Volume 4 is in the ascendant Chapter 409: Homesickness
In the middle and late period of Emperor Ling, Liu Hong started his business with the emperor as the starting point. His main business items were official positions and titles. He could buy all titles below the rank of Guannei Hou. Official positions from the Three Dukes to the county magistrate were clearly marked with prices, and the prices of court officials and local officials were clearly divided...
The position of Grand Marshal was priced at 10 million coins. Cui Lie used his connections with Liu Hong's wet nurse and finally got the position of Grand Marshal for 5 million coins.
Of course, Cui Lie, as the Grand Marshal, was much more able to win the support of the people than Cao Song who came later.
After all, Liu Hong himself set the pace, what can others say?
Even Duan Yu, who was known as one of the "Three Mings of Liangzhou", had to pay money when he was promoted to the rank of Three Dukes...
Cui Lie's half-price position as Taiwei was criticized, but it was not something unforgivable, especially when Cui Lie was Taiwei. After all, there were some thresholds for buying an official position. It was not like when Liu Hong expanded the scale of his business later, Cao Song was purely "buying".
At that time, Cui Jun also secretly mocked his father, saying that his father had been promoted to a higher position, but his reputation among the people had been ruined. Cui Jun was so angry that he wanted to hit someone...
But it would be fine if Cui Jun blamed his father for this matter himself, but when Bai Tu brought it up, it was a blatant slap in the face!
But... Bai Tu did not mention anyone by name, and Cui Jun was unable to refute the key point.
Needless to say, Cao Song was a pure waste of money and was dismissed from office after only one year because of the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Cui Lie was also different from Duan Xing and Zhang Wen, who were undisputed "Grand Marshals". As for Duan and Zhang, it was generally believed that they were blackmailed by Liu Hong when they bought official positions, but Cui Lie... was still a little short of it. He might not be qualified without spending money. Compared with Cao Song, he was just like the pot calling the kettle blackmail.
Although Bai Tu pretended to speak out of turn and punished himself with a drink, Cui Lie was so depressed that his face looked ugly.
Zhang Chunhua naturally knew what Bai Tu was talking about. After hearing this, she looked at Bai Tu with a complicated expression - although he was not domineering or sinister enough, and it was not her favorite style, he was not a hypocrite and would choose to stand up for herself...
Cao Bang was confused at this time. After all... there was no play called "Cui Lie Buys an Official Position".
However, in a rare move, Lu Bu on the side took the initiative to "whisper" explain the origin of the matter to Cao Bang in a sarcastic tone.
Cui Jun, who vaguely heard something, looked even uglier!
The King of Chu is high-minded and values his status. Doesn't Lu Bu value his status either?
In fact, if it were someone else, Lu Bu would not bother to ridicule in this way, but Cui Lie... people in Liangzhou and Bingzhou generally had no good impression of him, especially the generals from the two states!
The reason is simple. When Beigong Boyu and Han Sui of Liangzhou rebelled, Cui Lie, as the head of the military officers, actually took the lead in proposing to abandon Liangzhou.
Fortunately, Fu Xie spoke up for justice and did not hesitate to scold Cui Lie in the court, which made Emperor Ling finally decide to quell the rebellion instead of getting rid of this "burden".
The people of Bingzhou generally felt "sympathy for their own kind". As the state was dominated by the Qiang and Xiongnu, Bingzhou gradually lost its land in Hetao and shrunk to a small strip in Hedong. This was also the result of Cui Lie's "getting rid of burdens" mentality in the court.
Bai Tu actually had a bad impression of Cui Lie because of this. After all, to other people, Liangzhou was just a border area with few Han people . However, Bai Tu knew that in the original history, during the chaotic period more than a hundred years later, the "Former Liang" established by Zhang Gui, the governor of Liangzhou, was one of the few refuges for the Han people in the Northern Dynasties.
It was at that time that the northwestern Guanlong area attracted a large number of Han people to migrate.
If there was no Former Liang, there would be no "Guanlong aristocracy" formed, which later merged with the Xianbei, but still took Chinese culture as its main body and identified with China.
Who are the Guanlong nobles?
The Li family of the Tang Dynasty and the Yang family of the Sui Dynasty are both among them...
Cui Lie's misfortune almost got him into trouble.
“Puff…”
Bai Tu drank a glass of wine as punishment, and suddenly heard someone laughing. Cui Jun and Yang Xiu looked in the direction of the sound...
"Hehe, this wine is good." Cao Bang pretended not to laugh.
Yang Xiu and Cui Jun: ...
I feel tired.
Not to mention Yang Xiu who knew Xiahou Juan’s true identity, Cui Jun at least thought Cao Bang was on the side of Wei… I don’t ask you to empathize with the young newbies in Wei, but can you at least laugh a little harder?
After Bai Tu's rude counterattack, the scene became a little awkward. Fortunately, Zhuge Jin actively warmed up the atmosphere, and it became a little lively again.
As for the counterattack against Bai Tu...
Zhuge Jin and the others did not feel too disgusted. After all, Bai Tu had just said goodbye to them in a nice way. Who could they blame if Cui Jun insisted on teasing him?
Moreover, attributing the selling of official positions to the shortcomings of the recommendation system was also considered "correct in the court" in the State of Chu, so it is not surprising that Bai Tu would ridicule it.
If you take a closer look...
After establishing his country, Bai Tu was still nominally under the Han Dynasty, but instead of talking about supporting the Han Dynasty anymore, he kept talking about the Han Dynasty's negative stuff whenever he had nothing to do.
Yang Xiu didn't want to cause any more trouble at this time. After all, he was still in the territory of Chu State, and his appearance here at this time did not make it easy for him to gain a foothold.
Bai Tu did not stay long, otherwise with the King of Chu sitting here, it would be difficult to return the atmosphere to the state of a cocktail party.
"Your Highness the King of Chu, Master Cao will set off with us from now on. We will also set off back to Xu County tomorrow." Yang Xiu said.
Bai Tu did not make a decision directly, but looked at Cao Bang.
Cao Bang frowned slightly when he heard this and said, "I haven't finished writing "The King of Chu's Western Tour". Let's meet up in Wancheng later."
Upon hearing this, Yang Xiu looked at "Cao Bang" with some resentment and thought to himself: The King of Chu is on a tour to the west... Could the scene just now have also been written into the play?
"this……"
"Okay, we will be able to reach Wancheng almost next month. Dezuo, don't mind waiting a little longer, right?" Bai Tu said directly.
Between Yang Xiu and Cao Bang, Bai Tu certainly supported Cao Bang's opinion.
"Thank you, Your Highness, the King of Chu, for taking care of... Master Cao." Yang Xiu said helplessly.
"Hmm? Ah... Dezu, there's no need to be so polite." Bai Tu was a little surprised. Why did these words sound a bit awkward? You are not Cao Bang's elder.
Xiahou Juan also vaguely heard something and looked at Yang Xiu with an even more frowning face.
As for Yang Xiu and Cui Jun, they will definitely not travel with Bai Tu. Although the final destination is Wancheng, Bai Tu has to move tactfully and wipe out the remaining talented people in the wild.
Since Yang Xiu had been "discovered" by Bai Tu, it would be better for him to go back to Wancheng and wait. If he continued to poach people, he was afraid of being put in a sack on the way.
After Bai Tu, he also asked Zhuge Jin privately - Zhuge Liang's departure this time was not an ordinary journey. Although Zhuge Jin did not know where his brother had gone, but... judging from Zhuge Liang's letter, he might not return to Longzhong for a long time.
Therefore, Bai Tu did not wait to get the "Three Visits" achievement, and continued to head north...
It was a month later that they arrived in Wan County.
For some reason, Bai Tu always felt that Cao Bang was becoming more and more irritable recently. Could it be because he was homesick?
