I saw a layer of linen cloth on the wooden board under Ding Yuan's body, and under the linen cloth was fur, and below was soft grass and dead leaves, among which seven or eight white lumps were exposed, like cotton in later generations.

Ma Chao carefully picked it up and took a look, only to see a light green skin under a snow-white velvet matter, pinched it, and there were hard cotton seeds inside, what is it if it is not cotton?

Forcibly suppressing the ecstasy in his heart, Ma Chao asked the soldiers who were serving Ding Yuan: "Where did you find this thing, but there is any superfluity?" ”

The soldier didn't know why, and replied: "Lord Qiqi, these things are found in the garden next to the naked swimming pool, and the villain saw that this thing was soft and dry, so he found it and spread it under the carriage, but the number of these flowers is not much, and they are all here!" ”

Ma Chao nodded, and suddenly remembered that cotton was first introduced to the land of China in the Northern and Southern Dynasties, when people only appreciated cotton as a flower and did not realize its economic value. It's just that I didn't expect that in the Eastern Han Dynasty, someone raised cotton as a flower, and Liu Hong, a faint king, is not useless, but I don't know where he got the seeds, could it be a gift from the people of the Western Regions?

Cotton has a high yield and a wide range of uses, which can greatly improve the living standards of the people, and can be popularized and cultivated on a large scale. Before that, people used kapok to fill bedding, and the kapok fibers were thick and short, which was not suitable for weaving cloth. Therefore, there were only three kinds of fabrics that could be used to make clothes at that time, the first was silk, also known as brocade cloth and silk, and the raw materials were mainly silk, with low yield, no water absorption, delicate silk, silky, and high-grade things. The second is linen, which is woven with hemp fibers, the texture is rough and wear-resistant, and it is widely used, and ordinary people basically wear linen clothes. The third is animal fur, such as wool, cowhide, deerskin, etc.

At that moment, Ma Chao found several eunuchs who stayed in the West Garden, and after careful questioning, he didn't ask why. ordered someone to collect these dozens of cotton, and the surname Suo personally went to the garden to look for it.

Liu Hong not only loves women, but also loves flowers, just this lotus bare pool costs a lot of material and financial resources, and the backyard flowers are more varied, there are flowers blooming all year round. Ma Chao searched for a long time and didn't see a single cotton, and most of these flowers couldn't be named, but there was a cluster of unusually beautiful flowers that caught his attention.

When he got closer, Ma Chao was in ecstasy again, there were more than a dozen poppies blooming here, and dozens of ripe or semi-ripe poppy fruits were swaying in the wind. Immediately ordered his henchmen to collect the ripe poppy fruits, and the rest were dug up by the roots. Although the value of this thing is not as good as cotton, it is also a rare thing. The fruit can be used to cure diseases, the seeds can also be used as a seasoning, after the poppy fruit is cut, it will flow out of the white emulsion, and a little boiling is the famous opium, which is used to trap people and collect money.

In order to ensure his monopoly position, Ma Chao took away all the flower seeds in the West Garden, and ordered his soldiers to burn the garden to the ground before he was relieved to go on the road. Nearly 10,000 troops passed through Mengjin to cross the Tiger Prison Pass, and entered the land of Jizhou in three or four days. Due to Lu Bu's backlash and Ma Chao's withdrawal, all the fortresses around Luoyang City were controlled by Dong Zhuo at this moment.

In September of the 1** year of AD, the Deyang Hall of the Luoyang Imperial Palace, the military officials of the court and the central government arrived. Dong Zhuo asked Li Ru to write an edict of abolition in advance, and then forced Empress Dowager He to seal the seal. In the kneeling of the civil and military officials, Li Ru read aloud: "Emperor Xiaoling, abandon his courtiers early." The emperor Cheng Shao, looking at the sea, and the emperor is frivolous, majestic and unscrupulous, in mourning and lazy, declining as before; The fierce virtue is displayed, the silver filth is heard, the artifact is humiliated, and the temple is defiled. The queen mother taught no mother, and the government was in chaos. The Empress Dowager Yongle collapsed, and everyone was confused. The way of the three outlines, the discipline of heaven and earth, and there is a que, the great sin. Hejian Wang Xie, Shengde Weimao, the rules are Miran, the abundance is on the top, and there is the table of Yaotu; Mourning and mourning, words are not evil, the surname of Qi Ling, there is Zhou Chengzhiyi. Xiu Shengmei said, what the world has heard, it is advisable to inherit the Hongye, for the eternal unity, and can inherit the temple. The deposed emperor was the king of Hongnong. The Queen Mother returned to power. ”

After the edict was issued, Taifu Yuan Kui untied the seal ribbon worn by the abolished emperor Hongnong and presented it to Liu Xie. Liu Xie then ascended the throne, changed the Yuan Yonghan, and granted amnesty to the world. Then Yuan Kui helped King Hongnong down to the palace and proclaimed himself a vassal to the new emperor who was sitting in the north. Seeing the abolition of the emperor, Empress Dowager He choked up, and the ministers were sad, but they dared to be angry and did not dare to speak.

After completing the abolition of the establishment, Dong Zhuo became more and more unscrupulous, self-proclaimed county marquis, in charge of all [***] affairs and government affairs, worshiped the prime minister, jumped to the head of the three princes, and held the power of the prime minister. Although Dong Zhuo is known as the minister of state who is "under one person and above ten thousand", in fact, he far surpasses Liu Xie and enjoys privileges such as "praising and worshipping without a name, entering the court without trending, and going to the palace with a sword".

When one person attains the Tao, the chicken and dog ascend to heaven. After Dong Zhuo himself became an official, he also used the privileges in his hands to wantonly crown the members of the Dong family. He first named his mother Chiyang Jun, and Yue Li was equipped with family orders and retainers, and his status was equal to that of a royal princess. At the same time, he worshiped his younger brother Dong Min as the general of the left, named the Marquis of Yu, and also named the granddaughter of Gang and Lu as the monarch of Yang.

Not only that, Dong Zhuo also messed up the harem, stayed in the dragon bed at night, and slept with the nobles and beauties left by Liu Hong, especially the two Yue's beauties. Liu Wei and Empress Dowager He were moved to Yong'an Palace under house arrest in the name of "the Empress Dowager forced Yongle Palace, to the point of death, and rebelled against the gift of the maiden and aunt", and sent Hu Ben Zhonglang to personally lead Li Su to guard it.

Dong Zhuo grew up in Xiliang and had a very good relationship with the local Qiang leaders, so he also had a lot of Qiang soldiers under him. After Dong Zhuo grasped the power, he saw that the rich aristocratic mansions in the city were continuous, the families were solid, and the gold and silk properties were innumerable, so he indulged his soldiers and carried out the so-called "prison" movement. Anyone who is rich will convict you of a crime and go to jail, and then let his family pay a lot of money to ransom him. And the Qiang soldiers under his command killed people everywhere and set fires, robbed rich households, annihilated silver women, looted supplies, and made the entire Luoyang City restless, complaining, and completely threw the original agreement with Ma Chao out of the clouds.

But it was said that Ma Chao was immediately called by Ma Teng and scolded him after rushing back to Yecheng, and it was understandable that he supported Liu Xie as the emperor because of the secret edict, but the matter of marrying Dong Zhuo's granddaughter made Ma Teng very annoyed. Now Dong Zhuo's notoriety has long spread all over the world, and ordinary people know that Dong Zhuo is a national thief.

Ma Chao was depressed, but he didn't expect to be scolded by Dong Zhuo, and he had already thought of countermeasures along the way, so he simply didn't admit it. denied this in front of Ma Teng, and bluntly said that Dong Zhuo framed him. Ma Teng naturally didn't believe in his son's reasoning, and he didn't really believe that Ma Chao would do such a stupid thing.

Ma Chao, who suffered a dark loss, was resentful, and had been smooth sailing since his debut, but he didn't think he would be so passive today. That night, he sent people to Bingzhou to summon Tian Feng and Zhang Liao of Yanmen, Lejin of Hexi, Wen of Shangdang, and Ma Tie of Shangjun to Yecheng. At the same time, he sent his henchmen to Taihang Mountain to hand over his handwritten letter to Zhang Yan.

In this way, half a month passed, and the three major strategists of Tian Feng, Fu Zhu, and Trial, as well as Huang Zhong, Zhao Yun, Dian Wei, Zhang Liao, Xu Huang, Zhang He, Le Jin, Wen Ping, Gao Shun, Ma Xiu, Ma Tie, Ma Dai and other generals were all in place. When everyone saw Ma Chaoxing's big movement, they knew that there would be a large-scale war. The opportunity to make a contribution has come, and everyone is excited.

That night, Ma Chao held a banquet in the mansion, and the guests were full, even Ma Teng, Cai Yong and Ding Yuan, who had just improved, were present, and there were dozens of people.

After the guests and hosts sat down and exchanged pleasantries, Ma Chao got up and said: "The country is unfortunate, first there are eunuchs and chaotic government, and then national thieves are rampant, so that all the people in the world are in misery, and the emperor's power is weak. My Ma family is a famous family in the world, tired of the emperor's grace, and he is also the general of the imperial hussar to lead the Jizhou pastor, in public and private, should be to help the Han as their own responsibility. Now Dong thief is in power, recklessly abolishes, oppresses the young master, and brutalizes the people, and he is a thief of the country! I want to raise the strength of Jizhou and Jizhou to send troops to Luoyang to defeat Dong Zhuo and the rest of the party, with the merit of Jianqin Wang, what do you think? ”

"Wu'er said it well!" Ma Teng was the first to stand up and said: "Dong Zhuo held the young master hostage, bullied hundreds of officials, and messed up the harem, for the sake of the world, his crimes are too numerous to read. ”

Cai Yong said: "The world is in turmoil, first there are eunuchs and rebellions, and then there are relatives who are rampant, and national thieves are in charge. Meng Qi has the courage of Yingbu and the talent of faith, if he does not give up, the old man is willing to write a letter for Dong Weiwen!"

Ma Chao was overjoyed, hugged his fists and said: "Mr. Cai is a great Confucian in the sea, if he can personally write an article on Dong Wei, he will definitely have more appeal!" However, I want to introduce an important person to you! With that, he bowed respectfully to the screen.

In the expectant eyes of everyone, two stunning girls walked into the hall with an old woman over half a hundred years old. It is Liu Hong's biological mother, Liu Xie's grandmother, Empress Dowager Dong, and the two girls are Diao Chan and Tang Ji. At the beginning, Ma Chao's placement of Empress Dowager Dong in Yecheng was extremely secretive, except for Ma Teng, including Tian Feng, Fu Zhu and others did not know.

Outsiders may not know the Empress Dowager Dong, but Tian Feng, Ding Yuan and Cai Yong have all been officials in the imperial court, how can they not know the Empress Dowager Dong?

After being surprised, he bowed down and bowed, and said respectfully: "I have seen the Queen Mother, the Queen Mother is safe and sound, it is really a great blessing in misfortune!" ”

When all the officials saw it, they also hurriedly got up and bowed.

Empress Dowager Dong waved her hand and said, "Everyone, please get up!" This palace is just a person in distress, if it weren't for the champion Hou to save him, I'm afraid he would have been buried in the loess, why should you make such a big gift to this palace? ”

After everyone sat down, Empress Dowager Dong said: "The Han family is unfortunate, there have been many national disasters, He Jin has just fallen, and another Dong Zhuo has come out as a disaster for Beijing." This person holds the Son of Heaven hostage, troubles the government, frames the loyalty, has a heart of usurpation, all kinds of evil surnames are better than He Jin, fortunately, there is a champion Hou with a heavy army, and it can still be governed, otherwise the Han family is in danger! This palace is the mother of the country, but can only denounce Dong thief here, the matter of rejuvenating the Han Dynasty has to rely on all the civil ministers and military generals, this palace represents the first emperor, on behalf of today's son, and even the Han dynasty in the past four hundred years The emperor is grateful to you, please accept this palace! (To be continued.) )