By this time, the wilderness outside the city had been emptied out, leaving only excrement all over the ground and no one to take care of it.
The Han army retreated, but no one in the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans in the city was happy because they were also seriously injured.
Ever since Dong Zhuo's troops came out of the stronghold with nine thousand troops, the Han army began to launch a fierce siege on Li people, and its intensity did not weaken due to the division of troops.
Starting from the 14th, various units of the Han army in Hebei took turns attacking the city, non-stop for six consecutive days and nights, hoping to take advantage of the opportunity when the Yellow Turbans in the city were frightened by the power of the stone machine to enter the city.
But war pays attention to rhythm. At the beginning, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban in the city was really beaten by the stone machine, and even worshiped it as Cang Lei. So after Lu Zhi saw this, he planned to continue his madness on the second day. Boom, and at the same time recruit daredevils to rush into the city.
This tactic of infantry and artillery coordination requires too high a level of psychological quality on the charging sergeants below, and it cannot be done without a dead soldier.
If the situation was really as Lu Zhi planned, Lieren probably wouldn't be able to handle it. But who would have thought that that night, Ji Sun, the great leader of Jinan City, came out of the city with a suicide bomber, and burned eight missiles with a fire Stone machine.
At this time, the situation changed, and the rhythm of the battle was also chaotic. The next day, the Han army attacked the city again, and it was obvious that what they encountered was not the fearful Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, but a group of tigers and wolves who were fiercely motivated by the heroism of the general.
Therefore, even though in these six days, Lu Zhi's battalions would personally fill in the trenches at their own expense, and even the six trenches on the opposite side were filled in, and some even took the lead in climbing the city at one time, their efforts were still in vain.
The three Qushuai in the city, Ji Sun, Zhang Rao, and Xu He are all determined Taiping Tao believers. For the past six days, they have lived and ate at the top of the city day and night. When they were on the front line, their respective six-section staffs were firmly fixed. On the three walls of Leren City.
No matter how many brave Han soldiers tried to cut off the scepter, they were all beaten back by the soldiers protecting the scepter. In the sea of blood and corpses, the apricot-yellow scepter did not move at all.
These six days directly shattered Lu Zhi's fantasy of quickly attacking everyone, and they could only choose to continue to fight. But this time, the Taishan Army captured Yecheng, and they could only withdraw with hatred.
But it was not easy for Lu Zhi to evacuate. Jisun, who had been watching the battle on the west city tower, keenly noticed the changes in the Han army's barrier and knew that the Han army was probably about to evacuate.
Because the Han army surrounded them three times, Jisun and others did not know the news that the Taishan army had captured Yecheng, but their ignorance did not prevent him from planning to go out of the city to bite the Han army.
Jisun, who has battle experience, knows a simple truth:
"What the enemy wants to do, you must not let him do it. Whenever you do the opposite, things will happen."
So, after discussing with Zhang Rao and Xu He, Ji Sun decided to go out of the city to counterattack. Zhang Rao and Xu He had been convinced of Ji Sun's military ability during the battle, so they made the decision without much hesitation.
Guanghe six years, October 21st, noon.
The three Yellow Turban Army troops in Lieren City, each numbering ten thousand people, rushed out from the three gates and rushed towards the Han army's fortress.
At this time, the Han army was just eating inside the fortress when they suddenly heard shouts of killing outside the stronghold and were frightened. However, Lu Zhi used the fifth school of the Northern Army as the backbone and went out of the fortress to confront the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans.
Although the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou had greater military strength, they were still defeated by the elite Han army in the battle. The two armies fought for half a day, and thousands of Yellow Turbans died. In the end, Ji Sun had no choice but to retreat into the city.
But just when the five schools of the Northern Army were tired and about to withdraw into the camp, another Yellow Turban soldier emerged from Lieren City. This one was obviously an elite one, and its armor coverage rate was comparable to that of the main force of the Han army.
This Yellow Turban Army was the elite chosen by Sun Ji, and there were even many military officers in it whom he borrowed from the Taishan Army to train the army.
In the previous battles to defend the city, these people had never been thrown into battle by Ji Sun. When they were released at this time, they were like a tiger coming out of its box, unstoppable.
The Fifth Colonel of the Han Army did not expect that the opponent's troops were so cunning, and they could still fight back. They were caught off guard and suffered a massive rout. Sixteen officers of more than 200 stones were killed. Fortunately, the rest of the Han Army had already repaired and came out of the stronghold. With the support, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban counterattack was repelled.
In this battle, the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans were all full of evil spirits and their morale was rising. In the remaining two days, the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans went out into battle several times, either for sneak attacks or in formation battles. However, they were defeated by the Han army several times.
In this way, the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans clearly realized the gap in combat power between themselves and the Han army.
But since October 23, the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans have not left the city. Lu Zhi took advantage of this opportunity and withdrew the remaining Han army, less than 10,000 people, from the Lieren camp.
Lu Zhi was also worried that the Yellow Turbans in the city would counterattack him, so he set up three ambushes on the way to retreat. But who knew that after they had completely withdrawn, there was still no reaction in the city.
In this way, the Han army in Hebei successfully retreated from the front line, leaving a viable force for the subsequent battle.
Why did Sun Ji and others in the city let the Han army return west? Was it because they were demoralized after a long defeat? Or were they unaware of the seriousness of letting the Han army go?
No, the most fundamental reason is that they are out of food.
The lack of food exposed a more serious problem, that is, the Hebei Yellow Turban headquarters responsible for supplying military supplies either ran out of food or gave up on the Qingzhou Yellow Turban.
Every situation here is scary, so Jisun no longer cares about the Han army outside the city, and hurriedly sends people to lower the city along the Zhang River to Guangzong in the rear to investigate the situation.
…
On Fan Chang's side, the rural troops of the Taishan Army's Eastern Expedition Army also encountered difficult problems.
Originally, he thought that Hebei, as an old missionary area of Taiping Road, would welcome and receive the Taishan Army after learning about their arrival. But the reality was that the Guizhou leaders had to hide and hide when they saw them. Even when they invited one or two fellow villagers, they hesitated and remained silent.
It turns out that the northeastern part of Wei County and the southern part of Julu County were indeed the main activity areas of the Yellow Turbans in Hebei Province. Which of these lishes located on both sides of the Zhang River did not offer incense and burning incense. But this was before the war.
Following Zhang Jiao's order in April this year, Taiping Taoist disciples swarmed up, causing chaos on both sides of the Zhang River. The original Taoist disciples here were almost lost in several major battles after being transferred by our side several times. Almost exhausted.
After that, Lu Zhi led Bei Zhonglang's generals to go north from Hanoi, and also successively cleared the area. The big houses were burned down, and the young and strong people who could walk ran to the Taihang Mountains in the west to avoid the Han soldiers. They were slaughtered. Only some women and children with inconvenient legs and feet were left here to hang out with the foxes and rabbits.
Under such circumstances, how could Fan Chang have the unexpected encounter?
If this is still an external difficulty, the problems that arise internally are fatal.
Most of the Taishan Army were from Henan and Qingyan areas. Because there were no locals to serve as guides, Fan Chang and others' food and accommodation temporarily became a problem.
Moreover, it was October in Hebei and it was freezing cold. The winter clothes they brought with them could not protect them much from the cold. They could only use hay to keep out the cold at night, and the morale of the team going to the countryside was very low.
This kind of internal and external embarrassment has never been encountered by the team going to the countryside before. Fatigue, hunger and cold, various factors are mixed, many field officials took knives and began to search the households in the wild, so as to find some supplies.
Ease the dilemma.
But little did they know that in the eyes of the Guizhou leaders who were living in the wild, they were no different from those Han soldiers, tigers and wolves, so they became more afraid and hid even more.
Fan Chang still understood the importance. He immediately summoned the leaders of more than ten field division teams and emphasized sternly:
"I have heard about some of the things that have been done below recently. If you don't want to do it, go back. If anyone dares to ruin the reputation of our Taishan Army, I will personally cut off his head."
Fan Chang is considered a modest gentleman, but he has been with Bingzi for a long time, and he is very anxious due to the situation. He now has a big blood blister on his mouth, so he speaks with murderous intent.
The dozen or so people below were aroused by these words and hurriedly promised to improve discipline when they returned.
But how far these words can be implemented, Fan Chang is not sure. He has realized that the current strategy of establishing base areas will undergo major changes.
If the Taishan Army was solving the distribution problem before, now they are facing a white field that has been plowed several times by soldiers and they have to solve the reconstruction problem.
They are no longer land-dividing officials and field-protecting soldiers, but they have to work hard to rebuild their homes on this blank ruins, and this is much more difficult than the former.
Finally, after explaining many things, Fan Chang rushed back to Gecheng, where he wanted to find Zhang Dan's help.
…
"What, the captain has already led his army to march eastward?"
Fan Chang, who was in a dusty state, was in the military mansion of Katsuragi. When he heard the news, he was a little caught off guard.
He didn't expect that his captain would move so quickly. How long had they captured Katsuragi before they were anxious to move eastward? Here, Fan Chang felt a little shadowy.
After all, it is not a good thing to rush to the east when the rear is not at peace.
But now that Zhang Dan has led his army to the east, Fan Chang has no choice but to do anything. He sent a letter to the Yecheng shogunate about the cruel situation in the Zhangshui area, so that Qu Shuai could also understand the difficulty of the current front-line situation.
.
Afterwards, he withdrew three thousand koku of military rations from the granary of Katsuragi Military Mansion, and also recruited some refugees from the city who were willing to cultivate land below. After that, he drove the cattle and carts with the refugees back to the bank of Zhangshui River to build their homes.
Fan Chang's key to solving the problem is straightforward. Since the land cannot be divided now, he will lead the Zhangshui people to run the farm, pick up the abandoned land, and re-establish order.
Fan Chang was originally a civil servant and did not understand general affairs at first. But the Taishan Army was a melting pot, and there were many ways for them to take off their academic belts, put on single clothes and go to the countryside.
Fan Chang was among the first group of staff to go to the countryside. He had previously participated in the land and house allocation in Laiwu and Heji areas, and he was a shrewd and capable person.
Staff like Lei Fanchang, who have been trained from top to bottom, have a better overall view than the average director. If the general director of land distribution had encountered the desolate situation on both sides of the Zhangshui River, he would have led his team back to the city long ago.
They can handle the above task with just one sentence: if the people are gone, the land will be divided.
But Fan Chang had an overall view, knew that the Yecheng shogunate valued this area, and also understood the profound meaning of the layout of establishing a base here.
The coast of Zhangshui has been a fertile place since ancient times, rich in products. In the ancient times, the military obtained it, and there was no shortage of military food. Since then, it has been an important financial and food area for the Han Dynasty.
Although the people here have been dispersed after the war, the land is still there. As long as the refugees are attracted and the external environment is stabilized, the refugees hiding in the Taihang Mountains can be attracted down the mountains and cultivated again.
Now the Taishan Army took advantage of the reversal of the situation in Hebei and was able to occupy this place. As long as the remaining Han army in Hebei is defeated, this land of royal industry will be a treasure land given to the Taishan Army by God.
So Fan Chang must establish a foothold here, even if it is very difficult, he must do it.
Sometimes, no matter whether something is successful or not, you must first have the determination to overcome all difficulties. People cannot be scared by themselves.
When Fan Chang returned to both sides of the Zhang River with a batch of supplies, the main force of the Taishan Army's Eastern Expedition was on its way to Lieren, where they were going to join the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans.
Two Qingzhou brothers with the same origin are about to meet in a foreign land like Hebei.
…
October 24th.
The vanguard camp of Zhang Dandong's former army is marching along the north bank of Zhang River.
The general of this forward camp was called Yang Dian. He was a soldier of the Han army and was one of the two thousand Han soldiers who were recruited during the battle of Yingyang.
Later, when the Taishan Army marched north, Yang Dian took many risks and accumulated merits to become a garrison general under Zhang Dan's command. Because this person was from Hebei, Zhang Dan selected this person as the vanguard of this eastern expedition.
Tuen.
During this eastward march, the Eastern Expeditionary Army adopted a marching method of walking and boating. Although boats and boats were highly maneuverable, they were unable to establish rule over the local area. The main purpose of the Eastern Expeditionary Army this time was to expand the base area, so some of its troops were
They dispersed and marched on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Yang Dian had been to Wei County before, and he still remembered the rural scene of Yinrao deeply. But when he returned to his hometown this time, the dilapidation and depression here were shocking.
After marching during the day, Yang Dian needed to find a campsite, preferably a village with people.
Unlike what everyone thinks of camping in the wild, in most cases, small troops can camp without sleeping in the open. Because camping is cumbersome and laborious, and there are many mosquitoes, it is easy to get bitten and get sick.
But it was really hard to find the community here. Yang Dian led the village of hundreds of people along the established road, and finally found a group of earthen caves in the dark of night, where they met dozens of savages.
Obviously, these people fled the war and hid here with their young and old.
In Yang Dian's hometown accent, he repeatedly told these people that he was from Taiping Road and had no hostility toward them. He also gave two bags of millet.
This corn played a key role. These people came out of the cave tremblingly. After collecting the corn, they warmly invited them to live in the cave.
But when Yang Dian saw how narrow-minded you were, he could only refuse. He could only start setting up tents with these caves as the center. After sharing some rice and rice with these cave dwellers, Yang Dian asked them where this place was.
These barbarians only told Yang Dian and others that this place was called Ximenwei, and they couldn't tell them anything else.
Yang Dian had only followed the trail before, but actually didn't know where he was going. So, he wanted to recruit guides from these savages.
Finally, Yang Dian hired a simple and honest man from Julu County for half a bag of millet. The man said he knew how to list people. After that, Yang Dian took the people to rest.
In the middle of the night, Yang Dian was woken up by General Shi who was on duty at night. His subordinates told Yang Dian some bad news: