When Chen Chong arrived at Meiji, signs of camp departures could be seen everywhere in the south of Meiji City, but although the market outside the city was still open, there were still many farmers working outside the city. Dozens of horsemen escorted Chen Chong as he drove past the roadside. The farmers glanced at him, then quickly lowered their heads and focused on the fields.
At this moment, Liu Jia was the only one left in the royal court. When she saw Chen Chong, she was shocked. Because Chen Chong was bumpy along the way, the wounds on his eyebrows were split. The cloth and the wounds were stuck together, and the smell of pus kept coming out. He was about to faint. Liu Jia hurriedly put him on the couch and used After applying hot water for half an hour, the old towel was torn off and Chen Chong was put on medicine.
After Chen Chong lay down for an hour and felt a little better, he asked Liu Bei how many days he had been gone and where he was. Liu Jia was helpless and gave him another pair of wet cloths before saying, "Xuande led the troops to march out the day before yesterday. They should be at Zhenlin City in the south now." Chen Chong immediately struggled to sit up and said, "It seems I can still catch up. It’s getting late, I’d better go quickly.”
Liu Jia couldn't persuade him no matter how hard he tried. He could only sigh while holding on to the door lintel, and watched Chen Chong leave in the car again.
On the way, the accompanying knights saw that Chen Chong's face was as white as paper. They all advised him to take a rest, but Chen Chong refused. He replied: "I have always been this kind of temperament. I will do my best. Even if I fall on the road, I can still do it." It feels solid.”
The result was quite unfortunate. Chen Chong hit the mark and he fell asleep again on the way. The knights did not dare to pull him back to Meiji, so they had no choice but to go to Zhenlin. When they arrived at Liu Bei's camp that night, Liu Bei heard about Chen Chong's arrival and thought he was safe. However, it turned out that Chen Chong was unconscious with a high fever and his whole body was burning. He stayed aside until the Chen Chong fever subsided slightly, then he went back to take a rest.
When Chen Chong woke up again, it was already three days later. He found himself lying on a wheelbarrow, with a packhorse pulling it in front, and Liu Bei riding beside him. He was arguing with the generals, and everyone was moving forward in sync with the wheelbarrow. Chen Chong greeted him, and Liu Bei was full of surprise. He stopped the discussion and smiled at everyone: "Okay, my Cigu (the daughter-in-law's name for her mother-in-law) is awake. He is afraid that I will lose this battle, so he came here specifically to give me some help." I'm showing off!"
Chen Chong was not in the mood to joke and asked Liu Bei directly: "Where are we going?"
Only then did Liu Bei become serious. He said, "My entourage has already told me. Didn't I say that there is an old Qu Shuai who is planning to arrange for Bai Bo to betray the Liang army again? This is a good opportunity. Our scouts reported that the south Xu Rong has arrived. The troops are now being organized in Baitu to prepare for war. I plan to take advantage of their lack of troops to force them to fight. This is better than the two armies facing each other in Shangjun. As time goes by, there will always be some changes. "
Chen Chong nodded, lay back on the wooden board, reluctantly ate something, his head felt swollen and empty, and he fell asleep again soon.
When he woke up for the third time, Chen Chong found that he was already in the camp. He felt much better this time, and his clothes were soaked with sweat, but his body was still weak from time to time. Fortunately, his mind was clear, and he could still hear the sound of soldiers beating wooden stakes outside the tent, one after another, like the footsteps of fate.
Chen Chong lay in the cold quilt and began to involuntarily meditate on the situation in Bingzhou at this time. Elites from the north and south of Shangjun were now gathered, and the battlefield already accommodated nearly 200,000 troops. But since Lishi and Meiji were still in the hands of Bingzhou, then Shangjun The Liang army could not rely on the city for defense. After all, the rest were small cities and could not accommodate more than 30,000 troops. Moreover, for Guanzhong, it is difficult to supply Shangjun. If it becomes a protracted confrontation, the disadvantage will still be in Guanzhong, so a battle to determine the ownership of Shangjun is inevitable.
If the combined army is victorious, they can even coerce the defeated army and try to enter Chang'an again. If the combined army is defeated and retreats, they will have to abandon Shangjun and be trapped in Meiji and Lishi. And everything depends on Wang Mao's self-proclaimed Baibo anyway. He will decide the outcome of this battle. Can he really succeed? Chen Chong was thinking so worried about gains and losses. If he was in normal times, he would certainly not have such doubts. However, after experiencing Yang Han's rebellion, he became hesitant and even a little doubtful about it.
At this time, Liu Bei walked in. Seeing that Chen Chong was getting better, he told him the news: "Ting Jian, we have arrived in the north of Baitu City today, and we are already close to the Liang people." He was not timid but happy when encountering a battle, and said with a smile: " I originally thought that the Liang army would delay the opportunity and retreat to Fushi to fight again, but unexpectedly, they did not retreat today, and instead confronted me on the south bank of the Wan River, and even sent an order to make an appointment with me to fight!"
"When are you going to fight?" Chen Chong could tell that Liu Bei was impatient to wait.
"Just tomorrow!"
Chen Chong stood up and asked him: "Are you too impatient?"
"There's no rush." Liu Bei saw that Chen Chong wanted to participate in the command, so he pushed him back on the couch and advised him: "If you go to the battlefield like this, it will only affect your morale, and you won't be able to get better in a while. You stay here tomorrow and listen to my trumpet of victory!"
Chen Chong wanted to argue with Liu Bei again, but Liu Bei patted his shoulder and said solemnly: "Ting Jian, I have had great ambitions since I was young. How can I be less eager to win than you are in your desire to win? How can the great cause of the country be really linked to one person?" You should take a good rest, there are many good generals in the army now, and the seats are full of high-ranking scholars, even if you rest for a while, I can still win!"
After saying these words, Chen Chong knew that he had made up his mind, so he changed his words and said, "Then I will wait for your good news tomorrow."
Before dawn the next day, Chen Chong was awakened by the sound of drums and trumpets calling for sergeants, followed by the sound of dense footsteps, like a violent storm beating on the ground. After two moments, the sound gradually faded away. Chen Chong struggled to get up, feeling that his steps were still a little shaky, but he finally rolled up the curtain and looked up to see the stars in the sky and the moon hidden in the foothills.
Two young soldiers stood at the entrance of the tent. When they saw him coming out, they hurriedly asked him what was the inconvenience. Chen Chong saw that they were relatively young, so he smiled and shook his head, and then asked their ages. Then he learned that they were only sixteen years old, they were from the same hometown, and they were both recruited to join the army this year. After all, the situation this year was not good, and the family heard that the army was in charge of food, so they were sent to Jinyang. Liu Bei saw that they were young, so he kept them in the guard camp. At this time of the battle, they were inconvenient to fight, so they guarded Chen Chong here. Chen Chong asked them if they knew how to shoot arrows. They all laughed and said, "How can anyone in Bingzhou not know how to bend a bow?"
The three of them chatted for a while, and the sky gradually became blurry. Chen Chong estimated that the army had already assembled and started to line up south, so he suggested to the two teenagers: "Do you dare to follow me to watch the battle between the two armies?"
The two young men looked at each other. Although their eyes were eager to try, they still said hesitantly: "You are ill, how can you go to the front line? Arrows have no eyes. If a stray arrow hits you, we are afraid that we will have to engage in military law."
"God's Coming"
Chen Chong comforted them and said: "Looking for a hill, just look at it from a distance. How can I still seek death in my current state?" Then he persuaded them with one sentence: "You have just joined the army. If you don't have many Look at the marching formations on both sides, you won’t be able to become a general in the future.”
The two men immediately found two horses and helped Chen Chong up, then left the camp and rushed south.
After riding their horses for ten miles to the south, they saw the enemy's rear army in the distance, so they bypassed the main road and ran into a nearby ravine. After they climbed over three more mountains and climbed to the top of the fourth mountain, they finally Saw the front line of the enemy.
It's daybreak, the sky is infinitely blue, the air is bleak and clear, the fallen leaves along both sides of the Wan River are as yellow as dust, contrasting with the dark brown tree trunks, stretching to the sky. The Bingzhou Army marched south, their armored weapons shining in the sunlight. Chen Chong was several miles away and could still see a bright scene with only his right eye.
Just after Chen hour, the two armies met at the edge of the Wan River. Both armies arrayed their cavalry forward, with their backs to the Wan River, while the Liang army faced the Wan River. However, the Liang army swept through the arsenals of the two capitals after all, and there were a lot of people wearing armor. Even the accompanying Baibo army and Tiefu tribe distributed a lot of armor, of course mainly leather armor.
One of the two young men was seven feet tall, and the other was six feet tall. The seven-foot one was named Wu Yu. He asked Chen Chong strangely: "Your Majesty, I heard General Zhengxi said that the taboo in battle is to betray the enemy." While fighting, why did our army take the initiative to back the enemy? Isn’t this putting ourselves at a disadvantage?”
Chen Chong couldn't see clearly, so he simply listened to Wu Yu's story. He smiled and shook his head and explained to him: "You only saw our army carrying the water, but you didn't see the Liang army carrying the mountain! What's more, the water is not deep, and you can wade through it on foot. , it’s not a desperate situation. The two armies are only 50-50 apart in terms of terrain, but in this way, no matter who wins or loses, this battle will be difficult to win. "
Having said that, Chen Chong couldn't help but feel heavy when thinking about the importance of this battle.
The gentle autumn wind blows from the other side of the Wan River. The flags of both armies were fluttering, and it was obvious that both armies still had to mobilize before the war.
At this time, a short young man suddenly shouted. His name was Tian Zhao. Chen Chong heard him say: "Your Majesty, a man from Liang is riding out and patrolling in front of the two armies! He is holding a long spear in his hand, and there is a spear on it. What are you wearing!"
Chen Chong's heart sank and he asked, "What are you carrying?"
Tian Zhao shook his head and said, "I can't see clearly! But I see there is a lot of movement on the Baibo Army side!"
Chen Chong stood up with a wooden stick and took a look. Sergeant Bai Bo was on Liang Ren's right wing, closer to Chen Chong. Chen Chong vaguely saw that their army was in an uproar. There was a man and a horse walking in front of the army, holding something high, and behind him was a large cart with gleaming gold inside, which was obviously filled with valuables. After a while, the commotion stopped.
Chen Chong immediately understood that Wang Mao must have been killed in conjunction with the incident, and now together with Jin Yin, Xu Rong used him as a means of both kindness and power.
After all the gold and silver were dispersed in the army, another knight stepped out of the front line of Liang's army, holding a long spear in his hand and galloping back and forth towards the merged army, obviously showing off his power.
Chen Chong couldn't see clearly and quickly sat down again. He felt quite sad and suspicious at the same time. Wang Mao didn't lie to him, he thought. But Wang Mao said that he could instigate most of Bai Bo to return to justice, and his words were still ringing in his ears. Now that he is dead, what is the attitude of Bai Bo's soldiers on the left now?
