In the Later Han Dynasty, there was a so-called glorious tradition of debate.

In a certain Zhengdan court meeting in history, Emperor Guangwu had ordered the ministers to debate the scriptures, and once the lower person argued against the upper position, he could 'seize his position', and finally there was a person named Dai Ping who debated dozens of people in a row, won more than 50 seats, and came all the way to the first three rows. In this regard, Liu Xiu was overjoyed and crowned him as a servant on the spot.

After that New Year's Day, Luozhong even sent out a folk song to praise this person, which can be called a model of fame, fortune and reality.

And Hanoi, as a top county directly under the division, has many famous families, plus this debate is officially led, and there are nobles who can give birth to be present in person, so it is naturally very lively. The first two days were fine, but as the matter spread, in the past few days, there were even scholars who hurried from Wei County, Luoyang, Dongjun, Shangdang, Hedong, Chenliu and other places next door to participate.

For example, Gongsun Xun saw an acquaintance with his own eyes - Liu Yan's eldest son Liu Fan, a young man who used to drive a car by his own father, is now dressed luxuriously and hugging back and forth, as if he is a standard son of the Gong family. At this moment, he was getting together with several Sergeant Luo of the same age, talking to each other and whispering, as if he wanted to smash the local people in Hanoi.

After all, scholars in the Han Dynasty never shy away from utilitarianism and were very aggressive, which is a common scenario when debating scriptures.

Back in front of him, since Gongsun Xun has arrived, the debate will naturally begin.

This kind of debate competition, which is obviously in the nature of a job fair, of course, Sima Zhi will not end up in person. In fact, the first person to come forward to take the throne was Yang Jun, a subordinate of the Wei shogunate. He is young, but after all, he is a disciple of Chen Liu's famous scholar Bian Rang, it can be said that whether it is level, family background, official position, or fame, he is a very suitable challenger, and it is also an excellent touchstone.

However, there seems to be something wrong with today's situation, Gongsun Xun, who was sitting below and holding the child, had not yet followed the words of these people to dispatch his full knowledge of scriptures, and Yang Jun, who took the lead in raising the question, was easily refuted by a Luoyang disciple who followed Liu Fan to the stage, and as soon as he answered and asked, the so-called one round was embarrassed to give up the main position.

That is, it was simply snatched away!

And then, the children of Hanoi naturally did not want to lose face at home, and from Chang Lin down, a number of local scholars stepped forward to deal with it. However, except for one Wang Xiang, who was considered to have had dealings with this person and tossed a few questions and answers, everyone else returned one after another, losing consecutive battles, and even the most learned Wang Xiang was also sweating profusely after a few rounds and retreated in embarrassment.

Now, who doesn't know that they have met an expert?

This young Luoyang scholar called Meng Guang is afraid that Liu Fan, a professional specially invited from Luoyang.

As a result, Lu Fan and the other two knives didn't even dare to go up, and when Zhang Fan, who had the most prominent position among the Hanoi scholars, went up, he was immediately thrown down, and the Hanoi scholars were also defeated...... But he couldn't help but talk to each other, as if he was not angry that a Luoyang scholar had robbed him of the prestige of the entire county.

However, Zhang Fan, Chang Lin, Wang Xiang, and Yang Jun were all defeated, what else could they do? Do you have to ask Sima Zhi to go up at an age to bully the small? Not to mention the question of shamelessness, if you go up and refute the other party, it will be fine, but if even Sima Zhi is defeated, it will be a shame and a big loss.

Gongsun Xun shook his head and smiled, as the county guard of Hanoi, he also has to take care of the emotions of the local scholars, right?

So, in front of the public, this Wei general suddenly raised his hand and pointed to Liu Fan, the son of Zongzheng Liu Yan and the leader of the Luoyang children who made trouble this time:

"Bo Dao (Liu Fanzi)!"

Liu Fan snorted violently, quickly put away the smugness on his face, stood up and bowed to salute: "General Wei." ”

"Your father is my friend, your brother is my student, and I am also your elder, right?"

Liu Fan is in his twenties, in fact, he doesn't have to go anywhere, but at this moment, he can only pinch his nose and nod: "What General Wei said is very true." ”

"The elders have something to do, and the young ones obey their work......" Gongsun Xun said jokingly while holding the child. Now that the sergeants of my county have been refuted, you go up and argue with this Meng Xiaoyu in my name, and you can be regarded as fighting for me to save face! ”

Liu Fan held back like a fly, but he was helpless, so he could only take the stage to confront his companions...... And the Hanoi scholars also laughed, the so-called spear of the son to attack the shield of the son, whether it was Liu Fan who refuted Meng Guang, or these Luoyang people were also defeated under Meng Guang's mouth, then the Hanoi scholars were embarrassed by the province after all.

Sure enough, after Liu Fan went up, he said a few words, but he was simply thrown down by Meng Guang, and then Gongsun Xun named them one by one, and the Luoyang scholars who came with Liu Fan, such as Liu Fan's wife and brother Pang Xi, so Sikong Laiyan's youngest son Laimin (also a relative of Liu Yan's family), came to the stage one after another, and then was driven down by Meng Guang alone.

And in the end, Gongsun Xun was not ready to settle the debt, but simply decided that Meng Guang was the chief today, and asked people to pick up the books that were remade for the prize, and prepared to give them to this young Confucian who was proficient in "The Legend of the Spring and Autumn Ram".

As for this Meng Guang himself, it is said that he has become a lecturer in charge of preaching the scriptures in Taixue at a young age, otherwise he would still be qualified to stay and be a teacher.

However, as soon as the messenger who went to fetch the books left, just as Sima Zhi was praising Meng Guang on the stage, suddenly, a white horse hurried over, regardless of it, galloped to the place of debate, and turned over and dismounted and whispered a few words in Gongsun Xun's ear.

Everyone stopped one after another, people like Sima Zhi and Zhang Fan were naturally quiet and silent, but the rest of the young scholars and the onlookers of the Wei General Shogunate, the county officials, and the county nobles couldn't help but talk to each other...... After all, this dog shooting gathering meeting was originally made to appease people's hearts, and people's hearts are uncertain.

Seeing this, Gongsun Xun didn't care, and while holding his own daughter who was already asleep with both hands, he said frankly: "You don't have to panic, but the Wei County next door learned from us to pacify the people with the well field system, but the time was too late, and the spring ploughing lacked seeds, so the Wei County Taishou asked the general of the left chariot to come forward and send an envoy here, hoping to borrow a few thousand stones from us in Hanoi, and I would like to pay it back twice in the autumn." ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and Zhang Fan immediately stood up and said that there was still surplus food at home, which could be used as seeds, and he was willing to give it to the people of Wei County free of charge...... Now everyone is even more happy.

And this time, the noise rose again, but everyone praised Zhang Fan, the leader of the local scholars...... Fortunately, Zhang Fan is a calm person, but he doesn't care very much.

However, a wave of unsettled waves arose, and Gongsun Xun here had just sent Zhang Fan's brother Zhang Cheng to do this, and suddenly there was a white horse knight who came from the direction of the county town regardless of the hurry, and then whispered a few words in Gongsun Xun's ear again.

This time, Gongsun Xun's color changed slightly, and everyone who was good at observing words and colors was quiet for a while.

"It's not something you can't talk to." Gongsun Xun sighed for a moment when he saw this, and then shook his head and said. "I can't hide it...... Gentlemen, in November, Liangzhou had already rebelled, Huang Zhongyi and Heguan bandits got together, Qiang and Han together, and pushed a man named Beigong Boyuhu and a Han man named Li Wenhou as the leader...... Because of the remoteness of the day and the small chaos, it did not have time to spread, but when the message was just now, Captain Huqiang led the soldiers and horses of Liangzhou to suppress it on their own, and was ambushed by the thieves, and the whole army was annihilated...... This shook the government and the opposition. ”

Everyone was also speechless for a while, and for a while, Sima Zhi shook his head slightly: "I died so easily with two thousand stones, I'm afraid the situation in Liangzhou is difficult to improve......"

"Who's to say it isn't?" Gongsun Xun shook his head slightly, he didn't have the idea of discussing this issue in depth, in fact, seeing that the hundreds of books used as rewards were taken, he was ready to end this debate meeting immediately.

However, at this moment, another white horse galloped in! The scholars, officials, and nobles in this place have changed color.

Gongsun Xun smiled embarrassedly when he saw this, and explained slightly: "Actually, this is not a sudden incident, but that the Zhengdan holiday has just passed, and the state and county information has just been collected and processed in Luozhong, and this is only one by one." Just like what happened in Liangzhou just now, it was clearly a winter thing...... What's the matter? ”

Saying that, Gongsun Xun got up in person and hugged his daughter to meet the knight.

This name turned over and dismounted, his face was nervous, and he looked at the many people around him, and then he carefully whispered a message that was hurriedly sent by someone from the county government, and could only say a message with the county guard.

Gongsun Xun's face did not change after listening, but he bowed slightly: "And wait for me to enjoy the book, and then go back to the county government to dispose of it." ”

As he spoke, he handed Ah Li in his arms to a servant woman who hurried up next to him and asked him to help support him. However, at this moment, I don't know if I was woken up by the sound or because my father was too big, Ah Li rubbed his eyes slightly, and asked in the hand of the servant: "My lord, what is the epidemic?" ”

As soon as the girl, who was still carrying the sound of milk, spoke, everyone around her was stunned.

However, as if he didn't see the faces of the people around him, Gongsun Xun just bent down and replied with a smile: "The so-called great epidemic refers to the fact that some diseases can be transmitted to others, so that many people get sick together. ”

"So what is contagion?" Ah Li still kept asking.

"Good question!" Gongsun Xun stood up with a smile. "The so-called contagion refers to the process by which the sickness can be transferred from the sick person to another in the form of wind, water, insects, etc...... For example, the typhoid fever epidemic in the Central Plains is said to be transmitted by dirty water, and the disease of typhoid fever can remain in the water for a long time without being known! However, the sickness in the world is a filthy thing, and it is naturally afraid of heat and light, so if you can wash your hands frequently, drink only boiled water, and never come into direct contact with the sick, then you don't have to worry about getting sick! ”

Ah Li was ignorant, and he didn't know why his father said much, and the sleepiness was still there, so he immediately died down. As for the other people here, although they knew in their hearts that this county guard was comforting everyone, they were also a little calmer because of the other party's composure and the unreliable but not necessarily impractical popular science.

"The Central Plains was hot early, and typhoid fever broke out again." Gongsun Xun Zhengse looked back and said. "But the root cause is that last year's war and the displacement of the people gave the epidemic a chance, in other words, this typhoid epidemic will inevitably sweep all the way to Hebei! But you don't need to panic, you are all well-educated people, and you should understand that if we are in good order in Hanoi, if we are not immoral, and if we can deal with it properly, then we will definitely be able to suppress this typhoid epidemic to a minimum! ”

Everyone was trembling, so they could only quickly get up and salute, full of yes.

At this point, no one has the heart to discuss the scriptures...... After all, under the epidemic, it doesn't matter if you are the third prince or Li Shu, and after Gongsun Xun symbolically handed the sex key full of books to Meng Guang, he also hurriedly returned to the county with his beloved daughter and his subordinates.

The most urgent one is to immediately mobilize and publicize epidemic prevention.

It is said that it is mobilization and propaganda, but Gongsun Xun's knowledge is only three knives from Gongsun Auntie...... The so-called four magic weapons, boiling water, building toilets, wearing masks, and filling stinky ditches...... That's all.

However, don't say it, these things are just the right way to get sick with other diseases, and they are really the right way to deal with typhoid fever! This is because typhoid fever is most prevalent in toilets and dirty drains, and is mainly spread by raw water. It's just that spring ploughing has already begun, and the people of Hanoi are still busy with spring ploughing, building toilets, and chopping wood to boil water.

Of course, taking 10,000 steps back, it's better to be tired and hard than to just resign yourself to fate and wait for death when the epidemic comes, right?

But on the other hand, the Central Plains and Hebei can only resign themselves to fate...... It's not that half of the population has really died, but that nearly half of the population in both places has chosen to migrate and be displaced in order to escape (or simply actively participate) in the war.

The large number of mobile people is doomed to poor hygiene, and neither toilets nor boiling water are fantastic for these people...... They were destined to be a mobile source of transmission of typhoid fever.

After some hard work, seeing that the knights who delivered the letters were heading to the counties, and the sky was darkened at this time, Gongsun Xun dined with a group of shogunate officials in the county temple. What was brought up was roasted fish, corn and rice, with wild vegetables stir-fried in an iron pot after being freshly picked in spring, plus a small pot of turbid wine per person, which made everyone who had not seen green in winter have a great appetite, and their mood became a little more relaxed.

Among them, Xi Zhong is a person who is more out-of-the-box and casual than Lou Gui back then, and he also came as soon as he opened his mouth: "Actually, it's not necessarily a bad thing, at least, after spring ploughing, they don't have to work hard to go into the mountains in the north to suppress bandits." ”

As soon as this remark came out, everyone reacted differently. Some old-fashioned and polite people have long been unaccustomed to the usual rudeness of Xi Zhicai, but because Gongsun Xun attaches great importance to him, he endured it for a while, so he snorted coldly; And other ordinary county officials, as well as old people who are not Hanoi, as well as Han Hao, Fang Yue, Hao Meng and other locals who serve Gongsun Xun with military positions, all laughed with Gongsun Xun.

After all, Xi Zhong is telling the truth - once the epidemic comes, no matter what, those who have gathered as bandits before would rather starve to death in the mountains than dare to run down the mountain, especially the bandits in Hanoi are hiding in the Taihang Mountains on the border with Jizhou and Bingzhou, where they will inevitably be directly threatened by the plague.

"Actually, it's still the same sentence." After everyone laughed, the conversation box was opened, and Lou Gui couldn't help but shake his head and say with emotion. "It doesn't matter if there is a shortage of seeds in Wei County, there are too many displaced people, or the typhoid epidemic can't be avoided...... In the final analysis, the matter of the Central Plains and Hebei still has to be counted on the head of last year's war. When Cheng Zhongde went straight to the prince and mocked me, he said that the troubles of war would not appear until after the war, but now it seems that there is nothing wrong with it. ”

"It's rare to be generous." Gongsun Xun smiled even more when he remembered the past of that day, but suddenly solemnized and said another thing. "In fact, in the Liangzhou Rebellion, Ah Fan and Ah Yue mentioned some other things in their letters, I just came back and saw them, and I forgot to tell you in detail...... Han Wen made a reversal, and he also became a thief! ”

Everyone in the hall was stunned, but except for a few henchmen who entertained Han Sui that day, the rest of them were immediately at a loss.

"Han Sui was so sincere that day, why did he rebel?" Xi Zhicai couldn't help but put down the wine jug in his hand and said with a straight face. "In my opinion, there will be twists and turns."

"Not bad." Gongsun Xun nodded and sighed. "According to my two younger brothers' guesses and inquiries in Luozhong, it is probably because Han Wenyue expressed his dissatisfaction with the new Liangzhou Assassin Shi Zuochang in Luozhong on the same day, so Zuochang hated him deeply. Then, as soon as Zuo Chang arrived in Liangzhou and heard about the rebellion, he stopped at Hanyang County, the easternmost part, and stopped there, but asked Han Sui to act as the state minister and cooperate with the captain of Huqiang to suppress the rebellion coldly......"

"Defeated and captured?" Lu Fan came to his senses. "Then Han Wen asked a famous man in Liangzhou, and he served in the state for ten years, and he was quite prestigious, so he was held hostage by traitors and became the leader? Or directly played his banner to attract people's hearts? ”

"Luo Zhong is so guessing in private." Gongsun Xun nodded after taking two bites of food. "It's all Han Wenyue may indeed steal life, but it may not really fall, let alone become a thief. But isn't Zuo Chang disgusted with him? Therefore, a direct letter determined that Han Sui was the leader of the anti-thieves, and the imperial court officially rewarded him in order to appease Uncle Fang, who still had to rely on in front of him. ”

The crowd was silent.

"And then there's one more thing." Gongsun Xun continued to speak expressionlessly. "I don't know if it's true or not...... It's just a rumor, I heard that the reason why the whole army of Captain Huqiang was wiped out was because Zuo Chang only had 20,000 military rations in Hanyang in the winter...... This was mentioned when Liangzhou engaged in Gaixun's letter to my junior brother Fu Xie, probably to let Fu Nanrong exert some strength in Luozhong to transfer Zuochang, right? ”

"If the news comes out of Fu Nanrong, then the top ten ** is true." Lu Fan rarely sneered. "It's just that unless there is a big defeat, it will be extremely difficult for Zuo Chang to mobilize even if this matter is verified......"

"Dare to ask Changshi, why is this?" Sima Lang couldn't help but ask curiously. "Embezzling military rations and framing subordinates ......"

"How can things in the world be so black and white?" Lu Fan said awe-inspiringly. "The central inspection of the Assassin Shi Dynasty is naturally where the central authority is, and he has only been in office for two months, who will guarantee the authority of the central government? And if a group of Liangzhou people can expel the assassin with a single word, what is the difference between it and rebellion? In the four hundred years of our dynasty, there has only been one case of the assassin selling military rations to frame his subordinates, but the local powerful families and clans are connected, and it is not uncommon for the county guard and the assassin to abandon their posts and leave! Therefore, not to mention that there is no evidence to conclude, that is, the princes of the central department know it, and at this time, they can only pretend not to know, and only wait for the war to deal with it! ”

"What if we do defeat again?" Chang Lin suddenly interjected and asked.

"Then you should be removed from your post, you should talk about the crime, and then find a new assassination history to go to Liangzhou to take charge of the overall situation." Lu Fan said disapprerovitically. "Is there a second way?"

"But...... Long history. Chang Bohuai put down the chopsticks in his hand and continued. In that place in Liangzhou, there have been two extremely bad thorn histories in a row, the former one is cowardly and incompetent, and this one is greedy and stingy, if you go to another nerd, won't the situation in Liangzhou collapse? ”

"What does Bohuai want to say?" Lu Fan frowned slightly.

"I want to say that the center and the place are mutually reinforcing, not only the place should be subordinated to the center, but the center should also be virtuous." Chang Lin calmly replied. "As far as the matter is concerned, regarding the handling of Zuo Chang at this time, in fact, I have the same view as Changshi, all kinds of mistakes, all kinds of unbearable, the center must endure it first, not only that, but also try to support him, everything is based on counterinsurgency...... But on the other hand, if it weren't for the improper selection of materials from the beginning, how could it have led to today's situation? ”

"Not bad." Sima Lang said suddenly. "If it weren't for the fact that the center had appointed a stunty assassin before, and had appointed an illegal Wuwei Taishou, I am afraid that it would not have been possible to cause chaos at the beginning...... How much more is it today? ”

"Then Bohuai thinks that the source is still in the center?" Lu Fan waited for Sima Lang to finish speaking before continuing to ask. "There's nothing wrong with the place?"

"I didn't mean that." Chang Lin immediately shook his head.

At this time, everyone had already noticed the unkindness of the two, especially Chang Lin was the head of the local scholars in Hanoi, and Lü Fan was the de facto chief of Gongsun Xun...... In this case, the two of them were arguing about the issue of place and center, and they couldn't interject, so they could only look at Gongsun Xun, who was sitting at the top.

Gongsun Xun ate and drank constantly, and his heart was speechless to the extreme-local and central, centralized and decentralized, is there an answer to this kind of question? You won't have to wait another 2,000 years!

But having said that, for the Han Dynasty, an important reason for the emergence of this problem and its increasing seriousness is nothing more than the poor passage to the officials, and the extremely poor mobility between the local officials and the officials sent by the center, which will form a fixed opposition pattern and gradually become unbalanced...... Therefore, it is still necessary to have a talent selection mechanism at night, so that the upper and lower levels can be accessed, and the localities and centers can be accessed.

However, this is not the time to talk about this.

"I'll ask you," Gongsun Xun picked up the silk cloth and wiped his mouth after eating, and then asked curiously. "Don't talk about the place and center, just talk about things, where do you think you should start to solve the situation in Liangzhou?"

"Naturally, it's a selection of capable officials!" Before the words fell, Yang Jun gave up his hand and said bluntly. "If there can be a Huchen Liangmu to appease the place, why be afraid of a rebellion, the Yellow Turban Thief shook the Seven Prefectures that day, wasn't it also wiped out by the prince and the two generals on the left and right?"

"It's not all." Zao Yi couldn't help but interject. "Everyone heard that things in Liangzhou have changed, as if they were facing a pandemic, because of the great cost of chaos in the past. In fact, at this time, the captain of Huqiang was killed in battle, and the rebels won a battle, and they did not seize the state and county after all, which was not as good as last year's Jiaozhou Rebellion. And the Jiaozhou Rebellion was because the imperial court sent a Jia Thorn Shi who enforced the law impartially, and after the arrival of Jia Gong, he pacified the local area and put down the rebellion...... Then I asked those anti-thieves, and they all said that they had no objections, but they were overly endowed and the corrupt officials demanded excessively, so they became bandits, so that they gradually became the climate, killing officials and seizing cities. ”

"That's a good point." Yang Jun immediately nodded in praise. "If there is such a assassin to go there, maybe Liangzhou can also be appeased...... As a last resort, who wants to really kill officials and rebel? It's a dead end! ”

Gongsun Xun didn't care, but just asked again: "Then do you think that the DPRK and the Central Committee can now select an official like Jia Gong?" ”

Everyone in the hall was silent for a while.

After a long time, Lou Gui sneered: "Xiyuan sells officials, and you have to pay money to be an official, and after paying the money, you naturally want to get the money back when you go to the place, which is human nature; The authority of promotion, appointment and dismissal is mainly dominated by eunuchs...... In this situation, a person like Jia Gong is lucky, and a person like Zuochang is ordinary! ”

"The eunuch misled the country!" I don't know who suddenly shouted.

Speaking of which, local centers, centralized decentralization, and alien scholars...... Thousands of threads converge into one sentence, but they still have to be punished! It does not mean that the eunuch can solve the problem, nor does it mean that the eunuch is the source of the world's trouble. Rather, it is said that the deep-seated contradictions of this empire have been suppressed too much, too fiercely, and too complicated, and such a target is needed to unite the people of the world.

The Son of Heaven can't be killed at this time, and he doesn't dare to kill him, so this imaginary enemy, or one of the main responsible persons for the Eight Classics, can only be a eunuch.

However, where does this truth need to be handed over by these staff members in front of him, Gongsun Xun has understood it many years ago.

As soon as he thought of this, General Wei, Jihou, and Hanoi Taishou Gongsun Xun were expressionless, and they got up and left directly, and went back to the back hall to pick up the child.

Only a group of staff members were left looking at each other, but they could only quickly bow their heads to eat.

"Brother Ziheng." When most of the people left, Wang Xiu, who deliberately stayed at the end, stepped forward and made amends to Lu Fan on behalf of his deputy. "Chang Bohuai didn't mean to contradict, let alone lead the local staff in Hanoi to provoke disputes, as far as I know, he is such a person by nature......"

"It doesn't matter." Lu Fan stood up proudly and said. "I am the general shogunate, and Bohuai is not only the deputy of Shuzhi, but also my subordinates...... Where will you bother with him? This controversy is all out of their own public intentions. ”

Wang Xiu bowed his head and saluted again, and said no more.

————I'm the dividing line that I won't say more————

"In the second year of Zhongping, spring, the first month, the epidemic." - Book of the Later Han Dynasty. Emperor Xiaoling