Chapter 182 Great Confucian Zheng Xuan, Your Excellency, Don't Panic Speaking of Zhang Kai, he is also one of the legendary assassins of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Unlike other assassins, Zhang Kai did not start out as an assassin, but was originally a captain under Tao Qian. Because of the struggle between the two Yuans, a north-south alliance was formed. Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were allies, while Yuan Shu allied with Tao Qian and Gongsun Zan. As a result, they were attacked from all sides and were eventually defeated by the Cao-Yuan alliance, which led to the feud between Tao Qian and Cao. In order to vent his anger, Tao Qian took advantage of the time when the former Grand Marshal Cao Song returned to Yanzhou from Langya and ordered Zhang Kai to assassinate him. In the original process, Zhang Kai coveted the property brought by Cao Song, so after killing Cao Song, he went south to join Yuan Shu. In this timeline, due to Qin Zhen's design, Zhang Kai failed and had to join Yuan Shu alone. Since joining Yuan Shu's army, Zhang Kai has been depressed and frustrated.

He thought about turning to other people, but Cao Cao and he had a personal grudge, and Liu Bei was not familiar with him. After all the calculations, there was no one he could turn to. He could only follow Yuan Shu and wait for death. Unexpectedly, he suddenly received an order from Yuan Shu. He thought about whether it would succeed or not, so he decided to go on this journey and then head north to meet Zheng Xuan. It is also said that the great Confucian scholar Zheng Xuan was originally from Gaomi, Qingzhou. Although his family was poor when he was young, he was able to study at the Imperial Academy. Later, he studied under Zhang Gongzu and others, and finally studied ancient classics with Ma Rong. He returned to Donglai and taught students, who numbered several thousand. He was the only surviving great Confucian scholar in the late Han Dynasty. During the Zhenguan period, Zheng Xuan was listed among the twenty-two "first teachers" and was enshrined in the Confucius Temple. Such a great man is also displaced and rarely has freedom. Two years ago, because Yuan Shao wanted to take Qingzhou, he ordered his son Yuan Tan to lead the surrendered Yellow Turban soldiers to attack Beihai and besiege Kong Rong in Duchang. Because Zheng Xuan was on good terms with Kong Rong, he sent his son Zheng Yien to lead his family soldiers to rescue them, but they were surrounded and killed by Yuan Tan instead. Therefore, Zheng Xuan lost his son in his old age, and there is no greater sorrow than the death of his heart. Last year, Yuan Shao was promoted to the rank of general and was in charge of four provinces, namely Ji, Qing, You and Bing. In order to borrow Zheng Xuan's power, he recommended Zheng Xuan as a talented person and requested him to be the left general. Zheng Xuan's son died at his hands, so naturally he was unwilling to obey him. Cao Cao saw this as an opportunity, so he submitted a memorial to the court, recommending Zheng Xuan as the Minister of Agriculture, giving him a comfortable carriage, and recruiting him into the court as an official. Zheng Xuan was helpless. Although he knew that he was being used as a bargaining chip by the two princes, he had to obey orders because of the emperor's edict. So at the beginning of this year, he went south from Qingzhou all the way to Xuchang. Unexpectedly, when he reached the border of Liang State, he met Zhang Kai who was heading north for refuge. Hearing that Zhang Kai was sent by Yuan Shu to protect him, Zheng Xuan nodded and said: "I appreciate Yuan Gonglu's kindness, but I will go to Xuchang by myself, and I will be escorted by my disciples along the way, so I don't need to bother you."

He knew that Yuan Shu was not a good person, so he did not want to accept Yuan Shu's kindness. Zhang Kai was a cunning man. Hearing this, he thought that if Zheng Xuan did not agree, it would be difficult for him to complete the task. After thinking for a long time, he said to Zheng Xuan: "In fact, my master ordered me to come here, firstly to protect you, and secondly, to speak well of you in the hope that you will come to the court!" "Because my lord was careless for a moment, he went astray. Now I want to repent, but I'm afraid the court will not accept it!" "So I want you to let me go with you, sir. I only hope that you can help me a little after I come to the court to help my lord out of his difficulties." "As the saying goes: 'It is the greatest virtue to be able to correct one's mistakes'. Sir, you are an elder, how can you just ignore it?" When Zheng Xuan heard this, he thought that the Yuan family had three officials in four generations and they had worked very hard for the Han Dynasty. In the past, the Yuan brothers fought against Dong Zhuo, which caused the Yuan family to suffer a tragic disaster. Now that his young men have gone astray, he should really give them a hand. After thinking for a while, he nodded in agreement: "Although Yuan Gonglu has acted in a rebellious way, he is a descendant of a famous family after all, so he would not go to such lengths!" "Just follow me and we will meet the emperor together!" He had no idea what Zhang Kai was thinking, and only thought that Zhang Kai was an envoy sent by the court to apologize, so he allowed Zhang Kai into the entourage. The large army passed through Liang State and arrived at the border of Chen State. Originally, according to Zheng Xuan's idea, he should keep a low profile as much as possible and not alarm Chen Wang Liu Chong. But his identity was so special that no one would believe it unless he kept it a secret. Before he even arrived in Chen State, the news had already spread to Chen County. When Prime Minister Luo Jun heard the news, he said to Liu Chong: "Zheng Kangcheng is a great scholar of the time, with thousands of disciples and a great reputation." "In the past, when I encountered the Yellow Turban bandits, I announced my name, which prevented the bandits from invading each other and protected the people. This is because of my good reputation." "Now that he is entering the State of Chen and heading for Xuchang, Your Majesty should personally welcome him as a sign of respect!" Liu Chong naturally knew Zheng Xuan's name. When he heard that Zheng Xuan was coming, he didn't want to pretend to be dead, so he agreed to the matter. When Liu Ye saw this, he was shocked, thinking that Liu Chong had just angered Yuan Shu, and who knows what bad intentions this guy had! If Liu Chong left Chen County at this time, wouldn't that give Yuan Shu an opportunity to take action? He thought for a while and then said to Liu Chong: "Now Yuan Shu is eyeing the south with eager eyes, Your Majesty must not leave lightly." "Although Master Zheng should be welcomed, the overall situation is more important. We can just send an envoy to show respect. Why do we need to welcome him in person?" When Liu Chong heard this, he knew that Liu Ye had good intentions, so he smiled and said: "I know Zi Yang has good intentions, but Yuan Shu is short of troops right now, and with Xuande by my side, I have nothing to worry about!" "If Ziyang is worried about Chen County, he can stay in the county and help Luo Xiang hold on. This will ensure that Yuan Shu will have no chance of success!" After saying this, without waiting for Liu Ye to refuse, he personally led an army of 20,000 to go and meet Zheng Xuan. When Liu Ye saw this, he knew something bad was going to happen. Because of Qin Zhen's warning, he had a preconceived idea that Yuan Shu might attempt to assassinate him. It's okay as long as he is watching over us in Chen County, but if we leave Chen County, something bad will probably happen. But Liu Chong is a man who refuses to listen to advice. What should we do if something happens at this critical juncture? After thinking it over, he said that he also wanted to meet Zheng Xuan and used the excuse of following the army.

However, before setting off, he secretly told Liu Xian that if anything happened in the north, he must discuss it with Luo Jun before taking any action. He also sent a letter to Xu Shu to closely monitor the actions of Yuan Shu's army. After doing so, he followed Liu Chong all the way north to Yangxia. The army finally caught up with Zheng Xuan's traveling team in Yangxia. When Zheng Xuan saw Liu Chong coming to greet him personally, he was moved but also felt it was troublesome. But Liu Chong's enthusiasm could not resist and he had to stay in Yangxia for a few days. When Liu Ye saw this, he knew that Yuan Shu was planning to assassinate him and this was the best opportunity, so he secretly searched for strangers in the city and ordered Liu Chong to guard the city closely. A few days passed like this, and just when Zheng Xuan was about to leave and Liu Chong was seeing him off, something strange happened. Because Liu Ye had suspected many people, but he never suspected Zheng Xuan. After all, for him, Zheng Xuan was a famous scholar in the world with such a high reputation that he would not cooperate with Yuan Shu in the assassination. However, things went wrong at this point. Since Zheng Xuan was about to leave and Liu Ye's attention was focused on the city, Zhang Kai saw an opportunity and took advantage of Liu Chong's farewell to shoot a poisonous arrow at Liu Chong with a crossbow. Liu Chong was caught off guard and was hit in the chest by the arrow. The sudden change caused the scene to become chaotic. When Liu Chong's guards saw Liu Chong being stabbed, they surrounded everyone. Zheng Xuan was also confused when he saw this. He turned around to see who shot the arrow and realized that he had been tricked by Yuan Shu. But it was too late to regret now. After Zhang Kai succeeded, he led his men to flee. Only Zheng Xuan and others were left outside the city and were surrounded by Liu Chong's angry subordinates. When Liu Ye received the news, it was too late for regret. He secretly cursed Yuan Shu for being despicable and actually using Zheng Xuan to assassinate him! At the same time as he felt regret, he was also extremely surprised, thinking that Qin Zhen's mouth really looked like it had been consecrated. Speculating that Yuan Shu might use assassination, Yuan Shu actually did it! And even though Qin Zhen had warned him, he still let Liu Chong be assassinated. For a moment, an extremely angry feeling crept into his heart, and he hurriedly signaled Lu Ling, a general under Liu Chong, to block the news and keep Zheng Xuan in Yangxia without hurting him as much as possible. After making these arrangements, he sent someone to invite the famous doctor Hua Tuo to treat Liu Chong, and also sent someone to send the news to Xu Shu as quickly as possible, asking him to notify Liu Bei as soon as possible. After the news reached Pei State, Xu Shu knew that Yuan Shu would definitely take action, so he quickly sent a fast horse to pass the message to Shouchun. It took five days before the news reached Shouchun City! When Liu Bei called Qin Zhen to a meeting, Qin Zhen was just coming out of Qiao Mansion with his wife Cai Yan. State affairs must be taken care of, and family chores cannot be delayed. In fact, Cai Yan knew about the existence of the Qiao sisters since returning to Shouchun. In fact, Qin Zhen had originally planned to do this for some time, but Cai Yan was too smart. Because when he returned to Shouchun, Cai Yan was already three months pregnant. When he returned home after meeting Zhuge Liang, he saw Cai Yan cleaning the house. Seeing this, Qin Zhen was naturally puzzled and asked the reason. Cai Yan blushed and said: "Now that I am pregnant, I need to take care of the baby and can no longer serve my husband." When Qin Zhen heard this, he became even more puzzled. He thought that the couple should just take care of the pregnancy and there was no need for them to live apart!

As a result, Cai Yan directly said, "You are a grown man, but you are so clumsy. It would be bad if you touch the child at night. I have to take good care of the child myself." But after saying this, she became afraid that Qin Zhen would be lonely, so she signaled to Qin Zhen to just take Cai Yao in first. Anyway, you two are in love and just need to take the final step to get married, so you can take this opportunity to get married. Naturally, this matter was told between her and her sister, and the little girl Cai Yao shyly agreed. But Qin Zhen disagreed when he heard it, and said seriously: "This is not possible. Although it has been decided, Zhenji is still young. How can she become a wife? She must wait at least two years!" In fact, my sister-in-law is already sixteen years old and can get married in this era. But in Qin Zhen's eyes, this boy is still a minor and he cannot do anything to him. Cai Yan rolled her eyes at this and thought to herself, this is not what you said when you married me! But she also knew that Qin Zhen had his own set of health-preserving methods, which was that they could not have sex before the age of eighteen. Thinking that it would take another half a year for her to be pregnant and her sister was still young, Qin Zhen was full of vigor and vitality, so he couldn't just go out and drink, right? So after thinking for a while, she told Qin Zhen that if it really didn't work, she could just take her maid in. Anyway, most of the personal maids in this era were maids who were kept as concubines, so it was naturally good to be a concubine. Qin Zhen has the Qiao sisters around, so naturally he doesn't want to involve other women too much. As a result, after a few interactions, Cai Yan saw that he was hiding something and knew that he probably had something to do. After some further questioning, I found out that my husband was given two concubines when he went south to fight. When Cai Yan heard this, she smiled charmingly. Seeing Qin Zhen's cautious look, she smiled and said: "My husband is the military advisor of the army. Commanding thousands of troops is no problem for him. Are you afraid that I will be jealous?" Seeing her smiling like this, Qin Zhen immediately said that he was not afraid of his wife, but respected her! Cai Yan felt sweet in her heart when she heard his explanation, and said to Qin Zhen: "I know my husband loves me, but since my sisters are here, how can I ignore them?" "Everyone around here is family, just wait for me to go over and take a look!" Qin Zhen had no choice but to take Cai Yan to Qiao Mansion. Seeing that he came with his wife, Qiao Rui's wife Wang was overjoyed. She quickly invited the couple into the house and asked Erqiao to come out quickly to entertain them. Erqiao was naturally surprised when he heard what Qin Zhen said, but when he heard that he brought his wife with him, he became a little nervous. But they had to meet Cai Yan sooner or later and there was no way to avoid it, so they had to come and serve tea one after another. Upon seeing this, the three women were all shocked. Erqiao was impressed by Cai Yan's intelligence and virtue, but Cai Yan was amazed by the beauty of the two girls. She thought to herself, no wonder her husband didn't want a maid to sleep with him. Anyone who sees these two delicate beauties will definitely not be interested in other mediocre women.

However, Cai Yan was the daughter of a wealthy family after all. Although she saw the beauty of the two girls, she was not worried that Qin Zhen would favor them. When he met the two girls, not only was there no tension, but they actually had a very pleasant conversation. She impressed Erqiao with her talent and eloquence, and soon they began to call each other sisters. After such a harmonious meeting, Qin Zhen took Cai Yan away from Qiao Mansion. Even though the three girls seemed to be chatting happily, he was actually feeling very uncomfortable on the scene. Only those who have encountered this Shura scene know what it is like. Fortunately, the ending was good and the three women were quite harmonious. So as soon as he went out, Qin Zhen asked tentatively: "I wonder what Madam thinks of the Qiao sisters?" When Cai Yan saw him asking questions, she covered her mouth, smiled, and nodded: "They are both beauties, and their looks and talents are worthy of their husbands!" "I just don't know who my husband is interested in?" "After I return home, I will prepare the betrothal gifts for my husband!" She knew what Qin Zhen was thinking and was joking. Qin Zhen saw this and said righteously: "It's all up to Madam, but you can hire whoever you want!" Seeing that he was letting himself do what he wanted, Cai Yan said earnestly: "My husband is so heartless!" "I see that the sisters all have feelings for you, and you may not be indifferent to them. How can you give up the two sisters' hearts just because of me?" "If you want me to be jealous, I will only let you marry the big bridge. If the small bridge is promised to someone else in the future, where will you marry her?" It is true that she is a talented woman, but she is also a woman. It can be seen that all the bridges, big and small, are related to Qin Zhen. Qin Zhen's words were indeed respectful to her, but they were a bit too cruel to Daxiaoqiao. However, when she said this, Qin Zhen smiled and said: "This is because I want to take advantage of the situation first. I know that my wife is virtuous, so I do this." "If I ask her to be my wife, I know she is not virtuous, and she will not do this!" He naturally had his words in mind when speaking. He first said it was a strategy, indicating that he was not heartless, but that he trusted his wife so much because he knew she was virtuous. He also said that if he married someone else, it would definitely not be like this. He expressed his own ideas, answered Cai Yan's questions, and secretly praised Cai Yan. This kind of talk naturally made Cai Yan laugh: "What a scoundrel you are. You rely on your clever words. No wonder your two sisters are so coaxed by you!" It is said that women only love bad men. In fact, she fell in love with Qin Zhen because of his meticulous attitude towards work but cynical attitude in private. Compared with those rigid scholars, he is humorous and unique. Although she was joking on the surface, she was actually thinking about it in her heart. She wanted to prepare a generous gift and bring Erqiao home to Qin Zhen as his wife. As the couple was whispering to each other in the carriage, news came that Liu Bei had summoned them. When Qin Zhen heard that Old Liu wanted to call him to a meeting again, he knew that the matter was serious, so he simply asked his servants to send Cai Yan back home, and he went to Liu Bei's house.

After arriving at Liu Bei's mansion and learning the whole story, Qin Zhen smiled. Directly tell Liu Bei not to panic, this is a good thing! (End of this chapter)