Three Kingdoms

Is Cui Jun stupid?

It would be foolish to compete with God.

What if it is Hengping?

Then it depends on the common people's evaluation standards for officials...

For the common people of the Han Dynasty, what kind of officials can be praised highly?

A good official is one who does not impose excessive taxes, does not harm innocent people, and does not disturb people's livelihood.

But even this is something that a large number of officials cannot do.

So is Cui Jun good or bad, smart or stupid?

Just like Xiahou Dun's strategy, is it smart or stupid?

But what is certain is that the strategy adopted by Xiahou Dun was undoubtedly very risky.

It's just that war itself is an adventure. Even a well-planned plan will often collapse due to one or two small accidents or negligence.

Cao Cao's Chibi, Liu Bei's Yiling, Sun Quan's Hefei, Zhuge's Street Pavilion.

That's not the case.

When attacking Jinyang in winter, it is best to have strong troops. However, the more soldiers there are, the more things are needed, and the further you go into the mountains, the longer the supply lines are. Even if you are "cruising against rebels" in the mountains, It also cannot make up for the required losses.

But if Xiahou Dun was asked to give up, do nothing, and just wait until spring comes and the flowers bloom...

Although this is indeed more stable, it is definitely slower.

The longer the war drags on, the less effective it will be in Guanzhong and other places.

Needless to say, Xiahou Dun knew this very well. Maybe even two more times, even the shock is gone, and the rest is just habit. Just like when the Qin State was besieged by the Six Kingdoms for the first time, it was also extremely scared. However, when it was discovered that the siege by the Six Kingdoms was just like that, it actually increased the morale of Guanzhong and increased its contempt for Shandong.

Therefore, Xiahou Dun could only do his best and make the most efforts for the overall situation. As for personal safety, it was not Xiahou Dun's first consideration. Fortunately, when Xiahou Dun first entered the Taihang Mountains, he gathered a lot of smuggling traders. These people were familiar with the Taihang Mountains and would not make Cao's army lose its direction.

The guide took Xiahou Dun's troops and took a shortcut to Jinyang, Taiyuan. The snow on the mountains along the way gave Xiahou Dun and others extra water supplies. The team marched all the way and rested for only three hours a day. The rest of the time was spent marching or preparing to keep out the cold in the wild.

After several days of hurried march, Xiahou Dun finally arrived in a valley fifty miles away from Jinyang. When Xiahou Dun gave the order to rest, almost all the soldiers were almost paralyzed from exhaustion...

The general Xiahou Dun had no time to rest, even though he was equally exhausted.

He must find Jinyang's weaknesses in a short period of time and launch an attack on Jinyang. However, he now knows nothing about Jinyang's defense and has no clue.

Xiahou Dun summoned his deputy general Xia Houchong, a nephew of his own, and asked him to take charge of arranging soldiers, repairing and setting up the defense system together with the military lord Gao Qian. Then he said: "Hurry up and let the sons rest. I want to go to Jinyang to conduct reconnaissance in person." Ichiban. 』

Xia Houcheng said: "Why should the general go out in person?" Just let the scouts go and investigate. 』

Xiahou Dun waved his hand and said, "The scouts don't know what information I need, so there will inevitably be omissions." I can check it out in person and make a quick judgment. You are here on standby, ready to fight at any time. 』

Xiahou Dun had already made up his mind and no one tried to persuade him. Xiahou Dun gave a few more instructions, and then rushed to Jinyang with more than ten personal guards and more than twenty scouts.

The Jinyang area is basically under martial law, but the city still needs to replenish some daily consumption materials, so the city gates will be opened once every three days to allow ordinary people in the city to go out to collect firewood. When Xiahou Dun came, he happened to meet the people who were out gathering wood, so he quickly caught a few tongues and asked the scouts to interrogate them.

Xiahou Dun looked at Jinyang City in the distance and frowned.

Xiahou Dun took a look at whether a city was easy to fight or not, and he was somewhat concerned about it.

In Jinyang City, there is a green dragon on the left and a white tiger on the right. There is Xuanwu in the north...

The term Feng Shui seems very mysterious. In fact, to put it simply, it means that it is surrounded by mountains and rivers. There are mountains in the north that block the cold current from the south. It will be relatively warmer than the north of the mountains. With mountains as a support and water as a source, it is naturally Feng Shui. Good place.

Of course, the mountains around Jinyang are not very high, but they also hinder the deployment of the troops, leaving there not many angles to attack Jinyang.

Moreover, as Jinyang is the seat of Taiyuan County, there is no shortage of moats, trenches, suspension bridges, turrets and so on.

Xiahou Dun also saw the ballistas and catapults lined up on the city wall, and couldn't help but take a breath of cold air and pondered silently.

On the city wall, flags were flying, and there seemed to be figures patrolling back and forth.

It is not known how many people and horses there are in the city, but outside the city wall, along the Fen River, there is a huge camp with at least five or six hundred tents. If ten people live in one tent, then at least this camp outside the city There are five to six thousand people in the camp!

How to fight this?

There are terrain advantages, city walls to rely on, sufficient weapons, and sufficient manpower...

Xiahou Dun frowned.

"Come. Xiahou Dun waved to the side and called a personal guard, "You know this catapult better. Take a look at the layout of the equipment in the city. Are there any weaknesses..."

Normally, if you lead troops to attack, you will not be able to avoid these ballistas and catapults.

Cao Jun also had these crossbows and catapults. At two or three hundred steps, it was simply unstoppable.

The guard stared at the catapults and ballistae, pondered for a moment, shook his head and said with a bitter smile: "General, these catapults and catapults are distributed in key places. If they attack, it will definitely be...unless they dig into holes..."

The guard stopped talking even though he was halfway there. After all, even he himself felt that this matter was unreliable.

"Digging?" How much manpower does this require? ” Xiahou Dun frowned.

The guard was stunned. What he said casually could not be taken seriously. In this weather, the soil is frozen. Even if we dig, how long will it take?

Fortunately, Xiahou Dun seemed to be surprised when he saw the guards, so he said: "I thought of another thing... Generally speaking, how many people are needed to control a manpower catapult?" 』

The guard pondered for a moment and said: "Generally speaking, a ballista has fifteen to twenty people. Depending on the distance of the catapult, it will take at least twenty or thirty people to pull it, and as many as forty or fifty people..." 』

Xiahou Dun nodded, and then glanced at the Jinyang city wall. The total number of crossbows, catapults, and catapults was close to a hundred. "If this hussar is good at making weapons, it can save this manpower... Calculated on average." , there are nearly a hundred catapults, and the number of people controlling them is more than two thousand... And how many regular soldiers are there in Jinyang? 』

"This... what the general means is... in this city... no, in this camp, most of them are civilians?" 』The guards also responded quickly.

At this moment, the scouts also came to report, and the results of the torture were similar to what Xiahou Dun had guessed. There are not many soldiers in Jinyang City, and the camp outside the city looks very majestic, but in fact it is a gathering of refugee refugees during this period of time.

It's just that the arresting tongue is still unclear about the specific number of soldiers in the city.

Xiahou Dun nodded, then turned his head and stared at the camp outside the city in the distance.

The camp is adjacent to the Jinyang City Wall to the west and the Fen River to the east. The camp covers about two or three miles of river bank, and is not far from the Fen River for easy access to water. There are also camp fences and guard towers in the camp, which look pretty decent at first glance.

Xiahou Dun checked carefully again and found that the distance between the camp and Jinyang was about two miles, but some places were very close to the city for unknown reasons. In addition, there are some sheds built close to the city wall, which seem to be storage warehouses for the daily utensils needed for the camps outside the city.

Xiahou Dun quickly sketched a plan in his mind.

At this time, a soldier pointed at the city gate and whispered: "General, the enemy is patrolling!" 』

At the gate of Jinyang City, a small group of cavalry appeared. There were only seven or eight cavalry. Judging from their movements, they did not discover Xiahou Dun and others, but were just on a daily patrol. They were trampled by horses along the way. The road out slowly moves forward.

Xiahou Dun stared at the patrolling sentries, thought about something, then waved his hand and silently retreated with his men.

Although the plan drawn up by Xiahou Dun was still crude and imperfect, Xiahou Dun and others marched to Jinyang in a hurry, including Xiahou Dun, who was exhausted and could no longer afford to delay.

As dusk approached, Xiahou Dun led his men and lurked under the loess ravine.

The sparse grass could not completely cover the figures of Xiahou Dun and others, but the dusk sunlight just shone on the faces of these patrolling sentries, making it impossible for them to see everything around them clearly.

In the woods in the distance, more than a thousand Cao Jun soldiers were ready.

The Jinyang sentry did not notice anything strange, and was still walking along the original patrol route. Because of traveling along one route for a long time, obvious marks appeared on the hillside. The moment these sentries passed the ambush, Xiahou Dun shouted in a low voice, and Cao Jun's soldiers launched an attack almost simultaneously.

Arrows roared out.

The trip rope was pulled straight.

The patrolling sentry in Jinyang was caught off guard. He was shot or tripped immediately, and screams rang out on the trail.

Before these Jinyang sentries could send out any warning signal, Cao Jun, who was ambushing on both sides, had already rushed out, surrounded five or six Jinyang sentries who had not been hit by arrows, hacked them to death with knives, then collected the bodies and stripped off their clothes. .

In most battles, time is the key to victory or defeat.

Here Xiahou Dun led his men to clean up the sentries, and soon there was a group of "resurrected" sentries, stained with blood and dust, returning the same way. On the other side, Cao Jun in the woods in the distance was also getting After receiving the signal, they began to move towards the main camp in Jinyang.

Perhaps it was because sentries were enough, or perhaps because most people were busy preparing to eat preserved meat at this time. When Cao Jun rushed to the camp outside the city, he even saw the civilians in the camp gathering together to prepare to queue up for dinner. At that time, someone on the Jinyang City Wall pointed at the Cao Jun soldiers who rushed out and made a noise...

Cao Jun is here.

Cao Jun is really here.

Cao Jun is definitely coming.

Cao Jun...

Repeated propaganda and reminders could not make these Jinyang city defenders super vigilant. On the contrary, there was a crying wolf effect. Everyone seemed to know that Cao Jun would come, but no one felt that it was possible. Will come now.

It's freezing cold, who would come to Jinyang at this time?

Didn’t you hear what Cui Shijun said, you must seize the time now to repair the city defenses. This shows that Cao Jun is still some distance away and has not appeared in front of you so soon...

Therefore, when Cao Jun really appeared, many people did not believe it.

The civilian camp outside the city had no ability to resist at all. The panicked civilians destroyed all order and wasted all the defensive facilities. A few archers on the sentry tower saw that the situation was not good. Even though he was there, he was too busy running and jumping to escape.

Thick smoke billowed and countless tents were set on fire.

Bowls for eating, hoes for working, and tattered clothes were discarded everywhere.

The spears and swords distributed to Ding Yong in the camp were also thrown on the ground, as if these Ding Yong had never received inspection training before, and they did not dare to kill not only people, but also chickens and ducks.

Kindness is worthless when swords and guns are at hand, and giving up resistance cannot buy the slightest mercy.

The civilian camp suddenly became bloody, with corpses strewn everywhere. The civilians were terrified and ran for their lives, shouting and screaming. Unknown how many civilians were killed, burned to death, or trampled to death. The entire camp was suddenly enveloped in fear.

As the chaos in the civilian camp spread, Jinyang City was also preparing to close the city gates urgently. However, Cao Jun, disguised as Jinyang sentries, hacked to death the soldiers who came to close the city gates. Later, those who tried to escape instinctively The civilians who went to a safe place took over Cao Jun's offensive and blocked the city gate tightly. They also pushed the Jinyang soldiers who tried to take over their positions to the ground and were drowned in the surging crowd.

The Jinyang defenders on the city wall were stunned by the chaotic scene in front of them and the soaring flames. They stood on the city wall and looked at the sea of ​​​​fire that had spread for several miles in fear. Bewildered and at a loss.

These defenders always think that there is something special about hussars and horses. They can only do a few gestures in training, so what's the need to work so hard? Cui Jun arranged "his own people" to serve as minor officials in the military academy. These military academy minor officials also arranged "his own people" to serve in lower-level positions. They were all "own people" from top to bottom. After all, using your own talents is the best way to use people. Use the right people.

The rules of Han officialdom have always been like this.

It's impossible to do work alone. Even if Cui Jun is covered in iron, he can't drive a few nails, right? Therefore, we must rely on others. In addition to relying on the authorization of the hussar, we also need to rely on the execution of our subordinates. Naturally, employing people is very important. Subordinates not only need to be able to do things, but also be good people. Therefore, a subordinate who is strong but disobedient will often be squeezed out. Everyone likes to use a subordinate who is not strong but can be obedient and a good person...

These problems do not cause any problems at ordinary times, but once a crisis comes, slight deviations may lead to bad consequences.

In the shed close to the city wall is the warehouse of the large camp, which stores a large amount of grain, grass and ordnance for the army and civilians. The warehouse camp and the civilian camp are about one mile apart, and are usually heavily guarded against fireworks. Now there is no one to guard at all, and there is no way to prevent the flames from burning. As these warehouses built on the edge of the city wall are ignited, the fire spreads rapidly, and the scorching heat waves continue to rush towards the city wall, making the eastern half of the city wall inoperable. Staying there, the soldiers on the city retreated to the other side.

The soldiers on the top of the city were in a panic. No one noticed that among the soldiers who were burned by the black smoke and had to withdraw, there was Xiahou Dun's group of people in disguise.

Their goals are very clear...

"Clang, clang, clang!" 』

The gong was beating deafeningly.

"Line up!" Line up! 』

Cui's military academy was so anxious that he was sweating profusely.

The disguised Cao soldiers secretly approached...

"puff! 』

Cui Military Academy, who was giving orders, was stabbed in the back. His wide eyes showed a look of horror and disbelief. He tried to turn his head to see who had done it, but was kicked to the ground by Cao Jun behind him.

"Run away!" ” The disguised Cao Jun shouted with blood on his face, “Is it worth risking your life for just a few dollars?” ! 』

Another Cao Jun also shouted, "He wants us to die!" Who doesn’t have a whole family! I will send you to death! I need to run for my life! 』

In the chaos, no one noticed that the accents of these disguised Cao soldiers were somewhat weird. They just looked at the killed military academy in a daze, and then ran away unknowingly due to the surging soldiers.

On the city wall that was smoked by smoke and fire, the soldiers could not stand and fled one after another. However, in the areas that were not smoked, they were either secretly engaged in trouble by Cao Jun in disguise, or they were frightened by the sight of the escaped soldiers coming in embarrassment. They lost their courage and followed each other to a place with less fireworks.

If Cui Jun did not regard Taiyuan as his own private territory, and did not intentionally or unintentionally crowd out the dispatched hussar officers and patrol sergeants, then the Jinyang city wall might not collapse so quickly; if Cui Jun did not There is no nepotism, which leads to his subordinates following the same example and holding power. Then these scattered powers will play their due role at this time; if Cui Jun does not exclude Yan Rou, then at least he will have strong force at the moment. The generals can lead their soldiers to turn the tide...

Unfortunately, if is always just if.

Everything can be done after the fact and then point fingers from above, but not many people can really make every effort beforehand.

Assume the worst possible outcome, and then do things well and conscientiously based on these assumptions to do things well and make them better.

It's not that people are really stupid, but that they have selfish motives.

Selfishness can blind your eyes and block your ears.

Including Cui Jun.

At this moment, Cui Jun also heard screams like a stormy sea, saw the black smoke that was squeezing in like an overwhelming sky, and suddenly felt as if his chest was tightly grasped by something, making it extremely difficult to even breathe. .

"What...what...is going on..."

Cui Jun found that his voice seemed to be coming back from a very far away place. It was hollow and fragmented. It was completely different from his usual sonorous, powerful and steady voice.

A soldier who was scorched by smoke and stained with a lot of blood came to Cui Jun and shouted: "It's bad for you!" Cao Jun attacked the city and the city gate was lost! The city is broken! broken! 』

Cui Jun was stunned as if he was struck by lightning. He never thought that Cao Jun would attack at this time, let alone that Cao Jun could break the city so quickly!

Now that Cao Jun really came, he realized that the problem was serious and he had made a big mistake...

Jinyang City fell like this?

really?

How could this be true?