[Three Kingdoms] Burning incense and sacrificial wine

It is not a coincidence that the small team of the Bingzhou Army met the unlucky Corporal Yang, but the result of the division of labor between Cui Song and Guo Jia.Regardless of the lying gun of the soldier surnamed Li, or the results of Hu Fu's investigation, the two of them are indispensable.Of course, direct intervention is taboo.The two didn't show up, and after the incident, even if someone saw something strange, they couldn't find any evidence.

After the matter was completed, Cui Song was dragged by Guo Jia to drink all the wine shops in Chang'an City, without mentioning the business at all.

Cui Song was thinking about the unfinished task of instigating rebellion, and asked bluntly when he would lobby Lu Bu.

Guo Jia compared three fingers to him.

Cui Song: ... Comparing hearts?

"Wait another seven days, and the matter will be resolved."

Cui Song clenched his fist and coughed.

Don’t blame him for admitting his mistake... It’s because Guo Jia’s hand gesture for the number seven just now is too similar to the modern “bixin”, which reminds him of a certain concert he went to in an instant – the king of heaven on the stage put his thumb and index finger together. Overlap, and make a heart gesture to the fans with one hand.

Cui Song wandered around with Guo Jia for seven days as if on vacation.During the period, there was another time when Wang Yun was summoned secretly, and Guo Jia went with him, and at the beginning of the game, he threw a few soul-striking questions to Wang Yun.

"If you can kill Dong Zhuo, what should you do? If you can't, what should you do?"

"The rest of Dong Zhuo's tribe rebelled, what should we do? The heroes and tigers look on us, what should we do? The Xiongnu and foreign troops took advantage of the fire to loot, what should we do?"

"The courtiers do their own thing, what should they do? What should they do when they obey and obey?"

"How to relieve disasters, how to comfort the people, why to store grain, why to defend the city?"

At the beginning, Wang Yun patiently answered a few words, but later, although he didn't show it on his face, he was actually very displeased with Guo Jia's non-stop questioning.

"The righteous man has a heart. These problems - when they happen, Yunzi will solve them. It's useless to talk about it now, it's just unfounded worries."

Guo Jia smiled complacently when he heard this, and did not refute.Seeing that the situation was not right, Cui Song smoothed things over and avoided the topic, exchanged a few words with Wang Yun, and left.

After walking a few streets, Cui Song saw that Guo Jia was silent. Although he knew that it was impossible for him to worry about this kind of thing, he couldn't help but feel relieved: "Wang Wenhou may have other considerations..."

Guo Jia obviously really didn't care, but he laughed when he saw Cui Song's deliberate appearance: "It's natural. Jia's appearance is weak, and he is an unknown person; if he visits rashly, Wang Wenhou must have concerns. Fengrui, it is impossible to be open and honest."

This is not irony or innuendo.Guo Jia's tone was extremely calm, without any subjective color.

Cui Song was puzzled: "Then why do you still..."

Knowing that Wang Yun would not answer, he asked sharp and sensitive political questions without hesitation and without politeness. Isn't this just arousing suspicion?

"Jia just wanted to confirm one thing." Guo Jia's smile faded away, and his eyes, which were as clear as lake water, became a little more cautious, "I'm afraid that Wang Wenhou really thinks what Jiazhi said is groundless and unfounded."

Everything affects the whole body.If you can't consider all the worst outcomes and think about the countermeasures in advance before "pulling", everything will fail.From what he saw, Wang Yunkong had the talent for civil governance but not the ability to stabilize the country. Losing Dong Zhuo, the Tai Sui, would be a misfortune rather than a blessing.

Cui Song recalled the ending of Wang Yun in history—it seemed that he was killed by Dong Zhuo's generals not long after he killed Dong Zhuo—and he couldn't help but feel a little sad.

"So," Guo Jia changed the subject, with sly eyes, "After Dong Zhuo dies and rescues your friend, we will run away."

Cui Song had this plan long ago, upon hearing this, he said with a smile:

"Coincidentally. Song thinks so too."

After the seventh day, Cui Song and the two who followed Lu Bu closely received a letter from Diao Chan, confirming that Lu Bu was "in a bad mood" for the past two days, which was a good time to "coerce and lure".

Since you want to have a relationship with Lu Bra, it is not very good to come to the door empty-handed.

Guo Jia, however, brought neither gold nor silver. He only prepared a pheasant with a loud voice.

Cui Song: "...?"

Noticing the doubt in Cui Song's eyes, Guo Jia explained: "Rites are for the sake of it, and Duke Zhou will return to his heart. If you can instigate Lu Bu, what's the harm in treating him with the above courtesy?"

Cui Song was still puzzled, and after listening to a few more sentences, he finally understood——

It turns out that in the Han Dynasty, sending pheasants was a kind of understanding among scholars.Pheasant is "pheasant", which takes the homonym of "Zhi". It is believed that pheasant is a creature that "should not be lured to eat, and should not be intimidated [1]", "people who act in authority, observe integrity and righteousness, and transfer improperly [1]" That is to say, in the eyes of scholars, pheasants are noble in character, mighty and powerful, cannot bend the rich, cannot be promiscuous, cannot be moved by the poor, and cannot bend their waists for five buckets of rice.

Therefore, scholars often use pheasants as gifts to express their praise of each other's character.

Lu Bu was not a scholar, but Guo Jia used "pheasant" as a gift. Although he gave Lu Bu great respect, in the eyes of the people at the time, it was a bit deviant, and he might be reprimanded by the scholars as "disgraceful".

Guo Jia thought Cui Song couldn't understand what he was doing, so he made a special explanation-"Rites are for the sake of it", and etiquette is not only etiquette, but also a means to achieve goals.As long as the basic etiquette is met, it doesn't matter to him what the purpose is or what the object is.

However, Guo Jia got one thing wrong - Cui Song was not surprised because he couldn't understand what he did, but because he didn't know the allusion at all.

Even though Cui Song quickly became a lot of common sense in the Han Dynasty, there are still some omissions - such as the etiquette of giving pheasants to each other between scholars.

Cui Song, who was lost again, decided to find an opportunity to check for omissions and make up for the vacancies.Thanks to the fact that the person in front of him is Guo Jia, even if he really made a mistake, there is no need to worry.

With this in mind, the two of them handed a greeting card to Lu Bu's residence with a pheasant in hand.

Lv Bu is one of Dong Zhuo's most powerful generals, and he is also the adopted son in name, so there are not many people who usually give him gifts.But after giving and receiving so much filial piety, this was the first time he received a pheasant... which can be called a simple and unpretentious door-to-door gift.

The guest of Lu Bu's family is a scholar who is good at flattering.He was just discussing current affairs with Lu Bu, and when he saw these two pheasants, he flattered Lu Bu twice: "The pair of wild pheasants came at a coincidence, and they came at a wonderful time! The general's career will be like this pair of pheasants—blessing Shuanglin, rising step by step, gaining fame and unparalleled loyalty."

Lu Bu was the master bookkeeper for Ding Yuan, so he must have read the books.He knew the meaning of the pheasant, and knew that it had nothing to do with official luck.However, who doesn't like to hear good words, not to mention that this thing itself is a good sign.

Furthermore, the pheasant actually represents the praise of scholars to each other, is a symbol of status, and represents the double recognition and importance of being a person and status.

Regardless of Lu Bu's own opinion on this kind of gift, this kind of ingenious gift has always produced the effect of rare goods.

Lu Bu wanted to know who gave him such a miraculous gift, so he asked the concierge to let him in.

Seeing someone coming, he was shocked: "It's you?!"

Cui Song had visited Lv Bu and appeared at Dong Zhuo's banquet, so he had already made preparations to be recognized by Lv Bu.

Cui Song originally wanted to play the role of lobbyist directly, but Guo Jia disagreed, and only asked Cui Song to accompany him in a play, and let him lobby Lu Bu, so that Cui Song would not be allowed to get involved.

Cui Song thought about the reason, and realized that Guo Jia's move was probably to protect him.

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[1] "Do not lure them with food, do not intimidate them with prestige. Scholars behave in a prestige, observe integrity and selfishness, and do not transfer inappropriately." From Han Ban Gu's "Baihu Tongyi"