Although Zhang Fei wanted to cause trouble for Chen Mu, he was helpless with his bad words and was deceived by Chen Mu's three-inch tongue. When he came to his senses, the army had already set off and entered the territory of Yiyang.
It is about 90 miles from Handan to Yiyang. When converted into units that modern people can understand, the distance is about 40 kilometers.
The villages along the way were deserted, and uncollected skeletons and corpses could be seen everywhere on the roadside. The wealthy manors in various countryside were slaughtered, the fields were deserted, and new graves were everywhere.
This disaster not only dealt a heavy blow to the ancient empire of the Han Dynasty, but also caused countless pain to the people.
The three counties most affected by the Yellow Turbans, Guangping Julu and Anping, can even be described by Cao Cao's saying, "White bones are exposed in the wild, and there is no rooster crow for a thousand miles."
Millions of people were displaced. A small number followed Zhang Jiao in the uprising and became rebels. Most of the people were either killed or fled to other places. In the entire Yiyang County, there was not a single human habitation.
Especially the closer to Yiyang County, the more terrifying the scene becomes.
Chen Mu saw with his own eyes that there was a manor only twenty steps away from the official road. It was supposed to be the land of a powerful person somewhere in Yiyang County. The manor building was large in scale, covering an area of nearly a hundred acres, and was built in the form of a fort. , a clear stream was taken from the tributary of Mingshui River and surrounded by Zhuangzi to form a moat.
There is a wall about two feet high around the fortress, and there is a turret over three feet high at each end of the four corners. The gate is open, and peeking in from the outside, you can see overlapping groups of courtyards, including gatehouses, corridors, and main rooms. There are wing rooms, toilets and even courtyards and wells, making it like a small town that can accommodate thousands of people at the same time.
But at this time, the main entrance of Wubao was in ruins. Dozens of corpses were lying at the door. They were wearing yellow turbans, and their swollen and smelly bodies were covered with arrows. There were ladders set up outside the high walls, and the manor was in a mess, everywhere. The villagers were slaughtered, the furniture was broken, porcelain fragments were all over the floor, most of the female corpses had no clothes on, no valuable property was left behind, and some dead children could even be seen.
Everything tells that a difficult defensive war once took place here.
When the vanguard army passed by here, every soldier involuntarily covered his mouth and nose, and the air was filled with a disgusting smell of rotting corpses.
Seeing this scene, Liu Bei burst into tears. He clamped his horse's belly and accelerated to catch up with Meng Zhen in front. He said with a sad expression: "Meng Sima, please allow Liu Bei to stay here and postpone the march."
Meng Zhen said doubtfully: "Liu Zhonglang, the army is behind you. We need to clear the way for the vanguard. How can you stand still? Do you know that military law is strict?"
Liu Bei's eyes turned red and he sobbed: "We have been traveling along the way, and there are many bones and piles of corpses with no one to collect them. Bei really can't bear to expose their corpses in the wild like this. I would like to lead my troops and more than a thousand captives to stay and collect their corpses." The purpose is to clear the road to facilitate the passage of the army in the rear. The second purpose is to bury the corpses to avoid causing plague and cholera. The third purpose is to comfort the souls of the dead, hoping that they will sleep in peace in the ground as soon as possible and not become wandering ghosts."
Meng Zhen was in awe and said: "Liu Zhonglang is really a benevolent and righteous gentleman, but the military order is like a mountain. Before dark, we must select a location on the outskirts of Yiyang County and set up camp. It is not advisable to delay for too long."
"It doesn't matter. After we finish dealing with the corpses along the way, even if we march quickly, we will arrive before the army behind us and we won't lose any time."
Liu Bei made a guarantee.
Meng Zhen thought for a moment and then said: "In that case, I will agree to your request and ask Liu Zhonglang to arrive in time and not to violate military discipline."
"only!"
Liu Bei's face was solemn and he raised his hands in salute.
Lu Zhi's army of more than 30,000 people set off, and their marching speed was not too fast. They could probably cover 3-4 kilometers per hour.
Even though Xia Houyuan walked 500 miles in three days and 1,000 miles in six days, he walked an average of 170 miles a day, which is equivalent to walking 68 kilometers a day. But he specially trained such a rapid marching force, only carrying a few days of dry food, and marching thousands of miles
, without considering logistical issues at all.
Lu Zhi, on the other hand, brought a lot of food and baggage. In addition to 30,000 soldiers, there were more than 20,000 food transport soldiers and civilians. The transport horse teams alone stretched for several miles. The marching speeds of the two were completely different.
The twelve o'clock in the Han Dynasty were midnight, cockcrow, Pingdan, sunrise, eclipse time, Yuzhong, noon, sunrise, preserved time, sunrise, dusk, and people's time.
Therefore, Lu Zhi's army set off from Handan after breakfast, which was meal time (7-9 a.m.), and had to arrive at Yiyang at the scheduled time in the evening (9-11 p.m.).
The mission of Meng Zhen's vanguard army is not simply to explore the way and step on minefields for the rear army. It is to detect the enemy's situation before the army arrives, and find a place for the army to camp, so that the army can rest and regroup immediately after arrival.
So the task is arduous and crucial.
Once Meng Zhen failed to do the corresponding work and the rear army was unable to prepare in advance, leading to the defeat of the war, Lu Zhi, as the commander-in-chief, would definitely kill Meng Zhen with a sword and sacrifice him to the flag.
Therefore, Liu Bei also understood that Meng Zhen had taken a lot of risks for him, and he was very moved.
Returning to his own troops, Liu Bei ordered the entire army to stop moving and allowed Meng Zhen's six troops from the vanguard army to pass by them.
Zhang Fei asked in confusion: "Brother, what is this?"
Liu Bei sighed and said: "I saw that countless corpses were not buried on both sides of the road. I was afraid of the outbreak of plague and cholera, so I asked Meng Sima to allow my troops to postpone the march, collect the corpses along the way, and open a way for the army in the rear."
Unexpectedly, Liu Bei was quite knowledgeable about epidemic prevention.
Chen Mu thought to himself.
The plague was rampant in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, especially after the Yellow Turban Rebellion. The war caused another large-scale outbreak of plague. The three prefectures where the Yellow Turban was most serious, Jizhou, Qingzhou, and Yuzhou, had no population left in ten.
During the period of Emperor Heng of the Han Dynasty, there were still more than 60 million people in the country. By the time of the Three Kingdoms, there were only 16 million people left, a sharp reduction of three-quarters. Excluding the small number of direct deaths caused by wars, most of them were due to famine and
Caused by the plague.
Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" and Cao Zhi's "Shuo Pei Qi" have described the impact of plague and cholera.
Along the way, Chen Mu covered his mouth and nose with a layer of charcoal particles wrapped in two layers of kudzu cloth outside a silk towel to use it as a mask. Although he didn't know if it would work, he had to try it.
The three of them, Liu, Guan, and Zhang, were as strong as oxen. They had traveled around in the troubled times of the Three Kingdoms for many years without even catching a cold. Their poor little bodies would burp if they were exposed to any bacteria or viruses, and there was no cure.
That kind of thing can't be done without paying attention.
"In that case, let's act quickly." Guan Yu got off his horse. Like Liu Bei, he was also very considerate of the civilians. He couldn't bear to see the corpses of these dead people rotting and being eaten by wild dogs.
Zhang Fei shouted: "Isn't it unusual for a lot of people to die in these troubled times? If we all have to help those who are dying in the world to bury their bodies, we will not have any leisure in this life."
I don’t know if Zhang Fei is heartless or has no mercy at all and doesn’t want to do such a useless thing.
However, in history, Chen Shou once commented that Zhang Fei was "violent and ungrateful", so it should be the latter.
Liu Bei frowned: "Yide, burying these corpses is to open up a road for the army in the rear and defend against the plague. It is not a useless effort. This is a military order, carry out the mission."
Chen Mu said: "Big brother, second brother and third brother, the plague is caused by the poison emitted from the dead. If you just bury it, it will not kill the disease. You should collect the corpse, take dry firewood and grass, and burn it with fire."
.And although you are strong, it is difficult to prevent epidemics. Therefore, when carrying corpses, you should cover your mouth and nose with silk scarves and try not to breathe in the smell of the deceased. It is best to let the soldiers do the same."
Liu Bei was surprised and said: "Fourth brother still knows medical skills?"
"Know a thing or two."
Chen Mu thought of the most basic epidemic prevention knowledge, such as drinking water must be boiled, patients must be isolated, and things used by patients must either be sterilized by high temperature or burned, and try not to touch them. This knowledge should be very useful in the Three Kingdoms.
, if it can be popularized, it may save countless lives, which is much better than Zhang Jiao's use of talisman water to treat diseases.
"Then I will listen to my fourth brother, cover my face with Gebu, gather the corpses along the road and burn them."
Liu, Guan, and Zhang dismounted and called upon the soldiers to surrender the Luo City thieves who were holding He Liang in custody. They forced them to wear Gebu tied into face masks. Some of them gathered the bodies, while others went to collect firewood. A 50-man cavalry troop was watching eagerly around them.
, once the surrendered troops show signs of escaping, they are immediately killed on the spot.
This treatment is much more efficient than burying the corpses, but there are thousands of corpses in the powerful manor alone. In addition, the villages along the road have been slaughtered, and there are no less than 10,000 corpses near Guanduan Road alone.
The speed is still very slow.
By the time it got close to dark, Liu Bei's army had only marched more than ten miles, a distance of almost 3 kilometers. However, the battle was fruitful. This place was Zhangyao and Longquan townships in Yiyang County. They were looted by Yellow Turban thieves, and nearly 10,000 people died.
.
From afternoon to dark, after nearly three hours of hard work, most of the dead were burned, and their souls were finally laid to rest on the green hills at night.
The price in exchange is that Liu Beijun is still seven or eight kilometers away from Yiyang City.
It's already dark now, it's dusk, the sun is setting in the west, and there is only a wisp of beautiful and gorgeous fire clouds in the sky that still shines on the earth, bringing a little bit of brightness, and I can barely see the road ahead clearly.
Calculated according to the time, the vanguard army set out an hour in advance, and traveled lightly, with a walking speed of about 5-6 kilometers per hour. They should have been outside Yiyang County by this time, but because of the delay, Liu Beijun
We are still in Longquan Township and have not officially entered the Yiyang City area. Lu Zhi's army behind him is already very close.
If Lu Zhi catches Liu Bei wandering around Longquan Township, he may not be able to escape the crime of being a slow army.
Liu Bei was also anxious. After mounting his horse, he urged his soldiers to move forward quickly.
Chen Mu suggested a plan: "Brother, you can order the soldiers to march with the surrendered soldiers, and the cavalry to patrol the left, right and rear of the team. If there are any stragglers or escapees, kill them!"
Guan Yu cherished the common people and frowned and said: "My soldiers and horses are all strong, well fed, and have sufficient physical strength. There should be no problem. Those who were surrendered were poor people who could not survive. They had no choice but to rebel, and they did not do anything harmful to nature.
They are all thin and weak, and I am afraid that only a few of them can keep up with the team."
These surrendered soldiers were all attached to He Liang after he captured the county town. Although they contributed to the subsequent killing of the powerful, after Liu Bei's interrogation, he found out that He Liang's main troops were all Luo city rangers under him, so he only killed them.
The chief culprit did not kill these prisoners.
Chen Mu said with a smile: "Second brother, most of these people are children of farmers. They work in farming on weekdays and have strong bodies. It's just that they are weak because they don't keep up with their diet. Now that they have rebelled and robbed food, they have had enough food and clothing for a while, so their physical strength must have recovered."
Quite a few, marching all the way in a hurry, there will be no serious problems. What's more, when we select the infantry, we should give priority to those with strong physical strength, and the fittest will survive. This is the natural principle."
Guan Yu opened his mouth and wanted to say something, but Liu Bei interrupted: "Then I will follow what my fourth brother said, but there is no need to kill the stragglers. If you are really sick or weak, I can give my horses to you."
, if they try to escape, they will be killed by the cavalry.”