Three Kingdoms

Under Tongguan, dozens of soldiers were directing some civilians to repair and replace the broken and damaged city walls and gates, and to clean the trenches filled with countless corpses.

The city wall has been riddled with holes. In some places, the city wall is already crumbling. It is only temporarily supported by wooden supports and wooden boards, and then filled with sand to barely maintain its shape. . Even if the wall is complete, many places are exposed. The blue bricks that originally covered it are not known to have fallen off during the previous battle, or were not there in the first place. After being soaked by human blood and rain, they almost turned into black. The pockmarks are normal, a little bit on the left and a little on the right.

The corpses in the ditch, whether they belonged to Xiliang or Hongnong, now have a common name, corpses.

These corpses have been piled up in the trench for a long time, at least more than ten days. Although the temperature in the past two or three years has been weird and relatively low, the arrival of early summer has forced the people of Tongguan to The people inside had to clean up.

because,

really,

It stinks...

This stench comes from human beings' own corruption.

No matter whether you were a young girl full of collagen during your lifetime or an elderly person already covered with age spots, after you take your last breath, the whole body system stops functioning, and the various bacteria that were originally stored in the body will cease to function. Fungi, just like today's Han Dynasty, finally lost the suppression of the regular army and gradually developed wildly.

The proteins, fats and carbohydrates in body tissues are continuously decomposed into simple organic and inorganic substances under the action of putrefactive bacteria. The tissues and organs gradually liquefy and disintegrate. Finally, the soft tissues disappear and bones remain that cannot be easily decomposed by bacteria and fungi... …

The first thing to start rotting is the human intestines.

These places where countless living or inanimate creatures have been swallowed and buried are also the starting point of human beings' own decay. Once the body's organs stop functioning, it only takes a few hours for the bacteria in the intestines to grow to terrifying levels and then begin to decompose everything around them, producing hydrogen sulfide, mercaptans, thioethers, ammonia, methane, and carbon dioxide. and other putrefactive gases.

Part of these putrid gases are discharged through wounds, mouth, nose and other places, and part of them fuse with the blood in the corpse to form corpse green, which then gradually spreads and eventually appears as corpse spots.

As the corpse spots further expand and spread, the blood in the visceral blood vessels is forced by the putrefactive gas to flow to the body surface. The subcutaneous veins expand and are filled with putrefied blood, so that a red or green dendritic blood vessel network appears on the body surface of the corpse. At this time, the corpse It has gradually separated from the human form and gradually transformed into a ghost...

Dozens of soldiers stood far away in the limelight. Even so, they were still unable to avoid the attack of waves of stench. This stench was like an all-pervasive, extremely tiny and extremely sticky insect, even if the mouth and nose were firmly entangled. Even if you cover it tightly, it will still stick to your skin and get into your clothes. Then it will break through the skin and penetrate into the depths little by little.

The soldiers could still stay away from these dirty places, but the civilians who were called to carry the corpses could not hide away.

The civilian husband walked among the corpses one foot deep and one foot shallow, trying hard to drag the corpses that had become extremely stiff. It looked like a group of ghosts that were still able to move, dragging the fallen ghosts.

Groups of green, red, and black flies only flew up lazily when humans were very close, then spun around in a small circle and landed in their original positions again, raising their hind limbs and rubbing. Rubbing their wings, they look extremely comfortable and not afraid of human activities at all. Here, they are the kings.

Several fat rats were squirming around in the gaps between the corpses. These little guys had bulging bellies and red eyes. Sometimes they would stop and stare viciously at the big men who dared to disturb their feast, and then grind away. Grinding his teeth, shaking his belly again, he got into the darkness.

An orderly soldier covered his nose and ran across the re-paved suspension bridge, and then came to the commander who was commanding the civilians. He took a few breaths and said: "Mr. Yang has an order to speed up the cleaning! Especially near the city gate, It has to be cleaned up first!”

The Qu Commander quickly answered with his hands, and then called to his subordinates: "Why are you standing so far away? Duke Yang has ordered that the entire city gate must be cleared within today! Did you all hear that?!"

"I heard it!" his soldiers responded.

"Chang Qu, Mr. Yang's government office is located further north. Why don't you clean it from north to south first, but clean the city gate first?" asked a soldier who looked a little clever.

Qu Chang glared: "Are you asking me? Who the hell am I going to ask? Go to work quickly, don't come here and be an eyesore!"

After driving away the talkative soldier, Qu Chang pinched the short beard on his chin and thought, yes, logically speaking, it must be urgent for Mr. Yang to clean up over there first, so as not to let the stench spread. The noble man arrived, but Duke Yang ordered that the city gate be dealt with first...

However, Qu Chang still needs to deal with another problem now, that is, we must clean up the city gate as soon as possible, but we only have these manpower. We have to drag, dig holes, and fill the land. After all, this takes a lot of work. Yes, it's better to...

Qu Chang rolled his eyes. It was ordered by Mr. Yang himself. Naturally, he couldn't slack off. If he did it well, it would be nothing if he couldn't do it. But if he didn't do it well, it would naturally make Mr. Yang unhappy. Then he Where else can I get some good fruit to eat?

Forget it, Commander Qu stamped his feet, grabbed a soldier next to him, and whispered a few words...

Within two days, Yang Biao's intention of asking people to speed up the cleanup near Tongguan City Gate was naturally revealed, because the distinguished guests invited by Yang Biao arrived.

When distinguished guests come to the door, they naturally need to sweep their couches to greet them. After all, there is a battlefield outside Tongguan, which is a mess, so it is only possible to clean up the area near the city gate first.

After all, if Yang Biao came to greet him, he would feel uncomfortable standing near the city gate, right?

The distinguished guest who came to Tongguan was Zhu Jun.

Speaking of which, Zhu Jun once had a chance to become the second Dong Zhuo...

When Niu Fu was still alive, he sent Li Jue and Guo Si to attack Luoyang. Zhu Jun could not resist, so he took the initiative to evacuate Luoyang, preserving part of his strength.

Then something interesting happened.

Tao Qian, the governor of Xuzhou, believed that Zhu Jun was a famous minister and general who had made many military exploits and could be entrusted with a major task, so he joined forces with Zhou Qian, the former governor of Yangzhou, Yinde, the prime minister of Langxie, Liu Kui, the prime minister of the East China Sea, Ji Lian, the prime minister of Pengcheng, and Beihai Kong Rong, the prime minister, Yuan Zhong, the prime minister of Pei, Ying Shao, the prefect of Taishan, Xu Qiu, the prefect of Runan, Fu Qian, the former prefect of Jiujiang, Zheng Xuan, the imperial doctor, and others all recommended Zhu Jun as the grand master and prepared to launch an army to attack Li Jue, Guo Si and others.

But just when these people were happily preparing for the second jujube alliance battle, Yang Biao and Fei Qian's message was passed to the hands of the shepherds, and it was like a basin of cold water splashed head-on in the cold weather of March 9th. Water extinguished the burning fire in these people's hearts.

Presumably the mood of these people at that time was too complicated to describe...

However, Zhu Jun didn't care too much about this matter. After all, he didn't want to hold the position of so-called "Grand Master"...

Zhu Jun's father passed away when he was young. His mother once made a family business by selling silk tapes. When he was young, he was often said to be a profit-seeking person. It can also be said that he came from a poor family and then worked his way up step by step. , the most knowledgeable person, how could he easily agree to sit in such a position full of thorns?

This time, it was Yang Biao who sent someone to explain the current predicament in earnest words, and Zhu Jun just agreed to help Yang Biao.

In his life, Zhu Jun went to Jiaozhou, fought in Xiliang, suppressed the rebels, and defeated the Yellow Turbans. Such a person has seen too many deaths, so when he came to Tongguan, even though there were still too many traces of gunpowder smoke, there were still a large number of corpses waiting to be disposed of. The lingering stench in the air, but for Zhu To Jun Li, it's like you haven't seen it before.

The two sides met at Tongguan, and Yang Biao hurriedly invited Zhu Jun into the city.

This environment was so harsh that Yang Biao couldn't help it...

Although Yang Biao had more than a dozen sachets hung inside his robe, and his clothes were specially scented several times with incense, he still couldn't resist the stench coming from him. If it weren't for Zhu Jun's treatment of Yang Biao, More importantly, Yang Biao really didn't want to step into this disgusting place.

Zhu Jun, however, acted as if he didn't smell anything. He turned around and looked at the corpses piled up by civilians in the distance, frowning and said: "Mr. Yang, I was traveling against the current on a certain road, and I saw corpses floating down along the way. Could it be..."

Yang Biao frowned when he heard this.

In the Han Dynasty, after death, it was important to rest in peace in the grave.

If they were members of the noble clan, they would have to be buried with great splendor, even consuming all the family's property and burying it with them without hesitation. This was mainly related to the fact that the Han Dynasty had always praised filial piety, because it was necessary to pay tribute to the deceased relatives. Those whose families are ruined by funerals will not only not be called fools, but will also be praised more...

But ordinary people don't have such good treatment.

Dig a hole, throw it in, and fill it with soil, and it's pretty good.

After all, sometimes in order to intimidate opponents or show off martial arts, it is often necessary to cut off human heads to create Jingguan...

Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun, and even many generals have done this.

But of course there is no need for this here in Tongguan. Who can I show it to as a Jingguan?

Hongnong people or Guanzhong people?

As for the Xiliang people, they are not here at all, even if they are displayed, they cannot be seen.

So naturally they were buried together. After all, most of them were from Yang Biao's hometown...

But since Zhu Jun said that he saw many corpses floating down the river along the way, it means that the small official in charge of this matter was lazy.

"Somebody come!"

Yang Biao gave the order and immediately had the official and Qu Chang in charge of the matter brought to him.

After asking a few questions, the music director fell to his knees, kowtowed and confessed his guilt.

It turned out that in order to speed up the cleaning and sorting of the city gate, Qu Chang did not bury all the corpses that were recovered later, but threw them into the river to save trouble. As expected, Yang Biao was in Tongguan anyway. I didn’t know how to go to the lower reaches of the river, so I couldn’t find this, but I didn’t expect Zhu Jun to say it...

"How dare you!" Yang Biao yelled angrily, "How dare you commit adultery and treachery, and violate the law!"

He immediately beheaded the clever and arrogant Qu Chang in public, and then tied the officials in charge of supervision under the city gate. He was punished with twenty sticks for the crime of lax supervision...

Even so, Yang Biao was still a little angry.

The purpose of inviting Zhu Jun this time was to allow Zhu Jun to replace Huangfu Song and lead the troops to complete the great cause of marching into Chang'an. However, he did not expect that Zhu Jun would see this scene just after he arrived at Tongguan.

This matter is not a big deal, but the problem is that Zhu Jun, who has just arrived, proves that Yang Biao does not have enough control over the soldiers...

How can this make Yang Biao not angry?

But this was already the case, and Yang Biao had no choice. After all, he was not from a military family, so although he knew some things, he was not very good at it.

"The Marquis of Qiantang..." Yang Biaolue said with a look of embarrassment, "...we hope that the Marquis of Qiantang can help us with our military affairs... This is not the place for a conversation, so I ask the Marquis of Qiantang to go into the city to rest first. Tomorrow at Mao hour, at a certain date Gather the generals to pay my respects!" After saying this, he invited Zhu Jun to ride in his canopy car.

Zhu Jun was not too polite. He slightly cupped his hands and said, "Mr. Yang shows his love, so I naturally try my best to repay him."

As soon as he entered Tongguan City Gate, Zhu Jun frowned again.

There are too many people in Tongguan.

The entire street was in a mess due to the influx of a large number of civilians, and the failure of grassroots officials to plan and improve it. Only the main street where Yang Biao and others were marching was relatively good...

Zhu Jun opened his mouth slightly, then glanced at Yang Biao beside him, and finally closed his mouth and suppressed his words.

Although such a situation does not meet the requirements of the art of war, because on the one hand it is difficult to manage, and on the other hand once a situation similar to a camp roar occurs, the crowding of people can easily lead to the development of an uncontrollable disaster.

Although Yang Biao was full of knowledge and famous all over the world, after all, he was not a military commander.

Zhu Jun sighed with emotion, but he was not going to talk about it now. Anyway, it would be fine to make corrections after he is officially granted the authority to command the troops tomorrow. Anyway, it would not be more than two days. We were already at Tongguan City Gate before. Although our intention was good, it was a bit of a disgrace to Yang Biao. If we continue to talk about this now, it would inevitably seem that we don’t take Yang Biao seriously...

No matter what, you have to give Yang Biao three points of face, right?

A group of people with flowing sleeves and well-dressed people rode a canopy car along the street and slowly turned towards the government office of Tongguan, where a grand and grand welcome dinner was about to be held. Although it was Tongguan with simple conditions, it was full of delicious food and wine. There are a lot of them, and some singers Yang Biao brought from Hongnong performed...

The sky gradually darkened, smelling the faint fragrance of wine and meat wafting from the government office, and listening to the faint sound of tinkling silk and bamboo, the ordinary people in Tongguan silently set up stoves. , silently looking at the black and green boiled wild vegetables in the earthenware cauldron, silently swallowing saliva.

As the smoke rose, some people couldn't help but gritted their teeth, stood up and took out the grain jar hidden in the corner, pinched out three or five grains of something similar to wheat millet, and sprinkled it carefully into the cauldron. It’s also considered a snack.

At the end of the dark alley in Tongguan, I don’t know whether it was because the firewood was too wet, the smoke was too strong, or for some other reason. Severe coughs accompanied by smoke came from a simple shed...