One night, Dongfang Shuo began to fall asleep shortly after going to bed.

He dreamed that he came to a garden, and happened to see a woman in white squatting under a bush. Dongfang Shuo shouted: "Who?" —-Hearing only a silver bell-like laughter, the woman flew into the sky, and a voice sounded in the air: "Soon you will meet a wizard who will help you achieve great things!"

"How do you know?" Dongfang Shuo hurriedly asked, still laughing.

Dongfang Shuo was taken aback, and woke up from his sleep, his forehead was cold, but that dream made him unforgettable, he thought: Could it be that God entrusted me with a dream?

Dongfang Shuo was a legendary figure in the Han Dynasty, and it is said that he was said to be "the smartest man in the world!" Dongfang Shuo, a native of Pingyuan County (now Lingxian County, Dezhou City, Shandong Province), lost his parents when he was a teenager and grew up relying on the support of his brother and sister-in-law. He began to read at the age of thirteen, and after three years of hard study, he read enough books, learned fencing at the age of fifteen, and read more than 200,000 words at the age of sixteen. At the age of nineteen, he began to study the art of war and common sense of warfare, knew how to use various weapons, and read hundreds of thousands of words in books on the art of war.

After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne, for the sake of the country, he recruited virtuous people in the society and recruited talented people from all over the world. Dongfang Shuo thinks that he is very good, he is proficient in astronomy, geography, Confucianism, Taoism, and other scriptures, poetry, and martial arts, and he is slightly familiar with immortals, so he is passionate and recommended himself to the emperor. Ordinary scholars write a self-recommendation letter, and the text of three bamboo slips is redundant, which is nothing more than writing a personal profile. But this Mr. Dongfang Shuo is not an extraordinary person, he thinks that it is useless to write like that, it cannot attract the attention of the emperor, and there must be a different way of writing. As soon as he began to write his writings, he quoted scriptures and classics, and his writings were like springs and gushing endlessly! He not only introduced himself, but also had various views and suggestions on major national affairs. And guess what? He wrote 3,000 bamboo slips! 3,000!

These bamboo slips are said to take a few people to carry them, and if Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty really wants to read them, it will take two months to read them.

In a letter of recommendation to the emperor, he praised himself lavishly: "I admire the arrogance of Zilu (a disciple of Confucius). Now I'm twenty-two years old, and I'm nine feet three inches tall. The eyes are blazing, like bright beads, the teeth are white and neat like choreographed shells, brave like Meng Zhi, agile like Qingji, honest and thrifty like Uncle Bao, and Xinyi like Weisheng. A person like me should be able to be the minister of the Son of Heaven!"

You see that you will really praise yourself, who sees this not only smiles.

It is indeed rare to describe himself in this way, so naturally Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty thought that Dongfang Shuo was extraordinary, so he notified the local officials to summon Dongfang Shuo, and Dongfang Shuo arrived in Kyoto, but received an order from the emperor to wait in the bus office.

The Bus Bureau, in the Han Dynasty, was a pavilion post for receiving general examination bachelors, and it was also a relatively low-level pavilion, which could allow bachelors from the east, west, north and south to come and go.

In the bus office, it is common to see crowds of people, with different colors of people from all religions and nine streams, and it is noisy and noisy like a big bazaar. All kinds of dissatisfaction, all kinds of debates, all kinds of gossip, in fact, there are also many social homeless people who are mixed up.

Those who are conscripted wait for the emperor's appointment at the bus office, called "waiting for the edict bus", and those who are more favored by the imperial court will be edicted in Jinmamen, and Dongfang Shuo will stay in Jinmamen, which is slightly better than the treatment of ordinary people. But with Dongfang Shuo's qualifications and his pretentiousness, how could he be mixed in with those people.

Most of the people who are waiting for the edict have some ability or magic, or are well-educated: some are well-written, some are ancestral medical Tao, some are mindful of statecraft, and some are proficient in piano, chess, calligraphy and painting. But because of the large number of people, and I don't know when the emperor summoned them, most of them were idle and depressed. Because the edict is not a real job, there is no formal salary (salary), but there is a little living allowance.

Dongfang Shuo disliked the poor treatment and low salary of the bus department, but he never got the emperor's summons, he was really dissatisfied and anxious, and he wrote again and again in the hope of being summoned, but year after year, his book sank into the sea, and he never got any reply. Some people don't think about how to summon the emperor all day long like Dongfang Shuo, and they just live in a mess. But Dongfang Shuo was single-mindedly looking for an opportunity for the emperor to summon him.

One day, he met a group of gnomes who were raising horses for the emperor, and he was very angry when he learned that the gnomes had the same income as him. He knew that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty loved horses very much, and these dwarfs would definitely have the opportunity to meet Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, so Dongfang Shuo had a plan.

He deliberately frightened a few little dwarfs who raised horses for Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, and he said to them, "The emperor said that you people can neither farm nor fight, let alone have the talent to govern the country and the country, and it is not beneficial to the country, so he plans to kill you, why don't you hurry up and plead with the emperor!"

The dwarfs who raised horses were terrified when they heard this, but they didn't know whether it was true or not, and took advantage of the moment when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty came to see the horses, knelt down together, crying and begging for mercy from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.

The Emperor asked, "What do you ask for?"

The gnomes replied, "Ask the Holy One not to kill!"

The emperor asked curiously, "Who said I want to kill you?"

The gnomes replied together, "Dongfang Shuo!"

Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was baffled, and when he asked the reason, he was very annoyed, and he summoned Dongfang Shuo to come and ask.

Dongfang Shuo finally had a chance to face the emperor directly. You see, is he very peculiar?

At this meeting, he not only showed his knowledge, but when the emperor asked him why he teased the dwarf, Dongfang Shuo humorously said to the emperor: "I have no way to do this." Your Majesty, you think that the dwarf is three feet tall and I am nine feet tall, but I have as much Fenglu as the dwarf, do you think I can be convinced? !

Originally, he played a dwarf, framed the emperor, and beheaded according to the law, but Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty laughed heartily after listening to Dongfang Shuo's explanation. felt that this Dongfang Shuo still had some talent and strategy, so he ordered him to wait for the edict in Jinmamen, and at the same time, he would occasionally let Dongfang Shuo participate in some activities in the palace, so far, Dongfang Shuo has gained some closeness from the emperor.

Once, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty wanted to entertain some outstanding scholars, and everyone dressed up one after another, and presented their paintings and poems to the emperor, so as to show themselves well in front of the emperor, in order to please the emperor, and give him an official and a half-position or something, this time Dongfang Shuo was also invited.

During the banquet, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had a lot of fun and wanted to play a game called "shooting". This game is actually very simple, it is to play hidden things for people to guess, and whoever guesses will punish the other party for drinking.

The emperor hid the gecko in the jar and asked everyone what was hidden in the jar, and many people talked about it, but no one guessed it. Dongfang Shuo asked Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty and said: "The minister has learned the I Ching gossip, please allow me to guess what." ”