On the eleventh day of the first month of the first year of Yanxing, Yuan Shao of Jizhou also sent an envoy to Chang'an as a response to the Eastern Campaign against Gengcang.
The envoy was Guo Tu, who was in charge of the governance of Jizhou. He said in the court that Jizhou had fought for one year last year, and it was not until November that it was possible to call a truce. The soldiers were exhausted and needed a rest. At the beginning of the year, the counties of Wei and Zhao also
From time to time, the Black Mountain bandit army invaded, causing the people to run away and the fields to be barren. Jizhou herders did not dare to be careless, so they could only focus on suppressing the bandits and reassuring the people. If they were unable to send a large army to help, they could only transport 100,000 husks of rice and flour for food and supplies.
The imperial court used it for its Eastern Expedition.
There were no weapons, armor, horses or ships, only one hundred thousand rice noodles. Although Chen Chong had been prepared in his heart, he could not help but be disappointed at this time. After all, the most indispensable thing for the Eastern Expedition was food and grass. There were not many people and horses on the expedition. So,
Rice noodles will only become a burden.
After Guo Tu left, Liu Bei said to Chen Chong: "Yuan Shao is quite shrewd. In this way, it seems that he gave something, but in fact he gave nothing, and there is no way to catch him."
Chen Chong said: "Looking on the bright side, whether it is used for this year's spring planting or to prevent famine, it has some use."
On the 17th, news of Youzhou's reinforcements passing through Jizhou and about to arrive at Heqiao reached Guanzhong. Liu Bei immediately sent an order to Guan Yu, asking him to first send people to Luoyang to meet the Youzhou army, and then he would reorganize the army.
Just there.
Compared with previous expeditions, Liu Bei's troops this time were not many, with only more than 20,000 in number. However, this was a last resort. After all, after the war, various places had some considerations that forced them to suspend their troops. For example, the Hun knights
He traveled around with Liu Bei every year, and the battle at Longshouyuan was broken again, and there were some complaints among the tribes. For example, Jinyang and other places were also invaded by the Black Mountain Army, and the fields were in need of people to guard and cultivate them.
.There are also rumors that the Xianbei leader Ke Bineng has risen rapidly in recent years, replacing the original Xianbei Chanyu Jianman, and there are signs of re-sending troops to merge with the state and capture Pingcheng. Therefore, it is difficult for Liu Bei to mobilize the Yanmen Army. However, since entering Beijing, all the elites of the imperial court have been under Liu Bei's control. Although the number of soldiers is sluggish, there are as many good generals and advisors as there are, which is extremely impressive and is slightly better than before. Among them, the famous ones are:
General Du Liao, under the command of Hou Zhangfei of Puzi County,
A partial general, under the command of Duan Xuan, Marquis of Changpingting,
The governor of Shangdang, under the command of Zhang Yang, the Marquis of Guannei,
The prefect of Xihe, under the command of Qin Yilu, the Marquis of Guannei,
The prefect of Hongnong, under the command of Marquis Shejian of Guan Nei,
Jing Zhaoyin, Headquarters of Sima Defense Department, the Marquis of Guannei,
Dongping Xiaowei, under the command of Dong Tinghou Liu Deran,
Pushe, the Minister of Zuo, was under the command of Xun You, Marquis of Xiting.
After Liu Bei opened the General's Office, at Chen Chong's suggestion, he set up two positions: admonishment officer and military advisor. Most of them were selected from the younger generation. The lineup became very prosperous for a while, among which the famous ones in the prefectures and counties include:
Fuzheng Fuzheng, Meng Da, Geng Ji, Tai Yangmi, Dunhuang Zhang Meng, Anding Huangfu Jianshou, Jingzhao Wei Kang, Hongnong Dong Yu, Feng Yi Guo Kai, Kuaiji Zhu Hao, Henan Zhongshao, etc.
In addition, Tuoba Xianbei's young commander Tuoba Pigu also joined. In the tribe, he could not compete with Tuoba Liwei for the position of Shan Yu, so he gave up the idea of inheriting the throne, so he wanted to commit suicide.
Leading 800 troops to join Liu Bei's army and achieve great achievements, Liu Bei naturally welcomed him.
Even Liu Bei himself had never expected that today's military personnel would be so rich. He was overjoyed about this and boasted to Chen Chong: "How can the country's heroes gather together, how can the old Yellow Turban army be comparable? When I go to Guandong, I will definitely fight with you."
The lost ground is regained!"
Chen Chong knew that he was complacent and in high spirits at this time, so he did not bother him, but he still felt uneasy. This was because after occupying Chang'an, someone must be in charge of the overall situation in the court, and if he imagined that two people would appear like before,
It is probably difficult to reproduce the scene of people riding horses and armies at the same time, commanding the same battle. The final division of labor was that Chen Chong stabilized the rear in Chang'an, and Liu Bei was responsible for the battle outside.
Although the decision has been made, Chen Chong is still a little worried about success or failure.
So before Liu Bei left camp, Chen Chong called Xu Shu to the small building and asked him: "Yuanzhi, how long have you been with me?"
When Xu Shu heard this, he knew that Chen Chong was going to have a heart-to-heart talk, so he solemnly sat in front of Chen Chong, nodded and said, "I studied with the teacher when I was fifteen, and it has been eight years since then."
"What have you learned over the years?"
"Teacher taught me history, Confucian classics, arithmetic, geography, astronomy, military science, famous studies, and Mobian. Although the student dare not say that he has mastered them all, he can say that he never slacks off." After Xu Shu said this, he looked up at Chen Chong.
He glanced at it and said: "But what I learned the most from my teacher is the humanistic approach."
Chen Chong was very satisfied when he heard the next few sentences. He knocked on the table and asked Xu Shu: "What is the humanistic way?"
Xu Shu rectified his language for a moment and answered word by word: "It's nothing more than eight characters. Technique is the use of Tao, and Tao is the basis of technique. Technique has no right or wrong, but Tao exists. People in the world think that Tao is not technique, or that technique is not Tao, which are all fallacies. And people in the world think that Dao is not technique, or that technique is not Dao.
Everyone knows that Teacher Zang disapproves of the teachings of Confucius and Mencius, but they don’t know that Teacher Zang admires the teachings of Confucius and Mencius. If Confucius and Mencius can be resurrected, he and Teacher will also be close friends."
After saying that, Xu Shu lowered his head and listened to Chen Chong's evaluation.
Chen Chong was obviously very happy. He took a piece of jade from his waist, put it in Xu Shu's hand, and said to him: "I bought a piece of jade eight years ago. Because of its clear and flawless jade material, I keep it by my side all the time."
.But because the jade material is extremely soft, I was afraid that the craftsman would make a mistake and damage the piece of jade, so I dared not let anyone carve it. But if jade is not carved, it is just jade after all. I made up my mind yesterday to carve this piece of jade.
I carved it into a jade stone and gave it to you today."
Xu Shu looked at the jade in his hand and saw that the emerald green jade surface was carved with a swimming dragon and clouds. The style was exquisite and beautiful, which made him fall in love with it. What moved him even more was the high expectations in Chen Chong's words. He choked up for a moment and actually
I didn't know what to say. Chen Chong smiled and said: "From today on, you will be the military advisor of the General's Mansion."
On the nineteenth day of the first lunar month, Chen Chong and all officials went to the Wei Bridge to see Liu Bei off.
The carriages and horses were rustling, the spring breeze was intoxicating, and most of the snow on the plains had melted away, but there were no green buds in the exposed black soil, but some apricot flowers on both sides of the bank had already bloomed. Chen Chong stood in front of the officials, standing on the Wei Bridge
On the west side, first listen to more than fifty people playing "Soldiers' Formation Song" by the bridge.
Different from the flute playing, here there are bells and drums ringing in unison, like layers of iron cavalry coming on the ground. Birds are frightened, beasts are running, and blood is flowing. Everyone listens carefully to the tune, which has the charm of Xirong, just because of this
It is a military song handed down from the ancient Qin army.
Liu Bei led his new staff from the official road and shook hands with Chen Chong. Liu Bei's hands were strong and rough, the marks left by long-term use of knives, bows and arrows. Behind Liu Bei, there was full of vitality.
A vigorous young man, for a moment, Chen Chong felt that he was a little old. But then he felt relieved that the country would have a better future if it had more young people.
Before leaving, Chen Chong warned: "If we can surrender them, surrendering them should be the priority." He took out a piece of gray-yellow silk cloth from his chest and handed it to Liu Bei with both hands. The silk cloth had a red and black color on it.
The traces are obviously written in blood.
Liu Bei knew that this was the Huang Tian Fu written in blood by Zhang Jiao before he surrendered. He quickly recalled the time when he fought with the Yellow Turbans, and his expression was a little dazed for a moment. He accepted it solemnly, nodded and said: "I know." Then.
Then he asked Chen Chong: "Ting Jian, when we parted in Julu, you wrote a poem as a gift to me. I liked it very much. Can you still write it today?"
Chen Chong was not interested at this time, but he knew that Liu Bei liked him, so he casually recited a famous line from Bao Zhao of later Southern Dynasties as a gift: "The two swords are about to part, and they first sing in the box. The mist and rain are about to pass, and from then on they become fractal. One is the separation of heaven and earth,
How can it be limited to the bright light? Gods and objects will never be separated, and they will be reunited after thousands of journeys."
Liu Bei was extremely satisfied. He got on his horse, turned the horse's head, shook the reins, and was about to ride the horse. He turned back and shouted to Chen Chong: "Wait for my victory report!" After saying that, he turned back and rode away. When Zhang Fei and Xu Shu passed by,
He also waved to him and led 20,000 horses onto the Wei Bridge and ran to the north. Chen Chong stood there for more than an hour, until everyone disappeared at the end of the dim world, and then he led the officials back to Chang'an.
Although the number of people in this Eastern Expedition was small, it would definitely not be short, and Chen Chong knew this well. He was able to force Zhang Jiao to surrender within half a year because the other party started in a hurry and had no foundation at all. Chen Chong only had to recover the supply of food and grass.
Even if there are less than 10,000 enemy supplies, the Yellow Turbans can be extremely embarrassed.
But today's Gengcang Army is different. They have been wreaking havoc in Qingzhou for many years. They have a deep foundation and then changed their organization. They have sufficient supplies and people's hearts. It can be seen that they are by no means an opponent that can be eliminated in a short time like the Red Eyebrow Army. The worst is
Kuai Xiao and Gongsun Shu are the best. But fortunately, there is Cao Cao in Guandong and Gongsun Zan is helping him, so Liu Bei will not suffer.
But thinking of this, Chen Chong also felt that he was thinking too far. What Liu Bei had to do now was to follow his previous strategy and go to Liu Biao in Xiangyang to deceive troops.
Starting from the 23rd, the military information of the Eastern Expeditionary Army gradually reached Chang'an, and the progress was very smooth.
On the 25th, General Liu Bei led his army to Luoyang and joined the reinforcements from Youzhou. However, this time the commander of Youzhou was not Gongsun Zan, but a special chariot sent by Liu Yu to engage in field affairs, with five thousand cavalry.
, more than 10,000 infantry. But Liu Bei was not disappointed, because he also brought 8,000 more war horses. Tian Chou did not hide any secrets and gave all these horses to Liu Bei.
After reorganizing his army for a while, Liu Bei followed Chen Chong's plan and led his army southward through Yique and Guangcheng. On the third day of February, he suddenly entered Nanyang County. He did not attack the city or plunder the slaves' wealth along the way. He passed Luyang in a dignified manner and visited Bowang.
, Jiyang, Yuyang, Xinye, Chaoyang, Deng County, and all the way to the foot of Xiangyang City. When the cities along the way learned that this army was the imperial army, they all had doubts and did not dare to stop it at all. They only kept reporting to Xiangyang. p>
Xiangyang was confused about this. After all, the imperial court had not notified them in advance and they were unprepared. If the imperial court wanted to send a large army to attack, but judging from the behavior of the army, going deep into the territory alone and violating military common sense, it did not seem like they were going to go to war.
There is no hostility, but troops are sent to enter the country after all. How can we not make people wary?
But in the end, at Kuai Liang's suggestion, on the sixth day of February, Liu Biao led all the state staff across the Han River and held a banquet on the north bank of the Han River to reward Liu Bei's entire army.