Great Han Empire

Chapter 140
The examiner looked at Li Hong's haggard face due to staying up too late, and said movedly: "Master Captain, you should pay attention to rest. The ant thieves are powerful, and they can't be suppressed overnight."

Li Hong sighed, and forced a smile: "Be more concerned about the judges. It's just that the battle situation has reversed and Yingtao is besieged. If the crisis cannot be rescued in time, I am afraid that the life of the common people will be even more difficult this spring."

The judge looked at the desolate mountains and fields outside the carriage, with a trace of grief on his pale face, "I think the captain's main focus is to preserve his strength for the time being, and it is not suitable to go south to fight the ant thief in the short term. Now the main force of Jizhou is in Guhongling. We were wiped out, Master Guo also died on the battlefield, and our original idea of ​​defeating the Yellow Turban Army before the spring plowing has come to naught.”

Li Hong asked slowly: "Does the judge have any suggestions?"

Enduring the pain, Shenpei said in a low voice: "If you are in a hurry to go south to support, it will definitely be a bloody battle with the ant thief, and the result will be heavy casualties. Zhang Niujiao's hasty attack on Yingtao probably means killing two birds with one stone. If you are not in a hurry to go south Zhang Niujiao is the one who is in a hurry. With 20 people staying under Yingtao City, the daily food consumption alone is an astonishing amount. If the loss of the siege is added, it will be difficult for him to maintain his supplies."

"There is another thing that is very unfavorable to ant thieves, that is, it will snow soon. This is a fatal blow to ant thieves with poor weapons and equipment. Once it snows, Zhang Niujiao's troops have to stop Siege. If the time of snowfall and the time of melting ice and snow are too long, there will be problems with the ant thief's supplies immediately, especially the food."

Li Hong also thought of attacking the supply transportation of the Yellow Turban Army, but because he was not familiar with the terrain, it was difficult to capture the exact supply route of the Yellow Turban Army, so he had to give up.At this time, the judge suddenly heard that the Yellow Turban Army would have food shortages, and asked in surprise, "Why?"

"In the states and counties controlled by ants, there are more than 100 million refugees alone, plus 30 million soldiers. The local people have a population of nearly 200 million. Zhang Niujiao doesn't have so much food to supply them. Soldiers If we were not fighting, our daily ration would be three liters of corn (equivalent to about 900 grams today), but on the battlefield, the soldier’s ration supply would be doubled to six liters. This is the most basic minimum for a soldier to be able to go to the battlefield rations. But three liters of rice can supply at least five or six ordinary refugees for a day."

The trial match probably talked too much, which touched the wound.He groaned a few times in pain, struggled and continued:

"Zhang Niujiao is the commander-in-chief of the ant thief. He is responsible for the soldiers who follow him and the people who support him. He must at least keep these people alive. So if Zhang Niujiao stays in Yingtao for too long, The problem of food will immediately become apparent. At this time, he has only two options. One is to withdraw the troops immediately, and the other is to wait until the snow melts, break through Yingtao, and use Yingtao’s grain to supply the troops.”

When Li Hong heard this, he already understood it, and the troubles smoldering in his heart disappeared immediately.He exclaimed happily:
"I got it, I got it. Thank you so much, sir."

The judge frowned in pain, gritted his teeth, and asked in a trembling voice, "Does your lord understand?"

"I understand. Thank you, Judge." Li Hong said excitedly.

"The key is to ensure that the gall pottery is not lost before it snows. If Zhang Niujiao is determined to capture the gall pottery before the snow falls, then the gall pottery will be very dangerous. Mr. Feng only has 6000 people. Under the fierce attack of 20 ant thieves It's almost impossible to hold on to it."

"As long as Master Feng waits until the snow falls, Zhang Niujiao will be the one suffering." Li Hong smiled, "Mr. Judge, it would be great if you were not injured. With your ability, you can completely command us to defeat Zhang Niujiao."

Sweat began to drip on the forehead of the judge, he tried his best to support him, and continued: "Last year, Lord Mu Huangfu of Jizhou asked the emperor to exempt the people of Jizhou from taxes for a year to help the victims, so until now, the financial situation of Jizhou is still low. I can barely protect myself. After I arrived in Xindu City this time, I tried my best to persuade other officials in the Jizhou Mufu to give you enough military pay and supplies. You are on the front line, don’t worry about this matter, I will help you take care of it.”

The judge stretched out his left hand from the carriage and waved at Li Hong twice, forced a smile and said, "I am taking my leave."

Li Hong hurriedly took a step forward, tightly held Shenpei's cold hand, and said with a smile: "Thank you for your help to the Youzhou cavalry. My lord, go all the way, take care."

Shenpei shook his hand vigorously, and said sincerely, "Thank you, thank you for saving my life."

Li Hong stood silently in the cold wind, letting his long hair flow, and stared motionlessly at the carriage gradually disappearing from sight.

The so-called celebrities, who go up to the country and go down to the dawn, are not afraid of the powerful and powerful, and are unwilling to fall into the vulgar.Thinking of the words of the trial match, Li Hong couldn't help but secretly sighed.The huge power of the gentry has a decisive force in the Han Dynasty, and many learned and influential people are all from the gentry.They have royal family members, official families, and powerful families, and each force controls the power and wealth of the Han Kingdom.All the children of the gentry are busy all day long in order to survive better.But if the Great Han Kingdom did not have them, it would immediately collapse completely.If there were no Liu Yu in Youzhou and Zhang Chun in Zhongshan, even more people would die.

Even if the Yellow Turban Army wins, can the world be governed by those few learned leaders?The vast majority of their subordinates are common people who can't read, they don't understand anything, can they help the common people to eat their stomachs?
Why can't the thousands of untouchables and ordinary people in the world go to school, become officials, and learn?How can the common people, like the gentry, be fed, clothed, educated and become officials?

"My lord, the reinforcements of King Baishan Black Ling have arrived."

Li Hong was shocked.He looked back at Zheng Xin suddenly, and asked loudly, "What did you say?"

"Baishan Black Ling King's reinforcements have arrived. Hei Ling King Nan Lou is very kind to you, and sent 2000 people here." Zheng Xin said with a smile, "Heng Ji and Lu Huanyang have already gone to pick them up."

It was Lou Lu, the youngest son of Hei Ling Wang Nan Lou, who came all the way with reinforcements.The number of Hu soldiers in the Fengyun Iron Cavalry suddenly increased to about 1.This not only made the Hu soldiers feel a little unbelievable, but even the Han soldiers and junior officers also felt the pressure, the pressure of fear.

Li Hong was very happy, and immediately ordered Lou Lu's troops to be merged into the Black Leopard Yi Cong, expanding the Black Leopard Yi Cong to a battalion of troops, Lou Lu, Heng Ji as the Army Sima and the Fake Army Sima, Hu Ding, and Abandoning Shen as the Army waiting.Shehu returned to Yushi's troops to replace Hengji as a military officer.

Since Xian Yufu's Yanzhao trilogy were all Han soldiers, Li Hong specially arranged for Zhang He and Wen Chou to serve as military marshals under Xian Yufu's subordinates, and converted the original three troops into five troops, each with 600 troops.

Because Gao Lan needed to recuperate from his injuries, Li Hong temporarily placed him under Tian Zhong's subordinates, and then Wei Tun acted together.

The next day, Li Hong led his troops to set off and rushed to Yingtao with a large force.

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The scouts rushed into Zhang Niujiao's big tent like flying.

"Commander, the leopard army is moving."

Zhang Niujiao was lying on the table writing documents, when he heard this, he looked up at one of the scouts, and asked unhurriedly, "All are dispatched."

"Back to Commander, their camp has already withdrawn. The former army Xianyu Yinbu has arrived at Zhoushanzhuang."

Zhang Niujiao waved his hand, and the scout quickly retreated.

Zhang Niujiao leaned over to pick up the map, spread it on the desk, looked at it carefully, and muttered to himself: "I don't believe you didn't come."

Then he shouted loudly: "Order all ministries to start attacking at noon."

The Yellow Turban Army's 20 troops were divided into four divisions, and the city of Yingtao was completely surrounded.Zhang Niujiao personally led the battalion to station at Ximen.Chu Feiyan's department is at the north gate.The troops of Bai Rao and Wulu are at the south gate.Yang Feng was the first to come, and he made a detour, and the troops were stationed at the east gate.

The Yellow Turban Army had been besieging the city for three days, but they hadn't launched an attack for a long time.

Wulu is over 50 years old, with a thin body and gray beard and hair.Generally speaking, the older a person is, the less desire should be, but Wulu is not. He hopes that he can revive the Taiping Sect and lead the Yellow Turban Army.

The reason why Wulu is called Wulu is because he is a monk and Taoist, and his dharma name is Wulu.He is a true Taoist priest of the Taiping sect, and he traveled the world with Zhang Jiao for many years.Although he was not one of Zhang Jiao's eight major disciples, he was the first group of disciples included by Zhang Jiao, and he was very senior in the Taiping Sect.Because of this, he was very dissatisfied with Zhang Niujiao being the leader of the Yellow Turban Army.

Zhang Niujiao is not one of Zhang Jiao's eight great disciples, but only the best among the lay disciples of the Taiping Sect.What qualifications does he have to be the leader of the Yellow Turban Army? He even vaguely understands the teachings of the Taiping Sect.Wulu believes that he is the successor of the Taiping Sect, and only he is truly qualified to be the leader of the Yellow Turban Army.So he has been brooding over this matter, always looking for a chance to push Zhang Niujiao down from the position of commander-in-chief.

As a result, his slightest movement caused a whole body of trouble, and he almost lost his life.After learning of Zhang Niujiao's defeat in the Northern Expedition, he thought it was his chance to snatch the leader of the Yellow Turban Army, and immediately ordered several of his disciples to find an excuse not to distribute food and grass to Bai Rao and Wang Dang.As a result, Wangdang's tribe was surrounded and wiped out, and Bai Rao's tribe was forced to abandon Xiangguo and fled into the Taihang Mountains.Then he was unlucky.He didn't expect Chu Feiyan's troops to arrive so quickly, and he was immediately surrounded by Wang Dang's army.If Wang Dangji hadn't been worried that he was Zhang Jiao's disciple, a senior of the Taiping Sect, and many leaders of the Yellow Turban Army had come forward to speak for him, he would have fought him long ago.

Fortunately, Zhang Niujiao came back in time, killed several disciples of Wulu, calmed down the turmoil, and did not cause greater losses to the Yellow Turban Army.However, Zhang Niujiao's 18 troops in the Northern Expedition were all wiped out on the Youzhou battlefield, which still dealt a heavy blow to the Yellow Turban Army.

Zhang Niujiao did not step down, thanks to Chu Feiyan and Yang Feng.Chu Feiyan and Yang Feng together have 10,000+ troops, and no one in the Yellow Turban Army can shake them.Although Bai Rao is also known as an army of 3, he only has [-] to [-] soldiers at most. The other soldiers are refugees with wooden sticks and iron rakes, and they follow behind him to earn a living.Although Bai Rao and some small leaders supported Wulu, they had no strength, and everything they said was nonsense.

Bai Rao came early in the morning to ask him to drink.Bai Rao is a son of a rich family, and he has always lived a luxurious life. When he joined the Yellow Turban Army, he did not get rid of these habits.

"Master, what are you thinking?" Bai Rao said with a smile, "We just won the battle and killed Guo Dian. If we take Yingtao and kill Feng Yi in a few days, this year will be a good day."

"Didn't Shuai Bai see that the commander-in-chief is eliminating dissidents?" Wulu smiled coldly and said slowly.

Bai Rao laughed, pointed at Wulu's nose and said, "You think too much. At Guhong Ridge, the commander ordered us to attack on the flanks. The loss is not big. This time we will feign attack at the south gate, and the loss will be certain." It won't be too big. I know what you think, but the time has not come, the time has not come."

Wulu looked at him and asked softly, "Is there still a chance?"

"Of course." Bai Rao said with a smile, "If you hadn't helped me last time, my troops would have finished fighting in Xiangguo long ago. So I will definitely help you with this favor."

He took a sip of his wine and continued: "Now the combined strength of the two of us is a bit weaker than Chu Shuai's troops. But once the battle is over, the situation will be different. You see Chu Shuai's army is the main force whether it is attacking the city or blocking the leopard army. Zhang Niujiao has no troops himself, so he has to use his adopted son's army to charge forward. After the war, Chu Shuai's army must have suffered heavy losses and there are not many left. When that time comes, we will bring Yang Shuai over, and join forces with a group of Yellow Turban leaders to force Zhang Niujiao to give up his position as the leader."

Wulu smiled wryly, and said, "Did you drink too much? What kind of bullshit idea did you come up with? At that time, the commander-in-chief Lien Zhan Lianjie killed Guo Dian and Feng Yi, and his reputation was so high that he was willing to join him There are even more people. Who will follow me? Will you?"

Bai Rao looked at him, and smiled gloatingly: "Then what do you think we should do? You won't send someone to kill Zhang Niujiao, right?"

Wulu was taken aback, looked around subconsciously, and said angrily, "What do you want to do? Can you say that?"

This is the voice of an attendant coming from outside the big tent: "Master, Commander Bai, the Commander has orders to deliver."

Bai Rao waved his hand to signal the messengers to retreat, unfolded the map on the case table, pointed in the direction of Quyang and said, "Master, you think the leopard is so stupid. Can't he see that Yingtao City is the place to lure him into the cage?" trap."

Wulu took a sip of the wine lightly, a trace of helplessness flashed across his vicissitudes old face, and said in a low voice: "Of course he is not stupid. Both the handsome father and his son are master soldiers in the Yellow Turban Army, but they both fell to him In hand. 18 people." Wulu shook his head, sighed and said, "Even Huangfusong didn't have the ability to eat 18 people in a few strokes. I'm worried that the handsome father and son are eager for revenge. will fall on his hands."

"Oh?" Bai Rao asked in surprise, "Why do you say that?"

"The commander-in-chief wants to kill two birds with one stone, but he is afraid that the birds will peck him blind if he misses the shot. There is a fatal loophole in the trap he set up." Wulu said slowly, pretending to be unpredictable.

Bai Rao smiled "puchi" and said casually, "You mean food?"

Wulu looked at Bai Rao in surprise, and suddenly felt that he was stupid, as if he was still pretending to be deep about the problems that others could see without using their brains.

"Do you think the commander-in-chief doesn't know? We'll have enough food if we lay down the pottery. The key to the problem is not the food, but whether we can lay down the pottery before it snows." Bai Rao looked at the map on the desk, worried He said, "If the commander-in-chief wants to fight Leopard and Yingtao at the same time, that is the fatal loophole in this game."

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Chu Feiyan was playing chess with Yang Feng in the tent.

Their chess skills are all personally guided by the Taiping teacher Zhang Jiao, and the level is very high.Both of them were one of the 72 Fang Xiaoqu commanders back then, and they were selected by Zhang Jiao himself from among his disciples and grandchildren.Zhang Jiao admired their talents very much, and believed that they would be the backbone of the Yellow Turban Army in the future.

Yang Feng also has a nickname in the Yellow Turban Army, called Nine-headed Bird.He is about the same age as Chu Feiyan, handsome in appearance, and good in martial arts, but he is smarter than Chu Feiyan.Many leaders of the older generation in the Yellow Turban Army disliked him, thinking that he was too violent, so his reputation and status in the Yellow Turban Army has always been inferior to Chu Feiyan.

Everyone in the Yellow Turban Army knew that Yang Feng knew how to fight, and he was no worse than Chu Feiyan, but few people knew that he and Chu Feiyan were life and death friends.

After receiving the commander's message, the two continued to play chess as if nothing happened.

"Qizhi, what do you think?" Chu Feiyan dropped a sunspot, finally couldn't help it, and asked softly.

"The leopard is here, the bloody battle has begun." Yang Feng said with a smile.

Chu Feiyan glanced at him, and said slowly: "This time you will help again. After eating the leopard, Jizhou will be at our mercy."

Yang Feng glanced at him, and asked cautiously: "Are you sure? We have never fought against a cavalry army, let alone an army of more than 1 cavalry. Zuo Shuai's troops are definitely the best in the Yellow Turban Army." Absolutely the main force, but his 3 troops were wiped out at Dukang Pavilion, which shows how powerful Fengyun Cavalry is. Do you dare to fight such an uncertain battle?"

"I have carefully studied the process of many battles between the Han army and the Hun cavalry, and I think I am sure." Looking at Yang Feng's big eyes, Chu Feiyan smiled confidently: "Since the leopard dares to come, I have a way to call He can't go back. However, if I fight the leopards, all my troops will be thrown there, so we must rely on your troops to take Yingtao City."

Yang Feng looked at the chessboard without making a sound.

"We all know what Master Wulu is thinking. Bai Rao is so vacillating that people can't figure it out. Now it's good to count on them to contain part of the troops. We are brothers, tell me a word. Promise, I will fight with Leopard Do it. If you don't agree, I will immediately take down Yingtao City and give up the action of encircling and exterminating the leopards."

Yang Feng looked at the chessboard for a long time, but remained silent.

"Qizhi, would I still intentionally frame you and make you lose your army?" Chu Feiyan looked at Yang Feng seriously, and said slowly.

Yang Feng frowned, and looked at Chu Feiyan with big eyes, full of suspicion and suspicion.Now Zhang Niujiao's troops are basically gone, leaving only Chu Feiyan and Yang Feng with strong strength in the Yellow Turban Army.If Yang Feng's troops were beaten badly in this battle, Chu Feiyan would be the leader of the Yellow Turban Army.

Yang Feng picked up a white piece, gently put it down on the board, and asked solemnly:
"Are we brothers?"

Feeling that there was something in his words, Chu Feiyan glanced at him, nodded, and replied, "Brothers, life and death."

"Then tell me, is the commander-in-chief intending to pass on the position of chief executive to you?"

Chu Feiyan was shocked for a moment and was dumbfounded.

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(End of this chapter)