Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3560 Who can be blessed?

The sunlight splashed down, reflecting the rising blood energy between the mountain paths.

Broken shields and battle flags floated on the surface of the Danshui River, and human limbs drifted down the river.

The air was filled with the smell of burnt flesh and blood, attracting a few greedy vultures and crows that circled over the battlefield. They looked at the flesh and blood hungrily, but were frightened by the screams coming from below and dared not land.

If the battle for the world between Fei Qian and Cao Cao was like a game of chess, then Zhao Yun, Wei Yan, Zhang Liao and others, even Liao Hua and Li Dian, were all chess pieces on the board, fighting each other for territory.

Only one chess piece is allowed to stay at each intersection on the chessboard.

When a chess piece falls, it either captures other chess pieces or is captured by other chess pieces.

If we focus our attention on Danjiangkou and only look at the battle formation set up by Cao Ren, it looks more like chess than Go.

The Dan River and the Han River serve as the border, where Cao Ren stationed his troops.

Whether it is Liao Hua or Li Dian, if they want to continue to attack Jingxiang to the south, they must break through this key point.

When playing chess, of course there will be exchange of pieces.

Whether a pawn captures a soldier or a cannon exchanges for a horse, the ultimate goal is to directly capture the enemy general.

If you can win, there will naturally be a chance to play another game of chess.

If you lose, you will have nothing, and you will never be able to sit at the chessboard again. At this point, even if there are still some chariots, horses, and cannons left on the board, they have nothing to do with the chess player...

Preserving the chess pieces is, of course, important, but the final victory or loss is more important!

Cao Ren stood on the makeshift watchtower, clutching the bronze flag with his knuckles turning white.

He was too familiar with the bloody smell of this battlefield...

That is the smell of rotten trust and fresh life steaming together.

"Send the order to the supervisory team! If one man retreats, the squad leader will be beheaded! If a squad retreats, the platoon leader will be beheaded! If a platoon leader retreats, the military commander will be beheaded! "

Cao Ren shouted loudly, his voice filled with blood.

Collective punishment is obviously cruel and inhumane, but what can we do?

Back then outside the city of Xuzhou, weren't those people kneeling on the ground begging for surrender also longing for benevolence and righteousness?

What is the result?

Benevolence and righteousness cannot save the people of Xuzhou, nor can they save Cao Ren himself!

When Cao Ren swung his sword that year, he personally cut off the last bit of his innocence towards the words "benevolence and righteousness".

……

……

Tricolor flags appeared on the battlefield. Liao Hua sent a part of the vanguard troops, preparing to bypass the mountain pass of Yingzui Bay, outflank from the west, and attack Cao Ren's western flank. However, halfway through the journey, they found that Cao's army was ambushed at the mountain pass and arrows were raining down on them.

On the other hand, Li Dian also launched an offensive against Cao Ren's line.

Although Cao Ren sent a suicide squad to burn Li Dian's wooden equipment, it did not have much impact on Li Dian's military strength. Now that he knew that Liao Hua also appeared to the north of Cao Ren, it would be natural for him to cooperate with the advance and there was no need to hold back.

At the beginning of the war, Liao Hua and Li Dian both believed that Cao Ren would inevitably make omissions if he was guarding two fronts. Even if he could not capture Danjiangkou in one fell swoop, he would at least have one or two small victories. However, after the battle began, they realized that a war cannot be won just because you think you can win.

At least that's not the case now.

"Take that place down!"

Liao Hua's military school pointed at the hill where Cao Ren's army was stationed and shouted.

This position was not large, but it blocked the way forward, so whether one wanted to bypass it or break through head-on, it would be hindered. In addition, there was a large flag of the Cao family planted on the top of the mountain, standing high up, which had long been unpleasant to the eye.

"Cao's army only has so many people, kill them all..."

They shouted like that, but unexpectedly the battle to capture the mountain lasted from morning to afternoon and they still failed to take it.

Grenades were also used twice, but the effect was not good.

One is that Liao Hua and other cavalry troops were not taught how to use hot weapons from the first day of joining the army like the later hot weapons armies. They also had decades or even hundreds of years of experience in using hot weapons to learn from. Even if they had gunpowder at the moment, they didn't know how to use it and how to use it most appropriately. It was not the case that every soldier would receive a grenade manual and immediately understand how to use it after hand grenades were issued...

Obviously, throwing grenades from the bottom of a mountain to the top of a mountain definitely requires certain skills. And this skill is extremely dangerous, at least it is not as easy as a keyboard warrior spitting. Even if a keyboard warrior holds a firecracker during the Chinese New Year, knowing that the fire line burns for three seconds, and it will explode in the air after counting to two, how many keyboard warriors can hold that small firecracker? Moreover, once a grenade explodes next to you, it will not only injure two fingers!

The grenade was not very effective, and the momentum of the attack was immediately hindered.

As the sun began to set, Liao Hua's vanguard soldiers, who had eaten lunch on the front line, replaced their comrades who had been unable to capture the hilltop for a long time and began a more powerful charge.

War is undoubtedly the most conducive environment for evolution.

Those who don’t know how to adapt have died, and those who survived have some means.

The same is true for Cao Ren.

The trench in front of the position had been filled with several passages by previous attacks, and the earth wall used by Cao's army to defend against arrows had also been dug down in several places.

Although these simple trenches and earth walls were built, they actually slowed down Liao Hua's forward advance.

Finally, Liao Hua's vanguard soldiers broke through the line of defense.

"Kill them!"

"Bang!" 』

A vanguard soldier of Liao Hua had just charged into Cao's camp when suddenly someone rushed over and slashed at him with a knife, but the attack missed. Then the two men collided with each other and immediately started fighting, and then rolled into a trench full of corpses.

Liao Hua's vanguard soldier felt that the Cao army soldier was trying to take the knife from his hand, so he quickly snatched it away.

The two men cursed as they gained strength.

Suddenly, Liao Hua's vanguard soldiers recognized the Cao army soldier's accent and asked, "You... are you from Nanxiang?"

The Cao army soldiers were stunned for a moment and slowed down their movements.

"You are from Nanxiang, right? I heard that... Stop fighting, surrender, I will protect you..."

"You are all liars, all liars!" the Cao army soldier responded, "You are all liars!"

"Surrender! I am also from Nanxiang... I will protect you... Which village are you from...?"

"I...ah!"

"puff. 』

Other vanguard soldiers of Liao Hua who passed by saw the two men struggling and that the Cao army soldier seemed to have the upper hand, so they stabbed the Cao soldier's body through the crack in his armor without thinking.

"Well……"

The vanguard soldiers of Liao Hua who were thrown into the ditch were stunned for a moment, but the next moment, the seriously injured and dying Cao Jun soldier grasped the spear tip that pierced through his body and threw himself down...

"puff……"

Two pairs of bloody eyes stared at each other.

"My fellow countryman..."

"My last name is Cao...ah..."

In the trench, the blood of the two southern boys mixed together.

At the last moment, the cloudy pupils of the dying Cao soldier suddenly became clear. He remembered that when he left Nanxiang, his mother stuffed dried mugwort into his amulet; he remembered that when they parted at the ferry, his childhood sweetheart said with red eyes that she would wait for him to come back and propose marriage.

At this moment, his blood and the blood of other people from Nanxiang merged in the cracks of his armor, and he could not tell which drops came from the Mian River and which came from the Zhang River.

……

……

"At the left wing fortress, block the gap with wooden boards!"

Cao Ren was adjusting his troops and coordinating his soldiers almost all the time.

He shouted from morning to afternoon, his hoarse voice tearing through the twilight. He also saw the two soldiers fall into the trench, and perhaps in the future the two soldiers would lie in the same place and rot together.

The dead have eliminated their hatred, but the remaining survivors are still struggling between life and death.

But Cao Ren didn't care about those things. After all, there were casualties everywhere on the front line.

At the Yingzui Bay Pass, Liao Hua's vanguard's third wave of attack was in retreat.

The vanguard soldier of Liao Hua who was rushing in the front had his foot pierced by a caltrop and was crawling back with a trail of blood.

Some cavalry soldiers rushed forward, raised their shields, blocked the arrows shot by Cao's soldiers, and then half-carried and half-dragged the wounded back to a safe place...

"Come here! Take the wounded soldiers from the front to the back!"

Cao Ren gave the order, his voice as hoarse as sand and stones grinding against each other.

Without comparison, there is no harm.

If it had been before, when Cao's army went into battle, they would have been responsible for their own life and death. Why would they have spent extra manpower and taken risks to rescue the wounded?

It's already pretty good that we don't use the injured and weak soldiers as stepping stones under the horses' hooves...

But with the Cavalry Army doing this right under his nose, Cao Ren had no choice but to do the same.

It’s like the United States has such high social welfare only because of the Big Bear, but after the Big Bear collapses, what the hell is going on? Do people really still think that a group of ordinary people can hide the truth and receive welfare benefits for 300 years?

Cao Ren also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw Liao Hua's vanguard retreat.

What he fears most is collapse at any moment!

As long as you can persist the first time, you can have a second time...

This is why Cao Ren insisted on being at the front line and commanding in person. It was indeed because of Cao Ren's command at the front line that the entire Cao army line withstood the attack of Liao Hua's army.

For example, the temporary decision to rescue the wounded was an order that could only be issued by Cao Ren on the scene. Otherwise, if an ordinary military academy did this, even if it won the war, it would probably be accused of buying people's hearts!

"Master, have a drink of water..."

The guard handed over the water bag.

Cao Ren took it and raised the water bag. When the sour and smelly water slid down his throat, it felt like being pricked by countless small needles.

"Ahem...."

Cao Ren couldn't help coughing.

"General!" The guard stepped forward with some concern.

"No, it's alright..."

Cao Ren waved his hands and subconsciously used his sleeve to wipe away the snot and saliva from his cough, but the armor on his sleeve scratched his arm so hard that it even felt like blood was coming out.

"Haha..." Seeing himself in such a mess, Cao Ren laughed instead, "Don't worry about me... Go, pass the word, reward and give extra food to today's archers!"

The success of today’s defense is largely due to the contributions of Cao’s archers.

Especially when Cao Ren saw Liao Hua's vanguard soldiers about to throw grenades, his heart almost jumped out of his throat...

Fortunately, the pre-deployed crossbowmen came into play.

Cao Ren saw with his own eyes that a Hussar soldier tried to throw a grenade, but when he lit the fuse, he was hit in the shoulder by a crossbow arrow. The smoking grenade rolled into the Hussar formation, covering several people around it in fireworks. Cao Ren excitedly clenched his fists and waved them, cheering loudly!

Of course, there were many things that spoiled Cao Ren's mood.

Not only the supervisory team, but also Cao Ren himself killed three non-commissioned officers of the military academy.

There are even people with the surname Cao...

However, at a certain moment, Cao Ren caught a glimpse of the amulet exposed on the belt of the corpse of the Cao clan member.

Just like the one on his belt, it has "Cao" embroidered on the front and "Fu" embroidered on the back...

Who can be blessed in troubled times?

The sound of the cavalry's whistle came from the foot of the mountain, and Cao Ren's eyes focused again. He knew that the game of chess would continue until the last child of the Cao family turned into a piece of blood mud on the chessboard.

……

……

From cognition to action is a long process.

Different historical stages have different means of control, but the deep commonalities in the operation of power are the same.

The soldiers of Cao's army knew that the treatment of the Cavalry Army was good, and some of them surrendered to Liao Hua, but would the other soldiers of Cao's army surrender on a large scale because of this?

Obviously impossible.

The lower-ranking Cao army soldiers were, the easier it was for them to be shaken, but the Zhongling Army and Zhonghu Army under Cao Ren's command were extremely difficult to persuade to surrender.

Because Cao Cao encountered a large number of soldiers deserting in his early years, and was almost killed in his tent by the defeated soldiers in the middle of the night, Cao Cao had very strict control over the military law of the soldiers, and created a technical "joint responsibility system", and also issued a special "Infantry Combat Order" to stipulate that "if a squad fails, the squad leader will be beheaded; if a team flees north, the team leader will be beheaded", etc., dividing the military organization into the smallest combat unit. Not only did he identify the person responsible, but he also mobilized the masses... Oh, he mobilized the soldiers to stare at the soldiers to death, and used it to the extreme.

The "Shijia System" created by Cao Cao concentrated the families of soldiers to cultivate land, forming a dual identity of "soldiers and civilians". They applied the law flexibly, and when they were entitled to military benefits, they became civilians. But once they committed a crime, they would be severely punished by military law!

This method is not sophisticated, but it is very effective.

Just like the United States in later generations, they wish everything could be paid in installments, with mortgages and car loans paid in installments over 20 to 30 years, with the goal of monetizing the future labor value of individuals in advance. Once an individual makes a "mistake", the house, car, and family will be implicated.

The United States also uses credit ratings, such as credit scores. For users below a certain score, consumer credit will be greatly reduced, demonstrating its social screening function. In essence, it uses digital codes to reconstruct social identity, which is similar to Cao's army's "Scholar System".

Not only that, but cognitive manipulation of consumerism is also carried out, and through the symbolic construction of certain advocated "lifestyles", material possession and identity are tied together. This kind of psychological control is more permeable than any military law.

Cao's army controlled the soldiers, and perhaps forced them to obey under the sword and axe, but the people in the United States took the initiative to sign the loan contract "free choice"...

Is it due to lack of knowledge, or some other reason?

For the soldiers of Cao's army, knowing that they would die, why didn't they flee or surrender?

But from another perspective, for the people in the United States, why don't they resist when they know they are being exploited?

For this question, even if a keyboard warrior came, he would just angrily change the subject and say it was just spam again...

At least at this time, Liao Hua's attack was not as smooth as expected. After a day, he failed to make any effective progress, which made his soldiers and military academies a little anxious.

After they successfully captured Danshui County and Shunyang County, some soldiers and military academies began to discuss that they could reach Xiangyang in ten days and capture Jingzhou in a month...

But who could have thought that such a small position on the hill would block the way of Liao Hua's vanguard?

"Ming Jin retreats his troops!" 』

Liao Hua frowned and gave the order.

"Captain! It's still early, let me lead my men to charge again!"

The military academy said urgently.

Liao Hua shook his head, "Too much damage... Even if we take down that hill, did you see what's behind it?"

Liao Hua pointed to the rear of Cao's line.

Behind that hill, there were obviously Cao's reserve troops.

"After we take it down, we have to defend it, and then fight with Cao's army in this area. Our troops cannot spread out," Liao Hua said in a deep voice, "and they have the advantage of terrain. We will suffer a great loss if we consume them like this."

Before the attack, Liao Hua conducted corresponding research on the county towns along the Dan River and formulated an attack plan. However, Liao Hua did not expect that Cao Ren would abandon the original defense system of the county towns and directly build a military camp at Danjiangkou, dig trenches, and pile up stone strips and wooden beams for defense.

A county town, no matter how small it is, has certain entrances and exits, and fixed defense structures such as city gates and drawbridges. Once they are destroyed, it will create a loophole in the defense, which can be expanded to become a victory. But what is there to destroy in these defense points that Cao Ren has chosen now?

Trench, earth wall?

This is not the county town gate!

The city gate has been destroyed, can the county wall be saved?

But even if Liao Hua destroyed the trenches and earthen walls of this position, if Cao's army retreated to the next position, would Liao Hua have to start all over again?

"This is not a good way to waste our energy," Liao Hua said, "We can't fight according to Cao's plan..."

If you don't take the mountain path in front of you, you can either take a detour or take the water route.

The Dan River is not spacious, and the ships in it are mostly small boats that transport goods and people, and there are not many warships.

"We can cut down trees and build rafts!" said the military school. "There are trees all around, so building rafts is not difficult! Once our soldiers bypass this hill and land behind Cao's army, we will attack them from both sides. I don't believe we can't take this hill!"

Liao Hua felt that the suggestion from the military academy was a little inappropriate, but he couldn't figure out what was wrong at the moment, so he said, "Withdraw the troops first... hold a military meeting tonight..."