The Mi family was a wealthy family in Xuzhou, and they also had a mansion in Haixi, Guangling, which was not much worse than the one in Tancheng.
When Mi Zhu returned to his mansion, there were nearly a hundred slaves guarding the door. At that time, the world was in chaos and people were living in poverty. As long as they could have enough food, countless young and strong people were willing to become slaves for the rich.
Therefore, what Mi Zhu said about the Mi family having two thousand slaves in Haixi was by no means false.
As soon as Mi Zhu entered the house, he called Mi Fang to discuss the matter of betrothing Mi Zhen.
When Mi Fang heard that Mi Zhu wanted to marry Mi Zhen to Liu Bei, she became very unhappy and said, "Liu Yuzhou is already thirty-five, and my younger sister is young. Isn't the age difference too big?"
Mi Zhu sighed, "You know what our status is as a merchant. Liu Yuzhou is a local lord after all, and he is also a relative of the Han Dynasty. If he gains power and is crowned a king in the future, it will be too late for us to curry favor with him."
"Tell me, can my little sister marry any better?"
After hearing this, Mi Fang lowered his head in thought and became silent and hesitant.
He raised his head and said, "I heard that Liu Yuzhou's wife was trapped in Xiapi. He married my younger sister as his wife so quickly. Isn't he afraid of criticism from the world?"
Mi Zhu heard this and said, "Liu Yuzhou said the same thing, so he meant to take my younger sister as a concubine."
Mi Fang's face changed drastically when he heard this. He slammed the table and said angrily, "No!"
"Even if our Mi family is not a noble family, it is a good family for generations. You marry your legitimate daughter to someone else as a concubine. Do you think you can be worthy of our deceased father and mother by doing this?"
Mi Zhu heard this and sighed, "Have you ever thought about what my Mi family will do if the lord fails?"
"For merchants like us who have money but no foundation, will Yuan Shu and Cao Cao treat us like honored guests?"
"It's good enough that they didn't rob our house!"
"Think about it, how many people in the world are as kind and righteous as you, my Lord?"
After hearing this, Mi Fang muttered, "What kind of benevolence and righteousness is this? I think he is just a pervert."
"Last year, after the lord married Gan, he exclusively doted on her, and indulged himself in pleasure every day, didn't he?"
"It would be fine if my younger sister was the legal wife, but if she became a concubine, would she really have to compete for favor with a lowly woman like Gan?"
Mi Zhu's face changed: "You can shut up, Madam Gan is fair, and now she is in charge of all the affairs of the master's inner house. She may be promoted in the future. If I offend her, my little sister will have a hard time in the future."
Mi Fang became more and more angry, "Brother, are you determined to make me your concubine?"
"Isn't this life your fate as a slave?"
"If that's the case, why not marry her to the Yuan family? She's also a concubine of the lord of a state, isn't it better than being the lord's concubine?"
Mi Zhu saw that Mi Fang was getting more and more excited, so he stood up and said, "I won't talk to you anymore. I came here today just to tell you."
"Now that I am the head of the family, I am the one who decides my little sister's marriage."
"I think my second brother has had some conflict with Guan Yu, which is why he is so opposed to you, right?"
"Don't drag the Mi family into a dilemma just for your own personal likes and dislikes!"
After hearing this, Mi Fang's face turned pale and blue and he stood up and left the table angrily.
Before leaving, he said: "My great Mi family actually needs to sell out my little sister in exchange for safety and wealth. This is the biggest joke in the world!"
Mi Zhu sighed when he saw that Mi Fang didn't understand him. The Mi family looked wealthy and extravagant, but in fact they had to pay huge amounts of money to various forces every year to buy peace, otherwise they would have been swallowed up long ago.
It's a joke or something. As long as there's someone suppressing you, who isn't a joke?
Mi Zhu thought of Liu Bei's two brothers, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei. These two had such a close relationship with their lord that no one else could interfere. Some ambitious nobles must be dissatisfied with this, just like Chen Qun who took the opportunity to defect to Cao Cao.
But Mi Zhu was very open-minded. He just wanted to continue the Mi family. Now marrying his younger sister off was the only way for the Mi family to establish a close relationship with Liu Bei.
Another mansion in the city was Zhang Fei's residence. As soon as Guan Yu entered the door, he smelled a strong smell of alcohol.
He frowned slightly and walked into the hall, where he saw Zhang Fei lying on a long table with a row of wine jars in front of him.
Zhang Fei raised his head drunkenly and saw Guan Yu coming in. He raised the wine jar and shouted, "Second brother, you are here!"
"Drink with me, have a few drinks!"
Guan Yu shook his head, snatched the wine jar and put it aside, then sat down opposite Zhang Fei and said, "Third brother, drinking will only delay your work. If someone sees you like this, what will others think of you?"
Zhang Fei was already very drunk and shouted angrily: "Who dares to talk nonsense? I will chop him off!"
Guan Yu's face turned cold: "Third brother, can you kill all the people in the world?"
"I'm not saying anything bad about you, but this time you've captured the daughter of my sister-in-law's eldest brother. Are you being worthy of my eldest brother?"
Zhang Fei's face, as red as the bottom of a pot, turned red. He stammered, "How could I have expected something like this to happen!"
"It's all my fault. At worst, I'll die to avenge my brother!"
Guan Yu shouted, "What are you talking about? When we three swore brotherhood, we only asked to die on the same day and year. Do you want us to commit suicide with you?"
Zhang Fei was speechless after hearing this, and muttered: "Anyway, I am not as good as my elder and second brothers. I can't do anything right. I am a waste."
Guan Yu sighed, "Third brother, you have some problems that you really need to change."
"Drinking on the battlefield and causing trouble is against military law. It's only because of Big Brother that everyone tolerates you."
"Let's not talk about that. Can you change your bad temper? You speak so harshly. Could it be that everyone has a problem except you?"
"Do you really want to offend everyone?"
Zhang Fei listened and stammered, "I admit that I have problems, but I am telling the truth. They also have problems."
"It's just like when I was selling meat. Every piece of meat is like the meat that has been cut. Some are not fat or lean, some are short of weight, or some have bones. How can there be any meat without defects?"
Guan Yu heard this and sneered, "What about you?"
"I see you're carrying not only bones, but also pig skin and pig hair!"
Zhang Fei heard this and said in defense: "I am a butcher, not a piece of meat!"
"It is natural for a butcher to pick on the meat, but how can the meat pick on the butcher?"
Guan Yu was so angry when he saw Zhang Fei's unreasonable arguments that he stood up and said, "Third brother, think about how to make amends. There are only a few cities left in such a big Xuzhou!"
Zhang Fei stared at Guan Yu's departing back, lifted the wine jar, took a big gulp of wine, and suddenly burst into tears.
"Why is it so difficult?"
"It's still easier to sell meat. If anyone dares to be picky, I'll chop him to pieces with a knife!"
While Yuan Xi was organizing his troops in Yecheng, news about Xuzhou came one after another.
Liu Bei lost Tancheng and was defeated in Guangling. He was forced to flee to Haixi. He had only a few thousand soldiers left and had lost the two richest of the four counties. He also sent people to Jizhou for help several times, but Yuan Shao handed the matter over to Yuan Shang, and there was no news about the Yuan family again.
After discussion, Yuan Xi and Guo Jia believed that Yuan Shang would not go to rescue Liu Bei.
Because based on various signs, Guo Jia speculated that Yuan Shang was very likely to be on good terms with Cao Cao in private.
Moreover, now that Cao's army is approaching Tancheng and confronting Sun Ce, Yuan is happy to see them fighting each other.
Yuan Xi and Guo Jia have discussed the pros and cons of leading troops to rescue Xuzhou, but have not reached a consensus. The risk is too great because the opponent is the Little Overlord Sun Ce, and there is Yuan Shu behind him. There is also the possibility of a surprise attack by the covetous Cao Cao.
Yuan Xi was undecided and depressed, so he went to find Zhen Mi, but heard from the maid that she had gone to the study to find Cai Zhaoji.
He thought there was nothing to do, so he walked all the way to the study. When he reached the door, he saw Zhen Mi practicing calligraphy on bamboo slips with a brush under the guidance of Cai Zhaoji, while Cao Xian and Cao Jie were watching beside her.
When everyone saw him coming, they were about to get up, but Yuan Xi said, "You guys are busy, don't worry about me."
He saw that Zhen Mi wrote in official script on the bamboo slips, and the handwriting was neat and beautiful, so he praised: "This handwriting is quite charming."
Zhen Mi blushed slightly and said, "I'm still far from Sister Zhaoji."
When Zhen Mi said this, no one thought she was being modest, including Yuan Xi.
Because it is indeed true.
The origin of Lishu is very early, even earlier than Xiaozhuan. It is said that Cheng Miao is the ancestor of Lishu. After Lishu developed and matured, it was called Bafenshu in the late Eastern Han Dynasty. It is said that Wang Ci Zhong is the ancestor of Bafenshu. For the next four hundred years, it was mainly developed and promoted during the Han Dynasty, so it is also called Han Li.
But strictly speaking, official script has gone through three stages: ancient official script, Han official script, and modern official script.
Ancient Li is the original Qin Li, Han Li is the culmination of the development of Lishu, and Cai Yong is known as the culmination of Han Li.
Zhang Huaiguan of the Tang Dynasty divided the levels of famous calligraphers in history into the first level, the second level, and the third level.
As for the mature Han Li script, also known as Bafen script, Cai Yong is the only calligrapher who was selected as a masterpiece.
In the late Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period, regular script began to appear. The regular script at that time was called Modern Official. The first person to promote it was Zhong Yao, an important official of Cao Wei. Therefore, Zhong Yao is also respected as the ancestor of modern regular script.
Zhong Yao's calligraphy teacher was Cai Wenji of later generations.
At that time, the Cai family's calligraphy was the best in the world, so Zhen Mi made this statement.
Cai Zhaoji smiled and said, "Although Madam has only learned a short time, she already has some charm in her. With time, she will surely achieve something."
Yuan Xi thought that this was the benefit of having a good teacher. When it came to teaching calligraphy, Cai Zhaoji, who was able to produce a student like Zhong Yao, naturally knew much more than the average person.
He leaned over and saw that what Zhen Mi was copying stroke by stroke was the Xiping Stone Classics.
This is a stone inscription of the Confucian classics officially approved by the Han court. It was Emperor Ling of Han who ordered the correction of the Confucian classics and sent Cai Yong and others to copy and engrave the seven Confucian classics (Lu Shi, Shang Shu, Zhou Yi, Spring and Autumn Annals, Gongyang Zhuan, Yili, and Analects of Confucius) into a stone book.
The carving process took a total of eight years, and there were a total of 46 steles with 250,000 words. After they were carved, they were erected at the site of Luoyang Imperial College outside Kaiyang Gate in Luoyang City during the Han and Wei dynasties. Therefore, people also call this book the Imperial College Stone Classics.
Yuan Xi looked at the bamboo slips in front of Zhen Mi, all of which were written by Cai Zhaoji, and asked in surprise, "You have memorized the entire scripture?"
Cai Zhaoji laughed and said, "How is that possible?"
"As long as you remember the key points of the words, you can understand the essence of them, and when you write them down from memory, you will be able to get almost the exact meaning."
"Even if there are some errors or omissions in individual words, it does not affect the original meaning of the scriptures."
After hearing this, Yuan Xi seemed to understand something. Isn't this just discarding the dross and retaining the essence?
He vaguely felt that the logic behind this was similar to the choice he was facing. While he was thinking about it, Sun Li came to report that someone from Xuzhou wanted to visit Yuan Xi.
Yuan Xi was quite surprised when he saw the name on the business card.