My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 295 Darkest Hour
"Oh no!"

"Master Qu was killed in battle by that Han general!"

"Everybody, run for your lives!"

The Yellow Turban Army, which was already on the verge of defeat, immediately scattered like birds and beasts.

Only a few diehard Yellow Turbans were ready to die and continued to attack Guan Yu against the defeated crowd.

Although these people were determined to fight to the death, they were unable to cause any substantial damage to Guan Yu's troops due to the huge gap in equipment and training.

Except for a few soldiers in the School Sword Battalion who were injured by stray arrows hitting the gaps in their armor, no one fell off their horse, which can be said to be a complete victory.

After Guan Yu eliminated hundreds of the core loyalists among the 5,000 Yellow Turban Army, the other ordinary Yellow Turban Army had no effective command and leader and scattered.

But Lu Yi had already set up a tight net around them and surrounded them.

Although the Bingzhou Iron Cavalry are all heavy cavalry and cannot gallop long distances, the endurance of war horses is definitely better than that of humans on two legs.

These people were so poor that they couldn't even afford food and had already started eating their own children. How could they have the same horses as the Huns?

Even the horses they had were slaughtered and eaten.

Only the leaders killed by Guan Yu before and dozens of his personal guards had mounts to ride, but the mounts were of various kinds, including poor horses, donkeys, mules, etc.

Therefore, under the siege and expulsion of the 5,000 cavalry arranged by Lu Yi, these people were divided into groups of dozens or hundreds of people, and were strictly guarded by the fully armed Bingzhou cavalry soldiers around them.

Once these men were disarmed, things became simple.

The bodies of the Yellow Turban Army were beheaded and buried on the spot.

For the seriously injured captives who are dying, the soldiers under Lu Yi's command will also give them a quick death, otherwise continuing to live will only prolong their suffering.

As for the prisoners who were slightly injured and still had hope of being rescued, the military doctors from the military medical battalion accompanying the army would also provide them with treatment on the spot.

After all, from the moment they became prisoners, these people have been considered Lu Yi's subjects, and are one of the smallest units that will constitute his future ambitions to conquer the world.

Of course, although military doctors will rescue prisoners and wounded, their priority is still after their own soldiers.

Hua Tuo, who had only served Lu Yi for ten years, is now completely dependent on Lu Yi.

He would not receive such high treatment and almost unlimited scientific research funding as he did under Lu Yi anywhere else.

The most important thing is that officials in other places are not as open-minded as Lu Yi and can provide him with a steady supply of corpses for his research.

Hua Tuo no longer mentioned his previous oath. Instead, he was worried that Lu Yi had a good memory and would drive him away after the ten-year period was up.

However, Hua Tuo knew very well that Lu Yi attached great importance to his medical skills, and even more so to the quantity and quality of the students he taught.

Therefore, in addition to his daily research, Hua Tuo spent all his time teaching his students in return for their kindness.

Therefore, in recent years, the number of Hua Tuo's students has begun to increase continuously, and now even his students can teach students.

Therefore, Lu Yi has a group of doctors with the most advanced surgical skills in the world today, so naturally he would not waste resources.

He incorporated hundreds of Hua Tuo's students who had already completed their apprenticeship into the Military Medical Battalion. From then on, the Military Medical Battalion became a standard feature of Lu Yi's army.

Even in a team of a hundred people, there is at least one qualified military doctor.

In this way, the terrible casualty rate in the cold weapon era would be greatly reduced for Lu Yi's army.

When Lu Yi fights against powerful enemies in the future, if the enemy soldiers are seriously injured, they will either die or become disabled and retire. However, as long as Lu Yi's soldiers are not missing limbs or have minor injuries, they can be rescued with the enhanced version of Ma Fei San prepared by Hua Tuo and the current superb surgical skills.

As long as they can survive the infection, most people can return to the battle sequence after recovering from their injuries.

In the long run, the benefits and advantages cannot be explained in a single word.

Lu Yi has such a small and efficient medical battalion, which is enough to match thousands of Bingzhou cavalry!

These captives were lucky enough to have met an ambitious hero like Lu Yi.

Not only were they not all beheaded at once, their heads were cut off as military merit, and the wounded were able to receive medical treatment.

More importantly, as soon as the war ended, Lu Yi ordered his men to cook on the spot and provide food for the prisoners.

Many of the old and young were weak and sick and had been hungry for a long time. If the delay was another day or two, many of these captives would starve to death in Dai County and would not be able to make it to Yanmen County alive.

The captives, who were originally terrified, were surprised to see that Lu Yi not only did not harm or insult them, but also treated their injuries.

Now that food was prepared for them, they couldn't help but feel much more relaxed.

There were even some ordinary Yellow Turban captives who joined the Yellow Turbans just for food and had no firm intention of rebelling, and they were actually grateful that they were captured by Lu Yi.

After the meal, these people suddenly became much more obedient. Even when Lu Yi tied up and tied up every hundred of them together, basically no one resisted.

The soldiers and civilians in Daijun City were overjoyed when they saw that Lü Yi's well-equipped and powerful friendly army appeared under the city like a divine force descended from the sky, defeated and captured 5,000 Yellow Turban troops with ease.

The gates of Dai County were immediately opened, and the prefect of Dai County personally led the wealthy and powerful gentry in the city, carrying pigs and sheep and preparing a lot of food and gifts to come to Lu Yi's central army to reward the troops.

"Oh my... I have heard of Lord Lu's name a long time ago. I didn't expect to be saved by Lord Lu today. I am really moved. I will definitely remember Lord Lu's kindness in my heart!"

The governor of Dai County was a middle-aged man with a fat head and big ears. He was obviously a corrupt official who had been tested by alcohol. The Yellow Turbans ravaged the prefectures and counties, and even the princes fell into their hands. After the city was captured, the number of governors killed was so great that they could not be counted on one hand.

Now facing his savior, the Dai County Magistrate was obviously very admiring and his words were extremely respectful, almost treating himself like a subordinate.

The other wealthy families and gentry were also very grateful for Lu Yi's help and kept agreeing.

Lu Yi felt proud, and the generals around him, such as Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Gao Lan, etc., also felt proud of it.

"Dai County is Han territory. As a Han official, how can I, Lü Yi, sit idly by and watch?"

"What's more, Dai County and Yanmen County are adjacent to each other. If the city gate catches fire, how can the innocent not be affected?"

However, Lu Yi seemed to be unfazed by the sugar-coated bullets from his colleagues and wealthy families, which made the officials and gentry of Dai County admire Lu Yi even more.

"Lord Lu is loyal to the emperor and serves the country well. He should be a role model for the scholars in Hebei!"

"Yes, the cavalry under Lord Lu's command is so strong that it can be said to be the best in You and Bing. Only a great talent like Lord Lu can train such a strong army!"

"With Lord Lu by our side, even if Zhang Jiao leads hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans, we won't be afraid. To express our gratitude, we have specially prepared some small gifts. Please accept them, Lord Lu and the soldiers!"

Everyone kept praising Lu Yi, and then ordered the servants behind them to put boxes of gifts and stones of grain in front of Lu Yi and others. However, Lu Yi looked at the large amount of valuable grain and gifts behind the crowd and waved his hand firmly.

"Dai County has been ravaged by the Yellow Turbans, and now is the time to provide relief to the people and reward the soldiers. Although I, Luyi, am not a wealthy family, and Yanmen is a poor and weak county, I, Lu, and my soldiers are all loyal and righteous. I accept your kindness, but please take back these gifts!"

"Ok?"

Lu Yi's performance surprised the officials and gentry of Daizhou even more than his own fighting ability.

Strange.

A three-legged toad is easy to find, but an official who is not greedy for money is hard to find even with a lantern in the late Han Dynasty!
However, Lu Yi's next move shocked them even more.

Because Lu Yi actually dispatched hundreds of stones of his own military rations to give to the soldiers and civilians of Daizhou.

At this moment, the officials and gentry in Daizhou were furious.

They all praised Lu Yi highly and bombarded him with all kinds of flattery.

Lu Yi almost couldn't bear it anymore.

Although these few hundred dan of grain were a drop in the bucket for Daizhou, the political significance released by Lu Yi was significant.

The imperial court is getting worse year by year.

Chaos has already begun in the world, and even ordinary people know that this is a sign of the country's demise.

Therefore, many smart people have already started preparing for a rainy day.

It is very rare to find someone like Lu Yi who is so capable and famous, who is not only not greedy for money, but also takes the initiative to give up his interests.

Upon seeing this, the officials and gentry of Dai County began to really consider Lu Yi and considered him as an alternative option.

Both Lü Yi and the officials and gentry of Daizhou intended to make friends with each other, and for a while both the host and the guest were very happy. As for the subsequent invitation of the officials of Daizhou to reward the troops, Lü Yi did not refuse, otherwise it would seem a little unkind and deliberately cold.

After a night of partying, Lu Yi left Gao Lan to lead a thousand soldiers to guard the prisoners, waiting for Chen Gong, Cheng Lian and others who had received the news before catching up with the main force.

Lu Yi himself said goodbye to the repeated attempts of officials and gentry in Daizhou to retain him, and headed for Zhuo County, which had been surrounded by 50,000 Yellow Turbans led by Cheng Yuanzhi and Deng Mao.

However, unlike the high morale of Lu Yi's army who were celebrating their victory, Lu Yi's destination, Zhuo County, was now shrouded in the shadow of war, and everyone in the city was feeling depressed.

In the cold wind of early spring, Liu Yan, the prefect of Zhuo County, looked with a worried look on his face at the Yellow Turban army camp that surrounded Zhuo County City on all sides and stretched as far as the eye could see.

From time to time, there were bursts of sorrow and sighs.

"Alas, I thought this border of Youzhou was a good place to earn military merit and get promoted, but I didn't expect to run into Zhang Jiao, the evil Taoist priest, gathering people to cause chaos!"

"Now, this position of Zhuo County Governor that I bought with a huge sum of money has become my death warrant. I can neither escape nor keep it. If I had known earlier, I would have stayed in Luoyang and become an official in the capital. With my status as a relative of the Han Dynasty, I can gain experience much faster than those with other surnames."

Liu Yan's worry was seen by the people behind him, making the soldiers who were already defending the city against the Yellow Turban Army even more pessimistic.

The Yellow Turban Army has now attacked the city several times, and each time we managed to temporarily repel the attack with great difficulty.

But no matter how good your luck is, it will run out one day. If this continues, the city may be captured today.

However, unlike most pessimistic people.

There were two people under Liu Yan's command who, although facing dangerous situations, still had hope for the future.

One of them was Zou Jing, a captain under Liu Yan, and the other was Liu Bei, the leader of the local militia that Zou Jing had newly recruited.

After Liu Bei missed Guan Yu and Zhang Fei that day, he no longer had the Peach Garden Oath and Zhang Fei's family support.

However, relying on his reputation as a chivalrous man and his call to protect the local area, he still gained some popularity among the gentry of Zhuo County.

These gentry were worried that after the Yellow Turbans broke into the city, not only would their property be looted, but even their entire families' lives would be in danger. Therefore, they all provided financial support to Liu Bei, who had the courage to resist the Yellow Turbans. They also allowed Liu Bei to take this opportunity to recruit 500 local soldiers to join the force defending Zhuo County, thus officially making his debut on the grand stage of the late Han Dynasty.

However, this debut may very well be his farewell performance.

However, Liu Bei was the founding emperor of the Han Dynasty. Even though he was defeated repeatedly by Cao Cao in history, he was never discouraged. It would not take him long to pick himself up and regroup and fight again and again.

Although he was young at this time, he still had heroic qualities. Facing the impending death and failure, he still maintained confidence and made active preparations.

However, Cheng Yuanzhi was a famous and powerful general among the Yellow Turbans. Now that Liu Bei was missing two powerful warriors like Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, he had little chance of winning against him.

In addition, Cheng Yuanzhi did not come to attack the city alone, he led an army of 50,000 Yellow Turbans.

Ten thousand people gathered together would be boundless, and fifty thousand people surrounding Zhuo County would be like the sky falling and the earth collapsing.

The huge material gap cannot be simply bridged by spiritual tenacity.

At this moment, even Liu Bei felt despair in his heart.

Not to mention Liu Yan, whose will was far less determined than Liu Bei's.

Liu Yan was so pessimistic that he began to speculate what methods the Yellow Turban Army was going to use to kill him after the city was broken.

Soon, as the morning passed.

After finishing their already scant breakfast, the Yellow Turban Army began to attack the city once again.

Under the instigation of Cheng Yuanzhi and others, the 50,000 Yellow Turban Army firmly believed that there was enough food for them in Zhuojun City.

And food is the way to survive.

The Yellow Turban Army’s food and supplies will not last long. If they cannot capture Zhuo County in a short period of time, they will all starve to death even if the officers and soldiers do not encircle and suppress them.

In order to survive, the 50,000 Yellow Turban Army once again launched the most fierce attack on Zhuo County since the siege.

Cheng Yuanzhi was the first to lead the charge, clinging to his sword and climbing up the siege ladder.

The battle situation this time was also very favorable to the Yellow Turban Army.

Not only had some people successfully stormed the city wall, but several groups of Yellow Turban troops had also broken through on top of the wall and occupied a small area.

As long as they can hold these sections of the city wall, the subsequent Yellow Turban Army will climb up the city wall, and the only fate waiting for the officials, soldiers and civilians of Zhuo County will be the city's destruction and their deaths.

Unknowingly, the battle situation has reached the most dangerous and darkest moment!
(End of this chapter)