Three Kingdoms.

 Chapter 3290 Keep the green hills alive

The front lines of both sides were approaching rapidly, and shouts with different accents were heard from time to time.

 No matter how you listen to it, you will feel that the soldiers on the Hussar side are more energetic, while the soldiers in Cao's camp down the slope, who clearly have better bunkers and fortifications, seem a little panicked.

 Lances are like a forest.

 Flags are flying.

Even with artillery, cold weapons still play the main role on the battlefield in this era.

 When Xu Chu issued the order, Fei Qian did not give any guidance or express any attitude. Because Fei Qian knew that in an army, orders must not be inconsistent or unclear.

 In fact, the same is true in any organizational government, or in a country. The clearer the order, the more conducive it is to the implementation at the bottom.

Huaxia actually likes to use words such as "in principle", but in fact the more such words are used, the more unfriendly it will be to subordinates, and it will also cause structural damage to the entire country.

 "Agree in principle" means "I won't stop it, but if something happens, you will be responsible." 』

“In principle it is not allowed” means “This is not allowed, but there is pressure that forces me to allow it, so the responsibility after something happens is borne by you and the person who put the pressure. 』

“Not necessary” means, “Don’t do something unless a better situation arises, or there is a sufficient reason to go through the process, otherwise you will definitely be blamed by the future, and you will have to take the blame. 』

"If necessary" means "I have anticipated that this situation will arise and authorize you to make a plan to do it, but I will not bear any responsibility for you to do this." 』

 Simply put, the above are all scapegoating.

In the Chinese feudal dynasty, low-ranking officials were increasingly scolded for their inaction, greed, laziness, and neglect of duty. But have you ever thought that this situation is also because when those who issued edicts and clauses and various court documents were issued, they were increasingly Are there more and more words like "in principle", "in theory", "in law", etc.?

"In principle" appears to be acknowledging the "principle", but in fact it is wielding a **** and digging out loose holes in the "principle". Even the most rigid law can be solved through this ingenious "principle". The above treatment also provides sufficient reasons for violations of the law.

This is actually a violation of the law, an insult, and a violation that looks flexible on the surface, but is actually the "flexibility" and daring "excuse" of corrupt officials.

 So when Fei Qian issued instructions to Xu Chu, he was always deterministic about whether he could do it or not, and he would not tell Xu Chu about "in principle" or "in law" at all...

When the army soldiers attack, there is no "principle".

 Advance and retreat, life and death, the more important the moment, it must be simple and clear.

 The soldiers of Cao's army down the **** have been passively being beaten.

 But when Xu Chu's infantry line advanced to a stone's throw away, the counterattack in the camp down the **** began.

Although arrows and crossbows cannot hit Xu Chu's front line, catapults and ballistae can.

But, I don’t know whether it was because there were not many catapults and ballistas in Cao’s camp down the slope, or for some other reason, so there were only two or three catapults and no more than five ballistae shooting.

After encountering a counterattack by Cao Jun's ballistas and hurled stones, Xu Chu issued an order for the front line to form a dispersed formation.

 A neat and dense array means that you have to withstand greater damage, while a relatively dispersed small array is more flexible. Moreover, facing long-range weapons like Cao Jun's that are "slower" than artillery, you can do some evasive actions when it attacks, such as crawling on the ground to avoid it.

 As for Xu Chu's dispersed array, Cao Jun's camp obviously had no effective countermeasures.

The crossbow chariots in Cao's camp roared to throw stones, but most of the attacks fell into the air.

As Xu Chu's infantry line pressed forward, the other two bronze cannons were dragged down by four horses each to the front of the hussars' formation and began to prepare for erection. Although artillery is more accurate and more destructive than catapults, it is still far from the artillery of later generations that can strike at fixed points.

 Before, the distance was farther, and the hit was obviously much worse. Now we are re-advancing the artillery position, just to make a more accurate strike on the cracked wall of Cao Jun's camp down the slope.

 Artillery is a newly developed item, so even if you have experience in aiming catapults, you cannot use it on artillery.

At the same time, today's artillery is still a smoothbore cannon. If you want to light up a more accurate rifled technology tree, it is definitely not something Fei Qian can do with just one sentence...

According to the current metallurgical technology, smoothbore guns can obviously withstand higher chamber pressures, which is equivalent to extending the life and number of uses of the barrel. However, if the metallurgical technology is not up to standard, rifled guns will be used. When it comes out, it is forbidden to fire one or two rounds and then explode directly on the spot, hurting yourself before hurting others.

"Beep! Beep beep beep! 』

 The craftsman directing the artillery bombardment blew the copper whistle to remind the hussars and infantry in front to get out of the way of the artillery bombardment.

The hussars' infantry line is not really a skirmish line, but is similar to a small array and exists as a defensive force for the artillery. Therefore, when the artillery fires, it needs to leave a shell channel so that the artillery can support the infantry line. In combat, the infantry line can also defend against enemy artillery counterattacks in time.

 Soon, the rearranged artillery began firing again.

 A cannonball weighs about six pounds and six taels.

 Han jin.

 Larger shells will have greater destructive power, but also require stronger gunpowder explosion power to propel them.

This is not the standard set by Fei Qian, but when he sees this standard, he can't help but have some bad taste in his heart.

 This is after many tests, the craftsmen determined that the weight of the artillery shell was set within the range of six pounds and six taels.

Hence, every roar of artillery seems to be roaring "666"...

 The cannonballs flew towards Cao Jun's camp down the slope, and wherever they hit, sawdust flying from the wall of Cao Jun's camp was flying, and blood filled the air.

 A large Han flag, which was either hit by a cannonball or rolled up by the airflow of the cannonball, was thrown high into the air, then slowly swayed, and then fell slowly.

Liu Zhu, who was in Cao's camp at the bottom of the slope, saw that the hussars did not rush to attack the camp immediately. Even his infantry line was within a stone's throw. Although his catapults and crossbows could injure the attackers, Killing these hussars and infantry, but the efficiency is obviously very pitiful, and the more arrows and crossbows stored in them are of no use for the time being.

This caused the morale of the archers arrayed behind the camp wall to continue to collapse. Especially when the opposite artillery bombarded the wall, these Cao Jun archers couldn't help but exclaimed, and even some archers Unable to bear this terrifying pressure, he collapsed on the spot and ran away, but was directly killed on the spot by the soldiers of Cao Jun, the central leader supervising the battle from behind.

Facing the brand new combat tactics of the Hussars, Liu Zhu seemed very confused and couldn't make up his mind for a while.

Originally, Cao Jun’s strategy was just to fight against the hussar cavalry...

As a result, the hussars' cavalry are now on both wings, but the attackers are infantry. Moreover, the hussars' infantry are completely different from the previous fighting mode of filling pits and digging trenches. This makes Cao's army camp down the **** continue to be passively beaten. .

If an attack is ordered to deal with the artillery in the hussars and infantry array, let's not talk about what "surprises" are waiting for Cao Jun in the hussars and infantry array. Just talking about the hussars cavalry wandering uncertainly on both wings is enough. Let these Cao soldiers who left the fortification bunkers have a good drink.

But if you still don't attack, let alone the final fate of the camp walls in front of you, the morale of Cao's soldiers is constantly collapsing. If it falls to the critical point and the entire army collapses, it will really happen. There is no chance of rescue!

 What to do?

Liu Zhu felt that his head was buzzing, as if the roaring sounds of artillery penetrated into his brain again and again, and then lingered around, stirring wantonly.

 The smoke from the artillery fills the air, and the sound is like thunder.

The destructive power of artillery shells is more brutal than that of catapults. This is probably because the stone projectiles dropped by catapults generally fall. As long as they are not near the point of fall, there is generally not much danger, even if It happened that a stone bullet hit him. As long as he didn't hit him directly, he would only be bruised and bruised by the splashed stones and mud. But for artillery shells, the main direction of force is horizontal...

 Bombing the wall of the camp will immediately cause the camp wall to crack, shake, and collapse. However, everything on the trajectory of the artillery bombardment will seem to be destroyed by it.

 The elite leaders of Cao's army are somewhat better. On the one hand, they are all veterans and their salaries are high. On the other hand, they stand a little further back, so the relative psychological pressure will not be so great.

 As for the ordinary soldiers of Cao's army who were closest to the wall of the camp, they were in bad shape. Some of these ordinary soldiers of Cao's army have little combat experience, and some are soldiers from counties and counties in the east of Hedong. Their training is relatively poor and their morale is not high. Facing such long-distance artillery attacks by hussars and horses, their spirits are getting worse. It became more and more tense, and the screams around them gradually increased, causing many ordinary Cao soldiers to have dry mouths and trembling hands and legs.

After another round of artillery bombardment, another section of the village wall was hit on an important connecting structure, and the entire wall collapsed.

The ordinary Cao army soldiers who were waiting behind the wall, even though they were protected by horses and trenches, still howled in fear. The entire array suddenly collapsed and collapsed like the wall, and it spread to other Cao army arrays in an instant. .

　　『Those who retreat will be killed! Liu Zhu shouted, "Behead those who rebel against the army!" 』

The central leader rushed forward and hacked to death the ordinary Cao soldiers who were running around in front of the array. Even Liu Zhu came forward with his guards and killed almost the entire array of soldiers before barely controlling the array. Collapse.

 But this treats the symptoms rather than the root cause.

The number of Cao's soldiers who were directly hit by artillery were not many. Compared with the total number of people in Cao's camp down the slope, they were probably less than a fraction. However, those who were killed because they were timid and ran away were killed by artillery fire. Several times!

 The smell of blood spreads, causing a collapse in morale that is irreversible.

The defensive fortifications of Cao Jun's camp down the **** are now only destroyed, including the wall, the trench in front of the wall, the horses in the camp, the traps, and the half-man-high earthen wall. Basically, these fortifications are still intact. The state of Cao's army could not bring a psychological sense of security to Cao's soldiers.

The Hussars only used four cannons at the front and rear, and successfully caused chaos in Cao's army in the camp down the slope.

With the advent of hot firearms, the fighting mode between soldiers is also constantly changing, and due to the existence of the martial arts hall established by Fei Qian, the experience between soldiers, soldiers, generals and schools can effectively communicate and exchange with each other, learn and growing up.

 Zhu Ling's improvement of the Rhubarb Crossbow is one example, Sima Yi's change of cavalry into archers is another example, and Wei Yan's change from surprise attack to bribery and inducement tactics is another example. These originally outstanding generals in the history of the Three Kingdoms, with stronger backing support, no longer stick to a fixed model, become more flexible, and shine more and more dazzlingly.

The same is true for Xu Chu.

 He ​​restrained his desire to go directly to the front line to fight, but instead used his own advantages as much as possible to disrupt the opponent's rhythm and formation, and gradually adapted to the new changes in warfare during the operation and attack of soldiers.

 That’s right, skirmishing is indeed an effective tactical means to restrain hot weapons such as artillery and guns. But the problem is that it is easy to scatter but difficult to take back. The skirmisher line actually has very high quality requirements for soldiers and middle- and low-level non-commissioned officers.

Even if Liu Zhu had an idea or a counselor like Guo Jia thought of using a skirmish line to deal with Fei Qian's firearms, it would still be of no use, because in the current Shandong military system, even if it is something None. Just when we are marching and working, deserters may occur anytime and anywhere.

 In order to prevent soldiers from escaping, even in the army, there is a system of sitting together. If a soldier escapes, everyone will be punished; if a soldier escapes, a commander will be unlucky. Therefore, Cao Jun cannot implement skirmishing tactics. The integrity of the infantry array that Cao Jun had always emphasized has now become Cao Jun's nightmare.

Relatively speaking, when Fei Qian first raised his troops, the number of soldiers on the Hussar side was seriously insufficient, and they could not recruit thousands at every turn like in Shandong. This led to Fei Qian's attitude towards soldiers being even more cautious. Prudence eventually evolved into a fighting thought of seeking refinement rather than more, and then evolved into a general habit of generals under the hussar, disrupting the opponent's rhythm at a relatively small cost, destroying the opponent's array, and ultimately defeating the opponent. Tactical specification process.

Therefore, even when Xu Chu went into battle for the first time, he also showed similar tactics, instead of relying on the large number of soldiers he commanded, just shouting and then causing trouble...

In fact, the soldier drills of the Hussars have been changing and improving. However, the soldier drills in Shandong still stayed in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Some places even did not even have drills at all. They just recruited a group of soldiers and then issued some long spears and short swords. Even if it becomes an army.

 It’s just that every time the Hussars’ artillery bombards them, it costs eight hundred to one thousand Hussars copper coins...

The cost of gunpowder accounts for about 30%, while the cost of cannonballs accounts for 50%, and the rest is other damage and loss costs.

If ten artillery fires are fired in one round, it is a "magical power" that can be used to "throw a million dollars at a time".

 Advanced technology and tactical barriers actually require the accumulation of a large amount of resource wealth, whether in ancient times or in modern times.

Just the collection and smelting of copper and iron materials cost Fei Qian a lot of manpower and material resources. If it weren’t for the craftsman system and factory model established in the early days, Fei Qian could implement his ideas just by tapping his head?

 The designation of standards, the inheritance of craftsmen, the unification of tools, and the customization of standards. If there is a slight deviation, the artillery that comes out in the end will be all kinds of weird, with different shapes, and different iron bullets and charges. How can an effective combat force be formed in this way?

Fei Qian now wants to use this model to let the children of the gentry in Shandong, who feel that the laws of their ancestors are immutable and the ancient Zhou rites cannot be violated, and who would rather enclose the land and seek perfection for generations, experience the centralized power of an empire. Resources and technology have brought about earth-shaking changes!

However, neither Fei Qian nor Xu Chu, nor even Liu Zhu, expected that the first thing that caused a huge change on the battlefield was not the collapse of Cao's soldiers on the front line, but the hostages behind the camp...

Hu Zhi's courage is obviously not as good as Liu Zhu's.

The reason why he became the governor was just because he followed Cao Cao earlier, not because of his strong ability as a hostage individual.

If the hussar adopts the battle mode that the guard is familiar with and attacks against the various fortifications in Cao's camp, then the guard can persevere even if he is timid. But he didn't expect that Hussar's attack was so different. In the first attack, he almost broke through the frontal camp wall!

 This almost broke through the bottom line in Hu Zhi’s heart!

Originally, he thought that it would take at least three to five days before the outer trenches would be filled in, and then another three to five days before the hussars would have a chance to break through the camp.

 But it’s only the first day!

 Even the sun has not set in the west!

"Get ready..." The guard's voice could not help but tremble, and he said to the guards around him, "As soon as it gets dark, we will... break out... This camp can't be defended, it can't be defended!" 』

Hearing this, the security guard hurriedly responded.

The camp wall that was so thick and took so much pains to be built was blown apart in the blink of an eye!

Even if Liu Zhu was made of iron, how many nails could he drive to fill such a big hole?

 If a gentleman does not stand behind a dangerous wall, since the situation is already very bad, then the meaning of perseverance is lost.

The guard knew that once he retreated, the entire army would be involved.

But he was just a warlord, not a general, so if he retreated early, the most he could do was go back and be scolded, and be fined with some salary and be demoted to a lower level or something. When the limelight is over, he can still come out to make a living. As for warnings, admonitions, self-criticisms, etc. among the whole army, they are just going through the motions, eating and drinking when necessary, singing and dancing.

 And if he is still here, there is no way he will delete his account!

 Leave the green hills in...

Of course, in order to avoid directly triggering a large-scale rout of soldiers, the hostess suppressed his own fear and set the time for his transfer to be at night.

But the hostage forgot one thing. Now the soldiers in Cao Jun's camp down the **** are already very nervous and their morale is very low. They all rely on Liu Zhu's constant shouting and encouragement at the front line for support.

Although the guard said that the retreat would be at night, his guards always have to be prepared, right? Gold, silver, money, food and grass are all necessary to a certain extent.

If it were normal time, that would be fine, but during this tense period, the behavior of the security guards was like kerosene meeting sparks, immediately triggering a chain reaction...

　　　『General Hu is running away! 』

I don’t know who suddenly shouted, and immediately more soldiers started shouting.

　　　『General Hu has escaped! 』

"escaped…"

 The shouts reached the front lines of the camp.

The array of Cao Jun's soldiers in front was already shaky. Now they all ran away when they heard the hostage, and they had no intention of seeking the truth. They just looked at each other, shouted immediately, dropped their swords and guns, turned around and ran away. !