Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3590: Sharpening Salt and Splitting the Old Wall

The setting sun stretched the shadows of the three people onto the cracked yellow earth and gray wall.

Yan Rou's cowhide bag was bulging with several sharp edges. They contained the flint and iron cauldron given by Wei Yan, as well as the exquisite saw and axe made in Huang's workshop, as well as horseshoe nails and other sundries.

These were the marching equipment that Wei Yan brought all the way from Taihang Mountains.

Inconspicuous, but extremely practical.

Wei Yan took off the suede bag from his waist, poured out some blue-gray salt grains and showed them to Yan Rou, then poured them back, "These are blue salts, which can be eaten by both humans and horses. If you don't have salt to eat after a long journey, you won't have the strength to fight even if you encounter a wild beast."

"That's great... I'm welcome." Yan Rou took the salt bag and bowed in thanks.

Unlike the cheaper salt in later generations, most of the salt in the Han Dynasty was not only of poor quality, but also relatively expensive. Some people could not even afford black salt.

Refined salt like this is already considered a high-quality product, and some even fall into the category of luxury salt.

Wei Yan smiled and took out another bag, which contained some herbs classified by category. "These are all picked from the mountains. You should know how to use them, so I won't go into details..."

From a certain perspective, humans are born and raised in nature, so once they get sick, it is most likely because some kind of balance in the body is broken, just like the simplest acclimatization, which is when the bacteria in the body cannot adapt to the environment after moving from one place to another. Therefore, Shennong's tasting of hundreds of herbs is undoubtedly a huge wealth left by the ancient Chinese sages to future generations. It's a pity that the defects in the feudal dynasty system in later generations magnified the negative side of human nature, so that more than half of the ten major Chinese medical classics were written before the Han and Jin Dynasties, and there was only one Materia Medica in the Ming Dynasty. As for the contribution of the pigtail dynasty to medicine, it may be the lice in the pigtail. No wonder Mr. Two Trees is very dissatisfied...

Seeing that Wei Yan had prepared so many things for Yan Rou, Gan Feng couldn't help but be a little stunned, "When did you prepare these? I didn't even prepare any gifts!"

Yan Rou laughed, stepped forward, grabbed Gan Feng's hand, and patted him, "The fact that you can come and give it to me is already the best gift!"

"No, no, how can this be possible?!" Gan Feng muttered unsatisfiedly, "I want to give you a gift too..."

Gan Feng suddenly remembered something and walked to the side to get a rhino horn bow. "Oh, right! You will definitely need this!"

He thrust the horn bow with wolf tendon strings in his hand without hesitation. The bow bridle decorated with wolf teeth shone coldly in the twilight. "And there are twelve whistling arrows! I asked a master craftsman to make them. I guarantee they will be loud and accurate!"

Yan Rou felt for the knife marks on the bow. This was obviously a bow with a story. Perhaps one of the marks was left by Gan Feng in a previous battle. Seeing Gan Feng grinning with his big teeth showing, Yan Rou patted Gan Feng's arm heavily, "You... remember what you said, come and drink with me!"

"Haha! That's for sure!" Gan Feng laughed, and then he and Yan Rou put their arms around each other's shoulders and sang a grassland ballad.

Wei Yan didn't understand what they were singing, but he guessed a little. He looked up and saw the treetops in the distance being pressed down by the wind, the green grass spreading to the horizon, and the setting sun falling on the horizon...

Wei Yan suddenly remembered that when he left Jingxiang and walked towards the unknown distance on the official road of Nanyang, the scenery seemed to be the same as today.

Yes, my lord is right, the world is so big, beyond imagination.

If I hadn't gotten over it, maybe I would have stayed in Jingxiang for the rest of my life?

maybe.

Stay in a place you can't leave for the rest of your life, marry a woman you don't know whether you like her or not, and then have some children who you might like, but most of the time they are naughty and make you angry to death...

After that, he continued to be despised by the noble families and was called a lowly peasant.

Wei Yan's eyes gradually turned cold.

Gan Feng, who was standing by, didn't know what he was talking about with Yan Rou, but he suddenly burst into laughter, "Okay, okay! I'm going to go to your tribe to eat yellow sheep! Roasted yellow sheep!"

"Okay! Enough!" Yan Rou laughed and suddenly sang a pastoral song in Wuhuan language. Her hoarse voice climbed the melodious tune and flew towards the crack in the clouds.

There, the last ray of golden light was shining on the charred remains of the battlefield outside Fangcheng.

Wei Yan came back to his senses from his reverie and followed Yan Rou's tune, resting his fingers on the hilt of his sword and tapping the beat lightly.

"Take care of yourself."

After Yan Rou finished singing, he hugged Wei Yan and Gan Feng again, then he led his few remaining tribesmen down the hill, mounted his horses, waved at Wei Yan and Gan Feng, and urged his horses forward.

What was tied behind their saddles were not trophies or gold, silver or money, but ordinary felt blankets, oilcloths, and some items needed for the journey.

"Remember to send someone to tell me when you've decided on the pasture!" Gan Feng laughed, "And we need to raise more yellow sheep as you said..."

Yan Rou laughed and waved his hand. The wolf tooth decoration on the rhino horn bow slung across his body flashed twice in the setting sun.

Wei Yan raised his head slightly, and saw in the distance, a group of wild geese were flying over the charred and bloody land, flapping their wings towards the direction where Yan Rou's cavalry disappeared...

After a moment, Wei Yan said to Gan Feng: "He belongs to the desert grassland..."

"Yes..." Gan Feng sighed, "He still has his hometown, the desert, and my hometown..."

Wei Shen reached out and patted Gan Feng on the shoulder.

The two were silent for a while.

The moment Wei Yan saw Yan Rou and his men leaving, he felt somewhat envious.

There are not many people who can pick up and put down.

Especially the latter one.

Wei Yan can't let it go now.

"You know what? When I cut off the head of General Cao, that guy was still laughing at me..."

Wei Yan said slowly, "You say I am a pariah... If it weren't for the chaos in the world right now, there would never be a day for a pariah like me to rise to prominence..."

"Huh?" Gan Feng was stunned for a moment.

Wei Yan turned to look at Gan Feng, "When we entered Fangcheng yesterday, do you know what that old guy said?"

Gan Feng sighed, "It's definitely not good."

"That's right," Wei Yan nodded, "The old man said he was the descendant of Marquis Jiang... You know who Marquis Jiang is, right?"

Gan Feng shook his head calmly, "I don't know? There are so many monkeys here, who knows which one it is, male or female?"

Wei Yan laughed, "That's right! But... in such a small town, such an old guy who was saved from Cao's army because of us, has to act like a superior person... I was thinking... "

Wei Yan turned to look at Gan Feng, "I just want to pull them all down, press them to the mud, and then piss on their faces...hahahaha!"

"How about it? Do you want to do it?" Wei Yan asked Gan Feng.

"What do you want to do?" Gan Feng glanced at Wei Yan, "Let's pee together?"

"Hahaha..." Wei Yan laughed, "That's right! That's right!"

Wei Yan suddenly drew out his sword, raised it toward the sky, and then slashed down in the air, "When the time comes, I will want to ask them a question!"

"Does this urine smell good?" Gan Feng said with a smile.

Wei Yan laughed loudly, shook his head, and then said word by word, "Are kings, princes, generals, and ministers of different species?!"

……

...Humans are always the most complex creatures.

Kindness is human, and evil is also human.

All these prepositions and adjectives are produced in the process of interaction with other humans, just like a savage living alone in nature. So, what difference does it make whether he is good or bad, loyal or treacherous?

Mid-March, Heluo region, Luoyang city.

Above Luoyang City, the sound of fierce fighting resounded throughout the fields, and the bloody smell in the air could not be blown away even by the wind. The breath of death was like a ghost, wandering along the banks of the Luo River, and desperate and tragic shouts enveloped the entire battlefield.

With the capture of Mengjin, Zhu Ling also gained the upper hand in the attack on Taigu Pass, and Zhang Liao also launched an attack on Luoyang City.

No matter how you look at it, Luoyang City is more or less a lean camel. The thickness of its rammed earth walls alone is several times that of ordinary city walls. It also has corner towers and low walls. If it weren't for the fact that the Yang family had been unable to restore Luoyang City to its former glory over the years, the problems Zhang Liao would be facing would be even more serious and troublesome.

The sky was filled with long arrows pouring down with heart-wrenching screams. More than 2,000 siege soldiers shouted all the way, rushed across the moat at a rapid speed, and began to destroy some defensive fortifications outside Luoyang City. At the same time, they launched an attack on the outer wall of Luoyang City.

War will never be as beautiful as shown in later movies and TV shows. On the contrary, most wars are ugly and not pretty.

Even if it was an attack on Luoyang City, it would be impossible for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of people to besiege the city...

Real soldiers have collision volumes, but the textures in movies and TV shows do not. That's why in movies and TV shows you can see dense rows and columns of soldiers rushing forward, but you almost never see that in reality.

The military parades of later generations in China were shocking, but they were all high-intensity, and the soldiers were at least selected from a hundred miles away. The height difference between them was not too big, and long-term training also formed a tacit understanding. Otherwise, if one person's movements were slightly wrong, the bayonet of the person behind might directly pierce the back of the head of the person in front...

On a real battlefield, there would be no such congestion, and Zhang Liao could not throw all the troops at hand into the siege. It was more of a tentative push, looking for the weak links in Luoyang City, continuously exerting pressure, increasing the fatigue and panic of the defenders, until the opportunity came.

The Qiang general climbed up the ladder, leaped over the bloodstained parapet, and charged directly at it with the protection of his shield.

The oncoming defenders' spears missed the target and they were unable to dodge. They were hit by the shield head-on, causing their heads to bleed and they fell to the ground.

The Qiang general's sword whistled and chopped down, blood spurted out, and the defender's arm was instantly split in two. Before the defender could scream, another Qiang soldier who followed the Qiang general jumped into the battlement and stabbed the defender with the broken arm to the ground with a spear.

"Kill!" The Qiang general stood on the outer wall of Luoyang City, turned around and shouted, "Kill them!"

The sword was swung, bringing up a puff of warm blood.

The spears whistled, creating holes in the flesh.

Broken limbs were thrown and fell amid angry roars.

The Qiang generals and subsequent soldiers tried their best to carve out a foothold on the narrow city wall.

However, after the Qiang army climbed onto the walls of Luoyang, Zhang Liao, who was observing from the front of the battle, did not look happy.

The soldiers that Jiang Jiong brought from Longyou were indeed good, brave and fierce, but they lacked a little tacit cooperation...

This kind of tacit understanding does not mean just rushing forward and waiting for others to cooperate with him, but he must not only know where he is, but also know where his friendly forces are.

Even have to determine where the enemy is...

And it is obvious that these Qiang soldiers lack this.

"Move a team of archers to the left side of the ladder to cover the retreat of the Qiang soldiers."

When Zhang Liao saw the Qiang general rushing forward, he immediately realized that something was wrong. He immediately stopped marking and ordered his soldiers to be mobilized to provide cover.

"Brothers, form a formation... form a formation... and hold the battlements for me!"

The Qiang general shouted.

"Protect the military marquis!"

Suddenly someone shouted and put the shield up on the side of the military officer.

Arrows shot from the other side, one pierced the shield, and the other pierced the Han soldier guarding the Qiang military school...

The Han and Qiang people are all comrades in arms.

The strict military regulations ensure that the Hussars have good followability and obedience.

However, these good qualities also require good leaders to bring them out.

Logically speaking, the arrows and crossbows that suddenly shot from one side should have alerted the Qiang general, but unfortunately, he obviously did not realize the danger. Or he had noticed something unusual but was unwilling to retreat, so he continued to swing his sword and chopped down the Cao army defenders in front of him, shouting and fighting fiercely on top of the corpses.

There is no doubt that the Qiang army commanders are very brave.

Under his fierce fighting, the Cao army defenders near the battlements were chopped down to the ground one after another...

The soldiers following the Qiang general responded in unison, took up their positions, and fought bloody battles in a crescent formation, but they were facing a "trap" set by the defenders.

On both sides of the battlements that the Qiang army had captured, Cao's soldiers were already approaching in formation...

Although Man Chong's personal military strength was not enough to fight bravely on the front line, he still showed the level of a first-class strategist in the deployment of soldiers and the arrangement of levels. He divided the attacked wall of Luoyang City into several small areas, and distributed ordinary soldiers and elite troops in each area. In this way, when the battle was about to begin, he could use ordinary soldiers to consume the cavalry, and also use elite troops for monitoring and control. In some cases, he could even mobilize elite troops from two adjacent areas to attack from both sides.

And there are also some unique techniques in the layout of the city.

The Qiang army obviously rushed to the middle position between the two areas. At the beginning, they faced ordinary defenders and captured the battlements, but were soon attacked from both sides. In a short moment, three brave Qiang soldiers were swallowed up by the violent counterattack of Cao's army.

The young general's eyes were red, hatred had made him lose his mind. He was like a mad tiger, roaring forward, but he didn't care whether the other soldiers around him were keeping up.

"Archers, shoot him! Shoot him... "

A Cao army commander who was slashed by a knife while facing the Qiang army, looked at his bloody chest and stepped back repeatedly, his hoarse and miserable screams were horrifying. If it weren't for the armor, he would have been ripped open.

Three Cao army archers exposed their crossbows from behind their shields and aimed at the Qiang general.

The crossbow arrow whistled out.

At such a close distance, the Qiang army had no way to dodge and could only angrily throw the sword in his hand before being hit by the crossbow arrow...

The crossbow arrow pierced through the body of the Qiang general and nailed him to the city wall with a few traces of scarlet blood.

As the young Qiang general fell to the ground with a bang, Cao's soldiers counterattacked and either drove the remaining Qiang soldiers off the city wall or killed them on the spot.

Zhang Liao frowned, "Why did that guy rush forward? When we were assigning tasks at the front of the station, didn't we repeatedly emphasize that it was a feint attack? Don't you know what a feint attack is for? Or did I not explain it clearly to them last night?"

Zhang Liao's personal guard said: "Those Qiang people...may have seen an opportunity on the top of the city wall, and rushed up in a moment of excitement..."

"Even if they want to charge forward, even if they don't report to me, they should still inform other troops around them..." Zhang Liao sighed, "Without any cover or follow-up, what's the point of them charging forward?"

Whether it is weapons or gunpowder, they all need people to use them, and they must be used in the right place. Otherwise, it is very likely that half a day's effort will be wasted and nothing will be gained.

Without understanding the deployment of the garrison in Luoyang City, the speed of reaction, the rhythm changes, the placement of fortifications and so on, a large-scale advance and attack would undoubtedly be irrational and would inevitably lead to large-scale casualties among the soldiers.

After reaching a consensus with Fei Qian and Pang Tong, Zhang Liao's attack became more cautious and purposeful. He did not just focus on Luoyang City and thought that the battle would be over once it was captured. He also had to consider the subsequent evolution and development of the battle. So finding a breakthrough in the feint attack was obviously more in line with Fei Qian's requirements than blindly attacking. However, these Qiang soldiers, perhaps because of the language barrier or the deviation in the instructions, gave Zhang Liao a headache.

"Come here, sound the horns and alert the guards!" Zhang Liao ordered, "Send a message to the Sima of each department to come to the big tent to discuss matters after dinner!"

Zhang Liao planned to have a detailed talk with these Simas, including the commander of the Qiang troops. If it still didn't work, he would have to replace the original leaders and select military schools who could execute his orders.