As soon as Chen Chong returned to the military camp, Xu Huang led the people to the tent and said that he was sent to Yuanyang City under the order of Zhengxi.
This was the first time Chen Chong met Xu Huang since the Baibo rebellion. As a result, Chen Chong was shocked when they met. He still remembered that when he visited Yuanyang City for the first time at night, it was this fierce and tiger-like man who recognized his flaws with words and broke two of his ribs with his own hands. Afterwards, he talked and laughed freely without taking it seriously. Unexpectedly, when he met him now, he had lost a lot of weight. Not only the cheekbones on his face had become clearer, but even the once majestic and terrifying leopard eyes now seemed softer due to the loose corners of the eyes.
He looked at Chen Chong's eye injury, and his eyes were filled with sadness. Chen Chong couldn't bear this. He said to Xu Huang: "There is no need to say anything. I am still alive, and you are still alive. What else is worth saying?" What? The living must be worthy of the dead, that’s enough.”
When he said this, he suddenly thought of Chen Zhong in his mind, and tears flowed down. For some reason, Xu Huang stood aside and shed tears. When he was in Henan, Chen Chong talked to him about Guo Da's death. This man seemed to be made of iron. He only responded lightly and continued to sharpen his sword in the army. What did he think of at this moment? The sergeants Baibo who followed him all said: As soon as Guo Shuai died, the whole family started killing each other like enemies, staining the battlefield with blood. This is naturally more sad than birth, old age, illness and death!
The next day, Xu Huang arrived in an ox cart and asked Chen Chong to sit in the cart and drive east slowly. Chen Chong looked at Qingniu's slow pace, and the mountains on both sides receded slowly. The autumn colors on the mountains became darker. It turned out to be late autumn in September. It's just that the two sides of the Wan River are no longer as busy as before. Many houses can be seen along the road, but there is neither smoke nor the sound of people. Instead, there are a few flaming foxes that sometimes poke their heads in the grass and sometimes hide. Chen Chong knew that most of them were now in the two cities of Yuanyin and Yuanyang, waiting for his disposal, and some of them had been buried at the foot of Lishi City forever and would never come back.
Moreover, they all say that it is difficult to make a broken mirror into a round shape, and it is difficult to recover when it is covered with water. After experiencing this incident, the soldiers from other counties in Bingzhou may also have prejudices. Can they still reconcile with the soldiers from Baibo? This is an unsolvable problem. The ox cart moved slowly, and Chen Chong's thoughts wandered for a long time. Until it got dark, he slowly fell asleep on the ox cart, listening to the chirping of the mandrill.
When I woke up the next day, I was less than twenty miles away from Yuanyin City. People could be seen one after another on the road, and then military camps and flags could be seen. Many people recognized Xu Huang who was driving, and they quickly guessed who was in the car, but no one dared to come forward to say hello. Looking at the car with a sad look, Chen Chong leaned out of the car window and looked around. Then the people who were watching hurriedly dispersed, wondering what they were still busy with after the autumn harvest.
Before arriving at Yuanyin City, Chen Chong got out of the car with a wooden stick. Tian Yu was guarding in front of the city gate. When he saw him, he hurriedly came to help him. Chen Chong waved his hand and refused, saying with a smile: "I hurt my eyebrow bone, and I'm not blind yet. What's more, I'm really blind, but I'm not a lame, so I need someone to help me." He then praised Tian Yu and said, "I've heard all about what you did in Meiji, you are a young and talented man, and I may have to rely on you in the future. "
Tian Yulian said he didn't dare, and was about to lead Chen Chong upstairs when he suddenly heard someone calling Chen Chong loudly. His voice was extremely sad. Chen Chong turned around and saw a man leading about ten people. The man was holding something in his hand, and behind him, more than ten people were carrying a yellow wood coffin.
Their wrists were tied with the customary white turbans of the Baibo Army, which was stipulated by Guo Da, showing that they never forgot the last wishes of Master Daliang. The coffin was also covered with a piece of white cloth. The city guards were all new recruits from Jinyang and had already taken over the city defense. When they saw them approaching, they subconsciously raised their long spears and got in front of Chen Chong to keep the group of Baibo soldiers away.
The group of Baibo soldiers immediately knelt on the ground and called to the envoy again. Chen Chong shook his head slightly at the city guards, crossed the forest of guns, and walked up to these people. Before asking any questions, he saw the leader with his head lowered and his hands raised. , handed it to Chen Chong and said: "Master Wang entrusted me before his death to return this thing to the envoy, saying that he has fulfilled his promise, and I also hope that the envoy will treat Baibo counties well for the sake of his fulfillment of the contract."
Chen Chong saw the wooden ultimatum in his hand and accepted it silently. Then the man took out a small wooden box the size of a palm from his robe, handed it to Chen Chong, and said, "This is the relic left by Commander Guo to the envoy. Wang Shitou I will hand it over to the envoy."
Chen Chong accepted everything, and then he realized that the incident did not happen when Wang Mao persuaded everyone, but after completing the series of connections in private, he was worried that Bai Bo would be discriminated against because of the rebellion, so he decided to seek death. One was to break with Yang Fenghan and Siam, and the other was to gain understanding from the state government. After saying this, the man asked his colleagues to open the coffin. In front of Chen Chong was a thin, headless corpse. Chen Chong sighed deeply and said to them: "It doesn't have to be like this. I, Chen Tingjian, will never change what I said."
Seeing these people carrying the coffin and leaving again, Chen Chong and Tian Yu entered the city. Tian Yu said as he walked that Xu Rong sent an envoy this morning. General Zhengxi was meeting with him. He didn't know what they were talking about and asked Chen Chong what he thought of the current situation.
Chen Chong was a little absent-minded for a while, but he was shouted at by Tian Yu several times before he reacted. He smiled and said: "What kind of situation can this have? Xu Rong is planning to withdraw his troops. He is probably here to show his dignity and make both armies live."
Sure enough, when they entered the county palace in the city, they heard the sound of Liu Bei talking. At this time, the door of the county house was wide open, and the accompanying officials were constantly coming and going. Obviously there were many chores that needed to be dealt with urgently. However, a man was standing in the lobby, facing Liu Bei on the chair, and Liu Bei sneered at him: " Where will Xu Rong be under my rule? Come when you want and leave when you want?"
The man standing was the envoy. He replied: "Liu Shijun is wrong. Jianwei is just caring for the children in the army. It has always been human nature for the leaves to return to their roots and the soul to return to the old land. If Liu Shijun encounters this, he will Won’t you collect the bones of your comrades on the battlefield?”
Liu Bei was silent for a moment, his expression softened, and he said: "This is indeed human nature, but killing thieves is even more human nature. I am not a woman, and you flatter me so much, and I will not show mercy." But he quickly Then he said sternly: "You can report back to Xu Rong. He can send soldiers to collect the bones. If he wants to take advantage of the opportunity to fight again, I will stay with you every day and wait for him to come over and fight to the death."
The messenger made a "promise" sound, glanced at Liu Bei's staff on both sides, and asked: "How is Longshou's injury now? If the injury is serious, Jianwei asked me to bring some medicine, which may come in handy."
It's better to be in time than to be early. Chen Chong walked up to the hall. His left eye was still covered with gauze. He looked sideways at the messenger with his right eye and said lightly: "Chen can't die yet, so there is no need to worry about Jianwei."
When the envoy saw Chen Chong dressed up like this, he immediately wanted to bow down and salute. Chen Chong bluntly told him to stop: "I have never liked these false gifts. I guess they are just for fun. Why do you do this?" He asked: "If Jianwei really means it, Chen just wants one thing from Jianwei."
"What?"
"Yang Feng Han Siam's head."
"Dragon Head is joking."
"It's true that you are joking. You really can't do business without capital." Chen Chong laughed at himself, and then said: "But since it is said that Ye Luo returns to his roots, can the old man Bai Bo who was established by you before the war return his head? What about our army?"
The messenger wondered: "This is not something I can decide. I hope the dragon head will allow me to report back."
When Chen Chong arrived, the conversation ended hastily. Before the envoy left, he bowed to Chen Chong. Liu Bei couldn't help but tease Chen Chong and said, "Ting Jian is so famous that he is better than thousands of troops." Chen Chong shook his head and said, "What if?" A false name can defeat thousands of troops, so we don’t have to fight this war.”
There were still many things to be busy with. As soon as the envoy left, all the staff were scattered. Liu Bei was a little tired after reading the documents for a day, so he chatted with Chen Chong in the hall. Chen Chong saw that everyone had left, so he He asked Liu Bei in a low voice: "How many people were killed in this battle?"
"The new soldiers I recruited suffered more than 4,000 casualties, and the Xiongnu tribes lost nearly 5,000. Plus the Xianbei people recruited by Yanmen, there are more than 10,000 people."
Chen Chong took out the wooden certificate from his arms, looked at the writing on it and sighed, then asked: "Xuande, what do you think we should do with these tens of thousands of white waves now?"
"Now that Xu Rong plans to withdraw from the army, Yang Feng and Han Siam will probably stay in Shangjun. If we don't match our words and deeds, these Baibo people will probably leave."
"What do you mean?" This matter was completely decided by Liu Bei.
"In troubled times, there is no need to be so demanding on the people. They just want to survive. Those who are willing to join the army will stay, and those who are not willing to join the army will be sent back. I think Xu Huang knows the general idea, so I will entrust him with this matter."
Liu Bei reminded him again: "Although Baibo has been pacified, Shangjun has not been pacified. Although Xu Rong has withdrawn his troops, we are still unable to attack Fushi. The battle line has stayed at the line of Huan River. It can be seen that you were very foresight when you said you would move your government to Huanyang." Ah! Ting Jian, this matter cannot be delayed any longer."
Seeing that Liu Bei was now thinking about everything, Chen Chong couldn't help but be happy for him. The two began to chat and deal with political affairs until late at night. At night, the two fell asleep in the lobby with their clothes on.
The next day, Chen Chong asked Xu Huang to stay in the city and began to reorganize Baibo soldiers. Those who were willing to stay were directly under the prefecture. From today on, they were no longer called Baibo Army and were renamed Taiping Army by Chen Chong.
After waiting for a few more days, Wang Mao's head was delivered by Xu Rong, and Chen Chong handed him back to Wang Mao's old troops. Then he continued eastward, crossed the Wan River, and arrived at Wanyang City. Staff from the state capital had arrived and were leading the servants to clean the houses one by one in the city. Chen Chong followed old memories and walked into Guo Da's original house. After Guo Da died, he had no children to inherit, but no one dared to use it. Therefore, when Chen Chong came, the place was covered with cobwebs. He walked to the bedroom. The room was orderly and full of dust. After the bedroom, Chen Chong opened A puff of earthy mist suddenly emerged from the door and mourning hall, causing him to cough repeatedly.
It was dark, and all the lamp oil in front of the tomb was burned out. Chen Chong lit a candle and placed it on the table, and immediately saw Zhang Jue's spiritual tablet. He smiled, wiped the dust off the spiritual tablet, took out Guo Da's spiritual tablet from his arms, and placed him next to Zhang Bao.
There was also the word "生" written by him on the wall next to it. The blood stains turned brown and black after too long. When Chen Chong touched it lightly, the word turned into dust and fell.
After walking out of the mourning hall, Chen Chong opened the wooden box left by Wang Mao, and it turned out to be the little finger he had cut off when he entered the city.
Just as he was bewildered, there was a commotion in the city. It turned out that Hu Cai's body had been dug up.
