to struggle hard to have enough food. But I don't have your tenacity, your ruthlessness, your dexterity, and your opportunities, so I can't become you.
The only thing you and I have in common is that we are both unwilling to freeze and starve to death for the rest of our lives. I am not willing to do that! Why can they have plenty of money and wealth, but I can only starve and have no clothes on my body? Why is God so unfair? I can not be reconciled! I will never give in!
In order not to starve to death and not to be bullied by others, I had no other choice but to castrate myself and enter the palace and become an eunuch. Even so, when I first entered the palace, I was still an ant, being bullied and carrying shit and urine for others. , clean the toilet, and even sleep in the toilet.
But it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, as long as I can't die, as long as I'm still alive, I will try my best to climb up! I did it! I've climbed up now! I enjoy glory and wealth that many people can’t even dream of! "
Zhang Rang shed tears as he spoke, as if he wanted to pour out the bitter tears he had accumulated for many years.
However, Liu Bei had no idea about this.
There are too many people suffering in this world, so this is not the reason why you should indulge yourself in amassing money and doing all kinds of evil after you succeed.
And, are we familiar with each other?
Why are you complaining to me?
Is it possible that you expect me to give you a warm hug?
So Liu Bei shook his head.
"So, you are just here for glory and wealth?"
Zhang Rang seemed to be stimulated by Liu Bei's contemptuous expression and became furious.
"Otherwise? What else could I do for? If I didn't work hard to climb up for glory and wealth, what else could I do for? What about you? Aren't you just for glory and wealth?"
"Prosperity and wealth are just incidental. The fundamental thing I want is not here."
"Where is the one you ask for? Tell me!"
Zhang Rang walked up to Liu Bei angrily and glared at him: "Are you noble? Are you great? Have you suffered what I have suffered? Have you ever carried excrement and urine? Have you ever slept in a filthy toilet? Have you eaten there? Food? Have you ever?"
"I sympathize with your personal experience and applaud your endless struggle. I have nothing to say about what you are doing now."
Liu Bei glanced at Zhang Rang and walked directly past him.
"Don't think that you are the only one who suffers the most in the world. There are many people in the world who have endured hardship and suffered for the rest of their lives without ever being able to recover. I have seen many people who are worse off than you, and you are not the least of them."
"But in the end, if I were you, I don't seem to have any better way to change the situation. Therefore, I am not more noble than you, and I don't blame you."
"But at this moment, I hope you can have a clear understanding. We are allies, allies who fight against the scholars together. With me, you can be more targeted and more efficient. Without me, you are blind and can't hit correctly. This place cannot threaten the foundation of scholars."
"Similarly, for me, with you, my methods can better threaten the scholars, but without you, even if I have great abilities, I can't use much strength."
"What is right and what is wrong? As a senior official, Zhang Changshi should be able to distinguish clearly. Let everything in the past pass. The future is what we need to grasp."
"Finally, I wish us happy cooperation, Changshi Zhang."
After saying these words, Liu Bei left the palace without looking back, nor did he look at the expression on Zhang Rang's face at this moment.
He and Zhang Rang have about the same bad family background, have about the same bad childhood, and have about the same bad situation.
But it has to be said that he had a grandfather who was an official, a father who was a petty official, and the clan as his final support. When he grew up, he even got the opportunity to worship Lu Zhi as his teacher.
He is an ordinary person, but his ordinary person may be much better than Zhang Rang's situation of entering the palace as a eunuch.
As long as there is a choice, as long as there is a way to rise, as long as the ruling class is a little gentler to the ruled class, does not attack so harshly, and gives them a little breathing space, who is willing to abandon their descendants and enter the palace to be looked down upon?
It was not Zhang Rang who was wrong.
So who is at fault?
After walking out of the palace and looking up at the gray sky, Liu Bei felt extremely gloomy.
However, no amount of gloomy mood could stop him from moving forward.
Because if we don’t move forward, the School of Modern Literature and the School of Ancient Literature will really converge in some sense.
Originally, the emergence of Zheng Xuan and the popularity of Zheng Xuesuo had greatly accelerated this trend. If this last opportunity was not seized to split them, once the troubled times began, not only would Liu Bei have no future, but the path he envisioned would also be impossible to follow. Went down.
When the war begins and the central government collapses, the last chance to rely on the power of the imperial authority to divide the scholars and severely damage the power of the scholars will be lost. After the advent of pure chaos, the tortured world will pursue order, not struggle.
Liu Bei would not let this kind of thing go unnoticed and miss a good opportunity.
Now that the opportunity is in front of you, why not give it a try?
There is no turning back when the bow is fired. Now that I have hugged Liu Hong's lap, there are some things that I must try.
Beginning in August of the fifth year of Guanghe, some changes occurred within the Han court.
The incident originated from Liu Hong's cool operation.
Twenty-six falsely accused county guards were rewarded, and they will become Yilang and serve in the central government.
Then, the twenty-six county guard positions they left vacant would need to be replaced by other people.
It was not until this time that some belated scholars realized how disgusting the emperor's strategy of retreating in order to advance was.
Liu Hong personally presided over the selection of new candidates for twenty-six county governors, and then selected twenty-six scholars.
None of them are related to Hongdu School, they are all the most orthodox scholars.
Then Liu Hong asked them to pay.
One person has 20 million yuan, come to Xiyuan to pay the money, pay with one hand, and deliver the goods with the other hand. No bargaining, no bullying.
Then you can take office.
How disgusting is this?
The nobler the nobles were, the more they could not bear such blatant insults. It was only natural for them to be officials. The Holy Emperor ruled from the top, and they could be responsible for the specific matters.
To be an official, the court should give them money. When does being an official still require money?
This is a huge shame!
To pay or not to pay?
If you pay money, you can become an official, but your reputation will be bad.
If you don't pay, your reputation will be preserved, but your power will be gone.
What should we do with these two difficult choices?
Just when the scholars were struggling and secretly hating Liu Hong's policies, for some reason, Liu Hong suddenly changed his attitude and let the governors of six counties go, and gave them official seals without asking them to pay. Let them take office.
