Zhang He was chased by Zhang Fei and Taishi Ci all the way to the west. To the west was a large river with undulating hills on both sides. The water was sluggish and floods surged.
At this time, there were thousands of people around him, gathered by the river, and the pursuers were about three or four miles away from them.
"What kind of river is this?"
Zhang He glanced around and asked anxiously.
At that moment, the guards kept shouting and spreading the word.
After a while, someone who knew the place responded. He was brought over and said, "General, this is Baigou."
Zhang He looked back from time to time to look at his pursuers, sweating profusely, and asked, "Can I swim across?"
The man said: "The current in this river is quite strong, so we can't swim across it."
Baigou River is the Wei River in later generations, a small river that does not look very big.
But now the waves are rough, the river is about twenty feet wide, and the current is fast. It is far from the small river in later generations that had little flow and even often stopped flowing.
This is because the early Wei River originated from the Taihang Mountains and flowed through Hanoi County and Wei County, with a relatively large water flow. During the Cao Wei Dynasty, Cao Cao ordered canals to be dug specifically to transport grain and grass.
By the Sui Dynasty, the Wei River was already part of the Grand Canal and was called the Yongji Canal. By the Ming Dynasty, it was called the Wei Cao. It was not until the 1960s that the water flow gradually became smaller. The Wei River we can see today.
Therefore, Baigou at this time is a quite large river. Although not as good as the Yellow River, it is still a large river. Even in the dry season in winter, it is impossible to wade directly from the river.
"Is there a bridge?"
Zhang He saw the enemy's pursuers approaching from a distance, and they were already less than two miles away.
"There is a bridge two miles north."
"Go north."
"The general gave the order, go north!"
After giving the order, thousands of remaining soldiers hurriedly fled north.
After running for another two miles, I finally saw a wooden bridge across a relatively narrow river in the distance.
When everyone came to the bridge, they saw a big wooden sign standing beside the bridge, with three big characters written on it - "Pingzhang River".
Zhang He looked at it intently, thought for a moment, and suddenly felt a chill in his vest.
The Zhang River is in Yecheng, more than three hundred miles away from here.
Later, the Zhanghe River changed its course and merged with the Weihe River after passing through the canal, becoming the Zhangwei River.
But at this time, the two rivers had nothing to do with each other, so it was somewhat thought-provoking that a wooden sign was suddenly erected next to the Wei River with the words "Pingzhang River" written on it.
Fortunately for others, they didn't think about it at first. But Zhang He's name means Tong Zhang River. If you think about it carefully, Ping Zhang River? Doesn't it mean Ping Zhang He?
Could it be that Chen Zigui wanted to learn from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty when he renamed Zuoyi County Wenxi County and changed the name of Baigou to Pingzhang River?
Before Zhang He could recover, countless men and horses emerged from the south bank and shouted: "The four generals have issued an order. If Zhang He can be pacified today, this place will be renamed Ping Zhang River!"
Zhang He only felt that his scalp was numb, but his thoughts were true, and he quickly shouted: "Hurry, cross the bridge!"
"Cross the bridge!"
The soldiers rushed to the bridge to escape, but the wooden bridge was not big and could not pass many people at one time. Countless people fell into the water and were trampled because of the fight.
Soon the pursuers came, and both sides huddled together near the bridge.
Zhang He fled in panic, his entire army was scattered, countless people surrendered and captured, and only dozens of personal guards were left around him. After discovering that none of the soldiers and horses behind him had crossed the bridge, he fled north in a panic.
Originally, he wanted to cut off the bridge to stop the enemy, but without an axe, he could not cut down the bridge in a short time, so he had to turn around and run away, abandoning the soldiers who had not yet crossed the bridge and running very fast.
This run lasted two hours.
As night falls, a village appears in the distance. It is very peaceful. I wonder if there is any danger in it.
But at this time, the soldiers were thirsty, hungry and tired. Zhang He could only order them to rest where they were, and at the same time sent people into the village to search to see if there was any food.
However, this place is close to Fanyang and has also been harassed by Lu Bu. The village is deserted and there is no food.
However, there was a well at least. The soldiers searched to no avail, so they wanted to get some water to drink. Clinker took the bucket up from the well and found that there was something in it.
Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a bag of corn. The soldiers immediately beamed with joy. It was not unusual for people to hide things they couldn't take away when they were in a military disaster. Unexpectedly, they were lucky.
This bag of corn was hidden in a bucket half hung in the well. It was not damaged by the water and weighed about twenty kilograms. If cooked into porridge, it could barely satisfy the hunger.
The soldiers then found several pottery cauldrons in the village, fetched water and began to boil the corn.
"Brother, you can have some porridge soon."
"Well, let's continue our journey after we have something to eat. The pursuers are approaching. It's not advisable to stay here for a long time."
"I understand, but I don't know where this place is. Where are we going?"
"It doesn't matter, just go all the way north."
Zhang He chatted with his clan brothers for a few words. At this time, everyone was in a very embarrassed state. Their armors were covered with mud and blood, and their hair was all dirty and knotted.
The most important thing was this great defeat. The entire army was scattered and suffered heavy losses, which made Zhang He extremely worried.
If he returns to Jizhou, he doesn't know how Yuan Gong will punish him.
For a moment, because of the bleak future, Zhang He looked north with a hint of melancholy and confusion in his eyes, not knowing the direction of the future.
After a while, the porridge was ready. Many soldiers shared the porridge, and the clan brother also brought a bowl to Zhang He.
Zhang He took the corn porridge, but he didn't have any intention of eating, so he put it aside. He was thinking about how to explain to Yuan Shao after returning this time.
At this moment, a soldier suddenly shouted: "Why is there a wooden box in this porridge?"
"Open it and take a look?"
"What is this? Thin thing."
"I know it. It seems to be paper. It's called Zuo Bo paper."
"There are words on it."
Several soldiers gathered around and saw that more than twenty kilograms of corn was a large bag. The soldiers poured it directly into the cauldron without noticing that there was also a wooden box mixed inside.
The wooden box had not been boiled to pieces. Someone opened the sealed box and found a piece of paper inside, with some words densely written on it.
It’s just that the illiteracy rate was high in ancient times, and the soldiers couldn’t read, so even after looking at them for a long time, they couldn’t understand what was written.
"Show it to the general."
The guard took the note and ran quickly to Zhang He and said: "General, I found a box in the porridge with a piece of paper in it."
"oh?"
Zhang He took the note. In later generations, the note was nothing unusual, but now it is a rare thing.
The current mainstream paper is the famous Caihou paper and Zuobo paper. Caihou paper is expensive to make and scarce in quantity. Only top dignitaries can afford it.
After improvements, Zuobo paper became cheaper and more numerous, but it was mainly spread in Qingzhou and had not yet spread to the entire Han Dynasty.
So it is indeed strange to find a note in an ordinary village.
Zhang He came into contact with Zuo Bo's paper and recognized it at a glance as a paper from Qingzhou. He immediately had a bad feeling in his heart. When he saw the contents inside, he almost fainted.
"General Zhang, I have released you three times. You owe me three lives. If you need to return it later in life, please do not begrudge it. I will give you this corn to satisfy your hunger. I hope you will cherish it."