Yingchuan County, the county seat of Changshe.

The New Year is approaching, and several main streets in the county are lit up everywhere, looking quite a bit of New Year's atmosphere, but the empty streets, sparse crowds, and many desolate and dilapidated houses can hardly hide the dilapidation here.

Originally, Yingchuan was a very prosperous county, after all, it was only five hundred miles away from Luoyang at the foot of the Son of Heaven, and the population reached more than 1.4 million at the most prosperous time, but because of the destruction of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, coupled with the great war between Dong Zhuo and the Kwantung Army, the plundering of the bandits, the population of the entire county fell sharply, and there was no one out of ten, and the economic damage was very serious, and the Changshe was the hardest hit area of the war. Until now, he has not recovered his vitality, so that the magistrates are reluctant to take up their duties here, so although the Chinese New Year is approaching, there is always a bit of depression in this joyful atmosphere.

However, Tang De, who was ordered to enter the county seat, was full of red light and full of ambition, because he was about to do a big thing, which was also a big thing he was looking forward to accomplishing.

Since he was officially Pei Qing's subordinate, he naturally hoped that Pei Qing's strength would be as strong as possible, in fact, at the beginning, he wanted to contact the local gentry to welcome Pei Qing into the Changshe, and even the entire Yingchuan, but Pei Qing did not have an official identity at that time, and it didn't seem so justifiable, although he was later awarded Maocai, but because Pei Qing was afraid that his forced entry into the county would cause suspicion from the imperial court, he would not give him an official position, so he did not agree to his proposal at all.

Now Pei Qing was awarded the title of Nanyang Taishou, but Nanyang was occupied by Yuan Shu, and his official office was just an exile institution, and he urgently needed to find a place to stand, so he agreed to this plan.

So Tang De first found the people who were put down the mountain by Pei Qing with him last time, and told them the news that Pei Qing had been awarded Maocai by the imperial court, and then proposed to them that now the Changshe has no owner, and the bandits are not extinct, and they may come to them at any time to plunder, so in order to ensure the safety of the Changshe, they should contact the local gentry and support Pei Qing as the Changshe Order, after all, Pei Qing has thousands of troops in his hands, and he has also defeated the nearby Yellow Turban thieves, which is their natural reliance.

These people were already apprehensive about the bandits' captivity, for fear that the New Year was approaching, and the Yellow Turban thieves would go down the mountain to plunder, but when they heard Tang De's words, they were in line with their thoughts, so they agreed without any hesitation, and they went to the major families to lobby.

In fact, in the Changshe, the other families generally have no problems, since the Tang family has come forward, they will naturally respond positively, but there is also a family that the Tang family can't call, which is of course the main object of Tang De's lobbying this time, this family is the Zhong family of the Changshe.

The Chung clan of the Changshe is an ancient family, according to the New Tang Dynasty Book. The Prime Minister's Lineage Table records that the ancestors of the Changshe Zhong family can be traced back to the general Zhong Liwu during the Chu-Han dispute, Zhong Liwu has two sons, one is called Zhong Lifa, the other is called Zhong Li, Zhong Lifa later came to Jiujiang, still surnamed Zhongli, and Zhong Lijie moved to Yingchuan and changed his surname to Zhong, which is the ancestor of the Changshe Zhong family, and it is now the twelfth.

Now the most significant Zhong family in the Changshe is Zhong Xuan, this person was first appreciated by the Yingchuan County Shouyin Xiu, was promoted as filial piety, served as the county Gong Cao, Shang Shulang, Yangling Ling, and later served as the court Weizheng, and now in Chang'an as the Yellow Gate Shilang.

Although the current Huangmen Shilang does not have as much power as in the Tang and Song dynasties, he is only an official of 600 stones, but the close attendant of the Son of Heaven, whose main job is to convey the correspondence between the emperor and the monk Shangshu Ling, can freely enter and exit the forbidden area, can contact many court secrets, and his status is very important, so it has become the glory of the Changshe Zhong family, and it has also made the Changshe Zhong family one of the top nobles in Yingchuan, and its status has surpassed the Tang family, which is now in decline.

However, Tang De is very confident in persuading the Zhong family to support Pei Qing, this is forced by the situation, and the other party has to agree, and it is also because Zhong Xuan, the most capable person of the Zhong family, is not here, plus Tang De's current talent is like a rocket, if it is not for the fact that he has read a few books, he is confident that even if Zhong Xuan is in front of him, he can persuade the other party.

When Tang De came to the Zhong Mansion, Zhong Yan's younger brother and the current head of the Yingchuan Zhong family, Zhong Yan, came to greet him in person, and said with a smile: "I don't know if Mr. Tang went to the cold house in person, what advice do you have?" ”

Tang De sat down unceremoniously and said to Zhong Yan: "The main reason why I came here is to save you, Second Son, your family is facing a very big crisis and is in danger of being destroyed. ”

Zhong Yan laughed, a little disdainful, and at the same time said a little proudly: "Cousin, what you said is really alarmist, right?" Now my brother is serving as a servant of the Yellow Gate in the imperial court, and even many court officials have to rely on it, this is the time when our family is in full swing, but you say that my family will encounter a crisis, I think you are watching our family become stronger and stronger, right? ”

"Hey, red-eyed? Second Prince Zhong, you really overestimate your family, or you really overestimate your brother, Chang'an now seems to be calm, but it is a turbulent undercurrent, Dong Zhuo's old thief steals authority, abuses power, and is cruel, how many people are looking forward to his death. This year, there is a vision in the sky, Chiyou Qi is in Jiaokang, and the world will be in chaos soon, and I will have a cloud in Yuan Kang's "Yue Jue Shu", Han Guzhi, now Jingzhao County, Jiaokang, which is enough to prove that there will be war in the land of Gyeonggi At that time, even the ministers will be difficult to preserve, let alone your brother? Besides, you also know that this year, Sun Jian, the assassin of Yuzhou, and Xu Rong, the general of Dong Zhuo's department, fought in Yingchuan, and even Yingchuan Taishou was cooked, who can guarantee the safety here? Not to mention anything else, you know the last time the Yellow Turban thief Huang Shao's subordinates went down the mountain to plunder, right? In the face of the captivity of the thieves, no matter what family you are, you can only turn into powder in the end, and fortunately you escaped this disaster last time because you went out, but do you dare to guarantee that you can escape every time? Even if your brother barely escaped the catastrophe, your entire family is gone, so what's the use of growing your family? ”

"This, this ....." Zhong Yan suddenly broke out in a cold sweat after hearing this, of course he hoped that the family could be revitalized, but he never wanted himself to die, otherwise, even if his family became a royal family, what would it mean to him?

So Zhong Yan hurriedly arched his hand and said: "I was wrong before, I shouldn't be sarcastic, I don't know if Mr. can help me Zhong?" Please rest assured, Mr., I, Zhong, will not hesitate to repay you! ”