The New Year has arrived.
During the Qin Dynasty, the change of regime often led to changes in the calendar, and the time of celebrating the Spring Festival varied with each regime.
It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty ascended the throne and revised the new calendar, the "Taichu Calendar," that the time of the Spring Festival was fixed as the slack farming season at the end of the lunar year.
Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was a devout believer in ghosts and gods, so the customs of exorcising evil spirits and driving away ghosts were very strong during the New Year.
Especially on New Year's Eve, the last day of the year, there was the Nuo dance ceremony. The one held by the imperial court was called "National Nuo," and the one held by the common people was called "Great Nuo."
Of course, Ye City would not overstep the ritual system too much, so the regulations of the Nuo dance were lower than those of the National Nuo.
However, the largest Nuo dance had already been held on Lari, so the scale of this one to bid farewell to the old and welcome the new was smaller in comparison.
There were hundreds of people performing the Nuo dance, starting from the city and stopping outside the city. The entire population of Ye City, including the gentry, came out to watch the spectacle.
Yuan Xi also spotted several acquaintances in the crowd. Advisers such as Tian Feng and Ju Shou had also come out for a stroll.
Yuan Xi couldn't help but sigh. On the one hand, such a lively scene was attractive, and on the other hand, there were very few entertainment activities in this era.
At this time, paper still needed improvement, and things that cultivated sentiments, such as calligraphy and painting, had not yet spread widely, so no wonder most of the gentry liked fine wine and women. What other hobbies were there to pass the time?
Therefore, after the invention of Wushisan (Five Stone Powder), it quickly became popular among the gentry, which was also reasonable.
Speaking of Wushisan, it is necessary to trace back to the alchemists who made Wushisan and the Taiping Dao religion, which had a very close relationship with the Yellow Turban Army.
Yuan Shang was not important. What Yuan Xi was more worried about was, what kind of existence was Cao Cao in Taoism?
Because various signs in later generations showed that Cao Cao's status in Taoism was likely to be quite high!
This was not Yuan Xi's own speculation, but what many scholars in later generations had researched, and there was a lot of evidence to support it.
Just like the Yuan family's academic origin was the Meng Shi Yi, the Cao family had been worshiping Huang-Lao Taoism since Cao Teng, which was an important branch of Taoism. In Cao Cao's later years, in the Luoyang Palace where he lived, there was also a special ancestral hall for Huang-Lao, the Zhuolong Temple.
When Cao Cao raised his army, he suffered successive defeats, and his troops were only a few thousand. The Qingzhou Yellow Turbans had more than 300,000 soldiers and civilians, totaling more than a million people. Even Liu Dai and Bao Xin were killed, which shows that the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans were quite strong in combat, but Cao Cao incorporated them without any effort, which made many people at the time feel incredible.
The gentry of Yan Province suffered greatly from the Yellow Turbans. After Cao Cao incorporated the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, almost all the gentry of Yan Province rebelled. The death of Bian Rang was likely just one of the triggers.
The Black Mountain Army claimed to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers and once threatened Ye City. Although Yuan Shao defeated them, he could not completely solve the problem of the Black Mountain Army, but after the Battle of Guandu, the Black Mountain Army immediately surrendered to Cao Cao.
Zhang Lu, the prefect of Hanzhong, was the Celestial Master of the Five Pecks of Rice Sect, and said that he would rather be a slave to Duke Wei than a guest of Liu Bei, and then he defected to Cao Cao.
To say that one or two things are accidental, but when many seemingly accidental things come together, there must be logical and causal elements that conform to it.
All kinds of signs show that Cao Cao and even the Cao family, mastered the power of Taoism, and were also considered by Taoism to be like-minded, believing that "their Tao is the same as Zhonghuang Taiyi," and calling them "Huang family."
Cao Cao's final unification of the Northern Territory made it possible for the Cao family to seize the world later, and the reason for this is definitely not as simple as it seems on the surface.
If this is really the case, the power that Cao Cao possesses under the table can be described as terrifying, because the remnants of the Yellow Turbans and Taoism have penetrated into every state and county.
Yuan Xi felt that in the process of Cao Cao's political and military expansion, he not only used force to pacify the world, but also mastered and utilized the powerful religious and political power of Taoism, which is why he accomplished things that others could not.
Yuan Xi felt more and more pressure. The more he understood Cao Cao, the more he understood how terrible the other party was, on the one hand because he was indeed a hero of the time, and on the other hand because he controlled a power that many people ignored.
As long as he is hostile to Cao Cao, he will face these forces sooner or later. It seems that some things need to be planned in advance.
Yuan Xi returned to the Yuan Mansion, and a servant had already greeted him, saying that the Yuan family had all arrived.
According to the customs of the Han Dynasty, on New Year's Eve, the whole family would sit together to chat and stay up late, drink Zhusui wine together, and stay up all night to welcome the first day of the New Year.
Yuan Xi hurried inside and paid his respects to Yuan Shao and Lady Liu. Servants brought in dishes and wine in a steady stream, and the dinner began.
Since his rebirth, this was the first time he had spent the New Year with the Yuan family. Seeing everyone talking and laughing happily, he inexplicably thought of the movie called "The Banquet" in his previous life.
Thinking of everyone at the banquet having their own thoughts, it was quite appropriate to the scene in front of him, but fortunately, the ending of total annihilation did not really happen at this moment.
Yuan Shao was obviously a little drunk. He stood up unsteadily and insisted that each of his sons drink a few more cups. He was still unsatisfied after drinking one round, and was finally persuaded by Lady Liu.
Yuan Xi pretended to be humble and toasted Lady Liu with a wine pot. Lady Liu smiled insincerely and asked Yuan Xi to change to a new wine pot before she took a sip with peace of mind.
Yuan Xi thought to himself, 'Damn it, Lady Liu definitely knows about Yuan Shang's poisoning!'
'Look at your cowardly appearance, how could I openly poison you?'
'When Yuan Shao dies one day, see how I take revenge!'
In a burst of laughter and joy, the old year passed and the new year arrived. The children of the Yuan family offered pepper wine to Yuan Shao and Lady Liu to wish them good luck and longevity. The atmosphere in the Yuan Mansion was joyous, and everyone's faces were filled with more or less smiles.
Yuan Xi sat in the carriage returning home and saw that it had already started to snow outside. He thought to himself, 'What a good sign.'
At this time, in Ye City, every household lit candles and oil lamps to pray for blessings, and for a time, thousands of lights shone like stars.
Yuan Xi seemed to have an illusion that the entire Ye City was Glow a thriving atmosphere, spreading to the entire Ji Province, embellishing this one of the most prosperous states in the world even more joyously.
Yuan Xi recalled that the biggest celebration in the world was originally the grand court meeting held by the Han court. Civil and military officials presented gifts to the emperor at the court meeting. In return for the gifts from the civil and military officials, the emperor would bestow a banquet after the court worship, and there would be music and acrobatics performances at the banquet.
But for the current Han Emperor, such a court meeting was already a luxury, because news came that Li Jue and Guo Si were already fighting in Chang'an, and it was said that hundreds of people died every day.
In this situation, that Han Emperor Liu Xie must be having a very difficult time.
In history, this situation lasted for more than half a year. Li Jue and Guo Si finally fought to a lose-lose situation, and tens of thousands of people were killed or injured in Chang'an City. Then, the Han Emperor would find a way to escape from Chang'an, and from then on embarked on a long journey back to Luoyang.
This team would go through all kinds of hardships and spend nearly a year before reaching its destination, and then be welcomed to Xuchang by Cao Cao, and once again become a puppet.
Yuan Xi returned to his residence, and as soon as he entered the backyard, he saw Guo Jia drunk, pulling a woman and a five- or six-year-old boy, dancing in the snow.
Because it was the New Year, Yuan Xi had asked people to release Guo Jia before leaving the mansion to reunite with his family, and exempted him from the restriction on alcohol.
Now it seems that Guo Jia had been holding back for too long and had drunk a lot of wine. Now he was barely standing, drunk.
He held a wine pot in one hand and pulled the woman with the other, saying, "Come, come, it's not easy to see each other, and I don't know if I'll live or die tomorrow. While that bastard hasn't come back, let's go back to the house and make people."
He shouted to the sky, "I can't even see my sweetheart in my hometown of Yangdi!"
"How can I live without women!"
"That heartless thing!"
Yuan Xi thought to himself, 'Is this horny Guo Jia going to die early because of overindulgence?'
The woman had a dignified appearance, and Yuan Xi recognized her as Dong, Guo Jia's wife, who had been arrested together.
Seeing Guo Jia acting crazy, she smiled bitterly and let him mess around. Suddenly, she raised her eyes and caught a glimpse of Yuan Xi returning at some unknown time, and was immediately frightened and turned pale, and quickly knelt on the ground.
When Guo Jia saw this, he turned around and was immediately embarrassed. The hand holding the wine pot stopped in mid-air, and he didn't know whether to stand or leave.
The boy was so cold that his nose was running, and he was still standing there blankly. When the woman pulled him, he also knelt on the ground.
Guo Jia finally reacted, his face flushed red. He even felt that he was about to be killed by Yuan Xi!
He had just experienced the joy of family reunion and spending the New Year together, but the fear of death suddenly struck, making him feel fear from the bottom of his heart.
He opened his hands and said, "It's all Guo Jia's fault, it has nothing to do with them!"
Yuan Xi walked past Guo Jia, walked over, pulled up the boy kneeling on the ground, and said, "What's your name?"
The boy sniffed and said, "Guo, Guo Yi."
Yuan Xi smiled when he heard this and said, "Your name is Guo Yi, my courtesy name is Xian Yi, we are quite compatible."
Dong thought that Yuan Xi had murderous intentions, and her face became even paler, and she kowtowed repeatedly on the ground.
Guo Jia finally softened and bowed his head and said, "It's all Jia's fault, I'm willing to exchange one life for another."
Dong said with determination after hearing this, "If my husband dies, how can I live alone?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself, 'Why do I look like a villain?'
He waved his hand and said, "What do you think of me?"
He turned to Guo Jia, "From today onwards, you don't have to be locked in the small dark room anymore. You can move out and live with your family."
"But I'll say the ugly things first. If you want to run, then it's hard to say."
"And you can't drink alcohol usually."
Dong was overjoyed when she heard this, and she repeatedly kowtowed while pulling Guo Yi.
Guo Jia muttered, "What's the point of being alive if you can't drink alcohol."
Dong quickly touched Guo Jia's foot, and he stopped talking.
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "If you want to drink alcohol, it's not difficult."
Guo Jia listened and said disdainfully, "I know what the young master is thinking, isn't it just wanting me to come up with ideas?"
"But I advise the young master to give up on this idea. Jia's talent is limited, and I can't think of any brilliant ideas. Besides, there are countless people in Ye City whose talent is no less than Jia's, so why should the young master be obsessed with Jia?"
Yuan Xi said, "After the New Year, I will return to Beixin City."
"Regardless of whether Brother Fengxiao is willing or not, I will take you with me."
"I'll state my bottom line first. Even if you don't give me ideas, I won't let you give ideas to others."
Guo Jia was dumbfounded. What exactly had he done? Why was Yuan Xi so obsessed with him?
I can't figure it out!
At this time, Yuan Xi pulled Guo Yi over and said to him, "I want to adopt you as my adopted son, are you willing?"
As soon as these words came out, Guo Jia and Dong were stunned.