I always think that time passes quickly, but I seem to have lived my whole life in one night. If it weren't for Zhang Jue's words, I might have tried to live a second life, but I know that history was created by someone, but that person was definitely not me. But many years later, I always wanted to find an opportunity to teach my soldiers a lesson with his words, but either I forgot, or I hesitated, or I felt that it was not appropriate at this time.
"Thank you for your kindness. Forget it. We are being restrained everywhere. By the time autumn comes, we will indeed be half buried in the ground..."
"General Tian Gong!" The general next to him thought his words were too discouraging and wanted to interrupt him, but Zhang Jue waved his hand to stop him.
"I have always wanted to create a peaceful and prosperous world for the world, but it seems that I thought too simply. Now that things have come to this, I cannot ignore hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban heroes. We will split our troops into two groups. I will stay behind to guard one group, and the main force of the Yellow Turban army will quickly go to Jiangdong. We are not Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu, and we do not need to be ashamed to see the elders of Jiangdong. One day, our Yellow Turban flag will be on the top of Luoyang City, the dog emperor, but the Jiazi year does not belong to us."
"General Tian Gong, please let me, Pei Yuanshao, stay here." The big man who came to report the news later was already crying, "I will definitely stop Lu Zhi's army and let you go to Jiangdong. Let me stay here to cover your rear!"
"No, I have to do it. I am General Tiangong, and I am the one who led everyone to rebel. At this point, I can't leave here, I can't go!" Zhang Jue looked around with a firm tone. Suddenly, the resolute expression on his face disappeared. He walked to the patio with ease and relief, looking up at the sky, as if talking to us or to himself: "If I were blind, I wouldn't be able to see the bright sunshine every day and the stars at night. If I were deaf, I wouldn't be able to hear everyone's laughter and the whistling of the wind. If I couldn't speak, I wouldn't be able to confide in my brothers. If I lost my hands and feet, I wouldn't be able to fight on the battlefield with everyone... I'm very lucky. I have everything I need, so what else do I have to resent? God has let me live for more than 40 years, which is enough. Since I'm the oldest here, let me do it!"
Everyone was quiet, just looking at each other, and suddenly, this and that, at the same time, I will stay with General Tiangong, that, I will stay. It was Zhang Jue who gestured to everyone to be quiet again.
"I have decided. Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, you will stay and help me resist the enemy. The rest of you will lead your troops and head straight for the Yangtze River tomorrow. Once you reach Jiangdong, you will split up into smaller units and move accordingly when spring begins next year." His tone was full of unquestionable feelings. Although some of the generals were already crying, no one objected. Seeing that no one objected, Zhang Jue turned around and went into the inner room.
It was obvious that Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao were excited. They shouted "Yes, big brother," and then turned around and went back to the camp without saying anything else.
The hall was a little noisy at first, but soon it was empty. I was left alone, feeling a little lost and a little disappointed. A Yellow Turbans' housekeeper politely asked me to go and rest, but I waved and left without saying a word.
There were few pedestrians on the street except for the patrolling Yellow Turban Army. At the corner of the road, I was stopped by my only subordinate. I had no idea what he and I were talking about. Because when I woke up the next day, I had no idea where I was.
"Let's go." I issued my second order, and then I lost my soul again. Riding through the city gate, I heard Zhang Jue calling me from behind. I didn't seem to wake up immediately. I turned my horse's head silently, got off the horse, and walked to Zhang Jue's horse, "General Tian Gong, what do you want to see me about?"
A sword was suddenly placed on my neck. "How dare you! You are a visitor from Jingzhou, and you wanted us to go to the Yangtze River to die. Now that I have discovered your plan, you should accept your fate."
I just looked at him without any reaction. I just said, "Hmm!" and turned around and mounted my horse. In fact, I hadn't reacted yet. This incident was told to me by my subordinate, a traveling merchant, five miles after I left the city. I immediately asked him what Zhang Jue's reaction was. He asked me curiously, "Why are you asking me? Don't you know?" Zhang Jue looked at my back and let me go. The city guard wanted to stop me, but was stopped by Zhang Jue.
It seems that Zhang Jiao didn't see through my identity. He just wanted to test me. I didn't expect that my fearless attitude would make him at a loss. It seems that I can only hope for luck.
There is nothing I have to do next. I sent the traveling merchant back. I have to use this word because he didn't seem to want to go back. The best way for me to deal with him is to separate the family and let your son or you come to Xiangyang. This way, out of sight, out of mind. If you come to Xiangyang, I think I can still find a job for him.
I finally got rid of him and was able to go home.
When I arrived at the city of Xinye, I looked like a homeless person. It seemed that I had grown taller, so my clothes didn't fit me anymore. I put them on like a bunch of rags, with my hair hanging loosely on my shoulders. My pass rune was actually a piece of sheepskin, which was basically the same as a rotten sheepskin. I missed home very much, and it rained heavily that day, soaking me to the point of looking like nothing.
After the rain, the weather became completely cooler and I knew that autumn had really arrived.
Along the way, I heard all kinds of rumors. I knew that Zhang Jue was ill, Bō had died, and Huangfu Song went north again. But this didn't seem to have anything to do with me. I just wanted to go back quickly. I had been away for too long this time. I wondered how my sister was doing? If I was still thinking about a woman, it would be my sister. Because I knew many of my sister, officials, daughters of wealthy families, and common girls in Xiangyang City, but I knew very few of their names. I thought that if there was nothing to do in Xiangyang this autumn, getting married would be a good idea. But it's better to marry my sister off first, otherwise it would be too unfair to her. If my sister becomes an old maid and can't get married, then I, as a brother, would be too unreasonable. But I must not consider my brothers, otherwise they would take advantage of my brother-in-law, and I would have to work together with them in the court. In one word: unhappy, well, it seems to be two words.
As I was thinking, I had already passed through Xinye City. I didn't meet any acquaintances in this city because I didn't want to.
My Xiangyang City is already in front of me. I waved the whip and squeezed the stirrups, hoping to go home quickly. I have been spending almost all my time on horseback during this period. My riding skills have improved a lot, but I have also changed several horses. The people at the post station even asked me if I wanted to change my clothes, but I refused because this dress was made for me by my sister and it was difficult for them to have clothes in my size.
When I entered the city gate, I was still stopped. This was definitely beyond my expectation. I took out the rune, and the old soldier on the city wall squinted and looked at me for a few times. I felt very uncomfortable being stared at by him, but fortunately he finally recognized me. After entering the city, I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, looked at the people passing by and some very strange looks, and was about to express my feelings when a familiar voice with that unique teasing tone said to me: "What are you intoxicated with? Did you have a good time outside?"
"Zishe, it's great to see you!" He saw me jump off his horse, so he also jumped off his horse, opened his arms and waited for me to hug him. We are close friends, but I didn't. I jumped on his horse directly and said, "My horse can't run anymore, so I'll borrow your horse to go home."
"How come you're so nice to see me? It turns out you're so nice to see my horse." Although I felt like I was being teased, his words behind my back were still full of mockery.
Zishe's horse seemed to have more energy. It kicked and ran towards my house. It didn't stop until I pulled the reins hard at the door. It also successfully threw me off the horse. Fortunately, I was thick-skinned. I got up from the ground and rolled and crawled... and bumped into the door! Then... I knocked the door open. My sister was in the hallway, staring at me suddenly. I knew I seemed to have caused trouble, so I immediately took the initiative, "Sister, why did you close the door in broad daylight?" It didn't seem to work, so I immediately changed my tone and said, "Sister, I miss you so much." I saw that there seemed to be no movement, "I'll go wash first." My sister seemed to be stupid. I lowered my head and walked past her. Then I knew that my sister had understood because I was kicked hard on my butt. Then I heard a voice that I hadn't heard for a long time, "Finally you know you're coming back, right? I thought you didn't want to come back, so you broke the door when you came back." I could hear that my sister was talking incoherently, and I thought it was easy to deal with it, so I turned around and smiled stupidly.
This trick really worked, and soon I was lying comfortably in the big bathtub of my house. Except for the burning pain on my face, I knew that although my sister didn't blame me for breaking the door this time, and although I went out because of an important mission, my sister still couldn't get over the fact that I had been away from home for several months.
After taking a shower, I went to sleep until Zishe came and disturbed my sweet dream. It was already dark. "Don't sleep anymore. The brothers are here to welcome you. Get up quickly." Then he ran away, because he must have known that disturbing the sweet dreams of a sleepy person like me was a terrible thing. For safety reasons, it was better to take a walk quickly.
"You're here to welcome me, but you're coming to my house to keep my sister busy." I muttered and found a piece of clothing to put on. Yes, I had grown taller again. I straightened my hair in the bronze mirror and finally understood why so many people didn't recognize me. I actually grew a full beard. It wasn't very dense, but it was enough to make people think I was over 30 years old.
When I entered the living room, I saw the roasted whole pig on the table. Those bastards were really disloyal and sat down near the pig. When I walked to the table, they asked about my life. But I didn't care about that because no one expected my first sentence, including Zishe: "Don't tell me this is white."
Zisheng arrived very late, when the white was almost snatched away by a group of hungry imperial officials. They told me that Zisheng was called by the teacher, so when he came in, we asked him what the teacher wanted to see him about. Zisheng was completely different because he only said four words: "Zhang Jue is dead."