Chapter 63: Lu Zhi's Disaster Lu Zhi studied under the late Grand Commandant Chen Qiu and the great scholar Ma Rong. There is no need to explain the former, but Ma Rong is the great-grandson of General Ma Yuan, the Fubo General, and the son of Ma Yan, the master craftsman. Unlike Ma Teng, who was from a poor family, Ma Rong received a good education since childhood. Ma Rong's elder brother Ma Xu was a disciple of the great talent Ban Zhao, and his family had close ties with many aristocratic families. Ban Zhao was hailed as "the most talented woman in the world". She was the first female historian, as well as a writer, politician, mathematician, and astronomer. She once continued to write the "Book of Han". Her two elder brothers were Ban Chao and Ban Gu, and all three siblings were heroes. Ma Rong had three thousand disciples, and his students and former officials were spread all over the world, but he just looked at Lu Zhi, who had a high moral character, with a different eye. With such a profound background, it is clear how valuable Lu Zhi was, and this was also one of the important reasons why Tian Ze came to study under him. Moreover, throughout the late Eastern Han Dynasty, those who were better at fighting than Lu Zhi were mostly not as educated as him, and those who were more educated than him were mostly not as good at fighting as him. Relying on his own academic attainments, he created the Fanyang Lu family, which has been passed down for thousands of years and has been prosperous. Lu Zhi had a large collection of books, including various Confucian classics, as well as some military books.
At this time, Tian Ze came to this teacher to ask for military books. Being recommended as the commander-in-chief at this critical moment, Lu Zhi's ability to lead troops is beyond doubt. Although Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun made many military achievements, Lu Zhi seemed to be slightly inferior. But what Lu Zhi was facing was the elite Yellow Turban Army led by the three brothers Zhang Jiao, who were the absolute backbone of the army. The difficulty of combat between the two sides was incomparable. Even so, Lu Zhi was still able to fight Zhang Jue without any pressure, which shows his ability to command troops. Behind this, there are a large number of inherited military books as accumulation. The shameless Tian Ze went to see his teacher with a smug look on his face, and brought some of Tian's treasured Confucian classics. Lu Zhi, who was of a free and easy temperament, knew the character of his best disciple: he was kind and free and easy but also a little petty, indifferent by nature but also pragmatic and profit-oriented, knowledgeable but also slow-witted and taciturn. However, the merits outweigh the flaws, and these did not hinder his admiration for Tian Ze, so he agreed directly. "The Art of War" "Wu Zi" "Sima Fa"... Moreover, the densely packed experience and annotations on it made Tian Ze ecstatic. At the same time, he felt more respect and gratitude towards Lu Zhi. He could not help but kneel down and bow respectfully. He was well aware of the monopoly and emphasis on knowledge in this era. Even between teachers and students, it was rare for them to teach each other books, let alone Lu Zhi who was almost unreserved. "These things are of little use to me. You can do with them as you please after copying them. If you can stabilize the border defense and prevent the people living in the border areas from suffering from the barbarians, it will be considered that you have lived up to your teacher's expectations of you." Lu Zhi said earnestly. He was also aware of the situation in the world, but given his character, he was unwilling to do anything other than admonish the emperor and put out fires everywhere. "Master Lu is righteous! Ze Ding has devoted all his efforts to protecting the people living in the border areas." …… The tree wants to be calm and the wind does not stop. Just as Lu Zhi led his troops to surround Guangzong City and was busy manufacturing siege equipment in preparation for launching a siege, Zuo Feng, who came to inspect on the orders of the emperor, arrived. As the Xiaohuangmen, Zuo Feng was a close minister of the emperor and was deeply favored by him.
Tian Ze knew that his mentor would be falsely accused and dismissed from his post for refusing to bribe Zuo Feng, but he did not remind Lu Zhi. He knew very well what kind of character his mentor had. He was upright and incorruptible. Even if he reminded him, his mentor would never bribe him. Zuo Feng, wearing a wide robe and with a thin face, walked into the tent with an arrogant attitude, with a lingering gloom in his eyes. "Lu Zhi, greetings to the angel!" Lu Zhi bowed respectfully. "Lang Lu, please stand up quickly." The two men looked calm while greeting each other, and the atmosphere seemed very harmonious. Zuo Feng, as an angel, that is, the emperor's messenger, symbolizes the emperor's majesty and sits directly on the main throne. Tian Ze watched this scene from afar, feeling mixed emotions. He can understand the current emperor Liu Hong very well. Since childhood, the government has been controlled by Empress Dowager Dou and her relatives. When he finally took power, he found that the court was full of ministers from aristocratic families who talked about benevolence and morality but were actually fighting for power. As an emperor, he naturally wanted to do something. He killed the powerful eunuchs Hou Lan and Wang Fu, engraved the "Xiping Stone Classics", and founded the "Hongdumen School". But gradually, he discovered that most of the ministers in the court came from aristocratic families, formed cliques for personal gain, clung to each other, pretended to obey their superiors but actually disobeyed them, suppressed the poor and had the intention of threatening the imperial authority and monopolizing power. Although there were some loyal ministers in the court, Liu Hong could no longer trust them. He was not sure whether these people were loyal to their family, the country or the monarch. Moreover, even if they are loyal to themselves, given their status and position, they can easily be exploited by the aristocratic families, and there are many cases where loyal ministers do bad things. At this time, he was quite similar to Chongzhen of later generations. But Liu Hong was smarter than Chongzhen. He knew who his enemies were and who he could rely on. In order to consolidate the imperial power, he did not hesitate to use the relatives and eunuchs whom he once hated to compete with the court officials. He even started the "Party and Faction Persecution" again and sold official positions and titles. He was determined not to bow to the powerful families. Tian Ze understood this approach very well. If he were in their shoes, he would probably find it difficult to do better. Because Liu Hong knew very well the crux of the Han Dynasty's current problems, he could only support another force to counter the powerful families. Although this force was bad, he had no choice. Now, because of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, he was forced to compromise, lift the party ban, and allow the powerful to grow stronger. Liu Hong must be very angry. Liu Hong was quite wary of his teacher Lu Zhi, as well as Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, the three candidates who were recommended by the aristocratic families to suppress the rebellion. Needless to say, Huangfu Song was a typical pawn of the aristocratic family. Although he was capable and loyal, he wanted to leave a good reputation for generations and was loyal to the court, not the emperor. Although Lu Zhi and Zhu Jun each had their own camps, they also had close ties with the aristocratic families. Even if they have no selfish motives, their actions have become a knife in the hands of the aristocratic families, gradually undermining the majesty of imperial power. The only people Liu Hong could use were eunuchs, so this kind of thing of supervising the army on the battlefield had to happen. But from Tian Ze's perspective, watching these eunuchs' lawless and wanton behavior is really infuriating. After Lu Zhi and Zuo Feng sat down, their conversation was quite harmonious at first. However, after Zuo Feng hinted many times and even openly demanded a bribe, and Lu Zhi still refused to express his opinion, Zuo Feng's face suddenly turned gloomy, and he turned around and prepared to leave the tent. Lu Zhi had no intention of compromising and let him leave. Seeing this, Tian Ze sighed softly and glanced at the person outside the door. Zuo Feng, who was angry and humiliated, had no intention of staying and immediately prepared to return to Luoyang.
However, halfway through the journey, he was stopped by someone. "Angel, wait!" A young man dressed in ordinary soldier's attire stood in front of him and said with a bow. "Who are you to block the angel's path? Come here!" Zuo Feng was very angry at this time and immediately asked the guards to take him down. "Angel, I am the nephew of Zhao Bao, the governor of Liaoxi!" Seeing that the situation was not good, Zhao Lin quickly lowered his voice and shouted. The guards did not stop at all. They were used to Zuo Feng's domineering behavior, and they did not take the nephew of a prefect seriously. However, Zuo Feng suddenly thought of something and quickly said, "Stop." Who is Zhao Bao? The younger brother of Zhao Zhong, the second of the Ten Attendants! Zuo Feng took a quick look at the man in front of him and saw that he really looked a bit similar. The anger on his face instantly turned into a smile. He stepped forward, stroked his hand, and said with a smile: "Forgive me for my poor eyesight. I'm sorry for scaring you." Then he angrily shouted at the guards: "You blind people, why don't you apologize to me right away!" Although the guards didn't understand why, they realized that this was an important person and apologized hurriedly. Zhao Lin calmly pulled Zuo Feng's sleeve and put a heavy bag of gold into it, and whispered: "Brother, can you stay for a while today? My current status does not allow me to communicate with you more. I have something important to discuss with you in the evening." Feeling the heavy weight in his sleeves, Zuo Feng thought nothing more and said with a smile: "Thank you, my dear brother. I will be waiting for you tonight." Afterwards, Zhao Lin bowed deeply, turned around and left in a hurry. Zuo Feng looked at Zhao Lin's back as he left, gently put his hand into his sleeve, squeezed the bag, and a look of satisfaction appeared on his face. As an angel, he was not worried about Zhao Lin's ill intentions, nor did he suspect that he was lying. Otherwise, with the eunuchs' current status as the most powerful, it would be easy to wipe out all three of his clans. That night, Zhao Lin came with a pile of heavy boxes and divided them into two piles. After a few brief greetings, Zhao Lin casually opened two of the boxes, only to find that they were filled with silks, satins, pearls and agates. "Brother, what do you mean?" Zuo Feng's eyes lit up instantly, full of greed. Zhao Lin pointed to one of the boxes and said, "Brother, this is what my uncle asked me to deliver to Uncle Zhao Zhong. Due to urgent military duties, I really can't leave, so I hope you can help me." Then he pointed to another pile of boxes and said with a smile: "This is a little gift from me to you. The journey is long, so it will be convenient for you. I hope you won't refuse it." Zuo Feng heard this and pretended to decline, saying, "My dear brother, I am too embarrassed. It is my honor to serve Mr. Zhao. How dare I let you spend money?" Zhao Lin said quickly, "Brother, please don't do this. My uncle often told me that you are a sincere and trustworthy person. I am very grateful that you can help me in the midst of war. This little thing is nothing. It is not even a tenth of your kindness. Please help me." After saying this, he bowed deeply again. Zuo Feng was deeply moved when he heard this, so he just went with the flow and accepted it. "Brother, do you have anything else to tell me?" Zhao Lin said respectfully, "Brother, I now serve under Lu Zhonglang. Since the campaign against the Yellow Turbans, Lu Zhonglang has faced the most elite Yellow Turban main force and won battle after battle. Now he has even forced the bandits into a desperate situation. He is truly a pillar of the country. I have benefited a lot from this."
"I hope you can tell my uncle that although Guangzong City has high walls and many bandits, Lu Zhonglang is a famous general of the time. It won't take long for him to capture Guangzong and take down Zhang Jue and his men." "I will go to visit uncle as soon as possible. I hope you can rest assured." Zuo Feng understood what he said and smiled, "This matter is simple. I will definitely convey your original words to you." "Thank you, brother!" On the second day, Zuo Feng inspected the military camp and looked at the situation in Guangzong City from afar. In the face of Lu Zhi's puzzled eyes, Zuo Feng praised Lu Zhi and his generals highly, and then returned to the court to report. Tian Ze looked at Zuo Feng's back, his brows furrowed, his mood very complicated. After a long moment, he sighed heavily. "In this world, it seems like everything you do is wrong." (End of this chapter)