Chapter 169 Thinking highly of oneself
On the Double Ninth Festival, Chang'an City is closed for one day.

A tent was set up on Longshou Plain in the south of the city, where the black bears feasted.

At today's banquet, Black Bear sat in the main seat, with Wang Can and Zhong Yao on his left and right. Below him were Duan Wei and Yang Qiu, who were first on the left, and cultural figures like Du Ji, who were first on the right.

There were pottery jars filled with wine on the tables, and in each jar there was a blooming golden chrysanthemum.

When I poured wine from the pottery jar, the liquid swayed gently and the chrysanthemum swayed like a burning sun.

The sweet wine has a strong chrysanthemum fragrance, but lacks the astringent taste of chrysanthemum.

The autumn weather is clear and the midday sun feels warm on my body.

Wang Can raised his cup and drank, stirring the pottery jar with chopsticks from time to time, watching the chrysanthemums swirling in the jar.

Wang Can was delighted and said with emotion: "The general's speed in conquering Guanzhong is unprecedented."

Zhong Yao, who was sitting opposite him, froze in laughter. Black Bear said with a smile, "This is the long-cherished wish of the officials and people in Guanzhong. I just happened to meet him by chance."

After listening to this, Wang Can nodded and agreed with Black Bear's answer.

He looked toward the wilderness south of Longshou Plain. Everything within his sight was lush and green. Before the frost, most of the surface vegetation still had a tenacious dark green color.

In his opinion, the Central Plains and Hebei were in a stalemate in Liyang and had been unable to break the deadlock, so he started from the eastern and western fronts in an attempt to break the deadlock.

The people of Guanzhong certainly do not want to be a vassal of any party, nor do they want division or civil war.

The invasion of black bears gave the people of Guanzhong a new choice, which is to become the third force.

Regardless of whether the people of Guanzhong were passive or active, the ten tribes of Guanzhong were integrated by Black Bear in a short period of time and had become a force that Yuan and Cao could not ignore.

This is not just Wang Can's personal opinion, but the common opinion of many knowledgeable people.

It cannot be simply attributed to the Tiger Tooth Army being too good at fighting; therefore, the deep-seated reason for the rapid integration of Guanzhong must have been the willingness of the Guanzhong officials and people.

This is consistent with the idea that a righteous man will have many supporters, and is also consistent with the analysis of harmony among people, location, and time.

In short, the Tiger Tooth Army is indeed very strong, but the choice of the people in Guanzhong is also very important.

Zhong Yao glanced at Hei Xiong being so humble, so he turned his head slightly to look at Zhang Chang who was sitting next to Wang Can. Zhang Chang, a master of cursive script and the second son of Zhang Huan of Sanming in Liangzhou, was drinking and smiling at the moment, and seemed to agree with Hei Xiong's remarks.

Zhong Yao's gaze moved down to Du Ji who was also present. Du Ji seemed to think that the rapid unification of Guanzhong was due to everyone's unanimous cooperation.

It is because everyone joined forces to put aside old grudges that, with the cooperation of the Tiger Tooth Army, the current new situation in Guanzhong has been achieved.

Seeing this, Zhong Yao sneered secretly, raised his glass to Wang Yi beside him, and Wang Yi also raised his glass with a smile.

The two made eye contact, and seemed to understand each other's thoughts. They couldn't help but smile even more and drank together.

Wang Can drank a glass of wine, raised his eyebrows to look at the particularly dark blue sky, took a deep breath, and suddenly howled like a wolf: "Wow~! Oh~!"

Still feeling unsatisfied, he stood up by supporting himself on the table with his hands, not forgetting to refill the wine. He took a deep breath from the glass and shouted loudly, showing great confidence and uninhibitedness.

There were strange howls one after another. Most of the people sitting there, except Black Bear, knocked on the wine jars with chopsticks, and some stretched their necks to follow the howls.

Feeling a little tired, Wang Can raised his head to drink, feeling very happy. He threw away the wine glass, picked up his own wine jar and drank it.

Finally, I grabbed the soaked chrysanthemums and put them in my mouth to chew. I felt that all the tiredness that had just appeared in my body and mind was swept away.

It was as if an endless supply of power was spreading from the earth, along his legs and feet, and into his body.

The sudden excitement was like boiling oil poured into a fire, and it exploded!
Unable to restrain himself any longer, Wang Can began to imitate the bray of a donkey with elongated "uh uh" tones.

Laughter ignited within the curtain, and Black Bear couldn't help but smile. With Wang Can taking the lead, the others began to stand up and scream and jump.

Even someone like Du Ji tied up his sleeves at this moment, folded the front of his robe and tied it to his belt, and the robe extended out of his left arm, with the remaining right half of the robe worn on his right shoulder.

Then he placed his flexible left hand on his abdomen and began to do exaggerated repeated hip-thrusting movements with a friendly scholar.

Looking at this original version of the electronic rock dance, and then looking at the other people dancing like gods and demons, it was hard to find a normal person, Duan Wei, who was watching all this with a smile.

Even someone like Zhang Chang pulled Zhong Yao over, and their dancing battle was enchanting.

Black Bear raised his glass to signal Duan Wei, and Duan Wei raised his glass in response, and they drank the wine together.

The scholar in front of him seemed to be exploding with emotions after long-term suppression.

We cannot say that we are in danger of losing our life at any moment, but separation and reunion are unpredictable, and once we say goodbye, it is often a farewell forever.

Otherwise, when they meet, they belong to different sides and have to fight hand-to-hand.

It is normal to see scenes of revelry and indulgence during banquets.

Especially for the scholars in Guanzhong, this was the first time in so many years that they had a banquet and drank chrysanthemum wine in a safe environment.

Since Dong Zhuo, we can finally attack outward this year!

During the revelry, the black bear saw that Wang Can, the madman, was still not having enough fun, so he put the scarlet dogwood fruit that decorated his head into his mouth and took a bite.

Then he frowned and put the whole thing in his mouth and chewed it.

The others were thirsty after dancing, so they picked up their wine jugs and drank.

He was already feeling a little tired, and he followed Wang Can's example and ate the royal chrysanthemums soaked in the tavern. He immediately felt physically restored and mentally excited, and he couldn't stop being restless.

The black bear had no interest in this collective carnival of venting stress, but he couldn't say he hated it either.

He looked up at the sky. If there was a total solar eclipse, it would be perfect if a few more colorful lights were hung here and a few dozen beautiful girls came.

In terms of mental will, Black Bear considers himself to be very stable.

Outside the curtain, Gao Shun's ten-man team stood with spears in hand and their hands on their hips. Their emotions could not be seen because they were wearing masks.

Like the others, their helmets are adorned with bright red dogwood fruits.

Before this, Black Bear had no idea about Cornus officinalis. After seeing the real thing, he felt that it looked very much like Blood Bodhi. In simple terms, it was a small tomato like a winter jujube.

He was not interested in the taste of this thing.

In the city of Chang'an, armor, spears and halberds were stored in warehouses in various camps, and the officers and soldiers only had swords to protect themselves.

They all wore dogwood branches in their hair, drank chrysanthemum wine, and then traveled around the city.

The Qingzhou soldiers patrolled everywhere to suppress possible disputes and fights. With the reserves of the Tiger Tooth Army, they barely guaranteed the supply of chrysanthemum wine to the various armies in Chang'an.

It takes one or two months to brew proper chrysanthemum wine, but this time it is brewed for emergency purposes.

Make wine with millet in advance and then soak the chrysanthemums.

No matter how rough the taste is, it is a chrysanthemum wine that can be used to ward off evil spirits and pray for blessings.

For many young soldiers, they had only heard about it from their elders and this was their first experience.

When there was no order at all, food was scarce and precious, as were yeast and tools for making wine, and even chrysanthemums were not easy to collect.

In Zhonglei Camp, Heiyun sighed while holding a bamboo tube filled with wine, missing his children very much.

He was very worried about whether his remarried wife could take good care of their children. He didn't expect that his fellow villager Song Wu had once been a captain under Liu Yuzhou.

As for Zhang Jun, who had joined Song Wu in mobilizing the inhabitants to escape, Heiyun no longer had any hope.

I just hope this person won’t cause any more trouble, so that he can still return to Huainan and reunite with his children.

Many Qingzhou soldiers have decided to marry and have children in Guanzhong, but Heiyun always feels that it is difficult for his superiors to assign him a wife.

Not to mention the issue of retirement in the future, just the anxiety of worrying about his children makes him particularly depressed during such a festival.

Around noon, the soldiers who were running around in various places in Chang'an City returned to the camp one after another.

In fact, when it comes to repairing Chang'an City, the officials and soldiers involved are very enthusiastic.

This has nothing to do with providing food and clothing, nor does it have anything to do with the subsequent construction of a school city to provide schooling for their children.

But you can always find all kinds of treasures under the ruins of Chang'an.

Even a copper hook for hanging a curtain is a small extra fortune.

Black Bear doesn't care about the loss of these small antiques. It is the general public that produced them, so let them flow into the public.

As long as you have strong fists and a strong back, there is no need to use ancestral things to save face.

Not to mention these small copper utensils, even if someone accidentally dug up a gold cake, Black Bear would not interfere as long as it did not cause a big fuss.

As for the various precious remaining hardwoods, the small ones are used to build cars, and the large ones are used to build ships.

A wheelbarrow is definitely more important to the recovery of Guanzhong than a good coffin buried in the ground waiting to decay.

Around three or four in the afternoon, the wind blowing over Longshouyuan began to get noticeably colder.

The weather is clear and crisp in autumn, and the view is exceptionally good.

The cars returning to Chang'an were filled with drunk people.

Zhong Yao and Wei Ji rode in the same cart, both of them lying flat together.

Feeling the bumps in the car, Zhong Yao said, "I don't know whether Hei Zhenbei is deliberately indulging himself or they are testing him."

Wei Ji also felt the surging trend in Guanzhong and attempted to distribute the credit for the unification of Guanzhong to other places.

Anyway, one thing is very clear: the generals' subordinates and the common people in the counties and prefectures have no say and no merit, and they just go with the flow.

Guanzhong was able to be unified thanks to the cooperation of knowledgeable people from all parties in Guanzhong, which allowed the Huya Army to quickly unify.

It doesn’t matter whether others believe it or not, as long as the people in Guanzhong are willing to believe it.

No matter how Wei Ji, a Hedong native, viewed himself, in the eyes of the scholars in Hebei and Guandong, there was no difference between people from Hedong and people from Guanzhong.

Wei Ji felt his blood burning after eating the chrysanthemum soaked in wine. He missed his old wife at home. He suppressed his longing and focused on the present. He said, "The likes of Du Ji are extraordinary only after the unification of Guanzhong. It's really bad for Hei Zhenbei. A few bandits are enough to wipe out the Du family."

Four-fifths of the population of Hedong was gone. Wei Ji looked down on Du Ji and said, "I always feel that this is not something Du Ji dares to plot. Perhaps it is Wang Can's test. During the banquet today, he stood up and danced, and everyone responded. It is inevitable that Hei Zhenbei will be alert."

"Well, Du Ji is very strict with himself and would not do such a thing."

There was also a flame burning in Zhong Yao's heart, waiting for the young people who met the requirements from all over Guanzhong to come to Chang'an to study... Whoever could capture these people would be able to capture the future of Guanzhong.

Did Wang Can think that he, Wang Can, was the only one suitable to be the chief priest of the official school?

And Black Bear, who will be chosen to be in charge of the work of the academy?

Not to mention being the chief priest, as long as you can enter the group and be solely responsible for explaining a certain sutra, you can establish a solid network of contacts.

Anyway, if I am not in charge of military affairs, I can still find time to take charge of education.

As Zhong Yao pondered, he became more and more wary of Wang Can.

Actually, Zhong Yao and Wang Can's father Wang Qian are of the same generation. Wang Qian started out as the chief secretary of the shogun's office and was a leading figure in the counterattack against the eunuchs after the end of the Party Persecution.

It was just bad luck that he was involved in the death of Dong Zhuo. His death was somewhat sudden and difficult to publicize.

But the more he thought about it, the more puzzled he became, so he asked, "Why does Wang Can think so highly of himself?"

Wei Ji picked his ears, looked at the gaps between his fingernails, blew on them and said, "Perhaps Hei Zhenbei was quite down and out when he arrived in Jingzhou, and was not in Wang Can's eyes. Perhaps he felt that Hei Zhenbei's unification of Guanzhong was a matter of luck."

Wei Ji let out a long breath of wine and stared at the dark blue sky. "Hei Zhenbei has his own advantages. Wang Can thinks highly of himself and I'm afraid he wants to replace him."

Black Bear is indeed a good person. He does not have so many relatives, friends, old subordinates, and students and former officials who need to be promoted and placed.

Guanzhong was unified, and Black Bear took away the military and material dispatch and command rights.

Except for those who died in the war, others were deprived of their troops and most of their property, but they still remained in high positions.

What's more, the confiscated property will be invested in the academy, rather than being plundered and enjoyed by Black Bear himself.

So far, Black Bear himself has not appropriated any extra gold and silver. The Qingzhou soldiers and Gan Ning's troops have all been distributed according to need, and have not appropriated any fertile land or precious goods.

Therefore, even if some people, such as Wang Yi, lost 90% of their family assets, the resentment in their hearts was not as great as imagined.

The Black Bear and Tiger Fang soldiers are good at fighting and have indescribable special skills; but they don’t like money.

Wei Ji thought for a while and said, "I just hope that after the Hebei envoy arrives, the issues of Hedong and Hongnong can be resolved peacefully."

(End of this chapter)