Three Kingdoms

"With that, I will take my leave, general!"

Li Ru nodded, stood up, and sent a general out of the hall.

When he was about to walk back, his eyes fell on a tree in the courtyard. He looked up and down for a few times, then turned back, walked to the tree, and stood with his hands behind his back.

The tree is a very ordinary tree. The trunk is long and straight. The gray-white bark is smooth and occasionally cracked vertically. The crown is not lush, but it is not sparse either. The branches are of varying lengths and the leaves are mostly triangular and oval. At this time Some buds are also coming out, which looks somewhat like spring.

Li Ru's eyes seemed to fall on the tree, and it seemed that he was not looking at that tree at all, but looking at an unknown place...

"This tree is too big...it needs to be chopped down..."

×××××××××

In the Hongnong Yang Clan Ancestral Hall, six old men sat silently on the mat, like sections of decaying tree stumps. Although they still looked intact, they could feel that the vitality inside them was gradually disappearing. Go, the gray hair and beard are like the fungi growing on the wood pile, and like the ashes left after the wood is burned.

The Yang family ancestral hall is very spacious. The main hall is about ten feet long and more than four feet wide. On the front wall, there are tablets of the sages of the Yang family in the past. Each tablet has the name and official position written on it, and is painted with gold powder. In short, the dark tablet with golden fonts looks particularly solemn.

The Hongnong Yang family has been established in the Han Dynasty for nearly three hundred years.

After the death of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Emperor Zhao of the Han Dynasty succeeded to the throne. General Huo Guang promoted a young man named Yang Chang. This man later married Sima Qian's daughter and served successively as chief minister, censor, and prime minister. This man was Hongnong. Yang made his first brilliant appearance in the political affairs of the Han Dynasty.

Later, Yang Zhen, named Boqi, of the Hongnong Yang family, also served as prime minister. Starting from Yang Zhen, to Yang Bing, and now to Yang Biao, they were all ranked among the three princes. Therefore, the Yang family also has no water. There is no "Four Generations and Three Dukes".

Nowadays, on the mountain of the Han gentry, the Yang family is undoubtedly at the top. It is a well-deserved famous family in the world, and only the Yuan family can rival it.

Now sitting in the ancestral hall, under the veil, are the only six elders of the Yang family in Hongnong, who are also representatives of the six branches of the Yang family.

A big family naturally has many side branches, and with more side branches, there will naturally be some outstanding disciples. Although these disciples failed to ascend to the position of family head in the end, they still have some rights to speak, such as the Yang family , there are currently six elders.

The six elders sat together, but they were all like wooden sculptures, silent. Only the occasional trembling eyebrows and the rolling eyes under the drooped eyelids seemed to prove that these were still living people.

Outside the main hall, there was a loud sound, and the six elders stood up from their seats and stood in silence with their hands clasped.

A dove stick appeared at the door, and then came the old hand holding the dove stick. The hand was withered and thin, covered with large and small age spots, like a dry and rotten branch.

The six bright-headed old men saluted slowly and said: "Welcome to the great elder." The slow movements were not because they looked down upon him or were dissatisfied with waiting for too long, but because these six were indeed too old.

There are six elders in the Yang family, but if you don't name them and just say one elder, you are referring to one person, Yang Rang. However, no one has called this name for a long time, and the Yang family usually only calls him the Great Elder.

Although the Great Elder was old and his body was already rickety, he did not want to be helped by his servants. Instead, he walked to the main seat in the hall and sat down on his own, leaning on his dove stick.

More than a dozen servants filed in and presented each elder with freshly ironed fine silk face towels.

The elder took the face towel, raised his head slightly, covered his face, and waited quietly for the heat to spread on his face, as if this could add some heat and motivation to his old body.

The heat from the silk towel quickly dissipated along the wrinkles on his face, and those wrinkles were like abyss, quickly swallowing up all the heat. The great elder pulled off the silk towel that was no longer hot and wiped his old face very carefully, but the wrinkles still seemed to be filled with fatigue and darkness that could not be wiped away.

As the great elder put the towel back into the golden basin, like a silent command, the six elders also put down the silk scarves in their hands, and the servants humbly and orderly exited the hall. With the sound of the door, the hall It became a separate world with only these seven old people.

"Wang stood on the wall and looked at her, fearing that she might not be able to wait." An old man broke the silence.

Another old man said: "These arrogant and short-sighted people are incapable of making plans. Now that the troops from Hanoi are moving south and the troops from Liangdong are moving north, the national thieves are no longer able to fight both ends. This is the right time."

The great elder lowered his head slightly, his face shrouded in shadow, and said slowly: "How is the Yuan family?"

"Taifu Yuan has been trapped in Xiatai and cannot be seen. However, there is a token that can be ordered both inside and outside the capital." Another old man slowly took out a jade pendant from his sleeve, placed it gently in front of him, and then moved forward. Push it slightly to expose the jade pendant to the light.

The jade pendant is round and has complicated patterns. The cloud dragon carved on it seems to take off from the surface of the jade pendant under the light. On the head of the jade pendant, a small "Yuan" can be faintly seen.

"Yuan Yulong, haha, he is quite domineering..."

The elder sitting on the left side of the great elder coughed, obviously not wanting to continue this twisted topic, and said slowly: "The national thieves are going against the grain and destroying the foundation of our Yang family. If we just sit back and wait for death, I am afraid that a hundred years later, the Hongnong Yang family will be reincarnated." It's just dust. Now the king's troops in Henei are stationed in Mengjin, and the front is directed at Heluo, forcing the country's thieves to sleep and eat uneasily, leading the troops to resist in the north. Now it is necessary to feign attack at Shaanxi and Jin. One can cut off the food supply to the east of the river, and two, Li thieves will send troops. Rescue, Luoyang city must be empty, and with the help of the Yuan family, it will be easy to capture the city due to internal and external pressure! If the Dong thief loses its foundation, there will definitely be chaos. If they attack with the Hanoi soldiers again, they can defeat it in one fell swoop! This one It can relieve our danger, and secondly, it can promote the name of promoting agriculture. At that time, the world will be excited and everyone will return, and we should make an immortal contribution! This is a thousand-year opportunity. If you fail, you will regret it for the rest of your life!"

Everyone looked at the great elder, but unfortunately the darkness always shrouded the face of the great elder, making it impossible to see his expression clearly. They only heard the great elder say slowly: "The Yuan family seeks change, and if you hate Thief Dong, you will die first." It is sharper than wild jujubes, and then it loses its concentration in Bianshui River, and cannot escape from Luohe River. Now it is trapped in a prison, and it only has the potential to attack from the north and south. However, it has missed its time and cannot be relied on."

The elder sitting on the left side of the great elder was silent for a long time, and then said word by word: "Since the great elder has different opinions... let's ask the clan to decide!"

The clan vote is the vote of the family elders. According to the Yang clan rules, when the opinions of the elder cannot be reconciled, each elder has one opportunity in his life to apply for his opinion to be voted by all the elders. The vote will naturally be passed. It can be implemented.

The Great Elder slowly closed his eyes and said for a long time: "...In this case, let's decide..."

The elder sitting on the left side of the great elder took the lead in taking out his elder's seal and putting it in front of him...

××××××××××

The door of the ancestral hall finally opened, and the six elders hurried out of the hall with serious faces...

After a long time, the great elder appeared at the door of the hall with a cane, his steps even more staggering.

The elder slowly walked through the front yard alone and walked out of the front door. He suddenly stopped and did not get on his carriage. Instead, he came to the woodland outside the yard and walked under a big tree.

This tree was planted with his brother Yang Li when he was a child. Now that the tree has grown up, people have long been separated from yin and yang.

The great elder stroked the tree trunk with his withered hands, looked up hard, and sighed: "The tree is also old...there are many dead branches and leaves..."

Only when the roots are deep can the leaves flourish... When I saw a book friend say 411, I felt so sad that I could only comfort myself in this way...