"Jade dust?" Cao Rui laughed dumbly: "Jade is something to wear, how can it be eaten?"
Cao Zhi shrugged his shoulders and said, "I have never eaten jade, nor do I believe that it can lead to immortality. Jade is just an ordinary thing, not some rare medicine for immortals."
Cao Rui glanced at Cao Zhi. Although this analysis angle was somewhat unique, it was not without reason.
Jade is considered a rare item in the hands of ordinary people, but it is just an ordinary item in the eyes of nobles. If taking jade can make you immortal, then immortality is too worthless.
Cao Rui nodded and said, "Come on, after you have seen this dew-receiving plate, you will follow me around Chang'an and then come with me to the temporary palace tonight for a feast."
Everyone agreed.
Chang'an City was a place that many of the ministers present had visited many times. Cao Rui found these Han Dynasty palaces new, but others might not.
The truly valuable part of accompanying the emperor on a tour lies in 'accompanying the emperor' rather than the 'touring' itself.
In the evening, a banquet was set up in the palace in Chang'an City, and the important ministers who accompanied the emperor attended the banquet.
Chang'an is a big city and cannot be compared with small places like Chencang and Mianyang.
Cao Rui moved into the temporary palace, and his ministers also moved into large houses in the city. Food, clothing, and other expenses were directly upgraded to a higher level.
These generals who have been with the army for half a year have lived in tents in the wild for a full six months. Now they are staying in Chang'an City and they are not quite used to it for a while.
Food, clothing, housing and transportation, housing is one aspect, and food has changed greatly.
The same was true for the banquet. Since the emperor was here, the standard of the banquet tonight was also very high, with a total of 28 dishes.
After all, they had returned victorious, so a 'slightly' sumptuous banquet was not a big deal. No one was saying weird things to disturb their mood, and no censor was saying anything about frugality or waste.
The banquet gradually began, and everything was perfect except that there was no singing or dancing.
After drinking for more than thirty minutes, Cao Rui gradually became a little tipsy, and somehow the conversation ended up talking about the dew-receiving plate he had seen during the day.
Cao Rui said: "It is absurd that Emperor Wu of Han believed the words of the alchemists and spent a huge amount of money to build this dew-receiving plate."
"How can one become an immortal so easily just by sitting in the palace in Chang'an?"
Xin Pi sat behind his desk, put down his wine jar, and said, "Your Majesty, I heard something very strange this year. If Your Majesty is willing to listen, I would like to tell you about it."
Cao Rui nodded: "Xin Qing knows a lot, tell us about it and let us all listen."
Hearing the emperor's words, everyone at the banquet turned their attention. After the emperor took Chen Jiao and Yang Fu to the battle, Xin Pi was in charge of the school affairs of the entire Wei Dynasty.
When it comes to anecdotes, what comes from Xin Pi's mouth must be first-hand secrets.
No matter whether one is a noble or a commoner, everyone has the same nature of liking gossip.
Xin Pi cleared his throat and said slowly, "Does Your Majesty remember Sun Yong, the governor of Bohai?"
Cao Rui said: "I know this Sun Yong, a native of Beihai. He was appointed to Bohai County in the second year of Huangchu and his achievements were quite good."
Xin Pi continued, "I have known Sun Yong for a long time, but I didn't know that Sun Yong once studied Taoism with a Taoist priest named Wang Heping."
"In April, I heard that Wang Heping died of illness in Nanpi at the beginning of the year, and his body was transformed into an immortal after his death. He also left more than a hundred volumes of Taoist books to Sun Yong."
"It's quite magical."
Cao Rui frowned: "Corpse transformation? What should I interpret this?"
Cao Zhi, who was standing by, responded, "Your Majesty, I know about this theory of corpse transformation."
"Tell me." Cao Rui said.
Cao Zhi looked at the emperor and said, "The so-called corpse transformation is to revive from the dead, to shed the body like a cicada, and then ascend to heaven."
"Let's talk about Emperor Wu of Han today." Cao Zhi explained: "During the time of Emperor Wu of Han, there was a Taoist priest named Li Shaojun, who became an immortal after his corpse was transformed."
"It's Emperor Wu of Han again." Cao Rui shook his head. "No one is perfect, not even Heaven. He is already an emperor on earth, so how can we allow him to become an immortal and live forever?"
Cao Zhi continued, "Your Majesty is right. Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty had a dream at night. He dreamed of touring Mount Song with Li Shaojun. On the mountain road, a fairy boy came from the sky riding a dragon with a scepter, claiming to be the Taiyi Immortal and invited Li Shaojun to the fairyland."
"Not long after, Li Shaojun passed away. When he was buried, his body suddenly disappeared, but his clothes were still intact, like a cicada shedding its shell."
Cao Rui took a sip from the wine jar and sneered, "In my opinion, maybe this Li Shaojun couldn't get the elixir for Emperor Wu of Han, so he set up this scam to get away with it!"
"But then again, I also had a dream, I wonder what the omen is."
Cao Zhi asked, "What did your Majesty dream about?"
Cao Rui said: "I dreamed of being in Lueyang and Chiting. The sky was blood red, the ground was yellow, and the soldiers were fighting non-stop. Before they died, they looked at me with resentful eyes..."
Each scene is told in detail.
The emperor's tone was very calm, but the faces of the ministers present were all solemn. Qian Zhao picked up the wine jar and toasted the emperor, saying: "When I first became a general, I felt unbearable every time I saw soldiers die in battle, and I had countless nightmares."
"Your Majesty can have such a dream, which proves that Your Majesty is a first-class benevolent monarch, a saintly monarch like Yao and Shun. I offer a toast to Your Majesty!"
After saying this, Qian Zhao raised his head and drank the wine in the bottle in one gulp.
Cao Rui knew Qian Zhao's good intention, so he raised the wine bottle slightly with his right hand, gestured to him, and then drank a bottle as well.
As Xin Pi, Cao Zhi, and the emperor himself told stories, people in the hall became more and more excited. Even Sima Yi, who was usually taciturn at banquets, began to tell stories.
Sima Yi interrupted, "Speaking of strange dreams, I have heard of one. But it was not about me, but about the governor of Yangzhou, Jiang Ji and Jiang Zitong."
"Jiang Ji?" Cao Rui said with a smile, "Could such a smart man like him also encounter such a miraculous thing?"
Sima Yi laughed and said, "If it was just an ordinary dream, I would have thought it was a joke. But this dream, I think it must have really happened to him."
Cao Hong slammed the table and said, "Zhongda, please tell me! I want to hear what Jiang Zitong dreamed about."
Sima Yi ignored Cao Hong, stroked his chin and said slowly: "Last year, Jiang Zitong returned to Luoyang with the army and had not yet gone to Yangzhou. When he was serving as the Central Guard, his wife had a strange dream."
"Your Majesty may not know that Jiang Zitong only has one son now. In fact, he had another son who died of plague in the 22nd year of Jian'an."
Cao Rui nodded without comment. In this era, the death of a son was not a rare thing, especially in the 22nd year of Jian'an when "every family had mourning".
At that time, five of the "Seven Sages of the Jian'an Period" had died!
Sima Yi continued, "Jiang Zitong dreamed that his son was a servant in the underworld, exhausted and in trouble, so he gave him a dream."
"The dream said that there was a man named Sun'a to the west of the Imperial Ancestral Temple, who was about to die and go to the underworld to serve as the magistrate of Mount Tai. I hope Jiang Zitong will go find this Sun'a and ask him to find a good position for his son."
"The next day, Jiang Zitong went to the west of the Imperial Ancestral Temple and found Sun A. Sun A was not afraid of death and agreed to Jiang Zitong's request. After only half a day, Sun A died of heart palpitations."
"Half a month later, Jiang Zitong's deceased son came to him in a dream, saying that he was in charge of documents in the underworld and no longer suffered as a servant."
Cao Rui smacked his lips, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Although it was interesting to listen to such stories and rumors, and it was fine to listen to gossip about Sun Yong and Emperor Wu of Han, but when the character in the gossip turned out to be Jiang Ji, whom he was familiar with, Cao Rui found it a little strange.
Moreover, Sima Yi's detailed description did not seem to be fabricated at all. Besides, who would use their friend's name to make up such a thing just for idle chat at a banquet?
Cao Rui sighed softly: "What you think about during the day, you dream about at night. It's a pity that Jiang Ji encountered such a thing."
Xin Pi interrupted and said, "Your Majesty, I heard from the officials in Chang'an that there is a woman in Chang'an who came out of the tomb of the Former Han Dynasty that was excavated during the rebellion of Li and Guo."
"When the school examined her, she actually told a lot about the palace affairs during the pre-Han period."
Cao Rui smiled and said, "Xin Qing, do you think this is true? Is this woman from the Han Dynasty?"
Xin Pi also laughed out loud: "How can people today know what happened in the palace during the Han Dynasty? There is no way to verify it. If I were to take a look, it is possible that this woman was a tomb robber who was discovered by chance and had no choice but to make up a lie."
"There is another case similar to this woman."
Cao Rui raised his eyebrows and looked at Xin Pi: "Anything else?"
Xin Pi nodded and said, "At the beginning of the year, someone in Taiyuan accidentally dug a grave, and a woman ran out of it. Looking at the growth rings of the tree on the grave, the tree is thirty years old."
"The school official said that he didn't know how this woman had survived in the tomb for thirty years."
Cao Rui asked again: "What do you think about this matter, Xin Qing?"
Xin Pi replied: "In my opinion, how could there be so many people in the tombs? They must be tomb robbers, or someone in the local area hid people and pretended to come out of the tombs after being discovered."
"It's just using this miraculous thing as an excuse to prevent people from delving into it further."
"Minister Xin said it well!" Cao Rui clapped his hands and laughed, "Let's follow what Minister Xin said. If there are any 'ancients' who suddenly appear in the Wei Dynasty again, they should all be treated as fugitives."
Xin Pi bowed and said, "I'll make a note of it."
Cao Rui raised his wine jar and said with a smile: "I have been feasting with you today and heard many interesting things. If you have such interesting things to relieve boredom in the future, you can tell me about them."
"Come on, raise your hand!"
"Raise your glasses!" The ministers raised their glasses together, some shouted "Long live the emperor", and some shouted "Long live the emperor".
By the second half of the banquet, the situation had begun to become somewhat chaotic.
After everyone finished drinking, Xiahou Xian, who had been silent all this time, took advantage of the alcohol to talk about something.
"Your Majesty," Xiahou Xian said with a bow, "When I was ordered to go to Baishui Pass, I traveled with Lieutenant Generals Cheng Xi and Cheng Shenbo, and we talked a lot."
"Your Majesty may not know that Cheng Shenbo is very good at physiognomy, especially at reading seals." (End of this chapter)
