Chapter 22 Chapter XXII Hunger and Satisfaction

——Temporarily abandon Shouchun and move to another place. General Yang's opinion is undoubtedly too pessimistic even if it is an expedient measure.However, the generals headed by Emperor Yuan Shu had already lost their fighting spirit, and no one raised objections such as "is this idea too negative?"What's more, General Yang's idea still has some truth. In fact, the reason no one spoke was because everyone knew that there was a fatal weakness within themselves. This year, successive floods occurred in the Shouchun area, resulting in unripe grains, rampant plague, and increasing numbers of sick and sick horses. What people are most worried about is that there is no supply of winter military rations.

Coupled with the frequent military disasters, the morale of the generals is low. If General Yang's suggestion is implemented and the emperor's family and most of the army are moved to areas without floods, the situation will improve: first, they can obtain long-term military food supplies; second, they can avoid the current powerful enemy spirit.Moreover, everyone realizes that how to survive the winter is the fatal weakness of the expeditionary force, and frequent surprise attacks may be able to achieve good results at that time.If you handle it properly, you may be able to turn the crisis into peace and wait for the situation to slowly change favorably.

After a long silence, the generals present finally nodded in agreement. Emperor Yuan Shu also expressed his affirmative attitude.He said: "This discussion is very appropriate." Afterwards, Yuan Shu immediately started all preparations for a comprehensive breakout.He decided to leave four generals, Li Feng, Le Jiu, Chen Ji, and Liang Gang, to stick to Shouchun, with a force of about 100,000. In addition, the main army that followed Yuan Shu and his family out of the city totaled 240,000 people.As for the gold and silver treasures stored in the treasury, various military supplies, and official documents, they are transported out by vehicles day and night, and they are loaded onto cargo ships from the bank of the Huai River and transported to a safe place.

Yuan Shu and his entourage and ministers naturally crossed the Huai River first and took refuge far away.Now all that remains are the mighty river and the empty shell of Shouchun City. In fact, after Yuan Shu and his army left the city, Cao Cao's 300,000 attacking troops did not reach the city of Shouchun. After arriving in Shouchun, Cao Cao's army faced great difficulties again. In this area, the closer to Shouchun, the more serious the flood situation, and the depression of the city is far beyond imagination. Although the situation inside the city is unknown, the hundreds of miles of suburbs are still full of traces left by the flood. The fields have been turned into mud lakes, and the roads are muddy. The local people can barely maintain their lives by eating bark and grass leaves.

Due to the serious underestimate of the difficulties here before the army set off, Cao Jun's military supply department made a huge miscalculation. "How can we support an army of 300,000 men?" Quartermasters began to worry about this. The expeditionary army did not bring extra food and rice in the baggage, and the military supply department also counted the captured enemy's property before leaving. "How can you be so poor?!" When the army arrived in the Shouchun area, Wang Gu, the chief quartermaster in charge of grain and rice supply, couldn't help but exclaimed when he saw the severe floods everywhere.Of course, it is also reasonable to have such a loss and confusion.

After seven or ten days like this, I was able to manage to deal with it reluctantly at first. Then, I endured for another half a month. The two armies have been fighting for nearly a month, and the army is facing the danger of running out of food. "Be sure to capture Shouchun City in one fell swoop!" The grim situation made Cao Cao feel restless.At present, the effect of the siege operation is greatly affected by the flood.On the one hand, the soldiers and horses attacking the city were inconvenient to move in the muddy water; on the other hand, the soldiers defending the city were very tenacious, and it was very difficult to make any progress.

When Cao Cao was helpless, he had to write an emergency rescue letter to Sun Ce of Soochow, and sent a messenger to ride a fast horse straight to Jiangdong.Cao Cao wrote a poem in the letter: Autumn high sky, water and dry land. The elite soldiers are thin, and the fat horses are tired. I am eagerly looking forward to Wu's ship to transport grain and rice. One hundred thousand meters is better than one million rides. At this time, Sun Ce was not in Jiangdong.According to the military and economic alliance treaty signed with Cao Cao, he has led his army across the Yangtze River and is on his way to attack south.On the way, he received a letter from Cao Cao.

After Sun Ce received the letter, he immediately issued an order: "Transport grain and rice immediately!" He knew in his heart that Cao Cao's request must be met, and the transportation of a large amount of grain and rice by water can only be arranged by Soochow. However, transporting a large amount of grain by water was not easy. The south of the Yangtze River was far away from Huainan, and the Yangtze River was on the way. Moreover, a large number of soldiers had to be sent to escort the grain. Despite many efforts, it still takes time. During this period, Wang Gu, the general quartermaster in charge of grain and rice supply in Cao Cao's army, finally couldn't help crying.

"Prime Minister, I have something important to report to you!" "What's the matter? Isn't this Wang Gu and Ren Jun? Why do you two look so ugly? What's the reason?" Ren Jun is an official in charge of warehouse management. He and Wang Gou came to Cao Cao and poured out their bitterness. "To this day, the military rations are already unsustainable, and it will run out in a few days." "Then what should we do?" Cao Cao deliberately pretended to be ignorant and asked back, "What's the use of you consulting me? I'm not a warehouse manager, nor a general quartermaster in charge of rations."

"That……" "If you can't do it, resign! You are in a hurry to discuss with me for such a trivial matter, which means that the two of you are incompetent." "what?!" "Now it's up to you to use your brains to figure out a way. From today on, when distributing military rations to soldiers, we need to replace the rice buckets used to measure rice. If we use small buckets to measure rice, the situation will be very different." "If the volume of the rice bucket is reduced, the situation will definitely be very different." "That's right."

"what……" The two hurriedly withdrew from Cao Cao's camp, and immediately began to use small buckets to measure from the evening meal. According to the military regulations at that time, each soldier's daily ration was five rations. If the grain was measured with a small bucket, the amount of each ration would be reduced by five teaspoons.Now is the difficult period of famine. Most of the army rations are a mixture of millet, millet and even grass roots. "The officials withhold food like this, can we still keep silent?" Cao Cao overheard the whispering of the junior soldiers. Of course, it didn't take long for the whispering to turn into an angry scolding. "The prime minister is also really good." "Isn't this a violation of the oath and promise the Prime Minister made when he took us out?" "Can you fight a war if you eat something like this?" In short, all kinds of rumors and rumors spread to Cao Cao's ears.The soldiers complained most about food matters.Cao Cao called Wang Gou and said to him solemnly: "Now the army is full of injustice." "Then no matter what, these voices must be suppressed." Wang Gui said in fear. "There's nothing I can do." "I have no way." "So I want to borrow something from you to suppress this wind." "For someone like me, what does the prime minister want to borrow?" "Wang Gou, I want to borrow your head." "what?!" "I'm sorry, but lend me your head. If you don't die, 300,000 soldiers will be in turmoil. Compared with a human head, 300,000 soldiers... Don't worry, I will take good care of your wife with my personality." son." "But, this is too much. Prime Minister, please save me!" Wang Gou wept bitterly. Cao Cao calmly glanced at the warrior who had agreed in advance. The warrior immediately dragged Wang Gui out and beheaded him. "Immediately show off in the army!" Cao Cao ordered. Wang Gou's head was hung on a long pole for public display, and there was a pre-prepared notice board standing beside it, which read: "Wang Gou stole food, with sinister intentions, Xiaodou embezzled money, filled his pockets, the evidence is conclusive, the crime No pardon is allowed. Beheading according to the law to rectify the morale." "It seems that it was not the prime minister's order to use Xiaodou to withhold military rations, it was all done by this bastard Wang Gu." The soldiers hated what Wang Gui had done, and forgot all their original resentment towards Cao Cao. Cao Cao cleverly seized the important turning point when morale was boosted, and immediately issued an order for an immediate general attack: "Shouchun City must be taken within three days from tonight. Anyone who violates the order and slack will be executed! Anyone who escapes before the battle will be executed!" That night, Cao Cao took the lead and stood by the moat, and ordered all the soldiers: "Fill the moat, pile up grass and burn the gates and towers!" For Cao Jun's attack, the soldiers defending the city on the other side also desperately resisted. Huge wooden boulders were constantly smashed down on the top of the city, and the hidden crossbow shot out random arrows like rain. The siege troops suffered heavy casualties, and many soldiers were killed by arrows and stones, and their corpses almost filled the moat.Among the siege soldiers who fled timidly, two lieutenants who curled up and dared not move forward were hiding. "coward!" Cao Cao yelled in anger, and immediately swung his sword to chop off the heads of the two men. He shouted: "Take the coward first, this is the key to the success or failure of our army!" Cao Cao got off his horse, and personally transported soil and grass with the soldiers, approaching the city wall step by step, and started hand-to-hand combat with the enemy. Seeing Cao Cao's bravery, the soldiers were encouraged, and the army was greatly boosted for a while. A group of soldiers climbed up the tower, jumped into the battle first, and broke the iron lock of the city gate, shouted in unison, rushed into the city gate and rushed into the city. Like the collapse of a corner of a dam, a large number of soldiers swarmed in like a flood, and a bloody massacre began.Guard Li Feng's soldiers were not captured alive, almost all were killed.Yuan Shu's self-proclaimed emperor built a fake imperial palace, the forbidden gate Zhulou, halls and pavilions were all burned to the ground. These places of prosperity in the past finally turned into a huge burning red lotus in Shouchun City. Cao Jun won a complete victory.Cao Cao encouraged the soldiers: "We can't rest for a moment now. We must prepare the raft immediately, cross the Huai River, catch up with Yuan Hou and give him the final blow." Cao Cao was busy preparing to pursue Yuan Shu in Shouchun.Suddenly there was an urgent report from Xudu: "Liu Biao of Jingzhou has formed an alliance with Zhang Xiu and intends to invade Xudu. The situation is at stake..." Cao Cao frowned: "Leaving aside Zhang Xiu, Liu Biao's actions should not be underestimated. It may cause an unmanageable situation." Cao Cao had no choice but to stop the crusade against Yuan Shu halfway, and prepare to return to the court. After making the decision to return to Xudu, Cao Cao sent someone on a fast horse to send a letter to Sun Ce of Soochow. The letter warned: "You must use military ships to form an army across the Yangtze River and secretly threaten Liu Biao in Jingzhou upstream." Then, he said to Lu Bu and Liu Xuande: "We must be sincere and united, and friendship is the most important thing. I hope that you will cooperate with each other, guard Xuzhou and Xiaopei closely together, and forge a new friendship in future battles." Cao Cao asked the two of them to drink a cup of wine in front of him to show that they would keep their vows, and then said to Liu Xuande specifically: "From now on, Lu Bu will not have any disagreements. You leave Yuzhou and return to Xiaopei where you were originally stationed." Liu Xuande thanked Cao Cao for his kindness.When parting, Cao Cao saw that Lu Bu was not there, so he whispered to him: "...I put you in Xiaopei to hunt tigers. Doctor Chen and Chen Deng and his son are digging a trap for hunting tigers. You and their father and son must Careful planning and careful preparation.” Cao Cao made careful arrangements for various tasks, hoping to eliminate hidden dangers that may arise in the future.He led the army back to Xudu. At this moment, two miscellaneous generals named Duan Yan and Wu Xi led their troops and won a great battle with Li Jue and Guo Fan of Chang'an. They presented the heads of Li Jue and Guo Fan to the court. class. Li Jue and Guo Fan were public enemies of the imperial court since the Chang'an Great Rebellion. All the officials of the imperial court were overjoyed when they heard this, and celebrated the unexpected good news one after another.They played the Son of Heaven, begging Duan Yao and Wu Xi to be rewarded, given official positions, and ordered them to guard Chang'an. "The good fortune of Taiping is approaching." Everyone said so.So the government and the public held a grand celebration banquet, and the heads of the two rebels were displayed in the city of Xudu for seven days.Cao Cao's 300,000 soldiers and horses who returned from the Southern Expedition also participated in this festive event. Everyone drank, ate, and danced.