Three Kingdoms.

  Chapter 1705 Conjecture and Intelligence

   Fei Qian had a headache because he didn't understand what the two words on the silk cloth meant...

   It's not because the word is hard to read, but because I don't know what it wants to express.

  Is there cryptography in the Han Dynasty?

Have.

   But the coverage is very small, and the means are very simple and crude.

Password is a great science. When the password is learned to a certain extent, information can be encrypted to make the transmission of information controllable. Only specific people can see specific content, while others can’t. Is at a loss.

  In modern society, passwords are ubiquitous. Without passwords, from individuals to countries, all property, privacy, business secrets, confidential documents, military intelligence, etc. may be illegally used, and the consequences will be disastrous.

  As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Jiang Ziya used wooden sticks to convey military information. Jiang Ziya made wooden sticks of different lengths, and different lengths represent different meanings and are used to convey military secrets. For example, the longest one foot represents a big victory, nine inches represents breaking the formation or capturing the enemy general, and the shorter the worse, the shortest three inches represents the death of the general.

This encryption technology does not use a single word, it only needs both parties to the message to understand the meaning, even if it is intercepted, the secret will not be leaked, the disadvantage is that the transmitted information is limited, and if the sender makes a mistake on the way, it will lead to serious consequences . For example, the passer accidentally fell and the wooden stick broke, and then King Zhou took it out to have a look, and there was a myocardial infarction on the spot...

  In order to solve this problem, Jiang Ziya later invented the "Yinshu" encryption technology, which is also the earliest cipher text technology. To put it simply, it is to divide the information text into three parts, and use three people to take different paths to deliver them, and the recipient can obtain the complete information by piecing the three parts together. Although this increases the amount of information transmitted, if one piece of information is intercepted, it may be leaked.

   Then it stopped here. From the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, there was basically no development in cryptography. But for the sake of simplicity and use, things like tiger charms appeared. The prototype of the Tiger Talisman was first made of jade Zhang. Because jade has a natural texture, it is basically impossible to have imitations. However, if it is accidentally lost or stolen, the consequences will be very serious.

  The development of cryptography did not gradually take shape until the Song Dynasty. It reached a new height in the Ming Dynasty, and then the Qing Dynasty...uh, forget it...

It’s not that Fei Qian has never thought about using a password, but the problem is that the password not only needs to be understood by oneself, but also needs to be taught to those who go to the other party’s territory to investigate, and a password cannot be changed at will during the process of using it. If a person can't think about it for a while, or if something happens to him, wouldn't the other party know about it naturally?

  So Fei Qian didn't have any idea of ​​cryptography on these people, but when he saw the message passed, he couldn't help regretting it. Who can understand just these two words?

   "wind", "head".

  Strictly speaking, it should be "wind" and "head".

   "Then should the worms have one side? Or should the beans have side pages?" Fei Qian wondered, scratching his head a little, "Who does the worms represent? Or the three sides of the siege? The beans mean grain and grass? Lao Cao is preparing grain and grass?"

  Fei subconsciously glanced at Xun Chen aside.

  Xun Chen sensed Fei Qian's gaze, put down the pen in his hand, and asked, "Master, what's the matter?"

   "This..." Fei Qian tapped the table lightly a few times, and asked Xun Chen, "You Ruo, I don't know about Xun's family, do you have any news?"

  Xun Chen is not stupid, he knew what it meant when he heard it, he cupped his hands and said, "My lord, Chen has not seen anyone from his clan for two years and three months, nor has he written a letter to Yingchuan..."

   After all, Fei Qian and Cao Cao had some relationship before, but now they are more and more in a state of opposition, Xun Chen naturally will not do something that risks losing his head.

  Of course, the same goes for Yingchuan.

   Not only is it necessary for ordinary family letters, but more and more caution is required in doing things. Just like when Zhuge Jin from Soochow came to Liu Bei's Sichuan, the two Zhuge brothers seemed to have a tacit understanding. All words and deeds must be carried out in public, and they never met in private, and they did not do anything superfluous. action.

"Oh..." Fei Qian nodded, motioning for Huang Xu to show the silk cloth to Xun Chen, and said, "After Dezu returned to Heluo, there was no news from Yingchuan... Recently I sent people to inquire, and found I don’t know what these two words mean…”

  Xun Chen also frowned slightly after receiving it.

"Yellow silk and black characters..." Xun Chen said in a low voice, "Is it absolutely ink? Could it be that Cao Sikong broke the rules? Hiss... Is there a possibility that there will be a change in the court? The wind is the insect inside, and the head is on the side of the page. The meaning of the emperor's change in the palace?"

  Fei Qian: ⊙o⊙)?"

   Is there such an operation?

   What does this mean?

   Or wait?

  Although there is some uncertainty about what it is, one thing is certain, that is, Cao Cao has indeed not sent troops now...

   Would it be possible to know what it means if the person who inquired about the news came back from Yanzhou after a while and verified it against each other?

  But in this way, what is the point of using carrier pigeons to expedite information delivery? ! Such a waste of time, labor and management might as well wait for someone to climb all the way!

  So what is the situation of Cao Cao and Cao Sikong now?

  It’s actually very simple, not as complicated as Fei Qian and Xun Chen imagined. Of course, some of Fei Qian’s and Xun Chen’s guesses were correct, but the reason why Cao Cao didn’t send troops was only because of a…

  Cao Cao's head wind offended.

  Headache is a disease that even the medical system of later generations cannot fully understand, because many diseases can cause headaches, and headaches often occur irregularly. In future generations, you can generally ask the patient whether it is severe, whether the pain is long or short, and then describe the form of the pain as much as possible, such as swelling pain or dull pain, tearing pain, electric shock Pain, or acupuncture pain, etc., but the Han Dynasty...

Although Cao Cao can be considered a big family, there are many Cao brothers and Xiahou brothers, but in fact it is not much different from Fei Qian, and it belongs to the situation where tens of thousands of lives are tied to one body. As for the immediate shutdown, it's about the same.

  Even so, Cao Cao was forced to hold on to deal with political affairs, otherwise many things would be like no one making decisions. Of course, although part of Cao Hong and Xia Houyuan’s partial troops have already gone to Qingzhou, the main force of Cao’s army is still unable to move...

  …(_)…

  Although Cao Cao was delayed by the headwind, the struggle between Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang did not stop because of it.

The south and east gates of Yecheng, which were attacked, are now showing signs of exhaustion. The battlements that were originally neat and uniform are now incomplete. Collapsed blue bricks mixed with flesh and blood are piled up with corpses under the city pool. Because of the infusion of blood, the cut-off moat outside Yecheng was filled with red and black, and the **** mud near the city wall was thick, covered with minced meat, and it was ankle-deep when stepped on, making it extremely muddy.

Near the gate of the lower city, a passage was forcibly stepped on. In this passage, which was more than ten feet wide, blood and water mixed with the residue of flesh and blood. In the moonlight, it still glows faintly. I don't know if it's because of the unjust death contained in it, or because of the phosphorus fire in the bones.

  Continuous sieges resulted in heavy casualties on both sides. Of course, more of them were on the side of Yuan Tan who was attacking the city.

In the southeast far away from Yecheng, in Yuan Tan's camp, most of the soldiers were exhausted. After retreating from the front line, they wolfed down and usually fell asleep. Even the occasional passing parade could not wake these people up.

Yuan Tan's subordinates were also a group of veteran soldiers under Yuan Shao, and they were also the first soldiers recruited by Yuan Shao when he was in Bohai. Since Yuan Shao annexed Jizhou, many of them participated in the war with Gongsun Zan. Fortunately, survived, and now...

In comparison, although the casualties in Yecheng were not small, compared with Yuan Tan, it is naturally much better, but the problem is that Yecheng is a fairly large city with a large population, so the daily consumption is not It's a small amount, and the resources in the city are limited. Now that the four gates are closed, it's okay for a day or two, but it will be troublesome if it takes a long time.

In the air on the city wall of Ye City, there is not only a strong smell of blood, but also the smell of burnt meat, and the strong smell of excrement and urine everywhere. The three kinds of smells mixed together make people feel Makes me want to vomit...

  Yuan Shang no longer dared to stay near the city gate any longer, curled up in the government office, and almost every day urged Guo Tu, the judge and assistant, to win as soon as possible and end the battle as soon as possible.

   "Brother Zhengnan?" When the appointment was made, Feng Jijian hesitated a little and didn't give the order immediately, so he couldn't help asking with some doubts.

  The judge came back to his senses, and cast a slight glance at Feng Ji.

Guo Tu is still doing his old job, but this time it is not Yuan Shao who is with him, but Yuan Shang, and Feng Ji is spreading the word in the middle, and seems to be doing the same job as before. Ye City Guard is naturally responsible for the safety of Ye City. It seems to be the same thing as before, but no matter who it is, they all know that it is completely different from Yuan Shao's life now...

   "Raise the fire!" The judge didn't hesitate for long, and quickly gave the order in a deep voice.

  Wen Chou, who had already lined up in the city, looked at the bonfire burning above the city gate, as if something was burning in his chest, hot and anxious.

  Up to now, Wen Chou has not adapted to the fact that Yuan Shao is dead. Even in combat, he often looks for Yuan Shao’s voice in the central army position...

Wen Chou, like Yan Liang, both started from humble beginnings, because his personal bravery was appreciated by Yuan Shao, and he gradually reached his current status. Therefore, Yuan Shao is not only a commander in chief, but also a benefactor to Wen Chou, but now the benefactor Wen Chou was already dead, but the benefactor's children started killing each other, which made Wen Chou a little bit at a loss.

  Wen Chou squeezed the long knife in his hand, feeling the coldness from the weapon, took a deep breath, and then exhaled: "Open the city gate! Go out!"

In the midst of the bang, the city gate to the north of Yecheng opened, and Wen Chou rushed out of Yecheng with his men and horses, and then made a slight circle. After rectifying the formation, he immediately went to kill Yuan Tan camp and go.

The distance is getting closer, and the scene in front of me is becoming clearer and clearer. Under the light of the fire, Yuan's banner flutters and flutters above the camp. The words in the middle of the banner should have been red, but now they seem to have frozen His blood was normal and turned purple-black. Under the light of the torch, countless noisy voices rang out, appearing a little flustered and nervous.

  If it was before, Wen Chou would definitely be more excited because of the situation of the enemy army, but now he doesn’t know why he can’t be happy, he just raised his head and roared, and moved forward according to the order, launching a fierce offensive...

  The soldiers of Yecheng threw the torches they held high into Yuan Tan's camp, while hacking and destroying with Yuan Tan's soldiers between the fences.

Yuan Tan didn't expect that Yuan Shang, who had been huddled in the city and seemed to have no power to fight back, or that the judge had such a power to fight back, maybe he was aware of it, but he didn't take it to heart, or it was because of strong emotions All in all, Yuan Tan's soldiers were exhausted after continuous siege battles. When they encountered Wen Chou's surprise attack, they had little resistance. There were several openings in the wall, and then swarmed in, slashing and killing.

   "Kill the enemy's chief general! There will be a reward of ten thousand gold! You will be named a Marquis!"

  A sharp voice sounded, Wen Chou slightly turned his head to look, but it was Su You, a general who had been following Yuan Shang.

  I don’t know why, when Wen Chou heard this voice, the original irritability in his heart beat even more, as if his breath was not smooth, it was blocked in the chest and abdomen, and he felt uncomfortable up and down.

  Su You quickly discovered Yuan Tan's location in the camp, shouting and leading more than a dozen personal guards, while shouting, he rushed towards Yuan Tan.

  Wen Chou slowed down and frowned.

  Warm blood and minced meat were sprayed on Wen Chou's battle robe and armor, and in the late autumn night wind, it quickly became viscous and icy.

  Yuan Tan's guards frantically resisted, which made Su You more excited. His shrill voice was like a crow in the cold night, croaking non-stop.

Su You waved his saber and stared at Yuan Tan closely, as if Yuan Tan was a treasure that glowed all over his body. He roared excitedly, spouting far away: "Kill him! Reward ten thousand gold! Ten thousand gold! Kim... uh..."

A stray arrow flew from nowhere, pierced the back of Su You's head with its "poof" life, so that Su You didn't even have time to let out a pitiful scream, and just jumped forward, fell to the ground and died .

  The guards following Su You were shocked and lost their positions. Yuan Tan immediately seized the opportunity and counterattacked, killing Su You and his subordinates...

Yuan Tan saw Wen Chou in the distance who seemed to be throwing something in his hands on the ground amidst the blood and flames. Their eyes met in the air for a moment, and then Wen Chou shouted loudly and led his men towards another direction. and go.

Yuan Tan arched his hands slightly in Wen Chou's direction, then turned his head, "Command! We...we... withdraw, withdraw!" The last word "withdraw" roared out, Yuan Tan unconsciously roared in a hoarse voice , tears streaming down the face...

  (end of this chapter)