Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3332 Big Surprise

"This really is what they call everyone in the world knows this... um, hahahaha..."

Fei Qian laughed twice, and then felt that the current situation was indeed a bit absurd.

As the army marched, Fei Qian continued to receive information from various sources, some sent by express horses and some by carrier pigeons.

Among all this information, there is a special phenomenon. It seems that in the blink of an eye, those people who were originally hesitant, vague and unclear, whether they were in Heluo or Hedong, whether they were in Guanzhong or Shandong, suddenly became clear in their attitudes.

It seemed that every day, someone would come to him and pat their chest to express that they were always loyal to Fei Qian and were ready to fight for the cause of the cavalry all their lives.

There are also many people who couldn't find a way before, but are now desperately trying to find a way, wanting to get in touch with the Cavalry, to have a casual relationship with them, and so on.

Moreover, this phenomenon has even spread from Heluo to Yanzhou, and even in Jizhou and Yuzhou, such signs have appeared one after another, making the intelligence personnel ambushing in Shandong happy, surprised and worried...

In the blink of an eye, it seemed as if the sky and the earth changed color, and the wind and clouds seemed to destroy the city.

Fatty Pang also found this matter a bit tricky, so he urgently sent someone...well, a bird to Fei Qian to ask for specific countermeasures.

At first, Fei Qian thought that there was nothing to consider about this matter. Isn't it a good thing? But after he thought about it carefully, he realized the problem.

"Good and bad are mixed together, and the mud and sand are mixed together." Fei Qian said slowly, "If we don't distinguish them, it will be the beginning of chaos. If we refuse to let them in, it will help the enemy and hinder them."

Xun Chen nodded, his eyes revealing a bit of surprise and respect, "My lord, it is a blessing for the world that you have such a thought!"

Fei Qian waved his hands, "It is easy to know, but difficult to do."

Xun Chen smiled and said, "Shi Yuan also knows that it is difficult for the lord to travel the world, so he asked this question."

Fei Qian sighed helplessly.

Seeing Fei Qian like this, Xun Chen smiled slightly, bowed his hands and said, "My lord, take care of the difficult matters. I will go and take care of some chores..."

Fei Qian could only stare, becoming more and more depressed.

What Xun Chen said was right. This problem can only be solved if Fei Qian thinks of a direction first, so that the people below can get to work.

However, even the blocked person couldn’t handle this problem properly.

Does Pang Pangniao really think that Fei Qian is Doraemon, who can take out something anytime and anywhere?

And under the names of the blocked people, many things were intentionally or unintentionally misleading...

Capital is in the pursuit of profits, and when it comes to thankless tasks, the attitude is basically the same: don’t do it if you can avoid it.

Then, if we apply these to this period of time, it is easy to find that these sons of gentry and noble families also have such excellent qualities, and they will not release the eagle until they see the rabbit. In other words, Fei Qian has finally become the "rabbit" seen by these sons of gentry and noble families at this stage.

Thinking of this, the slight joy that Fei Qian had originally felt in his heart suddenly disappeared.

Just like what Fei Qian and Xun Chen said just now, this matter cannot be pushed, it can only be pulled, and then hit after it is pulled over.

And they also have to give some "sweet benefits", that is, the so-called valuable horse bones.

Although this routine is indeed very old-fashioned, it works...

Therefore, the main direction is still "track down a few and let go of most."

hiss……

Fei Qian suddenly took a breath, as if he had an unusually familiar feeling.

Then the next operation will be, "don't kill any of them, and don't catch most of them"?

Orange hemp wheat skin.

After all, it is to encourage surrender.

However, it can be said that most of these people who surrender are double-dealers, and there will still be big problems in the future, and even major hidden dangers.

The man who couldn't speak once thought that he could handle it, or believed that his loyal subordinates could handle it, but later he found that it might take three years to learn to be good, but it would only take three days to learn to be bad...

So overall, we still have to do what we need to do, and we are still welcome, but we still can't put down the knife so easily.

Peace on earth is, after all, a beautiful vision.

However, Fei Qian's thoughts were quickly interrupted by the noise...

"boom! boom! 』

The roar of the huge artillery firing silenced all sounds in the surrounding area for a moment, leaving only the lingering sound of the artillery roar.

Well, from a certain perspective, the title of "God of War" for artillery is really not an exaggeration at all. Even the current primary artillery is just immature, even low-powered, and has many flaws. It is still full of power and does not speak easily, but once it speaks, everyone will be silent.

The weight of the artillery itself is not small, which leads to various problems when using traditional cart axles to transport artillery. Even if a wheel spoke breaks, it may cause a chain reaction and eventually cause the entire transport vehicle to stop for repairs. And the key is that repairs are also very inconvenient, after all, there are too many material restrictions in this era. There are a lot of wood, but it is not something that can withstand such a large weight, which is not something that wood can withstand.

The iron plates and axles were not good enough in terms of materials science to produce the high-strength steel required for bearings. Although this thing was widely used in later generations, not many people paid special attention to it. However, it was still stuck in the neck for a long time in the early days of the founding of the country. After China mass-produced it, capital was wailing...

The army stopped this time because Huang Dou said he had some ideas and wanted to conduct actual combat tests. After receiving the news from the vanguard Xu Chu, Fei Qian agreed to Huang Dou's request. After all, if the situation ahead is unfavorable, the army will naturally need to speed up to support. However, the situation ahead has achieved certain results, and Cao's army is unable to cope with the cavalry, so Fei Qian does not need to rush to meet Cao Cao.

The key is that the new idea proposed by Huang Dou is indeed very tempting...

The original artillery pieces all needed to be disassembled and assembled.

The fragile wheels and axles are simply unable to withstand the combined weight of the artillery and the recoil during the explosion, so the gun carriage must be placed when firing.

Now, based on Fei Qian's suggestion of "tracks", Huang Dou has constructed a concept similar to the artillery chassis of later generations...

Although Fei Qian knew that Huang Dou's idea would be very difficult to realize, he did not refute or criticize it. Instead, he asked the entire army to stop and provide Huang Dou and other craftsmen with space and time to experiment.

This also gave Huang Dou a "little temptation".

It is not a temptation to Huang Dou as a person, but to the entire class of craftsmen represented by Huang Dou!

Just like Fei Qian's consideration of those aristocratic gentry who jumped out at this stage and actively or passively bought good things and wanted to hook up with Guanzhong, it was necessary to make a certain "horse bone" effect. Those "horse bones" obviously have no real value, but for Fei Qian, he had to make such an attitude.

After all, no matter what the matter is, the power of action is always greater than verbal words.

Fei Qian said that in order to "give equal importance to the four classes of people", we must take actions that truly conform to this slogan.

Stopping the entire army was, on the one hand, for rest and recuperation, and on the other hand, it actually demonstrated real behavior, allowing all the military officials, soldiers and military academies to understand that Fei Qian's words of "giving equal importance to the four classes of people" were not empty talk.

The sound of the artillery stopped, and the pungent smoke gradually dissipated. Fei Qian saw Huang Dou and the craftsmen in the army flying around several artillery pieces in the wilderness in the distance, like bees finding nectar...

After a while, Huang Dou came to report to Fei Qian.

  Fei Qian originally thought that he had basically failed, but he did not expect to see a hint of joy on Huang Dou's face, which made him feel moved!

Could it be that Huang Dou’s idea was actually realized?

Huang Dou was obviously very happy, "My Lord! It's done! It's done! Only one is broken, the other two are fine!"

"Oh?" Fei Qian was also very surprised, "It really worked? That's great! This is really... such a big surprise!"

Yes, big surprise.

Originally, artillery was not only bulky, but also required a long time to load and unload from transportation to installation and finally to firing. It was like the siege equipment in the Age of Empires game, which had to be packaged for transportation and unfolded for attack. Regardless of whether it was packaged or unfolded, it was fragile and cumbersome.

And now, this elementary smoothbore artillery is coupled with an elementary crawler chassis...

  What is it?

Elementary self-propelled artillery?

  Oh, not counting self-propelled vehicles, but towed artillery?

Hahaha, this is such a big surprise!

……

……

At Tongguan, a small bronze cannon fired three times in succession, hitting Cao's infantry phalanx twice, leaving two long bloody streaks, but the gaps were quickly filled by Cao's soldiers on the back flanks, and the line remained largely intact.

While Cao Cao concentrated his main energy on Hedong to face Fei Qian, Cao's army at Tongguan had not completely given up hope of attacking Tongguan and was still using lives to dig a road to Guanzhong.

Cao's troops pressed under the earthen slope of the upper city of Tongguan, and then suppressed the defenders on the earthen slope of Tongguan with a volley of bows and arrows, but because of the height difference in distance, the effect was not actually very good.

After Cao's soldiers pressed down the front line, roars were heard from the rear of the Cao army formation. A dense crowd of ragged civilians appeared, carrying wooden shovels and rakes and other things and came to the Tongguan slope, ready to give the toes of the lying earth unicorn in Linzhiyuan a good polish and rest.

Cao's troops were always moving 50 steps outside the slope, shooting arrows at the Tongguan defenders on the slope. The civilians were risking their lives to expand the slope road between the upper and lower cities of Tongguan.

Because it is a deposit of loess, this loess is not as soft as the dust on the surface. After the outer layer of dust is removed, the loess underneath is indeed looser than the rock, but only to a limited extent. Otherwise, the earthen kilns on the Loess Plateau would not have been able to support themselves for decades or even hundreds of years without collapsing.

Because the laborers all came up to dig at the same time, there was no plan or goal. They just dug here and there. Sometimes the steps dug out in front were collapsed by the laborers behind.

Moreover, since these civilians had no cover, they were completely in a passive situation, and the volleys of Cao's army were more like comfort than suppression. However, after being bombarded many times, Cao's soldiers gradually learned how to avoid artillery fire. As long as they saw the direction of the artillery muzzle turn slightly, they would move left or right without saying a word.

Even if they didn't have time to leave, the Cao army soldiers would immediately crawl on the ground when they saw the flash of artillery fire, with smooth and skillful movements.

Under such circumstances, simple artillery bombardment could not gain a decisive advantage, so the artillery at Tongguan was more for intimidation and control of the situation on the field. Seeing that more and more Cao army soldiers were gathering over there, they would turn the muzzles of the guns over there, but they did not necessarily have to actually fire. The Cao army soldiers would then disperse again and give up the artillery's firing line.

War is boring and uninteresting most of the time.

In Tongguan, the city defenders Ma Yue and Zhu Ling stared at the Cao army soldiers coming and going. Their expressions on each other were rather dull, and there was even a lack of passion. They were like a couple who had been married for many years. They only felt disgusted and bored by the Cao army soldiers' enthusiasm for getting close to each other.

"I come here every day, but I can't get in..." Ma Yue suddenly said, "Is there still no news from Pang Lingjun?"

Before, Pang Tong asked Zhu Ling to wait for a while, but he didn’t say what he should wait for specifically.

Zhu Ling shook his head, "It's not the right time."

"When?" Ma Yue asked, "What do you mean by now?"

"This..." Zhu Ling said, "I don't understand either. Pang Lingjun didn't say anything, so I didn't dare to ask more..."

Ma Yue glanced at Zhu Ling and made a "tsk" sound.

"Hey, we are only using two or three cannons now, why don't they fall into our trap? It would be better if the Cao army's commander came up," Ma Yue said after a while, "We can just concentrate our fire on them here, and the Cao army will surely collapse!"

Zhu Ling also nodded.

Yes, yes, General Ma is right.

But in fact, both Ma Yue and Zhu Ling knew that the commander of Cao's army leading the troops in Tongguan was not a fool. He would never risk entering the artillery range of Tongguan under any circumstances. He would only keep sending those ordinary Cao's soldiers and lowly civilians to consume the artillery shells and gunpowder of Tongguan.

While the two were talking, on the Linzhi Plateau in Shangcheng, a transport convoy with mules and horses was preparing to return to Guanzhong.

Because going from the Linzhi Plateau to Chang'an also requires passing through the forbidden ditch, which is not easy to walk on, and people were also afraid that the mules and horses would be frightened and run away halfway after hearing the sound of artillery fire, so someone had to hold the reins of the mules and horses and walk down little by little.

These transport convoys were all supplies from Guanzhong to Tongguan. In addition to the usual weapons, weapons, and food, there were also a lot of gunpowder and artillery shells. Cao's army had always wanted to rely on consumption to make Tongguan run out of ammunition and food, but in fact, due to the rugged terrain of Tongguan, Cao's army's advantage in numbers could not be fully utilized. In addition, the artillery's inherent suppression of Cao's large-scale clusters made it impossible to raise the intensity of the battle in Tongguan, so there was no such thing as "running out of ammunition and food".

Zhu Ling looked back at the transport convoy and suddenly remembered something. He clapped his hands, "Aha! I guessed what time Pang Lingjun was talking about!"

"What?" Ma Yue also became interested, "Oh? Tell me about it!"

Zhu Ling pointed his finger, "At this time, it is up to these guys to decide!"

Ma Yue couldn't understand.

Zhu Ling pondered and said, "In addition to the original supplies, did the general find that there were some extra things in these two transport convoys... Well, it can't be said to be extra, but... how should I put it?"

Ma Yue shouted, "What do you mean? Just say it!"

Zhu Ling nodded and said, "There is just too much fodder!"

"Fodder?" Ma Yue asked.

"Yes, we have war horses in Tongguan, but because of this..." Zhu Ling stretched out his hand and gestured, "We can't use them, so we can't use them. But General, have you noticed that there must be a few carts of fodder in our transport team now! I originally thought that it might be that the officials in Guanzhong didn't pay attention, and they would just put them in the granary after collecting them, but now think about it... Hey! Before the troops move, the fodder must go first!"

When Ma Yue heard this, he pinched his beard and frowned as he thought, "Is that all? Maybe just... maybe..."

The more Zhu Ling thought about it, the more excited he became, as if he had seen the white moonlight in his heart back then. Hehehe, he giggled foolishly, "That's absolutely true! General! Don't you know Pang Lingjun? He's definitely that kind of trap... Well, he has deep strategies and far-reaching plans! Now we should prepare more fodder, it will definitely come in handy! Now Cao's army is sending people to dig and expand the passage up and down the slope. For Cao's army, digging wider and easier to walk on is indeed beneficial to Cao's attack, but, but! What if it's the other way around? Wouldn't it also be beneficial for the cavalry to be on high ground and break through Cao's camp? ! The key is that this road was dug for us by Cao's army! Hahahaha, it must be so, this is in line with Pang Lingjun's character!"

Ma Yue opened his mouth wide after hearing this, and swallowed his saliva after a moment...

What Zhu Ling said does seem to be somewhat similar to Pang Tong's style.

Just like Wei Shi in Guanzhong, Pang Tong was also waiting for Wei Shi to dig a hole and bury himself.

As he thought about it, Ma Yue also became excited, "It really is! If that's the case, haha, that would be great!"

Ma Yue was actually a cavalry general, so if he had the chance to mount a warhorse again this time, and lead the cavalry all the way from Guanzhong to Heluo, or even further to Yanzhou, Yuzhou, etc....

However, Ma Yue thought of another problem and said, "If this is the case, don't we have to fight on three fronts? All the way to Hedong, here at Tongguan, and there is Wuguan that can go straight down to Jingxiang!"

"Ah, if that's the case," Zhu Ling couldn't help but sigh, "If that's true, then it's a really big deal, a big surprise!"