Chapter 568 Whose fault is it?

It is not an easy task to accept hundreds of thousands of civilians. After all, we are still in wartime, and the consumption of food and grass is huge. With so many additional burdens, the logistical pressure of the Yellow Turbans immediately increased by several levels.

This southern expedition was the longest battle in the Yellow Turbans' history. To date, the cost of the war has been countless. With more than 100,000 mouths to feed, the rear could be strained if things go wrong.

It would be fine if these hundreds of thousands of civilians could be transformed into combat power, or could provide some auxiliary fortifications for the Yellow Turbans.

But now it seems that the situation of these people is simply impossible to produce any positive value, and they are just a complete burden to the Yellow Turbans. Even if all these people are transferred to the rear, countless amounts of food will still be wasted every day.

But even so, Xu Chen didn't feel that it was not worth it at all.

Even if we don't talk about the teachings of Naturalism, it is impossible for the Yellow Turbans to make the second choice. Even if they can, these people are very valuable resources in Xu Chen's eyes, and it is completely worth it for the Yellow Turbans to bear the pressure to keep them.

There was chaos at the end of the Han Dynasty, with wars raging everywhere. Although Xu Chen's appearance ended the disputes among the princes long in advance, the population of China still declined greatly during the chaotic times. The battles caused countless people to be separated from their wives and children and their families to be destroyed.

It is no exaggeration to say that in just these twenty years, from the beginning of the Yellow Turban Rebellion to the present, the population loss in this land could definitely reach millions or even tens of millions. After all, war brings not only direct casualties, but also chaos and plague, because the number of people who indirectly died of starvation and disease in the war is simply impossible to measure.

As Xuan Xia saw victory was imminent, the next step was to enter a construction phase of recuperation. Whether it was industrial production or long-term plans for going to sea, the demand for population was a huge bottomless pit. As long as hundreds of thousands of people were saved, it would be of great value in itself.

As to whether this will have an impact on the current war, of course it will, but not that great.

"It doesn't matter. The logistical pressure is too great to delay. So we just need to end the war quickly. Our army has the ability to do so."

Seeing that the resettlement camp had stabilized, Xu Chen turned back to look at Changsha City and said calmly: "Even if Wu Shu can get some relief, their logistical pressure is still huge, much more severe than our army. They are more anxious than us!"

Upon hearing this, Ju Su nodded and said, "My lord is wise. I am only assuming the worst. In reality, even with these hundreds of thousands of civilians, our military's logistical reserves are not comparable to theirs who are already in a desperate situation."

"After the civilians have had a day to relax, we will send them to the rear. Now we should focus all our energy on the war." After Xu Chen said this, he walked into the camp.

Ju Su hurriedly followed, sighing in his heart.

This war has been going on for a long time. Just to maintain the armaments, countless food has been transported from the rear areas such as Jizhou, Youzhou, Qingzhou, etc. every day. The consumption is now huge, and even Xuan Xia can hardly bear it.

Fortunately, Wu and Shu were finally pushed to the point of desperation, and everything was about to come to an end.

This made Ju Su a little impatient.

After Xuan Xia achieved complete victory, he was very curious about what the world would become.

Unlike Ju Shou who was full of expectations, Zhou Yu, the enemy, was in a completely different mood.

The day after the two sides handed over the people, a piece of news that made Zhou Yu very uncomfortable appeared. The Yellow Turbans' rear army arrived at the battlefield earlier than the reinforcements of Wu and Shu. This meant that Zhou Yu's original plan to launch a heavy blow against the Yellow Turbans' 50,000 troops with 300,000 troops failed.

The next war between the two sides will not be a decisive battle with such a huge disparity in troop strength, but a real head-on confrontation with both sides having full military strength. However, although this seems very fair to both sides, Wu and Shu can't be happy at all.

Since this battle, the most important thing Zhou Yu did as the Grand Commander was to make use of all favorable conditions to deal with the Yellow Turbans. He either used the Yangtze River waterway to keep the enemy out, or used the cities of Jingzhou to fortify their defenses and clear the fields, thus avoiding all possibilities of a direct battle with the Yellow Turbans.

The reason for this is that Zhou Yu knew that he really could not win in a head-on battle.

Unfortunately, even though he tried every possible way, he was still at his wit's end in the end. After using up all his means, he was still forced into a desperate situation by the Yellow Turbans. There was no room for maneuver, and he could only bite the bullet and face the Yellow Turbans head-on, engaging in a straightforward duel of brave warriors.

Therefore, when Zhou Yu saw Liu Bei and Sun Quan rushing to the battlefield right behind the main force of the Yellow Turbans, he could not be happy at all. He knew that the arrival of Liu Bei and Sun Quan did not bring hope, but meant that they had to place all their bets and start this battle with little hope.

The armies of Wu and Shu reunited again, and an army of 300,000 gathered in the wilderness. Now they completely abandoned Changsha City and no longer tried to defend the city because there was no need at all.

With no food left, they could only give it a try and actively seek war. If the Yellow Turbans did not fight, they would force them to fight, leaving no room for defending the city.

When Sun Quan and Liu Bei walked out of the battle formation, they saw the rulers and ministers of Wu and Shu kneeling on the ground.

Obviously, this was the time for the emperor and his ministers to gather together and the army to assemble, but whether it was Liu Bei, Sun Quan, or a group of ministers, they all had heavy expressions on their faces.

In fact, they also wanted to make the atmosphere as relaxed and positive as possible, but the source of this atmosphere was not them, but the overall atmosphere of the army of more than 300,000 people. This was not something that a few of them could change.

Liu Bei and Sun Quan looked at each other, and their hearts sank to the bottom. The morale of the army was already tragic and depressed before the battle even started. This was no different from being sentenced to death.

But the world situation is set and cannot be reversed by human power. All they can do is to make a final struggle to the best of their ability.

Sun Quan stepped forward and helped Zhou Yu up who was at the front. When he looked again, he found that after several months, the handsome young man who was full of vigor and vitality was gone. What appeared before him was a man with deep eyes, a weathered face, and even his body was visibly thinner.

"Gongjin, you have suffered a lot these days."

Sun Quan's eyes couldn't help but become moist. After several months, it was already the end of the road to see Zhou Yu again. Even if he had a lot of resentment and dissatisfaction with Zhou Yu before coming, he couldn't blame him now.

On the contrary, after realizing that the reality that destiny seemed irreversible, Sun Quan even felt relieved.

What's the point of blaming Zhou Yu now? The current situation is not because Zhou Yu is incompetent, but because the strength of Wu Shu and Xuan Xia is so different. This is a war that is doomed to fail from the beginning.
Zhou Yu was also touched by emotion, and tears immediately flowed out, but he knelt down again and said: "Zhou Yu is useless. He failed to win the victory for our army. I have failed your majesty's trust. Please punish me!"

(End of this chapter)