When Liu He and his brothers fought to the death with Gongsun Zhan and Gongsun Yue, his cheap old man Cai Yong stayed out of the matter leisurely, and led a group of scholars who came to Youzhou from Luoyang to slowly walk east along the beautiful scenery of the Qiu River.

Since Scholar Cai left the wolf's den in Chang'an, his mood has been extremely relaxed, and everyone seems to be a few years younger.

Cai Yong's collection of more than 4,000 rare books over the past decades was first transported by Liu He from Chang'an to Luoyang, and then secretly transported by Xu Rong from Luoyang to Youzhou with 5,000 Xiliang soldiers, and now they are placed in the armory of Jicheng, just waiting for his old master to come and receive them.

Thousands of volumes of books have been preserved, which has caused Cai Yong a big heartache. Liu He really likes his daughter Cai Yan, which is another piece of heart disease for university scholars.

In the nearly two years of temporary residence in Luoyang, Cai Yong witnessed Liu He and Cai Yan's Qin Se getting along, although the two young people were sometimes too intimate, but the scholars pretended not to see it, as long as Liu He was sincerely good to his baby daughter, the little thing between men and women was really nothing.

Scholar Cai is erudite and talented, but he is not the kind of pedantic defender, otherwise when Dong Zhuo was assassinated by Lu Bu, he would not let out a sigh with complicated feelings.

During that time in Luoyang, Cai Yong silently paid attention to and observed Liu He, and then found that this was a young man who he couldn't see through at all. Some of Liu He's thoughts and remarks sounded a bit deviant, but after careful consideration, they revealed the essence and truth of the matter, which made Cai Yong's evaluation of Liu He several levels higher.

Although Lao Cai was born as a literati and didn't know how to march and fight, he traveled north with Liu He along the way, and he also saw some of Liu He's methods, only to find that his prospective son-in-law seemed to be kind and wealthy, but in fact he was a "big devil" who killed people without blinking. The tribe of the Southern Xiongnu in Fuluo blocked Liu He's way to the north, and as a result, this guy wiped out the clan with one sentence. Except for the old and weak women and children and children who were lower than the hub of the car, almost all the other Southern Huns were killed, and I don't know how Yu Dao Fuluo provoked Liu He in the first place.

But Lao Cai can't control so much now, as long as Liu He sincerely wants to establish Yanyou Academy in Jicheng, as long as Liu He treats his daughter well, even if he kills all the northern nomads, what does it have to do with him, an old man who is half buried in the soil? The group of Hu people who are not inferior to each other and complain about it are not good things, they are really going to be killed by Liu He, but they have also benefited the Han people.

After crossing the state and coming to Horse City. Cai Yong once again appreciated the northland style with high sky and clouds, and his mood seemed to become open and lofty all of a sudden.

Cai Yong's life was ill-fated, especially in his career, at the age of forty-six, he was exiled to Shuofang County by his family because of the disaster of the Golden Merchant Gate. The so-called "tongs" was a form of punishment in ancient times in which the prisoner had to shave off his hair and then tie his neck with an iron ring. Cai Yan, who was young at the time, also suffered this punishment. Sent to the Northland with his father.

On the way to Shuofang, the cool official Yang Qiu also sent people to hunt down Cai Yong's family, and after arriving at the migration center, Yang Qiu bribed the chief again. intended to harm Cai Yong's family, but fortunately, Cai Yong had a good reputation, and he was moved by the assassins who came to murder him, so he was spared death.

Cai Yong's family settled in Xi'an County, on the banks of the Yellow River. lived a hard life, until Emperor Ling died later, and Dong Zhuo forcibly recruited Cai Yong into the court as an official. With this as a false façade of his respect for scholars, Cai Yong's life in the Northland came to an end. However, the good times did not last long, as soon as Dong Zhuo died, Wang Yun was eager to kill chickens and monkeys, and as a result, Cai Yong once again became a victim of political struggle and was almost forced to die in prison.

Now that Cai Yong has come to the north again, although he is not revisiting his old place, he has the joy of being free from the cage, so his whole mood has become comfortable and happy.

Liu He left Macheng in a hurry, because the war was very tense at that time, so he just told Liu Hui to entertain Cai Yong and the dozens of soldiers he brought back from Luoyang. Liu Hui is also a famous man in Jizhou, he has been in the officialdom for a long time, and he is the best at speculating about the Lord's intentions, so he kept Cai Yong in Macheng for many days, and estimated that the war on the Eastern Front was coming to an end, so he sent someone to escort Cai Yong's father and daughter and a group of scholars all the way to Jicheng.

In order to make Cai Yong's life in Macheng interesting, Liu Hui also used a lot of brains, among which accompanying Cai Yong to go deep into the market and Qianmo to understand the people's situation is an important one.

Among what Cai Yong saw and heard in Macheng, there were several things that touched him deeply.

The first is the unique atmosphere of advocating literature and martial arts in Macheng.

It is not surprising that the people of a city are fierce and aggressive, but it would be an exaggeration to say that everyone from ordinary soldiers to market traders pride themselves on their ability to play a few tricks of military swordsmanship, and to compete in various martial arts in the city square whenever they have free time.

What's even more exaggerated is that these border people who are fighting more fiercely than the other, after the fight, will sit down to talk about family and country affairs, chant poems against each other, listen to books and read music, and are more literate than those scholars in Luoyang and Chang'an who sit and talk about Taoism. After the people in the city saw Cai Yong dressed in the clothes of a scribe, they would stop and politely greet and pay tribute to this Confucian scholar, which fully showed that the people of Macheng were not rude barbarians who did not know etiquette and only knew how to fight.

In these teahouses, there are always storytellers who tell some interesting anecdotes, and they will also tell the story of the eldest prince Liu and his father's southern and northern wars, and will also tell the thrilling scenes of famous generals Zhao Zilong, Tai Shici and others who are shooting enemy generals on the battle array. Whenever the storyteller spat on it, the teahouse was always full, and from time to time there were loud applause, and there were generous high-rollers throwing out rewards.

In the music garden of Macheng, there are carefully rehearsed live dramas staged regularly every day, these plays not only tell the story of the champion Hou Huo who went to illness and swept the Xiongnu heroes, but also tell the story of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun's love for Lu, and tell how the eldest prince is filial piety and benevolence. Cai Yan's sister came to see a live drama called "Peacock Flying Southeast" one day, but when she went back, her eyes cried into two big red peaches.

Needless to say, public places such as teahouses and quyuan, which imply the function of cultural propaganda and united front, were naturally planned and created by Liu He's propaganda minister, Xu Miao, which has a subtle and huge effect on unifying the people's ideological understanding and improving Liu He's appeal in the minds of the people.

On the streets of Macheng now, whoever dares to speak ill of Liu Yu's father and son in public, the people in the city can rush up and fight with you!

What shocked Cai Yong the most was the various free literacy classes run by the Macheng government, which can be described as terrifying. Just imagine, when one day a dung picker in Macheng can read the notice at the city gate alone, who can fool the people here?

When a group is both literate and martial, how much power will it produce? Cai Yong didn't know the answer to this question, but he believed that he would definitely be able to see some results in his lifetime.

The second thing that touched Cai Yong was the complete health and epidemic prevention system in Ma Cheng. There are buildings called public toilets on the main streets of the city, and they are cleaned and cleaned regularly every day. In addition to prohibiting citizens from defecating in the city, even cattle and horses entering and leaving the city were required by the government to hang a dung bag to prevent cow dung and horse manure from being directly excreted on the ground in the city. There are several large public bathing halls in Macheng, which are operated by the government and are not for profit, but only to serve the public.

Liu Hui told Cai Yong the story of the "city-wide cleaning" when the eldest son first came to Macheng, and then told Cai Yong very proudly that since the son came to Macheng, there has been no outbreak of any epidemic in Macheng in the past few years, and the physical health of the soldiers and civilians in the city has been significantly improved.

After Cai Yong heard this, he was very puzzled. The old man couldn't figure it out, you said that Liu He is such a high-ranking nobleman, and the military and political affairs are enough for him to worry about, how could he still have time to think about putting a dung pocket on the back of the butt of the cow and horse?

A clean and tidy city that respects literature and martial arts has surprised the scholars, but the uniqueness of Macheng is far more than that. In the eyes of the scholars, the craftsmen and traders with low status have a very high status in Macheng, they not only have a stable income, but also some people are rated by the government as "three good city citizens", that is, good thinking, good performance, and good craftsmanship.

For example, the cattle blacksmith and the horse carpenter, who have been rated as "three good city citizens" for many years, not only have earned a dazzling family fortune, but also the children of the family have obtained the qualification to enter the official school, and Liu He also personally wrote an inscription for them.

Cai Yong listened to Liu Hui's explanation and learned that the ox blacksmith and horse carpenter were the designers of the Quyuan plough that is now widely promoted in Youzhou, so he has a high status in the city, not only managing the huge farm tool making workshop, but also serving as a member of the "Macheng Agricultural Technology Innovation Committee".

Cai Yong had never heard of such an organization and name as the "Technique Innovation Committee" before, and he didn't need to ask Liu Hui to know that this must be a new thing that Liu He had made up. When Cai Yong learned that Shanggu and Daijun had cultivated twice as much land and tripled their grain production in the past two years because of the use of Quyuan plows, he no longer dared to underestimate these craftsmen and craftsmen in Macheng.

Before Cai Yong left Macheng, he had been numbed by the shocks one after another, the strong business atmosphere of Macheng, the developed transportation and water conservancy facilities around Macheng, and the efficient and honest office order of the Macheng government...... All this made the scholar have a feeling that what he has seen and heard in these years of wandering and studying is not as good as staying in Horse City for half a month.

The more Ma Cheng touched Cai Yong, the more he looked forward to the upcoming Jicheng.

Liu He insisted on naming the future Yanyou Academy as Yenching University, saying that Luoyang has Taixue, and Jicheng is the seat of Youzhou governance, and the establishment of a state college is naturally worthy of the word "university".

Besides, the great is under the Tai, and it does not trespass.

Cai Yong has now finally made up his mind to be driven by Liu He to personally serve as the chief sacrificial wine of Yenching University.

Sacrificial wine was the name of the dean of the academy in ancient times. (To be continued......)