In the dark night, the wilderness has become a regional scene.
Under the crazy surge of people, the remaining camps were like small islands in the storm, struggling to hold on. The camps where these soldiers were stationed were originally set up very carelessly, and trenches were dug hastily for a while, but no one was seen.
The urge was just thrown over there. The fences and walls of the camp were placed randomly, and there were no defensive facilities.
After all, we are in troubled times, and there is no military discipline. If there is no tomorrow, who would want to do better? If you have wine today, you will be drunk today. Who will take the hard work to set up camp properly?
?
As a result, I now bear the consequences of my previous laziness.
Under the surging crowd, countless people rushed down the trench and were trampled on the soles of their feet. The trench, which was not too deep, could not resist these people running around like crazy. After the trench was filled with human flesh, they rushed directly into the trench.
On top of the simple camp fence.
The leader of the mixed soldier camp that was hit by the crowd had some experience. When the crowd first started, he summoned an array of soldiers and guarded the village wall. But when the surging crowd really came rushing over, the mixed soldier camp
Two or three rounds of arrows were fired from the ground, but they had no blocking effect at all.
The most important reason is that in the dark night, the sounds of injuries and screams around can only arouse more crazy fear, but cannot awaken reason.
If it were during the day when there was enough light, and seeing arrows falling down one after another, with death right in front of you, it would probably scare the people running around. But in the dark, because you can't see clearly at all, it feels like the rear is miserable.
The fear brought by the roar was obviously greater than the arrows from the camp ahead, so the defense of the camp was like raindrops falling in the tide, with no effect at all.
The crowd hit the fence so hard that it immediately became loose.
Dozens of spears were thrust out from the gaps in the stockade fence, and many people were stabbed to death immediately. However, the people who were stabbed to death were stuck on the spears, so stuck that they could not even withdraw the spears!
After a while, a creaking sound was heard, the fence collapsed, and the crowd swarmed in, drowning the soldiers directly under their feet.
Another mixed soldier camp collapsed...
Behind the crowd, Zhang Xiu actually brought not many cavalry.
A small group of cavalry, perhaps one or two hundred, drove the huge crowd in a certain direction just like shepherd dogs driving sheep.
Zhang Xiu led most of the cavalry and followed slowly.
Along the way, most of the corpses were exploded...
Is it pitiful?
Pitiful.
Such a large number of common people could easily bulldoze the camps of these soldiers when they surged up, and now they trampled under their feet those shouting Cao soldiers.
But why, these people in Hedong, who had been obedient all the way before, would rather be humiliated, raped and killed than remain silent?
When people are crazy, the surge of power is very terrifying, but after this breath is exhausted, they will enter a relatively long period of exhaustion, and it is impossible to run endlessly.
Even with the control and guidance of Zhang Xiu and others, more and more people fled to the surrounding wild areas, causing the forward momentum of the crowd to gradually slow down. Some people who ran to the edge saw no one behind them.
The people were pushing and shouting, and then gradually stopped, panting in a daze, as if they were still in a nightmare and hadn't woken up.
"mob."
Zhang Xiu murmured in a low voice, and then sighed.
The guards following Zhang Xiu looked at each other and said nothing.
The horse's hooves were all stained with blood, which looked purple-black in the firelight of the night.
When the crowd surged, those trapped in it could not stop at all. Once they stopped, they would be pushed down and trampled by the people behind them. In just half an hour, countless people died!
To save people, you must first kill.
A small number of people died and most of them ran away.
In troubled times, saving people and killing people seem to have become an indistinguishable gray matter.
Even so, most of these people would not flee far, and would be recaptured by Cao's soldiers, just like lost sheep.
"General!" A hussar soldier circled around, pointing to Lu Zhao's camp in the distance and said, "There is a Cao army camp over there. It is very strong. It looks like it is an elite camp."
Zhang Xiu nodded and waved with his hand, "Let's go and take a look."
Amidst the sound of horse hooves, a group of people headed towards Lu Zhao's camp.
Lu Zhao's Cao Jun camp obviously withstood several waves of crowds, but firstly, it was far away, and secondly, the number of people was not infinite. Therefore, except for the first wave of crowds that crashed into the trenches of Lu Zhao's camp,
The flow of the remaining people was not that fast, and they even split into two lanes on their own initiative, running around Lu Zhao's camp and into the distance.
Otherwise, the trenches and high walls of the Luzhao camp are solid fortifications.
The trench is wide and deep, as tall as a person. In addition, the high and low walls learned from fighting with the hussars, that is, all the soil dug out of the trench is piled on the ground behind the trench, forming a vertical gap. It is really difficult to
If you fall in, even if you are not stabbed to death by a wooden stake, it is really difficult to climb up without any tools.
After this trench, there is a second trench, and then the wall.
The sentry towers on the left and right sides of the village wall were already filled with archers, who were staring at Zhang Xiu and his party under the firelight.
Zhang Xiu stood outside the shooting range, raised his hand upward, clenched it into a fist and shook it a few times.
"Stop! Stop! Stop the whole army!"
The messenger shouted.
"It's just as my lord said," Zhang Xiu sneered, "This guy is just waiting for me to bump into him!"
In such a heavily guarded camp with well-equipped fortifications, if Zhang Xiu had not slowed down and forced the crowd to attack the camp, it is hard to believe that he would have run headlong into it!
After all, the military camps near the Emei Mountains are shabby and shabby. Without Fei Qian’s previous reminder, who would have thought that there was such a hard spot lurking behind these chaotic camps?
If I accidentally bumped into the Lu Zhao camp, I would have thought that it was just like other military camps. These fortifications alone would be enough to give Zhang Xiu and others a headache. Imagine if Zhang Xiu felt proud of himself
, the men and horses dispersed to drive away the crowd wantonly, and then slammed into such a hard rock. It was easy to break a tooth, and Lu Zhao might seize the opportunity to fight back!
The cavalry is not invincible, they are also made of flesh and blood.
Fortunately, Zhang Xiu followed Fei Qian's reminder when he came this time, and did not blindly pursue victory and war at all costs. It was just to drive away the population brought by Cao Jun and delay Cao Jun's attack on Wenxi. Therefore,
It would be best if we could knock down Cao Jun's camp in one go, but if we can't defeat it, we can still think of achieving our initial goal.
It is inevitable that the Cao army's miscellaneous soldiers are poorly equipped and lacking in equipment. They are more old and weak than strong and strong. However, it is still enough to attack a small county like Wenxi. So if Zhang Xiu doesn't care about anything and allows Wenxi to be defeated, what can he say?
Not very suitable either.
On the other hand, if Zhang Xiu worked hard to defeat Cao Jun, and then the people who heard the news came to watch a play in the city, this would also be inappropriate.
That's why Zhang Xiu appeared at this point in time, but now it seems...
It seems that it is still within Cao Jun's expectation?
Otherwise Lu Zhao would not have built such a strong camp.
What is this going to do?
Is Cao Jun prepared to hold on here?
What does Cao Jun want to do here?
Zhang Xiu thought about it, somewhat confused.
Don't look at Zhang Xiu's chaotic charge tonight. It seems to be a joint force of horses and horses, which is very refreshing, but in fact it does not cause much damage to Cao's army. Because Cao's army has almost no elites, and the dead are all miscellaneous soldiers and Hedong who were trapped.
common people.
Oh, if Pei Jun can be regarded as Zhang Xiu's victory, then he is just a small fish.
And Zhang Xiu doesn’t know yet.
These miscellaneous soldiers of Cao's army and the people who are kidnapped will be captured by Cao's army again after dawn. I can't say that all of them will come back, but at least 60 to 70% will still be there...
The simple reason is, there is nothing to eat.
All the local gentry and gentry in the Yuncheng Basin of Hedong are polarized. Some, like Anyi Wenxi, do not surrender, and the other part have changed their families, but no matter which part they are, they will not be united at this point in time.
With these miscellaneous soldiers and civilians, the only ones with food in this area of the Yuncheng Basin are still Cao Jun.
"Look," Zhang Xiu pointed to the camp behind the ditch, "Did you see the wall?"
??????????.??????
The guard nodded from behind, "I saw it. It seems to be solidly made and covered with a layer of mud. This wall can't even be used with kerosene. Maybe it's even guarded against the big yellow crossbow."
"Hmm." Zhang Xiu snorted, "It's because you've suffered losses and gained a good memory. It's difficult to fight. If we don't fight, they will come back as soon as we retreat. It's really troublesome."
"General," the guard asked, "then why don't you take these people to Emei Ridge like last time?"
"Do you think these are all common people?" Zhang Xiu thought for a moment, shook his head and said, "Those were ordinary civilians before... I suspect that most of these people now are tenant farmers from the families of those who have taken refuge in Cao's army... squire tenant farmers."
It’s different from ordinary people. Yes! It’s different! Come here! Go catch a few who are alone and go back and ask!」
"Then this camp...should we still fight?" the guard asked.
Zhang Xiu waved his hand, "We can't fight now. Send the order, withdraw the troops!"
…
…
Tenant farmers and homesteaders are indeed different.
The most important difference is, of course, that tenant farmers do not have the means of production, but rent land from landlords for farming.
Homeowners have their own land.
This seems to be the biggest difference, but is it really that simple?
Zhang Xiu felt that Fei Qian's previous special warning told him to analyze the specific problem in detail instead of taking it for granted. There must be a certain reason, so he cautiously led his troops back to Emei Ridge, and then discovered that
Some interesting questions...
The four or five people captured alive by the hussars' subordinates include young and old, and most of them are old.
This is not surprising, after all, young people have more endurance and can run farther and faster.
Aren’t the rest just the old and infirm?
Zhang Xiu called these people together, and after checking that they were indeed ordinary farmers and not spies of Cao's army, he released them from their bonds and brought them some water and food. After they had all eaten and drank and their emotions had stabilized, he
Then he brought them in front of him for questioning.
As he expected, those who came to attack Wenxi were indeed not the farmers in the Yuncheng area of Hedong Province, but the tenant farmers under the gentry and gentry who had surrendered to Cao Cao.
The tenant farmers were very honest, perhaps because Zhang Xiu gave them food, and they answered whatever they asked. Even if they stuttered sometimes, it was not to conceal or deceive, but because they themselves were not good at it.
Express.
But what Zhang Xiu didn't expect was that these tenant farmers were talking, maybe because they had a good conversation with Zhang Xiu, but they started to complain about Zhang Xiu, asking why Zhang Xiu wanted to fight...
"How about beating us?" Zhang Xiu scratched his head, "How about we let them hit us on the head?"
"But...but they were sent by the emperor..." The old tenant farmer opened his slightly cloudy eyes with a serious expression, as if he was saying the truth in the world, "The emperor is God!"
"This... the emperor is now... forget it, even if you say it, you don't understand." Zhang Xiu scratched his head, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.
The old farmer lamented, "Yes, I don't understand either, but General, many older people will die in this battle! Old Zhangtou, Old Matou, and the whole family in my village are dead, dead."
...Hey, this is my fate..."
"Fate? How can this be called fate?" Zhang Xiu said, "This was caused by Cao Jun! If Cao Jun didn't come, how could people die?"
The old farmer looked at Zhang Xiu, smiled reluctantly, and said nothing.
"What's wrong?" Zhang Xiu asked.
"They said it was you who did it, but you said it was them." The old farmer said boldly, "To put it bluntly, you are the same as them, and you don't treat us as human beings."
"..." Zhang Xiu was silent for a moment, "No, we are different from them. Forget it... If according to your idea, we and them are all bad people, then who is the good person?"
"Who is the good person?" The old farmer thought for a moment, and then gave Zhang Xiu an answer that he couldn't understand, "Mr. Wang is the good person!"
"Who?" Zhang Xiu asked.
"Lao Langjun Wang."
The old farmer said with certainty.
He clasped his fingers and counted Mr. Wang's various "good deeds" in detail.
Roads were built, bridges were built, canals were built, sheds were built...
Zhang Xiu was stunned when he heard this.
Could it be that these rural gentry families in the Yuncheng Basin of Hedong are all reincarnations of good people from the ninth generation, and they really treat these tenant farmers like the warmth of spring?
But after asking carefully, Zhang Xiu couldn't help but laugh.
Building roads is not about building roads in front of farmers’ homes, but building roads between landlords’ homes and the main square.
Is this really for the convenience of farmers?
No, that is for the convenience of showing off Zhuanghe!
Similarly, building bridges, canals, etc. are all so that farmers can work better, not to provide benefits to farmers!
Because the most fundamental thing is that these guys occupy land in various names!
On this issue, the gentry, country gentry and landlords will not give in at all...
At the beginning of the Han Dynasty, most farmers were homesteaders, owning their own land and their own means of production. However, due to natural and man-made disasters that caused problems in continuous farming, they had to mortgage their farmland to landlords for loans. This kind of loan
Although on the surface it is possible to pay off and then redeem one's own land, in the actual process it is often impossible to repay the loan sharks, and eventually lose one's land and have to become the landlord's tenant and a tenant farmer.
From this point of view, the tenant farmers should have a sworn enemy with these Hedong squires. After all, cutting off people's financial resources is like killing their parents. Landlords not only cut off their financial resources, but also make their parents and children also die.
Having lost their freedom, they have become the cattle and horses of landlords for generations.
But here's the interesting thing. When Zhang Xiu asked about these tenant farmers, all the tenant farmers expressed their "love" for their landlords, "spoken" for these squires, and "worried" for these Hedong gentry!
"Mr. Wang is such a good man!" The old farmer opened his cloudy eyes and said seriously, "Really!"
He spoke very sincerely.
Strictly speaking, Zhang Xiu's attack did make them riot in the night, trampling on each other, resulting in many deaths and injuries. Therefore, it is understandable that the old farmers do not think Zhang Xiu is a "good person", but Zhang Xiu cannot understand why they think that
Is the so-called Mr. Wang a "good guy"?
"They took away your land!" Zhang Xiu stared and said, "Isn't that right? They make you work all day long, and most of the output goes to them, and you can only get a very small amount!"
"Ah... you don't understand, it's not easy for Mr. Wang..." the old farmer said with emotion, "He has to pay taxes for us, do calculations, and do the official labor... all of which cost money."
Money... Besides, you have to have a conscience and be considerate of others..."
"Conscience?" Zhang Xiu was stunned!
"Isn't it?" The old farmer seemed to have started talking, and the more he spoke, the more fluent he became, "Tell me, if you were to be like Wang Laolangjun, wouldn't you still have to collect rent? I will
Don’t believe you don’t want to rent?! Right, besides, Mr. Wang also needs to eat. If they don’t have us to farm for him, what will they eat? So they will also treat us kindly. This is all mutual.
,This is all conscience!』
How does a tenant farmer live when he is concerned about the landlord?
This really made Zhang Xiu really admire this old tenant farmer.
However, this also made Zhang Xiu understand the reason why General Fei Qian of the Hussars specifically went to him to give him some advice before the battle.
This is indeed the case. If Zhang Xiu thought that these tenants were the same as the previous refugees, and then gathered these refugees casually into the Emei Mountains, big problems would inevitably arise...
The previous refugees were basically self-cultivated farmers from Hedong, so they did not receive protection from the landlords and gentry. During the first wave of infringements, these tenant farmers hid in the manor of the landlords from Hedong, and were not harmed immediately.
After hearing the misery of the homesteaders, they seemed to feel more or less "gratitude" towards the landlords and gentry who "protected" them.
After all, in the eyes and hearts of this old tenant farmer, it was Mr. Wang Laolang who gave them a bowl of rice and a place to stay. As for when they were kicked out later, it was because Mr. Wang Laolang had nothing to do, right? You have to talk about life.
Conscience...
Zhang Xiu's head was buzzing when he heard it, and naturally he could not continue the communication.
He really couldn't understand it, so he wrote a special letter to report Wenxi's situation to Fei Qian...
