Three Kingdoms.

  Chapter 1639 In the shadows

  The world is dark and yellow, and the universe is prehistoric.

  Birth, old age, sickness and death, the cycle of heaven.

  The sky is spinning and the earth is spinning, I can't stand still, the wind is howling, like a ghost laughing.

  Accompanied by the scolding sound of "be honest", the stick came down with a "boom" and hit the head, and there was a "hum" sound in the skull, and the mouth was filled with the taste of rust.

   Chaotic shouts sounded.

   "Move faster!"

   "Trash!"

"damn it!"

  Blood flowed from the top of his head, but it was strange, but it didn't hurt very much, but he still felt weak all over.

  No one resisted, everyone obeyed like sheep, howling, embarrassed, dirty, clustered together, it seemed that all the pain and abuse didn't matter, and it seemed that the death in the next moment didn't matter.

   Large groups of people are moving, moving, and moving forward.

I don't know if it's my own, or the vomit and excrement of others are stained on my body, and it is released a little bit with the action, but the vast majority of people seem to have lost their sense of smell, dull eyes, cloudy eyes, walking dead Same, following, moving, going forward.

   "Who am I? Where am I? Where am I going?" The wound on the skull was exposed in the air, as if being blown into a bit of reason and clarity by the wind, he began to think and function.

   Oh, remember...

  I am Wang Yunfei from Wushi Liting in Yecheng. This Yunfei's name is a good name that my father asked a fortune-teller at the street corner for ten large sums of money.

   Today is the sixth year of Yanping, April? Or is it May? I no longer know…

  I came here to transport food. Didn’t it mean that I can go back after transporting the food?

  I'm not a soldier, I haven't killed anyone, and I don't want to fight, but why did it become like this?

go home? correct! want to go home!

  Wang Yunfei broke out with all his strength, broke away from the queue, wanted to run away quickly, ran to his hometown, ran to his home, in his consciousness, he seemed to be running fast, like a flying cloud floating in the sky...

   "Damn! Be honest!" Cao Jun's soldiers waved their sticks, and with a "boom", they knocked down Wang Yunfei who staggered out of the queue!

  Another soldier of the Cao army also came over, smashing and kicking, "You **** want to run! Bastard!"

Wang Yunfei's body was kicked so hard that it twitched on the ground, like a fish out of water, and was hit by a mallet on the head of the fish, and suddenly couldn't jump up anymore, only the tail remained Every now and then a twitch or two...

   "Are you going home?"

"go home…"

"Home…"

   Cao Jun's soldiers stabbed him with blood-stained sticks.

"died?"

"died."

   "Damn it! That's the end of being dishonest!" Cao Jun's soldiers stopped caring about the dead Wang Yunfei, and continued to wave their sticks, like a shepherd driving a flock of sheep, "Be honest! Move faster!"

  ...here is the silent dividing line...

  Cao Hong sat on the horseback and watched his soldiers drive Yuan Jun's remnants and civilian husbands forward, his face sank like water, and he didn't say a word.

   Some civilian husbands were killed. Generally speaking, Cao Hong couldn't even feel a little trouble in his heart. These civilian husbands are like ants in the eyes of Cao Hong. If one or two die, or dozens or hundreds of them die, it doesn't matter at all.

  However, now it is not hundreds, but tens of thousands!

   Even ants, when there are tens of thousands of ants gathered in a pile, they will attract some attention...

  The key is that these ants are sick!

Although Yuan Shao made some cover-ups, after Yuan Shao left the camp and lost the effective management, these civilian husbands returned to their original habits, spraying vomiting and diarrhea at will, and then such abnormal situations were naturally followed. The pawns of the original big Han hussars that Cao Cao came from were discovered.

   Immediately after hearing the plague, Cao Cao also changed color...

  In order not to cause panic among the ordinary soldiers, Cao Cao immediately ordered Cao Hong to gather these remnants of the Yuan Army and the auxiliary soldiers and civilians together in one place, so as to minimize the contact between these personnel and the soldiers of Cao Army, so as to avoid widespread infection.

  However, how to deal with the remnants of the defeated soldiers and auxiliary soldiers left behind by Yuan Shao has become the most thorny issue at the moment.

According to the past practice, these remnants of defeated soldiers and auxiliary soldiers and civilians will be used as spoils of war, just like items, and will be distributed to the heads of various meritorious personnel, or traded, or used as domestic slaves, or simply open mountains and mines to do the hardest labor. until the last drop of blood is drained...

What?

  These remnants of defeated generals and auxiliary army civilians still need food and grass supplies?

  Are you kidding, when will people prepare special food for ants? Don't ants carry their own meat...

  As long as these ants are escorted to the allocated places in batches, the receivers in each place will be responsible for the food problem. It will not cost Cao Cao much food at all, but can earn some more money.

  Unfortunately, all of these are now in vain.

  No one would want a batch of ants infected with the plague, even if it was free.

   So, what to do?

  In the tent, Cao Cao sat behind the table.

  The sun shines in from outside the tent, but it can only stop at the corner of Cao Cao's clothes.

  Yuan Shao left Cao Cao with a difficult problem, and Cao Cao has not decided how to deal with this difficult problem for a while, or he is still hesitating whether to do it...

Cao Cao thought and thought, but he still couldn't make up his mind. He just felt upset, breathless in his chest, unable to relax, so he couldn't help standing up, hands behind his back, got out of the tent, and unknowingly swayed out of Cao Pi's tent .

   "It's tasteless again!" Cao Pi's voice came from the tent, "It's tasteless to eat, but it's a pity to throw it away!"

  Cao Cao paused.

   "My lord..." Cao Pi's personal attendant seemed to be persuading him, "This is saved by the lord..."

   "What?" Cao Pi couldn't believe it, "That's the only one on my father's side?! How, how is this possible? Under the great victory, there is not even a whole chicken?"

"Ha ha…"

  Cao Cao laughed, opened the curtain of the tent and walked in, then waved to Cao Pi's attendants. Cao Pi's attendant quickly bent his waist, almost touching the ground, and then retreated in small steps.

   "I have seen my lord father..." Cao Pi stepped forward to salute.

   "Yes." Cao Cao sat down, looked at Cao Pi up and down for a while, and then said, "What's wrong? Is it bad to dislike this chicken soup?"

  Cao Pi quickly apologized and said with a smile: "How can I dislike it...it's just because I think that after a big victory, I should have some...or eat beef and mutton...so I'm somewhat disappointed..."

Cao Cao laughed, patted the table, and said slowly: "Of course there are cattle and sheep, but in the army, soldiers should be the most important thing. You and I have to eat, when can't we eat? Why bother?" At this moment?"

  Cao Pi cupped his hands and said: "Wei, my father taught you the lesson, and my child has written it down..."

Cao Pi rolled his eyes, then raised the bowl of chicken soup, put it in front of Cao Cao, and said, "How dare the child eat it first before the father eats it? Isn't it against the etiquette? I also ask the father to use this soup first... "

"Is it not suitable for etiquette?" Cao Cao was silent for a while, then nodded, took the soup bowl and held it in his hand, but did not drink it right away, and asked, "What did you just say? It's tasteless to eat, and it's a pity to throw it away? "

  Cao Pi said embarrassingly: "The child is talking nonsense, father, don't blame me..."

   "No, you are right..." Cao Cao lowered his head and took a sip of the soup, then handed the soup bowl back to Cao Pi, stood up and said, "Well, I used it, you can use the rest..."

  Cao Pi quickly took it with both hands.

   "Remember, what you said was good..." Cao Cao patted Cao Pi on the shoulder, "But you shouldn't have said..."

  The soup bowl in Cao Pi's hand shook, almost spilling out.

  ...Here is the dividing line without soup...

   "It's all pitted..." Cao Cao said to Cao Hong in a deep voice.

   "Brother! This...all of it?" Cao Hong hesitated, "This is nearly 40,000...this...can you..."

   Yuan Shao's army went on an expedition. In addition to regular soldiers, there were also a considerable number of auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands. Some of the regular soldiers lived in tents. Although the sanitation conditions were not very good, they were much better than civilian husbands. Therefore, when the plague broke out, the civilian husbands were not spared.

  The auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands who transported food and grass and did all kinds of hard work accounted for almost half of Yuan Shao's army. When they win, these people just get some leftovers, but the pain of failure is often full of weight.

  Cao Cao's words determined the life and death of nearly 40,000 people. (Note to this chapter)

   "We won, and we won't win..." Cao Cao looked into the distance and raised his head, "The soldiers are exhausted, and the warehouses are short-lived. Within this year, they are powerless to fight again..."

In such a battle with Yuan Shao, Cao Cao basically had all the supplies and money he had obtained from Yuan Shu before. If it wasn't for Xun Yu's desperate efforts to raise supplies such as food and grass in the rear, I'm afraid it would have been... It can't be said that it was early Just, because it is exhausted now, even Cao Cao can't eat a whole chicken.

  In addition, there is a hussar in Guanzhong...

If it is said that Cao Cao has a wave of the whole family no matter what, then the rear of the void may be directly attacked by a cavalryman from Fei Qian at any time. You must know that others may have ideas but no strength, and Hussar General Fei Qian It depends on whether you have this idea if you have this strength, so no matter from which angle you look at it, Cao Cao has no way to continue fighting.

   Therefore, Cao Cao must make certain adjustments at the moment, so that the soldiers can breathe a sigh of relief before proceeding to the next step of the strategy.

   No one wanted them, they couldn’t send them out, and they couldn’t afford to support them. The large number of auxiliary soldiers and civilian husbands left behind by Yuan Jun became a huge burden.

If it was normal, Cao Cao would definitely accept it, and then send these peasants to farm. But the situation is different now. There are a large number of plague patients among the peasants, and Cao Cao has no way to completely separate the sick, infected, latent, and healthy. come out…

   The small soldiers at the grassroots level may not be aware of the horror of the plague, but Cao Cao cannot take it lightly. After all, if the plague spreads and destroys the entire army, it may take three to five days.

   "Brother..." Cao Hong was silent for a long time before he said, "...if not...abandon it..."

   Just leaving it alone is also a way.

  Cao Cao shook his head slowly, and said: "If you abandon it, the weak will die here, and there will be those who flee, and they will scatter in all directions. If it spreads to the township and county of Yanzhou..."

Because Yuan Shao had the upper hand at the beginning, this battle was pushed onto Cao Cao's territory. Although this also caused Yuan Shao's supply difficulties and Cao Cao's final victory, the current situation also means that huge risk.

Fortunately, the plague has not spread completely, but if they really don’t care about anything, then these people will inevitably run away in order to survive. Maybe most people will flee back to Jizhou, but there must still be some people who will run to the nearby In Yanzhou, by that time, the plague will really spread, and it will be too late to control it.

   Can't let it go, can't keep it.

   They can only be killed on the spot.

   "..." Cao Hong was silent for a long time, and finally said, "Brother, after all, it is unlucky to kill prisoners...if...the world may be despised..."

   "The killing of prisoners is inauspicious..." Cao Cao mused, not speaking for a long time.

The so-called ominous killing of prisoners does not mean that there is really any "ominousness", but two aspects. One is that the opponent feels that the rules have been broken, and then uses the same tragic method to retaliate; the second aspect is to make the enemy feel that they have surrendered. There is no benefit, as you will be killed, so just fight to the end, and you can win a good name.

   At the same time, we must also see that in ancient wars, it often relied on the comparison of the population base between each other, and there were some minority elites as leaders, and then fought. In this process, whether it is killing the general who surrendered or killing a large number of the enemy's population, it will cause the opponent's weakness for a certain period of time and cannot quickly rebuild the army. Therefore, if the opponent's military backbone still has a large population To be slaughtered cleanly is definitely a serious injury, so it is difficult to say whether the benefits of killing prisoners outweigh the disadvantages or the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

   It's like Bai Qikeng killed Zhao Bing back then, the pros and cons are also two points. On the one hand, it stimulated the hatred of the Zhao State, which made the Zhao State completely a hard nut to crack. On the other hand, it also caused the Zhao State to lose a large amount of young and strong labor force in a short period of time, and the national strength suddenly dropped by several levels.

   "No..." Cao Cao shook his head, and finally said, "Those who are not prisoners... are those who won't surrender..."

  Cao Hong was stunned for a moment, then looked at Cao Cao and said, "Could it be that brother means..."

"There are no civilian husbands here!" Cao Cao said in a deep voice, "The king's master defeated the rebels and repeatedly persuaded them to surrender, but they refused...so the day they break the camp is their death! These false surrenders will not be killed. What's the use?"

   "Subordinate..." Cao Hong answered slowly, cupping his hands, "Take orders..."

   In history, after Yuan Shao was defeated, nearly 70,000 soldiers and civilian husbands were killed by Cao Cao...

   The author has reduced the number here, after all, Yuan Shao's current power is not as great as it was in history...

   In addition, an explanation was also given for Cao Cao’s murder of these people. The so-called food theory and betrayal theory were actually not very tenable in the Han Dynasty, which had not completely escaped slavery...

   Even if it is to wash Heitancao, although it can't be cleaned...

  (end of this chapter)