Goose Three Kingdoms

Chapter 632: Difficult Career

As the year draws to a close, Chang'an University becomes even more crowded.

Citizens from nearby counties or households brought many items in their vehicles and set up stalls to sell them.

There are only five days before the New Year when you can set up a stall tax-free and don’t need to go to the market to sell.

The twenty-seventh day of the twelfth lunar month is the last day of the five-day market.

Yang Jun and Yuan Huan, who temporarily stayed at Chang'an University, went out for a trip. Yang Jun was walking in a small market holding a handful of newly minted Wuzhu coins.

The stalls here are connected front and back in an orderly manner, just like a fortress.

A dozen vehicles selling fast food are gathered together to form the dining area.

They mainly sell soups and hot meals, and Yang Jun seemed to have returned to the days when he was a teenager wandering around the Luoyang market.

He led Yuan Huan to sit at a corner stall, took out a 15-zhu coin and handed it to the vendor: "Two bowls of fish soup, more tofu, no cakes."

"Sir, please take a seat."

The man setting up the stall was a soldier from the Hundred Households Office. He was not wearing armor or military uniform, but a protective leather coat that was tailored to fit him well.

Who would be willing to cut up an ordinary person’s leather coat?
Only the soldiers who went on expeditions to the Xiongnu and Xianbei or participated in the You-Ji War had enough leather clothes to keep warm. For the sake of combat and marching, they would cut leather clothes.

There was ready-made tofu and fish soup in the pot. Yang Jun didn't ask for bread, so the vendor scooped three or four more pieces of tofu into the bowl.

He brought the bowl forward and handed it to Yang Jun, and also gave him two five-zhu coins in change.

Yang Jun took out a handkerchief to wipe the chopsticks, and then said to Yuan Huan who was looking on: "Brother Yaoqing, the Grand Marshal is sympathetic to the people, and we have also been given a chance. I wonder who proposed this gathering?"

Yuan Huan took out the chopsticks he brought with him and stirred the soup in the ceramic bowl: "I didn't know."

After taking a bite of tofu, Yuan Huan said, "If nothing unexpected happens this year, this will probably become a custom. If there can be a small market three days a month in the future, life in the academy will be more comfortable and abundant."

Yang Jun took a sip of hot soup from the bowl and whispered, "I heard that someone in the restaurant used rotten old food, which made some people sick. The Grand Marshal was furious when he heard about it."

"Is there really such a thing?"

Yuan Huan was surprised, but Yang Jun just smiled and said, "You have been in a high position for a long time, so you will not experience trivial things."

Yuan Huan did not deny it. Anyway, he went to various canteens to get meals in his daily life and would not eat moldy or stale ingredients.

Then he said: "Guanzhong is in great order, and the grain reserves are plentiful, so much so that there is even rice and millet that is rotten. This is truly the merit of the Grand Marshal."

"Brother Yaoqing, how can you be sure that the rotten grain is old grain and not caused by the warehouse clerk's improper storage?"

Yang Jun picked out the fish bones and tasted the milky white fish soup in a bowl. Only the official stalls at the Hundred Households had enough rapeseed oil to fry a pot of river fish, pour in the hot soup, and cook the fried fish into a paste.

This delicious fish soup can only be made after removing the fish bones.

The vendors coming from various counties do far less business than the official vendors from the Hundred Households Office.

After drinking the fish soup mixed with ginger, the two of them walked back to the Yanzhou Guild Hall, feeling warm and comfortable.

Passing by a security fortress, I saw dozens of people in front of the fortress pushing and pulling bellows around a furnace, and a small iron smelting furnace was spewing out half a meter of hot flames from the mouth.

The blacksmith who was temporarily seconded wore armor, a full leather helmet, and thick gloves.

After the people around dispersed, several blacksmiths and apprentices scooped out the molten iron and beat the iron flowers.

It was still early, so I couldn't see anything shocking.

Only these blacksmiths know how beautiful the iron flowers are in the dark.

Yanzhou Guild Hall, Yang Jun received a salary of 1,000 stones from the shogunate, and temporarily living here was already giving enough face to the people of Yanzhou.

Therefore, the temporary house was not only spacious, but also fully heated. Yang Jun took off his coat, but still felt a little hot.

The attendants and disciples who stayed in the house were all in the outer hall, looking through and checking the documents they had brought; if there were any typos or omissions, there was still time to correct them.

In the inner room, Yang Jun and Yuan Huan were drinking tea.

Yuan Huan said, "This time when the Grand Marshal is on his way to war, I would like to ask Ji Cai to say something good for me."

"Brother Yaoqing is joking."

Yang Jun didn't think Yuan Huan really wanted to be an official, so he said, "If the Grand Marshal asks about Brother Yao Qing, I will mention it. I also don't understand how Lu Cui could cause such a big disaster."

He was not from Yanzhou, but from Henei, but he was a disciple of the famous scholar Bian Rang from Chenliu.

He had always resisted the official career under Cao Cao's rule and left it very decisively. Although he now enjoys a salary of thousands of stones, he has a long list of people hanging over him.

His greatest achievement was that he proposed and personally facilitated Zhang Xiu's rebellion.

Zhang Xiu was able to lead his army to turn against Cao Cao... Zhang Xiu did not have this connection, and it was Yang Jun who made the arrangements and created the opportunity.

Read the error-free version at 69shuba! 6=9+shu_ba is the first to publish this novel.

Compared with Zhang Xiu, Zhang Liao suffered heavy losses when he left, as he only led his own troops without taking along the soldiers assigned to his unit.

Another famous general who turned against the enemy and changed his banner was Xu Huang, who was sent to Yizhou to maintain military discipline for the garrison.

Yuan Huan has a different opinion on Lu Cui’s death. The crime is one thing, but the behavior before the crime that offended the black bear was the trigger.

But it was inconvenient to talk about this with Yang Jun, so he changed the subject and said, "I am sincere in my desire to serve as an official, and it is not a joke. Now all the people in Guandong are eager for the Grand Marshal to lead his troops out of the pass to save the people from the dire situation. I cannot stay out of it, and I must do my best."

As he spoke, his expression was serious, and there was a hint of helplessness and sadness in his expression.

His family was the Guan family among the scholars of the State of Chen, almost the number one Guan family.

Whether he takes up a government post or not is not just his own business.

Only if he entered officialdom could the shogunate loosen up its policy and allow the scholars of the Chen State to have a channel to enter officialdom.

Only he could break open this gate. Even if others joined the shogunate through other channels, they could only protect themselves and could not benefit their fellow villagers.

When the army really marched out of the pass and the counties in Guandong surrendered, what awaited the Chen people was only even more severe imprisonment.

Fortunately, there is no solid evidence now.

When the army really swept across Kanto, the old followers of King Chen who remained in the countryside joined the shogunate, and some of the Chen state's scholars also exposed the truth.

Then the scholars of Chen State would be even more unlucky, and their chances of entering officialdom would be even slimmer.

After experiencing the two Party Bans by Emperor Ling, who in the world is not afraid of Party Bans?
The Grand Marshal will not suffer the same loss as Emperor Ling.

At least the shogunate's factionalism is a latent one that will not be revealed in writing and can only be understood but not expressed in words.

Besides, official positions are always limited.

The traditions of the Later Han scholars had long been riddled with holes, and the scholars now serving in the shogunate had no intention of revisiting old accounts and obeying their former masters and mentors.

The new and old morals are different, and they now only have one master, the Grand Marshal.

In this case, what will happen after Kanto is pacified, these people gain merit and their status becomes more secure?
There is a high possibility of backlash and strong suppression of the Later Han surname.

If the surnames in the village are not eliminated, how can their family become the new surname?

Yuan Huan was surrounded by a strong sense of crisis and he had no other choice.

(End of this chapter)