Johime Three Kingdoms

Chapter 152
Because Jiangdong's army stopped at Wan County and there was no food road to Shouchun, Cao Cao couldn't borrow food from Bai Tu.

Another half month later, although Cao Cao and Liu Bei successively transferred food and grass, seeing that Huainan had no harvest, Guangling and Shouchun still ignored all kinds of strategies and defended with all their strength.

Moreover, under the influence of Zhong's founding of the country, Yuan Shu's army did become much braver. Ji Ling even fought Zhang Fei for more than thirty rounds before he was defeated and fled - his force was far better than before.

Cao Cao and Liu Bei, let alone being unsure, would conquer Shouchun before they ran out of food. If this continues, even if Yuan Shu opens the door and offers to surrender now, will they be able to accept it?
Huainan alone has a population of 150 million. Including parts of Yuzhou and Jingzhou, even now, Yuan Shu has a population of more than 300 million. In good years, this is the potential for war, but in disaster years...this is 300 million mouths waiting to be fed!

Even if Yuan Shu surrenders now, Cao Cao and Liu Bei cannot save this disaster...

When the world was at peace, local governments could still have some food reserves. With the advent of war, they were busy collecting military rations and it was not enough, and the local ability to withstand natural disasters was greatly reduced.

Finally, in November of the second year of Jian'an, Cao Cao and Liu Bei retreated one after another...

Not only did they evacuate from Shouchun City, but they even withdrew their troops from Huainan. Cao Cao had captured most of Runan, and Liu Bei had completely withdrawn his troops from the northern part of Guangling County.

Judging from the current situation, next year's spring plowing can be saved - staying here at this time is almost like going deep into the desert, relying entirely on supplies from the rear!

When Liu Bei left, he cried bitterly to the people, saying that if the people were willing to leave with him, even if he starved to death on the road, he would not lose a bite of food for the people.

However, firstly, it is difficult to leave the homeland, and many people still want to rely on the old grain, grass roots, tree bark, etc. to endure. Secondly, there is a problem of trust and the speed of news dissemination. Only a small part of them are willing to leave!

In the end, he brought [-] to [-] people with him, crossed the Huaihe River, and returned to Xiapi. It became a good story for a while, and Liu Bei's popularity among the people was greatly improved.

At the same time, Bai Tu from Jiangdong was heartbroken when he saw the disaster situation of the Huainan people reported by the Wind Guards. He resolutely sent troops to Xunyang Ferry, Ruxukou and Guazhou after Cao Cao and Liu Bei withdrew their troops.

Wan County also occupies the stone pavilion to the north, and there is no need to force the dangerous stone road.

Ordinarily, fighting at this time would definitely be a disadvantage, but...if Bai Tu only wanted to occupy these three ports, there wouldn't be much hindrance.

To the north of Xunyang Ferry is Qichun City, Ruxukou is next to Chaohu Lake, further north of Chaohu Lake is Hefei, and to the north of Guazhou is Guangling City...

These three are all big cities, Qichun is slightly worse, and the other two can be said to be strong cities behind walls, which are difficult to conquer without a hard battle.

Bai Tu did not want to attack the fortress, but carried forward the spirit of caring for his compatriots and boundless love to help the people in Huainan who were fighting the disaster to cross eastward!
In addition to the already controlled Wan County, four places along the north bank of the Yangtze River and the downstream section between Huainan and Jiangdong are under Baitu's control.

In December, Bai Tu sent out a large number of scouts in Huainan, not to detect the enemy's situation, but to announce that as long as the Huainan people arrived at Xunyangdu, Shiting, Chaohu, and Guazhou, the Yangzhou Army would attack any of them. All the military camps in the army can get relief food and go to Jiangdong to avoid disaster.

Jiashi Road is difficult for a large army, but sporadic civilians and refugees, unless it is a truly desperate and dangerous path, otherwise the "easy to defend and difficult" attack is ineffective against the common people.

In history, after Cao Cao occupied Huainan, he wanted to forcibly relocate the people. As a result, the people were afraid and went south to Jiangdong in large numbers. In comparison, Yuan Shu's control is now even worse, and... In addition to Jiangdong, Xuzhou, Yuzhou No matter what, we can’t afford to feed so many victims!
Bai Tu not only promised to ensure that every household would be "young and strong and have food for the whole family" in the disaster year, but also promised to arrange for everyone to return to their hometowns after regaining Huainan...

Only during the Three Kingdoms period would the warlords understand that the true strength of a force is not how much farmland it occupies or how many weapons and horses it has, but how much labor it has!

Taking Jiangdong alone as an example, the most fertile areas for water conservancy projects are the former northern Yuzhang, which is now Poyang County, and the northern plains of Wu County and near Zhenze.

After the construction of these two water conservancy areas is completed and fully cultivated, the cultivated land will reach 150 million hectares. One hectare and 75 acres were controlled by the Han Dynasty. If one household cultivates [-] acres, if it is released to the people, it can support [-] households - more than the current Jiangdong area. The total population is still large. Even if all the hidden households are dug out, there may not be so many people.

And if it were taken over by the government, with all the oxen available, and several types of plows suitable for large flat fields have been developed, hundreds of thousands of young people would be needed to work in the fields, and the income would be enough to make the white image Like other traversers, food tax exemption in other regions!

Therefore, "people" are the real foundation. Before, Bai Tu was like a hamster, saving so much relief food, wasn't it just for "people"?
Even if the people are unwilling to leave and still need to consider it, they can still receive enough rations for a family for several days at the garrison in Baitu. They will be the best propagandists!
With Bai Tu's popularity and the fact that the relief grains were really "distributed", not to mention the villagers living outside the city, even in big cities like Hefei and Guangling, there were people sneaking out of the city quietly.

After Yuan Shu got the news, he angrily ordered that all cities in the north of the Yangtze River be put under martial law, and scouts and patrols should be strengthened.

However, for Lu Mian, Shu Shao and others who are actually sitting in the town, it is obvious that they cannot fully implement the order of the lord...or "His Majesty"!

The current drought leaves little room for them to maneuver, and it is easy to stop the refugees from defecting to Baitu, but... what happens next?

Yuan Shu only asked them to use all their strength to intercept the people, but he did not allocate food for disaster relief, and he did not even have a plan for disaster relief.

Do you want to watch them starve to death?

As for killing on the spot, Lu Mian and Shu Shao tacitly pretended not to hear it.

Not to mention that Yuan Shu's direct descendants from Nanyang are all concentrated in Shouchun, such as Qichun, Guangling, and Hefei... Most of the defenders in the city are from the local area. If they dare to do this, a mutiny will occur in minutes.

And their own moral bottom line does not allow them to do this...

Generally speaking, at this time, all you need to do is throw dirty water on your opponent - it's difficult to do it yourself, but it's easy to troll others!
It can be said that Bai Tu sent people to Jiangdong to be slaves. The old, weak, women and children had to starve to death, and the young and strong would wear shackles to mine. Or even bolder, one could directly say that Bai Tu wanted to use human flesh as relief food...

In fact, Yuan Shu did this kind of guidance and propaganda, but... the effect was too small!
The golden voice of "Killing a person is like killing my father" is still echoing in my ears. On one side is Yuan Shu, who is violently conquering Huainan, and on the other side is Bai Tu, who cares about the people and is brave. The multiple-choice question "who to believe" is too simple. …

Guangling City, where Shu Shao was located, had a slightly better disaster defense situation, so he took it upon himself to open warehouses and release grain to the people, which temporarily calmed down the people of Guangling County.

However, Yuan Shu was criticized for misappropriating military rations, and he directly sent people to summon Shu Shao back...

During Yuan Shu's chaos, more than [-] people crossed the river eastward throughout December, equivalent to the population of more than half of the county!

Moreover, Baitu understood that this was the home of the people in Huainan, and many of them still had food in storage, and... they still had expectations for next year's harvest.

When the drought continues, more people will defect to...

　Dongdong: Let’s continue wandering in the evening, go out to have a meal, and write Chapter 3 when we come back~(╥╯^╰╥)嘤嘤嘤~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)