I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 314: The rear is shocked, Su Yao pushes forward without fear of the shortage of food and supplies (4K2)

"what?"

"In one day, he achieved success in one day?!"

Cao Cao of the left army was shocked beyond words when he received the news while on the march.

This battle report, which far exceeded his expectations, made his eyes widen and he almost dropped the whip in his hand.

Lecheng is the capital of Hejian State, a city that is easy to defend but difficult to attack. Now, a large number of bandits have joined in. How could it be captured within a day?
Xiahou Dun also felt the same way. He asked the scout anxiously:

"Are you sure the news is correct? Isn't this false information spread by Lord Su to mislead the bandits?"

"The news is absolutely true."

The scout lowered his head and replied, his eyes filled with shock and awe:
"Marquis Su's vanguard army was unstoppable. They first defeated nearly 10,000 ambush troops of the rebels outside the city, and then they captured Lecheng at lightning speed.

It's ridiculous that the prefect of the false emperor wanted to threaten Su Junhou to withdraw his troops by using Wang Rouguoxiang as a threat, but he was defeated and killed, and his entire family was slaughtered by Su Junhou. The heads of the people rolled down and the blood flowed like a river. He also built a Jingguan outside Lecheng Gate.

"He exterminated the family of the county governor Zhang?"

"Yes, all the relatives in this city were beheaded."

The scout's hands trembled slightly:
"As for those who were rumored to have participated in the rebellion and assisted in the rebellion, no matter if you are a commoner or a noble family, all of them will be dragged away and beheaded."

"That guy, he spent more time hunting down the rebels in the city than attacking the city."

The scout's words hit Cao Cao and Xiahou Dun's hearts like a hammer. They looked at each other in silence for a long time.

What a cruel person this is.

The emperor and the court officials were following behind.

It was a journey of only a few days at most, and you didn't even wait for permission and just chopped him off. And it was such a capital punishment as barbarism?

It's really too unscrupulous.

This is true.
"This is truly a case of the flag pointing to something and being invincible!"

Just when Cao Cao and others in the left army received the express report, the emperor's central army also received Su Yao's battle report.

Faced with Su Yao's amazing performance, Emperor Liu Hong and generals such as Lu Zhi were extremely shocked and excited.

Especially when they learned that Su Yao had taken advantage of the surrendered soldiers and the internal conflicts among the enemy army to open the city gate and that it would be over at any time, everyone's evaluation of him became even higher.

Obviously, this Lord Su is not just relying on brute force to be a hero on the battlefield. When facing different opponents and situations, he will also take different countermeasures according to the circumstances in order to achieve the most effective result of defeating the enemy.

"No wonder the rebellion in Bingzhou was pacified so quickly. It seems that this person really has some real skills."

Whether it was the emperor, He Jin, Lu Zhi, or even the princes who participated in the war.

Now, even the most demanding people have to admit that without Su Yao’s vanguard leading the way, their army would not have been able to advance so smoothly.

Every victory of Su Yao won precious time and space for the entire Northern Expedition.

Not only was Lecheng City, which they initially thought would pose a major threat, taken in one fell swoop, but the numerous bandit strongholds scattered along the road leading to Zhongshan Lunu were also destroyed one by one by Su Yao with overwhelming force.

The central army has not even had a direct conflict with the bandits yet. The only thing they need to do behind is to clean up the mess, appease the bandits, gather the surrendered soldiers, and restore local order.

Such smooth progress made the emperor and everyone in the court feel very relieved.

The only controversy is that Su Yao is so good at using criminal law, especially the indiscriminate killings of those aristocratic families.

However, this noise is insignificant compared to the glorious victory at the moment.

Even Emperor Liu Hong only expressed a few words of criticism, but he was actually very happy in his heart.

These traitors and rebels should all be killed.

But if he really waits until he goes over to deal with it, I'm afraid he won't be able to impose such a severe punishment.

For these aristocratic families who were connected by various complex relationships such as marriage, family background, and teacher-student relationships, some ministers would find various reasons to exonerate them.

Now, taking advantage of the war, it is really gratifying to strike back with the sword.

As for the ministers, the person was gone and there was no need for them to argue about it any more.

After all, the faster the Northern Expedition is victorious, the less money will be spent, and the sooner they can return to Luoyang.

However, not everyone is so excited.

Looking at the horrifying Jingguan outside Lecheng Gate, Yuan Shu, who was in charge of coordinating logistics and food supplies, gnashed his teeth and stamped his feet in anger in front of his confidants:

"Outrageous, too outrageous!"

"It's going so smoothly for him!"

"This doesn't make sense at all!"

"Don't the troops of this Su guy need to eat?!"

Last time, we talked about how, as the chief logistics officer, he had the authority to coordinate the supply of food and fodder.

Originally, he planned to weaken the combat effectiveness of Su Yao's vanguard troops by gradually cutting their food and fodder supplies, thereby balancing Su Yao and even forcing him to fail.

In other words, at least slow down his pace so that he can no longer make those conspicuous performances.

However, Su Yao seemed to be unaffected and continued to advance at an extremely astonishing speed and efficiency.

He will win every battle and conquer every attack, and he will be invincible and unstoppable.

All this was undoubtedly a huge blow to Yuan Shu.

Not only did his plan fail, but Su Yao's success further enhanced his status in the hearts of the emperor and the people, making him a key figure in the Northern Expedition.

Yuan Shu originally hoped to influence the war situation through logistical means and gain more voice and benefits for himself, but now it seems that everything is developing in a direction contrary to his wishes.

How could Yuan Shu not be anxious and angry?

It's fine that you, Su Yao, are strong, but are all your soldiers strong men? !
However, this certainly did not happen. Su Yao was simply very clear that Yuan Shu would do these things. In addition to bringing some extra dry food in advance, he had already started the limited rationing strategy after setting off.

At the same time, by utilizing the Zhen family's business and intelligence network in Hebei, Su Yao was not only able to obtain supplies for the caravan, but could also easily obtain information about some small strongholds of bandits along the way.

In this way, on the one hand, replenishment was obtained through the caravan, and on the other hand, food was obtained from the enemy. In addition, Su Yao's rapid advance alleviated the food problem to a considerable extent.

After the attack was successful, with the help of Wang Rou, the logistical problems were solved in an instant.

In other words, as the saying goes, as long as I push fast enough, I can get food behind enemy lines and never have to worry about stomach problems.

However, it would be unfair to say that there is no impact at all.

For example, they suffered a lot of casualties in their war horses.

People can eat a variety of foods to solve stomach problems, but high-intensity combat still places very high demands on horse fodder.

It was early winter at this time, and the problem of food for war horses became particularly prominent.

As a result, their non-combat casualties so far have been as high as 20 to 30 percent in horses.

Su Yao would just keep these debts in mind for now and temporarily leave them to Wei Ming, Wang Ling and others to engage in verbal battles with Yuan Shu.

Su Yao himself continued to lead an army of nearly 7,000 infantry and cavalry to advance rapidly towards the final destination, Lunu.

It's time to end this! "By the way, what is the current situation in Lunu City?"

Lunu City.

The former capital of Zhongshan State and the stronghold of the rebel forces of Zhang Chun and Zhang Ju in Jizhou.

Faced with the Han Emperor's massive personal expedition and Su Yao's invincible offensive, how are they doing now?

Logically speaking, as a false emperor's den of thieves, this place should be on high alert and all the residents of the city should be mobilized, just like the Han emperor's personal army in the Battle of Pingyuan in the past, to defend the city to the death, wear down the Han soldiers' will, wait for external aid, and then launch a counterattack.

After all, this is what they had been doing in the past when facing the offensives of the Jizhou Army and the Youzhou Army, and they had done it quite well.

Now, although Su Yao's quick attack was very fast, the key was that Liu Hong's personal expedition took him half a month to prepare and assemble, which was enough time for them to react, assemble, and gather the defeated soldiers for another desperate fight.

However, Lunu is now in chaos.
Cao Cao's strategic vision is still very sharp, and the current situation is very similar to his past judgment.

Zhang Chun led the rebel army, and the real core soul was Zhang Chun.

After defeating Gongsun Zan and other Youzhou soldiers, Zhang Chun, who keenly saw the opportunity and launched a battle for destiny, could almost be said to be throwing everything he had into the war.

In order to achieve complete victory in one battle and capture the Han Emperor Liu Hong, he put all his efforts into it.

Not only did Zhang Chun draw out almost all the combat-capable soldiers, he also called upon all the friendly Wuhuan troops he could. Most importantly, all the counselors and generals also went out in full force, with an army of 200,000 strong to overthrow the enemy.

But what about the result?
In the battle on Pingyuan, not only were the generals he had trained since the Yellow Turban Rebellion killed one by one by Su Yao, but he himself was penetrated and killed by Su Yao despite being heavily protected by tens of thousands of troops.

When the more than a thousand cavalrymen charged into his commander-in-chief's camp like light breaking through clouds, those talented and ambitious people he had worked so hard to recruit had no chance to escape and were wiped out in one fell swoop.

Therefore, the crushing defeat of this 200,000-strong army reflected more than just the change in the number of troops on both sides.

In this era when literate people are more valuable than gold, the loss of such talents is more harmful than the consumption of military personnel.

It can be said that the Great Yan Kingdom of the pseudo-emperor was paralyzed from the waist down by the war, and the operation of the regime fell into a state of dysfunction. In a practical sense, it no longer had the qualifications to compete for hegemony over the world and become a powerful force.

Therefore, after receiving the news of such a disastrous defeat on the front line, Lunu City immediately fell into division.

Zhang Ju, the emperor of the Great Yan Kingdom, was shocked and frightened by such a disastrous defeat, and then he felt deep regret.

This emperor is far from being as comfortable as imagined.

If he had known what would happen today, he would definitely not have believed Zhang Chun's words and become the emperor of Great Yan.

I really believed your lies.

In recent years, the country has been in chaos, with rebellions and separatist regimes surging everywhere.

Several years ago during the Zhongping period, Bian Zhang and others raised an army in Liang Province. General Zhang Wen, at that time, asked the court to recruit 3,000 elite Wuhuan cavalry from You Province in order to quell the Liang Province rebels.

Zhang Chun, then Prime Minister of Zhongshan, requested to lead this army on the grounds that he was familiar with the customs of the Wuhuan people.

But the court did not obey. Instead, it handed the 3,000 cavalry to Gongsun Zan, who was only the magistrate of Ji County at the time. This made Zhang Chun deeply dissatisfied.

Later, because the imperial court withheld military rations and delayed military pay, Gongsun Zan was unable to control the situation, resulting in all 3,000 cavalrymen defecting and returning to their country.

After this, Zhang Chun found Zhang Ju and said to him:
"The Wuhuan have been recruited many times, and almost all of them have died. Now they can no longer bear their fate and are willing to rise up in rebellion.

The fact that the country was behaving like this was a sign of the Han Dynasty's decline; the fall of the world was all due to Jianzi's fault.

If a hero raises an army, no one in the world can resist it.

I am willing to lead the Wuhuan and serve you as my king. What do you think?"

Zhang Ju still had some concerns about this, so he replied:

"It is true that the Han Dynasty will soon be doomed, but someone will surely appear to replace him. How can I be qualified for that?"

Zhang Chun advised again:

"If the king's net lets the deer escape, then the wiser ones will get it. Don't worry about it, brother."

"Now, not only have the Wuhuan rebelled, but they are also willing to rise up in rebellion.

The Liangzhou bandits rose up in rebellion, and the imperial court was unable to suppress it.

At the same time, a child with two heads was born in Luoyang City.

This is a sign that the Han Dynasty is declining and there will be two monarchs in the world!

If you and I can lead the Wuhuan people to rise up together, we may be able to accomplish great things!"

After Zhang Chun's persuasion, Zhang Ju was finally convinced, and the two of them started an uprising.

Last year, their momentum finally reached a climax again.

Not only did they capture Ji County, they also burned the city walls and captured the people.

He even killed Gong Qi Chou, the commander of the Wuhuan Guards, Liu Zheng, the governor of Youbeiping, Yang Zhong, the governor of Liaodong, and others, expanding his tribe to more than 100,000 people.

He, Zhang Ju, was finally able to establish his own system and proclaim himself emperor. He conferred the title of General Mi Tian and King Anding on Zhang Chun, and sent letters to the prefectures and counties, declaring the Mandate of Heaven, forcing the Han emperor to abdicate and ordering the ministers to welcome him.

This time, they achieved another major victory in Youzhou, broke through the Lulong Pass, defeated Gongsun Zan and Liu Yu, and besieged Pingyuan with an army of 200,000. They were about to capture the false emperor of the Han Dynasty, and the establishment of his Great Yan world was just around the corner.

For this reason, Zhang Ju has been reveling and drinking every night in the city of Lunu these days, with a carefree attitude as if he can pacify the world at any time.

However, who would have known that Zhang Chun, who always looked like a proud hero, would suffer such a miserable defeat.

The army of 200,000 was defeated, and all his famous ministers and generals were wiped out!

No matter how powerful Zhang Ju was, he was born into a prominent family in Yuyang and had served as the governor of Mount Tai with a salary of 2,000 stones. He realized almost instantly that his throne was in jeopardy.

As he was like this, the remaining generals and advisers in Lunu City were also thrown into chaos and confusion.

Many of them had originally joined Zhang Chun for various reasons of interest. Now that Zhang Chun is dead, they have lost their backbone and started to act on their own, fighting for power and profit.

In this chaos, even a small number of officials who were originally loyal to the Han court but were forced to surrender began to secretly collude and prepare to surrender.

They knew that continuing to follow the remnants of Zhang Ju and Zhang Chun would probably lead to death.

If he surrendered to the Han court, he could at least save his life, and might even be pardoned and reused.

After all, wasn’t it clearly stated in the emperor’s manifesto to fight against the rebels?

"Anyone who can obtain the head will be granted the title of Marquis of 2,000 households and a reward of 20 million yuan."

"For those who surrender, do not ask any questions. Show great kindness and trust, praise and reward them, and announce it to the whole country so that everyone will know."

If you captured Zhang Ju's head, you would be made a marquis with 2,000 households and 20 million coins.

Even if they got Zhang Ju's head, as long as they surrendered honestly, the court would not pursue or punish them.

They also extend kindness and trust widely, and promulgate and publicize reward measures.

As a result, many smart people looked at Zhang Ju with different expressions.

In the city of Lunu, fierce conflicts broke out again and again between the diehards and the surrenderists.

The major factions even went to war, staging several bloody conflicts.

(End of this chapter)