Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3611 Bloody Smoke Covers Tianzhen
True and false, false and true.

Truth and falsehood only have special meaning in childhood, but once we grow up, truth and falsehood are no longer a pressing need.

Wei Yan did not set up any special camps for refugees, but seeing how the Cavalry Army set up camps along the way, many people began to learn from them.

But even though they were studying, the refugee camp was still messy.

Because there are always some people who choose to do nothing and wait for others to do it.

The fundamental reason why these Jizhou people, or refugees, followed the Cavalry Army was not that they thought the Cavalry Army was so good, but that they could no longer survive in the local area!

At the beginning, there were five or six hundred refugees, but later on the number increased. Now the number is close to four thousand, and it seems that the number is still increasing!

In fact, many people in northern Jizhou had already fled early, and the remaining ones were those who had no choice but to flee...

And among these people who have no choice but to escape, a large number of them are brainless.

The lack of knowledge and the constraints of habit have caused these people to suffer the greatest pain so far.

Some refugees brought their belongings with them, but many more took nothing with them.

These refugees are not bad or stupid by nature, but one thing is certain: they are not prepared to deal with violence.

They have lived under the Han order for one or two hundred years. Even the occasional violent incidents only occurred around them and became stories they told.

Therefore, they do not have the option of "violence" in their minds. They naively believe that by relying on the laws of the Han Dynasty and social customs, they can enjoy peace and order forever.

Even after the wave surged up, they still refused to believe that the version had changed and the world was in turmoil.

Perhaps it is because of the lack of information, or perhaps it is because of the stubbornness of their thinking that ultimately they have to bear the pain they are suffering today.

Wei Yan assigned some soldiers to maintain order and occasionally distributed some food and fodder.

In this way, although the stall was large, the situation was still managed to be maintained, allowing these thousands of refugees to find shelter.

But this situation cannot last long.

After entering Jizhou, Wei Yan did not make a big fuss about collecting money and grain like he did in Fangcheng. He just collected 5,000 to 6,000 dan of grain and called it a day. However, with the increase in the number of refugees, these 5,000 to 6,000 dan of grain, plus the original foundation, might not last for a month.

When fighting outside, food and grass are like a red line, and basically all military academy generals have to be nervous. Seeing this situation, Gan Feng couldn't help but feel uneasy, and found Wei Yan to suggest that since they had already started, they might as well continue to find a few "fat sheep" and collect all the food and grass they could, otherwise, problems would arise sooner or later.

Wei Yan said that he had an idea but was unwilling to say it out loud.

Seeing that food was becoming less and less, the non-commissioned officers in the military academies felt more and more uneasy.

Once we run out of food and grass, it will not be a small problem. Let alone attacking Yecheng, we may not be able to continue our journey halfway!
However, after all, Wei Yan had some foundation in various magical operations in the early stage. Therefore, although the sergeants of the military academy could not help but grumble in their hearts, they still believed that Wei Yan could find a way to solve this problem.

……

……

It is still a bit cold on March nights in northern Jizhou.

Xiahou Ru rubbed his hands, exhaled a breath of hot air, and tried his best to move his fingers.

Under the cover of night, some things can be concealed.

Xiahou Ru brought some Cao troops with him, ready for the killing.

The swords and spears were not aimed at the cavalry, but at the people in Jizhou.

The reason is very sufficient, to clear the countryside.

We must not leave the enemy any chance.

If they encounter a large group of cavalrymen, they will basically just be sent to the battlefield. However, facing the people of Jizhou, they still have the "power to fight"...

Xiahou Ru felt somewhat uncomfortable about this mission.

But he had no choice.

We must find a way to solve the hole caused by the failure of the last grain transport.

The moonlight fell on the bronze plate with the name "Xiahou" on his waist, making the word "Xiahou" even darker.

The chaotic sound of weapons clashing among the five hundred Cao soldiers behind him made Xiahou Ru upset.

The silk book of Yecheng Military Order was pressed against his chest and felt hot. Even his breathing felt like a blunt knife scraping his chest, causing pain in his skin and flesh.

Cuijia Village.

"General, I really have to..."

The deputy's voice was trembling.

The cold flash of swords and guns behind him shattered the peace in front of him.

Xiahou Ru touched the bronze plate on his waist, and the chill penetrated into his finger bones.

He recalled the time when he was summoned by Cao Pi and saw the heads laid out in the hall.

Cao Pi told him that it was the warehouse official who was impeached for mixing sand into the military rations.

Although Cao Pi did not say it explicitly, Xiahou Ru understood that this was his last chance. If he refused to do it, his head would be chopped off and placed side by side with that of the warehouse official.

Are the people innocent?
innocent.

But for the rulers, they don’t care who is innocent in the process, they only care about the results.

"Let's do it."

Xiahou Ru heard a hoarse and unpleasant sound coming out of his throat.

"Their surname... is Cui..."

……

……

The last name is the reason.

Just like in later generations, gender can also be a reason.

It doesn't make sense, but it's very practical.

When the soldiers broke down the village gate, the original peace was completely broken.

Whether Cuijia Village has any connection with Qinghe Cui family is not important at this moment.

"What are you going to do?!"

The old man in the village ran out, his white hair swaying weakly under the firelight.

Xiahou Ru waved his arms, "The Cui family is guilty of treason! I order you to execute all nine clans! Kill them!"

There was a lame old woman crying, "My last name is not Cui! My last name is not Cui..."

When the ring-handled sword falls, it will not stop because of someone's crying.

Blood spurted out.

Flowing and spreading.

Xiahou Ru suddenly remembered the teachings of his uncle Xiahou Dun: "A general should be like a sickle, and do not need to ask whether the wheat is willing to bow its head."

But his uncle Xiahou Dun did not teach him how to distinguish whether the blood flowing in the wheat field was from the enemy or his compatriots.

Perhaps, there is no difference.

The torches fluttered above the blood, jumping, stained, and spreading.

"Loading food and fodder!"

Xia Houru forced himself to look away from the half of the child's arm lying on the wheat.

He must believe firmly and he must persevere.

These are all members of the Cui family, they are all traitors and should have been killed long ago.

Even if the people in Cuijia Village did not commit any acts of treason, didn't they ever think about it?
Who can prove that they haven't thought about it?
When the guards dragged out the last three children from the cellar, the deputy general's knife hesitated.

Xiahou Ru suddenly grabbed the sword and slashed it down.

On the way back, Xiahou Ru looked back at the burned village.

He thought of the child he had killed, who was actually laughing when he was stabbed...

Maybe he saw it wrong.

Perhaps it’s because the child has realized that life is worse than death.

……

……

The morning dew on the Bronze Sparrow Tower in Yecheng seemed mixed with a smell of blood.

Cao Pi flipped through the "victory report".

The green smoke from the incense burner rose, obscuring the eyes of the spirit beast squatting on it.

Cao Pi threw Xiahou Ru's "good news" on the table.

Cao Pi knew that this "good news" was fake, and Chen Qun knew it too. Even most of the high-ranking officials in Yecheng knew where this "good news" came from.

But it is still a "good news" rather than any other "report".

Because what Yecheng needs now is "good news" rather than "report".

So, the "good news" appeared.

And in the government office, the people who were supposed to be audited were like the cameras of later generations. They suddenly became sick and skipped the "civilian" part and turned into "thieves" instead.

Amid the swirling smoke, the attendant beside Cao Pi whispered, "Sir, if the people in the city knew about this..."

Cao Pi sneered and slapped the "good news" with his hand, "What does it matter if you know it? The lowly people are like pigs and dogs, they only know how to eat it."

……

……

On the stone slabs of the West Market in Yecheng, the newly stained purple-brown spots could never be removed. At first, the grain store owner would cover the bloodstains on the grain bags with linen, but after a long time, he was too lazy to cover them.

Everyone who went in and out of the grain store could see it, but they couldn't see it.

The old man at the head of the line was counting the copper coins in a clay jar, his eyes fixed on the water sign inside the grain store.

There was clearly half a finger mixed in the newly opened bag of grains, but when the grain store owner shouted "Prime Minister's grace" and "Crown Prince's subsidy", the old man's cloudy eyes were only fixed on the scale of the liter.

As long as it's cheap.

The extra handful of corn can be used to make extra porridge for the grandson.

……

……

Deep in the alley, the widow stared at the pieces of meat in the wooden basin, lost in thought.

The night watchman at the entrance of the alley let it slip that he saw the dead body of Cuijia Village being chopped into pieces and sent to the market.

Soon, the night watchman was captured.

The yamen runners said that the night watchman was spreading rumors and causing trouble.

The night watchman never came back.

Flies smelled the blood and buzzed around.

Everything in the market is expensive, only this kind of meat is cheap.

The buyers were silent, they took the items in a hurry and went home in a hurry, as if they were afraid that if they left a moment later, something would catch up with them.

The water in the pot was boiling, bubbling.

The meat in the basin was rinsed several times, but it still had a strong fishy smell.

The widow turned around, looked at the child who had fainted from hunger in the room, and suddenly got angry and picked up the piece of meat and put it into the pot.

In the steaming heat, blood foam from the meat floated up and gradually changed color.

……

……

And in the back alley, more "food and grass" were being traded.

The man in short clothes opened his robe and the black and purple handle of the sword was faintly revealed.

When the sacks were unloaded from the cart, some broken bones were still stuck in the gaps.

The merchants who came to buy "food and grass" grumbled, "Can't you get some good stuff? It's the goods from the south of the city again."

The man in shorts sneered, "Good stuff, of course! But it's expensive! Do you want it?"

The vendor snorted and didn't respond.

When moving the goods, the seal of one of the sacks was not done properly and a piece of it fell out, which had to be stuffed back in in a hurry.

……

……

Food prices have risen by another 30%, but the queues are quieter than usual.

As the sun set, smoke began to rise from somewhere's house first, and then other neighborhoods began to be filled with the bloody smell of wheat.

It was a new recipe that even the most experienced cooks couldn't come up with.

Add a handful of conscience to three liters of water and simmer until numb.

It can turn decay into sweetness.

……

……

Cao Pi stood on a high platform and looked at the smoke rising from the city.

"This is the pariah!" Cao Pi sneered, "Father has said that this is the pariah! As long as there is a stutter, it is a pariah who can forget everything!"

But after the sarcastic sneer, Cao Pi's smile gradually disappeared.

It is easy to deal with these numb people, but it is not so easy to deal with the approaching cavalry.

……

……

Not everyone was willing to sit and wait for death, and not everyone was willing to surrender to the Hussars.

Human nature is always complex and changeable, and this was even more evident in Jizhou when Wei Yan and Gan Feng went south.

Every city and fort in the northern part of Jizhou held the drawbridge tightly and closed the city gates, just like a pretty boy in a miniskirt and suspenders with one hand covering his chest and the other hand covering his crotch. It was extremely awkward, but it was reality.

There were no large groups of hussar cavalry, but there were small groups of scouts and rangers.

The ones showing off their might are outside the city and in the distance of the forts. There may be three or five riders, or more than ten people, who appear and disappear, monitoring the movements of the city forts.

The tricolor flag spread out, and the Hussars were like an open net. Although the mesh was sparse, no one dared to test whether the net was strong or not.

Some people welcomed the cavalry with great joy, saying that they had been looking forward to the arrival of the cavalry since the Protector General of the Northern Territory, Zhao Nan, came south, and then sent cattle, wine, and food in exchange for the right to fly the tricolor flag.

Or it can be called exchange or transaction, which are not much different.

There were also some people who hesitated and were unwilling to hand over their chips so quickly or to make contact with the Hussars.

Among these people, they also knew that the Hussars would arrive sooner or later, but they did not expect them to come so soon.

Of course, the most critical issue is the number of soldiers led by Wei Yan and Gan Feng, which makes them hesitate.

If Zhao Yun had mobilized all the troops of Youzhou in the northern region and marched to the border, these people would have naturally fallen to the ground and surrendered without saying a word. However, with only Wei Yan and Gan Feng's troops...

Will it make me look too cheap?

So they hesitated and remained silent.

As for how many civilians were killed or injured outside the city and the fortress, it was not the most important thing for them.

Even though they have been shouting "people are the most important" for the past one or two hundred years...

……

……

In Wei Yan's camp.

"These refugees were originally meant for Zhao Zilong..." Wei Yan sighed, "but we got here first, so they ended up here..."

Gan Feng scratched his head, "What do you mean?"

Wei Yan glanced at Gan Feng, pondered for a moment, and explained to Gan Feng, "This is a strategy of fortifying the city and clearing the countryside."

"Fortify the walls and clear the fields?" Gan Feng said, "Shouldn't that mean taking everyone away and burning down the houses?"

Wei Yan shook his head, "Strategy is not static. What you said was also about clearing the countryside, and what we are facing now is also..."

"Hmm... I don't quite understand." Gan Feng continued to scratch his head.

Wei Yan asked, "It's March now. Tell me, if we hadn't come, what would have happened to these refugees?"

"How is it?" Gan Feng had a problem. Whenever others had brains, he was not willing to use them.

"They should cultivate the fields." Wei Yan said, "We didn't deliberately destroy their fields, but they still followed us. On the one hand, we didn't kill them, and on the other hand, they knew that they would have no life if they stayed where they were... If they planted seeds and cultivated the land, they would have the idea of ​​staying where they were... What does this mean?"

"What does that mean?" Gan Feng nodded repeatedly and asked again.

"It means that the seeds that were supposed to be left for them have been taken away!" Wei Yan said in a deep voice, "Without seeds, spring farming, and no stored food, what can they do? They can only follow us and rely on the food and grass we give them to survive, or wait for us to capture the cities and forts in Jizhou and give them some. This way they can survive."

"Oh oh oh..." Gan Feng nodded, "Is that so... In that case, can we draw on the young and strong among them to supplement..."

From the Xiliang Army to the Northern Territory Army, some of Gan Feng's habitual cognitions have not been completely eliminated. Moreover, for a brain like Gan Feng, the surrendered people are his own people.

In other words, Gan Feng would consider the people of Youzhou to be under the command of the Cavalry, but now they are in Jizhou, which is still the enemy's territory, so these people are the enemy's people.

It’s such a simple division.

Wei Yan shook his head. He thought more about it than Gan Feng. Wei Yan had thought about using civilians as cannon fodder, but he instinctively felt that there was something fishy and a trap.

And from a certain perspective, Wei Yan felt that if he really did this, wouldn't he be no different from Cao's army or the Yellow Turban bandits of that year?
Wei Yan stroked the hilt of the knife, swallowing the anger in his mouth and sneering.

How could a great general under the command of the Hussars be as shameless as those evildoers?
But here's the problem.

The refugees need to eat, and the soldiers also need to eat.

If the soldiers were allowed to fight in the front, no matter how much they fought, there would not be enough food for the refugees.

If too much is distributed, the blood of the soldiers will be like filling the bottomless pit of the refugees.

If they get less, these refugees will turn around and resent Wei Yan and the Cavalry Army.

When conflicts broke out, the goal of the Jizhou gentry, or the strategy of the Cao family group, was achieved.

"As we go further, there will be more and more refugees," Wei Yan said, "even if we fight them, we will be limited. So we might as well change our tactics and let them fight us."

"Let them fight? Do you think they will attack us on their own initiative?" Gan Feng frowned and said, "Do they have the guts to do that?"

"If among these people..." Wei Yan chuckled a few times, and then said, "Also, what if we have no food?"

"No more food?" Gan Feng's eyes widened, and then he quickly laughed, "You're kidding me, right?"

Wei Yan shook his head, "I'm not lying to you. We really have no food. Think about it, these refugees have been fed and watered for so many days... It's impossible that food and grass just dropped from the sky out of thin air, right?"

Gan Feng was shocked, "Why didn't you tell me earlier? How can we fight without food and grass?!"

Wei Yan clapped his hands, "So we won't fight anymore!"

"Ah?!" Gan Feng was stunned.

"We are going back now..." Wei Yan stood up, stretched his shoulders, neck and arms, and said, "Turn around and go back."