On December 21, the new general Liu Bei returned to Chang'an with 30,000 sergeants to prepare for the Eastern Expedition that would begin next year.
When his vanguard camped in the north of the city, the people of Chang'an saw the cloud-patterned Fuhu Banner in front and recognized it immediately. Even though they met again after two months, they all remembered this army that did not disturb the people. They also knew that this thirty-two-year-old general was the hope of the entire Han Dynasty, so they all crowded in front and behind Hengmen, thinking of Get a glimpse of Liu Bei's style.
Only Liu Bei's personal troops were at the rear. It was not until midday that he entered the city with more than a hundred knights and staff. In order to show that he was close to the people, Liu Bei and his party did not wear armor. They just wore ordinary military uniforms, a cashmere cloak, and windproof hats. When the people on both sides knew that he was Liu Bei, they all booed him and wanted to see him. Looking at his face, Liu Bei took off his bamboo hat and smiled at everyone on his horse.
Liu Bei had an upright face, eyebrows like daggers, and a kind yet heroic smile, but he was not a fierce man with a long beard and a beautiful beard, which somewhat disappointed the people around him. At this time, some Tianzhu monks who had escaped from the White Horse Temple said that the general's hands were longer than his knees and his earlobes were visible. These were all signs of the Buddha. Could it be that the general was the reincarnation of the Buddha? After saying that, they lowered their heads and recited Amitabha. Most of the people in Chang'an had heard the legend of the White Horse Temple and knew that the Buddha was a god in the West. When the monks said this, they were all happy, saying that if this was the case, the world would not be stable. Looking at Liu Bei's appearance, they did not think it was so. What a pity.
Chen Chong had already left the mansion and was riding behind the Hengmen waiting for Liu Bei. When he came over, the two of them naturally kept pace. Chen Chong smiled at him and asked, "Xuande, you have been in Jinyang without me recently. It must be like a bird soaring into the sky and a tiger escaping the fence."
"Then am I re-entering the feudal society now?" Although Liu Bei had a smile on his face, his expression looked quite tired. He said with emotion to Chen Chong: "Life is as short as a flower falling on a branch, and the world's situation changes in an instant. When I left the province, I brought 140,000 men with me, but when I came back, I had less than 100,000. Facing the elders of Bingzhou, I felt quite ashamed. Ting Jian, now that he has led his troops back to the capital, he feels like he has left the country."
"What happened?"
"After Guorang died in the battle, his old mother had no one to support her. I sent someone to Youzhou to pick her up and bring her to Jinyang. I planned to serve Guorang's mother like my own mother. Unexpectedly, after hearing the news, the old man was extremely sad. She died of illness on the way to Jin. I had to bury her on Longshan Mountain in the south of Jinyang City."
Chen Chong was somewhat silent when he heard the words. He took a deep breath and said, "If we want the world to be peaceful, how can there be no casualties? Only by letting the Haiyan River clear and the world be peaceful can we be worthy of the souls who died."
The two walked for a while, and Liu Bei put on his bamboo hat again and talked about another news with Chen Chong. He said: "After getting the right to open the mansion, I wanted to be the first to inform the teacher and welcome him back to Jinyang. I wanted to support him for thousands of years, so I also sent people to his hometown in Zhuoxian County to find out about the teacher, but..."
Talking about Lu Zhi, the image of the upright and stubborn old man in the imperial college immediately came to Chen Chong's mind. Seeing that Liu Bei didn't continue, he asked, "Didn't you hear about it?"
Liu Bei said slowly: "I heard about it. After resigning, Teacher, he has been living in seclusion in the Woniu Mountain area of Huanglong Mountain in Shanggu. Last year, Yuan Shao worshiped him as a military advisor, but the teacher did not accept it. He passed away in September this year. I sent people to In Zhuoxian, the teacher had just been buried, but it was just a thin coffin in a cave."
"Didn't Mr. Lu leave anything?"
"No. The Zi family only told me that before the teacher died, he often read to tears, and when he died, his eyes could no longer see."
Chen Chong was silent and understood Liu Bei's feelings. His father died when he was young, and he studied under Lu Zhi with the support of his uncle Liu Deran. Although Lu Zhi did not care about him, Liu Bei deeply respected Lu Zhi. Although he did not say anything in his mouth, he regarded him as his father in his heart. Now Lu Zhi Zhi neither saw his success nor left a message to him. Liu Bei must have deep regrets in his heart.
Lu Zhi's repeated chanting of Qu Yuan must have been out of reluctance. He had been asking himself to help the country all year round, but in the end he could only take refuge in the mountains and sit back and watch the country collapse. How could he not feel heartbroken? When I'm dying, I'm afraid there will be nothing left except deep regret for myself.
After arriving at Weiyang Palace to meet the saint, Liu Bei informed all officials of the news of Lu Zhi's death, and requested a posthumous title for Lu Zhi as a student. All the officials were extremely sad when they heard this. They sighed to each other: Lu Zhi, Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song, and Dong Zhuo were all the pillars of the country in the north, but now in just one year, they all passed away. Some Guests died in the mountains, some died in battle, some died in unknown circumstances, and some died as traitors. It can be seen that it was God's will! From now on, I am afraid that we will never return to the era of clear discussion in the countryside and criticism in the court. In the end, it was decided to posthumously honor Lu Zhi as Mr. Wenjing in the meaning of "moral erudition" and "righteousness" as "jing".
That night, Liu Bei settled in the Sili Xiaowei Mansion, and Chen Chong brought over all the talents recommended by the three assistants some time ago. Except for Yang Xiu and Li Yi, who were left to work in the Sili Mansion, Fazheng, Meng Da, Wei Kang, and Guo Kai were all arranged by him to join the general shogunate.
At the banquet, he encouraged the four of them and said: "In the past few days, you have been working with me in the house, and I have noticed your talents. In peacetime, all of you would have been the talents of the Nine Ministers. But now I have encountered In troubled times, when martial arts comes first, even a common man has to work hard for the sake of the country, not to mention that all of you are from high-ranking families. You go out with the army, and as long as you do your best, the general will see it, and you will be rewarded and put to good use."
The four of them all agreed loudly. Seeing their young and vigorous looks, Liu Bei seemed to remember the days when he studied under Lu Zhi, and his mood calmed down a lot. He said to them with a smile: "Okay, you are here. I believe the country’s restoration is just around the corner.”
After the banquet was dispersed, Liu Bei immediately asked Liu Deran to arrange accommodation for these people in the army. He himself stayed at the banquet and packed things with Chen Chong. Chen Chong asked him: "I have been traveling for so long, why don't I go and rest first?" ?"
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "There are still things unfinished!"
It is already Haishi, what else can be done at this time? Chen Chong was surprised, but he didn't ask. After a while, a minor official came to report that General Zhang Fei of Liao Dynasty rode his horse and led more than ten chariots and horses to the back gate of Sili Mansion.
Chen Chong didn't know why, so he and Liu Bei went to the back door to greet them. They saw people getting out of every car. The weather was cold, and everyone wore hoods and leather robes to protect themselves from the wind and cold. Chen Chong saw a person from the front car, and he was covered with a cloth. She has a beautiful face, but a graceful figure, and she is holding a baby in her arms. At a glance, it is obvious that she is a young woman who has just given birth to a child.
The woman looked at Chen Chong. Chen Chong was suspicious and had already guessed who she was. She slowly raised her hand and took off the cloth on her face. Chen Chong looked at her. Although he had guessed it, he was still surprised and happy.
It turns out that this person is Cai Yan, Chen Chong's wife. The rest of the people who came include Chen Zheng, Chen Kui and several elders of the Chen family, as well as Zheng Xuan and his students who were originally wandering around. They came to help rebuild Taixue. There were also some descendants of the Wang family in Taiyuan who made a special trip to help. Wang Yun went to the funeral.
The couple looked at each other and smiled. Then Chen Chong greeted his father Chen Kui and said to him: "Didn't I say that the situation in Beijing is undecided? Please wait for my news first?"
Chen Kui said: "Now that you are sitting in Xijing, as a role model for the world, there is no reason to put your wife and family elsewhere." He glanced at Cai Yan, stroked his beard and smiled: "Besides, A Yan also wants to see you Father-in-law!" Chen Chong heard this and had nothing to say for a moment. Speaking of which, their father and daughter had indeed not seen each other for four years.
Cai Yong has resigned from prison since he was released from prison and has been recuperating in Sili Mansion. Chen Chong was about to send someone to call his father-in-law, but was stopped by Liu Bei. Liu Bei called the people who got off the car to hurry into the mansion. He whispered to Chen Chong: "There are still people who are difficult to show up. We will talk in detail after they all go in."
After greeting Zheng Xuan and others, most people went into the house. Soon, only Chen Chong, Cai Yan, and Liu Bei were left in the alleyway. Liu Bei looked around and saw that there was no one else on the street, then walked into Cai Yan was originally in the carriage and whispered to the inside: "Miss Dong Bai, come out."
Chen Chong was stunned when he heard this, but saw a figure bending down from the carriage. Even though she was wrapped in two layers of leather robes, it could not hide the girl's slim figure. She stepped onto the snow, waved to the car, and slowly picked up a child. After the girl stood still, she slowly turned around, took off her cloth like Cai Yan, revealing a stunning face. She saluted Chen Chongtingting, and then whispered: "I have met Chen Jun."
Chen Chong recognized her at a glance as Dong Bai, Dong Zhuo's granddaughter, and the child beside her was Dong Yao, Dong Zhuo's eldest grandson. He looked back at Liu Bei in astonishment, not knowing what to say.
Liu Bei also smiled bitterly, and immediately told Chen Chong the whole story without waiting for Chen Chong to ask.
It turned out that after Dong Bai escaped from Yiwu, he planned to defect to Chen Chong, so he rushed to Xihe first. But this was her first time traveling alone. She didn't even know the direction between north and south, and she had two children, Dong Yao and Dong Cang, with her. The result was predictable. How many wrongdoings she had gone through and how much bullying she suffered along the way were actually not counted among Zhong Yao. What saddened Dong Bai the most was that she lost Dong Cang in Lu Zhong. The pain and sorrow in her journey were difficult to explain to outsiders.
When she finally detoured from Shangjun to Xihe after going through untold hardships, Chen Chong had already led his army to Jinyang. When she arrived at Jinyang again, Chen Chong and Liu Bei had led their army south.
Dong Bai had no choice but to go to Duan Xuan. Duan Xuan was guarding Jinyang at that time. As an old subordinate of Dong Zhuo, he recognized the identities of Dong Bai and Dong Yao at a glance. But he knew that these two people were of great importance and could not be dealt with easily, so he half took care of them and half put them under house arrest. He kept them in the house until Liu Bei returned, and then handed this problem to him.
Liu Bei also felt deeply embarrassed after learning about it. Once the court knew that he had adopted Dong Zhuo's orphan, the consequences would be disastrous. But he really couldn't do it if he was asked to kill people and silence them. After much hesitation, Liu Bei decided to take him to Chang'an and let Chen Chong make the decision.
Chen Chong was silent after hearing this. He looked at Dong Bai again and saw that Dong Bai had his head slightly lowered and was looking at the velvet at his feet. There was a trace of heroism on her charming face, but there was no divine light in her eyes, only a sense of helplessness. The feeling of death must be still tormenting her from the guilt of losing her loved ones.
She was also waiting for my answer, and Chen Chong understood. He turned back to look at Cai Yan, who turned his head and said nothing.
After a moment of consideration, he asked Dong Bai: "The world is so big, why did you come to me?"
The girl looked up at him, hesitated for a moment, and said slowly: "I know you are a good person, but also an idiot. No matter how big the world is, I can't find another one."
Chen Chong laughed. He was very happy with the answer and said, "Thank you."
Chen Chong finally decided to adopt Dong Bai, Dong Yao and his sister. This was a very dangerous decision, but Chen Chong did not hesitate. After all, they were just two children.
He took his wife to communicate with his father-in-law, and let Dong Bai and Dong Yao live with Cai Yong. Dong Bai changed his name to Cai Zhi, and Dong Yao changed his name to Cai Hong. They were known to the outside world as Cai Yong's grandsons. Now that wars were raging in the Central Plains, they came from Chenliu to defect. Cai Yong already felt guilty about Dong Zhuo, so when he saw the two orphans of Dong Zhuo, he gladly accepted the appointment.
In fact, as an old minister of Dong Zhuo, there was no better candidate than him. Now that his political reputation has faded, ordinary people would never visit him to avoid suspicion. Even if old friends occasionally came to visit, Cai Yong arranged for Dong Bai to cover his face, and Dong Yao hid in the back room to rest, so no one noticed.
