On June 23rd, the sixth year of Guanghe's reign, Ma Yuanyi and Bocai's Yellow Turban Army, who were entrenched outside Yangzhai City, suddenly moved southward and met directly in the Yingyang area with Pengtuo's troops on Taiping Road in Runan, who were heading north. At that time, the military strength was greatly strengthened. After the Ruying Taiping Road merged, there were 150,000 soldiers, encamped for more than ten miles, filling the fields of Yingyang.
All this was planned by Ma Yuanyi. He used his prestige within the sect to promote the alliance of Ruying Taiping Dao.
It turned out that Ma Yuanyi had this idea after the Runan Taiping Road defeated Runan Governor Zhao Qian in Zhaoling. In the battle of Zhaoling, the Runan Taiping Road won a great victory, defeating the main force of the Han army in Runan and the essence of the county in one fell swoop. Almost all. For example, Yuan Yuan of the Yuan family in Runan, who was a minister of the county at that time, attacked from the prefect. He and other officials in the county defended themselves, but they all died in Chen. Only the prefect Zhao Qian escaped with his own life.
At that time, Ma Yuanyi gathered the Taiping people in the Yangzhai area. After hearing about Runan's great victory, he hurriedly sent a message to Pengtuo's tribe in Runan as the Taiping Taoist envoy, ordering them to rush north to join the decisive battle with the main force of the Han army in Yingchuan.
Peng Tuo's Zhaoling was located between Ru River, Ying River, and Ying Yang. He got the name of Ma Yuanyi and immediately went north with 80,000 Runan Yellow Turban Army.
Peng Tuo was a disciple of Zhang Bao, and he had always been a Geng Jie like his master. He had always ignored the internal strife in the teachings and only listened to the teachings and whoever was there. So Ma Yuanyi gave him the order, and he took all the information from Runan without thinking. The soldiers of war went north.
Runan is a large county with a household registration of one million, and the Taiping Road rooted here is even more powerful. Peng Tuo himself has Wu Ba, Gong Du, He Yi, Liu Pi, Huang Shao, and He Man as his subordinates. The six strong generals were all brave and commanded ten thousand people. Later, they defeated the main force of the Han army in Runan in another battle, and they were even more satisfied.
In Peng Tuo's view, he had an army of 80,000, but he couldn't hold it against the Han soldiers. He just attacked Yingyang in a mighty manner.
Bocai's tribe originally received a letter from Yangzhai, asking him to march westward to join forces with Ma Yuanyi. However, Bocai fought fiercely with the Han soldiers and was bitten to death. Finally, he cut off his tail and marched westward to Yangdi with 50,000 remaining soldiers. , joined forces with the 20,000 troops of Ma Yuanyi here. And taking advantage of the fact that the Han army failed to understand their intentions, they quickly went south to join forces with Peng Tuo.
After joining forces, Ma Yuanyi had the highest prestige within the sect, and the Ruying Allied Forces jointly elected Ma Yuanyi as their commander, preparing to fight the Han soldiers in Yingyang in one fell swoop.
As the name suggests, Yingyang is located on the Yangtze River of Yingshui. Ma Yuanyi chose this place as the place to merge because it is between Nanyang and Runan, making it more convenient for everyone to join forces. But Ma Yuanyi may not have thought that Yingyang is surrounded by flat rivers. , which is very conducive to the galloping of the main force of the Han army.
Cao Cao, the cavalry commander, combined his 2,000 cavalry with the legions of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun. The Han army already had about 8,000 fine cavalry, which was a very terrifying number in the entire Central Plains battlefield, and Ma Yuanyi did not take these into account.
Yingyang City quickly fell under the siege of 150,000 Yellow Turban troops. On the day the city was breached, the Taiping Army massacred all the powerful families in the city, such as the Ji family and the Wang family, both of whom were Guangwu ancestors. You know, when you see your family being slaughtered by moth thieves, you can’t help but feel sad that all the fame, fortune and wealth are in vain.
After that, Ruying Taiping Road used Yingyang City as its base, stationed in deep trenches, stored grain and fodder, and prepared for long-term plans with the Han army. At first, the leaders of Ruying Taiping Road did not put Taishan, which was still in Puyang, in the The reason for planning was not that they couldn't be fought, but because they were four hundred miles away.
But in the end, Ma Yuanyi overcame all opinions and selected the Ten Horse Exploration Team to go north to Puyang, allowing the Puyang side to go south and attack the main force of Ruying Taiping Road from north to south. Of course, Ma Yuanyi did not pin all his hopes of victory on the Taishan side. He also Send a message to Zhang Mancheng on Taiping Road in Nanyang, inviting him to go north together and join forces with Ruying on Taiping Road to threaten the flank of the main force of the Han army.
At this time, Nanyang Taiping Road also had strong troops and horses, with 150,000 soldiers, and they won successive victories. They first attacked and killed Chu Gong, the prefect of Nanyang, in Wancheng, and then besieged Wancheng several times, keeping Nanyang Taiping Road within the city and controlling the battlefield. initiative.
Ma Yuanyi was originally very confident about mobilizing Nanyang Taiping Road to go north, because these were his old subordinates. Many of the important generals in the army were led by Ma Yuanyi to join the road. Now that Ma Yuanyi has called him, how could they not go north? But Ma Yuanyi still underestimated The differences within the church have been resolved.
When the letter of appeal was delivered to Zhang Mancheng on Taiping Road in Nanyang, Zhang Mancheng was noncommittal.
Ma Yuanyi was previously the divine envoy within the sect, but was later deprived by Zhang Jiao for protecting Zhang Chong, leaving Zhang Mancheng as the divine envoy. The divine envoy's status within the sect is similar to that of the Yellow Angel, who has the power to take over. The will of Huang Tian can be used, in other words, it can support the Qi.
Later, Ma Yuanyi came out of the mountain again and became the envoy of the gods. Naturally, Zhang Mancheng could not do this. Problems arose and estrangements emerged.
Another reason why Zhang Mancheng didn't want to go north was that he was worried about making wedding clothes for others. If he went north, he would use his own soldiers to perform meritorious service for Ma Yuanyi. He was already competing with Ma Yuanyi, and if Ma Yuanyi defeated the main force of the Han army in Yingchuan, , then he will never have the chance to use others to steal the chance to be the heir in the church.
Therefore, Zhang Mancheng said that the strength of the Han army in Nanyang is still there. If he cannot eliminate it now, it may become a threat again. Therefore, he is allowed to wait for another two months. When the millet is harvested in September, Zhang Mancheng will command a hundred thousand troops to go north to meet the Han army in Ru. Ying. During this period, Ma Yuanyi can only deal with it.
In fact, the reason for all this is Zhang Mancheng's vision problem. It is not that he has a narrow vision in fighting for power, but that he misjudged the true strength of the Han army. What he fought in Nanyang was only the inner county soldiers of the Han army, and they were the powerful Nanyang soldiers. Without being organized, Zhang Mancheng could not have imagined that the main force of the Han army going south would be so elite. He might now doubt whether Ma Yuanyi wanted to annex him when he called him to go north.
All in all, because of these shortcomings and some limitations of vision, Nanyang Taiping Road rejected Ma Yuanyi's suggestion to go north, which made Ruying Taiping Road once again have to face Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun's army alone.
But things took a turn for the better in Puyang.
After half a month of confrontation on both sides of the Pu River, the Taishan Army took action again.
The Han army, which was originally fighting in the north and south of Pu River and besieged Taiping Road, welcomed a visitor from Kyoto ten days ago. He came out with Hu Ya, Fufeng Second Battalion and two thousand soldiers stationed in Chang'an. This is what Liu Hong of the country is doing When June received the letter from Lu Zhi, she arranged a move to deal with it.
The visitor who led the troops was named Yuan Pang, who came from the Yuan family of Chen State. He led Huya and Fufeng Second Battalion out of the border as a visitor in the army to assist Huang Wan, the herdsman of Yanzhou who had arrived earlier. He was also accompanied by Two hundred thousand stones of grain from Aocang.
The arrival of Yuan Pang directly made Huang Wan understand that the original so-called sit-down strategy was not approved by Liu Hong. Also, just for the Taishan bandits, he spent tens of thousands of dollars to build the wall of the stronghold. , do you think Liu Hong’s money came from the strong wind?
So Liu Hong's meaning is very obvious. I have given you the elite soldiers, the food, the armor, and the weapons. Now fight me!
Yuan Pang and Huang Wan did not have a deep friendship. Huang Wan was a staunch anti-eunuch in the court, and he and Yuan Pang were centrists. The two did not have much personal relationship, and because of this, Liu Hong chose Yuan Pang.
As soon as Yuan Pang entered the Fengqiu camp, he began to find out the situation of the Yanzhou Army. Three days later, he reported to Liu Hong:
"When I arrive in the army, I haven't fully understood everything. And I have few soldiers, so I can't discuss it lightly."
Yuan Pang's cautious report was just to prevent Liu Hong from worrying, but in fact he already knew about the various problems existing in Fengqiu Camp. In a private message to Yuan Wei, who was of the same race but in a different room, he expressed his true emotions:
"On June 25th, I arrived at Fengqiu and met Huang Wan and Zhou Shen. Both of them said that the Taishan army was fierce and unstoppable. I thought they were such a huge bandit, but when I visited them carefully, they found that the thieves were no more than ten thousand Ding women. , Even if you are a little brave, you are nothing more than a gangster. But now I have 12,000 soldiers in Fengqiu camp, and they are all capable of marching. However, because Huang Wan patrolled around and insisted on defending, the morale of the army was slack. The veteran generals in the army are brave. I have asked for battle several times, but Huang Wan refused. I thought that if the thief Yi'er defeated Mount Tai, I would just kill Huang Wan in the south."
Yuan Wei was a Situ. After receiving Yuan Pang's private letter, he used his own identity to send a warning to Huang Wan in Fengqiu, accusing Huang Wan of having the courage to do his job and not just wasting the country's money and food and accomplishing nothing.
This warning directly made Huang Wan feel sad and frustrated.
In fact, not long after Yuan Pang entered the camp, he was dissatisfied with this and did not go well with others. The essence was to establish his authority in front of Huang Wan, Zhou Shen and others. Several military meetings were made to accuse the two of them, causing them to break up unhappy. Therefore, Huang Wan no longer invited Yuan Pang to participate in the military meeting, but only informed him of the results, which deepened the gap between the two sides.
In the end, Yuan Pang even took advantage of the small camp of Fengqiu, so he took the Huya and Fufeng 2nd Battalion and moved troops to Suanzao, saying that he wanted to stop the Taishan Army's thieves in Yan County.
But now Yuan Pang beat him, and also attracted Sikong's help to give him orders. This directly hit Huang Wan, and he fell ill all of a sudden.
On the one hand, this is indeed a heartache, but on the other hand, since entering Fengqiu, Huang Wan has built this Yanzhou regiment from scratch. The camp is full of affairs and there are thousands of things to worry about. The daily food is only three liters of millet, and he has already exhausted his energy. He was haggard and his vitality was severely weakened.
As soon as the inside and outside came together, Huang Wan vomited blood and fell unconscious at the desk.
Huang Wan's illness directly aggravated the chaos in the Fengqiu camp. Previously, with Huang Wan's mediation, these powerful soldiers could tolerate each other and serve the country. But now that the backbone of the army has fallen, the generals are at odds, which further disintegrates the morale of the army. .
This was reflected on the Pu River front line, where the Han soldiers had no fighting spirit and were severely defeated in several small-scale raids against the Taishan Army.
In fact, during these more than half a month of fighting, the Taishan Army and the Han Army did not just wait. Instead, they clashed from time to time on the north bank of Pu River. The scouts and cavalry of both sides often went deep behind each other to sneak attack and ambush the woodcutter workers who came out of the village. Or transfer troops. This kind of small-scale battle involves the elites of both sides. In the past, the victory and defeat were evenly divided between the two sides. Although the Taishan army was strong in combat, the Yanzhou army knew the geography better, so it could be considered that there was going back and forth.
But in the past few days, the Han soldiers not only made fewer attacks, but also became more and more exhausted. After being attacked, they often dispersed back to the camp without resistance. These changes were noticed by the flying troops of the Taishan Army and reported to Zhang in Puyang. Rush place.
Zhang Chong had just received a message from Ma Yuanyi, urging him to go south to attack the main force of the Han army. Zhang Chong was still hesitant at first, because the original plan was that he would use Puyang as the base of advance to defeat the last effective force in Yanzhou. Heading west, attack Xingyang Aocang and threaten the supplies of Lu Zhi's army in the north of the Han army.
But there is a huge change in the current situation, that is, the Ruying Taiping Road in the middle has made better progress because of the uprising earlier than in history, and is actually evenly matched with the main force of the Han army. The fire that burned Changshe The turning point war happened, but because the time was advanced, an unexpected heavy rain suddenly fell, which changed the outcome of the war. It can be said that all wars are the common result of the right time, the right place and the right people, and they are indispensable.
Another big change was that of Ma Yuanyi. Because Ma Yuanyi successfully escaped and went south to Yingchuan, with him as a prestigious leader, the Taiping Road in Runan actually went north. This has never happened before in history.
In this way, the current situation is that Ma Yuanyi has gathered 150,000 troops and has set up camp in Yingyang, preparing for a decisive battle with the Han army. Now if Zhang Chong leads his troops south to attack Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun's army, will he really be able to defeat them all? What about fighting?
Although this prospect seems very tempting, Zhang Chong is clearly aware of the risks involved.
First of all, Puyang is about 400 miles away from the Yingyang battlefield. He devoted his main force of 10,000 to go south, traveling 40 miles a day, and it would take ten days to arrive at the fastest. And there are three rivers wading through the Bian River, the Chasm, and the Wei River along the way. It takes time to build rivers and bridges.
What if, by the time he leads the Taishan Army south to the battlefield of Yingyang, Ruying Taiping Road has been severely defeated, and his division is surrounded by Han soldiers with exhausted veterans and no baggage, wouldn't that mean he was overthrown and killed?
And even if he arrived, could he really defeat the main force of the Han army?
Ma Yuanyi said that there were 150,000 Taiping Dao soldiers gathered in Yingyang, but to be honest, Zhang Chong didn't believe it. Judging from the situation of Taiping Dao in Yanzhou, he found that the proportion of Taiping Dao's combat forces was about one-third. Change. In other words, the number of capable soldiers currently stationed in Yingyang is roughly more than 50,000. If the Taishan Army goes south, it will be about 10,000. In this comparison, I have 60,000 soldiers versus the Han Army's 40,000. It seems that I have the advantage.
But the difficulty lies in the fact that the 150,000 men on Ma Yuanyi's side were not organized into combat-ready soldiers at all. Instead, they mixed the old, the weak, and the strong together. This method directly dragged down the combat effectiveness of his troops, so it was really difficult to fight. Hard to say.
Moreover, there are nearly 10,000 powerful Yanzhou coalition forces opposite Zhang Chong. With them blocking the road, it will be difficult for him to go south. Therefore, at first, Zhang Chong planned to continue to act according to the original plan. He could only silently pray that Ma Yuanyi could stick to it.
Until he goes south.
However, the frontline military information sent by the flying army scouts directly made Zhang Chong realize that a huge fighter plane was placed in front of him. Something must have happened to the Yanzhou Army on the opposite side, otherwise the decline in combat power would not be so obvious.
Regardless of whether he wanted to go south or continue westward, the four Han military stations along the Pu River were all the Taishan Army wanted to destroy. Therefore, Zhang Chong immediately made up his mind to launch a surprise attack to at least defeat the mountains on the north bank of the Pu River first.
The Yang soldiers and the Rencheng soldiers not far away.
Therefore, Zhang Chong sent a military order to Ding Sheng, Zhao Liang, Zhu Ying and Tian Junzhi to attack the Shanyang soldiers on the north bank of Puyang. He also ordered Dian Wei, Yu Jin, Li Bi and Gao Ya to send troops directly across.
Pu River, crossing the south bank of Pu River, waiting for an opportunity to eliminate the Rencheng State Corps.
Suddenly, a message flew from the outside of Puyang City, and a battle was about to begin.