"Cao Jun is coming! Cao Jun is coming! We are finished! We are finished!"
Panic-stricken screams swept across the Yuncheng Basin in Hedong.
Large piles of refugees, like panicked animals, instinctively began to flee.
These refugees are a mix of old and weak, and they fled in a hurry, not to mention command and restraint. They hear wind and rain, and some people are either frightened or confused, even if some people want to stay in it.
Order, but still unable to stop these refugees and stabilize their minds.
Among the chaotic crowds, some forts were like small rocks in the water.
It blocked some water, but was also shaken by the water.
This is a small fort.
The trench of Wubao is not wide and deep, and the fort wall is not very high either. It looks increasingly small in front of the flow of people.
On the wall of Wubao Castle, heads were shaking, and the pale-faced Lord of Wubao Castle was as panicked as his servants.
The gate of Wubao is closed and guarded strictly.
At first, they tried to send some people to drive away the refugees approaching Wubao, but more and more refugees came later, and people inside Wubao did not dare to come out anymore.
It has been a long time since there has been such a large flow of refugees in Hedong.
These people in Hedong seemed to have forgotten the last large-scale refugee situation, and what they saw before them made those painful memories tumble in their minds again.
On the wall of Wubao, everyone stared blankly at the flow of people in front of them.
As far as the eye could see, there seemed to be groups of refugees gathered in one place regardless of the team, crowding and pushing each other.
There was a mixture of young, strong, old and weak, including some women and children, and everyone looked sad.
Hunger is like a yin fire. A gust of wind comes at any time, or even a little spark can turn you into a mob at any time.
If we look at the original population of Hedong, it was not as good as that of Heluo, or even that of Yuzhou and Jizhou. However, with the decline of Heluo, many people from other places gradually moved to calmer areas, especially in the
During the period of Feiqian's rise, the local nobles in Hedong also absorbed a large number of refugees, which brought the total population of Hedong to a higher level.
When Cao Jun originally entered the territory of Hedong, because he was initially expecting the Hedong nobles to launch a backstab against Fei Qian, he did not make any aggressive moves towards the Hedong nobles, and his attitude was relatively mild. However, as Cao Jun's own pressure increased,
As well as the sway of the nobles in Hedong, Cao Cao finally lost his patience and showed his claws.
It can be said that Cao Cao has experienced a relatively complete Yellow Turban Rebellion, so he knows that once these people are stirred up, it will be overwhelming. Men, women, old and young will become pure eating and drinking beasts when the order of production and life is destroyed by the war.
In order to have something to eat, these seemingly weak people will drag more and more people into this huge vortex of hunger and thirst!
This became the first move he used to defeat Fei Qian...
Tactically, Cao Cao was right, but strategically, he had already lost.
The master on the Wubao was still wearing a piece of armor that didn't fit very well. His legs were trembling. He looked at everything in front of him with a look of despair. After standing there for a long time, he finally couldn't help but scream.
Shouted, "Quick! Send people to ask for help again! Go to Anyi! Go to Pingyang! Go...go quickly! If this continues, we...can't stop it! This damn Cao Jun, damn...why are the Hussars still there?"
Not coming? Why not coming yet! This damn world, damn it! One is a hussar, the other is the prime minister, what about us?! Who are we? Do they still regard us as the subjects of the Han Dynasty?
?!』
Above Wubao, the owner of Wubao was shouting, but his voice was full of despair, but it could not stir up much trouble among the waves of refugees.
And far behind these refugees, Cao Jun's vanguard, who kept driving these civilians north, was not necessarily happy.
The people responsible for this task were Liu Zhu and Hu Zhi, the generals in Cao's army.
Next to Liu Zhu and the hostages were their own private soldiers.
Among the Cao army, low- and middle-level generals with different surnames like Liu Zhu and Hu Zhi will still have their own guards, but the number and quality are lower than those of other Cao clan and Xiahou clan.
A lot. Of course, even so, they will be much better than ordinary Cao soldiers. At least they are relatively well equipped and have relatively good armor.
In Cao's army, situations like this are very common, with one level suppressing the other.
The advantage is that all the soldiers in Cao's army know the benefits of promotion, and they can have strong goals to strive for. The disadvantage is that the upper part of the pyramid is always small, and the transparent ceiling of ordinary foreigners always limits the channels for promotion.
The guards of Liu Zhu and the hostages generally functioned as supervising the troops. Just like at the moment, these guards also chopped down many ordinary soldiers who were unwilling to obey orders. The malicious mob piled these heads together.
The bloodshed served as a warning to other Cao soldiers.
Among the soldiers of Cao's army, many had joined the army during the war and had nowhere to go and were struggling to survive.
When trying to survive among the chaotic people, they inevitably experienced various tragic situations. After experiencing these tragic situations, not everyone became numb and became ruthless from then on. Therefore, after the order to expel and plunder the people of Hedong was issued,
There are more or less some soldiers in Cao's army who are unwilling to do this, or they may have agreed openly, but their hands have become slack.
But what Cao Cao needs is "panic". If Liu Zhu and the hostages don't do anything, then they themselves will be the ones to "panic".
By the time I got to the back, I was numb.
The evil in human nature has gradually emerged.
Killing, looting.
It is not easy to establish order, but to destroy it, all it takes is a gentle push...
Liu Zhu stood on the hill, looking at the black smoke rising in the distance, looking at the various traces left by the fleeing people in the wilderness, the dead bodies, scattered items, and then looking at the gray
The weather was so bad that I let out a long sigh.
The guard was standing aside, and the excitement and joy of being a warlord at the beginning was gone. He looked around uneasily, and then asked his guard in a low voice, "Are the people behind... following you?"
The guard shook his head silently.
It was difficult for the guard to understand why Cao Cao gave such an order. He also didn't know what Cao Cao's purpose was. However, he was not qualified to question Cao Cao. He could only obey orders. As for himself, he also understood his current position.
danger.
They are bait.
But they didn't know whether it would be small fish and shrimps or deep-sea sharks.
The guard also sighed.
As generals, Liu Zhu and the hostages could not say anything, but the guards behind them knew something about the situation, and now they were just whispering and muttering in twos and threes.
"Where are the central guards and the central guards? Where are those Cao and Xiahou clans? We are fighting life and death in front, why don't they come up? Now I have to open my eyes when I sleep, otherwise I don't know if I will be stabbed by someone in the middle of the night.
Death! This thing will lead to a short life!』
"Shut your mouth! We just obey orders! Don't come to us if you have any grudges!"
"If you don't look for us, who else can you look for? Those Hedong barbarians are just to the north..."
"I told you to shut up, it's really annoying!"
Struggling in troubled times, killing people is helpless, but now that things have settled down, chaos is about to start again, and not everyone is willing to accept it.
"We are just the same! How can we care about so much! You and I just act according to orders, no need to think too much, no need to think too much!"
There are people who doubt and think, and of course there are people who are unwilling to doubt and think.
"What will you and I do if we attract a large group of hussars? Are we going to fight to the death here with no support and no danger to defend? What's the use of the car formation? They have five elements of thunder."
!』
"What, are you afraid of death?"
"Haha, are you afraid of death? See for yourself, how many of us have died along the way? We are not afraid of death, what we are afraid of is that we will die in vain!"
"Prime Minister... Prime Minister will not ignore us..."
"Oh, who knows?"
"..."
The voices of the soldiers and guards talking faintly reached the ears of Liu Zhu and the guards.
In the past, Liu Zhu and the guards would have shouted to stop the noise, but now for some unknown reason, neither of them took any action to stop it, as if they didn't hear it.
"I remember... the Prime Minister once sang a song saying, "The armor is infested with lice, and all the people are dead. The bones are exposed in the wild, and there are no roosters for thousands of miles"..." Liu Zhu sighed quietly, "Now it seems that this is really the case.
ah……"
Upon hearing this, the guard suddenly turned his head and stared at Liu Zhu, his eyes widened, his lips moved slightly, but he did not speak.
Liu Zhu didn't seem to notice the hostage's expression at all, but he still said slowly: "In the past, when Dong's thieves caused trouble, the world was in chaos, and heroes rose up together, but Yuan Shao was eyeing the four states and was powerful and invincible. The Prime Minister planned strategies and moved to the north and south.
Kuang supported the Han Dynasty and welcomed the emperor to Xu. I admired him very much, so I spent all my wealth and raised courage to join him."
Hu Zhi took a breath and moved his lips, "You..."
Liu Zhu smiled and looked up at the gray sky, "The world... I have the world in mind... Haha, haha..."
Hu Qi couldn't respond, so he just looked back.
The originally bright red banner with black characters seemed to have dimmed.
…
…
In the north of the Yuncheng Basin, on top of the Emei Mountains, a group of fierce men and horses were looking down at the changes in the Yuncheng Basin in the wind.
This group of fierce men and horses are all dressed as elite cavalry, with fiery red shirts and jet black armor, like the blending of iron and blood, the collision of fire and thunder.
The flags were fluttering, and the three-color battle flag was fluttering high in the wind.
The war horses were lined up neatly on the plateau, as if they could gallop down at any time and trample everything in front of them under their hooves.
A general at the front was on horseback, looking to the south.
This man was tall, with long arms and legs, and he held a long spear. The tip of the spear shone with cold light, and the red tassel swayed in the wind, like a blooming flower from the other side.
This general is none other than Zhang Xiu.
Behind Zhang Xiu, there was Xun Chen.
Zhang Xiu now has elite cavalry under his command, and the main defensive location is on the Emei Mountains, which separates the Pingyang Linfen Basin and the Yuncheng Basin.
If any blind Cao Jun scouts wanted to cross the Emei Mountains, they would often be discovered by the condescending scouts from Zhang Xiu's side. Therefore, over time, no Cao Jun scouts dared to get close to this area to peep.
But things have changed a bit now.
Now, those who are gradually approaching Emei Mountain are not Cao Jun's scouts, but more and more refugees from Yuncheng, Hedong.
As Cao's army went berserk in the Yuncheng Basin, a large number of refugees gradually moved toward the Emei Mountains...
Zhang Xiu did not expect his momentary "feminine kindness", which resulted in Cao Cao taking more aggressive actions.
In fact, the key reason is that Cao Cao wanted to conquer the land under Zhang Xiu's feet, but it was really difficult to conquer.
This is Emei Mountain, a long and narrow plateau.
It is located to the east of the Grand River Valley, to the west of Taiyue Mountain, to the south of Linfen Valley, and to the north of Yuncheng Basin. It is longer from east to west and narrower from north to south, just like a giant loess brick accidentally dropped by nature in the east of Hedong.
The side of the Yuncheng Basin in the south is lower and is called the lower slope, while the side above the Emei Ridge is called the upper slope. The entire Emei Ridge table is flat and vast as far as the eye can see, with three sides facing water and one facing south.
It is precisely because of the erosion of this flowing water that the surrounding platform of Emei Mountain has formed steep loess cliffs and winding loess gullies. The edge of the platform often presents a broken loess landform with crisscrossing ravines.
If you look at the Emei Ridge from the Yuncheng Basin in the south, the Emei Ridge is like a huge loess castle rising suddenly from the plains. Its loess cliffs span from east to west and stretch for nearly two hundred miles, which is comparable to the song of ice and fire.
The cliff is isolated from the frozen soil.
On the west side of Emei Ridge, near the river, is the famous Longmen Ferry.
Of course, there are also some small ferries, such as Fenyin Ferry and so on.
In the Emei Mountains, closer to the north, there are two high mountains, Gushan and Jiwang Mountain. The two mountains are not far from each other, just like two eyes of the platform. Fenshui to the north of the Emei Mountains is different from that of later generations because of the water and soil.
It is well maintained, so its flow is still very large in the Han Dynasty. Only in autumn and winter does the Fenshui weaken a little, so it becomes the natural northern moat of Emei Mountains, which naturally has a certain degree of defense against the nomads in the north.
Effect. Therefore, since ancient times, Emei Ridge has been an important line of defense for Hedong to defend against the nomads in the north, but now it has to face the swords and guns from the Han Dynasty...
Zhang Xiu's logistics troops are now stationed at Zhangbi in Emei Mountains.
Zhangbi is located at the northern end of the Emei Mountains, near the Fen River. It was originally a military fortress used to defend against the Xiongnu. It was later destroyed by the Xianbei and later renovated by the Fei Qian.
It is precisely because of this that when Fei dived to the northeast of Hebei, the entire area north of Emei Mountains was relatively desolate and sparsely populated. Even everyone knew that Linfen was surrounded by the Fen River.
Repairing the canals and water conservancy will create thousands of acres of fertile land, but no one will come to reclaim and cultivate the land. Even compared to the Linfen Valley, the Yuncheng Basin will be safer from the threat of the barbarians in the north.
It wasn't until Fei Qian defeated Xianbei, civilized the Xiongnu, and expanded the entire frontier to the Yinshan area along the Yellow River Hetao that the Linfen Basin became popular again.
This has also led to serious inconsistencies in the ownership of land in the north and south of Emei Mountains...
Zhang Xiu looked down the slope of Emei Mountain and couldn't help but sigh: "Why bother? Why bother! I have been thinking about taking advantage all day long, but have I ever thought that this advantage is so easy to take advantage of? Now I have become a thief.
means!"
Behind Zhang Xiu, Xun Chen also wore a sleeved armor, but he did not wear a pocket coat, but still wore a Jinxian crown. After hearing Zhang Xiu's words, he smiled and said: "The people of Hedong are all responsible for this."
, not enough to pity him."
Zhang Xiu shook his spear and said, "That's right. I just pity these innocent people. As for the people from Hedong...hehe..."
Xun Chen said: "Cao's army is causing chaos in order to cover our eyes and ears. There must be thieves among these refugees."
Zhang Xiu clicked his tongue, "It would be easy to kill him."
A few days ago, Zhang Xiu made a surprise attack and defeated Cao Jun who was trying to form a camp in Yi County, and led some Cao Jun civilians back to Linfen. This made Cao Jun unable to continue to promote the strategy of forming a strong camp and could only think of other ways.
"At a certain moment, I didn't think much and caused trouble for my lord." Zhang Xiu gritted his teeth and said, "The thief Cao is extremely shameless and uses such cruel methods! He deserves to die!"
Xun Chen consoled him and said, "General Zhang, there is no need to blame yourself. Cao Cao's thieves have many tricks. My lord has a reputation of benevolence, virtue and virtue, so he must have been tempted by this. I came here this time. One of the reasons why I came here was to follow my lord's orders. I brought some food with me first."
Civil servants came to assist, so that General Zhang could feel at ease, and secondly, to deal with these refugees heading north..."
That's right, refugees can't just flow into the Linfen Valley.
After Fei Qian received the news that Cao Cao had started taking action, he immediately judged the intention of Cao Cao's army. This time, he held the people hostage and forced the young and old. The purpose was to break through the Emei Ridge defense line and create an opportunity to invade Linfen.
Fei Qian believed that Cao Cao must be aware of the strategic importance of Emei Mountain.
Whether it is the Linfen Valley in the north or the Yuncheng Basin in the south, this place is very important. It is not only a barrier for the southern forces to defend themselves against the north, but also a strategic fortress to recharge their batteries and attack north.
In the Yuncheng Basin south of the Emei Mountains, although there are counties such as Yixian, Pishi, Wenxi, Anyi, and Puban, there are not many of these counties and towns that can actually provide a better defense system. Even
Once occupied, there is nothing to hold on to.
Even if you are not a military master, you only need to know some history of the Spring and Autumn Period to be able to understand this matter. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Emei Mountains, Purple Mountain, and Fen River were the dangers of the mountains and rivers that protected the capital of the Jin State, and they were also the last obstacles for the capital of the Jin State.
Defense line. Throughout the Spring and Autumn Period, except for the Qi army's successful sneak attack into the hinterland of Jin in 550 BC due to the lack of preparedness of the Jin state, few other vassal states were able to break through the Emei Mountains for hundreds of years.
Cao Cao wanted to use conventional methods to attack Emei Ling, which was obviously a time-consuming and extremely difficult task.
The Emei Mountains are vast and flat, allowing cavalry to move freely and horizontally. However, the short legs of Cao Cao's infantry were obviously unable to keep up with the cavalry. Therefore, these refugees became the "rejection horses" that Cao Cao used to hinder the hussars.
Or "traps", etc., which invisibly divide the battlefield to form local advantages.
It's just that until this game of chess is played to the last moment, no one knows whether the method deployed first is a clever move or a fool...