Sun Jian and his entourage, as soon as they left the gate of the state yafu, went straight to the official road outside the south gate. On the long journey to Wuling County, if there are no words to accompany you, it is really boring and difficult. It just so happened that when he was negotiating with Wang Rui, Sun Ce didn't understand something, so he took this leisure time to ask Sun Jian all the doubts in his heart: "Father, why did Wang Rui agree so happily, could it be that he really wants to ask Dong?" ”

When Sun Jian heard this, the corners of his mouth couldn't help but pouted slightly: "Yes and no." ”

Although Sun Jian's answer is only four words, it is very meaningful and meaningful. Sun Ce didn't know why, so he had to ask, "What's the explanation?" ”

I only listened to Sun Jian's slow reasoning:

"If Wang Rui just wants to borrow my hand and get rid of Cao Yin, he can just allow me a few thousand soldiers and horses, and I can deal with things. If I think he is stingy and refuses to answer, he will increase a little. However, he gave us 20,000 soldiers and horses with one mouth. Let's ask, if he is completely unwilling to ask Dong, how can he open his mouth and allow 20,000 soldiers? Therefore, I replied yes.

If Wang Rui was really loyal to the imperial court, he should come when the Fuyang Yuan Mansion met the alliance. However, he did not come. The reason why he allowed 20,000 soldiers today was because his father took Cao Yin as bait and exchanged it with him. Let's ask, if he is really like a father, why does he need additional benefits? Therefore, I answered no.

Therefore, although Wang Rui is willing to please Dong, he is not so loyal. ”

Sun Ce nodded "um" and said: "According to his father's intentions, although Wang Rui has no intention of opposing the Han Dynasty, he also has no intention of supporting the Han. There is a disagreement between Wang Rui and Cao Yin, and they are actually political enemies. Even if Cao Yin is not Dong Dang, Wang Rui will find a suitable time to send troops to exterminate Cao. Therefore, the 20,000 soldiers and horses promised by Wang Rui should be used to exterminate Cao Yin. In this way, he was able to eradicate dissidents as he wished, and then brought Wuling to rule; Second, you can pretend to raise the banner of the Han Dynasty and win the reputation of loyal ministers; Three can return the favor and sell his father to save face. It seems that this kind of strategy of killing three birds with one stone and gaining fame and fortune is really wonderful. ”

After many days of traveling, Sun Jian and his entourage finally stepped out of the domain of Nanjun and entered the realm of Wuling County in the middle of the twentieth day. As soon as they crossed the Wuling boundary monument, they were intercepted by a group of unidentified heavily armed iron horsemen. This group of heavily armed iron riders can be described as a wide range of people, and there are enough songs. However, from the sparseness of its formation and the twisting of its appearance, it can be seen that its combat power must be inferior. If they really fought each other, Sun Jian would be able to defeat the rabble in front of him ten times his size with just this team of elite iron horses in his hands.

When he was young, behind the "cavalry song", suddenly there was a uniform cart and slowly drove out of the queue. When the driver reined in the horses and slowly stalled the cart, a man dressed in gorgeous clothes suddenly sat down and said: "Sun Yuanjun, Cao Yin has been waiting here for a long time." ”

Sun Jian replied, "Cao Taishou is reasonable", and said: "I don't know what you want to wait for me here?" ”

"I want to ask the ruler to talk about it." Cao Yin replied.

"This ......" After Sun Jian heard this, he hesitated for a long time because he didn't know what he intended to do.

Sun Ce thought that Cao Yin had learned about "Wentai Sword Dance, intended for Cao Yin", and wanted to use "Cao Yin's Sword Dance, intended for Wentai" to conspire against him, so he advised: "Father, you can't go." ”

Sun Jian hesitated for a moment, feeling that it should be fine, so he said, "Lead the way." ”

Due to the long distance, they had to rest for a night in the county towns along the way. Fortunately, Cao Yin treated each other politely, and Sun's father and son were able to: eat, there are delicacies; Sleep, there is a master bedroom with each other. During this period, Sun Jian once borrowed a thin wine in a cup to try Cao Yin's style. But Cao Yin only cared about drinking left and right, and kept silent about anything else.

The next morning, after breakfast, the county ordered the two Shangguan to go away. In the afternoon, at about three o'clock in the morning, Cao Yin finally brought Sun Jian and his party back to Linyuan, the governing office. In order to fulfill the friendship of the landlord, Cao Yin not only set up a banquet with wine, but also looked for local famous dancers to fill a moment of joy. In the orchid of the musicians plucking the strings and the dancing girls' steps, there were three guests who enjoyed this happy moment with Cao Yin. The Sun father and son, as the first guests, were on the right hand side of Cao Yin. The other was a guest of honor, who was a close minister of the emperor, who was the "executor of the case" and "Doctor Guanglu" at the time, and his name was "Wen Yi", who was on the left hand side of Cao Yin.

After Ji Ling finished dancing, Sun Jian first couldn't hold back and said: "Cao Taishou, please come here, do you have any advice?" ”

"Isn't it exactly what you want to talk to me about here?" Cao Yin asked rhetorically.

Listening to the meaning of Cao Yin's words, it seems that he has a complete insight into everything. However, Sun Jian followed his heart and still believed that Cao Yin did not know his intentions, and Cao Yin's words should be a temptation. He was silent and waited for Cao Yin.

"If you don't want to talk to me, you can go out from the east gate of Xiangyang, enter Jiangxia County, and then turn to the south road and go straight to Changsha. Why do you have to run out from the south gate, enter the domain of Nanjun, and enter the realm of my Wuling County? Cao Yin said.

"Oh! I'm from Xiangyang, where did you know? Sun Jian said.

"Envoy, the words have come to this, there is no need to blindly deny it, it is meaningless and time-consuming." Cao Yin said, "Although I don't know why I want you to go to Xiangyang, why am I in a hurry. However, in terms of the grievances between me and Wang Rui in the past, he will definitely take the opportunity of small talk to slander me as Dong Dang. I was outside Xiangyang City, secretly plotting a large number of meticulous works and assassins, waiting for an opportunity to sneak into the city, Wang Rui will also take it as one of the evidence, and mention it with the envoy by the way. ”

"Slander? What is the proof? Sun Jian said.

"Don't be in a hurry, the beginning and end of the matter is like this......"

Sun Jian patiently put Cao Yin's words into his heart, and found that the story told by Cao Yin was surprisingly similar to the story told by Wang Rui in Xiangyang City that day. Among them, the rare difference is that the Dong Dang, who can be punished, has changed from Cao Yin to Wang Rui; The persevering pursuer has changed from Wang Rui to Cao Yin; Cao Yin also has more than ten silk books with decisive evidence, and the rhyme of his words and the shape of the ink are also the same as those seen in Xiangyang City.

Although Wang Rui and Cao Yin have their own opinions, the coherence of their stories can be said to be clear, and they both have the same physical evidence in their hands. Sun Jian couldn't tell the truth from the false, so he sighed: "Which of you two is right and which is wrong, you can't know if you don't check!" ”

Just when the two sides were at a stalemate due to insufficient evidence, Wen Yi, who was accompanying him, suddenly took out a silk book from his cuff. Then he put the curled silk book, presented it to his chest with only his hand, got up and said: "Changsha is too shou Sun Jian to accept the order." ”

The holy decree was issued, and Sun Jian had to follow the Han system, get up and dress up with his beloved son, and said with a big salute: "Minister Changsha guards Sun Jian too much, and brings his eldest son to wait for His Majesty's holy will." ”

Wen Yi saw that the Sun father and son had exhausted their rituals, so he opened the holy decree and preached:

"On the ninth day of December in the winter of the sixth year of Zhongping, Wang Rui of the Dong Party said: 'In ancient times, the Holy Emperor ruled the world, relying on the virtuous ministers to support each other, and in the year of Ma Ge, loyalty and goodness were even more rare. Jiang Shang of Zhou, Guan Zhong of Qi, Sun Wu of Wu, Shang Yang of Qin; All of them are to turn the tide and fall to the unparalleled national soldiers.

I am a relative, so I am prosperous, and its group is uneven, and the blessings and misfortunes are half. During this period, people who seemed to be loyal and pure such as Wei Qing and Sick were so widowed; It seems that Lu Lu, Wang Mang and other treacherous and hypocrites are especially popular.

The Gaozu Lu clan, the Yuan Emperor Wang clan, and the Zhang Emperor Dou clan - the history of the Han Dynasty for a hundred years, the chaos is endless. I was born at the wrong time, and I was also affected by the political disaster of my cousin Dong.

I heard that Wang Rui, the assassin of Jingzhou, has always been arrogant and rude, and he was originally driven by nature, so he ignored it. However, after many secret reports and my personal investigation, there is no doubt that Wang Rui is a henchman of the Dong family. His arrogance and rudeness in his words all relied on the obscenity of the Dong family, causing trouble to the local administration.

I thought about it and felt that it was a hidden danger in the end, so I specially made a decree with this to call the heroes of the world to eliminate thieves. All the ministers of the Han court, regardless of their power and position, who see the will, must act according to the will of the people. If there is any violation, it will be regarded as a protest against the decree, and the crime will be severely punished by the court lieutenant with a great disobedience. ’

Chin this. ”

As soon as Wen Yi's words fell, Sun Jian put his hands up and said, "The minister Sun Jian takes the order." ”

Sun Jian took the holy decree, and then got up with his beloved son to review the holy decree.

For historical reasons, the jade seal of the country with He's bi as the raw material, made by Li Si, the prime minister of the Great Qin, and the inscription said: "Ordered by the sky, both longevity and eternal prosperity", has been lost as early as when the eunuchs were fighting. Therefore, the seal used by Emperor Xian at the moment was temporarily supervised by Emperor Xian after Dong Thief entered the reign of the dynasty, using mutton fat and white jade as the material. As for the seal of the new seal, it also recreated the eight characters and said: "Haotian's destiny, Emperor Shouchang." ”

The holy decree in front of him was not stamped with a new seal, but instead it was "Ordered by the Han Dynasty, Chen Liuzun King" eight characters. This seal ribbon was used by Emperor Xian before he succeeded to the throne and was on the throne of Chenliu.

Sun Jian saw that the text used in the preparation of the edict was printed by this old thing, not only did he not doubt it, but he believed it. Think about it: with Dong Thief as a treacherous person, how could he give up the new seal to the emperor? In addition to this old royal seal, I am afraid that the emperor is useless.

However, for the sake of insurance, Sun Jian still tried to ask: "Since the new seal has been made, why do you continue to use the king's seal?" ”

"Since the day the new seal was made, it has not left Dong Thief all day long. Therefore, His Majesty has no seal, so he has to regain the king's seal and use it. I hope that the hardships of His Majesty will be able to forgive the inconsiderate use of the seal. Wen Yi's reply was consistent with what Sun Jian thought.

Sun Jian did not immediately agree to the order, nor did he say anything to protest against it, he just turned around and paced towards the food table, filling the thin wine bottle with a copper bottle.

When he was young, Sun Jian's eyes suddenly lit up, as if he had an epiphany, so he drank the thin wine in the bottle and said: "Although the words of the two of you are reasonable, it is difficult to win the trust of the world with the seal of the prince. If 'Doctor Wen' is really loyal to the king and inferior to the people, and then returns to Luoyang, please ask Your Majesty to draw up another edict "Edict on Dong Zhuo and His Henchmen", and steal the jade seal from Dong Thief's hands and stamp it in writing, I will believe what you say and get rid of Wang Rui. ”

"Return to Luoyang, please Your Majesty to draft another holy decree, it is not enough teeth." Wen Yi said, "Sneaking into Xiangguo's Mansion and stealing the jade seal from Dong Thief is inevitably difficult for some strongmen." ”

"You know that you infiltrated the Xiangguo Mansion and stole the jade seal to seal it, which is called difficult; Then my father and son made a big fight and killed Wang Rui under Xiangyang City, how light is it to talk about; A total of thirteen roads to discuss the princes of Dong, in the first month of next year to join forces westward, how easy is it? Sun Jian said, "Today, even if it is said that the sky is broken, Ben Taishou will not see the will of stamping the jade seal, and he will never speak lightly." ”

Just when the two sides were deadlocked, Cao Yin interjected: "With Dong thief as a person's treacherous words, Dr. Wen steals the seal for public use, and there is indeed a danger; However, what Sun Yuanjun said is not unreasonable. In my humble opinion, Dr. Wen might as well return and give it a try, if he is favored by heaven and given a good opportunity to succeed, it will be a blessing or even a blessing; If you are unlucky and you can't find the opportunity for a long time, you can redo the calculation, how about it? ”

Under Cao Yin's persuasion, Wen Yi finally agreed. Then he went to bed after the banquet and returned to Luoyang the next day.