Liu Xiu took Xu Qian, Zhang Fei and Tang Yingzi all the way through the county, and rushed back to Zhuo County in just eight days. The three of them were fine, but Tang Yingzi suffered a lot on the horse for eight days, and her whole face was thinner. But despite this, she still did not regret that Liu Xiu was not in Luoyang, and she refused to stay in Luoyang no matter what. It was not entirely because of Zhang Jiao, but she felt that no one could spoil her so except Liu Xiu.

Standing in front of the remaining ashes, Liu Xiu's face was almost dripping. He asked Liu Bei to pick up Aweng and his mother, but Liu Bei brought him a bad news: their family had gone away and the whole yard was burned to white ground. Aweng was not yet, and his whereabouts were unknown. Zhuo Ling Gongsun Zan was caught in a corpse in the fire. Judging from his clothes, it should be his mother Tang.

When Liu Xiu heard the news, his eyes suddenly became dark and he almost fainted. He had no time to ask for leave in the palace, and then said goodbye to Wang Chu, and then took Zhang Fei and others day and night to Zhuo County. Along the way, he was comforting, maybe it was just a dream, but when he saw this ashes, his last glimmer of hope was shattered.

He has lived here for only a few months, which is far less than that of Luoyang. However, he rushed immediately when he heard the news. Although he had planned to never again when he left, he kowtowed three times to his mother, but he never expected that that would be the last time he saw her mother. He originally planned to gain a foothold in Luoyang and took her mother to Luoyang. He also wrote a letter to Aweng, asking him to take her mother away from Zhuo County as soon as he was about to take her mother away.

The result in front of him was unexpected.

Liu Xiu was like an angry lion, flirting back and forth in the fire, hoping to find some clues, but he didn't get it except for being covered in dust. Liu Bei said that Gongsun Zan had brought people to check it out, and if there was still a little left, it should be in Gongsun Zan's hands.

Without saying a word, Liu Xiu went straight to the county temple, rushed to the front of the gate, turned over and dismounted, threw the reins at Zhang Fei, and rushed into the gate of the county temple. The county soldiers guarding the gate were startled and rushed forward to intercept them. Liu Xiu pushed them aside with his hands and rushed into the gate.

The county soldier was pushed hard by him, but he didn't even scream. He rushed to Jian Gu and swung the drumsticks to call the police. Zhang Fei stretched out his hand, snatched the drumsticks from his hand, and shook his head and said, "Don't be nervous, we are Lord Gongsun, I am Zhang Fei of the Zhang family."

When the county soldiers saw that the dusty young man in front of him was indeed the son of Zhang Butcher, a wealthy family in the county, and then he breathed a sigh of relief. Just as they were doing their kung fu, Liu Xiu had already entered the hall, and Gongsun Zan was handling official business. When he saw someone breaking in, his face darkened and he was about to get angry, but it was Liu Xiu who quickly stood up to greet him.

"Bo Gui, is that corpse my mother?" Liu Xiu asked anxiously without hesitation.

"Deran, don't be anxious." Gongsun Zan waved his hand and signaled that all the officials in the hall would retreat. Despite Liu Xiu's opposition, he pulled him to the inner room with force, closed the door, raised his hand to interrupt Liu Xiu's words Deran, sit down and listen to me."

Seeing that he looked strange, Liu Xiu had to sit down patiently. Gongsun Zan asked someone to arrange for Zhang Fei and others to rest, and brought another pot of wine, sat down opposite Liu Xiu, poured a glass of wine for Liu Xiu, and then lowered his voice and said, "I asked you to hurry up, but there are some things that can only be said in front of you."

Liu Xiuyi was shocked?"

Gongsun Zan told him not to hurry, and then he told him what happened. After receiving Li Kui's report, he immediately rushed to Liu Xiu's house when he heard that it was Liu Xiu's house and he found some suspicious points. He had not noticed it at that time, but he just asked someone to investigate the fire and brought the recognizable ones. In fact, most of these except for some bronze and iron tools were useless and could not be found.

Three days later, when he received the Situ Mansion document transferred from the prefect's mansion to ask him to trace the ancestors of the Liu Xiu family, he had a problem.

Liu Yuanqi was not from Zhuo County. He moved from Fan County, Dongjun twenty years ago. The person who issued the documents to allow the relocation was Liu Bei's grandfather Liu Xiong. Gongsun Zan didn't care at first. He heard that Li Ding and Liu Xiong were old, so he mentioned this to him. After hearing that Li Ding also mentioned one thing: Liu Xiong died in Fan Ling's office in Dongjun, and the cause of death was also due to a water departure incident. However, the person who took the water was from the county temple. Liu Xiong became worried and became sick and died within a few days.

Gongsun Zan became interested and rushed to Liu Bei's house. He asked Liu Bei's mother about Liu Xiong's death. It happened two days after signing the official document. The more Gongsun Zan thought about it, the more he felt something was wrong, and sent his confidants to Fan County to verify it. As Li Ding said, Liu Xiong did die in office because of the water flowing in the county temple, and all his household registration files were burned at that time.

Speaking of this, Gongsun Zan stopped talking and stared at Liu Xiu. Liu Xiu held his breath. He savored the meaning of Gongsun Zan after he was silent. It was obvious that there might be some connection between the two incidents of water flow. The identity of his father Liu Yuanqi is also a mystery. Fan County’s archives are gone. Where did he move to Fan County? It is time to move. Now it is impossible to verify. If you want to check, there is only one way, that is, go to Fan County to ask them if there was a person named Liu Yuanqi living here twenty years ago.

But what if Liu Yuanqi didn't call this name? If he changed his name before moving, and the file for the name change was also burned, he used to call it, but now he can't check it. Even if he didn't change his name, it wouldn't be easy to check it. There are too many people with the same name and surname. Over the years, refugees have been everywhere, and there are many people who have household registration and people who can check it clearly.

No matter whether he was originally a local person, his identity was basically certain. Thinking of his going out for several months every year, and this time last year it was not returned for a year, Liu Xiu almost didn't have to doubt that the water departure incident was definitely because he wanted to hide it. The direct reason might be that he would have someone to check his household registration in advance.

So, he might have been in Luoyang the previous part. Since he is in Luoyang, why would he not appear?

Liu Xiu couldn't figure it out.

"I didn't write about this matter in the official document, I just reported an accidental escape. As for your parents' whereabouts, I wrote about it unknown." Gongsun Zan leaned over and patted Liu Xiu's hand. I only told you one person, and no one else knew it, and I didn't even say Xuande. Your reputation in Luoyang was when your career was smooth. If you were affected by this matter, you might never have such a good opportunity in your life."

Liu Xiu was very grateful, of course he was the key point. Not to mention anything else, if Gongsun Zan now confirmed that the body in the fire was his mother, he would have to go home to mourn. The missing word is a very vague word. People are gone, but not dead, so they don’t need to mourn, and there will be no hidden dangers left. When they appear again, they can be explained. In recent years, the situation of refugees is serious, and there are many people who have moved without permission without the consent of the government.

"Take me to see the relics."

Gongsun Zan stood up and took him to the evidence room. Liu Xiu checked it carefully. He didn't see the heavy pillow, so he felt relieved. The pillow didn't seem to be burnt. Even if it was burned, it wouldn't be left with no residue. Since this was not there, there was only one possibility: the fire was set by my father, and he took away my mother and the pillow.

As for the reason he wanted to set fire, Liu Xiu was not sure yet, but he thought that it was just because he could not see anyone, so he simply burned all the fire. What he was strange was that Situ's mansion sent a document to Zhuo County to check his household registration, but he didn't even have any. That's the father?

No matter whether his father and mother were not dead, this was enough for Liu Xiu. As for him, he was the thief who killed people and became more troubled, or the unforgivable fugitive, he didn't care. All he remembered was how the couple cared for and took care of him in the months he woke up. He was their only one. As long as his father was still alive, they would always come to him. It was just that the time had not come.

Since that's the case, I'll just wait.

As soon as he got up, Liu Xiu suddenly felt relieved, but he didn't dare to let Gongsun Zan see the flaws, and he had to pretend to be very sad, and did not give any constructive tips for Gongsun Zan's doubts. Gongsun Zan also realized that when Liu Xiu did not say anything, he stopped mentioning this matter and instead mentioned the current problem in Zhuo County.

In the battle of Ningcheng last year, Liu Xiu and his friends killed Huai Zong in Liangqu Mountain. The Xianbei people were considered a great humiliation and almost never stopped invading Shanggu in the first half of the year. Although Xia Yu and Lu Min went all out, Zhang He, Zhao Yun, who followed Lu Min to take office and the soldiers they brought were also very strong in combat, the results of each battle were still not ideal. The Xianbei people were too fast, and they roared and left, but Lu Min and Xia Yu could not keep up at all.

Under such circumstances, it is certainly impossible for Shanggu to farm. Those refugees were placed in Guangyang and Zhuo County. Having a population was a good thing, but the pressure on food was also very high. Although Zhuo County was not as severe as Luoyang's drought, the harvest was greatly affected. This winter was very difficult, and Gongsun Zan was so anxious that he became angry.

Liu Xiu smiled and comforted him, "Don't worry, my senior brother has already told me about this. I arranged a batch of food transportation, which should have arrived in just a few days. Gongsun Zan was overjoyed when he heard this, and discussed with Liu Xiu anyway to intercept a little bit to save him. Liu Xiu had accepted such a big favor, of course he could not give him any face. He agreed and rushed to the Zhang family, asking the butcher Zhang to help him help him to meet Mao Qin, and asked him to contact Zhumao to help Gongsun Zan solve his urgent needs.

When Butcher Zhang heard that he had been an official in Luoyang, although he did not pay his salary, Liu Xiu was very grateful. He also wanted to help Liu Xiu for his face. As for Mao Qin, Mao Zong had already returned home. He had already funded some food before. However, at that time, he did not expect that Liu Xiu had arranged the food transportation and had reserved some reserves for his family, so the quantity was limited. Now a large amount of food is about to be shipped, so he prepared another batch for Gongsun Zan to deliver.

With their strong support, Gongsun Zan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Liu Xiu was not idle. While sending people to the beach to wait for the cargo ships from Jiaozhou, he discussed with Butcher Zhang and Mao Qin that after the rice arrived, I don’t want these ships to be empty. You see if there are any good ones that can be taken to Luoyang for sale, so hurry up and prepare. Butcher Zhang and Mao Qin were overjoyed and immediately started collecting goods. After thinking about it, they felt that the best things in Youzhou were war horses and marten fur, so they found the big merchant Su Shuang and others. The two sides hit it off and prepared various goods as quickly as possible.

Five days later, ten cargo ships loaded with Jiaozhou rice arrived in Bohai Bay, and Liu Xiu immediately took his men to the beach to pick up the goods. A middle-aged man named Song Liu greeted him. He told Liu Xiu that Song Qi made a lot of money to sell rice in Jiaozhou this time, so he gave Liu Xiu some more bonuses. All of these bonuses were converted into rice and transported to Youzhou together. With his principal, a total of 1.2 million stones of grain were included. In addition, there were some jewelry from Jiaozhou and the barbarian goods brought by Hu merchants. These were followed along the way. The cost of taking the boat was considered the bonus of the navy on the ship.

Liu Xiu and Song Qi must have made a lot of money this time. There are many bribery merchants in Jiaozhou, and jewelry are very cheap. Song Qi has no reason not to make a fortune, otherwise he would not have given him a thousand gold bonus. He didn't ask about these things, and transported 200,000 stones to Zhuo County and handed them over to Gongsun Zan, Mao Qin and others. The remaining one million stones were transferred to a small boat, sold water, and transported to Juyang and Ningcheng in Shanggu. In order to prevent it, he took out the seal of the Shizhong, found the governor of Youzhou, and asked him to send someone to escort the whole process.

It's a coincidence that the current governor of Youzhou was Guo Xun, who was beaten to the point of blueness and swollen eyes by him. When Guo Xun saw him, he was very embarrassed, but looking at his seal, he didn't dare to say much. Although this was illegal, he also said that if the grain was robbed, the governor of Youzhou who had just spent a lot of money would be ruined again.

Lu Min, who was worried about the food, was so happy that his eyebrows were dancing. He took Zhao Yun and Zhang He to Juyongguan to greet Liu Xiu in person. After meeting, everyone was particularly intimate. Xie Guanglong, the former Juyongguan commander, had been transferred to Xia Yu, Ningcheng because of his meritorious battles. Zhao Yi took over as Guan Commander, which was also promoted. People were happy when they were happy, and they had a few drinks when they were drunk. After years of separation, they naturally had to drink some hard. Zhang He found an opportunity to pull Liu Xiu aside and sincerely expressed his gratitude. He had just received the news that his cousin Zhang Chao had been released as the prefect of Yongchang and officially entered the ranks of 2,000 stones, which was the first 2,000 stones in the Zhang family in Hejian in the past few decades.

Liu Xiu smiled and said with a humble smile that it is because your colleague is capable, it has nothing to do with me. Yes, your ability is no less than that of him. Follow my senior brother well and you will definitely achieve 2,000 stones in the future."

Zhang He was very grateful and thanked him again.

After the banquet, Liu Xiu and Lu Min lie on the battlements of Juyongguan, looking at the rolling mountains and the cold mountain breeze, but they didn't feel cold at all. Lu Min was a little excited. He patted Liu Xiu's shoulder hard, Deran, I can do what I have today, all because of you."

Liu Xiu quickly became modest.

Lu Min continued to say on his own, I can get an official because of your words, "The Emperor's Son; I can sit firmly in the position of Juyang Prefect because of the two generals you recommended Zhang He and Zhao Yun, and the Wuhuan people from Baishan, and the Wuhuan people from Baishan, you gave the credit for killing Huai Zong to Lou Lu, and successfully divided the Wuhuan and Xianbei people in Shanggu. Now, the old guy from Nanlou is very obedient. He dares not be perfunctory when he needs many soldiers and soldiers. Otherwise, without the support of the Han people, he will become the target of Tan Shihuai's revenge first; the last thing is of course this million stone of grain. To be honest, I didn't expect you to get one million stone of grain, half of it, I thank God. I never thought you really did it.

Liu Xiu laughed, I didn’t give it for nothing, it all costs money, I’m also doing business.

Lu Min also laughed loudly. As long as he could solve his problem, he didn't care whether Liu Xiu was doing business or not. He couldn't let Liu Xiu give him food for nothing. Lu Min immediately asked about Liu Xiu's family. Liu Xiu said lightly that it was an accident that he had gone to Luoyang to find him. He was not at home at that time, so there was no loss. Lu Min was relieved after hearing this.

Lu Min finally mentioned the war in the northern border. Xia Yu was very angry by the Xianbei people. He wrote a letter to ask the court to send troops to attack the Xianbei, but he did not reply after he came to the Taiwei Mansion. Now Xia Yu is very unhappy. He seems to underestimate the enemy. Should you go to Ningcheng?

Liu Xiu knew this more than Lu Min. He had no choice but to rush to Ningcheng directly.

Seeing Liu Xiu and his escort, Xia Yu finally saw some smiles on his face, but when he mentioned the war in the northern border, his good mood disappeared. This year, he was bullied by Tan Shihuai, and the Xianbei people didn't go anywhere. They always came to Shanggu, especially his Ningcheng, and fought every month. Not only did the Xianbei people come, but the Dou family also came every time. Fortunately, they attracted the lesson from the last time and never siege the city. Every time they either attacked quickly or ran away with a fight, or they wanted to lure Xia Yu out of the city to fight in the field.

But this made Xia Yu even more angry.

"What's the matter with the imperial court? He made Zhang Huan the Grand Marshal. He read too much and wanted to caress him at any time. He said beautifully, but he was useful in Luoyang. If he didn't come here to caress him?" Xia Yu said sarcastically that he had not been in the northern border. Isn't he a good man in Xianbei?"

Liu Xiu smiled bitterly and told the situation in Luoyang. This year, it has been drought for nearly a year and the grain has not been harvested. People in Luoyang have begun to escape from famine. The emperor has to borrow money from others. How can they still have money to fight? The reward for the last victory in Ningcheng was the emperor's private money. You are not? Nothing is a lot of words on Wuxia.com. If there is not enough food, would you dare to go out to the frontier? After winning the battle, there is no reward, will your subordinates agree?

Xia Yu said calmly and a little annoyed, "I am still a lieutenant protecting the Wuhuan Captain?"

"Don't be anxious, you're trying to solve the problem." Liu Xiu comforted you and said, "Don't worry. As long as you straighten out the relationship between Luoyang, the natural disasters in recent years have been alleviated and with a certain amount of reserves, the emperor will definitely let you send troops. In order to let Zhang Huan be the Grand Marshal, instead of Duan Gong being the Grand Marshal, it is because he has no strength to fight now. Even if Duan Gong is the Grand Marshal, he can't fight empty-handed, right? When he fought against Dongqiang, Emperor Xiaohuan prepared enough money for him to take action.

Xia Yu sighed for a long time before he sighed deeply these aristocratic families were moral gentlemen on the surface, but in fact they were more hateful than eunuchs."

Liu Xiu smiled and said, "No, no, no, the emperor is still young and has courage. Now the situation in Luoyang is getting better step by step. It should be in a few years before you can sweep the north of Mobei."

Xia Yu forced a smile, but he was not happy because of Liu Xiu's comfort. He was worried and sighed, nor was he unhappy when he could not start a war for the time being, but he still felt that there was little chance of realizing the beautiful vision portrayed by Liu Xiu.

After appeased Xia Yu, Liu Xiu returned to Juyang. All the things he should have done were done, and he was not in a hurry to return to Luoyang. In fact, he felt that it might be better to leave Luoyang. First, he needed to consider which direction he would go next, and second, he also wanted to see what situation in Luoyang would develop. He had done everything he could, and it seemed that the effect was not yet available, but his biggest question had not been resolved. He wanted to see if the emperor was a kind of person.

In this autocratic era, although the emperor could not manage the country alone, it was easy for him to destroy it. Just like in a dangerous environment, it was naturally not easy for a person to survive, but it was simple for him to commit suicide. He could not do without scholars. Without the help of scholars, he could not manage such a huge empire just by relying on those eunuchs, but he still initiated the party and bribery. If the last time it was because he was still young and had no interests, then now he has grown up and has the ability to judge right and wrong. Can he control his emotions when facing the surging civil conventions of scholars?

From Liu Xiu's perspective, he did not want to turn scholars into obedience to the people. On the contrary, he felt that scholars should have the awareness and ability to criticize. Intellectuals with independent thinking ability are the hope of the nation. If every intellectual becomes a vocal worm of the government and a royal literati who whitewas the peace, that would be sad. Liu Xiu only opposed the scholars' criticism out of righteous indignation or irrationality, and such criticism had no positive significance.

The purpose of publishing the Ta Kung Pao is to put the criticism of scholars on the surface, so that they can calm down in front of black and white, and not speak irresponsibly. There are two consequences for doing this. One is that the Ta Kung Pao becomes the mouthpiece of the emperor, which will lose the meaning of publishing the newspaper, and the other is to insist on being a position for public opinion expression. Liu Xiu asked Lu Zhi as the chief writer of the Tai Kung Pao to hope that there would be a second result, but he knew that this second path would sooner or later conflict with the emperor.

At that time, the emperor's attitude is very important. Whether he can tolerate different voices, whether he can accept criticism rationally, or even tolerate scholars at a certain level determines to a certain extent which direction Liu Xiu will take next.

Mencius said that the people are more important than the king, and the country is second. Although Zhao Qi, who had a very deep study of Mencius, said that this sentence was not what Liu Xiu understood, Liu Xiu did not care what Mencius said, and he only did what he thought.

If this emperor is not qualified, then change it.

It is by】.!!!
Chapter completed!