Silver Fox of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 438 The Stars Fall, The Veteran Is Dead
At the end of the sixth year of Zhangwu, in Langzhong, Brazil, Yizhou.

There is a big mansion on the bank of the Xihan River in the southeast of Langzhong County.

This mansion is magnificent, covering an area of ​​more than [-] acres, with pavilions and lofts all over, courtyards with paintings and buildings, and rockery ponds.

The entire courtyard is like a beautiful palace complex. Although the standard system is not as high as the palace, there are row upon row of houses, and the courtyards are colorfully located, full of two words - grandeur.

There are not many powerful families in Yizhou who can afford such a big business, and there is only one family in Brazil county that can have such a huge property.

That is the Langzhong Zhou family.

Even if the Langzhong Zhou family is not the richest man in Yizhou, it is probably not far behind.Especially after Zhou Linbang fell into the thigh of Han Emperor Liu Bei, he became richer and richer.

Liu Bei is encouraging agriculture, not inhibiting commercial development, and promoting handicraft manufacturing, making the commercial atmosphere and economy extremely prosperous.

Later, the national policy of salt and iron monopoly in the Han Dynasty was continued. The state set up a state-owned enterprise to specialize in salt and iron. Zhou Lin and Mi Zhu were in charge, which made the price of salt in the south low, and everyone could afford oil, salt, and iron pots and iron utensils.

Although the Zhou family in Langzhong lost a lot of land and population due to national policies, they had already made their fortune through commerce, so the losses they suffered were not large, and their property was still very large.

It is now evening. In the backyard of the Zhou Mansion, there is a huge square, probably covering an area of ​​more than three acres. There are countless precious flowers and plants in the courtyard, as well as pavilions, pavilions, rockery ponds, dense bamboo shadows, quite luxury.

The most noticeable thing is a tall building in the southeast corner of the back garden. The building must be at least ten feet high. It is very conspicuous among the low pavilions and houses, towering like an Optimus Prime.

Everyone in Langzhong knows that this is the Guantian Tower of the Zhou family.

On the roof of Guantian Tower, an old man is standing on the roof at this time, watching the clouds in the sky.

This old man is Zhou Lin's cousin Zhou Qun.

In history, he was Ji Han's Confucian captain and an astronomer.

Beside Zhou Qun is a middle-aged man in his forties, this man is Zhou Qun's son, named Zhou Ju.

The father and son have been studying prophecy and the movement of astrology all year round. Standing on the top of the Guantian Building, they stared at the eastern sky intently.

I saw stars twinkling in the eastern sky, and occasionally a star streaked across the night sky, like a comet dragging a long tail.

After a while, Zhou Ju said to Zhou Qun: "Father, Emperor Ziwei, it seems to be a little dim."

Zhou Qun frowned, stroked his beard and said: "A few days ago, I saw a meteor falling in the east, and a certain general in the east must have passed away. Recently, not only is Ziwei star gradually dimming, but the world may be in chaos."

Zhou Ju thought for a while, and seeing no one was around, he whispered to Zhou Qun, "Father, there are now two emperors in the world. The dimness of the emperor's star often means that you think it will be?"

"Don't speculate about Emperor Star in vain."

Zhou Qun interrupted him and said: "Your Majesty is currently on the Northern Expedition. At this critical time, no one wants any accidents."

"But."

Zhou Ju hesitated for a moment, but still didn't say anything.

Those of them who study astrology and divination are indeed very easy to combine the current situation with the astronomical phenomena.

Now that the Ziwei star is dim, thinking that Liu Bei is about to go to the Northern Expedition at the age of nearly seventy, it is inevitable that people worry about what will happen to His Majesty's health now.

It's just that their Zhou family can have the current family business, which has a lot to do with Zhou Lin's fortune and Liu Bei's appreciation.

So Zhou Ju knew that his father had studied the prophecy for many years, so it was impossible for him not to know what the dimness of the Ziwei star represented, but he just didn't want to believe it.

If his father didn't say anything, Zhou Ju naturally didn't dare to say anything.

The two continued to watch the sky.

It was getting later and later, at this moment, a meteor suddenly fell from the sky.

Zhou Qun's eyes were fixed, and he quickly turned his head to look.

Zhou Ju followed suit and asked curiously, "Father, where did this meteor come from?"

Zhou Qun said: "It seems that Xuanyuan star is coming, let's take a look."

They stretched their heads and continued to look.

At the end of the evening, that is, around eight or nine o'clock, small meteors appeared scattered in the sky.

Afterwards, at the third moment of human determination, the number began to increase sharply, and meteorites could be seen criss-crossing, criss-crossing and falling.There are also two huge bolides inside, which are very spectacular.

One of them is as big as a half-liter container, bright enough to illuminate the night sky, and its trail is condensed in the sky, bending like a cloud; the other is the size of a large peach, shining brightly, falling slowly, almost competing with the bright moon .

Seeing this situation, Zhou Qun's mouth grew wide, and his face did not know whether it was joy or sadness.For those who study astrology, this is undoubtedly the most spectacular sight.

However, the technique of prophecy is often combined with reality. Zhou Qun dare not imagine whether the fall of such a large area of ​​stars heralds anything.

And this meteor shower continued until the next morning.

Even in the daytime, you can still see the interlacing of bright lights from time to time, and there are still tail stars falling in the evening, which seems to be continuous.

In the early morning, Zhou's father and son, who had been watching all night, couldn't go back to rest at all. Zhou Ju said to his father with the bags under his eyes from staying up all night: "Father, the meteor shower last night, the vision of heaven and earth, I'm afraid something big happened."

Zhou Qun's face was also very tired, but he still supported his body and continued to look at the sky and said: "The falling of the stars, does it mean that a large number of people will die in this war in the Southern Han and Northern Wei Dynasties? What I care most about are the two sparks in the sky , It’s too scary, does this herald the two emperors?”

In the end, he was already muttering to himself, not knowing what to do.

Such a large-scale star fall, even if he has studied celestial astrology for many years, he has only seen it once.

The last time was more than 30 years ago. At that time, at the end of Han Dynasty, Emperor Ling had just died, Dong Zhuo usurped the throne, and then the princes fought for hegemony, and the heroes fought.

At that time, he thought that many people would die in the world.

Sure enough, after Dong Zhuo was killed by Lu Bu, Jizhou Mu Hanfu, Yuzhou governor Kong Ni, Yanzhou governor Liu Dai, Hanoi prefect Wang Kuang, Chenliu prefect Zhang Miao, Dongjun prefect Qiao Mao, Shanyang prefect Yuan Yi, Jinbei prefect Xiang Baoxin, Guangling prefect Zhang Chao, Changsha prefect Sun Jian, Xuzhou governor Tao Qian and others died one after another.

Later, great princes such as Gongsun Zan and Yuan Shu perished one after another, and the situation in the north became that Yuan Shao and Cao Cao occupied Hebei and Henan respectively.In the south, only Liu Biao of Jingzhou, Sun Quan of Jiangdong, Liu Zhang of Yizhou, and Han Suimateng of Guanzhong remained.

It can be said that since the large-scale fall of the stars, the princes of all walks of life in the world have died and injured in just ten years.Then Liu Bei came to Jingzhou and unified the south, which gradually became the current confrontation between the north and the south.

It was like this back then, and now there is another Fall of the Stars, which Zhou Qun can no longer imagine. Could it be another Fall of the Stars soon in the future?
"Father, father?"

Seeing that Zhou Qun was in a daze and muttering something to himself, Zhou Ju called out twice.

Zhou Qun came back to his senses, his face was very dark, and he said, "I'm afraid something big will happen."

"whats the matter?"

Zhou Ju hurriedly asked.

Zhou Qun said: "This should be the meteor shower on Xuanyuanxing. Do you know when was the last time I saw this scene?"

"When?"

"When the Emperor Ling died, there was also a huge spark falling, and then the stars fell. After the Emperor Ling died, the world was in chaos, heroes rose everywhere, and the people were devastated."

"what?"

Zhou Ju was taken aback and said, "What can we do? Now that the situation between the north and the south has finally stabilized, is the world going to be in chaos again?"

Zhou Qun shook his head: "Not necessarily, it may be that many generals and ministers died. Now that the world has faced a confrontation between the North and the South, His Majesty's governance of the South is as stable as a rock, and it is unlikely that there will be another chaos."

Zhou Ju thought about it and said: "Now that the North and the South are fighting, many generals are very old veterans. They have been in the army for many years. Perhaps in this war, many generals will indeed die."

"Ah."

Zhou Qun said: "No matter what, I still have to report this matter to the prime minister."

As he spoke, he immediately went down to Guantianlou to write a memorial for the newspaper.

At present, his position is still Captain Rulin, mainly doing some work of surveying and correcting books, but he still works part-time to watch the astrology, so naturally he can't neglect this matter.

I heard that the prime minister is also a master at observing the sky, maybe he also noticed the scene of the falling stars last night, I hope the prime minister can deal with it.

Zhou Qun thought to himself.

.

.

Guanzhong, Chang'an City, Weiyang Palace.

Shen Chen was walking on the square outside the North Hall of Weiyang Palace at this time. He had just returned from inspecting the barracks this morning, and now he was going to deal with some paperwork.

Deng Ai was on duty today, and now Deng Ai, Jiang Wei and others have been promoted again due to meritorious service. Deng Ai was promoted to a miscellaneous general, and Jiang Wei became a school lieutenant.

They are currently leading some soldiers in the army. Both Deng Ai and Jiang Wei have chosen to join Shen Chen's personal guard army. They have replaced Shan Yi and Wu Dang, and they serve as the leaders of the personal guard around Shen Chen every day.

As for Shan Yi and Wu Dang, the two of them were promoted again and became generals in the army who could act on their own. Now they are leading the army alone outside the city, and they no longer serve as bodyguards.

In addition to being the leader of the pro-army, Deng Ai also works part-time as a clerk, helping Shen Chen handle official documents, and he is currently in the side hall of Weiyang Palace.

Seeing Shen Chen coming in, he cupped his hands and saluted, "Master."

In formal occasions, it is called the title.

But now there is no one in the hall, it is a private occasion, so naturally it is more cordial to call Master.

Shen Chen nodded, his face was like water, not a bit happy.

Seeing his preoccupied appearance, Deng Ai asked, "Master, what happened?"

Shen Chen shook his head and said, "No, it's just that I've been restless these past few days, and I always feel that something big will happen, so I'm a little worried."

Deng Ai smiled and said: "We have occupied Guanzhong and captured Chang'an. Although we cannot continue to advance because of insufficient supplies of soldiers, horses, food and grass, we have won a great victory on the western front. Why should you worry about it?"

"That's not what I'm thinking about."

Shen Chen walked slowly to the main seat in the hall and sat cross-legged, put his hands on his knees, pondered for a while, and then said softly: "It's just that I always feel that something will happen."

"Master is probably too worried. Now that Cao Jun only dares to stick to Tongguan and Bingzhou, how can he send troops to take back Guanzhong?"

Deng Ai smiled.

Now it is actually difficult for them to continue to forge ahead.

It's not Tongguan's problem.

It is true that Tongguan is easy to defend and difficult to attack, but a large-scale attack does not mean that troops cannot go outside the pass and storm the pass.

It's just that now that Cao Wei's details are fully revealed, more troops have been sent to the western front.

After the city of Chang'an was broken, less than 5 of Cao's 7 troops fled back. In addition to the troops of Cao Zhen and Xu Huang and Zhu Ling, about [-] people stood firm.

Later, Cao Pi sent another 5 people over, and now the number of Cao troops in Bingzhou and Tongguan exceeds that of the Han army.

But Shen Chen is not without background.

This year, Yu Jin was still training troops in the rear. After Liangzhou was stabilized, the number of troops increased sharply. It would not be a big problem to draw another [-] to [-] troops from Hanzhong and Liangzhou.

The main thing is to storm Tongguan, it will take a year and a half to do it, and transporting grain from Hanzhong to Chang'an, and then transporting grain from Chang'an to Tongguan, even with the help of Weishui and Yellow River to transport grain, it is still a long journey of two thousand miles.

Now that the south has recuperated for three years, it is really unreasonable to lose the family business that has been accumulated with great difficulty.

Therefore, after conquering Guanzhong, Shen Chen hoped that the immigrant population would return to Guanzhong to develop.

As long as some people can be relocated, planted around Chang'an, and solve the problem of military food transportation, he will naturally attack Bingzhou and Tongguan.

The same Cao Jun seemed to have a large number of people, but he did not dare to invade Guanzhong.

Shen Chen improved his horse equipment and possessed powerful light cavalry and heavy cavalry. With superb mobility, Cao Jun would only suffer in the wild, not to mention attacking cities.

Therefore, the two sides on the western front belonged to a situation of confrontation and see-saw. Shen Chen's side was not easy to attack, and Cao Jun's side was unable to counterattack Chang'an.

But to Deng Ai's surprise, Shen Chen shook his head and said, "I'm not worried about Cao Jun either."

Deng Ai asked in surprise: "Then Shijun is this?"

"I do not know either."

Shen Chen propped his forehead with one hand, frowned and said, "It's just that I'm restless. I'm obviously not thinking about attacking, and whether Cao Jun will come, but I'm always worrying about something, but I don't know what I'm worrying about. what."

Deng Ai thought for a while and said: "Could it be that the master is worried about your majesty and the general? The master has sent tens of thousands of cavalry to help your majesty. Henan is probably worry-free. The general defeated Cao Xiu again and shocked Huainan. Surrounded by the city of Hefei, in Huainan, who is his opponent?"

"Ah."

Shen Chen said: "Your Majesty and the General. Naturally, I won't be worried. Hey, forget it, I'm probably worrying unfoundedly."

Saying that he shook his head and smiled.

Now the three-way offensive is relatively smooth. Although the Henan side has not achieved results, it is still leak-proof.

With the help of Pang Tongfazheng Xu Shu and the others, Liu Bei is unlikely to fail.

Not to mention Guan Yu.

Although Zhang Liao is also a famous general in the world, he is still a bit worse than Guan Yu.

So Huainan has nothing to worry about.

Shen Chen felt that maybe he was thinking too much, so he didn't care, picked up an official document and started to read it.

After about a quarter of an hour, the messenger hurried in at the door, with a sad face, knelt down on one knee and reported with a trace of crying: "Great Governor, something is wrong."

"What happened?"

Shen Chen's face suddenly became serious. Could it be that his premonition was right, something bad really happened?

The messenger mourned, "Old General Huang passed away suddenly last night."

"Snapped."

The document in Shen Chen's hand dropped immediately, and his face froze.

Old general, are you leaving?

(End of this chapter)