In May of the ninth year of Jian'an, that is, June of 204 AD, the war in Jiangdong went very smoothly.
Huang Zu's water warfare ability was even stronger than Zhang Yun's. In addition, Liu Biao sent an army of 100,000. In addition to Huang Zu's 60,000 and Liu Pan's 20,000, he also sent several small groups of troops to infiltrate.
Although Sun Quan relied on Zhou Yu, Lu Su and other capable people to resist Huang Zu's attack, and even cooperated with Liu Zhang to counterattack Jingzhou, they were ultimately outnumbered.
With Yuzhang County in hand, Jiangdong was also in danger. After Liu Biao learned the news, he was very happy and his energy improved a lot.
On the fourth day of May, after discussing with Jia Xu, Liu Biao was already making preliminary preparations for proclaiming himself emperor.
However, Jia Xu believes that just because the war in Jiangdong is going smoothly, it does not mean that they can quickly take over the entire Jiangdong.
And even if Jiangdong is captured, it will take a long time to digest, and it is expected to be at least three to five years before it can be pacified. If Liu Biao can't wait, he should break through Liu Zhang in the west, show his majesty, and then become emperor.
It's just that Jiangdong is easy to break, but Yizhou is difficult.
The main reason is that Jingzhou Navy was already strong. After Liu Biao increased his troops, Sun Quan's army of 100,000 men faced off against Sun Quan's 50,000 men, giving him a huge military advantage.
However, the upper reaches of the Yizhou Yangtze River are not conducive to naval navigation. The water flow is fast, the terrain is narrow, and there are numerous reefs. Therefore, the Jingzhou Navy cannot use its strengths and can only choose to attack from land.
However, if we attack by force on land, attacking Yizhou from Jingzhou is as difficult as climbing to the sky. There are countless mountains and dangerous checkpoints along the way. Therefore, it is difficult and dangerous to attack Bashu from the west.
Historically, Liu Bei attacked in two directions, all the way from Jiameng Pass to the south, and all the way from Jingnan to Shu. The result was a two-year battle, which is evident from this.
Although Liu Biao did not know how Liu Bei later entered Shu, he also knew that conquering Shu was not easy, so he was very hesitant.
The Jingzhou navy is powerful, but the army also saw it in the Battle of Yingchuan. It is completely incomparable with the elite infantry in the north.
In a water battle, he could have the advantage of having more men and more food and fodder to lift Jiangdong into a fight, but in an infantry battle, it was also a battle in the mountains and forests. Jingzhou did not have such an excellent infantry army.
But just when he was hesitating, Jia Xu gave him a suggestion - he could send those two people.
Liu Biao was really overjoyed after hearing this.
On May 6, Shen Chen, who had been teaching in Longzhong Township for two years, received the order. Liu Biao said that he was going to be given a quota of talents this year and hoped that he could serve as an official in Jingzhou.
On the seventh day of the lunar month, after giving the last class to the students, Shen Chen returned to his residence in the backyard of the school and silently packed up and bowed.
There were several carriages waiting outside the school. Deng Pi, Shen Qi and other guards helped him load the gift clothes into the carriages.
In the backyard, Shen Chen took a bath and put on a brand new scholar's Confucian robe.
He is eighteen years old this year. He has a tall and straight body, 1.82 meters tall, and has a well-proportioned figure. Although his face is not particularly handsome, he is full of masculinity.
Wearing a blue scholar's Confucian gown, a large cloak on the outside, and a sword hanging from his waist, he slowly walked out of the school door.
At this moment, hundreds of students were already pouring in outside the school.
From the year before the year before last to now, he has taught more than a thousand students, and there are more than a hundred permanent students, ranging in age from old to young, some in their twenties, some only eight or nine years old, all from his
Under the door.
He could name everyone. Shen Chen knew their appearance, character, knowledge level, and even their family situation very well and cared about them in every detail.
Among them, many students from very poor families have received financial support from Shen Chen.
Everyone was full of gratitude to him.
There were six students standing at the front of the door, namely Xie Hui, Zhang Li, Hu Miao, Huo Yang, Wu Dang, and Wu Tao. They were the first to come. In the second year of Jian'an, when Shen Chen was in Suiting for the first time, There were more than forty students when the semester started.
But due to various reasons, more than 40 students came and left one after another. Especially after Shen Chen participated in the Battle of Guandu and disappeared for more than a year, basically all the students left. .
Only these six people still go to the school every day. Even if there is only Wang Yan, a rural teacher with average knowledge in the school, they often study the books left by Shen Chen with him.
Because of this, these six people became the six core members of Shen Chen's sect. The other disciples regarded these six as their senior brothers and called them the Six Sages of Shen Chen.
As for the newly recruited students in the past four years, there are dozens of people who have taken the lead, and they are all very knowledgeable people.
At this moment, everyone was standing at the door.
Shen Chen said with a smile: "I have already said today that studies will be temporarily suspended and students should go home to study. Why are you still here?"
Xie Hui said: "Master, are you leaving again this year?"
"yes."
Shen Chen looked at him with a smile and said: "The world is not peaceful and the world is unclean. As a teacher, I have to protect the common people."
Xie Hui walked up to Shen Chen, raised his hands to him and said, "Master wants to practice the "unity of knowledge and action", but the students also want to practice this, so they want to follow Master."
"No."
Shen Chen shook his head and said: "I am going to the battlefield, my life is at stake, how can this be child's play?"
Xie Hui said: "Master once said that human faith is the foundation of heaven and earth. Without faith, there is no humanity, because people without credibility dare to do anything that violates people's conscience and morality. I also often say that I must serve the country. Master also always said that knowledge and action should be united. I want to fulfill my oath and practice my faith, do you want to stop me?"
Shen Chen laughed and said, "You are so good that you don't have to learn how to argue."
Speaking of which, Xie Hui has been with him for seven years. He has accepted Shen Chen's thoughts of patriotism, love for the people, and respect for the king for the longest time. He is seventeen years old this year. He is quite short, but he has always been eloquent. Among his many disciples , no one is as eloquent as him.
Xie Hui smiled honestly.
Shen Chen pondered: "Ah Hui is right, people should practice their faith. But sometimes, practice requires ability."
"If a person has lofty and lofty ideals, but does not learn knowledge and the ability to match his ideals, and then practices this, then it is not the unity of knowledge and action, but stupidity and overestimation of one's capabilities."
"I have told you many times that the unity of knowledge and action requires you to have "knowledge" first. This "knowledge" is not only conscience, but also knowledge and learning."
"If you want to help the world, then you should know how to help the world, what to do now, what to do in the future, and then do it according to the direction you have set. This is the unity of knowledge and action, rather than a hot head. Just do it without thinking about anything.”
"Nowadays, many of you are young, even not yet mature, and they still need to improve their knowledge. The most important thing is that they are not strong in body. They should concentrate on reading and exercising to wait for the weather."
As he spoke, he looked around at the crowd and said: "So this is not the time for you to follow me and do big things, but you should think about it at home. What is the current situation in the world and what will it be like in the future? Only in this way, Only then can you truly practice what the teacher said to serve the country and the people."
His words made everyone feel quite ashamed.
Because Shen Chen is right. Most of the students he teaches are local civilians, at most poor disciples, and they are not very old. The oldest is only twenty-seven years old, and those who are twenty years old and above are less than thirty. More than 90% of the remaining hundreds of people were under the crown, and were considered minors at the time.
Therefore, without thinking about anything or caring about anything, they rashly clamored to follow Master Jun to conquer the world. This is a kind of hot-headed behavior in itself. Naturally, they cannot be allowed to be so reckless.
However, some people in the crowd were still dissatisfied. A giant man with a height of 1.9 meters stood out from the crowd and said angrily: "Master, I am in good health. I have studied with Master for four years and I am fairly knowledgeable, so I want to follow Master." , Protect Master-kun on your side!"
Shen Chen looked over.
His name is Shan Yi, with the courtesy name Yide, and he is a Wuxi barbarian.
During the Han Dynasty, Wuling County in the Jingnan region was mostly occupied by barbarians. Over the past four hundred years, there were many wars between Han and barbarians.
Whenever the barbarians were defeated and captured, they were often captured as slaves by wealthy families. Because the barbarians were strong and strong, they were often placed in farmland and used as cattle or horses.
Shan Yi's parents were slaves used by the Xiangyang family to cultivate the land.
That large family had some land in Longzhong Township, and Shan Yi's parents were among them. They were second generation slaves. They were already familiar with Han civilization and knew that slaves would be slaves for life, so they wanted to change their destiny.
After Shen Chen burned Xudu and became famous all over the world, he returned to Longzhong Township to teach.
Shan Yi's parents secretly asked someone to ask Shen Chen if he could accept their seventeen-year-old son as a student and teach him knowledge.
After Shen Chen learned about this, he sent someone to inform the wealthy family, redeemed the slave status of Shan Yi's parents, gave them land, and took Shan Yi under his family.
As a result, Shan Yi has grown stronger and stronger in the past few years. He is only 21 years old this year, and he is already very tall and strong.
However, great strength comes from great strength. Shan Yi's strength was gained from working as an ox or a horse for his master in plowing the fields. It is dead strength. He has never formally learned martial arts. If he meets someone like Zhang Fei, he will probably be killed in one round. .
Therefore, Shen Chen hesitated for a moment and said: "Yide is quite brave, but not proficient in martial arts. You should stay with me for now, and I will send someone to teach you when the time comes."
"Thank you, Master."
Shan Yi was overjoyed and stood behind Shen Chen proudly.
Seeing that he succeeded, many disciples around him quickly shouted: "Master, I want to go too."
"Master, please take me with you and let me do some paperwork."
"Master, my disciple is willing to accompany you in life and death!"
Everyone signed up enthusiastically.
What I just said was impassioned, and I dismissed most of the disciples in the name of insufficient academic skills and insufficient age.
But there are still a small number of students who meet the age and academic standards.
These people all want to go, and with Shan Yi as an example, they naturally don’t want to miss this opportunity.
Shen Chen had no choice but to finally select a dozen students with good academic skills and over the age of twenty-two, and promised them to follow him.
The remaining people either have average academic level, are still young, or have only one child in their family, so they were not selected.
For a moment, those who were selected were beaming with joy, while those who were not selected were extremely disappointed.
In fact, the reason why they are willing to follow Shen Chen is that the concept Shen Chen has instilled in them in the past few years is to love the country and the people, and there are countless people who want to serve the country.
Secondly, I also want to make achievements.
Now everyone knows that Liu Biao suddenly recruited Shen Chen to go to Xiangyang, most likely to grant him an official position and participate in Jingzhou's foreign wars in recent years.
Most of the people who followed Shen Chen were commoners and disciples from poor families. Those aristocratic families had family schools, so they would not send their students here.
The biggest wish of common people and disciples from poor families is to stand out. Now that there is an opportunity, they naturally want to seize it.
It's a pity that Shen Chen knew that this battle was not simple, so he didn't want to take all the disciples with him. He just selected a dozen suitable ones and took them with him to practice.
Among the six sages of the Shen Clan, only Wu Dang was qualified. The others were knowledgeable enough, but not young enough, and were all under twenty years old. It was very sad for a while.
Xie Hui said disappointedly: "I also want to serve the country with my master and rejuvenate the country."
Shen Chen smiled and said: "You are the heirs of my mantle. If I die in battle, I still need you to spread my knowledge. And you are still young, so you should learn to enrich yourself first. In a few years, when you are crowned , let’s talk about the rejuvenation of the country and the security of the country.”
"Then when will Master Jun come back?"
Xie Hui asked again.
Shen Chen then said: "Let's wait for the day when our home and country are peaceful. Besides, this separation is not permanent. When you are crowned, you can come and find me."
"only."
Xie Hui and other disciples handed over their hands.
Shen Chen waved his hand and said, "Okay, let's all disperse. Master is leaving."
Everyone made way for them.
Shen Chen slowly passed by the crowd, and every student who looked at him nodded slightly to show encouragement.
After a while, he walked to the carriage. Surrounded by Shan Yi, Wu Dang and other disciples, Shen Chen got on the carriage.
He stood on the carriage, held the sword in his left hand, looked down at the crowd and said: "My disciples need to remember that only when there is a country, there is a family, and only when there are ten thousand people, there is a country. When the country is in crisis, it is time to step forward and turn the tide. The building is about to collapse. A teacher is not talented. This journey is to unite knowledge and action to rectify the world. You should work hard. When your knowledge increases and your intelligence is achieved, you should not forget the people. Teachers and you will encourage each other. !”
After saying that, he bent down and bowed his hands to the disciples.
"I sincerely follow your teacher's teachings."
The disciples also bowed to him.
Shen Chen laughed loudly and sat in the carriage, shouting: "We are going to Xiangyang, Master, and you must go first. You must not forget your studies!"
"only!"
All the disciples kept holding their hands and answered in unison.
The driver lightly slapped the horse's buttocks.
The carriage left slowly. Many disciples looked at Shen Chen's profile and raised their hands in unison: "Best farewell to Master!"
Shen Chen waved to the outside from the carriage.
The convoy headed east like this.
Shan Yi, Wu Dang and other disciples walked slowly with their feet behind the wheel.
The speed of the car is not fast, but it is getting farther and farther.
The disciples behind him still maintained the posture of holding hands, unwilling to leave for a long time.
In their hearts, Master Shijun is the best person.
The master is not as old as many of his disciples, but he is full of talents and knowledge and speaks well.
Shijun is not as strong as Shan Yi, but he is unrivaled in strength and courage.
He is humble and has the air of a gentleman.
He hates evil as much as he hates it. If there is any injustice in the countryside, he will come to him.
The world only knows that Shen Chen kills people like crazy, and he is a rising talent under Liu Jingsheng in Jingzhou.
But don't know.
In the hearts of the disciples, that young man who was elegant, courteous, and earnest and good at tempting was their favorite teacher.