Chapter 59 A Drama (Seeking Follow-up Reading) At the west gate of Poyang City, the prefect Zhou Qiang drew his sword and attempted to commit suicide in full view of everyone, which frightened all the officials in the surrounding prefectural office. Liao Xing, an official, stared at Huaixu with red eyes, and his trusted men had already placed their hands on the hilts of the swords at their waists, as if they would rather break the law and chop Huaixu into pieces if anything unexpected happened to their own prefect. As if sensing the tense atmosphere at the moment, the warhorse under Huaixu also shook its head from side to side restlessly. In fact, the imperial edict that the envoy of King Wu, Shangshu Lang Huaixu, received from the King of Wu before coming to Poyang was just to rebuke Zhou Cang in public outside the city gate. Huaixu had a bad reputation in Jianye and Wuchang. He was good at pretending to be powerful. The words "The King of Wu would rather raise a pig than a dog" were all improvised by Huaixu himself. At this time, Zhou Cang drew his sword and pretended to commit suicide, which made Huaixu completely panic. According to Huaixu's idea, if he scolded Zhou Cang himself, and Zhou Cang admitted his mistake in public, and he could get a good reputation, then this mission would be over, right? Although Zhou Cang's strategy of false surrender was partly for the sake of state affairs and partly for his own career, it could not conceal his upright and righteous character. Seeing Huaixu's humiliating attitude, Zhou Cang was furious. There is no shortage of people in the world who appear to be powerful but are actually weak, and Huaixu is one of them. Huaixu did not dare to neglect it, and quickly turned over and dismounted, kneeling beside Zhou Cang, hugged Zhou Cang's arm, and shouted anxiously: "Lord Zhou! The King of Wu just wants you to stand up, not to die to apologize!" Zhou Cang knelt on the ground, with his right hand already pulling out the sword from its sheath. Zhou Cang glanced at Huai Xu, and seeing Huai Xu so flustered, he guessed in his heart that Huai Xu's action just now might not be what the King of Wu intended. So Zhou Qian slowly turned his wrist, and the tip of the sword rose from the ground and slowly increased, and the blade slowly scraped across the outer robe on Huaixu's back.
Huaixu felt something passing behind him, and was terrified. He looked around and found that Zhou Cang's trusted people were all glaring at him. Then he looked up at the four knights who followed him to Poyang. But the four knights pretended not to see anything and ignored Huaixu's panic. These four knights were from Sun Quan's guards, and their mission this time was just to escort Huaixu here. Since Huaixu arrived safely, whether he died or not was Zhou Cang's business, so what did it have to do with us? The tip of Zhou Cang's sword had already passed the back of Huaixu's collar, and then Huaixu could not feel anything behind his clothes. It was obvious that Zhou Cang's sword had reached the back of Huaixu's neck. Huaixu quickly let go of Zhou Cang's right arm, knelt down and took a half step back, and bowed to Zhou Cang: "Lord Zhou, please allow me to report that the King of Wu really has no intention of asking you to commit suicide! I hope you take care of yourself and make great achievements soon!" The people surrounding the city gate were all stunned. First, the governor knelt down before the envoy of King Wu, then the governor drew his sword, and then the envoy of King Wu knelt down beside the governor! What kind of game is this? Zhou Qiang saw Huai Xu's panic and understood what was going on, so he stopped pretending and stood up. When Huai Xu saw Zhou Qiang stand up, he was stunned for a long time before he stood up from the ground. Zhou Cang did not hesitate at all. He cut off a section of his hair and stuffed it directly into Huaixu's hand. Zhou Cang looked at Huaixu and said coldly: "Zhou Cang knows that he is guilty. He should be diligent in the king's affairs. I will cut off my hair in lieu of my head. Please ask the messenger to report to the King of Wu for me." Then, Zhou Cang turned around and walked towards the city gate without looking back at Huai Xu. Liao Xing and the people around him also stood up and followed Zhou Cang, leaving Huai Xu alone holding a piece of Zhou Cang's hair in his hand, standing there blankly. Among the crowd around, two spies from Cao Wei also kept this matter in mind and then reported it back to Yangzhou. ...Wei, Tianshui County. Tianshui County is located on the west side of Yongzhou. Together with Longxi County and Nan'an County, it is known as the Three Commanderies of Longyou. It is the location of Cao Wei's important town in Yongliang. In the early years, before Yongzhou was established, Tianshui County also belonged to Liangzhou. As early as the reign of Cao Pi, Cao Wei built Qishan Fort on Qishan Mountain to the south of Tianshui County to guard the end of Qishan Road, an important passage from Hanzhong to the north. This is also the place where Zhuge Liang passed through many times in history. The seat of Tianshui County was in Ji County. At this time, outside Ji County, Jiang Wei and Jiang Boyao were inspecting the horse farm outside the city, checking the reserves of fodder for the military horses. Jiang Wei was not from a poor family. Since the end of the Han Dynasty, the four surnames of Jiang, Yan, Ren, and Zhao in Tianshui County have been the most important surnames in the county, and they almost control all the affairs of the county. Jiang Wei was from the Tianshui Jiang family. His father, Jiang Jiong, died in the Liangzhou Qiang Rebellion several years ago. It was because of that Qiang Rebellion that Cao Pi sent Cao Zhen to supervise Zhang He and other troops to the west, and finally opened up the Silk Road. As a Tianshui family, they would not let Jiang Wei, whose father had died, have no way out. Jiang Wei, who was originally a Shangjiyuan, was transferred to Tianshui and was given the title of Zhonglang because of his father's influence. When Jiang Wei was inspecting the horse farm, a knight came galloping from a distance. Jiang Wei turned around and took a closer look, and found that the man was Shangguan Qi, an official of the county government. Jiang Wei had very good eyesight. Seeing Shangguan Qi galloping from a distance, he thought something must have happened, so he waved his hand to signal the stable officials to continue their work, and walked alone in the direction where Shangguan Qi came from. Shangguan Qi dismounted and smiled as he bowed to Jiang Wei: "Boyue, you are here at the horse farm. I had such a hard time looking for you."
Seeing Shangguan Qi smiling, Jiang Wei also smiled and bowed: "Zixiu, why are you looking for me so urgently? What's the matter with the governor?" Although Shangguan Qi was born in a poor family in the county, he could not be compared with Jiang Wei, who was born in the Jiang family of Ji County. However, since he was a teenager, Jiang Wei treated people equally, regardless of whether they were from a high-class or a poor family, and he also had a good reputation in the county. Jiang Wei treated people of similar age and talent in the county, such as Shangguan Qi, as friends. Shangguan Qi laughed and said, "Of course it's a good thing, otherwise why would I come to find you in person? An official document has been sent from Luoyang to the county, saying that the emperor is rebuilding the Imperial College and wants the prefectures and counties to select scholars from all over the country to go to Luoyang to study at the Imperial College!" "The emperor also said that the Imperial College has been closed for nearly thirty years, and many people who need to go to school have been delayed because of their age. Therefore, anyone under the age of thirty can enter the Imperial College. Those who pass the examination will have other prospects!" "Bo Yue, haven't you always been advocating the teachings of Zheng Xuan, the master of classics? I heard that the great nephew of Zheng Xuan, the master of classics, a great scholar named Zheng Cheng, is a professor at the Imperial College!" Jiang Wei was a little dazed when he heard this. Ever since Jiang Wei could remember, there had been constant wars in Yongliang. Han Sui, Ma Chao, the Qiang Rebellion... One war after another had completely destroyed the academic atmosphere in the border counties. Today the emperor actually rebuilt the Imperial Academy! Jiang Wei hesitated: "Zixiu, is this true or false? Could it be that the Emperor of Luoyang is thinking of us from the border counties again?" (End of this chapter)