"Haha, are you in such a hurry to be humiliated by me?"
Upon hearing Liu Wei urging him to hurry up and compete, Liu Biao looked disdainful.
"Really? We'll see who gets humiliated then!"
"Jing Sheng, quickly bring out your masterpiece and show him what real literature is!"
Liu Zhang fanned the flames, fearing that things weren't lively enough.
He certainly hoped that Liu Biao would give Liu Wei a good beating and teach him a lesson.
Liu Zhang was the youngest son of Liu Yan.
Liu Yan advised Emperor Ling of Han to establish the position of Provincial Governor, who was in charge of military and political power in various regions.
After Emperor Ling of Han agreed, Liu Yan took the lead in assuming the post of Governor of Yizhou and went to the land of abundance.
Of Liu Yan's four sons, only his third son, Liu Mao, accompanied him to Shu.
Liu Mao married a beautiful woman named Wu, but she was frail and sickly and died a few years later.
The beautiful Wu became a widow. Later, when Liu Bei entered Sichuan, he married her as his principal wife.
Meanwhile, Liu Zhang, the youngest son of the then-Commander of the Imperial Carriage, along with his elder brother Liu Fan, the Left General of the Palace, and his second elder brother Liu Dan, the Imperial Censor, all remained in the capital.
Therefore, this time, when the imperial clan members were attending to Liu Hong, Liu Zhang and his two elder brothers went to visit him separately.
Liu Zhang naturally looked down on Liu Wei's background.
A prince born out of wedlock, acting so flamboyantly and arrogantly within the royal family.
If you talk about military achievements, perhaps no one will dare to argue with you.
But you insist on making a point, doesn't that mean all the poetry and books everyone here has read have been wasted?
It's important to know that in the Han Dynasty, it wasn't something you could just decide to study if you wanted to.
Families that could afford to send their children to school were either wealthy or noble, either powerful clans or high-ranking officials.
A single book has become the threshold for many people to become readers.
During the Han Dynasty, there was no printing technology, and books were all copied by hand.
This is why Cai Yong and Cai Yan valued the more than three hundred volumes of books in their home so highly.
These three hundred-plus volumes of ancient books are priceless, far beyond what money can compare to.
Despite the chaos in the capital, Dong Zhuo valued Cai Yong's talent and respected him greatly, always inviting Cai Yong to entertain at his banquets.
After the coalition of eighteen warlords against Dong Zhuo, Dong Zhuo took Emperor Xian of Han hostage and fled to Chang'an.
Cai Yong naturally took his books with him to Chang'an.
Later, Wang Yun and Lü Bu killed Dong Zhuo, and Cai Yong was killed on Wang Yun's orders. Cai Yan fled to the border region.
Li Jue and Guo Si rebelled, wreaking havoc in Chang'an, and Cai Yong's books were burned.
Later, in order to improve the classics, Cao Cao spent a lot of money to redeem Cai Yan from the Xiongnu, so that she could rewrite the classics that had been destroyed in the war.
After saying all that, it all boils down to one point.
In the Han Dynasty, it was harder than climbing to heaven for ordinary people to get a chance to study.
Liu Wei seems to be uneducated, yet he dares to compare himself to Liu Biao, who is known as one of the Eight Talents of Jiangxia, and he does so with such confidence.
I don't know where the courage came from.
This is why Liu Zhang really wanted to embarrass Liu Wei.
"Liu Jiyu, I don't think you're any better at writing."
"If I let you do it, then you'd be nothing but a piece of trash coming out of the esophagus."
The eldest princess immediately came out and reprimanded Liu Zhang.
However, she was somewhat worried. Liu Wei grew up in an ordinary family and had never received any formal education.
"Why is the Eldest Princess so protective of Liu Yunzhong? As the ancients said, aunts love their nephews and uncles love their nephews, and there is some truth to that!"
When Liu Zhang saw Liu Hua speaking up for Liu Wei, he immediately said sourly.
"Alright, since we're going to compete, let's not argue about who has the better words."
"With such a room full of fine wine and delicious food, are we just supposed to stand here and wait, smelling the aromas?"
Liu Dai and Liu Yao saw various delicacies and fine wines laid out on the table, and beautiful concubines from Feifeng Tower kneeling beside them to serve them.
We're just waiting for everyone to take their seats.
Unexpectedly, Liu Biao and Liu Wei insisted on arguing over who would be the first in the east, which greatly frustrated the two brothers.
"This will indeed delay the banquet, so why don't we just not write the essay? You two can each compose a short poem and present it to everyone for a look. Those present should be able to tell which one is better!"
Seeing this, Liu Yu quickly offered a compromise, "You two shouldn't have any objections, right?"
Liu Wei nodded in agreement, and Liu Biao was even more delighted.
He's not even good at writing articles, let alone composing poems and songs.
Let's see what kind of utter nonsense Liu Wei can write.
"In that case, I will have someone send over writing brush, ink, and silk paper."
At this point, it's no use for Liu Hua to worry any longer.
On second thought, since Liu Wei dared to bring it up, and Liu Biao used his strengths to attack Liu Wei's strengths, he must have made some preparations.
So Liu Hua instructed the manager of Feifeng Tower to quickly bring up the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone.
Soon, eight beautiful concubines each brought two sets of writing brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones and placed them in front of Liu Biao and Liu Wei.
He immediately ground ink for the two of them.
The ink was already thick. Liu Biao gave Liu Wei a disdainful smile, then picked up the wolf-hair brush, frowned and pondered for a moment, then his eyes lit up.
With a flourish of his brush, Liu Biao wielded his wolf-hair brush, creating works of calligraphy that flowed freely and gracefully.
On the withered yellow Xuan paper, black characters appeared one after another.
It must be said that Liu Biao's calligraphy was quite beautiful and pleasing to the eye.
"Uncle Jingsheng, what is that written?"
Seeing Liu Biao write with such ease and confidence, then blow on the ink and look so self-admiring, Liu Zhang went up to him and asked.
"Since we are going to compose a poem, let's go to the Princess's Flying Phoenix Tower. I will use the tower as the theme and compose a short poem."
Liu Biao put down his pen, flicked his sleeves, and said, "Please, everyone, take a look!"
Liu Zhang and Liu Dai picked it up, and Liu Zhang immediately shook his head and read it aloud:
Tall buildings overlook the distant road, and wisps of smoke rise in the distance.
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