Three Kingdoms

Yangcheng.

After all, Xiahou Dun did not have the courage or the ability to go out of the city and fight with Fei hidden outside the city.

A solid city wall can bring some sense of security to people, and this sense of security may be the only thing that can comfort Xiahou Dun at the moment.

Yangcheng is right in the middle of the two mountain ranges, Yangcheng Mountain and Shaoshi Mountain, and was built on the Yingshui River. It is more or less a first-class city. It has an important location and can attack and defend. It is almost equal to the entire Yingchuan River in Yuzhou. the northwest gate. Cao Cao specially arranged for Xiahou Dun to be stationed here for this reason.

Cao Cao may not be able to rest assured if others are here.

Just because Xiahou Dun couldn't come out, it didn't mean that Fei Qian could walk around the city without a care. After all, the sizes of the troops are different, and many things are different. Zhu and Zhang can sneak in while Xiahou and others are negligent, and with such a large group as Fei Qian, even a blind man can detect abnormalities based on sound vibrations and so on.

Although Fei Qian could follow suit and cross the Yingshui River four times, that would be too troublesome. There may be a simpler way now...

Fei Qian looked at Yangcheng and the flag with the words "Xiahou" written on it, then smiled and said to Li Dian: "General Li, I won't give it away..."

Li Dian was silent for a moment, and finally he cupped his hands and said, "Thank you Qiusi for not killing me... I'll see you later... some time..."

Fei Qian pretended not to hear Li Dian's voiceover and waved his hand.

Li Dian didn't say anything more. He knocked the horse's belly slightly, and the horse neighed and moved forward slowly.

On one side are the majestic cavalry troops lined up in a horizontal line, and on the other side are the city defenders standing ready with shields and swords. In the middle of both sides is Li Dian's lonely man and horse, with a faint smoke under the horse's hooves. If it is paired with background music of erhu, morinouqin, etc...

Zhang Chen asked in a low voice behind Zhang Liao: "General, why did the lord let that guy go at this time?" 』

Zhang Liao glanced at Zhang Chen slightly, and then whispered: "A strategy to attack the heart." 』

"A strategy to attack the heart?" ” Zhang Chen still doesn’t quite understand, but Zhang Liao no longer pays attention to him.

Zhao Yun immediately stood on the other side of Fei Qian, and seemed to hear Zhang Chen's low murmur. He glanced briefly, and then focused on Li Dian, who was slowly moving forward.

Just like Zhang Chen was always trying to interpret the meaning of General Hussar's actions, Zhao Yun actually had his own understanding of releasing Li Dian.

Yangcheng Village must be attacked. On the one hand, the entire southbound passage cannot be opened without fighting. On the other hand, it is not enough to deter the Cao troops in Yingchuan. Just like now, at a glance, when Fei Qian’s hostages captured Yangcheng When the power of the mountain stronghold came, Xiahou Dun could only avoid the attack temporarily and did not dare to go out of the city to fight. It's not that Xiahou Duan is timid, but that Xiahou Dun knows that not all of his soldiers are brave. If he loses another battle and the morale of the army is shaken again, it will definitely be difficult to end. It will be safer to stay in the city.

In Yangcheng, for the Hussars General, it is obvious that he prefers to defeat the enemy without fighting, or in other words, use strategies. After all, Yangcheng is under the command of Xiahou Dun, and its defensive strength is naturally very different from that of a cottage. If it is a strong attack, it should still be able to defeat it, but the losses may be relatively large.

If you don't fight, just do nothing, and just pass by the city, it will make Xiahou Dun in the city think that Fei Qian is nothing more than that. Then, whether it is attacking Fei Qian's rear flank, or intercepting and encircling Fei Qian, it will make Fei Qian Fei Qian didn't want to see the discomfort, so he asked Li Dian to go to Yangcheng. On the surface, it seemed that he had fulfilled his promise to Li Dian, but in fact...

It is said that the ignorant are fearless. The more you know, the more timid you become. It is naturally best for a small force to remain secretive, but since they are coming with great fanfare, why bother covering it up? Fei Qian didn't say anything about the 100,000 cavalry meeting in Xu County, and he was already very conservative and cautious.

Fei Qian was not afraid that Xiahou Dun would know the situation of his army. On the contrary, Fei Qian also wanted to know how Xiahou Dun would respond in such a situation.

What’s interesting is that as Li Dian, what would he do if he wanted to survive, or if he wanted to live a better life?

Li Dian lost a battle and lost Luoyang. That's right, this is a fact that Li Dian can no longer change, but if someone else defeated Hussar, then...

If others also lost, Li Dian's crime seemed not that serious...

Doesn't the law punish everyone?

Zhao Yun thought a little.

Could it be that General Hussar also thought of this, so he let Li Dian go without saying anything to Li Dian? How did Qiaoqi judge that Li Dian would not act stupidly out of anger or other emotions?

Um……

The subtle changes made by the hussar general in this small area are really impressive.

Zhao Yun lowered his eyes silently, as if he was preparing to close his eyes and rest.

In front of the battle.

Li Dian didn't walk very fast, as if every step he took was like carrying a thousand pounds on his back. When he reached a stone's throw, Li Dian slowly looked up at the city head, found Xiahou Dun's figure, pulled the reins, then dismounted, and said in a deep voice: "The person who is to be punished has seen General Xiahou." ! 』

Xiahou Dun frowned, pondered for a long time, waved his hand, and ordered his men: "Lower the suspension bridge and hoist it up to the city!" 』

Li Dian turned the horse around, and then slapped the horse on the butt. The horse felt the pain, spread its hooves and ran back, while Li Dian slowly crossed the suspension bridge and sat in the bamboo basket. In the middle, amidst the squeaking, pulling and grinding sounds, we boarded Yangcheng.

"Li Mancheng, do you want to be a lobbyist?" ” Xiahou Dun was sitting with a big horse and a golden sword, and his tone was quite unkind.

Li Dian lowered his head and said, "Now that I am a sinner, how can I have any lobbyists?" 』

Xiahou Dun paused for a moment, then threw away the question. He did not say whether Li Dian was guilty or not, nor how he would deal with Li Dian. Instead, he asked directly: "How many men and horses are there on the cavalry?" 』

Li Dian didn't hesitate and answered almost immediately: "Nearly ten thousand." "It was impossible for Li Dian to completely know how many people Fei Qian had brought, but based on his own experience in commanding troops and horses, he roughly estimated a number. Although it was still a rough estimate, it at least gave Xiahou Dun a judgement. basic data.

"All cavalry?" Xiahou Dun asked again.

Li Dian nodded, then shook his head and said: "It's called cavalry, but... it's actually a tough soldier, with long and short weapons, all kinds of armor, and many changes..."

Xiahou Dun couldn't help but tighten his hand on his knee, "Tell me more!" 』

Li Dian said: "The hussar soldiers can gallop on horseback, form formations on dismount, and can set up camps, guard posts, collect, fish and hunt. They also have heavy armor and long halberds, which are good for breaking out in field battles and are detrimental to all directions." also……"

Xiahou Dun leaned forward, "So... there are no auxiliary troops under the hussar?" 』

『Yes. ” Li Dian nodded in agreement.

"This..." Although this was not the first time Xiahou Dun heard about this, he still found it unbelievable after it was confirmed again by Li Dian. He didn't know what to say for a while.

The military system of the Han Dynasty still has a chain of contempt. It is a very common phenomenon that regular soldiers despise auxiliary soldiers, and auxiliary soldiers despise servicemen. Therefore, in Xiahou Dun's concept, and even in the concepts of many Han generals, there is no auxiliary soldier. Soldiers or civilians working hard, can this war still be fought?

Just like Xiahou Dun, if the upper and lower parts of Yangcheng are counted, there are at least about 25,000 people, but about half of them are actually civilian laborers, and about half of the remaining half are auxiliaries. Soldiers, the last ones are the regular soldiers who have been trained and fully equipped, and because Xiahoudun is also considered the front line, the proportion of regular soldiers is relatively high. In an ordinary county, the number of regular soldiers is often only a few hundred, which can exceed a thousand. It’s already amazing.

Of course, Fei Qian is not the only place in the world that has professional soldiers who are completely out of work. Just like Xiahou Dun's men, there are about 1,200 soldiers who are completely out of work. In fact, they are Xiahou Dun's private soldiers who do not engage in any occupation or labor at all. , every day they are either fighting or preparing to fight, but for such off-duty soldiers, all the consumption must be borne by the owner. You may not feel anything in a day or two, but over the years, just eating and drinking, not to mention other things, are just a The number is so huge that ordinary generals cannot accept it.

It’s like visiting relatives in later generations who catch up with the epidemic. Just seven or eight additional people can make the original hospitable host cry...

So the situation described by Li Dian is like a hussar general raising so many personal soldiers!

This is incredible!

Where did General Hussar get so much money? !

What's even more frightening is that the Hussars General also assigned these private soldiers, which were considered his own to a certain extent, to his generals to command. This... simply exceeded the imagination of Xiahou Dun and others. For the generals who command the troops and horses, if they want to "borrow" a singer or something, they won't have to say anything. They will just laugh and wave and say that it is for them. He gave it away, and if he said that he wanted to "borrow" his soldiers and horses, he would probably fall out immediately...

Ask yourself, if Xiahou Dun was asked to distribute the private soldiers he raised to his subordinates, Xiahou Dun would definitely not be willing to do so, but the problem is that the hussar general did just that!

Xiahou Dun and Li Dian were both silent, speechless for a moment.

The Han Dynasty or some later feudal dynasties adopted the system of regular soldiers and auxiliary soldiers. It was not because they were unaware of the shortcomings of this system or unwilling to reform, but because of the dual constraints of productivity and political systems, it could not be implemented.

Everyone knows that human physical strength and endurance have certain limits, especially during cold weapon wars. The victory or defeat of a battle is often a competition between the physical strength and willpower of the soldiers on both sides, so there is no way to guarantee that everyone will When you are full and strong, give priority to the physical strength and endurance of regular soldiers who have strong combat effectiveness and who have undergone certain training and know how to obey orders, so that the physical strength and endurance of these regular soldiers are used on the blade, which becomes a relative comparison. Reasonable measures, so the auxiliary soldiers, and even the working civilians under the auxiliary soldiers, were naturally produced to relieve the regular soldiers and reduce their burdens.

But what is the premise for the existence of this structure?

In addition to the lack of productivity, the most important thing is the lack of logistical supplies, which often involves the political level. On the one hand, the soldiers cannot get sufficient supplies, and on the other hand, the local officials come from wealthy families and take advantage of the war. The problem of trying to reap benefits still existed even in the Ming and Qing Dynasties in later generations.

Under Fei Qian, because cattle, sheep, pigs and other meats were much more abundant than Cao's army, most of the soldiers were able to have more physical strength than Cao's army. Under Fei Qian's rule, all industries prospered, allowing a common people to Engaging in production with peace of mind will obviously produce more value than capturing them as laborers, so it will naturally make up for the additional subsidies for these soldiers in logistics, so in fact, Fei Qian did not pay as much as Xiahou Dun There are so many others as you can imagine. After all, even if the auxiliary soldiers and laborers were fed less and given less, the increase in number would still consume a lot.

Xiahou Dun pondered for a long time, then suddenly his eyes lit up and he straightened his body, "You got it!" I finally know where the Hussar is in harm's way! 』

But Li Dian shook his head and said: "If it is General Xiahou's plan to use more and less to defeat him... it may be difficult to achieve..."

Xiahou Dun stared, and instinctively wanted to ask why, but suddenly thought of something, and couldn't help feeling a little depressed. He sighed slightly and shook his head.

Xiahou Dun is also a man who knows the art of war, and Li Dian is naturally not bad at it, so they can all think about what to do against elite soldiers under the current conditions.

Sun Bin during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period had already given the answer.

The lower Sis faced off against the upper Sis, consuming their troops and naturally defeating them.

That's right, the biggest problem with elite troops is the difficulty of replenishing them, which cannot withstand large-scale consumption. From a purely strategic point of view, there is no problem with the method Xiahou Dun thought of. But the problem is not in strategy, but in strategy. It's in people's hearts.

When fighting against the elite troops of General Hussars, all fools know that the troops who went into battle in the first place were just to consume them, which was basically for nothing. Then they would have to wait until Fei Qian's elite troops were consumed to a certain extent. There is hope of victory, but the most important thing is who will bear the initial consumption of personnel?

Can Cao Cao bear it alone?

Obviously impossible.

Can the court bear it?

The current imperial court is a joke.

Then the only possibility is for the gentry families to share the share, but the question is which gentry family in Jizhou, Yuzhou, and Yanzhou is willing to fearlessly contribute all their manpower, material and financial resources, and then risk being left with nothing in the future. How much risk do you have to bear these?

In the final analysis, there may be only two families left, the Cao family and the Xiahou family.

And can the Cao family and the Xiahou family defeat the Hussars just by relying on them?

Obviously, impossible. And even among the Xiahou family of the Cao family, there are still people who disagree, for fear that after defeating the Xiahou family of the Cao family, other noble families will be advantaged.

There are always a lot of smart people in the world, and these smart people are generally unwilling to suffer losses, or even take any action. They are only willing to criticize with their mouths, and sing that a gentleman uses his words but not his hands to express his feelings. Condescending. Is anyone among the noble families within Cao Cao's jurisdiction willing to bear these losses?

No.

So there is a way, but there is no way to use it. Just like during the Warring States Period, the six countries all knew that as long as they worked together, Qin had nothing to fear, and they could do whatever they wanted, but the problem was that they could not work together.

Xiahou Dun figured this out, so he couldn't help but sigh.

This is very paladin.

Everything seems to be very simple, but when you actually do it, you find that it is actually very difficult. So now, what's the plan? Xiahou Dun stared at Li Dian for a few times, then moved his gaze to the outside of the city. Then suddenly another thought came to his mind...