How much importance do the Han people attach to food?
Cao Cao rode on horseback and trampled the wheat fields, cutting off his hair to replace his head.
In order to save food, Su Shi hung money from the rafters.
Rulers of all dynasties issued imperial edicts to encourage mulberry farming and economy.
Even when Liu Bei was in power, there was a severe drought one year, and a ban on alcohol was issued, prohibiting people from using grain to make wine.
For this reason, he also had a dispute with Jian Yong about catching someone who hid wine-making tools privately, but was finally convinced by Jian Yong's dirty jokes, which shows how much the ancients cherished food.
In order to force Sima Ju to surrender, Chen Mu destroyed his millet fields and trampled his millet seedlings. This behavior was tantamount to a crime in the eyes of the ancients.
But when it comes to marching and fighting, you have to do whatever you can.
In the two official histories of "Book of the Later Han" and "Records of the Three Kingdoms", Cao Cao recorded massacres of cities at least five times. Compared with Cao Cao, Chen Mu still felt ashamed.
certainly.
Some people may say, if you are good, don't imitate the bad ones. If you don't compare with those benevolent and righteous gentlemen, you have to compare with Lao Cao.
But the Three Kingdoms was a bad era. According to historical records, none of the warlords except Liu Bei did anything too dirty.
Those who eat human flesh, those who trap and kill soldiers, those who kill celebrities, those who massacre cities, those who proclaim themselves emperors, those who plunder, those who burn cities, those who usurp thrones, those who poison emperors, in comparison, they are just destroying a millet field.
It's not a big deal.
It's just that Liu Bei felt distressed when he saw the good seedlings being destroyed like this.
But no matter how distressed you are, things still have to be done.
Otherwise, how can the government be stable? How can the people live and work in peace and contentment?
Therefore, when he saw Zhang Fei leading a thousand cavalry in the grain fields, Liu Bei did not say anything to stop him.
The millet and wheat fields in the Han Dynasty did not store water like the rice fields in the south. The fields were dry and would only be irrigated when needed. Therefore, when horses stepped on the millet fields, they would not sink into the soil.
Sima Ju's team threw a rat weapon, even if they wanted to eat Zhang Fei's flesh, the infantry could not catch up with the cavalry, let alone they were still in the fields.
After a commotion for a while, Sima Ju gritted his teeth and led the army himself, leading an army of 20,000 people out of the city.
He only had 40,000 soldiers and horses, and now all 30,000 people are out? A huge crowd of people? Kill Liu Bei's army who is several miles away.
Seeing this scene, Liu Bei said to Chen Mu: "Fourth brother? Let's attack with the whole army and defeat Sima Ju."
He had only eight thousand infantry? But one thousand cavalry.
And his cavalry troops are still semi-heavy cavalry with armor? Dealing with the peasant army should not be too easy.
However, Chen Mu shook his head: "Retreat the troops."
"withdraw troops??"
Liu Bei has fought more than ten battles, large and small, since he raised his troops to fight against the Yellow Turbans the year before last. He is not rich in experience, but it can be seen that this is a good opportunity to defeat Sima Ju? Why should he withdraw his troops?
Chen Mu explained: "If we go up to fight now, we can only defeat them head-on, but we can't solve the problem. Once the rebels escape back to the city, they have to start over again. If they attack the city, the losses will be too great. Why not continue to delay? Anyway, Awata is outside the city.
, Destroying a little bit every day? Torturing that Sima Ju, one day he will surrender."
Torture?
Liu Bei was speechless.
Isn't this a hooligan act?
"Zi Gui? Can't we fight him with real swords and guns?"
"Brother, who will die in a war? Where is the benevolence and righteousness you promised?"
"Okay...okay..."
Liu Bei stopped talking.
Got? Being morally kidnapped by my brother again.
However, Chen Mu didn't expect Liu Bei to have such an upright and stubborn idea.
Compared to his ancestor Liu Bang? He didn’t learn any of the hooligan style of his ancestors.
War is not just a game of house, it is a battle of life and death.
You only have one life, and you must do anything to survive.
Just like fighting to the death with your enemy, when you are risking your life, who cares about your tricks or routines?
Use your teeth to bite the buttonholes and use your hands to scratch the buttonholes, pick out the crotch and poke the prick's eyes. Use whatever dirty tricks you want.
Don't say that young people don't respect martial ethics. Those who do respect martial ethics have long since been buried in the ground and turned into loess.
If there were rules and etiquette in fighting, he would end up being a Song Xianggong and end up being ridiculed for thousands of years.
Fortunately, although Liu Bei was an upright man, he was not pedantic. He followed Chen Mu's suggestion and waved his hand: "Ming Jin."
The tinkling sound of gold was heard, and Liu Bei's eight thousand infantry moved from the front to the rear and retreated in an orderly manner.
A thousand cavalrymen who were having fun in the fields in the distance also divided into two groups and passed through the fields in the distance, swirling up the flying dust and shaking off the yellow scarves behind them so much that they couldn't even eat the ashes.
Sima Ju led his troops in pursuit for several miles, until he could no longer catch up, and then he withdrew his troops and returned to the city.
To be honest, if the infantry chases the cavalry one after another, there must be some who are running slowly and some who are running fast. In this way, the teams are out of touch. If Zhang Fei led a thousand cavalry to counterattack at this time, he might be able to kill Sima Ju and defeat him.
But Chen Mu obviously didn't want to fight with real swords and guns. His purpose was to force Sima Ju to surrender. Since he had grasped the opponent's weakness, why bother to fight head-on?
Not so necessary.
Sima Ju withdrew his troops and returned to the city. When he returned to his mansion, he became so angry that he said: "I'm so angry. Hurry, send your men to Xu He for help."
Someone on the left and right sighed: "General, all the spring food is outside the city now. If we don't keep it, after autumn, all the food in the city will be used up, and everyone will be hungry. We have to find a way."
"Yes, the officers and soldiers are obviously planning to clear the country. We don't have that much food to hold on. We must either find an opportunity to fight to the death with the officers and soldiers, or..."
"Either what?"
Sima Ju stared.
The man hesitated and said: "Either we have to surrender."
Snapped!
Sima Ju was furious, pointed at him and shouted: "Someone, drag him out and behead him."
"General, calm down. Old Baozi is also doing it for the general's good. Now we have to find a way to solve the problem."
"Yes, Old Baozi is loyal, but he was just confused for a moment. General, don't be angry."
Everyone quickly advised him.
After being persuaded by everyone, Sima Ju barely suppressed his anger and said: "Don't worry, everyone, Xu He will not ignore death, we will definitely defeat the army."
If Chen Mu were here, he would definitely lament Sima Ju's youth.
Don't you hear Taizu's Sixteen-Character Art of War, which is about stalking and fighting tactics. If you can't beat you to death, you will be tortured to death.
In the next few days, Liu Bei's army camped outside the city and sent small groups of troops every day to harass Sima Ju's fields and destroy his millet seedlings.
Lu Kang's army, led by Yi Heng, quietly crossed the Jishui River and stationed troops in Guangmou Township, five miles north of Gaoyuan. The two sides had established contact, and Chen Mu asked them to hide their whereabouts and not be discovered, as a surprise attack.
If you have seen the endless plains, you will know that the landforms in the plain areas are extremely flat and the fields are vast. Although there are rolling hills, they are just like the stars that dot the night sky at night. They only occupy a small part of the starry sky. More
Area is a universe as vast as the sea.
Qingzhou is Shandong in later generations. Shandong has many plains. Le'an is located in the plain area of northwest Shandong in later generations. Millet fields outside Gaoyuan City are lined with rows of green millet seedlings. Occasionally there are hilly forests and lush trees.
The energy of spring.
It is a pity that this vitality was soon artificially destroyed. Lines of officers and soldiers rushed into the millet fields with sickles and hoes, and kept harvesting. Every time Sima Ju left the city, gongs and drums would be beaten in the camp, and the soldiers would immediately run back, not to be beaten.
catch.
Liu Bei was stationed five miles away from Gaoyuan City. According to the distance, it was actually two kilometers. But the view on the plain was so good that he only needed to arrange a few cavalry to watch on the hillside outside the city. Once Sima Ju dared to leave the city
, the cavalry immediately went back to report the news, and Liu Bei ordered gold to retreat.
The Yellow Turban Army could not defeat the official army in the wild. If Chen Mu did not want to cause more casualties to himself, but only wanted to use rogue tactics, with 8,000 infantry and 1,000 cavalry rushing into the formation, Sima Ju's 40,000 people would have been defeated.
What's more, Sima Ju didn't dare to take everyone out of the city. He only took 20,000 people at a time to attack the camp where they were stationed. As soon as he reached the camp, he was forced away by a wave of arrows.
And there is no need to worry about logistical issues. Liang Zou is only a few dozen miles away from Gaoyuan, and a steady stream of ordnance, grain and grass are arriving.
Chen Mu is like a cat chasing a mouse, constantly playing tricks on Sima Ju.
The reasons for doing this are also very simple. First, it does not increase the casualties already suffered, and second, it does not cause casualties to the enemy.
Sima Ju's tens of thousands of soldiers are all young and strong labor force. If they can be forced to surrender, they will all be used as laborers to farm for him. How could Chen Mu allow his own labor force to suffer losses.
The old capitalist behaved.
After once again seeing the officers and soldiers fleeing and running back to the camp, Sima Ju completely lost his mind, swung his sword and roared: "Come on, charge in."
The men and horses on the left and right tried a round of charge, and arrows came like raindrops. The Yellow Turban Army fled in panic.
In the open space on both sides of the camp, a thousand cavalrymen continued to harass with arrows.
Many people wonder that the spear phalanx is supposed to be a way to restrain the cavalry. Why can the cavalry do whatever they want?
It’s still the same issue, mobility.
The only thing that the spear phalanx can restrain is the light cavalry without heavy armor. However, starting from King Wuling of Zhao and his cavalry in Hufu, the cavalry of the Han nation were all skilled in bows and horses.
Including the later Mongolian Yuan Dynasty and Hou Jin Dynasty, their cavalry also used bows and arrows as their main means of attack.
Using the mobility of the cavalry, if the infantry formed a formation, they would shoot from a distance. When the infantry was defeated by bows and arrows, they would ride on horseback and kill them.
Not only can they run faster than you, they also have long-range attack capabilities, so the infantry can only be passively beaten.
Seeing the opponent's cavalry coming out and taking advantage of the strength of the troops, Sima Ju had to temporarily avoid the edge and withdraw his troops with gold.
As a result, just a few minutes after returning to the city, we received news that the officers and soldiers began to destroy food again.
Sima Ju's eyelids were twitching wildly. Ever since he started the uprising with General Tiangong, he had never fought against the army.
But this is the first time that the officers and soldiers are so rogue.
In desperation, he had to gather his troops and horses and rush out of the city to drive away the officers and soldiers.
When the officers and soldiers here saw them coming, they ran back again.
As soon as they leave, he sneaks out again and continues to do bad things.
Seeing the officers and soldiers jumping sideways repeatedly, Sima Ju was so angry that the pent-up fire was rising in his heart.
If you have the guts, come out and fight.
If you defeat me with open swords and open guns, I will admit it.
Who do you think you are a hero if you run wild on my land?
However, what Sima Ju didn't know was that Chen Mu's move was a radical move. In addition to learning Taizu's art of war, it also had a lot to do with seeing some of Zhuge Liang's deeds when he was reading books in his early years.
When Zhuge Liang left Qishan for the fourth time, he destroyed the wheat fields near Shanggui. However, Sima Yi's reinforcements arrived in time and did not allow Zhuge Liang to destroy all the wheat fields. This batch of grain later became the key to the confrontation between the Wei army and the Shu army.
In "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", this period of history was written by Luo Guanzhong as harvesting wheat in Lucheng, making Sima Yi become Zhuge Liang's wage earner and helping Zhuge Liang harvest wheat for free to portray Zhuge Liang's image of being wise and almost a monster.
Therefore, when besieging a city, if you know that there is insufficient food in the city and damage the enemy's rice fields, it is not Chen Mu's invention.
Not only Zhuge Liang did it, but also during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.
King Zhuang of Chu persecuted the Song Dynasty and went even further than Chen Mu. In order to force the Song Dynasty to surrender, he not only harvested other people's wheat fields, but also built houses and farmed them instead, surrounded the Song Dynasty, and even attacked the Song Dynasty outside the city in front of others.
It is outrageous to build houses, cultivate other people's land, and treat the outside of the Song Dynasty as your own home.
In comparison, Chen Mu is actually kind-hearted, and he is not as outrageous as King Chuzhuang who went so far as to build another city outside his capital.
Even so, Sima Ju was forced to be very embarrassed. The officers and soldiers kept arousing his anger, but no matter how they roared, they could only be helpless and furious. He watched the millet fields outside the city become less and less day by day.
However, Sima Ju's fall is not completely despairing. Xu He still has troops. As long as Xu He's reinforcements arrive, the two armies combined will have at least one hundred thousand troops. With such a huge team, a thousand cavalry can only play a small role.
Defeated the army.
"General, more than 800 acres of land were damaged yesterday."
Gaoyuan County Magistrate's Office.
After hearing the news reported by the soldiers, Sima Ju's mouth twitched and his heart was bleeding.
"General, in that case, we will have less than half of our remaining fields during the autumn harvest."
A layman who had studied for a few days spent a long time counting with a small wooden stick, which is the counting method, and came to this conclusion.
One of his subordinates said sadly: "General, if we continue like this, even if we defeat the army, we won't have enough food left to survive the winter. We will all starve to death next year."
Sima Ju suppressed his anger and asked, "How many days have the people been sent to look for Xu He?"
"Four days."
"Um."
Sima Ju nodded and comforted everyone: "Gaoyuan is only more than a hundred miles away from Changguo. Maybe Xu He's army is already on the way at this time. Let's wait patiently for a few more days."
"But if we don't go to the fields, even if the officers and soldiers don't destroy them, the fields will be deserted and weeds will grow. So what should we do?"
Another staff member raised concerns.
Farming does not mean just throwing seeds into the ground and ignoring them. Junior high school history should have talked about "intensive farming", a characteristic of ancient agricultural civilization.
After the seedlings are planted, they not only need to be fertilized, weeded, and irrigated, but they also need to be taken care of at all times, because cereal seedlings are very tender and may die if you are not careful.
Now the government troops have been besieging them for five days, which is enough for a large number of weeds to grow in the fields. These weeds will absorb the nutrients of the grain. Even in the mature season, the millet seedlings will not produce much millet, and the grain harvest will fail.
Sima Ju thought for a while and said: "Every time we leave the city, the officers and soldiers will retreat to the camp. How about we feign an attack today, force them back, and then send people to take care of the fields?"
"Then there won't be anyone left to defend the city?"
someone asked.
If you want to keep the army under guard, you need at least 20,000 people. If you send people to stay behind and take care of the fields, the remaining 20,000 people will not be enough to distribute.
After all, there are more than 300,000 acres of farmland scattered throughout Gaoyuan County. At that time, the yield per mu was insufficient. To support a family of five, 20 acres of land were needed. On average, each person cultivated at least four acres, and Sima Ju had 40,000 young people.
The labor force cultivated 200,000 acres.
Twenty thousand people have been sent out to guard the army camps. If another ten thousand people are left to garrison, and if the other ten thousand people take care of the fields, I am afraid they will be exhausted. They will not be able to cultivate many acres of land in a day.
Sima Ju gritted his teeth and said: "Leave 500 men. Anyway, the official army only has 10,000 people, so we can't spare the manpower to attack the city."
"only!"
Everyone took orders.
Sima Ju over there has made a plan, and here the activities of the officers and soldiers have begun again.
Liu Bei's army came out in a mighty manner, like a group of rats, holding up sickles and hoes, howling and running towards the millet fields.
It is difficult for humans to build, but it is easy for humans to destroy.
If the Yellow Turban Army had not come out of the city to harass every day, the average daily record of 800 acres would have underestimated the destructive power of mankind.
It only takes half an hour for eight thousand soldiers to destroy an acre of millet field by one person.
There are even veterans with rich experience in harvesting wheat, who can mow an entire acre of field cleanly in just over ten minutes.
This is actually the result of Chen Mu's deliberate restraint. He not only wants Sima Ju's 40,000 young labor force, but also the land. He has no intention of destroying all 200,000 acres of land, which will be his food in the future.
.
Chen Mu and Liu Bei were playing chess in the military camp at this time. Now that things have been done for a few days, the soldiers are familiar with the routine. There is no need for command. Everyone just performs their duties.
"Your Majesty, Governor, Sima Ju has sent people out of the city to take care of the fields."
At this time, the spies observing outside reported.
"oh?"
Chen Mu became interested. Unexpectedly, Sima Ju dared to go out of the city to take care of the fields, and asked: "How many soldiers and horses did they send?"
"There are about 20,000 people outside the camp as before, and there should be another 10,000 or 20,000 people who go out of the city to tend the fields," the spy replied.
"That means the city is empty."
Chen Mu touched his chin.
Liu Bei's eyes lit up: "This is a good opportunity. Governor Lu's troops can just attack Gaoyuan City by surprise. This battle can decide the outcome in one fell swoop."
"But in that case, Sima Ju has only three options, one is to surrender, one is to fight to the death, and the other is to run to Changguo. Except for the first option, the other two are not good."
Chen Mu shook his head.
Liu Bei wondered: "What should we do?"
"Keep torturing him."
"Continue the torture?"
"good."
Chen Mu said to the messenger: "Say hello to Governor Lu's men and ask them to attack the city, but don't attack it. Just make noise and scare the enemy."
Liu Bei wondered: "Fourth brother, what does this mean?"
Chen Mu said with a smile: "In this case, Sima Ju must be tired of running around, either watching the fields become deserted day by day, or destroyed by us, or his hometown was stolen, and he was worried all day long, and finally couldn't bear it anymore and turned to us.