The climate in the Eastern Han Dynasty at this time was excellent. Although Luoyang was in the north, it was still warm. The sun shone down, warm and very pleasant.
The streets of Luoyang were bustling. Except for the imperial road in the center, which no one dared to walk on, the streets on both sides were packed with people. Ox carts carrying goods, officials' carriages, shops along the street, and street vendors showcased the prosperity of the Han Dynasty's capital to the fullest.
With the new emperor taking office, a general amnesty was granted, and all kinds of shops were decorated festively. Although there was a short period of chaos earlier, the people in Luoyang city recovered extremely quickly, and now there are no traces left.
Fei Qian and Uncle Fu had just taken their leave from the family head, Fei Min, and were preparing to go home. Fei Qian was only an official in the reserves at this time, so he had no retinue and naturally had to walk.
Although the transaction was completed and Fei Qian had achieved his goal, he still felt very uncomfortable. This feeling of being manipulated was extremely unpleasant.
It was still because he was too insignificant.
No reputation.
No connections.
No foundation.
"Mount Bei Mang..." Fei Qian muttered softly, "Perhaps I can take a bit of a risk and try to snatch a chestnut from the fire? Oh, right, Uncle Fu, let's detour and go see the Jiaomao Gate."
Upon learning that the family's collection of books was going to be "temporarily stored" by the main family, Uncle Fu was also very unwilling, but there was nothing else he could do. However, he didn't say a single word of blame to Fei Qian, only saying that he was sorry to Fei Qian's deceased parents and that he had failed to look after the family well. He secretly wiped away tears several times following behind Fei Qian along the way.
Hearing Fei Qian speak, the uneasy Uncle Fu didn't hear him at all and almost bumped into someone. "Ah? What did Young Master say? Jiaomao Gate? That's where the mansions of the Grand General, the Three Dukes, and other noblemen are. What are we going there for?"
Luoyang in the Eastern Han Dynasty, having been founded as the capital by Liu Xiu and constantly repaired by successive emperors, had become a very large city. The Eastern Han Luoyang city was "six li and eleven steps east-west, nine li and one hundred steps north-south," and was called the "Nine-Six" city. It had a vast area and a dense population, divided into 12 city gates: 4 on the south wall, 2 on the north wall, and 3 on both the east and west walls. Many aristocratic families lived within Buguang Lane and Yonghe Lane inside the Shangdong Gate, which was close to the eastern main road. This was because it was both convenient for transportation and close to the imperial Northern Palace.
And north of the Southeast Jiaomao Gate, a special area was designated as the residences for the Grand General, the Grand Commandant, the Minister of Works, and the Minister of the Masses, in order to display their prominent status.
Fei Qian had just come out of Yonghe Lane, where the head of the Fei Family resided, and was originally supposed to return to his residence on Yongmen Street. But now, Fei Qian was thinking of turning southeast to take a look at the Grand General's mansion.
Fei Qian's impression was that He Jin was tricked into the palace by the eunuchs and killed, after which a series of events occurred. Therefore, to time things correctly, he needed to understand the current situation of Grand General He Jin.
Fortunately, the Han Dynasty did not have the perverse hierarchical system of the Qing Dynasty. As long as commoners didn't cause trouble or linger within three hundred paces of a mansion gate, no one would bother them, so there was no problem with looking from a distance.
Before Dong Zhuo went mad and destroyed it, Luoyang in the Han Dynasty could be called the second largest city in the world, and probably no one would dare to claim to be the first. It had a dense population, prosperous commercial trade, and a flourishing culture, while the Xiongnu barbarians were still herding sheep, and the Romans in Europe paving stone roads still amazed the unsophisticated European natives who had never seen anything like it.
Thanks to a rogue policy of Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty, which was to "cut down the big households" from time to time. Liu Bang of the Han Dynasty solved the problem of local powerful families in this way: he would periodically have the prefects of various places report some local powerful families that were difficult to manage, and then enthusiastically invite these powerful families who were on the blacklist to live in the capital. At the same time, he would let them change from a rural bumpkin household registration to a glorious and high-class capital household registration. Thus, these local powerful families came to the capital with mixed feelings of happiness and sadness, contributing to the prosperity and development of the capital. Through continuous accumulation over successive dynasties, it is no exaggeration to say that the capital Luoyang at that time gathered the wealth of the world.
And such a prosperous capital, which could be considered the best in the world at that time, was about to be destroyed by a military man...
Does practicing martial arts too much make muscles grow into the brain easily?
Fei Qian thought maliciously as he walked. Before the Han Dynasty, Xiang Yu, who had the strength to lift a tripod, had a brain cramp and burned the Epang Palace. Now, Dong Zhuo, whose brain was about to be filled with water, was going to burn Luoyang city...
And it seems that among the top ten in martial strength in the Three Kingdoms, quite a few had their brain capacity squeezed by muscles in the end—Lu Bu's Bingzhou Wolf Cavalry could be considered top-notch cavalry at that time, and there were Chen Gong and Zhang Liao, as well as Gao Shun's Camp Breakers. They were truly top-tier cavalry, top-tier infantry, plus a lack of first-rate strategists and generals, but he ended up playing himself to death at Baimentai...
And Guan Yu, I'm not criticizing Saint Guan, but where did he read the Spring and Autumn Annals every day? Sima Qian of the Western Han Dynasty highly praised the "Spring and Autumn Annals": "The Spring and Autumn Annals, above clarifies the way of the Three Kings, below distinguishes the principles of human affairs, distinguishes doubts, clarifies right and wrong, settles hesitation, praises good and condemns evil, honors the worthy and despises the unworthy, preserves fallen states, continues broken lineages, repairs the damaged and revives the discarded, it is the great way of kingship." Guan Yu read such an awesome book every day for at least ten or twenty years, if not decades. Where did he learn from it? He was still careless, or strictly speaking, arrogant, which led to the loss of Jingzhou. If Liu Bei had not been limited by the material resources of Yizhou in the later period, the final pattern of the Three Kingdoms would really be hard to say...
Zhao Yun is an exception—however, historically, Zhao Yun mostly went on campaigns with the army, at most leading a single division, and would hand over military power upon return. Besides commanding Jiangzhou, it seems he was never sent out to be in charge independently, not even as well as Wei Yan. At least that so-called "rebellious bone" person could independently guard Hanzhong for a long time. Why did Zhao Yun only guard Jiangzhou during the honeymoon period between Shu and Wu? Was Zhao Yun not loyal enough? Was saving Ah Dou by entering and exiting Changban Slope seven times through a river of blood not enough to show his loyalty?
There are so many mysteries in the Three Kingdoms...
Also, for example, Grand General He Jin, why did he find a teammate like Dong Zhuo as if his brain had malfunctioned? His own sister was the Empress Dowager, his nephew was the emperor, and he had just eliminated the biggest opponent, Jian Shuo. Logically speaking, he should have at least been arrogant and enjoyed the fruits of victory for a while. Why did he suddenly want to find a pig teammate?
Fei Qian stood far away in front of the Grand General's mansion, looking at the crowd of eunuchs outside the mansion gate who were weeping bitterly, carrying thorns on their backs, and begging to see the Grand General. He really couldn't quite understand.
Since Jian Shuo died, the eunuchs collectively coming to the Grand General's mansion to kowtow, admit their mistakes, and present their tokens of loyalty had become a sight in Luoyang city. Every day, large numbers of eunuchs, big and small, came to the Grand General's mansion to make appointments to see him, tearfully and profoundly reviewing their past evil deeds, hoping that the Grand General could see them and understand their sincere desire to abandon darkness and turn to light and serve the country—
Of course, the Grand General disdained to see them, indicating that when he was fighting with Jian Shuo before, they all stood on that side. Now that Jian Shuo is dead, what's the point of them coming? Go somewhere cool!
And these eunuchs said that it didn't matter if they weren't seen, their loyalty was as clear as the sun and moon. If they weren't seen today, they would come tomorrow, and every day before going to work, they would first come to the Grand General's mansion to report in and express their stance...
Fei Qian smiled lightly: "The Grand General's mansion is really lively... There are... so many people..."
Uncle Fu heard this from the side and said: "Young Master, every time I go to the market, the people there regard this as a sight. They say it's been like this in front of the Grand General's mansion recently. Today is even less crowded. It is said that when there were more people, the front of the gate was full of kneeling people, and the carriages and horses they brought could line up outside the street corner!"
The speaker was unintentional, but the listener was attentive. Fei Qian's heart stirred. The decrease in the number of eunuchs might not be a good sign—he carefully distinguished the carriages and retinues brought by the eunuchs and found that those who came were all small officials and lackeys. He didn't see the retinue of a single Regular Attendant...
Fei Qian turned his head and asked Uncle Fu: "So, the Regular Attendants also came to the Grand General's mansion before?"
"I heard they did, they came often some time ago. Besides, without the Regular Attendants leading the way, how would these people dare to come?" Uncle Fu gestured towards the group of small eunuchs still kneeling at the gate.
"They used to come often... now they don't..." Fei Qian pondered, "Uncle Fu, please go to a shop at the opposite street corner and ask how many days it has been since the Regular Attendants came to the Grand General's mansion to beg for forgiveness?"
Although Uncle Fu didn't understand why, he agreed and went to ask. After a while, he returned and said: "Young Master, I asked several shops at the street corner, and they didn't pay much attention to this either, but they said that the retinue of the Regular Attendants seems to have not been seen for three or five days."
"Got it!" Fei Qian said, "Uncle Fu, let's hurry home. Oh, right, leave a message for the Cui Family, saying that I will visit their estate tomorrow to bother them for a bit."
"Go tomorrow?"
Fei Qian nodded: "Go tomorrow." If he went later, he might miss it!
These big eunuch leaders, the Regular Attendants, haven't been here for at least several days. So what are these guys doing when they're not here? It's definitely not something important for the country. Fei Qian didn't even need to think about it, these people must be gathered together plotting how to get rid of He Jin!
It has been three to five days, and they are very likely ready. These eunuchs, once they make up their minds, are the kind of people who can even cut off their own little peckers. When it comes to ruthlessness, they are definitely not bad!
And He Jin's good days are over, but once he dies, the imperial guards' attack will cause great chaos in the palace, and the Regular Attendants and others will be dragged down to be buried with him. Next will be the two emperors fleeing to Mount Bei Mang at night!
It's time to brush up on his presence!
To gain a foothold in the Three Kingdoms, he needed some capital at least.
Fei Qian thought, no wonder they say the original accumulation of capital is bloody. Grand General He Jin, I can't and am not qualified to save you. Since that's the case, let your blood pave the way for this chaotic world!
Small employees also have the wisdom of small employees.
Liu Xie and Liu Bian are like the chairmen of a company in later generations, and it's not easy for a small employee to meet the chairman of the company. Even if they meet, they won't leave much of an impression. But if one day the chairman comes to inspect a subordinate branch company in casual clothes and accidentally steps on a watermelon peel and falls, then the first small employee who helps the chairman up will definitely leave a deep impression, and as long as they are not too bad, promotion is just around the corner.
Now Fei Qian wants to be that small employee who helps the chairman up, no matter who threw the watermelon peel!