Chapter 3054 Worry, Worry
In a sense, Wei Yan is not a person who is obedient.
Or, being content with the status quo.
If Wei Yan had only thought about lying flat back then, he might still be a small military officer in Jingxiang Nanjun.
There is nothing wrong with having ambition, or the mistake of ambition is not the ambition itself, but the difference in position.
The same is true for Lejin.
If Wei Yan is the one who likes the most introverted person among the Cavalry, then under Cao Cao's command, Le Jin is a well-deserved introverted maniac.
At Huguan, smoke filled the air.
On the mountain and under the pass, corpses are everywhere.
The smell of fishy smell cannot be suppressed even in the cold winter.
The sound of war drums resounded throughout the world, and the stone bullets and arrows roared at each other and devoured life.
Huguan is like a stubborn iron nail, firmly nailed to Lejin's inward rolling path, making Lejin unable to move forward half a step.
The terrain here is narrow and the troops cannot be expanded.
Le Jin has organized many attacks, and even charges three or four times by himself, but apart from almost breaking one leg and several bruises and wounds, Le Jin has not made much progress.
Le Jin also changed the direction of the attack several times, but in the end he still placed the attack point in the middle.
Because the mountain defense line on both wings is very difficult to attack, the mountain itself is high, and there is no road or platform to provide Cao's soldiers to organize their queues halfway, and shield vehicles cannot be used. The defenders can also quickly mobilize troops from the corridor on the top of the mountain for regional defense. Especially when Cao's army climbs the mountain, they will not only be shot by the defenders above, but also by the defenders from the walls. Often, before they can climb up, the losses are almost half...
Gunpowder is not as useful as Lejin originally thought.
The first batch of gunpowder transported was not effective for some reason, but the second batch of gunpowder was not good for some reason.
The reason is very simple. The output of gunpowder is not infinite. Of course, it needs to be supplied to key areas first. Lejin cannot be regarded as the most important location.
Therefore, Le Jin could only let the craftsmen build the catapult as much as possible. However, the simple catapult caused extremely limited damage. Even if it hits the wall, it will only be cracked. If it wants to cross the Huguan by throwing the stone...
At least it is impossible to hit the city as fast as a game in later generations.
Although it is fatal to hit the soldiers after throwing a stone, it is like massage the Huguan in a pine bone. Perhaps continuous hitting can cause the cracks in a certain place to expand and collapse, but it is undoubtedly a dream to make the simple catapult cart successfully hit the crack area every time.
Cao's army launched another tentative attack.
Yes, tentative.
Although Le Jin has a strong desire to rewind, not everyone in Cao's army is Le Jin.
After the continuous attack failed to achieve the effect, the morale of Cao's army gradually collapsed.
From labor to soldiers, death is fair.
This kind of collapse directly drops the upper limit. Even if Le Jin encourages and promises, it means that he will do whatever he wants after the city is broken, and he will not be able to recover much.
If you say too much and put too little into practice, then gradually no one will listen.
Even the stupidest person will have feelings and thoughts...
Although patience is the norm and the soldiers knew that they could not change anything, the morale gradually fell. If they wanted them to rush forward with a scream, Le Jin could only use the last means to supervise the team.
In each wave of attacks, the ones standing at the end of the array were Le Jin's supervisory teams. In addition to killing the soldiers who escaped at the battle, these supervisory teams also patrolled with bows and arrows. Each arrow was light arrow with cloth heads removed, and the cloth head was stained with red paint that was difficult to remove. If there was any hesitation, rubbing, or passive slacking, these supervisory teams would shoot the arrows with cloth heads on these people. After the war, these soldiers with many red paints on them would be pushed to the front of the formation and beheaded for public display.
Simply put, it is the last place elimination.
When the civilians and husbands were "eliminating" labor service, Cao's soldiers didn't say a word. Now it's time to "eliminating" themselves, and no one would say anything more.
『Swoosh!』
『Bang!』
『Ahhh…』
A stone bullet fell from the Huguan city wall, and drew a curve in the air that was not too regular, then hit the ground and bounced across the low flat trajectory. While splashing a lot of mud, sand and dust, it also brought out a bright red color. The person seriously injured by the stone bullet quickly lost his breath. It was not that these unlucky ghosts were not tenacious in their vitality, but were not soluble in these guys. The leader of the army, the sword failed to soak the blood of the defenders, and was first stained with the blood of his comrades.
Just like some words cannot be said, some calls are not allowed to be called.
The seriously injured soldiers obviously cannot survive. If they don’t give them a happy moment, would they let these guys continue to scream and shake the morale of the army?
Of course, there is no problem with this.
Everyone in question is dead.
The rest is naturally fine.
As the Cao army soldiers approached, the Huguan defenders began to use crossbows to conduct long-range strikes. After being hit, the shield chariots stopped and the front line became no longer neat. Amid the screams, the number of casualties of labor was rapidly increasing, and the screams continued. There were laborers with mental breakdowns, curled up in crying, or screaming, or escaping, but they were either killed by the supervisory team behind the formation or killed by the commander of the Cao army in the queue.
The route the shield car passed was covered with corpses.
"Don't look back, go forward!"
Cao Junshi shouted.
"Don't retreat!"
Cao Jun's commander yelled.
"No retreat is allowed!"
Le Jin was also yelling.
The introverted person has no way out, so Le Jin also forced everyone to follow him and not to retreat.
Le Jin realized more and more clearly that he might not be able to capture Huguan.
Just as he knew that he would never be able to elevate his class to the same level as the generals of the Cao Xiahou clan.
Even at the beginning, Le Jin knew this.
However, that humble hope still supports Le Jin's crazy incest.
This meager hope is like buying a lottery ticket. According to probability, there are indeed some, and it seems that someone wins the prize every day, but I have never really seen it by my side. I heard that, who said it is like a ghost winning the prize...
『Bang!』
There was another loud noise, and a stone bullet roared a shield chariot with a roar. Countless wood chips were mixed with fragments, and they flew into the air and fell among the Cao army soldiers behind them.
As the wooden structure of the shield chariot broke, the laborers and soldiers behind the shield chariot fell to the ground.
After the shield chariot was defeated, several laborers turned around and fled in a panic, but were directly killed in front of the formation by soldiers supervising the battle in the rear.
The soldiers in the rear saw someone slamming down on the ground for a long time without getting up. They took the red cloth bow and arrow and put it on the bow. They were about to mark the guys when they suddenly heard a sound of gold. They hesitated slightly, then looked at their teammates around them, and did not shoot out, but silently put down the bow and arrow.
"Don't mess up the queue!"
The soldiers of Cao's army turned around and retreated, their pace much faster than when they came, and their formation could barely be kept neat. A small number of Cao's army retreated halfway, guarding the remaining labor force and preventing them from leaving the shield chariots. Because the solid walls and clearing fields in Huguan made the Cao army cut down qualified wood and it was difficult to make and not easily discarded.
The laborers and soldiers burst out with the potential to survive, and they pulled the shield and walked quickly, almost twice as fast as they did during the attack...
Cao Jun's war-weariness seemed to be no longer concealed.
Le Jin looked at it, his face as deep as water.
Another route of Zhao Yan's reinforcements from Henoi, who should have arrived long ago, had not arrived yet, and there was no news about the Xiahou army who came from Fukou Pass to attack Huguan...
Le Jin, who is in the Taihang Mountains, of course, cannot carry a small map with him. The radar shows the location of friendly troops. Therefore, he actually considers where the friendly troops are now and whether he has become an isolated army...
Death happens every day, and apart from the result of death, most people don’t know when they will die, what posture they will die, whether they can be a complete one, or the other part of the corpse.
The worst is that the scar is as big as a bowl. This is just a helpless self-comfort even though you know that death is coming.
If there is a choice, who would like such a big scar?
The soldiers of Cao's army privately discussed that if they were shot and died of an arrow, even if they were the best luck, at least they were still the whole person, so they didn't have to bother with others to count where their bodies were. After all, when they went to count the bodies of others themselves, they wouldn't care too much about whether the head and that arm were the same...
Faced with such a gradually declining morale, Le Jin could not stop the offensive on the one hand, because he knew that once the momentum of the offensive was really stopped, the spirit of the entire army would drop faster, and on the other hand, it could not be consumed too much. Otherwise, if he really became an isolated army, he would have to have some manpower to escape or break through.
Of course, in this case, labor is not an asset that must be preserved.
Anyway, these labors are only a waste of food, so it is better to waste the arrows and stone bombs of the Huguan Guards.
...
...
Xu County.
In the Hall of Chongde.
The sounds that followed seemed to fill Chongde Hall with enthusiasm and joy.
"Report to Your Majesty, the battle is becoming more and more intense. The Prime Minister leads 300,000 troops to Tongguan, 100,000 troops to Shangdang Taiyuan, 100,000 troops in Youbei, and 100,000 soldiers in Jingzhou and Badong. The victory of the thief is approaching...
"It has been besieging Huguan for ten months, and arrows and stones are like rain. Le Wenqian is full of fighting spirit and is not afraid of powerful enemies. He killed thousands of thieves! Huguan is just around the corner!"
"Xiahou Miaocai led the army to defeat Gaoping. The bandits were frightened when they heard the news. Wherever the king's army went, they would eat pots of slurry to welcome him!"
"Caozi in Youbei and the murdered Hu thieves in the border area, seized three thousand horses, and shocked the desert. The Hu people, Suli Mo Huba, and others were all frightened. They surrendered to the great man and did not dare to disobey the power of heaven!"
"However, the army was victorious and the daily losses were heavy. Ren Zhonglang asked to allocate 5,000 more troops, 100 catapults, and 100 crossbows each. There were also military pay, food, grass, gunpowder, and iron materials. Another 20,000 labor service personnel were recruited for transportation..."
In the Chongde Hall, Liu Xie was listening to the report of the Inspector, his face neither sad nor happy.
Since the Ten Eunuchs, the eunuchs have been in a slump and are not worthy of their names.
However, the emperor lived deep in the palace, and what he saw was just a high wall, and what he heard was just a few words. The eunuchs were born with the emperor's tentacles and ears. After the Ten Eunuchs, the weak eunuchs were undoubtedly the same as the emperor's ability to control the court and the country was declining, even to zero.
After Cao Cao attacked Guanzhong, good news flew over like snowflakes.
True, true, false, false.
A yellow eunuch said excitedly: "Your Majesty, if the Prime Minister conquered Guanzhong, our Han Dynasty will surely be very revitalized. Then the world will be unified and the rejuvenation will be expected!"
The eunuchs also said in unison: "Congratulations to Your Majesty! The rejuvenation is in sight!"
Liu Xie laughed twice, but there seemed to be not much joy in the laughter, and it seemed to be dealing with the matter.
However, Liu Xie quickly noticed this problem and said in a concealment: "I...I don't want to see such a life suffering...The people are so distressed..."
The eunuchs looked at each other and hurriedly bowed to the ground: "Your Majesty is kind! The people must be grateful!"
Can the eunuchs represent the people? Anyway, is it a matter of tears? As long as the people don’t say they are crying in pain, they can be regarded as shedding tears of happiness.
Does the people have channels to speak out?
Then it must be happiness.
『How many troops are there in Guanzhong?』 Liu Xie looked around and asked,『I heard that the Guanzhong cavalry was in the north of Mobei, and expelling the Xianbei was like turning their hands...If the cavalry revolved, the Prime Minister might be...I wonder if the Prime Minister had a way to deal with it?"
"This..." the eunuchs looked at each other in an instant.
Shouldn’t we ask Cao Cao about this question?
Why do you ask us?
However, there were also several eunuchs who seemed to understand what the emperor meant, so they lowered their heads deeply...
What the emperor asked was not that the prime minister had any way to deal with it, but that he had to listen to it in reverse, and that he was asking about what way to deal with the prime minister!
All the eunuchs refused to answer. After waiting for a while, Liu Xie waved his hand, "It's okay. Let's retreat!"
"I'll leave..."
The eunuchs slowly stepped back with their butts sticking out.
Chongde Hall became cold again, quiet, like the hustle and bustle just now, like a dream.
Liu Xie now understands that the emperor without military power is just a decoration.
The troops and horses in Guanzhong began with Fei Qian.
Then the soldiers from Shandong were naturally built in Cao Cao.
Compared with the relatively far away Guanzhong, Liu Xie is still familiar with the military force under Cao Cao in Shandong...
During the rebellion of Dong Zhuo, Cao Cao "scattered family wealth and joined forces with the righteous army" and organized three or five thousand people in the private sector to participate in the war against Dong Zhuo.
This is the beginning of the Cao army's system of military power concentration.
After Dong Zhuo was killed, Cao Cao licked Yuan Shao and served as the governor of Yanzhou. After receiving angel investment from a group of bigwigs, in order to expand his strength, he tried his best to win over local powerful landlords. Other members of the Xiahou clan of the Cao family, as well as Le Jin, Li Dian and Ren Jun, etc., were almost at this time, either surrendering to Cao Cao, or leading his own troops to join him, becoming Cao Cao's confidant troops and the backbone of the Wei army in the future.
Soon, Cao Cao discovered that he could not cross these local tyrants to command the armed forces under him. The troops of these local tyrants were Cao Cao's troops on the surface, but in fact they only followed the command of his leader. As for Cao Cao's orders...
So Cao Cao was unwilling to be undermined, so he set his sights on it. Perhaps he had conspired with Bao Xin to form the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Group in Jibei at that time. Cao Cao finally ate this unit, "more than 300,000 surrendered soldiers and more than one million men and women. The one who took over his elite was called Qingzhou Army", which became the most important cornerstone of the Wei army's infantry.
Bao Xin, who was originally the most qualified to share the benefits of this cornerstone, died in a perfect battle!
Cao Cao cried bitterly...
Cao Cao's cavalry originally came from the Hu people. In history, after Cao Cao conquered the Wuhuan people, he moved his tribe to China and followed the crowd of Hou Yu and the conquest. As a result, Wuhuan of the three counties became famous cavalry in the world. Cao Cao used Qingzhou soldiers and Wuhuan cavalry in the other hand, and suppressed the wealthy families in Jizhou, even if he farted, he had to keep his farts into the sound of silk and bamboo.
In history, Cao Cao, who had powerful infantry and cavalry, focused on the navy of Jingzhou. After Cao Cao captured Jingzhou, the three armies really combined and dominated the world. In theory, it was necessary for infantry to have infantry, cavalry to have cavalry, and navy to have navy! As a result, Lao Cao was wandering, and before he could defeat Jiangdong, he muttered about Zhou Gong, Zhou Lao Zhou Runfa, etc., which was known to everyone. So Lao Cao suffered an unprecedented defeat and almost returned to the front of Dong overnight...
Now Cao Cao's evolution process has been interrupted and suppressed by Fei Qian, and has not evolved into the ultimate body. It can only be considered a half-finished body. In history, Cao Cao claimed to be one million in the Battle of Chibi, which is naturally an exaggeration. At that time, Cao's army was about 200,000 in water, land, and cavalry, and the total strength of soldiers guarding various places in the Central Plains was about 300,000. This is the ultimate form of Cao Cao's prosperity in history. Now Cao Cao only has 200,000 troops, but because his territory has been reduced, the number of troops distributed in various places is not as many as in history, so the ones that can be used to attack Fei Qian are more than 100,000 troops.
After calculating Cao Cao's troops, we can naturally understand where Cao Cao's confidence comes from, and why the nobles and emperor Liu Xie in Jizhou, Yuzhou, supported Cao Cao to attack Fei Qian while thinking about causing trouble...
For example, Zhong Yao proposed a plan to avoid death.
However, even if the theory of avoiding death is successful, it can only be self-protection, and it is self-protection for local wealthy households.
It's not the emperor's self-protection.
Zhong Yao was just using this method. On the one hand, he connected with more powerful households who were worried about being liquidated and forced Cao Cao to compromise and no longer waved his sword to kill people at any time. On the other hand, he also used this method to allow Cao Cao to obtain the expenditure of powerful households and circulate more labor and food to support the continued war.
This is a very successful strategy, full of compromise.
It is a mutual compromise between local tyrants and powerful people, and it does not have any special benefits for Emperor Liu Xie.
Liu Xie understood this and smelled the smell. Now the news of the victory on the front line like snowflakes made him worry. If Cao's army really won a great victory and really conquered Guanzhong and defeated Fei Qian, then Fei Qian might not be the only one who was unlucky...
So, should you secretly pull the heels of an old comrade?
Chapter completed!