Weird Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3643: Wind and Fire in Disarray, the Dam Collapses from the Wall

When fire and wind come together, nothing good usually happens.

Just like now, Gan Feng's men had just taken the lead, and Huo and Feng were eager to make their debut.

In order to hide, Ren Jun and others hid in the reeds beside the river, so when the fire started, Cao's army formation was in chaos.

As long as one is not born with dull senses, then when seeing the fire spreading along the reeds, everyone knows what to face!
Swords and guns still have form, and flesh and blood are still flesh and blood!
Before Ren Jun gave the order, the shield position in front had already been shaken.

Even though the troops he deployed on the front line were the elite of the Yuzhou garrison troops...

Seeing the fire approaching, Ren Jun's eyes seemed to be spitting fire, but soon, he closed his eyes helplessly, exhaled a long breath, and bent his back slightly, "Send the order... withdraw the troops..."

According to Ren Jun's idea, the natural approach was to retreat in stages, cover each other, and then use the isolation of the front line to distance themselves from the Cavalry Army until they could escape safely.

However, Ren Jun forgot one thing.

He took advantage of those "small fry"...

In Ren Jun's opinion, those small fry who were temporarily recruited were completely worthless, so he did not feel any regret when abandoning them.

For Cao Cao's core members, Ren Jun's idea was undoubtedly correct.

The sufferings of different people can never be shared.

This is true even among relatives.

Yuzhou and Jizhou were supposed to be close brothers in the Han Dynasty. After all, it was the two brothers who helped Liu Xiu become the emperor. Unfortunately, like many families that have experienced accidents, it is easier to share adversity than to share wealth. Jizhou and Yuzhou disliked each other in the subsequent Han Dynasty, fighting for power and profit, and using every possible means.

The separation of the two Yuan states from north to south was actually a manifestation of this relationship. Although Cao Cao later conquered Jizhou and Yuzhou, he did not have much time to integrate them. In fact, even without Fei Qian's intervention, Cao Cao still failed to complete the integration in history, leaving Cao Pi with a mess. In addition, Chen Qun was a traitor...

Of course, the historical situation is far more complex and subtle than two or three sentences.

After all, few vested interests would be willing to give up the sweet treats in their hands. There are very few people in the thousands of years of Chinese history who can grit their teeth and refuse the braised pork when they are hungry.

Therefore, for Ren Jun now, the life and death of these Jizhou people who were temporarily recruited is really not important.

But when the crisis came, these temporarily recruited remaining Cao army defeated soldiers, when they saw the fire, naturally did not say a word, and did not even wait for Ren Jun's order, they just ran away!

Ren Jun didn't treat these Jizhou guys as human beings, so these people certainly wouldn't treat Ren Jun as a leader. They wanted these Jizhou guys to cover the retreat of the Yuzhou soldiers...

Dream on!
If in an organization, a society, or a country, people who abide by the rules are not protected and may even suffer greater losses, while those who do not abide by the laws and order can act with ease, what will be the consequences?
Just like Ren Jun is like this now!
The people of Jizhou didn't care about any orders at all, and everything collapsed.

If the Yuzhou soldiers insist on order and retreat in order, it means that the Yuzhou soldiers will provide cover for these Jizhou people who disregard order and laws!

One for what, one worth it?
In an instant, all retreat plans collapsed!
From forcing Gan Feng and others with great momentum, to a great defeat, it seemed that it only took a few breaths...

The Yuzhou soldiers cursed the Jizhou people, and the Jizhou people in turn accused the Yuzhou soldiers.

Both sides ran while cursing at each other, and even Ren Jun couldn't control the situation!
Because if Ren Jun didn't run away, it would mean that he would have to cover the retreat of the Yuzhou soldiers and the Jizhou people!

Gan Feng, who had created this scene, was still a little dazed and couldn't quite believe his eyes...

How did the situation suddenly become like this?
How come the vortex of blood and flesh just now suddenly turned into a thin soup of blood and flesh, and disintegrated on its own in a rush?
I knew earlier...

When Ren Jun and others were just beginning to retreat, Gan Feng still suspected that there was another trap, but after taking a closer look, he found something was wrong!
"Catch up and tie them up..." Gan Feng ordered, his battlefield instincts taking over his rational mind, "Disrupt their rhythm! Don't let them stop!"

No matter what, infantry who cannot form an effective formation are nothing but trash in front of cavalry!

And what about the infantrymen who were fleeing?
It's the worst of the worst!

Ren Jun originally wanted to find a place to stage a maneuver and resist, but after just a few quick glances, he gave up the idea and just led his Yuzhou soldiers to continue fleeing forward, while a deep sense of helplessness surged in his heart.

Before going to the battle, Chen Qun persuaded him that under the current circumstances, it was not suitable to engage in a field battle with the Cavalry Army.

Ren Jun didn't care much at first, and even thought Chen Qun was a little too cautious.

Ren Jun agreed that they couldn't fight against the large cavalry army, but if they didn't even dare to fight against a small force, wouldn't that be...

In addition to Cao Pi's repeated requests, Ren Jun, who was more or less related to Cao Pi, could not completely ignore the prince. He could only try to find a way to launch a bait operation. Now he finally understood what Chen Qun emphasized, but it was too late.

Although war horses are indeed fast, when it comes to long-distance endurance running, humans are not necessarily much worse.

The Cao army was defeated and instinctively ran towards their starting point, Gaoyang County.

Cao's army wished they could grow wings so they could escape into the city in an instant, with the Hussars chasing closely behind them.

Ren Xian fell off his horse in the chaos. Although his personal guards tried their best to rescue him, his ribs were broken by the panicked fleeing soldiers and he fainted on the spot.

Ren Jun was startled. After entering Gaoyang City, he hurriedly took the unconscious Ren Xian to the government office for treatment, but in a hurry he forgot to tell him how to defend the city...

Perhaps in Ren Jun's opinion, since they had escaped to Gaoyang, was there any need to emphasize the importance of defense?

result……

Gaoyang's original county magistrate and county chancellor had fled long ago, and the county was later filled with Cao's soldiers. Normally, the county was barely holding on. But now the problems of generals not knowing their soldiers and soldiers not knowing their commanders were all revealed.

Everyone was fleeing in panic. The captain on duty on the city wall saw the crowds fleeing below the city. Although he was worried that the cavalry would take advantage of the chaos to sneak into the city, he had not received any orders to close the city gates, and he was unwilling to abandon his brothers outside the city and watch them die, so he delayed giving the order to pull up the drawbridge and close the city gates.

As a result, the cavalry of the Hussars found an opportunity that even they could not expect!

A cavalry commander was surprised and delighted to see that Gao Yang had not closed the city gate or pulled up the drawbridge!
"Charge! Seize the door, seize the door!"

Cao's army and the Hussars almost woke up from the shouting. The two sides fought for a short time on the city gate drawbridge, but Cao's army's persistence was just an instinctive resistance. Then the resistors found that they were the only ones resisting while the other Cao soldiers were taking the opportunity to escape, and they suddenly collapsed mentally.

The Cao army soldiers who fled to Gaoyang cursed, saying that the soldiers on duty were useless, and the Cao soldiers on duty also cursed these defeated Cao soldiers, saying that they were useless and would only bring bad luck to them...

The morale of the Hussars was high as they rushed in. The suspension bridge, city gates and city towers were cut down one by one under their bloody swords.

Cao's army was defeated like a mountain collapsing and fled thousands of miles away.

Ren Jun had no choice but to have someone drag the injured Ren Xian and run for his life...

……

……

The setting sun was as red as blood, dyeing the battlefield of Gong County red.

When Cao Hong climbed up the gate tower of Gong County with a body covered in yellow dust, he looked down and saw three soldiers squatting under the battlements of the horse-faced wall, sharing half a pancake.

The pancakes are black, and the yellow ones are stained with dust.

But it was obvious that the three soldiers did not care about the hygiene of the pancakes, but were concentrating on enjoying the food on the battlefield. There was not much, just one mouthful of food, mixed with the smell of corruption and the rough cutting feeling of wheat bran, sliding down the throat and into the stomach, proving that they were still alive.

In the distance, the flags of the Hussar Army covered the sky and the sun, billowing in the twilight, as if they were about to swallow up this small area.

Cao Hong could not understand the cavalry's attack pattern on Gong County.

Don't understand at all.

Cannons and catapults were displayed openly on the other side of the river, with an occasional firing.

Some of them couldn't reach the city wall of Gong County, but some of them barely made it. However, even if they did, they were at the end of their strength and couldn't cause much damage to the wall of Gong County.

For the city wall of Gong County, there was no damage for the time being, but for the Cao army soldiers in the camp outside the city or in the trenches, it was not necessarily the case. Occasionally, it was like a "lottery", most of the targets missed, but occasionally when stone bullets and artillery shells fell, they would still bring up some blood.

Is this to wear down the morale of Cao's army?

Cao Hong narrowed his eyes and stared at the cavalrymen in the distance.

The Hussars did not cross the river easily, and similarly, Cao's army did not dare to cross the river to attack the Hussars easily.

It seems that the scene in front of me has a sense of familiarity?

"General!"

The soldier on the city gate tower was actually slacking off and dozing off in a corner. Suddenly he saw Cao Hong going up to the city gate tower. He was startled and quickly stood up, knocking down a crossbow.

The wooden mechanism hit the floor with a hollow thud.

Cao Hong stepped on the crossbow trigger with one foot, his face showing no sadness or joy, "Why are there still people sharing the cake? Are you greedy again?"

Cao Hong held the hilt of the knife at his waist, his eyes as sharp as a knife, and slashed at the military officer.

The sweat on Jun Hou's forehead rolled down, leaving two or three muddy grooves on his cheeks. "General! I didn't get a single point this time!" Cao Hong stared at Jun Hou without saying a word.

Jun Hou's throat rolled, "I had it before I came to Gong County, but I really don't have it after I came here!"

Cao Hong tilted his head slightly, "Then why did I see... a piece of wheat cake over there needs to be shared by three people?"

The military officer took a step forward, took a look, and exhaled, "That's extra... General, Wang Xiaoqi didn't make it last night... We haven't reported it to the rear camp yet..."

Cao Hong glanced at the military officer and loosened his grip on the knife. "The military rations are running low, use them sparingly."

"Yes, yes, I understand, I understand," the military officer replied repeatedly.

Suddenly, a gust of wind swept up the loess and gravel into the city gate tower, causing Cao Hong and the military officer to cough uncontrollably.

The side effect of clearing the fields is that all the surrounding trees were cut down, and the dust on the bare land was turned into flying yellow earth and sand by any gust of wind.

"General! There's trouble!" Suddenly a guard came to report.

Cao Hong felt a slight headache. He gritted his teeth, went down from the city gate, and rushed to the scene of the commotion.

A dozen soldiers were surrounding a grain cart, arguing and pushing each other.

A lame old soldier suddenly ripped open the grain bag, and the moldy wheat grains fell out.

"Stop it!"

Cao Hong shouted.

The soldiers surrounding the grain carts stopped their actions.

Cao Hong strode forward, the scales on his armor colliding with each other. "Tell me! What's going on?!"

The lame old soldier bent down, picked up half a handful of rotten wheat from the ground, and stared at him with his cloudy eyes: "General, are you going to give these to us or keep them for the cavalry on the other side?"

A suppressed noise was heard among the soldiers who were watching.

Cao Hong recognized this old soldier. He was a Qingzhou veteran who had followed Cao Cao since he was in Xuzhou. At this moment, his face covered with scars was twisted, like bark roasted by fire.

Cao Hong raised his head and took a deep breath.

"Why are you stopping the grain truck?"

Cao Hong asked the old soldier.

The old soldier was silent for a while, then looked up at Cao Hong, "General... I received a letter from home, and they are collecting grain again... Sanwa is weak and he didn't make it... General, all the grain in my family is to be saved for seeds... But General, look at this now..."

The old soldier loosened his hands, and the rotten wheat flowed down.

Cao Hong felt a fishy smell in his throat. He wondered if it was because he had not yet spit out all the dirt that had choked him on the city gate tower. He stared at the old soldier and waved his hand, "Give me an extra meal tonight and say it was me who said so."

"General, you can't do that!" The grain officer squeezed in from behind the crowd, his crown askew, revealing his graying temples. "If this precedent is set..."

"Fuck the precedent!" Cao Hong kicked the grain official, "I am the precedent!"

The grain officer stumbled and bumped into the grain cart.

The grain bag on the grain cart had a hole in it, and more wheat grains fell out.

Cao Hong saw that the soldiers surrounding the grain carts seemed to have hungry wolves in their eyes, and more than a dozen hands were scrambling to stuff the half-black wheat grains into their mouths and chew them.

The lame old soldier suddenly laughed out loud, and as he laughed he coughed up a purple-black blood clot.

At night.

Cao Hong was sitting in the lobby of the government office.

There were more than a dozen bamboo sticks placed crookedly on the table.

The names of the soldiers who caused trouble near the grain carts in the evening were written on these bamboo sticks.

The strong smell of blood seemed to echo in the ink.

Cao Hong knew that these people were right.

But in this world, it is not enough to just be right.

Is there anything wrong with cattle and horses?
But cattle and horses have to work every day, day after day, without rest.

To kill or not to kill?

"General, the deserter has been brought here."

The personal guards dragged a man to the hall.

"Bring it up!" Cao Hong said in a deep voice.

The young soldier with his hands tied behind his back fell to the ground and hit his forehead heavily.

Cao Hong noticed that a half-faded red string was exposed at the neck of the young soldier's simple robe. This was a custom in Chenliu. It was said that the red string could carry the protection of the hometown...

"Why did you run away?" Cao Hong asked.

"My mother is dying..." The boy suddenly burst into tears, his face covered with snot and tears, "My mother... I just want to go see my mother..."

Cao Hong was stunned.

In the past two days, in order to stabilize the morale of the army, not only food and fodder were transported from the rear, but also some letters from home. However, it was obvious that this move, which was originally intended to stabilize the morale of the army, became a knife stabbing Cao Hong in the ass!

Faintly, Cao Hong sensed some conspiracy.

"Asshole!" Cao Hong slammed the table, "They are all like you, running away! Who will fight? Are you going to wait until the cavalry soldiers chop their knives on your neck and mine, and then beg for mercy? !"

The young soldier choked and said something.

Cao Hong didn't hear it clearly, so he asked the young soldier to say it again.

The young soldier sniffed, "They...they said...if the Hussars surrender, they will let us go home and farm..."

Cao Hong clenched his fists tightly, digging his nails deep into his palms.

It seemed like a long time had passed, but it also seemed like only a few breaths had passed. Cao Hong heard his own voice asking again, with a hoarse voice, "What else did they say?"

The torches in the hall cast the shadow of the young soldier onto the wall, twisting like a piece of hung bacon.

"They...they also said, they also said...we are weak and can't win...why fight if we can't win...we all have to pay taxes, suffer the same losses and hardships anyway..." the young soldier said intermittently, "They said, they said...it's useless to fight, we might as well...we might as well go home early..."

Yes, Shandong is indeed weak now.

So why do the weak continue to fight?
This is a good question.

The weak only need to crawl at the feet of the strong and offer all their flesh and blood, isn't that the end of it?
Cao Hong's face became increasingly darker, but after a moment, Cao Hong burst into laughter despite his anger, "Ahahaha! So funny, so funny!"

The young soldier stopped crying, raised his head, and stared at Cao Hong with his red and swollen eyes.

"Who is strong and who is weak?" Cao Hong suddenly asked.

The young soldier was bewildered.

"If you were to fight a three-year-old child, who would be stronger?" Cao Hong asked.

"Of course I'm stronger..." the young soldier replied.

"Okay," Cao Hong nodded, "Then in another thirty years, if you and the child are still alive, fight again, who is stronger and who is weaker?"

"This..." The young soldier didn't know how to answer.

Outside the government office, the sound of the night patrol clapper was heard, it was already three o'clock in the morning.

The night is dark and the surroundings are in chaos.

Cao Hong looked at the turbid black, which seemed to be talking to the young soldier, or to himself...