After staying home for ten days, Chen Chong quickly returned to official duties.
The first thing to solve is still the matter in Hedong. Zhang Fei actually robbed fifty thousand shi of grain and grass in Hexi. This is an extremely sensitive message. It shows that there is a large amount of grain and grass mobilization in Guanzhong, and a large amount of grain and grass mobilization will be accompanied by a major disaster. Military action means that Dong Zhuo has issued new military orders to the Niu Fu Army in confrontation in Hedong. However, as for how to act and where to attack, Chen Chong cannot know. He must prepare for the worst.
In the last war, it has been proved that the Liang army cannot conquer the county's defense system quickly. However, as the front line of the war, Hedong County has a large non-combatant population, which can easily be coerced by the Liang people, thereby destroying the front line and the The morale of the warriors in each county within the county. Considering this aspect, Chen Chong was determined to gradually move the refugees from the county out of Hedong County and to Henan County via Jiguan, which would also enrich the Henan household registration.
Fortunately, the Liang people did not seem to have the intention to continue attacking Hedong. Even though they lost a lot of food and grass, they did not send troops to take revenge. Instead, they added more food guards and still transported food, but they piled up the food and grass in Xia Yang and Linjin. The two places were not sent to Puban and Fenyin cities. Until the river thawed, soldiers from the two cities began to cross the river one after another, and the entire army gathered towards the south.
After Chen Chong learned the news, he and Zhang Fei went to the front line to inspect the situation. They saw that the two cities were no longer what they used to be. The city walls had been raised to five feet, the thick outer walls had been covered with a layer of blue brick walls, and the watchtowers at the four corners were The guards are also quite tight. At the foot of the city, you can vaguely see a river leading from the distance. After waiting for a while, they did see signs of soldiers leaving the city.
In order to further confirm, it was not until a group of mules and horses dragged the baggage out of the city to the west that Chen Chong confirmed: "It seems that Dong Zhuo is having a big war in the south. He even transferred some of the soldiers here. He must have a petty plan. But I don’t know whether he plans to capture Hanzhong or Nanyang?”
Zhang Fei was not interested in where Dong Zhuo would attack. He looked at the two cities and asked excitedly in a low voice: "Since Dong Zhuo withdraws his troops at this time, wouldn't it be a great opportunity for our army to seize the two cities?"
Chen Chong couldn't help laughing. He pointed at the city wall and said, "Yide, how can you hit your head against a stone?" He advised Zhang Fei to focus on relocating people from Hedong. This was not the time to counterattack. Given the catastrophe last year, Chen Chong couldn't help laughing. , this year’s spring plowing is the top priority.
So I returned to Yuanyang, where the state capital was already starting spring plowing. Under the supervision of various county ministries, the governors of each county began to distribute spring seeds. After several years of management, bureaucrats at all levels have become proficient in these matters, and there is no need for Chen Chong to give further instructions. But it was a matter of people's livelihood, and Chen Chong did not dare to neglect it. He still carefully checked the accounts reported by officials at all levels, and sent government officials to review any discrepancies. And taking advantage of the opportunity to distribute spring seeds, Chen Chong ordered the whole state to verify the area of Longmu for the first time. For a while, officials from all over the state were rushing back and forth in the countryside. Then it caused new problems. The wars in Bingzhou made the boundaries of many counties, villages and pavilions complicated. , it was difficult to divide, and the state capital had to re-draw the boundaries.
This work lasted until the end of March. At this time, Guan Yu in Henan suddenly received a shocking news, saying that Dong Zhuo's army of 60,000 soldiers suddenly came out of Wuguan and fought against Yuan Shu's army in Wancheng. Yuan Shu's army was facing Liu Biao for half the battle. Zai, successive sieges of the city were unsuccessful, and morale was low. As a result, the entire army collapsed when being attacked from both sides. Most of the soldiers fled back to Yuzhou in a hurry, leaving Nanyang directly to Dong Zhuo. …
The generals were Li Jue and Guo Si. They divided their troops into two groups. Li Jue's group went south to Xiangyang and Yao Wuhan River to extort rice, grain and property from Liu Biao. Guo Si's group pursued Yuan Shu's defeated army straight into Yingchuan. Li Min With Wu Jingju's father's city refusing to defend, Guo Si cleaned up the countryside as if he were in Hedong. Yuan Shu's army couldn't agree on what to do, so a large number of refugees poured into Henan. Guan Yu had already led his army to Guangcheng Pass, and stationed Gaozhun at Shenyuan Pass, always watching the movements of the Liang army.
Liu Bei was recruiting Xianbei followers in Yanmen. After learning the news, he came to Yuanyang overnight. When discussing this matter with Chen Chong, his eyes lit up, and he asked like Zhang Fei: "Now that Dong Zhuo's army is marching eastward to the Central Plains, is it a good time for me to use force in Guanzhong?" Obviously Liu Bei was holding a sigh of relief these days. Always thinking of revenge for Dong Zhuo's surprise attack last year.
Chen Chong didn't want to destroy Dong Zhuo as soon as possible, but he knew that it was not the time yet. Although Dong Zhuo sent an army of 60,000, judging from his style of work, he had no intention of governing the land and the people. He was like a rogue bandit who was not trapped by the city at all. If he had sent a large army to the state, I am afraid that Nanyang Liang's army would have been cut off before it reached Chang'an. On the way back to the east of the river, we will be in a dilemma until then, and the gains outweigh the losses. He could only advise Liu Bei: "Look again, the time to conquer Dong in the first battle has been lost. The top priority is to recover Shangjun. This can only be done by Xu Tu, not by attacking quickly. Xuande must guard against arrogance and impetuosity. Outstanding A general should always remember to be as motionless as a mountain."
When Liu Bei heard this, he sighed deeply and said: "In the courtyard, looking up and down, I often feel that things are right and people are different. I feel that time is hard to grasp, and we are fighting day and night."
He followed the good advice and gave up the plan of a large-scale attack, but he was unwilling to do so. He asked Xu Huang about the current situation of the army. Then he felt that words were not as good as seeing him in person. Xu Huang had been training in the north of the city, so he immediately pulled Chen Chong Go to the Taiping Army Camp.
The two of them rode on their mounts, dressed in plain clothes, and headed towards Huanghao Mountain. It was Shenshi at this time. You can see that on the north side of the Wan River, at the foot of the Huanghao Mountain, a long barracks was stationed along the Wan River for five miles. On each barracks were three bright yellow flags with a picture of a swan in the clouds. In the breeze of late spring, there seemed to be hundreds of big white birds flying in the camp. Many warblers and magpies took it for granted and gathered on the roof of the tent, jumping and chirping, with endless bird calls.
谷/span Liu Beiyuan looked at this scene and knew that most of the sergeants were not in the military camp. He couldn't help but ask Chen Chong: "Have you been doing any training recently?"
Chen Chong inquired about the current situation of the Taiping Army every day, and naturally knew their drills well. He nodded and said with a smile: "Gongming has three drills every ten days, one day to practice weapons, one day to practice marching, and one day to practice battle formations. I think it must be At this time, I am leading the army on the other side of the mountain to practice marching, and will not be back until the next hour."
Calculating the time, there was still more than half an hour. Liu Bei felt a little tired from running back and forth these days, so he simply said: "In that case, let's sit in the camp first and wait for them to come back." After that, he Together with Chen Chong, we drove our horses to the camp gate.
In front of the camp gate stood a dozen fully armed soldiers, standing silently on both sides. Three movable antlers were placed horizontally in the middle to seal the camp gate. When they saw Liu Bei and Chen rushing over, one of them came out of the queue, ran to stand in front of Liu Bei and Chen Chong, and saluted and greeted the two. …
Liu Bei had met the Baibo Army many times in the past, and his impression of them was that they were fierce in battle and not afraid of death, but their military discipline was lax and extremely difficult to control. However, the soldier in front of him made his eyes shine. He had a good appearance and decent manners. His eyes were neither humble nor arrogant, completely different from before. He couldn't help but smile at Chen Chong: "Gongming's military training can teach people to reborn!"
After that, he turned to the sergeant and said that he wanted to go into the camp to rest for a while and wait for Xu Huang to come back from training to inspect the army. Unexpectedly, the sergeant asked: "Is there a military order for the expedition to the west?" Liu Bei was stunned and asked the sergeant: "Don't you know me, and don't you know Bingzhou Mu?" The sergeant said with a smile: "Of course I know it, but the emperor has already issued an order, and the army should have orders and prohibitions. Now, except for the headquarters, no military orders can be acted upon. enter."
Liu Bei looked him up and down with strange eyes, and the sergeant's hair stood on end. Liu Bei patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "If you are to carry out military orders, even if you have tens of thousands of people to join you, you must remain as strong as a mountain, boy. You're still far away!" Then he waved his hand to signal him to return to the team. The soldier breathed a sigh of relief and trotted back to his original position.
"Aren't you going in?" Chen Chong asked with a smile.
"You didn't bring the military order on purpose," Liu Bei replied with a smile. He simply found a large raised rock and sat on it. Chen Chong shrugged, sat on his side, and joked, "It's better to watch them march here."
The sky soon became dusky. When the halo of the sun was like water waves, Chen Chong began to hear the marching footsteps. When the birds were frightened by the footsteps and took off darkly from the tent, Chen Chong came from the corner of the mountain. I saw the front line of the Taiping Army. He watched them walking step by step, and his eyes were still very happy. Although there were still some noises in the queue, the footsteps were no longer like chaotic waves, but like the sound of drumsticks beating the earth. He walked closer and guarded the door. The returning sergeant moved his antlers away, while the returning sergeant walked steadily back to the camp without looking sideways.
These sergeants were carefully screened by Xu Huang. There were originally more than 30,000, but now only 10,000 were left. Those who were slightly disabled, those over forty, and those under fifteen were persuaded to leave the army and go home to farm. Therefore, The Taiping Army seems to be particularly energetic now.
Chen Chong turned to look at Liu Bei. Liu Bei had stood up and looked at the army carefully, with a look of satisfaction in his eyes. Suddenly he pointed to a place in the army and said, "Ting Jian, what camp is that?" Chen Chong looked around. , seeing that everyone at the place he pointed to had a long bow and two quivers hung on their waists. From a distance, it looked like a group of people had wings, which made them look particularly different. He suddenly smiled and said: "That's a new one. Pass through the Yang camp." It turned out that after Xu Huang reorganized the army, he selected two battalions from the remaining troops. One battalion was composed of Kongwu warriors who were more than seven feet tall. There were about 600 people. They were placed as elites holding heavy halberds. The Chinese army is called the Heavy Equipment Battalion. There is also a battalion of sharp men with sharp ears and eyes, about 400 people, who are organized into the Chuanyang camp to practice long-range shooting day and night to be used as surprise troops on the battlefield. They are the sergeants Liu Bei refers to.
After a while, Chen Chong saw Xu Huang from the army. He was riding a purple-maned horse and was on the outside of the queue with several subordinates. He was talking with his head down about the mistakes of the drill. He suddenly noticed Chen Chong and Liu Bei standing on the side of the road, and quickly waved to his subordinates to let them enter the camp first. He dismounted and walked forward slowly, saluting the two of them.
Liu Bei looked at his majestic appearance, turned to Chen Chong and smiled: "I originally planned that if the military training failed, I would personally lead thousands of people to recapture Shangjun, but now it seems that I don't need to worry about it."
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