Just as Yuan Shao's subordinates were electing their leaders in Zhuoxian County, Fazheng, who was tired of his travels, had already returned to Chang'an on the strong horse presented by Tuoba Xianbei.
It was late at night when he arrived, and Liu Bei was just about to fall asleep. When he heard that he was back, Liu Bei was so happy that he didn't even bother to put on his shoes. He ran out of bed barefoot and flicked Fazheng's cheeks with his nails. He was incoherent and said, "Xiao Zhi is much darker and thinner!" Then he said with a smile: "Xiao Nao helped me get rid of a serious illness in my heart. I will never forget your contribution!"
Fazheng smiled and replied: "This is just a small contribution. If you want to say that it is a hero, of course it is the design of Longshou." He had traveled day and night and looked extremely tired. Liu Bei originally arranged for him to have dinner, but he didn't say much. After a while, Fazheng lay down on the table and fell asleep. Seeing this, Liu Bei couldn't bear to be disturbed, so he asked the cook to wait for him to wake up before reheating the food. He himself put on his clothes and hurried to Sili Mansion to discuss important matters.
Yuan Shao's death does not mean that Hebei will be pacified. Liu Bei thought that there were many things to do next, but the hardest part was obviously over. At this time, Chen Chong was collating the new book "Emperor Xiaoling" written by Dr. Taixue. When he heard the uninvited footsteps in the distance, he put down the paper and put it in his hand. He looked up and bumped into Liu Bei's excited eyes. The look in his eyes tells him that something big has happened.
He smiled at Liu Bei and said, "Can you still sleep today?"
Liu Bei replied calmly: "When I think that the world will be settled and all people can enjoy peace, how can I sleep?" Then he laughed loudly and sat down directly in front of Chen Chong's case to discuss the aftermath of Hebei with him.
The first is the reward for Qu Yi. Qu Yi betrayed Yuan Shao, and as promised in advance, Chen Chong was supposed to confer him the title of Marquis of Wanhu. However, because Chen Chong had a private army at his command, he made an impromptu decision and promoted him to the rank of Grand Sima. Hou.
The second is more important. Now that Hebei is leaderless, some people are bound to want to surrender and some want chaos. If Hebei is to be settled without a war, it is necessary to send envoys in advance to appease Hebei before it is stabilized. The requirements for this candidate are very demanding. First of all, reputation is essential, otherwise he will not be able to convince people's hearts. Secondly, he must be capable, otherwise he must surrender and quell the rebellion. Finally, he must be loyal to the court, otherwise he may not be able to become the second Yuan Shao.
There are very few such people in the court. After Liu Bei proposed several candidates, they were all rejected by Chen Chong. He was also weighing and considering in his mind: Wang Yi's reputation was not enough, Kong Rong was lacking in ability, and Duan Xuan's confidants were difficult to decide. If he wanted to When it comes to doing things, who else can you choose? Suddenly a person flashed through his mind and he thought: He is the most suitable!
He said to Liu Bei: "I'm afraid we can only let Yuan Chang go."
"Yuan Chang is your right-hand man. If he goes to Hebei, what will happen to the court affairs?" Liu Bei also thought that Zhong Yao was suitable, but over the years, whether it was Zhong Yao who was discussing in the court, handling affairs at the Chancellery, or liaising with the emperor, it was Zhong Yao who As Chen Chong's deputy, we will deal with it together. If he is allowed to go to Hebei, his control over the government and the opposition will inevitably be affected.
But Chen Chong believed that with the current chaos in Hebei and the prestige of the Ba Mansion so powerful that he could do nothing wrong. And if the conquest of Hebei fails, great chaos will occur. Only then did Liu Bei be convinced.
In order to prevent Zhong Yao from having trouble traveling, Chen Chong also said to Liu Bei: "This is the time for you to return to Jinyang to organize your troops. If Yuan Chang arrives in Hebei and it is unfavorable, you can slowly cross the river with your army to intimidate the small group in Hebei. If they are still If you don’t comply, these leaderless rebels will probably have a hard time contending with you.”
Liu Bei thought for a moment, nodded, and said good-bye. He immediately said goodbye to Chen Chong and returned home to prepare for his journey north.
It was already late at night, and Chen Chong had not fallen asleep yet. He sat quietly in the case for a while, thinking about whether the arrangement was complete, but in fact, there was too much joy in his mind, which caused the waves in his chest to surge back and forth, causing his mind to remain calm no matter what. Not coming down.
So he stood up and walked slowly along the small lake in the mansion. The gentle autumn wind and the lingering willow trees finally made his mind calm down a little. He didn't know why, it had been six years since he had been on the battlefield, but every time in autumn, he could always smell the smell of death in the wind. But the smell was cold and clear, not like the fishy or turbid smell on the battlefield, but his consciousness always stubbornly believed that this was the smell of death.
He thought sadly that maybe he was involved in the deaths of too many people.
At this time, the bright moon hung high in the sky. In Chen Chong's view, it was the eyes formed by hundreds of billions of souls. The clear brilliance falls on me, as if someone is leaning on me gently, and the yellow flowers on the ground are swaying, as if someone is waving back and forth to me. He knew why he felt this way. It was because there were too many things he couldn't forget.
Whenever he returns to his dreams at midnight, Chen Chong always remembers some dead people. The faces of those people were so clear that he couldn't even name them, but he confirmed that he had seen these people. It was on the battlefield in Hebei, the battlefield in Xihe, the battlefield in Yanmen, and even the battlefield in Longshouyuan. They are either unknown soldiers charging at the front, or fierce generals running across the army, or their close and old friends. These people have nothing in common, and their attitudes towards themselves are hard to describe, but the only thing that is the same is that they are dead. .
Some died due to Chen Chong's sudden glance on the battlefield, some died due to Chen Chong's deliberate planning, and some died in Chen Chong's arms. Chen Chong did not remember them deliberately, but these people were indeed engraved in his mind, making him unforgettable. Chen Chong sat down by the lake and looked at his dim figure in the lake. He thought that it was not that he had not tried to forget, but maybe his memory was too good.
In the past few years, he has stopped riding on the battlefield. The apparent reason is that the court needs someone to appease him, but the actual reason has not been made clear to anyone. Is war exhaustion, he asked himself, an escape? He couldn't answer. He thought that he might not be as strong as he imagined, but it was okay. If he wanted to realize his own value, he could do it now.
At this time, he saw a red carp sticking its head out of the lake and looking at him slightly.
Last year, Cai Yan had nothing to do, so he bought some carp and kept them in the lake. Among them was a red carp, and he thought it was this one. It's just that it was hard to see the feeding in the past. Everyone thought it had swam away, but unexpectedly it was still in the lake and it appeared at this time.
Chen Chong had some fish food in his waist, and he simply sprinkled it on the reflection in front of him. Seeing this, the red carp swam over quickly and wandered back and forth in the ripples. Chen Chong liked it so much that he wanted to reach out and touch it. Unexpectedly, as soon as his fingertips entered the water, the red carp passed under his palm and ended up in the shadow of a willow branch. Floating, as if peeping at him.
Chen Chong was not upset because of this. When he looked at this scene, he only felt a sense of carefree life. First I thought of Zhuangzi's words about the joy of "minnows traveling calmly", and then I thought of a poem by Tao Qian, which I recited with my heart.
“The rain breaks out in mid-spring, and thunder begins to strike in the east.
All the stings are hiding in fear, and the grass and trees are growing vertically and horizontally.
Pianpian is a new arrival, and they both enter our house.
The former nest is still there, and the prime minister has returned to his old residence.
Since the separation, the courtyard has become increasingly deserted.
My heart is as strong as a rock, how will your love be determined? "
He was already thinking about the arrangements for the rest of his life.
The next day, a large court meeting was held in Weiyang Palace. Fazheng took Yuan Shao's head and presented gifts to the court officials in public.
In the lobby, Fazheng walked with the case in his hand, walking from among the ministers to the emperor, which made all the officials eclipse. Yuan Shao was the leader of the noble clan and had a wide network of contacts in the court. Almost everyone knew him, and everyone regarded him as a hero and Liu Chen's biggest opponent. But who would have expected that secretly, without any battle, his blood-stained head was already in front of his eyes, telling the iron-clad truth.
Fazheng finally stood still in the main hall and showed the head to the princes. This head has been brewing countless conspiracies to destroy the Han Dynasty, from instigating rebellion, the Luoyang coup, and then to the separatist regime in Guandong. No one knows how many secrets it still contains, but now there is nothing in this head. No expression can be seen after making it.
Then Qu Yi went to the pilgrimage to see him. The emperor asked him to stand up with an incomprehensible expression and asked Yuan Shao how he died. Qu Yi answered truthfully. It was only then that Chen Chong's layout of Hebei was known. All the officials were extremely surprised by this, and then they were sincerely convinced, and immediately congratulated the emperor for ten thousand years.
Chen Chong wrote down all the arrangements he had discussed with Liu Bei last night and handed it over to the emperor. After reading it, the emperor had no reason to shirk, so he stamped it half-heartedly and announced the disbandment of the dynasty.
But the emperor did not leave immediately. He stayed behind the main hall for a long time and heard the footsteps and comments of everyone as they left the palace. There were all flattering voices towards Chen Chong and Liu Bei. This disgusted him, but what was the use? When the emperor thought of Dong Zhao's plan, he felt a deep sense of powerlessness.
In the past six months, he had been ecstatic about the promises made by Liu Yan and Lu Bu. He thought that as long as Liu Bei led his army out of the border, it would be a great opportunity for him to take charge. But now that Yuan Shao is dead and Guandong is in chaos, can he still resist Liu Bei? I'm afraid that all the troops in Hebei will surrender before they can cross the river. How could Liu Yan and Lu Bu be allowed to send troops at this time? He has been praised as a sage and wise man since he was a child, but now, he can't think of any solution.
He had no choice but to send a message to Dong Zhao with a sense of luck, asking him if he had any other options.
Dong Zhao was also at a loss when he heard that Yuan Shao was dead. Since entering the capital, he has been in the dark while Chen Chong has been in the open. This allowed him to secretly connect and plot. He originally thought that his intelligence was extraordinary and that he would be able to achieve full success because of his mental arithmetic but not his mind. Unexpectedly, even so, Chen Chong only had one move to make all his previous plans in vain.
Could it be that God's will has not ended the Han Dynasty? Dong Zhao was confused and hesitated for a long time. If he wanted to continue, he couldn't see the way forward, but he was unwilling to give up all his previous preparations. Finally, he decided to give up all hesitation, leave his fate to God, and use yarrow to ask about the future, and finally got a "Ji Ji Gua".
"The Romance of Fairy Wood"
The hexagram image of "Jiji Gua" is "Xia Li" and "Shang Kan", the Kan is water, Li is fire, water and fire intersect, water is on fire, and the power of water overwhelms the power of fire, which means that extinguishing the fire will be successful.
Dong Zhao was determined. In his opinion, the Han Dynasty had the virtue of fire, and water was used to extinguish fire, which meant that this great event was bound to happen. He immediately wrote back to the emperor and said: "Let's wait for God's timing, God will not bless us!"
