jdhmnovel Chapter 159 Guan Xing: Zhou Xun, don't die here!
Chapter 159 Guan Xing: Zhou Xun, don't die here!
Singing is the easiest way to touch the soul and create a spiritual resonance.
In his previous life, Guan Xing was a well-known love song prince at school. He had a glorious record of using his singing to lure dozens of female students to hotels and even getting them to pay for their rooms. His singing skills were beyond doubt. After a few repetitions, the students all saw him as the frustrated but unyielding King of Hanzhong, and they shouted like they were on steroids that they wanted to cross the Yangtze River.
Although this burst of energy was short-lived, and after calming down one might even laugh at oneself, it planted a belief in the hearts of the soldiers, letting them know why they were fighting.
With this belief, it is believed that even if the Jiangdong army suffers a crushing defeat, the tragedy of sending 100,000 men to their deaths at Hefei will not happen again.
After five repetitions, Guan Xing's voice became hoarse. He took a sip of water and said, "Now I'll teach you to sing. We'll sing it line by line. All officers and battalion commanders, come over here. You learn first, and then pass it on to your subordinates. Teaching will be used as an assessment tool in the future, so you all need to pay attention."
The captains and battalion commanders sat among the students, singing along to Guan Xing's rhythm: "Smoke rises, we gaze northward across the land..."
When a professional sings a song, it produces beautiful melodies that touch the soul; but when a group of unprofessional people sing together, it becomes a noise-generating machine.
The camp was filled with howling and wailing, so unbearable that Guan Xing wished he could stuff a piece of cloth into his ears.
Guan Xing endured the discomfort and taught for two whole hours, successfully ruining his voice. Now, when he tries to speak, it's as if he has a severe cold and he can barely make a sound.
Finally, when they could no longer sing, they asked the battalion commanders to find wooden boards, write down the lyrics, and stand them up in front of their respective battalions. Then they had the soldiers stand separately, each drawing a one-meter square study area in front of them, and using twigs to copy the lyrics on the ground. Once they were full, they would erase them and continue writing.
Writing doesn't necessarily require paper and pen; you can write anywhere—on trees, on the ground, or on walls—if you're willing.
Moreover, writing is something that comes with practice; if you write the same character thousands of times, even the dumbest person can remember it.
The benefits of this learning method are obvious. It is not only economical but also easy to popularize. In addition to the newly recruited thousand students, other soldiers can also participate. It is equivalent to a full-scale literacy campaign for the entire army.
The downsides are equally obvious: students suffer too much in class, and if it rains, the whole class has to rest. But there's no other way. Guan Xing has no classrooms, no desks, and no pens and ink. What else can he do?
In the days that followed, Guan Xing rearranged his schedule. He would get up in the morning and run laps, then do some simple training for half an hour. After that, he would start singing to familiarize himself with the lyrics. In the afternoon, he would squat on the ground to copy the lyrics. In the evening, he would sing the lyrics a few more times around the campfire before going back to rest. His days were monotonous yet fulfilling.
They filled the city's population with food, but it was a disaster for them. Every day, they could hear the ghostly howls coming from the military camp, a noise that shook heaven and earth.
The common people didn't react much, but Zhang Chengzhou and the other three, who were under house arrest in the backyard of the county government, had a lot of complaints about it.
After placing the four under house arrest, Guan Xing, fearing they would be too idle, had a table made and a set of mahjong tiles prepared for them to pass the time.
So for a while, the four of them played mahjong under the shade of the tree every day. They were having a pretty good time, but after a few days of comfort, noise started to appear.
The noise coming from outside the city was intermittent and the lyrics were impossible to understand, yet it was inexplicably irritating.
Today, the four of them started playing mahjong again. After playing for more than half an hour without winning a single hand, Zhuge Ke was already irritable. Hearing the wailing and howling outside the city, he angrily cursed, "Eight of Bamboo! What the hell is Guan Xing doing outside the city? He keeps making a racket like a funeral every day, it's giving me a headache."
Zhou Xun, who had just discarded a six of circles and was immediately defeated by Quan Cong with seven pairs, also lost his temper. He pushed the mahjong tiles in front of him and said irritably, "I'm not playing anymore, I'm going back to sleep."
After saying that, he got up and was about to leave when he suddenly felt dizzy from standing up. He fell straight down, coughing violently and bleeding from his nose as he fell.
This startled Zhang Cheng, Zhuge Ke, and the other two, who rushed forward and shouted, "Zhou Xun, Zhou Xun, are you alright?"
Seeing that he hadn't woken up, Zhuge Ke asked anxiously, "What's going on? That bastard Guan Xing wouldn't have poisoned us, would he?"
Zhang Cheng shook his head and said, "Impossible. If he had poisoned us, how come the three of us are unharmed? He must have some serious illness. Quickly send the garrison to find Guan Xing. Doesn't he have a famous doctor under his command?"
Upon hearing this, Zhuge Ke immediately notified the sentry captain who was guarding them. The captain dared not delay and rushed to the camp outside the city. After reporting the news, he entered the camp and saw Guan Xing in the distance. He couldn't wait to shout, "General, something bad has happened! Zhou Xun has fainted!"
Guan Xing, who was teaching a class, changed his expression slightly upon hearing this. He quickly raised his hand to silence the students and stared at the team leader who had run over, asking, "What's going on? What happened to Zhou Xun?"
The captain, panting, said, "I don't know. He suddenly fainted and is bleeding from all seven orifices. I guess he has some serious illness and probably won't live for more than a few days. What should we do, General?"
Guan Xing was stunned. Then he remembered something: Zhou Xun seemed to have died young in history, passing away in the first year of Huanglong, which was 229 AD.
It is now the 25th year of Jian'an, which is 220 AD. Does that mean Zhou Xun only has nine years left to live?
Historical records state that Zhou Xun died of illness, while conspiracy theorists believe that he was murdered by Sun Quan. Regardless of the cause of death, he was not expected to live for more than a few years.
But even if someone dies from illness, they still have nine years left. Isn't it a bit too early for them to develop symptoms now?
Thinking of this, Guan Xing recalled something else: the historical Guan Xing himself seemed to have died young, falling ill on the eve of Zhuge Liang's sixth Northern Expedition.
If I remember correctly, Zhuge Liang's sixth Northern Expedition was in the eighth year of Jianxing of Shu Han, which is 230 AD.
So, historically, Zhou Xun and Guan Xing died around the same time, meaning I only had ten years left to live.
Guan Xing was startled and immediately shouted, "If Zhou Xun is sick, go find Old Man Cheng! Why are you looking for me? I'm not a doctor!"
While scolding him, he made up his mind that when he saw Old Man Cheng, he would definitely have him take a good look at him. He was not yet thirty years old and died young. He probably had some kind of hidden illness. He had to find it and treat it as soon as possible to nip the disease in the bud.
Even if he dies young, he can't die before Guan Yu, right? Besides, he still has many grand plans to realize, and he hasn't even gotten married yet. He doesn't want to die so early.
No, I must let Old Man Cheng treat me. I don't ask to live to be a hundred, but I must at least live to be sixty.
Seeing that Guan Xing was distracted, Xie Chong quickly reminded him, "But General, Physician Cheng is currently serving as the magistrate of Zhuji, which is two or three hundred miles away from Wushang."
Guan Xing hurriedly shouted, "Then go and invite him! Send an urgent messenger to bring Old Man Cheng back as quickly as possible. We must save Zhou Xun for me no matter what. Even if we can't save him, we must find a way to keep him alive. Zhou Xun must not die in our territory. If he has to die, he should go home and die."
As Zhou Yu's eldest son, Zhou Xun held a special position in Jiangdong, and he absolutely could not die in Wushang City.
If he really died in Wushang, everyone would think that Guan Xing killed him, and even if Guan Xing jumped into the Yellow River, he would never be able to clear his name.
So Zhou Xun's life had to be kept hanging, but he couldn't do it himself, so he could only trouble Old Man Cheng to make the trip.
Watching the messenger's departing figure, Guan Xing murmured, "Old Cheng, I have no choice. You have to understand me."