This scene did not only happen in Pingyang, nor only in Hedong. A large number of people were in trouble due to the sudden snowstorm. Except for the refugees in Hedong, even the refugees west of the river heard that Chen Chong was giving porridge in Hedong. Everyone came across the river to see the news.
When Chen Chong walked from Pingyang to Jie County, he was definitely not the only one to do this. Even the Pingyang Order was relatively good. Some officials immediately resigned from their posts after hearing Chen Chong's admonishment. Chen Chong, on the other hand, did not stop and confiscated their belongings on the spot in the name of dereliction of duty, which put an end to this unhealthy trend.
But this did not help the situation in Hedong. Chen Chong brought 80,000 shi of grain, and traders returning from Hebei successively brought 20,000 shi of grain. This was still a drop in the bucket for the hundreds of thousands of victims. Chen Chong could only stipulate that the porridge sheds should be registered. Forty porridge sheds in each county, and three hundred people should be registered in each porridge shed. Each person would have one meal a day, and the relief could barely be maintained. But this is not a long-term solution after all. Many victims are still unable to be resettled. They are illiterate and have no information. They dig vegetables in the wilderness during the day and collect dead grass to make nests at night. They live in a hazy way. At a glance, they are gone. Either they freeze to death and starve to death in place, or they run into wolves or tigers and become the winter food of wild beasts.
The only thing that allows Chen Chong to comfort himself is that under his full control, there has been no tragedy of cannibalism. However, the disaster was so serious, and there were successive incidents of officials embezzling money and food, that Chen Chong did not dare to leave Hedong again. Instead, he handed over all the matters of moving the government to Tao Qiuhong, and he toured the counties day and night.
At the beginning of December, the heavy snow stopped, but the weather became even colder. The rivers froze half a month earlier than in previous years. The ground and the world were frozen, the clouds were like frost on the sky, and even the fireworks seemed like false illusions.
One morning, Chen Chong came out from the Yishi inspection tour and rode an ox cart to Jie County. Even though the disaster was urgent, the Chang'an cavalry could send troops to invade at any time due to the frozen river. He was ready to ask Zhang Fei about the recent border affairs. As a result, when he arrived at the Jiexian County House, he walked in and saw that only two clerks were still guarding the gate, but there was no one else in the county house.
The two clerks, one in his thirties and the other in his fifties, were warming themselves by the fire in the hut next to the mansion gate. When they saw Chen rushing over, they quickly straightened their clothes and greeted him. Seeing the frightened expressions of the two of them, Chen Chong unconsciously touched the scar on his left eyebrow, sighed, and asked, "Where is your county prince?"
At this time, the old official bowed his body and answered carefully: "I am reporting to the envoy, the Lord of Zhou County respects the envoy's order and is putting grain for the refugees in the county warehouse. The rest of the people are also registered there. Lord Zhou County I thought it would be troublesome to go back and forth every day, so I simply moved the county government there first. But there are still some documents in the government that cannot be moved, so I am left here to guard them. "
"Where's Captain Zhang?" (Zhang Fei was in charge of the military in Hedong and was elected as Captain of Hedong.)
This was the answer from the younger official, who was obviously very concerned about this: "Since the river froze, the captain has been busy. He often leaves the city and comes back very late. He also orders troops from time to time, as if he is preparing to do something. The county prince also asked about important matters, but the captain said that what he was doing was of great importance and asked the county prince not to make any noise."
"No one knows what he's doing?"
"Then the envoy is going to the camp in the south of the city to ask. It is said that the captain has left all the miscellaneous matters to the chief clerk Du Yun. He went to the camp the day before yesterday and he hasn't returned yet!"
"Nonsense!" Chen Chong was confused when he heard this, and it soon combined with the anxiety of the past few months, making him couldn't help but get up, walk around the room with his hands behind his back, and said angrily: "I am in Xingxian County, Hedong, how can he You don’t say anything to me when you do anything! You’re just playing the piano randomly!”
He hurriedly led him to the south camp of the city, but by chance, when he arrived at the south camp, it was lunch time, and smoke was rising from the barracks, so that the air was filled with the aroma of food. When the staff smelled the smell, they couldn't help but sniff and swallow. Chen Chong also heard the hunger growl from the belly of Wang Xiang, the chief of the pavilion who was accompanying him. Everyone looked over. Wang Xiang was quite shy and touched the back of his neck with his hand to relieve his embarrassment.
Chen Chong turned to look at them and asked, "Are you hungry?" They all nodded sharply.
In these days, Chen Chong issued an order that officials would eat whatever the victims ate. Therefore, it was also stipulated that one meal a day should be porridge. It was okay when Chen Chong was not in sight, and there was still room for favoritism. However, the people who accompanied Chen Chong suffered a lot. There was no oil or water at all, and many of them were swollen. stand up.
But the army is excepted. Nowadays, the whole state can't move except for the spring seeds. It means that the military rations can't be moved. Especially in Hedong, no one knows when Dong Zhuo will send troops to attack again, and hungry soldiers cannot fight. Therefore, there is still a considerable amount of food left in the army, which can support the entire army with two meals a day and occasionally a meal of meat. So much so that many people asked the state, county and county governments when they would recruit troops again, and the answer was of course no.
As soon as Chen Chong asked the question, he knew that he was asking too much. Looking at the expectant eyes of dozens of people, he had no choice but to wave his hands and said: "You guys go to Huotou camp to divide the points. Today is the only day." As soon as he finished speaking, he followed. There is no need for anyone to lead the way. They smell the fragrance and it disappears in an instant.
Chen Chong walked to the main camp alone and opened the camp door. Just then, I saw Du Yun, the chief clerk, sitting down with a bowl of soup cakes. In his right hand, he picked out a volume of books among the papers, obviously intending to read while eating. When he saw Chen Chong, he was stunned for a moment, then quickly stood up to salute. Chen Chong waved his hand for him to sit down, and he also found a bed to sit on. He waited for Du Yun to finish the soup cake, and then slowly asked him questions.
It turned out that Zhang Fei saw the river was frozen at the beginning of the month, so he personally led people across the river to inquire about the enemy's situation. Unexpectedly, he bumped into the Liang people's team transporting food. Zhang Fei captured a prisoner, and then learned that just yesterday, there would be a team of 100,000 shi. The grain and grass will be transported to Puban. In a hurry, Zhang Fei did not inform Chen Chong. He explored the grain transportation route twice, led three thousand knights the day before yesterday, and went out late at night to rob the grain on the other side of the river.
This action was beyond Chen Chong's expectation. Chen Chong became anxious when he heard it. He asked: "How far is it from Puban?" "It's about forty miles to the west." "That's enough time. What's wrong with Yide?" Aren’t you coming back yet?”
"Perhaps the food was harvested, so the return was naturally slow," Du Yun said.
Chen Chong was speechless. He had deep worries that he didn't say out loud. It was said that the soldiers and horses went ahead with the food and grass before they moved. Dong Zhuo adjusted the food in winter. Is it possible that the soldiers and horses had a tendency to mobilize. If Dong Zhuo continued to increase troops to the east of Hedong, Zhang Fei would If you go, wouldn't you be throwing yourself into a trap?
He lowered his head and put his hands on his forehead. The more he thought about it, the more anxious he became. Somehow, Sun Jian's remains came to mind, and Wang Mao's severed body and head came to mind. The successive misfortunes over the past year made the depression in his heart deeper and deeper. In addition, he had been hungry these days and was weak. Du Yun was lowering his head and waiting for Chen Chong to continue his lecture. Suddenly he heard a noise and found that Shi Jun had fallen to the ground and had passed out.
Chen Chong felt that he had had a long dream. In the dream, he was running away on an endless dark path, but he didn't know what he was avoiding, but he clearly felt that the thing was getting closer and closer. Its breath quickly clung to his neck like silk, and a chill enveloped his whole body from top to bottom. This shocked Chen Chong and he woke up.
Only then did Chen Chong realize that it was already dark. He was lying on the couch. There was a tall figure beside the table, holding something with his back to him and biting it. The smell was so strong that Chen Chong frowned. He smelled it was mutton leg meat. , stood up and sat up, and the quilt also fell down.
Zhang Fei heard the movement behind him and knew that his brother had woken up. He quickly turned to see him and said happily: "Brother, are you okay? I saw you lying here when I came back. You scared me to death!"
When Chen Chong saw that he was so drunk, he took action without saying a word to him. He smiled like a ruffian, and felt angry for no reason. He subconsciously hit Zhang Fei on the face with his palm, and reprimanded Zhang Fei almost instinctively. : "Yide, I've said it several times, it's so difficult now, how can we waste it like this!"
Zhang Fei received a slap inexplicably and looked extremely aggrieved. He sat upright and said nothing. Du Yun was also there at the side, so he explained to Chen Chong: "The captain was exposed to arrows, went into the enemy's territory, and defeated Liang Gou. He had intercepted more than 50,000 stones of grain and came back. He was only wounded three times by arrows, so he ate it." Just some meat to nourish the body."
When Chen Chong heard this, he immediately knew that he had said the wrong thing. He looked embarrassed for a moment and obviously could not get off the stage. However, when he heard that Zhang Fei had been hit by three arrows, he quickly opened Zhang Fei's chest and found that Zhang Fei's left shoulder, lower abdomen, and right wrist were all injured. The wound from the arrow was wrapped in a towel at this time, but the towel on the lower abdomen was still slightly damp, and it was obvious that it had not yet formed a scab. He felt even more distressed for a moment, touched Zhang Fei's face and said, "Does it still hurt?"
Zhang Fei saw his worried expression and immediately laughed, shook his head and said, "Brother has never had the strength, and it has never hurt me to hit him!"
"I said arrow wound."
"It's all injuries from the day before yesterday. I've already been through the pain."
Chen Chong knew that what he said was a lie, but he also laughed. His heart suddenly felt happy again, and all the heavy depression and depression in his dream were dissipated at this time. In any case, he does have brothers and friends who can entrust his life to him. As long as these people are there, he believes that no matter what kind of dangerous road he takes, he can persevere to the end.
At this time, Xu Qian, the secretary of Cao Cao, burst into the camp very happily and breathlessly announced the good news to Chen Chong: "Your Majesty, good news! Good news!"
"what news?"
"Mr. Guanfu sent a letter saying that his relatives have arrived in Henan safely, and he is arranging manpower to send the sages to Jinyang."
Chen Chong said "Oh". For him, this was good news, but what he needed more was good news for Bingzhou.
Unexpectedly, Xu Qian continued: "Guan Fujun also said that the messenger was personally sent by Cao Fujun, the governor of Dongjun. After he heard that the state capital was in trouble, he personally raised 400,000 shi in Yanzhou. The first batch of grain has been transported to Henan and will be sent along Jiguan soon."
Chen Chong stood up suddenly.
In December of the second year of Chuping, there was a great famine in Hedong due to the war against Dong. At this time, Cao Cao had just repelled the Black Mountain Army who tried to plunder Yanzhou, and was recommended by Yuan Shao and Liu Dai as the prefect of Dongjun. With the support of the remaining governor Zhang Miao and the Northern Minister Bao Xin, he raised a total of 400,000 shi from Yanzhou and donated it to the capital of Bingzhou, so that Bingzhou could successfully survive the cold winter.
(That is, the end of Lu Wuyu)
