Chapter 150: Little brother, whats the matter with you?
"What? A wheelbarrow?"
In the Gaopo Camp, about five miles southwest of Anyang City, Chen Mu was quite surprised when he heard the scout's report.
"Yes, windlass. They use this to transport grain and grass between the two sides of the strait. I once counted that because the rope cannot bear too much weight, only about two stones can be transported at a time. Each time it takes two quarters of an hour, and there are hundreds of soldiers.
, more than 30 ropes were transported day and night, and there was even an accident where the rope and the pulley broke. The process was quite difficult."
The scout, who was all wet and shivering from the cold, replied.
Chen Mu couldn't help but admire when he heard that Yuan Jun across from Huanshui actually chose this method.
He has experienced war for a long time, so he naturally knows what a pulley is.
Even if you don't understand, you should know what a pulley device is if you have taken a junior high school physics class.
So Chen Mu had already guessed what was going on over there without seeing it with his own eyes.
In fact, the reason why it took them several days to detect it was that Yuan Jun was very cunning and used the city as a shield to place the fixed pulley device at the back of the city.
Second, the water level submerged on the surface is not high. It only reaches the ankles in shallow places. The average water depth is about the same as the waist.
If you want to go out for reconnaissance in such a low water level, you will definitely not be able to go by boat. You will not be able to float at all, so you can only ride a horse or walk through the water with your feet.
However, the area near Anyang City is very dangerous. After flooding, the original high and low ground and pits will become traps.
The water in the river was too turbid and it was impossible to see the road clearly.
Once there is a deep pit in the ground in front of you, or the soft soil has been soaked by water and turned into a swamp, if you ride a horse and the horse sinks into it, it may be dangerous and threaten the lives of people and horses.
Therefore, in this case, if you want to investigate around Anyang City, you have to find a safer road and follow the marks made before every time.
But even if a safe route is developed, it is not a problem for people and horses to stay in the water for a long time.
It was still winter, and the cold river water would cause the scouts and horses to get sick, so Guan Yu and Chen Mu had to stop their scouting activities, leaving only a few sentry posts for the scouts outside the city.
Yuan Jun's action this time was discovered by several hidden stakes.
These hidden piles are located due west of Anyang City, that is, on the upper reaches of Huan River, about a mile away from the city.
In a nearby forest, they built several wooden houses on several adjacent towering trees, stored some food in the wooden houses, and then tied up the wooden boards to make a suspension bridge, using the telescope given to them by Chen Mu.
Stand on the top of the tree and observe the city in the distance.
There are several similar hidden stakes scattered around Anyang City, monitoring the city from 360-degree angles.
Almost seven or eight days ago, when Yuan Jun started conducting large ship experiments, they had already detected Yuan Jun's actions and reported the large ship experiments conducted by Yuan Jun to Chen Mu.
But even if this information is discovered, it is not easy to return to the camp from the forest six miles away and across the cold river.
Every time there is a round trip, a scout needs to have the courage to go back and report despite being sick or even in danger of his life. Therefore, the scout team leader at that time did not send people back immediately, but first saw what Yuan Jun was up to to confirm the intelligence.
Say it again.
Only now did the scouts discover the problem, so they waded back through the water and reported the situation to Chen Mu.
When Chen Mu heard the news, he saw the scout who was covered in mud and water and still swaying. He couldn't bear it and immediately said: "Well, I understand. This information is very important. You go down to rest first and take a hot bath.
, I will ask the kitchen to make ginger soup for you to keep you away from the cold."
"Thank you, Master!"
The scout retreated.
After he left, Chen Mu said to the guard: "Go and call the second brother back."
"only."
The guards took the order and left.
The terrain of this hillside is quite large, and due to the different ups and downs, the campsites are distributed differently.
The area where the soldiers lived was located higher, and the camps were scattered at random. There was a large open space near the foot of the mountain. Every day, Guan Yu led the soldiers down the mountain for drills to maintain morale and combat effectiveness, and to be ready for battle at any time.
At this moment, there were only 15,000 troops in the camp. Wu Anguo and Guan Ping led an army of 10,000 people to leave from the back mountain and go east.
The back mountain is blocked by these hills, so some places are not flooded. The main reason is that they are in the southwest of Anyang. The land is originally higher in the west and lower in the east, so the farther west will definitely not be flooded.
Lead the troops calmly and leave.
At this time, Guan Yu was training his soldiers. When he heard that Chen Mu asked him to go over, he asked Guan Hai to continue training while he went up the mountain and returned to the camp.
"Fourth brother, what's wrong?"
Guan Yu opened the tent curtain and saw Chen Mu sitting on the table with a frown on his face. He couldn't help but asked curiously: "What is making you so troubled?"
Chen Mu smiled bitterly and said: "There is food in Anyang City."
"What?"
Guan Yu was shocked and said: "Where did they get the food?"
Chen Mu shrugged: "Yuan Jun used the windlass to transport grain and grass, and is now transporting grain to the city."
"Wind wheel?"
Guan Yu's face suddenly became serious and he asked: "How much grain and grass can be transported?"
"More than two thousand stones can be transported in one day and night."
Chen Mu calculated the amount of grain and grass that Yuan Jun could transport every twenty-four hours based on the intelligence detected by the scouts.
This amount is actually not much. According to the records in "Juyan Han Slips", the average monthly ration for a soldier in the Han Dynasty was about three stones and three buckets, which is an average of 13 kilograms of grain per person.
There are nearly 40,000 people in the city, which consumes 130,000 dan a month.
More than 2,000 dans were transported every day, and at most 70,000 to 80,000 dans were transported in a month. It was impossible to feed the soldiers.
But the problem is that this is just the beginning.
Yuan Tan was just testing whether this method would work. If it worked, with Jizhou's strength, it would not be difficult to quickly build dozens more pulleys.
Therefore, this problem is actually urgent for the Luoyang Army and must be solved as soon as possible.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! I still underestimate the wisdom of the ancients.
Chen Mu sighed in his heart.
Cao Cao's strategy worked really well and turned Anyang into an isolated city.
But Chen Mu forgot that when Cao Cao used this strategy, his army was guaranteed to have absolute strength around Yecheng.
At that time, Cao Cao led a large army to surround Ye City. Ye City was built very huge by the Yuan family, and Cao Cao's army could not cover everything. At night, the food transport convoys outside the city could still enter through other city gates.
Therefore, Cao Cao used the Zhang River to flood the city of Ye, making it impossible for convoys to pass. If someone outside the city used a windlass to transport grain into the city, Cao Cao could easily defeat them given Cao Cao's strength.
But Chen Mu couldn't do it. The Luoyang army had fewer troops than the other side, and the Huan water was flooded by them, so they couldn't cross the river to harass Yuan Tan on the other side.
Therefore, due to various circumstances such as geographical environment and differences in military strength, the same strategy resulted in completely different situations in the end.
Cao Cao flooded Yecheng. The result was that Yecheng was unable to transport grain and grass into the city for three months, and half of the people in the city starved to death.
When Chen Mu flooded Anyang, people used fixed pulley devices to transport grain into the city.
One strategy is perfectly successful, and the other is easy to crack when people find flaws.
It has a bit of a painting of a tiger-like dog, with the imitation of Dong Shi.
However, things in the world are inherently unpredictable. If everything can be considered as exhaustive, then it will not be a human being, but it will become a god.
As the saying goes, a fool will gain something after a thousand worries, and a wise man will lose something after a thousand worries.
Over the thousands of years of Chinese history, so many top wise men who are famous throughout the ages have never failed.
Therefore, in the face of this difficulty, Chen Mu did not lose heart, but actively sought countermeasures.
After much thought, he quickly came up with a solution.
If someone has Zhang Liang's plan, he will naturally also have a wall ladder.
Hearing Guan Yu ask if he had any countermeasures, Chen Mu smiled confidently and said: "Second brother, don't forget? I, the Qingzhou Navy, are invincible in the world!"
"oh?"
Guan Yu wondered: "Are you planning to use a boat?"
Chen Mu nodded: "Yes, there are still large boats in Xiaopingjin. You can transfer three of them. They will sail from the big river to Zanshui, and then enter the Huan River through the canal we dug. When we get outside Anyang City, drop the anchor.
Use bows and arrows to scatter the people transporting grain on both sides of the strait, then cut the ropes and destroy the pulleys so that they cannot transport grain."
This trick was learned from Guan Yu. When the Seventh Army was flooded, Guan Yu drove a large ship in the flood and surrounded Yu Jin Pang De on the Tushan Mountain. Yu Jin Pang De and others were on the mountain, and Guan Yu shot them with arrows from the boat.
Finally, Yu Jin was forced to surrender and Pound was captured alive.
After hearing this, Guan Yu thought for a moment and said, "The ship is so big that the canal may not be able to carry it."
"So we have to start digging ditches again."
Chen Mu knocked on his forehead and felt a headache.
Tower boats were very developed in the Han Dynasty. During the reign of Emperor Guangwu, there is a record of Ma Yuan leading two thousand tower boats to the south.
However, the previously dug canal was obviously unable to allow such a large ship to pass through, so it had to be expanded.
But there is no other way. In the world of life, there is endless joy in fighting against heaven, endless joy in fighting against earth, and endless joy in fighting against people.
A siege battle is originally a battle of wits and courage between the two sides, and it's life and death.
There is an article in the "Mo Jing" called "Gongshu", which is the story of Mozi and the Gongshu squadron using siege equipment and defensive equipment to fight against each other.
Only when you come and go can the wisdom of both parties be reflected... Even if Chen Mu doesn't want to waste any more time in Anyang.
After deciding on the strategy, Chen Mu immediately made arrangements.
While sending a message to Zhong Yao in Huai County, asking him to transfer three flat boats from Xiaopingjin Ferry, Zhao Yun was asked to arrange for the garrison troops to immediately go to Zhanshui to expand the canal.
This winter was too cold, so we did not plant winter wheat, but planned to plant spring wheat in early spring, so that we could plant millet once in summer and barely get two crops, so now the soldiers in the field have nothing to do.
As mentioned before, the so-called field soldiers are actually no different from serfs. If they are allowed to farm, in addition to ensuring their daily life, the rest of the food will be taken away by the court.
Now that there is no farming, the field soldiers can only spend the winter on the rations given to them by the court last year. By recruiting them at this time, the court can still take care of the food, so they can save a lot of food, which is considered a good job.
Soon, everything started to go according to Chen Mu's arrangement.
As for Anyang, seeing that the method of using a windlass car really worked, they immediately stepped up the production.
Yuan Tan ordered his soldiers to pile up sand from a high slope two miles away, like creating an island in the sea, to build a road to the river bank, and then use horse-drawn carriages to transport grain and grass to the bank.
During this period, the cold water caused many soldiers to suffer from frostbite and frostbite. Not to mention, a large number of windlass carts were manufactured. The carriages that came and went continuously transported grain and grass to the river, and then transported them to the other side of the river through the windlass carts. The other side was also made of
A water road was built directly into the city.
As a result, since Chen Mu did not fully control the surrounding areas of Anyang City, flooding Anyang had almost no effect.
In less than half a month, Yuan Tan built more than a hundred windlasses and transported grain to the city at a rate of nearly 10,000 shi per day. This not only maintained the city's consumption, but also stored excess grain and grass.
Calculated at this rate, the city consumes 130,000 shi in a month, and the transportation capacity can reach about 300,000 shi, which means that it can store 170,000 shi every month. If it continues to transport food for two and a half months, the city can
If you store enough grain for three months, your grain reserves will increase instead of decreasing.
Although it takes a lot of time, the transportation efficiency is not comparable to using horse-drawn carriages to transport food directly to the city. But the advantage is that people in the city do not need to come out. The floods have flooded the surrounding areas, forming a natural barrier, and the Luoyang army has no choice.
attack.
I have to say that if you look at it from this aspect, Chen Mu seems to be shooting himself in the foot.
At this time, Yuan Tan had already found out why there was water all around Anyang City. He stood on the slope and saw a steady stream of horse-drawn carriages transporting grain and grass to the river bank. Hundreds of windlass continued to deliver grain to the city. He felt proud.
The ground looked up to the sky and laughed: "Hahahahahahaha."
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! "Uh..."
Xin Ping said in surprise: "Why are you laughing, Master?"
Yuan Tan showed a proud look and laughed: "I once heard that Chen Zigui was the most intelligent in the world, but now it seems that it is nothing more than that."
"oh?"
Xin Ping smiled and said, "How can you see that?"
Yuan Tan pointed to the distance and said: "Zhongzhi, you see, Chen Zigui dug out the Qishui River, soaked it, poured the Erhe River into the Huan River, and flooded the surrounding areas of the city, just to cut off our army's food route. But now our army's food route is as stable as a mountain, and they
But he was trapped by the water he released and couldn't attack the city at all. Can someone who uses such a strategy be said to be the most intelligent in the world? I think he is incompetent after all."
Xin Ping did not dare to underestimate Chen Mu so much, but persuaded him: "Young master, you can't underestimate this person either. This person has made his fortune since the Yellow Turbans. He fought against Zhang Jiao, defeated the bandits, occupied Qingzhou, destroyed Dong Zhuo, and fought in the south and north.
He has made countless ingenious plans and has not failed for many years. The young master cannot think that he has no talent just because he saw through his plan this time. He should be careful in dealing with it."
"snort."
Yuan Tan was unconvinced and said: "That's because I'm younger than him. If I had been born a few years earlier, I might not have the prestige he has today."
"The young master is unparalleled in intelligence, naturally so, but..."
"Okay, Zhongzhi, you too, why do you always give others a boost of ambition? Don't think too highly of such incompetent people."
Yuan Tan laughed loudly and said: "From today on, Chen Zigui will be defeated, isn't he? His great reputation deserves to be trampled under my feet..."
Before the last word was spoken, the smile on Yuan Tan's face had already solidified.
He saw, on the upper reaches of Huan River, three huge building ships, with full sails, sailing towards this side in a mighty manner. After approaching Anyang City, countless steel anchors were thrown into the river by soldiers.
In ancient times, there are records of large ships traveling on the Yellow River and the Yangtze River since the Shang and Zhou dynasties. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the Wu State's large-winged ship, which was 27 meters long, fought with the Chu State and the Yue State on the Yangtze River.
By the Han Dynasty, the craftsmanship of large ships had developed rapidly. With the level of building ship manufacturing at that time, let alone the Huan River, even in the more turbulent Yellow River, it was like walking on flat ground. As long as there were no major problems in the operation, shipwrecks rarely occurred.
fatal accident.
The three large boats stopped in the middle of the river. Immediately afterwards, a young scholar in his thirties suddenly poked his head out of the middle boat and looked at Yuan Tan, who was at a loss on the shore, with doubtful eyes.
Xin Ping once met Chen Mu, so he couldn't help but trembled and whispered to Yuan Tan: "Young... Young Master, he is Chen Zigui!"
Yuan Tan stared at Chen Mu on the big ship not far from him with a horrified expression.
But he saw Chen Mu looking at him with interest.
There seemed to be a little doubt, a trace of confusion, and a sense of ridicule and teasing in those bright eyes.
He seemed to see a young man in his twenties who was elegantly and elegantly dressed among the groups of soldiers transporting grain and grass, which made him confused.
That look.
As if to say: Little brother, what’s the matter with you?