Great Han Empire

Chapter 494
July of the first year of Guangxi in the Han Dynasty (AD 189).

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At the end of June, due to continuous heavy rain, the Yellow River swelled sharply, and counties and counties along the river in the three prefectures of Hebei, Qinghai and Yanzhou suffered floods again, and millions of people were affected by the disaster.These victims had nowhere to go, so they left their hometowns and went north to Bingzhou.Although Jizhou Muyangqi obstructed it in many ways, it still couldn't stop the migration of the victims.The victory of the Northern Xinjiang War and the Bingzhou garrison gave these victims hope of survival. In order to survive, they embarked on the road of moving north.

At the beginning of July, General Fenwei Xian Yufu, General Yang Lie Zhang Yan, and General Hutian Zhonglang Zhao Qi consulted urgently after hearing the news, and finally unanimously decided to block Huguan to prevent the victims from entering.At the same time, the three adults dispatched a large amount of relief materials to Huguan to relieve the victims, and at the same time rushed to the court and reported to the chariot general Li Hong.

At this time, Li Hong wrote to them, telling them that the army had finished resting and was heading south rapidly.Li Hong said that considering that there was too much rain on the grassland this year, the transportation of grain and grass was very difficult, and the army's supplies were insufficient, so he decided to take the [-]th Battalion of [-] soldiers to the south.In the letter, Li Hong ordered Xian Yufu to immediately order [-] field soldiers to go north to the Longshan Camp, leaving only Diannong Zhonglang Zhang Baiqi and [-] field soldiers to guard the fields. In addition, he also ordered Zhang Yan to send school captain Peng Lie immediately led his troops to the north and stationed in the Flying Fox Fortress.

Xian Yufu, Zhang Yan and Zhao Qi were shocked.What is your lord general doing?
Without the order of the emperor, the chariot general ordered the army to retreat without authorization, which is tantamount to treason. Is he crazy?
Insufficient military supplies?This is even more impossible.Before the onset of the rainy season on the grassland in mid-June, Xian Yufu had ordered the remaining army to organize a million civilians to send all the three-month food, salaries and military equipment to Jiuyuan City and Yunzhong City from the Yellow River and Yunzhong in Henan. , It is impossible for military supplies to be insufficient.

Send five thousand troops to the Flying Fox Fortress?What is the General doing to control the Flying Fox Fortress at this time?The Flying Fox Fortress guards the southern counties and counties of Youzhou and the entire Jizhou, and Jizhou has always sent troops. Is it possible that the general wants to threaten Jizhou?
The general directly ordered the recruitment of one hundred thousand soldiers to farm the fields without the consent of the emperor. This not only violated the laws of the Han Dynasty, but also made people feel frightened. Why does he need so many troops?
The three of them were full of doubts and anxiety, and they all knew that something big was going to happen in Bingzhou.

Only two days later, the Eight Hundred Li Kuaiqi came back.Li Hong ordered Xian Yufu to immediately open Huguan, put all the victims into Bingzhou, and temporarily resettled them to the western foot of Taihang Mountain in Taiyuan County.

Xian Yufu was very strange. He asked Zhang Yan and Zhao Qi, "What is the general's intention? Is he going to send the disaster victims back to Jizhou?"

Zhang Yan thought for a long time and said: "For several years, our Yellow Turban Army has been fighting in Changshan and Zhongshan. All the common people followed us up the mountain, so now there are ten rooms, nine empty fields and barren fields, no different from ruins. I think, maybe my lord is planning to send these people to Changshan and Zhongshan to farm fields?"

Zhao Qi stroked his beard worriedly and sighed: "The general has rushed to Yunzhong City, and he will return to Jinyang in a few days. By then, everything will be clear."

===

The recurring floods in the three prefectures of Ji, Qing, and Yan did not cause much shock in Luoyang. Now the entire Luoyang's attention is on the northern border, and it is all on Li Hong, the chariot general.

Li Hong rode eight hundred miles to play the Son of Heaven. Because the rainy season on the grassland came early and the transportation was blocked and the army was short of food and grass, he had already led his army south to Jinyang.

The atmosphere in Gyeonggi suddenly became tense.

Empress Dowager He immediately summoned the central officials to discuss the matter.

Zhao Zhong, Zhang Rang and others scolded Li Hongshou first, saying that he acted arrogantly and recklessly.But scolding is scolding, the matter has to be resolved.Li Hong couldn't wait to retreat to Jinyang. It was definitely not because of the lack of food and grass. There must be other reasons. Was it because of the late emperor's edict?If Li Hong led the main force of the army to fall at this time, I believe that whether it was Dong Zhuo who was stationed in Hedong, or the [-] Xiyuan Army stationed in Gyeonggi, they would be vulnerable.The queen mother was panicked and pressed again and again.

"From my point of view, it is better to issue an order to General Cheqi in the name of the Son of Heaven, ordering him to temporarily garrison north of the Great Wall and not to withdraw to Jinyang." Zhao Zhong said, "The war in northern Xinjiang has just ended, and the border counties have just been recovered. He should be very clear about not retreating immediately. If he insists on leading his troops back to Jinyang, he will be convicted of the crime of treason. The Empress Dowager can therefore issue an edict to the world to let everyone in the world know Li Hong's intention of rebellion. At that time, he will be a traitor to the Han Kingdom, which everyone can punish."

"He has the last emperor's edict and an army composed of barbarians and ant thieves. How useful is this edict to him?" Zhang Rang waved his hand worriedly and said, "Hussar General Dong Zhong and Queen Mother Dong died successively. The whole city is already full of troubles, and the world knows it. If Li Hong holds up the late emperor's edict and leads the army south to Beijing in the name of eradicating traitors, will we be able to stop it? Will the general rebel? Even the gentry ministers in the court will follow him and turn against him."

Guo Sheng said dejectedly: "When Li Hong was still fighting in the Northern Xinjiang War, we were worried that he would go south. We didn't expect him to come just after the Northern Xinjiang War. he……"

"What do you know?" Zhao Zhong squinted his eyes and scolded, "Then he came faster. After the death of the late emperor, we did not fully control the West Garden Army, and our strength was weak. If the scholars and generals were given this as an excuse Make trouble against us, under the public anger, we are already finished, and you can still stand here and speak?"

===

"My dear friends, why don't you come up with a good plan as soon as possible?" The queen mother urged again.

"Li Hong is now going south with the excuse of insufficient food and grass, and he has not come up with the late emperor's edict. This shows that General Cheqi himself has a lot of worries." Zhang Rang said, "What is he worried about? It is nothing more than worrying about being blocked from entering Beijing."

"At present, there are Huangfusong, Dong Zhuo, Ding Yuan, Yuan Shao, Wang Yun, Xiyuan Army and the North and South armies in the Gyeonggi area with a total of [-] troops. If Li Hong's army is intercepted by the Gyeonggi [-] troops, plus Luoyang City He may be unable to attack for a long time. Once the battle is protracted and the situation reverses, things will be troublesome. No matter how powerful the chariot general is, he will not be able to fight against the entire Han Kingdom when there is a shortage of food and grass. He is a dead end, even if he has the last emperor's edict, he will become a traitor, so I think we can send someone to talk to him to find out what Li Hong means?"

Zhang Rang stretched out his hand to flick the ashes on his clothes, and then said contemptuously, "For a lowly-born warrior like him, what else does he want besides power and wealth? We can give him what the late emperor can give him, and the late emperor can't give it to him." His, we can also give him, we can let him want power and money, let him become a titan under the emperor and queen mother, wouldn't that be better?"

"You mean to promote him and give him money?" Duan Gui asked, "If he is greedy and wants to take charge of the military and political power in northern Xinjiang, shall we agree?"

"So what if you don't agree?" Zhao Zhong said, "If Li Hong upholds the late emperor's edict and sends troops south in the name of eradicating traitors, how can you be sure that Huangfusong, Dong Zhuo, and the ministers in Beijing will not join forces and respond? ? At that time, whether we, the general, your majesty or the queen mother, who will survive?"

"We can take the little prince..." Zhong Chang Gong made a killing gesture, "In this case, what is the use of the late emperor's edict?"

"Do you have any brains? The little prince is gone at this time, and the biggest possibility is to anger Li Hong and the ministers in the court." Zhao Zhong scolded, "Is the little prince important? Without the little prince, Li Hong can still support foreign vassals." For the emperor, you can't think of such a simple thing?"

Zhang Gong lowered his head and dared not make a sound.

"What exactly was written in the late emperor's edict? Did Li Hong go south to support Xiao Donghou as emperor?" Song Dian, the permanent servant of Zhongzhong, asked hesitantly, "Should we wait a little longer and see Mr. He in Shangshutai?" What do you say when you come back? Li Hong's retreat this time may be because of the disaster victims entering Jin."

Empress Dowager He, Zhao Zhong, Zhang Rang and others all looked at Song Dian like idiots.It's unbelievable that he still has this kind of thought at this time.

"That's good." Zhao Zhong said with a sneer, "You and Li Hong knew each other when we were in Xiliang, so you can be regarded as old friends. Then you go to Jinyang to announce the decree. By the way, ask him what the late emperor wrote in the edict. ?”

Song Dian's face froze, and he wanted to refuse but dared not say so.

===

The fact that General Cheqi led his army to retreat south to Jinyang also shocked Yuan Wei and other important officials of the Han Dynasty.

He Yong did not come back, no one knows what Li Hong's intention is?But no matter what Li Hong wants to do, one thing is certain, that is, Li Hong must not be allowed to go south to Beijing, let alone let the army in northern Xinjiang fight with the army stationed in Gyeonggi.Once the two sides fought, Li Hong would have no way of turning back, and the consequences were self-evident.After the catastrophe of the Great Han Kingdom, its national strength is bound to decline even more.

After careful discussion, Yuan Kai, Ding Gong, Lu Zhi and others vetoed the idea of ​​using Li Hong's power to eradicate Luoyang traitors, and decided to revive the court according to the already discussed method.Now if Li Hong's power is used to eradicate the power of the traitor and the general, how will Li Hong's power be resolved?Warriors occupy the court, and the country is in decline. At present, the Great Han Kingdom does not have a powerful emperor to control the court. The consequences may be more serious than now. The Great Han Kingdom may fall apart under the trampling of a group of warriors.

Yuan Kai and others hurried to see General He Jin.In order to prevent Li Hong from going south to Beijing, Yuan Kai planned to persuade He Jin to temporarily give up the attack on traitors and join forces to fight against Li Hong.In any case, once Li Hong went south to Beijing, the Han Kingdom would be hurt first, and the eunuchs and generals in the palace would be killed next. No one could escape the doom of destruction.

Yuan Kui meant that the Northern Army of the Great General and the Xiyuan Army of General Hussars drove out of Luoyang at the same time to guard the key passes entering Beijing, and stationed at Hangu, Mengjin, and Xiaopingjin Passes, and the garrison of Luoyang City was handed over to Sili Xiaowei Yuan Shao and Henan Yin Wangyun.

General He Jin didn't seem to care about Li Hong's army's southward retreat. He smiled and said to Yuan Wei, "Master Taifu seems to be too nervous. General Cheqi only part of the army went south to enter the pass, and he didn't say anything about it." We have overreacted to the words of the first emperor’s edict. This may be counterproductive and fuel Li Hong’s determination to go south.”

Yuan Kui, Ding Gong and others knew that the general was unwilling to leave the capital, and they tried hard to persuade He Jin for a long time. Finally, He Jin was persuaded by them. Enter."

Yuan Kui was overjoyed and immediately went to the palace to meet the Queen Mother.At this time, the queen mother had no idea, and everything was listened to by the middle officials.Although Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang agreed that the Xiyuan army would go out of the city, they did not believe Yuan Shao and Wang Yun, and they asked Cao Cao, the military academy lieutenant, to lead a battalion to guard the palace.

Yuan Kui had no choice but to leave the palace in a hurry to discuss with General He Jin again at Baijun Mansion.

Time gradually passed while Yuan Wei was running around and negotiating.

At this time, shocking news came again from Hedong. One hundred thousand field soldiers suddenly left Hebei and went to Jin.

With 10,000 soldiers stationed in the east of the river, plus the 10,000+ army withdrawn from Wuyuan County to the south, the chariot general Li Hong actually wanted to gather two [-]+ troops in Jinyang. Needless to say, he knew what he was going to do.

===

The queen mother was angry, and hurriedly ordered Cao Cao to lead the Xiyuan army out of Beijing first, and the palace was guarded by Huben and Habayashi.

General He Jin did not miss his word, and then led the army to the capital pavilion.

The Empress Dowager said to Yuan Wei, Zhao Zhong and other ministers, you can discuss it again, and give Li Hong and the soldiers of Beijiang more officials and nobles, and reward them with a lot of money, so be sure not to be stingy.After drawing up the imperial decree, he asked Song Dian to go north immediately, and to hurry up.

Yuan Kui, Zhao Zhong and others quarreled before discussing a few words at Shangshutai.

Yuan Kai and a group of ministers meant to reward Li Hong's subordinates vigorously, so that there would be more generals, more Zhonglang generals, and the status and power of the generals would increase. Conflicts among the generals in northern Xinjiang would inevitably arise. It will be of great benefit to splitting and disintegrating the northern Xinjiang army in the future and solving the scourge of Li Hong.

Zhao Zhong and other Zhongchang servants did not take it seriously. They thought that Li Hong's subordinates, apart from Hu people and ant thieves, were a group of humble warriors from northern and western Xinjiang. Among the humble scholars in the frontier, Yan Rou is a horse bandit, and Yan Liang is a butcher who kills without batting an eyelid. If these people hadn't followed Li Hong to fight the world, they would be nothing more than a captain of two thousand shi when they died.Zhao Zhong said that even if the court now worships them all as generals, they will not be grateful to the emperor and the court at all, on the contrary, they are more grateful to Li Hong.Without Li Hong, how could these people have a bright future?If you want to award a reward, just award Li Hong one, so as not to waste money in vain.

Liu Hong said that now is an extraordinary period, and this kind of reward is only in name. In the future, when Li Hong falls, these people will live to the end. Who dares to keep them?

Zhang Rang said, whether it is a general, a general of Zhonglang, or a lieutenant, they are all titles of high status and respect in the Han Dynasty. How can there be a lot of them?In the past, when Huangfugui, Zhang Huan, and even Huangfusong led troops to fight, they were all captains. How could there be so many generals and generals?Do you know how many captains and captains Li Hong has under his command?There are nearly seventy of them.The [-] Xiyuan Army of our Great Han Dynasty had only eight school lieutenants, and the [-] North Army had only five school lieutenants.It can't be sealed anymore, and if it continues to be sealed like this, the captain will be worthless in the future.

Yuan Kui thought to himself, can the captains of the Xiyuan Army and the Northern Army be compared with the captains of the Frontier Army?However, he didn't want to waste time on this matter. Anyway, adding officials and ranks would not be able to stop Li Hong's army from going south. It is better to send people north to stabilize Li Hong as soon as possible and get in touch with Li Hong.

"Seal it as you say."

Immediately, the emperor made a decree to worship Li Hong, the general of chariots and cavalry, as the general of chariots and cavalry, General Yitong, Marquis of Jinyang, with [-] households in Shiyi, and command the military affairs of the three prefectures and two counties.At the same time, the governor asked Li Hong to garrison the north of the Great Wall, and he was not allowed to go south without the order of the emperor.

Li Hong's position is the same as that of the Sangong, with a gold seal and purple ribbon, and his status is respected. He is already too big.In the past, after Huangfu Song quelled the Yellow Turban Rebellion, the first emperor only appointed a general with a left chariot, Marquis Huaili, and eight thousand households in Shiyi.Now among the military generals, he is the only general besides the great general He Jin, and the hussar general He Miao is also one level behind him.However, the situation is different now, and Empress Dowager He is willing to confer Li Hongda's senior official, as long as Li Hong does not go south to Luoyang.

Zhongchang Attendant Song Dian took this sacred decree, escorted by fifty Zhonghuangqi, and went out of the city overnight.

===

He Yong returned to Luoyang.Yuan Shao went ten miles out of the city to meet him.

"Brother Boqiu, General Chaqi has finally gone south, and you have made great contributions." Yuan Shao said a little excitedly while holding He Yong's hand.

"At the beginning, the words are serious." He Yong lost a lot of weight due to the continuous journey, and his expression was very tired. "As we expected, the general of the chariot had too many worries and had no intention of going south. Fortunately, I was angered by my words. That day At night, he commanded the army to branch south, but..."

"But what?" Yuan Shao asked hastily.

"However, his request is too high, far exceeding our original expectations." He Yong said with a frown, "The Queen Mother, the General and the Taifu may not agree to it. , Luoyang is in chaos, and our crimes will be great."

"Brother Boqiu is too worried." Yuan Shao laughed, "General Cheqi has now been worshiped by the emperor as General Yitong. There is no doubt about how his request deviates from the laws of the Han Dynasty. His actions will not affect the imperial lineage, nor will it endanger the survival of the Han Dynasty. Leaving northern Xinjiang, and not leaving Bingzhou, this is not a big problem for the Han Dynasty. If the settlement of Bingzhou is successful, the victims are solved, and the northern Xinjiang is stable, is our Han Dynasty still far from revitalization? ?”

"Whether it is a traitor or a foreign relative in power, they will cause far more harm to the Han Dynasty than the chariot general. We have seen how the traitor abused power and harmed the country, and heard how the relatives brought disaster to the country and the people, but have you seen Is Li Hong corrupt and perverting the law? Have you ever heard of him harming a party?" Yuan Shao said with great admiration, "He is a hero, a true hero."

He Yong smiled and said in a low voice: "At first, if Master Taifu knew that we were still secretly helping He Jin, and even secretly controlling the situation in Luoyang, he would have killed us."

"My uncle and Mr. Lu are old, they are too timid, and they are too conservative. According to their method, when will the disaster of rape and foreign relatives be resolved? Sure? I don't think it's sure. Sooner or later If something happens, you have to kill yourself. You say, can Dong Zhuo be trusted? Can he be reused? Can it be easily solved in the future? After so many years, they can't even deal with a bunch of eunuchs, but can they still deal with Dong Zhuo? Dong Zhuo should let him go back to Xiliang, Instead of going to Beijing." Yuan Shao said dissatisfiedly, "Isn't it just to abolish a young emperor, what are you afraid of? Are you afraid of taking the name of Lord Shi and leaving you with infamy forever? These old fools will regret it later."

"If Master Taifu knows that you are scolding him like this behind his back, he will break your leg." He Yong said with a smile, "All the troops in the city have left the city?"

"They are all out of the city, and only the southern army guarding the palace and the 2000 people from our Sili Xiaowei's mansion are left. The first goal has been achieved." Yuan Shao patted He Yong on the shoulder and said, "Tens of thousands of troops are stationed in Luoyang City. If you are not careful, you will be destroyed, not to mention the palace at that time, even the emperor may not be able to keep it. Now that Luoyang City is fine, it doesn’t matter if the capital wants to mess with it.”

"Where are the county soldiers in Henan Province?"

"The traitor did not allow Zishi's army to enter the city, so he had no choice but to leave the army at Hulao Pass." Yuan Shao said, "You just arrived in Luoyang at this time, did you go to Hangu Pass to see Meng De?"

He Yong nodded, "Meng De said that he has transferred Zhao Zhong's two confidantes, Zhao Rong and Xia Mou, to Mengjin. If he does something, he will beat him to death."

"At present, our troops are not strong enough. We will have to wait for the general to call Wang Kuangwu, Qiu Yi and Zhang Liao back to the capital." Yuan Shao said with a smile, "As soon as the Xiyuan army leaves the city, we can control the five battalions. The army, things are much easier to handle. Now the days left for traitors are not long, if the chariot general can maintain the threat to Gyeonggi for a long time, then the disaster of the relatives can also be solved."

"Things have to be done one by one. Don't be in a hurry, and things will change if you are in a hurry." He Yong said, "After so many years, don't we know what kind of person He Jin is? Be careful."

Yuan Shao laughed loudly, "Brother Boqiu, let's go, Master Taifu is waiting for your news at the Shangshutai. We are talking while walking, and you tell me about the request of the general riding a chariot. What are you doing?"

===

Late at night, Shangshutai.

He Yong was exhausted, but he still insisted on reporting the affairs of northern Xinjiang to more than a dozen ministers including Tai Fu Yuan Kui, Situ Dinggong, Sikong Liu Hong, Shang Shuling Lu Zhi, and Jiuqing Zhuqing.

"The last edict given by the late emperor to General Li was indeed to order him to go south to support the little prince as emperor immediately after the war in northern Xinjiang." The general's loyalty to the Great Han Kingdom, and his daring to lead his troops south, have already explained everything. Since neither of us is willing to bring disaster to the country in today's situation, then we have the right to assume that there is no such order in the last emperor's edict."

"But General Li is not willing to violate the will of the late emperor. He is worried about the future of himself and the army in northern Xinjiang, the farmland in Bingzhou and the millions of disaster victims. He does not believe that today's day and the imperial court will fully support him like the late emperor, so he He insisted on going south to Beijing. I persuaded him in every possible way, and in the end General Li agreed that as long as the emperor agreed to all the conditions he proposed, he would give up going south to Beijing, give up the entrustment of the late emperor, and continue to guard the northern border for the Great Han Kingdom."

Zhao Zhong and Zhang Rang also participated in Shangshutai's discussion today under the Queen Mother's order.When the two heard what He Yong said, they couldn't help but look at each other, thinking that Li Hong wouldn't put forward harsh conditions such as killing rape and eunuchs.

"General Li said that considering the current situation in the Han Kingdom, he has no intention of leading his army northward to attack the Xianbei Kingdom this year." He Yong looked at the startled eyes of the people and continued, "General Li will move millions of disaster victims into the country in the near future." In addition, he needs to appease the people in the border counties, repair the pass cities, and station troops in the border counties. Therefore, he needs the emperor to give him 100 billion yuan. The 100 billion yuan includes food, military pay, ordnance, etc. Wait. General Li said that if the court is unable to raise such a huge amount of supplies within the year, then give him the money and he will handle it himself.”

"Because more and more disaster victims moved north to Bingzhou, both the land and the money in Bingzhou have become difficult to support. For this reason, General Li requested that Beidi County in Xiliang, Dai County and Shanggu County in Youzhou, Zhongshan Kingdom in Jizhou He Yong and the five counties of Changshan State were included in the scope of farming in northern Xinjiang, and in addition to the Hedong County, which has already implemented military settlements, General Li needs to add another six counties to farm in addition to the nine counties in Bingzhou." He Yong smiled wryly, "Resettle the victims and garrison the fields There is nothing wrong with this, but General Li is not only stationed in these fifteen counties, but also stationed troops in these fifteen counties. His reason is that he wants to guard the border and defend against the enemy. , and the second is to suppress riots.”

The ministers looked shocked, and Liu Hong said angrily: "The six counties in this state are not his vassal state, and it is not his turn to decide on the military affairs."

Yuan Kui shook his hands at everyone, "Don't talk, listen to Mr. He."

He Yong said: "General Li said that from now on, the Northern Xinjiang will start to farm for ten years. During these ten years, Bingzhou will no longer have a prefectural pastor. General Li was in charge. Ten years later, he returned the military and political power of the fifteen counties. In addition, during the ten years, the taxes of these fifteen counties were no longer turned over to the national treasury, and all were used for farming and resettling the victims. Ten years later, the farming was successful. , the taxes of these fifteen counties will be turned over to the national treasury again."

"Except for Hedong County, these [-] counties are currently barren. General Li worried that the farming would be unsustainable, so he asked the emperor to allocate all the taxes in Jizhou to the two prefectures within ten years. In order to ensure that the tax revenue of Jizhou will not be affected by the war. , General Li requested to garrison troops in Jizhou."

The ministers couldn't bear it anymore, and the eunuch Yang Biao even cursed angrily.

Yuan Kui stood up, waved his hands and said, "Don't make noise, we will discuss after listening."

He Yong shook his head and said weakly: "General Li said that within ten years, he will build 30 frontier troops in northern Xinjiang, of which 30 are cavalry. General Li asked the emperor to pay the military funds of the 50 troops immediately. With [-] billion yuan, he will immediately build a horse farm and [-] cavalry in Wuyuan and Yunzhong, so that he can go north to attack Xianbei in the future."

"Any more?"

"General Li asked the Son of Heaven to send King Bohai and Princess Changping to the Jizhou feudal kingdom immediately, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what..." Yuan Kai asked.

"Otherwise, he will lead an army of 20 troops to Luoyang." He Yong said with a painful expression on his face. "The Northern Xinjiang army is powerful, and there are Xiongnu iron cavalry and Karasuma iron cavalry to help out. It is really difficult for us to resist. Please think twice."

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(End of this chapter)