In Guangzong County, Chen Mu, who was stationed in the Jieqiao area, looked at the information in his hand and smiled slightly. He did not expect that there were such bad things in Ganling City.
The Military Intelligence Department was ordered to spy on the military intelligence of the Qinghe Kingdom's defenders. It was not just a day or two. Arrangements had been made several years ago. This time, the Qingzhou Army was able to invade Qinghe Kingdom and Wei County so easily. The intelligence capabilities of the Military Intelligence Department were
It’s a must.
This is actually related to the underdeveloped communications and lax confidentiality measures in ancient times. Although ordinary people cannot enter military facilities such as granaries, watchtowers, fortresses, and military camps, the Military Intelligence Department is pervasive and secretly developed offline, especially the Cui family of Qinghe.
The local aristocratic families secretly provided some information, which made Qingzhou know the situation of Qinghe Country very well.
However, it is naturally not something that the Military Intelligence Department can find out about the high-level officials in the army who are embezzling grain, fodder, ordnance. Therefore, the Military Intelligence Department only gets a rough idea of the exact amount of grain stored in the city through a few low-level officials inside the granary. It is known that there are about more than 300,000 kilograms of grain.
With grains of millet, thousands of stones of salt, it can last for about three to four months.
However, according to the news sent from Ganling City yesterday, there was a fire in the grain depot in the city, resulting in the loss of 70,000 to 80,000 shi of grain and grass, 3,000 to 4,000 shi of salt, and countless ordnance materials, nearly one-third of the city's inventory, and the amount involved reached
Forty to fifty million dollars.
Although Zhang He publicized that the fire in the grain depot was an accident, and some officials had been punished, and there was a record of the warehouse guarding order and several low-level officials committing suicide out of fear of crime. But everyone knows that the involvement of this is too wide, and I am afraid that these low-level officials who committed suicide,
He was stabbed more than twenty times in the back and was forced to "commit suicide", but none of the senior officials found out.
Of course Chen Mu didn't know the inside story, but this incident was beyond Chen Mu's expectation. He didn't expect such a big thing to happen in Ganling City. I'm afraid Zhang He's current situation will be even worse.
The only bad thing is that after this incident, Ganling City has been under martial law. Unlike before, people can still come and go freely, so the follow-up information may not be transmitted. But I can tell with my toes that Zhang He is probably crying without tears.
In a state of war, anyone who encounters such a bad thing will have an explosive state of mind.
"Si Ming, according to the reports from the guards in the city, they only have more than 200,000 dan of food left. I'm afraid the food won't last long. It's better to besiege the city for two months. The city will definitely run out of food."
Tai Shici on the side suggested.
Tai Shici, who finally completed his mission as a courier, came back. Chen Mu reported to the Luoyang court and made him a general of the army and a general of miscellaneous numbers. He now leads 8,000 men and guards Guangzong County together with Chen Mu. Finally,
It was the fulfillment of his long-cherished wish to fight on the battlefield.
Hearing his words, Chen Mu smiled, waved his hands and said: "There is no need to go to such trouble. We marched all the way and never harassed the people. We also issued a notice under the Qinghe River, saying that there were no offenses all the way, so none of the local people escaped.
, the days of each village and pavilion have passed. I predict that in the desperate situation of Zhanghe, people around Ganling City will be robbed of supplies, so you just need to pay attention to this."
"Pay attention to Zhang He's robbery of the people?"
Taishi Ci didn't understand what it meant at first, but after thinking for a while, he suddenly realized: "I understand. Once Zhang He goes out of the city to rob the people, we will send people to attack, defeat him, and take advantage of the opportunity to seize Ganling City."
Chen Mu rolled his eyes and said, "No, we won't send troops."
"Not sending troops?"
Taishi Ci was confused and asked: "Then what are we doing to pay attention to this guy? Are we just going to stand aside and watch him plunder the people?"
If Zhang He plundered the people, it would indeed be a bad thing for the siege of Ganling, because Zhang He would be able to hold on longer if he received supplies from the people and had enough food.
So Tai Shici thought they were going to stop Zhang He, but he didn't know that Chen Mu had no intention of sending troops at all.
"Yeah, let's just watch."
Chen Mu showed a sly smile: "After they robbed the people, we immediately rescued the robbed people and moved them away. Then we printed leaflets and newspapers, and then found the people who suffered the disaster to come forward and give their own explanations, and went to various parts of Qinghe Country to publicize
This matter."
Taishi Ci was a little confused and asked: "What's the use of this?"
"It's very useful."
Chen Mu turned around, glanced at Hou Xu who was hiding in the shadows, and said, "Mr. Bo Zhu, do you understand?"
Hou Xu bent down and cupped his hands: "I understand."
"Then do it."
"only!"
"Ziyi, you go with your husband."
"Ah, running errands again."
"You are a general now. This matter involves military affairs, so of course you have to go."
"Can we fight?"
"able."
"Okay, then I'll go."
Taishi Ci followed Hou Xu out of the mansion.
In the early autumn of August, during a nationwide drought like the first year of Xingwu, even the air in Jizhou seemed to be dry. A large number of fields outside the city were short of water and the land was cracked. With the help of the Qingzhou army, countless people
Canals were dug in the Qinghe River to irrigate the fields, barely maintaining the minimum water resources required for the millet fields.
In fact, starting from July, the water volume of rivers in Jizhou has been reduced a lot. Although the flow has not stopped, it is not as exaggerated as in the dry season in winter.
After all, before global warming, there were even faint signs of the Little Ice Age in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, when winters were extremely cold and summers were extremely hot. The snowy mountains of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, where the Yellow River originates, melted in summer, and it was unrealistic to completely cut off the flow or enter a dry season.
However, it is precisely because the weather is too hot that in addition to large rivers, many small rivers that rely on groundwater have shown signs of drying up and drying up. People living near small rivers have suffered disasters, food production has been reduced, and life has been difficult. Except for medium-sized rivers like Qinghe
In addition to rivers and water, many small rivers in Jizhou have even dried up to the point of being completely exhausted.
The blazing sunshine baked the earth, and the space seemed to be distorted. Under such a scorching sun, Taishi Ci and Hou Xu led the spies from the Military Intelligence Department and ran out of the city, crossed the boundary bridge, and headed towards Ganling.
go.
Along the way, except near Guangzong, on the plains going east, many people in Xiangting lived a very difficult life. Some people had already begun to leave their homes because of the drought, heading towards Guangzong or Dongwu City, preparing to seek refuge.
Qingzhou, because Qingzhou has distributed leaflets long ago, the people of Han Dynasty are the foundation of China, and if there are difficulties and difficulties, Qingzhou is willing to accept them.
It's just that these people are only a minority after all, and they can't leave their homeland. Even if Liu Bei's reputation in Jizhou is quite good, and the people believe that his army will not harass or attack them, as long as the Han people have a glimmer of hope of survival, they have not yet reached complete despair.
, you won’t think about leaving your hometown and going in an unknown direction.
The two of them rode with Si Wei all the way. When they were resting in the wild at night, Taishi Ci curiously asked Hou Xu: "Mr. Bo Zhu, I have never understood why Si Ming allowed Zhang He's army to plunder the people instead of
What about stopping them?"
Hou Xu smiled and said: "Actually, it can't be regarded as robbery. What Siming said is a bit more serious. It should be said that it is a requisition of food. If there is no food in Ganling City, Zhang He will definitely ask the rich people in the countryside outside the city to collect food and grass. This way
There are countless examples at this time, and it has nothing to do with the people, so it won’t make any waves. So Si Ming’s intention is actually to change the nature and change it to robbery.”
"Does it make any difference?"
Taishi Ci was puzzled.
Hou Xu patiently explained: "The difference is very big. Looting grain and grass will not give the people a way to survive. It will inevitably cause panic among the people and cause large-scale migration. Confiscation of grain will generally leave a way for the people to survive, so that the people can survive.
I won’t think about moving away.”
"Oh, I understand. Siming is planning to move the people of Qinghe Kingdom to Qingzhou to supplement Qingzhou's strength?"
Taishi Ci's intelligence, which was over 50, was running rapidly, and he felt that he had figured it out.
Unexpectedly, Hou Xu smiled slightly and said: "This is just one of the purposes. If Siming does this, relocating the people can only be regarded as incidental. After all, even so, you can't relocate many people, only tens of thousands at most."
"That is?"
Taishi Ci was puzzled. Besides scaring the people away, what other purpose did it have?
Hou Xu said: "This plan kills three birds with one stone. The first is to relocate the people so that Zhang He can no longer go to the people for food. The second is to confuse the public and spread rumors to make the people in Jizhou panic. The third is, according to Siming's words,
It’s called murder and heart-breaking.”
"Killing and killing one's heart?"
Taishi Ci's eyes were confused, and he didn't understand what Hou Xu meant.
Seeing his appearance, Hou Xu just smiled and stopped talking, because this was a conspiracy involving political aspects. Taishi Ci had never dealt with people in the officialdom, and he couldn't understand it even if he told him.
.
Looting food and grass and expropriating food and grass are two different concepts. One is to directly steal all the food from the people, and even the people's meat may not be spared.
For example, Cheng Yu once plundered Dong'e County, his hometown, and helped Cao Cao's army plunder three days of food and grass, which included a large amount of preserved human flesh.
The expropriation of grain and grass is based on the order of local administrative officials, asking people to hand over excess grain.
For example, Yuan Shao and Wang Kuang once forced aristocratic families and common people in Hanoi County and Jizhou to hand over grain for military use, but they only confiscated part of the grain and did not take away all the grain.
So from this point of view, there is still a big difference between the two.
The former means not giving people a way to survive. If you are good-hearted, you will be left to fend for yourself. If you are bad-hearted, you will be turned into military rations.
The latter is to give a way to survive, at least leaving part of it for the people to persist until the next farming season.
There were countless things like this in the history of the late Han Dynasty. Confiscating grain and grass was considered a good thing, but I was afraid that it would not only rob you of your grain, but also take your life.
In this era, people's lives are withering like weeds on the roadside. It is no joke that their lives are worth less than weeds.
According to the records of "Three Kingdoms" and "Book of the Later Han Dynasty", not only the great princes in various places, but also local officials, bandits, and soldiers robbed and robbed the people, there were countless things.
During the period of Emperor He, there were still more than 50 million people, but by the end of the Han Dynasty, there were only about 20 million people left. This shows how terrible this turmoil was.
To put it simply, the Three Kingdoms at the end of the Han Dynasty is not a romantic epic, but a purgatory on earth.
Heaven and earth are unkind and regard all things as stupid dogs.
However, Chen Mu felt that Zhang He was not bold enough to directly rob tens of thousands of people around Ganling City.
First of all, Jizhou's aristocratic families are intertwined, and many people in the fields outside the city are the private property of the aristocratic families. Touching these people is tantamount to causing trouble for the Zhang family in Hejian.
Secondly, the Party is now in power in Jizhou, and Party members cannot see the sand in their eyes. If he does this, he is seeking his own death.
Therefore, Chen Mu believed that Zhang He could at best ask the wealthy families outside the city to forcibly confiscate some of their grain and grass.
You may not even be able to find the big family, but the peasants who are not hidden households. These peasants have no power and power, and it is much safer to confiscate their grain and grass.
Then Chen Mu's approach is naturally easy to understand.
Murder and heart-wrenching.
As long as Zhang He dares to move, he will steal the people's food and dig up the roots of Jizhou!
If there was no printing technology in the past, public opinion tactics would not have much effect. Even if Cao Amao massacred the city, it would only allow the people of Xuzhou to move, and the people in other places would not know about it.
But now, with printing, there is the ability to launch a public opinion offensive.
With the overwhelming rumors and the victims' personal accounts, the Jizhou regime's robbery of the people will soon spread throughout the land of Jizhou, shaking the foundation of Wang Fen's rule.
Although it may not necessarily cause much damage, as long as the people have the seeds of doubt, this distrust will be deeply buried in the hearts of the people of Jizhou.
When something like this happens "accidentally" next time, the benevolent style of Qingzhou in contrast will be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, allowing the people to welcome Master Wang and welcome Liu Bei to Jizhou!
At that time, Liu Bei's attack on Jizhou will be much smoother and there will be fewer obstacles.