Shen Chen was not surprised that Jia Xu was willing to join him. For thousands of years, they would help whoever had a greater chance of winning. This was an unchanging principle.
It's just that people in the world are stupid and think that Yuan Shao has a good chance of winning the battle of Guandu, so on the surface Yuan Shao gets so many responses.
But a smart person like Jia Xu, who is the most intelligent in the world, can naturally see through the phenomenon to see the essence. He believes that Cao Cao has a greater chance of winning, so he wants to persuade Zhang Xiu to join Cao Cao.
Unfortunately, Shen Chen came out halfway, and although Cao Cao won the Battle of Guandu, he suffered heavy losses and his strength was greatly reduced.
Therefore, Jia Xu must find new strong people to rely on.
Shen Chen didn't know what he wanted to do, but for now he just needed to stabilize the rear and ensure that Zhang Xiu wouldn't cause trouble.
In addition to the family members of Jia Xu and Zhang Xiu as hostages, Liu Biao would definitely not trust them completely. When the time comes, the family members of the Xiliang army under Zhang Xiu must also be sent to Xiangyang.
After leaving Rangcheng, we first went back to Huangmen Pavilion.
After taking off his military uniform and putting on a scholar's robe, he changed from a general Shen Chen to a scholar Shen Chen. His whole temperament also changed drastically and he became refined.
I saw that he was wearing a green-grey robe with wide sleeves and wide sleeves on the right side, a black fine silk dandy underneath, a sapphire blue satin cloak on the outside, a turban on his head, a jade pendant on his left waist, and a sword scabbard hanging on his left side. between.
At the age of fifteen, he is already 1.74 meters tall. He has been practicing outside for a year, and he exudes a masculine spirit. His resolute face looks straight ahead, and he has a rather handsome demeanor.
"My son is so handsome."
When Shen Chen's mother, Deng Shi, saw her son dressed up as a scholar, she was full of praise and said with a smile: "Your second uncle's family has a younger sister, Axi, who is twelve years old this year and looks very happy. What does my son think?" "
"Mom, if the world is not at peace, how can we start a family? Besides, I am only fifteen this year. I won't talk about starting a family until I reach my twenties."
Shen Chen only felt his scalp numb.
Twelve years old?
Or a cousin?
Pooh.
nausea.
I keep them all closed.
Pooh.
He will be sentenced to who knows how many years if he is released to future generations.
It's just that the environment in the Han Dynasty was like this. Cao Cao married his cousin Mrs. Ding when he was a boy.
This is not only true for aristocratic families, but also for the common people at the bottom, who get married early and get pregnant early.
So he couldn't resist directly and could only make excuses.
Fortunately, Shen Chen is not a low-class citizen who was manipulated by his parents at will. Now his family status has risen sharply.
His parents are also used to him having his own ideas, so as long as the excuse is reasonable, such as his young age and waiting until after he is crowned, they probably won't say anything.
After all, even if it is a matter of continuing the family line, I still have a biological brother, Shen Zhong, and now I have three nieces and nephews.
Deng said regretfully: "Even if we can't get married, it's better to make a date first."
"Mother."
Shen Chen earnestly advised: "Don't think like this. I am now considered very important in Jingzhou. If I want to become a coward, I cannot marry someone from my parents' clan, but must marry into another big clan."
"is that so?"
Deng's eyes widened, and she suddenly remembered the stories about her ancestors that her parents told her when she was a child, and then she remembered that this seemed to be what happened.
"nature."
Shen Chen explained: "So if you want your clan to grow, you must marry with foreign clans."
This is just an excuse.
In ancient times, in order to get closer to each other, cousins would often choose to marry each other.
However, if close relatives marry, it is easy to have deformed children or children who will die young. Cao Cao and Mrs. Ding did not have children, so it is most likely because their children died in infancy.
So of course Shen Chen refused to marry his cousins from his mother's clan.
Deng said with some regret: "Then it seems that I can only reject your second uncle. The elders of the clan have also asked about this matter. I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain."
"It doesn't matter, I can make the final decision on clan matters myself."
Shen Chen waved his hand.
The two families of Deng and Shen are deeply intertwined, and they marry each other a lot. Just like the relationship between the Cao family and the Xiahou family, one more person is not more, and one less is not more, so it will not affect the relationship between the two families.
Now, after comforting his mother, Shen Chen stayed at home for the night, then set off on the next day and got on the carriage, heading towards Xiangyang.
We set off in the morning and arrived outside Xiangyang City in the afternoon. Because we didn’t tell anyone in advance, no one came to greet us.
The wharf outside the city is still as crowded as ever. Especially in recent days, due to the Battle of Guandu, Henan has once again experienced large-scale population migration, with tens of thousands of households migrating to Nanyang, Nanjun, and Jiangxia.
During the late Han Dynasty, the population of Jingzhou doubled in just over ten years, which was caused by the war in the north. This caused Xiangyang City to be expanded again. It did not return for a year, and countless new street houses were added to the east and west of the city.
The carriage drove into Deng Hong's house first.
It was already afternoon and Deng Hong had already returned home from get off work. He suddenly heard that Shen Chen was back and happily ran from the backyard to the front yard.
Before anyone could see him, hearty laughter could already be heard.
"Hahahaha, Ah Chen, Ah Chen."
Deng Hong shouted and walked out of the hall. He saw Shen Chen and his servant in the yard carrying large and small bags. His mother asked him to bring gifts to Deng Hong. He rushed up to his grandson with a big smile and hugged him: "Ah Chen, you Finally back."
"granduncle."
Shen Chen quickly dodged, holding up large and small bags of things, and shouted: "These are eggs given to my great-uncle by my mother, be careful not to drop them."
"Just come here, I take so much every time, my family can't finish it."
Deng Hong put him down, looked at the things brought by the slaves behind him, and scratched his head. In fact, they were not expensive gifts. They were some bacon, eggs, grains and other local specialties from farmers. They were very valuable to poor families, but Deng Hong Now that Hong has hugged Cai's lap, he has already become famous.
"Where's the sixth grandmother?"
Shen Chen did not see Mr. Cai.
Deng Hong said: "I'm going with the Second Young Master's wife to accompany Mrs. Cai."
"oh."
Shen Chen's eyes flickered and he nodded slowly.
The second young master is Liu Cong.
In fact, he is not Mrs. Cai's son, but a biological brother from the same mother as the eldest son Liu Qi.
But Liu Cong married Cai Yan's daughter.
There are three brothers and two sisters in the Cai family. The two sisters are Mrs. Cai and Mrs. Cai. Mrs. Cai is the wife of Huang Chengyan, and Mrs. Cai is the wife of Liu Biao.
The three brothers are Cai Hao, Cai Yan and Cai Zan. Among them, Deng Hong's wife is Cai Zan's daughter, and Liu Cong's wife is Cai Yan's daughter. They are cousins and are also the nieces of Mrs. Xiao Cai.
The reason why the Cai family fully supports Liu Cong is that Liu Cong has a weak character and is easy to manipulate, and naturally Liu Cong is the son-in-law of the Cai family. They are all related by marriage.
It was already a little late when I returned to Xiangyang today, so Shen Chen wrote a letter and sent someone to deliver it to General Hussar's residence, saying that he would report to the general tomorrow.
In the past, everyone called Liu Biao Liu Jingzhou, but now he has to change his name to Liu Huaqi. In the letter format, he must also be Huqi General. The original Zhou Mufu has also become Huqi General's Mansion, because the official position of Huqi General is Bigger and bigger than San Gong.
It was almost evening, and Liu Biao was reading in the study. Although Mrs. Cai was only in her thirties and as beautiful as a flower, she was already fifty-eight years old. The older she got, the less energetic she became. Sometimes she would sit there and read for a while. Reading the book makes me want to sleep, and I am far less energetic than when I was young.
Madam stayed alone in her boudoir all year round and could only find her two nieces as companions. Liu Biao felt guilty, but he was completely obedient to Madam Cai. It turned out that because his eldest son Liu Qi looked similar to him when he was young, he loved her the most, and also because Madam Cai preferred Liu Qi. Cong gradually began to dislike Liu Qi.
Halfway through the book, someone suddenly knocked on the door and said: "General."
"Come in."
Liu Biao put down the book in his hand.
Outside the door, Cheng Qi, a close confidant, came in with a letter and said, "It's General Shen who sent the letter."
"show me."
Liu Biao took the bamboo slip and glanced at it with a smile on his face: "Well, that's right. Let's prepare a banquet in the hall tomorrow and call Cai Mao and Kuai Yue as well as many other guests to welcome my king and Wen together!"
Cheng Qi was very surprised. He was naturally not an illiterate person who could be regarded as Liu's cousin. Junwen was the name of Jia Fu. Jia Fu was the third of the twenty-eight generals of Yuntai. He was a Confucian scholar, but as a scribe, he was brave enough to kill the enemy in battle. Pi is a fierce general. I didn't expect Liu Biao to speak so highly of Shen Chen.
But then I thought about it, Shen Chen was also a Confucian scholar. He studied at Xianshan Academy since he was a child and practiced martial arts diligently every day. This time he led the army on an expedition and visited Xudu three times. He became famous all over the world and made the Jingzhou Army famous. Liu Biao was so happy. , which is also a matter of course.
At that moment, he immediately held up his hands and said, "Wei."
After Cheng Qi left, Liu Biao also looked very happy.
This time Shen Chen volunteered to go north to attack Cao Cao's rear, but he actually didn't have much hope.
Because his main force was fighting the rebellion in Jingnan, there were too few frontal troops, and Zhang Xiu, the second-fifth man who always jumped sideways repeatedly at critical moments, was constrained. Liu Biao felt that Shen Chen's trip north this time would be very bad, as long as he didn't If the entire army is wiped out, it would be a thank you.
However, he felt that even if the entire army was annihilated, if Yuan Shao won, it would be an explanation to Yuan Shao.
So he chose to support Shen Chen in sending troops.
As a result, he never expected that the flowers he planted would not bloom, but the willows that he planted to create shade would be fruitful.
Shen Chen actually killed a large number of Cao Cao's troops with less than 10,000 troops, attacked Xudu three times, and finally burned the city of Xudu, which greatly damaged Cao Cao's vitality.
The second most important thing is that the Jingzhou Army became famous all over the world, but the most important thing is that Cao Cao's vitality was severely damaged.
The reason why Liu Biao joined forces with Yuan Shao was because people at the time believed that Yuan Shao would win, and he did not want to offend Yuan Shao to death. He had the same mentality as the Northern Song Dynasty when he joined forces with the Jin Dynasty to destroy the Liao Dynasty.
As a result, Yuan Shao was defeated in the blink of an eye. Cao Cao had the momentum to conquer the north, which made him very worried.
Now that Shen Chen burned Xu Capital, it severely depleted Cao Cao's strength and prestige, causing both Yuan Shao and Cao Cao to lose. Then he, a fisherman, would naturally be happy.
After making arrangements for tomorrow's banquet, Liu Biao slowly stood up from behind the desk in the study, walked to the side room of the study, and took out a black and red robe from the hidden compartment under the wardrobe on the side.
This robe is different from ordinary robes.
I can only see that the upper part is painted with six chapters of patterns of sun, moon, stars, mountains, dragons and Chinese insects, and the lower part is decorated with six chapters of patterns of embroidered algae, fire, pink rice, Zongyi, 黼, and 黼, for a total of twelve chapters. In the deep dark grid
There is also a crown with twelve white jade strings on it.
The combination of the big robe and the crown is called the Da Qiu Mian.
Liu Biao picked up the robe and admired it with his eyes, his eyes showing joy and excitement.
Next spring.
He wants to put on this suit of clothes and go to the countryside to worship heaven and earth!
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty": Liu Biao refused to pay tribute and committed many acts of hypocrisy, so he worshiped heaven and earth in the suburbs, intending to denounce Cheng Yu, and made plans to proclaim himself emperor.