Tiger Guards

Chapter 460 The Beginning of Winning Hearts and Minds
In Yan County, the most scarce resource at this moment is not food, but various kinds of firewood and building materials.

After a heavy autumn rain, Cao Cao's soldiers searched for firewood in the ruins throughout the city so they could start fires for warmth at night.

As for shelter from the rain, or haystacks for moisture protection and insulation... none of these are possible.

People in ancient times were also human, and generals were well aware of the environmental and psychological limits that soldiers could tolerate and overcome.

Having taken refuge in Yan County for two days and nights, the mentality of Cao Cao's army has gradually changed.

What started as avoiding war and seeking survival has now turned into weariness and apathy.

In a few days, when most of the food they carried with them had been eaten and their rations were strictly controlled, the discontent of the central army would inevitably increase dramatically.

Fortunately, I can still control myself for now.

On the city wall, as Xiahou Yuan was inspecting the area, he saw a large force of chariots and cavalry slowly approaching from the direction of Suanzao in the west.

Xiahou Yuan was not in a hurry to urge the soldiers in the city to prepare for battle; there was no need to torment the soldiers like this.

With insufficient food supplies, strenuous activity for soldiers should be avoided.

Xiahou Yuan was also puzzled; now was clearly not the best time for the opponent to launch a strong attack.

He watched patiently and saw about three thousand riders galloping lightly along the road seven or eight miles north of the city, without any intention of stopping, heading towards Baima.

Following the cavalry were over a thousand infantrymen pushing carts.

They dug and built stoves on both sides of the road, and set up large, black copper pots.

At the same time, wells were dug for water, and people were also grinding wheat on the spot.

Instead of rice and millet, which require careful pounding to remove the husk, Zhao Ji chose to cook wheat porridge.

If you cook it for a longer time, the bran will soften and become edible.

This whole wheat porridge is more nutritious than plain rice or millet porridge.

Xiahou Yuan watched from afar and confirmed that the other party seemed to be cooking porridge. He immediately understood that this was a psychological attack, and it was quite vicious.

On both sides of the road, there were also some large pots cooking rice porridge, but this rice porridge was prepared for the soldiers under Gan Ning and Zhang Liao.

Manufacturing military-grade iron pots is a rather difficult task, and in Zhao Ji's view, it's simply a matter of prioritizing the allocation of productive forces.

The smelting workshops in Pingyang and Jinyang mainly produced agricultural tools, and the armor in the army was mainly made by dismantling old armor plates and weaving new ones, with at most two additional steel plates for breastplates; swords, spears, and halberds were also mainly obtained through capture and repair.

Therefore, there simply weren't enough good iron and skilled craftsmen to forge the resilient iron pot that Zhao Ji remembered.

The idea of ​​using large iron pots with the army was almost a stereotype for Zhao Ji, but iron pots were not popular.

Just like the horseshoes found at the Hou family manor, many things had already shown signs of emerging, but had not spread.

In this era, bronze tripods and cauldrons existed, and it was quite normal for some people to specially manufacture iron cauldrons or pots and pans made of gold and silver.

However, Zhao Ji's current production capacity is not suitable for focusing on the production of large iron pots, so he can only use pure copper to make large pots as an emergency measure.

There aren't many of these large pots; currently, fewer than two hundred have been assembled.

Each large pot can feed a team of officers and soldiers for one meal; if the large pots are used in rotation, one pot can be used by two teams of one hundred men.

The larger the pot, the greater the volume change, which is a cubic coefficient. Therefore, the copper from two pots can be melted down into one larger pot, which can actually cook more food.

Military operations involve many tasks that require soldiers to exert their physical strength, such as collecting fuel.

The larger the pot, the higher the fuel utilization efficiency, allowing soldiers to save time to do other tasks.

Besides the large pots used by Zhao Jizhong and his troops, most people used earthenware pots or similar containers, and they would eat together in groups of five or ten.

More than a hundred large copper pots stood on both sides of the road, with firewood burning and soup boiling.

As usual, the north wind was blowing, and the soldiers guarding Yan County could almost smell the sweet aroma of hot porridge wherever they looked.

Xiahou Yuan simply stood there quietly watching. After the failed raid that night, the villagers and their families in the army harbored a great deal of resentment towards him.

He now finds it difficult to organize any decent raids. After retreating to Yan County to regroup, many of the horses have been publicly slaughtered by Cao Ang to demonstrate their determination to advance and retreat together.

With only about thirty horses left in the city for scouts and messengers, the extra consumption of grain was reduced.

Soon, Xiahou Yuan noticed the dark, slowly approaching migrating caravan at the edge of his eastern line of sight.

When he quickly realized the truth, a chill ran from his feet straight to his head: "Quickly, go and fetch Zixiu!"

Xiahou Yuan whispered instructions to his personal guards, who turned and quickly left. Only then did Xiahou Yuan realize that even if they wanted to break through the encirclement now, it would be impossible with just over thirty horses.

unless……

He turned his head to look at the Yellow River to the north, as if the warships of the Hebei army were about to approach the south bank, breaking through the reeds and mudflats, and countless Hebei officials and soldiers would climb onto the south bank...

Unfortunately, all of this was just a fantasy. Due to the overflowing Yellow River, large areas of reeds on the mudflats inside the embankment had already been submerged by the river.

Even now, only south of the embankment, large areas of reeds still grow on the land.

As Xiahou Yuan gazed at the vast, interconnected reed corridors along the shore, Zhao Ji led over a thousand chariots out of the Suanzao camp, turning his head to the left to observe the reeds in the distance.

This area has only been uninhabited for five or six years, and reeds were the original residents' stable fuel and building material.

The reed fields, which used to be harvested every year, are now overflowing and causing a disaster. Large areas of land have also been overgrown with reeds, and the ruins of some villages near the shore have been covered by layers of reeds, as if they have been eaten up.

After observing for a moment, Zhao Ji turned to Guan Shang, who was accompanying him, and said, "Order the main camp to have Han Dang, Zhu Ling, and Zhang He's three divisions harvest the reeds north of the camp, within a fifteen-mile stretch from the mouth of the Honggou River." "Yes, sir."

Guan Shang took out a command token, stood steadily on the chariot, picked up a pen and quickly wrote, simply blacking out any typos.

Like the previous command tokens, each command token required Zhao Ji's personal seal.

Currently, it appears that they are locked in a stalemate with Cao Ang, but in reality, they are facing off against Yuan Shao.

Having already defeated Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao will undoubtedly use every means at his disposal. Zhao Ji must do everything possible to ensure the integrity of military orders.

Some of the reeds along the northern riverbank of Daying have already been harvested. Even fresh reeds can be harvested and woven into reed curtains, which can be used to build windbreaks and rain shelters.

After drying, it becomes an excellent material for laying floors and preventing moisture.

The reed leaves are sharp, but the soldiers don't care.

For example, Cao Cao's officers and soldiers in Yan County would never refuse a pile of reeds.

They simply threw bundles of fresh reeds over, and Cao Cao's officers and soldiers didn't mind gnawing on the reed stalks.

When Zhao Ji arrived at the roadside near the northern outskirts of Yan County, the large pots on both sides of the road were already boiling, and the aroma of wheat and rice filled the air.

Zhao Ji got out of the car and walked around. He casually inspected a large pot, lifted the lid, and saw that the pot was full of rice that had already been cooked until it burst open, and even the rice oil had been cooked out.

"Very good."

As a comment, Zhao Ji put on the pot lid, which was slightly larger than the rim of the pot. It was actually a double-layered round bamboo shield.

This type of shield is lightweight and not commonly used in Zhao Ji's army.

It was specially made this year because we were equipped with a large copper pot, and we haven't found the best way to use it yet.

There are only a few fixed shapes of shields used in the army. The shields used in battle are of equal shoulder height and are also called large shields. The shields also come in two widths. There are also medium-sized tower-shaped shields and small, lightweight and flexible combat shields.

After inspecting several more stoves and pots, Zhao Ji spotted Sima Lang resting by the roadside a few dozen steps away.

Sima Lang, who was exiled to the army, was tall and strong, and also had good archery and swordsmanship skills. He quickly passed the normal training and assessment, and participated in the Guanzhong War as a Tiger Infantryman. After making meritorious contributions, he was promoted one rank and is now a corporal.

As Zhao Ji walked around inspecting the area, the officials and soldiers who were busy or resting on both sides of the road gathered by the roadside to watch him. The squad leaders and sergeants spontaneously formed a human wall, but very few people squeezed over.

Sima Lang was no exception; he stood up from a bundle of reeds and quickly walked to the roadside.

When Zhao Ji passed by and saw Sima Lang, he nodded and smiled. Sima Lang could only stand up straight and straighten his body as a response.

As Zhao Ji walked eastward, he gazed at the densely packed migrating population several miles away and felt as if a zombie horde was approaching.

He squinted and observed that only a few knights were moving back and forth, suppressing and urging the prisoners to migrate; while Gan Ning's soldiers, in groups of several hundred, moved with their flags, maintaining a basic organizational structure.

At the same time, there were not many migrating prisoners near the flag, indicating that they were still on guard.

Zhao Ji turned to look at Guan Shang and, seeing that Guan Shang only had a curious look in his eyes, asked, "Ah Shang, how many do you think Gan Xingba and Zhang Wenyuan captured?"

"I don't know, I've been thinking about that too."

Guan Shang immediately asked, "What should we do with the enemy now?"

"Let's wait a little longer and give them one night."

Zhao Ji didn't show any joy at gaining a large number of cheap people; after all, he didn't eat people.

Within two or three days, these prisoners must be escorted to Xingyang and handed over to Zhao Yun, Pei Xiu, and Ximen Jian to be transported across Mengjin and then through Zhiguan Pass to Hedong.

With such a large population, the meager grain reserves in Luoyang's military settlements were simply insufficient to feed them.

Considering the reports from Gan Ning and Zhang Liao, it is clear that a large number of these people are children.

After much hesitation, Zhao Ji said to Guan Shang, "Later, send an arrow to Yan County. Anyone who surrenders within three days will be spared death, demoted to a government slave for ten years, and allowed to reunite with their family."

Lacking sufficient male care, the soldiers escorting them wouldn't take good care of these Cao army families.

In order to avoid being caught by Yuan Shao, who had completed his mobilization, he had no choice but to stay here for another three days. Whether he could kill Cao Ang or not was not important.

The damage to Cao Cao's army's cohesion was severe, preventing them from immediately forming a fighting force upon arriving in Hebei... That was enough, otherwise, it might have truly crushed Gongsun Zan.

It wasn't that Cao Cao's army was particularly strong, but rather that they had mastered sophisticated infantry-to-cavalry tactics.

As for Yuan Jun's army in Hebei, because the soldiers were more familiar with the power of cavalry, it was actually difficult for them to resolutely implement anti-cavalry tactics.

Cao Cao's army was different; they were trained on the brink of death and defeated Lü Bu, thus establishing a consensus on successfully countering cavalry.

If Gongsun Zan were to foolishly charge headlong into the enemy, he would be just like the vanguard that charged into Ju Yi's camp back then, getting shot down at close range by heavy crossbows and horn crossbows behind the shield wall.

Guan Shang immediately instructed his scribes to prepare arrow-shaped documents, and the contents of each document had to be checked carefully to prevent any secret military information from being leaked.

You don't need too many of these arrow-shaped writings; a hundred or so will suffice.

At the northeast corner tower of Yan County city wall, Cao Ang leaned on the crenellations with both hands, watching the massive migrating procession that resembled cattle and sheep being driven in, and tears streamed down his face.

He was weeping for the suffering of his fellow villagers and their families.
Or is it something else you're crying about?

Only he himself knows, and perhaps even he doesn't know why he's crying.

Some people around were also silently sobbing and shedding tears.

(End of this chapter)