Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3325: Human Heart

The sun is releasing more and more warmth, causing the temperature of the ground to continue to rise.

Xu Chu pushed his helmet, looked up at the sun in the sky, and frowned.

The camp he chose to set up was on an east-west plateau.

The length of the earth plateau from east to west is less than three miles, and the height is only ten meters. There are gentle earth slopes from north to south, so both soldiers and cavalry can go up and down the mountain smoothly. After all, they are the attackers, and they need to consider the speed of the troops entering and exiting, rather than the difficulty of defense.

The only things that had an impact were some trees and shrubs surrounding the plateau. Xu Chu had ordered his soldiers to cut down all of them. On the one hand, they could be used as fuel, and on the other hand, these trees and shrubs would not affect the passage of the army, while also reducing the potential risks of Cao's army.

But after Xu Chu set up the camp, he suddenly discovered a problem. This relatively safe location also had a bigger problem, which was that it was far away from the Sushui River, making it troublesome to transport water back and forth.

But it is not necessarily the case that Xu Chu chose the wrong location.

Because the current location, on the one hand, has not been destroyed by Cao's army, and on the other hand, it is far from the official road, so naturally there is no "special scenery" as before. Except for the slight trouble with water, there are no other problems.

  But will this problem become the subsequent means of Cao’s army?

Xu Chu dispatched additional scouts early in the morning to conduct reconnaissance along the Sushui River.

At noon, the scouts who went to investigate the Sushui River came back. They saw Xu Chu's flag and quickly came to report to him: "General! We found footprints of people and horses on the beach of the Sushui River! It is certain that Cao's army has been active recently. In addition, we found some scattered wooden fragments upstream of the Sushui River. I don't know what they are used for... The rest of the situation is still under investigation!"

Xu Chu's heart moved, and he immediately said to the guards around him: "Report to the central army immediately and report this news directly to the lord!"

……

……

About twenty miles behind Xu Chu's vanguard, Fei Qian's central army had already set up camp.

The camp occupied the high ground on both sides of the official road, and was scattered into a roughly plum blossom-shaped camp. In the middle was Fei Qian's core guard, and around it were the left, right, front and back divisions.

Different people have different feelings about the war that is about to break out.

For ordinary soldiers, some will feel nervous, but some will feel excited, and those non-commissioned officers from military academies gathered together and talked more about their merits and how many points they needed to meet the requirements for promotion to the next level.

Going up one level, mid- and high-level military generals, such as Xu Shu and Xun Chen, have more pressure because they need to make major decisions and take responsibility for the war.

Some medical staff accompanying the army were now anxious because they could not find the herbs they needed, so they distributed some samples and asked the scouts who were out to help find and collect them.

As for Huang Dou in the rear army, he had not been nervous about the war at all these days. Instead, he was busy studying the artillery tracks. He had some ideas, but unfortunately, due to the limited materials, he could only use wood to simulate the operation of the tracks. This made him somewhat anxious. He wished that the battle would end immediately so that he could return to the workshop and get whatever materials he wanted...

So overall, even if we are in the same place, in the same camp, facing the same thing, we will still have different ideas and different expectations. This is a problem that humans cannot avoid.

Fei Qian can only serve as the central core and coordinate and handle these problems arising from individual differences as much as possible.

After Xu Chu reported the location of the camp, Fei Qian immediately marked it on the map.

The distance between the front army and the central army is twenty miles, which is a relatively suitable distance. Moreover, Fei Qian’s army has a large number of cavalry units, so they can launch attacks, support, and encircle and intercept at certain positions at any time.

Cao Cao wanted to deploy his troops near Anyi, and did not go further down the slope or attack Emei Mountain. This was because Cao Cao was short of food and grass, and his soldiers' morale was almost exhausted. If Cao Cao attacked Emei Mountain and failed, the Yuncheng Basin would become a huge swamp from which he could never escape, which was even more terrifying than the glimmer of hope at Huarong Road.

Because Liu Bei in history had no cavalry, but the current cavalry does.

Cao Cao chose the area of ​​Anyi and Linyi, which was relatively close to the Zhongtiao Mountain camp, as the battle area. This was also a relatively thorough consideration. It could show Shandong's "strength" and also show a posture of accepting the battle. If Fei Qian did not go down Emei Mountain, then Cao Cao could return to Shandong after conquering Anyi, and he would not lose his "merit" and save face.

So once Cao Cao appeared in the Yuncheng Basin and deployed his troops in Anyi, Fei Qian would inevitably appear if he wanted to fight this battle...

Fei Qian walked out of the tent, put his hands behind his back, and looked towards the south.

This may be the fork in the road that determines the ultimate fate of the Three Kingdoms.

It is just like the Battle of Red Cliff in history. If Cao Cao had won in Red Cliff, there would be no Liu Bei and Sun Quan, and there would be no so-called Three Kingdoms.

The most important reason why Cao Cao lost the Battle of Red Cliff was certainly not Zhuge Liang's Dongfeng, but Cao Cao was not ready at the time. After Cao Cao won Jingzhou, he won without fighting for no reason, and suddenly got a large number of soldiers, supplies and warships, and he became arrogant.

So now, Fei Qian also asked himself softly, "Are you ready?"

  In this final battle of the Three Kingdoms?

After coming to this era, what Fei Qian was most uncomfortable with was not the cold winter or the hot summer, but the lack of a mobile phone. But when he really put down his mobile phone, Fei Qian realized that after taking the mobile phone out of his life, he suddenly had a lot more time, which he could use to read books, practice calligraphy, think, and explore...

So Fei Qian tried to guide the direction of the Three Kingdoms in another direction.

This feeling of changing the world with one's own power made Fei Qian obsessed, intoxicated, and excited.

The Yuncheng Basin is divided into two parts, north and south, with Anyi as the line, which can be said to be the gathering place of the most powerful military forces of this era.

Not to mention the cavalry, even the Qingzhou Army under Cao Cao in the south, which had been in the Central Plains for decades and was not disbanded until Cao Cao's death. If it weren't for Fei Qian's arrival, Cao Cao would have swept the entire north with this army, occupying two-thirds of the world, and finally exhausted Zhuge's lamp oil and Sun Quan's blood and courage.

But now, only Fei Qian knows these things, while the other civil and military officials under the command of the Cavalry have strong confidence in the victory of the Cavalry, believing that the Han Dynasty will return to the time when it ruled the world with Guanzhong as the core.

Fei Qian couldn't help but look back at the tent of Xun Chen, who was handling miscellaneous tasks in the central army, and the clerks queuing outside the tent.

It was precisely with the assistance of counselors like Xun Chen that Fei Qian was able to extricate himself from the complicated and specific affairs and think about longer-term and more ambitious goals.

The faces of Pang Tong, Xu Shu and others appeared in Fei Qian's mind again.

These people don't have the surname Fei, and Fei Qian... well, except for Pang Tong and Huang Zhong, most of the others have no kinship with Fei Qian. And even the kinship between Pang Tong and Fei Qian is a roundabout way of connecting them.

If it weren't for Fei Qian, perhaps Pang Tong would have died under thousands of arrows, Xun Chen would have disappeared in obscurity after the Battle of Guandu, Xu Shu would still be wandering around, and Huang Zhong could only survive until Dingjun Mountain to become a world-famous power...

Nanyang Lushan would not become a world-famous holy place, and Guanzhong would not attract waves of Jingxiang gentry to come.

Fei Qian shook his head gently, interrupting his thoughts, and turned to ask the guards behind him: "After defeating Cao's army in this battle...what do you want to do most?"

Several guards looked at each other, and then one of them, Fei Changfu, said loudly: "I will follow the master! Whatever the master tells me to do, I will do it! If the master says to attack Shandong tomorrow, I will attack Shandong. If I want to attack Xu County tomorrow, I will..."

"Ahem. The emperor is honored by Xu County..." Fei Qian waved his hands helplessly, interrupting Fei Changfu's words, "Xu County's words cannot be spoken falsely."

Fei Changfu quickly responded, but it was obvious that he did not take the so-called status of the emperor seriously.

As Fei Qian's power grew, the Fei family also grew stronger.

Some of them are members of the Fei clan who stayed behind after the death of Fei Qian's uncle. After hearing about Fei Qian, they came to join him one after another. Some are like Fei Changfu, who originally did not have the surname Fei but now changed it to Fei. Some are even more loyal than the ordinary Fei clan members, and some are even die-hard new Fei clan members.

In the early days when Fei Qian occupied Guanzhong, most of the guards around Fei Qian were from the Huang clan, and their loyalty was certainly not a problem. But later Pang Tong said that this was inappropriate, and Huang Cheng was subsequently sent out, and Wei Du was added. Later, Wei Du was injured and got Xu Chu...

In the process of constant replacement and replenishment of the Cavalry Guards, the proportion of Huang clan members gradually decreased, while the number of Fei clan members increased. However, this does not necessarily mean that it is a good thing.

Just like Fei Changfu, he is qualified to stay by his side as a guard, but if he really wants to be sent out to take up a post like Xu Chu, there might be some problems.

As the Fei Qian political group has developed to the present, the people in this political group have basically been firmly bound together and have common interests. As the scope of these interests expands and their strength increases, the political group's instinctive desire to devour its surroundings has been stimulated, just like Fei Changfu mentioned Xu County, Shandong.

This desire for expansion has become stronger and stronger. Even though Fei Qian repeatedly reminds himself to be cautious, it is inevitable that he will be frequently exposed to it in his daily life and then be influenced. Especially in terms of population and commercial needs, Shandong has a huge population and commercial market, which is what Guanzhong desires.

Cao Cao's restrictions on Guanzhong's products and the temporary severance of trade caused by the war would be like compressing a huge spring, either breaking it or causing a greater rebound. Now it seems that Cao Cao does not have the ability to break the spring, so the Guanzhong trade will inevitably have a greater impact on Shandong.

By that time, even if Cao Cao could still hold his position in Shandong, the Shandong political model had a serious lack of influence below the counties and prefectures, which meant that even if Cao Cao and others wanted to resist, they would not be able to change the huge changes that had taken place at the grassroots level.

However, the various conflicts arising from this are naturally inevitable.

When there is a conflict, there must be a coordinator to regulate the order and weigh the pros and cons. Therefore, even if Fei Qian has no intention of going further, he will inevitably be pushed to that position by his subordinates in the end. Just like Cao Cao and Cao Pi, father and son in history, when they reached that point, they had nowhere to go. Therefore, even if Fei Qian stopped and did not allow similar remarks as Fei Changfu, it was inevitable that people's hearts were different and they all had their own concerns.

Fei Changfu took the lead, and the other guards were not willing to fall behind.

"I am the same as Captain Fei! My father was just a farmer, and I never dreamed that I would have such a great honor today! My family can live such a good life now, and it is all given by the lord! My parents taught me, and the lord is like our family's reborn parents. I will listen to the lord's orders and will never frown even if I have to go through fire and water!"

This is a cliché, but it is also the truth.

"So do I! I remember my lord's teachings and want to work hard for world peace! I also want to do more for the people of the world, so that they can all live a good life like the people in Guanzhong!"

This is also a cliché, but it also has a bit more subtlety.

The guards who were left behind, who were usually not good at speaking, were encouraged by Fei Qian's eyes. The last two or three of them also plucked up the courage to say, "I, I was thinking... this could buy a piece of land for our family, land that belongs to our family..."

"As a subordinate, I just want to marry a wife, and then give birth to... a big fat boy..."

Fei Qian was stunned when he heard this, but then he started laughing, "This is a good wish! It's really good!"

The guards also laughed.

The world, family.

Family, the world.

Some people talk about the world, but in fact it's all for their family.

Some people are busy for their families, just like everyone else in the world.

Fei Qian was smiling, but saw a message in the distance raising a cloud of yellow dust. He stretched out his hand and pointed, and immediately a soldier came down the slope, came forward, took the urgent report sent by Xu Chu, and presented it to Fei Qian.

Fei Qian opened the urgent report, glanced at it for a few seconds, and his expression changed slightly. He turned back to his tent and ordered, "Go and invite Xun Changshi to come and discuss the matter."

The guard responded.

Fei sneaked into the big tent and sat behind the desk. He closed his eyes and thought for a moment, then opened Xu Chu's urgent report and read it again. Finally, he couldn't help but sigh softly, "Brother Meng De, have you really fallen to this point?"

……

……

Xu Chu rode his horse and stood on the hill.

His main task at this stage was to find out the movements of Cao's army and to eliminate the defensive fortifications in front of Cao's camp.

For example, caltrops and horse traps may appear anywhere.

This thing is extremely low cost, but can cause the cavalry to lose their war horses.

Therefore, Xu Chu had to use his own camp as the center point and clean out little by little, removing what could be removed and setting up warning signs for what was difficult to remove. These cleaning and inspection tasks were relatively easy and did not require too many cavalrymen, but there was another thing that was much more dangerous.

Ten miles away from Xu Chu's camp, cavalry scouts and Cao's scouts were fighting for control of the battlefield.

Cao's cavalry also chased and fought with the Hussar scouts at this last line, as if they were trying to save their last pair of underwear.

The closer they got to Cao's camp, the more fierce the resistance of Cao's cavalry became. The original squad of fifty people began to evolve into a squad of one hundred people, and even a formation of two or three hundred people.

Therefore, although the number of cavalry deployed by both sides was not large, probably only a few thousand at most, the yellow dust and flying sand raised made the entire wilderness restless. The mountains and plains were full of battlefields and people were fighting everywhere.

"General! These bastards are so slippery, should we send more troops to intercept them?" Li Li, a cavalry school student, reported, "As long as we send more troops to intercept them from both ends... Humph! We won't be afraid of not being able to catch these bastards!"

Xu Chu thought for a moment and shook his head, "Not appropriate. At the moment, both sides are just testing each other, it is not worth sending out a large army. And Cao's scattered soldiers are just to delay us from detecting the geography and clearing the traps."

"That's exactly what I mean." Li Li said, "We can pretend to send out a large army and pretend to catch these bastards. If they take the opportunity to escape, we will clear the trap. If they don't escape, it won't be a loss if we really catch these bastards!"

Xu Chu looked at Li Li with some surprise, and then said: "You are right... Then how many troops do you want?"

Li Li cupped his hands and said, "Five hundred men and horses are enough!"

Xu Chu thought for a moment and said in a deep voice: "Repeat the key points of the battle."

Li Li said loudly: "First, detect the geography and clear the traps! If Cao's army does not retreat, then we will surround and block them!"

Xu Chu nodded, "I'll watch from here! I'll give you 500 men and horses! Go!"

Li Li was overjoyed and took the order and left proudly.

Xu Chu watched Li Li arrive at the foot of the mound, and select five hundred men and horses. He did not take the southern slope, but rolled up the flag and slowly went out from behind the mound. He couldn't help but smile slightly, "This guy..."

Xu Chu said to his Xu clan members around him: "Look, this guy was just a small soldier on the frontier before, but now he knows how to use strategies! Think about yourselves! Don't read the military academy bulletins as stories all day long! Learn more, do you hear me?"

The Xu clan members all responded in agreement.

But Xu Chu knew that these guys would agree on the surface, but there was no guarantee that they would be able to produce a few people like Li Li in the end...

However, at this stage, Xu Chu's focus cannot be placed on these people. He is thinking about how to compete with Cao Cao's vanguard general, Cao Hong!

(End of this chapter)