By the time Liu Bei and the Dongping Army were transporting grain to the annexation, the weather had turned cold, and even the autumn tiger was about to pass. The wind on the plateau blows through the mountain roads, carrying a hint of autumn coolness. When you reach the top of the mountain, you can occasionally see migratory birds flying south. Migratory birds can fly south, but people cannot leave home easily. Liu Bei was thinking this, and suddenly realized that he had not returned home for nearly four years.
There wasn't much in the family worth being attached to. He lost his father when he was young and his mother when he was young. He only relied on his uncle Liu Yuanqi to raise and support him, and he was able to survive today. It's just that it is his hometown anyway. This is a word that a wandering prodigal will feel some peace in his heart when he thinks of it.
He did not dare to discuss this topic with Guan Yu, so he asked Zhang Fei privately: "Yide, do you have any letters from home?" Zhang Zhangfei thought for a moment and replied: "Since I followed my brother to join the annexation, I have no fixed place to live. I haven’t received my father’s souvenir. Why does my brother ask this?”
Liu Bei looked at the northeast, wandering in the sky, and finally answered after a long time: "Now Youzhou is in military trouble again. Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju colluded with Xianbei and Wuhuan to seize half of the state. The chaos continues. Youzhou has been repeatedly attacked by war. I don't know what happened to my hometown now." How are you, Mr. Zhi?"
Zhang Fei, on the other hand, smiled and comforted him by saying, "Brother, you are worried. Back then, Tanshihuai attacked Youzhou several times, and even though he made some gains, it was unlikely to be a serious problem. Now that two of them are nothing more than Wuhuan and Xianbei lackeys, so what? Why don't you think about it first?" How to get through this year.”
This year is another year of severe drought. Liu Bei has been fighting back and forth in Taiyuan County for nearly two months, and there is really not a drop of rain. In a normal county, the prefect would be worried about the poor harvest in the county this year, but Liu Bei has no such worries, because he knows that this year's harvest in Taiyuan County will definitely be without a grain of rice, and now the livelihood of the entire county has been temporarily compromised. On the 40,000 kilograms of rice and grain he transported.
The road to annexation is not an easy one. Previously, he led troops into the army and rode light and fast horses, so he took a shortcut and entered Shangdang from Tianjingguan. However, this time his convoy was so large that he could only detour to Jizhou, pass through Chaoge and Dangyin to Yecheng, and then turn westward. , all the way across Huguan from She and Lu counties, going back and forth on a circuitous route, the soldiers were all very tired.
But the most dangerous thing is the bandits. Liu Bei is not worried about this year's drought, but it doesn't mean that the people of Hebei don't care. After entering Wei County, Liu Bei walked on the official road, like a candlelight, attracting a large number of hungry refugees. They followed behind, with the look of begging in their eyes, but the Dongping Army's black bird flowing fire flag was too high in Hebei. Being famous, the refugees hesitated again and again, but finally did not dare to take action.
For Liu Bei, the refugees were nothing to worry about. What really worried him was the Black Mountain bandits here. Entering the Taihang Mountains from Shexian County, although the road is wide and easy to travel, there are thousands of mountains and valleys on both sides with deep woods. Every few miles, you can see a flock of birds suddenly flying in the foothills on the side of the road. Liu Bei knew that there was a black mountain there. Thief's sentry.
I don’t know what the Heishan Qushuai here thought, but he followed Liu Bei all the way. Liu Bei divided his soldiers into two groups, rested twice a day, and took turns to guard. Heishan Qushuai saw no chance to take advantage of him, so he had to watch Liu Bei go. Leave Huguan. But as a result, Liu Bei's marching speed was also greatly slowed down, and he walked for more than a month.
By the time he arrived in Jinyang again, it was already mid-August.
Jinyang City is still so tall, but it has experienced three wars in succession. It looks a little dilapidated. The houses in the city were demolished by the Huns. There are ruins everywhere in the city. The most important thing is that there is not even a single citizen in the city. , and even not only the city, Jinyang City is deserted for fifty miles, it can be said to be a veritable empty city.
This is very different from what Liu Bei thought. He thought that Jinyang City was full of corpses lying on the road, wailing all over the place, and the plague was rampant. His convoy was surrounded by hungry people hundreds of miles outside the city and was unable to fly. But he never thought that this place would become It was difficult for him to understand that it was an empty city. At least there should be a new Jinyang order from the imperial court here.
He couldn't understand it, but he still kept his hands on it. While arranging soldiers to camp outside the city to repair the city, he also sent envoys to inform the counties in Taiyuan that Jinyang City was preparing to release food for disaster relief. The envoy bumped into Jian Yong and Liu Deran on the road. They learned the news and rushed back to Jinyang that afternoon.
"Where are the people?" Liu Bei asked directly. When the two saw him, he was leading people to clean up the land in the city, trying hard to pick out useful items from the ruins. Jian Yong didn't understand what he was saying at all, so Liu Bei had no choice but to sit on a horizontal pillar on the spot, cross his legs and ask: "Where are the people of Jinyang? As the saying goes, it's hard to leave your homeland. No matter how hard it is, how can Jinyang be reduced to such a state?" For Bai Di?”
Jian Yong finally understood and smiled at him: "Xuande, what's the problem? Ting Jian has borrowed 100,000 stones of food and grass from Bai Bo's army, and is now providing disaster relief in Zizhi. Most of the people in Taiyuan are now refugees, without food and clothing. , If you don’t go to Zi family, will you wait here to die?”
Liu Bei was very pleased to hear the news, but he was still a little puzzled: "What about the new Jinyang Order? He won't starve to death and follow the refugees to Zishi, right?"
At this point, Jian Yong smiled again. He was carrying a package on his back. Now he took it off and untied it, revealing a string of copper seals and ink ribbons. The brand-new copper seals dazzled Liu Bei. He only heard Jian Yong elaborate: "You are not here. These days, there are eleven new county magistrates sent by the imperial court. Four of them resigned after saying hello to me and returned their seals and ribbons. Five of them resigned by hanging their seals and ribbons on a tree without saying hello. Only two of them remained in office. If you want to When I see the new Jinyang Order, I am afraid that I can go to Niuyin Mountain to live in seclusion now."
Liu Bei was dumbfounded when he heard this, and then he could only comfort himself by patting his chest: "Fortunately, not all of them have escaped yet. Even if nine of the sixteen counties in Taiyuan County are gone, there are still seven county magistrates left. I think Tian Dan could do it with Destroy Leyi in one city and revive Tianqi's foundation..."
Before he finished speaking, Jian Yong interrupted him again and said: "Someone from the court came the day before yesterday, and they said that the remaining five people were not coming." These words directly choked Liu Bei to half death, and he said angrily: "What a mess! Where did the imperial court come from with so many beetles?" He could only turn to Guan Yu and said: "Yun Chang, we have so many vacant positions, and we can imitate Qin Xiaogong and widely publish the "Order for Seeking Talents"."
This is of course a joke, but the problem is urgent. If you don’t have money or food, you can borrow it, steal it, or even rob it, but you can’t create a person out of thin air. Without officials who implement policies, even an emperor is still nothing. It would be better to call himself the King of Heaven, which may appear more down-to-earth.
Guan Yu was not good at joking, so he just said: "Brother, now the four of my brothers have reunited together, and there are tens of thousands of soldiers, relying on each other for life and death. Through all the hardships, we have been able to achieve the goal of becoming a golden stone. Even if there is a danger from heaven, The misfortune of hanging upside down is nothing more than a small stream that can be passed by just walking! Why should we be afraid of it?"
Guan Yu was usually taciturn, but at this time his words were impassioned, and everyone around him felt refreshed after hearing this. Liu Bei also suddenly became heroic and said to the people in front of him: "Yun Chang is right! How can big things be easy? Otherwise, it is not enough to show that I, Liu Xuande, am a hero. I am going to encourage you all!"
Then he left all the matters to Jian Yong and Liu Deran, and hurried off to Xihe.
Naturally, Chen Chong was already waiting for him at Lishi. When Liu Bei went to Luo, he had long expected that the people's livelihood in Taiyuan would be difficult. He first told the court that he would move the people of Taiyuan to Xihe for food, and then borrowed food and provided disaster relief. All the arrangements were made with Liu Bei's consideration in mind. It can be said that he did one job and had two concerns. When Liu Bei came, he was drawing a water conservancy map for Taiyuan County.
When the two met, they were naturally sad. But the two of them no longer needed to greet each other. Liu Bei had not yet eaten when he arrived, so Chen Chong gave him a bowl of scallion noodles. While eating, he talked with Chen Chong about what he had seen in Luoyang and the difficulties of governing in Taiyuan. , and from time to time he cursed the imperial court for the rewards: "In the past, Duan Jiong pacified the Western Qiang, and he was granted the title of County Marquis, and he fed thousands of households in the city. But now that we have pacified the Xiongnu, the rewards and punishments are not even ten, how ridiculous is that?"
Chen Chong made him a cup of tea, handed it to him, and then comforted him: "Military achievements are measured by beheadings. In total, Duan Taiwei beheaded more than 38,600 people. We defeated the enemy by attacking the enemy's mind. Although we won many battles, He has only beheaded more than 6,000 people, how can he compare with Xin Fenghou?"
Then Chen Chong took out a bamboo slip from the study and handed it to Liu Bei. Seeing Liu Bei's confusion, Chen Chong smiled and said, "These are the new county magistrates I prepared for you." Liu Bei was overjoyed. He opened the bamboo slip and saw what was written on it. They are all descendants of Taiyuan’s wealthy families:
Wang Gai, the son of Wang Yun, the former governor of Yuzhou, Dou Fu, the grandson of the former general Dou Wu, Guo Mian, the son of the former chief Nong Guo Quan, Wen Rui, the younger brother of Wenshu, the current prefect of Zhuojun, and Ling, the younger brother of Linghu, the former Wuhuan captain There were no less than twenty people including Hu Yuan, Pei Cheng, a younger brother of the Peimao clan in Jingzhao Yin, Yu Fan, the son of Yu Xin, the prefect of Rinan County, and Zongyi, the son of Bagu Zongci.
Some of these people are descendants of local wealthy families in Bingzhou, such as Wang Gai, Guo Mian, Wen Rui, Linghu Yuan, etc. Some of them are Chen Chong's disciples in Taixue, such as Pei Cheng, Yu Fan, Zongyi, etc., and even people like Dou Fu. A reclusive person.
Liu Bei couldn't help but sighed: "Ting Jian, I have been fighting in Qingxu for three years, and I think I have met a lot of heroes and celebrities, but your list makes me doubt whether these years have been wasted. ? Can these celebrities really be of use to me? I was in Qingxu, and I was used to seeing them blustering and boasting, but being useless when doing things. "
When Chen Chong heard this, he couldn't help but smile: "There are no useless people, it just depends on how they are used! I have already written to some of them, and they will arrive one after another in about ten days. I know their character." Yes, you can use them with confidence. But there are still some people who are descendants of local famous families, so you can only talk to them in person."
Liu Bei didn't know why, so he asked: "As the leader of the literary world, you can't move me. How can I talk about it?"
Chen Chong obviously had a plan in mind, and he said calmly: "Just tell them that I am willing to follow Feng Xuan's example and bring justice to the world for all the gentlemen! They will definitely be moved by it."
