"Your Highness, here's Zuo Taichong's house!"

Xiao Dengzi pointed to a small courtyard and introduced Sima Shu on the horse, and the prince looked up and saw that Zuo Sijia was cold in front of his house, which was in huge contrast with the previous door. At this time, Zuo Si, who was disheartened in the house, was packing up his things at home and preparing to live in seclusion. Since Shi Chong, Pan Yue and others were convicted in the case of Empress Jia, Zuo Si has become depressed and uneasy.

Especially after the Lu brothers left Kyoto, Zuo Si wanted to leave the sad Luoyang as soon as possible, preparing to find a place where no one was there to live in seclusion, and never planned to ask about current affairs again.

"Come forward and call the door!" Sima Shu stood at the door, pondered for a moment, and commanded.

"Yes!" Xiao Deng Zi ran to the door and knocked on the door.

After Sima Shu dealt with the government affairs, the first thing he did was to bring Zhang Bin, Xiao Dengzi and others to visit Zuo Si, and prepare to invite the other party to come out. After the fall of Empress Jia, the twenty-four friends of Jingu, who had been infinitely beautiful, also disappeared, except for Liu Kun's brothers, Lu Ji brothers, and Zuo Si himself, everyone else was imprisoned by the imperial court.

The Lu brothers returned to Jiangdong, and Liu Kun's eldest brother defected to Sima Teng, the assassin of Bingzhou, while Liu Kun accepted the appointment of the crown prince and went to the Privy Council to reunite with his good brother Zu Qi. Zuo Si was left alone, and in frustration, he decided to leave here.

Zuo Si is the most outstanding poet in the Western Jin Dynasty, the word is too chong, and he is from Linzi. Born in a humble background, his father was a low-level official, and his mother died of illness very early. During the reign of Emperor Wu of the Jin Dynasty, his sister Zuo Fen was accepted as a concubine because of her outstanding literary talent, and the whole family moved to Luoyang, Beijing.

Since childhood, he has been difficult to socialize, diligent in reading, and good at yin and yang. The poems are gorgeous, among which "Sandu Fu" and "Song Epic" are the most famous. The former is the culmination of a decade of the author's efforts. During this period, he devoted himself to his studies, keeping pen and paper in the courtyard, fence, and even the toilet, recording his ideas at any time, and finally succeeded.

Once it came out, it immediately became a sensation, famous for a lifetime, and people competed to copy it, resulting in "Luoyang paper is expensive".

Although Zuo Si is talented, his poor family has repeatedly suffered setbacks in his career, and he has only reached the secretary Lang, who has no ambition for the rest of his life. As a result, his poems often reveal a sense of melancholy and irony about the irrational political situation. His ambition is high and talented, his pen is vigorous, his bright style, abundant feelings, vivid images, and resentful content, forming a kind of "left-thinking style", which swept the poetry circle at that time.

The author of "Ancient Poetry Source" praised: "Taichong's chest is high, and the pen power is back to the majestic, cultivating the Han and Wei dynasties, and self-governing poetry, so it is a generation of hands, and it is not possible to compare with Pan (Yue) Lu (machine) generation." ”

His sister Zuo Fen is also a female poet. After she was selected as a concubine, she lived in the deep palace for a long time, although her material life was very rich, but her spiritual life was very empty, so she wrote poems mainly to describe the bleak life in the palace and the infinite sorrow of her youth being buried.

Sima Shu looked at the exquisite courtyard of Zuo Si's house, and his thoughts had long been drifting to where he went, and this time he came to visit Zuo Si, hoping that he could serve as the secretary of the school.

"Squeak!" The door was finally opened, and a big, ugly-looking man walked out of the courtyard. Sima Shu looked up and couldn't help but be surprised! Is this still the Zuo Taichong who indulged in poetry in the Golden Valley Garden? Not only did the person's hair turn white, but the spirit of the whole person seemed to be gone.

It seems that what happened recently has hit Zuo Si very hard, no wonder in history he died of illness in the following years, people have no motivation to live, and it is easy to age.

"See His Royal Highness the Crown Prince!" The person who came was Zuo Si, and when he found out that it was the prince who was visiting, he hurriedly gave a deep salute. Although he had no ill feelings towards the prince, it was difficult for him to have a good impression of the prince because he had broken up the literary group he was once proud of, especially the death of Pan Yue.

"Lord Zuo is too polite, hurry up and be polite!" Sima Shu also felt Zuo Si's indifference to him, but he didn't care. After all, he single-handedly harmed the other party's closest friends, if Zuo Si had no resentment but was extremely enthusiastic, I am afraid he would not have made Sima Shu attach so much importance to him.

The reason why Zuo Si is valued by Sima Shu is because he has a literati style, he is different from Shi Chong, Pan Yue and others who tend to be inflammatory, he has his own arrogance.

The prince came to visit in person, and even if Zuo Si was unhappy in his heart, he couldn't turn him away. There was no way, Zuo Si led everyone into the hall and asked people to serve tea, he really wondered why the prince would visit his house today.

"Lord Zuo, I took the liberty to come here today, hoping that Your Excellency could do a little help!" Sima Shu didn't talk nonsense, and as soon as he came up, he showed his intentions.

After listening to the prince's words, Zuo Si was not moved at all, his heart had already cooled with the blood stains in Luoyang City that had not dried up, and he no longer wanted to be involved in the imperial court. Right now, Zuo Si just wants to find a place where no one is there to live in seclusion.

"Thank you for your kindness, the grass people have planned to live in seclusion and no longer ask about current affairs, please atone for your sins! In addition, please don't call Your Highness Lord Zai He again, the grass people have already handed the resignation to Shangguan, and now Zuo is just a flat-headed commoner! ”

"You! Lord Zuo, don't be ignorant of the prince's kindness, if it weren't for the prince's efforts to protect him, do you think you would be able to escape the punishment of the imperial court? This time, the prince looked at the face of the Zuo concubine in the palace, not only let the Zuo family go, but also personally invited you to be an official, who knew that you would not give the prince face so much! ”

Seeing that Zuo Si was so ignorant, he angered Xiao Dengzi, the personal eunuch standing behind Sima Shu. In his opinion, the prince can personally invite Zuo Si to come out, which is already very good for the other party, and Zuo Si should agree to it at this time, instead of putting on a face with the prince.

"Bastard! Is this the place for you to interject? It seems that Lone was too lenient with you before, and after Xiao Dengzi goes back, you will go to Manager Liu to receive the punishment yourself! Hear me! Sima Shu deliberately glared at Xiao Dengzi, although he knew that Zuo Si had complaints about him, but he didn't expect Zuo Si to refuse so thoroughly.

"Alas! If Lord Zuo chooses to live in seclusion, it will definitely be a big loss to the imperial court! Originally, Lone planned to hand over the newly established school department of the imperial court to the adults to take care of, but he didn't expect it...... Alas! Sima Shu said as he glanced at Zhang Bin beside him, and asked him to open his mouth to persuade Zuo Si.

Zhang Bin is so smart, how can he not understand the prince's thoughts, after a little thought, he said: "Lord Zuo, maybe you don't know the main functions of this school, let me explain it to you." The prince set up this school department to manage all the schools in my dynasty, and Lord Zuo should know that the prince had vigorously developed the school system in Xincheng and Guanzhong, and this school department will be the head of these schools in the future, and he can just take this position with the reputation of Lord Zuo! ”

"His Royal Highness the Grass People Thank the Prince, but the minister has made up his mind and is ready to live in seclusion and write a book, so he can only disappoint His Highness!" Zuo Si was still unmoved. If it had been a few months ago, maybe Zuo Si would have agreed a long time ago, but now he has long lost interest in politics and wants to live a life of 'picking chrysanthemums under the east fence and seeing Nanshan leisurely'.

Zhang Bin showed a helpless look to Sima Shu at the top, saying that he had no choice. Sima Shu frowned, he really couldn't bear to let go of Zuo Si's talent, because he knew that if he was allowed to leave like this, Zuo Si would definitely not live for a few years. It is really a waste for such a great talent to disappear in the long river of history.

At the beginning, he let go of the Lu brothers from the family to return to Jiangdong because he knew that the time was not yet ripe to recruit them, but Zuo Si was different from the Lu brothers. Thinking of this, Sima Shu had an idea and said: "Since Taichong insists on not wanting to be an official anymore, it is not easy to be reluctant. ”

"Alas! Mr. Meng Sun, do you know what happened the most in Luoyang back then? ”

"Oh? What is it? Although Zhang Bin didn't know why the prince suddenly changed the topic, he still cooperated with Sima Shu's performance.

"Humph! It is that people from powerful backgrounds repeatedly bully the weak common people, and in the end they are not punished by the imperial court. Do you remember the boss around the place? The reason why he was struggling in the capital back then was not because he advocated justice for the common people and severely punished the powerful who broke the law, and even the King of Liang was ruthlessly rectified by him! ”

Sima Shu saw that Zao Si was silent, but the look in his eyes betrayed his heart, so he continued: "Since ancient times, there has been no shortage of famous ministers who dare to offend the powerful and ask for the lives of the people, but how many famous ministers and important ministers are there like this in the history books? The most resentful thing is that after offending the powerful, how many of these important ministers can get out of the way? ”

"Back then, Mr. Zhou, if he hadn't met Lone, I'm afraid he would have died a long time ago! But good officials like Lord Zhou are as rare as the sun in the sky, so if the common people want to defend their rights, they must have a place to speak. And someone must dare to speak for the common people! ”

"What does Your Highness mean by this?"

"Lone plans to set up a private newspaper, this newspaper is similar to the imperial palace newspaper, the difference is that this private newspaper specializes in publishing some voices from the bottom, if the common people are bullied, and the local magnates and officials protect each other, they can appeal to the newspaper people. Newspaper personnel should uphold the spirit of telling the truth and telling the facts, and publish the incident in its original form. In this way, even if those powerful people want to cover up, I'm afraid they won't be able to! ”

"Your Highness, this is a clever plan! In this way, it is unlikely that those low-level officials will want to deceive their superiors and subordinates, and the common people can also bypass the court institutions and express their grievances through a third party. ”

"Yes, yes, Lone thinks so too, but if this matter is not a famous and open-minded person in charge, I'm afraid it will be easy to do!"

This is a trick that Sima Shu thought of temporarily, since Zuo Si has given up the idea of being an official, it is better to let him stay in the people and play other roles. Sure enough, when Sima Shu introduced the function of the newspaper, Zuo Si was moved, and finally he said that he would seriously consider the prince's suggestion. Seeing that his goal was achieved, Sima Shu left the Zuo family with everyone!