Sun Jian's body was discovered at Sishi, and it was Zhu Zhi who was on duty at night who discovered him. He had half an hour to change his guard, but he felt uneasy for no reason. At this time, he suddenly heard a familiar sound of horses in the field. Looking in the distance, he saw the figure of Ye Maoju, but it was a horse coming back with no one on its back.
When Ye Maoju saw Zhu Zhi, he immediately ran in front of him and lightly kneaded his chest and abdomen with his horse's head. Then, as if he understood human nature, tears the size of grapes flowed from his eyes. He raised his head and whined, turned around and ran towards Gushui again. How could Zhu Zhi not know that something big had happened? He immediately rode his horse to follow Ye Maoju southward, and a dozen Jing people behind him quickly caught up.
The soldiers who had not left were at a loss and were speculating about what had happened. However, they quickly reached a consensus and they all felt that something unexpected had happened to Sun Jian.
One of the veterans who had been fighting for many years said that it was a rare thing for an old horse to cry. The last time he saw it was during the Yellow Turban campaign, when a Yellow Turban commander died in battle. The man's mount was a yellow-maned horse. , stood motionless and wept. After staying there for three days, he actually starved to death. When everyone heard this, they all said it was ominous.
But some people don't believe it, saying that General Polu is the god of warriors who descended to earth, how can he fall easily? He also wants to lead us to defeat Dong Zhuo and build another magical weapon. It was probably just a minor ailment.
Soon, the news spread among the army. When Wei Yan heard the news, a huge uneasiness enveloped his heart. He ran to the main tent, one step at a time, opened the curtain, and saw Chen Chong still sitting in the tent. He said anxiously: "Sir, I'm afraid something big will happen." Got it!"
Chen Chong didn't know why, but Wei Yan didn't explain much and just pulled Chen Chong towards Yingkou. The soldiers all knew him and made way for him. When Chen Chong arrived at the entrance of the camp, all the generals in the army and above had also arrived. Chen Chong glanced over and saw Yuan Si and his party of six among them. They talked to each other and used He looked at Chen Chong with strange eyes.
At this time, more than ten riders came running back from the south. When he got close, Chen Chong saw that the leader was Zhu Zhi, and was about to step forward to greet him. Unexpectedly, before the horse could stop, Zhu Zhi rolled off his saddle and staggered to the front of the generals. Zhu Zhi has always acted steadily, but now his eyes were red and his lips and teeth were bleeding. Everyone looked at his expression and their emotions were infected by him, and there was a sense of resentment in his chest for no reason.
"Zhu Sima, what's going on with you?" Chen Chong quickly stepped forward to ask. Zhu Zhiyu said with a tearful tone: "General, the general has been assassinated!" At this time, everyone gathered around, and Yuan Si walked in the front and said first: "Who is so bold? How dare you assassinate Polu?"
At this time, Zhu Zhi rode up from behind. He was holding Sun Jian's body in his arms. With tears in his eyes, he put it on the ground, took out an arrow from his arms, and said, "The general was pierced by this arrow in the chest and died." , I have seen it, this arrow is a special crossbow arrow, and there is writing on the arrowhead!" Everyone gathered to look, the arrowhead had been cleaned, and they saw the two small seal characters "Duxiang" engraved on it.
Duxiang is a county in Changshan, Jizhou, famous for its iron production. Seeing this, Yuan Si turned around and said loudly to everyone: "This is Yuan Shao's arrow! How hateful! He is afraid of General Polu's reputation, to this extent! You don't know, just six days ago, he ignored For the overall situation, we sent troops together with the traitor Liu Biao to jointly attack Yuzhou and Nanyang. I was urgently ordered by Hussar to come here at starry night to ask Polu to come back for reinforcements. Who would have thought that I just arrived in Xin'an last night and Polu was killed by him today!" …
When all the generals heard this, they were all furious. Some even drew their swords and swore on the spot that they would cut Yuan Shao into pieces with a thousand knives. But some people also ask, what about the discussion with Dong? Now that Dong Zhuo's army is not far away, how can we easily evacuate?
Chen Chong listened to the noise around him without saying a word. He just knelt down and looked at the body wrapped in linen on the ground. At this time, Sun Jian's face lost its majesty and resoluteness, and his pupils were dilated. No one who looked at him would feel like they had been cut. His appearance was very peaceful.
Touching the linen and gathering the dark blood stains, Chen Chong felt that all this was like a dream. His heart was empty and his mind was at a loss. It took a long time for a cramp to fill his consciousness, and tears could not help but flow out. At this time, Captain Wu Jing came over, held Chen Chong's hand, and said with tears: "Longshou, I know you are a good man who values friendship and loyalty. It's just a matter of today. What should we do? Should we go or stay?" ?”
Wu Jingnai is Sun Jian's brother-in-law. After Sun Jian's death, he should be the one to make the decision. Now he came to ask Chen Chong for his advice, which surprised many people. Someone immediately said: "That's ridiculous! Don't the captain know? Chen Shijun was not on good terms with the general last night. They had a long confrontation before they talked at night, and the general talked with Chen Chong at night. After that, I left the camp alone and was assassinated. Who said that Polu must have been killed by Yuan Shao? I think he is the murderer!"
After the man said what he said, several people from the night patrol came out to prove it. The army immediately became excited. Many people pulled out their knives and surrounded Chen Chong with cold eyes. When Wei Yan saw this, he quickly stood behind Chen Chong and drew his sword to face those people. The thief shouted: "None of you dare to act rashly!" Even Wu Jing was at a loss.
At this time, Sun Jian's bodyguard came out to refute: "Don't be like this! Although there was a slight disagreement last night, the general later had a very happy talk with Prime Minister Long. I saw under the shadow of the lamp, the two of them were drinking and talking at night, and they were extremely happy. It’s hard for brothers to be like this!”
Now everyone had different opinions, and everyone looked at Chen Chong, waiting for his explanation. Chen Chong silently picked up Sun Jian's body and turned to face everyone. He glanced around the generals, and finally turned his attention to Yuan Si and his party. Yuan Si did not dare to look at him, so Chen Chong withdrew his gaze and finally said: "Withdraw the troops."
Everyone didn't expect him to say this first, and then heard him say slowly: "The reason why I came here is that I oppose the withdrawal of troops. The success of Jingnan is very close, so I admonished Wentai and hoped that he would continue to attack Dong. All the food, grass and baggage in the army can be supplied by Bingzhou. Wentai had a hard time making a decision and said he would give me an answer after he comes back. But after what happened today, when people die and their leaves fall back to their roots, it is better to let Wentai's soul return to his hometown."
After speaking, he slowly moved forward. Everyone was frightened by his momentum and couldn't help but make way. Chen Chong was able to go to Yuan Si and said to him: "Wentai's wife and children are now in Nanyang. I hope Zichang will take more care of them. If anything happens to them, I, Chen Tingjian, will be shattered into pieces and I will avenge them!" He said these The words were spoken through gritted teeth.
Seeing that Chen Chong's words were so sincere, all the Jing people did not dare to question anymore. Instead, they came to Yuan Si one after another and asked him about the war in Guandong. After Yuan Si was threatened by Chen Chong's words, he did not dare to say anything for a while and could only say hastily, Let’s wait until the military withdrawal meeting to discuss it in detail. …
Chen Chong didn't say a word that day. Only when Chen Chong put down Sun Jian's body, Wei Yan followed Chen Chong and heard him gnashing his teeth in a low voice: "In a moment of negligence, I made a big mistake!"
Sleepless night.
The next day, the soldiers built a coffin for Sun Jian, filled the coffin with ice cubes, and placed the body inside. Just in front of the coffin, a military meeting on the withdrawal of troops began. The military meeting was chaired by Chen Chong. Chen Chong did not make any other plans. He only did two things. One was to ask them to wait for a day until the Central Army at Hangu Pass came to change defenses, and then they would slowly withdraw. The other was to send a letter directly to Dong Zhuo, hoping that he could Negotiate peace with Dong Zhuo.
Let’s talk about Prime Minister Dong Zhuo. After offering sacrifices to heaven in Mianchi, they were making final preparations for the battle two days later. On the night of the 16th, Dong Zhuo suddenly received this news. Dong Zhuo thought it was a trick. He asked the envoy why, and the envoy told Dong Zhuo the truth, saying that Sun Jian was assassinated by Yuan Shao's men. They planned to return to Guandong to avenge their commander. Unexpectedly, The troops will be withdrawn in the future, hoping that Dong Zhuo will not pursue him.
In addition, the envoy also relayed Chen Chong's request, hoping that Huangfu Song's tribe, which was besieging Dayang, would retreat thirty miles and allow Liu Bei's tribe to return to Hedong. In exchange, he could exchange more than 10,000 Liang captives who were being held in Luoyang.
Dong Zhuo was hesitant and did not dare to agree hastily. He first sent scouts to Xin'an to inquire about the situation. Early the next morning, the scouts reported that everyone in the Xin'an camp was showing filial piety, and the entire army was in vain. Everyone was packing their belongings, and it looked like they were indeed planning to return eastward. Only then did Dong Zhuo believe it. He was so happy that he reconvened the military meeting and asked his staff how to respond.
Everyone was relieved when they heard that there was no need for a war. Chief Shi Liu Ai immediately suggested: "Now the thieves in Guandong are killing each other. We don't have to waste a single soldier of our army to wipe out the thieves. Prime Minister, this is God's blessing." Ah! As long as they are fighting hard, both sides will suffer, and the imperial court will reap the benefits and let these Jing people return eastward, why not?"
All the generals of Dong Zhuo's army agreed. After a great ups and downs, there was a chance of victory without a fight. No one wanted to bleed any more.
Dong Zhuo originally had this idea, but at this time, Jia Xu watched coldly for a long time. He stepped forward and said: "Prime Minister! You must not agree!"
As soon as this statement came out, everyone was surprised and all their eyes focused on Jia Xu. Dong Zhuo frowned and asked: "Wen He, what do you suggest?"
Jia Xu said calmly: "Prime Minister, the reason why we are in such a predicament is not due to other reasons. It is due to Sun Jian's martial arts and Chen Chong's conspiracy. The other boys are all just mediocre people and have done nothing in the end. Yuan Shao killed Sun Jian. That's right. Now that Chen Chong is in danger and Liu Bei is trapped by me, it's a great opportunity for me to capture him. Once I win, the power of the Prime Minister will reach the world. No one can match it. How can I be afraid of being hurt for a moment? , then let the tiger return to the mountain?"
After Jia Xu finished speaking, he lowered his head and waited for the reply from the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister Dong Zhuo thought for a moment and quickly replied to Jia Xu: "Wen He, it's not that I am afraid of war, but that the army is thinking about returning home. Our army has been fighting for a year and has suffered nearly Half, even if we force the soldiers to fight, there is no chance of winning. Haven't you heard that a wise man does not endanger the people to do something, and a benevolent man does not violate justice to achieve merit."
He sighed again and said: "Don't hide when you return to the army, and don't pursue the poor bandits." In reply, he finally agreed to Chen Chong's peace request.
On February 19, Liu Bei's troops in Dayang received news from Chen Chong and Dong Zhuo at the same time. Although he was reluctant, he had no choice but to retreat north first. After nearly three months of war, no one thought that the war would end. After this situation ended, when Liu Bei walked out of the gate of Dayang City, he said to Tian Yu who was accompanying him: "After today is over, I want to unify the world, but I don't know how long I have to wait?"
At this time, a knight from the Huangfu Song tribe in the west came over and said he wanted to see Liu Bei. After Liu Bei agreed, the knight handed a letter to Liu Bei, claiming that it was the family letter of Cai Yong, the general of the Five Gentlemen, and hoped that he would deliver it to Bingzhou Mu. Chen Chong.
Liu Bei was stunned for a moment, then smiled and accepted it for Chen Chong. He asked the knight, "How is General Huangfu? I heard that he was appointed by Dong Zhuo, and thought it was a false rumor. Now that he is still in the court, it may not be easy. "
The knight was silent, and then said: "The chariot and the rider are good. He asked me to send a message that in troubled times, the Han Dynasty is in decline and cannot help itself. You and Liu Jun should take care of each other."
After saying that, the knight left immediately. Looking at the man's back, Liu Bei suddenly felt helpless. He looked up to the sky and shouted, his shouts alarming the sergeants like the roar of a dragon. Responding to the looks cast by the soldiers around him, he said angrily: "What a shame! I failed in my attempt. Next time I enter Guanzhong, I will never retreat!"
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