Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3623: The dust has already flown before the flags are raised, the mountains and rivers sharpen the blades and the people are the tripod

In the early morning, regardless of what Xiahou Dun, who was under custody and surveillance, was thinking or trying to do, the situation on the battlefield was no longer something he could control alone.

In most wars, the will of the people is the most important thing.

As the golden sunlight shone down, it gently brushed across the tricolor flag.

The continuous heavy rain can make people feel moldy.

The sun is finally out now, but the ground is not completely dry yet.

Although the official road in the Heluo area was once the core road of the Han Dynasty, it has not been improved or repaired for so many years and has become full of potholes. The original stone slabs on the road have turned into gravel, and the gravel has turned into dust. A small pit that was not repaired in time gradually evolved into a big pit, storing pools of water and reflecting the golden light of the sun.

When the smoke from the cooking stove rose, Fei Qian was already sitting in the central tent working.

At the moment, he had finished dealing with several important documents and was standing in front of a Shandong geographical map on a wooden shelf by the wall with a frown on his face.

The warm sunlight shone through the tent's door curtains and windows, dragging out long beams of light inside the tent. Tiny particles of dust danced up and down in the beams of light, as if to encourage joy.

Because he was so absorbed in his thoughts, he stood still for a long time, looking like a statue bathed in light and shadow.

Fei Qian was thinking about Cao Cao's plan.

After the beginning of spring, rain becomes commonplace and continues until the arrival of summer.

This is not something that can be changed by human power, so there is no point in worrying about it.

However, there are also some problems on the human control front.

Because the cliffs on both sides of the Black Stone Pass were not very high, there were more or less small groups of soldiers and civilians. At that time, Jiang Jiong and Zhu Ling focused their main energy on the Black Stone Pass, and the distance between these small groups of soldiers and civilians was relatively far and sparse, so after reporting it, Fei Qian only asked Jiang Jiong and Zhu Ling to closely monitor it and act cautiously.

After that, the number of soldiers and civilians in these squads increased slowly. Some Cao's soldiers kept their distance from the Hussars and moved outside the Hussars' attack range, while others took the initiative to join the Hussars, saying that they were the people of Gong County and had no choice but to climb over the cliff to join the Hussars because they were forced by Cao's army.

Obviously, the mountain paths these people took could bypass the Black Stone Pass. In a strict sense, they were actually leading the way for the Hussars...

But the problem is, soldiers, or pedestrians carrying a small amount of supplies, can cross these ridges and cliffs, but what about the baggage?

What about gunpowder for artillery?
What about siege engines?
These things definitely have no way of traveling through the mountain paths.

Of course, you can also try another approach, such as sending some small teams through the mountain roads, and then joining forces with the large force outside the Black Stone Pass to attack each other. After breaking through the Black Stone Pass, the large force can then advance with their baggage.

However, Fei Qian could easily understand that since Cao's soldiers had already appeared on the mountain road, they must have made some preparations on the mountain road.

It is possible that the people of Gong County who ran out in a hurry were actually pointing the way for Cao's soldiers.

It’s not that the people of Gong County had any cooperation with Cao’s army, but they unintentionally served as a good guide for Cao’s army who were unfamiliar with the place…

Thinking of this, Fei Qian couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Wouldn’t it be great if these ideas could be used externally?

What's the point of thinking about your own people all day long?
After entering April, the situation gradually changed.

First, the garrisons in Xiaopingjin and Mengjin sounded the alarm, and traces of a large force of Cao's army appeared in the direction of Hanoi.

Subsequently, reports came in from Taigu Pass and Yique Pass one after another, saying that Cao's troops appeared outside the mountain pass.

Even in the heavy rain, teams of more than ten or even dozens of people advanced to the cavalry's cordon to conduct reconnaissance and exploration.

Because it was raining, both long-distance dust observation and high-altitude viewing were almost ineffective. Therefore, the reported alarms could not clearly tell Fei Qian how many Cao troops had arrived, and whether they were a feint attack force of several thousand people or a main force of more than ten thousand people.

During the process of reporting this intelligence, Cao's army's activities were relatively frequent and sporadic.

The garrisons in several directions had small-scale battles with Cao's soldiers, and there were some casualties on both sides. The Cao's soldiers who were captured alive could not tell any particularly useful information.

Fei Qian had anticipated this situation, so he was not surprised at all.

After all, Cao Cao is Cao Cao.

Cao Cao suffered such a great loss in Heluo and Hedong last winter. If he can make another effort, the Cao family will have no choice but to stay in Shandong.

The land of Heluo is actually quite pitiful.

In the early days, Dong Zhuo felt that he could not hold on, so he withdrew to Guanzhong, causing more trouble.

Later, Li and Guo rebelled, and there was another round of burning, killing and looting.

When Yang Biao saw the Shandong princes rising up, he also became jealous and encouraged his old base to launch a wave of rescue and support the king, but he ended up losing everything.

From then on, Heluo was almost like an unguarded bus, and anyone could get on.

A good Han lady who had been raised for two hundred years had fallen into the state of a withered beauty.

Of course, this was also something Fei Qian tacitly agreed to.

The Heluo area was originally the place in Fei Qian's plan for fighting with Shandong and the Central Plains.

The question now is, what will Cao’s army do?

This time, what tricks will Cao Cao, who likes to win in chaos, use?

Or is it Xun Yu?
His gaze was fixed on the east of the map.

That place is different from Guanzhong and Hedong. There are large tracts of blank areas left, with only some important towns and place names marked, but these place names are extremely eye-catching.

Xu County.

Yecheng.

Yingchuan, Chenliu...

For Fei Qian, Yingchuan and Runan are not unfamiliar at all.

He had attended classes in Yingchuan, eaten the big pot meals of the Xun family, and slept in the small courtyard of the Xun family, but most of what he knew about Xun Yu remained in his impressions and memories.

There is no doubt about Xun Yu's ability in civil affairs, but there is basically no useful information about his special strengths in military affairs.

When Cao Cao and Yuan Shao were fighting, there were rumors that the 10 wins and 10 losses was actually proposed by Xun Yu. Fei Qian felt that this was not the point. Because no matter whether it was proposed by Xun Yu or Guo Jia, it should be the wisdom of Cao's advisers and think tanks. At that time, Cao's think tank was headed by Xun Yu and Guo Jia, so no matter whether it was proposed by Xun Yu or Guo Jia, it reflected the strategic height of Xun Yu and Guo Jia at that time.

In order to understand the opponent, Fei Qian also tried to set up spies in the Shandong Central Plains to pass on and collect information. However, it cannot be said that these spies were useless. After all, these spies had not undergone any "systematic" training, nor had they any way to contact the high-level personnel of Cao's army. Therefore, most of the information collected was biased towards the middle and low levels.

In order to avoid being caught by Cao's military secretaries, these spies even disguised the messages they sent to others at certain times, and even encrypted the names of people and places, which inevitably led to some errors in the interpretation.

However, according to the current situation, the Cao army soldiers who appeared in the areas south of Yique Pass and Taigu Pass should be soldiers from the Yingchuan and Runan areas, including some elite soldiers who appeared on the mountain roads, who may be the elite soldiers raised by the Yingchuan gentry. And the one who led and commanded these Yingchuan soldiers is likely to be Xun Yu or some other Yingchuan big family figure.

This direction is not the main focus, but it will be troublesome if left alone.

Fei Qian clicked his tongue twice.

He suddenly remembered a conversation he had with Guo Jia long ago.

Or it could be called a bet. At that time, Fei Qian was still young.

It is inevitable that young people like to give advice on state affairs, especially in front of famous Three Kingdoms counselors.

So Fei Qian pointed out at that time that the gentry were redundant.

Because history has proven that the people are the main body driving the operation of the world, and the gentry are just parasites born from the outstanding people in this process in order to maximize their own, their family's interests, and their bloodline inheritance.

The noble families, clans, and the subsequent derived families, masters, schools, cliques, etc., are actually some kind of privileged groups. In order to maintain their own privileged interests, the privileged groups will inevitably produce all kinds of idiotic operations that shock the world and make ghosts cry. Even the wisest among them know that these operations are really ridiculous, but they just close their eyes and dig a hole in the shape of a carrot, and they have to be careful to prevent a real ginseng from running into the carrot hole.

The evolution of the means of production proves that the so-called elite guidance is a plagiarism, especially the Confucian disciples.

From the grinding technology of the Neolithic Age to the improvement of the steam engine during the Industrial Revolution, more than 80% of the technological innovations came from the practical accumulation of the craftsmen. The improvement of the escapement mechanism of the Song Dynasty's water-powered astronomical observatory came directly from the craftsmen in the Bianjing workshop. Among the more than 600 technological innovations recorded in the Ming Dynasty's "Heavenly Creations", more than 90% were from anonymous people!
The aristocratic families who are high and mighty can design the most ingenious promotion paths for their children and their own factions to continue to control power, and can make the most exquisitely embellished speeches, but they are unable to make a decent plan, or are simply unwilling to make any reforms and improvements that meet the requirements of the times.

The powerful landlords in the Eastern Han Dynasty accounted for less than 1% of the population, but they controlled more than 60% of the land.

In the Tang Dynasty, the Five Surnames and Seven Aristocrats monopolized more than 70% of the Jinshi quotas through the imperial examinations.

And so on. In every dynasty, there are endless privileged groups trying their best to absorb and occupy...

At that time, Fei Qian was a commoner, and Guo Jia probably wouldn't believe what Fei Qian said was true or false. It was like bragging, and no one would take it seriously.

But when Fei Qian really took control of Guanzhong and began to implement the new land policy, Guo Jia realized that Fei Qian's previous words might be true. However, as a member of the old aristocratic system, Guo Jia did not have much courage, or could think of any ideas to break the deadlock.

Same as Xun Yu.

Even though the wisdom of these two people is at the top level in the Han Dynasty.

Because the smarter a person is, the more aware they are of the baseness of human nature.

If we compare intelligence, Fei Qian is obviously not as good as these top talents of the Han Dynasty, but Fei Qian possesses a thousand-year vision. This foresight that transcends time and space is enough to make Pang Tong, Jia Xu and others admire him.

However, over the years, as he grew older and gained more experience, Fei Qian gradually figured out some things on his own.

The steps cannot be too big, otherwise the empty ideals have no real support and can be easily exploited by the evil spirits hidden in the middle and lower classes. After all, these guys are professional at exploiting loopholes, so talking about the basic interests of the people before enlightening them is almost equivalent to adding bricks and tiles to the nobles.

Fei Qian always relies on China as his support point no matter when, but this also brings disadvantages.

The biggest problem is the issue of the emperor.

Fei Qian specially issued the new laws through Pang Tong a few days ago, and also transmitted part of the new laws to the Central Plains area of ​​Shandong through the few remaining message transmission lines. The reason was also because of this issue.

If people's intelligence is developed to a certain level, then there will be no problem in killing all the noble families.

However, if the level of intelligence of most common people is limited to eating, drinking, having fun, whoring and gambling, and they regard these as their greatest goals in life, then killing these nobles would be a problem.

The wealthy and powerful aristocratic families also face the problem of wealth not lasting more than three generations.

Just like the Hongnong Yang family, with three dukes in four generations, how awesome they were, at least they were considered great Han officials, but by the time of Yang Xiu, they had already declined...

How many families are there where the grandfathers are very powerful, but the sons are struggling, and the grandchildren can only sell meat to get a little bit of goods?

There were certainly many reasons why Wang Mang's reform failed, but the root cause was that his strategic intentions and tactical objectives were not clearly understood.

What exactly did Wang Mang want to do?
Should we restore the Zhou system, strengthen central power, or carry out a punitive retaliation?

If the Zhou system is to be restored, then enfeoffment of princes is essential. However, if the Sima family takes all the cake and even their own idiot children eat like fat pigs, it will obviously not satisfy other aristocratic families.

If we want to strengthen the centralization of power, we can't do abdication, let alone prophecy to fool the people, because this is equivalent to setting a new low limit. After Wang Mang, Liu Xiu also did this. Then after a lot of people did this, they patched it up.

As for punitive retaliation, it's even less targeted...

Fei Qian believed that Wang Mang’s failure was not a question of whether or not to reform, but that Wang Mang’s unclear strategic intentions for reform and confusion in tactical objectives were the real causes of his failure.

If we want to change, we must do it in one go.

We should not look ahead and behind, and be at a loss as to what to do. This is a war, if we want to wait for an opportunity to annihilate the enemy and inflict heavy damage on them, then we should surround the enemy and attack its reinforcements, or actively look for opportunities to fight.

Just like the situation in front of us.

Cao Cao and Xun Yu were looking for opportunities to fight even in an unfavorable situation.

In fact, there were still a few points that Fei Qian had not planned during the communication process with Pang Tong. For example, after the Han Dynasty changed its direction from inward to outward, it changed from a defensive state to an offensive state. At this time, someone was needed to hold the reins of the chariot so that it would not rush madly towards the cliff.

Fei Qian boasted that he could keep an eye on the chariot and control its speed while he was alive, but once Fei Qian died, the chariot that had already started running would inevitably get faster and faster. Having a good and smoothly operating braking system was a necessary structure to ensure that the chariot could run for a long time.

As for China, it has always been the case that they either do nothing or do it to the extreme.

So this is also difficult.

The reason why Fei Qian did not bring up the "brake system" now was because the chariot was not moving very fast, and at least the obstacles on the runway in Zhongyuan had to be cleared first.

Now it all comes down to one thing.

How to force Cao Cao to fight a decisive battle?

Judging from the various signs that have emerged so far, Cao Cao also likes the battle site of Heluo and regards it as a place to besiege the cavalry. And judging from the activities of soldiers in Xiaopingjin, Mengjin, Yiqueguan, Taiguguan and other places, Cao's army is also brewing some kind of military action.

Old Cao is going to cut off the food supply...

Fei Qian understood this, but he was not sure where Lao Cao would appear from.

To defend everywhere is to defend nothing.

It is impossible to determine which direction the next attack will come from, which means that there is no way to target any direction.

Of course, the main force of Cao's army was in the area from Heishi Pass to Sishui Pass on the front, but Cao's army also had soldiers moving in the other two directions.

Fei Qian stood in front of the map, staring at the words and graphics on it, but the tragic battle scenes with swords and horses emerged in his mind.

Now, Fei Qian had neither the emotion of "showing his ambition and fulfilling his ambition" nor the heroic feeling of "a real man should be like this", but only the trembling caution. What he had to face now was not only a military master like Cao Cao, but also the upcoming local government affairs with complicated personnel relationships and complicated things.

Behind these appearances are the malignant tumors of thought and the shackles of development that have been entrenched in the Chinese land for hundreds or even thousands of years.

Can the new systems and new laws he envisions eliminate these cancers and break these shackles?

There are no answers to these questions.

But no matter what the answer is, the war between Fei Qian and Cao Cao will continue until one of them surrenders or perishes.

So in order to avoid greater trauma and more losses, now that things have come to this point, Fei Qian must choose to end the war faster.

The question now is, how should Fei Qian attack himself?

Where will Cao Cao’s counterattack appear?
What about the route?
How many more troops will appear?

Is it possible to somehow direct Cao's counterattack into the rhythm of one's own attack?
Or should we leave enough reserve forces behind to take advantage of the enemy's strategy after the attack?
Fei Qian was thinking and waiting.

But soon, the new letter Fei Qian was waiting for arrived...