At the end of December of the fifth year of Jian'an, in January 201 AD, the battle of Guandu, which attracted the attention of the world, came to an end.

Cao Cao won, but not much.

Yuan Shao lost, but he lost very little.

The loss of two people is considered to be seventy-three, Yuan Shao lost seven, and Cao Cao lost three.

Because in the end, about 30,000 people fled back from Jizhou's 80,000 horses, and Jiang Yiqu led the men and horses to quell the rebellion, destroying more than 10,000 people and surrendering 20,000 people.

Yuan Shao only killed those middle-level generals who took the lead in making trouble, and even if the low-level soldiers committed a bad crime and plundered and killed many people around Liyang, they would not be liquidated, so they finally quelled the rebellion.

In addition, his foundation is already thick, and his family has a big business, so he can finally recover.

Although he suffered heavy losses, he had 20,000 elites left, and he still had a strong background, and it was believed that sooner or later he would make a comeback.

Although Cao Cao won the battle, he was stolen from Xudu's hometown, and he was angry and defeated the soldiers and horses to Kunyang and confront Liu Biaojun, but in fact he did not want to attack Nanyang, but to buy time.

In order to prevent Liu Biao's surprise attack when rebuilding Xudu, he had to deter Liu Biao's army first, so the two sides were at a stalemate, and it was not until the end of December that he withdrew his troops back to Yingchuan.

Yuan Cao and the others were like two injured beasts at this time, and they all began to go back to lick their wounds, only Jingzhou was prosperous and full of vitality.

Soon the sixth year of Jian'an came as scheduled, and just after the New Year, Shen Chen returned from Huangmen Pavilion to prepare for teaching.

His reputation is too great, and there are so many people who come to study. It's not at all like before, when I recruited students for the first time, not only did I have to choose the farm time, but I also had two or three kittens, and there were few regular students.

However, there are many students now, and there are many troubles about students.

There were 3,000 disciples of Confucius, and 72 people entered the house, and not most of them studied with him every day.

It's like a mobile classroom in a university, where dozens of people are often in class at a time, and some people come and go, and come and go.

Shen Chen, on the other hand, came with a large number of students at one time, and had no choice but to teach separately, divide each class according to age, and attend school every day according to the time.

Fortunately, today's students do not have to learn as many subjects as in later generations, in addition to languages, physics, chemistry, politics, history, and geography, the nine homework courses are full, and now they only need to learn Confucianism, and they can also unify the teaching materials.

For example, at the beginning, they all learned the Analects and learned the principles of being a human being, so that it was easier to teach. How much to teach every day, how to teach has a record, and it will not be rushed.

In addition, Shen Chen's class time is only ten days a month, and he has a fixed morning meal time of three quarters to three quarters of the day in the early part of the month, that is, from eight o'clock in the morning to six o'clock in the afternoon every day.

There is a half-hour break at noon, and the teaching time is nine hours, with a total of more than 130 students in three classes, each teaching for three hours.

In the middle of each month, he went to Yuliangzhou to find Pang Degong and Sima Hui, Xu Shu and Pang Tong and others to explore academics.

At the end of each month, he practiced martial arts and archery diligently, and he also practiced at ordinary times, such as getting up at six o'clock in the morning every day during teaching, smelling the chickens and dancing, practicing for an hour, resting for an hour, and then going to class.

After school in the afternoon, practice for another hour, then prepare tomorrow's lesson plan, rest early, and get up the next day to continue this day-to-day life.

People's energy is limited, but as long as they maintain self-discipline, they can still achieve three uses.

There are many people who are all-round talents in civil and military affairs in history, and there are Confucius, Mozi, Sun Tzu, etc., who are full of martial virtue and have a very high level of education, and can force you to obey with a sword.

is like Jia Fu, one of the twenty-eight Yuntai, who was born in Confucianism, and every time he fights, he is the first soldier and brave.

There are also people like Jiang Wei, Deng Ai, Lu Meng and others in the Three Kingdoms period, who are also wise and brave talents.

Therefore, whether it is learning literature or martial arts, the important thing is not the direction you choose, but whether you have perseverance and perseverance.

During this time, in addition to teaching and practicing martial arts, Shen Chen was looking for Pang Degong and Sima Hui in the middle of every month to study academics and work hard to attain Confucianism.

The reason why I didn't look for Zhuge Liang was because Zhuge Liang seemed to be very busy recently, and he came to him several times, but he was not at home, so he had to go to Yuliangzhou.

As a result, in mid-February, on this day, he was discussing academic issues with Ma Hui of the Pound Company on Yuliang Zhou, and talked about the sense of national identity, and they all believed that it should be summarized by the pre-Qin Huayi debate and the relatives of Zhuxia to shape the cohesion of the Han nation.

When they were chatting about happiness, suddenly Xu Shu swaggered in at the door, first saluted Pang Degong and Sima Hui, and then said to them mysteriously: "Second Gong, Ah Chen, Kong Ming has disappeared recently, and he can't be found when I go to him every day, do you know why?" ”

Sima Hui was also surprised, and said: "A few days ago, the old man was visiting friends in Zhonglu, and when he returned to the north, he wanted to go to Atou Mountain, thinking that Kong Ming and Ah Chen were in Longzhong, so he sent someone to ask. Ah Chen came to accompany the old man to climb the mountain, but Kong Ming said that he had not returned for a few days, why is this? ”

Shen Chen was also very curious, and said: "Brother Kong Ming has rarely seen people since the end of last month, I have seen him once in the past month, and when I asked him what he was going to do, he just smiled and didn't say anything, and he didn't go home all day long, as if he had disappeared, could it be that Brother Yuanzhi knew where he went?" ”

Xu Shu said proudly: "Naturally, these days, he often goes to Baishui Township in southern China to find Chengyan Gong. ”

Huang Yueying?

This thought suddenly flashed through Shen Chen's mind.

Before he could ask, Xu Shu said again: "Cheng Yan is looking for his son-in-law, and he fell in love with Kong Ming, so he called him to Baishui, Baishui is too far away from Longzhong, so he has been living in Cheng Yan's house recently." ”

"Oh?"

Pang Degong stroked his beard with a smile and said, "Then it seems that Kong Ming is going to be the son-in-law of the Huang family." ”

"I'm two generations taller than me."

Shen Chen cried with a sad face.

Huang Chengyan's wife is the sister of Liu Biao's wife, Mrs. Cai.

In other words, Huang Yueying and his sixth grandmother Cai are cousins, and Zhuge Liang has become Cai's cousin-in-law, and he is two generations shorter for no reason.

Why did you bother in the first place?

Why did you help Deng Hong find Cai's wife at that time?

Now the bitter fruit is eaten by itself.

Several people looked at his expression and immediately laughed.

Happiness should be based on the suffering of others.

Especially a genius prodigy like Shen Chen, the more painful it was, the happier they became.

And it didn't take long for the news of Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying's engagement to spread in the Jingzhou celebrity circle.

The Zhuge family and the eight major families of Jingzhou are closely connected, the Pang family and the Kuai family are all in-laws, and the rest of the families also have friends.

After the news spread, one stone suddenly stirred up a thousand waves, and the major families sent people to give gifts.

The marriage ceremony in the Han Dynasty had a total of six ceremonies, namely Nacai, Asking for Names, Naji, Nazheng, Invitation, and Greeting.

Among them, the recruitment is a dowry gift, and the dowry is an engagement, and then the invitation will be widely sent, and then tell everyone which day to get married, which is called the invitation period.

Therefore, when the six ceremonies are carried out at this step, the wedding has almost come to an end, and only the wedding banquet needs to be held.

No wonder Zhuge Liang is mysterious these days.

Since the elders in the family have passed away, the eldest brother has split up, and the two older sisters have also married, leaving the younger brother in the family, so according to the rules of the time, these things can only be done by themselves.

This makes the first four ceremonies almost all run by him alone, and during this time, Zhuge Liang went out early and returned late, and he was not at home all day, which is understandable.

Shen Chen received an invitation, the wedding date was at the end of February, and he approved a generous gift in advance.

February 18, Longzhong Township.

On this day, Shen Chen moved back to Yuting from Yuliangzhou, but he did not live back in the school, but lived in Zhuge Liang's house, and practiced swords at his home every day.

On the 21st, Zhuge Liang finally returned, and at this time Shen Chen was playing Go with Zhuge Jun.

Zhuge Jun is also eighteen years old this year, two years older than Shen Chen, but his Go skills are far inferior to Shen Chen.

"Brother Ziping, I can't save it."

Shen Chen looked at Zhuge Jun, who had been pondering, and said to him with a smile.

Zhuge Jun looked at it for a long time, and said with a wry smile: "No, no more, Ah Chen, you are really a genius, I can't compare to you in anything." ”

"Brother, don't give up on yourself."

Shen Chen comforted him and said, "Although you can't compare to me in anything, you are older than me." ”

Zhuge Jun was numb at that time, is this TM talking about human words?

Co-author: I'm nothing but older than you?

was depressed, and suddenly Anu's crisp voice came from outside: "Da Lang is back." ”

"Brother Kong Ming is back."

Shen Chen and Zhuge both stood up from under the porch and went to the front yard.

I just saw Zhuge Liang in the dust, and he entered the courtyard with a few slaves.

"Brother Kong Ming."

Shen Chen walked over and complained: "It's so hard to hide it from me, if Brother Yuan hadn't told me about this, I wouldn't have known that you were going to get married." ”

Zhuge Liang said with a smile: "There are no elders in the family, so I can only do it myself, and there is no way." ”

"Then why didn't you call me? Why do everything yourself? ”

Shen Chen spread his hands: "Ziping is your younger brother, I and Yuanzhi, Zhouping, Guangyuan, Gongwei, and Shiyuan are all your friends, we can all come to help, it's not a good thing to bow down to everything, it's easy to tire yourself." ”

He almost said that sentence, how are you going to die, you don't know?

Of course.

Zhuge Liang must not know that he is exhausted.

Shen Chen knows.

So for the sake of his health, I still have to help him get rid of this stinky problem in the future, and he must personally ask about everything.

"Good, good."

Zhuge Liang smiled and said perfunctorily: "I will definitely call you if there is something in the future." ”

Shen Chen was not happy, and said: "No need to do it later, there must be something now, let me think about it, you have set a twenty-eight day wedding date, and then you have to prepare to welcome you, okay, this matter will be left to me, you don't have to worry about it, just wait at home." ”

Zhuge Liang hurriedly said: "Ah Chen, don't come nonsense, how can you be contemptuous about the marriage event?" You haven't been in a daze, but you don't know the details, if something is bad, I won't have the face to see Chengyan Gong. ”

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Although I have never been married, I have seen my uncle get married, but I know the details, don't worry, I will ask everyone to help." ”

As he spoke, he looked at the courtyard again, shook his head, and said, "You can't set up a feast in the mountains, so let's put the feast in the pavilion." ”

"Ah Chen."

Zhuge Liang frowned slightly.

Shen Chen smiled and said, "Brother, when did you see me coming?" Even if I don't understand, won't I go to someone? You just let me do it. ”

"Yes, brother, you are busy these days, and you can't stop for a moment, just rest at home for two days."

Zhuge Jun said: "How about I and Ah Chen handle this matter together?" ”

"Hmm"

Zhuge Liang hesitated.

Shen Chen pulled him aside with a smile and whispered a few words.

In the end, he could only nod helplessly.

After that, Shen Chen and Zhuge Jun will find Xu Shu, Shi Tao, Cui Jun, Meng Jian, Pang Tong and others to help handle it together.

Afterwards, Zhuge Jun asked him curiously what he said, and Shen Chen told him that if he didn't agree, he could only ask the sixth grandmother to come forward, the sixth grandmother was Huang Yueying's cousin, and it was reasonable for the cousin to help his cousin handle the wedding.

In the next few days, Zhuge Liang finally became a little more relaxed, these days he is really busy and tired, and it is a good thing that he has a few relatives and friends to help with it.

But in fact, he has already done most of the things, and there is not much left to do, basically preparing gifts, feasts, and so on.

Soon the Zhuge family became lively.

Countless gifts are delivered to the home every day, such as silk silk, cattle and sheep herbs, deer, turtles, geese and fish, as well as pampas reeds, curly cypresses, relics beasts, blessed beasts, nine sons and wives, etc., and a large number of exquisite porcelain and paper are also constantly sent to the home.

In the early morning of February 28, the wedding was officially held, and the banquet was held in the Pavilion of Longzhong Township, and the hired villagers were already busy from the early morning.

Those who kill pigs kill pigs, those who slaughter chickens slaughter chickens, and they also have to clean up the place where the feast is held, clean up, sprinkle water and clean the streets, and so on.

And Zhuge Liang was grabbed and hugged to the backyard early in the morning, washed and cleaned, and put on a new set of clothes. It was a brand-new black and red silk robe, with a jade belt around his waist and a knight on his head, which was smoked with spices to make it fragrant.

After cleaning up, he followed Shen Chen, Xu Shu and other friends down the mountain.

When he arrived at the bottom of the mountain, Zhuge Liang was shocked.

I saw a procession of hundreds of people waiting at the foot of the mountain, ten maids on the left and right of the procession holding up countless fluttering ribbons, and a few servants carrying chests, which contained gold, silver, jewelry, coins and gifts.

Two carts of silk and silk stopped next to the carriage used to carry the groom, baskets of gifts were carried by porters, musicians played ceremonial music, sheng flutes sounded in unison, gongs and drums shook the sky.

Although the scene is not as good as Cai's marriage and ribbons all over the city, it is also spectacular, demonstrating extremely high financial resources.

"Ah Chen, you!"

Zhuge Liang was stunned, is this a gift he can give?

Shen Chen said with a smile: "Although my brother is a scholarly family, marriage is a major event in life, and the dowry cannot be missing, which makes people look down on it." However, the Huang family is also a family heirloom, so in addition to these, I also prepared a large number of pen, ink, paper, and inkstones, and some Confucian hand-copied scriptures, which should satisfy Chengyan Gong. ”

"Ah Chen."

Zhuge Liang didn't know what to say.

He's not a pedantic person, the money has been spent, and it's impossible to return it.

It's just that he didn't expect Shen Chen to spend so much money for him.

On the one hand, I was distressed, and on the other hand, I was a little moved.

However, fortunately, the custom of the Han Dynasty was not the kind of situation in later generations where the man paid hundreds of thousands of dowries, and then arranged all the wedding banquet expenses, and the woman could not get a penny.

At that time, there was a so-called dowry, and there was also a so-called dowry, especially between the big families, how much dowry you give, when you return the dowry, at least the same, or even more.

So if you give it out, you will still return it, Zhuge Liang thought that he would return it to Shen Chen when the time came.

Descending the mountain, Zhuge Liang got on the car surrounded by everyone, and there were many ribbons tied to the trees along the way, and the so-called bride price came from this.

The team traveled all the way, passed the pavilion, and went to the direction of Xiangyang.

Then through the city, and then to the east of the city, across the water, all the way to the east of Xiangyang City, the south of the Baishui Township, probably located in the later Xiangyang Dongjin Town to Yushan Town.

Although Longzhong and Baishui both belong to a township in Xiangyang, one is in the westernmost part and the other is in the easternmost part, with a straight-line distance of more than 20 kilometers.

Therefore, the convoy set out at about three o'clock in the morning, walked for two hours, and traveled at an average speed of five kilometers per hour, and arrived at Baishui Township near the end of the day.

The Huang family is a big family in Xiangyang, and the surrounding area is convenient for dozens of kilometers of land, all of which are acres of Huang's fields, which can be described as very arrogant.

The trees in the surrounding countryside are hung with ribbons, stretching mightily to the Huang family manor.

Zhuge Liang, accompanied by many friends, went all the way to the manor to greet them, and Huang Chengyan personally received them.

After the groom arrived, the Huang family held a grand feast in the manor, which included eight families, countless wealthy families, and thousands of attendees.

Then after some ceremonies, such as worshipping the ancestral hall of the clan and holding sacrificial ceremonies, I was busy until the afternoon, which was considered to be the end.

But that's just the beginning.

Weddings, weddings.

In ancient times, it was supposed to be called the Prayer of Darkness.

At noon, a banquet is held at the woman's house, and then the woman is taken back to the man's house.

Basically, it is already dusk after arriving home, and at this time, the man's family will also prepare a feast, and there are many ceremonies, often held until midnight.

Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying were doing ceremonies in the family temple inside the manor, and Shen Chen and they were not allowed to enter by outsiders.

At this time, he was finally about to leave for Longzhong, and Shen Chen saw Huang Yueying's appearance.

She was wearing a black dress, her name was "Pure Clothes", and there was no custom of covering her headscarf at that time, and her appearance was indeed relatively ordinary, but it was very attractive, with the appearance of a small jasper.

Zhuge Liang took Huang Yueying's hand and came to the convoy outside the manor, according to custom, the two did not drive the same car, but two black ink cars side by side.

Zhuge Liang helped Huang Yueying into the car, pretended to drive, handed over the traction rope of the carriage to Huang Yueying, and jumped into the carriage by himself.

This is another etiquette that expresses the husband's love for his wife.

At this time, the female teacher needs to come forward to help the bride resign, Huang Yueying will board the car a few more times, and the female teacher will put on a cover for her to shelter from the wind and dust, and then the carriage driver will come over to help Zhuge Liang drive.

After all the ceremonies were finally over, the convoy set off again, and more than a dozen carriages headed for Longzhong Township with the dowry brought back from the bride's house.

At the beginning of the evening and dusk, the convoy finally arrived at the pavilion.

Because Zhuge Liang's manor is in the mountains, it is inconvenient to hold a banquet, when Zhuge Xuan died, not many people came, and they borrowed the houses of the surrounding families to hold the banquet.

But at this time, there were more than 1,000 attendees, so the banquet venue was set at the foot of the mountain, and the pavilion had a large open space for the feast.

At this time, the people of Longzhong Township had been waiting for a long time, and as soon as the convoy arrived, the ceremony officially began.

The first is the sacrifice.

The Zhuge family is not a native of Xiangyang, but the family has also set up a family temple, and in their own manor, they go home first to worship their ancestors.

The sacrificial process is very troublesome, and three tripods should be displayed on the east side outside the dormitory gate, facing north and north as the top. The things that flourish in the tripod are: a little pig, except for the hoof nails, and the left and right bodies are flourishing in the tripod.

Lift the lung ridge, sacrifice the lungs each pair, fourteen fish, remove the tail part of the dry rabbit a pair.

The tripod is set up to carry and the tripod cover, and the washing is set on the southeast side of the step. The food set up in the room is two beans with sauce, four beans with meat sauce, and six beans with a towel to cover. There are four tuns of millet and four tuns, and there are lids on them.

The meat juice is stewed on the fire, and the wine is set up under the north wall of the room, and there is a ban under the honor, and the wine is placed on the west side of the wine honor. Use a coarse kudzu cloth as a scarf, and place a wine spoon on the wine honor, with the spoon handle facing south. On the east side of the door of the hall, there is a statue of wine, and there is no wine. The fence is in the south of the wine honor, and it is filled with four wine jue and the couplet.

The groom and bride worshipped their ancestors in the family temple, which means that Huang Yueying has completely entered the Zhuge family and become the mistress of the Zhuge family.

The second is the prayer.

Zhuge Liang is wearing a groom's dress, which is the same as Huang Yueying's bridal dress "Pure Clothes", and also has a nice name, called "Jue Ben Xuanduan", the upper body is black, the right edge, cuffs, and neckline are red, the waist is tied with a white belt, and the lower body is red.

The bride and groom, under the leadership of the ceremonial officer, do various activities.

Generally speaking, if the parents are present, they should also participate, for example, in the later life, there will be a high hall ceremony, and at that time, both the parents and the newlyweds had to bow down to each other to show their respect.

But Zhuge Liang's parents have already passed away, so he directly started rituals such as husband and wife worship.

From the west steps to the church, a feast has been set up in the house.

The newlyweds sat at the table, and under the gaze of everyone, Zhuge Liang sat on the east side of the room, facing west. Huang Yueying sat on the seat opposite the west, facing east.

The two sat opposite each other, and then they exchanged with the maid who was married to Huang Yueying, and the maid in Zhuge Liang's house, and each took off his shoes for the male host and the hostess. For example, Anu, the maidservant of Zhuge Liang's family, wants to wash Huang Yueying's feet.

After washing the feet, another celebrant, the master of ceremonies, removed the cloth that covered the table, revealing a sumptuous feast, and then brought in a large ding, which was placed on the south side of the doorstep.

Then the dagger and the dagger cut off the cooked meat from the table, arranged them in turn, and then withdrew.

The celebrant lays the sauce in front of the feast, spreads the sauce on the cooked meat, and finally places the sauce on the north side of the sauce, and the deacons enter and set the sauce on the east side of the meat sauce. The fish are set in order in the east of the city.

After these ceremonies, servants brought in rice, millet, millet, wheat, and soybean, all of which were fried grains and placed them in turn according to their positions, such as millet on the north side of the cured rabbit meat, millet on the west side of the millet meat, and gravy on the north side of the sauce.

When everything was displayed, Zhuge Liang and Huang Yueying began to sacrifice, bowing in turn, sacrificing grains and food. Some are similar to the meaning of the West before eating, thanking their Lord for giving them food.

After the sacrifice is over, the food begins. There are three times in total, and you can eat only a little of each food, and then you will have a drink of sake at the end.

The previous ritual of sacrificing food was basically absent in later generations, but the last sacrificial wine evolved into a well-known cup of wine.

After drinking, the salutants bring in another glass of wine from outside, place it on the ground, and prostrate.

The couple and his wife will also bow down with him.

This ritual is almost the worship of heaven and earth when you get married.

By the time these trifles were finally over, it was almost dusk, that is, nine o'clock in the evening.

Now the feast has begun.

The pavilion at the foot of the mountain instantly became lively, and the surrounding countryside people came to eat one after another, and the entire Longzhong Township was celebrating Zhuge Liang's wedding!

(End of chapter)