In August, Huangfu Song defeated Huangjin Buji in Cangting, Dongjun.
Seeing that Huangfu Song was about to leave for Jizhou, when he was in Dongjun, Chen Mu finally set off for Luoyang.
He ordered Zhang Fei and Dian Wei to lead the army back to Jizhou to find Liu Bei, while he only took a few smart young men like Hu Ping and left with Wang Jun's motorcade.
Huangfu Song's army was very busy. Many soldiers were patrolling around the military camp, searching and chasing, as if they were looking for something.
When Wang Jun's motorcade drove out of Chen Mu's military camp, Huangfu Song's soldiers surrounded them.
"Be brave, this is the convoy of angels, do you want to rebel?"
Wang Jun's guard looked unkind and stopped him.
Team Angel?
The soldiers looked at each other, hesitated for a moment, and finally retreated.
In fact, Wang Jun came out of Beijing privately this time and did not have any errands.
He was entrusted by Zhang Rang to come to Chen Mu to ask for advice.
Generally speaking, for things like official transfer orders, there is no need to send eunuchs to announce the decrees. Each state, county, and county has a document desk and has special county officials and assistants to deliver these official documents.
For example, Tai Shici of Donglai County used to be the county official responsible for sending criminal cases to the state, and it was impossible for the eunuch to make the trip himself.
Therefore, Wang Jun is actually acting like a fox and pretending to be a tiger. If Huangfu Song were serious, he would really be searched.
Fortunately, the soldiers were afraid of his angel status and withdrew on their own.
The convoy safely drove out of the three-layered encirclement inside and outside. After passing Puyang and several miles away from Huangfusong's camp, Chen Mu looked at the sweating middle-aged scribe in the carriage and chuckled.
He said: "Brother Chenghan, you have gone far."
Yan Zhong smiled bitterly and said: "Thank you Zigui for the rescue, I almost died."
"What did Brother Chenghan say to General Huangfu? It made him so angry that he actually sent out the army to arrest you."
Chen Mu asked curiously.
Of course he knew that Yan Zhong was advising Huangfu Song not to go north, but should take advantage of this opportunity to continue south, occupy Yangzhou, Jingzhou and other places, and claim the throne in the south.
But you have to pretend not to know about this kind of thing, otherwise it will be too obvious to predict the future.
Yan Zhong asked him about it and said, "No...it's nothing serious. I just said some unpleasant words to make General Huangfu unhappy. By the way, where is Zigui going? Why did he suddenly leave the camp?"
Huangfu Song defeated the Yuzhou Yellow Turban and became famous all over the world. Celebrities from all over the country gathered. Chen Mu also became familiar among them and had a good relationship with Yan Zhong.
The main reason is that Yan Zhong was not taken seriously by Huangfu Song. As a famous scholar in Liangzhou, no matter how famous he is, he is definitely not as famous as Sili Yuzhou and other places where literati came from.
So Yan Zhong felt quite depressed and frustrated.
At this time, Chen Mu, who was already well-known in the world, approached him. Yan Zhong would certainly not object if someone took care of him. In this way, the two of them quickly got to know each other and became friends.
Yan Zhong was about to escape after the incident, but Huangfu Song had already ordered a search for him. At this time, his first thought was naturally to ask Chen Mu for help.
Chen Mu smiled and said, "I'm going to Wei County."
"Oh, are you going north to Liyang or to Dunqiu?"
"Go to Anyang."
"That's it, then I won't delay you. You can send me to the front and drop me off at a nearby pavilion."
"Hey, Brother Chenghan and I hit it off immediately and we had a great conversation. How could we leave so quickly?"
"I still have something to do at home..."
"Brother Chenghan, now that General Huangfu has defeated the Yellow Turban, it is the time when he is shaking the world. If he is still angry and is still searching for you, wouldn't I be harming you if I let you go now?"
"this....."
"Why don't you follow my little brother first? When you get to Anyang, I will find a way to send you back to Wuwei."
"Okay...okay."
Faced with Chen Mu's kindness, Yan Zhong could only agree.
The most important thing is that he is really worried that Huangfu Song will insist on killing him. After all, he persuaded Huangfu Song to go south to claim control, which is no different from Zhang Jiao's rebellion.
If Huangfu Song reported this to the imperial court and the imperial court issued arrest documents, he would have no choice but to escape far away to save his life.
In late summer, the weather becomes even hotter.
The road along the way is rugged, and there are occasional pedestrians, but they are also in groups, holding swords and keeping vigilant.
Nowadays, the world is in chaos. In addition to the Yellow Turban thieves, there are countless small groups of unrest all over the world. These people range from tens of thousands to hundreds to nearly a thousand. They either dominate the mountains and dominate the mountains and forests, or occupy the lakes and rivers.
, looting everywhere.
A typical example is Gan Ning, which is currently causing harm to Bajun, Yizhou.
However, Wang Jun cherished his life and brought hundreds of guards with him when he came out. They were all equipped with official and military equipment and had strong combat effectiveness. Ordinary bandits and bandits did not dare to approach at all, so they had an uneventful journey. They walked from Puyang in the East County for two and a half days.
Arrive successfully in Anyang County, Wei County.
Hou Xu was a native of Anyang and was originally a county official. The reason why he became Zhang Rang's guest was because the fellow villagers under Zhang Rang believed in the Yellow Turban Way. At Zhang Jiao's suggestion, Hou Xu was recommended because he had read
He had written a book and was able to write and calculate. He became the middleman for Zhang Jiao to bribe Zhang Rang and asked Zhang Rang to write the receipt and gift note, which he also did.
In fact, the letters that Huangfu Song collected from the Yuzhou Yellow Turban were incomplete, because Hou Xu was not only Zhang Jiao's contact person, but also the Yuzhou Yellow Turban's contact person. His status in Luoyang was second only to Ma Yuanyi, who was killed by a car, so it was complete.
Among the letters, they were written to the Yuzhou Yellow Turbans and their internal correspondents in the government.
However, this batch of letters was destroyed, and Huangfu Song only found a small number of lists of people who believed in the Yellow Turban Dao. If Hou Xu could be caught and all the information reported to the emperor, not only the eunuch group would be severely damaged, but also many aristocratic families in Yuzhou.
to be implicated.
So this person is very critical.
The carriage stopped leisurely in the streets of Nanchengmen, Anyang. Chen Mu and Yan Zhong got off the carriage, and Wang Jun also got off the other carriage at the same time.
The three of them stood side by side and looked at a small single-family courtyard next to them. The courtyard was locked, and the fallen leaves at the door were not cleaned. There was a thick layer of dust on the door and on the ground, and a few blurry figures could still be seen vaguely.
Unclear footprints.
"Is this what happened last time you came here?"
Chen Mu wiped the dust on the door with his fingers. It was so thick that no one had lived there for more than a year.
Wang Jun said: "Yes, when the emperor wanted someone, Zhang Gong immediately went to find him and asked many people to ask. People who knew Hou Xu said that Hou Xu left Zhang Gong's residence and said he was going back to his hometown, but later
The people sent failed to find him."
"Um."
Chen Mu walked slowly along the wall, looking around and asked casually: "Did your people go in last time?"
"without."
Wang Jun shook his head: "At that time, I sent someone over and saw that the door was locked. I also asked the neighbors and the local government. I found out that the person didn't come back, so I left."
"This way of doing things is really perfunctory."
Chen Mu chuckled and expressed his disdain for the eunuch's men.
Wang Jun said awkwardly: "If we don't come back, it will be useless even if we break in. Besides, Zhang Gong said to keep a low profile and try not to alarm the government. If you make too much fanfare, it will be easier for the emperor to misunderstand you."
"Hu Bing, fresh Hu Bing, come and try it."
In the alley next to it, there is a vendor selling biscuits.
Hu cake is a fresh food made by the Han people after Zhang Qian went to the Western Regions and introduced sesame and walnuts. It is somewhat similar to the naan of later generations.
Chen Mu touched his stomach and said to Wang Jun and Yan Zhong: "I'm hungry, are you hungry?"
Wang Jun and Yan Zhong shook their heads. Wang Jun had a mission and was in a hurry to do something, so he didn't want to eat. Yan Zhong was worried that he would be wanted. He couldn't even sleep well in the past two days, let alone eat biscuits.
"Then I'll buy a cake. You guys just wait for me here."
Chen Mu walked over and chatted with the cake vendor for a while. After a while, he came back with two cakes and ate them while walking.
Wang Jun said anxiously: "Brother, please stop worrying about eating cakes and tell me what to do now."
"I'm growing taller and I get hungry easily."
Chen Mu slowly swallowed the chewed food, and then said to Wang Jun slowly: "There are two bad news and one good news, which one do you want to hear?"
"good news."
Wang Jun answered without hesitation.
"It's better to hear the bad news first."
Chen Mu took another bite of the cake and said while eating: "The first bad news is that besides us, there is another group of people looking for him. Your people have never gone in, but there are fresh footprints on the wall.
, indicating that someone else has entered Hou Xu’s house.”
Wang Jun thought for a while and retorted: "What if it's just an ordinary thief?"
"It just so happened that there was a thief when we were looking for someone. What a coincidence. And I asked the hawker over there, and indeed someone once came to ask him if he had seen Hou Xu come back. He has a Yingchuan accent."
"Yingchuan accent?"
Wang Jun wondered: "Who is causing trouble?"
"I don't care who else is behind the scenes." Chen Mu continued: "The second bad news is that Hou Xu has never come back from the beginning to the end. If he randomly finds a hiding place in the mountains, he will never be able to catch him in this life."
Wang Jun was speechless. He had been writing for a long time and gained nothing, so he asked: "What about the good news?"
"The good news is that those people didn't find Hou Xu."
"What kind of good news is this?"
"How can this not be good news? If Hou Xu is caught by others, won't Chang Shi's control fall into the hands of others? Be controlled by others?"
"Well, that's true."
When Wang Jun saw Chen Mu starting to walk back again, he wondered: "Then what should we do now?"
"go back."
"Go back to where?"
"Luoyang."
"Why don't you go in and take a look?"
"There's nothing to see anymore. If I'm not mistaken, there are no clues except a mess in this house."
Chen Mu shook his head.
If the time were in modern times, any traces inside would be very useful.
Fingerprints, footprints, various traces, remnants from the scene.
But this is ancient times, and even household registration and identity information can be faked. Except for particularly famous people, it is too convenient for ordinary people to hide.
In the seventh year of Emperor Ling's reign, that is, at the beginning of this year, the population was still over 50 million.
After the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the warlord wars at the end of the Han Dynasty, and the natural disasters and plagues, by the 22nd year of Emperor Xian's reign of the Han Dynasty, in just thirty-three years, the population had dropped sharply to more than 15 million, a decrease of two-thirds.
In addition to war, famine, plague and other factors, the most important reason is that the major aristocratic families in the late Han Dynasty hid countless shady households.
These gangsters have no household registration, and you can't find their existence in official information at all. If a wealthy family wants to do some dirty private things, you can't find out with these people.