Early the next morning, Liu Bei and his beloved wife visited his mentor and uncle again. When he saw Lu Zhi, Lu Zhi and Cang Tou were packing their bags. Liu Bei was surprised and asked, "How many more days will the teacher stay in Jinyang if he is not here?"
Seeing their radiant faces, Lu Zhi was quite pleased. Then he shook his head and said, "Your Majesty is seriously ill and his position has not yet been decided. I am worried. Once Your Majesty becomes emperor, the person who holds the power will be the general. As a general, I As a minister, I am also an official and a servant. It is the time for me to do my duty and give advice. The country is so worried! You must always remember to take the country as your own responsibility."
Liu Bei said yes, and Lu Zhi took out a hidden sword from his bedroom, gave it to Liu Jia and said, "I am also a Yan person. The Yan people actually have nothing good except swords. You are the daughter of Bingzhou, so you will understand. This sword was made by someone when I was young, but unfortunately later on I entered the world of scholars and this sword was no longer useful, so I gave it to you for self-defense."
Liu Jia saluted and took it. She took the sword out of its scabbard. She could see the sword's gleam as cold as frost. On both sides of the sword were inscribed "Siqi" and "Shaking Light" in small seals. Liu Jia didn't recognize it and only felt the pattern. She was very happy about the exquisite ancient charm and saluted Lu Zhi again to express her gratitude.
After bidding farewell to his mentor and going to see his uncle again, his uncle Liu Yuanqi was very happy. He recalled the past to Liu Bei: "You are the proud son of the clan. It's a pity that your father died early, so you had to ask me to help you. If your mother were here, , I must have closed my eyes to see you today." At this point, he couldn't help but sigh, and told him again and again: "The family is thin, you have to take this into consideration, and don't let the whole family die." The couple didn't know what to say, Only Nono.
During the noon banquet, Chen Chong, Guan Yu, Zhang Fei and other relatives and friends showed up one by one. Jian Yong winked at Liu Bei, while Chen Chong was sighing at the side, which ruined the scenery. Guan Yu asked why, but Chen Chong sighed and said, "I have been away from home for too long, and I miss Zhao Ji a little." Zhang Fei said angrily: "I have been away from home for too long. You’re not yet married! Why are you talking about this!”
Liu Jia was cooking rice and roasting meat in the kitchen, while Liu Bei served the food. Everyone ate soup cakes with beef pickles and vegetables. Liu Bei smiled at Chen Chong and said, "From now on, there will be no need for Ting Jian to cook in person." Jian Yong was in He tore the beef and dipped it in the sauce, shook his head and sighed: "Your wife's soup is not as good as the court's soup. Don't you want to ruin the happiness of others!"
Liu Bei tried to kick him, but was pulled down by Chen Chong. Chen Chong smiled at him and said, "Now that Xuande is filling the hall with joy, you should know that having fun alone is not as good as having fun with everyone. There were so many people following the ceremony yesterday, so it is better to have a banquet in front of the house in the evening and share the fun with the whole city!" Everyone cheered loudly! , Liu Bei looked around and saw that everyone's faces were full of joy. He toasted and smiled at Chen Chong: "Ting Jian, thanks to you, I got married and established a business so quickly. Now that I think about it, ten years of spring and autumn are like a dream. If it happens every day, It’s as good as today.”
When Chen Chong saw his true feelings revealed, he couldn't help but be moved and said: "Of course, because the general public can live and be happy as they are today, we have only come to where we are today. Xuande, it's just a long road, and we have just begun." The two of them talked. Pick up the cup and drink it all in one gulp.
In the evening, Chen Chong organized a dinner for the whole city. He directly occupied the street in front of the county government, spread straw mats on the street, and set up two large cauldrons in the mansion, two for cooking noodles and two for cooking meat. This was the season for fresh vegetables. Leeks, courgettes (cucumbers), sunflowers, eggplants, and radish (radish) were all chopped into pieces and put into the cauldron. The steam from the cauldron rose and the city was filled with fragrance. There was no need to send anyone to spread the word. Within half an hour, the people spread the word by word of mouth. , all took bowls and boxes to eat on the road. Liu Bei and Liu Jia were in front of the mansion, sharing food one by one for the people in the city. While people were eating on the street, they joked and said privately: Commander Liu is a brave man, and his wife is so delicate and pretty. They are a perfect match!
But such happiness is short-lived after all. Liu Bei got married during his break, but only had a three-day break, and then he had to return to politics. Fortunately, affected by the festive atmosphere of the wedding, even the officials in the county acted with rare diligence. Even the high-ranking officials in the county who had frequently visited her before were wise enough to stop bothering her.
But in the land of Bingzhou, peace has always been rare. On the second day of April, new problems faced Liu Bei and Chen Chong.
When Chen Chong met Gao Zhun, he had just returned from the county government and saw him being stopped in front of the door by the doorman. Although his clothes were ragged, he recognized Gao Zhun at a glance. After all, when I was in Santangli, I had a deep memory of Gao Zhun. After all, there were few such confident men in the Baibo Army: there was wine in his words, iron in his demeanor, and making friends with him was like riding a galloping horse. It's heart-opening.
It's just that Micro Motion is in a very embarrassed state at this time. He had a difficult time along the way. The war had been going on for more than a month. All the Xiongnu cities along the way were under martial law, and the Shanyu set up checkpoints to strictly check the faces of the people. Gao Zhun had no choice but to bypass the city, walk along the trails, hunt in the mountains and forests by himself, and sleep in the withered grass. One day he woke up and lost his way. He took detours for two more days. When he found Jinyang, his uniform was full of dust and dirt.
Chen Chong brought him into the hall and straight to the point told the ins and outs of the local uprising. He said sincerely: "Longshou, I just had a thought at that time, and I didn't expect such a situation. Now that the city is in trouble both internally and externally, as if Liu Shi If you and I don’t lend a helping hand, then more than ten thousand people will not survive!”
Before Chen Chong could make up his mind about the news, Liu Bei happened to receive the news during military training: Huyan King Yuledu resisted Xianbei in Wuzhou for half a month, and finally the city was broken. Yuledu fled north to Zhongling and continued to hold on, but Shanyu's reinforcements were late. When it was too late, he had no choice but to send envoys to Liu Bei for help.
As soon as Liu Bei got the news, he hurried back to the county government and ran into Chen Chong talking with Gao Zhun. This made him speechless for a while. After a long time, he couldn't help but laugh at himself and said: "I dare to love my old Liu. Now he is the pretty man who is loved by everyone in Bingzhou." ”
So he called everyone to the hall, laid out the map, and discussed the matter together: There are now wars in two directions, one in the west and one in the north, and everyone is asking for help from Jinyang. Liu Bei has just been defeated. At this time, the only ones who can fight are the ten thousand who were left behind. The county soldiers can only go in one direction, so what should the Han army do?
Dou Fu, the governor of the county, was Liu Bei's nominal deputy, so he expressed his opinion first. He frowned and asked everyone: "What is there to worry about? Yu Fuluo is a chanyu conferred by the imperial court. How can we help the rebels in Shuofang? As a general who protects the Xiongnu, Liu Shijun is the emperor's imperial order to resist Xianbei. How can we abandon the near and seek the far away? Once Dingxiang falls, how can we explain to the court?"
Most of the officials agreed with him and nodded silently. But when Guan Yu heard this, he frowned greatly, and his eyebrows were like two flying knives. He couldn't help but retorted: "Why did Dou Juncheng say this? Mencius once said: 'If the king regards his ministers as his hands and feet, then the ministers will regard him as his own. Like the heart of the heart; if the king treats his ministers like dogs and horses, then the ministers will regard him as a countryman; if the king regards his ministers as earth and mustard, then the ministers will regard him as a bandit. "Who is Yu Fuluo? Everyone here knows that he is a cunning jackal. Fox and his ilk only came to power with the help of the imperial court. Over the past few months, he has abused the people to the extreme, and chaos has spread in the country. If he is allowed to continue to do so, even if he repels Xianbei for a while, he will not be able to eradicate the root cause of the disease. , just letting the situation repeat itself in vain."
Dou Fu couldn't help being surprised when he heard the words. He looked at the angry warrior. Under the words that were about to explode, there was a calm face and sharp eyes. He felt that his pupils were "injured", which made him withdraw. Although he looked down upon Guan Yu, he still retorted:
"Things are divided into priorities, and actions are classified according to their severity. Xianbei is now besieging Dingxiang and conquering several cities. It is not said that he is not in a hurry. However, the king has no more than 10,000 people who can fight, while the Xiongnu has more than 100,000 people. , no less than 90,000 people went out to conquer Shuofang. If we want to defeat a large number of people with a small number, it can be said that it is not unimportant. I heard that the general has always been kind-hearted in all battles, but on the battlefield, is there any principle of abandoning urgency and moving slowly, abandoning lightness and taking the most important? "
Guan Yu was about to continue the argument when he saw Chen Chong reaching out to stop the argument, shaking his head and saying to everyone: "What Zixun said makes sense, but it is not entirely true. What Yun Chang said also makes sense, but it is not clear enough. But in my opinion , this behavior has only one solution."
Now that Chen Chong had expressed his stance, everyone turned their attention to listen to his analysis of the current situation: "At the beginning of the year, in order to prevent Xianbei from entering the invaders, I burned the grassland along the river in the north of the county to white ground. This not only prevented Xianbei from going south, but also made it difficult for us to go north and forcibly The losses in the rescue operation will be countless. If the battle is unfavorable and there is no way to retreat, we must not act like this."
Everyone was deeply convinced after hearing this. After talking about the reasons why he could not go north, Chen Chong continued to point out the key points of the westward journey: "Although Yu Fuluo had a large army, he repeatedly used force and was as violent as Jie and Zhou, and the people's morale was unstable. This time he attacked Shuofang with nearly a hundred thousand people. It was exactly A big mistake has been made. The great city of Shuofang is located in the middle of the desert. Even though He Na's family has to go out to seek food, he has to surround it with heavy troops. How ridiculous is it? We are short of troops and will be in dire straits. Although we have less than 10,000 troops, we are still in trouble. Luo is trapped in the land of civilian thieves, and he can capture them alive even if he rides alone."
"Therefore, we have only one solution for using our troops."
Speaking of this, Chen Chong waved his hand and drew a large circle on the map from west to north, and said with a smile: "According to the imperial court's order, I stationed in Meiji, passed the imperial edict to all the ministries, and removed Yu Fuluo from his position. Attack the big city, capture all its people, then go north to Dingxiang, and defeat the invading Xianbei invaders with a single blow!"
Gao Zhun was tired of waiting in the wing and was yawning when he finally heard the hall door open and the footsteps of people leaving the meeting. He opened the door and saw Chen Chong walking out of the crowd while talking to someone. When the two met their eyes, Chen Chong clasped his fists and smiled: "Fortunately, I did not disgrace my life."
Gao Zhun finally felt relieved, but felt that something was wrong. He could only touch his waist knife and mutter to himself: "Everyone grows from flesh, so you have to fight for your reputation!"
