(Author's note: There is also a geographical tampering here. For some needs of the story, I put Zigui on the north bank of the river. After thinking about it, I feel that it may mislead everyone. I must state that in fact Zigui is on the south bank, whether it was two thousand years ago or now, two thousand years later, and has never been moved away:)
It was a cloudy day, and even though it was noon, Zigui was still somewhat gloomy. The restless clouds kept rolling in the sky, forming different shapes, but each shape could not last long before being replaced by another equally short-lived shape. The surrounding mountains were shrouded in a light gray mist. This kind of weather was a bit like the atmosphere at this time: chaotic and chaotic.
I could clearly and definitely sense their hesitation and indecision. They had different opinions and conflicts about my views, and they were arguing for a while.
But at least someone started throwing stones and dirt at me, and the gentle splashing of sand around me revealed that they had no intention of killing me, but were just letting off some steam.
"You have been wronged for too long, I hope this is good for you." My voice was not loud, compared with the increasing noise of the people below the slope, my voice could only be called a soliloquy. And I really just wanted to do this, because I have already thought about myself completely.
Their stone-throwing skills were not very good. After such a long time, they only received a few hits. From time to time, someone would shout to the back: "Who is hitting me?... You must hit me accurately!"
I had been keeping my head down for a long time, so I looked up to see what everyone was arguing about. At that moment, I saw a stone flying right towards my head. It seemed to be flying towards my eyes, although it was a little slow, but it did fly towards me.
I could have avoided, knocked away, or caught this stone in at least ten ways, because it was indeed slow; I had many reasons to dodge this stone, because it came right towards my eyes.
But in the end I decided not to move, not even to blink, and just stared at the stone flying towards me. There was no doubt that I was crazy.
When I decided to deal with it this way, the stone seemed to fly much faster and hit me in an instant. However, my judgment was a little wrong, and it hit my forehead, about an inch above my eye.
Immediately, I felt a tingling sensation in my nose, and the entire right half of my face seemed to tense up immediately.
The rows near me suddenly stopped making any noise. I was sure it wasn't because of my ears. They looked at me, then at the sky, and then from roughly the same direction, another stone fell on my right shoulder. Then my right shoulder, right arm, right chest, and all the exposed areas were hit by stones. This person was an expert at playing with stones. However, he didn't hit me hard, and it was getting lighter and lighter.
The soldiers behind me were getting a little anxious, and they wanted to rush forward. This made me move my body for the first time, and I made a gesture to stop them.
More and more people quieted down, and the silence slowly spread like ripples. Some of the quiet people looked at me, and some looked at him. So, I soon saw him waving his arms among the many civilians and soldiers standing there.
This was a very thin and frail boy with thin arms, but he was very brave and persistent. Although everyone around him had stopped and was looking at him, and some even advised him not to throw anymore, he still kept looking for stones on the ground and throwing them at me.
But I remained motionless, just looking at the boy quietly.
The boy seemed a little angry, this stone seemed to be heading for my eyes. He also seemed a little provocative, because this stone was slower than the previous ones, and the stone drew a very beautiful arc in the sky, which reminded me of Po Liuhan's longbow or the rainbow after the summer rain.
This kind of waiting was the most uncomfortable, but since I could ignore the first one that I thought would hit my eyes, I would never dodge this one. However, when the stone was closer, I decided not to stare at it anymore.
However, things changed when the stone was about ten feet away from me, because he threw another stone, but this one was much faster than the previous one. When the previous stone was about to hit me, the one behind it knocked the one in front of me away, and one fell to the left and the other fell to the side. I immediately felt a cold sweat on my back.
I stood up suddenly. I could only see his face and his arms, which were raised occasionally, but now I could see the thin body of this young man. Looking at his clothes, he seemed not to be a soldier or an ordinary citizen, but a scholar-official's son. However, this special skill was really amazing.
"Why is it so?" I asked the boy directly in front of everyone, and the people around him also wanted to listen to what the boy said.
"My enemy is Dong Zhuo, not you. I am not that unreasonable. But it was you who framed Yizhou, causing only three people from my clan to escape. I must hold you accountable for my family."
"Then why don't you join the army?" Compared to his age, his words were a little too polite. I found him very interesting and I didn't mind that he hit me so many times.
"My brother is too weak to fight in battle, so I can only be a scholar."
"It's no pity that you have such a unique skill."
"What good is this child's play?"
"As the saying goes, to capture a thief, you must first capture the leader; to kill a man, you must first kill the horse. With this skill, you will probably have a lot of advantages in the battle. How old are you?"
"Thirteen."
"Yes, in five years, you will be only 17 or 18 years old. If you work hard, you should be able to achieve something." I turned around and said to the person behind me: "Bring me a spear."
Holding the spear in hand, with the blade pointed at him, he asked sternly and fiercely, "Do you dare to come up?"
The brave boy said nothing, but walked through the crowd and came to me fearlessly. This kid is too thin and too delicate. It might be a bit difficult for him to fight.
The people around were silent, but someone in the distance was talking. I'm afraid he was also passing my words to the people behind him.
Suddenly two people came up from behind and knelt down beside me. The older one in the middle pleaded urgently, "My younger brother was reckless. I hope Marquis Ping'an Fengyun will forgive me. Please don't hurt my brother."
"Generals, please stand up," I said, as if I was several dozen years old. The two men were wearing leather armor and were quite strong. They were probably the generals that Yan Yan had recently promoted. I asked them to stand up and smiled, "You worry too much."
I handed the spear to the young man, "Attack me, no need to be afraid, just stab me."
"Brother, no!" These two brothers are really annoying. How can I be in the mood to commit suicide now
"No problem. I want to see how many rounds you can hold out against me."
The boy took the spear, and I put my left hand behind my back and raised my right arm to show that I was fighting him with only one hand. Don't doubt me, I really wanted to show off.
But apart from the weak boy, I also saw red spots on my right arm left by his stones, and wondered whether I should take revenge at the same time.
He looked at me, took a few steps back, and the surroundings became much quieter.
Without any extra preparation, he rushed over with his spear. But this guy was really bad, I don't know what they were thinking, he stabbed me in the leg again, and the direction of the stab was my right leg.
I thought to myself, is this place so attractive? But I was not panicking. His spear was so long, it was not as cunning as a mouse, so I was not afraid at all. He quickly showed his hand, stood upright, leaned over, stretched out his hand, and grabbed his handle with his hand. He reacted quickly and pulled it back immediately. I thought to myself: Don't take credit for others' achievements, you can cultivate talents. But he was still very fast, and I caught him, but the position I caught was not very good, an inch away from the tip of the spear, and I still held it with my thumb and index finger.
He pulled hard, stabbed hard, and swung left and right, but he couldn't get rid of my hand. In fact, I was not much better. In my eyes, my two fingers had become deformed, holding the blade of the spear in a very strange posture. Soon, my two fingers started to ache, which was a bit troublesome. Now I couldn't use any strength, but I didn't dare to let go. I felt that his spear was constantly swirling, and there was no pattern. If I let go, I wouldn't know where to cut.
His spear suddenly left my hand, and in a hurry his body fell back, and he seemed to be trying hard to move forward, unable to hold back, and rushed towards me, the spear was sent out faster than my body. The moment I took a step down, the spear was firmly stuck in my abdomen. Although I immediately retracted my abdomen, I still saw the spear pierced a large part.
I could clearly hear the exclamations around me.
I thought it was really over. Everything was going well, but I never expected to be stabbed by a child.
But after two or three moments, I felt something was wrong. It wasn't my stomach, which was too normal, as if nothing had happened; but there was definitely something wrong with my hands. I put my hands in front of my eyes, and then I felt relieved. Looking at the opponent in front of me with a pale face staring at my stomach, I had some ideas for a prank.
I used my stomach to push hard and flipped him to the ground, where he was motionless and unresponsive.
He still stared at me blankly, and many people around me were silent, which made me naturally want to show off. Anyway, the more terrible I am praised, the more advantageous it will be for us in the future battles and the better for our morale. So, recently I have been treating self-expression as a big project, and I feel very at ease when doing it, without any sense of shame.
I straightened my body, and the wind helped me, blowing from the front of me, blowing my hair high behind me. I stretched out my right arm, opened my hand, and took it out with my fingers. It was a three-inch long spear tip, which was broken. It was this thing that made my hand uncomfortable. I really don't know what year our weapon is from. I really want to go back to Xiangyang and ask the storekeeper if it was there when Taizu fought with the King of Western Chu.
However, no matter how much I think or brag, my words are directed to the young man's brother: "In the Central Plains, everyone calls me General Tianlang, and my subordinates often call me Marquis Tianlang. Although this is a big rumor, if I don't have the ability, how can I be ranked second in Jingzhou, which is full of talented people, and let the people spread rumors about me. Forgive me for being frank, this kind of weapon can't hurt me at all. It's not difficult to twist it off, or take a direct hit without getting hurt."
The two brothers picked up the halberd and tried the broken branch with their hands. The look in their eyes when they looked at me changed obviously. The generals behind them also went to try the halberd one by one, and their eyes changed in a similar way. I began to suspect that there was something strange about the halberd, so I squeezed it again, especially at the broken part, but I didn't get any result.
While they were somewhat stunned, I turned around, walked over to help the child up, held his hand, and faced everyone. I felt that the time was right, so I loudly made an agreement with all the people of Yizhou to defeat Dong:
"Give us five years to accumulate strength and reorganize the army. Within five years, I will lead the army to Sichuan to drive out the threat of Dong the thief for the people of Yizhou. Then I will apologize to you all for the crime of leaving behind this trouble." Everyone was talking about it, and words came from everywhere from time to time. Most of them asked me not to break my promise, and I replied with the same sentence, "Zi Rui dare not." Suddenly, I thought to myself, this is not a secret matter in my Han Dynasty. It is clearly like the Three Kingdoms War, where two countries are allied and fighting against another country. But no one pointed it out below, as if they were harmed by a group of lawless rioters and had nothing to do with the court. And I actually have to come here to take the blame. Is this world still the bright and clear world of my Han Dynasty
The separatist regimes in various places have existed within a hundred years since the establishment of Chang'an as the capital of our dynasty. When Emperor Guangwu was in power, even the landlords and gentry with more land had forts. During the slack season, the tenant farmers even had to practice various charging and shooting techniques. Emperor Guangwu was wise and understood that this was a threat from internal strife, so he suppressed it first and then sent troops to encircle and suppress it. Unexpectedly, these local separatist forces could even defeat the government troops from the Green Forest and Red Eyebrows. Although they were basically quelled later, they were never completely stable. A hundred years ago, the separatist forces in various parts of the country had already formed a climate. Fortunately, all kinds of weapons and armor were strictly restricted and could not be compared with the equipment of the imperial army, so they could still maintain stability. Although there are no landlord and tenant armies now, there are still many of these forts, but most of them are used as sentinels and post stations by local armies. In rich places like Nanyang, there were many such forts near Wancheng. Some were 40 to 50 feet high and several hundred steps in radius. The largest ones were 10 feet high and had nine layers of guns, which were several miles in radius. As a result, the Yellow Turbans had a very difficult time attacking Wancheng. (At this point, some people may think that it seems to be somewhat similar to the Japanese castles. Yes, the architectural layout and style of their castles are almost evolved from the forts at that time. Author's note.)
Thinking of this, I immediately had an idea. If there is a rebellion in Sili in the north, we should send troops immediately and try to take Wancheng. With such a disaster, there will be changes in the spring. Maybe it is our chance to take Wancheng. Anyway, Wancheng originally belongs to Nanyang, and Nanyang belongs to Jingzhou. After taking it back, we have a reason to continue to occupy it. With Wancheng, our front is much thicker, and there is no weakness in defense everywhere. At that time, we can consider how to deal with Dong Zhuo with peace of mind.
"Sir, look." I was thinking about something while replying to the Yizhou people. I didn't notice that the soldiers behind me were approaching me and pointing to the east.
Before I noticed anything was different, a soldier or civilian nearby shouted, "What a long convoy!"
I looked carefully again and finally recognized the mountain pass we came from in the light mist. On the slope below the pass, there was indeed a long and narrow convoy moving slowly forward.
"They've arrived so quickly!" I turned around immediately, "Fellow Yizhou elders, food and clothing have been delivered! Please go back and wait for a while." Although they were riding in a horse-drawn carriage, they would be slower when going downhill. They had been delayed for a long time because of Huang Yi's carriage when they came.
When I turned around, I saw a white man standing among many black guards, looking so pleasing to the eye, and a large white banner could be seen beside the car. I immediately knew who the teacher had sent to handle the matter here.
After putting on my armor, when I spoke to Yan Yan again, his attitude became much more friendly. He even reminded me that I had a wound on my forehead, but fortunately there was no bleeding.
When I wanted to wipe the wound, I found that the child's hand was still held by me. I smiled and mooed his head, asking him not to run away. Then I saluted the generals. Except for Yan Yan, who was a little older and had life experience, the vicissitudes of life could not be concealed. The others could only be called ghosts, and they looked younger than me.
"For the greater good, the general, who is in a high position, can do what others cannot do. He is truly a hero." This is a very orthodox statement, expressing Yan Yan's opinion.
"I heard in spring that a young hero emerged in Jingzhou, and he was made a marquis at the age of seventeen. Seeing him today, I can see that his spirit and generosity are beyond our reach." A young man of about my age also said this. He seemed to be a ghost with a leftover head, and his temperament was more outstanding. But he treated me like a child, which made him look older, which was not good. I still like to be the eldest, because at home I can only be the youngest, so I must not be so depressed outside.
"This general seems to be no older than Zirui. Why does he pretend to be so mature? Except for General Yan Yan, who can tell me your name, can the others tell Zirui's name?" Of course, my tone sounded older when I said this.
"No need to compare. Your date of birth was spread to us at the beginning of this year, and all the eight-year-old children in Shu know it. You were born on the fifth day of the twelfth lunar month in the second year of Jianning, which means it has been seventeen years and seventeen days since then. It's just that the New Year came less than a month after you were born, so you are eighteen years old. My surname is Zhang, and my given name is Ren, but I am one year older than you. I will introduce you to the others. His surname is Gao and his given name is Pei. His ancestors moved from Hebei to Zitong, and he is the same age as you." This person is very capable and open-minded. While the other teenagers were still looking at each other, he was the first to introduce himself. His words were neither humble nor arrogant, and he was cheerful and lively, a characteristic of teenagers. He knew who I was better than I did. At least I am not in a hurry for the reign title Jianning. I only know that the emperor has changed the reign title four times in the years since I was born. "Don't be fooled by this man's mature appearance. He is actually the oldest among us armored soldiers. He is two years older than you and his name is Lei Tong. The three brothers are surnamed Wu. The oldest is Wu Lan, the same age as you. The second is Wu Ban, one year older than you. The youngest is Wu Yue. It was only then that we learned about the abilities of these brothers." The child, who was originally very brave, felt a little embarrassed when he heard our words. He lowered his head and stood behind his brother. However, judging from the looks of the others, many of them still had some grudges in their hearts, thinking that this knot might need to be untied after Dong was broken, and it might never be untied.
"In another hour or two, we will know what to do next. There was a flood in Jingzhou and Yangzhou this year, and I don't know how the teacher will resettle these 300,000 people." Thinking of my sister's arrival, I suddenly thought of something. In the past few hours, my mind has been working very fast. So, I immediately realized that I had to do something that might take a long time to make up for later. Although I can greet my sister first, to be honest, my sister still has some thoughts and temper. This time I will do it like that again. No matter how good my sister's temper is, she will be very angry. I think I will have a hard time for a while. So I made up my mind right away, not thinking about the future, and went to meet my sister first to say hello.
Then, I turned around and said goodbye to all the Yizhou generals I had just met, and went to meet the people from Jingzhou.
"Marquis Ping'an Fengyun, you seem to look down on the people of Yizhou. Since we are temporarily stationed in Zigui, this kind of reception should be left to me. Zhang Ren and Lei Tongsu will lead 200 light cavalry with complete armor..."
"General Yan, it's really not necessary. I'm afraid it would be better for me to go." If I don't greet my sister, it will be even more difficult for me to leave. "The one who came is my sister."
"A female?" Everyone was very surprised.
"Yes, my sister."
I spent a long time explaining this, but they still found it very fresh. When I was explaining, I once again naturally and proudly promoted my sister. As a result, many people were amazed and wanted to meet her, to see what kind of woman could become the commander of an army that pacified more than 20 bandits in Wu in just three months.
"Then do your plans and actions often come from your sister?" Zhang Ren was very alert, but his words seemed too obvious to the world. Yan Yan glanced at him, but there was some doubt in his eyes when he looked back at me. After I finished praising my sister, I felt that I had let something slip, which would inevitably raise questions among those who knew the truth.
"Sometimes, but my sister's strategy is too ingenious, so I haven't taken any risks so far. Maybe if I don't take risks, I won't be able to escape or annihilate the enemy." I thought about this for a while, but didn't say it. Because it might hurt the people of Yizhou.
So, in the end, I said, "If I hadn't been on a northern tour to my own fiefdom, my sister wouldn't have come out to do these things. It's only because my parents died and I've been dependent on you. When I was reading military books, my sister often accompanied me, so I was familiar with the art of war; whenever I had a brilliant idea, I would tell my sister; so over time, my sister also understood these things, but she usually cooks and sews clothes, and she may have learned a lot about the art of war compared to ordinary women, but she is definitely not as good as me. The pacification of Wu County was mostly due to those rebels who were not familiar with the art of war. When we were fighting against Dong Zhuo, my sister only did some work to dispatch food and grass, and was not allowed to enter the big tent to participate in the discussion, so as not to disturb my discussion with the generals." I belittled my sister in this way, but it seemed as if I had suffered a great injustice, and I had nowhere to complain to, and I felt unspeakable pain in my heart.
I would rather faint immediately and let my sister panic and take me back to Jingzhou quickly, instead of paying attention to what is happening here. Now I must meet my sister quickly, otherwise I will be depressed to death today and hurt my sister.
But what happened next put my plan to contact my sister on hold. It seems my luck is not always good, at least this day is bad.
At that time, I had already mounted my horse, and Yan Yan ordered Zhang Ren to accompany me to greet them. They had very few horses, and the so-called 200 light cavalry was the maximum they could mobilize. The horses were of various colors and breeds, and at first glance, they looked like a horse-selling caravan, and seemed very disorganized. But at this time, they could still do this, so what comments could I make
Suddenly a soldier came to report that a strange color had appeared on the water surface far to the west of the river, slowly coming down from upstream.
In order to avoid causing panic among the people and causing disaster, the matter was not made public.
"Brother Zhang, I'll leave the matter of welcoming my sister to you." After saying this, he mounted his horse and said, "General Yan, let's go to the riverside immediately. Ask Generals Wu and Lei to line up the soldiers and wait for orders."
Before leaving, I looked at Wu Yue and said, "Wait for the brothers to come back, don't run away."
"General Fengyun, since this is a temporary place borrowed by Yizhou, we will handle this matter. Please leave this place." They always call me like this, very rude, but fortunately I don't care. So, they call me more and more.
"General Yan, do you think I am a coward? Since we are from the two states of Jing and Yi, and we both regard the traitor Dong as our mortal enemy and live in the same place of Jing and Xiang, we should not have these distinctions and excuses before this crisis."
He raised his head and took the sword from the soldier, while I remained empty-handed.
"Wu Lan, Wu Ban, take your troops and follow us to the riverside." Yan Yan began to give orders. "Gao Pei, your troops will go up to the city. Lei Tong, you will wait outside the city and take care to protect the people from Jingzhou. If the people ask, we will prepare to leave by water. The people on the water are welcoming the Jingzhou troops to come ashore to take over Zigui."
Although we knew that Dong Zhuo couldn't get so many boats at once, we still thought of all the bad possibilities. If the enemy made bamboo rafts, although it would be very dangerous to let them go, if they really came over, there would be no one alive today. If the enemy had 200,000 people coming down, and half of them rushed down, it would be more than ten times our number. Looking at the many young generals around me who were about the same age as me, I felt that I was just a lucky teenager. But today seemed to be the beginning of my bad luck, but this bad luck might also end my life.
"Let Lei Tong organize the people to evacuate from the plank road first. My sister will definitely bring some troops. These soldiers have been through many battles, and I think they can hold out for a while longer."
Yan Yantou, someone brought over a skinny horse, he turned over and rode it and went into the city with me and galloped towards the river. If I had known this would happen, I would have brought Tianlang with me. But it would be useless to bring Tianlang with me, it might even bring down Tianlang's reputation.
I thought about borrowing soldiers from Brother Chen, but I rejected it. Even if they came, the gap was too big, and the most important thing was that the last defense of Jingzhou was empty. If we let them rush out of the gorge, we would be in real trouble. It is safer to guard the mountain road and the exit of Xiling Gorge. So, I ordered two soldiers to ride back quickly to report the news. The rest of them went to the river with me. It is good to have one more person now.
Now I hope that the river bank of Zigui can be defended. But the city defense of Zigui seems to only defend against people coming from land, and the waterway is very weak. If there are few people, it still feels strong, but once there are more people, we will obviously be a little overwhelmed if they attack upwards at a distance of several dozen feet. If we can survive this time, we must surround the city wall. It will be troublesome to transport goods onto ships and unload them into the city in the future, but it is much better than being easily breached by others.
Civilians began to come out of the city gate carrying bags, and the soldiers did not stop them. Looking at Zigui inside the gate, it was originally deserted, and now it looked dilapidated.
While considering many things, I passed by the door of Chu's house, which seemed to be closed. Along the way, I could see people from Zigui nailing wooden bars on the doors and windows to seal their homes, and many people were also carrying bags and preparing to leave the city.
When we reached the shore, the area within several dozen feet from the shore was already full of people. In addition to the soldiers who were already on full alert and had already formed their battle arrays, there were also many scholars and their families. Now those officials were evacuating downstream in boats, and more than a dozen boats could be seen heading west on the river. It seemed that the boats had already started to carry people away, and there were fewer boats on the shore than last night. There were children and women crying everywhere, and I was a little irritated and cursing in my heart, "Go away, go away, the sooner the better, so that we won't cry and distract you."
Some of them were reluctant to leave, and some of them were arguing with others on the shore.
The other wealthy man sighed and nodded. He originally planned to get on the boat, but he didn't.
The last boat on the shore has left, and all that remains are people who are ready to face death.
I knew who they were from the features of one of them. He was a tall and thin teenager who was among the crowd and was also among those who were unwilling to leave. Next to him were several people of similar age. Next to him was a middle-aged man with a plump figure.
"Marquis Jiange! Why haven't you left yet? Liu Gui, what have you done to me?" Yan Yan said anxiously and angrily to a person who seemed to be the commander by the river as he approached.
"My uncle suddenly doesn't want to leave and doesn't want to do anything. What do you want me to do?" A young general was also helpless. He looked nothing like his uncle. At the moment his face was full of anxiety. After talking to Yan Yan, he turned his head and said, "Put the wooden fence over here!" Then he turned around and faced his uncle.
"Forget it. How can I feel at ease to leave if my son doesn't leave? My wife is dead, and if my only son dies, I have no intention of living in this world."
"Father! We can't hide like this anymore. Dong Zhuo has already fought here. The people of Jingzhou are unreliable. I will avenge my mother today and will never let the people of Yizhou bring shame upon themselves." Based on this sentence alone, I feel that Liu Ye will definitely have a bright future as long as he can survive today.
"Marquis Jiange, your brother, Marquis Ping'an Fengyun Xie Zhi, has met you. Your son has such a heroic spirit, which is a blessing for your father."
"Oh, Marquis Ping'an Fengyun? Marquis Liu Hui of Jiange is my foolish brother. Thank you Marquis Ping'an Fengyun for your compliments. Ye'er hasn't come to see you yet, and you don't have any courtesy." His tone was a little decadent, and he seemed very listless. He didn't have the aura of a marquis of ten thousand households, and he couldn't compare with his son. He looked at Liu Ye and saluted me unconvinced, and shook his head, "I'm sorry, Marquis Ping'an Fengyun. But how can he, who is young and inexperienced, know the cruelty of fighting and the bloodiness of the battle? In the north tower of Jiange, when the dark clouds were pressing down on the city, this child was locked at home by his wife, so how could he know the cruelty of the Dong army and the fierceness of the Xiliang army. I had died once at that time, and this time is nothing more than dying again. Marquis Fengyun, I don't know how to use troops to fight, so everything is left to you. Please take care of my son."
"Marquis Jiange, please do not be too polite. Zirui will do his best to protect the prince of Jiange."
"Thank you, Ye'er. You and your brothers are on your own. Father's presence here may distract others from protecting him. I will go back home now." His lonely back was a somewhat tragic and warm scene. To be honest, I envy him a little, because he is a real father. Although he has been truly defeated by Dong Zhuo, I feel a little disgusted with his cowardice now. But he still stayed, and in order not to distract his children, he left the battlefield that was about to bleed. For this alone, I want to pay tribute to him.
"Do you have weapons?" Several people drew their swords. Relatively speaking, their weapons were quite sophisticated.
"What about you?" Liu Ye was not polite to me. It was obvious that he could see that I had nothing in my hands.
"Our weapons are not as good as Dong Zhuo's. When he comes, we will just rob him. General Yan, let's go up to the city wall and take a look. You guys come too." I realized that I hadn't seen the strange scene yet. I was only thinking about fighting. I asked myself if I was too warlike.
If Zigui County is a big water bag, then Zigui City is the plug.
The city walls on the east and west sides of Zigui extend from the water to the mountains on both sides, and then from the mountains back to the plain. There is a three-story arrow tower on each side of the city wall that extends into the water.
If there is a simpler way to describe Zigui, it would be that it is a big gap carved out on a ridge made of solid rock next to the water.
When I reached the highest point of the arrow tower, I saw a very strange scene, but it was much closer now than what I described at that time.
The fog in the upper valley of Xiling Gorge was also pink, and when it was close to the visible place, about ten miles away, it connected to the invisible water surface, and a large piece of perfect red was coming towards us with the water. If it was Dong Jun, I couldn't imagine how it would become like this, but looking at such a magnificent posture, anyone would have to be prepared.
The young officer named Liu Gui also told us about all this.
"Brother Liu, you did a good job. I don't know what that thing is, but if that's the case, we should evacuate everyone because no one has ever seen such a strange thing."
"What on earth is this?" Many people were asking each other, but no one could give a convincing answer. I noticed that Yan Yan was still in deep thought, but in the end he shook his head. If he didn't know, the rest of the Mao leaders would know even less.
The red color on the water surface in the distance made everyone nervous. Regardless of what the red color was, the fact that there was something behind it was enough to make people worried. Because there was only one person named Dong upstream, if the river surface dozens of miles upstream changed color, then it must be related to that person named Dong.
First of all, I want to know what that red thing is. I know that's nonsense, everyone wants to know. Now my whole mind is full of red, and I suddenly have a terrible idea, but someone came up with it before me.
"Blood?" Wu Lan suddenly asked timidly, then indignantly: "Could it be that Dong Zhuo..."
"No." Yan Yan calmly and unquestionably overturned this idea before anyone else, and also calmed the hearts of everyone upstairs: "When you were still children or even before you were born, a big thing happened. You should know about it, right?"
"The Party and Faction Persecution?" While others were still looking at each other, I came out first, because I knew about this from many people, and the words of an old man from the Far North made me vaguely feel that I was inextricably linked to this matter.
"That's right. I was sixteen years old at that time. I spent the summer at my aunt's house by the Shenshui River in Guanghan. The Shenshui River in front of my aunt's house was just a shallow stream. At that time, I would go to play in the water when I had nothing to do, and my aunt was not afraid that I would drown. One day, I got up late in the morning and felt hot, so I wanted to go into the water to cool down. When I came out, it was the same scene. There was a red stream flowing in the distance..." Yan Yan paused, as if he didn't want to recall the scene at that time.
"General Yan, just think about what happened. There are some things that we should not mention if we can."
"That day, the governor of Yizhou executed all the more than one thousand party members captured from the entire Yizhou outside Guanghan City, beside the Shenshui River." Everyone was shocked.
"Unless Dong Zhuo could kill five million people at once and throw them all into the water, there would never be such a red scene for a hundred miles. Moreover, the color is wrong. If it was blood, the color should be very bright. If an ignorant teenager saw it for the first time, he might even happily run over to see what was going on. I was such a teenager at that time."
Everyone was silent and just watched the dim red color slowly approaching.
I was the first general to leave the Arrow Tower. Seeing the red color getting closer, I decided to go to the riverside to see what was going on.
After I came down, my soldiers were waiting for me below, and the soldiers from Yizhou were watching them.
"What's wrong, Marquis Tianlang Fengyun?" They could never find a fixed word to call me, but I didn't care.
"I don't know either. Let me go to the riverside and take a look."
"Do you want to fight?"
"What's wrong, you guys want to fight?"
"Yes, the brothers who came to Yiling with you are all with us. Just follow you and don't look back, and everything will be fine. No one can stop you." Their confidence in me is much stronger than mine.
"You guys were talking about me down there before I came down?"
"Yeah, of course." His very righteous expression made me want to beat him up again.
"We may even be about to go to war, and you're still chatting and laughing so recklessly. That's outrageous."
"What are you afraid of in a war? Look how nervous they are. They are exhausted even before the enemy arrives." The Yizhou soldiers obviously could not agree with this. Many of them snorted. The soldiers who heard our words all perked up and tightened their weapons. In this sense, their noise was also beneficial.
A soldier offered me his spear, but I refused it.
"Our weapons are too inferior. You have seen it today. I can break your spears with my bare hands. Even if you stab me in the stomach, it won't hurt me." This was said to encourage the people of Yizhou, but it was also meant to brag. "When they come, follow me. Don't fall behind. I will take away the weapons, and you pick them up from behind and charge forward."
Well, I've finished my bragging, I've become thick-skinned, and I've made up my mind. Calm down and do what needs to be done. After some wild fantasies, I passed through the teams of Yizhou soldiers and came to the water's edge.
The red color of resentment was getting closer and closer, but the Yellow Turbans around me didn't seem to care about these abnormalities at all. They asked me this and that from time to time, and then whispered to each other behind my back. I had to discipline them several times before they calmed down.
The red water finally reached Zigui, and all the soldiers stood three feet away from the shore, holding their weapons tightly, as if someone would jump out from under the red water. No one approached the water's edge, and everyone was preparing to meet the enemy, although it was still unclear how the enemy would come. Maybe they would not come at all, but no one could let down their guard.
But I could never detect the connection between this red color and Dong Zhuo, although I knew there must be a connection. After the red color dyed the whole scene in front of me red, I walked to the water's edge alone, leaned over, looked at the red color, felt a little strange, and scooped it up with my hands, and then grabbed something.
Soft, watery, and full of bubbles, this is a relatively plain description of them. Squeeze them hard, and when you open your hand, it is a handful of dark red dregs. Thinking of what he saw in Chen Liang's army, he suddenly realized it and shouted to the people behind him, "Send someone to report to General Yan quickly."
"I'm right here." Yan Yan and others had been staying not far from me, but I hadn't noticed them.
I opened my hands, and amid the roaring waves of the Yangtze River, I said solemnly, "These are sawdust! Dong Zhuo is building ships! And he is building many ships at the same time. These are his demonstration to us."