Everyone has a good name, some have a good profit, and those who have no desires and no desires are either dead or no longer human. Gu Yong has a good name, but like most people, the more people with a good name, the more they have done three or two bad things that damage their reputation.

The jade pendant that Zhou Yu asked people to show Gu Yong was originally Gu Yong's thing, and the jade pendant representing the identity of the head of the Gu family, how could Gu Yong not know it. It's just that Gu Yong betrayed not Sun Quan, but when Liu Bei and Sun Ce were fighting for Jiangdong, Gu Yong saw that Liu Bei's defeat was decided, so he privately contacted Sun Ce and offered the head of the family jade pendant to express his submission. If Gu Yong hadn't secretly informed Sun Ce of Liu Bei's troop deployment, Liu Bei would not have been defeated so quickly.

Betraying the old master, this is an out-and-out notoriety, even if Liu Beiren has no way to take Gu Yong in Jingnan at this time, Gu Yong doesn't want this matter to be known to the world. Gu Yong can find 10,000 reasons to explain why he gave up Liu Tou Sun in the first place, but the facts are the facts, and no matter how clever your words are, you can't change the fact that you betray your lord and seek glory.

If you want to change the shameless one, Zhou Yu will not make a fuss about this matter, but Gu Yong is a faceless person, and Zhou Yu can be regarded as holding Gu Yong's key point at this time.

Compared with Sun Ce, Sun Quan, the current lord of Jiangdong, is obviously more suspicious. Except for the entourage who had been serving left and right, Gu Yong didn't dare to fully believe the entourage who came to Chang'an with him this time. If Sun Quan knew that he had met with the "traitor" Zhou Yu in private, he didn't know how Sun Quan would deal with the Gu family.

For the sake of safety, Gu Yongming personally contacted Zhou Yu on the opportunity to go shopping, and the two agreed to meet at Qianjin Yixiaolou.

The old people are reunited, but there is no excitement. Looking at Zhou Yu, who was familiar in front of him but felt a little unfamiliar, Gu Yong frowned and asked, "Gongjin, what do you want to see me?" ”

"Yuan sighs, don't be nervous. Now that Jiangdong has changed hands, Zhou Gongjin has no idea about it, and he came to see Yuan Si today, just to ask Yuan Si, you can believe that I Zhou Yu is the villain who betrays the Lord and seeks glory. Zhou Yu asked unhurriedly.

"What is the difference between believing and not believing? Gongjin, you said that you have no intention of returning to Jiangdong, but what you asked is not a glimmer of hope for returning to Jiangdong. For the sake of acquaintance with you, I advise you, don't have illusions, there is no place for you to stand in Jiangdong, Sun Zhongmou should act more cautiously and carefully than you imagined. Gu Yong sighed and said.

“…… Bo Fu is not dead, but still alive. Zhou Yu said again without giving up.

"What? Jiangdong is now Sun Zhongmou's world, even if Sun Bofu can return to Jiangdong, who can use it? I have already said that Sun Zhongmou is used to planning and then acting, and now that Jiangdong's financial soldiers are in his hands, even if you and Sun Bofu can really return to Jiangdong, they will definitely die. ”

"Where is the little boy of Nabo Fu now?" Zhou Yu was silent for a moment and asked.

Gu Yong shook his head, "Don't ask me, no one in the entire Jiangdong knows about this except for Sun Zhongmou and the old lady." ”

There are fewer than a thousand cups of wine for a confidant, and there are more than half a sentence of speculation, and Zhou Yu and Gu Yong's situation at this time belongs to the latter. Zhou Yu didn't think about buying Gu Yong for the imperial court, and this time he met with Gu Yong just to find out where Sun Ce's family was locked up by Sun Quan? His wife and children have gone to Chang'an to reunite with him, and Sun Ce's family is still in Jiangdong. As a brother in life and death, Zhou Yu naturally hopes that Sun Ce, who wakes up in the future, can see his wife and children as soon as possible. It's just that Sun Quan's matter is very secretive, even if it is the Tianyan of the imperial court, he has not found any clues at this time, Zhou Yu can only put his hope on Gu Yong, one of Sun Quan's supporters behind the scenes, and the result is disappointing.

Zhou Yu, who had nothing to talk about, got up to say goodbye, Gu Yong didn't keep it when he saw this, now Zhou Yu is no longer Jiang Dongchen, his position is different from him, and his attitude can't be compared with the past.

……

meanwhile

Zhuge Liang, Jubei, Guo Tu and others, who were also the envoys of the princes like Gu Yong, also did not stay in the post house honestly. Judge, Guo Tu, and Xin Bi were visiting the magnates in Chang'an City, hoping to hear some rumors from the mouths of those people. Zhuge Liang went to Taixue, visited Zheng Xuan, Lu Zhi and other well-educated Confucians, and visited the first institution of higher learning in the Han Dynasty.

The schools of the Han Dynasty are distributed in a pyramid shape, with the village schools at the bottom, followed by townships, counties, counties, and prefectures, and Taixue at the top of all levels of schools. Although not only Taixue students can participate in the imperial imperial examination, students from all over the world can come to Chang'an to participate in the triennial imperial examination as long as they obtain the certificate issued by the local academic institution, but the most successful students in the imperial court are still students who study Taixue. In the past, only the children of the powerful were eligible to study, as long as they can obtain the recommendation of the state-level academic certificate in the local area, they can enter Taixue.

For the importance of learning, Liu Xie can be said to be more concerned than the construction of the army, first of all, the tuition is exempted, and the cost of education is borne by the imperial court, which makes many people from poor families grateful to Liu Xie, and supports Liu Xie as the emperor of the Han Dynasty. And because there are more people who have the opportunity to study, the scope of the imperial court has become wider, and the dependence on the family has also decreased. Although the family has an innate advantage, but this advantage is constantly being offset and weakened, and as time goes by, this advantage will disappear sooner or later, in order to maintain this advantage, the family has to strengthen the education of their own children, abandon the previous difference between the descendants, and choose the meritocracy.

If there is a family that has no resistance to the imperial examination, it is almost none. But the knife handle is in Liu Xie's hands, and Liu Xie has a large number of supporters around him, which makes the family members who are dissatisfied with the court dare not take a step beyond Lei Chi.

Before people are forced to a dead end, the first thing that often comes to mind is to be reluctant. Liu Xie was very smart, and he did not do whatever he wanted with soldiers in his hands, but closed a door and left a window for the other party, which led to many families who could not recognize the dangers of the imperial examination and chose to use their own advantages to follow the path drawn by Liu Xie. Even if there are so many sober-minded people, they are either bought by Liu Xie or are highly concerned by Liu Xie, and they can't move easily.

When Zhuge Liang arrived in Taixue, the standard of reception was not very high, and the Confucians of the level of Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi did not take the initiative to see him at all, so only Kong Rong brought a few students to pick up Zhuge Liang into the door. Taixue, not that anyone can enter if they want to, Liu Xie attaches great importance to Taixue, one is that the future Han officials will be born from Taixue nine times out of ten, and the second is that the safety of Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi, who are famous all over the world, is very important to Liu Xie.

Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi not only represent learning, but also the leaders of the world's clear stream, although they are not in charge of the government, but they affect the direction of public opinion in the world. In the Han Dynasty, where information transmission is not well developed, every word they say is almost equivalent to an official explanation.

Liu Xie was able to sit firmly in the country, and the recognition of Zheng Xuan and Lu Zhi was indispensable. As early as when Liu Xie stabilized Guanzhong, the princes from all walks of life had already realized that the imperial court could not be allowed to make this problem bigger, and it was not advisable to attack the imperial court directly, so these ill-intentioned people invariably adopted the next means of spreading rumors and ruining Liu Xie's reputation.

The people are ignorant, and they believe what others say. But there is another comparison in the hearts of the people, who prefer to believe the words of those who are famous and qualified. Compared with unverifiable gossip, the people are more willing to believe what the Confucians say. It was with the support of Zheng Xuan, Lu Zhi and others that Liu Xie was able to overcome the difficulties at the beginning, and when the people under the rule of the Han Dynasty lived a life of peace and contentment, the rumors that ruined the people of today have changed from half-belief to spontaneous resistance today.

The people are realistic, the rumors are not credible, and the most critical comparison is to look at their current situation. At present, the life of the people under the rule of the Han Dynasty can already guarantee three meals and clothing, and there is no endless conscription and military disasters that will appear at any time, which is enough for the people, and today is a good day. As for the rumors that the Son of Heaven is unscrupulous, as long as the Son of Heaven does not rob his own money and food, and does not harm his own women, who cares about the people's affairs?

No one wants the Han to change the emperor now, and the ghost knows what kind of virtue the new emperor is. At the moment, this is good, there is no need to change, whoever insists on changing it will be in a hurry.

Zhuge Liang has never been to Taixue, and after Kong Rong visited Taixue, Zhuge Liang entered the Grand View Garden like Grandma Liu, which was an eye-opener.

Today's Taixue is different from the past, and the students in the past Taixue mainly focused on poetry and ritual classics, and they rarely saw idlers in addition. And today's Taixue, according to Liu Xie's conception, all kinds of knowledge have their own specialties. To get ahead is no longer what it used to be, there is only one way to read diligently with a book. Shinong industry and commerce have exclusive teaching areas in Taixue.

"Brother Wenju, Shang Jia is also qualified to enter Taixue?" Zhuge Liang couldn't help but ask Kong Rongdao.

"Huh...... Kong Mingxiu wanted to underestimate those businessmen. If I don't have those merchants, it will be difficult for all industries to prosper. Or is it the prescient nature of the saint, telling me that the predecessors did not divide the people of the world into farmers and businessmen for the sake of ranking, but only to classify the people of the world, and the four people are all important, and there is no distinction between high and low. ”

"Oh? I would like to hear about it. Zhuge Liang listened to this statement for the first time, and hurriedly asked.

"Huh...... Kong Ming is not in a hurry, today is free, you and I might as well find a quiet place to sit down and talk in detail, how about it? ”

"I don't dare to ask if I want to, please."

Kong Rong took Zhuge Liang to a pavilion in Taixue for people to rest, and after ordering someone to serve tea, he said to Zhuge Liang: "Since Kong Ming wants to know the Shengshang's opinion on Shinong Industry and Commerce, then I will inform you." The saint compares the scholar to a person, the scholar represents the mind, the farmer represents the body, the worker represents the limbs, and the merchant represents the blood that circulates throughout the body. Agriculture is the foundation, if there is a problem with the body, then the person will collapse. The role of the worker is to get things done, first sharpen the tools, with the tools provided by the work, the farmer can better complete the things to be done. As for the merchants, it plays a role in connecting the north and the south and communicating with each other. The world only sees the profit-seeking and greedy side of the merchants, but ignores the benefits that the merchants can bring to the world. Far from it, just by alleviating the family's thirst for land, it is conducive to the stability of the world. ”

"Wenju, how do you say this?"

"Kong Ming, you were born in the Langya clan, even if your family suffers misfortune, but with the accumulation of your ancestors over the ages, I'm afraid you haven't had a hard life, you don't understand the people's desire for land. And the main reason why the big families are greedy for land is to seek wealth. The family generally has a large population, and the money needed for daily expenses is not a small amount, and land is a stable source of income, as long as it is carefully cultivated, there is always something to be harvested. But there is so much arable land in the world, and the family uses its power to grab the people's land, and the people who have lost the land have no livelihood, so they have to rely on the family. But once a natural or man-made disaster occurs, the people who have lost their source of livelihood can only choose to rebel recklessly. In the Yellow Turban Rebellion in the early years, the biggest reason why Zhang Jiao was able to deceive people was that the family annexed too many fields, leaving the people with no way to live. ”

Speaking of this, Kong Rong took a sip of the teacup, waited for Zhuge Liang to digest what he had just said, and saw that Zhuge Liang was waiting for his next words before he continued: "The Holy Stability Guanzhong is to first use the land as bait, so that those people who took risks and became thieves before return to the people, and then use these people as the basis to gradually divide and disintegrate the surrounding forces. ”

"Wenju, let's talk about why the saint wants to elevate the status of the businessman." Zhuge Liang saw that Kong Rong was getting more and more biased, and couldn't help but remind.

"Oh, say the merchant. In fact, it is not easy to be a businessman, and it is possible to lose all your money when you go out to do business, or you may die in a foreign land. They take far more risk than farmers who make a living from farming. As the Holy Prophet said, risk and reward are often proportional, and the higher the risk, the higher the return, and vice versa. However, people often ignore the risks that businessmen need to take in the process of doing business, and only see the income of businessmen after success. This is not right. ”

Zhuge Liang saw it at this time, and the hole in front of him was a little broken, no wonder the person who brought the tea before would look at him with sympathy when he left. In order to prevent Kong Rong from going farther and farther, Zhuge Liang had to remind: "Wenju, talk about the point." ”

"Oh, the point...... Actually, I'm talking about the point. Whether it is suppressing agriculture and valuing business or suppressing business and valuing agriculture, it is not very good for the stability of the world. Only balance can last. You say that the Holy Lord elevated the status of the merchants, but in fact this is not accurate, the Holy Lord did not attach too much importance to the merchants, but only gave the merchants the treatment they deserved. In the past, the family kept the business secret, the reason was that the reputation of the merchant was not good, and it would make people laugh if it was spread out. And now that the saint has taken the lead in business, there is no need for the family to hide the affairs of the merchants. Through the merchants, the family gained a large amount of wealth that could be used for the family's daily expenses, and the dependence on land was no longer as enthusiastic as in the past, and the people had more land of their own. ”

"No farming is unstable, no work is unfavorable, no business is not rich, and no people are uneasy. The saint once said that as long as everyone in the world performs their duties, then the world is a country of iron buckets. It's a pity that there are still a few fools who don't know the time of the day, and they don't hesitate to stir up the world for their own selfishness. ”

Hearing Kong Rong's words, Zhuge Liang's face was a little hot, and he hurriedly lowered his head to prevent Kong Rong from seeing it. And Kong Rong became more and more excited at this time, and he didn't notice the difference in Zhuge Liang's expression. His family knows his own affairs, Kong Rong knows that his mouth is broken, because of this problem, few professors in Taixue are willing to accompany him to discuss knowledge. Today I finally met an unsuspecting person, of course, I have to say a good thing.

Kong Rong is very able to speak, talking endlessly with Zhuge Liang Tiannan Haibei, Zhuge Liang was stunned and didn't find a chance to interject and interrupt, and when Kong Rong finally said that he was tired, Zhuge Liang hurriedly got up and said goodbye.

"Kong Ming, will you come back tomorrow?" For Zhuge Liang, a good listener, Kong Rong was a little reluctant.

"Thank you Wenju for the invitation, it's just that Liang came to Chang'an this time on another business trip, I'm afraid I can't have a good time with Wenju." Zhuge Liang hurriedly excused himself. Just kidding, this afternoon, I heard that Zhuge Liang almost went berserk and beat people. Still coming? Zhuge Liang was really worried that the good cultivation he had cultivated over the years would make an exception here in Kong Rong.

"Wenju, I don't know what position you hold in Taixue?" Before Zhuge Liang left, he couldn't help but ask Kong Rongdao.

"He was valued by the saint and ordered Kong Rong to serve as the director of Taixue."

"Huh? What is a Dean of Students? Zhuge Liang asked in surprise.

"The so-called director of teaching, in addition to teaching on weekdays, is also responsible for persuading those students who make mistakes to change their ways. It's a pity that fewer and fewer students have made mistakes in the past two years. Kong Rong said with some regret in the end.

“…… The saint really knows how to make good use of people, and Zhuge Liang admires it. ”

After saying goodbye to Kong Rong, Zhuge Liang returned to his residence in the post house. Previously, Zhuge Liang had invited Gu Yong and the trial to come to talk about it, and this time the trial also ordered someone to come and invite him. Zhuge Liang knew that the purpose of inviting him was not to make friends with him, but to communicate with each other and share the information they possessed.

This matter is also beneficial to Zhuge Liang, so naturally there is no reason to refuse. was invited to the residence of the trial, and sure enough, Gu Yong had already arrived first, and was waiting for him with the trial.

……

Chang'an Imperial Palace

Zhuge Liang and the others were gathering together at this time to communicate with each other and share the information they had collected in the past few days, while Liu Xie was also listening to his subordinates report on the activities of Zhuge Liang and others in Chang'an in the past few days.

This is the capital of the Han Dynasty, the center of power, it is impossible for Liu Xie to be indifferent to the arrival of several outsiders, especially one of these people, Zhuge Liang, who is regarded as a wise man and almost a demon in later generations, Liu Xie does not dare to be careless. Although Guo Jia has been appointed as the main representative of this negotiation, this does not mean that Liu Xie will leave the matter alone.

"Lord, are you worried that there is something wrong with Zhou Yu?" Fa Yan frowned slightly when he saw Liu Xie after hearing Zhou Yu and Gu Yong's private meeting, and asked out loud.

"What could he have done wrong? Now where else can he vote except me? I'm wondering, where did that Sun Quan hide Sun Ce's family? I haven't found out for so long. Liu Xie shook his head and said.