The revival of the Han Dynasty must start with Dong Zhuo

Chapter 221 Volume Chang'an
Sima Fang was also quite pleased to hear Sima Yi's words.

"You have this vision, which is worthy of my teachings."

"I have met His Majesty several times. His Majesty is young and intelligent. If you can make his acquaintance, he will certainly have a good chat with you. You must not be arrogant and play those tricks of scholars and avoid His Majesty."

"Don't worry, father! It won't happen!"

……

Liu Xie felt helpless when he saw Sima Yi fleeing in panic.

He bent down slightly and patted Dong Bai's butt with his backhand: "Come up! Go back to sleep!"

"hey-hey!"

Dong Bai did not avoid suspicion and jumped directly onto Liu Xie's back, sticking tightly to Liu Xie.

Cai Yan noticed Liu Xie's eagerness towards the two people and asked, "Your Majesty, do you really not need to catch up?"

"never mind."

Liu Xie knew that they would meet sooner or later, and going there now would not help them.

However, Liu Xie was also certain: "Do you believe it, Cai? This year's top scholar will probably be one of those two."

"Ok?"

Cai Yan didn't expect Liu Xie to speak so highly of them.

After all, this is an exam with nearly 10,000 people.

In fact, among the candidates who took part in the imperial examinations, there were quite a few sons of officials.

If Sima Yi and Yang Xiu could suppress these people, it would be really amazing.

"gone!"

Liu Xie also left the examination room and walked towards Chang'an from Jianzhang Palace carrying Dong Bai on his back.

On the way, Cai Yan felt sorry for Liu Xie and wanted Dong Bai to get off and walk by himself, but Dong Bai leaned over to Liu Xie's ear and said, "You had the strength to bully me at night, but why don't you have the strength to carry me during the day?"

Now Liu Xie couldn't even rest and had to carry Dong Bai all the way until he saw Chang'an City and then put Dong Bai down.

"His Majesty."

Dong Bai tugged at Liu Xie's sleeve, obviously wanting to do something weird again.

"Since we're still here today, why don't we go to the store?"

In fact, what Dong Bai really wanted to say was that it was a rare occasion that Liu Xie was free, and she wanted Liu Xie to play with her.

"you……"

You carried it all the way with great difficulty, but you finally feel more energetic when you’re playing?

Although Liu Xie understood what Dong Bai meant, he still couldn't help but gave Dong Bai a slap in the face.

Dong Bai covered his head miserably, and Cai Yan stepped forward to rub Dong Bai's head gently.

"Queen, His Majesty is usually very busy with government affairs, or..."

However, after Cai Yan and Dong Bai looked at each other for a few seconds, they were immediately drawn to each other.

"Your Majesty, I heard from my father that a new musical instrument shop has opened in the West Market..."

Seeing that even Cai Yan had changed sides at the last minute, Liu Xie agreed to accompany them to go shopping in the market.

However, Liu Xie also set the rules -

"You must not let me carry you if you are tired! You must crawl back to the palace even if you have to!"

"Roger that!"

……

Liu Xie hadn't been to the market in Chang'an for some time.

Especially after the natural disaster, he never came to the market in Chang'an again.

The previously empty market town was now packed with people, with countless shops popping up like mushrooms after a rain.

The streets are lined with shops, flags fluttering, and the sounds of hawking are heard one after another.

The restaurants that had been doing poorly during the disaster have regained their vitality and launched many new products, some of which even made Liu Xie unable to move his legs.

"Your Majesty, don't be greedy! Go!"

Dong Bai took the lead in the sprint, holding Liu Xie, who was attracted by the restaurant, with one hand, and Cai Yan, who was attracted by the musical instrument shop, with the other hand, and rushed to a rouge shop.

Liu Xie noticed that the largest number of newly opened shops were not actually traditional restaurants or pottery workshops.

Instead, they are paper mills that produce paper.

Ranked second and third are the ink workshops and bookshops that come with them.

The opening of these shops was of course not just due to technological advancement. The most important thing was that there was a demand for things like pens, ink, paper and inkstones.

Right next to Liu Xie was a bookstore, and several scholars were asking the owner for books while arguing about something.

When I listened carefully, I found that they were talking about a few questions from the imperial examination.

There was naturally no need to discuss the dictation in the front, as they focused on discussing the questions in the back.

The argument between a scholar in yellow and a scholar in blue was the most intense.

"Dong An killed someone, which is a capital crime! He should be executed!"

"Although Dong An killed someone, it was justified! He should be let off the hook!"

"Killing is killing! There is no such thing as reasonableness!!"

"..."

The two men argued until their faces turned red, and the scholars around them, upon hearing that they were actually discussing the imperial examination questions that had just ended, also joined in the battle with great interest.

One party naturally thought that the court laws should prevail and a death penalty was a death penalty.

The other side believed that the court advocated filial piety and should not treat everyone equally. Moreover, Dong An waited until Wang Ji's mother passed away before killing him, which made him a truly filial son!
But the two groups of scholars were bound to end up with no conclusion.

soon.

The war then spread to the second, third, and fourth questions.

There is actually no point in arguing about Confucius' "teaching without distinction" and the "final verdict" on Wang Mang. What really made the battle more and more chaotic was the fourth question.

These scholars did not know that the imperial court had already sent troops to Shu, but this did not prevent them from expressing their opinions.

Some people wanted to move all the people in Shu to Guanzhong to enrich Guanzhong.

Some people wanted to put all the money and grain in Shu into the government treasury.

There were also scholars who had a "sudden idea" and wanted the court to send troops from Yizhou to pacify Yangzhou...

Liu Xie leaned against the doorpost and listened quietly to the arguments of the scholars.

After a moment, Liu Xie's mouth curled up and he smiled.

This is certainly not to mock these scholars, nor is it to hear any great plans for governing the country from them.

It was purely from the atmosphere of this group of scholars that Liu Xie finally felt a sense of peace.

The scholar's spirit! He is full of vigor and energy! He is nothing but dirt!
Young man, this is what you deserve!

At that time, the last trace of gloom in Liu Xie's heart towards Sima Yi disappeared.

In fact, Liu Xie was still a little confused just now.

The name Sima Yi is really too dangerous.

But if you think about it carefully, Sima Yi is just a teenager now.

It would be truly a sin if such a genius were led to a path of no return because of Liu Xie's prejudice.

Restoring the Han Dynasty was just a process, not a goal.

What Liu Xie really wanted to see was the scene before him.

The farmers who were hungry before can now read and write, wear clean clothes, and discuss current affairs and express their opinions with others in bookstores.

The market is prosperous and people live and work in peace and contentment.

Dong Zhuo would not have been burned to death after serving in the army for half his life; Lu Bu would not have died after making great contributions; people like Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei would not have had to spend their entire lives to complete the Longzhong Plan that was impossible to achieve.

Similarly, Sima Yi would not have to become a treacherous minister in the future, becoming the kind of person with eagle-like eyes and wolf-like gaze that makes everyone tremble when they hear his name.

"The big man's sword should always be pointed at outsiders."

The sun sets in Chang'an, and thousands of houses are lit up.

Liu Xie leaned against the wooden pillar, watching people coming and going.

"Hey! Help! Come help!"

Liu Xie gradually became fascinated by the scene and was only awakened by Dong Bai's scream like a pig being slaughtered.

Looking back, I found that Cai Yan was holding a brand new guqin in her hands, and also carrying some book bags filled with pens and ink.

Dong Bai was even more exaggerated.

Not only did he buy several pieces of silk cloth to wrap around his body, he also carried more than a dozen bags in his hands, and his arms were bulging, obviously containing a lot of things.

"Why did you buy so many?"

"not much!"

Dong Bai defended himself breathlessly -

"Sister Fu likes medical books, so I went to buy her some prescriptions."

"Sister Dong likes to do needlework to pass the time. I bought all these cloths for her!"

"And more! I bought a beautiful knife for my grandfather. It's in my arms."

Dong Bai put down the bag in his hand and reached into his arms. He rummaged around for a long time before finally pulling out something.

"This is for you!"

"And mine?"

Liu Xie was very surprised. He took it and looked at it, only to find that it was a wood carving.

The carving is quite delicate, but why is this wood carving a pig's head?
Liu Xie reached out and knocked Dong Bai on the head: "You are the pig-head!"

However, Liu Xie still put the wooden sculpture of the pig head into his arms and reached out to pick up all the cloth bags that Dong Bai had dropped.

Dong Bai was no longer burdened and became lively again: "There's a vendor selling glutinous rice cakes up ahead! Come on, come on! I want to buy that!"

Seeing Dong Bai running out again, Liu Xie and Cai Yan could only smile bitterly at each other, followed obediently, and mixed in with Dong Bai into the restaurant again.

……

"belch!"

Dong Bai didn't keep his promise after all.

After eating several bowls of ice cream in a row, he felt a little drunk and fell asleep on the table.

Liu Xie had no choice but to carry Dong Bai on his back again and walk towards the palace with the help of Cai Yan.

Chang'an has had a curfew since ancient times, and at this time other people also left the restaurant one after another.

Liu Xie blended in with the crowd, indistinguishable from the surrounding people, and slowly moved forward along with the flow of people.

Some people left along the way, while others joined in.

But as we got closer to the palace, the number of people on the street gradually thinned out.

"Your Majesty, are you tired? How about letting me carry the Queen on my back?"

Liu Xie weighed Dong Bai a few times, as if he was weighing pork: "No need, even though this guy doesn't have much meat on him, he's actually very heavy. Mr. Cai definitely can't carry him!"

Dong Bai seemed to realize that Liu Xie was saying bad things about her, and she snorted hard. I don't know if she got her snot or saliva on Liu Xie again.

Cai Yan was still a little worried: "Don't tire your majesty. Your majesty is busy with government affairs and often stays up late. If you tire yourself out again, I'm afraid..."

"It's okay, this is good."

Liu Xie glanced at Cai Yan, turned his head and looked at Dong Bai who was drooling, then turned around and looked back at the bustling city of Chang'an.

The lights and the stars were reflected in Liu Xie's eyes at the same time. Although Liu Xie was a little tired, he was still in high spirits.

“This is really good.”

(End of this chapter)