Forty miles east of Quzhou County, on a small mound, a tall beacon tower stands majestically. The mound is more than ten meters high. The entire shape is wider at the bottom and narrower at the top. It has an overturned bucket design. The top can be vaguely seen. Go up to the lamppost military flag on the lookout.
There is a yellow mud wall surrounding the beacon tower, inside which are built a row of simple houses made of wood and stone. Simple trenches are dug outside the wall, and streams of smoke rise from the wall.
In addition, there is a piece of cultivated land scattered around Tunpu. At this time, the wheat has been harvested, exposing the land that was burnt black.
In the autumn of the second year of Zhongping, Zhang Liao, the governor of Julu, ordered beacon towers to be built along the surrounding counties of Julu. There were more than 200 beacon towers built, and the Nandun of the town in front of us was one of them.
Each beacon tower is thirty miles apart and is set up in a dangerous place on the high mountain. There is one fire captain and nine garrison soldiers inside. These ten men can be divided into two groups. Usually, one group guards the beacon, one group cultivates the land, and the other group has built-in beacon towers. One flag, one drum, two crossbows, stones, logs, fire drills, rockets, mugwort, wolf dung, and cow dung. Every morning and night, raise one fire if you are safe, raise two if you hear the alarm, and raise three if you see smoke. If you see thieves burning the firewood cage, if the fire does not come every morning or night, it means that the beacon is caught by thieves. In this way, if there is a slight disturbance, the county will soon know about it.
In addition, there is a fort on every five Fenghuo villages. There is a team of auxiliary soldiers in the fort, with a total of fifty people. The auxiliary soldiers and their families are placed in this fort. In this way, there are a total of 100 people in each of the five villages and one fort. A total of fifty garrison posts were established in the county. Now three years later, the fifty garrison forts built have become villages and towns where people gather.
Because it was already evening, all the soldiers who had gone out to work had returned to the station to eat and rest. Only on the high observation deck was there no one walking back and forth.
Chen Si walked back and forth distractedly on the watchtower. From time to time, he could smell the aroma of food coming from below. According to Julu military rules, two people were always on duty on the watchtower. He had to wait until the people below the stage came. Brothers can only change shifts after they have eaten.
At this moment, Chen Si suddenly discovered to his chagrin that another group of refugees had arrived in the distance to the east, apparently delaying his meal time.
This year's drought has hit all parts of Jizhou. During this period, there are often many refugees coming from Linjun to Julu via Quzhou. Sometimes there will be more than a dozen waves passing by in a day. Chen Si has long been used to it. , I just asked the brothers in the audience to come forward and ask, and then it was okay.
The garrison troops in the audience reluctantly agreed, and no one would be happy to go out at such a meal time. They waited until this group of refugees came dozens of steps in front of the watchtower, then slowly Walk out of the lookout.
This was a group of less than 100 refugees. Like other groups of refugees who left their hometowns, they were unkempt and ragged. Chen Si did not pay much attention to them. He only hoped that these refugees would pass away early so that they could get off the stage and make a fuss. He obviously didn't notice that these nearly a hundred refugees were all young and strong men, and there were no women, children, old or weak among them.
The garrison soldier who went out to inquire just asked a few words in the crowd of refugees without raising his head. Just as he was about to turn around and go back, he suddenly felt a heart-piercing pain in his waist. He didn't even utter a scream. His vision went dark and he moved forward. Throw him down.
Two tough men among the refugees winked at each other. One of them was nine feet tall and ferocious in appearance. He shouted: "This is Yan Liang, the general under the command of the chariot and cavalry general. You surrender to avoid death." After that, he pulled out his bodyguard. With the sharp blade he hid, he kicked away the gate of Fenghuo Tun and led the refugees towards Fenghuo Tun.
Another burly man picked up his bow and nocked an arrow. Two arrows roared like thunder and shot towards the watchtower. Before the arrows arrived, the sound came first.
"Wen Chou is here, die for me,"
Hearing only two "puff" sounds, the shot was accurately shot from the vest into the vests of the two station soldiers on the lookout. Chen Si turned around and lay softly on the lookout. Before he died, he only saw the refugees below the stage swarming up and rushing into the beacon tower. …
Within a few moments, Zhennan Dun fell into the hands of this group of "refugees". The ten garrison guards surrendered before dying, and a roaring arrow shot straight into the sky.
After a while, a large amount of smoke and dust rose on the horizon in the distance, as if thousands of troops were gathering towards the south pier of the town.
The leader of the army was wearing golden armor, and there were dozens of men and women around him who were strong and powerful. It was Yuan Shao. He looked at him, "Hahaha, Ziyuan really has a clever plan. Even if Zhang Liao has a beacon tower, he can't do anything."
Xu You's eyes showed a hint of amusement, he shook his folding fan and said with a smile: "Refugees come into the country, this is a good opportunity given to my lord by God. My lord is blessed by heaven and man, and you can't use anything more than a small trick."
"Why should Ziyuan be too humble?" Yuan Shao laughed and said, but these words came to his heart. Who doesn't want to be the one destined to be the one who strives for supremacy in the world?
However, Xu You's words were obviously resented by the other counselors. While he was talking, two generals had already arrived in front of Yuan Shao.
"Greetings to my lord, I hope you will live up to your command." Seeing the arrival of the army, the two big men came forward to greet them.
Yuan Shao was in a very good mood. He dismounted and personally helped Yan Liang Wen Chou up and said: "I have two generals. It is necessary to send troops to capture the giant deer this time. It is getting late today. The two generals have ordered us to camp and rest. You still need to make persistent efforts. Within three days, I will sit high in Yitao City,"
"Don't worry, my lord, this matter will be taken care of by Yan Liang,"
"As long as my brother and I are here, my lord is waiting for good news about the two of us,"
That night, Yuan Shao's army camped and rested at Zhennandun. The next day, they set off, still leading the way with Yan Liang Wen Chou disguised as refugees. No beacon tower was set on fire as a warning. Yuan Shao followed with an army of fifty thousand soldiers.
Outside Quzhou City, in a golden wheat field, the three common people lay faceless in the wheat field. To the east, thousands of cavalry were rushing towards the northwest like a rolling torrent over the mountains and plains.
"What's going on, what's going on, where did this army come from," the man who was sharing the wine murmured with a pale face.
"Green uniforms, look at the flag, this is Yuan Shao's army, it's over, it's over, Yuan Shao's troops are coming in," the lean man also clenched his hands tightly.
"What a crime, what a crime, our food, these bastards are ruining the crops," the honest man looked at the swarm of locusts trampling the mature wheat field with anger in his eyes.
"Shhh, old man, please keep your voice down, don't let anyone find out. These soldiers are in chaos and have no eyesight. It's important to save their lives," the lean man said, startled, and punched the honest man hard.
The honest man looked at the cavalry with resentment and said: "I have only lived in peace for a few years. I just had hope for good days, and then we started fighting again, these damn things,"
The man sharing the wine also had a sad look on his face and said: "Don't worry, our Governor Zhang is wise and powerful, we will definitely be able to drive these people out of Julu. The hundreds of thousands of Black Mountain bandits who came to our Julu in the past few years will be given to the Governor." Did you fight back?"
The lean man also looked slightly calmer and said: "That's right, with the prefect here and with our Julu soldiers and horses, these bastards will be driven out of Julu sooner or later."
The honest man looked at Yuan Shao's cavalry, his fists clenched tightly, blood oozing faintly, his eyes full of murderous intent...
On July 20th, Yuan Shao sent troops to Julu, disguised as refugees to enter the country, and made a surprise attack on the beacon tower.
On July 21st, Yuan Shao's army surrounded Quzhou, and Quzhou's auxiliary commander Xia Yang presented the city to Yuan. Yuan Shao's army and horses surrounded Quzhou to prevent anyone from leaking the news.
On July 22nd, Yan Liangwen Chou led 5,000 cavalry as the vanguard, and marched non-stop for more than 200 miles in a day. By night, he surrounded Yingtao, the city of Julu County. There was smoke all over the border of Julu, and there was news that the enemy was about to attack.
The news spread to all counties and cities, and it was not until this moment that the entire Julu County learned about Yuan Shao's invasion!