Han officials

Chapter 34 Guests from All Directions [4K]

Wei Zhe does what he says.

After returning from the Changcen Camp, he ordered the commander to make a wrought iron rod for Jiaoshan as a weapon.

According to Jiaoshan's requirements, the stick should be eight feet long and as thick as a wrist.

The blacksmith from the Jiangzuosi originally wanted to carve some cloud patterns on it, but he didn't expect that the man would find it cumbersome.

So in the end, they could only follow the black man's instructions and make an iron rod that was thick at the top and thin at the bottom, with a square front end.

After it was completed, I weighed it and found that it weighed 60 kilograms.

After hearing the news, Wei Zhe couldn't help but be speechless.

After all, even sixty Han jin would be nearly fifteen kilograms when converted into later weight.

It’s so heavy, I don’t know how this guy can get used to it.

In addition, this guy also made more than ten hand axes as short weapons, really treating the battlefield as a place to chop wood.

But then again, with so many people in the world, it's not surprising that there are a few freaks occasionally.

However, after witnessing the power of Jiaoshan's throwing axes, Taishi Ci couldn't help but forge a batch of hand halberds and practiced them all day long, and his martial arts skills improved a lot.

After giving wives to his subordinates, it was finally time for Wei Zhe to get married.

……

The next day, outside Daifang City, Wei Zhe was seen standing solemnly.

Xi Zhicai, Taishi Ci, Zhong Hu and others were also waiting patiently on the side.

The person who could make this group of people come out of the city to welcome him is certainly not an ordinary person.

When an old man with gray hair and beard but still full of energy got off the carriage, Wei Zhe immediately stepped forward and called out to him honestly, "Father."

This person is the head of the Houcheng Wei family and Wei Zhe's father, Wei Xuan.

Looking at his son who was so heroic and dignified, Wei Xuan was suddenly filled with emotion.

However, thousands of words ultimately turned into just one sentence.

"You're better than me." Wei Xuan held Wei Zhe's hand and said comfortingly, "With a son like you, I'll finally have the face to see my ancestors after I die!"

Then another old woman with a gentle face got off the carriage and complained angrily, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Wei Zhe immediately went up to her and said with a smile, "Mother, did you have a smooth journey?"

Upon hearing this, the old woman smiled and said, "All is well, all is well!"

As she spoke, she carefully looked Wei Zhe up and down. Although Wei Zhe had become much stronger, she still held Wei Zhe's hand and said distressedly: "Good boy, you have suffered so much!"

Wei Xuan saw Wei Zhe's achievements, but what she thought about was the hardships behind the achievements.

When the old woman thought about the fact that Wei Zhe had fought so hard on the battlefield to obtain this order, her eyes couldn't help but turn red.

This old woman was Wei Zhe's mother, Liu.

Unlike Wei Xuan, a powerful man from a border county, Liu was a lady from a humble family.

Her ancestor was Liu Yu, the fourth son of Emperor Jing of the Western Han Dynasty and King Gong of Lu.

Unlike the wise and capable Emperor Wu of Han, Prince Gong of Lu loved sensual pleasures and indulged in hedonism.

Even when he was the King of Lu, he did not hesitate to demolish Confucius' house in order to expand the palace. However, when he was halfway through the demolition, he found Confucian classics left by Confucius' descendants in the wall. When he opened them, he found that the contents were all written in pre-Qin characters.

So, King Liu Yu of Lu, who had stumbled upon these books by mistake, proudly presented them to the emperor.

To some extent, King Liu Yu of Lu did make a great contribution to the appearance of the "Ancient Text Classics".

However, no matter how great the ancestors' achievements were, they were of no use to a woman like Liu.

After all, King Liu Yu of Lu had many descendants because he was greedy for pleasure. Although he was not as good as King Jing of Zhongshan, he was not far behind.

For example, Liu Biao and Liu Yan were both descendants of Liu Yu, King Gong of Lu.

More than three hundred years have passed, and the number of Liu Yu's descendants is at least 80,000, if not 100,000.

If Liu's great-grandfather had not served as the Lingzhi County Magistrate in this dynasty, she would not even have the qualifications to call herself a humble family.

It was precisely because she had suffered that Liu did not have the arrogance of an ordinary noble lady.

When Xi Zhicai and Taishi Ci came to pay her a visit, she immediately treated them warmly as if they were her own sons and nephews.

After a long while, the family finally returned to the official residence.

……

Since Xuanchu County was quite far from Lelang County, the family did not say anything that night.

The next day, after the two old people felt better, the family started chatting.

"Father, is everything okay at home?"

"All good, all good!" Wei Xuan smiled and stroked his beard, saying, "Especially the salted fish business you asked Mu Hua to run. It's bringing in a lot of money now!"

Almost half of the six counties in Xuanchu County are now using the salted fish of the Wei family in Houcheng.

As for Liaodong County, its share is not large, but it has a lot of cooperation with the powerful people in various counties.

In addition to the low price, it was mainly because Wei Zhe lived nearby and others were willing to give him face.

You should know that in recent years, barbarians have often invaded Liaodong, and it is rare to find someone as encouraging as Wei Zhe.

Seeing the father and son chatting happily about business, Mrs. Liu said helplessly, "We're getting married soon, why are you talking about this?"

After being reminded by Liu, Wei Xuan immediately held his forehead and smiled bitterly, "Yes, I really am getting old and confused."

After saying this, he stared at Wei Zhe with a sharp gaze and asked, "Does the Guan family have any objections?"

Speaking of which, the marriage between Wei Zhe and Lady Guan was actually almost complete.

The procedures of accepting the bride's proposal, asking for the bride's name, accepting the good news, accepting the betrothal gifts and asking for the date have all been completed, and now the only thing left is to welcome the bride.

Generally speaking, there are two customs regarding this kind of marriage across states and counties.

One is that the man personally leads the wedding procession to the woman's home to pick her up, and then holds the wedding after bringing the bride back to his home.

In most cases, men will choose this option to show their sincerity.

But there are always exceptions.

For example, when Wei Zhe got married this time, he chose the second option.

That is, the Guan family arrived in Daifang County in advance and settled down, and Wei Zhe would come to marry them on an auspicious day.

However, this method is not as sincere as the first one.

That's why Wei Xuan asked Guan worriedly whether she agreed.

Wei Zhe also understood the two elders' concerns and immediately said with a smile, "Father, Mother, don't worry. Guan has no objections. My father-in-law is also a reasonable man and will not deliberately make things difficult for us."

You should know that according to Han law, local officials were not allowed to leave their jurisdiction without permission.

For example, several decades ago, Zhao Zi, the Prime Minister of Donghai, passed through Xingyang. Because his reputation was so widespread, the then Xingyang magistrate said to the chief clerk, "Mr. Zhao is so famous. If I don't see him now, I will be laughed at by the world."

After saying this, the Xingyang magistrate galloped on his horse to chase Zhao Zi. When he caught up with him, he was already far away from Xingyang.

However, although he got what he wanted, he had to resign and return home afterwards.

Because it is a serious offense for a county magistrate to leave his jurisdiction without permission, even if he does not resign, the court will dismiss him and punish him.

Sometimes, even if a county magistrate's parents passed away, he had to resign before returning home to observe mourning.

By the way, the Xingyang magistrate who lost his official position because of idol chasing was Cao Cao’s father, Cao Song.

But even if his family had a strong background in the palace, he still had to abide by this rule. Cao Song was like this, let alone Wei Zhe.

Guan Yue also didn't want to let his son-in-law, whom he had found with great difficulty, lose his official position just to welcome the bride.

After hearing what Wei Zhe said, the two elders finally felt relieved.

But then Liu patted him lightly and scolded him with a smile, "Shame on you! We haven't even gotten married yet, and you're already in such a hurry to call me father-in-law?"

However, Wei Zhe's face was as thick as a city wall. He kept admitting his mistakes while making them, leaving Liu with no choice but to shake her head helplessly.

……

Soon, the Guan family also arrived in Daifang County.

Because the city was small and the land was limited, there were no suitable houses, so Wei Zhe arranged for them to live in Tianshiwu, Yangqiu Township.

Today, Tianshiwu has changed its name, and Wei Zhe named it "Dongguan Villa".

Occasionally, when Wei Zhe was tired of dealing with government affairs, he would come here to stay for a few days to relax.

By the way, Zhangshiwu in Zhaoming Township also became Wei Zhe’s villa, but now it has been changed into Wei’s residence.

It can be said that Wei Zhe completely consumed the accumulation of several generations of the Tian and Zhang families from beginning to end.

Wei Zhe's parents have been arranging and managing Zhangshiwu during this period.

After all, it's impossible for a group of people to gather in and out of the official residence on the wedding day.

Even if Wei Zhe didn't care about the opinions of outsiders, the space in the official residence of Daifang County was not enough.

While Wei Zhe was busy with the wedding, several middle-aged scholars in tall hats and wide sleeves walked into Daifang City with curious looks on their faces.

"You'an, your brother-in-law is truly no ordinary warrior, isn't he?"

One of the middle-aged scholars with an elegant temperament, long beard and white face said this with emotion.

This man was called Hua Xin, with the courtesy name Ziyu, and was from Gaotang County, Pingyuan Commandery, Qingzhou.

Hearing him say this, another tall scholar with an old-fashioned appearance also nodded and agreed: "This man is a man of both civil and military talents. He is truly a capable minister who can govern the country."

This person is Bing Yuan, whose courtesy name is Genju, and he is also from Zhuxu, Beihai.

He was on good terms with Hua Xin and Guan Ning. People at that time called the three of them a dragon, with Hua Xin as the head of the dragon, Bing Yuan as the belly of the dragon, and Guan Ning as the tail of the dragon. They were all famous scholars in Qingzhou.

However, Bing Yuan was different from Hua Xin and Guan Ning. He came from a humble background and was not even from a poor family.

His father died when he was eleven. As his family was poor and he became an orphan at an early age, Bing Yuan had no money to study. However, there was a school next door to his house, so he often wandered in front of the school, eager to learn.

When the Confucian teacher at the school learned of his situation, he taught him the scriptures for free. As a result, in just one winter, he memorized the "Book of Filial Piety" and "The Analects of Confucius".

It can be said that Bing Yuan, Hua Xin and Guan Ning were well-known in their hometown since childhood, which is why they became close friends later.

But this time the two of them were not giving face to their friend, but really thought so.

You know, they have some understanding of the situation in Lelang County along the way.

But compared with other Lelang counties, Daifang County seems like two different worlds.

It’s not that there is really any huge difference between the two, but the people’s sentiments are different.

How to say it, in Daifang County they saw a long-lost vitality and vigor.

Although many pedestrians in and out of the city were still in tattered clothes, there was a hint of smile on their faces.

Especially along the way, when they heard the local people talking about Wei Zhe's marriage, the sincere blessings and gratitude they expressed could not be acted out.

From this we can see that Wei Zhe is very popular among the people.

Besides, several people had heard about Wei Zhe's experience of taking in refugees across the sea. Thinking about it now, they suddenly felt that Wei Zhe was a kind and righteous man!
Hearing his two friends say this, Guan Ning couldn't help but smile.

Although he was not related to Guan Yue by blood, he had indeed received a lot of care from Guan Yue in his childhood.

Therefore, when his cousin Guan Yan got married, Guan Ning accepted Guan Yue's invitation to act as a "master of ceremony" at the wedding and invited two good friends to come and watch the ceremony.

Even though the three of them are currently commoners, it is not difficult for them to become officials if they want to.

Because of their fame, there were always many local officials who wanted to recruit the three of them, but they all refused.

Even if there were no other guests at the wedding, with Bing Yuan, Hua Xin and Guan Ning present, no one would laugh at the Guan family for being of low status.

So, although Guan Ning had never met Wei Zhe before, he already had a good impression of him.

"I hope so!" Guan Ning sighed helplessly, "Then I can have some peace of mind!"

After all, before Wei Zhe appeared, Guan Yue had been persuading Guan Ning to take up an official position.

In his opinion, for someone as talented as Guan Ning to become a hermit would be a disgrace to the emperor and his ancestors.

Over the years, Guan Ning has been a little afraid of seeing his cousin Guan Yue.

But now that he has such a capable son-in-law, Guan Yue will probably not harass him anymore.

……

July 7, the second year of Zhongping

The God of Joy is in the southeast, the God of Wealth is in the north, and the God of Fortune is in the north.

Auspicious for: getting married, traveling, breaking ground, and setting up the bed;
Taboo: building a house, putting up beams, digging a well, moving graves;
Just after the hour of Si in the morning, Wei Zhe went to Yangqiu Township to pick up his bride in a gorgeous and solemn black and red dress.

Zhong Hu led two hundred cavalrymen to open the way, while Taishi Ci and another three hundred cavalrymen guarded Wei Zhe on both sides.

By the time the bride was brought back to Wei's house, it was dusk, just in time for the wedding.

On the other side, Wei Zhe's fiancée Guan Yan got up early before dawn.

After all, the bride's dressing is much more complicated than the groom's.

From the hairpins and flower ornaments to the embroidered shoes and skirts, it is extremely complicated.

Guan's mother and the maids worked for more than an hour before they helped her get dressed.

However, looking at herself in the bronze mirror, who was as beautiful as a flower, Guan Yan felt shy but still a little confused.

She didn't expect that the man she saw in the garden that day would become her husband.

Although, although she was quite satisfied, especially since Wei Zhe wrote to her frequently and sent her many interesting things, but for some reason, Guan Yan felt a little flustered at this moment.

So after sitting in front of the mirror for a while, she turned around and said foolishly, "Mom, after we get married, can I still come back to see you every day?"

At this point, Guan Yan's lips pursed slightly as she said aggrievedly, "I can't bear to leave you!"

Upon hearing this, Guan's mother couldn't help but laugh and scolded, "Silly child, you're about to get married and you're still so naive!"

But despite saying this, Guan's mother couldn't help but feel her eyes turn red.

A moment later, Guan's mother held the delicate Guan Yan in her arms and said softly, "If you miss me, write to me. I will come to see you when I am free."

It’s not that Guan’s mother is cruel, but she is doing it for her daughter’s good.

Because it is not a good thing for a married daughter to return to her parents' home too frequently.

After a long time, Guan's mother covered Guan Yan's face with a green veil.

After the mother and daughter looked at each other for a moment, it seemed as if thousands of words flashed through their minds.

However, in the end, Guan's mother just smiled with tears in her eyes and said, "Live your life well!"

"Ok!"

Upon hearing this, Guan Yan nodded vigorously.

She has grown up and doesn't want to make her mother worry anymore.

(End of this chapter)