On the afternoon of the seventh month of autumn, Zhijie, Duwei Jiangjing, Liang Yongyining, the military of the seven states, the history of the Jiangzhou Thorn, the general of Zhengxi, and the commander of the Duting Marquis Yuyi. The wing will kill the champion general Cao Yi in Hao, Dai Xi and others, raise troops to rebel, and Anxi Sima Zhu Tao will seek peace. Gengchen, with the auxiliary general, Xuzhou Thorn Shi Huan Wen as the general of Anxi, the Jiejie, the governor of Jing Si Yongyi, Liangning, the military of the six states, the captain of the Nanban, the history of the Jingzhou Thorn, and the rule of Jiangling.

------- excerpt from the introduction

Seeing the majestic and tall city walls of Nanxiang County, Zeng Hua couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. In order to allow these 1,500 homeless people to return to Jindi smoothly in the past month, he didn't worry less, and he saw that this figure and face had lost weight fiercely.

Along the way, in addition to setting up an ambush to annihilate the Zhao Junhu people who met by chance, the biggest problem was to eat.

Now there are wars all over the place, often uninhabited for hundreds of miles, let alone collecting food on the spot. However, these more than 1,500 homeless people are not self-guided tourists, especially the Hedong homeless, except for their lives, all things outside their bodies have been abandoned.

Zeng Hua can be said to have tried his best at this time. Less populated means more wild beasts, and the hunters of the Zhang and Gan clans are all good at it, even the wild wolves and jackals in the wilderness can't please them. Zeng Hua made it easier to manage, and ordered a total of 1,652 homeless people to be divided into 16 hundred-person teams, and the young and middle-aged people were organized into 9 hundred-person teams. The six old and weak women and children of the hundred-person team were surrounded in the middle, cooking and sewing for the young and strong.

Hunting alone is far from satisfying more than 1,600 mouths to eat. So Zeng Hua also ordered the old and weak women and children to form a team to dig wild vegetables and cut the roots of trees under the leadership and supervision of experienced old people (the key is that the supervision cannot dig up poisonous wild vegetables). In addition to hunting and guarding, the young and strong team also began to claim the big rivers and streams along the way.

This team of displaced people, who were more like primitive tribes, staggered along the way, and everything that could be eaten on the way, except for human corpses, was used to satisfy hunger, and even the war horses that Zeng Hua was reluctant to protect again and again were less than twenty left. Everyone also saw it along the way, and it was precisely because of Zeng Hua's leadership that 1,652 homeless people finally saw the "city of the imperial court" except for 31 elderly people who died due to physical exhaustion and 46 people who died of serious illness.

The first time I saw this group of displaced people, these displaced people also had the exhaustion of the long journey and the despair of leaving their homeland, but there was no sign of despair in them. When he listened to the self-introductions of Zeng Hua, Zhang Shou, Gan Rui and others, he seemed to understand half of it. And when he listened to Zhang Shouyi, who was eloquent, finished talking about everything on the road one by one, and then saw the basket of tokens, military flags and big seals, he was completely stunned. Hundreds of thousands of refugees fled from the northern Central Plains, and tens of thousands of people flowed into Jingxiang through Nanxiang. Which one is not frightened, escaped from death, and finally relied on the large number of people, and kept using the lives of his companions behind him to escape back to the south. However, such a small group of displaced people not only returned to the south smoothly, but also annihilated many Qihu and Zhao soldiers along the way, and those military flags, official seals and waist cards were not something that ordinary people could take, and even the regular border troops could rarely capture these things.

So An Ju looked at Zeng Hua with a lot of admiration.

Soon, the "adventure" of this new group of displaced people and Zeng Hua's name soon spread throughout the tens of thousands of northern refugees who had gathered in Nanxiang County, Yiyang County (Zhixinye), and Yicheng County (Zhixiangyang) in the past two years, and also quickly spread to the ears of the generals who captured the generals, supervised the military of the Zhongshu Dynasty, led Yicheng Taishou Liu Yi, Jiangxia (ruled in present-day Anlu, Hubei) Prime Minister Yuan Qiao, and the newly appointed Anxi generals, Zhijie, and the governors of Jing Si Yongyi Liangning Six Prefectures, and led the Southern Barbarian Captain and Jingzhou Thorn Shi Huanwen.

After Huan Wen got the official document of An Ju, he heard about all kinds of legends that had been handed down, and immediately became interested in those families, especially Zeng Hua. However, Yicheng Taishou Liu Yan, who was sitting in Xiangyang, acted faster and directly took Zeng Hua and others to Xiangyang.

Soon, Huan Wen led Zhou Fu of Yizhou Assassin Shi (Zhi Badong), Zhu Tao, General Zhu Tao, Governor Jiangxia, Sui, and Yiyang Three Counties, General Jianwu, Jiangxia Prime Minister Yuan Qiao and Mao Muzhi and other army staff members who participated in the army under the pretext of inspecting the northern front to defend Zhao, went out from Jiangling, rushed to Xiangyang, and met Zeng, Zhang, Gan and others who had been placed there.

"Come, three sons, come and see Lord Huan!" As the master of the family, the general of the conquest, the military of the prison in the army, and the leader of the righteous Cheng Taishou Liu Yi took Zeng, Zhang, and Gan into the hall and introduced them repeatedly.

"Zeng Hua/Zhang Shou/Gan Rui has seen Lord Huan! I've seen Lord Zhou! I've seen Lord Zhu! I've seen Lord Yuan! Under the introduction of Liu Yi one by one, Zeng, Zhang, and Gan clasped their fists and saluted all the adults present one by one.

During this time in Xiangyang, Liu Yi summoned Zeng, Zhang, and Gan from time to time, and they talked for a long time each time, and they talked very happily, and Liu Yi also paid more and more attention to Zeng Hua. Later, Liu Yi once wrote to the secret words and Huan Wen: Yuanzi old thief, now there are three Liangzi of the Nangui family, young heroes, I am afraid that I will not be under you in a few years, I think you will not be lonely and lonely in the future. Maybe this is the real reason why Huan Wen came to Xiangyang.

On the bright side, Liu Yi sent frequent letters to his old acquaintances and old bosses, the two bigwigs and auxiliary ministers in the court: He Chong, the secretary of the book, and Sima Yu, the king of Huiji (later Emperor Jianwen of the Jin Dynasty), who really praised Zeng Hua and others, which can be regarded as making momentum for Zeng, Zhang, and Gan.

"Are you Zeng Xuping, who came back from the Western Regions?" Huan Wen suddenly asked.

"It's down there!"

"The Zeng family has been guarding the Western Regions for many years, can you tell me what the situation is there?"

Zeng Hua was not polite, and immediately said: "The Western Regions are vast, but there are many Gobi shoals. Each Hu occupies the oasis as a country, divided into three provinces, north, south and middle, the big country is divided into Cheshi, Yanqi, Qiuzi, Shule, Shanshan and Khotan, the fields of each country are fertile, the grass is fertile, and the east and west are the main roads, and the merchants are endless, very rich. As a result, the major powers occupied the oases, conquered the four directions, and annexed and enslaved the neighboring small countries to dominate the Western Regions. ”

"The south road goes westward, and there are Zhiguo, Xiaowan Kingdom, Jingjue Country, and Loulan Kingdom, all of which belong to Shanshan Country; The countries of Ronglu, Humi, Qule, and Pishan all belong to Khotan; In the westward direction of the middle road, there are the kingdom of Weiqi, the country of Weixu, and the kingdom of the mountain, all of which belong to Yanqi; Gumo Kingdom, Wensu Kingdom, and Weitou Kingdom all belong to Qiuzi; Zhen China, Shache Country, Exhaust Stone Country, Qusha Country, Xiye Country, Yinai Country, Manli Country, Yiruo Country, Lingling Country, Drug Donation Country, Xiuxiu Country, and Qin Country all belong to Shule. The north road goes west, and there are Mi countries in the east, Mi countries in the west, Shan Huan countries, Bilu countries, Pulu countries, and Wu greedy countries, all of which belong to the car division. ”

"Before the Wei Cheng Han system, Emperor Shizuwen in the second year of the early Huang Dynasty (AD 221) placed the Western Regions Wuji school captain, set up Gaochang (Turpan), and began to worship Zhang Gong to Liangzhou Thorn History to lead the Wuji school captain. Emperor Ming of the former Wei Dynasty restored the long history of the Western Regions during the Taihe period (227-232 AD) and ruled Haitou (northeast of present-day Luobu Naoer). According to historical records, at that time, all parts of the Western Regions did not pay tribute, which was slightly like the story of the Han family. Zeng Hua combined the local history of Xinjiang he learned in middle school with the narration of the erudite Gan Rui and Zhang Shou, and talked endlessly about the history of the Western Regions of the Wei and Jin Dynasties. After officially deciding that he was a child of a family who had returned from the Western Regions, Zeng Hua began to make up for the knowledge of the Western Regions, and now it seems that it is indeed very effective.

"There are only 1,000 soldiers and 2,000 households under the jurisdiction of Captain Xuji, and there are 1,000 households under the jurisdiction of the Western Regions Changshi, but compared with the Hu people in the Western Regions who live in the place, there are very few, so they are unable to control the overall situation alone, and only rely entirely on the prestige of the imperial court, and the jurisdiction area is only a few hundred miles within a radius of Gaochang and hundreds of miles from the sea, so they can only be cautiously guarded in the gap between the great powers. However, after the chaos of the kings of the Central Plains, the Zhang clan of Liangzhou rose, divided the place, cut off the east-west passage, and Li Yuan, the chief of the Western Regions, took the lead in accepting the surrender and returned to the town. However, his grandfather Zeng Gong Kang was unwilling to surrender and adhered to the imperial system. Zhang Jun of Liangzhou secretly hated his grandfather's reluctance to return to obedience, and even received the Liangzhou Thorn History (Wuji Lieutenant received the title of Liangzhou Thorn History, and Zhang Jun received the Liangzhou Thorn History. Therefore, in the second year of Xianhe (327 AD), he sent troops to attack Gaochang. ”

Speaking of this, Zeng Hua's tone became extremely low and sad, he contemplated that his ancient family was hanging in the Western Regions thousands of miles away from the Central Plains, only a thousand lonely troops resisted several times the surging enemy army, this sadness and loneliness made Zeng Hua can't help but secretly feel sad, he remembered that he traveled through time and space, struggling desperately in an isolated and helpless strange environment, isn't it the same sadness and loneliness?

At that moment, Zeng Hua felt that he and his titular grandfather had the same mind, as if he was standing at the head of Gaochang City. At a glance, the endless yellow sand and dotted oases, the bloody sunset, the lonely city in the dusk, the vast and boundless enemy army, there is no despair, no sadness, only a gentle sigh. My homeland, my homeland, I hope that my lonely soul will drift back with the bitter west wind, and that I will no longer be allowed to wander in the endless wilderness of another land.

Zeng Hua felt that Zeng Kang's soft sigh passed through the endless time and space, becoming extremely heavy, echoing in his chest. Zeng Hua couldn't hold back any longer, and tears fell to the ground one after another.

After a while, Zeng Hua finally suppressed his sadness and began to continue to tell in a whimpering voice.

"My grandfather once committed suicide in Kangcheng, and hundreds of people from his entourage committed suicide. There were loyal men who sheltered my father in the wilderness of the oasis. At this point, the system of captains was extinguished, and Zhang Jun set up Gaochang County, which was soon lost to the Cheshi country. As a result, the Western Regions were completely separated from our Great Jin Dynasty, and from then on, all the countries rose up, established themselves as kings, divided the territories into governments, and attacked each other. ”

"After my parents raised me as an adult, I finally died of diseases due to the poor environment and the old people in the clan, and in the end, only 17 young and strong people remained. In the end, we totaled that if we lived in a different place, the future would be slim, so we joined forces to move eastward and return to the Central Plains. ”

After hearing this, everyone couldn't help but sigh and sigh, and they were speechless for a long time.

"The journey back to the east is extremely difficult?" Finally, Huan Wen opened his mouth and continued to ask.

"Hui sir, that's true. It doesn't matter if you go to the Huangsha Gobi along the way, as long as you prepare food and water, you can just walk along the east-west trade route. However, natural disasters are better, and man-made disasters are difficult to avoid. I hated that there were countless soldiers and thieves along the way, and I wanted my clansmen to set off together, and when I arrived at Yumen after a few months, I was left alone, and I was unable to speak of the hardships and sufferings. ”

Speaking of which, Zeng Hua began to make up "Zeng Xuping's Adventures in the Western Regions". Fortunately, Zeng Hua watched a lot of western adventure movies and novels, plus the "latest situation" in the Western Regions indirectly inquired from Zhang Shou and Gan Rui, and it was quite a matter of compilation.

"As soon as we came out of Liuzhong, we encountered the soldiers and horses of the Che Division and the Liangzhou army to fight for Gaochang, from Gaochang to Yiwu (now Hami City), blocking the northern road. So I had to turn around and go south, preparing to take the middle road back to Liangzhou. Who knew that it happened to meet Liangzhou, Zhang Jun sent Shazhou Assassin Shi Yang Xuan to lead the army to conquer the Western Regions 1. Yang Xuantun's army was at the head of the sea, with the general Zhang Zhi as the vanguard, invincible, and his army was directed at Yanqi. Long Xiqin, the king of Yanqi Kingdom, led his army to resist the battle in Benlun City, and was defeated by Zhi. Zhang Zhi then went straight to the plough, and Long Xi led a group of 40,000 people to surrender. ”

"In order to avoid the Liangzhou army, we dived day and night, bypassing the sea, but we encountered horse thieves burning clouds at Bailongdui (northeast of present-day Lop Nur), and we were caught off guard and lost several of our companions. We waited for the remaining ten or so people to be captured, first pretended to obey, and then rode the horse thief unprepared, broke free from the rope, grabbed the horse and grabbed the bow, and went straight to the east. The horse bandits chased each other for several days, and some of their companions were physically exhausted one after another, and finally turned back to fight with the thieves. Under the cover of our companions, the three of us finally got rid of the horse thieves chasing after them with their superb equestrian skills. ”

"On the way to the end, we were all injured, but the other two were slightly weaker, and finally they couldn't get in, and they saw the Yumen Pass but couldn't walk in anymore, and finally I was the only one who struggled to enter the Yumen Pass. I sold almost all my belongings in Dunhuang, hired a doctor, and recuperated for three months, so that I could save a small life. ”

"Later, it was within the jurisdiction of Liangzhou, although the Zhang family was not a good thing, but the place under his management was quite peaceful, and it also allowed me to return to Guanzhong smoothly, who knows?"

Speaking of this, Zeng Hua couldn't help but sigh, the more he thought about it, the more sad and angry he became, and finally bowed his head with tears in his eyes and stopped talking. Everyone couldn't help but bow their heads gloomily, silent, and each of them lamented.

Zeng Hua was sad and angry that he left his hometown, said goodbye to his relatives forever, and was cheated by God with great difficulty, but why didn't he travel to other peaceful and prosperous times or better dynasties? ran to this chaotic dynasty. A little bit further back to the Three Kingdoms, with Lao Tzu's familiarity with "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", punched Cao Cao, kicked Liu Bei, sat down with Sun Quan, and then swept the surrounding Hu people, so as to avoid the later Wuhu chaos and the great tragedy of China. A little later, when I returned to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, I just didn't compete with the old Li family for the world, and it was not a plate of peanuts to be a hero of Lingyan Pavilion, and then I would enjoy glory and wealth in the prosperous era of the Tang Dynasty. But let Lao Tzu travel to the Eastern Jin Dynasty, a dynasty that had no village and no store in the past, this God really lost his conscience!

But others lament something else. Emperor Shizu Wu (that is, Emperor Sima Yan of Jin Wu) has only ruled the world for decades, and Taikang is prosperous as if it was still yesterday, the rebellion of the eight kings, Emperor Huai was captured in Luoyang, and Emperor Chu was captured in Chang, wave after wave. The Jin Dynasty is like a bud that has just revealed the tip of a small bud, and it was suddenly baptized. was destroyed by the Hu people and foreign people, in the history books, the Jin Dynasty was the first, but I don't know if it was the last?

After sighing for a while, Huan Wen and the others finally came back to their senses, the past has passed, the key is now.

"I heard that Zeng Gongzi is both civil and military, and he is quite strategic, and I am afraid that without your leadership along the way, these more than 1,000 homeless people will not be able to reach Nanxiang. It seems that it is located in the extreme west, and the Zeng family has not forgotten to teach and teach! Huan Wen then asked.

"The Zeng family has guarded the Western Regions for generations, hanging alone outside the west of the Jade Gate, but they dare not forget the Chinese heritage. Since childhood, there has been a husband in the family to teach and teach. It's just that it's in a remote area, and it can't learn profound knowledge, so it's just a few history books and the art of war. In addition, the location is treacherous, and there is no month of the year without bloody battles, so life-saving talents such as riding and archery skills must be learned. Zeng Hua replied unhurriedly.

"Good!" Huan Wen sighed, he had heard others recount the process of Zeng Hua leading the displaced people south, and he had also seen those spoils. As an experienced military commander, he understands the hardships involved, and what kind of orderly advance and retreat and moderate command are required. If this kind of ability is only superficially learned a few historical books on the art of war, it is estimated that many people who have read a few baskets of books on the art of war will have to buy ropes by themselves. But it's better for young people to be humble, especially in this special environment. It seems that the young man in front of him has seen it very thoroughly.

"If you have great talent, you must have great ambition! I wonder what ambition Zeng Gongzi has? Huan Wen asked again.

"Yuanzhi can't talk about it. When I first left the Western Regions, all I thought about was how to survive. Later, when I came to Guanzhong, I saw that scene, and I had many thoughts in addition to grief and indignation. Since God has allowed me to live smoothly in the Central Plains, I will do my best to do something for more people, this is my ambition. Zeng Hua replied indifferently.

"Do something for more people?" Huan Wen couldn't help but nodded, "I understand what Zeng Gongzi meant." It's just that Huan doesn't know what Zeng Gongzi wants to do? ”

"Forever, or 10,000 years!" Zeng Hua said it slowly word by word, and his heart was a little nervous. He who has read some history extracurricular books knows that the original historical version of this sentence is the Huan Wuzi in front of him.

Sure enough, Huan Wen's eyes flashed, his face changed, and he sat there in deep thought. Everyone was even more shocked, and they all raised their eyes to look directly at Zeng Hua.

Note: 1. In the official history, Zhang Jun sent Yang Xuan to fight Yanqi should be the first year of Yonghe (345 AD), and the plot needs, in order to match the tall and glorious image of the protagonist, let it advance one year to the second year of Jianyuan (344 AD).