Chapter 278 Subduing the Demon
As Taishan's army crossed the river north, the Han army regained Henan, and for a time good news spread frequently on the post roads to and from Kyoto. But both the general He Jin and the many commanders of the Han army in Henan knew what was going on. The so-called victory of the Han army was just picking up money boxes from behind, and they did not contribute at all.
But unfortunately, everyone knew that only Liu Hong was kept in the dark. After receiving these good news, he learned that the Taishan bandits had been defeated and had fled north to join the Hebei Taiping Army. Therefore, Liu Hong, who was ambitious again, made some calculations and asked the Han army in Henan to follow closely. He insisted on annihilating the Yellow Turbans in Hebei and truly accomplished his victory in one battle.
However, there is a saying that although the Han army selectively reported the results of the war, they did not slack off in the war.
In fact, Zhang Wen had already taken countermeasures. He knew Liu Hong's great success, and Zhang Wen knew that Liu Hong would definitely let the Han army make persistent efforts after receiving such good news.
Because the Han Dynasty really couldn't delay it any longer. A senior official in the imperial court who had participated in the Pingqiang War exclaimed that it was more expensive to quell civil war than foreign war. The scope of the war with the Qiang people was roughly in Liang, Yong, and Bing. These were not the focus of money and food, so the cost was not large. The main battlefields of the Pinghuangjin were all in Qing, Hebei, Henan, and Jing, which were the richest places in the world.
After half a year of suppressing the rebellion by the Han army, these places were destroyed. The Han Dynasty, which could not collect money and food, was facing an unimaginable collapse.
It was with this understanding that Zhang Wen took decisive action after regaining Xingyang. Because the Taishan Army had requisitioned the tank boats on both sides of the Bian River and Jishui River, the Han army lacked enough boats to intercept and pursue water, so Zhang Wen asked Li Min, the prefect of Hanoi in the north, to lead Hanoi in the name of the Zhendong General Shogunate. The Dahe Boat Division blocked the Taishan Army from entering the Dahe waterway in Huai County.
Huai County is the county seat of Hanoi, and it is also the waterway where the river branches off from the Bianshui River. Therefore, Zhang Wen's intention was to let the Hanoi Navy block the Taishan Army and prevent it from using the waterway of the river to flow down the river.
Here he sent a message to the governor of Hanoi, and over there Zhang Wen sent a message to Lu Zhi, the Langjun of Beizhong in Hebei to the north. Although Zhang Wen's rank is now higher than that of Lu Zhi, his position as General Zhendong does not govern the war in Hebei, so Zhang Wen still worded his letter appropriately.
He roughly said in his letter that the Taishan bandits escaped by chance and were headed north to the river. He hoped that the Han soldiers in Hebei could mobilize their elite troops to retreat to Hanoi and intercept the Taishan army together with Li Min, the prefect of Hanoi. At the same time, let the Liyang soldiers in Liyangjin downstream build pontoon bridge iron cables on the river to block the possible southward movement of the Taishan army.
This is Zhang Wen's plan. With the Hebei and Hanoi naval divisions setting up defenses and interceptions at the key points of the waterway, he led the Han troops in Henan to pursue them northward, striving to annihilate the Taishan Army on the narrow waterway of Bianshui River.
Aren’t your Taishan Army great at field battles? Aren’t you victorious in every battle? But now that you are on the boat, let me see how powerful you are? When the time comes, I will get down on both sides of the fire raft and set you on fire for several miles to see if you die.
This move is really cruel. The Taishan Army's water combat capability is almost non-existent. If the Han army is really blocked at the entrance of the river and then attacks with fire from both sides, it may really be lost here. The risk here is indeed there, does Zhang Chong know? I know, but after Zhang Chong repeatedly considered the pros and cons, he still chose to take the water route. Why?
What has been the most difficult thing about retreating and fighting? It is the non-combatant personnel and baggage accompanying the army. This time, the Taishan Army was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in eastern Henan and attracted at least tens of thousands of Guizhou people to join the army. Then the mountains of baggage in Dongchengcang and Aocang in Xingyang were piled up in the sea. In addition to scattering the poverty up and down the river, the Taishan Army also raised a group of the rest to provide aid to the Yellow Turbans in Hebei.
If you go north by land, the above-mentioned situation will be more serious, not only time-consuming and labor-intensive, but also likely to be harassed by local clans along the way. But now we can solve the problem by taking the water route. In just two days, nearly 80,000 Taishan soldiers, family members, and accompanying troops were safely evacuated. This is the advantage of waterways.
And Zhang Chong didn’t gamble casually? He would never risk his own life or the lives of tens of thousands of people. Even if he chose the waterway, Zhang Chong did not just sit and gamble on whether the Han army would intercept it. On the contrary, he first asked Guan Yu to take the front captain to go north first. His goal was to attack Guangwu City, the confluence point of the Bian River at the river.
Guangwu City was the city where Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, built his city. It was built on the mountain and was easy to defend but difficult to attack. If the Han army wanted to intercept them, the most convenient place would be to set up an ambush in Guangwu City.
It is indeed true that Zhang Wen, the commander-in-chief of the Han army in Henan, did order the chief of Guangwu City to guard it, but unfortunately, when he saw the magnificent scene of Guan Yu's boat division going north, he abandoned the city and left. This important pass was just like this. Taishan Army is in hand.
Zhang Wen didn't know this. After laying out the strategy of blocking the north and pursuing the south, he made preparations for it.
He first asked the former Huangfu Song's staff to stay in Aocang and set up a new grain station to be responsible for the northward attack of Han soldiers in Henan.
At this time, after passing through the Taishan Army's bulk grain and a batch of Aocangsu grains that went with the ship, there was not much left. But that doesn't matter. As long as the grain is still in the hands of those Guizhou leaders, there are naturally ten thousand ways to get it back. Huangfu Song's staff headed by Zhong Yao, Xun You and others were left behind to do this. Anyway, for Zhang Wen, these Yuzhou people were not comfortable using them, so it was better to keep them as food supply.
Afterwards, the guard Sima Fu Xie was also left in Xingyang by Zhang Wen as a defense for the periphery of the capital. Fu Xie is brave and resourceful, and his temperament is calm enough, so he is suitable for doing this kind of thing. As for Sun Jian, Cao Cao, etc., Zhang Wen still has to rely on important tasks in the subsequent war.
Then, General Zhu Jun of Jianwei also led the Yuzhou Tuanlian Xiandao, a force of ten thousand people, to separate from Zhang Wen. They wanted to march eastward to Liyang to Juan County, where they would cross the river and support the Hanoi army.
In this way, after Zhang Wen arranged many means, he set off on October 1st, leading 20,000 Han soldiers from Henan to go overland, and hung up behind the Taishan Army Navy to adapt to the situation.
At this time, Lu Zhi, the general of Beizhonglang in Handan, Zhao State, who was far away in Hebei Province, also received the letter of appeal sent by Zhang Wen four days ago.
……
Handan, the capital of ancient Zhao, is where Beizhonglang is currently stationed.
Handan was the capital of the State of Zhao at that time, and its geographical location was particularly advantageous. On his left is Taihang, surrounded by the Zhang River in the southeast, and connected with Yan and Zhuo in the north. Based on one city, he can control the entire central and southern Hebei Province.
Not only that, when Handan was the capital of Zhao, the Zhao people also built four small fortresses outside Handan. They are Wu'an at the west gate, guarding the entrance to Taihang Mountain; Shaoyang at the south gate, near the Zhang River; Lieren at the east gate, west of the Zhang River. Finally, there is the North Gate Giant Bridge. There is a granary here called the Giant Bridge Granary, which is also the largest granary in Hebei. It is precisely with the supply of Juqiaocang that the Han soldiers in Hebei can continue to fight after the supply of millet in Aocang in the south is cut off.
Precisely because it has food and is dangerous, Handan has always been a battleground for military strategists. The importance of this place can be understood by just saying one thing. In the eleventh year of Emperor Gaozu of the Han Dynasty, Chen Xi, the Prime Minister of Zhao, rebelled. Liu Bang led his army to suppress the rebellion. He saw that Chen Xi did not occupy Handan, but went to defend Zhangshui. Therefore, we know that this person is incompetent.
Therefore, just like the reason why the ancestors of the Zhao people chose Handan back then, Lu Zhi now also chooses Handan as his headquarters. Last month, there was a battle with the Hebei Yellow Turbans here. Although the important reason for this victory was the timely arrival of the Hedong Governor Dong Zhuo's 4,000 troops on the battlefield. But a big victory is a big victory. In this battle, Zhang Liang, the Yellow Turban general of Hebei Province, was killed. It can be said that the Han army had an unprecedented victory in Hebei.
After that, the Han army continued to train in Handan, with a small banquet every three days and a big banquet every five days. Lu Zhi used this method to maintain the morale of the army at a high level.
When Zhang Wen's feather title was passed to Lu Zhi, the shogunate of General Beizhonglang in Handan City was continuing to sing and dance.
Zhao Guo has a heroic spirit. This is manifested in men as being heroic and brave, giving priority to justice. The female performance is that she is forthright and wandering, good at singing and dancing. The female dancers in Handan have always been the top dancers, and only a real Dingshi home can support a Handan dancer.
Cao Zhi, who lives in a different place in history, once commented on this. He said:
"There are many witches in the famous city, and there are young men in Beijing and Luo. The sword is worth a thousand gold, and the clothes are beautiful and fresh. Cockfighting is on the east suburban road, and horses are walking among the long catalpas. I return to banquet and enjoy, and fight with ten thousand fine wines."
The names of these capitals are Handan and Linzi. From this we can see that Handan is full of gorgeous singing and dancing.
At this time, in the hall of the shogunate in the city, General Bei Zhonglang and a group of military officers and the officers and soldiers of Dong Zhuo's regiment, the prefect of Hedong, were enjoying Handan singing and dancing.
I saw that in the hall, accompanied by the piano and harp, the dancing girls raised their sleeves, tiptoed, and decorated their faces, which was pleasing to the eye. The moving dancing posture, enchanting figure, and ambiguous atmosphere all made the Han soldiers intoxicated.
Sitting at the top was Lu Zhi. Amidst the graceful singing and dancing, he still sat upright. Compared with the dissolute behavior of the military officials sitting down next to him, he could be called a gentleman. Although he was already forty years old at this time, his figure was still tall and strong, fully demonstrating the demeanor of a Han Confucian who was either a general or a prime minister. However, the gray beard under his chin showed how tiring it was to suppress the rebellion in Hebei this time.
Lu Zhi did not reject singing, dancing, drinking and having fun. Because he thinks this is the means and what he wants is the end. When he was young, he sat down to study under the great Confucian Ma Rong. Because Ma Rong came from the Ma family, a relative of his maternal relatives, he always paid attention to the ranking of his relatives. When he was lecturing, there were singing and dancing birds in front of him, his disciples in two rows, and a beautiful concubine holding a fan behind him. Only he himself always sat in the high hall with a silk gauze curtain.
Lu Zhi studied in such an environment when he was young, but he kept his eyes open and worked hard on Confucian classics for several years. Because at that time, Confucian classics were just a means, and singing and dancing would only affect his purpose.
But as Confucius said, food and color are also in nature. Lu Zhi does not reject pleasure. He also agrees with his senior brother Zheng Xuan's so-called determination of superiors and inferiors, which can be distinguished from these chapters, rituals and music. Just watch the dances and listen to the songs according to what kind of people you want, and don’t go overboard, and the world will not be in chaos.
Moreover, singing and dancing are now also his means of maintaining the emotions of military generals. For example, now, he is very familiar with the honest and honest governor named Dong Zhuo.
So, Lu Zhi smiled and asked Dong Zhuo:
"Zhong Ying, what do you think of my singing and dancing in the North?"
This man named Dong Zhuo is not called Fei Fei now, but he is a hero with extraordinary strength and can shoot the bow left and right at once. The almond-sized tiger eyes, the lush beard, the thick neck, the bulging muscles of the arms, and the semi-spherical waist and abdomen all demonstrate the terrifying force of a strong Kansai man.
Dong Zhuo heard Lu Zhi's question and said one word: "Wonderful!"
Lu Zhi laughed loudly after hearing this. He liked the sincerity of people from the border areas. It seemed that Dong Zhuo was such a sincere person!
So, Lu Zhi asked:
"Zhong Ying, I also went to Kansai to study. I think the beauty of Qiang girls' dancing is even better than that of Handan girls."
Dong Zhuo laughed loudly and even gestured to Lu Zhi, meaning that you are always a fastidious person.
Dong Zhuo gestured with his hands and said:
"In the past, my old director also visited Jinan, and he said that Qi's scenery was no worse than that of Zhao. But unfortunately, we were busy with wars at that time. How could we have free time like today, where we can sing, laugh, and have wine and meat all the time? All this is thanks to Bei General Zhonglang, come on! I suggest you all raise your glasses to congratulate General Bei Zhonglang.”
With that said, Dong Zhuo drank the wine in one gulp. Over there, his Hedong and Liangzhou generals raised their glasses and drank. The Northern Army officials also cheered and drank, and the atmosphere was cheerful and lively.
Lu Zhi, who was at the head, smiled and looked at the scene eagerly, and asked Dong Zhuo:
"Zhong Ying has also been to Jinan to quell the chaos?"
Dong Zhuo licked his lips, touched the wine stains on his beard, and said with a smile:
"Hey, old Dong was not sensible at that time, and he became famous at a young age. I became friends with Qiang commanders when I was young. I was appointed as a military commander when I was not well-known, and then I was appointed as a governor. Later, I went to Luo Luo I became a Yulin Lang, followed Zhang Shuai in his fight against the Qiang, and went smoothly all the way to the rank of Wuji Colonel, which was more than two thousand shi. The old Dong fell into disgrace. He committed a crime and was immediately expropriated. He even became a criminal army and was subordinate to Duan Shuai. Twenty years ago, there was a rebel named Gongsun Ju in Taishan. I, the old Dong, fought there. Stand up again.”
After saying this, Dong Zhuo paused obviously, as if recalling those days, when people.
That's right, our Dong Zhuo is the former commander of Sun Ting, Sun Xun. It was he who saved Sun Xun and influenced Grandma Sun. Twenty years later, Sun Xun died again while rescuing Zhang Chong outside Juye Ze. This is where the unpredictable fate lies.
Lu Zhi also paused. When he heard Dong Zhuo talking about the Taishan rebellion, he also paused, obviously thinking of the Taishan bandits who were currently causing trouble in the court.
Here, he was about to ask Dong Zhuo what he thought of the Taishan bandits, when suddenly there was a burst of laughter in the hall. Lu Zhi turned around and saw that it was Tian Feng, a civil servant in the middle of the curtain.
Lu Zhi was a little unhappy when he saw him wearing Ge Yi and sitting at the table. At this time, he saw him laughing and interrupting him, and he was even more unhappy. He asked in a muffled voice:
"Yuan Hao, why are you laughing like this?"
As soon as Lu Zhi said these words, the whole place fell silent, and everyone could hear the old commander's unhappiness.
But Tian Feng still went his own way. He seemed to not understand the meaning of the words. He suddenly stood up and laughed:
"I was laughing at this Handan dance, it's too demonic."
Demon?
This is not a good word. What is a demon? It is different. In the prophecies of the Han Dynasty, those who dress inappropriately are usually called "submissive demons". Once they appear, they will be regarded as a precursor to chaos in the world.
Lu Zhi himself was a scholar, and he knew what Tian Feng was referring to as soon as he said it, so he asked with a gloomy face:
"I think you're not talking about the dancing demon, you're talking about the persuading demon."
Tian Fengyi twisted his head and worshiped Lu Zhi:
"Yes, my lord. I am trying to convince the demon. In the past, dozens of generations of generals passed through Luoyang, all dressed in women's clothes. When wise men saw this, they thought that if they failed to obey, they would be in trouble, because they were submissive to the demon. That Later Gengshi was killed by Red Eyebrow; during the Yuanjia period of Emperor Huan, women in Kyoto imitated Liang Ji's wife, painted sad brows and put on make-up that screamed. This was also a sign of subduing demons. Later, the entire Liang family was exterminated;
Later, during the Yanxi period, the dignitaries in Kyoto were wearing wooden clogs, which was also a sign of obeying the demon. Later, the party's imprisonment was rampant, causing trouble to their wives and daughters. These wives and daughters were also put in wooden shackles, which was the sign of wooden clogs; Later, there was a national banquet in the Western Garden. As a merchant, this was also a demon costume. After that, Zhang Jiao revolted and called himself the Yellow Turban, causing chaos in the world. Today, I saw that the Handan dancer was also subduing the demon, but I didn’t know whose body she should be in. ”
Tian Feng's words were really unpleasant to hear. Everyone in the audience looked livid when they heard it, especially Lu Zhi, who was in charge, his face was dark and scary.
Lu Zhi mentally scolded Tian Feng for being such a wolf. Although this person has some talents, he is also well-read, and he was recruited by the Taiwei Mansion and served as a censor. But before meeting him, this person had already fallen into the trap of being a subordinate. It was Lu Zhi who saw how talented this person was, so he was not despicable and simply promoted him to the background. You know, if you can gain qualifications from this Hebei counter-insurgency incident, how can your future be easy?
But this is how this person repays himself? I raise a glass and you throw the chopsticks, I hold a banquet and you turn the tables. It's really against myself. And wasn’t this person just cursing himself?
It had been a long time since Lu Zhi had been humiliated like this, but out of respect for his dignity, Lu Zhi still wanted to act humbly and accept remonstrance. He was suppressing his anger when suddenly a shout of anger came from a corner of the banquet.
This time Lu Zhi looked again and saw that it was his disciple Liu Bei.
At this time, Liu Bei's eyes were blood red, and his whole body was burning like fireworks. He cursed at Tian Feng:
"What a pedant, how dare you humiliate my teacher? Are you still a demon? You and other scribes are the ones who really deceive the public with their evil words. You talk as if all the truth in the world is in your hands. But what is the reality? You Have you ever been on the battlefield and killed a thief? I'm afraid you were hiding under the carriage while I was bleeding."
Liu Bei's unique Youzhou accent and his vulgar words directly made the military officers below laugh. Everyone patted the table and cheered.
Lu Zhi also looked at Liu Bei with relief.
In fact, Liu Bei was not a disciple he valued. During their lectures, according to the distance of the teaching space, the disciples were divided from distant to close: disciples outside the door, disciples under the door, disciples sitting down, and disciples entering the room.
Among them, the disciples outside the door are the ones sitting outside the door wall, and they are the disciples who are least concerned. Every time a master like Lu Zhi gave a lecture, thousands of people would listen, and most of them were such outsiders.
Those who are slightly closer than the outside disciples are the disciples, which means they sit in the courtyard during lectures. This type is like Liu Bei. Generally, his family has some relationship with him, Lu Zhi, and he teaches here for a long time. .
The ones who are more important than the disciples are the disciples who sit down. These disciples are already sitting in the monastery and have separate mats. Each of these people and those in the courtyard must have their names recorded on the door wall. Tell the successors who were the disciples here.
But more important than the above are the disciples who enter the house. The entry here is not to enter the dormitory, but to enter the teacher's private room. You can give orders at any time. The names of these disciples who enter the room are recorded on the screen handed down by each master. These are the most important academic successors of this department.
The reason for this division is because the closer you are to the teacher during the lecture, the fewer mistakes you will hear and the more you will understand. Moreover, the disciples under the sect will naturally suppress the outside disciples academically. Because the former only needs to say to the latter, this is what I heard the teacher said. Did you hear it wrong if you were far away?
At that time, lectures would not give you the time or conditions to take notes. For example, when Duman was studying at Fu's Jingshe, he had classes during the day and took notes at night. It takes such hard work to record what the teacher said during the day. Even so, there are still mistakes, omissions, and even misunderstandings of the original meaning. Therefore, after spending the morning of the second day, you must go to the teacher for advice, so as not to go astray.
Otherwise, almost all of them have taken their own evil path. For example, when the Buddha passed away, Kassapa, who was a sutra translator, once heard someone in a remote place misinterpreting the Buddha's sutras and became the leader of the local sangha, so he argued with him. Kassapa's victory was due to the fact that he exchanged monk robes with the Buddha, and Kassapa was the authority in interpreting the Dharma.
Therefore, Lu Zhi's mood is still agitated at this moment. I treat Xuande as a disciple, but Xuande repays me as a mentor. So he secretly kept this feeling in his heart.
No wonder Lu Zhi was grateful to Liu Bei. Because what Tian Feng said is indeed too much. In the ideology of the Han Dynasty, prophecy is the most important thing. If Tian Feng blames this banquet for being a demon, then if he loses the next battle, Lu Zhi will definitely be infamy for thousands of years. . Everyone will think that he is responsible for the disaster and chaos in the world.
In fact, is it really so magical to serve as a demon?
In fact, this is just the reverse effect. Indeed, whenever there is a change in the world, there are many cases of people submissive to demons. But in fact, it was not the obedience to the demon that caused the chaos, but the chaos that caused the obedience to the demon.
In this world, service has been regarded as an important ritual in establishing order throughout the ages. Different levels come with different clothes, so depending on what clothes you wear, you will know your identity. In other words, identity and service are one.
But this etiquette will only be maintained when the imperial power has control. Once a court weakens, no one will restrain the etiquette it originally established. At this time, as people's love for beauty arises, all kinds of unconventional clothes appear. This was regarded as trespassing by orthodox scholars and falsely accused of being a demon.
But now, with Liu Bei making a big fuss and the crowd's booing, Lu Zhi took advantage of the situation and retreated from Tian Feng. So after a round of laughter, Tian Feng ended up being unwelcome by everyone. Only some soldiers from Hebei looked ambiguous.
In this way, a banquet that should have been extremely joyful turned into a farce because of Tian Feng's troubles. Just when Lu Zhi was thinking of some excuse to end the banquet, the letter sent from Xingyang four days ago finally arrived in the hall.
(End of chapter)