Three Kingdoms

 Snowflakes are falling one after another, flying and falling with the cold wind between the sky and the earth.

Zhang Xiu looked into the distance, and soon felt a bit dazzling, and quickly covered his eyes with fine silk.

 Flying snow piled up on the ground, turning everything in the mountains and rivers into a white picture.

Beauty is naturally extremely beautiful, but besides beauty, it is also surrounded by dangers.

In this kind of weather, if the exposed fingers and toes are not kept warm properly, they will become frozen and damaged. Even if the person is rescued, there will often be fewer fingers and toes.

 Not far behind Zhang Xiu is Baibo Valley.

 Baibo Valley is no longer the place where the Yellow Turban bandits used to be. It has become a huge military stronghold that brings together military and people's livelihood purposes. There are two trenches on the outside, and the gate at the entrance of the valley has also been reinforced. The open space in the valley is now covered with tents. The cavalry from Yinshan Mountain is stationed in Baibo Valley.

 The official road from Pingyang direction winds through Baibo Valley.

The surrounding plains were all white, except for the shrubs, woods, and hills that maintained their outlines in the whiteness.

Except for one side of Baibo Valley which is not too high with hills and mountains, the other three sides are relatively flat plains.

When the Baibo Army was rampant, this place was a barren land, covered with grass and shrubs, but now many places have been turned into cultivated land. Small sheds built by farmers themselves are dotted here and there.

 Zhang Xiu is waiting.

 He is waiting for his opponent to come.

One advantage of Baibo Valley is that the mouth of the valley is small and the belly is large, which allows the valley to be sheltered from the wind and provide a relatively comfortable environment for soldiers and horses to rest and prepare for battle under the wind and snow.

　　『The Cao family is full of lunatics...』

 Zhang Xiu muttered hummingly.

 The news that Zhang Ji was injured also reached Hedong, so Zhang Xiu naturally knew about it.

In the battlefield, it is normal to be injured or killed. This is the truth. However, Zhang Xiu felt very unhappy after hearing that Zhang Ji, a relative, was injured.

 Lao Zhangtou was too careless.

However, let me avenge this revenge for him!

It's not that Zhang Xiu is Long Aotian, it can only be that others have a way to kill themselves, and then he proves it by killing himself, but because there are not many old guys in Xiliang over the years.

The foundation of Xiliang is poor, and the accumulation of talents consumes itself. As a result, the people of Xiliang now have only three or two big cats and kittens left under the Hussar, and Zhang Xiu is not the big one, he can only be regarded as a small one. s cat.

 Who is the big cat?

That is of course Jia Xu.

 Jia Xu is the only person from Xiliang who has truly joined the Qiusi in the high-level decision-making circle.

Zhang Xiu glanced to the west, and the impression of his hometown was a little blurry.

 When Zhang Xiu met Fei Qian, he admired him quite a lot. At that time, Fei Qian said that he would put aside the internal disputes and lead him to kill the barbarians, open up the frontier and recover the Yinshan Mountains. Zhang Xiu initially thought that Fei Qian was just talking, using it as a nice name, and then killed a few lone barbarians to make up for it, but he didn't expect that Fei Qian was serious...

 Zhang Xiu had a smile on his face.

In the blink of an eye, the years passed. Zhang Xiu, who was just a small leader in the army at that time, has now become a general in charge of an army...

 The rumble of horse hooves brought Zhang Xiu back from his memories.

In the distance, a group of cavalry, dragging skateboards and baggage sleds, are experimenting with traveling quickly in the snow.

Since it started snowing two days ago, Zhang Xiu has been constantly experimenting with some sleds and snowmobiles commonly used in the snow...

Zhang Xiu looked up at the sky. It seemed that the snow showed no sign of stopping. It was falling intermittently. He didn't know where so much snow came from in the sky.

Cao Jun's sudden advance into Hedong was indeed a good idea from some aspects. Snowy weather will make many long-range and semi-long-range weapons of the Hussars unusable, and at the same time, they will basically lose their most sharp gunpowder weapons.

Zhang Xiu has tested that even if there is an oil paper seal, if the grenade is lit and thrown after it is broken, there will still be a 50% or more chance that the grenade will misfire and will not explode at all. At the same time, even if the grenade falls in the snow, it will explode. , its power will also be reduced a lot. Therefore, we cannot rely on gunpowder in this battle.

It's just that those guys in Shandong seem to have forgotten one thing...

Back then, when the hussar general was not a hussar, he did not rely on gunpowder to win such a territory!

 The war has continued to this point, and both sides have almost exhausted their cards.

The rest is to see who can still hold a few cards in his hand, and who can still use the means at the end...

 …

 …

Fei Qian has returned to Pingyang.

Today's Pingyang City has become a military base camp.

The military camp not only occupies the school grounds outside Pingyang City, but also occupies a large area in the Yuantoupu Mountains to the west of Pingyang.

Because this area is close to mountains and lacks water resources, it has always been used as a warehouse for industrial or commercial transfers. Now it is used as a gathering place for the army, and a large number of sheds have been built to station soldiers and horses.

 The nomadic yurts, or now they should be called Xiongnu yurts or Xianbei yurts, are very suitable for shelter from the cold in this kind of weather. A thick felt blanket is used to protect it from the wind and cold. It is covered with a layer of fur, then a layer of oil paper, and then the outermost layer is covered with thatch. Basically, there is no need to worry about the problem of snow and water.

  Round objects, found by nomads in their natural lives, are the most suitable form for resisting cold winds.

 This round felt bag has better endurance and resistance to cold wind than any other shape. The rug walls form a circle and the top of the bag is also semi-circular. When the wind and snow come, there will be no snow on the roof of the bag. Even if it is washed away by heavy rain in summer, there will be no accumulation of water on the roof of the bag. Even in a blizzard, it is difficult to blow over a round felt bag, because when the wind blows through the felt bag, it will form a low-pressure area around the felt bag, which will push the felt bag down instead of lifting it up, so it is better than Chinese houses with eaves are more resistant to wind.

Fei Qian did not refuse the warmth of fur, nor did he refuse the use of felt bags. Therefore, in the military camps near Pingyang, there are basically this kind of felt tents, and there are relatively few triangular or quadrilateral tents similar to those in Shandong.

Fei Qian left the main force of the cavalry in Guanzhong, on the one hand to reduce the difficulty of transporting grain and grass by land, and on the other hand to prevent any emergencies in Guanzhong.

If Fei Qian moves the main force to Hedong, in addition to bringing huge pressure on grain and grass supplies to Hedong, the felt bags near Pingyang also require a large amount of materials to build, as well as the daily consumption of grain, grass and charcoal fires. It needs to be considered comprehensively.

 War always requires overall planning. No matter what time it is, it is not a good strategy to only Allin.

Cao Jun thought that Fei Qian would attack halfway across the river, but in fact Fei Qian never thought of relying on the river as a defensive barrier.

 Because a large river is like the Nile River in Egypt, regular flooding causes the river banks to be unstable, and the accumulation of sediment also puts war horses weighing more than half a ton at risk of sinking. Even if the cold freezes the ground hard, we still need to consider the huge ditches on the south side of Zhongtiao Mountain.

The river is frozen at Longmendu, but it is in a state of floating ice at Fenglingdu and a distance downstream, and the sharp ice fragments will easily cut open the legs of the war horses, causing unnecessary damage to the horses, so Fei Fei Just make a deep dive strategy.

 Cao Cao looks like he has depth, but he actually doesn't.

Feiqian looks like it is just after the Yuncheng Basin and then Linfen Pingyang, but in fact Feiqian is still deeper.

 This situation is extremely interesting.

Fei Qian was currently in Pingyang Hou Mansion, leaning on the railing and looking out.

 After coming to this era, the thing he was least accustomed to was winter. Although he has the privilege of using charcoal fires for heating at home and in his office, it is still very cold when he goes out to do errands, and heating equipment is not always available outside, so he often shivers from the cold. Even though Feiqian mined coal and built briquette stoves, living conditions had improved to a certain extent, and they also planted cotton and had woolen factories, the price of cold-weather clothing was still very high, and people still froze to death in winter.

So, looking at it on the other hand, can Cao Jun have enough clothes to keep out the cold?

Fei Qian expressed doubts.

 So, Cao Cao is taking risks.

Perhaps, Lao Cao, the gambling habit is still there.

 This is not right!

Fei Qian sighed slightly.

 Finally we have reached this point.

The Cao Wei Group is the most powerful force in the Central Plains of Han Dynasty. If Fei Qian had not arrived, they would have swept across the entire north, and then gradually recovered Sichuan, Shu and Jiangdong twenty years later and reunified them. But in the process, China was beaten weak...

Fei Qian couldn't help but look back at Xu Chu who was following him.

 Xu Chu moved his eyebrows slightly.

　　　Does Zhong Kang want to lead the army into battle? Fei Qian asked.

Xu Chu replied without hesitation: "I am listening to my lord's orders." If the Lord orders someone to go into battle, he will go into battle. 』

Fei Qian laughed and stretched out his hand to tap Xu Chu.

 In later Three Kingdoms games, Xu Chu is always depicted as being obese, but Fei Qian knew clearly that if anyone said that Xu Chu was obese, he himself was probably the obese one.

 Xu Chu doesn’t want to go into battle?

 Jokes, how could you not want to? Under Fei Qian's rule, military achievements ranked first, which is no joke.

After a trip to the Western Regions, not only Xu Chu, but also Sima Yi was so excited that he put down his pen to grab military glory.

If it was said that for the great men in the past, reputation could save their lives at certain times, then for the subordinates of the Third Assistant Cavalry of Guanzhong, what can really save their lives is undoubtedly military merit!

As long as we can open up borders, even the **** things Lu Bu did can be saved...

 That’s why fools don’t want to go into battle to gain military merit.

 But Xu Chu was a guard of Fei Qian from the beginning, rather than a general who commanded troops outside. This forced Xu Chu to spend more time around Fei Qian, instead of attacking at will.

Fei Qian asked Xu Chu if he wanted to go into battle. Saying he wanted to go into battle would be suspected of being greedy for merit, while saying he didn’t want to would be hypocritical. Therefore, Xu Chu neither said he wanted to nor said he didn’t want to go into battle. Anyway, everything was arranged by the leader.

 Xu Chu is so smart and quick to react, how could he look like an obese person?

Fei Qian smiled and said: "Haha, don't worry, Zhong Kang will inevitably have to face Cao Mengde by then." 』

Xu Chu was stunned for a moment, and then he realized something.

 For Xu Chu, many of Fei Qian's actions seemed meaningless, but in fact they had far-reaching consequences.

Even if we don’t talk about military exploits, let’s look at Fei Qian and his guards who went out to detect Cao Jun. Everyone was against it and felt it was risky, but Fei Qian went there with his men, and there was no direct fight with Cao Jun. , it doesn’t seem to mean much, but what happened next made Xu Chu understand that some things must not be taken at face value...

Cao's army crossed the river in large numbers, and the east of the river was naturally shaken.

Pingyang has also been affected to some extent. Especially since the Huguan Party was attacked before, the people in Pingyang were more or less worried. Now that they heard that Cao's army was marching and crossing the river to attack, they couldn't help but feel panicked. But after Fei Qian led the guards around, the panic among the people in Pingyang disappeared for some reason.

So did Fei Qian really know the emotional changes of these people before doing this, or...

 Xu Chu lowered his head, not daring to show too much expression.

As Fei Qian becomes more and more powerful now and has become the only powerful figure among the Han Dynasty, Xu Chu naturally cannot laugh and laugh in front of Fei Qian like he did before. Instead, he must show his respect for Fei Qian at all times. respect.

 Because this is not only respect for Feiqian as a person, but also for the entire Feiqian political group.

 After all, Xu Chu was also a member of this political group.

 Cao Cao leads a large-scale attack. On the surface, it looks like a crisis for Fei Qian, but in reality?

  Could it be like the worry and panic of the people in Pingyang, which just needs to be taken aback?

Xu Chu's guess was not wrong. Fei Qian's turn was indeed not just to stabilize the mood of the people in Pingyang, but also had a more important meaning.

 Ordinary people need a strong leader.

 The gentry, the emerging meritorious class, and other small political groups also need a leader who has the courage to face difficulties and dangers.

 So Fei's sneaking around has more political significance than military significance.

The Feiqian political group has developed to this point, and the people in the system have been firmly bound together, sharing common interests and mutual conflicts. With the expansion of the scope of interests and strength, the desire for expansion under Feiqian's rule has become stronger. , especially in terms of population, land and commercial expansion, there were naturally more and more conflicts with the original Han Dynasty.

 The conflict between new systems and old ideas.

 The conflict between the new military elite and the hereditary gentry.

 The poor students and the traditional celebrities despised each other and were at odds with each other.

ˆThe old bureaucratic talent system and the new talent selection mechanism are irreconcilable.

 There are also issues between the traditional agricultural small-scale farmer economic system and the social division of labor system that promotes production development.

These various problems in Feiqian's territory are also the huge gap between Guanzhong Sanfu and Shandong.

 Especially in commercial development, because the benefits of commerce far exceeded the profits of agricultural planting, many gentry who adapted to the new policy within the three auxiliaries of Guanzhong began to embark on the path of commercial expansion, such as the Sima clan. The Sima family contracted a gold mine, and now it has entered a period of mining profits, which makes the Sima family unswervingly stand on Fei Qian's side, and is not afraid of sacrifice...

Some people in Shandong, including Cao Cao, have been aware of the problem of commercial erosion, and they have also begun to use the power of the government to restrict commercial goods in Guanzhong. Fei Qian's influence in Shandong is not great, so They were also forced to give up profits to these Shandong gentry and gentry, but the division of interests would make conflicts inevitable in the end.

 Hence, a battle with Cao Cao is also unavoidable. Even if Fei Qian has no further ambitions, he will eventually be pushed to that position by this tank. Therefore, Fei Qian will not specifically restrict such thoughts on weekdays, and will not publicize them. The main purpose is to avoid causing overly radical thoughts. actions that affect your overall strategy.

So Fei Qian felt that Cao Cao's current march in the wind and snow, in addition to military intentions, also had some political plans...

Fei Qian was thinking about it when suddenly some soldiers came and reported under the observation tower, "Reporting to the Hussars, Cao's army has a forward force of 5,000 people. They have left the mountain road and are marching towards Zhang Yangchi!" 』

Fei Qian nodded, "As expected." Hmm... let me think about it... someone gave the head of Cao's son to Sima Zhongda... I think he should know how to use it. 』

 …

 …

 Zhangyangchi is a swamp of medium size.

It is said that Huigong developed earth-shattering new weapons here, which laid a solid foundation for Yanhuang to fight against Chi You's axe, so this place became the fiefdom of the ancient Zhang family.

 Zhang Yang, maybe it changed because of Zhang Yang, or it came from the Yang of Zhangcheng.

Now there is no more work, only Chi Ze is miserable.

 Near Zhang Yangchi, Sima Yi calmly stood up in the formation.

This time around Sima Yi, they were no longer Hedong County soldiers, but real hussars.

These hussars and horses did not line up in array in the cold wind, but were gathered around the bonfire in sheltered places here and there, with the curtains drawn to warm themselves up. It looked like there was no organization or discipline at all, but Sima Yi knew that if he gave the order, the Steel Division would be formed in an instant.

 Other people built military camps near Zhang Yangchi.

After Zhangyangchi, there is Puban County, and not far to the west of Puban County is Pubanjin.

Although there is ice on the Pubanjin river at this moment, it is not thick enough. If we want the army to pass, severe cold weather like this will continue for at least a few days, but we can't wait too long, because it is already the first month.

Although the current weather is abnormal, it has already entered spring. No one knows when the wind and snow will dissipate, then spring will return to the earth, and soon the glaciers will melt. By then, neither Pubanjin nor even Longmen Ferry will be able to freeze. It's time to get on the horse, but you have to wait until the ice has completely subsided and melted before you can sail.

Cao Cao may not be unaware of these things.

 But what did Cao Cao really think? Was he really as fierce and eager as he appeared?

 This is a very interesting question.

 Normally speaking, if you want to march into Guanzhong, you can only capture Pubanjin or capture Longmen Ferry.

But will Cao Jun be so honest?

If you want to fight Zhang Yangchi, just come to Zhang Yangchi. If you want to enter Guanzhong, then go to Pubanjin?

  But there will be many moves.

Just like Go, everyone knows that it is just two colors, black and white, fighting for the edges and corners to occupy the center, but when it comes to the real game, it is ever-changing...

Sima Yi wrapped his cloak tighter, and then his eyes suddenly fell on Zhang Yangchi in the distance.

　　　　Zhang Yangchi…』

Sima Yi murmured, and soon he seemed to think of something from this place name, and a smile appeared on the face in the shadow under the hood.