After Zhang Qian arrived in Lishi, the state staff learned about Bai Bo's rebellion late at night, and they were all frightened and inexplicable. Yang Hui reluctantly summoned his staff to the palace, but the scene was still chaotic and chaotic. When Chen Chong finally put on his thin clothes and walked into the hall, the staff gathered around him.
Yang Hui, the governor of Xihe, said to Chen Chong: "Most of the county soldiers in the county were transferred to Hedong by Ming Gong. Now there are only two thousand county soldiers in the city, and most of them are new soldiers who have not participated in the war and are not equipped to fight. But Bai Bo rebelled, and Their military strength is more than ten times that of mine? Ming Gong must retreat to Taiyuan immediately!"
Chen Chong glanced at Yang Hui and said nothing. Xu Shu, who worked in Xihe, was full of doubts and came forward and said: "I have constant contact with Han Xian and Yang Feng, how could they behave like this? I think there must be something fishy, so I'd better inquire further."
Chen Qun, an official from Taiyuan, shook his head and said, "How could Cao Rong dare to lie about such a big event? Judging from the behavior of Han Xian and Yang Feng at the banquet, it was clear that they had rebelled long ago. Otherwise, if the clan brother had left his words at night, he would have waited. How could you refuse? You must have been recruited by Dong Zhuo and can't control yourself. This is a common behavior of villains, why is it strange?"
Seeing that the two of them were about to quarrel, Jian Yong, the chief clerk, hurriedly stepped forward and persuaded: "This is not what you should say. Now that a disaster is imminent, it is better to let you make the decision." He turned back and winked at Chen Chong, who was sullen. He urged in a low voice: "Ting Jian, please speak quickly. The lives of the entire government depend on you!"
Chen Chong glanced at Jian Yong and nodded. But he still didn't speak immediately, just because the emotions in his heart were too many to be expressed, but he couldn't express these emotions. He is passionate, but he is more sober and understands the need for restraint. The current situation no longer allowed him to hesitate for a moment, so he had to force these distracting thoughts out of his mind and focus on dealing with this huge change.
Even though he was thinking like this, he still had to use a sigh of relief to control his emotions in his chest and abdomen, and said decisively to everyone: "The rebellion of Yang Feng and Han Siam is of course true, and cannot be left to chance. He sent a message to everyone three days ago I would have noticed when I mobilized my troops, but now it seems that it is already too late." At this point, he was slightly silent, and then continued: "And he must be accompanied by Dong Zhuo's troops. After all, Han, Siam and Yang Feng are doing things. I know all the time and would never be so tight-knit.”
Before his words could cause panic, Chen Chong continued his analysis: "There are Yide defenders in Hedong, but now there is no news. It can be seen that they are coming from Shangjun, and the roads between Shangjun are mostly wasteland, making it inconvenient to transport luggage, and Dong Zhuo is here Since the operation is so hidden, the number of troops dispatched must not be many, probably around 20,000."
The staff breathed a sigh of relief. If there were about 60,000 troops, the troops of Yanmen and Taiyuan would be enough to handle it.
But when he saw Chen Qun stepping forward, he said: "Even so, it cannot solve the current urgent situation. As Mr. Yang Fu said, the rebels are close at hand, and there are only two thousand county soldiers in the city. "The Art of War" says:' "Ten people will surround us. Brother, if we hold fast in the city now, I'm afraid ten people will die. Before the rebels arrive, we must abandon Lishi immediately and temporarily retreat to Taiyuan in order to reorganize our troops and fight again!"
When everyone heard this, although they were quite unwilling to do so, they all had no words to refute, obviously agreeing with what Chen Qun said. But Chen Chong shook his head and said: "You are right, but I will not retreat even one step." Everyone was shocked and asked Chen Chong why. Chen Chong refused to go into details. He only said that he had a good idea and could not make it public. The next step was to Without allowing any further explanation, he issued three military orders in a row. …
The first military order ordered Yang Hui to rule the state officials to persuade the people around Lishi and bring them all into the city. After entering the city, they would recruit the men aged between fourteen and under sixty to distribute weapons to the arsenal. Divide the defensive area. It is expected that there will be more than 30,000 people in the city, and about 10,000 men will be recruited.
The second military order ordered the two thousand soldiers in the city to first separate one thousand, led by Meng Jian, to the mountains and fields in the north and south. After the people evacuated, they would first set fires along the waterside, then in the villages, and finally in the mountains and fields. They set fire in the room, built strong walls and cleared the fields, and burned the surrounding area of Lishi into a white field.
The third military order ordered all residents in the city to register and turn over their accumulated grain and livestock, which would be under the supervision of the state government. Chen Chong personally supervised the process. Each person should go to the list to receive grain by name every day. The men guarding the city were given two kilograms of pasta a day, and the elderly women one kilogram. One pound or three taels per day, one pound per day for children (one pound in the late Han Dynasty is about half a pound today), regardless of official rank or status, they will be distributed accordingly. Things started in a hurry, and there was not much food and grass stored in the city, so Chen Chong could only deal with it this way.
Finally, Chen Chong asked the five young staff who had just joined the government to stay, saying that they had letters for them to deliver.
After several orders, everyone in the prefecture capital received their tasks and listened to Chen Chong's orderly arrangements. His face was as calm as water, and all the doubts in their hearts were gone. When the meeting ended, they were confident and encouraged each other: "Your Majesty has always used troops like a god. In the past few years, he has won every battle, big and small, and Yang Fengben has also been defeated by him. What is there to worry about?" So they all acted with confidence. went.
After the crowd dispersed, Chen Chong's face turned red. He sat slumped in the case, lowered his head and asked the remaining staff, "Have they all left?"
A man peeked out from the door and reported back to Chen Chong: "I'm reporting to Duke Ming that all the gentlemen have left."
"Close the door. I have something important to say. It's important and I can't let others know about it." Chen Chong whispered.
The remaining five people looked at each other in confusion. They had all entered the government not long ago and there was no big event. They thought that the envoy just wanted to explain some details, but unexpectedly it was a big event. They hurriedly closed the door and knelt down in front of Chen Chong to wait for orders.
The lights in the room were extinguished a little, and the light immediately dimmed. Chen Chong glanced at them, with a sad expression in the shadows, then stood up unsteadily, lit an oil lamp beside the desk, took out paper, pen and ink from the desk, and wrote under the lamp while explaining to them: "What I just said , some are true and some are false, but here are five letters that need to be handed over to you respectively. Three of them are relatively simple and need to be taken to Jinyang, Pingcheng, and Luoyang respectively. One is more difficult and may require breaking through the military siege and being sent to Jieyang. Within the county.”
At this point, Chen Chong couldn't take a breath, so he coughed twice and continued: "But there is another letter, which is very important. It is related to the overall war, but it is also very dangerous. Tigers and wolves are watching along the way, and dangers are everywhere. Therefore, it must be You have to forget yourself and worry about it, and sacrifice yourself for the country, otherwise you won't be able to accomplish anything. I won't force you, but I still hope that someone can take this trip for me."
After speaking, Chen Chong looked at these young people with a look of expectation in his eyes. One of these five people was Chen Zhong, a younger brother of the Chen Chong clan. Chen Chong originally wanted him to go, but seeing how solemn Chen Chong was, Chen Zhong knew that what he said was true. Disappointed, he looked at the others again. Among the four remaining people, some were too afraid to take the risk, while others felt they were lacking in ability. They looked at each other a few times, and they all saw hesitation in their eyes. …
Just when Chen Chong thought that no one answered, a young man stepped forward and said, "My Lord has something to ask for, and it concerns the overall situation. How dare I not work hard to serve him?" Chen Chong looked over and recognized him as the new Yi Cao. Engaged in Tianyu. Tian Yu was originally a general under Gongsun Zan. He was now twenty years old, but he had a long-standing intellectual reputation in the army. When Liu Bei met him, he fell in love with him, so he took it from Gongsun Zan and put him in the state capital to work.
Seeing that he came forward, Chen Chong felt happy, so he wrote the remaining four letters first, and asked who was willing to go to solve the county. At this time, his younger brother Chen Zhong came forward quickly and took it. Chen Chong was happy with the dish, and he Encouraged him. After everyone was assigned, Chen Chong ordered them to leave the city quickly. After the letter was received, they could just follow the army.
Soon, only Tian Yu and Chen Chong were left in the room. Chen Chong put away his pen and ink and saw that Tian Yu was sitting a little stiffly, so he smiled at him and said, "Guo Rang, please relax. Although it is a matter of family and country, since you are To deal with this, one must be calm when facing a cliff and calm when facing huge waves.”
Tian Yu was stunned for a moment, chewing on these two sentences, and then he realized clearly: "Ming Gong said, the difference between great hope and great hope is just a thin line between a thought."
Chen Chong nodded slightly, poured a cup of hot tea for Tian Yu, handed it to him, and said with admiration: "Xuande often praises you for your great wisdom, and it's not just words." When he returned to the table, he saw that Tian Yu's expression was no longer calm. The young master immediately took the exam and said, "Guorang, what do you think I will ask you to do?"
Tian Yu shook his head blankly, and Chen Chong said two words: "Meiji." When Tian Yu heard this, he immediately said: "Ming Gong asked me to go to Meiji to ask for help?" But he immediately realized that something was wrong. If so, how could he call it "Meiji"? Getting into trouble? After lowering his head and thinking for a moment, he stood up in fear and asked Chen Chong: "Is it possible that the imperial court is recruiting the Huns to surrender?"
Chen Chong acquiesced, and then added: "I know very well that Yang Feng and Han Xian have no ambitions, and Han Xian is cautious. If the Tiefu tribe had not surrendered to Dong Zhuo, they would never have dared to cross the shore, and they would not have burned the boats to defend themselves. Only Tiefu Only when the troops surrender can Dong Zhuo send troops quietly."
"But Meiji was originally the royal court of the Xiongnu. Since the recovery, the royal court has not only had kings but kings. For a while, opinions have been mixed and uncertain. No matter whether they will vote for Dong, their determination will definitely not be firm. There is no decision yet. With the news about Dong Zhuo’s army, they must have not persuaded the kings to surrender. I hope you will follow Ban Chao’s example and go to the royal court so that the Xiongnu kings will not dare to rebel.”
Tian Yu was silent after hearing this.
Knowing that he still had fear in his heart, Chen Chong turned to Tian Yu and asked, "Guorang, today I wrote a long article proposing to withdraw our troops. Do you know why I don't withdraw?"
Tian Yu speculated for a moment and replied, "It's just to delay the general's expedition to the west."
Chen Chong waved his hand to deny it and sighed: "Taiyuan's terrain is steep, so there is no need for me to delay. The reason why I won't retreat here is because of the royal court."
Seeing that Tian Yu was still puzzled, he laughed and continued: "Now that I will stick to Lishi, you can speak to the Xiongnu kings and say that I, Chen Chong, a dignified man, will not retreat even one step from Lishi. If the city is alive, the city will die. They will not surrender to Dong easily."
Having said this, Chen Chong stopped talking and waited for Tian Yu to think about it. Tian Yu was silent for a long time. He knew how important this was, and if he was not careful, he would be shattered to pieces.
He first said: "Ban Dingyuan uses barbarians to control barbarians. It is not something that one person can do."
Chen Chong paused to show his understanding, and then suggested: "You can go to Yang Fujun and take thirty people to Meiji, each with two horses, but it is best to only bring a knife and not a battle armor, otherwise it will be easy to show your cowardice. .”
Tian Yu added: "It's just that this matter requires General Xi to conquer. Does Ming Gong have any arrangements?"
Chen Chong laughed and said: "It seems that there will be no mistakes if I leave this matter to you." He finally affirmed: "I have already sent what I want to tell Xuande. You go to Meiji first. Just hold on for a few days and she will arrive later."
Chen Chong gave Tian Yu the scepter token of Zhou Mu and promised Tian Yu: "If our army can win this battle, the country will take the first credit."
When Tian Yu exited the room and disappeared into the night, Chen Chong's expression relaxed, and then changed drastically. He kept lowering his head and coughing, as if he wanted to cough out his own throat. When he finally coughed out a mouthful of scarlet into his sleeves, Only then did he feel happy in his chest and clear in his head. Looking back at the bronze mirror, he saw that his face was pale in the mirror. Chen Chong gave him a wry smile, and he smiled back.
He recited silently: "Zhu Xianqing, I have few close friends." Then he recited: "People can't bear their worries, and they won't change their joy even after they return. You are so virtuous, you return!"
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