Volume 2: The King's Way Chapter 164: Delivering Food
Let’s talk about Shu Shao, the prefect of Guangling. A few months ago, he opened the granaries in Guangling city to release grain and provide relief to many disaster victims, effectively curbing the migration of population to Jiangdong.
However, his act of opening the warehouse privately in violation of Yuan Shu's military orders led to his being charged with a crime, dismissed from his post, and escorted back to Shouchun.
Fortunately, Shu Shao was quite eloquent. After seeing Yuan Shu, he immediately apologized and said, "I know your majesty will blame me, but I just want to use my life to save the people from suffering!"
Fortunately, Yuan Shu still had talented people like Yang Hong and Yan Xiang by his side. Although Yan Xiang had been claiming to be ill since Yuan Shu proclaimed himself emperor, and even the official position Yuan Shu had conferred on him was forced upon him, at least there was Yang Hong...
After Yang Hong repeatedly gave him a subtle look, Yuan Shu barely suppressed his anger and said with a fake smile: "Zhongying, I understand what you mean, but don't you want to share your reputation with me?"
Thus, Shu Shao was spared from death, and... opening the granary without authorization was considered as a disaster relief order. However, Shu Shao, who had "accomplished great merit", only held an idle position in the court of Dazhong, while the prefect of Guangling was replaced by Yuan Huan.
Yuan Huan also had the surname Yuan, but he was not from the Runan Yuan family, which had "three officials in four generations", but from the Chenjun Yuan family.
Of course, the Chenjun Yuan family is indeed related to the Runan Yuan family - the Chenjun Yuan family is the source of the Yuan family. In fact, the Runan Yuan family was a "side branch" that split off from the Chenjun Yuan family a hundred years ago.
Even though Yuan Shu always acknowledged "Shun" as his ancestor, the ancestor of the "Yuan family" was indeed Shun. However, the "Ru'nan Yuan family" actually only has a history of over a hundred years.
It was just that the Yuan family had been extremely prosperous for a hundred years. A hundred years ago, Yuan An, the second generation of the Runan Yuan family, was so cold at home on a snowy day that he did not go out or ask for help that the Luoyang magistrate exclaimed "What a talent!" He was then recommended as a filial and honest official. From then on, the Yuan family's career was unstoppable. In a hundred years, five officials of the three-rank official level were born, and this number continued for four generations...
The degree of prestige of the Yuan family is even greater than that of the Chenjun Yuan family, which has a thousand-year history. However, in comparison, the Chenjun Yuan family is more like a "aristocratic family" than the Runan Yuan family, which is now fighting for supremacy in the world.
After all, the Runan Yuan family disappeared after the defeat of Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu. In later Eastern Jin Dynasty and Southern Dynasties, the "Yuan family" mentioned together with Wang, Xie and Xiao was the expatriate Yuan family of Chenjun.
When Yuan Huan first defected to Yuan Shu, he also wanted to assist him wholeheartedly. If Yuan Shu became powerful in the future, it would be beneficial to himself and the Yuan family of Chenjun.
But within a few years, he discovered that Yuan Shu was unreliable, and now he has risen to become the emperor of the Zhong family...
At that time, Yuan Huan was really afraid that Yuan Shu would slap his thigh and recognize the Chenjun Yuan family as royal relatives.
Fortunately, Yuan Shu never took the Chenjun Yuan family seriously from the beginning. After that... Yuan Huan's psychology became a little complicated.
After being appointed as the prefect of Guangling, Yuan Huan felt that it was not easy to lead the team - after all, the previous prefect risked his life to open the granary to save the people, and was later taken away and questioned.
With this example in front of him, if Yuan Huan doesn’t open a position, he will seem unrighteous . If he opens a position... Yuan Huan hasn’t lived enough!
Knowing full well that his predecessor was promoted in name only and demoted in reality because he opened positions secretly, Yuan Huan deliberately opened positions again, and he was afraid that he would get double the anger from Yuan Shu.
And more importantly, Shu Shao dared to open the granary because he believed that the grain reserves in Guangling City were enough to provide relief to the victims, but it was unable to bear military expenses later. After all, Guangling itself was a "big granary."
However, now that it is the spring plowing season, God is still unwilling to give rain, and Guangling may not have any surplus grain!
In this case, how can Yuan Huan open a position?
As if it weren't raining, by April, more than 90% of the arable land in Guangling would basically have no harvest. The remaining fertile land near large water sources and canals still had hope of a harvest.
At this time, Jiangdong took action. The Guazhou garrison, which had been accepting refugees, bared its fangs and rushed straight to Guangling...
After receiving the news, Yuan Huan was also stunned for a moment.
Last spring and summer, the situation was so good, but Lord Bai did not attack Huainan. This year... it's hard to make ends meet. When it is obviously not the right time to use military force, he actually sent troops to Guangling?
No matter how doubtful we are, we still have to defend the city.
Seeing Chen Gong leading a large army to within an arrow's reach of Guangling City, Yuan Huan made an estimate and frowned - the Jiangdong Army's military appearance was neat, but... there were only about 5,000 people in front of them, what did they want to do?
Attack Guangling? What's going on?
There were 20,000 defenders in the city. Later, Chen Deng was here... but 10,000 of them defeated Sun Quan's 100,000!
However, just when they were confused, they saw several "big guys" coming out in front of Chen Gong's army...
"Is this... a catapult?" Yuan Huan is a knowledgeable man.
The Yuan family of Chen County, whose ancestors were senior ministers of the State of Chen during the Spring and Autumn Period, and were also a branch of the royal family, had a deep family tradition of learning. After the Qin Emperor burned books and buried scholars, the Chen family collected many out-of-print books.
During the Warring States Period, there were already catapults, or "trebuchets", but they were the most primitive "human-powered" ones, that is, everyone shouted slogans and pulled ropes together to throw stones...
No matter its range, power or accuracy, it was quite impressive. In addition, it was heavy and difficult to use, and was soon lost in the tide of history.
However, the catapults in Chen Gong's army are no longer manpower-driven, but torque catapults - that is, the originally vertical catapult arm is pulled down by a winch, loaded with projectiles, and then the winch is loosened to use the elasticity of the catapult arm and the torque of the overall components to throw the stone bullet out of the catapult.
It is considered a major advancement after the human-powered trebuchet. The Thunderbolt Chariot that appeared in Cao Cao's camp during the Battle of Guandu should be the torque trebuchet.
In fact, in terms of hit rate and stability, the counterweight trebuchet should be better. That is, it uses a lever, with a weight on one end, lifts it with a winch, and then loads stone bullets on the other end - similar to a seesaw, to "kiss" the stone bullets out.
However, it is also relatively more difficult to manufacture. Pang Tong... after all, there is only one of him, and he cannot be distracted by such trivial matters. Bai Tu can only take it step by step. Anyway, there is no rush.
And although it looks bulky, it is actually loaded with the technology of the Song Dynasty whirlwind cannon - the turret and the base can rotate, which means that it can stay in place and rotate the turret to adjust the direction of the projectile!
Although Yuan Huan did not think that the walls of Guangling would lose to the catapults, he still shouted to Chen Gong: "Chen Gongtai! Yuan has long heard of Bai Gong of Jiangdong. He is kind and generous, and a true gentleman... Last year, Bai Gong said that when plundering land and attacking cities, one should win with virtue, and the people will obey and come out of the city to welcome you. Why are you so eager to start a war now?"
When Liu Ye returned and relayed Bai Tu's ideas to Cao Cao, Guo Jia specifically suggested that Bai Tu's words be spread...
The purpose is obvious. It is not to promote Bai Tu, but to use words to block him. When he takes action in the future, people all over the world will be able to see his hypocrisy!
Cao Cao naturally accepted this suggestion which had no harm but only benefits - if Bai Tu really had no ambition to dominate, that would be the best, but if he did... then this matter could also slightly undermine Bai Tu's prestige.
"Hahaha, Governor Yuan has misunderstood! Lord Bai is a great sage of the time, how could he go back on his word like some rebellious villains? Lord Bai heard that Guangling City had taken in many refugees but was short of food and fodder. He couldn't bear to see the tragic scene of starving people everywhere, so he asked me to deliver food!" said Chen Gong.
"Send food? If so, I would like to thank you first and then send the food... But Brother Chen's army doesn't look like it's transporting food." Yuan Huan was not angry when he heard Chen Gong's ridicule of Yuan Shu.
"Why do you have to speak in secret, Governor Yuan? If I give the food and grass directly to you, how will it get into the hands of the people? Even if Governor Yuan has good intentions, I am afraid he would not dare to disobey the orders of the thief Yuan like Governor Shu did, right?" Chen Gong deliberately provoked.
"Shut up! Chen Gongtai, do you want to take over the city like this?" Yuan Huan said angrily.
In this regard... Yuan Huan had no choice but to interrupt with "impotent rage" - after all, what Chen Gong said was true.
In fact, Yuan Huan was really looking forward to Chen Gong being able to attack directly.
But he couldn't surrender without a good reason. If he surrendered directly to the enemy, would he still be able to maintain his reputation?
Yuan Huan might not be very dedicated in defending the city, but at least he would not allow only a few thousand people to break into Guangling City.
"It would be best if Governor Yuan is willing to give up his evil ways and join the good. If he is not willing... In order to carry out the righteousness of my lord, I, Chen, will have no choice but to deliver the food by force! Get ready--"
As soon as Chen Gong gave the order, the catapults began to pull down their arms and started to load at the same time.
"It's indeed different from ordinary catapults. Can it hit the city wall from such a distance? Wait... what is it loaded with? It doesn't seem to be stone bullets..." Yuan Huan looked a little confused.
The catapults of the Warring States Period were manually braked, which had poor effects and the time difference between the forces exerted by everyone made them extremely inefficient. When they first appeared, they could throw a little farther than primitive bows and arrows, spears, and axes. However, as the Hu clothing and horse riding became more popular, the Hu people's bow-making skills were introduced and popularized and developed. The catapults, which could not shoot as far as bows and arrows, were naturally completely eliminated.
But now Chen Gong is out of the range of an arrow. The bows and arrows of the Han Dynasty have a much longer range than those of the Warring States Period. At this distance... if the catapult can still hit the city wall, it proves that it still has some practicality!
"Release!" Chen Gong gave the order.
Then, along with the capstans of the catapults one by one, the sound of the twisting parts and the friction between the throwing arms and the wind were heard, and at the same time... "rain all over the sky" sprinkled on the city wall.
It not only hit the city wall, but exceeded the height of the wall!
"Raise your shields, raise your shields quickly!" Yuan Huan shouted hurriedly.
However, after the shield was raised, there was no collision sound. It seemed that... the target was not the tower? Instead, it flew further into the city, even flying over the narrow city wall.
The projectiles were very scattered, and it is estimated that a catapult could throw out dozens of them. One third of these "shells" fell into the city wall, two thirds fell into the inner city, and only a few inevitably fell down in advance.
Soon someone delivered the sample of the "cannon shell" to Yuan Huan...
It looks like a brick and tastes even more like a brick - however, this is indeed the relief food from Jiangdong!
"Bai Gong is delivering food, bandits please don't disturb! Bai Gong is delivering food, bandits please don't disturb!"
The troops outside the city shouted in unison, obviously after rehearsing. Even at the edge of the inner city, some of the shouting could be heard. And... even if no one heard it, there were notes praising "Mr. Bai's righteousness" hidden in the relief food.
Yuan Huan immediately understood what the other party was going to do...
