Throughout September, Liu Bei did not dare to relax his guard, although the spies in Fushi came back with news every day, saying that the Liang people's army had begun to move south one after another, and the flags were getting fewer and fewer day by day. However, he knew that the front line was weak, so he still maintained the army stationed on the front line. He repaired Baitu City day and night. He first built an outer layer for it, then dug water channels and diverted the water into Baitu City's moat. He was busy until mid-October. , and only after Baitu City was completely completed did he lead his troops back to Jinyang.
On the other side, at this time, Xu Rong had indeed withdrawn to Guanzhong as he said, but the lost Shangjun would not come back because of this. Han Xian and Yang Feng did not leave either, but went directly to Qiuci north of Fushi. He stayed in the city and used the money left by Xu Rong to gather the old troops and serve as the front line for the imperial court to regain Bingzhou. However, the location of Kucha was not dangerous enough, so Yang Feng and Han Siam abolished this old town and built a new city about thirty miles south of the city, still called Kucha.
At least within this year, both sides have no intention of fighting again, so the border has been stabilized between Baitu and Qiuci, but this does not mean that the difficulties are over, or it should be said that many difficulties are only now becoming apparent. The aftermath of the soldiers who died in the battle, the reorganization of the Baibo Army, the refugees in various counties caused by the war, and the reconstruction of the counties in Xihe, etc., but these are not the most important issues. The most important thing is actually the food problem.
Originally, under Chen Chong's actuarial calculation, although this year was not good, it could still be managed. However, the timing of Dong Zhuo's attack was too vicious. He expected to fight during the autumn harvest. Originally, this year's harvest was already quite pessimistic. As a result, During the war, the three counties of Hedong, Xihe, and Shangjun had no time to harvest, and a large amount of grain rotted in the fields, especially in Hedong. This was also a gift from Xu Rong.
Hedong County had as many as one million registered households and was the most prosperous under Chen Chong's rule. But when Baibo rebelled, Xu Rong led his troops to join forces with Niu Fu and suddenly attacked Hedong. Niu Fu led 30,000 troops to surround Jie County and confronted Zhang Fei's troops, while Xu Rong was like locusts passing through, inch by inch. Hedong raided grain and rice.
Wang Yi, the prefect of Hedong, was stationed in Anyi at the time. When he saw refugees coming to report and Liang people attacking, he immediately tried to lead troops to harass their flanks. However, not long after leaving the city, he was repulsed by Xu Rong's troops. However, Xu Rong did not change his plan because of this, but continued his old plan, bypassing the big cities such as Anyi, first collecting food in the villages, and then searching for goods in the small cities. No one could resist him. In just one month, Xu Rong created nearly 300,000 refugees in Hedong.
As for these refugees, Xu Rong either let them go or expelled them to Anyi and Linfen, rapidly consuming the food stored in the city. When he reached Pingyang, he suddenly went south again and led his troops to quickly surround Anyi. The refugees in the city were not allowed to escape. Fortunately, at this time, Dong Zhuo, because Zhang Ji was unable to break the city, ordered Xu Rong to lead his troops to fight in Shangjun. The war in Hedong began. Finish.
It was already early November. Chen Chong took off the gauze on his left eye. His eye injury had healed, but a ferocious cross scar was left on his eyebrow bone. There were also some sequelae, such as his left eye He couldn't open his eyes very well, his eyesight had also dropped a lot, and sometimes he would feel dizzy for no reason, but overall it also increased Chen Chong's majesty. Liu Bei laughed at him and said, "He looks like a smiling tiger."
But Chen Chong didn't care about this. The disaster in Hedong had reached a point where there was no need to delay, and he had to pay more attention to it. In October and January alone, Hedong County sent eight documents asking for food. As soon as Chen Chong recovered from his injury, he immediately led the state officials south. What he saw along the way was shocking. Sanhe was originally the essence of the country. Last year's war turned the two counties of Henan and Hanoi into wasteland. But after the Liang people passed away this year, the only prosperous place in Sanhe has been reduced to a hell.
The weather has always been gloomy and gray, but the temperature has suddenly cooled down, and the grasslands in the north bring the wind of the ice sea. Chen Chong saw along the road that refugees were wandering all over the mountains and fields. They were peeling bark off trees one by one along the mountains and fields. Their eyes were empty and hungry, and their bodies were covered with short brown linen cloth that could not cover their bodies. When they saw Chen Chong's motorcade, their eyes suddenly glowed with hope, and they made uh-huh sounds from their mouths, like the groans of hungry ghosts in hell, and like the last trace of life in the bones, so they came closer like a colony of ants, Many people who followed Chen Chong's carriage carrying grain had evil intentions in their eyes, but Chen Chong arrived too late, and most of them didn't even have the strength to grab the grain. Along the way, people kept approaching, and people kept falling down, forming a long team. When Chen Chong arrived in Anyi, his team was more than ten miles long. Chen Chong came from Taiyuan. Half of the 70,000 stone grains have been distributed.
When he handed over the remaining grain to Wang Yi, Wang Yi saw that the grain could not last for even half a month, and he became decadent. Chen Chong could only encourage him and said: "I will go back and think of a way. No matter what, I will definitely survive this winter." Past.”
Having said that, he really can't produce much grain. If he adjusts the grain again, he can only use next year's spring planting. Even if he barely survives this winter, how can he survive until next year's autumn harvest? This is absolutely untouchable, so you can only think of other ways.
Chen Chong first spent a lot of gold and silver, hired local reliable tenant farmers, and assigned his soldiers to dress up as grain vendors and ride donkeys to buy grain throughout Jizhou. But the food that can be bought is limited. Each person has a donkey and two long bags, and often a dozen people travel in groups. They can bring food for almost a hundred people, which seems like a lot, but they have to cross the Taihang Mountains. Bandits are rampant in the Taihang Mountains, and the Black Mountain bandits dare not take action against large armies, but they often like to rob small caravans like this. However, if the state government wants to send a large army to suppress it, there is really no money and food to mobilize.
Fortunately, the Black Mountain Army is also poor this year. They look down on Bingzhou, a place without oil and water, and are not willing to conflict with the state capital. Now they are leading most of them south to Hanoi to attack Yanzhou to seize food. Therefore, although this method is not very useful, it still brings back some rice and noodles.
The second way is to borrow food. Now there is no food in the state capital, and most of Baibo's food and grass have been taken away by Han Yang. However, the Huns have been saving for two years and barely have some left. There are also many wealthy families in Taiyuan, Shangdang, and Hedong. To save food, Chen Chong sent his staff to the house one by one to raise food and grass, but the effect was not good. Many people refused and said that in troubled times, not a grain of rice was superfluous. However, Meiji still raised the money for Chen Chong's sake. I got some, about 80,000 shi.
But this was far from enough. Chen Chong simply discussed with Liu Bei, arranged for some refugees, distributed weapons to them, and asked them to go to the wealthy mansions in Hedong to make trouble first. They pretended to be deaf and dumb.
But this method soon failed, not because there were no weapons to adjust, but because a heavy snow suddenly fell in Hedong.
Very big snow! What an early snow! The sky that had been gloomy for January still seemed to show no mercy. It cruelly dropped buckets of snowflakes, covering the world with a layer of cold silk cloth overnight, and the air was filled with a frozen atmosphere. The snow caught Chen Chong off guard. He hurriedly transported the borrowed 80,000 stone grains and rice to the east of the river. However, the snow was so heavy that it blocked the mountain road, so that he could only send people to clean it up and wrap the wheels at the same time. Get on the skin and trudge forward in the mud.
After walking like this for ten days, Chen Chong finally led the convoy out of the long and narrow Luliang Mountain Road. He arrived in Pingyang first, but the tragic scene in Pingyang made him unbearable and couldn't believe it.
Under his stern supervision, more than ten porridge sheds had been set up, and more than ten large pots were cooking porridge over the fire. However, the living people did not rush to line up, but sat or lay around. On the snow, these people no longer had the strength to stand up. Why do you want them to rob food?
Even worse, there were many dead people lying on the snow not far from the living people. At this time, people recruited from Pingyang County were being asked to take out bamboo mats from the cars and wrap them up one by one.
Chen Chong's eyes were full of sadness. He turned back to look at a porridge shed, and his eyes immediately became stern.
The magistrate of Pingyang County also came. At this time, he was wearing a thick deerskin coat, and there was actually a Cangtou who moved the bed for him and placed it in front of a large cauldron fire to warm himself up.
Gu Chenchong said to a staff member from the state capital next to him: "Call Pingyang Ling over."
"Yes." The aide walked to the bonfire, "County Lord, Ambassador Chen invites you to come over and talk."
Pingyang Ling stood up and walked to Chen Chong: "Chen Chong."
Chen Chong asked: "How can we bury so many dead people?"
Pingyang Ling replied: "We are looking for someone right now. We are going to dig a big pit as a grave and bury them in one place."
Chen Chong asked again: "There are so many people alive, even if they have a bowl of porridge to drink, where can they sleep at night?"
Pingyang Ling sighed: "I'm worried too. How can there be a place for them to sleep with so many people."
Chen Chong asked urgently: "Then let them freeze to death?"
This Pingyang Ling was from Nanyang and was appointed by the imperial court as a son of a wealthy family. He originally followed Wang Yi in the rebellion and was worried about something. Now seeing Chen Chong's anxious and stern expression, he became even more angry and said: "Please don't talk nonsense! Who wants them to freeze to death?”
"The porridge shack is not located in the city. If you let so many people stay in the wilderness during the snowy day, don't you just want them to freeze to death!" Chen Chong's eyes suddenly pierced Pingyang Ling, and his injured left eye looked particularly special at this time. sharp.
"So many people have entered the city, how to arrange them?" Pingyang Ling became angry and showed no sign of weakness.
Chen Chong scolded: "Where are you sleeping? Where are your family sleeping? Don't they all live in the city? You have a place to sleep, but there is no way to resettle these refugees!"
Pingyang Ling was startled: "Chen, Chen Shijun, how can you talk like this..."
Chen Chong said "ha": "What do you want me to say? I will leave Pingyang to you. I don't expect you to have much integrity, nor do I expect you to contribute money or effort. I just hope you remember that the people of Pingyang are you. People, do you do this to your own sons and daughters! Let me tell you, I have already brought you food. If it is not enough, I will find a way to transport it, even if it is to steal or rob! But from today on, no more food will be delivered to you here. If you starve to death or freeze to death, you should stop doing this here!"
When Pingyang Ling heard this gust of wind and rain, he remembered that he was in troubled times and couldn't help but feel a little discouraged: "Then Shijun Chen can give me a clear path. What should I do if Shijun becomes my county magistrate? "
Chen Chong said solemnly: "Vacate the county government, the arsenals, rice warehouses, temples, Taoist temples, and some wealthy families, and all the places that can be vacated in the county, and let the refugees live in them! They have no clothes. Just give them more firewood and let them light the fire! The more prosperous the fire, the better!"
Pingyang Ling seemed to have heard the huge absurdity: "Is there any truth to this?"
Chen Chong sneered: "Let me tell you, I was a sacrificial wine in Luoyang and a prefect in Xihe. This has always been the case! After serving this porridge, I moved the porridge shed to the city!"
After saying this, Chen Chong ignored him, strode towards the refugees on the snow, and said loudly: "The porridge will be ready soon! My fellow villagers, please sit up if you can sit, and stand if you can stand." Get up, you won’t be able to get up if you lie down any longer! After finishing the porridge, we all moved to the city, and your county master arranged a house for you! Listen to me, get up. Those who can’t get up, please ask others to help. !" As he said that, he walked to an old man and squatted down. He put the dying old man's arms on his shoulders and half hugged and half helped him up.
After helping the old man up, Chen Chong looked towards Pingyang Ling and the county officials: "You are still standing, do you want me to invite you one by one?"
The county officials and staff all rushed over.
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Set a small goal first, such as remembering in 1 second: Shukeju
