The first year of Chengtian, the first year of Republic, May 23rd.
When the judge stationed at Jieqiao heard the thunderous sound of drums on the other side, he looked calm but his palms were filled with sweat.
Even though Shen Shen was very confident about his new army, he was still feeling nervous when faced with the outpouring of Hebei Yellow Turbans.
When the camp commander Jiao Chu on the side saw the look of his general, he knew what he should say, so he stepped forward and said:
"Guo Lieutenant, this time the brothers who came out have succeeded in capturing or killing them. Now the enemy troops are coming out in full force. How about we take shelter?"
Shen Pei shook his head and retreated without fighting. Even if he had captured enough before, it would damage his reputation when he returned. So Shen Pei decided to fight.
But how to fight? The judge asked the generals under his command.
For example, Jiao Chu, Jiang Yiqu, etc. all suggested that it is better to defend instead of attack, saying:
"Today the enemy has no food to attack, and we are outnumbered, so we have to use all our strength. It is better to hold on to the boundary bridge, tire the enemy, and then pursue and annihilate him when his teacher gets old and retreats."
Jiao Chu, Jiang Yiqu, etc. are all powerful sons of Qinghe. They are known in the countryside for their bravery. What they are saying now are also mature words for the country. They are good generals.
The judge nodded and did not say much. Instead, he asked Cui Yan, who was accompanying the army, what his plan was.
Cui Yan thought for a while and roughly understood what Shen Pei meant. He said:
"Now that our army has come from afar, our original intention was to defeat the Yellow Turbans in Qinghe. But now the situation has changed. The Taishan Army's front has already reached the Zhangshui area and may appear under Guangzong City at any time. What the two generals said before is true.
It’s an old saying, but it’s not suitable for today’s situation. So instead of waiting to be on the defensive, it’s better to defend openly and attack secretly.”
The judge quickly asked Cui Yan what he meant?
Cui Yan said:
"If the bandit army comes to attack with great force, they must think that our army dare not leave the stronghold to fight in the field. Therefore, we can first close the stronghold and defend it to show our weakness to the enemy. But we can secretly dig a secret passage until they approach the military stronghold and the defense is still uncertain.
.Our army can choose elite warriors to come out from the secret passage and rush directly to the Kuai army's tent. In this way, our army will be able to end this battle in a short time."
After Cui Yan finished speaking, all the generals in Qinghe were thinking.
This strategy is a good one. With the looseness of the Hebei Yellow Turbans, a surprise beheading from a secret passage has a high success rate. But this strategy is also a little risky. But considering the current situation, it is really unrealistic not to take a gamble.
.
So Cui Yance, the commander-in-chief, ordered each battalion to guard the city closely. They then guarded the city during the day and stepped up the digging of secret passages in the camp at night.
Regarding these, Hebei Yellow Turban's left beard is not clear.
What he doesn't even know is that just yesterday, the Zhangshui defense line was officially broken.
…
Zhang Ji, who was on the Zhangshui defense line, never expected that his Yellow Turban Army would face a situation where there were wolves in front and tigers behind.
Many of his calculations seemed so ridiculous given the absolute strength of the Taishan Army.
When Zhang Dan from the rear led the Right Military Academy to the west bank of the Zhang River, Zhang Chong summoned the generals from all the military camps to discuss offensive and defensive strategies. At the meeting, the generals had many ambiguities. In the end, Zhang Chong overcame all the opinions and decided to pre-emptively cross the Zhang River.
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There is a saying that Zhang Ji's defense on the Zhang River was still very tight. Pan Zhang, Zhang Dan's battalion general, led his troops to force the crossing in small boats several times but was defeated by Zhang Ji.
But Zhang Ji never expected that Pan Zhang's forced crossing was a fake. An elite cavalry force of 2,000 horses left the village early and then followed the upper reaches of the Zhang River to find a shallow place to cross the river.
The assault cavalry headed by Generals Li Hu, Xu Huang, Xi Shen, and Ma Wu gave full play to the high-speed movement of the cavalry, rapid penetration, and the advantages of turning thousands of miles. They crossed the Zhangshui River that night and fought to Ququ in the early morning of the next day. Under Zhou City.
Li Hu and other assault cavalry took advantage of the opportunity when the yellow turbans from the villages outside the city came out to collect firewood, and made a surprise attack from four directions, approaching the water village outside the city. Although Zhang Liang's military governor outside the city resisted, they were still defeated.
Zhang Liang, on the other hand, under the cover of the guards, entered the city alone.
The next day, Zhang Ji, unwilling to lose the river defense, joined forces with Zhang Bairao from the north to attack in two directions, hoping to seize the river defense again. But what was surprising was that the Hebei Yellow Turbans once again failed in this battle.
You must know that the Taishan Army currently active on the east coast has four battalions and two thousand cavalry. But the Hebei Yellow Turbans here have about 20,000 cavalry.
But even with such a huge advantage, the Hebei Yellow Turbans were still crushed and beaten.
Therefore, the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry only took two stops to defeat the Hebei Yellow Turbans and broke their bones. After Zhang Ji misjudged the Taishan Army's combat power and knew that it would be difficult to win in a field battle, he decided to stick to Quzhou.
At this time, as the Taishan Army's sudden cavalry succeeded in connecting on the east bank, the left and right units of the Taishan Army on the west bank also stepped onto the pontoon bridge built and began to gather on the east bank.
Zhang Ji, who was already stretched thin and suffered consecutive defeats, felt bitter inside as he saw the enemy troops gathering more and more. However, he regarded himself as a hero and had an indomitable mentality.
Even though they suffered consecutive defeats, they still relied on the original Quzhou city defenses and fortifications to continue fighting.
But soon, new news came, forcing Zhang Ji to withdraw from Quzhou.
It turned out that Zhang Baiqi in the north surrendered to the Taishan Army, and now the western front was finished.
That night, Zhang Ji took his younger brother Zhang Liang and led a small number of core military equipment to break out of Quzhou, and the Taishan Army launched an siege the next day.
The leaderless Quzhou Yellow Turbans surrendered one after another after the city gates were opened. At this point, the 20,000 soldiers of the Hebei Yellow Turbans deployed on the western front, except for Zhang Ji and others who escaped, were completely wiped out.
After Qu was defeated on Monday, Taishan's army encountered no resistance on the road to Guangzong. And with Zhang Baiqi's joining, Zhang Chong continued to recruit the Yellow Turban Army along the way.
Originally, Taishan and Taiping were the same family, and there were no two characters in one sentence. Now that the Taishan army was gaining momentum, these Hebei Yellow Turbans surrendered to the Taishan army smoothly without much resistance.
In fact, this was also Zhang Chong's strategy for conquering Zuo Beard and Zhangba this time.
After all, there are still hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans in Hebei Province. Although the quality of these people varies, they are still able to use them for their own use.
Therefore, from the very beginning, Zhang Chong used the banner of killing only the culprits and vigorously attracted the Yellow Turban Army who came to defect.
The Battle of Zhangshui was the acceleration point of this battle. Originally, the Zhangshui defense line was there, and the various commanders of the Yellow Turbans in Hebei did not feel that it was urgent to replace the bow. But as soon as the Zhangshui broke through, they almost defeated these The defensive line of the young commanders, and the combat power displayed by the Taishan Army made them even more frightened.
In this way, the journey from Quzhou to Guangzong was only a mere hundred miles away, but there was an endless stream of defectors from Yi Banner.
While Zhang Chong was leading the core field force of 15,000 horse infantry, and the 20,000 yellow turban rebels on the periphery were overwhelmingly pressing towards Guangzong, a bloody battle was also unfolding on the boundary bridge outside Guangzong City.
…
This was the second day that Zuo Beard Zhangba led 80,000 yellow turbans inside and outside Guangzong to attack the Qinghe Han Army's boundary bridge camp.
At this moment, Zuo Beard Zhangba was in high spirits. Just in the morning, it was reported that our troops had occupied another small village of the Han army in Qinghe.
Although such small villages are scattered on both sides of Qingshui, for Zuo Zhangba, a small victory is still a victory. Now he needs victory too much to maintain his prestige in the army.
For this reason, Zuo Beard Zhangba drank some wine in the military tent and led the generals to the front line. This was his usual way of leading troops. Every time he faced a battle, he would go to the front line to boost morale.
His left beard was still dazed with alcohol. In front of the soldiers on the front line, he patted this and touched that. He even tied a belt for a soldier whose belt was not tight.
This is Zuo Zhaozhangba's style of leading troops. He truly loves his soldiers as his own son. Of course, at least he behaves this way consistently.
After Zuo Beard Zhangba finished walking in half an hour, he led his generals to the Han army camp on the boundary bridge.
At this moment, the camp door opposite was closed, and I was determined to fight him.
Seeing this, Zuo Zhangba felt a little sad in his heart.
He is in a difficult situation now. In front of him is this group of Qinghe Han troops who are taking advantage of the fire, and to the west is the wolf-like Taishan army, all of them are trying to kill him. And the young commanders inside have their own agendas, and there may be a few outbursts. One wants to sell him.
At this moment, Zuo Beard Zhangba was quite regretful. If he had known the current situation, he would have just handed over the military power to Zhang Bao that day.
But now, alas, there is no point in talking more.
At this time, the sun was high and it was already very hot in May.
What's more, there is still no wind at this boundary bridge today, and the armor and underwear on the left beard have long been soaked.
But Zuo Zuozhangba could still bear this pain. He brought his generals here just to observe the camp.
The Han army built the camp very well, and the camp they chose happened to be behind the boundary bridge. It can be said that it strangled the communication line on the Qinghe River.
Looking at our own side, all the chaotic Yellow Turban Army were gathered on both sides of the clear water. Many people were lying on the ground to rest because they were tired from digging trenches.
Zuo Zhangba didn't care about this. He was frowning and asking Heishan next to him:
"How many people haven't crossed the river yet?"
Heishan also frowned and couldn't answer, so he just told Zuo Zhuzhangba:
"I looked at the flag. The Qinghe Corps, the Weijun Corps, and three or four marshals have already crossed the river. Just now I saw Liu Shi's team crossing the river?"
Zuo Beard Zhangba was not satisfied with Heishan's statement, but he also knew that the Yellow Turban Army was like this, and it was Heishan's care that he was able to point this out.
Zuo Zhangba frowned and urged Heishan:
"You will ask people to urge them later. At least let the Changshan Army cross the river today. In this way, there will be four regular army groups on the south bank, which is enough."
Heishan nodded and wrote this down.
Then Zuo Zhangba said to the clan brother Zuo Xiao next to him:
"Is there any news from Zhang Ji on the Western Front?"
Colonel Zuo nodded first, then shook his head, uncertainly:
"I just received a message from the Western Front today. Some of the Taishan bandits' assault cavalry have broken through Zhangshui. They are looking for reinforcements over there."
Zuo Zhangba cursed:
"I knew I needed reinforcements, but Nai Gong still wants reinforcements. This base is called Hu'er, but with the river defense, not to mention blocking the Taishan Army from advancing even an inch, it can block me for at least ten days."
With a fierce move, Zuo Zhangba said to Zuo Xiao:
"As soon as you send someone to send an order to Zhang Ji, as long as he keeps the Taishan Army at bay for ten days, I will ask him to be the general of the public."
When Zuo Xiao and Heishan heard this, their faces turned a bit dark. They followed Zuo Beard and Zhang Ba and beat him to death. They didn't even talk about being a handsome man. As a member of the Zhang family, Zhang Ji became an enemy in Ming's eyes.
Give him an official title and make a wish?
At this moment, both Zuo Xiao and Heishan were dissatisfied.
Especially Montenegro, who can't hide his emotions at this moment, so he has to ask why this is true.
But Zuo Zhangba didn't notice the two people's thoughts at all. Instead, he fanned himself with a cattail leaf fan and said to the two of them:
"It's getting hotter and hotter today. Let the people below tie up the tent curtain, and then go find someone to ask where there is honey water, and bring it too."
Heishan wanted to speak, but was stopped by Colonel Zuo beside him, who hinted to Heishan that the time was not right now.
Heishan sighed and nodded.
In this way, the Han army stood still on the boundary bridge, and the Yellow Turban Army outside Qingshui transported more and more grain, soldiers and horses in the chaos.
And this contradiction between movement and stillness finally returned to silence as night fell.
Before going to bed, Zuo Zhangba drank another bottle of wine, and then fell into a drowsy sleep.
Time soon came to midnight, and the Yellow Turban troops on both sides of Qingshui fell into a deep sleep.
But just when the human voice was silent, a rustling sound quietly appeared.
First, a stout shirtless warrior came out of the secret passage with a dagger in his mouth, and then more and more warriors dressed like him appeared, covered in mud and fishy, but with extremely fanatical eyes.
This group of people is Jiang Yiqu, a subordinate of Shen Pei, and a group of his dead soldiers. They walked through the secret passage that was stuffy and damp just for this moment.
Due to the lack of time, the Qinghe Han army had time to dig a secret passage, so at this moment only Jiang Yiqu and his twenty dead soldiers used this secret passage.
And because of Shenpai's military vision, they chose a natural camping spot for this secret road, and the Yellow Turban Army who had already crossed Qingshui were now camping here.
So Jiang Yiqu and others were in the camp as soon as they got out.
The judge assigned Jiang Yiqu two tasks. If he could find the eight thieves Zuo Beard Zhang, he would be the leader. If he couldn't find him, he would burn the grain.
It would have been extremely difficult to find the trace of the coach among the thousands of troops, but I didn't know whether it was Jiang Yiqu who was lucky or whether it was because Zuo Zhaozhang was unlucky.
As soon as Jiang Yiqu and others appeared, they saw the big golden tent embroidered with gold thread. They were ecstatic, knowing that the man with the left beard must be here.
This golden tent was passed from Zhang Jiao's hand to Zhang Bao, then Zuo Zhangba killed Zhang Bao, and the golden tent fell into the hands of Zuo Zhangba.
At this moment, Jiang Yiqu, who only wore a calf-nosed hakama and was covered with strong muscles, took a deep breath, slowly let it out, and then touched the golden tent with a dagger.
The twenty people behind Jiang Yiqu were all like this, knowing that they must not alert the bandits at this moment.
After a moment, Jiang Yiqu saw a group of armor-bearing warriors standing outside the tent. He felt cruel and signaled to the dead soldiers behind him to kill them.
How could these people defeat this group of armored warriors with only a dagger in their hands? Therefore, Jiang Yiqu's intention was simply to let these people die.
Without saying anything, these dead soldiers rushed directly towards the group of armored soldiers, and then the two groups fought.
It was also at this time that Jiang Yiqu used a sharp knife to open the military tent and rolled into the tent. But before Jiang Yiqu could stand up, a Bai Lian hit him hard.
It was a broken halberd, and it flew past Jiang Yiqu's head.
Jiang Yiqu was shocked, but when he saw the long-bearded man trying to get up from the bed, he knew that this man must be eight feet long.
With a ferocious laugh, Jiang Yiqu bumped into him.