Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3524: A Difference of Thoughts

In Xu County, on ordinary days, when the sun rises, waiters will come out of the restaurants and shops facing the main street, take down the door panels, greet each other, and start their day's business.

But during this period, almost all the shops are closed.

Zhen Zhen, who had not slept all night, looked at the rising sun and let out a long breath.

A group of soldiers came running down the street with the unique sounds of weapons and armor. The sound came from far away and gradually approached, reaching Zhen Zhen's ears.

Zhen Zhen's pupils visibly shrank.

A moment later, the door of the shop was smashed with a loud bang.

"Boss, what should we do?" the waiter asked nervously.

Zhen Zhen took a long breath and said, "Why are you panicking? Open the door!"

The waiter nervously lowered the bolt, but before he could open the door completely, the soldier outside impatiently kicked it open.

"The Prime Minister has ordered that all shops must open for business!" the soldier shouted, "Did you hear me?!"

"Listen, I heard it..." Zhen Zhen hurriedly smiled, "Sir, do you want to sit in the store?"

The leading soldier snorted, perhaps because he had other tasks to do, or perhaps he didn't want to bother with Zhen Zhen. He didn't answer, but led the others to rush to the next store and knock on the door.

"Bang! !"

"Open the door!"

"The Prime Minister has issued an order!"

"..."

Seeing his shopkeeper being ignored by Cao's soldiers, the shop assistant was somewhat angry. "He is a slave, what's so impressive about him? Hasn't he seen our Zhen family's banner?"

"Shut up." Zhen Zhen whispered, "This is an emergency... Open the door... No, no, only open half the door..."

The guy bent down and called a few other guys to start taking down the door panels.

The sunlight came in from the door.

The smell of blood also came in along with the sunlight.

Zhen Zhen sniffed and remained silent as he looked at the bloodstains still remaining on the street.

Many people died yesterday.

Many people were also arrested. I wonder if there are any...

The shopkeeper across the street just walked out of the door and seemed to accidentally step on a pool of coagulated blood. He kept shouting "bad luck" and raised one foot to rub it hard on the stone steps. After rubbing it a few times, he saw Zhen Zhen and greeted him awkwardly.

Zhen Zhen pretended he saw nothing, responded, and prepared to turn around and walk back.

These guys in Xu County are such rubbish...

If I had known these guys were useless, I would have run away earlier!

It's just a matter of one thought!

Cao Cao suddenly appeared with his cavalry, and he must have been coming from a distance. If the people on the street were a little more enthusiastic and a few of them rushed forward...

Once the cavalry slows down and is dragged into the crowd, how much combat power can they have even if they are wearing the thickest armor?

If you fall down, you may not be able to climb up!

However, everyone was waiting for others to rush forward, so in the end everyone was running backwards together.

Humph, this is the guy from Yuzhou, Henan.

Zhen Zhen was secretly complaining in his heart, expressing his contempt for those guys on Qianmen Street yesterday, when he heard another round of hurried footsteps in the distance...

Come again?

Zhen Zhen stretched his head slightly and looked towards one end of the street.

I saw a group of soldiers marching forward on the street. In front of them was a man with a swollen nose and face, many bruises on his body, and a limping man...

Although he couldn't see the man's appearance clearly, Zhen Zhen's heart suddenly twitched for some reason, and then he saw that the man seemed to be pointing at this place in his shop!

Zhen Zhen's face changed and he quickly turned around and ran to the back of the store.

The guys who were dismantling the door panels started to get nervous when they saw their boss in such a hurry. Some of the smarter ones glanced outside and shouted, "It's broken!"

The guy threw the door panels in his hands directly to the ground, turned around and followed Zhen Zhen to the backyard.

"Don't run!"

The soldiers coming from afar were not sure of their location at first, but when they saw the actions of these guys, they instinctively shouted and ran towards this place.

The guy who was still rubbing his shoe soles across the street was startled by what happened suddenly. He lost his balance and fell to the ground with a thud. This time, not only were his shoes stained with blood, but his robe was also stained. However, he didn't care at all and just rolled and crawled into his own shop.

"They ran back!"

"Catch them! Don't let them get away!"

……

……

In fact, Cao Cao did not bring many people with him, but even with these few people, they suddenly changed the situation in the entire Xu County.

It's like a few wild beasts can chase down a group of cattle and sheep.

With the support of these elite troops brought by Cao Cao, the originally weak and powerless garrison soldiers seemed to start to tremble and began to clean up Xu County ferociously.

In the Prime Minister's Mansion.

"You are stupid!"

Cao Cao sat in the lobby of the Prime Minister's Mansion again, wearing the red and black court robes of the Han Dynasty. He looked solemn and dignified, and he was like two completely different people compared to his previous appearance when he was in the army, trying to keep up his spirits despite being depressed.

In the hall, a group of people were kneeling, most of them were nobles and gentry who had been implicated in previous incidents.

Cao Cao didn't show any courtesy and started cursing right away.

"Do you think that the fact that the Cavalry sent agricultural scholars to sell new things and bring the method of gunpowder is beneficial to Shandong, and that you can just sit back and enjoy the results?! Stupid! Rotten wood! Short-sighted! No ambition! "

Cao Cao's voice roared in the hall.

"You think that agricultural scholars can help with farming, so you hire them to collect crops for the granary, and you don't have to look after the fields. You can just sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor all year round! But you don't know that the farming methods all come from Guanzhong. If the cavalry orders one day, your fields will be completely barren!"

"Western spices, snow-covered furs, pearls and jade, exquisite utensils, fine wine and luxury cars, you are so happy and relaxed, singing and dancing! But you don't know that every penny you buy from these goods will make the cavalry army stronger by 10%!"

"And there's gunpowder... Haha, haha! Foolish people, you think that the Cavalry's contribution of gunpowder is a woman's kindness, and that you are handing over this unique method to Shandong! Hahaha! How short-sighted! How narrow-minded! The main ingredients of gunpowder are charcoal, saltpeter and yellow metal! How simple! But where can we get charcoal, saltpeter and yellow metal in the Central Plains? ! "

Cao Cao laughed so hard that a tear came out of the corner of his eye.

When the Cavalry first offered the method of making gunpowder, Cao Cao actually thought for a time that the Cavalry had surrendered and was seeking his own death by giving others a weapon. However, with a deeper understanding of gunpowder, Cao Cao realized that this was actually a "conspiracy" of the Cavalry!

Or, call it a "poisonous plot"!

In war, the usage of all items is extremely large. Shandong did not feel any problems when it tried to develop and produce them in the early stage. However, when it started to fight against the Hussars on a large scale, all kinds of problems emerged. Putting aside the influence of measurement deviation, the difficulty for Shandong people to mass produce gunpowder lies in the raw materials!

In the Central Plains, success depends on farming, and failure also depends on farming!

In the areas where the Han people live in concentrated areas, large tracts of forest land have actually been degrading!

Whether it is appliances, houses, or other facilities, or even fuel for keeping warm in winter, most of them are made of wood! Due to large-scale logging, it is almost impossible to see dense forests and large tracts of wood resources in the Central Plains of Shandong!

Relatively speaking, the Guanzhong region, which is mountainous on both the north and south sides, obviously has more abundant timber resources and can be obtained more conveniently. Therefore, if Shandong Central Plains wants to produce a large amount of gunpowder, it may either need to divert the charcoal reserves originally used to keep warm in the winter, or spend a lot of manpower to go to more distant areas to cut and burn charcoal!

Moreover, these areas where charcoal can be burned must be far away from the densely populated core areas on the north and south sides of the river controlled by Cao Cao. Any slight problem may lead to the disruption of the entire supply chain.

As for sulfur, which is also called flowing yellow or stone yellow, it is even rarer!

The sulfur mines were originally abandoned lands that were not suitable for farming. The Shandong gentry had not wanted that kind of place since the founding of the Han Dynasty three or four hundred years ago. Now, asking the Shandong gentry to find a suitable sulfur mine again in a short period of time is really as difficult as climbing to the sky!

Cao Cao didn't quite understand the concept of the "industrial chain", but he vaguely knew that there were big problems here. It was all the fault of the Cavalry!

This is like many dangerous items in later generations, which can actually be encountered in junior high and high school. However, if the quantity is small, there is basically no problem and no one will care. Once it is produced in large quantities, it will immediately trigger an alarm...

For example, sugar.

This thing can actually be used to make a lot of very dangerous things, but no one would care if you buy a few kilograms or even a few hundred kilograms daily, but once the weight reaches a ton...

Stupid!

Cao Cao was scolding the people in the hall for being stupid, but wasn't he also regretting his own stupidity? !

When the arms were smuggled before, didn’t the people from the Cao and Xiahou families participate?

At that time, Cao Cao turned a blind eye.

Why didn't they see the viciousness and cruelty of the Cavalry's schemes at that time?

Everyone thought that the things and methods in Guanzhong were good, so they borrowed or stole them and used them, but what was the result?

After cursing, Cao Cao looked at those guys in the hall who were cowering like quails, and he couldn't help but feel a deep sense of fatigue in his heart.

This feeling is like an old horse pulling a broken cart, and it happens to encounter a muddy road!

Cao Cao cursed and closed his eyes, not wanting to look at these "broken cars" anymore. He waved his hand and told them to get out, letting Cheng Yu take over.

Although Cao Cao scolded these people, just like scolding his grandson, it was just thunder and rain but little rain. He allowed these people to pay a certain amount of fines to offset their guilt. Most of these people were from Yuzhou. Whether it was for Xun Yu's face or for strategic purposes, Cao Cao could only turn a blind eye to it, just like he treated the small actions of the emperor Liu Xie.

The most important thing now is to take advantage of this opportunity to quickly prepare military food and supplies, and then turn to fight against the Hussars!

If you win, everything will be fine.

If you lose, everything is off the table.

Xun Yu was in the corridor under the hall, watching those foolish people in Yuzhou follow Cheng Yu dejectedly away, then he sighed slightly, walked quickly into the hall, and presented the military supply list for this stage to Cao Cao.

Cao Cao took the statistical table and quickly opened it to check.

When he left Xu County, there was still a lot of inventory in the granaries of Xu County, but now...

You don't even need to look too carefully. Just by looking at the series of words marked by Xun Yu, such as "shortage", "deficit", and "urgent need", you can know how tight the supplies and food of Cao's army are now.

That's what war is like.

If they won, they could obtain a large amount of supplies from the defeated side. Cao Cao's Western Expedition was unsuccessful, and the price he paid was naturally very heavy.

Of course, it is a strange thing that the Qing Dynasty was prepared to pay compensation even if it occasionally won a battle.

There are many things written in Xun Yu’s memorial, but to sum it up in one sentence, he is out of money.

Cao Cao might have had enough troops to fight a battle, but the economy did not allow it. Fighting not only requires people, but also a lot of money. Soldiers need food, clothes, weapons, and various military equipment, all of which cost money. Normally, it costs 20,000 coins a year to support one soldier. Even if you save some, it still costs 15,000.

Cao Cao now has 5,000 soldiers and horses in Heluo, 3,000 in Henei, 8,000 in Jizhou, 4,000 in Jingzhou, and there are also troops directly under Cao Cao's command. All these together require financial support, but the granaries in Xu County are now empty, there is no money!

As for taxes and such, they will have to wait until autumn, as it is only early spring now.

Can this battle still be fought?

Xun Yu was very worried.

Even a clever woman cannot make a meal without rice!

"The current strategy is to take Ji and fill it!" Cao Cao threw the memorial on the table, "This is the worst strategy, but it cannot be carried out!"

It is not difficult to kill Cui Yan, but the difficult part is what to do with the military rations and supplies after killing Cui Yan?

How many meals can Cao Cao's men eat with just the Cui family's assets in Dongwu?

Cao Cao glanced at Xun Yu and said, "Wen Ruo, don't worry! I will lead the army immediately to fight the Hussars at Danjiangkou! As long as we defeat the Hussars at Wuguan, we will have a chance to turn things around!"

Xun Yu cupped his hands and said, "May the lord have a successful start!"

Cao Cao laughed, and Xun Yu also smiled a little.

Although both of them were laughing, they actually knew in their hearts that the key to the Cavalry Army was not Danjiangkou, nor the Wugu Pass detachment, but the main army at Hangu Pass!

Only the cavalry that truly blocked Hangu Pass could be considered a so-called "turnaround"...

However, at this stage, we can only look at Danjiangkou first.

……

……

Li Dian's march to Shangyong was as urgent as fire, but when he changed his route to march to Yunguan, he began to move slowly.

They only traveled thirty miles a day, and the baggage ships carrying grain followed them in the Han River, advancing together with the troops on land.

Every day as soon as the sun sets, Li Dian would choose a place, set up camp, and rest early.

Li Dian's speed confused Cao's scouts.

Logically speaking, Li Dian's marching speed was neither fast nor slow, just average and there was nothing wrong with it. However, it was completely different from Li Dian's previous swift and thunderous offensive!

In the past few days, Fangling began to report the news of the attack to Cao Jun like crazy, and said that if Cao Jun did not support him, Fangling would not be able to hold on any longer...

Li Dian did not deploy many soldiers in Fangling.

Even if Li Dian got the map of the insider and launched a targeted attack, Cao Zhen's stay on Fangling Mountain made Li Dian feel that Fangling was a bait, so Li Dian was actually preparing to march to Yunguan.

The reason why they walked slowly was, on the one hand, because Li Dian was waiting for news, and on the other hand, it was also to allow the soldiers to have a short rest.

It took more than ten days to march from Nanzheng to Shangyong in five days. If we continue to attack Yunguan quickly now, even if we take it, we may not have the energy to carry on to the next stage of the battle.

When the information about Li Dian's slow progress reached Cao Ren, it gave Cao Ren a headache.

In Cao Ren's opinion, Li Dian's baggage ship in the Han River looked like a bait no matter how you looked at it.

Because Hanzhong had no decent navy, Li Dian's baggage ships had no naval warships to guard them, which seemed to be an obvious flaw!

But Li Dian's military prowess in Shangyong and in previous battles would not have prevented him from noticing this flaw...

If a more safe way of advancing is followed, the soldiers on land should go first, and the baggage ships without the protection of warships should follow behind. In this way, the troops on land can provide a certain amount of reconnaissance and protection, and even if they are ambushed, the ships behind can turn around and leave in time.

But Li Dian just happened to advance by both land and sea!

Li Dian has been fighting for many years and he must understand the importance of food and fodder. It is impossible for him to be so careless.

Cao Ren felt that Li Dian was seducing him by doing this...

What should I do, should I go up or not?

Cao Ren thought for a long time, and ordered the guards of Yunguan to attack cautiously...

Li Dian's front scouts discovered that Cao's army was attacking the fleet along the water and immediately reported it to Li Dian.

Li Dian ordered a defense on the spot and towed all the baggage ships to the shallows. He then stationed soldiers to set up defensive positions on the shore and used crossbows and catapults to drive away the Cao army's warship fleet that tried to approach.

Facing the Cao army battleship squadron, Li Dian did not personally go to the front line to command the battle, but sent more scouts to prevent Cao army from attacking. Li Dian knew very well that these Cao army battleship squadrons were just testing, and even the attack was limited, and the real fierce battle was still to come.

The two sides fought briefly on the Han River, and both sides suffered losses, but none of them were serious.

Seeing that they could not gain any advantage, Cao's warship fleet withdrew to Yunguan, while Li Dian still maintained a slow marching speed and moved towards Yunguan.

The result of the exploratory attack was transmitted back to Xiangyang. Instead of feeling relieved, Cao Ren became even more embarrassed.

Because Yunguan was also very important, Cao Ren did not dare to let the defenders of Yunguan attack with all their might. However, the information obtained from the attack was very limited. It could only prove that there was indeed such a part of the force, but it could not be confirmed that Li Dian's main force was going to attack Yunguan.

Although according to Cao Ren's preset plan, Yunguan was to be abandoned in the end, he could not give up so easily, otherwise it would inevitably arouse the vigilance of Li Dian and others.

Just as Cao Ren was thinking hard about how to deal with it, a piece of news that made him even more worried was delivered to Xiangyang -

The vanguard troops of the Sichuan-Shu navy appeared near Jiangling!