Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3165: Too many people are just too many people.

 Lao Cao, or rather the land of Shandong, has really developed all its war power?

 Obviously, this is not the case.

As mentioned before, if the nobles in Shandong were asked to donate a hundred large sums of money to support the Han Dynasty and let Prime Minister Cao defeat the enemy, then the vast majority of these people would donate, and they would even be unwilling to be left behind. generous donations.

Isn’t it just a hundred big coins? Who looks down on whom?

  But if they are asked to donate all their family property...

Is this...

Hmm, who is who?

If the people of Shandong can work together and face adversity together, even ten Feiqian people together can't withstand it. After all, even if Feiqian's technology advances, people are still important, and the land of Shandong has a profound heritage. In history, after the Three Kingdoms were over, there was still the strength to fight a war of bastards. It would not stop until it was completely gone...

 But the problem is "unity".

Those who want everything often do nothing well.

Everyone has their own thoughts.

 The situation in Yanzhou is also very bad. At the beginning, there was the Suanzao Alliance. The coalition forces dug into the ground and left nothing but piles of feces and urine. Later, Zhang Miao and Lu Bu rebelled and killed a lot of people. Before they could recover, When they came over, Yuan Shao led his troops to attack again. As a front-line soldier, he was beaten to the point where he could no longer take care of himself.

Now that Cao Pi is in Jizhou, he has followed the same path of Han Fu and Yuan Shao.

As for the other soldiers of Cao Cao's army, there are about 200,000. These are troops composed of surrendered troops collected by Cao Cao at various stages, as well as personnel recruited from various places.

Jizhou is a place that is said to be flat and has geographical advantages. There are Taihang Mountains in the west, the sea beyond Qingzhou in the east, a big river in the south, and Yanshan Mountain in Youzhou in the north. There is no problem in making a happy little nest.

This division of labor is actually very good, but it was unfavorable for Lejin to attack Huguan, which resulted in Jizhou having to supply Cao Cao with food and grass while also adding troops to Huguan. Then Xiahou Dun urged to ask for food and grass again, and then Cao Chun was in You The northern part of the state has encountered a problem, and it needs money, food and soldiers...

When Yuan Shao was in Jizhou, he sent his sons to guard the border, one to Youzhou and the other to Qingzhou. He also tried to use his nephew to plan the merger of the states, and then sent his younger brother Cao Cao to Yanzhou. It can be said that it was "foolproof". 』.

In terms of military strength, the Central Army directly under Cao Cao has about 100,000 people, mainly led by the Xiahou family of the Cao family with the Central Army as the core and the Central Guard Army as the core. Moreover, not all of the 100,000 Central Army troops with high loyalty values ​​can be brought to the battlefield. About 15,000 of them are used to maintain the two core points, namely Yecheng and Xu County, as an existence similar to the "Forbidden Army" , in charge of city defense, palace gates, and important military affairs in the city. The rest of the soldiers are the old soldiers who followed Cao Cao, that is, at Tongguan.

The situation in Jingzhou was good at first, but after Liu Biao's death, it was cut up. The three families of Feiqian, Cao, Cao, and Sun Quan ate the meat. Let's not talk about who got the big ones and who got the small ones. Let's just say that after this cut-up, Jingzhou itself... Even if he didn't die, his vitality would be severely damaged, and it would be difficult to recover in a short time. In addition, the Nanyang area was in disarray due to the misfortune of Yuan Shu, a prodigal son. Therefore, in the entire southern part of Cao Cao's real estate, only Yuzhou was still relatively healthy.

The purpose of these two groups of troops was not really to conquer Bingzhou, but to hold back Fei Qian's troops so that they could not return to aid Hedong or Guanzhong. If you delay for a while, Cao Cao will have more advantages, and the situation will naturally be better in the future.

In other words, the entire northern region of Cao Cao has been shut down on a large scale. The regional counties and central authorities are at odds with each other. They can do things like spitting, but no one is actually doing the work.

 However, no matter how good the ideal is, if the person cannot do it, it really cannot do it.

 No, Han Fu was even trying to please him in many ways. He tried to please his own countrymen and provided the Yingchuan people with the opportunity to serve as local officials. At the same time, he tried to appease the local gentry in Jizhou, saying that he still valued the people of Jizhou. At the same time, he also tried to please the Yuan family and accepted Yuan Shao. At the same time, in order to avoid getting angry, he asked people to stand outside Yuan Shao's residence and show Dong Zhuo to see him.

Otherwise, in the later period of Yuan Shao, when talking about Yuan's grand strategy, future ZTE strategy and other matters, the nobles in Jizhou would be holding red wine glasses... uh, yellow wine glasses and laughing wildly, almost to the point of laughing. The kind that falls off the desk.

Han Fu really wanted everything, but in the end he got nothing.

 And Qingzhou...

 If you want to hold back the soldiers and horses of Bingzhou, you can only attack them to save them.

As a result, Jizhou was completely ruined.

 Huguan is one of them, and Taiyuan is the second one.

 Did Han Fu do anything wrong back then?

 Coincidentally, after Yuan Shao took control of Jizhou, he wanted everything and had to balance everything, and the result was an imbalance.

This is almost the nightmare of Shandong people, well, to be precise, it is the nightmare of Yuzhou people.

The last time Fei Qian sent out troops, he marched straight out of Heluo. The troops advanced all the way and attacked near Xu County.

It’s not that Jizhou guys don’t support Cao Cao, but they support themselves more.

  It's like Jizhou and Yuzhou.

 In Liu Xiu's time, they were partners, but now they are more like enemies.

Cao Cao finally defeated Yuan Shao, and just when he was about to resume production, he discovered that Yanzhou was actually facing the front line of Guanzhong!

 So Yanzhou’s overall strength has always been relatively weak, its population has been severely displaced, and its recovery is far from expected.

 Just like when they supported Han Fu and later turned to Yuan Shao, if the head above cannot bring them corresponding "benefits", then they don't mind changing to another one.

 In Shandong, who could have expected that Fei Qian’s rise would be so rapid?

 Like the wind and snow, it comes as soon as it comes.

The main sources of troops to attack Bingzhou under Fei Qian's rule were Hanoi and Jizhou.

 Youzhou has been disturbed by the barbarians, and now it is no longer possible.

Cao Cao is the core, the Cao family and the Xiahou family are the subordinate generals, and the central leading army and the central guarding army are the backbone, creating a big fat man.

These are the two core forces of Cao Cao's power, belonging to the core positions in the north and south respectively.

 Looking at the southern part of Cao Cao's forces, the situation is not very good either. Cao Cao's southern power is probably south of the river, including Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Jingzhou, and Xuzhou. I won’t mention Xuzhou. Lao Cao really didn’t do anything good in Xuzhou back then. Even if Xuzhou has recovered a little now, he still stays away from it. Otherwise, Lao Cao wouldn’t have been plotting against Chen Deng and then killed him in office. .

　　It was almost hollowed out by Cao Cao.

It’s not that the Chinese people can’t unite as one, it’s just that it becomes difficult when they have too many possessions. Some people can give up everything and fight for their ideals, but some people will stop because of the increasing number of possessions around them and cannot make any progress. Even in the beginning, they stood together and supported each other.

Therefore, Jizhou now completely refuses to provide supplies to any party, regardless of victory or defeat. Although there seems to be no resistance on the surface, in fact it is dragging its feet, waving its hands and feet seemingly very fast, but in fact it is standing still.

 This is the military system built by Cao Cao based on the old system of the Han Dynasty.

 The current local vassal system of the Han Dynasty is somewhat like the Federation of the American Empire.

 As long as the sideline can be defended.

The troops that attacked Huguan were mainly Hanoi troops, and the troops that marched into Taiyuan were mainly Jizhou troops. It's a pity that Hanoi is only a county of Sili, and its strength is relatively weak, so it must still need help from Jizhou.

 Want everything.

In the old military system of the Han Dynasty, the source of troops was also composed of the central army, which can be roughly understood as the northern and southern armies, plus local field troops garrisoned, or called caiguanlouchuan, etc., plus the mobile forces assembled for expeditions in times of emergency. Strength is composed of three levels called "running for life" and "recruiting courage". After the arrival of Emperor Guangwu of the Han Dynasty, perhaps fearing the disorderly expansion of local military force, Emperor Guangwu abolished local field troops, that is, Caiguanlouchuan, etc., which led to an increase in local military force at the lowest level and private tribes became rampant.

 So it’s not that the system in Shandong is necessarily bad, but the key is the people who implement it. It can be seen that Shandong's overall military strength still has great potential that can be tapped, but it is a pity that Cao Cao can't tap much at the moment.

If the world situation in the ninth year of Taixing was a chess game caused by Fei Qian's expedition to the Western Regions, then both sides of the chess game basically put their chess pieces on the table, and the rest was the means...

 …

 …

　　『Wuguan! 』

When heavy snow fell in Tongguan and Shaanxi County, the Wuguan area became a new chess eye.

Qin and Chu have been fighting endless battles here for hundreds of years, and now they have fallen into the quagmire of war again. Wenpin is from Jingxiang. He was born in Jingxiang and grew up in Jingxiang. But now he is fighting someone who is not Jingxiang for the sake of someone who is not Jingxiang.

Among the most dazzling generals of the Han Dynasty today, Wenpin's name does not exist, but this does not mean that Wenpin is incompetent.

 In history, Wenpin was also recorded as a person who "cryed", but unlike the emperor of the Han Dynasty who cried wherever he went, Wenpin only cried once.

 Historically, Cao Cao captured Jingzhou. Wenpin was in northern Jingzhou at the time and was within the scope of Liu Cong's power. Liu Cong naturally asked Wenpin to surrender with him. It is recorded in the Chronicle of the Three Kingdoms that Wen Pin was very sad and said, "Pin cannot be the whole state, and he should be treated as a crime." Later, after Liu Cong returned and surrendered, the handover procedures such as military symbols, seals, and letters were completed, but Wenpin still didn't come to see Cao Cao. Cao Cao called Wenpin over and asked, "Why are you here?" 』

Wen Pin then said, "I was unable to assist Liu Jingzhou in order to serve the country. Although Jingzhou was gone, Chang Yuan defended Hanchuan and preserved the territory. He lived to be worthy of being alone and weak, and died worthy of being buried underground. He had no choice but to end up like this." I am really sad and ashamed, and I have no face to see my ears early. 』

After Wenpin finished speaking, he said, "I have runny eyes."

 "欷歔" refers to the way a person is crying uncontrollably and breathing rapidly.

As a military general, he is used to seeing life and death, so he naturally believes in not shedding tears easily. But at this moment, Wenpin burst into tears because he could not be loyal to his old master. Even Cao Cao was filled with emotion after hearing this, and praised Wenpin as a loyal minister...

The implication is that the other officials who followed Liu Cong and surrendered to Cao Cao, such as Nasha, were not good birds.

Cao Cao may have said this intentionally or unintentionally. Anyway, after he said it, Wenpin's life was not easy.

Wenpin is an honest person, so he naturally fights martial arts honestly.

 Honest people often have to do dirty work.

 Cao Ren asked Wenpin to do the most tiring and offensive things. Because only Wenpin will do it honestly, and the others...

Wuguan is obviously very important, and it is precisely because both sides know that it is important that the generals of both sides have always been on the safe side until they officially fall out. They do not dare to act rashly, for fear that their own actions will alert the enemy. But in fact, there have always been battles behind the scenes. Even when the two sides are fighting head-on, small-scale infiltration and penetration are indispensable, and then they find each other's weaknesses to attack. But the honest man also made Liao Hua helpless, because what he faced was a head-on confrontation, and there was no room for trickery.

 It was Cao Ren who did the tricky things.

　　When playing Go against black and white, sometimes a quick breath can determine the outcome.

Cao Ren wanted to give this chess position in Wuguan another breath of life. Even if it could not determine the life or death of the dragon, it could still provide an extra robber at the end of the game.

Before Cao Ren marched, he did not have much direct contact with the Shen brothers. However, after sending troops, Cao Ren sent people to Shangyong and directly asked the Shen brothers to cooperate in the battle.

 Speaking of cooperation, it is actually equivalent to asking the Shen brothers to take some measures to support Cao's army and serve as Cao's internal forces to capture Hanzhong as soon as possible. In return, Cao Ren promised that the Shen brothers would have greater rights in Shangyong and settle in Shandong. The position given to them was also very good and very attractive.

Shen Dan believes that this deal is not impossible, but we still need to see the strength of Cao Jun before making a final decision. After all, the grass on the wall will completely collapse only when it encounters the wind.

 Fortunately, Cao Ren was unambiguous this time. He not only immediately asked Cao Zhen to serve as the advance troops, go straight up the river and march into Shangyong.

The Shen brothers felt that Cao Jun's actions were fast, but in Li Dian's mind, they felt that Cao Jun's actions were too slow.

Spring plowing is about to come. If we continue to plow for several more months, wouldn’t this year be wasted?

 So when Li Dian found out that Cao Jun was really marching, he immediately withdrew his soldiers from Shangyong Land.

Cao Zhen led the army slowly, with the scouts around him running back and forth, reporting on the military situation.

　　　The Hanzhong Army withdrew from Xin County and garrisoned at Mulan Village. 』

　　　　Withdraw troops? ” Cao Zhen was a little confused.

The scout said: "That's right, we evacuated immediately, and we evacuated very simply, without even setting off any fire." The entire Jing County gates were wide open, defenseless. 』

  Jinxian County is a county along the Han River.

 Neither big nor small.

At first, Cao Zhen thought that Li Dian had some conspiracy, such as setting up an ambush in Xin County or burning down Xin County. However, he sent people in to search carefully, but found nothing...

So Cao Jun captured an "important town" on the Han River without a single blow.

 When the news spread, those who were waiting and watching were naturally excited.

“The Shen family came from Shangyong, two hundred miles away from here, with two thousand soldiers...”

 “We want the King of Liang to come from Pingyang Mountain with a tribe of five thousand...”

Cao Zhen, who was stationed in Jing County, heard the new report, but frowned and said, "Where are the food and supplies for these people?" 』

The scout hesitated for a moment and said, "It looks like he doesn't have much with him..."

Cao Zhen nodded.

 The scouts retreated.

There are quite a few people coming to cooperate with Cao's army.

If he had not compared with the Guanzhong Hussars, Cao Zhen would not be happy, but now he is more worried. Whether it is the Di people's troops or the Shen clan's tribesmen, they cannot be as well-trained as the hussars. They must be peasant soldiers.

 When it comes to eating and shitting, of course I am not lagging behind others, but when it comes to fighting bravely...

 Whether they are trash or elites, they all need to eat, and it is possible that trash will eat more. So the arrival of these powerful forces is indeed a good thing, but it also means thousands more mouths, which suddenly increases the pressure on logistics.

 So, it seems that there is only one way left.

 Do things to the enemy.

 As for the area around Shangyong, there were not many areas where Cao Jun could actually eat.

Shangyong is the private land of the Shen brothers. Even if Cao Zhen thought about it, he couldn't attack Shangyong right away, so it must be in other areas. As for the surrounding areas of Shangyong, they are mostly mountainous and hilly. , there was not much development during the Zhang Lu period. Later, after Fei sneaked into Hanzhong, due to the ambiguous attitude of the Shen brothers, the focus was still on developing the surrounding areas of Nanzheng, and entrustment was adopted for the more remote Shangyong, so Shangyong surroundings The level of development is also far behind that of Nanzheng.

As a result, if Cao Jun wanted to obtain additional supplies, he could only start from the mediocrity and diren cottages around Shangyong.

 At first, the Shen brothers and King Liang felt quite happy. After all, with the backing of Cao Jun, they could attack the mediocre and disloyal people around them who they didn't usually deal with. Suddenly, the war was everywhere.

 But then the problem came.

Mediocre and poor people’s cottages do have some savings, but how much savings can these cottages in the mountains have?

Tens of thousands of troops opened their mouths, and knocked down a mountain stronghold. Then they found that the supplies in the stronghold were not enough to eat, and the scraps of copper and iron were useless. As the nearby strongholds along the way were conquered, more and more supplies were inevitably needed. Attack farther away, and the distance and effort spent on the march will become increasingly disproportionate to the gains from attacking the stronghold.

At the same time, because of this kind of plunder and destruction, the Yingren and Di people in the Shangyong area who might have remained neutral or did not care whether they were ruled by the Fei army or the Cao army began to change their attitudes.

 No one likes to have their property taken away without reason.

After Cao Zhen discovered that his efforts could not be effectively replenished, he also tried to stop this behavior. The Shen brothers could still obey orders more or less, but if they killed the dizzy Di people and wanted Liang Wang, they were already out of control. Even if Although they heard Cao Jun's orders, they turned a deaf ear. After all, the scraps of copper and iron that Cao Zhen and Cao Jun disdain are considered good things to the Di people. If you pass this village, there won't be this shop, right?

At this point, Cao Zhen suddenly understood that Li Dian's abandonment of Xing County was not a conspiracy, but a conspiracy!

 When did this Li Mancheng become like this?

 Did you not realize Li Dian’s potential before, or did you mention that the hussar had some new skills?

 (End of this chapter)