Chapter 557 Cao Cao is as dangerous as a goose egg
Now Cao Cao's power is as dangerous as a goose egg. No matter how they look at it, there is no possibility of driving away Da Gan's army. What everyone thinks about is not how to help Cao Cao fight, but how to protect their family from the attack of Da Gan's army. , save your own life, and further protect your own glory and wealth.
There is definitely no way they can win. Their constant defeats over the years have made them lose hope of defeating the Da Qian Army. Judging from the current situation, their home base will be taken over by the Da Qian Army. They now have in their hands There are hundreds of thousands of troops, but as long as the Daqian army captures Beihai County, their army will be cut off from food and grass and fall apart in less than half a month.
It was clear that their only way out now was to surrender.
But if they surrender, Lei Gong is not a good lord. If they are ordinary princes, the worst they can do is sell Cao Cao, sing and dance, happily find a new owner, and continue the prosperity of their family. Anyway, there is no dynasty for thousands of years, only A thousand-year-old family, Han Dynasty has survived for 400 years, and now that it is destroyed, it can be regarded as the end of its life.
But Lei Gong wants to uproot their disciples and former officials, turn their families into dust, and turn them into slaves with a lower status than civilians (in the eyes of these people, they cannot join the army or serve as officials to change their family's destiny. No different than slaves), this is something they cannot accept.
And if they want to escape to the south of the Yangtze River, Xuzhou is also being attacked by Daqian. If they run to Xuzhou, they may be directly massacred by Daqian's cavalry.
For a moment, the general who was born into a noble family also felt a little desperate. This Lei Gong really didn't give anyone a way to survive.
At this time, they finally felt the feelings of the people who were forced to starve to death by them. If they had known that they would force out demons like Thunder Lord, they should have been kinder to the people back then.
After half a day, Cao Cao calmed down and said: "What can we do to save Qingzhou now? As long as it can be done, we will definitely entrust him with important tasks."
"Can you ask the general for help? Da Gan launched an army of 500,000 to attack us. Now we in Qingzhou need reinforcements!" Zang Ba said desperately.
Cao Cao looked at Zang Ba coldly and said: "Now the general is also facing the siege of more than 200,000 cadres. Do you think he is still capable of rescuing us now?"
Obviously it is impossible. Cao Cao now feels a little desperate. The strength of Da Gan's army is too strong. In order to deal with him and Liu Bei at the same time, Lei Gong has more than 800,000 troops on the battlefield.
This really looks down on him and Liu Bei. When the First Emperor attacked Chu, he only mobilized an army of 600,000. Throughout the 3,000-year history of China, it might be a bit exaggerated to say that Lei Gong’s army was the most powerful, but The number of people is definitely the largest. Just to maintain the logistics of this army requires two to three million. Didn’t Lei Gong mobilize all the young men of Da Gan?
Yu Jin thought for a while and said: "My lord, you can leave a general to station on the south bank of the Yellow River to resist Wang Lei's attack. You can lead the main force to counterattack the army of Daqian invading Qingzhou. As long as this army is driven out, we will have The possibility of turning defeat into victory.”
Yu Jin was captured by Lei Gong last time. Logically speaking, with such a stain, it is impossible for him to be reused by Cao Cao.
But Cao Cao didn't care about Yu Jin's stain. After he came back, he continued to entrust him with important responsibilities. So now Yu Jin is very grateful to Cao Cao. He has secretly made up his mind that even if he died on the edge of the Yellow River, he would not let Da Gan The army took a step into Qingzhou.
But Guo Jia shook his head and said: "It is said that the Daqian army that invaded our Qingzhou this time exceeds 100,000 people, while our army here is only 150,000 people. There are still 300,000 Jizhou troops on the north bank of the Yellow River. Even if we fight defensively, But at least 50,000 troops must be left behind, and our army only has 100,000 troops to support Qingzhou. This may not even be able to defeat the large army that invaded Qingzhou. If both sides of us are defeated, it will really be over!"
Yu Jin's strategy of defending from the south and attacking from the east is too difficult. The combat effectiveness of the Daqian Army was already stronger than theirs, and now the number of troops is more than twice theirs. Under such circumstances, they have to fight in the field and fight against the Daqian Army. In a fight, unless a miracle occurs, they have no chance of winning. Based on their past record against Da Ganjun, the possibility of failure is even greater.
Most of Lei Gong's generals are mediocre, but what they are best at is fighting stupid battles. There are no basic conditions for them to win by surprise. It is difficult for generals who fight stupid battles to make their enemies catch their weaknesses in a field battle. It is very difficult to defeat them. Unless the enemy's hard power is stronger than them, but this is something Cao Cao cannot do.
The situation in Qingzhou now makes Cao Cao feel a little regretful. Sure enough, Guo Jia was right. Even if Liu Bei took the initiative to attack Yuzhou, Lei Gong's main attack direction was still himself, and Qingzhou was still the main battlefield. This time he lost the bet, and it was It was a complete defeat.
Cao Cao clearly understood that his power was about to collapse. As Lei Gong continued to win, people with second thoughts within him would turn to Lei Gong one after another and betray him as a stepping stone to gain Lei Gong's appreciation.
By then his power will fall apart and his family will suffer a devastating blow from Thunder Lord, so at this time Cao Cao needs a way to stabilize the current situation.
At this moment, a messenger broke in and said: "Report! General, the Daqian Army has launched an attack. Now the Yellow River is full of soldiers of the Daqian Army. They are attacking our camp!"
"Boom, boom, boom!" The bombing sound of the artillery shocked the generals around Cao Cao. These people stood up one after another. Fortunately, they heard that the artillery was still very far away from their position, and they were still safe for a short time, so they did it again Went back.
But they know that Qingzhou has reached its most critical moment. If they cannot repel the attack of the entire army, Qingzhou will be annexed by Lei Gong, and everything in their family will be completely destroyed by Lei Gong.
At the first moment, both civil servants and generals looked at Cao Cao. Whether they wanted to surrender or continue fighting, they all needed Cao Cao to make an idea.
At this time, Cao Cao knew that now was not the time to hesitate. The more he hesitated, the more people wanted to surrender.
He solemnly said to Jin: "I also asked General to help Cao and guard the south bank of the Yellow River for a month. One month later, Cao's reinforcements had not arrived before General. Even though he had taken refuge with Lei Gong, Cao had no complaints."
Yu Jin said excitedly: "My subordinates will definitely return the Lord's body wrapped in horse leather! I will not let the army set foot on Qingzhou within this month!"
After saying that, Yu Jin went in and out of the big tent, and went to the front line to command the army to resist the attack of the Dagan army.
Then Cao Cao said to Cao Ren, Cao Hong, Li Dianlejin and other generals: "Go back to your respective camps, assemble the soldiers, and wait for orders to support Beihai County!"
Cao Ren, Cao Honghong, and Li Dianyue said in their voices: "Promise!"
"Everyone else should go back to their posts and follow orders!"
Everyone said: "No!"
After the meeting, Cao Cao stayed, and Guo Jia said: "Please go to Jixian County, Youzhou on behalf of Cao Fengxiao to discuss the peace talks, and tell Lei Gong that Cao Cao is willing to give up the land of Qingzhou and Xuzhou, and only wants Lei Gong's freedom on Wo Island." Just leave a place for Cao Cao to live in the wilderness!"
Even if Cao Cao wanted to continue to resist, at this time, he had to find a way out for himself.
After all, he still represents the Cao family and the Xiahou family. He doesn't want to see the Cao family and the Xiahou family decline like the Yuan family. After going overseas to become a local king, at least the family's power can be regarded as preserved, unlike in the Han Dynasty. Like other noble families, he became an ordinary citizen.
Achieving class leap these days is almost like winning the lottery, but it is very easy to drop your family's class to ordinary people, and to rise up is basically a miracle. In China's 3,000-year history, there are countless families that have declined. , but very few people can reach the top again, and Cao Cao cannot guarantee that his family can do this.
Guo Jia also solemnly said: "I will definitely not disappoint Duke Ming?"
In fact, he was also very desperate in his heart. After working hard for more than 10 years, he failed in the end. His classmate Xi Zhong was said to have become a prefect, and could even become a state pastor in Daqian. It can be said that the fate of the two of them has changed from After the breakup, Youzhou changed completely, but he was the one who became worse.
At the same time, Daqian soldiers on the north bank of the Yellow River, under the command of Wang Lei, continued to attack Cao Cao's camp on the south bank of the Yellow River.
A lot of preparations have been made for this war. Not only are combat uniforms specially made to be worn in winter so that soldiers can fight in winter and ensure combat effectiveness, but also specially made sleds and sledges are made so that soldiers can quickly move in the ice and snow. move.
"Cao Cao has talented people around him, and he actually thought of how to make the city wall out of snow!" Wang Lei looked at the camp on the south bank of the Yellow River with his telescope. He found that the results of his army were not as good as he expected.
Although his soldiers were brave, Cao Cao's generals were also well guarded. Moreover, although the cold climate was beneficial to Cao Cao's side, it was also beneficial to Cao Cao's defense.
As early as after it snowed, melting snow to cast ice walls was a simple and effective method, but now the south bank of the Yellow River is covered with tall and short ice walls. The easy landing places on the south bank of the Yellow River are all blocked by obstacles created by ice walls. It is very difficult for them to attack. The strength of these ice walls is not even inferior to that of masonry walls.
At this time, it was difficult for the artillery of Daqian's army to be used on the ice. Only a few artillerymen climbed up the sledge and came to the land on the bank of the Yellow River to launch an attack on Cao Cao's army. However, there were too few places suitable for artillery shooting. It was difficult to exert the power of the artillery, and the shells hitting the ice wall did not cause much damage.
The hero beside Wang Lei laughed and said: "Winter is our best weapon. The Han people are weak and cannot hold on for long! My subordinates will definitely help the general make his first contribution!"
After saying this, Wang Lei saw a group of soldiers, holding outstanding maces, rushing to the front with a roar.
Even if their comrades were killed by crossbow arrows, they were not afraid and continued to charge forward.
After arriving under the ice wall, they quickly built a simple human ladder, rushed up to the ice wall, and quickly slaughtered Cao Cao's soldiers.
Seeing this scene, Wang Lei was pleasantly surprised. The fighting power of these savages was really strong. He brought the Xiongba tribe to the battlefield this time, and he really did the right thing.
Xiongba is a member of the savage tribe located north of the Beihai. After Daqian occupied the entire desert, Xu Wei divided the pastures internally to resolve the internal disputes among the tribes and at the same time improve productivity. He used the method of raising green storage fodder in captivity to improve the quality of the grassland. The production efficiency of cattle and sheep, coupled with the open border, allows herdsmen to freely enter and exit the Daqian border to sell their livestock, reducing the price difference between middlemen. Even though natural disasters have continued in the desert in recent years, due to the improvement of the system and productivity , the living conditions of herders in the desert have improved rapidly.
Every winter, hundreds of herdsmen from desert tribes come south to spend the winter in Bingzhou, Youzhou and other places. The textile industry has brought great development to the animal husbandry industry, and the canning industry has solved the dilemma of having a family with thousands of dollars and hair. , these people spend money like water, they are all first-class high rollers, they even bring a wave of winter boom to Daqian's economy.
But occupying the desert does not bring all the benefits. Xu Wei still has the same headaches as the problems Tanshihuai encountered back then.
The climate in the north became increasingly harsh during the Little Ice Age, and barbarians from the north continued to go south to spend the winter. They seized local pastures and killed local herdsmen, just like the Dingling people back then.
Facing these barbarians, Wang Lei naturally let them feel the iron fist of big money, killed these people and captured the prisoners, and then took these people to the mines to mine.
But even if there is no way in or out of the desert, it is still difficult to stop these barbarians who want to survive from continuing southward.
Wang Lei wanted to defend the enemy from the country's borders and continued to expand the northern border of the desert. The northern border in Daquan was almost reaching the Arctic Circle. Wang Lei even saw the extremely rare white bear in Daquan. In winter, Wang Lei visited it frequently Troops were sent out, and the sleigh army swept away the tribes within a thousand miles.
But the results were still not great. Even in the places he had raided in winter, barbarians still appeared like mushrooms after summer. In the cold Arctic climate, sometimes even his well-prepared sled soldiers would freeze to death.
During an extremely cold winter, an unprecedented cold wave swept across the entire desert. Two to three thousand of Wang Lei's sleigh soldiers froze to death and escaped with heavy casualties. This made Wang Lei understand that his sleigh battle could only go so far.
But even after Wang Lei reached the North Pole, he still couldn't stop the northern tribes from migrating south. There was no way to stop them. The pressure of survival would make these northern barbarians explode with extremely strong fighting power. Wang Lei didn't want to continue fighting with these barbarians in winter. .
In the end, Wang Lei's idea was to incorporate these northern barbarian tribes. After all, these northern barbarian tribes had a sparse population and would not cause much trouble if they integrated into the local herdsmen. Moreover, in recent years, Daqian needed more and more livestock, including cattle and sheep. There are more and more pastures in the desert, but there are no longer enough people to graze them. As long as the pastures are divided well, most of the conflicts between barbarians and local herdsmen can be resolved.