Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3343 Whose Violence Is It?

The Hedong area has been a battleground for military strategists since ancient times.

Everyone understands this, but who can win the fight is the most crucial issue.

Fei Qian personally led the army all the way down from Linfen and headed straight for Anyi.

The army flags fluttered, the soldiers and horses were in a hurry, the iron hooves crushed the morning dew, and also startled the birds and beasts living in the forest. The troops moved forward slowly with solemn steps, the soldiers' eyes were firm, their armor was shining, and their swords and spears were like a forest, showing the majesty and strictness of the cavalry.

This is what some "cultured people" think...

But in fact, the marching road is not that beautiful.

Although Fei Qian is also an old soldier, every march is a torture.

First of all, I have no hands...

Well, Fei Qian has actually gotten used to not having electronic products, but the most painful thing during the march is the lack of water.

In other words, there was no bottled water like in later generations that can be drunk anytime and anywhere.

Physalis water is a basic standard.

After drinking it for many days, Fei Qian began to doubt whether his teeth could last until he was forty or fifty years old.

Like in TV movies, people drink from a cowhide bag with their heads tilted back, which will definitely cause choking and vomiting. This is because soursop water is actually slightly fermented rice soup or bean juice.

This fermented smell mixed with the aged cowhide water bladders creates a sewer-like aroma.

Just don't breathe when you drink...

Don't smack your lips, otherwise you will definitely regret it.

And you can't drink too much, otherwise it will be very difficult to urinate on horseback.

You can't let the army march and then run out to pee first?

That's right, when the whole army was marching, you were not allowed to report to go pee. If you really couldn't help it, you would pee in your pants. You were only allowed to leave the queue if you had diarrhea. Because diarrhea often meant disease, and you couldn't stay in the queue to spread it.

Since setting out from Emei Mountain, not only did Fei Qian personally discover the sources of pollution left by Cao's army, but the scouts patrolling outside also found a number of suspicious water sources. Therefore, Fei Qian once again emphasized that soldiers were strictly prohibited from drinking raw water at will along the way. Soldiers could only drink water after it had been cooked and disinfected after setting up camp.

As the commander-in-chief, Fei Qian had to set an example, especially by maintaining the dignity of the General of the Cavalry. He couldn't be called the General of the Diarrhea or the General of the Cavalry who was in a hurry to pee by his soldiers, right?

Therefore, during the march, Fei Qian always controlled the amount of water he drank, and only drank some sour water when he was very thirsty, so that he would not need to urinate on the way.

Although most bacteria and parasites will be killed and inactivated under high temperatures, some toxic components cannot be decomposed by high temperatures. In order to ensure safety, Fei Qian can only travel along roads with flowing water.

The flowing river water was also tampered with by Cao's army.

The wooden planks and pieces of wood found by the scouts on the river and floating in the river were actually wooden boxes containing rotting corpses, which were buried or sunk in the river. It was just that these things were brought out because of the flow of the river.

Of course, even if there are viruses, bacteria, botulism, etc. in the flowing river water, they will be diluted by the flow of water, so as long as it is cooked at high temperature, it is generally drinkable...

A small number of soldiers will experience some adverse reactions after drinking it, such as vomiting and diarrhea, but they are relatively mild and can be recovered after a little rest and control.

Therefore, it is unlikely that Fei Qian will be able to travel fast on his way south, unless he is like Xu Chu, with cavalry as the main force, infantry on vehicles, and directly transformed into a semi-mechanical, um, no, semi-livestock force...

Well, it seems to be even weirder.

Forget it, it’s all about water anyway.

After setting up camp, Fei Qian drank a bag of water happily, then peed with a grumble, a smelly and foul urine. He took off his helmet to let his scalp breathe, then he felt a little more comfortable and sat down at the table, where he once again looked through the latest battle reports sent from the front line.

Regarding the assessment of Xu Chu's front army's battle, Fei Qian concluded that although there were some minor mistakes, there were no major errors and that the pre-war goals were initially achieved.

Afterwards, Xun Chen gave a relatively comprehensive explanation of the situation in the early stages of the war.

There were several key factors that enabled the Cavalry Army to take the initiative in the early battles with Cao's main camp.

The most important thing is the new tactics developed by Li Li. When the battle report was delivered to Fei Qian, Fei Qian thought that Li Li was the reincarnation of a Qing soldier, because this tactic was very similar to the tactics used in the early days of the Big Pigtail Army.

A long braid... well, actually it should be a small braid, because in the early Qing Dynasty, due to extremely poor sanitary conditions and the need to fight in the deep mountains and forests, no Manchu would have a long braid, all of them were small and short braids. Otherwise, in the middle of a fight, you would suddenly call a technical timeout, "Get out! You're pressing on my braid!"

The Qing soldiers' shooting tactics were practiced in the deep mountains and forests. They rode their horses to scare away the birds and beasts, and then shot quickly through the bushes and trees. Those who were able to master this technique were all great warriors, and this cannot be denied.

Therefore, in the early Qing Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty's infantry lines often could not withstand the attacks of the Qing army.

However, the biggest problem of the Qing Dynasty was its small population and inferior culture. Even though it unified the Chinese traitors, it was unable to change the nature of its inferior slavery system formed by nomadic and fishing and hunting. Therefore, a country can be destroyed by force, but it is impossible to build a country.

After the death and corruption of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty was already on the brink of collapse. The reason why Kang Mazi was able to survive and Qian Niupi was able to stamp his stamp everywhere was that they were sincerely grateful to the sweet potato for prolonging its life.

Of course, the story of the sweet potato saving the pigtails is just a joke. After all, historical events are often determined by many factors. But the Chinese people at that time could stay stable as long as they had something to eat...

In fact, during the time of Kang Mazi, a group of elite seeds were still left, but later on, all of them were given away.

Anyway, it's my farmland, so I don't feel bad about selling it.

After carefully studying Li Li's tactics, Fei Qian discovered that they were actually quite different from the Qing cavalry archers.

One is that Li Li was originally a lancer who was transferred to a cavalry archer, so the melee ability of Li Li and others is obviously stronger than that of the Qing cavalry archers, and they can change their weapons at any time to become lancers in melee combat, but the melee ability of the Qing cavalry archers is not bad, but to say how strong it is is an insult to the soldiers who fought bravely in the late Ming Dynasty. At that time, the rural training organized by the gentry in Jiangnan could beat the Qing army to a pulp, of course, the rural training itself suffered a lot of losses.

Another aspect is that Li Li also brought grenades. This weapon, at least at this stage, and even for a long time in the future, makes up for the shortcomings of the archers and strengthens their power. Grenades can be used for offense or defense in battle. Offense can be used to shake open the tortoise shells of the chariots that are difficult for arrows to penetrate, and defense can be used to intercept the assault of the opponent's lancers during the weak period of rapid shooting of the archers.

Very strong and very good.

However, Fei Qian rejected Li Li's request to expand the number of cavalry archers for this tactic.

It's very simple. Fei Qian is not like Qing Chui, which only has a few things to blow.

Although Fei Qian attaches great importance to cavalry, it is because under the current level of scientific and technological production, cavalry is undoubtedly a branch of the army that an empire must focus on developing and that meets military needs.

If Fei Qian only wanted to conquer the Central Plains and unify the Three Kingdoms, then infantry and gunpowder would be enough, and there would be no need to develop cavalry.

Under Fei Qian's command, there are archers who have been transferred from lancers like Li Li, roaming cavalry who are responsible for ultra-long-range detection and infiltration, and heavy-armored close combat lancers similar to the Feixiong Army back then, who are armed with 10-foot-long horse lances and both men and horses are heavily armored...

But some changes are happening now.

Fei Qian thought it was a good idea to have another type of cavalry, but there was no need to focus on its development and support.

After all, Fei Qian didn't need to focus on dealing with Ming infantry like the Bian Chao did.

Therefore, Li Li deserves to be rewarded, and Fei Qian immediately issued a promotion order for Li Li. However, it is not appropriate to blindly expand the number of archers. Fei Qian still thinks that those with this talent should change their jobs, which is encouraged, but other people without shooting talent can also try other arms, and they don't need to hang on to a tree. In addition, in the course of this front-line battle, the long-range strike force has become more and more important.

Both Fei Qian and Cao Cao were obviously aware of this problem.

In the early period of the Three Kingdoms, the bow and crossbow were still the king, such as Ju Yi's strong crossbow and halberd soldiers, but soon the bow and crossbow became the younger brother in front of longer-range striking weapons. The human body is undoubtedly fragile in front of these long-range weapons, and the main casualties of the cavalry front army also prove this point.

At the beginning, when they were fighting against Cao's scouts and suppressing Cao's outer troops, the casualties were not heavy, but under Cao Hong's catapult tactics, there were heavy casualties. Nearly a thousand were slightly injured, 600 were seriously injured, and nearly a thousand died directly, which was a heavy loss.

"The power of the weapon is so great!" Xun Chen sighed, "I have heard that Cao's army is good at weapons, and there are craftsmen who make stone roars that can shake the city and break the stronghold. Today it is true. Although Zhongkang was defeated, he did not cause chaos to make up for his mistakes, so he should not be punished severely."

Fei Qian hummed, and did not say anything about Xu Chu's guilt, but said that they would discuss it after the war. Fei Qian was more interested in the fact that Cao Cao did not have a craftsman inheritance system similar to the one Fei Qian had established in Guanzhong and Hedong, but he still had so many craftsmen under his command, and he rushed to make so many catapults in Hedong, which was indeed a very touching thing.

First of all, it must be pointed out that China’s current military level, at least in the construction of city defense systems, is currently leading the world.

Because China has been constantly fighting wars in the Central Plains since ancient times, ancient China has invested a lot of technology in the defense system of city walls, and it is also very powerful.

The Shimao ruins, which are even earlier than the Xia Dynasty, have a triple city gate structure, as well as defense measures such as barrier walls, piers, and double urn cities.

In terms of the development of city wall thickness, China was far ahead of other countries of the same period. Therefore, Fei Qian could easily destroy the capital of the Western Regions with artillery, but he might not be able to use artillery to destroy the capital of a county in the Central Plains.

Because the Chinese started using "three-in-one soil" to build walls, lay foundations, and seal tombs very early on, and also added glutinous rice, egg white, brown sugar, animal blood, tung oil, plant juice, minerals, etc. to mix and cook...well, the rammed earth walls that were built were as hard as iron and steel.

In other words, the lime and cement wall structure used by ancient China was at least a thousand years earlier than the volcanic ash cement and concrete used by ancient Rome. Traditional Chinese rammed earth walls are extremely thick, with many exceeding ten meters in thickness, and some even reaching twenty meters in thickness. The famous Constantinople wall was only six meters thick, and the walls of the Parthian Fortress of Hatra, which successfully resisted the full siege of the Roman Empire three times, were only three meters thick.

As for the fortress walls of medieval England and France, which were famous for their fortresses, their thickness generally did not exceed two meters.

It is precisely because the Chinese city wall defense system is so strong that in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a special study on siege, and there were also a group of masters such as Gongshu Ban and Mozi who combined the theory of siege and defense with practice. Even so, ordinary siege methods could not meet the needs of war, so unconventional methods came into being.

For example, flooding.

After all, for rammed earth city walls, water is naturally its main nemesis, but it is not necessarily successful. Some succeed, while others fail.

Therefore, siege equipment such as trebuchets are very important...

This is a problem that almost everyone understands. However, in the feudal dynasties after the Han Dynasty, the city walls of China remained sharp and became thicker, but siege technologies such as catapults almost stagnated.

Later, various fancy names appeared in the feudal dynasties, which seemed to be constantly updated and iterated, such as "Sanshao", "Fiveshao", "Qishao", etc., but in fact there were no major breakthroughs or changes.

In particular, Fei Qian discovered that Cao Cao, who clearly did not have a decent craftsman system, was able to produce a large-scale array of catapults. In comparison, the feudal dynasties that followed were simply...

However, after Fei Qian thought about it carefully, he could understand the reason.

The technology of the catapult is actually not very advanced.

Leverage principle.

But it is a super long-range attack...

  What would happen if ordinary people got hold of this? !

Even crossbows are banned, let alone catapults?

In this matter, sensible "cultured people" strongly support it.

After all, "cultured people", no matter what era, always like to give advice from a high position, "Oh, the world is not going well recently, the people are very angry... hehe, hehe..."

In fact, is this really an expression of concern for the world or the people, and a lament that a cruel government is more ferocious than a tiger?

No.

These "cultured people" are just mocking the squeaking monkeys in the trees, saying that I am just like this, what can you do? I don't even have a long-range weapon, so I'm not afraid of you, come and scratch me if you dare!

Fei Qian couldn't help but wonder, if we continue to develop and promote long-range weapons from now on, and spread and disseminate them among the people, although it will indeed bring great difficulties to governance, will there be fewer "intellectual people" in future generations who will comment that "the people are very violent recently"?

  The people’s anger?

Whose violence is this?

However, Fei Qian did not expect that he would soon meet a person full of "rebellion"...

A man with the surname Cao.

Cao Zhao.

Cao Zhao's hands were tied, and he dragged his feet, stumbling step by step on the earth plateau. He was panting heavily, and the blue veins on his neck were like a blood-sucking poisonous insect, drilling through his skin and into his heart.

Behind him were the defeated soldiers of Cao's army.

The defeated soldiers at Lonely Peak Mountain.

Cao Zhao was like a knight charging at a windmill. He "bravely" raided Fei Qian's rear transportation road. However, he was discovered by roaming scouts just after he came out of the mountain. He was defeated and captured on the way to the charge.

Some Cao's soldiers fell on the way to the charge, while Cao Zhao and others were caught and could not escape because they did not have enough war horses.

In the queue, a Cao army soldier looked very angry. Although his arms were tied, he was still struggling, trying to get rid of the restraints. Because he was not used to being treated like an animal. After all, before, he and they were the ones who treated others as animals.

Shandong has a strict hierarchy, and people of different ranks enjoy different treatment. As the core guards of the Cao family, their monthly food and salary are basically three times that of other ordinary soldiers, and they also receive some welfare benefits from time to time, so these people have no dissatisfaction with the Cao family political group, and naturally they are more loyal to the Cao family.

  Of course people will die if they come to fight, everyone knows that. But since he is not dead now, he should enjoy the same class level treatment as Shandong. How can he be tied together with ordinary Cao army soldiers?

And he was separated from Young Master so far?!

How is this possible?

But no one paid attention to his "legitimate request".

  Once caught, they are tied up on the spot. Do we need to classify them?

However, Cao Zhao's personal soldier felt that this matter was meaningful. He felt that if he could not figure out this matter and could not stay with Cao Zhao, then he would have no value.

For many, many years, his family had no land. As far as he could remember, their family had been farming on other people's land. He was a person who liked farming. His father and grandfather were both good at growing crops...but their family had no land.

Later, the Cao family became rich and his family suddenly had land.

  So what's wrong with him fighting for the treatment that Cao Zhao deserves?

But in the eyes of the hussars, his behavior seemed like a provocation.

Soon a hussar came over and, when his orders to stop failed, he beheaded him with a single blow.

This scene happened right in front of Cao Zhao.

Cao Zhao said nothing, but just gritted his teeth.

If Cao Zhao didn't say anything, then the other Cao army soldiers would be even quieter.

The queue quickly returned to calm.

But in Cao Zhao's eyes, there seemed to be what those "cultured people" called "rebellion", churning...

The death on the battlefield did not teach these Cao army soldiers the rules, but the sword strike now made these Cao army soldiers fully understand the environment they are in now and the new rules they need to face and abide by.

(End of this chapter)