Three Kingdoms

Chapter 3212 The window is dim and has small words

 Hedong.

 A group of Cao Jun soldiers were moving forward along the road.

 Cao Jun’s soldiers did not cover their whereabouts, they just released the scouts twenty or thirty miles away, and they seemed to be moving forward in an orderly manner.

 The general's banner in the army is "Liu".

This flag with the surname of the general of the Liu family, combined with the battle flag representing the Han Dynasty, has a strange feeling.

Yi County is already close to Anyi and belongs to the core area of ​​the Yuncheng Basin. If you go beyond Anyi and go further north, you will reach the Linfen Basin, which is the Pingyang area controlled by Fei Qian.

From the perspective of Yi County itself, with its small city and poor terrain, it is not a strategic location in the ordinary sense. However, it has become the focus of competition between the two sides...

 Cao Cao's original strategy of luring left and right and mobilizing hussars completely failed.

Fei Qian sat firmly on the Diaoyutai in Pingyang, not caring about the small fish and shrimps jumping around. Naturally, Cao Cao had no choice but to find another way.

Yi County, now under such circumstances, seems to be becoming more and more important.

The area around Yi County is relatively vast.

Although there are mountains all around the Yuncheng Basin, people's sight is narrow after all. The distant mountains are like the background of the horizon, but the land in front of them seems to be magnified, which has become the biggest difficulty for Cao's soldiers.

 Most of the snow that fell in the past few days has melted, leaving the rest of the place muddy except for the official road.

 The cold weather in late spring is not only cold, but also very humid.

Cao's soldiers were wearing iron armor, holding spears and walking heavily.

 At first, the team moved forward slowly in silence.

 But as time went by, the silence was broken…

 For most of Cao's soldiers, they did not know the surrounding topography or strategic layout. They only knew how to walk and stop, life and death. It's just that there are still some gossips being passed around in the queue, and then they become well-known secrets.

Cao Hong retreated from Puban County, but his army went deep into the country alone. How could it be so easy to withdraw at the earliest opportunity?

Sima Yi was as cunning as a fox, and he almost brought the strengths of the horse archers to their fullest. Anyway, don't even think about melee combat. With kite shooting tactics, take advantage if there are advantages, and wait and see if there are difficulties.

 The cavalry's suppression of infantry is very strong, especially when Cao Hong lost most of his baggage, including arrows and crossbows. Of course, even with arrows and crossbows, it is not easy for infantry to defend against cavalry tactics. Most of the time, they can only passively counterattack and cannot take the initiative to attack.

 However, if he forms a defensive formation, Cao Hong, who has lost his food, grass and baggage, obviously cannot afford to delay it.

Therefore, in the end, many of Cao Hong's soldiers who were withdrawn were wounded. Even if they were not physically injured, they were mentally tortured. After all, not everyone has a big heart and can withstand the meticulous care of the Cavalry. of…

Although it is said that among Cao's army, soldiers are strictly prohibited from discussing these matters, they cannot control the spread of gossip in private, and there are also rumors that just a few days ago, the Cao army's camps around Yi County were attacked by the Hussars. Already…

 These are a lot of people who died.

Now, they are going to Yi County, the place where the battle is taking place.

No one knows what they will encounter in front of them, and how they will deal with the hussars if they encounter them.

 There is only one simple command, "Go".

 It is a common practice in Shandong that some things are known to the superiors, but they will never be known to the people at the lower level.

At the beginning, Cao Jun's soldiers didn't know where they were going, but after walking for a while, some people more or less guessed the destination, and some emotions suddenly emerged and they began to chatter.

 This situation is also normal.

Even well-trained dogs will lose their temper sometimes, let alone these ordinary soldiers of Cao Jun?

　No one likes to be deceived.

Although sometimes they are helpless against this kind of deception, it does not mean that they will be emotionless.

 What should you do if you feel emotional?

Ordinary soldiers in Cao's army are stubborn, so they inevitably start to murmur in twos and threes.

Privately, the soldiers of Cao's army really said anything, but most of the time these soldiers of Cao's army just muttered in private. If you really asked them to jump up and rebel, or to disobey military orders, most of them would not do it. dare.

 In addition to emotional instability, there is also physical exhaustion.

 I don’t know why, but their schedule is very rushed...

 It’s like rushing to be reincarnated, with no rest at all.

　　After walking for most of the day, everyone was tired, cold, and exhausted.

The cold weather in late spring, which turns from warm to cold at first, is obviously not something that these Shandong soldiers can adapt to at once.

Double mental and physical exhaustion, there used to be only small whining voices in the team, but now they have become more and more frequent, and in the end, they have become a buzzing sound.

Hearing the complaints from the soldiers of Cao's army below, most of the captains and commanders turned a deaf ear to them, and sometimes they would chime in with "uh huh" and "haha".

These days, isn’t being a soldier just to make a living?

As non-commissioned officers at the lowest level of the military academy, they rarely have room for promotion, so these big-name soldiers have even less room to survive for a few years, or die on the battlefield, or go home with a disability and survive for a few years. If you die again, as for what it means to be a general...

hehe.

 In the current feudal dynasty of the Han Dynasty, how many generals are there who are really promoted from the bottom of the soldiers?

With no hope of promotion, the soldiers will naturally become old-fashioned.

 The leader of this army was Liu Zhu.

　　A surname is the same as Liu Bei, but he dare not claim that he is the son of Liu after Prince Jing of Zhongshan.

 The reason is that Liu Zhu is not as thick-skinned as Liu Bei, so he is just a subordinate.

 The general is the most important person among the generals.

 When something happens, the general will go up first, and when there is a hole, the general will fill it first. But when it comes to judging merits and rewards, the general will always stand behind the leader.

 Liu Zhu has been a general for a long time. He has served as a general of Cao Hong, a general of Cao Ren, a general of Xiahou Dun, and now he is a general of Cao Cao. At his level, he is regarded as a fighting chicken among the generals. To outsiders, he looks very impressive, but he himself knows that he is still a general.

 As a subordinate of General Liu Zhu, he is a typical veteran oil man who serves as a guard. With his meritorious deeds as the first to follow Cao Cao, he was transformed from a small soldier to the current captain and now holds the position of military governor.

Cao Cao still valued him, so he sent him as a military governor.

However, veteran oil man, he naturally knows his status. If it is within the scope of Cao Cao's control, naturally Cao Cao's name is very useful. Whether it is a big-headed general or a small-headed colonel, he will give him some points as a governor. In order to save face, he reluctantly obeyed his orders, but once he left Cao Cao's camp, it would be better for him as the governor to attract less suspicion. Along the way, he did not issue military orders, and even spoke little. He just followed the crowd and was as inconspicuous as a **** at the lowest level.

Seeing that Liu Zhu was just silently riding his horse and walking in the middle formation, he had no intention of resting and setting up camp for most of the day. The soldiers in the front were pretty good, but those in the rear who were responsible for pushing carts and escorting the baggage were not so good. Exhausted, the curses were buzzing. After a while, seeing that no one was paying attention, he opened his voice more and more, pointing fingers and scolding Huai. One of the hostage's confidants, who joined the army with him, got close to the hostage and said, "Governor, do you want to talk to General Liu and just rest on the spot?" 』

The confidant pointed to the baggage behind, "Those guys can't stand it any longer... Although they are all used to being cows and horses, they can't really be cows and horses... This is using people as cattle... Let's see General Liu doesn't necessarily know how to lead a good army. I don't know what these guys are thinking... If these men are allowed to continue to blather, it will be a trivial matter for the army's morale to be unstable. What if it happens at night... How about persuading General Liu to take a rest? No matter what, I still need to eat hot soup and rice and take a breath..."

The commander glared at his confidant and said, "As you know, my governor has a higher rank, but he is actually just a captain... Besides, the governor only has eyes and ears, but no mouth!" understand? If you go on this journey honestly, peace will be a blessing. Whatever General Liu says, just do it honestly... You made a **** random idea. If something goes wrong, who will be blamed? Strength is a thief. If you raise it and return it, how can you still kill someone? 』

The confidant smiled bitterly and said: "My old man, even if you are a thief, you still have to have some free time and let the younger ones take care of this thief!" 』

The confidant came closer to the hostage and whispered again, "Young man, I listened at the back... You also look back and listen. What are they muttering behind?" How many days have you been away from camp? If this continues, the morale of the army will really be lost... It is true that the commander-in-chief is General Liu, but the second-in-command is you, the old lady! If something big happens and General Liu loses his head, can you, the warlord, take care of yourself? When the board falls, will you really be able to withstand it? It would be easier to calm down the grievances in the army earlier... Besides, do you really expect us to fight against the hussars? It’s really only a day or two! 』

Hearing what his confidant said, Hu Zhi was also shocked.

Turning his head to look around, he then looked back at the soldiers of Cao's army pushing the baggage carts in the rear formation. Hearing the voices of those who wanted to curse at the top of their lungs, the hostess couldn't help but sigh. After thinking for a moment, the hostage urged his horse forward. Along the way, he heard some dirty mutterings. Some were scolding Liu Zhu, and of course some were directed at his unlucky deputy. of. The guard was very generous and pretended not to hear anything.

The guards rushed to Liu Zhu's side.

Liu Zhu still had the same sullen look on his face and hurried on with his head down, not even glancing at the hostage.

Hu Zhi coughed cautiously, forced a smile and said hello: "This...General Liu?" 』

Liu Zhu hummed, raised his head and looked sideways at the guard.

At this point, the guard had no choice but to bite the bullet and say: "General Liu, this... Haha, we have been traveling for two or three days, and we are really exhausted... We all know that General Liu is courageous and leads the way." ...But everyone really can't hold it anymore, can you... take a short break? Anyi, Yi County, is not on the horizon. One day earlier and one day later is not bad, right? What's more, if we really encounter enemies on the road, it won't be easy for them all to be exhausted... What does General Liu think? 』

Liu Zhu listened without moving his face. When the guard finished speaking, he said a few words, "No." 』

The captain scratched his head and pointed with a grimace in the direction of the noisy rear baggage queue, "I don't want to disobey the general's orders... I will follow General Liu wherever he orders. There is no need to say... But General Liu, If the enemy hussars really come, can we rely on the general and me to fight them? Since General Liu is now leading everyone, he still needs to take care of the morale of the troops. What I said is a bit excessive, but the way to lead troops is to relax. If the trouble goes too far, then... if there is It's hard to tell what happened when you return to your master, right? 』

Liu Zhu was silent for a while, then sneered: "Do you still think...it really depends on us to fight?" Do you really not know, or..."

Liu Zhu fell silent after saying this, obviously not wanting to say any more.

Hu Zhi stared at Liu Zhu with wide eyes and realized that he seemed to have neglected something. Then he felt some cold sweat dripping down his back, and it was smooth and winding, like a small snake crawling across it.

　　　　Liu...General Liu...what do you mean...ahem, what do you mean? ” the hostess asked in a low voice.

 Liu Zhu was silent.

Hu Qi was a little panicked. He felt that he had touched something that he had never thought of or understood before. He asked Liu Zhu in a panic, "General... what is the significance of this?" Please enlighten me...』

 As he said that, the hostage wanted to dismount and salute Liu Zhu.

Liu Zhu held the hostage, sighed, and asked in a low voice: "Commander Hu, are you...loyal to the great Han?" 』

　　　　This...this, what does this mean? ” Hu Zhi was stunned, “Of course I...well, of course I am loyal to the big man!” 』

Liu Zhu obviously didn't have any thoughts about the tone of the deferment, but said with a worried look: "Back then, when the Han Dynasty wanted to fight the Xiongnu, they needed iron, so the people donated all the iron tools for drafting horses at home..."

"Well? ah? ” Hu Zhi was a little confused.

Later generations may think that the iron tools at home are nothing, but under the productivity conditions of the Han Dynasty, the draft horses and iron tools in ordinary people's homes were basically equivalent to very valuable means of production and living, roughly equivalent to the cars in later generations' families. .

In other words, the Han people at that time donated all their "cars" out of "patriotism".

“Further on,” Liu Zhu said, “Later, when Guangwu fought against Liangyong, the people were also asked to donate... At that time, the people also donated, but there were no horses, and only grain was left... I remember it was about three to five hu of dendrobium..."

Hu Zhi hummed, seeming to understand something.

Three to five hu of grain are basically nothing in the eyes of later generations. But in the Han Dynasty, three to five hu of dendrobium grains could basically feed a family for a month. If it was tighter, it might be enough for two or three months.

In other words, in order to express their patriotic feelings, during the Guangwu period in the early Eastern Han Dynasty, the value of loyalty to the emperor and patriotism was only three to five dendrobiums. When converted into money for later generations, it was probably around a few thousand to ten thousand, which is almost as much as a computer. Just a fruit machine.

Hu Zhi suddenly had a bad premonition in his heart. He felt that Liu Zhu's words were not finished yet...

Sure enough, Liu Zhu raised his head, looked at the sky, and said slowly: "Now...it is said that in Yuzhou, the people have begun to collect donations again...For the sake of the Han Dynasty, loyalty to the emperor and patriotism...the people really couldn't resist, so they donated a bowl of corn." It’s all over…』

 How much is a bowl of corn worth?

 Probably like the price of a bottle of water in later generations.

"ah? This...is this true? ’ Hu asked.

"hehe. Liu Zhu sneered twice, and then asked the hostage again, "How is it?" Governor Hu, now...are you loyal to the great Han? 』

 ‘This…’ The hostage was not a fool. He understood the meaning behind Liu Zhu’s somewhat incomprehensible questions.

 What if "big man" is replaced by "prime minister"?

Hu Zhi was a little shuddering.

Those who tried to support Cao Cao by selling iron at the beginning, how many times can they do it now?

 Can the downgraded "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism" still be regarded as "loyalty to the emperor and patriotism"?

 Why is it that for a dynasty that claims to rule the world with "loyalty and filial piety", after three to four hundred years, the more it emphasizes "loyalty and filial piety", the more problems it causes? Why is the value it contains and the pattern it reflects declining all the way?

The hostage did not dare to think too much, and even felt that Liu Zhu was very strange and scary, "General Liu, you... this..."

Liu Zhu glanced at the hostage sideways, "What is this?" Do you think you are really the warlord? The real "Overseer" is behind us... Haha, yes, that is the real "Overseer"... Now, do you want to stop? 』

"ah? ! ” The officer was shocked and turned pale. He turned around and looked around, his face a little pale, “This... General Liu, this, this, this...”

 Liu Zhu exhaled a puff of white smoke into the sky, and then kicked the horse's belly.

 The war horse kicked forward a few steps, putting a little distance between itself and the hostage.

 No wonder Liu Zhu was in a bad mood and had a gloomy face all the way...

Now that the warlord knew the true situation, his mood suddenly worsened. He stayed by the roadside in a daze for a long time. When his confidants caught up with him, he asked in a low voice: "Warlord?" How about it? 』

"What? Oh, keep marching without rest..." Hu Zhi replied somewhat dullly.

　　　　How can this... be like this? Could it be that General Liu didn't even give the governor face? ” The confidant was still complaining about the injustice, “Isn’t he afraid that we will punish him severely when we return? 』

"ha! ” The guard suddenly grinned bitterly and said, “ Join him? Ha, let’s talk about it if we can go back alive..."

 The confidant was startled, and then his face changed, "Overseer, what are you..."

The guard waved his hand, obviously not wanting to let some news spread, otherwise the morale of the army would really collapse. No matter how many heads he had, he would not be able to bear this responsibility. Therefore, Hu Zhi changed the subject a little dryly, "I want to ask you something..."

 The confidant nodded and said, "Overseer, please speak." 』

　　　　You...are you loyal to the big man? ” Hu Zhi looked at the dim sky and asked worriedly.

"ha? 』