Chapter 2377 It’s Difficult to Advance or Retreat

Mid-December.

It's snowing in Xiapi area.

Although the snow is not very heavy, the temperature is getting lower and lower, and ice is seen in the wild. Under such circumstances, Sun Jun had no way to attack, which gave the people of Xiapi a breath of relief.

During the Han Dynasty of the Three Kingdoms, the name was Sangluan. The heads of states and counties moved around like things changed, but the noble families remained as immovable as mountains.

Among them is the Xiapi Chen family.

Judging from the records in the history books, the political stance of the Chen family in Xiapi seems to be very vague. They are either attached to Yuan Shu, or attached to Lu Bu, or they are flirting with Liu Bei, and in the blink of an eye, they abandon Liu Bei and fall into the arms of Cao Cao. .

When it comes to the Chen family in Xiapi, most people in later generations may only remember Chen Gui and Chen Deng, but in fact there are many people in the Chen family, such as Chen Qiu, who was called the "descendant of the public clan" together with Yuan Shu. We have a good relationship and we often travel together arm in arm in Luoyang.

The Xiapi Chen family has great power in Xuzhou. Chen Deng, the son of Chen Gui, is considered a junior of the Chen family. He dared to directly insult Tao Qian as "the other state" and accused Tao Qian of being a "little man who trusts people and alienates gentlemen". There is no gentry style, that's all.

The reason why Chen Deng has such courage is because the Chen family's private army exceeded 50,000 at its peak!

Known to the outside world as one hundred thousand people!

Well, not as famous as Sun Shiwan.

Of course, these numbers include the elderly, weak, women and children, which is similar to the way the Yellow Turban thieves calculated them at that time. Moreover, these private soldiers of the Chen family were not useless. They played a certain role in the conquest against Lu Bu at that time, or in the fight against Sun Quan after surrendering to Cao Cao.

Sun Shiwan was thinking about the Guangling-Xuzhou line, which did not last for a day or two. He had been here once before and was beaten away by Chen Deng.

When Chen Deng was "powerful in Jiangdong", although he gained a lot of fame, it also made Cao Cao extremely jealous, so he transferred Chen Deng back from Guangling. As a result, the people of Guangling "extracted the county and followed him, and the old and the weak died" "Chasing", the grand occasion is very similar to Liu Bei's "bringing people across the river" in history.

In the end, Cao Cao compromised and sent Chen Deng back to Huixiapi as the governor of Dongcheng. Dongcheng County was temporarily established by Cao Cao. It was located near Linhuai, next to Xiapi. It can be seen that Chen Deng's Dongcheng Prefect, who is actually the Xiapi Prefect, was specially set up by Cao Cao. On the one hand, he would not offend Chen Deng's wealthy status, and on the other hand, he would avoid the restrictions of the Han Dynasty's "Three Mutual Laws".

Chen Deng served as the governor of Dongcheng and died within a year.

Although everyone said that Sashimi was responsible, and officials also said that Chen Deng "died of illness" and could not find a good doctor, but considering that Chen Deng was still alive and well a year ago, he led the Chen family's private army to defeat Jiangdong. Sun Jun's attempt to march into Guangling...

But no matter what, after Chen Deng's death, the Xiapi Chen family inevitably declined.

After Chen Deng's death, the Chen family was deliberately suppressed by Cao Cao. Chen Deng's younger brother Chen Ying was sent to a small coastal county to be the county magistrate. Chen Deng's son Chen Su, historically, was Twenty years later, he was named a doctor.

So from this point of view, Cao Pi is really a prodigal son. His father managed to take precautions and suppressed the local powerful and noble families for more than ten or twenty years, and then Cao Pi forgot about it in order to become emperor. Of course, at that time, Cao Pi may have felt that if he didn't advance, he would retreat, and he was stuck. Without Cao Cao's great wisdom and unyielding determination, he chose a path that seemed to make everyone happy...

But right now, Man Chong had a headache. Although Sun Jun did not continue the attack due to the weather, and Xiapi's city defenses were also seizing the time to repair and strengthen, the soldiers from Jiangdong were coming fiercely. If Chen's power was not used, they might not be able to win for a while, but once used, If you win, you will be in trouble. Are you afraid that you will be defeated by Boss Cao?

Man Chong came from a humble family. None of his parents or ancestors had any important figures, and they were completely incomparable to the Chen family in Xiapi. Therefore, when Man Chong arrived at Xia Pi, especially when he learned that Man Chong had to withdraw to Xia Pi because he could not resist the Jiangdong soldiers in Guangling, haha, that expression was so gratifying.

Man Chong also wanted to scold him for being such a mother-in-law!

Guangling had experienced a war before, and then the population was brought back to Xiapi by Chen Deng, so that Guangling was almost abandoned. How could Manchong defend it and withstand it?

Should I use the Tianling Gai to top it?

Although Man Chong has been recruiting new soldiers continuously and asked Yin Li to train the new soldiers, in fact, despite Yin Li's background as a Taishan thief, his actual force is very limited...

Yin Li was killed by a little-known Quan Cong in history, and he won first and then lost. He died in the hands of his pursuers when he was evacuating.

The Chen family has soldiers, but it is obvious that the Chen family will not take them out. Those are the Chen family's private soldiers. In other words, they are equivalent to the Chen family's own property. Except in extreme circumstances, they will deprive anyone of their private property. This is a very serious and serious matter and cannot be done casually.

What's more, if Man Chong seeks Chen's place, and Chen really sends troops to defend Xiapi, then what is the value of Man Chong's existence? If we really get to that point and can only rely on Chen Deng to defend the city, then in turn Chen will find a reason to kill Man Chong, and Cao Cao will finally have to hold his nose and admit it, just like he endured and let Chen Deng be the leader. Just like the governor of Dongcheng.

Man Chong stood on the wall of Xiapi City, looking at the vast expanse of white, his face could not help but turn a little pale.

Internal and external troubles, a dilemma...

Cao Cao did not give new instructions, which meant that Man Chong had to find his own way here in Xiapi.

"Someone is coming!" Go and invite Mr. Chen to come! ” Manchong ordered loudly.

Because of the war, the Chen family has basically retreated to Xiapi. Of course, there are still many in Chen's Wubao. Due to Chen's continuous repair and construction, these forts are even comparable to the defensive power of a small county to a certain extent. Generally speaking, Sun's soldiers will not spend time attacking these forts unless absolutely necessary.

It's very simple. The input-output is not proportional. Once one of them is attacked, the other Wubao will become hostile. If not attacked, not only will a small amount of material supplements be obtained for free, but also after the central city is conquered, These surrounding forts will also immediately express their nominal surrender...

In the age of cold weapons, it was much more cost-effective to adopt a relatively gentle approach to these forts than to directly attack them one by one.

The capital of the Chen family lies here. Not only does it have a long-term business foundation in Xiapi City, but also the Wubao system in the surrounding areas. Of course, it is precisely because of this that the Chen family is full of favors and ignited the war around Xiapi. , more or less dissatisfied...

Not long after, Chen Ke came.

Chen Deng is the eldest, Chen Ying is the second, Chen Ke is the third, and Chen Ke has a younger brother.

"Someone received an urgent report..." After Man Chong met Chen Ke, he went straight to the topic without any courtesy or foreplay. Of course, this was also in line with the habit Man Chong had created all along. , iron-blooded, inhumane, not even very humane, "I hereby inform you... there is chaos in Mount Tai!" 』

Chen Ke was startled and turned back to look into the city, because he had just met Yin Li, a member of the Taishan Army.

Man Chong added, "The person who caused the rebellion is none other than Zang Xuangao..."

Chen Ke breathed a sigh of relief. Zang Ba, Sun Guan, Yin Li and others are in the same group. Zang Xuangao is not a rebel, which means that Yin Li is relatively safe. This may be the reason why Man Chong has not arrested Yin Li yet...

Chen Ke was thinking, and suddenly he realized a new question. Since Zang Ba was not responsible for the rebellion, who else was in the Taishan Army? Who else will be specially marked and given special attention?

The prime minister of the East China Sea is Changxi!

And Donghai County is just north of Xiapi!

So this means that Xiapi has no way out at the moment. There are Jiangdong soldiers in the south and Taishan rebels in the north!

Xiapi has become an isolated island!

Chen Ke's face finally looked a little ugly...

……(／_＼)……

Xiapi is not the only place suffering from internal and external troubles.

Deep in the desert, a raging white disaster is also destroying the original ecological system in the desert.

In the face of natural disasters, farming peoples are obviously more endurance and have higher tolerance than nomadic peoples. Of course, these endurances and tolerances are all gained from experience in disasters one after another.

In the Han Dynasty, if there is such a natural disaster, the court will come forward to provide disaster relief, such as opening Changpingcang, etc., relieving the victims, exempting the disaster area from taxes, etc. After all, these are the rules that have been set. Even if the court is decayed, on the surface, There are still people doing things more or less, this is the function of the dynasty.

Of course, in the feudal dynasty, no matter how perfect the rules and laws were, it would still be because the administration of officials in different places was different, which would lead to great differences among the people. Some places would indeed put the victims first, while others would The local government, under the pretext of disaster relief, doubled down on exploiting the country's hard-earned wealth...

In addition to the disaster relief provided by the court, the stabilizing effect of local powerful households in China will also be exerted during this period. After all, sometimes the actions of the court are too slow. If you really wait for the court for everything, it is often Water from afar cannot quench thirst from near.

Although the local clan system has different affinities and moral differences, in the face of disasters, elders will still stand up to some extent, direct the countryside, and help poor households. However, there is no free lunch in the world. After the disaster subsides, most of these guys will swallow He took away the land from a poor relative and turned him into a tenant farmer.

A small powerful person in a place often thrives in disasters.

Compared with the Han Dynasty, these tribes in the desert do not have these two layers of protection net.

"The weather is so weird..."

"I asked the elder a few days ago, and the elder said that he also felt strange. The snow was almost non-stop..."

"Yes, it used to be rainy in bursts, but now it seems like it's been raining for so long!" 』

"People can still hold on, but the domestic animals, big and small..."

"well……"

The temperature drops.

Whether it was rivers or lakes, everything was frozen into ice.

Several shepherds looked at the vast expanse of white and talked to each other listlessly, feeling worried.

But what these herdsmen didn't expect was that on the other side, the white-bearded elders and tribal chiefs also showed an almost pale complexion.

The "White Disaster" is not the most terrifying thing.

The most terrifying thing is the "Black Disaster".

A hole was dug into the snow on the ground, exposing the frozen hard ground beneath the snow. And in this gray-black land, the elder picked up a few almost transparent objects...

"Look...the roots of the grass here are also frozen..." The elder's voice was hoarse and full of sadness, "Even if it is spring and all the snow has melted, no grass will grow here... There will only be a black patch of grass." Earth...this is a black disaster..."

Generally speaking, there is a layer of snow and soil as a spacer. The grass roots inside the soil are not easily frozen, but this is not absolute. If it is covered with snow for a long time, because there is no air circulation and continuous low temperature, the grass roots will be frozen to death. , this area will form a large grass-free area.

At that time, even if people know how to migrate and want to go to a place with long grass, livestock do not understand. These large and small livestock are accustomed to using their hooves to dig and use their noses and tongues to provide food. Not only can the grass roots frozen in the ground not Bringing supplementary food to these large and small livestock will lead to varying degrees of frostbite on the hooves, mouth, nose, and tongue due to these behaviors.

At the same time, frozen and rotten grass roots will also damage the intestines and stomachs of these large and small livestock...

People can give orders, but what can they do in the face of these animals? If you can save this end, you can't save the other end. If you hold this end, you can't hold the other end.

"If it's spring and they don't have grass for three days, these guys will be irritable. If they don't have food for ten days, the ewes won't produce milk. Then the lambs...if they don't have grass for a month..."

For nomadic people, the number of livestock is often dozens or even a hundred times that of the population. Under normal circumstances, these large and small animals will look for food on their own and do not require much human care. But now if nature does not provide a new season of green grass, This means that these people not only have to eat for themselves, but are also responsible for the food and grass for all livestock!

"Let's move!" 』

"But if you migrate in this weather, you will freeze to death!" people! Livestock! They will all freeze to death! 』

"But to continue here is to wait for death!" 』

"..."

It is difficult for the elders and chiefs to agree on the same opinions.

Whether to choose to freeze to death or wait to die has become a difficult question.

Although the dispute between the chief and the elders was limited to a small area, this kind of thing could not be hidden for long, and other herdsmen soon knew about it.

After the White Disaster, not many livestock will survive. If there is another Black Disaster, people will not be able to survive without grass, let alone livestock.

This is the ecosystem of the desert steppe.

Although these guys have invaded south again and again in history, when faced with natural disasters, these guys are even more powerless and vulnerable than the farming people.

This kind of tribe in the desert has no official government to coordinate disaster relief, and no help from clans and neighbors. They believe in the law of survival that the weak eat the strong, and those who hold back such as the old and the weak deserve to die. Each tribe has to endure the disaster on its own, and no one will lend a helping hand. As for the surrounding so-called brother tribes, they are all like enemies at this time. It is already quite good if they do not take advantage of the chaos to plunder. .

In the past, the disaster relief strategy in these grassland deserts was to organize "national integration" activities going south to transfer internal disasters to the farming people in the south. However, with the rise of the military power of the Hussars in the northern region, several consecutive After the royal court of each tribe was taken over, there was no organizer.

In the scattered tribes, no one trusts anyone. Without credibility and binding force, there will be no basis for cooperation at all.

Such a snowflake in the Little Ice Age has become the mountain that crushes the backbone of these nomadic tribes in the grasslands and deserts today.

Many old men in the tribe have died.

These old people, either actively or passively, became the first people in the tribe to die and "returned to the embrace of the gods."

Every day, there are several people, more or less, who will carry their old father and mother on the back of a horse in front of a tent that cannot hold up, and let the horse take them step by step into the wilderness. And go.

When the elderly leave, they often continue to bless their children...

"Live well..."

"Child, stay alive..."

This is the rule of the grassland desert.

If there is a disaster, if the men are over sixty and the women are over fifty, they will be asked to destroy themselves.

These elderly parents would choose a spot, dismount, and drive the horse away.

The horses would find their way back, and they would never have to go back.

They either froze to death in the cold, were devoured alive by hungry wolves, or froze to death and were eaten by wild beasts.

After a few days, these old people are often left with nothing but their bloody skeletons on the ground. If they were intentional, they would pick them up and bury them, but most of them would just let their parents dump them in the wilderness.

Living people have too much time to take care of themselves, let alone dead people?

Some may not even have horses, so they can only carry their old parents out on their backs, find a rock without dirt or corpses, put their parents on it, and then obey the rules of no turning back and leave quickly, as long as The old father and the old mother did not cry or lament, so it was not considered a sad thing.

Living is bitter, and dying is also bitter.

All living beings suffer!

Therefore, many nomadic people feel that it is better to die in battle than to be abandoned when they are old, and now they don’t even have the chance to die in battle...

The class solidification of the nomadic people is even more serious than that of the Han people.

Ordinary herdsmen will always be just ordinary herdsmen, and they may not even be able to understand the most basic counting. Ordinary herdsmen can quarrel over how many fingers there are on both hands and feet, because some people will freeze their fingers off in the wind and snow...

The humble ordinary herdsmen don't need to have knowledge, they just need to work and have silly fun.

Only the superior people possess knowledge. This is a necessary condition for tribal leaders, or chiefs, elders, wizards and other superior people to maintain their continued "superiority".

But now these "superior people" are also facing a crisis.

Because the number of low-class people has begun to decrease.

My elderly parents died, and my livestock fell ill and fell one by one.

Even if there are various reasons, various rules, and various measures, lower-class people still have emotions, can be sad, and can feel pain. These emotions accumulate, like magma under an extinct volcano, maybe under It will burst out at some point.

A way must be found.

Internal and external troubles, a dilemma.

In the smoke-filled tent, the tribe's elders and chiefs touched each other, enduring the smoke caused by the damp firewood. "A choice must be made...otherwise..."

"southward! If you stay here, you will die sooner or later! 』

"We can only give it a try..."