Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3391 Qu

Upon hearing the news that the Cavalry Army was coming, Liu Fu let out a breath, could no longer hold on, and fell down softly. Before falling, he closed his eyes with relief.

Han Gun quickly carried Liu Fu into the main house and asked the guards to rescue him as soon as possible.

Lei Zhong climbed up the half-collapsed wall. He heard the whistles of the Hussars and the thunderous sound of war drums. They came from the north entrance, from the flank of Gubeikou, and even from the entire sky and earth.

In the distance to the north, it seemed as if thousands of torches were lit, as if all the stars in the sky were pulled to the mountains and rivers here. Under those flickering fire points, there must be fully armed cavalrymen!

  There must be a tricolor battle flag flying high!

Cao Chun and others stopped all actions, they were stunned.

They couldn't believe what they saw. They didn't understand how the reinforcements from the Hussars suddenly appeared here and how they broke through the northern entrance.

Aren’t there still some remaining fires burning at the north entrance?

Aren’t there still some Cao troops on duty?

  why?

Cao Chun stood there, ignoring the guards around him shouting something.

Fall short.

For some reason, these four words were the only ones left in Cao Chun's mind.

  At that moment, Cao Chun wanted to fight with these cavalrymen, but when his blood boiled and he calmed down a little, he knew clearly that if all the soldiers of Cao's army were killed here, what would be the point even if Zhang He was defeated?

Does Zhao Yun subsequently expect to be struck to death by lightning from heaven?

"Retreat. Retreat now!"

Cao Chun yelled with red eyes.

He was in great pain.

But the rest of Cao's soldiers hurriedly retreated, and even ran with a feeling of joy...

More and more Hussars rushed into the Gubeikou Road and began to chase and kill the remnants of Cao's army along the passage.

The hussars' horses were as powerful as rainbows, and their shouts of killing shook the sky.

Things in the world are really unpredictable. One moment, Cao's army was still surrounding and killing the Hussars, and now they were being chased by the Hussars. Cao's soldiers fled in chaos, and those who couldn't escape knelt by the side of the road and raised their hands.

On the north road of Gubeikou, some hussars were putting out the remaining fire with bags of sand, while other hussars were gradually taking in prisoners and building fortifications.

Zhang He rode his horse forward slowly.

The overall situation in Gubeikou has been determined.

This made Zhang He feel a little emotional. He originally thought it would be a fierce battle, because in fact there were not many troops rushing into Gubeikou at first, and they had to gain a foothold and open up a passage before the follow-up troops could follow up.

In this process, many people might die and the battle would be very difficult, but he did not expect that after so much planning and preparation, it would be so simple in the end.

Zhang He looked at the wreckage and traces on both sides and could see that Cao's army had made a lot of preparations and set up many defensive fortifications.

As Zhang He walked slowly forward, he didn't know what to feel.

  Happy?

sad?

Maybe a little bit of both.

Chevaux de frise, sandbags, ropes, clappers, cranes...

But there was no one.

These things were either lying or standing there quietly, just like the stone statues on both sides of the cemetery corridor. No matter how lifelike they were carved, they were still stone statues and did not move.

"Report!" A soldier came over, "General! That Liu family kid has lost too much blood and is dying!"

"Hmm?" Zhang He was slightly stunned, then waved his hand, "Tell the military wound department to come over. No matter what, we must do our best to save one or two..."

The soldiers took the order and went to the rear to find a doctor.

"Alas..." Zhang He looked up at the sky.

The stars in the sky are like an abyss and a prison.

……

……

As the war had reached this point, the sons of the gentry in Shandong naturally knew more or less about what was happening on the front lines, including those things that Cao Cao had ordered not to be spread or discussed.

The more it was forbidden, the more it spread. People spoke with great confidence, as if they had seen the blood on the top of Tongguan City and the fireworks on the river with their own eyes. When they talked about the passionate parts, their whole bodies trembled, and everyone groaned in unison... uh, sighed.

The battle in Hedong and Guanzhong completely declared that the rise of the Hussars was unstoppable.

Before, one could say that the Hussars were nothing more than warriors on the frontier. In the order of the Han Dynasty court, they were at most raised by a stepmother. They had to endure hardships first and enjoy pleasures later. Even after going through untold hardships, they could only get a meaningless position in the Shangshu Tai of Xijing and a title of Hussar General, which was the same as the Three Dukes. If they really wanted to enter the core of the Han Dynasty, there was still a long way to go!

  But now this distance has been wiped out in the fire, blood, gunpowder and steel!

Some people were surprised, some were angry, and some jumped out to say that they had known it long ago, had said it long ago, and had understood it long ago...

"That evildoer is not to be trifled with!"

"See what I said before?"

"You insisted on having your own way at that time! How about now?"

All these things seem to demonstrate his outstanding foresight, but there is no immediate action at all.

  Anyone with a little bit of common sense now knows that the focus of Shandong is Cao Cao, but it is not just Cao Cao. If the cavalry thinks that capturing and killing Cao Cao will bring good luck to the world, then they have just fallen into the trap set by the Shandong people!

Cao Cao was dead, so the people of Shandong would just push all the "blame" onto Cao Cao, and then divide up Cao Cao's property while Cao Cao was dead and Fei Qian hadn't come yet. The remaining property that was difficult to divide was registered and handed over to the cavalry...

Oh, maybe it wasn’t called Hussars at that time.

Mr. Fei!

  Maybe he will become king!

How is this good?

The group of people were in a panic.

They don't like Guanzhong, but can those short-sighted people in Shandong really unify their thoughts and realize the great rejuvenation of the Han Dynasty?

Stop joking.

Fei Qian still did not rush.

  Scaryly stable!

But if you think about it carefully, Fei Qian's strategy is reasonable. The soldiers under his command are all from the Guanzhong area in the north. There are also many ordinary people who come from the military. These people are like the military meritorious nobles of the Qin Dynasty. They have military merits, but they don't know how to handle local affairs.

This is a very simple question.

Those who can fight wars may not necessarily be able to govern a place.

Throughout history, it has often happened that those who can fight wars may not necessarily be able to govern. This is actually a question involving many aspects, such as the difference between military talent and political governance ability, the balance between strategic goals and governance needs, and the impact of historical background on the role of generals.

Even without talking about education or knowledge, as a general, in war, his talent is mainly reflected in tactics, strategy, bravery, and adaptability, while political governance requires legal knowledge, administrative management, economic planning and other abilities. Military operations are often short, flat and fast. Even a huge and long-term battle is mostly intermittent and will not be fought for a long time. Governing a place requires long-term maintenance, and similar or repetitive work is carried out every day, every month and every year.

If Fei Qian attacked like a gust of wind sweeping away fallen leaves, these Shandong people would be very happy, because they have been in this Han land for a hundred years, and the locals are all their relatives, old friends, students and disciples.

If the Hussars want to kill, please do as you please!

  You can't kill all the people in the world, right?

What remain are still their people and their souls!

They will still grow new life in the old flesh and blood!

But if the cavalry takes their time...

This is a big problem.

These news, like the cold autumn wind, whistled by and left a chill in everyone's heart.

The discussion was gradually mixed with wailing...

"Things are changing! Things are changing! There's no going back now!"

"I knew years ago that this cavalryman had a vicious heart! He is trying to cut off our roots!"

"Aren't the generals greedy for merit? What kind of restraint did the cavalry use to prevent these generals from being greedy for merit and rushing forward?"

"Disperse! Disperse! In this day and age, even if the Hussars come, what can they do? They still have to rely on us for food, right?"

"If we all stick together and work together, there is still a chance of survival. Now that we are all looking after our own interests, there is no hope for life!" "Work together? Don't be ridiculous. Look at the past three or four hundred years of the Han Dynasty. When has it ever worked together?"

Amidst these chaotic voices, some people are starting to prepare to place their bets.

After all, for these aristocratic children of the Han Dynasty, choosing to stand on the side of the victor is always the only way they follow.

Then a very interesting phenomenon emerged: some people were sad and lamented the decline of the Han Dynasty, while others were busy preparing to collect all the information about Fei Qian so that they could please him in the future.

……

……

Large groups of Cao's soldiers began to evacuate from the Zhongtiao Mountain camp in a dejected manner.

In the river bank area where the pontoon bridge was located, a large number of Cao's troops were lined up to cross the river.

These situations were seen one by one by everyone in Tongguan.

"Lord, give the order to attack!"

Ma Yue looked at the Cao army slowly marching on the floating bridge as if he was staring at pieces of barbecued pork belly. "Let's seize the floating bridge and kill the defenders. Let's see how they escape!"

The soldiers of Cao's army were obviously extremely exhausted.

They came from a long distance, only to suffer a series of defeats. Now they were dragging their tired and injured bodies back. Needless to say, it seemed that even above the sky above Cao's army, there was a huge word "sorrow" slowly shaking.

This is a miraculous victory!

Ma Yue's heart was pounding, and he was willing to put the final and most beautiful end to this miraculous victory!

But Pang Tong frowned and didn't say anything for a long time. He just looked at the Cao army soldiers, as if he was calculating something...

Because of Fei Qian's influence, Pang Tong is now more sensitive to certain things than he was in history. It's not about being stronger or the strongest, it's just that different knowledge intake has created different world views and different life paths.

Just like now, Pang Tong did not show off that defeating Cao's army was a piece of cake, nor did he get excited and happy to see Cao's army retreating. Instead, he was calculating something, and the more he calculated, the more he frowned.

"Your Excellency, what are you doing..." Zhang Liao said from the side, "The number of Cao's troops is wrong?"

Pang Tong nodded, "Wenyuan, you figured it out too?"

Although in history, both ancient and modern, both in China and abroad, most of the time people like to brag and expand their military forces. This is a strategy to intimidate opponents and is understandable, but we cannot really take this kind of bragging as unshakable evidence.

In history, Cao Cao's 800,000 troops were actually extremely conservative, and the one who boasted the most was Herodotus. Strictly speaking, this guy was just like Mr. Luo, who wrote a historical novel, but there were fools who took the novel seriously and swore that ancient Greece was awesome and Westerners were great, and that these were all real history, and he never made fake things...

Pang Tong was counting the number of people.

This is a very simple thing that can be done as long as you have mastered the most basic arithmetic skills.

Because the number of people is often the most real thing and cannot be deceived.

Just like the data on specific population records in the so-called ancient Greek historical documents, it is obviously very unreliable. Only if the ancient Greeks survived by eating air, those data can exist. A few smart historical experts may have discovered these problems long ago and started the project of filling the gaps in ancient Greek civilization.

In fact, the population of ancient Greece has expanded at least a hundred times. If the hole-filling project is reduced to one percent, then the war between Athens and Sparta is actually a fight between two villages with three or two hundred people. This is obviously not enough and cannot be called civilization. So if the hole-filling project is reduced to one tenth, then the war between Athens and Sparta is just a fight between two counties with three or two thousand people. With such a population size, it is naturally impossible to carry out cross-sea expeditions or colony plunder, and it is still not civilized...

For the glorious image of ancient Greek civilization, these experts have put a lot of effort, but no matter how they fix it, the total population of ancient Greece is wrong. According to those data, the population of ancient Greece must be more than 10 million, or even 20 million to support such a large army, but in the 20th century, the population of Greece was only 10 million. The key is that in the 20th century, Greece still could not feed its own 10 million people and had to rely on a large amount of imported food, while the 10 million people in ancient Greece... Under the productivity conditions at that time, many ancient Greeks could probably survive by absorbing energy from the void.

Literature can be exaggerated, but once it involves specific mathematics, the truth is revealed.

It’s just like Pang Tong is counting Cao’s troops now. It seems that they are busy crossing the river, but in fact, not many people have crossed the river in a day!

And he didn't know if it was Pang Tong's own illusion, but he always felt that the Cao army soldiers who had evacuated in the past two days looked familiar...

look familiar?

Pang Tong's eyes moved.

"These Cao troops..." Pang Tong frowned and said, "Could they cross the river during the day and return at night?"

"Ah?" Everyone was stunned when they heard this.

"Sir, what you mean is... Cao's army is reducing the number of stoves?" Zhang Liao frowned and said, "But if Cao's army does not withdraw from here, where will it go?"

Yes, that's the problem.

  So where is the majority of Cao's army led by Cao Cao?

……

……

Cao Cao has always been very courageous.

And the key is that Cao Cao refused to admit defeat.

Those who have accomplished great things in history are generally brave and will not easily give in to setbacks.

So even when Cao's army was already showing signs of defeat, Xiahou Dun was captured, Cao Hong was injured, and the Anyi camp was defeated, Cao Cao still felt that he could still rescue it and hold on for a while.

"My Lord."

There was a sound of dragging footsteps.

Cao Cao didn't turn around, because he was very familiar with this voice, "Zi Lian, your leg is injured, you need to rest more."

Cao Hong was silent for a while, "I can't calm down."

Cao Cao was also silent.

They are like gamblers waiting for the market to open, holding the few remaining chips in their hands, nervous, afraid, but still hoping for a lucky break.

"No movement at Tongguan yet?"

After a moment, Cao Cao asked.

"No." Cao Hong replied, "Are they afraid to come out?"

"Don't dare?" Cao Cao smiled, "They are cautious... Well, it's fine that the cavalry are cautious, but I didn't expect these people..."

In fact, Cao Cao had many backup plans, but unfortunately, the caution of the General of Cavalry made some of Cao Cao's strategies either ineffective or fail.

Just like the plague seeds that Cao Cao planted along the Hedong route, he did not reap the same harvest as Yuan Shao did.

When people are not sick, they always look down on those tiny germs and viruses, but are more afraid of giants. Just like in later generations, when the peak of various infectious diseases has passed, some people will immediately take off their masks, as if breathing less sweet air for a moment will be a loss for a lifetime.

Cao Cao's original plan was to infect the cavalry with plague, but unfortunately, Fei Qian had been very strict with the plague, or the sanitation issues in the army, from the very beginning. Even some of his generals were called the Bathing Captain and the Shit Pit General behind their backs at some point in time...

  Fei Qian walks slowly!

This simple word "slow" ruined Cao Cao's series of arrangements!

Because it's slow, there's no need to rush.

Because there is no rush, many things are done well, and nothing is omitted due to eagerness.

  On the other hand, Fei Qian hits fast!

Cao Cao glanced at Cao Hong, with a hint of regret in his eyes.

Cao Hong thought he could hold Fei Qian back, and Cao Cao also thought Cao Hong could do the same.

We were unable to delay the battle for long enough under Anyi City, and therefore were unable to consume much of the cavalry. After all, when fighting, we would not pay too much attention to the corpses on the battlefield...

But now, the Cavalry did not attack eagerly, but slowed down again, cleaning up the mess in Anyi, which was equivalent to basically eradicating the seeds of plague planted by Cao Cao and Cao Hong in Hedong.

"Have you arranged the gunpowder?" Cao Cao asked.

Cao Hong nodded, "Most of them have been arranged... but some places are difficult to dig, so we are asking the craftsmen to hurry up..."

"Huh..." Cao Cao exhaled, "If Fengxiao were still here..."

Indeed, if Guo Jia were still alive, these things would have been done long ago, Cao Cao would not have to rush to Zhongtiao Mountain, and he could have stayed in Anyi with Fei Qian for a few more days, and Cao Hong would not have been defeated so quickly.

But that's often how things are.

Eight out of ten things in life are not as we wish.

And what happened to Cao Cao next? Will it go as he wished or not?