Three Kingdoms

This night is a sleepless night for many people.

At this time, Yuan Wei drove all his servants out, and was alone in the study, setting up the chessboard, slowly placing pieces, and soon the end of the game was placed on the chessboard.

The Eight Methods of Nourishing Qi have not yet been formally proposed in the Han Dynasty, but the Confucian way of calming the mind and nourishing Qi is already something that everyone who studies Confucianism must understand and pursue. Talking by hand gradually became popular during the Han Dynasty and became one of the ways to nourish the nobles' morale. Ban Gu even wrote a "Game Purpose" specifically for Go, which established the status of Go among high-level people in society at that time.

Influenced by his brother Yuan Feng, Yuan Wei also preferred this approach. Once upon a time, the two brothers often sat and talked with each other. It had nothing to do with winning or losing, but only the friendship between brothers.

Yuan Wei's old eyes actually shone a little when he faced this mess.

This game was the last unfinished game between him and his brother Yuan Feng, and today he was finally going to finish it.

That night happened to be the time when the disaster of party imprisonment was launched. At that time, the entire city of Luoyang would be on fire all night long, and soldiers and armor would roar. I don't know how many Qingliu scribes had their families broken up, their bodies were missing, and their heads were missing.

That night, Yuan Wei and Yuan Feng were terrified, forcing themselves to calm down and face each other in the hall, waiting for the unpredictable verdict. Fortunately, Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty did not agree with the eunuch's handling of Yuan Feng, and the Yuan family was spared. But later, although his brother Yuan Feng was not dismissed from office, he was implicated for a while, and he failed to recover, eventually leading to his death due to depression.

From then on, Yuan Wei hated the eunuchs deeply, but what he could do was that the eunuchs had overwhelming power at that time, so Yuan Wei could only endure it.

Tonight is just like that time, Luoyang is filled with flames and soldiers are running around, but the difference is that this time it is the arrogant eunuchs who are dead.

Years of planning have finally come to an end.

There was no hatred between Yuan Wei and He Jin. Strictly speaking, the upper class of the gentry family would hate their relatives to death if they could, but not many people really regarded their relatives as life-or-death enemies.

Because everyone in the noble family knows that relatives often change, and they may be in glory for a few years at most. When the favored person in the palace gradually declines in popularity and becomes old and sallow, even the most prosperous relative may one day fall.

But eunuchs are different. Beauties are often replaced, but eunuchs are not often replaced!

Yuan Wei waited for a long time and finally got the opportunity. When the new emperor ascended the throne and the older generation of eunuchs could not immediately get closer to the new emperor, he provoked conflicts between his relatives and the eunuchs, constantly adding fuel to the fire, and even resorted to using Yinzi, who had been lying in wait for many years, finally successfully pulled all his opponents into the abyss of death.

General He Jin, a relative, died.

All the eunuchs, including Zhang Rang, Zhao Zhong and others, died.

Yuan Wei reached out and lifted up the dazzling black dragon on the chessboard one by one, threw it to the ground, raised his head high, and looked at the black chess pieces rolling down on the ground with disdain.

A cold smile appeared on Yuan Wei's lips.

"It's a pity that I can't do it all..." Yuan Wei knocked on the two small black chess pieces at the corner of the chessboard, "It doesn't matter, after all, the Dao is fifty and Tianyan is forty-nine, so these two people are very lucky this time... …”

"But...will you still be so lucky in the next round?"

****************

A group of mighty soldiers and horses were winding their way. They were the soldiers and horses under Dong Zhuo's command in Xiliang.

At this moment, Li Ru and Li Wenyou were using a wind lantern in the carriage to set up a chessboard. The black and white chess pieces were fighting each other on the chessboard. I am among you and you are among me. In the end, they both became a robber and a robber. living situation.

Is it a 50-50 victory or defeat?

Li Ru held the chess piece in his hand and carefully examined it to the point where he could no longer play. He snorted coldly and swept all the chess pieces aside.

Since the old game can no longer be played, let’s start a new game!

Li Ru opened the carriage door curtain and issued a stern order: "Pass my military order, the left and right wings spread out twenty miles each, and raise more torches and flags to increase the momentum! The whole army speeds up and marches towards Luoyang! We must arrive at Luoyang before the eclipse tomorrow!" Anyone who misses the deadline will be killed!"

Suddenly, Dong Zhuo's army suddenly expanded and moved toward Luoyang City as quickly as a big net.

***********

Fei Qian and Cui Hou were also in the small courtyard hall, talking about a game of chess.

Although the noise in the city gradually died down, after this commotion, the two of them no longer felt sleepy. After meeting, they went to the small hall to play chess to kill time.

"Brother Xian brought these two people back. I think they are either rich or noble. I don't know which family's young master is in trouble..." Cui Hou took a photo and asked casually. Cui Hou didn't put much thought into those two children. He estimated that the young master from a certain house in Luoyang City was in a fire and ran away in a panic.

Fei Qian also answered casually: "I don't know either, but seeing as the two of them are young and in shock, it's hard to ask in detail. Let's wait until dawn."

Cui Hou let out a "ha" and said jokingly: "Brother Xian also said that you are young. Do you dare to ask, brother Xian, who is more noble this year?"

"Actually, I just have a young face. In fact, I am already sixty-five years old!" Fei Qian also cooperated and said with a serious face.

Cui Hou laughed loudly after hearing this, grabbed a handful of chess pieces and put them on the chessboard, "Okay, okay, I'm convinced, you win..." He then ordered the maids waiting on the side to go down and make some new tea and exchange for some pastries.

After the maid had gone far away, Cui Hou wiped the corners of his eyes that were stained with tears from his smile. He left the table and bowed to Fei Qian with a straight face: "I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Mr. Young Master! The Cui family will continue this friendship today. Once Mr. Lang has his way, the Cui family will Must obey!"

Fei Qian quickly helped Cui Hou up, "Can An accept such a great gift from brother?"

"You deserve it! To be honest, brother, this recipe is as good as nectar to my family after a long drought." Cui Hou nodded with a wry smile, "Don't look at it now, in fact my Cui family has already It was a powerful foreigner who did it.”

"How could this be?"

Cui Hou nodded and slowly explained to Fei Qian.

Every family has scriptures that are difficult to recite.

The Cui family originally originated from the surname Jiang. The ancestor was Jiang Taigong, and the originator was the Shennong clan of Emperor Yan. Ji Zi, the eldest son of Ding Gongji, the king of Qi in the Western Zhou Dynasty, once lived in Cui Yi, and his descendants took Yi as their surname. The surname Cui in Shandong. , so Linzi, Shandong Province is the birthplace of the Cui family.

However, in the process of the Cui family's expansion, Cui Lie's branch was quite successful in business, accumulating continuously over the generations, and slowly developed from Shandong to the Heluo area, and took root in Luoyang.

By the time of Cui Lie's generation, the Cui family lineage in Shandong had already declined, and the position of head of the family fell to Cui Lie's lineage.

Of course, there is also a fierce competition here, which is unknown to everyone.

Cui Lie, who won the competition, was originally rich. At that time, Cui Lie was a good businessman and a scholar. When he first became a disciple, he was really in the spotlight. Unfortunately, the good times did not last long. As Cui Lie was beaten by the eunuch, losing his official position was not considered as repayment. His home was confiscated and 80% of his wealth was lost. Cui Lie fell ill and eventually passed away.

Although Cui Lie passed the position of head of the family to Cui Yi before his death, this position was no less than a hot potato at this time because there were already side branches eyeing the position of the head of the family.

The head of the family has a high status in the entire family. In ancient times, the head of the family had control over the family tree and the family ancestral hall. It can be said that he had a very lethal power to the family members - to eliminate the power. This was no less powerful for the disciples of the ancient aristocratic families. The power of life and death.

Therefore, he had already lost his official position and lost his fortune. If he loses his position as the head of the family at this time, then Cui Yi and Cui Hou will be completely reduced and will never be able to stand out again.

Fortunately, Cui Lie still had a lot of popularity in the court, so Cui Yi was able to temporarily keep his position as the head of the family. However, the popularity will fade and one day it will eventually run out. Therefore, in order to maintain Cui Yi's position as the head of the family, the Cui family has not known how to deal with it in recent years. With so much extravagant wealth, he not only had to maintain the manor's manpower expenses, but also had to make friends with the ministers of the DPRK and China. In a few years, his family's wealth was almost emptied.

However, these high-ranking officials and nobles in the court basically do not pay attention to ordinary gold and silver. They only like some rare treasures. But these rare treasures are not weeds in the fields, so how can they be found everywhere?

As a last resort, the Cui family could only collect them from everywhere. Every time they collected one, they basically paid tribute to the high officials in the court.

Fei Qian nodded secretly, I see. No wonder there are rumors that the Cui family designs deceptive treasures. It seems that this is the reason.

Now, with Fei Qian's method of improving the glass making method, the Cui family has embraced a hen that can lay golden eggs. First of all, they no longer need to search for treasures like headless flies. Their own glass is a treasure. ; Secondly, it also opened up a new way of making money, changing the situation where the Cui family's income exceeded their income, which was of great help to stabilizing the position of the head of the family.

Perhaps Fei Qian may have other secret recipes, but for the current Cui family, consolidating what they have and seizing what they have is the most important and correct thing. Therefore, after the master craftsman in the family tried it out, he confirmed Fei Qian's colored glaze. When the secret recipe had a miraculous effect on improving the color and brightness of the glass, Cui Yi simply made the decision to make friends with Fei Qian.

This is also in line with the family's consistent rule - family comes first.

If it weren't for the fact that Fei Qian was just a side branch of the Fei family, Cui Yi would even have to come forward to express his gratitude. Cui Hou and Fei Qian explained clearly the reasons behind the Cui family, and did not ask Fei Qian how he obtained this recipe or what other methods there were. In this way, in addition to expressing gratitude, there was also This has two meanings: one is that the Cui family will no longer be on guard against Fei Qian and will treat each other with sincerity; the other is that they will no longer be greedy about the origin of Fei Qian's secret recipe and will keep it secret.

As for what Fei Qian needs from the Cui family in the future, the Cui family will naturally weigh it based on the value of the secret recipe and give him equal or more rewards.

Of course, these so-called measurement standards will all depend on Fei Qian's status and the Cui family's status in the future. For example, for a poor person who is about to starve to death and a rich person who is full of food and drinks every day, the same meal will of course have different meanings for the two people.

At this time, the maid outside the door brought freshly brewed tea and some pastries, and asked if she would like to prepare some toiletries as it was almost time for the rooster to crow.

After hearing this, Fei Qian and Cui Hou knew that the long night had quietly passed and a new day had come. Fei Qian raised the tea bowl and saluted Cui Hou, "Brother Yongyuan, how about taking this tea to bid farewell to the old days and celebrate the new beginning together?"

Cui Hou reacted immediately and also raised the tea bowl: "Brother Xian is indeed a wonderful person! Let's bid farewell to the old days and celebrate the new beginning together!"