My life is like walking on thin ice

Chapter 475 Human Heart~
Qin Zhuang's words made Liu Rong fall into deep thought.

What effect will an immature technology, a weapon that has not yet been perfected and controlled have on the battlefield?
The third brother of later generations told the world: as long as the kickbacks are sufficient, an aircraft carrier can explode and a giant ship weighing tens of thousands of tons can drop anchor.

Of course, the situation Liu Rong is facing now is not the same as the anchored giant ship of his third brother in the future.

——If we don’t use this thing, we can only use clumsy methods to attack Gaoque.

Although some conspiracies and tricks can be prepared in advance to gain the first-mover advantage, they are ultimately tactical and far from enough to achieve the level of dimensionality reduction attack.

Liu Rong thought very clearly.

The only way to capture fortress-level passes like Gaoque and Hangu Pass at the lowest possible cost is to conquer the enemy's heart.

It's like Hangu Pass - if one day, there are millions of soldiers from the Guandong princes outside Hangu Pass, and the land of Guanzhong is full of bandits, then no matter how powerful Hangu Pass is, it will eventually be broken.

Because human hearts are the decisive factor that makes a fortress truly 'impregnable'.

As for the fortress's defensive fortifications and geographical advantages, they are only to give the soldiers defending the fortress more firm confidence to hold on.

War, after all, is a contest between people.

If people's hearts are there, even in the wilderness, they can still fight a desperate battle against the odds.

On the contrary, if people's hearts are scattered, even the capital may not be as solid as imagined.

So this battle of Gaoque can be said to be a local offensive and defensive battle, but in fact, it is a pure battle for people's hearts.

What the Xiongnu had to do was to make the Xiongnu defenders in Gaoque firmly believe that there was no force in this world that could break through Gaoque from the outside.

Even the Huns themselves are the same!

Of course, Gaoque's strategic geographical location meant that the Huns did not need to take the initiative to do anything.

'It is difficult to take down a high tower', or even impossible to take down, is an objective reality to some extent.

On the other hand, the Han Dynasty wanted to make the Han army soldiers who were preparing to attack Gaoque firmly believe that capturing Gaoque, even if it was not easy, was by no means impossible.

Only with the confidence that there is a chance of success, and a greater chance of success, could the Han army soldiers launch a fierce offensive against Gaoque in their full strength.

But as the saying goes: The first push is strong, the second is weaker, and the third is exhausted.

Just like back then, the main force of the Wu-Chu rebels under the command of King Liu Bi of Wu, after entering the territory of Liang State, won battle after battle, as if they were in an empty land, and within a few days they reached the Liang capital Suiyang!
At that time, inside and outside the court of Chang'an, at least three out of ten people firmly believed that the Han Dynasty was going to change and Liu Bi was going to sit on the throne!
Among the remaining seven, there are also at least three or four people who are waiting to see the outcome of the rebellion and are ready to switch sides at any time.

On the other hand, why are the rebels under the command of King Liu Bi of Wu so heroic and high-spirited?

Wherever the rebels went, the people did not welcome them wholeheartedly, but at the same time did not dare to make any resistance and could only be swept along, either actively or passively.

Wherever the rebels passed, the government troops collapsed and fled in panic.

When the battle of Suiyang begins, the Liang defenders' soldiers in Suiyang city will be so nervous that their legs will tremble!
The rebel soldiers outside the city did not fear the enemy and dared not charge forward.

In just less than a month, King Liu Wu of Liang sent hundreds of blood-lettered letters asking for help to the court in Chang'an.

In the last few days, the situation even developed to the point where there were seven letters in blood asking for help in one day!
At this rate, if King Liang Liu Wu had a little anemia, I'm afraid all the blood in his body would have drained away...

But it was also during this process that the military spirit and morale of both sides continued to undergo subtle changes.

——As time went by, the defending soldiers in Suiyang City gradually became more calm from their initial panic and anxiety.

Although they were still in a mess and struggling, no one thought that Suiyang City could be defended for a few more days.

Outside the city, the rebel soldiers' originally high morale was gradually eroded as time went by.

The thoughts in the minds of the rebel soldiers also gradually changed from the initial "How long will it take to break through Suiyang, and when can we advance to Xingyang Ao Cang" to: Can Suiyang still be captured?
If the army fails to conquer the enemy, does it have any other options?

If not, then do we still have a way to survive...

It was in this situation of one side gaining strength while the other side losing strength that Taiwei Zhou Yafu suddenly closed in his net, and Gonggao Hou Han Tuidang struck with a snow-covered blow, and with a strike from the Huai and Si rivers, hundreds of thousands of Wu and Chu rebels were defeated!
Is Huaisikou really so important that if there is any mistake, the rebels will have no chance of survival?
In fact, this is not the case.

Huaisikou, located at the confluence of the Huai River and the Si River, is an important transportation route for the rebels to transport grain and fodder by water.

By losing Huaisikou, the rebels only lost a more convenient and faster logistical food supply route, but they still have the land food route to continue to provide food and fodder for the rebels.

Furthermore, Huaisikou is not a city!
After Han Tuidang broke through the rebel Huaisi camp, it was impossible for him to, and indeed he did not, occupy the Huaisi camp and block the rebels' retreat route!

As long as the morale of the army could be stabilized, King Liu Bi of Wu could simply divide 10,000 troops and turn back to retake the Huaisikou.

In fact, there is no need to take it back - when Han Tui broke through the rebel Huaisi camp, he ran away immediately. The rebels only need to send people back to take over the Huaisi camp and reconnect the waterway and food routes.

But even in this situation, the main force of the rebels under Liu Bi still collapsed.

why?
Because Huaisikou can be said to be the last straw that broke the camel's back for the rebels.

Before the Huai-Sui Campaign was breached, hundreds of thousands of Wu and Chu rebels had been engaged in a month-long, high-intensity, and extremely brutal siege.

During this process, the war did not make any progress, but daily rations were visibly reduced.

The rebel soldiers, who were originally in high spirits, had already begun to have doubts in their hearts.

——Can this be accomplished?
——Isn’t it that we are about to lose?

This worry grew step by step as the Battle of Suiyang dragged on and became more brutal, while the outcome remained almost zero as always.

Just when the worry had completely swelled into suspicion and doubt, the news of the fall of Huaisikou came back, which completely confirmed the suspicions of the rebel soldiers.

--really!
——It turns out that nothing can be accomplished!
——Having lost Huai and Si, I’m afraid all our retreat routes have been cut off!

——What kind of a deal is this?
——Hurry and run away...

This is the human heart.

When everything is going well, the power of people's hearts can make a mature emperor like Emperor Jing of Han feel confused, and can cause visible turmoil in a mature political system like the Han Chang'an court.

However, when faced with setbacks, the gradually demoralized people's hearts forced the high-spirited and powerful King Liu Bi of Wu to flee to Lingnan, and was eventually beheaded.

After all, everything in this world can be attributed to human nature.

As long as you firmly believe that you can succeed, your probability of ultimate success will definitely be higher than those who are dejected and mutter "I can't do it" all day long.

Especially when there is more than one person working together to complete a task, whether people are distracted or not will often become a key factor that directly determines success or failure.

If everyone thinks it can succeed, then even if the company is not ultimately listed, it will most likely reach a certain scale, and everyone will be able to share in considerable profits and equity.

But if everyone thinks it can't be done - even if more than 30% of people think it can't be done, then in the end, it is highly likely that it won't be done. These people who think it can't be done are not just unable to provide help to the group, but will unconsciously and non-subjectively set obstacles and create difficulties for the team while being "useless".

When they fail in the end, they will say: See?
I said it couldn’t be done!

Little did they know that the reason why they "failed" was because of people like him who constantly discouraged the team and held the team back.

Therefore, in the military laws of most regimes in the feudal era, there was a sentence: Anyone who shakes the morale of the army will be executed immediately!

This is not playing dumb or covering up.

But success or failure is often extremely subtle before the results appear - it is very likely that one step forward will lead to success, but one step back will lead to failure.

At a time like this, any sarcastic remark could lead to bad things.

Specifically speaking, the same principle actually applies to the Battle of Gaoque that Liu Rong is about to fight.

Before the battle, the morale of the Han army soldiers would certainly be high.

Because they would think: If we fight in winter and launch a night attack, the Huns will definitely be unprepared!
It is a bit cold, but weren’t the Huns also cold?

It would be best if all the Huns stayed in Gaoque, warmed themselves by the fire, and slept in their quilts, so that everyone could take Gaoque without any effort and without anyone noticing!

Then, he was promoted to a higher position, a general, married a beautiful lady, and reached the pinnacle of his life...

But this kind of spiritual motivation will eventually run out.

Moreover, in the cold winter, the soldiers' high morale and confidence in their ability to succeed will only be lost twice as much.

On the first day, the soldiers might still be able to rush forward shouting and climb to the top of Gaoque City desperately.

On the second day, the soldiers were a little tired and a little cold, but they still gritted their teeth and pressed forward.

By the third day, some people might start to have doubts.

By the fourth and fifth days, only by breaking through Gaoque could the morale of the army be restored, but before the morale of the army was boosted, Gaoque would inevitably be impossible to break through.

In this vicious cycle where the more Gaoque is failed to be taken, the lower the morale becomes, and the lower the morale becomes, the more difficult it is to take Gaoque. The number of casualties will steadily increase, and the logistical costs invested by the Chang'an court will become increasingly greater.

On the other hand, the Huns on the top of Gaoque City were panic-stricken at the beginning, then became uneasy, and then slowly calmed down and became at ease.

As one side gained strength while the other lost strength, the Xiongnu became more confident and their people became more united;
The Han army became increasingly depressed and their morale became increasingly divided.

By then, unless a meteorite falls from the sky, the outcome of the battle will be beyond human control...

So what does Liu Rong want to do now?
Two options.

First: Before the war starts, blow up Gaoque directly!

At the very least, a hundred or eighty holes had to be blown in the outer wall of Gaoque, which would scare the Huns so much that they would no longer have the courage to guard the wall and could only flee in a panic towards Munan behind Gaoque.

In this way, even if Gaoque cannot be captured without bloodshed, the casualties will definitely be controlled to an extremely considerable level.

This is a more radical solution.

The second, slightly more conservative option is to have the soldiers attack head-on as planned.

Within three days, the city was conquered and everything returned to normal.

But if we fail to capture it, then on the fourth day, when our soldiers will be worried and the Huns in Gaoque will be about to get cocky, we will suddenly bomb them!

Boost the low morale of our soldiers, suppress the rising arrogance of the Huns, and then continue the frontal attack.

This is actually an obvious abnormality.

Why is there a second option?

Why not just follow the first plan and bomb Gaoque directly to minimize our casualties?
Obviously having such a powerful weapon, why did they first let the soldiers use their heads to hit Gaoque, then symbolically explode it to scare the Huns, and then continue to let the soldiers fight to the death?

Isn't this simply seeking the far away instead of the near?
But Liu Rong knew very well: the reason why there was this second plan - the reason why there was this second plan that seemed stupid but was actually just conservative, or even not conservative enough, was because of the information revealed by Qin Zhuang's remarks just now.

'That thing' is still extremely unstable.

This would still be the case even if Liu Rong provided ready-made ratios, as well as information such as raw materials, production processes, and finished product structure.

Qin Zhuang just said it easily.

God knows how heartbroken Liu Rong was when those Mohists - those Mohists who were even rarer and more valuable than Che Hou - were blown away and shattered one by one.

They are all scientists!

Moreover, he is the kind of scientist who can guide students, expand the scientific research team according to the tree diagram, and rapidly expand the scientific research team for the Han family!
Such precious wealth, let alone dying one after another - even if one of them fell seriously ill, Liu Rong would personally take care of it, send imperial doctors to treat him, and give him precious medicines to take!
Even such national treasures can die one after another, and there is no trend of "reducing casualty rate" or "reducing accident rate" so far;

It is no wonder that Qin Zhuang made such incredible remarks just now, and that Liu Rong prepared such an obviously weird "second conservative plan".

"The human heart..."

"People's hearts..."

...

"Attack the heart first..."

"Attack the heart first..."

Even though he had already made up his mind and decision, Liu Rong still hesitated and struggled for a long time after Qin Zhuang's warning.

But in the end, Liu Rong gritted his teeth and made his final decision.

"First, prepare a Type A weapon that is not powerful enough and can only make noises but cannot kill. It weighs 50,000 jin."

"Re-equip the powerful but uncontrollable Ding."

"——A thousand pounds will do."

"Pack them in pottery jars in quantities of one jin each."

"There are a total of one thousand cans, divided into one thousand batches, and one thousand people are transporting them to Bowang City in batches!"

(End of this chapter)