When Liu Ze finished handling Huainan's affairs and returned to Xiapi, it was already the end of the year.

Before leaving, Liu Ze ordered Zhang Liao to lead troops to garrison Hefei and be responsible for the defense of the entire Huainan, and Tai Shici was stationed in Xia Cai to be responsible for the defense of Huaibei. Jianghuai is narrow, but there is Cao Cao in the north and Sun Wu in the south, and the land of Huainan is eyeing each other, Liu Ze did not dare to take it lightly, and stationed Hefei with Zhang Liao's Fourth Army to reject Sun Ce, and Tai Shici's Fifth Army was stationed in Huaibei to resist Cao Cao.

Yuan Shu's head had been filled with a jade box by Liu Ze, and Chen Deng was sent as a messenger to Xu Du to reply to the decree. As for the jade seal of the country, Liu Ze has already told the court that he will return the seal to the capital in the near future. But the jade seal of the country is too valuable, Liu Ze did not dare to let Chen Deng's delegation directly to the court, this time Chen Deng went to Xudu, is to communicate with Cao Cao, escort the jade seal to Beijing at least to send heavy troops to protect, otherwise it is easy to be robbed by people with ulterior motives halfway, such a national treasure, there are not a few people who covet it. But to send heavy troops, Cao Cao's approval must be obtained in advance, otherwise Cao Cao will think that Liu Ze wants to commit Xu Du.

When Liu Ze's army arrived outside Xuzhou, the civil and military officials who received the news all went out of the city to greet them, including Jian Yong, Mi Zhu, Sun Qian, Xu Shu, Zhao Feng, Wu Guan Yu, Gao Shun, Zang Ba, Liu Ze left, it was a year and a half, and he returned to Xiapi, Liu Ze was very emotional.

From the official welcoming Liu Ze into the state governor's mansion, Liu Ze sat down, and first listened to the reports of the officials. Liu Ze was on the expedition, and the position of the state pastor was vacant. However, the government affairs of Xuzhou were not abandoned, Jian Yong, Sun Qian and others were in their respective positions, and the political affairs were handled in an orderly manner, which made Liu Ze very pleased.

Liu Ze is most concerned about the triennial imperial examination, the last scientific examination was in the second year of Xingping, and the second scientific examination is scheduled for the autumn of this year. Liu Ze has never been able to pull out. Although the Xuzhou side had postponed the imperial examination, Liu Ze did not agree.

After the first imperial examination, the system of opening a branch and taking scholars has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in Xuzhou, and many students are looking forward to it. They are all waiting for this moment to change their fate. Once the imperial examination is postponed. I don't know how many people will be disappointed, but it is not Liu Ze's style to change the order every day, although Liu Ze cannot personally preside over the imperial examination. However, after the first imperial examination, Xuzhou has already explored some mature experience in the imperial examination, so Liu Ze specially ordered in Huainan that the second imperial examination will be held as scheduled, and Xu Shu will still serve as the chief examiner, and Lu Zhi and Cai Yong will serve as the chief examiner.

Liu Ze returned to the city today, the imperial examination has just ended successfully, Huainan was initially determined, and was not included in the scope of the imperial examination, so the scale of the imperial examination is basically the same as the previous session, because the preliminary examination has been completed as early as the spring, the imperial examination has only been carried out in the examination part of the assessment, and the number of people participating in the examination has increased slightly compared with the last time.

Similar to the last imperial examination, the scholar class occupies the majority of the Jinshi quota, but the appearance of the children of the Hanmen Shu clan is still very eye-catching, the last imperial examination took away one-third of the quota, this time it is even more strong to take away nearly forty percent of the quota, and there is a tendency to compete with the wealthy scholars. In this imperial examination, the proportion of people from other states participating in it has increased significantly, and after the first imperial examination of Guoyuan from other states took the title of champion, this time the champion Lang fell to other counties again, and Yingchuan Du took the lead.

Du attacked Zixu, Yingchuan Dingling people, when the world was in turmoil, he first went to Jingzhou to avoid chaos, and then came to Xuzhou, part-time work and study, this imperial examination, Lu Zhi Cai Yong personally pointed to his article first, which shows his talent. Liu Ze was secretly relieved that Yingchuan celebrities like Du Xi also began to participate in the imperial examination, proving that the scholar class is still very eager for the scholars, and the new imperial examination system has brought them new hopes. It is the purpose of the imperial examination to break the bottleneck of talent selection in the Han Dynasty and provide the stage they need for real talents.

Xu Shu reported the list of 80 people on the Zhongjin Shi's literary list and the martial arts list to Liu Ze, and the release date was set for three days later, Liu Ze reviewed the list, and decided to personally preside over the Qionglin banquet after three days.

After dealing with official business, it was getting late, Liu Ze did not arrange any activities such as dinners, he had already decided to arrange the evening time for his family, and the officials naturally retired with interest. Liu Ze hurried to the back house to visit his wife and children who he had missed for a long time.

After entering Xuzhou, this was Liu Ze's first expedition, Liu Ze didn't expect that this trip would be two years younger, and he had been separated from his wife and children for so long, Liu Ze felt very guilty, although iron-blooded heroes can't have children, Liu Ze's heart is full of love for his wife and children.

The news of Liu Ze's return to the city had already been reported to the back house, and the entire state pastoral mansion was immersed in joy. The maids and servants were all busy, cleaning the already dusty courtyard again, and tidying up the ground. The one who ordered her subordinates to do things was naturally Mi Lan, the third lady in charge of Liu's Mansion, who had changed into new clothes early, and was busy with her work.

Gan Ping stayed in her own room, carefully drawing makeup, but several times, the curved moth eyebrows were never painted.

Only Cai Yan was calm, she always had a reserved smile on her face, elegant and calm, and just ordered the kitchen to prepare a few home-cooked dishes.

Seeing the red sun sinking in the west, Mi Lan rubbed her sore ankles, and couldn't help complaining in front of Cai Yan: "Since my husband has returned home early in the morning, why haven't you seen anyone at this time, is it possible that you have been gone for two years and forgotten about our sisters?" ”

Cai Yan smiled faintly and said: "Fujun is the pastor of a state, and he has been away from the state city for so long, and the official cases are piling up, so how to deal with them if he doesn't have time." Sister Lan'er is so anxious, it can be seen that she has a deep affection for her husband, and if she doesn't see her for a day, she hasn't seen her for two years, isn't it like a world away? ”

Mi Lanqiao blushed and said, "Sister, don't make fun of me, there is-"

At this time, the servant came and reported: "Madam, the carp is ready." ”

Cai Yan nodded, moved lightly, and got up to go to the kitchen.

Mi Lan said: "It's rare for my sister to bother so much, and she has to cook for her husband herself, I'm afraid that my sister's hard work will be in vain, it's all this hour, I'm afraid that my husband has already drunk with the others outside." ”

Cai Yan smiled lightly and said, "Sister Lan'er doesn't know, her husband has been away from home for many days, and on the first day after he comes back, no matter how late it is, he will definitely go home for dinner." My husband's favorite food is the fish I cooked for him with my own hands, I will cook it myself, Sister Lan'er, in the lobby, there is a lot of work for you to arrange, look at this time, presumably the affairs of the front house should be over. With that, Cai Yanting left.

Mi Lan looked at her back, and for a moment she seemed to understand a lot, what is the difference between each other, what is the heart of the heart, Cai Yan is calm and calm, in the depths of her heart, how can she not have a deep love for her husband, quiet and unassuming, Mi Lan thinks about the excitement of hearing her husband's return for the first time, and the disappointment of not seeing a figure for a day, as rash as a child. Mi Lan sighed softly, Cai Yan's grace, meticulousness, and reserve seemed to be something she would never learn. Mi Lan instructed the maids to start serving the food and fetch the Wuliang wine brewed by Liu's house.

Liu Qiong and Liu Yao, the two little girls, have grown to the height of the table, and when they saw the wine and food on the table, they shouted that they were hungry and wanted to eat. However, today's situation is special, Mi Lan didn't give her daughter anything to eat, and coaxed them to say: "Qiong'er Yao'er, your father is coming back today, let's wait for him to come back and then eat together, okay?" ”

The two little girls nodded obediently and ran to the door hand in hand to play.

As soon as Liu Ze entered the door, he saw the pair of little daughters carved in pink jade, who had been away from home for nearly two years, and this pair of daughters had grown so tall from toddlers to now, bouncing, lively and cute. Liu Ze seemed to have something to overflow in his chest, and a feeling of guilt arose, for the three wives, he was not a good husband, for his children, he was not a good father, and sometimes he longed to enjoy the joy of family and family affection, but since he chose the road of becoming a king and hegemony, he had to give up a lot of things.

Liu Ze squatted down and said with a smile: "Qiong'er, Yao'er, come here, let Daddy kiss you." ”

Liu Qiong and Liu Yao stopped playing, turned their heads, looked at the "strange" person in front of them, stared at the big black eyes, looked left and right, timidly. Liu Yao was still a little bolder and asked in a childish voice, "Who are you?" How come I don't know you? ”

Liu Zehan said with a smile: "I am your father, your name is Liu Yao, you are your sister, her name is Liu Qiong, you are your sister, the name of the two of you is still obtained by your father." ”

Children are naturally easy to coax, as soon as Liu Ze said this, Liu Qiong and Liu Yao immediately believed it, threw themselves into Liu Ze's arms, and shouted: "Daddy-Daddy-" Liu Ze picked up the two daughters left and right, and walked towards the house. Liu Yao asked vigorously: "Daddy, why don't you come back?" I miss you so much. ”

Liu Ze smiled heartily, and his chest was overflowing with warm happiness. "Baby, Daddy misses you too, but Daddy wants to fight, and he can't come back if he wants to-" (To be continued......)