Chapter 2891: The inside story of the Qin and Wei grain war, Cao Youwan, who cannot be cleared up


    Chapter 2888: The inside story of the food and grass war in Qin and Wei, Cao Youwan, who cannot be cleared up


    Cao Cao himself is an expert in using fire. He used fire attacks in the first five times in the Central Plains War, and two of them were surprise attacks and burned the enemy''s granary, so he would naturally be wary of the enemy''s granary.


    But if you only have a thousand days to be a thief, how can you guard against a thief for a thousand days?


    In order to solve this problem once and for all, and to deal with the upcoming Qin army''s offensive, Cao Cao finally decided to learn from the Qin Dynasty in the construction of the grain warehouse and spend a lot of money to build all the large grain and grass underground, so as to avoid being attacked by fire to the greatest extent in management and fire prevention.


    Food is the most important thing for people. No matter what period of time, eating a full meal is the most important thing.


    Therefore, after the widespread promotion of high-yield grain and all countries have escaped the dilemma of shortage of food, they will basically build granaries to store grain, and Daqin is the first country to build underground granaries on a large scale.


    Although underground granaries first appeared in the Han Dynasty, they were only used in small areas with severe cold climates. Underground granaries would not be built in areas with warm climates such as Kanto, Kansai, and Jiangnan.


    It was nothing originally, and the construction cost of underground granaries was much higher than that of above-ground granaries.


    But since that is the case, why did the Qin Dynasty still need to be built on a large scale?


    This is naturally because of the various advantages of underground granaries.


    Build the granary underground, and the grain can be stored for a longer time in a low-temperature, low-oxygen and heat-insulated environment, which ensures that the grain will not deteriorate to the greatest extent, and the closed environment is easy to manage and safe.


    After the granary is built underground, even if it encounters fire attack, it is only burned out part of the food and grass since it is built in segmented storage, so it is difficult to ignite all the food and grass at one time.


    Therefore, in addition to the relatively labor, material and financial resources, there are basically no disadvantages in building underground granaries. The only thing to pay attention to is to do a good job in moisture prevention.


    It is precisely because of the various advantages of underground granaries that the amount of grain reserves in Daqin is extremely large, and after construction, it can be used continuously for hundreds of years, which is equivalent to solving the problem of grain storage once and for all. Therefore, Ying Hao would rather spend a greater price and built underground granaries on a large scale at the beginning of the founding of the People''s Republic of China.


    In addition to the above reasons, Ying Hao also had an accompanying conspiracy. The various policies of the Qin Dynasty have always been imitated by various countries, so he thought that all countries would also learn from the Qin Dynasty to build underground granaries, so as to indirectly consume the national strength of various countries in this way.


    But it is obvious that Liu Xiu, Zhu Di, Cao Cao and others are not stupid either. They still understand the principle of using good steel on the edge, so naturally they are not easily deceived.


    But with the completion of large underground granaries in Daqin, when they learned about the benefits of underground granaries, Liu Xiu and Liu Yu and other southern princes inevitably became moved.


    Even though he knew that this might be Ying Hao''s plot, the southern princes took the initiative to imitate it, but due to the national strength and the demand for underground granaries in the south, it was not urgent, so the scale and progress of the project were not very urgent.


    As for Zhu Di and Zhao Kuangyin in the Central Plains, they felt that it would be better to build more equipment than to build underground granaries. Moreover, the war would not be possible when, and it would not be time to build underground grains and grass at this time.


    Among the three major princes in the Central Plains, Cao Cao wanted to cultivate, but because Wei was poor, he really couldn''t afford it, so he had no choice but to give up.


    Until the second year of Shenwu, after the Qin Dynasty expanded its army, Cao Cao, who realized that the war was close to him, had to calm down and consider the problems he would face after the war came. Building defense lines in the four western counties and building large granaries underground were all countermeasures that Cao Cao had come up with to deal with the Qin army''s offensive.


    Yanzhou is flat and can be almost guarded except for some strong cities, so the safety of granary transportation and the back-tilt supply line will be the first problem faced by the Cao army after the war started.


    Of course, the most important point is that the spies from the Qin army''s Black Ice Platform were almost penetrated into sieves. Even if the grain silos on Cao Wei were built in the city, the safety was still too poor. If you don''t know what, you would be taken over.


    At this time, the advantages of safety in a closed environment of underground granaries are particularly important.


    Based on this consideration, although Cao Wei''s extreme expansion of the army was already under great financial pressure, Cao Cao gritted his teeth and decided to build five large underground granaries in the five cities of Xuchang, Chenliu, Puyang, Changyi and Qiao County.


    Cao Cao''s decision was unanimously opposed by his advisers except Fan Li and Chen Gong, and the reasons were probably two points:


    First, Cao Wei was poor;


    Second, if the Qin army is not repaired properly, all the investment in the early stage will be in vain.


    But Cao Cao resisted the opposition and insisted on building an underground granary, because only by building the grain warehouse underground can he feel at ease and boldly confront the Qin army on the front line.


    But what the opposition said is not unreasonable. The manpower and material resources are easy to solve. The key is financial resources. With the national strength of Cao Wei, it is obvious that he cannot afford so much money.


    At this time, Fan Li gave Cao Cao an idea, asking Cao Cao to borrow money from Song and Wu in the name of Cao Wei to build an underground grain warehouse. After the repair, the principal and interest were returned to the two countries in five years.


    As for whether we can repay the money in five years?


    If Cao Wei could last for five years in the Qin army''s offensive, he would probably not have to pay it back to the State of Song and Wu Liang, because the value played by Cao Wei in the past five years has long exceeded the total value of the loan, and it is meaningless to care about this little money.


    If Cao Wei cannot resist and the country is destroyed by the Qin army, then there is naturally no need to pay it back.


    Cao Cao adopted Fan Li''s strategy and urgently built five large underground grain warehouses in Yanzhou by borrowing money from the Song and Wu countries.


    Ying Hao hoped that all countries would follow the example of Qin''s construction of underground granaries. The original intention was to use this to consume the national strength of the enemy country. However, Cao Wei borrowed money from the granaries, and no matter how much it was consumed, it would not consume Cao Wei''s head. Once the five large underground grain warehouses of Cao Wei were built, the Qin army would no longer be able to get stuck in Cao''s army''s neck in terms of food and grass.


    After realizing this, the commander of the Black Ice Platform, Guo Jia, urgently formulated a destruction plan for the Cao Wei underground granary project, but Cao Cao expected that the Qin army would definitely send people to destroy it, so he sent Cao Qiudao to personally sit in the project site and serve as the supervisor, so that several destruction operations of the Black Ice Platform returned in vain.


    Finally, after nearly two years of construction, the five underground granaries of Cao Wei were completed on December 26, the third year of Shenwu, and just four months later, the Qin army sent troops to attack Ming and provoke the Central Plains War.


    During this period, Cao Wei not only had to transport grain and grass, but also had to do moisture and fire prevention work. The time was still very tight, but fortunately they caught up.


    I have to say that Cao Cao is still quite powerful. Apart from Liu Xiu, he should be the one with the strongest comprehensive ability. Cao Wei obviously didn''t even have money to build an underground grain warehouse, and he didn''t even know if it could be built before the war came. However, in order to prevent being targeted in the war, Cao Cao had to build a large granary underground even if he was selling his body. This courage alone was extremely rare.


    It was precisely the series of correct preparations made by Cao Cao before the war that Cao Wei still persisted for three months when facing the Qin army''s siege and was suppressed from the entire process.


    On the other hand, Yang Guang, who was next door, had almost no strength to fight back when he was hit by Li Jing, and was led by the nose throughout the whole process. In just two months, he ended up dead and destroyed the country and ruined.


    Compared with Yang Guang, Cao Cao was too strong, but unfortunately he was not lucky. The place where he started was poor and weak Yanzhou, and there were strong enemies around him, so he could not develop or fight. So much so that Cao Wei''s luxurious lineup of civil and military can only be trapped in the eleven counties and struggled to death.


    Cao Cao valued the two advantages of underground grain warehouses most, which are their strong safety and fire resistance.


    The underground grain depot is built in the city, and the garrison is also tight. Once attacked, relying on the ground and underground terrain that is easy to defend, hundreds of people can block thousands of people, and it is easy to persevere until the reinforcements arrive.


    There are still 100,000 Cao troops in Chenliu City. It is impossible to mobilize thousands of people in the city to forcibly attack Cao Wei’s underground grain warehouse.


    But even if you can gather thousands of people, it is not easy to burn the food and grass, unless you know the password in advance, have a map, and the key to open the warehouse door.


    It is precisely because of this that when Cao Hong saw that the fire in the granary was so big, he insisted that there must be someone from the inside who leaked the secrets and led the way, otherwise the fire would not have been so big. After all, Cao''s army did a good job in fire prevention and moisture prevention in the granary.


    Cao Ren looked at the direction of the grain warehouse with a frosty face and said coldly: "Zi Lian, I will organize people to put out the fire now. You can take someone to dig out this spy for me."


    Cao Hong pointed to the fire and cried and said two soul-to-hearted questions: "Can the fire be saved? Even if it is saved, how much food and grass can be left?"


    As soon as this said, Cao Ren was speechless. After a long silence, he said, "How much food and grass can be saved is better than being burned up all."


    Looking at Cao Ren''s departure back, Cao Hong shook his head and then took someone to carry out Cao Ren''s teachings.


    Cao Ren asked Cao Hong to dig out the spy. This task was actually not difficult, because there was only one person in the entire Cao army who knew the password, had the chart, and the key, and that was Cao Youwan.


    Therefore, no matter whether Cao Youdu is a traitor or not, this kind of fire cannot be separated from him.


    Just as Cao Hong rushed to arrest Cao Youwan, Cao Youwan also learned from his brother Cao Youwen that the fire broke out in the grain warehouse.


    "Brother, aren''t this fire accidents?"


    Hearing his brother''s question, Cao Youwan immediately retorted: "It is impossible. The fire prevention of the grain warehouse was arranged by me personally. It is impossible for an accident to occur. Even if there is an accident, it is impossible to burn so much at once. This must be arson by man."


    As he said that, Cao Youwan also showed doubts and said to himself: "There are spies in our army. Who will this person be?"


    Looking at his nervous younger brother, Cao Youwen wanted to cry without tears and said, "Brother, don''t you think our brothers are in a dangerous situation now?"


    "What''s dangerous? It''s not what we did?" Cao Youwan said in confusion.


    "But you were the person in charge of the grain warehouse before. Now something happened to the grain warehouse. Cao Ren and Cao Hong will definitely suspect you. I am your brother and will definitely be listed as a suspicious opponent." Cao Youwen said with a wry smile.


    Hearing his brother''s words, Cao Youwan was completely stunned. The conscience of heaven and earth really had nothing to do with him. However, Cao Ren''s suspicion is now that he can''t even explain it clearly even if he is full of mouth.


    "What should I do? What should I do..."


    Cao You was so anxious that he was like an ant on a hot pan, but Cao Youwen asked extremely calmly: "Brother, I know you are very anxious, but don''t be anxious first. Calm down and think about it carefully. Who else can get in touch with the secrets of the grain warehouse around you?"


    Cao Youwan didn''t think about it when he heard this, and opened his mouth and said, "Brother, you are now."


    “…”


    When Cao You heard this, he couldn''t help but take a deep breath, not breathing. He had long been used to having such a younger brother.


    "If you weren''t my brother, I''d beat you to death."


    Cao Youwen suppressed the anger in his heart and gritted his teeth and said, "Think about it quickly, who else will be besides you and me?"


    Seeing that his brother was really angry, Cao Youwan didn''t dare to speak but his brains, so he quickly tried to recall who could have access to these secrets through him.


    After some recollections, Cao Youwan said with uncertainty: "My deputy general Li Da may have contact with him, but I''m not sure if it was him."


    "What are you waiting for? No matter whether it is him or not, it can only be him now, otherwise we brothers will both die."


    After saying that, Cao Youwen immediately took his younger brother and headed straight to the residence of Deputy General Li Da of Cao Youwan, and also let Cao Ren, who came to arrest them, pounced on him.


    At this time, two uninvited guests came to Li Da’s residence, which was the one who led the team to burn grain A Qing and Huang Shang;


    (This chapter ends)