Chapter 2305 Old Mistakes and Repeating Old Mistakes

Sometimes Fei Qian feels that the meaning of history is to make people repeat history, just like the purpose of the existence of old mistakes is to make people repeat them.

Just like the water of the river in front of you, the water flows through you one moment, and then the water follows the next moment.

Day after day, year after year, we follow the same path, and it will take thousands of years before we notice any changes.

Fei Qian stood high on the hill, looking at the endless flow of the Yellow River below.

Well, it’s called Big River now.

This is the last bend of the Yellow River, and this is Tongguan.

Tongguan was previously called Taolinsai. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, it is recorded in "Zuo Zhuan" that in the thirteenth year of Duke Wen, the Marquis of Jin sent Zhan Jia to visit Yishi County in Shanxi Province to guard the fortress of Taolin.

Tongguan as a whole is like a platform on the Loess Plateau, and if you want to walk onto this platform, there is only a slope narrow enough for bicycles to pass, which is called the Five Mile Secret Door.

The main body of the pass is built on this platform, called Linzhi Plateau.

Fei Qian looked at the Tongguan defense map, and then moved his eyes from the map to the pass city wall and the archery tower in the distance.

Of course, the most difficult pass in history is not Tongguan, but Qin Hangu Pass. Hangu Pass in the Han Dynasty is no longer as dangerous and difficult to attack as Hangu Pass in the Qin Dynasty.

The reason is of course soil erosion, just like Tongguan in front of us. After the Sui and Tang Dynasties, due to the erosion of the Yellow River and the accumulation of sediment, Tongguan eventually became a pass system, like a skin filled with water. After a hole was broken, There are more and more holes and more and more patches.

Fei Qian came to Tongguan because he heard the unusual noise in Heluo. And the last time Fei Qian came back from Hedong, he went to Pubanjin and did not pass through Tongguan, so this time he came to inspect the construction of Tongguan. and the specific circumstances are also appropriate.

The expansion project of Tongguan is basically completed now. Although there are still some details that need to be continued, the overall framework has been developed.

Overall, Tongguan's defense system is like two long and narrow corridors plus a huge step.

The first line of defense is in the middle of Huangxiang Ban. Similar to the shape of a [, there are four arrow towers, two in front and two in back towering in the middle.

The south side of Huangxiang Ban is close to the plateau, with steep cliffs, and there is a high bank bulge between the river on the north side. This forms an isolated road with the plateau to the south, Juejian to the north, and a path in the middle. Therefore, Huangxiang Ban has become The first natural barrier of Tongguan Fortress. (Friends who are not sure about the location of Huangxiangban can refer to the chapter at the end of the chapter for notes)

The second line of defense is in front of the five-mile secret door on the high ground behind Huangxiang Ban. Generally speaking, it is like an enlarged and elongated character " , with a relatively curvature covering the lower entrance of the Wuli secret door. There are also four towering arrow towers, which are relatively larger than the arrow towers on the Huangxiang Ban, or should be called arrow towers.

Due to terrain restrictions, the relatively gentle slope of Wuli Secret Gate has become the only way to climb up Linzhi Plateau and enter the main body of Tongguan. The rest of the places are basically slopes of nearly 70 or 80 degrees, and some places are even 90 degrees or more than 90 degrees. Even rock climbing experts may not be able to walk, let alone ordinary soldiers.

In front of the ramp of Wuli Secret Gate, in the open space surrounded by arc-shaped city walls and arrow towers, there are post stations and some military equipment, as well as a smaller barracks. The larger barracks is on Linzhi Plateau. . This small barracks is specially stationed for the soldiers responsible for the Wuli Secret Gate and Huangxiang Slope. Otherwise, the soldiers on duty would have to climb several Wuli Secret Gates every day, and their physical strength would be exhausted on the climb.

At the moment, Fei Qian was standing at the top of the Wuli Secret Gate, and the main body of Tongguan City was not far from here. It not only guarded the Wuli Secret Gate, but also blocked the entrance to the Tongshui Forbidden ditch. the way.

To the west of the forbidden ditch is the Guanzhong Plain.

Opposite Fei Qian, across the surging river, is Fenglingdu, who was slightly famous in later generations...

It's just that in this era, most of Fenglingdu is still submerged in the river. It will have to wait until the sediment slowly accumulates in hundreds of years before it can emerge from the water.

In the ever-changing world, some changes often change a lot of things.

Fei Qian looked back and saw the majestic Qinling Mountains standing on the horizon, and lush trees and ferns filled the entire field of vision. These ferns will slowly die during this and the next Little Ice Age, and the trees in Linzhi Plateau and the Niutou Plateau next door will gradually be cut down, and eventually they will become the kind of bare trees in later generations. dry fields, or degraded into a semi-desert state.

There is no other reason than that people need to eat.

In a sense, Chang'an is not suitable to become a huge population city.

The larger the population, the greater the demand. The huge population will turn Chang'an City into a bottomless pit of demand, endlessly devouring all surrounding resources. Once there is any disturbance, it will affect the change in the overall supply and demand ratio, thereby affecting the city's supply and demand. People's lives lead to fluctuations in living conditions, and this fluctuation will lead to changes in people's hearts...

This is also the reason why Fei Qian did not build a new city wall in Chang'an.

Because even if a city wall is built, which is stronger than any current city, it will still be unable to withstand once a foreign enemy invades the city's periphery. And what's interesting is that the source of this unbearable pressure does not come from the outside. , but more from within the city.

In the era of cold weapons, when the defender had to rely on the city for defense, it meant that the defender was at an overall disadvantage in terms of strength. There is no doubt that in the age of cold weapons, city walls are extremely effective defensive measures, but the city walls cannot be relied upon solely for defense.

The purpose of war is to defeat the opponent or repel the opponent. For the ordinary people under the ruler's jurisdiction, they undoubtedly hope that the ruler will defeat the opponent as soon as possible. The negative approach of waiting for the opponent to run out of food will bring destruction to the economy within the jurisdiction. Sexual blow.

When the attacker realizes that it cannot win quickly, it will generally destroy the economic facilities outside the defender's city. Behaviors such as looting are even more common.

As for giant cities like Chang'an, they are often the core of regional economies, with large populations and developed commerce. A city like this cannot support itself and needs surrounding areas to provide basic consumables such as food. Once it is besieged, it will first Causes great panic, and the chaos caused by this panic is often more destructive than foreign enemies.

At the same time, city defense requires the requisition of a large amount of internal materials, such as demolishing houses inside the city wall, demolishing large houses to obtain rolling logs, etc. This kind of expropriation will definitely start from the dissidents in the city or the people at the bottom, and this kind of behavior will also cause the people to lose trust in the defender, giving the attacker the possibility to bribe the traitor. Cities are increasingly difficult to guard against this kind of destruction from within.

So to put it simply, Chang'an City should defend itself against enemies from the outside, rather than rely on the Chang'an City Wall for defense. Therefore, Tongguan, Wuguan, Sanguan, etc. are equivalent to the city walls of Chang'an. At least the enemy should be ensured outside these passes. It is possible to ensure that Chang'an and even Guanzhong will not be turbulent.

The basis for the stability of a regime is that the regime makes as few mistakes as possible, and even if errors occur, they will be corrected quickly. Only in this way will the people under this regime become more and more confident. , more and more sense of pride and belonging.

This sense of pride and belonging is priceless!

Just like when Fei Qian was young, because a large number of public intellectuals, intellectuals, and critics spared no effort to describe how ugly China was and how round the moon was abroad, many people, including Fei Qian when he was young, had no pride in China. sense of belonging and belonging. In that era of chaos, it seemed that whatever China did was criticized, whatever achievements it made were not worth mentioning, and no matter what it developed, it was a waste of people and money...

In those years of confusing right and wrong, only the large amount of international capital that took advantage of opportunities to pour into China and the power controlled by these capitals were worthy of praise from some public figures and media. Business is the greatest charity, and business itself is the greatest Public welfare, how smart a person can be to make this sophistry using an inverted relationship?

It was only now, when Fei Qian himself, as a hussar general, stood at Tongguan, with Chang'an in Guanzhong behind him and thousands of households, that he realized more deeply that in fact, the defense system of a country and a regime is not only in the On the material level, it also needs to be on the spiritual level. What a rare spiritual strength it is to move forward unswervingly in the midst of shouts and curses, even if you are stabbed, beaten, injured and humiliated, but still do not change your original intention, instead of lying flat like a bear!

Just like the current Han Dynasty, there is also the spiritual power of the Han Dynasty, one man is worth five barbarians!

Han people have this sense of pride and belonging!

Even though the Eastern Han Dynasty has already shaken him to the point of collapse, in history, Cao Cao still said nothing, fighting both the Eastern Hu and the Western Qiang without any compromise!

On the other hand, those people in later generations would kneel down before being beaten...

Lord... Xu Chu, who was standing behind Fei Qian, gestured slightly, someone... is coming over there...

Fei Qian turned his head and took a look, nodded slightly, turned around and returned to Tongguan city.

The person who came was the big man who knelt down before hitting him, and then not only ate his meal, but also cursed his mother...

Hongnong Yang family.

In later generations, when Fei Qian saw Yang Xiu die because of the word "useless", he couldn't help but feel a little emotional. However, as he grew older, especially now that he was looking down from the perspective of a ruler, At that time, I made another discovery.

The Yang family of Yang Xiu is the Hongnong Yang family. He is the fourth generation and the third Duke. He is the only high-level government official left in the Han Dynasty. If you list all the names, it may be enough to spread out two or three miles of land, but there are A reality that Yang Xiu didn't realize at all was that the Hongnong Yang family was already dragging the times backward. Even if the Yang family had a brief resurgence in the Western Jin Dynasty, it was a return to glory.

When Fei Qian stepped forward to clear the way, led Pang Tong and others, and dragged Wei Duan, Yang Xiu and others forward, Wei Duan still knew how to follow obediently without causing any trouble, and what was Yang Xiu doing?

This is also true historically.

Cao Cao wanted to kill Yang Xiu. One of the more recognized factors was that Yang Xiu was caught in the dispute between Cao Pi and Cao Zhi, and he was on the side of advocating Cao Zhi.

For a city as big as Chang'an, what is the most important thing?

Stablize.

So for a political system, for an entire country that is larger and more complex than Chang'an City, what is the most critical?

Still stable.

Only if people can live a stable life, otherwise no matter how good the plan is, it will not be implemented. The biggest difference between establishing Cao Pi or establishing Cao Zhi is that establishing the eldest son is a stable standard, while establishing a virtuous person is an unstable standard. When Cao Cao couldn't come up with a better solution, only by establishing Cao Pi would he not go down the same path as Yuan Shao and Liu Biao.

So does Yang Xiu really think that Cao Zhi assisted and encouraged Cao Zhi because he was a virtuous person?

not necessarily.

Because when others give Cao Pi ideas, they are really giving them advice. But when Yang Xiu gives Cao Zhi an idea, he simply writes an answer for Cao Zhi to copy...

Is this behavior really for Cao Zhi's good?

Of course, there is another theory, that is, Yang Xiu was not only caught up in the struggle for Cao Zhi's heir, but he may also be related to Wei Zhi's rebellion at that time. If this statement is true, then is it the same as Yang Xiu picking up the bowl to eat, and then not only scolding his mother after eating, but also preparing to throw the bowl?

Just like now, Yang Xiu is not only reaping the dividends from the Shandong-Shanxi trade, but also secretly smuggling it. It can be said that most of Heluo's profits come from Shanxi, but Yang Xiu still wants more, or feels that Yang deserves more.

Therefore, on the one hand, Fei Qian went to Tongguan to inspect the construction of the city wall defense body, and on the other hand, he called Yang Xiu...

Fei Qian's pattern is to talk things out first and punish them without teaching them. This is not a good habit. As for those who are stupid after telling them, then no one can blame anyone.

The reason why he returned to the main city of Tongguan was because he didn't want Yang Xiu to think that Fei Qian was greeting him...

Although there is a high probability that Yang Xiu would not dare to think this way, but what if it gave this guy an illusion? It's like a trivial matter. It’s unbelievable that when Yang Xiu was so proud and so useless, he still felt that he was quite beautiful...

Yang Xiu lowered his head to pay homage. Although his expression remained unchanged, his hands and feet were trembling a little, he was trembling, strong and timid.

Knowing that something is wrong and not doing it are two completely different concepts, just like piracy. Does Yang Xiuzhi know that some of his things are wrong? I knew it, but I did it anyway.

Because of interests, because of emotions, and because of the reasons that Yang Xiu thought he was right before, he did the wrong thing and then stood in front of Fei Qian. It was inevitable that he would feel calm on the outside and uneasy in the heart.

Yang Xiu had long heard that Tongguan was being rebuilt, but it was only through word of mouth that it was difficult to truly understand the majesty and danger of it. Now that he was walking along and seeing it with his own eyes, he realized that the Tongguan in his imagination was already very difficult to conquer, and Now I feel that I thought it was simple before. What kind of pass is this? It's like a natural chasm!

Fei Qian pointed to the seat next to him and asked Yang Xiu to sit down.

Yang Xiu thanked him and sat down.

Sitting upright.

If we look at etiquette alone, these children of noble families, especially the children of wealthy families, are indeed excellent. Whether it is in terms of manners or behavior, they are basically like standard movements.

Dezu... Fei Qian smiled slightly, how about watching Tongguan along the way?

Yang Xiu straightened his waist, cupped his hands and said: "Coming all the way today, I saw the glow of Tongguan, like the garden of Yuanyuan, and the cloud caps of mountain clouds, like the floating clear sky." Slowly advancing, the general's trumpet, the sound of golden drums, and the six battalions. They obey orders and prohibitions, but they dare not be careful. There are many swords and spears, and they have long tassels. Their soldiers are very strong.

Looking at the terrain of Tongguan, it bears the platform of the Qinling Mountains, relies on the wind of the big river, carries the Jingwei River and the rich currents, and holds the Shoushan Mountain in Zhongnan. The heavy city and the pass are like a rainbow and a beam. Mingtang, Lantian is on the left, and the golden lock is in front. Qi Lian is close to Feng Yi, and the territory is close to Qiyang. The land is very favorable.

The stability of Tongguan is like the stability of mountains and rivers. Xiu hereby congratulates Hussar!

Fei Qian chuckled.

If ranked according to the ability to write articles, Yang Xiu can at least be ranked in the top ten of the current big men, but the problem is that many times it depends on how to behave, rather than how to write superficial articles.

If you call Dezu here today, what will you know? Fei Qian said.

Yang Xiu hesitated for a moment, then lowered his head and said: I don’t know, please tell me clearly...

really do not know? Fei Qian is still smiling, so Dezu can go back after drinking this cup of tea...

In an instant, the sweat on Yang Xiu's forehead suddenly appeared, then rolled down and hit the mat where he was sitting, leaving a circular mark.

Did Yang Xiu really not know what he had done?

But people always take chances.

Is there such a thing as luck psychology? Basically, everyone has some, more or less.

For example, you still do something even though you know it is illegal, or you still commit it even though you know it is a mistake. Most of the time, this kind of mentality is at work, and then because of some words like maybe, maybe, what if, etc., you will gamble on that kind of extreme behavior. A slim possibility…

It's like Yang Xiu is betting on him right now. Maybe, maybe, what if Fei Qian doesn't know? So if you don't bring it upon yourself, wouldn't you be at a disadvantage?

Or maybe when Yang Xiu faced the pressure from Fei Qian, under the tension and anxiety, in order to prevent himself from having a mental breakdown, he comforted himself with a sense of luck. Maybe, maybe, just in case. It's not that bad, the situation won't get worse?

But when Fei Qian said he would let Yang Xiu go after drinking tea, Yang Xiu didn't dare to continue gambling. Yang Xiu was afraid that turning around and leaving like this would be tantamount to a complete break with Fei Qian. He might face more troubles and an embarrassing situation in the future, and might even be directly attacked by Fei Qian's soldiers in the next step...

Although at this stage, Yang Xiu also knows that Fei Qian is using troops in Longyou, but even so, the strength of Fei Qian's troops in Guanzhong and near Tongguan is not something that Yang Xiu can easily compete with. On the other hand, For help, Cao Cao focused on Youbei again, and then Yang Xiu also heard that Jiangdong was also attacking Cao Cao, so whether Cao Cao could survive smoothly is also a big question...

Under such a situation, Yang Xiu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, then left the table and fell to the ground, giving in. I... I am guilty...