The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 374

In the south of Zhending City, swords and guns are like forests, swords and halberds are like rain, and the mountains and plains are full of soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army in yellow clothes and black armor, and countless soldiers stand in formation.

A big khaki-colored banner was the first to attract attention. Xu An was wearing a red armor and a yellow cape, holding a folding fan and sitting on a high platform. There were many generals and soldiers around him.

The four sides of the high platform are covered with khaki cloth strips with the scriptures of Taiping Dao written on them.

Under the high platform, countless khaki-colored banners fluttered in the wind, and groups of yellow angels were lined up neatly, holding swords and soldiers.

At this time, the huge Zhending City was already the main force of the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army led by Xu An, and it was completely surrounded.

In the south of Zhending City, the front line of the Yellow Turban Army was forming, and the generals of the Yellow Turban Army shouted and whistled loudly in the formation, ordering the soldiers in the department to gather.

A shield car covered with animal skins was pushed forward, and a tall ladder was placed in front of it.

They are about to launch a new round of offensive, and in the north and west of Zhending City, there are also Yellow Turban Army outside the city who are preparing to attack the city and are still gathering.

The Wuhuan Tuqi and Bingzhou righteous followers who accompanied the army had already established a cordon around the main force of the Yellow Turban Army under Xu An's order. No one could cross them and attack the Yellow Turban Army that was attacking the city. Why did Xu An dare to order a three-sided attack?

No one could look beyond the eyes of these scouting cavalry. Even if the cavalry of the Han army wanted to launch a sudden attack, even if they broke through the outer cavalry, they would absolutely have no way to escape You Ge's Yellow Turban Xiaoqi battalion on the outer periphery.

Now Xu An can concentrate on attacking Zhending City with all his strength without any scruples.

"Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!"

Huang Tian's war drum sounded slowly.

"put!!!"

A soldier of the Yellow Turban Army, when he heard Huang Tian's battle drums, suddenly swung down the ring head knife in his hand.

A blue banner waved rapidly.

In the south of Zhending City, twenty stone catapults roared loudly in front of the Yellow Turban Army, and then twenty boulders rushed toward Zhending's city wall under the influence of huge force.

A chief of the Han army on the city wall stared dumbfounded at the huge boulder flying fast in the air.

There are also stone-throwing machines on the walls of Zhending City, but those stone-throwing machines are pulled by manpower to throw stones, but they have never seen any kind of stone-throwing machine that throws stones so fast Great distance!

"Get down!"

The military officer of the Han army shouted heartbreakingly. He didn't know why the opponent had a catapult. Obviously the catapult could not move, but this did not affect him from issuing the correct military order.

Boulders were thrown one after another, attacking towards Zhending City.

The soldiers of the Han army on the Zhending city wall were all terrified and hid behind the wall piles, lying on the city wall, not daring to move a little.

Of the twenty boulders, only three fell on the city wall, and the rest of the stones either lost power and fell to the ground, or were too powerful to fly over the top of the city wall.

"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!"

The boulder fell and hit Zhending's rammed-earth city wall fiercely.

A boulder happened to hit a wall pile, and the wall pile made of rammed earth could not withstand the strength of the boulder at all.

There was a shrill scream, and the wall stack hit by the boulder had been completely turned into dust and debris.

Among the broken pieces were lumps of bloody corpses. Two soldiers of the Han army hiding near the crenel were easily crushed by the boulder and died on the spot.

The splashed clods and debris also caused considerable damage to the surrounding people. A soldier of the Han army was hit in the eye by the splashed clods, and blood flowed horizontally.

All the soldiers of the Han army on the city wall were extremely shocked.

The military marquis of the Han army looked extremely embarrassed. He ran forward quickly, lying on the crenel and looking into the distance.

Just south of Zhending City, at the front of the Yellow Turban Army, twenty strange-looking catapults seemed to be loading, and a large number of Yellow Turban soldiers were busy back and forth under the catapults.

Unlike the catapults on the Zhending City Wall, these catapults are distinctly different in shape and appear to be mobile, equipped with wheels.

"No. [-], No. [-], and No. [-] hit the target, keep the angle unchanged, and the rest of the team readjust the angle!!!"

The yellow scarf army officer who commanded the catapult rode on a horse and galloped behind the catapult, shouting loudly.

Under the catapult, teams of Yellow Turban soldiers were quickly loading the catapult with ammunition and adjusting the angle.

"This battle is the first battle of our artillery team. The great virtuous teacher is watching us from the high platform, and more than [-] comrades in the whole army are watching us,"

The Chinese catapult first appeared in the Warring States Period. It is a human-powered catapult that uses human power to pull the gun tip connected to the crossbar together at a place far away from the catapult.

The tip of the cannon is mounted on a wooden frame, one end is tied with a rope to hold the leather sheath containing the stone bullets, and the other end is tied with many ropes to be pulled by manpower to throw the stone bullets. Seven gun tips are mounted on one gun mount, and more than [-] people are required to fire it.

However, the catapults that appear in the Yellow Turban Army today are not human-powered catapults, but counterweight catapults.

The counterweight trebuchet has a very famous name in China - "Huihui Pao".

When the Mongolian and Yuan troops went south to attack the Song Dynasty, they relied on the "Huihui Cannon" to conquer many cities in the Song Dynasty, so they became famous.

Xu An was quite interested in it before, so he also knew the principle of the counterweight catapult. Xu An had also seen many patterns of counterweight catapults, so there was no problem in drawing a rough drawing.

Using the principle of leverage, one end is equipped with a heavy object, and the other end is equipped with a stone bullet to be fired. Before launching, the end where the ammunition is placed must be pulled down with a winch, a pulley or directly by manpower.

The other end with the heavy object also rises at this time. After placing the stone bullet, let go or cut the rope, let the end of the heavy object fall, and the stone bullet is also thrown out.
There are quite a few tall and big cities in Jizhou, and there are a lot of cities that need to be conquered by Xu An along the way to take back the yellow scarves of the four states.

It is indeed a bit reluctant to attack the city with only the existing siege equipment. Even if the city is captured by conventional means, it will inevitably cause a lot of casualties to the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army.

Xu An knew very well that if the Yellow Turban Army of Bingzhou was partially weakened, it would lose a chance to take back the Yellow Turban Army of the four states.

So Xu An had already ordered people to build counterweight trebuchets early on.

The workshop for making counterweight trebuchets was secretly placed by Xu An in a hidden area of ​​Jingxing Pass, and a yellow angel was arranged to guard it to ensure that its secrets would not be leaked out.

The soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army who controlled the counterweight trebuchet were also diehards carefully selected by Xu An from the army, in order to keep the secrets as secret as possible.

In half a year, a total of [-] barely usable counterweight catapults were produced in Jingxing's workshop.

These catapults have also been hidden by Xu An, as a secret weapon, until today, they were not exposed to everyone's sight.

The first appearance of the counterweight catapult showed terrifying destructive power.

Yan Zhong looked at the somewhat dilapidated city wall of Zhending City in the distance, and there was a look of horror in his eyes.

Yan Zhong knew that this catapult was probably Xu An's masterpiece. After all, this catapult could throw stones without relying on manpower. Except for Xu An, there is no one in the Yellow Turban Army who can make such a terrifying war machine.

"Car No. [-] is in place!"

"Car No. [-] is in place!"

"Car No. [-] is in place!"

After a while, all twenty counterweight riprap trucks were loaded.

The blue flag waved suddenly, and then with a thunderous sound, twenty counterweight catapults threw the stones again.

This time, a total of seven stones hit Zhending's city wall.

The silk fan in Yan Zhong's hand stopped shaking. He stared fixedly at the broken city wall of Zhending in the distance, and murmured: "The sound is like thunder, and the shape is like a collapse of the sky. With this artifact, how can any city dare to call it a strong city... ..."

Round after round of projectiles, they kept bombarding Zhending's southern city, and finally a section of the city wall couldn't bear the ravages of the boulder and collapsed.

The soldiers of the Han army on that section of the city wall were caught off guard and were instantly covered by the collapsed city wall.

How could Xu An let go of such a good opportunity.

Outside Zhending City, the sound of war drums was like thunder. Amidst the passionate sound of Huang Tian's war drums, countless soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army pushed all kinds of siege equipment and swarmed towards the southern city of Zhending City.

……

On July [-], the camp of the Han army outside Jingxing Pass was raided by the Yellow Turban Army. The Han army stationed there died while waiting to fight hard. All [-] Han soldiers died in the camp.

On July [-]th, the vanguard of the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army and the cavalry of the Xiaoqi Battalion had arrived at Zhending City, and Bingzhou Yicong cooperated with the cavalry of the Xiaoqi Battalion to easily drive out the scouts of the Han army on the periphery.

The news that the main force of the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army launched an attack on Jizhou spread throughout Jizhou through post stations in just a few days.

On the road from Jingxingguan to Zhending, nothing can stop the advance of the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army.

Even if the whole Jizhou knew that the main force of the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army had already stepped out of Juyongguan, but they had no choice.

Since the "Abolition of the Emperor Case" broke out in Jizhou in May, the former Jizhou Mu Wangfen committed suicide, Xu You and Zhou Jing fled away, and the new Jizhou Mu had not yet taken office, and Jian Shuo temporarily took over the affairs of the entire Jizhou.

The "Deposed Emperor Case" involves a lot. Although most of the clues have been broken, the embroidered clothes messengers in Jizhou have developed.

Among them, capable people and strangers are like carp crossing the river. Even so, the embroidered clothes messenger still followed the clues and found some officials who conspired with Wang Fen.

For a time, Jizhou embroidered clothes envoys came out everywhere, and a large number of Jizhou county officials were arrested, and even all the staff and directly subordinate officials under Wang Fen's curtain were arrested.

Some officials were still handling official business in the government office in the morning, but were arrested by the embroidered emissary in the afternoon. For a while, the whole people, whether they were high-ranking officials or ordinary civil servants, or even ordinary people in the market, were in panic.

What caused even more shock in the official circles of Jizhou was that after Wang Fen's death, the Embroidered Clothes Emissary arrested officials wantonly. arrested, not to mention the rest of the officials.

The Embroidered Clothes Messenger shrouded the entire sky of Jizhou like a haze.

At the beginning of June, Emperor Liu Hong personally convicted Wang Fen's crime as treason, and arrested Wang Fen's entire family. Later, the embroidered clothes envoy arrested Zhou Jing and Xu You's clansmen, causing an uproar among the crowd.

Although it is said that the powerful family and the three caves of the cunning rabbit, whether it is Wang Fen, Xu You and Zhou Jing, they sent messages to their relatives as soon as they found out that the matter had failed.

However, after such a long period of development, the Embroidered Clothes Emissary has spent a lot of money and food, so how can it be said that it is necessary to have a diagram?
As early as when Jian Shuo led the army to Jizhou Zhouzhi, the embroidered clothes messenger had secretly controlled every move of Wang Fen, Xu You, and Zhou Jing's relatives.

Thousands of people from the three tribes were beheaded and thousands of heads fell to the ground, which also set the tone for the incident in Jizhou.

A large number of officials promoted by Wang Fen were arrested by the embroidered clothes envoy, and even the generals and schools in the Jizhou Army could not stay out of the matter.

Even Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Gao Lan, the three military Sima in Jizhou, were almost arrested by the embroidered clothes envoy. Although they were promoted by Huang Fusong, they also had a lot to do with Wang Fen.

But Jian Shuo was not completely dazzled after all, he is not a fool, now the puppet Yan Kingdom in Youzhou is about to move, and the land of Jizhou is completely defended by the county soldiers stationed in Hejian Kingdom.

Yan Liang, Wen Chou, and Gao Lan were stationed in Hejian to defend against the puppet Yan State's army going south with their trilogy, so Jian Shuo specially ordered Yan Liang and the three to be released.

The actions of the embroidered clothes emissary did not stop for a while until July.

And just when Jian Shuo was commanding the embroidered clothes envoy to eradicate Wang Fen's remaining power in Jizhou, the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army chose to rush out of Jingxing Pass at this time, catching Jian Shuo by surprise.

No one in the Yellow Turban Army expected such a situation, neither Xu An, Yan Zhong, nor Xu You.

There were many powerful families in Jizhou before. Because of Liu Yan's proposal to change the prefectural pastor, he was able to train the village to protect himself, and he recruited a lot of county soldiers to enrich the local army.

Logically speaking, today's Jizhou should have strong soldiers and horses. Even in field battles, they are not too afraid of the Yellow Turban Army.

But now the Jizhou army is at its weakest because of the purge of the embroidered clothes envoy.

Wang Fen served as Jizhou governor for three years and Jizhou shepherd for one year. Most of the lieutenant generals and colonels were disconnected from him. At this time, the embroidered clothes messenger eliminated most of the officers of Wang Fen's faction, which directly caused the combat effectiveness of the Jizhou army to fall to the bottom.

Without the command of the general and the school, without receiving any orders, the county soldiers in the surrounding cities were all huddled in the camp, doing nothing.

Thousands of county soldiers and village braves from all over the country were leaderless, just sitting and watching the Yellow Turban Army's frantic attack on Zhending City.

On August [-], the main force of the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army, led by Xu An, arrived at Zhending City, and immediately launched a fierce attack on Zhending City.

On August [-], the Yellow Turban Army of Hanoi County marched southward, and Guo Tai led [-] troops to invade Hanoi from Jiangyi and Linfen.

On the same day, Juyongguan was closed and opened. Liu Shi led two thousand cavalry from the Yellow Turban Army, and six thousand cavalry from Wuhuan came out of Juyongguan from Shanggu County to Kou Guangyang.

On August [-]st, the Taipingdao Uprising broke out in Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Yanzhou, and Yuzhou's four prefectures and thirteen counties at the same time, and hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans gathered.

Qingzhou Plain County, Beihai State, Yuzhou Lu State, and Xuzhou Langya County were breached. The Yellow Turban Army of the four states broke through [-] cities in a row and countless villages.

On August [-]th, Zhending City was declared broken after only holding on for two days.

……

"The Hanoi Yellow Turban Army has dispatched troops!"

The new wind blew up, blowing the black banner in the Xiliang Army camp outside the city. A Xiliang Army scout carrying the command flag was half-kneeling on the ground to report the situation of the Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army to the kingdom.

"it is good!"

Wang Guo's eyes lit up, and he stood up neatly from his seat.

"This is a good time!"

"The Hanoi Yellow Turban Army took the lead in attacking, which will inevitably make the Han army unable to fully defend against our army's attack."

Wang Guo pressed the Han sword at his waist, his eyes revealed cruelty and bloodthirsty, as well as the greedy gaze of finding prey.

He turned his head and looked towards the east, which was the most affluent Sili land in the whole Han Dynasty.

Wang Guo turned his head to the lieutenant general at the side, and gave the order without hesitation: "All the army, set off immediately! Follow the Wei River all the way to Chencang!"

A ferocious smile appeared on Wang Guo's face, and his voice was cold as if it came from the depths of the ground.

"I want to hold a banquet in Chen Cang, and set up a carnival banquet that belongs to us!"

Wang Guo laughed loudly, laughing insanely.

On August [-]th, under the leadership of Wang Guo, Ma Teng, and Han Sui, the Xiliang Army led a total of more than [-] Han and Hu allied forces, claiming to be [-] troops. They set off from Jixian County, Hanyang County, along the Weishui River, passing Wangyuan, Shangbang marched all the way to Chencang of the Sili Xiaowei Division of the Han Empire.

……

In the south of Youzhou and Yuyang County, a large number of Wuhuanbuqi are gathering.

The crowd was so vast that it almost covered the east of Quanzhou City, and the Wuhuan cavalry with their left coats yelled loudly and laughed wantonly in the formation.

King Wuhuan Qiao led his war horse and walked in front of the formation, his eyes greedily pointed towards the south.

The south is Jizhou, which is the fertile land of the Central Plains, where there are countless fine wines, countless grains, countless beauties, and countless wealth.

King Wuhuan Qiao glanced at the tall Quanzhou City.

The city walls of Quanzhou City are quite tall. On the walls are terrifying bed crossbows and arrow towers. All these made King Wuhuan Qiao feel a little fear, but the fear was soon overwhelmed by him. down.

Because this tall Quanzhou city is already in their pocket, and has surrendered at the feet of their Wuhuan people.

In the past, Wuhuanqiao King never imagined that one day he would be able to enter the hinterland of the Central Plains and come to the southernmost tip of Yuyang County in Youzhou.

King Wuhuan Qiao glanced at the army formation behind him again, the more than [-] infantry gathered outside Quanzhou city would follow him all the way south.

"The warriors of Wuhuan!"

King Wuhuan Qiao drew out the saber from his waist, roaring angrily.

"Drive your horses, raise your sabers, open your pockets, and release the beasts in your hearts!!!"

There was madness in King Wuhuanqiao's eyes, and with a hoarse cry, he suddenly swung down the saber in his hand.

Under the leadership of King Wuhuan Qiao, the [-]-step rider swept towards Bohai County in Jizhou!

On August [-]th, upon receiving the news that Liu Shijun had attacked Guangyang County, Zhang Ju kept his promise and sent King Wuhuan Qiao to lead [-] cavalry southward.

……

In Luoyang City, in Houde Hall, a small amount of smoke rose slowly from the furnace.

Faint smoke and dust lingered in the Hall of Houde. Through the tulle, Du Wei, the embroidered emissary kneeling under the steps, couldn't see Liu Hong's face clearly, but he could still feel the anger suppressed by the emperor.

At this time, Liu Hong was holding Jian Shuo and the urgent news from the embroidered messengers from all over the place.

Before the officials in various places had revived the yellow turban, and the news of the war in Jizhou and the invasion of Liangzhou and Youzhou armies came, the embroidered clothes messenger had already integrated the information in advance and handed it directly to Liu Hong's desk. .

"What a group of talents, what a group of pillars!"

Liu Hong sat on the couch, looked at the secret report in his hand with a sarcasm, and smiled angrily.

"I have asked them to investigate!"

"I have long ordered that all localities investigate the Taiping Dao matter, but as a result, one or two of these dog killers are hiding the truth from me, thinking that the world is peaceful, and the 'moth thief' is not a climate..."

The rage made Liu Hong's pale face become extremely ferocious.

In the beginning, not long after Xu An captured Shangdang County, he issued an order to strictly investigate Taiping Dao believers in various places. As a result, the local government did not move. It was not until the embroidered clothes envoys slowly spread to counties and counties in various states that the situation changed.

The strongholds of Taipingdao were breached one by one, and the news that the believers of Taipingdao were arrested gradually spread to Liu Hong's ears.

"Wang Fen!"

Liu Hong tightly held the silk book in his hand, thinking of what Wang Fen had done, Liu Hong was even more annoyed.

If Wang Fen hadn't ignored his orders and only made superficial efforts, then Xu An might not even be able to occupy Taihang Mountain.

"Cough...cough...cough..."

A violent cough sounded from Houde Hall.

Liu Hong put down the blood-stained handkerchief, and he tried his best to support his body and tried to sit up.

"Nine roads attack together, the Yellow Turban Army is a big hand!"

The Xuzhou Yellow Turbans, Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, Yanzhou Yellow Turbans, Yuzhou Yellow Turbans, and the Yellow Turbans of the four states rose up simultaneously.

Under the leadership of the Kingdom, the Xiliang Army marched towards Chencang of the Sili Xiaowei Division of the Han Empire.

Under the leadership of King Wuhuan Qiao, the army of Yan State marched towards Bohai County.

In Bingzhou, Guo Tai's army harassed Hanoi, and Liu Shi's army harassed Guangyang.

Xu An personally visited Bingzhou Yellow Turban Army's main force to attack Zhending. Within two days, Zhending, Jiancheng in the north of Changshan Kingdom, had fallen.

This time the Han Empire ushered in a turmoil that was several times greater than in history.

Liu Hong smiled maniacally, why couldn't he see that the Yellow Turban Army in Bingzhou was the mastermind, and Xu An was the protagonist who formulated the nine-way attack plan.

"Xu An!"

Liu Hong raised his head and looked at the tulle above his head, roaring angrily.

"Xu An!!"

No one dared to step forward, no one dared to make a sound, Liu Hong's hoarse roar echoed in Houde Hall.

"Xu An!!!"

The gust of wind outside the window became more and more urgent. Amidst the ear-piercing sound of the wind, Liu Hong only felt that the vision in front of him seemed to become more and more blurred.

(End of this chapter)