Chapter 57 Witchcraft (Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and National Day.)
The ninth day of the battle is already close to mid-June.
The summer heat was unbearable and the days were getting hotter day by day. Early in the morning, Chen Mu did not fight on the city wall to boost morale. Instead, he squatted in the flower bed in the county government courtyard and observed quietly.
Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song came over and looked at each other, wondering what plane Chen Mu was working on.
"Zigui, what are you doing here?"
Zhu Jun coughed and asked.
Chen Mu was staring at the dewdrops on the grass and trees disappearing at a speed visible to the naked eye under the transpiration of the sun. Leng Buding heard someone speaking and was frightened. He looked back and saw Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song, complaining: "Two generals, next time Can you make some noise while walking? If you scare someone, you will scare them to death."
Huangfusong rolled his eyes and said with a bad expression: "Chen Zigui, I asked you to go on stage to fight, but you went to the county government office to see the flowers and plants. Are you taking the predicament in front of you seriously? If you don't think of a solution, do you want to wait for Lu Ziqian? Come and collect the body for me?"
Chen Mu smiled and said, "Don't worry, General Huangfu. I came to you today just to ask for something. How is the work done by the craftsmen? Is it ready?"
Zhu Jun hesitated and said: "It should be almost done. I ordered the craftsmen in the camp to report to me as soon as they are finished."
In ancient times, craftsmen were required when marching and fighting. Firstly, craftsmen were required to make camp, siege equipment and other items. Secondly, if weapons and weapons were broken, they also needed craftsmen to repair them. Therefore, there were indeed craftsmen who could make what Chen Mu wanted.
Moreover, Changshe City is not like many cities in the center of Jizhou that were destroyed by the Yellow Turbans. The people in the city have not yet evacuated, and there are also craftsmen in the city, so it is not difficult to build things.
The thing Chen Mu wants to build actually existed in the Han Dynasty, but usually it is a small object and is troublesome to make. But Chen Mu's request is to enlarge it many times. Not only is the crafting process complicated, but it also involves a lot of knowledge of physics. , so all the craftsmen in the city were gathered together to build it for seven or eight days, but it was still not completed.
"Why don't you go to the craftsman's house and have a look? Without this object, it will be more difficult to win in a duel."
Chen Mu suggested.
Zhu Jun nodded: "Okay, I just happened to be going over to see the progress of the new batch of bows and arrows."
The three of them left the county government office and rode towards the barracks in the city.
We are now in a state of war readiness. The people in the city have not been evacuated, but they can still live a normal life. Although there are not many people on the streets, there are still people engaged in commercial activities and selling goods.
Fortunately, although the Yellow Turban Army besieged the city outside, there were many wells in the city and connected to the underground river. Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun came out to quell the rebellion and received the support of the imperial court. Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty spent a lot of money and gave them countless marching supplies, so it was not a problem. There is a shortage of water and food.
When they arrived at the army barracks, many soldiers who were on duty last night were sleeping. In order not to disturb the rest of the soldiers, the three of them dismounted and walked.
The craftsman's room is located deep in the back camp. Along the way, you can hear countless tinkling sounds.
Smelting technology in the Han Dynasty was very developed. As early as the late Warring States Period, the ancients had mastered decarburization and heat treatment techniques to turn pig iron into mature iron.
By the Western Han Dynasty, technology had been further strengthened, and there were already at least two steel-making technologies. Among them, the process was relatively simple. The most commonly used method was the stir-fried steel method, where pig iron was smelted and stirred to turn into mature iron and then continuously forged to finally form refined steel. It is also commonly known as pattern steel.
Approaching the craftsman's house, a hot breath hit my face, accompanied by the smell of coal in the air.
"Hey!"
"Hey!"
"Hey!"
"Hey!"
At the door of the craftsman's room, two craftsmen without shirts and covered in black charcoal were holding hammers to repeatedly hammer a long piece of iron. Next to them, another craftsman used pliers to fix the long iron. This was used to make the iron that was commonly used by the Han Dynasty army. Ring head knife.
Seeing Zhu Jun, Huangfu Song and Chen Mu, the craftsman Ling Cheng from the workshop hurriedly ran out, cupped his hands and said: "General Zhu, General Huangfu, Chen Zhonglang."
Chen Mu has also been here in the past few days, and Jiang Zaolingcheng already knows him.
Zhu Jun asked: "How are the things made?"
Ling Cheng replied: "General, it's almost done. There are only a few details left to polish."
"Can you do it before noon?"
Chen Mu asked.
Ling Cheng smiled and said: "It will definitely be done before noon. If not, just ask the lieutenant to question me."
"That's good." Chen Mu nodded.
Then he accompanied Zhu Jun to see the progress of making bows and arrows. The three of them walked around the workshop, not daring to go in. The weather was already hot, and coal with more than a thousand degrees was burning in the workshop, which was hotter than a steamer. You are so tall, and you are covered in sweat after standing outside for a while, so you dare to go in.
After leaving the craftsman's house, I passed by the school field and saw Zhang Fei training his soldiers. The sun was not too hot in the morning, so it was a good time to practice. But at noon, the sun would become even more fierce, and after a while, they would lose their strength and become unable to practice.
Huangfu Song saw Zhang Fei lifting a stone lock weighing a hundred kilograms, which was as light as a feather, soaring up and down, and said with a smile: "Yide must have felt bored in the past few days. All the strength in his body is useless, and he is busy carrying it."
Chen Mu said with a smile: "I wanted to play chess with Third Brother every day to cultivate Third Brother's patience. Unfortunately, his temper can't be tolerated, so he has to exert his energy on the school field every day."
Zhu Jun said: "Since yesterday, the Yellow Turbans have been provoking outside the door. Is it time to fight back today? Otherwise, the morale of the army will probably drop."
"Who would have thought that the Yellow Turban Army would use such despicable tactics? They are truly unworthy of men."
Chen Mu shook his head, this shit was thrown at him, it was quite disgusting.
"You have nothing to do, why don't we go to the city to play chess?"
Huangfu Song suggested.
He comes from a family of generals, and he is not an illiterate big-headed soldier. He is also known as a strategist, and his level of chess playing is higher than that of Zhang Fei.
In the past few days, Chen Mu invented a new chess game, which has been tried by Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun. They found it interesting and enjoyed it.
At first, they played a few games with Chen Mu. After being beaten, they said they wanted to go back and study hard. It seemed that they had gained insights and wanted to make a comeback.
Chen Mu smiled and said, "There is nothing you can't do."
The three of them left the barracks again and prepared to head to the south gate.
At this moment, a soldier from the south gate rushed over in a panic and shouted: "General, it's not good, general."
Huangfu Song frowned: "When did you get so panicked that the Yellow Turbans attacked the city again?"
"No, General, go and have a look."
The soldier said in a panic: "Another incident occurred on the Yellow Turban Altar. They wrote your and General Zhu's names with yellow talismans. I don't know what they mean."
Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun secretly said something bad and immediately mounted their horses and went straight to the south gate.
There was only one main street in Changshe, and there were not many people on the street. They galloped and quickly arrived at the south gate.
The three of them dismounted their horses and hurried up to the tower, looking into the distance.
I saw that the original yellow talisman on the altar had been put away and a new yellow talisman was hung up. The names of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were written on it. There were two straw figures standing upright under the yellow talisman. They were far away and could not be seen. It's clear, but you can faintly see that the straw man also has a charm attached to his forehead.
"This is......"
Huangfu Song was shocked: "Is this the art of witchcraft?"
Zhu Jun said with a serious expression: "It should be."
The plague of witchcraft during the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty was only over 200 years ago. Witchcraft was something that many people talked about in the Han Dynasty.
Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun were naturally horrified when they saw the Yellow Turban opening a altar to curse them.
"Chen Mu, yes, Chen Zigui."
When Huangfusong saw the Taoist priests on the altar doing what they were doing, he suddenly thought of something, and as if grasping a life-saving straw, he looked at Chen Mu and said, "Quick, think of a way to stop them."
Chen Mu was overjoyed in his heart, but said expressionlessly on his face: "The Yellow Turban actually practiced witchcraft. If you follow the path of witchcraft, you will be punished by God."
Zhu Jun said helplessly: "Don't worry about whether they will be punished by God in the future. What should we do now?"
"It's not difficult to break their scheme."
Chen Mu thought for a while and said: "It just so happens that the thing I want to build in the workshop can be cracked. Don't be anxious, two generals. Let me go on stage first and delay the curse for a while."
"Then go quickly."
Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun urged.
Chen Mu murmured in his heart that the superstitions of these ancients were really killing people, but there was no harm in cooperating with their performances. On the one hand, they could gain the favor and favor of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, and on the other hand, they could gain fame. It could be said that killing two birds with one stone would definitely be worth it.
After putting on his Taoist robe and ascending to the altar, Chen Mu began to dance the great dance again, and he and Gao Feng on the opposite side, one north and one south, actually seemed to have a distant resonance.
Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun below looked anxious because they already felt faintly uncomfortable.
It was as if everything was wrong all of a sudden, and my whole body was covered in pain.
But after watching Chen Mu dance with the sword for a while, I somehow felt more comfortable and in a calmer mood.
In fact, this is all caused by psychological factors, just like if someone finds out that the hookup is broken after having sex, they will be worried and afraid that they will get sick.
At this time, it is easy to feel restless and uncomfortable because of inner irritability. When you go to the hospital for a check-up and find out that you are not sick, it suddenly feels like a heavy burden has been lifted, and you will feel much lighter.
But Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun didn't know anything about psychology, so they thought it was Chen Mu's method that worked. They couldn't help but be overjoyed. Even Huangfu Song, who had always disliked Chen Mu's boastful words, began to like him.
Gao Feng and Chen Mu jumped directly to noon.
During the intermission, Gao Feng had been dancing all morning. Coupled with the heat and the sun, his physical strength was a bit unbearable, so he stopped casting spells and climbed down from the altar.
"Teacher, how are you doing?"
Bocai saw him coming down and quickly went up to ask.
Gao Feng sneered and said: "The people on the other side still want to stop me, but unfortunately I have cast a curse. I can only delay the death of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, but cannot save their lives."
Bo Cai felt relieved after hearing this and said happily: "If we can kill these two thieves with a curse, it will be a great achievement for our master and will be praised by a good teacher."
Gao Feng tapped his chin lightly: "I perform witchcraft spells. This is a witchcraft. Even Huang Tian will not accept it after I die. But for the sake of Master's great cause, I can only give up this humble life."
"Master Gao sees death as if he is home. He is truly a role model for us."
Bocai was so awe-inspiring that he even risked his life for the cause of the great virtuous teacher to benefit all sentient beings. It is really admirable.
Gao Feng waved his hand: "Hey, it's just a low life, why bother? Let's continue the practice in the afternoon. In less than ten days, the two of them will fall ill. Within half a month, they will be taught to sleep underground."
The two complimented each other.
Chen Mu also got off the altar.
Zhu Jun and Huangfu Song immediately came up to them and asked, "How is it?"
Chen Mu said: "It's been postponed for the time being."
"Is there any way to crack it?"
Zhu Jun asked anxiously.
Chen Mu thought for a moment and said, "General, please be patient. Have you delivered what I want?"
"Sent."
Huangfusong pointed to a carriage that was slowly approaching in the distance.
Chen Mu stood on the city tower and saw a huge bronze disc placed on the carriage. He smiled and said, "With this thing, the two generals will be safe."