People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 100 The Three Stooges

The situation was exactly the same as Zhang Zhongjing's last time. Although the airbag became inflated under the action of hot air, it was only inflated. The entire hot air balloon showed no signs of taking off.

There was no need for Zhang Zhongjing to explain this, as Xu Chen could see the problem himself.

It has been a while since it happened. If it wanted to fly, it should have done so long ago. The current situation is obviously not normal. We can only say that there is indeed a problem.

The situation was clear now, so Zhang Zhongjing naturally stopped adding fuel to the fire and jumped out of the hanging basket. By this time, he was already sweating profusely, and his face and head were covered with ashes.

However, he didn't care about his own embarrassment at all. As soon as he came out, he immediately pulled Xu Chen to ask: "Master, can you see any clues?"

Xu Chen did not answer immediately, but instead walked around the hot air balloon and observed it.

If the fire source is extinguished, the airbag will naturally deflate, but the diameter of more than ten meters still looks like a huge and oppressive thing.

Finally, he jumped onto the support, took a closer look, and touched the silk material of the airbag. He seemed to have realized something, and then he jumped down with a smile.

Zhang Zhongjing knew Xu Chen had figured it out when he saw his expression, and his tone became expectant: "How is it?"

Xu Chen smiled and said, "I think it's because of the airtightness. Although the silk cloth is dense, it is silk fabric after all. There are more gaps than imagined. It can't hold the heat, so naturally it can't generate enough buoyancy."

Zhang Zhongjing was stunned when he heard this. After thinking for a moment, he looked up at the air bag and then nodded, as if he thought it made sense.

Even with this being the case, he couldn't help but worry, because the problem of materials was not so easy to solve.

Silk was the best material he could think of. If that didn't work, then what should he use? Leather?
The leather is airtight enough, but if it is sewn into such a large air bag, the weight will be much greater, not to mention that working with leather is not easier than working with silk.

Xu Chen glanced at him and saw that Zhang Zhongjing looked miserable and felt funny: "I have a method, why don't you try it, Zhongjing?"

Zhang Zhongjing was shocked, and turned around to stare at Xu Chen, his eyes almost glowing: "Please give me some advice, Taoist priest!"

Xu Chen set his eyes on the airbag: "If we brush a few layers of resin on the outside of the airbag, it might work."

Resin...

After hearing this answer, Zhang Zhongjing just thought about it for a moment, and then he immediately became excited. Finally, he clapped his hands vigorously, and it was unclear whether he was talking to himself or to Xu Chen.

"Yeah, why didn't I think of it? It will work this time, it will definitely work!"

Zhang Zhongjing muttered just this, and finally left the training ground as if no one was around, as if he had completely forgotten that Xu Chen was standing there.

Xu Chen fell silent when he saw this. He could only sigh at Zhang Zhongjing's spirit. The professional attitude of these big guys in doing things was indeed not something that ordinary people could match.

This kind of enthusiasm of devoting one's whole heart and soul to something is actually very rare, and it is no wonder that Zhang Zhongjing achieved such high achievements in the history of Eastern medicine.

Xu Chen shook his head and returned to the office again.

It's not easy to be the leader of a sect. Now I really want to be torn into eight pieces. I have to worry about the governance of my own territory, consider the compilation of the "Natural Classic", and teach batches of peasants. Even Zhang Zhongjing has to find trouble for me.

In other words, Xu Chen is a vigorous and healthy young man of 16 years old, otherwise he would have been drained of all his energy long ago.

Today's government office actually also serves as a night school. At night, the first batch of senior officer cadets and craftsman cadets will come here on time to attend classes.

Due to the lack of teaching materials and stationery, the teaching effect can only be described as unsatisfactory, and Xu Chen has been teaching just by gritting his teeth.

He waited for these craftsmen to master the papermaking process, and then immediately made books and charcoal pencils, and then used printing to print teaching materials. As for what these teaching materials were, they were of course the "Nature Sutra" which was mixed with a lot of basic education content.

He calculated the time and thought the papermaking workshop would be almost finished.

At this time, Xu Chen could only hold the brush and write crookedly on the bamboo slips to prepare for tonight's teaching.

But he had just written for a while when someone came again, informed by his personal guards, to ask for a meeting. It was Wang Dang, the leader of the Yellow Turbans, who came to see him.

Xu Chen could only put down his pen helplessly and couldn't help but sigh. He was basically in this state every day. The work in his hands hadn't been finished yet, but people came to him one after another.

Wang Dang walked in hurriedly, still with his previous carefree personality. After looking around as soon as he came in, he sat cross-legged on the mat on the side, picked up a kettle on the table and took a few sips. After a while, he wiped his mouth and calmed down. Then he looked at Xu Chen who was sitting on the main seat and grinned.

"Master, I have already picked out a hundred or so smart people as you instructed and dispersed them to the surrounding counties. This way, we will be able to know something about any movement in the surrounding areas in the future."

"That's great, but what are the results?" Xu Chen smiled when he heard that. He had specifically instructed Wang Dang to do this and get some spies to gather information and intelligence in the surrounding areas.

After all, the Yellow Turbans are surrounded by enemies on all sides, and it would not work if they kept acting blind.

With these spies, even if we can't find out anything secret, at least major movements can be reported in a timely manner.

For example, the most critical military movements cannot be concealed. If the surrounding areas want to take action, they will have to make some military preparations in advance. Then the spies can play a role in giving themselves advance warnings.

When Wang Dang finished this matter, he actually found out some information from the outside world.

"After Zhang Chun fled to Youbeiping, he accepted Tian's recruitment and now has a place to stay. As for the relationship between the two, it is not very clear.

There are also spies who have gathered information. After we left Zhuo County, Gongsun Zan suddenly gained power. Now he has combined the power of the powerful people in various counties to dominate one side and is quite powerful.

It’s just that…it’s just that the places we cleared, such as Zhuo County, Gu’an, and Fanyang, have been occupied by local tyrants again, and even the wealth distributed to the people has been taken back by the tyrants and Gongsun Zan.”

When he said this, Wang Dang took another big gulp of water, then slammed the table heavily, his anger and unwillingness evident in his expressions.

“To say that they took it back is to glorify Gongsun Zan and his men. In fact, they used this as an excuse to rob the people. After this, not only did the people lose their wealth, but they also robbed them of all their original properties.

Those guys are officials of the imperial court, but their behavior is no different from that of bandits. It is really despicable. It is a pity that we are unable to fight back now, otherwise we will definitely give justice to the people of Zhuo County!"

Upon hearing this, Xu Chen was silent for a moment.

Gongsun Zan's behavior was not unexpected to him, but when he really heard about it, he still found it a bit absurd.

It can only be said that this itself is a precursor to troubled times. The central government lacks control over the local governments, and such lawless behavior will become more and more frequent in the localities.

But Wang Dang is indeed more aware now. In the past, the Yellow Turbans had robbed civilians many times, but now he can stand indignant from the perspective of the common people.

"What we can do now is to strengthen ourselves as quickly as possible so that we can go back to Zhuo County again." Xu Chen sighed. He could do nothing about the people of Zhuo County.

Wang Dang understood, but shook his head helplessly, and then continued to talk about other situations: "There is one thing that we should be vigilant about. Recently, the people often remind us that the northern barbarians often invade the border during the autumn harvest. Yuyang is directly facing the northern plains, and Guangping is the first to bear the brunt. I'm afraid we should take precautions in advance."

Upon hearing this, Xu Chen's expression suddenly became serious. This was indeed a problem that could not be taken lightly.

Although the Central Plains had always been able to suppress the barbarians in the border areas, whether in the late Eastern Han Dynasty or the Three Kingdoms period, they could only fight back and could not do things like plowing the fields and sweeping the holes, so there were always many invasions by the barbarians in the border areas.

By the time of Emperor Ling, there were records of border violations almost every year, and the Han Dynasty's counterattacks had achieved little success.

Gongsun Zan's initial fame began when he and Zou Jing fought against bandits and made great military achievements, which gradually led to his rise to fame.

However, now that the Yellow Turbans have occupied several counties in Yuyang, it is possible that I will also face this kind of pressure.

Autumn harvest is the harvest season for Han farmers, and to some extent it is also the harvest season for the Hu people outside the Great Wall. Food is always the most important wealth of this era, and it is something that everyone covets and fights for.

After hesitating for a while, Xu Chen looked at Wang Dang.

"Now our army faces two major military pressures. One is the officers and soldiers in the surrounding areas who may attack our army at an uncertain time, and the other is the looting of the Hu people in the north.

Our army is not afraid of deploying troops for battle, but we are afraid that the enemy will invade the villages controlled by our army, and this situation is bound to happen.

The countryside is the foundation of the Yellow Turbans. To prevent this harm, I propose to establish a rural joint defense mechanism. Local garrison chiefs and squad leaders should often practice the reactions of the people fleeing and avoiding the enemy.

When the enemy comes, the local authorities must be able to communicate the news on their own and evacuate to the mountains with supplies as soon as possible. Militarily, they must also be able to immediately gather reserve troops from various villages to resist and wait for support from the main force.

In short, there is only one principle: no matter who comes, the local military settlements must react quickly and suffer minimal losses!

As for how to do it, you can convene a seminar for military officers to come up with a plan, and then submit it to me. I will approve it and then implement it.”

Xu Chen does not seek to take on all the Yellow Turbans' affairs now. Except for those that are absolutely indispensable to him, he is willing to let the Yellow Turbans exercise their own initiative to try to solve them.

Once you have taken control of the direction, the wisdom of the group will only be better than your own, even if you are a person from the future.

As the saying goes, three cobblers are better than one Zhuge Liang, this is exactly the truth.

(End of this chapter)