mtl008 Chapter 524: Eat and drink with Guan Xing, then curse Guan Xing.
Chapter 524: Eat and drink with Guan Xing, then curse Guan Xing.
Liu Bei and Guan Yu were focused on the timber and had no interest in listening to his rambling. They acted as if they were deaf and didn't even turn their heads.
Zhang Fei insisted on sharing with the two brothers. Seeing that his two elder brothers ignored him, he decisively put the cooked meat into a bowl and walked up to Liu Bei, who was discussing timber with Shi Xie, and said with a smile, "Brother, try it. I don't know how this meat is cooked, but it tastes much better than what we usually cook."
Before he could finish speaking, the meat on the chopsticks was brought to Liu Bei's lips. Liu Bei instinctively opened his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp, exclaiming in surprise, "Delicious! Where did this come from?"
Zhang Fei pointed with his chopsticks to the small square table in the middle of the raft, then picked up a piece of chopsticks and handed it to Guan Yu.
In those days, there was no such thing as frequent handwashing or hygiene. Liu Bei and Guan Yu didn't mind that the chopsticks had been used by others. After eating, they sprinted to the small square table, sat down, and invited others to try it. Then, one person took a chopstick, and another took a chopstick. Soon, the meat on the table and in the pot was all gone.
This was prepared by Guan Xing for the three of them. Now that over a hundred people have arrived, it's not enough.
This small amount of meat was certainly not enough to satisfy Liu Bei, who was starving after running around for half a day. After searching the pot for a while and finding that it was indeed empty, Liu Bei decisively turned around and shouted, "Is there any more meat?"
Zhu Chao, the commander of Guan Xing's personal guards, said, "There's no more freshly cut meat, but there are some alive ones. They're what General Guan prepared for his family."
Liu Bei asked in surprise, "How do you plan to live?"
Zhu Chao waved his hand and ordered his men to bring over several wooden cages. Inside the cages were several rare animals unique to Wushan, including serows, wildebeests, serows, white-lipped deer, pangolins, and red-bellied pheasants. He even brought over water tanks containing several species of sturgeon, such as giant salamanders, Chinese sturgeon, and Yangtze sturgeon. All of these were protected animals in later generations. If this were in later times, Guan Xing would at least be sentenced to life imprisonment.
Looking at the various animals in the cage, Liu Bei said speechlessly, "Damn Anguo, did you go to Wushan to cut down trees or to enjoy yourself?"
Zhang Fei said impatiently, "What are you waiting for? Kill them and eat them! We're going to have a good meal today, to bring peace and prosperity to the country..."
After calling out a few times without getting a response, I turned around and looked closely. Good heavens, the three drunkards were already asleep on the shore.
It's good to be young, just fall asleep.
Liu Bei was speechless at the antics of his younger relatives. With a wave of his hand, he said arrogantly, "Keep one thing for Anguo to take back to his wife. Slaughter the rest. We'll have a grand feast by the river. Wait, are there any other pots?"
With Liu Bei and Shi Xie's two armies totaling several hundred men, this pot, less than a foot in diameter, was far from enough.
Zhu Chao nodded and said, "Yes, my brothers and I eat it regularly."
After saying this, he ordered his men to bring over a hundred hot pots from the raft at the very back, which drew envious looks from everyone.
Damn Guan Anguo, you really know how to enjoy yourself.
And these personal guards who follow Guan Xing are truly blessed with good food.
The rest was simple: all the hot pot ingredients were brought ashore, slaughtered and cooked on the spot, and they devoured the ingredients Guan Xing had brought back from Wushan. If there weren't enough ingredients, they would fish them out of the Yangtze River. These foodies even fished out Yangtze alligators.
It's worth mentioning that Dahan has always implemented a separate meal system, where each person has their own portion and eats separately. However, hot pot cannot be divided; everyone has to scoop from one pot. Moreover, there aren't enough square tables, so everyone sits on the floor. But no one complains; everyone is eating with their mouths full of oil.
After nearly two hours of eating and chatting, Liu Bei, having eaten and drunk his fill, stood up and waved his hand, saying, "Fei Yi, stay and assist Zhu Chao in transporting timber. The rest of you, return to Jiangling."
After saying that, he kicked Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, who were fast asleep, but they didn't wake up. So he carried them into the carriage and let them continue to sleep. As a result, the two of them seemed to be deliberately going against Liu Bei. As soon as they got into the carriage, they woke up and struggled to sit up, rubbing their sleepy eyes. Liu Bei was so angry that he dragged them out of the carriage and made them walk back to the city with him.
But before returning to the city, you must first pay your respects to Shi Xie. You didn't have to worry about him while he was asleep, but now that you're awake, you should go and greet him; it's basic courtesy.
Guided by Liu Bei, Guan Xing and Zhang Bao, still feeling dizzy, came before Shi Xie to pay their respects. Shi Xie quickly helped them up and said with a smile, "I have long heard of the illustrious reputation of the two young generals. Seeing them today, I can see that they are indeed heroes among the young."
The two bowed again with humble expressions, and then bowed to Liu Xi, Yuan Hui, and other celebrities who had come with Shi Xie.
Yuan Hui was already dissatisfied with Liu Bei's previous disdain, and he looked down on Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, who were of even lower birth than Liu Bei. He was also hostile to Guan Xing's actions in Jiangdong. Naturally, he wouldn't give Guan Xing a good look at this time. He said sarcastically, "Oh, so you are Guan Anguo, the one who robbed, killed, and set fires in Jiangdong. Do you know how many learned scholars you have made homeless in Jiangdong?"
Although Yuan Hui was not from Jiangdong, he came from a gentry family and was seriously dissatisfied with Guan Xing's actions of seizing land from local tyrants and wantonly harming the gentry. Now, by questioning Liu Bei about this matter in front of him, Yuan Hui was clearly trying to make things difficult for Liu Bei and put him in an awkward position.
They even wanted to use this opportunity to warn Liu Bei and make him give up the idea of land reform. After all, the Yuan family also had a lot of fertile land in Chen County. If Liu Bei succeeded in his northern expedition and recovered Chen County and continued land reform, wouldn't the Yuan family of Chen County be just like the tragic Jiangdong gentry?
Some things require planning ahead.
Upon hearing this, everyone was stunned. Liu Bei, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhuge Liang, and the others were enraged and glared at Yuan Hui with murderous intent.
You old codger, who are you trying to embarrass by saying such things at a time like this?
Sun Quan, Zhang Zhao, and others crossed their arms and leisurely watched the show. Although Sun Quan was unhappy that his family business had been taken away, he also disliked Yuan Hui's character of taking advantage of benefits and shrinking from difficulties, and he did not stand up to support Yuan Hui at all.
Other Jiangdong gentry shared the same opinion as Sun Quan and did not step in to help Yuan Hui just because he came from a gentry family. The reason was simple: when Guan Xing was carrying out land reform in Jiangdong, you stayed in Jiaozhou and did nothing. Now that the land reform is over, you come out to support him. It's like a child dying and you're trying to nurse him. Where were you before?
Guan Xing hadn't expected anyone to attack him at this time. Hearing this, he paused for a moment, took a half step back, straightened his chest, and looked directly at Yuan Hui, asking, "Who are you?"
Yuan Hui puffed out his chest and said proudly, "Yuan Hui of the Yuan family of Chen Commandery. My father, Yuan Pang, was appointed Minister of Works."
Guan Xing then asked, "May I ask what official position you currently hold, sir?"
Yuan Hui shook his head and said, "I am currently living in seclusion in the mountains and have not taken up an official post."
"Oh..." Guan Xing said in a drawn-out, equally sarcastic tone, "So you're just an ordinary commoner. What are you so smug about? You're so arrogant, I thought you were Minister Situ."
"You..." Yuan Hui was speechless for a moment, not expecting Guan Xing to be so disrespectful to the elderly.
Guan Xing, however, did not intend to give him time to react and continued, "If I remember correctly, you fled to Jiaozhou during the Yellow Turban Rebellion, right? When the Yellow Turban Rebellion brought disaster to the court, Your Majesty and Cao Cao, along with other commoners whom your gentry looked down upon, all stepped forward to help the court. But you, as the son of the Minister of Works, who has enjoyed the court's salary for generations, ran away when the court was in trouble. Is that appropriate?"
"You bunch of so-called great Confucian scholars keep talking about being loyal to the emperor while eating his food, but when it really matters, you abandon the emperor and run away on your own. Is that how you talk? Is this how you show loyalty to the emperor?"
"Run away if you want, after all, being cowardly and afraid of death is nothing to be ashamed of. But what are you doing back now? You ran away when the court was in trouble, and now that the court is stable, you want to come back to be an official. How can you be so shameless?"