At the end of Chun in the second year of Zhongping, he led 250,000 Jingzhou troops and 100,000 civilians to fight against 300,000 Xiliang Dong Zhuo's army in the northern part of Yizhou. At the cost of 20,000 casualties, he lured Dong Zhuo into Yizhou, cut off his escape route, and trapped him in Sichuan.
To the east, although the Yangtze River flows out of Sichuan from Shu, the waterway from Baidi to Yiling is nearly a thousand miles long, with turbulent currents and numerous dangerous rapids. Unless there are urgent matters, there are very few ships going in and out, or sometimes some brave merchant ships dare to take risks. But if an army of more than 200,000 wants to get out, first of all, there are not so many ships in Sichuan. If Dong Zhuo wants to get out through this route, with the current strength of Yizhou, it will take at least five years, and he will have to worry about the danger of the whole army being wiped out. To the north, out of Jiange, there is first a hundred miles of swamps, and then Ding Yuan's territory. Now Han Tunzhang is also there. If Dong Zhuo goes there, everyone has to be on guard against each other. Given their relationship, he will have a hard time walking back to attack Tianshui. Going to Nanzhong, not to mention the rugged roads and many mountains, just those fierce southern barbarians alone, Dong Zhuo has to think about it. Going west is too far away. Various records only mention that there are strong tribes and mountains higher than white clouds. The Bashan Mountains stretch for thousands of miles, and the plank roads have been destroyed for a long time. Dong Zhuo's idea was like ascending to heaven.
The plan was extremely thorough and the execution was perfect. As the proposer of the plan and the nominal commander of the battle, I should have been very happy and proud. But now, if, just if, it was not Dong Zhuo who was deceived.
My head was swollen, my face was stiff, and I came to Shushan Pass with no expression. What I saw was that the pass had not been built yet, but the military town was almost built. I calmed down a little and asked them to speed up the completion of the construction so that the people in Shu would have a place to go when they fled.
My sister comforted me that Dong Zhuo still had to rely on the people for support, and he would not do anything to the people. I tried to force a smile. I also hoped that. If that was the case, I hoped that the officials in Yizhou would not get angry with Dong Zhuo and surrender the city as soon as possible. I thought that Dong Zhuo was cruel, and everyone knew about it after the Yellow Turban Rebellion. No one in Yizhou dared to face him. Thinking about it, I gradually felt relieved. When we were about to reach Xiangyang, my sister finally coaxed me into smiling again.
The teacher came forty miles out of the city to greet us in the middle of the summer day. We were very moved. We quickly dismounted and kowtowed to the teacher. However, Master curled his lips and did not bow to the teacher like us. The teacher smiled and helped us all up. He went back to the city with us and asked about everything. Master suddenly came over to me and said, "Don't be moved. Your teacher came here mainly to please your master's wife. You see, he didn't seem to have anything to do with your master's wife, but he pretended to ask his wife if she had this or that. He looked very concerned. This trick is amazing! Your master's wife was deceived by this monkey's trick and married him. You see, he played this trick again today. Tonight... Master suddenly stopped here. I wanted to ask more questions, but he hit me on the head again and told me not to ask. I believe that even if the master's wife didn't come, the teacher would come to pick us up, but he wouldn't ask about the master's wife. The teacher didn't come to ask me anything, because he knew the whole process of the battle. Dong Zhuo entered Shu, sent troops to Liangzhou, and came back. My sister wrote all the memorials for me. The teacher probably even knew that I was in a bad mood. Just be with me, you've worked hard, take a good rest.
But I didn't rest. I just went home to wash off the dust of the past ten days, changed out of my armor, and put on my official uniform. But under my sister's supervision, I reluctantly shaved my beard. Then, my sister looked me up and down and thought I was OK. But without seeing Kong Ming, my sister was also absent-minded. Zi Tong told us that Kong Ming missed us so much that he kept pestering them to ask when we would come back. They didn't tell Kong Ming that we would come back today and were still being taken care of by the master's wife and others in the Marquis' Mansion, so we went to surprise him ourselves. When he was about to leave, I stopped Zi Tong and asked him about the situation of the two people in Luoyang.
I immediately planned to go see Teacher Wei, but my sister was holding my crown and blocking the door, because I still wanted to keep my hair in a ponytail. Since I used it to beat Dong Xi that time, I really didn't want to put it up again. But in the end, I was still dressed like a dandy who inherited a marquisate, and I was very unhappy. But after all, I was also a general commanding an army, and I should not show my emotions. Along the way, I still pretended to be calm.
"Student Xie Zhi greets the teacher." Seeing that everyone around was familiar, I didn't need to be so polite, so I just sang a yes. I quickly sat down next to the teacher. My sister still followed the rules and completed the etiquette before sitting down next to me.
"Zirui's battle saved Jingzhou from the flames of war, preserved the strength of Jingzhou's army, expanded Jingzhou's territory by a thousand miles, and trapped Jingzhou's great enemy. From now on, other vassal states will look at Jingzhou differently. For such a great achievement, how do you want your teacher to praise you?" The teacher looked at me with a smile on his face.
"Teacher Rong Bing, although this battle was planned by me, the one who commanded the army to set up camp and deploy the soldiers was my brother Wendong, the one who planned and took care of the details was my sister, the ones who faced off in front of the battle and led the army to fight were Deng, Zhou Yu, Li Zhen, Hu Yujun, Chen Ou and others, who went to Xiliang alone, and the one who made friends with Ding Yuan was my brother Wenzheng, and the ones who led the laborers to work day and night to block Dong Zhuo in Shu were Zi Yu, Zixiang, Zhou Cang and others. I have not really made any achievements." I was telling the truth. I would just give orders, and sometimes someone would have to correct them. I really didn't think I had done anything remarkable.
"This is the style of a famous general, upright and impartial, honest and honest." The teacher has always been very stubborn, and no one can change his mind once he has made up his mind. Although I think so, I still feel sweet in my heart for the praise for him.
"But teacher" I think it is necessary to show him the losses this time, just in time for him to be in a good mood, but I seem to have left the notebook with me... My sister handed me the notebook with our statistics with a blank expression. I remembered that I had changed clothes at home. "This is the book of the Battle of Hanzhong..." I couldn't think of a word to describe this book, so I handed it over after thinking about it, and then looked at the teacher nervously from below.
The teacher's expression was surprised and a little serious. This time he gave me full authority without asking any questions, hoping that I would not be distracted when fighting with them. So, I wondered if the teacher wanted to scold me in his heart.
"It is a little longer, but" the teacher said with relief, "but it is finally over. Moreover, it was so successful. Let's have a good rest today, and let's go to Caotang tonight to celebrate the victory of Zirui and others."
While the others were explaining the battle to the teacher, my elder sister secretly said to me: "Your teacher is really biased for no reason, and you have saved yourself another scolding." To this, I nodded in agreement.
After we reported all the details of the battle, the teacher asked everyone to leave, leaving behind my sister, me and the master. Compared to the others, only the master was still wearing his wartime uniform.
"Master, haven't you gone home yet?" Master and his family live in my new marquis's mansion, which is very close to the governor's mansion, at least closer than our home to the governor's mansion. Besides, the weather is so hot, I don't know why he doesn't go back to at least freshen up.
"It was your classmates who advised me not to go back for the time being. In order to avoid letting that darling Kong Ming know that you are back. They also want you to give him a surprise." To be honest, it seems that my sister has already let it go.
"Teacher, you should know me very well, so that's why you allowed me to lead the Western Expedition. As for you, Chen Liangren alone can take on this task. And I..." The teacher interrupted me.
"Zi Rui, who knows how to march and fight right from the start? I asked you to go this time so that you can train yourself and be able to take charge. After this battle, you have indeed improved a lot."
"At such a critical moment of life and death, can you still let me be your commander?"
"It's good that you listen to others and are not stubborn. With your master and Chen Liang by your side, I don't think you have to worry. And how can you get this kind of experience in a big battle by fighting ordinary bandits?" The teacher's words woke me up. He continued: "After this battle, my Jingzhou's prestige will be greatly boosted, and the heroes of the world will no longer look at us. Moreover, I still have hundreds of thousands of troops, and the princes dare not act rashly. My Jingzhou should be safe for about a year. The world will immediately spread your name, Marquis of Ping'an Fengyun."
"Actually, there's no need to let you take command so early. General Huang and Brother Chen Liang are both in their prime. Just let him be the deputy general and learn from them." My sister felt that I needed to calm down my hot-headed self.
"Yinling, what you said makes sense. Look around at the princes now. Once a war breaks out, we may have to fight the enemy on several battlefields in various directions at the same time. We need generals who can lead troops. At that time, I need to stay in Jingzhou, Huang Zhong will go one way, Chen Liang will go another, and your brother will be my third route in Jingzhou. In comparison, your brother can listen to the advice of counselors, can decide matters of life and death, can understand the hardships of soldiers, can lead a group of generals to bravery, and can have brilliant ideas. As a sister, you should praise him more." My sister agreed, but she also found that I was beginning to feel proud.
"But, Zirui," the teacher seemed to have noticed my expression and began to pour cold water on me, "You are not very considerate of the people. This battle caused too much loss, and it really made me feel stretched for other resources in Jingzhou this year." He looked at me again, "However, you left most of the baggage in Hanzhong and Tianshui, which also contributed a lot to the stabilization of my northwestern border."
"There are some problems with your splitting of the troops. You seem to be too confident. You always feel that there are not enough troops under your command, but there are too many troops in other places. As a general, this method seems too risky." The teacher changed his tone again, "But this also shows that you are honest and don't want others to take risks."
"Teacher, why do you always praise me and criticize me for everything?" I also felt that something was wrong.
"Everything has its right side and its wrong side. Nothing can be done without any flaws or without any advantages. It all depends on how you look at it."
"So what you mean by this is that it's up to you to decide whether it's right or wrong." I felt like I was being very presumptuous.
The master clapped his hands and laughed, but the teacher was helpless. Fortunately, I was still three feet away from the teacher, otherwise, I would have been hit on the head with a ruler. However, my waist was still hit hard by my sister.
"No, it depends on whether the advantages are greater or the disadvantages are greater. Choose one and make the decision."
"Then pick the one with the biggest profit. Do you still need to choose?"
"Great benefits are not necessarily good, and many disadvantages are not necessarily bad." I think I am getting more and more confused. "Great benefits have disadvantages. If such disadvantages are difficult for us to solve, or cannot be solved, then abandon them; on the contrary, great disadvantages are not necessarily difficult to solve. In everything, we should not be bound by this matter. We need to open our eyes, look at the world, and weigh many pros and cons. Only then can we decide on major things. Remember, remember. I have something for you, close your eyes and reach out." The teacher smiled at me. I did what he said. I was still thinking, what is it.
"You've fallen into a trap!" As the teacher said this, I felt a pain in my hand. I quickly opened my eyes and saw a red mark on my left hand. The teacher was holding the old school ruler in his hand and smiling at me. "You are so daring, you beast. Let's see how you talk nonsense in the future."
The teacher said a few more words to me, and then told us to go back and rest. He sent someone to invite Qing over from the post station, but he still wanted the master to stay.
"Hey, Monkey, I haven't gone back to wash up yet, why are you still keeping me here?" came the master's dissatisfied voice.
"Will you die if you don't shower? Just for a while."
"I haven't gone back to tell my family that I'm back yet?"
"Zi Rui will definitely come to your house. Isn't that just right? If you are afraid that your sister-in-law will blame you, I can take you back."
My sister and I looked at each other and chuckled. We heard a few grumblings from our master, and finally a loud scolding from the teacher. Then, everything fell silent.
My sister and I quickly got on our horses. We wanted to go to a place, which was our new marquisate, because another member of our family was there.
The guard at the gate of the mansion obviously recognized us. He saluted and took our horses. My sister and I rushed into the mansion. The servants were all in the front yard and the main hall. When I asked about Kong Ming, they said he was playing in the backyard. When we got to the backyard, we suddenly saw a woman searching carefully among the flowers in the yard. She didn't notice us. I turned around and smiled at my sister, quietly approached the woman, and suddenly said, "Sister Yun, are you looking for Kong Ming?" when I was five feet behind her.
The woman was obviously frightened by me, and quickly turned her head, looked at me, and quickly turned her head away. "How dare you, a playboy, come here to be so frivolous? This is the mansion of the Han Dynasty's Ping An Fengyun Marquis. It is not a place for you to trespass. Please leave immediately."
When she turned around, it was obviously Sister Huang, but her voice seemed to be ten years older. When I thought that she didn't even recognize me...
I knelt down hurriedly, "Master's Wife, please forgive me for my rudeness."
“Please stand up.” The master’s wife was also panicking, and quickly turned around to help me up, but she quickly turned her head back. “Yun’er and I are looking for Kong Ming…”
Silence…
"Mother, have you seen Kong Ming?" Sister Huang really came out and blushed as soon as she saw me. "Xie Da Ge... Where is my father?"
"Yes, you came back with your master?" The master's wife finally figured out a way out of the dilemma.
"Master has been left in the governor's mansion by our teacher and will be back soon." There was another silence.
"Brother Xie, Sister Yinling, please help us find Kong Ming." It was Sister Yun who came up with a more constructive suggestion.
We started looking again, and my sister kept asking Huang Yun about Kong Ming's situation. After we left, because Master's wife liked Kong Ming so much, she soon started playing this game with Kong Ming. It was indeed too hard to find someone who didn't like this five-year-old child. Maybe only Dong Zhuo's men, thinking of this, my heart tightened again. I quickly calmed myself down and told myself not to think too much. This mansion was too big, so they made three rules with Kong Ming, and they could only play this game in the backyard. Every time they played, there were official maids watching in the front yard to prevent him from slipping away. That's it, they often had to look for several hours, usually Kong Ming had to be tired to come out. Kong Ming suggested that they hide and he would look for them, which shortened the search period a lot recently. My sister taught them a lot of experience, and Huang Yun and the others realized how powerful Kong Ming was. Immediately, all the pillows on the couches, all the large earthenware jars, and even every stone in the yard were checked. However, he was not there this time. I also turned over the stove, and this time even we didn't know where Kong Ming had gone.
The master came back, but his biggest reaction was that he felt incredible when looking at his master's wife. The master's wife was also embarrassed, but after a few words, the master seemed to be forced to find the bad guy. Because the teacher muttered that he hadn't taken a bath yet, the master's wife wanted to take a bath and quickly went to get water. There was no water in the water tank, but the prerequisite was to find Kong Ming first.
Suddenly, an idea flashed in my mind. I ran to the kitchen, walked straight to the big water tank, opened the lid, and looked inside. I couldn't lose my temper anymore. "Miss me? Kong Ming! How did you hide in there this time?"
The water in the jar was almost gone, and Kong Ming was leaning comfortably in the water, looking at me and laughing! He stretched out his chubby arms, and I carried him out.
All the adults gathered around him at the table, asking how this man wrapped in one of his master's clothes got into the water vat. Huang Yun even wiped the water droplets off his hair.
"Ask Pang Tong to help me."
"What about Pang Tong?" I asked him.
"Ah, I see." Sister Yun understood. "When we started looking for Kong Ming, we suddenly heard some noise in the courtyard, and then we heard Pang Tong shouting, 'Is Kong Ming home?' Our Kong Ming hid, and we asked him to wait, and he would come back after a while. Now I remember, how could Pang Tong run all the way from the east of the city alone? When we went to the street to buy rice this morning, we passed by Pang Tong's house, and you hid Pang Tong in the car?"
Kong Ming was still grinning from ear to ear, and just nodded his head. Sister Huang continued, "Then, you hid him at home for a whole morning. In the afternoon, when we were waiting for you to hide, you called him. After you hid in, you closed the jar lid and helped you move the stool away."
"What about Pang Tong?" I suddenly thought of him. "How can he go back alone?"
"He's in the front hall!"
I went out immediately, and in a moment I brought another bad guy who was chewing an apple and smiling. I found him from a pile of fruit cores, and came to everyone. As soon as the two of them met, they started playing again, and we gathered together, everyone secretly discussed it, and I guess everyone thought the same thing, that it would be too dangerous for these two bad guys to work together in the future.
When he left the master's house with Kong Ming and Pang Tong, the master's wife actually escorted Kong Ming out of the door and took care of him. The master was surprised. It seemed that Kong Ming was better than the master.
Before dark, we decided to send Pang Tong back first. We couldn't let him stay with Kong Ming. It was too dangerous. My sister and I were very tired and couldn't stand these two guys. These two bad guys kept talking all the way. From them, we learned that Xu Shu and Zisheng's parents moved to Luoyang. I think the letter Zisheng's parents received before was probably to take them to Luoyang. No wonder they stopped trading cloth.
When I arrived at Zishe's house, Uncle Jiang was talking to the businessman. I went over to say hello. When Uncle Jiang saw me, he said, "Oh, Zirui, I heard you guys are back. I haven't looked for you yet. I'm leaving now. I'm going to Luoyang Zishe, so I have to tell him some final things. Shiyuan, I'm leaving soon. Why did you and Ming come back so late? Have you eaten?" Uncle Jiang was fierce for a while, then softened.
"A belly full of apples." His sister answered for him.
"Do you have any letter for me to take to Zishe?"
"Not yet. I'll take you there whenever you want to leave."
"No need. As a grain and fodder dealer, I have to work hard to deliver them during the Spring and Autumn Period. It will shorten my life. Haha." Zishe was most sure that he learned bad things from his father.
I turned around and spoke to the merchant, and he quickly bowed to me.
"It's okay. Oh, you also contributed to the victory of the Hanzhong Campaign this time... If you hadn't told me about the various conditions of the waterways and land routes in Shu, I wouldn't have been able to come up with this plan. From now on, you will be responsible for the transportation of food and grass in Xiangyang. It's a heavy responsibility, remember that." I thought of the snowstorm at the beginning of this year. The food and grass supply will definitely be tight this autumn. Oh, I thought of a place that can solve a problem.
"Sister, where is Zhou Yu?"
"Post station? I asked her to stay at home, but she refused."
"Take Kong Ming back first. I have something to ask her at the post station."
I expected Zhou Yu would not come to my house, otherwise, her tryst with her lover would be under our surveillance.
"Hey, is General Zhou Yu here?" I asked loudly at the entrance of the post station. Then, I didn't pay attention to what the post station guard said in reply, but just counted the time when she would come out. Sure enough, within five moments, the guilty man ran out and asked me in a somewhat strange tone: "Brother Xie Zhi, is there anything you want to talk to me about?"
"Oh, Li Zhen is here?" Seeing her expression instead of anxiety, her lover has arrived, but I didn't wait for her to answer, "Zhou Yu, do you still remember the fat rich man from your original village?"
"I remember, but I never had the time or the chance to settle the score with him." Zhou Yu suddenly felt a little resentful.
"Tomorrow, ask Li Zhen for help. Use the death of your former neighbor aunt as an excuse to prosecute him and raid his house. The main thing is to bring back all the grain in his house, and bring more people and grain transport vehicles. Since I was injured by the Yellow Turbans, the higher-ups will investigate and round up all their thugs and at least give them a beating. Now, let's go back first. Li Zhen is still here. Don't forget to invite him to the celebration banquet tonight." I smiled and left the post station.
I got drunk again at the celebration banquet. I don't know what happened, but I passed out very quickly. I got up very late the next day. My sister and Kong Ming were not there. I was bored at home, so I went to the governor's mansion.
The hall was completely silent, no one seemed to be inside, and I was wondering what had happened. I was about to push the door open when the teacher suddenly said, "It's decided, everyone please leave first?"
"Teacher, should we tell Zirui?"
"Let's not talk about it!" The teacher seemed angry and everyone fell silent.
The teacher almost never gets angry, but this time, unexpectedly, I was so scared that I took a step back. Suddenly, I felt that something was wrong.
The teacher had opened the window pane on the door very high. If a head could still be seen, it must be me. So, did the teacher see me, and that matter was not good for me, and he didn't want me to know. Because, the teacher didn't answer whether to tell me or not, but immediately stopped me. If I wasn't there, he could have kept it to himself, but if I was there...
I rushed in, and all my classmates and my sister were startled, but the teacher was not. Instead, she said to me calmly, "Zi Rui, why did you come so late?" I knew something was wrong. At the same time, the teacher stuffed a newspaper into her sleeve.
There were usually two copies of the official report for each county. I couldn't take the one in the teacher's sleeve, but the ceremonial officer should have another one. I immediately rushed to He Zitong. He looked at me. I think he must be very scared because there was no smile on my face. He subconsciously twitched his sleeve. When I saw his action, I felt as if I saw a mouse in his sleeve, and my hand chased after it.
I tore He Bo's left sleeve into two pieces, and he hurried to grab a silk book on the ground, and then the silk book was also torn into two pieces.
Although the silk book in my hand is incomplete, it has let me know what happened. My hope was shattered. I did not expect that the heroes in Shu still bravely resisted Dong Zhuo, and Dong Zhuo's massacre in Shu began.
The silk book was sent from Hanzhong:
Dong Zhuo's army besieged Jiange, and the governor Fazhen...
On the seventh day of April, the city was captured,…
Dong ordered the massacre of the city,…