Chapter 6 Life is like falling flowers on a branch
On December 21, the new general Liu Bei returned to Chang'an with 30,000 sergeants to prepare for the Eastern Expedition that will begin next year.
When his vanguard camped in the north of the city, the people of Chang'an saw the cloud-patterned Fuhu Banner in front of them and recognized it immediately. Even if they saw each other two months later, they all remembered this army that did not intrude on the people, and they knew it.
The thirty-two-year-old general was the hope of the entire Han Dynasty, so everyone crowded in front of and behind Hengmen, hoping to catch a glimpse of Liu Bei's style.
Only Liu Bei's personal troops were at the rear. It was not until noon that he entered the city with more than a hundred knights and staff. In order to show their closeness to the people, Liu Bei and his party did not wear armor, but wore ordinary military uniforms with a piece of cashmere on top.
He was wearing a cloak and a windproof hat on his head. After the people on both sides knew that he was Liu Bei, they all started to cheer at him and wanted to see his face. Liu Bei took off his hat and smiled at everyone on his horse.
Liu Bei had an upright face, eyebrows like swords, and a kind but heroic smile, but he was not a fierce man with a long beard and a beautiful beard, which somewhat disappointed the people around him. At this time, some Tianzhu monks who escaped from the White Horse Temple said,
The general's hands can reach past his knees, and his earlobes are visible. These are all signs of Buddha. Could it be that the general is the reincarnation of Buddha? After that, they lowered their heads and recited Amitabha. Most of the people in Chang'an have heard the legend of White Horse Temple.
Knowing that the Buddha is a god in the West, they all became happy when they heard what these monks said, saying that if this were the case, the world would not be settled. Looking at Liu Bei's appearance, he did not feel any regrets.
Chen Chong had already left the mansion and was riding behind the Hengmen waiting for Liu Bei. When he came over, the two of them naturally kept pace. Chen Chong smiled at him and asked: "Xuande, I haven't been in Jinyang recently. There must be a kind of bird."
Blue sky, it feels like a tiger escaping the fence."
"Then am I re-entering the feudal society now?" Although Liu Bei had a smile on his face, his expression looked quite tired. He said with emotion to Chen Chong: "Life is as short as a fallen flower on a branch, and the world's situation changes in an instant.
When I left the province, I brought 140,000 men with me, but when I returned to the province, I had less than 100,000. Facing the elders of Bingzhou, I felt quite ashamed. Ting Jian, now that he has returned to Beijing with his troops, he feels like he has left the country."<
/p>
"What happened?"
"After Guorang (Tian Yu) died on the battlefield, his old mother had no one to support her. I sent someone to Youzhou to pick her up and come to Jinyang. I planned to serve Guorang's mother like my own mother. Unexpectedly, the old man learned the news.
, was overly sad and died of illness on the way to Jin. I had no choice but to bury her on Longshan Mountain in the south of Jinyang City."
Chen Chong was somewhat silent when he heard this. He took a deep breath and said: "If we want the world to be peaceful, how can we avoid casualties? Only by letting the Haiyan River clear and the world be peaceful can we be worthy of these dead souls."
The two walked for a while, and Liu Bei put on his bamboo hat again and talked about another news with Chen Chong. He said: "After getting the right to open the mansion, I wanted to be the first to inform the teacher and welcome him back to Jinyang.
I wanted to support him for thousands of years, so he also sent people to his hometown in Zhuoxian County to inquire about the teacher, but..."
Talking about Lu Zhi, the image of the upright and stubborn old man from the Imperial Academy immediately came to Chen Chong's mind. Seeing that Liu Bei didn't continue, he asked: "Didn't you find out?"
Liu Bei slowly said: "I heard about it. After resigning, Teacher, he has been living in seclusion in the Woniu Mountain area of Huanglong Mountain in Shanggu. Last year, Yuan Shao worshiped him as a military advisor, but the teacher did not accept it. He passed away in September this year. I sent people to
When I was in Zhuoxian, my teacher had just been buried, but it was just a thin coffin in a cave."
"Didn't Mr. Lu leave any words?"
"No. Zijia (Lu Yu) only told me that before his death, the teacher often read "Ode to Orange", which made him shed tears. When he died, his eyes could no longer see."
Chen Chong silently understood Liu Bei's feelings. His father died when he was young, and he studied under Lu Zhi with the support of his uncle Liu Deran. Although Lu Zhi did not care about him, Liu Bei deeply respected Lu Zhi, although he did not say anything.
Deep down in his heart, he regarded him as a father. Now that Lu Zhi has neither seen his success nor left a message to him, Liu Bei must have deep regrets in his heart.
Lu Zhi repeatedly chanted Qu Yuan's "Ode to Orange", and he must have been unwilling to do so. He had always asked himself to help the country, but in the end he could only take refuge in the mountains and sit back and watch the country collapse. How could he not feel heartbroken?
When I'm dying, I'm afraid there will be nothing left except deep regret for myself.
After arriving at Weiyang Palace to meet the saint, Liu Bei informed all officials of the news of Lu Zhi's death, and asked for a posthumous title for Lu Zhi as a student. All officials and ministers were extremely sad when they heard this, and they sighed to each other: Lu Zhi, Zhu Jun,
Huangfu Song and Dong Zhuo were originally the pillars of the country's northern frontier, but now they all passed away in just one year. Some died in the mountains, some died in battle, some died in unknown circumstances, and some died as traitors. It can be seen that
It’s all God’s will! From now on, I’m afraid I will never be able to return to the era of clear discussion in the countryside and criticism in the court. In the end, I decided to posthumously posthumously honor Lu Zhi with the meaning of “moral erudition” and “equality from justice” “scenery”.
For Mr. Wenjing.
That night, Liu Bei settled in Sili Xiaowei's Mansion. Chen Chong brought over all the talents recommended by the three assistants some time ago. Except for Yang Xiu, Li Yi was left to work in Sili Mansion, Fazheng, Meng Da, Wei Kang
, Guo Kai and the four others were arranged by him to join the shogunate.
At the banquet, he encouraged the four of them and said: "In the past few days, you have been working with me in the house, and I have noticed your talents. In peacetime, all of you would have been the talents of the Nine Ministers. But what happened now
In troubled times, when martial arts comes first, even a common man has to maintain peace for the country, not to mention that all of you are from high-ranking families. As long as you go out with the army, as long as you work hard, the general will see it, and you will be rewarded and put to good use." The four of them all agreed loudly. Seeing their young and vigorous appearance, Liu Bei seemed to remember the days when he studied under Lu Zhi, and his mood calmed down a lot. He smiled and said to them: "Okay, you are here.
The restoration of national security must be just around the corner."
After the banquet was dispersed, Liu Bei immediately asked Liu Deran to arrange accommodation for these people in the army. He himself stayed at the banquet and packed up his things with Chen Chong. Chen Chong asked him: "After traveling for so long, why don't you go and rest first?"
?"
Liu Bei shook his head and said: "There are still things unfinished!"
It was already Haishi, what could be done at this time? Chen Chong was surprised, but he did not ask. After a while, a clerk came to report that Zhang Fei, the general of Liao Dynasty, was riding a horse and leading more than ten vehicles.
The carriages and horses were parked at the back gate of Sili Mansion.
Chen Chong didn't know why, so he and Liu Bei went to the back door to greet them. They saw people getting out of every car. The weather was cold, and everyone was wearing hoods and leather robes to protect themselves from the wind and cold. Chen Chong saw a person from the front car, who was covered with a cloth.
She has a beautiful face, but a graceful figure, and she is holding a baby in her arms. At a glance, you can tell that she is a young woman who has just given birth to a baby.
The woman looked at Chen Chong. Chen Chong was suspicious and had already guessed who she was. She slowly raised her hand and took off the cloth from her face. Chen Chong looked at her. Although he had guessed, he still felt confused.
Surprised and delighted.
It turned out that this person was Cai Yan, Chen Chong's wife. The other people who came include Chen Zheng, Chen Kui and several elders of the Chen family, as well as Zheng Xuan and his students who were originally wandering around. They came to help rebuild the Imperial Academy.
Some descendants of the Wang family in Taiyuan made a special trip to attend Wang Yun's funeral.
The couple looked at each other and smiled. Then Chen Chong greeted his father Chen Kui and said to him: "Didn't I say that the situation in Beijing is undecided and you should wait for my news first?"
Chen Kui said: "Now that you are sitting in Xijing, as a model for the world, there is no reason to put your wife and family elsewhere." He glanced at Cai Yan, stroked his beard and smiled: "Besides, A Yan also wants to see you.
Father-in-law!" Chen Chong heard this and was speechless for a moment. Speaking of which, their father and daughter had indeed not seen each other for four years.
Since Cai Yong was released from prison, he has resigned from his official position and has been recuperating in Sili Mansion. Chen Chong was about to send someone to call his father-in-law, but was stopped by Liu Bei. Liu Bei called the people who got off the car to hurry into the mansion.
He whispered to Chen Chong: "There are still people who are difficult to show up. We will talk in detail after they all go in."
After greeting Zheng Xuan and others, most of the people went into the house. Soon, only Chen Chong, Cai Yan, and Liu Bei were left in the alleyway. Liu Bei looked around and saw that there was no one else on the street, then walked into Cai
Yan was originally in the carriage and whispered to the inside: "Miss Dong Bai, come out."
Chen Chong was stunned when he heard this, but saw a figure bending down and stepping out of the carriage. Even though she was wrapped in two layers of leather robes, it could not hide the girl's slim figure. She stepped on the snow and waved to the carriage.
Slowly hugged the next child. When the girl stood still, she slowly turned around, took off the cloth like Cai Yan, revealing a stunning face. She saluted Chen Chongtingting, and then whispered: "See you there."
Pass Chen Jun."
Chen Chong recognized at a glance that she was Dong Bai, the granddaughter of Dong Zhuo, and the child beside her was Dong Yao, the eldest grandson of Dong Zhuo. He looked back at Liu Bei in astonishment, not knowing what to say for a moment.
Liu Bei also smiled bitterly, and immediately told Chen Chong the whole story without waiting for Chen Chong to ask.
It turned out that after Dong Bai escaped from Yiwu, she planned to defect to Chen Chong, so she rushed to Xihe first. But this was the first time that she traveled far away alone. She didn't even know the direction of north and south, and she took Dong Yao and Dongcang's two children with her.
The result can be imagined. How many wrongdoings she took and how much bullying she suffered along the way were actually not counted among Zhong Yao. What saddened Dong Bai the most was that she lost Dong Cang in Lu Zhong. The sadness in it was really unbearable.
Talk to outsiders.
After going through untold hardships, she finally detoured from Shangjun to Xihe. Chen Chong had already led his army to Jinyang. When she arrived at Jinyang again, Chen Chong and Liu Bei had led their army south.
Dong Bai had no choice but to go to Duan Yan. Duan Yan was guarding Jinyang at the time. As an old subordinate of Dong Zhuo, he recognized the identities of Dong Bai and Dong Yao at a glance. But he knew that these two people were of great importance and could not be dealt with easily, so
Half taking care of them and half guarding them under house arrest, they lived in the mansion until Liu Bei returned and then handed him this problem.
Liu Bei was deeply embarrassed when he learned about it. Once the court knew that he had adopted Dong Zhuo's orphan, the consequences would be disastrous. But he really couldn't do it if he was asked to kill and silence him. After much hesitation, Liu Bei decided to take him to Chang'an and let him know.
Chen Chong makes a decision.
Chen Chong was silent after hearing this. He looked at Dong Bai again and saw that Dong Bai had his head slightly lowered and was looking at the velvet at his feet. There was a trace of heroism on her charming face, but there was no divine light in her eyes, only a sense of helplessness.
She felt so angry that she must still be tormented by the guilt of losing her loved one.
She was also waiting for my answer, and Chen Chong understood. He turned back to look at Cai Yan, who turned his head and said nothing.
After a moment of consideration, he asked Dong Bai: "The world is so big, why did you come to me?"
The girl looked up at him, hesitated for a moment, and then said slowly: "I know you are a good person, but also an idiot. No matter how big the world is, I can't find another one."
Chen Chong laughed, he was very happy with this answer, he said: "Thank you."
Chen Chong finally decided to adopt Dong Bai, Dong Yao and his sister. This was a very dangerous decision, but Chen Chong did not hesitate. After all, they were just two children after all.
He took his wife and father-in-law to get along, and let Dong Bai and Dong Yao live with Cai Yong. Dong Bai changed his name to Cai Zhi, and Dong Yao changed his name to Cai Hong. They were called Cai Yong's grandsons to the outside world. Today, the Central Plains
War broke out, and Cai Yong came from Chenliu to join him. Cai Yong felt guilty about Dong Zhuo, so he gladly accepted the job when he saw the two orphans of Dong Zhuo.
In fact, as an old minister of Dong Zhuo, there is no better candidate than him. Now that his political reputation has faded, ordinary people will never visit him to avoid suspicion. Even if an old friend comes to visit occasionally, Cai Yong arranges for Dong Baizhi to cover his house.
In the meantime, Dong Yao hid in the back room to rest, so no one noticed.