Chen Chong's layout is not complicated, but it is not easy either, but the progress of completion varies greatly.
Some things were completed quickly, such as the temporary relocation of people. Moving back home was quite laborious, not only time-consuming and costly, but also likely to cause riots on the way. When the county officials heard that the matter was postponed, they almost celebrated, and all the county residents' relocation stopped within four days.
There was almost no progress on some matters, and the mobilization of grain and grass was surprisingly difficult. But this is also expected. After all, there was no harvest in Taiyuan last year, and there has not yet been a large-scale famine. Part of it is Chen Chong's shameless borrowing of grain from everywhere, part of it is Liu Bei's reward money for transporting grain from Luoyang, and part of it is the work of the county magistrates themselves. If you dig into your pocket, it can be said that you are borrowing money from the county.
At present, adjusting grain from various counties is tantamount to continuing to take money from the pockets of county magistrates. Cangcao Rong has said this several times, but to no avail. In the end, Cangcao Rong had no choice but to report to Chen Chong. Chen Chong had no choice but to lobby the counties one by one. No matter whether the county magistrates were willing or not, no one could refute his face. In the end, he reluctantly forced 30,000 shi of grain to enter Jinyang.
The most regrettable thing is the Yanmen Xiongnu. When Guan Yu went to Guangwu, Huyan Yule was quite moved, but after careful consideration, he declined Guan Yu and said: "Thank you Longshou for your kindness. It's just that in the past four hundred years, it has been discussed." Except for Shanyu Luanti, the Xiongnu dignitaries only have four surnames: Huyan, Xubu, Lan, and Qiulin."
"I think that my ancestors often had heroes who overcame difficulties and dangers, which is why they are famous in the clan today. Yuledu is no more than a mediocre person, but he has inherited the honor of Huyan. As the leader of a department, if he follows the general, he will The name of the ancestors has been abandoned. Xiao Wang was defeated miserably in Xinfeng. Fortunately, he was able to absolve the Shanyu. If he had not guarded the gate for the Shanyu, he would have been ridiculed by everyone in the clan. I hope the general will understand. If Xianbei invaded, Xiao Wang would have to rely on Longshou. Reinforcements are.”
Guan Yu was solemn after hearing this and admired Le Du greatly. When he returned, he sighed to Chen Chong and said, "Unexpectedly, there are people among the Hu people who sacrifice their lives for righteousness."
Of course Huyan Yuledu would not sit still and wait for death. Now that the Han army has withdrawn its defenses, Guangwu and Mayi are isolated cities between two mountains. Therefore, they cannot defend them. Only Wuzhou is adjacent to Dingxiang County. At least, they can at least be nearby to help the Huns from Dingxiang tribes to rescue some soldiers. and supplies, and now that the threat to Huchuquan was dead, the new chanyu would not sit back and watch Xianbei invade. With this idea in mind, he brought all the remaining 10,000 people into Wuzhou.
In February, Kuitouguo led his army to go south for the second time. In one day, the two cities of Mayi and Guangwu were captured without fighting. The leader climbed up to the city of Mayi. From the city, he could see the rows of houses in the city. The Xianbei knights were counting the property that the Huns had not taken away in the city. Outside the city, there was a patch of green grass. With successive victories, the leader, who had always been silent, couldn't help but smile. .
Tuoba Lin, the leader of the Tuoba Tribe, congratulated him and said: "The Shan Yu defeated the Huns and Han armies before and after, and finally captured Mayi today. Such a feat of martial arts was something that even the previous kings had not accomplished. Presumably, after this battle, the leaders of all tribes will fight against Shan Yu." Yu Ying is convinced."
The leader just laughed at this, and instead poured cold water on him and said: "What are these words? How can a person not know it? The more I work in this position, the more I can appreciate the power of the late king. In the hegemony of Mobei, all the tribes are in power. I can only gain the trust of the late king and inherit the legacy of the late king, but I cannot unify the three tribes."
At this point, the leader asked again: "I heard that Jian Man has conquered the Podoluo tribe recently. How strange it is! I have always known Jian Man. He is praised only for being brave and not afraid of death. But recently, he has been strange. He keeps making moves, and even I am sometimes amazed by them, what kind of amazing people has he recruited?"
Su Liujin Heiqi and others knew nothing about it, but Tuoba Lin replied: "I heard that there was a young commander named Ke Bineng who was favored by Jian Man. He was familiar with Chinese studies, military formations, and was good at enforcing the law. , so Jianman reused him."
The leader glanced sideways at Tuoba Lin and couldn't help but sigh: "I, Xianbei, are really full of outstanding people. If Jian Man doesn't fight for the country with me, I recruit all the talents from all tribes, or even if the Han Dynasty fights with me for the whole country, what should I be afraid of?" He couldn't help but said to his brother Bu Dugen who praised him: "If it hadn't been for the second brother's suggestion to use Gongsun Zan as bait to lure Liu Bei, how could I have won such a great victory?"
So Kuitou rewarded Bu Dugen in public and rewarded Mayi City as Bu Dugen's residence. All the commanders were envious of this. Then the leader discussed with the commanders and said: "Now that I am attacking Mayi, Yanmen Xingsheng will be all under my control. In this way, our troops can attack Dingxiang of the Xiongnu in the west, and we can also attack Taiyuan in the south. According to your opinions, we can then attack When we come down to use our troops, should we go south or west?"
Hou Mo Chen Kuling first said: "It is better to advance westward to Wuzhou first. We fought two battles and won a great victory against the 20,000 Xiongnu tribe. We only lost nearly a thousand people, while we fought with more than 10,000 Han troops. In the first battle, our army occupied a favorable location and was five times larger, but we actually lost more than 3,000 troops. It can be seen that the Huns are easy to deal with, but the Han army is difficult to deal with. How can we sacrifice easy things for difficult things in a war?"
The leader closed his eyes and said nothing, then asked Bu Dugen for his suggestion: "What do you think, second brother?"
Bu Dugen indeed rejected Hou Mochen and Kuling's suggestion. He analyzed: "What Master Kuling said seems reasonable, but he never thought that if we attack Dingxiang, will the Han army sit back and watch Dingxiang fall and be indifferent? Definitely. No, so attacking the Xiongnu seems easy, but it will be attacked from both sides. Once defeated, the cities of Mayi will be thrown back to the Han army."
Shuluo Yu Qi Guanghu asked: "Is it possible that when we attack Taiyuan, Yufuluo will just sit back and ignore it? After all, Yufuluo's position as Shanyu was conferred by the Han Dynasty, and the internal strife in various tribes was quelled by the Han army. , if the Han army ordered him to go out, how could he not attack at all?"
Bu Dugen was obviously wise and asked, "When we attacked Mayi many years ago, did the Xiongnu Chanyu send any soldiers? If my own tribe is so stingy, let alone the Han people?"
No one could answer for a while, except Tuoba Lin, who looked hesitant, but he remained silent in the end. Seeing that all the commanders were united in their opinions, the leader ordered that except for Bu Dugen who led his troops to repair here, the rest of the army continued to move south and crossed Yanjing Mountain. The troops were divided into two groups, one going down the Fen River through Beishan, and the other Passing by the Tuo River and going down Yangqu, they attacked Langmeng.
When the two armies crossed Guanshan as planned and were about to head south along the thawing spring water, the scene in front of them was very different from what they had imagined. During these days, Chen Chong sent people to set fire to the plains in the Tuoshui River, Fenshui River and other river valleys north of Langmeng. Kuitou and others led troops and climbed up to Yanjing Mountain on horseback. The commanders looked at the mountains to the south and licked them a few times. The tributaries of the Fen River and the places where the Tuo River passes through. All he could see was black smoke rising into the sky, a dark patch of charred wood that had collapsed in the river valley, and white steam curling up on the water's surface, as if it had once been hot and boiling.
Some old village ruins can still be vaguely seen in the wilderness, but now they are deserted, with only the beams that have been reduced to charcoal. The Xianbei knights each looked at each other and talked about it: It is said that Taiyuan was the sacred place of Bingzhou. How come it feels like being in the desert here?
Leader Bu Dugen and others were ashen-faced. They sent scouts along the water to look for a suitable place to set up camp, but after running for half a day, they still couldn't find it. The horses under them were unable to hold up. The Xianbei army stayed in the north of Taiyuan County for another ten days. When the horses in the army began to die from the epidemic, Kuitou finally gave up the idea of marching south and withdrew his troops and returned north.
After Jian Yong repeatedly confirmed in Jinyang that the Xianbei people had withdrawn their troops, he took a long breath and jokingly sighed to Chen Chong: "This level has been passed." Chen Chong looked down at the list of casualties and said to Jian Yong He replied: "It's hard to say what the court will do!"
Losing more than 10,000 people at once, such a major defeat would always be considered a felony. Huangfu Song was dismissed by the emperor without making any meritorious service in Liangzhou. Zang Min, Xia Yu, and Tian Yan, the commanders of the previous three-way expedition to Xianbei, were dismissed by the emperor because of their failure in the battle. Liu Bei If this defeat is not handled properly, it will be destroyed in one day, even if it takes several years to accumulate.
But these are all things for later. On February 11th, after nearly forty days of walking and stopping on the road, Zhang Fei finally returned to Jinyang with Liu Bei. Chen Chong and Guan Yu left the city more than twenty miles in advance to meet him. As soon as Chen Chong opened the door curtain and entered the car, they saw Liu Bei lying in the car, covering his face with a white towel and tilting his head not to look at Chen Chong.
Chen Chong sat next to him, took off the white scarf, and said with a smile, "Zhen Su is not like you."
Liu Bei reached out and took off the white scarf and glanced at him. Chen Chong happened to see his pale face and saw Liu Bei's eyes full of annoyance. Liu Bei covered his face again and said: "It's not just plain, it's really shameless to see you again! It's better to die than suffer such a defeat in your life!"
After saying that, he faced the wall without saying anything, and Chen Chong didn't say anything either. He shook his head and saw a golden sword in the corner of the carriage. It was the Zhongxing Sword given by the Emperor. The Emperor made a total of four Zhongxing Swords, but one of them was lost for some reason. , now there are only three left. Chen Chong looked at this sword with interest for a while, and then asked Liu Bei: "You have no face to see the Jiangdong elders, and you have this sword in the car. Are you planning to imitate the overlord and kill yourself in Wujiang River?"
Liu Bei stood up, glared at Chen Chong, waved his hand and took the Zhongxing Sword back from his hand, and then turned over and lay back down with the sword. Chen Chong smiled when he saw this, and sat on one side without saying a word. The convoy walked to Jinyang like this. When the car stopped in front of the prefect's mansion, Liu Bei was still as silent as gold. When the watchman was knocking the night watch on the street, Liu Bei sat up from the car.
As soon as he looked up, he saw Chen Chong looking at him, as if waiting for him to say something. Liu Bei shook the Zhongxing sword in his arms, which had been warmed by him, and thought about the past, and finally said seriously: "I will never do it again." This is childish!"
Chen Chong took a deep breath and said to Liu Bei: "Xuande, defeat is inevitable. This won't be the last time. It's just our comrades who died in the battle. You and I should always remember that if you and I accomplish nothing in the end, that will be the greatest harm to them." Don't let them down, don't meet under the clouds, you have nothing to say to them."
