Chapter 220 Xingyang
After an autumn rain, Xingyang suddenly became cold.
But the lives of ordinary people are even colder.
Due to successive years of war, Xingyang was located close to the capital. Not only was money and food severely plundered, but the people were also heavily enslaved and suffered terribly.
Under this ruin, a Buddhist temple was quietly built in the suburbs of Xingyang.
When the late emperor was in power, there were 180 Buddhist temples and 3,700 monks and nuns in the country. As the war deepened, the number of Buddhist temples increased. Even powerful nobles funded the construction of Buddhist temples.
There is no other reason. The theories of the immortal soul, karma, rebirth, reincarnation, and heaven and hell preached by monks and nuns are so attractive. They are more brilliant and more powerful than the Taoist saying of "rising to heaven in the daytime and living forever in the world". It's easy for people to believe - or to be willing to believe.
"The Buddha is a Rong god, how can we worship it?" Someone said loudly outside the jungle called Sanjie Temple.
The people who were queuing up to enter the temple stared at him angrily.
The monk smiled and said nothing, and even ran over to ask them if they wanted to drink water.
This person turned around and walked away, came to another person, and said: "Uncle, there are many Rong gods among the people, and the monks and nuns are not working. If things continue like this, there may be disaster."
"Uncle" comforted him first. He paused, then sighed and said: "The world is difficult. If the hardships were not extreme, how could the people worship the Rong God?"
"This..." The young man was speechless.
"Uncle" is named Li Ju, who is from Pingyang.
After Pingyang was captured by the Xiongnu, he took a group of people away from his hometown and just settled in Xingyang, preparing to live in Chengwu and support himself.
Recently, they have even taken over the "business" of the Taifu shogunate, helping to repair river canals to facilitate water transportation - basically all the Wubao built by the refugees on both sides of the Yellow River have received business from the shogunate.
"If the Grand Tutor wants to use troops against Hebei, will we be needed?" Nephew Guo Song said with some longing.
He is still young and full of enthusiasm. He always wants to make contributions to the court and shine on his family.
"Taifu..." Li Ju sighed softly and said: "Taifu frequently mobilizes troops and generals. If you really want to pacify the Xiongnu, I will risk my life and fight for him. . What a pity!”
“What’s a pity?” someone nearby couldn’t help but ask.
"The Taifu wanted to attack again, but he was hesitant and undecided." Li Ju said: "Wang Cheqi stationed in Dongyan, and Pei Yuzhou held Baima. He said he wanted to support Ji, Wei, Dunqiu and other counties, but in my opinion In other words, even if Wang Mi and Shi Le conquer these counties, they will not necessarily cross the river to support them, but they are actually just preventing the thieves from crossing the river and preventing them from entering Henan."
Li Ju. Such a basin of cold water was thrown at them, and everyone was speechless.
Everyone abandoned their family business and traveled far away, didn’t they just hope that the imperial court would lead them back? The Tutor intends to attack the Xiongnu in the north, and everyone is happy. But you tell me this is false?
“What I said may not be true.” Seeing everyone’s dejected looks, Li Ju encouraged: “Perhaps the Taifu was roasted on the fire and can’t get off the stage? The general trend forced him to He has no choice but to send troops."
Everyone's mood brightened a little. But I am not very happy either. I am forced to send troops. Can I fight a good war? In case of defeat, will you still be willing to send troops later?
No one knows.
From the river bank not far away, there were bursts of neat and rhythmic shouts: "Brother is in the city and brother is outside, the bow has no string, the arrow has no bracket..."
Tracker They struggled to pull the boat and transport a batch of grain from Yangzhou to the dock.
Li Ju looked at these people in fascination.
In fact, he had dealt with trackers. Recently, the trackers in Hanoi, Xingyang and Chenliu counties have been restless and clamoring to join the Silver Spear Army.
Li Ju had also heard about the reputation of the Silver Spear Army. He even knew that the Silver Spear Army usually only recruits troops at the end of the year. Why did it come earlier this year?
A total of 1,200 coolies and trackers were recruited.
Those who were not chosen sighed sadly, as if they had missed a golden opportunity.
If we continue like this, there will not be enough people pulling fiber on the river - in fact, there are not enough people anymore. In the past few years, there have been too many clumsy new trackers and coolies, which made the captain of Du Branch scold him. non-stop.
Silver Gun Army!
Li Ju rubbed his chin. With his current status, he was not qualified to make friends with Marquis Lu Yang.
I heard that he is the most brave general under Taifu, but I don’t know if he will be ordered to go north.
*****
At the end of August, Sima Yue arrived in Xingyang.
Everyone from the shogunate also came over, and the first thing they did was to rob the house.
No kidding, it's true.
The location of the shogunate has been chosen. The prefect Pei Chun dedicated a newly built manor to serve as Sima Yue's residence and the place where the shogunate held office and affairs.
But others don’t have this face.
Zuo Changshi Liu Yu acted the fastest. He bought a house in the city at a low price and moved in grandly.
The Right Sima Pan Tao won the second best house in the city, and the chief secretary Guo Xiang had no choice but to settle for the second best and win the second best house. For this reason, he and Pan Tao got into trouble.
Another bookkeeper, Bian Dun, also lived in the city.
He is new this year. He is from the Bian family in Jiyin. He was previously a minister in the court.
Xunkai (Xun family from Yingchuan), Wang Cheng (Wang family from Taiyuan), Luqiuchong (Luqiu family from Gaoping), Ruan Zhan (Chenliu Ruan family), Jiang Yu (Jiang family from Tianshui), Zhong Ya (Yingchuan Zhongshi)...
These people are looking for houses in and outside the city.
If you really can’t find one in the city, you’ll find a small village outside and live in a country house.
The conditions were really difficult. For a while, there were not even any cooks to cook, and everyone was complaining.
After Sima Yue had lunch, he took a stroll in the company of Liu Yu, Guo Xiang, Yu Zhi, Wang, Pan Tao, Wang Xuan and others. The autumn scenery in Xingyang is quite beautiful.
The white clouds are lingering, the fields are golden, the breeze blows, and the fallen leaves are colorful.
The staff were chatting and laughing, and some even suggested reciting poems and composing poems.
Sima Yue laughed twice and then frowned.
From this gorgeous autumn scene, he actually smelled the smell of endless winter.
He knows that this is his state of mind affecting him, but isn't this true? The speed of his body's decline was beyond his expectation, and he doubted how long he could last.
It doesn't matter if he dies, but the prince is only thirteen years old. How should he face this messy world? Can he inherit the huge power under his hands?
Perhaps, it is time to find an opportunity for the prince to open a palace and recruit a group of scholars as his staff to assist him wholeheartedly.
Find another opportunity to speak to He Lun, Wang Bing, Wang Cheng, Liu Qia and others and explain what will happen next.
But this is not enough, this is not enough...
Sima Yue thought of two people: Mi Huang and Shao Xun.
Mi Huang was deliberately alienated by himself, but he stuck to himself and was a man of integrity. Maybe he could be given another chance.
Shao Xun, Sima Yue felt awkward no matter what he thought.
This person, even if he pretends that nothing happened before, and even if he tries to win over her, he probably won’t really obey.
This is an immature wolf cub, let him be destroyed.
“Zisong.” Sima Yue waved.
Yu Zhi, who was chatting and laughing with Guo Xiang, immediately stepped forward: "Taifu?"
Others also stopped and paid attention to the conversation between the two.
"Your niece..."
Yu Zhi was startled when he heard this, and said quickly: "There are just rumors, but I haven't seen anyone applying for the job so far."
Sima Yue's expression was not very good. Well, Yu Zhi was a little scared when he saw it, and subconsciously defended himself.
Sima Yue snorted coldly and said, "Can such a thing be faked?"
With this rumor, it explains a lot of things, and the Yu family did not come out to clarify. If Shao Xun breaks the contract in the future, the Yu family will definitely be on the same level as him - is this kind of thing a joke?
He could probably guess the reason why Shao Xun got married to the Yingchuan Yu family.
Yu Wenjun's uncle, Yu Min, was a minister, which was equivalent to a nameless prime minister. If this was nothing, he had been the Zhongzheng of Yingchuan County for many years, and he did not know how many scholars he had commented on.
What is this? This is a favor, a favor saved in your hands!
The greater the achievements of the scholars and officials he commented on, the more benefits Yu Min will gain.
In a place like Yingchuan where aristocratic families gather together, you can imagine how many favors Yu Min has in his hands.
Compared with this brother, Yu Zhi is so different!
Yu Wenjun's father, Yu Chen, was the governor of Jijun. He was one of the few governors north of the river who could defend his territory, and his ability was quite good. It is not impossible to go up in the future, if he can find a way.
Although the Yu family is not as good as those of the great clans, it should not be underestimated.
Shao Xun was married to him. He had connections in the DPRK and the Yingchuan area. His ambitions were indeed not small.
"Taifu..." Yu Zhi looked at Sima Yue with some fear.
Sima Yue glanced at him coldly, ignored him, and called Wang over. After taking a few steps away from Yu Zhi, he whispered: "In the past two days, you can take the time to go to Baima. ..."
The king nodded repeatedly and respectfully agreed.
Wang Xuan stood at the back, looking at Yu Zhi who looked ashen, and then looked at Wang who looked happy, thoughtfully.
He was recruited as a government official after Mi Zhi, the son of Mi Huang, the captain of Sili School, left the government.
He was an official in Chenliu County and was not very willing to come, but his father (Wang Yan) wrote a letter asking him to go directly to take up the post, so he came here.
I felt a little regretful after I arrived.
This shogunate was so lifeless that it made him very uncomfortable.
They are divided into several factions. Some people spend their days traveling around the mountains and rivers and living wildly. Some people specialize in searching for property. Some people work but are intrigues. Some people simply have ulterior motives and are not sincere. Serve the Taifu.
This shogunate can certainly make money and official positions, but these are meaningless to him. On the contrary, it was the disharmonious atmosphere among his colleagues that made him particularly uncomfortable.
The Yu Zhi in front of me was once very much admired by the Taifu, but because of the incident of Marquis Lu Yang, he was regarded with suspicion and neglect. The Taifu was so narrow-minded! Isn't this pushing people away?
As for the king, he is a villain, but he is still extremely favored.
You can easily guess what the Taifu wants from him, and it is probably related to Marquis Lu Yang.
Wang Xuan thought for a while and felt that it would be better to tell his father some things.
This old man has become very close to Shao Xun recently.
(End of this chapter)