Perhaps it was the first time to participate in such a high-level banquet, and several small people, including Zhuge Liang, looked a little nervous. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 info Among them, Li Sheng sat motionless in the carriage to the state governor's mansion. His heart was so nervous that his whole body was as rigid as a wood carving, and even the sweat oozing from his forehead slid down his face, and he didn't dare to move his body in the slightest.

In fact, Zhuge Xuan's mansion in Liu Biao's state pastor mansion is not far away, but it is only two miles away, and even if you walk, it will only take a moment. But even if the mansion is attached to the edge of Liu Biaozhou's Pastoral Mansion, no one will walk there at such a time, because it is too chilling and does not reflect the nobility of the family.

These people gathered under Liu Biao's account are all optimistic about Liu Biao, and they all think that Liu Biao may become the protagonist of the next generation. Although they belong to the same camp and are familiar colleagues with each other, there is still competition between them. In this era, we rely on the evaluation of people to gain fame, and only a good reputation can get a better life in this era, and evaluation is often generated between people and people. For wealthy celebrities, even a slight move by themselves should be careful, because it is likely to become a project to compare with others.

Liu Biao's state residence was huge, and it was a jungle of buildings surrounded by gray walls one mile long and one mile wide. It didn't look like a house anymore but a city. In this state mansion, all the facilities that the city should have are here. The tiles that came out of the house were not red tiles for the exclusive use of the palace, but the others were one size smaller than the palace in scale.

Entering the gate of the state governor's mansion, the original avenue was divided into three parts: left, middle and right by stones of different colors. All the carriages that entered the gate were divided into left and right according to the different duties of their masters under Liu Biao's account, and the middle avenue was empty, as if it was a road specially prepared for Liu Biao.

"Isn't this pomp and circumstance much different from that of the emperor?" Unlike Li Sheng, whose body was stiff and didn't know what to do, Zhuge Liang was still in the mood to lift the curtain of the carriage at this moment to watch everything outside, and when he found that the state pastoral mansion in front of him was far larger than the etiquette system stipulated in the "Han Law", he felt very strange: "Lord Liu Biao is just a state pastor, how can he ...... it?"

"Now is a troubled time, the authority of the imperial court is not strong, and those who can speak in the local area are powerful. They can do whatever they want with those who depend on them for survival, and they are appointees rather than appointees. Although they still clearly say that they respect the imperial court, but that is only on the surface, as long as they lock them up and don't tell anyone, then they are the emperors of the territory under their jurisdiction and can do anything. For example, they don't pay attention to things that violate the main system in the construction pomp. Zhuge Xuan explained clearly: "This has become the most common phenomenon in troubled times. ”

"Oh!" Zhuge Liang answered, but he didn't say anything. After all, the general trend of the whole world is like this, and everyone doesn't take the emperor and the court to heart.

The carriage stopped in front of the side hall square where the banquet was held, and everyone got out of the carriage. From here, they had to walk on foot on the Shizhang Road to the side hall, which was to show their respect for Lord Liu Biao. As the lord of Jingzhou, Liu Biao could ignore the laws and etiquette of the Han Dynasty, but as Liu Biao's courtiers, he categorically could not do so. Because it was not a decree of contempt for the Han Dynasty, but a challenge to the authority of Lord Liu Biao, which was absolutely not allowed.

Li Sheng and the others followed Zhuge Xuan into the side hall of twenty zhang square, and saw that many people had already arrived. They seemed to like to take advantage of the opportunity before the banquet to make friends, so the whole side hall was full of buzz, and the sound of their conversation was everywhere. Although the conversation was full of vague greetings, their faces were full of seriousness.

"That's hypocrisy." Entering this hall and arriving at the ground, Li Sheng's heart calmed down. He glanced at everyone in the hall, saw the situation here, and whispered to Zhuge Liang who was standing beside him quite disappreciatively.

"Before the official face, the relationship between people is still cooperative, and such hypocrisy is necessary." Zhuge Liang could understand this situation very well, and he explained to Li Sheng in a low voice.

Although he is still a child, he has more knowledge in this area than Li Sheng. Because long before his father died, he had lived in Taishan for a period of time with his father, who was the county leader of Taishan, so he naturally had the opportunity to understand the various behaviors of everyone in the officialdom. Of course, he couldn't understand it when he was quite young at that time, but the appearance of the adults wearing masks gave him a deep impression. He kept this impression in his mind, and it was not until he got older and understood more that he understood.

The return of the gentleman and the wind and dust. In other words, no matter how the nature of the banquet changes, at least nominally, Zhuge Xuan's family is one of the protagonists today. Now that they have appeared in this side hall, everyone has to greet this protagonist.

The two little ghosts were talking in a whisper, but they didn't notice that the conversation of the adults around them had gradually thinned out, and everyone had already focused their eyes on the Zhuge family. Although they also knew that today's banquet had become a Ling because of someone's participation, the reason for the banquet was that Lord Liu Biao had washed the dust for the return of Mr. Zhuge Xuan. In other words, no matter how the nature of the banquet changes, at least nominally, Zhuge Xuan's family is one of the protagonists today. Now that they have appeared in this side hall, everyone has to say hello to this protagonist.

"Lord Zhuge is so ......", "Mr. Zhuge has worked hard......" On the way to the depths of the hall, from time to time, Liu Biao's officials came up to greet Zhuge Xuan, although some of them may be newcomers, and this is the first time to meet Zhuge Xuan. However, no matter whether the people who came to greet them were new or old, Zhuge Xuan still nodded to them one by one, and politely hugged his fists in return.

But maybe because the status of these people is not enough, or Zhuge Xuan himself doesn't know them very well, although he greeted them with a smile on his face, he didn't stop more in front of them. Almost as soon as he greeted him, he walked forward, and naturally he didn't introduce Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang and other junior children to them.

It wasn't until he walked to the depths of the hall and saw people who seemed to be several families gathered together, that Zhuge Xuan's smiling face became a little solemn. He took the people from his family to walk in front of these people in a few steps, and saluted them very respectfully: "Zhuge Xuan has seen Mr. Zirou, Mr. Xenodu, Mr. Gongyi and Mr. Decao. ”

"Mr. Zhuge is the guest of honor today, and it should be us who salute you. How can you be so polite! When those people saw Zhuge Xuan, they were smiling, and one of them was about forty years old, nearly eight feet tall, and a middle-aged man in a brocade robe grabbed Zhuge Xuan's hand with a bold face and said loudly.

"Don't dare, don't dare!" Zhuge Xuan said humbly, and he immediately called Li Sheng and others behind him to come forward and introduced them to these people: "This is my newly adopted son Li Sheng, and he is also the widow grandson of Yuan Ligong back then; The one who is about the same height as me is my brother's second son, Zhuge Liang; Standing next to him were my brother's two daughters, Zhuge Yan and Zhuge Ling; And the two youngest, the male is my brother's youngest son Zhuge Jun, and the female is the granddaughter of Yuan Ligong and the cousin of my righteous son, Li Zhong. ”

Saying that, Zhuge Xuan turned his head and introduced these Jingzhou celebrities in front of him like these children: "This is Mr. Kuai Liang Kuai Zirou, that is Mr. Kuai Yue Kuai, then Mr. Fu Xun Fu Gongyi, and finally this is Mr. Sima Hui Sima Decao." ”

"After the end of school, Li Sheng (Zhuge Liang, Zhuge Yan, Zhuge Ling, Zhuge Jun, Li Zhong) has met several gentlemen." After listening to Zhuge Xuan's introduction, Li Sheng and the others hurriedly bowed to Kuai Yue and the others. They knew that these people were all people respected by Zhuge Xuan, and they should not be underestimated.

Among them, Li Sheng, who came from later generations, understood that Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue, and Fu Xun were the core strategists in Liu Biao's forces, and they were also the main figures in the wealthy families in Jingzhou, and Sima Hui was a famous man in Jingzhou, although he had never joined Liu Biao, but he cultivated many talents in Jingzhou who later became famous all over the world, such as Xu Shu (Yuan Zhi), Meng Jian (Gongwei), Shi Tao (Guangyuan), Cui Hao (Zhou Ping), etc., which are famous educators in Jingzhou. Li Sheng even understood that Zhuge Liang around him would also learn from him in the future.

PS I really couldn't find Cui Zhouping's real name, so I had to add a "Hao" name to him

"What a handsome man in his prime. Brother Zhuge , these juniors of yours are quite good. At that moment, everyone praised Li Sheng and others. Although they are all real celebrities, and their words are more elegant, they will not appear to be overly patting, just the appreciation of the elders for the younger generations, but listening to the ears of Li Sheng and others, who were not praised by so many people, still made their cheeks red, and they were a little embarrassed and couldn't stand it.

Fortunately, Zhuge Xuan saw the embarrassment of their children, and hurriedly smiled and said humbly: "Gentlemen, don't blow the children into the sky." They are still young, and it is time for them to discipline them more. Too much praise won't do them any good. Besides, how can they compare to the sons of all gentlemen. In today's Xiangyang, the son of the Kuai family, the son of the Kuai family, the son of the Fu family, Fu Lin, the son of the Sima family, Sima Jing, and the son of the Pang family, Pang Shanmin, are well known to the people. Everyone calls the four princes of Jingzhou without names. ”

"Where, where." These elders are always humble in their mouths, but they are smiling in their hearts. After all, they always have high expectations for the children of their respective families. They always like to hear the words of praise. Especially a more subtle praise like Zhuge Xuan.

"I don't know how many sons have also participated in this banquet?" Zhuge Xuan asked at this time: "If there is, I also implore them to come and meet each other." It's also good that these children can be close to each other, after all, everything will depend on them after us. ”

"Well, that's right." Several celebrities nodded one after another. Speaking of which, they themselves are good friends, and they are naturally willing to have further contacts with their juniors.

"Of course, it would be better if we could get married." Looking at the two young ladies of the Zhuge family with different temperaments, some of these people are already secretly thinking about it.

After a while, a soft voice sounded behind everyone: "Big uncle, second uncle is fine." A few gentlemen are well. ”

But I saw an elegant young man of medium stature, with a fair face and a somewhat bookish face, standing behind everyone with several of his companions of the same age.

"Hehe, Qi'er, where are you coming?" Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue both had happy smiles on their faces, and they both seemed to like this distant nephew of the same clan. They summoned Kuai Qi and the others over, pointed at Li Sheng, Zhuge Liang and the others and said with a smile: "Come and see these people." They are the sons and nephews of your uncle Zhuge Xuan, and you will meet often in the future. With that, they introduced the names of Zhuge Liang, Li Sheng and others to Kuai Qi.

Kuai Qi seems to be a very traditional reader, and he always acts in a bit of a one-dimensional way. At that moment, he relied on the number of courtesies, and respectfully saluted Li Sheng and the others: "I have seen Brother Liang, Brother Sheng, Brother Jun, Miss Yan, Miss Ling, and Miss Dang. ”

"Don't dare, the younger brother has seen Brother Qi and all the brothers." Although Li Sheng and Zhuge Liang always felt that they were a little uncomfortable with Kuai Qi's "rigid" temperament, in front of so many people, they didn't dare to behave out of line, and they could only return the courtesy to Kuai Qi and others according to etiquette.

At this time, someone outside the door sang loudly: Mr. Huang Chengyan, Mr. Pang Shanmin, and Pang Tong arrived.

Just like when Zhuge Xuan brought his family here, the originally closed crowd suddenly dispersed on both sides and made way in the hall. It was because of this point that Zhuge Xuan and others, who were standing in the depths of the hall, saw the figure coming in:

Huang Chengyan, who is emaciated, is an old man in his fifties, his hair is gray, but he looks very energetic. He greeted everyone here with a smile, but the small eyes under his face were full of light. Coming in after him were two juniors, Pang Shanmin and Pang Tong of the Pang family in Xiangyang. This Pang Shanmin seems to be seventeen, eighty-nine years old, and his figure is similar to Kuai Qi, but his skeleton is one size bigger than Kuai Qi. Different from Kuaiqi's fair face, Pang Shanmin's face was slightly darkened because of his long-term work in the fields, giving people a healthy feeling. If Pang Shanmin's appearance is another kind of handsome temperament, then Pang Tong, who was led in by his hand, looks quite flattering, with a black face, a round face, a big mouth, a nose facing the sky, and triangular eyes, I heard that he is sixteen years old, but his height is only four feet three, which is really short.

These people also traveled all the way, without pausing, until Zhuge Xuan, Kuai Liang and their side stopped. Huang Chengyan is a celebrity in Jingzhou and the brother-in-law of Liu Biao, the lord of Jingzhou, while Pang Shanmin and Pang Tong represent the Pang family, a famous family in Xiangyang, and they also have some identities, of course, they will not associate with those nameless lower-level officials. At such a banquet, everyone exists by relying on a social circle that is comparable to their own status.

After the three newcomers saluted Zhuge Xuan, Zhuge Xuan introduced Li Sheng and others to Pang Shanmin and Pang Tong, and said with a smile: "You young people have your own topics, so you don't have to be with us and others. It's rare to have a chance to get along, so go by yourself. He deliberately gave his children the opportunity to socialize independently, which he thought was very important.

"Yes." The young men saluted them, but went to the side. They have their own space to move.

Returning to the original place, the discussion among the young people began again. Pang Shanmin is obviously familiar with Kuai Qi, and it is very easy to chat together. They either talked about the world, or talked about the world, or talked about poetry, and laughed for a while, but they spoke happily. But he put aside the newly joined Li Sheng, Zhuge Liang, Pang Tong and others.

At this moment, Zhuge Liang listened to them attentively, but he was a good reader. Zhuge Yan too, she may have taken a fancy to Kuai Qi, and her eyes stared at him softly. Zhuge Ling and Zhuge were bored and stayed aside, finding a place to sit down very unruly, and their feet were swaying. But Li Sheng was holding the little hand of the bell and staring at a person tightly, Pang Tong who showed disdain for Kuai Qi and them in his eyes.

"You look down on them?" After looking at it for a while, Li Sheng quietly walked to Pang Tong's side, gently pulled his sleeve, led him to the side a little farther away, and asked him with a smile. When he looked for it, he knew that Pang Tong didn't look very good, and he had already made some preparations in his heart, so he seemed more normal. He looked at Pang Tong's not handsome face, and quickly caught the fleeting essence of it.

"How do you see that?" Pang Tongba looked at his triangular eyes and asked Li Sheng softly.

"Your eyes. People can deceive people in everything, but their eyes can't. Li Sheng replied with a smile, "I have heard people say before, 'The eyes are the window to the soul, and they can look directly into the hearts of others'." ”

"Hehe, that's true." Pang Tong laughed, and then pointed to Kuai Yue and whispered: "Poetry is written all day long, and a thousand words are written on the day, and it seems that the chest is full of ink, but in addition to attracting the applause of the people who appreciate it, what is the benefit to the lord and the world." It is not conducive to agriculture and mulberry, so that the life of the world is safe and there is food and clothing, and it is not possible to strengthen the armor in the four Yi and make the foreign people submit, this is all empty talk. In the past, when the Warring States period was in the past, Qi was a big country in the east, and why it was defeated was because it did not re-cultivate the war, but just talked about it. ”

"Well, that makes sense." Li Sheng smiled and nodded in agreement, "You are a practical person, I think you like to discuss the current situation with others." He looked at Pang Tong's confident ugly face, and suddenly felt that it was not too ugly.

"That's nature." Pang Tong nodded again and again.

"So what do you think Jingzhou should do if it wants to develop! For now. Li Sheng asked him with a smile, he wanted to hear the thoughts of people who would be famous all over the world in the future under the name of "Phoenix Chick". Although he is still a teenager, Li Sheng has seen Zhuge Liang's performance and only thinks that he is not much better than ordinary adults. Since Wolong is like this, then the phoenix chick should not be too bad.

"Right now. I think Koto is better. Pang Tong answered Li Sheng's question almost immediately.

"Why?" Li Sheng asked.

"Jiangdong's territory is big enough, the land is fertile enough, and the power of those monarchs is not too strong at the moment. At most, there are only 30,000 or 40,000 soldiers and horses, and a large part of them are still coerced people. As for Wang Lang, Yan Baihu and the like, there are so many people. In total, it is not as good as our Jingzhou garrison in Jiangxia. Pang Tong calmly explained. Obviously, he had his own opinion on this issue very early, and now listening to Li Sheng talk about it just gave him a way to express it.

"Then do you think our Lord Liu Biao can take down Jiangdong?" Li Sheng asked him again.

"I'm afraid not, because Lord Liu Biao doesn't have that mind. All he was thinking about now was how to consolidate his rule over our Jingzhou. Lord Liu Biao is not a native of Jingzhou, and he does not have deep roots in Jingzhou. Pang Tong explained in an unusually low voice. The voice of the words was just for Li Sheng to hear alone.

"So what do you think will happen to Koto?" Li Sheng looked at him, and his mind was filled with such a person. "It's worthy of a phoenix. That's really true. He sighed to himself.

"I'm afraid it will come down to Liu Xuan. I heard that he received 20,000 horses from Charong a while ago, and his strength can be regarded as the strongest in Jiangdong. Pang Tong thought for a moment and said.

"Really?" Li Sheng is noncommittal to this answer. He knew in his heart that this answer was wrong, because he knew that Jiangdong was finally mastered by the Sun family.

"Maybe Pang Tong didn't know that Sun Ce already had plans to lead troops across the river." Li Sheng was not prepared to say this. He knew that no one would believe his claims.

"Why, you don't believe that?" Regarding Li Sheng's attitude, Pang Tong seemed a little dissatisfied and a little impatient.

"It's not." Li Sheng shook his head slightly, "I'm just wondering if Liu Miao can restrain Cha Rong?" Charong is as terrible as Lu Bu for some people. ”

"Is that so?" Pang Tong was silent. What Li Sheng said was immediately distorted into the word "betrayal" in his mind - Cha Rong and Lu Bu were both masters of betrayal and killing.

However, it is always a little unpleasant to be refuted, especially by this guy who is younger than himself, which makes the young and vigorous Pang Tong a little annoyed.

He frowned, and was about to dig out his mind to find some reason to refute Li Sheng's words, but he heard a burst of music on the high platform of the hall, and a guard shouted in his majestic voice: "Lord Liu Biao, the state pastor, has arrived!" ”

Obviously, the lord of Jingzhou has arrived.

This Lord Liu Biao is more than half a hundred years old, and his long life experience makes him show the style of an elder. He was a literati, and there was always a strong bookish atmosphere in him; He is a martial artist, and his whole body is strong, even because of the passing of age, it has not decreased much; He is also a nobleman born into a famous family, and his gestures show a graceful and luxurious posture; He is also a monarch, and the fact that he is in charge of millions of people in Jingxiang gives him a domineering spirit that looks down on the world.

Although the evaluation of Liu Biao in history is mixed, after actually seeing it now, Li Sheng was surprised to find that he had a heart of surrender to him in his heart.

"Sure enough, the person who can become a hegemon in the troubled times is not an ordinary person." Li Sheng thought about it, and secretly glanced at Liu Biao a few more times, before he barely let his throbbing heart gradually settle down. Only then did he realize that Liu Biao did not come alone, he came with a woman. Combined with his father-in-law's original words at home, Li Sheng affirmed that the woman who followed Liu Biao was the second lady of the Cai family, and later became Mrs. Cai, Liu Biao's wife.

"A red face and a curse." At this time, Li Sheng gave her a definition. As far as Li Sheng watched "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", if it weren't for Mrs. Cai's always leaving by her mother's family, then Jingzhou would not have fallen into Cao Cao's hands so soon after Liu Biao's death. Li Sheng didn't like Cao Cao very much, and now he is full of resentment towards Cao Cao after experiencing the real Xuzhou Rebellion. He hated Cao Cao, and he hated all the people who made Cao Cao stronger. For example, Mrs. Cai at the moment.

Because he was dissatisfied with Mrs. Cai and thought that she was a "disaster to the country and the people", Li Shengda looked at her carefully in the crowd below from the moment he found out that Liu Biao had brought her up. He seemed to want to remember his appearance in his heart, so he looked at it very carefully. However, it's okay not to look at it, but when he looks at it, he was stunned for a while: Where is the young lady, a half-aged who is more than forty and fifty! I can't think of how Liu Biao likes her, could it be that Liu Biao has some special hobby for women?

Thinking about it, Li Sheng hurriedly shook his head. He finally realized that "there is always a gap between the ideal and the reality." The true meaning of this sentence.

Liu Biao is here, Cai Er's "Miss" is here, and Cai Mao, who is very related to them, Zhang Yun will naturally not come. I saw that the crowd in the main hall was parting at once, and a middle-aged military general with a small beard on his upper lip led a young man with a slightly prodigal look on his face and walked in. They are Cai Mao and Zhang Yun, the generals of Jingzhou's naval army.

"Hmph, if Zhang Yun is not Miss Cai Er's nephew, can he become the deputy head of the Jiangling Water Army?" Looking at the two people who came in, Li Sheng obviously heard Kuai Qi's disdainful snort after standing behind a few positions: "In addition to playing with women, this guy can also play a ball?" ”

After listening to Kuai Qi's words, Li Sheng was slightly stunned, and then came to his senses: "It turns out that the wealthy families in Jingzhou are not absolutely intimate. At least among the younger generation, Zhang Yun is extremely resented by Kuai Qi, otherwise with Kuai Qi's personality, he would not have said such vulgar words regardless of Sven. ”

"What is the contradiction between them?" This is something Li Sheng wants to know, but at the moment, he doesn't think it's a good time to ask.

People seem to be almost there. With the arrival of the lord Liu Biao, the banquet also began.

Li Sheng, Zhuge Liang and others sat with Zhuge Xuan, an elder. Because today's banquet was nominally held for Zhuge Xuan's return, the position of the Zhuge family was arranged at the first table on Liu Biao's right hand: the main seat was naturally made by Zhuge Xuan, and next to him sat his wife, and there were two other tables behind him, which were the seats of several children of the Zhuge family.

On the opposite side of the Zhuge family's seat, that is, the first seat on Liu Biao's left, this position was arranged for the two major opposition celebrities in Jingzhou - Huang Chengyan and Sima Hui. This is to show Liu Biao's respect for them, and Huang Chengyan is the husband of the Cai family's laughing sister, and he will be related to Liu Biao in the future, and Sima Hui is a famous master of scripture in Jingzhou, which is also quite respectable, so naturally no one has an opinion on such an arrangement. And on the small seat behind them, sitting were the representatives of the Pang family in Xiangyang, Pang Shanmin and Pang Tong. They are juniors, but because the Pang family has a significant status in Liu Biao's eyes, they are also arranged at the forefront.

Zhuge Xuande sat down with the participants of the Kuai family and the Fu family, while Huang Chengyan sat at the table with his hands on the Cai family. As for the remaining Jingzhou officials, they were divided into two sides according to the size of their respective ranks. After a while, in Liu Biao's blazing gaze on the high platform, the people who were originally standing in the hall in a disorderly manner quickly found their respective positions and sat down. Sitting there honestly, it looks like a serious look.

Seeing that everyone under his command was so orderly, Liu Biao nodded with satisfaction. Immediately, the guards loudly announced: "Serve!" ”

Plates of steaming food were brought up by the subordinates, but they were all meat, very few vegetables, and the means of making them were varied: cooking, boiling, broiling, frying, stewing, etc., so that the people in the hall who had already endured it to the moment could not eat, smelling the rich aroma of meat on the plate, their eyes could not help but shine, and their index fingers moved. Especially Li Sheng, who participated in this kind of banquet for the first time, was even more joyful and was about to jump up. There is no other reason, since Li Sheng is a person who loves meat. As early as when he was in junior high school in modern times, he could eat two catties of meat with two taels of rice in one meal.

At this moment, everyone watched the movements of the lord sitting on the top of him, waiting for him to start eating the first bite of food. Because only the lord at the top began to eat, then the officials below could also move their own dishes and chopsticks. Otherwise, even if they are hungry, they can't be rude first.

Finally, Liu Biao's hand began to move, he slowly tore off a piece of beef from a plate of beef leg meat, slowly sent it to his mouth, chewed it, and swallowed it......

The crowd immediately went into action.