Unconsciously, Cai Mao talked about Nanyang Taishou Yang Xu, he smiled and said: "This Yang Taishou is really a wonderful person, last month, a county official in Nanyang County sent him a few fish, he did not refuse, so he hung the fish in the hall, and then someone sent him fish, he hung the fish that had been dried in the hall to show the man, and the man was ashamed and retreated." ”

Hearing this story, Wang Heng thought about it, this Yang Xu is the famous "Hanging Fish Too Shou" in history, no wonder he is so honest and self-controlled, but Cai Mao talked about the good story of Yang Xu hanging fish and refusing bribes, but he was very respectful and frivolous, which shows that at that time, Yang Xu was so honest and a little incompatible with officialdom.

Several people laughed, but many more were just drinking, not making a sound.

Cai Mao was a little proud, he continued: "Before I came, I also heard about one thing, after Yang Taishou took office in Nanyang, his wife brought his eldest son Yang Mi to him, but he closed the door, only let the eldest son into the house, let the eldest son see the things in his house, only a single collar, a few short brown pieces, a few salt and wheat hu, he asked the eldest son, what do I take to support your mother and son?" ”

Speaking of this, Cai Mao shook his head and said: "A county is too guarded, he can't even afford to support his wife, and in the end, his wife had to go back to Taishan County with her eldest son." ”

There was another burst of laughter in the hall, for this matter, Wang Heng is not very good to evaluate, Yang Xu he has been in contact with for a while, he has always respected Yang Xu, but he doesn't think that it is a good thing that a county is too shou to even support his wife and family.

In fact, it stands to reason that the Taishou of this year should still be able to afford his wife and children, the rank of the Taishou is really 2,000 stones, and the standard of Yulu is 6,500 yuan per month, 36 meters, and it is enough to raise dozens of people, but in the officialdom, there is always entertainment, and slaves are raised, and some people have to buy officials, so if there is no other source of income, it is difficult to maintain.

Yang Xu rarely socializes, and he doesn't have any slaves, and he only brought a scholar with him when he took office, so his money and Wang Heng are estimated to be used to help the poor.

Wang Heng sincerely admires such ethics and character, but he also hopes that Yang Xu's family can be well cared for and live.

Wang Hengzheng was pondering, and Xi Zhonghuan said angrily: "Yang Taishou is such an honest official, I don't think there is anything ridiculous. ”

Cai Mao was very embarrassed all of a sudden, he just used the matter of Yang Xu as a talking point for everyone to listen to, and it was over to talk about such topics at the general banquet, but he didn't expect Huanjie to come out and call him out.

What does he talk about at the banquet? Could it be that you are talking about the rebellion of Xiliang Han Sui two months ago? That's too frustrating, isn't it?

Huanjie is just a humble scholar, and it can't be compared with a high-ranking scholar like Cai Mao, but the problem is that Huanjie is now the main book of Wang Rong, and he is the first scholar to be recruited by Wang Rong, so it can be said that he is a charcoal in the snow, and it is not an exaggeration to call him the henchman of Wang Rong's henchmen.

Although Cai Mao was born noble, but he did not apply for the first expedition of Wang Ei, Wang Ei's second expedition, he also delayed for a long time on the grounds of his father's illness, and now, Wang Ei's account is a talented person, and he is inevitably a little icing on the cake, compared with the status of Huan Jie in Wang Ei's mind, it is quite inferior.

Therefore, Cai Mao did not have a seizure, but just snorted and prepared to take the matter.

But Huan Jie continued: "I have also heard of some things about Yang Taishou, he repaired the city in Nanyang, opened roads, built water conservancy, cared for the orphans and poor, helped the hungry, ran a righteous school, I don't know how many practical things he did, recently the envoy ordered all counties to follow the story of Wuling, clean the road, eliminate the four evils, Nanyang County is also the best." Such an honest and capable official is really a model for my generation, I don't know what is ridiculous? ”

Zhang Ji, Huang Zhong, Cui Yan, Zhang Yi and others also echoed Huanjie's words, Cai Mao's face finally couldn't hang up, he paused the wine bottle in his hand on the desk, and arched his hand to Wang Rong: "Junhou, Mao is not strong enough to drink, please Junhou Zhun Mao go back to the post house to rest." ”

Wang Rong did not reprimand Huanjie, but said with a faint smile: "It seems that today's Wuling spring wine is too strong, since De Jue is not strong enough to drink, then rest early, and rearrange the banquet another day, so that De Jue can enjoy himself." ”

Cai Mao bowed her hand to everyone present again, and went out with a hesitant face.

Today, Cai Mao is the guest of honor, since he is not there, the wine is naturally drunk awkwardly, and after a while, everyone left one after another, and the banquet was dispersed.

The banquet was unhappily dispersed, but Wang Heng kept a faint smile on his face, and he said to Wang Heng: "Shuping, let's go back too." ”

Back in the house, Wang Heng entered the study, Wang Heng followed, although it is now the height of summer, but Wang Ei's study mezzanine is covered with ice cubes prepared last winter, but there is no heat at all, only cool.

Wang Heng poured his father a cup of iced sour plum soup, Wang Heng took a sip of it comfortably, and then asked Wang Heng: "What do you think of Cai Deju's words today?" ”

Wang Heng said: "Yang Taishou is indeed a rare incorruptible official, capable official, Mr. De Jue is so ridiculous, there is indeed something inappropriate." ”

The smile on Wang Rong's face disappeared, and he let out a long sigh: "It's a pity, now there are too few honest officials like me in the Han Dynasty, so that the matter of sheep guarding too much has become a joke at the banquet!" ”

Wang Rong's sigh is from the heart, of course he is loyal to the Han, he wants to save the Han, but he can also see that some strange phenomena in the officialdom of the Han Dynasty now, people like Yang Xu seem out of place, incompatible with the officialdom, the officialdom is full of corrupt officials like Cao Yin, even he can only try not to be greedy for ink, not to ruin the people in order to succeed, more often, he can only be with the light, otherwise many things will not be able to continue.

This made Wang Rong also very painful and confused, he didn't know if he was doing it right, he respected people like Yang Xu very much, but if he really did it like Yang Xu, he would not be able to move an inch in the officialdom, then it would be even more impossible for him to have the ability to save the big man.

Therefore, Wang Rong was also very disgusted by Cai Mao's words of ridiculing Yang Xu today, he did not reprimand Huan Jie, and let Cai Mao go back to rest, which represented his attitude.

Wang Heng knew Wang Heng's mood, and he comforted: "Isn't there still Geng Jie's loyal people such as Master Huan under Father?" ”

Wang Rong nodded with satisfaction: "That's true, but they all seem to have been recommended to me by Shuping, your ability to recognize people is really amazing!" ”

Wang Heng hurriedly humbled a few words, and Wang Heng asked again: "Shuping, what do you think of Cai Dejun?" Should I use him? And how to use him? ”

Wang Heng pondered for a long time and said: "Father, Cai Mao is indeed talented, both civil and military, and the Cai family is a crown family in Jingzhou, which has a great effect on stabilizing Jingzhou, so don't be a pity." However, he is quite selfish, and his heart for fame and fortune is also very heavy, and there may not be a direct greed for ink, but he will definitely take the opportunity to seek benefits for the family, so Cai Mao should use it, but he must also be careful. ”

Wang Rong groaned: "Oh!? ”

Wang Heng continued: "The Cai family and the Kuai family are both big clans in Jingzhou, if they are used properly, the pacification of Jingzhou is only in the palm of their hand, but if they are not restrained, they rely too much on it, and let their family power grow, they will definitely be held hostage by it, forming a trend that will not fall." ”

If there is no Wang Heng's crossing, Liu Biao will be appointed as the assassin of Jingzhou a few years later, he entered Yicheng by horse, with the help of Cai Mao and the Kuo brothers, wiped out the Jingzhou thieves, and controlled Jingzhou in one fell swoop, but he controlled Jingzhou with Cai Mao and the Kuo brothers, Cai Kuo's two powers were too great, so that Liu Biao could not control Zhanì, Liu Biao never tasted the taste of being in charge of Jingzhou alone in his life, and finally after his death, Cai Kuo and his family dedicated Jingzhou to Cao Cao together, so that the Liu family lost its foundation.

Since Wang Heng knows this history, he will naturally not repeat Liu Biao's mistakes.

Wang Rong asked, "Then how to place Cai Deqi?" ”

Wang Heng said: "The child thinks that Cai Mao can be worshiped as the governor of the navy, and let him go to build a ship and prepare for the construction of a navy." ”

Wang Rong pondered for a long time and nodded.

Jingzhou is indeed still lacking a naval army, the last time Nanyang put down the rebellion, if there is a naval army, you can use a warship to transport the troops directly along the Han River to Nanyang, which can save a lot of time, but also allow the soldiers to save their body and maintain combat effectiveness.

In addition, the rivers in Jingzhou are crisscrossed, and a naval army is indeed needed to protect the territory and the people, and now the water bandits on the rivers are rampant, but there is no water army in Jingzhou that is enough to exterminate these water bandits, and it is indeed too unremarkable.

For Cai Mao, Wang Rong was originally going to be appointed to the position of another driver, but now it seems that the sudden appointment of him to such a high position may be arrogant and disagreeable to others, in addition, Kuai Liang from Nanjun has already taken the position of Zhizhong, and then let Cai Mao from Nanjun serve as another driver, then the power of the people of Nanjun is too strong, and it is not in line with the way of checks and balances.

And the reason why Wang Heng wanted to recommend Cai Mao as the governor of the navy is because Cai Mao does have this ability, in real history, the combat effectiveness of the Jingzhou naval army trained by Cai Mao and Zhang Yun is still good, and in the confrontation with the most powerful Jiangdong naval army in the world, although he has always been on the defensive, he has not seen defeat, which shows that Cai Mao's water combat ability is good.

In today's Jingzhou army, Huang Zhong can do everything in the water, but the Jingzhou infantry army is inseparable from him, although Huang Gai's water combat ability is also good, but after all, his qualifications are too shallow and his reputation is not good, so Cai Mao is the best choice.

Letting Cai Mao temporarily lead the water army can also prevent the Nanjun Gang from getting too big, which is a two-way solution.

Of course, after the Jingzhou Navy began to take shape, Wang Heng of course had to find a way to take the control of the Navy into his own hands, and would not let them become the Cai family's private army.

Wang Rong pondered for a long time, and then asked Wang Heng: "Shuping, the Kuai brothers have moved the state to Jiangling, what do you think of this matter?" ”

It turned out that Kuai Liang and Kuai Yue recently proposed to Wang Ei again to move Jingzhou Prefecture to Jiangling, but Wang Ei did not answer directly, only saying that this matter was a matter of importance, and he still had to consider it and discuss it with others.

Wang Heng knew that Wang Rong was also aware of the intentions of the Kuai brothers, Jingzhou Prefecture was moved to Jiangling, which was a good opportunity for the Kuai brothers from Nanjun to expand their family power, and the Kuai brothers were more selfish than public, which made Wang Heng hesitate.

Wang Heng said: "Moving the state to Jiangling is naturally a lot of benefits, and there is also a solution to my father's worries. ”

Wang Rong nodded slowly: "Then you also built yì to move the state government to Jiangling?" ”

Wang Heng nodded and said: "It is imperative to move the state to govern, but not now, but after the four counties of Jingnan are completely pacified." ”

Wang Rong took a deep look at his confident son, nodded and said, "Okay!" ”

A few days later, Cai Mao accepted the appointment of the governor of the Jingzhou Navy and went to Xiaoling County to build a shipbuilding and prepare for the construction of the navy. Xiaoling County is also the public security county of later generations, close to the Yangtze River, the shipbuilding industry here is still very developed, and there are many skilled sailors, so it is most suitable to prepare for the construction of a naval army here.

In fact, Cai Mao's psychological expectation is not to serve as the governor of the navy, the reason why he had to delay due to his father's illness when Wang Rong conquered for the second time was nothing more than to use this to raise his own value, he came to Hanshou this time, originally came for the position of Don't Driver, Beijia is the chief adjutant of the assassin history, he thought that with his family background and his reputation in Jingzhou, he could get this official position.

But he didn't expect that as soon as he arrived in Jingzhou, he had a stiff fight with several important Thorn Shi Peng's family members at the reception banquet held for him by the Thorn History.

Wang Rong also told him vaguely when he saw him alone in the past two days, and now he is very unhappy with several state middle schools, and if he is suddenly entrusted with a heavy task in the state, it is not beautiful, it is better to let him go to Xiaoling to build a ship, prepare for the construction of a naval army, and wait for the meritorious work, and then transfer him back to the state to entrust another important task, at that time, others will not say anything.

Wang Rong told Cai Mao about the importance of the water army, now Jingzhou's commerce is becoming more and more developed, and there are more and more merchant ships on the water, but the water bandits are rampant, and the water army is urgently needed to sweep away the water bandits, and only Cai Mao, a great power of both civil and military affairs, can take on such a heavy responsibility.

Although Cai Mao was not very reluctant, but after Wang Rong's two expeditions, this time he took the initiative to vote, if he did not accept this official position, he would return home, it would also be a great damage to his reputation, and he already had some difficulty riding a tiger.

He thought about it, shipbuilding and training the navy were his strengths, so what if he went to Xiaoling? Cai Mao also knows that the water bandits in Jingzhou are indeed rampant now, and there is also a chance to make meritorious contributions to lead the water army.

The Han Dynasty can not be crowned a marquis without military merits, and the marquis is one of the highest ideals of every scholar, the most recent example is Wang Rong, he was named a marquis because of the work of Nanyang to quell the chaos, which makes Cai Mao also very hot, so it is a good choice to bring the navy, maybe one day if you are lucky, you will be crowned marquis?

So, Cai Mao agreed to this errand, and Jingzhou's naval army officially began to be built.

**********

In the past few months, many of Zheng Xuan's disciples heard that Zheng Xuan had settled down in Wuling County and had begun to accept apprentices again, so they came to Hanshou Xiangxiang, and in just a few months, the number of disciples who came to join him has reached thousands.

Among these disciples, of course, there is no shortage of talents, but most of them have not been able to leave their names in the annals of history due to various reasons, and they have been lost in the long river of history.

Xi Xuan is not yet twenty years old this year, he is one of the several disciples that Zheng Xuan specially introduced to Wang Heng, and he is considered to be relatively outstanding under Zheng Xuan's sect.

Wang Heng has heard of Xi Rong's deeds, most of them are not good things, the first thing is that Xi Xi once had a feud with Kong Rong, and later figured out what Cao Cao meant, announced his personal vendetta, framed Kong Rong, arrested Kong Rong's whole family, and Kong Rong also died in this incident.

The second thing is the edict of the cloth belt, Cao Cao instructed Hua Xin and Xi Xin to arrest Queen Fu, in front of Emperor Han Xian, Hua Xin personally arrested Queen Fu, and Xi Xin did not do it, but did not dissuade Hua Xin, Emperor Han Xian asked Xi Xin to preside over justice, and he did not say a word.

After this incident, Hua Xin was promoted to the third duke, and Xi Xi gradually faded out of the political stage.

From these two things, it can be seen that Xi Xin's character is very poor, he is a villain, and he can even be called a traitor, but his political wisdom is not too high, in the matter of Queen Fu, either don't do it, or do it, go into battle shirtless like Hua Xin, you go and don't do it, see Hua Xin rude and don't speak, what does this mean?

This is not a naked sue for Cao Cao, Xi Xi doesn't want to offend both sides, and wants to please both sides? However, history has long proved that people who want to please both sides often do not please both sides, and Xi Xuan's later fate proves this once again.

In fact, with Xi Xi's status in Cao Cao's mind at that time, if he did the same as Hua Xin, he would at least have the position of the third duke.

Of course, at this time, Xi Xi was still a young man who looked very respectful and polite, and his talent was also very good among Zheng Xuan's disciples.

Due to the historical record of Xi Xuan, Wang Heng is not very enthusiastic about Xi Xuan, at least not as enthusiastic as Zheng Xuan's other disciples, which Xi Xuan also felt, he was originally a person who was very good at observing faces, but he didn't care, he still saluted Wang Heng very respectfully, and said the words that he had admired for a long time.

This long-term admiration is not a compliment, now Wang Heng's reputation is indeed very big, and with the wide spread of printed books, his reputation has also spread to all places.

Now Zheng Xuan's Hanshou Academy disciples have exceeded 2,000 people, in addition to these old disciples who came to him, the number of new disciples who have come to him has also reached thousands in recent months, fortunately, the academy area is relatively large, and recently Wang Heng has invited people to build a lot of new houses, so that he can live.

Among these new disciples, Wang Heng heard a familiar name again, he was Jiang Wan, a native of Lingling County, who was also six or seven years old this year, and he was also Pan Jun's cousin, according to Zheng Xuan, his talent was higher than Pan Jun's.

This made Wang Heng very happy for a while, this is Jiang Wan, the later prime minister of Shu Han, Zhuge Liang's successor, and now he has become his junior brother.

The effect of Zheng Xuan's coming to Jingzhou has been slowly revealed, and in time, Hanshou Academy will surely become the largest talent pool in Jingzhou.