Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3396 Destroy

Just as Xiahou Dun and other surrendered soldiers and generals were being treated by Fei Qian to relax their nerves and to carry out the next step of reorganization and transformation, another wave of "surrendered soldiers" were struggling to survive.

They were Cao Xiu and his men who were heading to Linfen Pingyang to "surrender". On the way, Cao Xiu and his men met the scouts of the Hussars, who immediately expressed their attitude and said they would go to Linfen Pingyang to surrender. The Hussars sent people back to contact them, while standing by Cao Xiu's team, coldly watching.

The closer they got to Linfen, the more Cao Xiu and his companions felt as if they were trapped in a big net.

The cavalry scouts that were rushing back and forth were becoming more and more dense.

After the empty carts from Pingyang carried away the weapons and wounded of Cao Xiu and others, the cavalry scouts and others became a little more friendly and would occasionally share some food with Cao Xiu and others.

All along the way, it was fine on the Emei Plateau, but once he got off the plateau, Cao Xiu saw the scouts of the cavalry army, whistling back and forth without any gaps. There were also large groups of soldiers, led by some older military officers, heading south.

Although these ranks of soldiers did not make any deliberate ostentatious gestures or movements when passing by Cao Xiu and others, the contempt in their eyes and brows was clearly revealed.

The first team of cavalry scouts who contacted and monitored Cao Xiu and his men had already left, and they were replaced by another team of cavalry scouts.

The night is cold.

The heart is colder.

The closer he got to Pingyang, the more Cao Xiu felt like he was on a path of no return.

  Do you regret it?

do not know.

Cao Xiu looked at the night sky.

Yekong couldn't give him an answer.

Cao Xiu gazed at the stars.

Xingchen also avoided his gaze.

Cao Xiu didn't know how long he had been standing here. Later on, he felt that his hands and face had been chilled to the bone by the cold autumn wind blowing from the north.

Is this wind coming from Yinshan Mountain or from the desert?

If I hadn't decided to come to Pingyang, Linfen, even if I couldn't return to Shandong now, at least I wouldn't be so cold. Even if I didn't have a bottle of warm wine to soothe my heart, I could still have a bowl of hot soup to warm my stomach.

But now...

This war has come to an end.

My own destiny seemed to have followed the war to its final moment.

Cao Xiu felt the final arrival of his destiny and saw what his future would be like, but he was still stubborn, even a little obstinate, wanting to prove his courage and prove that the blood and vitality of Shandong had not disappeared.

If he was a person who could give up easily, then when he carried his parents' coffins and traveled thousands of miles, he would have had too many reasons and excuses to give up. No one would criticize, blame, or despise him, because no matter who it was, they might not be able to do what Cao Xiu did, carrying the coffins and traveling at a young age.

The hardships and pain along the way are definitely not something that ordinary people can endure.

And now, Cao Xiu felt that he was walking on this road again, holding on to a coffin.

An invisible coffin that smells of decay and decay.

But he supported, pushed, gritted his teeth and carried forward.

Although the coffin is no longer in his hands, it is on his back and in his heart.

Never let go.

……

……

Cao Xiu was far from the only one who couldn't let go.

Those who achieve great things need great perseverance, but not everyone with great perseverance will necessarily achieve great things.

Zhou Yu obviously has great willpower, but now he...

Under the same night sky, Zhou Yu's figure became increasingly faint. Although it was not yet winter and not particularly cold, Zhou Yu had already put on his fur coat.

The night is cold and my heart is cold.

As people get older, they have more memories.

Maybe it’s not because people like to reminisce when they get old, but because they realize that they have nothing left except memories…

That year, that day, Zhou Yu was still young, and Sun Ce was still youthful.

Thinking back on it now, those unbridled joy and laughter were as precious as gold and gems. They sparkled brightly in Zhou Yu's memory and illuminated the seemingly endless night.

As soon as Zhou Yu arrived, Zhu Zhi quit his job.

Zhu Zhi didn't say anything directly. He just claimed to be sick, handed over the seal, the command arrow and other things, and then hid in his own tent and didn't come out.

kill?

Zhou Yu sneered.

If we have to kill him, it cannot be at this time. This is why Zhu Zhi dared to claim illness.

The Han Dynasty was corrupt, and Jiangdong was already full of stench before it even grew up.

However, only Zhou Yu, who was threatened with death, could smell and understand this stench clearly. The rest of the people were either blinded by power or blocked by wealth, and could neither see nor hear it.

Now the Jiangdong Army has withdrawn from Jiangling City and returned to the water fort on the shore. Because the negotiations with Cao's army have not yet been finalized, even if both sides know that it is impossible to continue fighting, they still need to be prepared and do their duty.

Cao's army originally attacked Jiangling with great momentum, but was interrupted by the cavalry army that attacked from Wuguan Road.

Even if Cao Ren changed his name and became Superman, he would not be able to force the Jingzhou army to fight on two fronts and withstand threats from three sides. Therefore, when Zhou Yu arrived, Cao Ren took the opportunity to withdraw his troops.

But no matter what, the gap between the two sides has been buried...

Of course, even if Zhu Zhi had not taken the initiative to break off relations, Cao's army might have broken off relations in return.

What agreements, what covenants, are nothing but toilet paper for politicians to wipe their butts.

A torn covenant can be picked up again, but the dead people can never be resurrected.

Zhu Zhi devoured the wealth that Jiangling had accumulated with great difficulty, and then distributed it to the nobles in Jiangdong, so someone was protecting him. Before Zhou Yu could take any action, letters from Jiangdong continued to arrive.

Zhu Zhi's surname is Zhu, but he also has the surnames Zhang, Gu, Zheng, and many other surnames...

"Zi Jing hasn't arrived yet?"

Zhou Yu asked the guard.

The guard looked into the distance and saw that the signal lantern had not been raised yet, so he whispered: "Reporting to the governor, it should be...ah, we've arrived!"

As they were talking, the guard saw the lantern in the distance suddenly hung up, on the flagpole, swaying in the night wind.

Soon, Lu Su appeared in front of Zhou Yu covered in dust.

"Captain!" 』

"Zi Jing!"

Zhou Yu finally felt relieved when he saw Lu Su coming.

At the same time, Lu Su's return also means that Cao's army and Sun's army should put aside their disputes and jointly develop... uh, fight against Fei's army...

However, Lu Su also brought bad news to Zhou Yu.

"What?" Zhou Yu could hardly believe his ears. "Jizhou and Youzhou...are they so terrible?"

Zhou Yu also had some informants and messengers in the north, but after all, the mountains were high and the waters were far away. Even if these informants had news, they would not know that Zhou Yu had arrived in Jiangling. Therefore, the information would be sent to Wujun in Jiangdong, and then transferred from Wujun to Jiangling. With this back and forth, Zhou Yu's news was naturally much slower than Lu Su who went to the Cao army's base camp in person.

Lu Su went around in circles. During this period of time, he was either on the road or communicating with people. Both his physical and mental strength were greatly exhausted. He became darker and thinner, but his eyes were still bright and his voice was still steady. "General, given the current situation, we might as well make more preparations... I still have to go to Hedong..."

"Why are you going to Hedong?" Zhou Yu asked.

Lu Su sighed, then took out an imperial edict, "This is the emperor's edict."

In exchange for the truce with Jiangdong, Lu Su became an angel. This is undoubtedly a very funny thing, but if you think about it carefully, it seems to be a natural thing.

"The emperor's decree?" Zhou Yu responded quickly, "The emperor wants the two sides to stop fighting? Ha! This is really..."

Zhou Yu opened the imperial edict, took a look at it, and sneered, "This order is simply... Humph, the Han Dynasty is now like this... I asked you to pass the imperial edict, but you have to go through the Wuguan Road? Lord Xun has killed three birds with one stone, what a good plan!"

Lu Su smiled bitterly, put the imperial edict away again and put it into the brocade bag.

Zhou Yu could guess Xun Yu’s plan, and Lu Su naturally knew it too, but when you are under someone’s roof, you have to bow your head.

"Governor, I'd be fine with going to Hedong..." Lu Su said in a low voice, "But the governor's plan to divide the world into two..."

"Hmm..." Zhou Yu leaned a little on the cushion beside him and let out a long breath, looking somewhat lonely and helpless. "If Jiangdong could work together wholeheartedly, now... Alas..."

Theoretically speaking, Jiangdong does have a chance to take over Sichuan and Shu.

Once Jiangdong takes Sichuan and Shu, the situation in the world will change immediately, Fei Qian's entire foundation will be shaken, and it will also be beneficial to Cao Cao's operations on the front line.

At the same time, because Cao Cao was facing further competition for Guanzhong and Longyou, he had no time to take care of other things. Jiangdong had a long time to stabilize the local area and develop its business. When Cao Cao had dealt with Fei Qian and was about to settle down, it was a good time for Jiangdong to attack from both sides, fight on both fronts, and then dominate the world...

Now all these plans have come to nothing.

Like a dream, like an illusion.

Zhou Yu whispered: "There may still be a glimmer of hope...but..."

Zhou Yu didn't dare to look at Lu Su, but just looked at his hands.

Lu Su smiled and extended his hand, "General, don't worry, I have my own way to protect myself!"

Zhou Yu held Lu Su's hand, "Zi Jing!"

"Hmm?" Lu Su frowned, "General, why are your hands so cold? Don't you have a doctor with you?"

Zhou Yu smiled and shook Lu Su's hand vigorously, "It doesn't matter if your hands are cold, as long as your heart is not cold!"

……

……

Under the same sky, Fei Qian and Xiahou Dun's discussions did not seem so tragic.

Instead, it is full of scrutiny and inquiry, like a god looking down at the earth from the sky...

  Is the world owned by one family or by all people in the world?

This seems to be an unsolvable problem, just like what we say is often inconsistent with what we actually do.

Xiahou Dun was obviously not a great literary scholar, so he could not use classics to explain, refute, or criticize Fei Qian's question, but he instinctively knew that this was a fundamental problem, a problem with serious consequences.

Fei Qian had no intention of forcing Xiahou Dun to answer the question on the spot. Instead, he threw the question to Xiahou Dun, chatted about other things, and then left leisurely, leaving Xiahou Dun, who was in a state of confusion, there.

Xiahou Dun was in a state of confusion.

This feeling is like thinking that the other person is going to be the boss of a street, but it turns out that this guy is actually going to be your cheap stepfather...

"No, no no!"

  Xiahou Dun shook his head. He felt that Fei Qian's words were all a trick, and he said that deliberately to confuse his thinking!

"Yes, that's it!"

Xiahou Dun tried to strengthen his belief, but for some reason, he suddenly felt a little lonely in his heart...

It turns out that what you value and pursue are just so-so in the eyes of others.

But that's it!

Xiahou Dun looked at the wine in front of him, sighed, stretched out his hand, and started drinking.

It's not the wine that makes people drunk, it's people who make themselves drunk. Xiahou Dun drank to drown his sorrows and soon he was drunk.

When Fei Qian learned the news, he was discussing the next stage of work with Xun Chen, Xu Chu and others. He simply responded with "I know" and put the matter aside.

It is obviously impossible to plant seeds in Xiahou Dun's heart quickly. Only by absorbing Xiahou Dun's own doubts and denials little by little can a towering tree that overturns Xiahou Dun's original three views grow. The application of external forces will only help the growth of seedlings, and the effect may not be very good.

Just like now we need to gather the soldiers and civilians left behind by Cao's army...

It is necessary to leave seeds without appearing too deliberate.

  A war is not easy, but what happens after the war is even more difficult than when the war is going on!

The Han Dynasty, a dry and corrupt dynasty, had more than one or two problems.

Were they all killed?

Some need to be treated, some need to be corrected, and some need to be cut.

Each one requires Fei Qian to weigh the pros and cons, and every order involves human life.

Take those who need treatment for example, some are physical illnesses, while others are mental illnesses.

The illness is relatively simple.

Just like Bao Zhong’s child.

Bao Zhong thought that he was lucky and his child survived the war, but in fact, his child and other wounded and sick people were consciously left behind by Cao's army!

  There is not so much good luck in this world, why did his child get it?

"The wounded soldiers need to be treated, and they need to be treated publicly so that other Cao troops can see it..." Fei Qian frowned and said, "Let Pingyang prepare more herbs and increase the price..."

"Will this affect the autumn harvest?" Xun Chen said, "And if the price of herbs is too high, it will also increase the cost of medical treatment for other people..."

Fei Qian nodded, "You are right to remind me. The notice must emphasize that it is only a temporary need and the price increase is temporary, reminding the people to deal with it according to their own ability. If some people lose their fundamentals because of greed for small profits... just let it go, and there is no need to take special care of them."

Those who are greedy for small profits and forget the basics, even if they are persuaded to go back this time, firstly, they may not be grateful, and secondly, they will not learn their lesson. They may even resent the persuader for making them lose the opportunity to gain more small profits...

Fei Qian is now a superior, and the longer time goes by, the more he feels that he cannot take care of everything.

Never, just like there is no absolute freedom and absolute fairness.

Every decision will make some people gain and others lose. What Fei Qian can do is to ensure that the general direction is relatively fair as much as possible, and to ensure fairness for the vast majority of followers. As for the small number of people who can't keep up, or have gone astray...

Xun Chen nodded and asked again: "Cao's army has many prisoners. Should we follow the old practice and promote some of Cao's surrendered soldiers as auxiliary soldiers?"

Fei Qian agreed.

These things seem cumbersome, but Xun Chen must ask, unless Xun Chen gets an order from Fei Qian to do it at his own convenience. But now as Fei Qian, he can't let go immediately, because now he is just in Hedong, building a model in the early stage. After all, the quality of the model built now also determines the quality of the future to some extent...

Xun Chen never tires of details, and Fei Qian is equally tireless.

After finishing talking about people's livelihood and government affairs, Xu Chu spoke up: "My lord, there are many rumors among the surrendered soldiers of Cao's army, saying that my lord... um, that there is a habit of cannibalism in Guanzhong. If we allow such rumors to spread... but sending people to refute them is useless..."

The reason why some people believe rumors is because they think the rumors are consistent with their own cognition and what they want to hear. In simple terms, their values ​​are consistent with each other. To invalidate rumors, it is not just a matter of blindly denying them, nor is it just a matter of simply issuing a notice.

Has no one ever been eaten in Chang'an and Guanzhong?

Obviously not.

And it is not only in Guanzhong. Whenever there are natural disasters or man-made disasters, or when there are floods of refugees, cannibalism will occur, regardless of time, place, or country.

"Cannibalism is a heinous crime. If there is a famine, people eat people to survive," Fei Qian said slowly, "their crime is pitiable, but their evil cannot be eliminated. I do not deny that there was cannibalism in Guanzhong, but I describe that Guanzhong is now rich... This is the fault of the superiors, and we should not hide it."

In China, whenever there is troubled times, there will be cannibalism.

Due to severe social famine caused by natural disasters or wars, people were forced to eat each other in order to survive. This phenomenon is often recorded in history books. Every dynasty would see the tragic phenomenon of cannibalism during the years of great famine, even in prosperous times, as Bai Juyi wrote in his poem "That year, there was drought in the south of the Yangtze River, and people in Quzhou ate human flesh."

This is not a matter of natural disasters.

Because natural disasters happen every year, big or small, and if they are dealt with properly, there will be no worries, so there are more subsequent man-made disasters. In man-made disasters, if the initiators do not receive the punishment they deserve, or are only demoted on the surface, and then quietly appear again after the limelight has passed, how can we prevent man-made disasters from happening again?

If they are not punished and their crimes are not used as a warning to future generations, a second type of cannibal will emerge.

In order to demonstrate force and brutality, to intimidate ordinary people and prevent them from resisting, they deliberately carried out cruel cannibalism.

Due to different purposes, the specific manifestations of this kind of situation vary. Some people eat human flesh to show their brutality, some people believe in evil magic and eat human flesh to treat certain diseases, some people eat the flesh of their enemies to vent their hatred and revenge, and so on. Compared with being forced to eat human flesh during famine years, all of these are more barbaric and cruel.

Others do this in order to intimidate the public, deliberately eating those who resist injustice and displaying their bloody bodies in front of everyone. This behavior undoubtedly greatly destroys the original foundation of the country and social order.

The disease in the body, even if it is complicated, is simple; the disease in the heart, even if it is simple, is complicated.

"In the fifteenth year of Duke Xuan, Chu attacked Song. The people of Song refused to surrender. They said that they would trade their children for food and burn bones for cooking. Although the alliance under the city walls would lead to the destruction of the country, we cannot follow it." Fei Qian said slowly, "Now there is cannibalism, can the country be destroyed? The people are afraid that you will eat them, so they abandon their country and flee to you. What can you do? This is a disease that will last for thousands of years. If you can solve this problem, China can prosper."