Three Kingdoms.

  Chapter 2102 The city is tasteless, and so are people

  『Cao’s army wants Fancheng, because Xiangyang’s gate is also indispensable...' Zhuge Liang said slowly, 'but this place...for hussars, what’s the benefit of keeping it? 』

   Before Xu Yu and Liao Hua could react, Zhuge Liang raised his hand and pointed vainly, "Hussars want to get here? No, but for the people! Now in Fancheng, nine out of ten people have gone, the shops are closed, the gentry have left, and the warehouses are all empty... You two, why not think about it, what is the benefit of staying? 』

  When Zhuge Liang said "What's the benefit of staying" for the second time, Xu Yu and Liao Hua also gradually recovered from the surprise at the beginning, and began to think seriously about the content of Zhuge Liang's words.

  Fancheng, when Cao Jun Xiahou and others came, they had already moved once. Later, after Cao Hong was defeated, Xu Huang ordered a large number of Fancheng people to go north. For the original people in Fancheng, relocation is certainly not a pleasant thing, but is it better than being caught on the front line of the battlefield?

  In the eyes of these ordinary people, although they said they were going to leave their hometown, even if they were worried, they still had the promise of the hussars and the hope of living. If they really fell into the war, they would probably die! Therefore, most of the people in Fancheng have basically left. Of course, in any era, there are always some people who do not want to leave their homeland, and most of them are elderly. On the one hand, their health is not suitable for migration. On the one hand, he was also unwilling to drag down the young people of his family, so he stayed in Fancheng.

For the people who stayed in Fancheng, Zhuge Liang felt a little anxious at the beginning, because he knew that if he really competed with Cao Jun, these people would die sooner or later, but after he communicated with these people, Zhuge Liang actually found out that these people Far more open-minded than Zhuge Liang himself...

  『You are a good officer...』

  『Don’t worry about us…』

  『We know, we all know...』

   Zhuge Liang was silent.

  If these people are placed in later generations, most of them can still be regarded as adults, and some people will even jump on their feet and shout that I am still young, but in Dahan, these people in their forties and fifties are already considered old. Because of long hours of hard work and malnutrition, these men in their 40s and 50s inevitably have various chronic diseases or hidden dangers. When the children of these people left Fancheng, these people were almost in a state where they could live a day.

If you encounter those keyboard warriors who like moral kidnapping, they will jump out immediately, scold you first, and then accuse Hu Qi of being irresponsible and inhumane, just doing superficial things, and have the guts to let these people Live your old age in peace, enjoy your life, be happy and healthy, be safe and joyful...

  But these pigheads don’t think about it. Even later generations will cut pension benefits again and again. In the early days of a feudal dynasty, can these requirements be met? If it is to support these people, where will the money come from? The wind blows over? It's like seeing someone in the company receive a bonus that exceeds their own, and they just booed and asked for a treat. The bonuses others got also fell from the sky in a strong wind?

Zhuge Liang is not a keyboard man, let alone a pighead, but he still has a compassionate heart. He wants to let these people survive in Fancheng as much as possible. Killed these Fancheng people...

  After all, if the diplomatic war continues in Fancheng, not only the hussars will be lost, but also the remaining civilians in these cities will be lost. Although Zhuge Liang is merciful, but if the battle is really tight, can Zhuge Liang jump in front of Xu Yu and Liao Hua and shout that these people cannot be requisitioned for labor, and everything can only be done by the hussars? Taking ten thousand steps back, if Fancheng cannot be defended, with the tyranny of the hussars, it is not a big problem to break through, but what about the people left behind in Fancheng? Will Xiahoudun and other Cao Group treat these common people kindly? The attack on the city caused Cao's army to lose. Once Fancheng is captured, aren't these people the best thing to vent?

  『Therefore, if we evacuate...』Zhuge Liang sighed slightly and said, 『Most of these people can still live...If you stick to this, after you and I break through the siege, the people in the city will almost die...』

  Xu Yu frowned, disapproving of Zhuge Liang's compassion. In the war, there are no dead people. The Xiqiang riots were so fierce back then, corpses littered the fields inside and outside Tianshui City at every turn, and no big Han official would stand up and say that he must protect the people and cherish living beings.

   On the other hand, Liao Hua was a little moved. He never thought that Zhuge Liang was thinking about the problem from this angle, or that Zhuge Liang even considered this aspect...

   Although Liao Hua followed the refugees all the way to Guanzhong and suffered a lot, even so, he still did not take the life and death of these ordinary people into the consideration of the war. Battle formation arrangement, **** deployment, equipment operation, terrain considerations, morale adjustment, general arrangement, these issues are already cumbersome enough to make people feel cumbersome and headaches, but Zhuge Liang still has the mind to think about these things left in Fancheng people!

   For a moment, Liao Hua didn't know what to say.

  『Abandoning Fancheng...』 Xu Yu was silent for a while, and then said slowly, 『However, what General Zhenjun said earlier...this...is it probably inappropriate? 』

  Zhuge Liang had obviously thought it over properly, and nodded when he heard the words, and said, "The general of the town army entrusted us to garrison the front line of Zhuyang in Fancheng, not just in Fancheng..."

Xu Yu was about to say something, but Zhuge Liang stretched out his hand to signal, "Lieutenant Xu's concerns, Liang also knows, there are two things, one is that the city of Zhuyang is simple and poor, and it is not as strong as Fancheng; , I'm afraid it will be difficult to support for more than a month...』

  Xu Yu thought for a while, nodded and said, "That's true. 』

On the whole, Xu Yu neither opposes for the sake of opposition, nor does he mean that he must drag the people of Fancheng to defend together, but that in consideration of the war, if abandoning Fancheng can have more benefits, it can achieve the goal of suppressing the army. Xu Yu is of course willing to accept Zhuge Liang's suggestion at the general's request.

  Zhuge Liang smiled slightly, and said something again, which made Xu Yu and Liao Hua frowned and thought...

  …(*^__^*)…

  The three people in Fancheng were able to arrange various matters calmly, but for Xiahou Dun, there was no way to be calm. Even though he wanted to be as calm as possible, he inevitably showed some anxiety.

  This kind of anxiety may have been born from the rising fire in Nanying, or it may be because of seeing Cao Zhen hurt, or seeing He Yan's vain and incompetent face...

  Anyway, He Yan's old mother is still Cao Cao's concubine, so even though Xiahou Dun is full of anger, he can only postpone He Yan's problem until Cao Cao handles it. That's right, even though Cao Cao's big head hurts on one side and the other on the other, but the small head can still have fun here and there, after all, is she the general's wife...

  Even if He Yan's question is put aside, there are still many other questions. Obviously, after the rear battalion was burned, the desire to attack Fancheng not only did not decrease, but became more urgent. Because whether it is Xiahou Dun, Cao Ren, or some other Cao Jun generals who are well-versed in things, they all understand the fact that if they just retreat to Xiangyang, the so-called "regrouping" may really only be "regrouping" in the end.

A big fire, of course, lost a lot of luggage, especially the ships, which were more than ten or three, and the damage was heavy, but for ordinary soldiers, they didn't know this. There was a sneak attack, and Cao Zhen was injured. I don't know much about the specific situation.

  If the troops really retreated, then Cao Jun, who didn't know much about the situation, immediately knew the seriousness of the problem. If they want to restore morale, it is unknown when they will make a comeback.

Therefore, Xiahoudun and Cao Ren agreed that they must take advantage of the fact that the current supply is not too tight. On the one hand, the remaining ships should quickly go down the river to Xiangyang to replenish a batch of supplies. On the other hand, they must capture Fancheng as soon as possible. Procrastinate any longer. This time, Xiahou Dun even wanted to go into battle by himself and attacked Dengcheng.

   But just when Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren discussed and decided to launch a new round of attacks at dawn the next day, an accident happened again...

   As for why not that day? Xiahoudun also thought about it, but the problem was the turmoil in the southern camp last night, even the gods had to control it first, restore order and count the supplies before continuing to fight? The missing soldiers need to be adjusted, and the injured soldiers need to be resettled. This is not a video game. Even if the entire queue dies to the last one, as long as the number is marked, the combat effectiveness will not be weakened at all after being replenished.

  On the eve before Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren were about to launch an attack, Fancheng moved, and the whole city was dispatched as soon as it moved. Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren were so frightened that they immediately got up and climbed onto the high platform to look around.

  In the night, there was some light and fire shaking, but it was not enough light for Xiahou Dun and Cao Ren to see everything around them clearly. They could only use the various sounds from the night wind to assist in their judgment.

The military marquis in charge of the scouts in the camp was also sweating profusely, because the scouts sent out were attacked by hussar scouts, and because the camp behind Cao Jun's scouts was brighter, but facing Fancheng was darker, so Cao Jun's scouts were He suffered a great loss, but the problem couldn't make Xiahoudun order to extinguish all the torches in the camp, so he had to bite the bullet and dispatch, but the loss rate was really a headache...

  『Attack! To test the truth! 』Without knowing the specific situation around Fancheng, and the scouts are not strong enough, the best way is to use force to detect.

  A military marquis of the Cao army held his shield high while leading the soldiers out of the camp gate.

  『Ten steps forward! 』

  Although there were some fragmented voices from the left and right, but nothing happened. The Marquis looked back at the camp, and then ordered again: "Twenty steps forward!" 』

  The line of soldiers advanced staggeringly. Cao Jun's soldiers controlled themselves as much as possible, and stretched their swords and guns towards the gray and black in front of them, maintaining their formation, and advancing slowly.

   Another twenty steps, here we are.

   Cao Jun's soldiers had just stopped, and before they breathed a sigh of relief, they suddenly heard a piercing and familiar voice!

  『Boom boom! 』

"Whizzing! 』

   Cao Jun Junhou roared heart-piercingly: "Raise the shield! 』

   Almost instinctively, when the familiar sound of arrows flying sounded in the air, Cao Jun's soldiers raised their shields one after another to form a shield wall. If we say that ordinary arrows are basically enough for defense, but the problem is that there seems to be a strong crossbow on the opposite side!

  The sound of the strong crossbow was dull and heavy, like a heavy hammer hitting the drum. Immediately, Cao Jun's soldiers were hit by the crossbow arrows, fell to the ground in pain, and screamed out.

  『Shoot! Archer! fight back! 』

  Cao Ren stood on the wall of the village, commanding Cao soldiers to fight back in the direction of the arrow. Pieces of arrows flew past in the night sky, as dense as migratory locusts, but because they were shot blindly, the effect of intimidation and deterrence was greater than the effect of killing.

  Normally speaking, after a long-range attack, they would charge a wave, and then defeat Cao Jun's line with melee combat, and Cao Jun's arrows were to intercept the opponent's melee soldiers from charging.

   What's weird is that the opponent doesn't seem to have any idea of ​​melee combat at all. He neither attacked the line of soldiers nor continued to shoot. If it weren't for the ups and downs of screams in Cao Jun's line of soldiers, it would inevitably make people wonder if the attack just now was an illusion...

  『Could it be that...』 Cao Ren rolled his eyes a few times, 『On the other side is only an archer holding him back? No other arms? 』Cao Ren has never been so eager for the sky to be bright as he is now, longing for the sun to rise in the next moment, and then illuminate the battlefield transparently.

  『Forward...』

  『Boom boom! 』

  『Swish, whoosh, whoosh…』

  The familiar and terrifying voice came again, Cao Jun Junhou immediately swallowed the command just now, and retracted his head behind the shield. If you can't push it up, that's it, whoever wants to push it up, I will shrink back, er, behind the shield!

  Come forward quietly? Do you want to speak up? Sorry, there is no such item in the training subjects of Cao Jun's soldiers, and there is no corresponding instruction. Perhaps Xiahou Dun Cao Ren and other elite private troops have practiced this kind of demanding combat skills, but the general soldiers of Cao Jun are basically in the type of "everyone roar forward" or "roar". You can't move, you only move after you roar, otherwise how can it be called "order and prohibition"?

  In the night outside the gate of Fancheng, feathered arrows flew back and forth one after another, and Cao Jun's soldiers in the middle only wanted to scold their mothers but dared not speak up. After all, the archers in the rear may not all be accurate. Marquis Cao Jun saw at least two unlucky guys with arrows stuck in their buttocks...

  『Uncle Zixiao, how about...』 Cao Xiu stepped forward, ready to invite Ying, but was stopped by Cao Ren.

  『Forget it, let’s withdraw the troops first and come back. ’Cao Ren glanced at Cao Xiu, then shook his head, ‘What if another caltrop is planted, how should we resist it? 』

  Send a team of soldiers forward. Although they are attacked, the sword and shield hand itself has stronger defense against bows and arrows, so the damage is relatively small. In addition, it also proved that there were indeed hussar soldiers in the night. Judging from the density of arrows, the number would not be less than a thousand. Although the exact location of these soldiers could not be determined, it was difficult to deal with the enemy's darkness. But as soon as the sky is bright, isn't the situation immediately reversed?

   Besides, what if it is a strategy of exhaustion? Or is it a trick of seduction? Anyway, it has been proved that there are indeed hussar soldiers outside the camp, so it is safest to stick to the camp and wait for the destiny. Right now Cao Jun is up and down, don't take risks if you can, and wait until the sky is bright before attacking with troops. In this way, Cao Jun can wait for work at ease in the camp, and on the other hand, he can also take advantage of the coordination of arms, so that he will not be like this, shadowy in the dark night, unable to catch, want to fight, and be damaged in vain...

Sure enough, after a while, Xiahou Dun's order spread throughout the camp. Except for the necessary soldiers on duty and the archers on the wall, most of the soldiers asked to wear armor and rest, and then waited for the dawn. It will launch an unreserved attack on Fancheng!

  『Hmm...as expected...』 Zhuge Liang smiled, and then said to Xu Yu, 『Lieutenant Xu, what happened after the end...』

  Xu Yu laughed, and said, "Don't worry Kong Ming! 』

  Zhuge Liang arched his hands again, nodded, but did not leave, but went to the city again.

  『Kong Ming, this is…』Xu Yu shouted.

  Zhuge Liang said: "A word between Liang and Fan Chengxiang will not delay..."

  In Fancheng, most of the hussars had started to evacuate at night, and what was left now was Xu Yu's cavalry formation and the people who originally lived in Fancheng.

   Seeing Zhuge Liang coming, these Fancheng people stood up and saluted Zhuge.

  『Everyone... don’t worry, your letters have already been taken out of the city...』 Zhuge Liang said. Most of the people in Fancheng couldn't write. It was Zhuge Liang who asked the military scribes to record some messages for half a day. They were probably words like "how are you, I'm fine here".

  Zhuge Liang looked around for a week, and then said: "Remember, at dawn, I set fire to this place..." Zhuge Liang pointed to the Fancheng government office behind him, "Remember, remember, neither too early nor too late..."

To keep the people of Fancheng alive, on the one hand, it is to end the war in the Jingbei area as soon as possible, so as not to cause a war of attrition. Naturally, these people do not need to be used as consumables; The old, the weak, the sick, and the disabled who are worthless become non-retired personnel with a certain residual value again, so naturally Cao Jun will not kill him.

   Therefore, the withdrawal of troops is the first step, and the burning of the Fancheng government office is the second step.

Taking advantage of the darkness, the withdrawal of troops went smoothly. Cao Jun, who had been beaten by a sneak attack before, was obviously more cautious. He was unwilling to disrupt the battle with the hussars. He wanted to use the advantage of numbers to fight after dawn. It can be said that Cao Jun's overall tactical intention It was very clear and reasonable, but it was exactly what Zhuge Liang expected.

  Then burn the Fancheng government office at dawn, and the surrounding areas of the Fancheng government office are basically the residences of the original Fancheng gentry children.

  Of course, the more important thing is that the neighbors of these gentry children are far away from the residences of ordinary people in the north of the city and the south of the city.

  Fancheng is like a chicken rib to hussars, but to Xiahou of the Cao family, it is extremely important, so once Fancheng is on fire, who will worry? On the one hand, they want to pursue and on the other hand, they want to fight the fire. For generals such as the Xiahou family and the Cao family, can it be said that they will let the soldiers fight the fire and let the people of Fancheng pursue them?

In the same way, autumn is high and dry, even if it is to fight the fire, it may not be able to grab many neighbors in the north of Fancheng City, and once the Fuya area is burned down, it is impossible for the Xiahou family and the Cao family to go to the slums in the south of the city Going to live in the middle, repairing and rebuilding has become a follow-up necessity, and the older people in Fancheng will naturally be conscripted as labor...

The irony is that here, yes, as labor slaves, these people still have value. If they are not paid, they will also give some food. Even if many people will die because of labor, it is better than seeing Fancheng Unscathed, Cao Jun looked at it in a blink of an eye, what is the use of these old and weak people, are they a waste of food and grass? It's better to just indulge the soldiers and slaughter them all. On the one hand, they can vent their anger and appease the soldiers' grievances, and on the other hand, they can blame the hussars, and at the same time, they don't have to bear the rations of these people.

  Zhuge Liang looked back, checked the fire left behind, then sighed slightly, turned and walked away. When passing the gate of the Yamen in Fancheng Mansion, Zhuge Liang paused slightly, looked at the open vermilion gate, and an indescribable look flashed in his eyes.

   These people are the people of the big man, but they have to rely on burning government offices to destroy the symbols of the power of the big man to survive. How many people are there in the world, and how many symbols of the power of the big man must be destroyed in order to survive? When these vermilion gates and these big man's government offices are all burned, can this world still be called a big man?

   If it’s not called the Han Dynasty, what would it be called?

  The night is falling, and who can see the road ahead?

  (end of this chapter)