"This is all thanks to Your Majesty's great blessing.”
Liu Heng replied, but his heart was spinning non-stop." This Zhang Rang is really ruthless. He even wants to take away my money-making things. That's true. Who wouldn't want it!?"
Especially greedy people like them! Alright, then I'll ask for more.”
"If you don't mind, I'm willing to offer you the secret method of making paper," Liu Heng continued.”
"Hehe, not bad. But seeing you like this, I don't dare to give you too much of an official position in case you make a mistake and put His Majesty in a difficult position.
How about this? Given your high price, I'll give you 3 prefectures of Youzhou Province.”
As he spoke, a servant took a piece of paper from his hand and handed it over.
Liu Heng took a look." You bastard!”These three counties were none other than Xuantu, Youbei, and Liaoxi.
Liu Heng thought to himself,"You're ruthless. These three counties are the places where the Xianbei invasion is the most severe. The east is Goguryeo, and the north is the Xianbei tribes."”
Even though he was thinking about it, Liu Heng still respectfully thanked him and handed over the method of making paper.
Just as Zhang Rang was about to send him off, Liu Heng mustered up his courage and asked,""May I ask, Minister Zhang, who is the other person who wants to buy an official position?”
Zhang Rang threw the book on the table, scaring Liu Heng.
"It's Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Du from the Gongsun Family of Liaodong!" Zhang Rang said in a deep voice after a moment.”After that, Liu Heng was sent out.
On the way back to the inn, Liu Heng secretly rejoiced."Fortunately, I was one step ahead of them. Otherwise, if Gongsun Zan and Gongsun Du were to beat me to it, I would be in trouble!”
However, he later learned that Gongsun Zan had bought Yuyang County, while Gongsun Du had bought Liaodong County. In other words, Liu Heng had been extorted by Zhang Rang.
However, according to historical records, Gongsun Du was only appointed as the governor of Liaodong in 189 AD. Now, he had been appointed several years earlier. It was obvious that everything Liu Heng did in this era had started to cause a chain reaction.
He returned to the inn and waited patiently for the appointment document. The only good thing was that these county officials did not have the chance to meet the Emperor. The next thing to consider was how to find suitable talents for his own use.
The first person Liu Heng thought of was Zhang Liao, Zhang Wenyuan, one of the Five Generals of Cao Wei." Zhang Liao is from Mayi, Yanmen, Bingzhou. He was born in 169 and is only 13 years old now. Heavens! I don't remember anyone introducing his parents. What should I do?”
Liu Heng was secretly anxious." And that blindly loyal Gao Shun, who is invincible in every attack. I must get them before Lü Buding arrives. At that time, I will form a special mixed attack force, consisting of 1,000 heavy armored infantry, 1,000 heavy armored cavalry, 3,000 light cavalry, 3,000 light infantry, and 2,000 crossbowmen.
This kind of mixed assault force of about ten thousand people was truly invincible in the field and siege. As for the other generals, they still had a chance.
After all, Gao Shun had died early in the annals of the three kingdoms, and his talent was the most regrettable. At present, he could only try his luck at Bingzhou, Yanmen, and Mayi.”
Having made up his mind, Liu Heng waited for the appointment document while he ran around using the Confucian classics to make friends with officials and pave the way for the future.
After much consideration, Liu Heng decided to first present the book and the paper to Lu Zhi. After all, he had a high reputation at that time. When he became the prefect of Jiujiang, he quickly put down the rebellion, was honest in government, and cared for the people's livelihood. He also put forward many targeted suggestions before the Yellow Turban Uprising, but Liu Hong, the Emperor of Han Ling, did not accept them. Moreover, he was Gongsun Zan and Liu Bei's teacher.
Liu Heng had originally planned to build a good relationship with this great scholar, and it would be best if he acknowledged him as his master. This way, he would be able to obtain a lot of convenience when he participated in the crusade against the Yellow Turban rebellion in the future. Of course, it was relatively easy to use Lu Zhi's reputation to recruit talents.
However, Liu Heng, who had brought half a box of Liu Zhi and several Confucian classics, came to the Lu residence excitedly. The answer he received was that Lu Zhi was out visiting friends and would not return for a few days.
Liu Heng could only lament,"It's time, it's luck!"”
Next was Cai Yong's mansion.
Cai Yong was polite to Liu Heng, who came to visit with a letter. This was because the popularity of Liu Zhi was greatly beneficial to the development of Confucian culture. It was probably because of this that Cai Yong was willing to meet Liu Heng.
In the hall, Cai Yong sized up Liu Heng from the corner of his eye. This youth had also made a name for himself in Luoyang when he had followed Liu Zhi. He had thought that he must be a playboy from a rich family who liked beautiful clothes, cockfighting, and walking dogs.
However, it was not the case when he saw it with his own eyes. Even though he was ordinary in appearance and height, he had a shrewdness and ability that surpassed his age. His clothes were more like a scholar's.
Cai Yong said calmly,"To have such achievements at such a young age, not ordinary, not ordinary!"”
Liu Hengqian said," I've liked reading since I was young. I only want to read all the famous books in the world. However, it's difficult to find any rare books in the world." On the contrary, once the rare book was obtained by a junior, where would others find it?
Therefore, after thinking about it, I came up with a method. With rare books as the base, I engraved and copied them, collected rare books, and used copies to satisfy the desire of others to read.”
Cai Yong looked at Liu Heng with appreciation and smiled,"Your heart is commendable, but most of the copies are written by hand, so the speed is slow!”
Liu Heng smiled." I knew you would have such thoughts. You don't have to teach me anything."”
Liu Heng took out three copies of the Book of Songs from the box and handed them to Cai Yong. "I came up with a method of printing. I don't need to copy by hand to create new books every day. Please take a look, Mr. Cai."
Cai Yong was surprised, he opened the book and compared them one by one, exclaiming,"Strange, the font and size are exactly the same. It's not something that human strength can achieve!”
Liu Heng took the opportunity to take out the other books and handed them over."There are still a few books here for you to show my admiration.”
Cai Yong was overjoyed, he stroked it carefully and said,"I didn't expect such a strange thing to happen. Stay here for a while. When I report this matter to His Majesty, he will definitely reward me greatly.”
Liu Heng was shocked and thought to himself, If you report this to His Majesty, wouldn't you be leaving my life behind?”
"Thank you for your concern, Mr. Cai," he hurriedly stopped her."His Majesty already knows about this and has given me the title of Xuantu Prefect. My father has also said that I must return to my hometown."”
Cai Yong felt a little regretful, but praised,"Filial piety comes first!”
At this moment, the servants of the Cai Residence approached Cai Yong and whispered to him. Cai Yong stood up and said,"I have urgent matters to attend to, so please excuse me.”
Liu Heng awkwardly opened his mouth, originally wanting to request to see Cai Yan….. When he walked to the door of the Cai residence, the servant whispered to Liu Heng,""Little brother, you're not bad. There are so many merchants who want to enter the Cai Residence, but money, gold, silver, and jewelry are useless. Instead, these books washi of yours have opened the door.”
Liu Heng was disappointed and laughed bitterly." My Cai Yan…"
After a few busy days, Liu Heng had completely given up on these high-ranking officials here. The Ten Attendants of the Supreme Court treated Liu Heng, who was still a businessman, well because of his wealth. As for the remaining scholar-officials who thought themselves to be noble, they were all arrogant. They would not even pay any attention to their visits and would often be ridiculed by their servants.
Especially Situ Wangyun. After seeing Liu Heng, not only did he not encourage him in the general sense, but he also reprimanded him directly,"I heard that the first book you published in Youzhou was the Warring States Strategy. How do you explain this? Do you wish for the Great Han Dynasty to fall apart like the Eastern Zhou Dynasty?”
Liu Heng's heart thumped in fear. He hurriedly defended himself," Situ blamed Wansheng wrongly. At that time, Wansheng was planning to publish a new book. Coincidentally, a friend came to visit. He said that he had always wanted the 'Warring States Policy', so Wansheng…"
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