Mythic version of the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 6726 Trust
Cao Cao just didn't believe it. As a person from the Central Plains, he would strengthen the flood prevention and disaster prevention facilities when building the city, and he also specially strengthened the construction of water network. But now he was in a mess because of the flood in Kandahar.

According to the setting that the final destination of the Indian Ocean monsoon is the Himalayas, the Kabul River Valley must be the hardest hit area. Kandahar suffered a flood of this magnitude, and the flood in the Kabul area must be at least three times that of our side. Cao Cao doesn't believe that Ardashir can end up safely!
Even if Ardashir was a scholar with a destiny, and had lived in Central Asia for so many years that had never experienced a flood, and when he arrived at the Kabul River Valley, a place that had not seen a flood for decades, he still remembered to build flood prevention facilities. Cao Cao did not believe that what they had built could withstand this flood. If this was the outcome, Cao Cao said he would commit suicide on the spot!

"What I want to say is that our climate observers believe that when the flood broke out in Kabul, the rain here had not stopped." Chen Gong was silent for a while and gave Cao Cao an outrageous answer, "Combined with the analysis sent by the domestic side, the entire monsoon period of about four months was compressed to a little more than one month, so it is very likely that when the flood broke out in Kabul, the rain here had not stopped."

Cao Cao was stunned when he heard this. This was really fatal.

"The rainfall will be less by then, right?" Xun Yu looked at Chen Gong and asked.

"This is the first time we have encountered such a situation. The Gan and Shi families have asked some elders in Beigui, but they have never seen such heavy rain, so they can't guarantee it." Chen Gong said helplessly, "But in theory, it should get smaller. After all, the rainfall has not continued to increase or decrease in the past few days. It is at its peak. According to the wind direction of the monsoon, if there is a slight downward trend in the next few days, then the judgment of our climate experts should be correct."

"Even if it is reduced, I'm afraid it won't work. The rain here feels like the sky is leaking." Cao Ren said with a gloomy face, "Even if it is reduced, the rainfall during this period will cause the flood to continue."

"Report!" Just as the group was discussing what to do next, a guard rushed in in the rain, "General Xu from the northern front is reporting an urgent report of a large-scale mudslide. General Xu is mobilizing his army to attack and change the direction of the mountain road. He requires the villages northwest of Kandahar to be relocated as soon as possible."

Legion attacks are very useful, especially for top legions without cloud suppression. There is no problem in blowing up mountains in a short period of time. The only trouble is that this method of directly blowing up mountains does not have sufficient technical capabilities. The collapsed mountains will still be blocking the original place, which will create new problems. But now a large-scale mudslide has occurred on the northern line, heading towards Kandahar. Xu Huang made a prompt decision to blow up the mountain directly.

The impact direction of the mudslide was changed by blasting the mountain, but the ruins formed by the blasting and the direction of the mudslide quickly caused large-scale water accumulation in that area. According to the degree and height of the blockage, as well as the current exaggerated rainfall, a barrier lake will be formed here in less than a day.

So after Xu Huang blew up the mountain, he immediately sent someone to notify Cao Cao and asked Cao Cao to relocate the population first, and then rebuild the waterway under the judgment of water conservancy personnel.

Mountains cannot be blown up casually. This is something that all senior water conservancy personnel have repeatedly reminded us of recently. In their words, the current rainfall in Kandahar can still be tolerated by relying on the margin they had when designing Kandahar. If it really doesn't work, they will blow up Dam No. 1 to release floodwaters. Although this will cause certain losses, it can still be barely controlled.

But if we just blow up the mountain casually and form a large barrier lake, then if any link goes wrong, everyone will die together. This is the guarantee made by a certain water conservancy god of the Sang family with his own nine clans - as long as we don't do anything reckless, Kandahar can definitely withstand the flood and the loss of life can be controlled to a certain scale. But if we do something reckless and the amount of water exceeds our estimation, causing the flood peak to cover the dam, everyone will be waiting to die together. Therefore, we must never blow up mountains casually. Professional personnel must be present when blasting mountains.

Cao Cao had a lot of water conservancy personnel under his command, and they had strong technical capabilities. After all, when they built water conservancy facilities relying on the lower reaches of the Helmand River, they created millions of acres of fertile land. This group of people had considered flood control issues during the construction, and they made sufficient margins.

It's just that the water conservancy facilities in the agricultural area in the middle and lower reaches of the Helmand River are well built. It doesn't mean that the water conservancy facilities in Kandahar City upstream inherited from the Northern Gui era are also well built. After all, there are costs to consider. After taking Kandahar City, the water conservancy personnel under Cao Cao made comprehensive considerations and only carried out the walling process, and did not rebuild Kandahar City.

This has led to the current situation in Kandahar City being worse than that in the irrigation areas in the middle and lower reaches.

"Xiahou Yuan, you must hurry up and relocate all the villages over there." Cao Cao made a quick decision. Recently, Cao Cao had been stationed in the Kandahar government office all day long. Whenever he received an urgent report, he would send troops to rescue. At this time, we can forget about relying on the people and the local government to save people. We can only use the army, which is fast and professional enough.

Xiahou Yuan stood up and bowed, then rushed out putting on his hat. There was no other way, as Ardashir was outside the city and the cloud protection could not be stopped, which was also a trouble for disaster relief.

As for how the army feels about disaster relief, although there is a saying that bandits are like combs and soldiers are like rakes, this is generally said in times of chaos. In prosperous times, it is normal for the local army in the Central Plains to take on disaster relief, especially floods. Since the reign of Emperor Wu of Han, when the Yellow River burst its dikes and local governments could not stop the flood, Emperor Wu of Han mobilized the army to stop the water. Whenever there is a flood and local governments cannot do anything about it, the army has to be used.

By the way, when Emperor Wu of Han assembled his army to stop the flooding of the Yellow River, Sima Qian rarely stopped talking nonsense and gave Emperor Wu of Han a very high evaluation.

Therefore, what Cao Cao is doing now can be regarded as following the old practices, which is acceptable. In addition, the grassroots soldiers are all locals, so they are empathetic and do their best in disaster relief.

"Urgent report, Bakza under Ardashir's command is leading his soldiers to attack the mountain roads and create a large barrier lake in the upper reaches of the Helmand River. Currently, the Helmand River waterway has been affected to a certain extent. Fortunately, the current rainfall is extremely high, and it is estimated that it will take about ten days to block the Helmand River valley." Not long after Xiahou Yuan rushed out, the scouts who had gone out to investigate in the rain brought back another piece of news that made Cao Cao very angry. Bakza was creating a barrier lake.

"I will organize people to go and repel Bakza." Zhang Xiu stood up and said. He could not help much here, so he might as well go and fight with Bakza.

"It's raining heavily now. The combat effectiveness of the Xiliang Iron Cavalry is reduced to 30% of its original strength. You may not gain any benefit by leading the Xiliang Iron Cavalry there." Cao Cao shook his head and said.

Bakza's subordinates are pure infantry. Although he has led cavalry before, his heart structure and talent composition are more suitable for infantry. He led cavalry before, more for a quick withdrawal from Central Asia. If we really consider combat effectiveness, Bakza performs more stably when leading infantry.

Under such circumstances, Zhang Xiu led the Western Liang Cavalry. Although he could gain some advantage by relying on the legion's talent, the overall situation was not favorable for Zhang Xiu.

"I'll take the men over." Cao Zhen raised his eyebrows. When it comes to dealing with infantry, the mixed corps under his command will be more powerful. Whether it's the flail heavy infantry using heavy weapons to rush in the front, or the small number of elite soldiers covering the two wings, they can quickly deal with a single infantry corps.

Cao Zhen's legion talent development finally took the route of taking all three into consideration. There was no other way. The situation in recent years was really bad for Cao Cao. The officers under Cao Cao had nothing important to do, so they calmed down and studied the development direction of their legion talents. If they wanted to be proficient in it, they needed to fight against powerful enemies, and then continuously optimize and strengthen it. But if they wanted to develop in a broad direction, they only needed to slowly study and verify it.

This is also the reason why Xu Huang's atmospheric deflection has developed a large number of small skills. The officers and soldiers on Cao Cao's side have been severely restricted in recent years, but they have indeed gone a long way in developing legion talents.

"Yan Xing, we will provide you with the cloud energy that you can transform in the back, go and seal off Bakza." Cao Cao motioned Cao Zhen to sit down. Cao Zhen was not needed at this moment, so he turned to look at Yan Xing who was slacking off on the side.

"No problem." Yan Xing nodded and said, with neither expression nor excitement. He was like an outsider under Cao Cao, because in essence, he was not under Cao Cao. Liangzhou was rich in order evil and neutral evil guys, and in such an environment, it was quite outrageous for a neutral good guy like Yan Xing to grow up.

After standing up and saluting, Yan Xing took the order and walked outside. He put on his hat and quickly disappeared in the rain. With Yan Xing's current combat effectiveness, if he led the legion and provided with enough cloud energy for him to transform, Yan Xing's legion could rank among the top 15 in the world in single combat and delaying.

Especially in the past few years, he has studied his legion talents carefully and has gained a more accurate understanding of how to move the clouds and the essence of heaven and earth, and his actual combat capabilities have been greatly improved.

"General, are we going to rescue now?" Yan Xing arrived at the military camp, and the guard wearing a straw raincoat and a hat asked the first thing he did.

"No, go and expel Bakza, let the brothers move around, drink some ginger and sugar water to warm up their bodies, and then get ready to set off. Keep the fire burning a little longer and drink it when we come back." Yan Xing said calmly. Cao Cao produces sugar, and even if it is to be supplied to Rome, the remaining sugar will be enough to serve as military supplies.

As for things like ginger and sugar water, given the physical fitness of the soldiers under Yan Xing's command, if they drink two large cups of it after the battle to drive away the cold, they will basically not get sick.

Nowadays, human quality has greatly improved, and microorganisms and viruses seem to have become stronger as well, so we still have to pay attention to what we should pay attention to, and things like non-combat casualties should be reduced if possible.

"We have brothers who have been keeping an eye on Bakza. They should be back soon." Yang Qiu, who was in charge of scouts, came quickly to report after Yan Xing beat the drum and went to the tent. To be honest, Yang Qiu was somewhat skeptical about the intelligence from Lao Cao.

Of course, this is not to doubt that the investigators are not trying their best, but to doubt that Lao Cao is concealing the information about people who are not from the Cao and Xiahou families. After all, ever since the last incident where his wife's family was killed, Yang Qiu felt that Lao Cao was someone who needed to be guarded against.

Although normal people have different moral requirements for friends, superiors and monarchs, for friends, of course, we hope that they are benevolent, righteous, propriety, wisdom and trustworthiness, gentle, respectful, frugal and modest, loyal, filial, honest, shameful and brave. As for superiors, generally speaking, ability is required more than morality, and it is enough for them to deal with matters according to facts, pay salaries on time and deliver on their promises. On the moral level, it is enough for them to be human beings.

As for the moral requirements for the monarch, Yang Qiu said that they had no moral requirements for the monarch in the past. As long as the monarch could bring benefits to everyone and ensure that everyone had enough food and clothing, they had no requirements for the monarch in other aspects, even if the monarch was not a human being on the moral level.

This is also the reason why they could accept Cao Cao's leadership - no matter how many moral problems Cao Cao had, he always fulfilled the promises he made and painted for them. There were indeed benefits to following Cao Cao, so they followed Cao Cao.

However, the last incident was too much for Yang Qiu. His father-in-law and his entire family were wiped out overnight. Damn it, even if the monarch does not require morality, you are going too far!

Considering that the Cao and Xiahou families led the team to do such things, their entire families did not die, but other families did. This is fucking nonsense. I don’t require the monarch to be moral, but at least the monarch should be fair to his subordinates. So the Xiahou and Cao families are human beings, but we are not human beings?

From then on, Yang Qiu and others became wary of Cao, and they gathered a lot of military intelligence on their own to prevent them from being used as bait to establish merits for the Cao and Xiahou families.

"Liang Xing, Hou Xuan, Cheng Yin, Li Kan, the four of you go and organize the troops first, with our elite troops in the front, and be prepared for the assault." Yan Xing did not think there was anything wrong with Yang Qiu's caution. Everyone is not a fool, okay? Even if they have their own little thoughts, they should still be at least prepared.

Soon, the scouts under Yang Qiu sent over detailed reconnaissance results. Sure enough, in addition to Bakza, there was also Fares who built a dam there. However, Fares was far away. But based on Bakza's strength and the terrain, even if the Han army sent people there, it would be impossible to capture him in a short time, and it was very likely that Fares would attack him from behind.

"It's not a big problem. We are not going there ourselves. Let's expel Bakza first." After receiving the information, Yan Xing's expression remained unchanged. Yang Qiu and others also agreed. Then a group of people quickly went from the west side of Kandahar to the north side where Bakza was in the heavy rain.

Because of the rain, the marching speed of both sides and the speed of intelligence transmission have dropped significantly, and even the intensity of combat has been greatly affected.

"The Han army has sent a reorganized army to Bakza." Tavasdes informed Ardashir as soon as he received the information.

"Only sending a reorganized legion?" Ardashir frowned. This was quite different from the result he wanted. Under the advice of Tavasdes, he was ready to withdraw. However, before withdrawing, he wanted to gain some merits from Cao Cao that would be enough to stabilize the morale of his own army.

"Yes, there is only one reorganized legion." Tavasdes nodded and said, "This is an opportunity. The enemy has probably detected the existence of Fares, but they certainly don't expect that our goal is just to defeat one legion and then withdraw, so they will definitely not consider that we will directly abandon this high ground. In this case, send the main force from here, attack from three sides, and directly capture the enemy."

Tavasdes was not worried. He knew very well what Ardashir had. Although he had dozens of good generals and tens of thousands of troops, it was absolutely not advisable to waste such little strength. If he could get a chance to erode Cao Cao's legion with slight losses, he should not delay.

The more we can destroy, the better. If we destroy a legion today and another legion tomorrow, Cao Cao's power will naturally weaken. A large-scale battle can be fought, but not at this time. Now, hiding outside the city of Kandahar has indeed greatly boosted the morale of the army, but it cannot bring any substantial benefits. Moreover, with this amount of rainfall, Tavasdes, who was born into the former Parthian royal family, is somewhat worried.

"Can we surround the city and attack the reinforcements?" Ardashir said after thinking for a while. He really had no way to take Kandahar City now. Although the heavy rain gave Ardashir an opportunity, it also prevented Ardashir from attacking the city. After mobilizing most of the main forces, he only annihilated one legion of Cao Cao. Ardashir was somewhat disappointed.

"It is not recommended to do so. A quick battle and quick decision is more appropriate. I don't think this can deceive Cao Cao. I can only say that the other party is actually betting on this possibility. Even the legion released now is a bait." Tavasdes said very directly.

The bait can also be eaten as long as the technique is clever. It is just like a game of passing the parcel. Even though you know it is a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul, as long as you enter and exit early, you can still make money. As for whether it turns out to be a scam and you get killed, that has nothing to do with what happened before.

Tavasdes guessed that Cao Cao should have some doubts about Bakza. After all, he had planned to build a dammed lake before. And if he really wanted to do it, he should do it further up the river. It would be more difficult for Cao Cao to stop him after receiving the news. Why bother to do it in the range where Cao's army could detect it?

This plan obviously has other reasons. Besides, Tavasdes would not think that the Han army is stupid, so the legion coming out at this time is most likely a bait.

But it doesn't matter, as long as it's not a tough one with three talents, with Ardashir's current configuration, the legion that escaped will definitely be able to kill it before the opponent's main force arrives.

"Can't we get more?" Ardashir frowned. He always trusted Tavasdes. After all, he was the only capable military advisor under his command.

"If we are willing to waste time here, there may be better opportunities later, but we can't delay any longer. We must return to the Kabul Valley as soon as possible. The current rainfall is too exaggerated. According to what I learned from the locals, as long as Kandahar floods, Kabul will inevitably flood as well." Tawasdes tried his best to persuade Ardashir to retreat to the Kabul Valley.

"Although the flood in Kandahar is exaggerated, it's not that serious to be honest." Ardashir frowned and said, "Besides, there is a big river in Kabul. When the rain flows down the river, the situation should be better than in Kandahar."

"That's just our speculation. No one knows the actual situation, so it's better to transfer the main force back to Kabul for garrison at this time. Once a flood really breaks out, we will have time for rescue and disaster relief." Tawasdes tried his best to persuade.

What Ardashir said is actually correct. If it is a regular flood, it does fit the logic that Ardashir said, but what Beigui is experiencing now is not a regular flood.

"You have already sent people to inform Turansha to keep an eye on the Kabul River, and send people to report every day as much as possible. Although the water level of the Kabul River has risen, it has not reached the warning level. According to the notification from the Kushan side, it will take some time for the rainfall in Kandahar. Let's wait a little longer, maybe we can really get the opportunity." Ardashir looked at Tawasdes hesitantly.

What is the opportunity? The opportunity is that Ardashir lets Nihawin rely on the fortress built by Cao Cao upstream to block the course of the Helmand River, forming a huge barrier lake. When the flood accumulates to a certain level, this thing will be blown up. In a short time, the flood may reach the same level as Kandahar City. At that time, the small boats prepared by Ardashir to transport supplies will be meaningful.

Of course, this was because Ardashir did not know about the existence of Dam No. 1. When the Sang family was building the irrigation area in the lower reaches of the Helmand River, they had considered floods. Although they were somewhat worried at the time, they still built a dam to block the river water.

This is also the reason why there is more water and fuller water in the upper reaches of the river. Therefore, when that time really comes, the No. 1 Dam will be blown up, and the flood released by the impounded lake will quickly subside. As for the losses, the downstream irrigation areas were mostly eaten up by the locust plague and flooded, so it’s actually nothing.

But before knowing this thing, this move was undoubtedly an opportunity to capture the city of Kandahar and allow Ardashir to rise from the trapped dragon to heaven, able to attack or defend.

"General, what is the level of Kandahar's water conservancy facilities? I recently asked the guards to take me to check it out. Its flood control level is even higher than that of Ctesiphon. What is the level of our water conservancy facilities in Kabul? How much lower than that of Ctesiphon? Don't you know?" Tawasdes' voice rose eight octaves, and Ardashir remained silent for a long time after hearing that.

This kind of thing is the real accumulation of technology. The Sang family dares to guarantee with all nine clans that even if a big flood really happens, as long as they don't mess up the impounded lake, they can ensure that Kandahar and the irrigation area will be fine. Even if a large impounded lake really appears, the Sang family dares to guarantee that as long as the No. 1 Dam is blown up and tens of thousands of acres of plantations are sacrificed to discharge floodwaters, Kandahar will definitely not be flooded.

Can Kabul guarantee that? No!
Ardashir did not have such talents under his command. Those who were good at water conservancy and water network either died or were captured by Rome when the Parthian Empire was destroyed.

"Then retreat?" Ardashir was silent for a long time and decided to respect Tavasdes' advice. After all, this guy's judgment had never been wrong.

"Retreat, General. If you want to destroy the legion leaving the city before you leave, just lead the entire army and you can lead the remaining hundreds of Holy Death Knights as the vanguard to quickly end the battle." Seeing Ardashir give in, Tavasdes spoke quickly.

Ardashir sighed when he heard this, and looked towards Kandahar across the felt tent. Then he adjusted his mindset instantly. Since they were going to retreat, they would leave quickly. He was always decisive in doing things, and hesitation was impossible for him.

This is also one of Ardashir's most outstanding qualities. He can always make the best choice among the few options he has, and Tavasdes can always find a few decent options for Ardashir in desperate situations. The two work together, so that although Ardashir's situation is bad, it is indeed developing in an upward direction.

"Then follow your plan and collect a reorganized Han army corps before leaving." Ardashir ordered Tawasdes, "Fight quickly and make a quick decision. Start arranging people to pack up the camp now, retreat to the upper reaches of the Helmand River, meet up with Nihawin, and then retreat to Kabul."

Ardashir acted quickly, but the mobilization of officers and soldiers in the heavy rain still wasted some time. It was because of this small time difference that the scouts who were watching Ardashir's camp discovered something was wrong.

"Xu Yuan, what did you say?" Tian Zhong's expression became extremely solemn as he looked at the investigation content reported by Xu Yuan. He is no longer a centurion now. At the end of the year before last, during the administration of Cao Ang, he promoted meritorious centurions such as Tian Zhong and promoted Tian Zhong to the level of military Sima. This is also the reason why Tian Zhong did not leave afterwards. Now Tian Zhong is in charge of intelligence.

"I feel something is not right. The movement over there from Ardashir sounds like the entire army is mobilizing." Xu Yuan expressed his judgment. He had a special elite talent that could conduct reconnaissance. Even heavy rain could not block his reconnaissance ability. In addition, he was skilled and courageous, and he was relatively close, so the situations he detected were very different from those of others.

"Send out the entire army?" Tian Zhong has been fighting in the war since the Yellow Turban Reign. According to his age, he should have been discharged long ago. He has experienced all kinds of wars and is extremely experienced. However, after listening to Xu Yuan's description of the investigation, his expression became extremely solemn. According to his intuition and experience, it looks like they are going to run away!

"Has our army been deployed on a large scale recently?" Tian Zhong asked Xu Yuan. He was only an intelligence source and did not deploy his own troops, so he did not know much about the news from the outside world.

"General Yan led his troops to attack." Xu Yuan replied quickly.

It’s the last day for double bonus, if you have tickets, please vote as much as you can. This is really pitiful for the author, sigh