Cao Cao put down the left pass in his hand and sighed softly, "When Master Cai gave the left pass to the west, there were many puzzles, but now I think about it, and Fang deeply understands its meaning...... Expedition to the West, Expedition to the West......"

Xiahou sat aside, his one-eyed eyes caused a lot of inconvenience, and even to see people needed to turn a larger arc than others, when he heard Cao Cao's sigh, he turned his head and asked, "Why did the lord say this?" ”

Cao Cao raised his head and laughed twice, and said: "Does Yuan Rang know, a certain Zeng was determined to be the general of the expedition to the west, and the inscription of the tomb said 'The tomb of the general Cao Hou of the Han Dynasty who conquered the west', this is enough......"

Xiahou was stunned for a moment, and said: "Now that Your Majesty values the lord, entrusts him with important tasks, and has his grand plans to be developed, what about the expedition to the west?" ”

Cao Cao still laughed twice, squinted his eyes and said, "Your Majesty, hehe, Your Majesty may not fully trust me...... The court discussed moving the capital, but did not look for a certain one, but found Xunhuangmen......"

Cao Ren nodded and said, "Big brother, this matter ...... Moving the capital to Xu County, Yingchuan will inevitably sit on a big ......"

Cao Cao stroked his beard, lowered his eyelids, and was silent. Most of the things in the world are like this, it is quite easy to be an afterthought, and everyone can say two words, but at the moment when they are really faced with a choice, who can grit their teeth and withstand the pressure, eliminate all interference, and make absolutely correct choices?

"Stand down!" Cao Cao waved his hand and asked all the attendants to leave the hall, leaving only Xiahou and Cao Ren on their side.

"Big brother......" Cao Ren realized that he was somewhat reckless, but he was also a little surprised by Cao Cao's caution, and looked around at the retreating servants, his eyes were cold, "Why is this so?" Could it be ......"

Xiahou also looked at Cao Cao and said, "The people in this mansion ......"

Cao Cao laughed a few times, relaxed his sitting posture, and said: "Yuan Rang, Zixiao, could it be that the two of you didn't accept some singers and dancers, and maidservants?" If it's secret, it's done. There is no need to think about this matter. ”

"Moving the capital to Xu County, there are five ......," Cao Cao lowered his voice and explained, "One can collect the talents of Yingchuan, the second is to cage the hearts of the party members, the third is to avoid the edge of Jizhou, and the fourth is to obtain the land of Yuzhou, these five ......?"

Cao Cao laughed twice, did not continue, but changed the topic and said, "Yuan Rang, Zixiao, do you know why the imperial court has been in turmoil up and down for nearly ten years? ”

"First there were the Xiqiang and Yellow Turban Rebellions, and there were also Donghu and Xiongnu troubles, and during the Zhongping period, there were Dong Zhuo's troubles and chaos, until today, the world has collapsed, each with its own ......" Cao Cao sighed, "What do you say about Wang Zhengyue?" Great unification is also ...... And now, when will it be unified? ”

Most of the time, unification is interpreted as the meaning of "beginning", that is, the ontology of all things, so the original meaning of "great unification" is only to indicate that the political society is subordinate to a metaphysical ontology from the bottom up, so that this political society can obtain a transcendent existence value, rather than a top-down centralized unity of the political scope centered on a supreme power.

So what Cao Cao means here is also to refer to bottom-up.

But now in the Han Dynasty, the bottom-up foundation has begun to waver, causing the prestige of the entire imperial family to falter, what does the imperial court need most? The imperial court hoped for the absolute majesty of the laws of the Han Dynasty, the implementation of prohibitions, the supremacy of the monarchy on the basis of effective checks and balances between the imperial power and the relative power, absolute loyalty to the Son of Heaven and the imperial court, and the people living and working in peace and contentment, etc.

And now, none of them can be done.

This is an extremely bad sign......

"Now above the court, there are many people from Shandong...... Cao Cao sighed and said, "If it is here, if it is...... Therefore, it is ...... to choose the lesser of two evils" Cao Cao couldn't help but think of Wei Qi, closed his eyes, and shook his head.

Cao Ren nodded and said, "So, a certain know...... However, the Xun clan is big, and the lord has to guard against it......"

Cao Cao groaned, neither nodding nor shaking his head. The cold wind was whistling, the snow was flying, Cao Cao couldn't help but wrap his clothes, this winter, it's so cold......

………………………………

Changan.

Above the lobby, there are three copper basins, among which there are some briquettes, which are smoldering, bringing abundant warmth.

"Ahh......h......h Well, sit and watch the snow fly in winter, raise a glass to warm new wine, comfortable......"

There is coal in Shanxi, and in this era, there are still many open-pit coal mines, and a large amount of coal can be obtained by digging directly on the ground.

When the Xiaoice River is approaching step by step, heating items are particularly important, if there is no potential to stir a stick, charcoal is the most important thing in heating. Therefore, at the end of each year, when winter comes, the price of charcoal will always soar to a rather outrageous position, and this phenomenon will be maintained until the Ming and Qing dynasties, and even the royal family will designate the so-called tribute charcoal.

There are reasons why the price of charcoal remains high, the main thing is that charcoal is not easy to fire. In this era, the average person wants to keep warm, the rich people burn charcoal, and the poor can only burn firewood; Although charcoal is time-consuming and laborious to burn, it is more sufficient when burned and does not produce too much smoke, so it is very popular with wealthy households. Firewood is different, as long as there is still a little moisture in it, it will be smoky, choking people can not breathe, and it is not resistant to burning, often have to go out of the city to harvest, cut new firewood can not be used, and have to wait for drying, it seems cheap, but in fact it is time-consuming and laborious and thankless.

Therefore, when Fei Qian made anthracite, the whole north of the country was almost crazy. At first, the development of anthracite did not go well, because the mined coal contained sulfur and some other impurities, and if the sulfur was not fully burned, it was simply murderous.

So in the beginning, anthracite could not be spread out in large quantities. However, with the large demand for iron-making fuel in Huang's workshop, the desulfurization process has gradually matured, and the technology of cleaning coal and then carbonizing to make anthracite has gradually matured, and the output has gradually risen, although anthracite will also volatilize some deadly gases such as sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide, fortunately, the content is not high, and the buildings of this era are not a sealed environment, so anthracite gas is actually the same as burning charcoal, which almost does not cause much harm to the human body.

Therefore, now, the large-scale use of anthracite coal can not only eliminate the need to continue to cut down a large number of trees, but also provide a steady stream of financial resources for Fiji on the other hand.

Although many charcoal burners lost their jobs, it also provided more coal digging and coal burning jobs, and the money was gathered from the wealthy families to Fei Qian, and then dispersed to the ordinary people who wanted to earn some household income during the slack time, and then flowed to the market......

Therefore, unlike other princes who have to burrow into caves like bears in winter, Feiqian is more busy here, exchanging materials, flowing money, and anthracite coal will be firmly tied together with the north and Guanzhong, and many Guan sergeants began to stare at each other, squeezing in front of the Chang'an Mansion all day long, thinking if they can make some benefits in this rolling tide of money.

How many people are there in the whole and north, and how many people are in Guanzhong? Even if everyone burns a basket of coal in winter, how much is that? And these coals are dug out of the ground, and after being cleaned and carbonized, they can be sold directly for money, which is simply a million profits, even if the big head is eaten by the general of Zhengxi, and drinking some soup can also be full of belly fat!

As a result, there were still some scholars in Guanzhong who spoke ill of the West and now they are gone, and everyone is eager to catch some other people's handles, and then pull them down, and stand up to make money by themselves, in front of interests, the wine and meat brothers are a fart......

This is true in the countryside, and it is also true in the court.

Of course, when it comes to the court, interests do not refer only to money.

"Why don't you use Huang Lao? Isn't it out of place? Pang Tong laughed, raised his wine glass, and took a sip, "Actually, Dong Gong's set is not very good, but it's just ...... Well, it's the lesser of two evils...... Look at it, now the harm of the court is coming out......"

"The lesser of two evils?" Fei Qian shook his head and said, "Actually, I feel that it is overkill...... You know, a lot of people's favorite thing is to do things like this......"

When it comes to Huang Lao, many people will probably think of the rule of inaction, but in fact, the "inaction" of Huang Lao's learning is not an absolute "inaction", but a gentleman's inaction and subordination under the premise of clear laws and regulations.

In terms of the concept expounded in the "Four Classics of the Yellow Emperor", although the Tao does nothing, the Tao can give birth to the law, so the behavior of the supreme monarch should also be like the "Tao", which is a kind of "non-action" after formulating a clear legal system. In Huang Lao's theory, although the monarch can "do nothing", the ministers must still "follow the rules on the left and the rules on the right", and they must be promising.

Fei Qian smiled and said, "The decline of Huang Laozhi's learning is not out of place, but because the imperial power is above the desire to dominate the power...... So Dong Gong appeared...... Then Dong Gong introduced Neo-Confucianism, but he certainly didn't expect it to be like this now, or...... Well, or even if he thought of it, he couldn't change anything......"

Pang Tong can be said to be Pang Degong's descendant disciple, or a closed disciple, and Pang Degong can be said to be the last contemporary Confucian who mainly cultivates Huang Lao's learning, so Pang Tong naturally learned a lot of Huang Lao's learning from Pang Degong, and his understanding of Huang Lao is even deeper than Fei Qian's.

Therefore, when Fei Qian said that the main reason for Huang Lao's decline was the result of the struggle between imperial power and relative power, Pang Tong couldn't help but sit up straight, and then frowned and thought for a long time before slowly nodding and saying, "Hmm...... You said...... Reasonable...... This is indeed the case, Emperor Wu is eloquent and strategic, so naturally he can't tolerate someone pointing fingers at him...... Speaking of which, wouldn't Huang Lao have no future in the future......"

No one in power likes to be set aside, so even if Huang Lao is used in the early stage, it will change in the end.

But doesn't Huang Laozhixue have no effect at all?

Huang Laozhishu attaches great importance to agricultural production, and believes that according to the natural laws of heaven and earth, yin and yang, and the four seasons, corresponding agricultural policies should be promulgated. Once a policy is formulated, the ruler should be "frugal and inactive", not to build a large construction project during the busy agricultural season in order to "disrupt the people's achievements when it goes against the sky", and still less to loot the people's wealth so that the people cannot continue to produce. In order to achieve this kind of "inaction" with non-interference and not affecting the lives of the people as the main content, the Son of Heaven and officials at all levels must be "frugal and simple, not luxurious" in their lives.

Isn't it great?

But it's not easy to really do it well.

Closely relying on agriculture can not meet the various needs of social prosperity, but also need industry, commerce, etc., just like anthracite, if there is no anthracite, then now the land of Guanzhong, where Feiqian is located, must be the same as other regions, everyone is shrunk in the house, suffering from the bitter cold of winter, where is there any rolling caravan, thousands of miles of transport against the wind and snow?

So actually, luxury is not a big sin, just see where it is used.

Why did he discuss this issue with Pang Tong, because Fei Qian suddenly found that there were some very peculiar changes in Chang'an, perhaps because Chang'an has always been not very popular with the Eastern Han Dynasty, or the current imperial power is falling, and Liu Xie is young and has no power, so the children of the scholar clan near Chang'an seem to be loyal to the Son of Heaven and the court basically stay in their mouths, and the Han is still the Han, but as for which emperor comes to sit as the lord of the Han, it seems that these people don't care at all.

It's a signal, a sign of a shift in thought.

This signal shows that the status of Confucianism seems to have begun to shake with the turmoil of the imperial court......

The core of Confucianism is etiquette. The etiquette system is complicated, and many etiquettes need to spend a lot of money in the specific implementation process, and the most expensive ones are weddings and funerals. The Han Dynasty ruled the world with filial piety, and as a result, for ordinary people, the dead could not afford to die, and people first advocated thick burials in order to express their filial piety.

The practice of thick burials began in the Qin Dynasty and was simply frightening in the Han Dynasty, because the burial of the dead made the family bankrupt, and sold themselves into slavery, and the law was corrupted, and the desperate people abounded, so that the living people were often unable to maintain their lives, and the situation was miserable. The emperor also repeatedly emphasized that he would be buried thinly, and even issued an edict, but with little effect.

Because under the mainstream of Confucianism, is it really a thin burial? Do you want that reputation, do you want to be an official? If one person doesn't want to be, the rest of the family doesn't want to?

Confucianism requires people to learn the scriptures and meanings, and then through the education and practice of morality, honor, etiquette and knowledge, so that the daily life of the educated, including clothing, food, housing, transportation, treatment of others, etc., should be close to the Confucian moral norms and code of conduct, and be a good person of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and faith in the society, and become a gentleman who is gentle, kind, courteous, thrifty, and has the five virtues in his body.

Good is very good, but things must be the opposite.

The rules and regulations of Confucianism that are too fine and dense are like vines, which did not seem like anything at first, but as time passed, the vines began to spread everywhere, causing the joints of the entire Han to gradually affect the joints of the entire Han Dynasty, causing the Han to become more and more tied......

During the Eastern Jin Dynasty, all kinds of clear talk, all kinds of drug debauchery that broke through the upper and lower limits, may also be an instinctive rebound, and now, Fei Qian is like borrowing the current signal to let this rebound of the Eastern Jin Dynasty come in advance, so the first thing to do is ......

"Shi Yuan, what do you think will happen if we open the White Tiger Pass again?"