Han Xiang

Chapter 349

Sun Quan's strategy of diverting disaster to the east led to several strategies from Cao Cao's side to deal with it.

Han Hao, who went back to the city to ask for instructions, was confused, but he quickly gave Zhang Liao and Cao Chun the order to "pursue".

Shucheng's army moved at the same time, Xu Huang, Gao Lan and others led their troops out of the city one after another, as if they had been tricked to reinforce Zhang Liao.

In addition, many people who were conscripted as civilian husbands also fled while the Shu County defenders 'relaxed their guard'.

Under the guidance of many "inner ghosts", the fleeing people headed towards Ruxushui, intending to go to Liyang to settle down first and then turn to Jiangdong. There is a high probability that they will encounter Jiangdong patrol boats on the way, and the empty situation in Shu County It naturally reached Zhou Yu's ears.

Not to mention that all the property and food were confiscated, Cao Jun conscripted the peasants in Lujiang without giving them food, and made the peasants work hungry until they died.

The terrible thing about corvee in ancient times is that most of them not only did not pay wages, but also required the peasants to prepare their own food to participate in the construction, which not only missed the farming time of the family, but also consumed the stored food.

Some people have concluded that today's migrant workers have many similarities with ancient corvee workers. They do all kinds of basic and hard work. Not to mention they can't go home all year round, and they often don't get paid.

Long Xiang was born in a construction site, and he knew that the efficiency of migrant workers mainly depends on their remuneration, so in the past few years in Hefei, he has promoted relief with work, or "paid corvee", especially those in the craftsman camp. Craftsmen have become the core class in Hefei.

The people staying in the five counties of Lujiang have long heard that Hefei has low taxes and no corvee. Those who were able to escape the wars in the past few years have dragged their families to Hefei. Unconscious person.

At this time, facing Cao Jun's almost "slow death" treatment, the people in the five counties only had one word of regret in their hearts, but their instinct for survival finally made them take a step forward.

There was a war on the way to Hefei, and these fleeing refugees had no choice but to cross the river to the east of the river.

Knowing that there is no land and no food in Jiangdong, most people will become powerful tenant farmers, but they have no choice in order to survive.

Zhou Yu personally led the army to lure the enemy, and did not know the situation of the refugees at all.

At the beginning, he stopped and walked, but when he finally saw a large number of soldiers in Shucheng, he could only withdraw directly to Hefei. He didn't expect Cao Cao to be so 'cooperative' at all.

The Jiangdong soldiers and horses marched to the northwest of Chaohu Lake. Zhou Yu ordered Chen Wujing to raise the flag and continue to march on Hefei.

Going around Chaohu Lake to reach the boarding point, Dong Xi glanced in the direction of Hefei, and said to Zhou Yu with a worried look on his face: "The governor, there are only a thousand Zilie left now. If Cao Chun chases him fiercely with tigers and leopards, these sons may be hard to come by." Survive."

"I can't help it." Zhou Yu sighed, and said seriously: "If Zi Lie doesn't move forward, blaming Hefei won't work. Our previous efforts have been wasted these days. His Lujiang upper class is all elite, even if he goes north to meet General Wu , and will not be easily wiped out."

"The city of Hefei is solid, Cao Jun doesn't seem to have siege equipment, maybe he may not necessarily attack the city." Dong Xi's face was still dignified.

Zhou Yu said solemnly: "Regardless of whether Bandit Cao attacks the city or not, he mobilized so many soldiers and horses, it seems that he is really angry. Now we go to join the main force and lead the troops to attack its rear. This is my real purpose."

"Well, it's just." Dong Xi struggled for a while, and finally asked: "This time we blame Long Xiang, as long as Zhang Liao and others arrive in Hefei, the previous misunderstanding may be solved. The governor is not afraid that Long Xiang will turn against Jiangdong. ?”

"Between? Hmph."

Zhou Yu snorted coldly, and said disdainfully: "Long Xiang voted for Thief Cao long ago. If he turns against Jiangdong again, he won't be able to stay in Huainan. An important city like Hefei should be in our own hands. "

Dong Xi said with a guilty conscience, "I'm afraid that Long Xiang will hold a grudge and use this as an excuse to send troops to attack Zilie, and Xu Chu himself is in Hefei, so the consequences will be serious."

"Don't worry, Long Xiang doesn't have the courage." Zhou Yu raised his hand after saying that, signaling Dong Xi not to continue, because the boat from Chaohu Lake had already arrived.

Zhou Yu's assertion was correct. Long Xiang did not have the guts to attack at this time, because it is difficult for a clever woman to cook without rice.

Knowing that Cao Cao personally arrived in Huainan, he immediately adjusted the deployment of troops in the old and new cities.

The new city of Hefei is five times the size of the old city, and requires more troops to defend than the old city. Long Xiang transferred the craftsman battalion, cavalry battalion, city defense right battalion, and half of Lei Xu's subordinates from the original five battalions of Hefei. Xincheng, Xincheng has more than [-] defenders, dispatched and commanded by the number two figure Lu Su.

In the old city, there are Tang Yu's city defense left battalion, Xu Chu's tiger guard battalion, and half of Lei Xu's trilogy. The total force in the city is only [-], and Hefei has returned to the stretched days.

Fortunately, the combat effectiveness of the soldiers in the old city is not weak. In addition, with Long Xiang's prestige in Hefei, countless people are willing to join the battle to defend the city.

The old and new cities had plenty of supplies, and it would be no problem to defend them for a year or so. Both Long Xiang and Lu Su had defensive experience, but they never thought of sending troops out of the city to fight.

Long Xiang originally planned to guard the new city in person, but the new city is still under construction. At present, apart from a temporary yamen that has become the new master's mansion, there is not a decent mansion left.

During this period, Daqiao was pregnant, and Xiaoqiao was on duty alone at night. She was also confirmed to be pregnant in late April.

Long Xiang now has a large family, leading his family. Before the Xincheng mansion is ready, it is really inconvenient for him to move there hastily.

One day in mid-to-late May, Lu Su hurried to the old city with Cao Xing. They had an important military situation to discuss with Long Xiang, but they couldn't find anyone in Xiaowei's Mansion, City Defense Camp, and Tiger Guard Camp.

Finally, under Lei Xu's leadership, Lu Su found Long Xiang in a workshop, and saw him holding a bamboo tube in front of his eyes, shaking from side to side on the haystack in the backyard of the workshop.

"Yunqi, what are you doing?"

Hearing Lu Su's call, Long Xiang adjusted the position of the bamboo tube, and a big face appeared in the lens, and then joked: "What did Zijing eat recently? He looks pretty good."

When Lu Su had a question mark on his face, Long Xiang opened his right eye and put down the bamboo binoculars, and asked with a smile as he walked down the haystack, "We haven't seen each other for a few days, how is everything in Xincheng?"

Lu Su nodded slightly: "Hefei New City is fine, but the Sun and Cao families have been making frequent moves in recent days. I guess there will be military operations soon."

"Oh? Wu Jing led hundreds of warships to the north. It's not been a day or two since he planned to attack Cao Jun's food supply. It seems that he will finally make a move? Let's talk as we walk."

Long Xiang glanced at Cao Xing who was next to Lu Su, and thought that now that Chaohu Lake was occupied by Jiangdong soldiers and horses, he had to transfer the scout ships belonging to the cavalry battalion back to watch, and Cao Cao launched a military operation in Lujiang again, and now the activities in the south of the cavalry battalion The range is limited, and the main scouts in the battalion are now placed in the north.

Not only Wu Jing stared at Cao Jun Liangdao, Long Xiang also stared at Cao Jun Liangdao from the beginning.

(End of this chapter)