At this moment, Chen Chong deeply realized what it means to have unparalleled blessings and misfortune never come alone. But time was no longer enough for him to complain. Life was at stake. After hearing what Qin Yilu said, he immediately whipped his mount and rushed into the city along the driveway.
The residence of Dong Zhuo's family was arranged by Chen Chong himself. It was a Taiping Taoist temple located in the south corner of the city. It was also the base camp of the Yellow Turban believers in Xihe. Most of the White Wave bandits had been here. However, after the Yellow Turban Uprising, this Taoist temple It should be abandoned as it should be, but the Yellow Turban believers who revolted never thought that they would never be able to return here.
The former prefect Xing Ji also neglected to improve the market affairs and neither destroyed nor rebuilt the Taoist temple. He still left cobwebs all over the city corners. However, this was not something he did intentionally. After Chen Chong took office, Lishi City had ten houses and five empty houses, and people fled for years. It was not until this year that things improved. Lishi City has barely returned to the scene it was when the city was built.
Chen Chong did not demolish this Taoist temple, but instead sent people to clean it up. When the Taoist temple was built, the temple could accommodate 600 people. Taiping Taoist priests preached to the masses here. Chen Chong liked the temple very much, so he changed it into a county academic office. The children of county officials could copy books here. , and Liu Yan, as a literary rafter, also gave lectures here to the children studying in the county.
It's just that Xihe County is a small county after all, and there are only a few students who come to the county school to study. On the contrary, after the descendants of the wealthy families in Taiyuan County heard that Chen Chong took office, many people came to Lishi to see the style and doctrine of "Xiping Dragon Head", but in the end not even half of the rooms in the temple were occupied.
Chen Chong placed Dong Zhuo's family in a sub-monastery in the temple. After all, the location was quiet and popular, and Chen Chong was known for his knowledge. This arrangement also showed that Chen Chong paid enough attention to it. Unexpectedly, an assassination and abduction of high-ranking officials of the imperial court took place here. Big case of relatives.
When Chen Chong rushed to the Taoist temple, the rest of the people in the Taoist temple were expelled, and Duan Xuan's thousands of soldiers and horses surrounded the Taoist temple. Different from the Xihe County soldiers, Duan Xuan's men were all wearing iron armor. The soldiers faced the temple with expressionless faces. The Taoist temple seemed to be surrounded by golden waves under the sun.
Qin Yilu then rushed to clear the way for Chen Chong. The soldiers looked back and without saying a word the whole time, they voluntarily made way for Chen Chong to a path leading directly to the Guanmen. From the end of the path, Duan Yan could be seen standing at the Guanmen, confronting people. . Chen Chong walked silently through the indifferent and depressed crowd. He walked to the temple. Inside the Taoist gate stood two boulders from the Taiping Road. On the left it was written "If you respond, you will change with the direction." On the right, it was written "If you succeed, you will live in seclusion forever." Duan Yan Standing among the boulders.
Facing him about ten feet away, in front of the side hall where they lived, Mrs. Dong was lying on the ground trembling. The assassin stepped on the old lady's spine with one foot, and put a knife on her neck with the other hand. It was revealed that three fingers were missing from his mutilated palm, but he still held the knife firmly and smiled like a lone wolf at Duan Xuan.
Duan Yan obviously had nothing to say to the assassin at this time. When he saw Chen Chong arriving, he introduced the situation to him in a low voice: "They are the remnants of the moth thieves. There are four of them, one is here and three are in the house. Ting Jian , I tried to persuade you with my life, gold, silver, official salary, etc., but they all failed. Do you have any other ideas?"
Chen Chong did not reply, but looked up and down at the assassin who broke into the county and openly robbed and killed the family members of high-ranking imperial officials. In broad daylight, he was not wearing a mask and showed two hideous scars on his cheeks. One of them even penetrated the corner of his mouth. It was difficult to find him. Imagine how he survived such serious injuries.
Now that only four people have done such a shocking thing, they don't want gold, silver or official salary, which means they are determined to die. But contrary to common sense, he should have killed Dong Zhuo's family members on the spot and then had a decisive battle with Duan Xuan, but he was still watching and stalling for time. Thinking of the word "moth thief" mentioned by Duan Xuan, Chen Chong felt a shiver in his heart. He probably already knew what was going on in the room. He whispered: "Leave it all to me. I'll talk to them. Zhongming, please exit first and wait for my news."
Duan Xuan looked stern when he heard this, and asked in a low voice: "Doesn't it matter? These are all desperadoes, and they are not afraid of death. If I don't protect you, Ting Jian, you may not be able to protect yourself."
Chen Chong stood up against the assassin who was like a clay sculpture, took a deep breath, and answered Duan Xuan loudly: "The situation can't get any worse, Zhongming! If all Dong Gong's family members die here, does it matter whether you or I live or die? You Please retreat and I will have a good discussion with these righteous men."
Duan Xuan was silent for a moment and said to him, "Take care of yourself." Then he turned around and strode out of the view.
The door closed with a loud creak, and the inside of the temple instantly became silent. In the huge front yard, only the assassin and Chen Chong were left looking at each other silently. Chen Chong looked at the assassin and greeted with a wry smile: "Peng Shuai, I haven't seen you in several years. , you add a bit of prestige."
The assassin put away the blade, touched the scars on his face, and smiled at Chen Chong: "Are Longshou talking about these scars? Thieves and bandits live among the blades, and it is a blessing to be able to survive in this world. , this scar is insignificant."
Having said this, he released his grip on the old lady's back, took two steps forward, looked at Chen Chong carefully and said, "Longsou, you haven't changed at all, you are still as radiant as before. But I, Peng Tuo, really couldn't have imagined that you would be here at Qianqiu Pavilion." Let me leave Hebei privately, and when we meet again, we will be like this."
Upon seeing this, Chen Chong bypassed Peng Tuo and went directly to visit the old lady. The old lady was so frightened that she fainted and could no longer tremble. Fortunately, she was not seriously ill. Chen Chong breathed a sigh of relief and looked back at Peng Tuo, who was watching coldly. He let out a sigh of relief in his heart before saying: "Shuai Peng is here, and Chen is unexpectedly there." I don’t know, I’m confused.”
Peng Tuo didn't care at all and said with a smile: "There are more than tens of millions of thieves in the world today? It is the easiest for me to get here. But it is my honor that a little thief like me can still be cared about by the dragon head." Then his expression changed. Chang changed and said seriously to Chen Chong: "If Longshou wants me to stop right now, that is absolutely impossible."
"Of course I know." Chen Chong carried the old lady on his back and said to Peng Tuoyan: "Go in, let's go in and talk."
Peng Tuo was convinced that there was nothing he could do, and the two of them entered the secondary view together. Although he was already prepared, as soon as he stepped into the temple, he was hit by a strong smell of blood and stench that made Chen Chong almost vomit on the spot. But then he saw a scene that he would remember for the rest of his life.
Under the three-foot-high statue of Huang Taiyi in the hall, a man's hands were stabbed through the bones of his hands and nailed to a pedestal. His body was stripped naked and a piece of white cloth was stuffed in his mouth, but Chen Chong could not tell who he was at all. I saw another man sitting next to him holding a small knife. There was a wooden basin next to the knife. As usual, he dipped the small knife in the basin and washed it with water. He slashed at his ribs and skillfully cut off the skin and flesh into slices.
Under his feet, there was a mass of bloody flesh. From his appearance, it was vaguely apparent that he had once been an ordinary person. There was a wooden barrel at the back of the palace, and the stench came from here. Chen Chong knew what it looked like without even looking. There were two more people standing in the corner of the hall holding knives. They tied more than ten women and children into a ball with ropes. They saw Dong Qi and Dong Cen being chopped alive. They had no thoughts at all, but when they saw Chen Chong walking into the hall, they all Everyone shouted for help, and the knife wielder immediately knocked them unconscious with the back of the knife, and then silence returned to the palace.
Chen Chong took a deep breath, placed the old lady on the ground, stood up and asked Peng Tuo: "Why is Commander Peng like this?"
Peng Tuo shrugged, leaned in front of the door, and asked Chen Chong with a smile: "Back in Qianqiu Pavilion, Thirty Thousands of my followers were massacred by Dong, regardless of age or widow. As a disciple of Daliang Xianshi, why can't I do this?" "
Chen Chong suppressed his anger and said to Peng Tuo: "The fault of Qianqiu Pavilion is mine! The fault is Dong Zhuo! The fault is Chang Shi! The fault is the emperor! What does it have to do with them? Peng Shuai, what you did has nothing to do with it. What does Dong Zhuo have to do with it? As a disciple of Zhang Tianshi, you should know how Huang Tian came to this scene!"
Peng Tuo was unmoved and said to Chen Chong in a cold voice: "The father's debt must be paid by the son! The great righteousness of the Spring and Autumn Period can be repaid in the ninth generation. This is a truth I have heard in the county school in the past. How can the dragon head say something about me?" You don't understand." He walked towards the palace, bent down and grabbed the ball of flesh and blood, and then threw it down. He turned around to show off the blood in his hand to Chen Chong and said: "Look at the dragon head, I am so happy that I can't express it at this moment! Thinking of Thief Dong’s expression, it’s worth dying for me right now!”
Chen Chong finally couldn't stand it any longer. He rushed forward, grabbed Peng Tuo's collar, and punched Peng Tuo on the bridge of his nose. He angrily shouted: "What kind of virtue do you have now? How can you be considered a human being like this? You are a Han family. Man! Life and death are worth a thousand pieces of gold just like a promise! Is this what you were going to do when you swore an oath in front of Huang Taiyi?"
Peng Tuo was dizzy for a moment, then he smiled at Chen Chong and said: "Who wants to be the son of the Han family! I just wish I could kill all the ministers in the world! Don't pretend to be a good person, Longshou. No matter how you talk about the government, it's just anger and ambition." That’s all, how do you want to live and die together with moth thieves like us? I won’t kill you, it’s just because the great wise master asked us to leave you alive.”
Chen Chong said nothing and turned around and walked directly towards the two knife-holders in the corner. The two knife-holders were at a loss when they saw Chen Chong. Chen Chong said nothing to them and squatted down to untie the ropes that bound several children.
Most of Dong Zhuo's family members were pampered and had never seen such a scene before. At this time, most of them were so frightened that they were delirious and did not dare to move after being untied. When it was Dong Bai's turn, the graceful girl felt a warm breath, as if she was the only warm thing in this cold palace. She couldn't help but press herself into Chen Chong's broad arms. When she recognized that the person in front of her was Chen Chong, a sadness filled the corners of her eyes, and tears burst out, causing her to cry loudly in Chen Chong's arms without any concern for her image. .
Chen Chong hesitated for a moment, but finally stretched out his arms to hug Dong Bai, gently touched the girl's back with his four-fingered palm, and murmured in a low voice: "It will all pass."
At this moment, a chill came from his spine, and then he heard Peng Tuo laugh and say: "Longshou, do you really think I will be soft-hearted?"
