Chapter 1180: Mutual Calculation
Around the seventeenth year of King Zhuang of Chu (597 BC), the Chu State’s order, Yin Sunshu’ao, presided over the construction of one of the earliest water storage irrigation projects in China, Shaopei.
Shaopi is named after the water flowing through Shaoting.
The reason why Sun Shuao wanted to build this water conservancy project was because the place called Anfeng City at that time was already an agricultural area in the northern border of Chu State.
Anfeng City is just located in the northern foothills of the Dabie Mountains. The terrain on the east, south and west sides is higher, while the terrain on the north side is low-lying, sloping towards the Huaihe River.
Every summer and autumn rainy season, flash floods occur, causing waterlogging, and droughts often occur when there is little rain.
Based on the local terrain characteristics, Sun Shuao organized local people to build projects and dug the low-lying Shaopei area wider and deeper to form a huge reservoir.
Then six water gates were built in Shaopi, using stone gates to control the amount of water. "When the water rises, the doors are opened to drain it, and when the water disappears, the doors are closed to store it."
In fact, it is a semi-artificial large reservoir.
After the completion of Shaopi, thousands of hectares of farmland were irrigated, so that Anfeng area produced a large amount of grain every year and soon became an important economic area of Chu State.
Chu was able to become one of the five hegemons of the Spring and Autumn Period, and Shaopi was indispensable.
More than 800 years later, in the Three Kingdoms era, Cao Wei implemented the policy of farming. Cao Cao personally visited Hefei, collected the refugees, repaired Shaopei, and implemented farming.
Anfeng City back then has now become Shouchun City.
Therefore, it is not without reason that Shouchun is an important population town in the Jianghuai area and is also the seat of the Yangzhou Dudufu of Cao Wei.
If the Wu army can really succeed in the sneak attack and capture Shouchun, it will be equivalent to cutting off the economic and food lifeline of Wei State Yangzhou.
Wei almost had to obediently give up the Jianghuai land in the south.
Although the Wei army finally closed the city gate at the last moment.
But Yang Hong at the top of the city was still breaking out in a cold sweat.
The sun rises in early summer and is already slightly scorching.
But Yang Hong still felt a chill on his back.
Quan Cong asked the entire army to set up camp, but he did not dismount, but said:
“Take someone with you and follow me!”
Both Your Majesty and Zhuge Ke are doing their best to delay and mobilize the Wei thieves. They must race against time to break the city.
Quan Xu and Quan Duan quickly got up, followed Quan Cong's horse with their personal guards, and came towards Shouchun City again.
“Sir, be careful!”
Seeing that his master was about to enter the range of the bow and arrow, but still had no intention of stopping, Quan Xu quickly reminded him.
“It doesn’t matter, I know it well.”
Quan Cong is also a veteran in the army, so he naturally knows where the safe range is.
Yang Hong saw people under the city, supported by soldiers, riding horses and circling around Shouchun.
Knowing that this is the opponent's general observing the city.
This is also normal.
After all, there are few soldiers in the city and they cannot go out to fight the thieves.
But seeing that the opponent kept wandering around the edge of the bow and arrow range, which was quite arrogant, made him really angry:
“You’re saying that we don’t have any good archers in our army?”
“Come here, take a strong bow and call for an archer!”
Archers who could draw strong bows came quickly.
Yang Hong pointed to the people in Quan Cong below the city and asked:
“Can you shoot it?”
The shooter visually measured the approximate distance, but in the end he was still a little confused:
“General, it’s too far away. Even if I could barely hit it, the accuracy would be too low. And even if I could hit someone, I’m afraid I wouldn’t be able to hurt anyone.”
"As long as it can be shot, it will be fine." Yang Hong said nonchalantly, "With such a long distance, I don't expect to be able to hurt anyone."
Riding a horse, with people in front and behind, you can see that he is an important person.
If you can be hurt, it is God's blessing, but even if you can't be hurt, you still have to scare the other person so that they don't dare to get so close.
Before the battle, if you can do anything that can dampen the morale of the thieves, no matter how small it is, you should try your best to do it.
The shooter nodded, understanding what the general meant.
To put it bluntly, we want to give the people in the city a warning.
Quan Cong at the foot of the city was looking intently at the Shouchun city wall when the sound of breaking through the air suddenly sounded!
“General, be careful!”
Always pay attention to Quan Xu and Quan Duan at the top of the city. If they find something is wrong, they immediately raise their shields in front of their horses.
The shield blocked in time, but it was not necessary.
Quan Cong stood still, watching the arrow feathers finally fall softly to the surface of the large frame, and then slide to the ground, with an unruffled expression on his face.
“Sir, let’s stay far away, right?”
Although the arrow feathers were weak, Quan Xu was still worried. When he saw that there was no movement at the top of Shouchun City, he couldn't help but turn around to persuade Quan Cong.
This time, I don’t know if Quan Cong listened or if he had already finished observing. He nodded and spurred his horse’s head: “Let’s go.”
Watching the group of Wu troops leaving the city, Yang Hong breathed a sigh of relief, and then laughed:
“The thief is too timid!”
Everyone on the left and right burst out laughing.
What Yang Hong didn't know was that after Quan Cong left Shouchun City, he did not return to the camp. Instead, he turned south without stopping and walked along the Feishui River on the edge of Shouchun City.
If you follow Feishui all the way to the end, its source is from Jiming Mountain.
Hefei New City is built on Jiming Mountain.
Of course, Quan Cong was not planning to go to Hefei New City this time to flank Wang Ling with Sun Quan.
His destination is another source of fertile water—Shaopei.
As mentioned before, when Sun Shuao built Shaopi, he did so because of the terrain:
The terrain on the east, west and south sides is high, but the terrain on the north side is low.
That's why many water flows near Shaopei flow from south to north into the Huaihe River.
Shouchun is right at the intersection of Feishui and Huaihe Rivers.
Quan Cong arrived at Shapi and finally got off his horse. He walked to the embankment of Shapi and looked north.
Although Shouchun is far away, it is still clearly visible.
He walked along the dam embankment again, suddenly holding a riding crop in his hand, he ordered:
"From tomorrow onwards, you and two others will each lead 500 soldiers. One of them will block the sluices in Shaopi, and the other will cut off the fat water."
At this time, it is late spring and early summer, with abundant rain.
Looking at the rolling fat water, Quan Cong added another sentence:
“Even if the fertilizer water cannot be cut off, the flow of fertilizer water into Shaopei must be cut off.”
Quan Xu and Quan Duan followed Quan Cong for such a trip, and after hearing Quan Cong's instructions, they still didn't understand the intention.
The two of them thought that their sneak attack had failed and that the army that had rushed all the way from Lu'an would be in an embarrassing situation.
After all, it would take a lot of time to build siege equipment.
What the army lacks most is time.
Unexpectedly, the Governor had already made plans.
At this thought, the two of them were overjoyed and quickly clasped their fists:
“Here!”
…
Just when Quan Cong sent people to block the water flows south of Shaopi, he was preparing to flood Shouchun City.
Far away in Hefei, Sun Quan, who was fighting fiercely with Wang Ling, was gradually falling into a disadvantage.
Relying on the sharp swords and thick armor supported by the Han State, the imperial army led by Sun Quan did gain some advantages when the Wei army was unprepared.
However, the situation that Wei Jun is good at land warfare and Wu Jun is good at water warfare cannot be completely changed by relying on weapons.
If not, Cao Cao and Cao Pi and his son built so many warships, why couldn't they cross the river?
This time, the Wu army abandoned their ships and went ashore and fought with the Wei army on land. The same problem also existed.
Wu Jun's infantry had no ability to take advantage of the opportunity to expand the victory.
On the contrary, the longer the fight lasted, the more Wu Jun's shortcomings of not being good at land warfare were exposed.
At the rear, even though the Cheng army had the advantage of strong soldiers and thick armor, they were unable to attack due to frequent harassment by the Wei army's fine cavalry.
“Your Majesty, let’s withdraw!”
Sun Shao saw that something was not right and tried hard to persuade Sun Quan:
"It is only more than two hundred miles from Liu'an to Shouchun. Your Majesty used his body as a bait to hold off the thieves here. Time is enough."
"In the past two days, I have observed that the bandit cavalry has been fighting more and more. It is likely that Wang Ling has mobilized the cavalry from the rear."
“Your Majesty’s plan to lure the enemy has been successful and it is not appropriate to delay it any longer. We should return to the ship and wait for the good news from the Governor...”
Sun Quan refused, so he drew his sword and raised it to the sky, shouting to the soldiers:
"Da Wu's expedition this time is the effort of the whole country. If it fails, Da Wu will never have the opportunity to go north."
"I am already in my sixtieth year. As long as this battle can be successful, it doesn't matter if I give up my life. Without me, there is still a prince, so why should Wu worry?"
When the surrounding soldiers heard this, their morale was greatly boosted and they shouted in unison.
Your Majesty is not afraid of death, so why should we be afraid?
Hearing the faint cry of "Wan Sheng" from the Wu army camp in the distance, Wang Ling showed a contemptuous smile on his face:
“Sun Quan didn’t know that his death was coming! Let’s see if he can still laugh tomorrow?”
The next day, a disheveled Wu general led a few remnant soldiers to the gate of Sun Quan’s camp and shouted:
“Your Majesty, urgent military situation!”
After identity verification, Wu will be brought to Sun Quan soon.
But seeing his face covered with dust and tears streaming down his face, it looked even more miserable.
He could only hear him crying hoarsely:
“Your Majesty, what’s wrong, a large number of Wei thieves’ elite cavalry appeared around the grain road, and they robbed and burned all the grain and grass that I escorted here this time!”
"What did you say?!"
Not to mention Sun Quan, even Sun Shao could not help but overstep his bounds and screamed:
“How could a thief...”
Before he finished speaking, he reacted immediately.
These days, His Majesty seems to be holding Wang Ling back.
But Wang Ling is not idle either. He plans to block His Majesty here!
The place where Lou Chuan and His Majesty camped was more than thirty miles away.
More than thirty miles, if we walk faster, it’s only half a day’s march.
However, Wu Jun's shortcomings in land warfare made this thirty-mile road a weak point that cannot be ignored.
After all, the Han Dynasty is not taken advantage of. It is considered benevolent and righteous to be able to help His Majesty arm the Forbidden Army in such a short period of time.
And these imperial troops, with all the guards at His Majesty's side, naturally cannot be sent out to **** food and grass.
It seems that the Wei thieves' elite cavalry deliberately made a large circle and ambush between His Majesty and the ship.
Now it seems that in the face of the sudden attack of Wei's elite cavalry, the soldiers escorting the grain and grass from the direction of the building ship had no time to make an effective resistance.
The loss of this batch of food and grass was not enough to cause an immediate food shortage in the army.
But it aroused Sun Shao's worries more and more.
"Your Majesty, it seems that what I said yesterday has been true! Wang Ling must have mobilized Shouchun's troops."
"We cannot retreat from the enemy in front, and there are thieves and soldiers in the rear. This can be said to be a loss of ground for the front troops. I respectfully ask Your Majesty to cherish the dragon's body and be considerate of the soldiers!"
Sun Quan fought with elite soldiers in his own hands.
But no matter how strong the army and generals are, they still need to eat.
The loss of a batch of grain and grass is not considered a serious injury.
But if I stay here all the time and there is no way to protect the food route in the rear, how is it different from the death place mentioned in the art of war?
The sudden bad news made Sun Quan and Sun Shao even unable to think about how to deal with the Wu general who was in trouble in escorting the grain and grass.
Especially Sun Quan, remembering that yesterday he said he would die for his country, and today he hurriedly retreated, then...
Sun Quan's face suddenly turned gloomy and clear, extremely ugly.
Sun Shao saw Sun Quan's appearance and didn't know the difficulty of His Majesty.
He ignored his armor and knelt down directly with his knees on the ground, pulling on Sun Quan's robe and begging bitterly:
“Your Majesty used his body as bait to attract the troops of Shouchun traitors. Now that he has achieved his goal, what’s the use of staying here any longer?”
"Your Majesty, don't go too far with your drama. Otherwise, if the thief reacts, wouldn't it ruin the big thing?"
Hearing this, Sun Quan breathed a sigh of relief and nodded slowly:
“What Gong Li said is true. As the saying goes, going too far is not enough, but I didn’t think of this!”
Seeing that His Majesty finally agreed to his suggestion, Sun Shao was overjoyed and hurriedly struck while the iron was hot:
“Your Majesty, if the thieves want to send back the news about robbing our food route, they must also go in a circle.”
“We have to get back to the ship before Wang Ling gets the news and reacts.”
Sun Quan originally wanted to be reserved and didn't want to retreat so quickly - at least he wanted to play two more games and stay for two or three more days.
Otherwise, wouldn’t this be a slap in the face?
It’s just that Sun Shao knew that the situation was urgent. If he missed this time window and was surrounded by thieves, his majesty would be in danger.
Even if they are not far from the ship, the thieves cannot completely encircle them, but it is not a good idea to sacrifice the lives of the soldiers.
Sun Quan saw Sun Shao holding on to the lapel of his clothes, with a look of pleading on his face.
Although Sun Shao is younger than Sun Quan, his hair and beard are already white.
When all the generals in the tent saw this scene, they all saluted in unison:
“I beg your majesty to use the dragon body as the weight and retreat to the ship.”
Sun Quan was really helpless and could only sigh:
"Gongli, get up first. Everyone, get up. I will withdraw my troops."
Sun Shao stood up after hearing this.
It’s just that although Sun Shao’s reaction was fast enough, Wang Ling’s reaction was not slow either.
Hearing that there was something strange happening in the Wu military camp, Wang Ling immediately understood:
"This must be the traitor's food route that has been robbed, so he is tempted to retreat. Come here!"
“What are your orders, general?”
“Send an order to all the armies to assemble their troops immediately and follow me to kill the thieves!”
At the same time, he secretly gritted his teeth:
"The thief is cunning and afraid of death. He has been acting like a fight to the death in the past few days. He didn't expect that he would flee immediately if something went wrong."
On the other side, Sun Shao naturally knew that Wei Jun could not let him go so easily.
He took the initiative to invite Ying and said:
"Your Majesty, please go ahead, I should stay behind!"
At the same time, Shaopei, which was two to three hundred miles away, was dug up by the Wu army, and huge waves were released. The flood rolled up the mud and rocks and swept toward Shouchun City.
Standing at the top of the city, Yang Hong watched the white waves approaching from far away, like a giant beast violently attacking the Shouchun city wall, and his eyes were about to split:
“The thief is so vicious!”
In this era, most cities, whether large or small, were built with rammed earth.
The thing I fear most is blisters.
No matter how hard the city wall is, it will become soft as soon as it is soaked in water.
If it takes a little longer, it will collapse on its own.
One of the important tasks in the corvee imposed by the government every year is to repair the city wall.
It is because of the rain every year that part of the city wall is destroyed.
So no matter how high or thick the Shouchun city wall is, the most it can hold on to is a little longer.
“Hurry, send out fast horses again and urge the governor to quickly lead his troops back to rescue Shouchun!”
(End of this chapter)