After rewarding the army, Chen Chong returned to Chang'an. As promised before, Chen Chong transported 200,000 stones of grain and grass to Lu Bu and stored them in Qixian County.
In March, Lu Bu followed Chen Chong's previous suggestion and gave up attacking Han Sui's Ma Teng tribe who had stabilized Hanyang, and instead recruited troops from Beidi County. Beidi County was so remote and difficult to travel that Lü Bu had to go up to Long from the mouth of Jingshui Valley, and then
Climbing up the mountain with great difficulty, the mountains become taller and steeper as you go west, as if you are ascending to the sky. Only when you reach Qixian County can you barely see a livable narrow plain in the mountains.
After the narrow plain, there are still many high mountains, standing like thousands of swords, and many clouds gather and disperse between the peaks, as if the mountains pierce the sky. Lu Bu entered Beidi County from here, and continued to walk north, walking for about sixty miles.
Later, they saw an empty city with the word Yiju written on the gate. It turned out that this place had been abandoned for a long time and had been abandoned by the Qiang and rebels.
Cao Xing suggested that Lu Bu use this city as his residence, but Lu Bu rejected it. He planned to build a new city to strengthen his reputation. So he continued walking north and stopped at a mountain depression where ten ravines intersected. There was mud and water passing through this place, and there were other mountains around it.
Lu Bu was very satisfied with the grassland and wasteland, so he built a city and county here and named it Ningwu.
After Lü Bu settled in Ningwu, Zhang Chang and Zhang Meng talked with various Qiang tribes around him. Sure enough, some Qiang people gradually joined him. In May, Lü Bu sent a letter to the court, saying that he had captured Niyang, Yuzhi, and half of them.
Northland County has fallen into his hands.
But at this time, Chen Chong did not feel any joy. On the second day of May, Chang'an was suddenly hit by an earthquake, and the people in the capital were panicked. Then on the third day of the month, another earthquake hit the White Canal [1], and other canals also suffered damage.
Countless ordinary houses were damaged and collapsed. For this reason, Chen Chong was planning to hold a court meeting to discuss the matter. On the fourth day of the lunar month, there was another solar eclipse!
When the solar eclipse occurred, Chen Chong was discussing with Zhong Yao and others in the minister's desk to see how to come up with a disaster relief charter and how to repair the canals. At the same time, there were other ministers and ministers, such as Chen Qun and Wang.
Yi, Shi Sunrui, Fu Wan, Yang Biao and others.
The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly. The front and back doors of the Chancellor's desk were wide open, allowing the breeze to pass through. Everyone sat around the table, looking at the documents and drinking ice water.
At this time, the originally bright atrium suddenly darkened. No one paid attention, thinking that it was just the clouds covering the sun. However, Habayashi Lang from the palace hurriedly ran over from outside and said: "It's not good, the sky is dark."
The sun is gone!"
The people sitting here were all well-educated people, and they immediately understood that a solar eclipse had occurred. Chen Chong ordered the officials not to panic and not to look at the sky to avoid hurting their eyes. He himself took a candle and lit it lightly with a flint.
Liang. Unexpectedly, Yang Biao put down the document and said: "It's better not to click. The celestial phenomena are God's will. Just let nature take its course." Everyone agreed.
After a while, the sound of drums could be heard faintly in the palace, and then slowly became louder until the whole of Chang'an could hear it. It was a routine warning sound during a solar eclipse.
Yang Biao listened to the sound of the drum and said slowly: "Solar eclipses have occurred frequently in the past few years. I remember it started during the Guanghe period. In the past ten years, I have heard the sound of the drum seven times.
During every solar eclipse, three ministers are appointed and dismissed, so it is also called the Luogui Drum. I thought it was interesting when I first heard it, but now I don’t want to listen to it anymore."
After that, they all stood up together and put red-green swords on their waists according to etiquette to support the Yang. On the way, Chen Chong said: "A solar eclipse is just a solar eclipse, what does it have to do with people? No matter how the heaven, earth, sun and moon work,
, we should all be angry and strengthen ourselves."
Scholar Sun Rui disagreed. He said: "Solar eclipse is a sign of yin invading yang. It has the following meaning of violating the superior. It is the so-called hexagram of earth, fire, Mingyi, and heaven and earth warn us. As mortals, how can we not care about it?
?I just don’t know who should be responsible for the following crimes?”
Everyone immediately turned their attention to Chen Chong, but Chen Chong had no intention of discussing the matter. It was Chen Qun who came to the rescue and said: "The meaning of solar eclipse does not necessarily mean the following. There is another explanation: the strong one who controls the sun may be a supreme being.
The strong will die, and the world will change."
Only Fu Wan lowered his head and said: "No matter what the explanation is, it is definitely not a good thing. Since God is angry and there have been landslides and earthquakes before, it is better to remove the minister who made the mistake as usual to appease God's will."
Chen Chong glanced at the future uncle and said nothing. He simply led the ministers all the way to meet the emperor and said to the emperor: "Since Emperor Zhuanxu sent the Jedi Tiantong, the sky, the earth, the sun and the moon have each performed their duties.
, Today’s solar eclipse is just a sign of the conjunction of the sun and the moon. Don’t panic, Your Majesty. It’s just that people’s hearts are easily confused, so I ask Your Majesty to issue an edict, saying that the disaster should be in the east.”
"Should it be in the east?" When the emperor saw the solar eclipse, his face was still filled with sadness. But when he heard Chen Chong's remarks, he was extremely surprised and asked, "Does sir really think so?"
Chen Chong nodded and said with a smile: "This is what I calculated. Last year, the bandit army faced off with our army for a year at Honggou. Our army was 100,000 strong, and we consumed nearly one million dan of grain. The enemy's army was several times more numerous, and they forced a stalemate for a year.
The food consumption in Yanzhou must be several times that of the imperial court. Although Yanzhou is a fertile land, only women worked it last year, so the harvest will inevitably be small. How can the Linzi bandit army survive to this day with two states? There is bound to be a rift between the court and last year's thieves.
If the army is not in a good position, one of the ministers will be killed to calm the hearts of the people."
At this time, the dark surroundings gradually became brighter again. It seemed that the solar eclipse would soon recede. The drums in the palace also stopped, and the happy cheers of the officials could be heard everywhere. Chen Chong squinted his eyes to see
He reappeared in the light, and finally said to the emperor: "We will receive news of the rebellion in the rebel army by July at the latest."
Chen Chong's words were categorical, but everyone was doubtful. But Chen Chong insisted on it, and the others couldn't resist, so they did as he did.
However, after the edict was issued, there were many voices of doubt from both the government and the public, thinking that Chen Chong was greedy for power and wanted to keep friends, so he was unwilling to remove himself from high-ranking officials. Even his wife Cai Yan, in her spare time, warned Chen Chong that although God's will
There is no right or wrong, but public opinion should not be offended. It is best to stick to the old routine. Chen Chong had a smile on his face, but he was disapproving in his heart.
Fortunately, Zheng Xuan supported him. After Zheng Xuan came to Beijing, with the support of Chen Chong, he reopened the Imperial Academy, which was built in the southern suburbs of Chang'an City like Luoyang. But after all, the world was in chaos, and wars broke out in various states, not counting those who destroyed their families and lost their clans.
In fact, there are only a few people who have time to study in the capital at this time. Today's Tai students can barely reach more than 600 people. It is difficult to see tens of thousands of Tai students congesting the capital ten years ago.
However, Zheng Xuan was also happy to have some leisure time. He left all the preaching work to Sun Yan, Cui Yan and others, while he took a few Cangtou around Sanfu and visited famous mountains and rivers, such as Lishan Mountain, Huashan Mountain, Kuzong Mountain, and Leishan Mountain.
He visited Shoushan and other places. It was not until the weather got hotter that he returned to the capital to escape the summer heat, and from time to time he went to Chen Chong's house to chat.
When he heard about this, Zheng Xuan was trimming his beard in Chen Chong's yard. His study tour experience in his youth made him accustomed to trimming his beard by himself, so he trimmed his beard in front of the mirror while talking to Chen Chong about his dismissal from office twenty years ago.
He joked that he was almost seventy years old and had seen nine solar eclipses and heard of thirteen unseen solar eclipses. Every time the imperial court dismissed a third official in order to bring peace to the will of heaven, he has been dismissed from office to this day.
There are no fewer than sixty people. If God's will is constant, how can we see that the imperial court is still in decline, and the disasters are not reduced a little? Either the removal of officials is useless, or the removal is useless. If the emperor is replaced by this, isn't it okay? Let's say it.
, he and Chen Chong both laughed.
Therefore, Chen Chong turned a deaf ear to the rumors and only focused on repairing Bai Canal.
Before the ancestors established their capital in Luoyang, the land of Guanxi had been operated by the Qin and Han Dynasties for six hundred years, and countless dikes and canals were built. Guangcheng Guo Canal, Zheng Guo Canal, Bai Canal, Cao Canal, Longshou Canal and other large canals have a total length of thousands of miles, each of which is thousands of miles long.
There are countless small canals and tributaries in the county. With the water conservancy of dikes and canals, Guanzhong has been able to maintain harvests despite droughts and floods, and there have been no bad years. It is called a thousand miles of fertile wilderness and the essence of the emperor.
However, after the Wang Mang Chimei Rebellion, the people in Guanzhong suffered from water conservancy damage, and the embankments and canals were often collapsed without repairs. When Shizu saw that Guanzhong was in dilapidated condition, he decided to settle in Luoyang. After Shizu, the emperors did not care much about the management of Guanxi.
To this day, the characters in Guanzhong are no longer as far apart as they were back then.
Nowadays, the Sanbai Canal was destroyed by the earthquake. Although it was a merciless natural disaster, for Chen Chong, it was also a good opportunity to rebuild the water conservancy. He recruited the people of Sanfu to rebuild the river embankment during his spare time.
Soon, Sanfu recruited about 100,000 people to build the canal. They were like a long dragon with no head or tail, digging soil and diverting water beside the white canal. The weather was hot at this time, and the sun in the sky seemed to penetrate through the skin, blazing the sun.
It penetrates into the flesh and blood, making people feel dizzy. Sometimes there is heavy rain pouring down, and when it hits the body, it is not refreshing and refreshing, but an analgesic acupuncture feeling. People say that it was during the severe drought in the early years.
It has never been so hot.
But the construction of the canal was still carried out. Chen Chong knew that the people were working hard, so he simply moved the chancellery to the canal. During the day, he walked by the canal to look after things, and at night he worked in Taichung. Many people complained about thirst and heat, so Chen Chong ordered
The Yulin army cooked tea by the canal for people to drink, and ordered the Huben army to plant trees and build tents by the canal for people to rest.
Building the canal was not a day's work. It lasted until July, when the farming season was busy. One hundred thousand people had only just renovated the Bai Canal. But Chen Chong originally had a long-term plan, and the immortal achievements of the First Emperor could not be accomplished in a single year.
Zheng Guo Canal. So the people were sent back to their hometowns, and they agreed to come back to repair the canal in September.
After returning to Chang'an, Chen Chong reported to the court that he planned to open another canal on the north bank of the Wei River based on the Chengguo Canal established by Emperor Wu. He would divert the Qian River to bypass Yi County and go straight into the Wugong Chengguo Canal, which can be named
It is a high-virtue canal to show the virtue of the emperor, and the emperor will accurately play it.
But at this time, Cao Cao, the herdsman of Yanzhou, wrote to the court, saying that there had been many changes in the Yanzhou rebel army recently. After asking around, he found that something had happened to the Linzi rebel army, and it seemed that the puppet emperor had been deposed! The puppet general Zhang Rao was assassinated.
Death!
[1] Baiqu: namely Jing District, Zheng Guo Canal. During the Warring States Period, South Korea sent hydraulic engineer Zheng Guo to lobby the Qin Dynasty, and dug Jingshui. It started from Zhongshan in the west to Hukou as a canal, merged with Beishan, and poured into Luoshui in the east. The canal was three meters long.
More than a hundred miles away, the fields can be irrigated. South Korea wanted to use this to consume Qin's national power and had no intention of going eastward. But after the canal was completed, there were thousands of miles of fertile land in Guanzhong. Regardless of drought or flood, there would be a bumper harvest every year.
In the Western Han Dynasty, following the precedent of the Qin Dynasty, Baigong was used as a hydraulic engineer to pass through the canal to divert Jingshui. It started from the mouth of the valley, entered Yueyang, and poured into the middle of the Wei River. It was 200 miles long and irrigated more than 4,500 hectares of farmland, so it was named Baiqu.