My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 299: Battle with Zhang Jue
Originally, even if Lu Yi wanted to recruit Yellow Turban captives and refugees, the population of Yanmen County had just exceeded one million, and the upper limit of storage was extremely limited.

Lu Yi originally planned to absorb only 30%, recruiting and surrendering 300,000 refugees and prisoners.

After all, you can't become fat in one breath. If you are greedy and try to swallow an elephant, you will end up eating yourself to death.

Ten old people helping three newcomers is already the limit of what Lu Yi can bear.

Moreover, this way, it will be easier for newcomers to integrate into Yanmen.

But now with Zhen’s material support, it’s a different matter.

Lu Yi immediately modified his original plan.

He directly planned to recruit twice the number of refugees and Yellow Turban captives, and directly increase the population of Yanmen County to two million.

You should know that when the Eastern Wu, the second most powerful country among the Three Kingdoms, was destroyed, its total population was only over two million.

As long as Lu Yi can successfully feed this one million people, and then grit his teeth to get through this year and survive until after the autumn harvest.

Then, he can basically lay the foundation for becoming the overlord of Hebei.

It was only a matter of time before Yanmen County swept across Bingzhou and then swallowed up Youzhou, Jizhou and Qingzhou.

But population doesn’t just appear out of thin air.

If you want to plunder, you can only rely on the sword in your hand.

Although Lu Yi was still in the Zhen family manor in Zhongshan, his mind had already drifted to the Guangzong battlefield not far away.

And in Guangzong, some people also turned their minds to the north, with implicit expectations for Lu Yi.

"Teacher, I don't know if Sixiao is on his way here right now. In the past two years, Sixiao's influence has grown a lot. If Sixiao can help us, it will be a piece of cake to wipe out Zhang Jiao!"

Outside Guangzong City, Han army flags were everywhere. General Lu Zhi and Zhang Jue had already fought several battles. However, the Yellow Turban Army, led by Zhang Jue, relied on the strong city of Guangzong to resist tenaciously, while the government army came from afar and lacked engineering equipment. The two sides had to use Guangzong City as the boundary and fell into a stalemate.

Because the war was going badly, Gongsun Zan, Lu Zhi's student and also his top general, became a little impatient and placed his hopes on Lu Yi, the governor of Yanmen County, who was not too far from Jizhou.

After all, the earth-shaking battle a few years ago left a deep impression on Gongsun Zan.

How dangerous it was when the Xianbei gathered an army of 300,000 and brazenly marched south to invade Hebei.

However, under the command of Lu Yi, the three thousand elite armored vanguards still easily penetrated the Xianbei center army, killed the Xianbei general in battle, and shook the Xianbei line, which was followed by a defeat.

Although Zhang Jue had assembled hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban troops and swept across the counties in Guandong.

However, compared with the Xianbei bandits of the past, the Yellow Turban Army was not only more scattered in number, but also more disorganized.

Moreover, compared with the Xianbei warriors who survived the harsh living environment outside the northern desert, the lower-class Yellow Turban Army, who came from poor common people, had much lower combat effectiveness and were simply not on the same level.

However, after Liu Hong's meticulous governance, the Han Dynasty is now in a state of deterioration. It is also much more exhausted and weaker than it was a few years ago. Otherwise, how could the Yellow Turbans have become so powerful?

If Lu Yi could find the right opportunity and lead his three thousand warriors to charge again, Zhang Jiao would undoubtedly be defeated.

Therefore, Gongsun Zan, who was temporarily unable to deal with the Zhang Jiao brothers who were hiding in Guangzong City, could not help but recall the great victory several years ago.

"Sixiao is now the governor of Yanmen County. His primary mission is to protect Yanmen County. How can the heavy responsibility on his shoulders be compared to the years when he was a pavilion chief?"

"Besides, how can a general rely on the illusory reinforcements for victory? If we want to defeat Zhang Jue, we still have to rely on our own strength!"

When the commander-in-chief of the central army, Lu Zhi, who was busy handling military affairs in the big tent, heard Gongsun Zan's words, he couldn't help but raise his head and frowned and glanced at him.

"The teacher is right, it's the students who are obsessed!"

When Gongsun Zan saw that Lu Zhi seemed unhappy, he quickly bowed his head respectfully and admitted his mistake.

"Well, it is a great virtue to admit one's mistakes and correct them."

Upon hearing this, Lu Zhi nodded and buried his head in his desk again.

This time, Lu Zhi led more than 10,000 people across the Yellow River to attack Zhang Jue, who had an army of 200,000. Although his elite troops were far superior to the Yellow Turban Army, their military strength was at an absolute disadvantage, so Lu Zhi felt under great pressure.

However, Lu Zhi was a man of strong character and would never place his hopes elsewhere.

In order to defeat Zhang Jue as quickly as possible, Lu Zhi could only maximize his responsibilities as commander and make every soldier and every grain of food play a critical role.

Therefore, the burden on his shoulders is not small.

Lu Zhi, who was outside Guangzong City, had a headache facing the Yellow Turbans inside Guangzong City.

But Zhang Jue in the city was more troublesome than Lu Zhi.

"Ugh!"

"Lu Zhi is indeed a veteran general of the Han Dynasty. He only has 10,000 soldiers and horses, but he has trapped my 200,000 Yellow Turban army in Guangzong City, making it unable to move at all!"

"It seems that if we want to achieve Huang Tian's great cause, we have to defeat this man first!"

On the top of Guangzong City, Zhang Jue gently stroked the city wall and looked at Lu Zhi’s military camp from afar, frowning deeply.

Although he was good at bewitching people and mobilizing hundreds of thousands of people to follow him and join him in his great cause, he was not good at the art of military formation.

Although he had a large number of soldiers under his command, he had fought several battles with Lu Zhi over the past few months and suffered heavy losses every time.

After several battles, Zhang Jue was worried that he would be defeated by Lu Zhi in the field battle. Now he could only be trapped in Guangzong City, relying on the city wall to confront Lu Zhi.

However, although the front line was still stable, another enemy far more terrifying than Lu Zhi had quietly emerged, causing Zhang Jue, the leader of the Taiping Dao and self-proclaimed General Tiangong, to become extremely anxious.

"Third brother, how much food is left in Guangzong City now? Can it support until Lu Zhi runs out of food and retreats?"

Zhang Jue couldn't help but sigh again in his heart and turned to look at his younger brother Zhang Bao behind him.

"Although we prepared some food before the uprising, and we also captured a lot of food in Jizhou at the beginning of the uprising, there are more than 200,000 brothers in Guangzong City. With such a large population, the food and grass can only last for three months at most. If we don't defeat Lu Zhi within three months, I'm afraid that the food in the city will run out, and we will be defeated without the government army attacking!"

Upon hearing this, General Zhang Bao, who was in charge of military supplies in Guangzong City, immediately said to Zhang Jue with concern.

"Three months?"

Zhang Jue suddenly fell silent after hearing this.

Before the uprising, he was full of confidence, thinking that the tyrannical Han were about to be overthrown, and that as long as he made a call and rose up, the people of the world would surely follow him.

However, what Zhang Jue did not expect was that although the tyrannical Han had already shown signs of destruction, it did not seem to be the end of its life yet. Instead, he was forced to launch an uprising hastily due to the betrayal of a traitor. Although he had the upper hand at the beginning, after days of fighting, their fighting spirit dissipated, and most of the local commanders were caught in a bitter battle.

Thinking of this, Zhang Jue couldn't help but think of his disciple Tang Zhou who betrayed him.

"Tang Zhou is a traitor who has ruined my decades of planning. He deserves to die!"

"If it weren't for this person, Huang Tian's great cause might have already been accomplished!"

"Cough cough..."

As he was thinking, maybe it was because of his emotions that Zhang Jue's old illness relapsed, and he suddenly bent his body and started coughing violently.

"Brother!"

Upon seeing this, Zhang Bao hurriedly helped his elder brother up, but was stopped by Zhang Jue.

"I've told you so many times that you should behave in a manner commensurate with your position in front of others!"

"I understand, General Tian Gong. However, your coughing frequency has increased over the past few days. Should we ask a doctor to come and take a look?" Zhang Bao did not dare to disobey Zhang Jue's order and could only change his address. However, his words were still full of concern for Zhang Jue.

"What doctor? Have you forgotten how this general got his start?"

"When it comes to curing illnesses and saving lives, who in the world can compare with me?"

"I know the limits of my own body."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Jue shook his head and continued to stop him.

"We only have three months of food and grass left. The most urgent task is to train the soldiers. Our army is twenty times larger than the Han army. With a little training, we can fight against Lu Zhi. If we can defeat Lu Zhi within three months, everything will be easy to discuss. If we can't defeat Lu Zhi, not only will my life be in danger, but also hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turban brothers will die together!"

"go Go……"

"promise……"

Zhang Bao was helpless upon seeing this and could only follow Zhang Jue's instructions to reorganize and train the soldiers.

Three months is not a short time, but most of the Yellow Turban Army were ordinary people with no combat and training experience at all. To train these 200,000 mobs into an elite force that can defeat the Han army within three months, even if Sun Wu and Wu Qi were resurrected, it would be difficult to do so!

Time flies.

Just when the battlefield in Hebei was in a stalemate, on the battlefields of Nanyang and Yingchuan, after fierce fighting, the Han army finally won the victory after paying a heavy price.

Nanyang County in Jingzhou, which originally had a population of two million and was the largest county in the world, has now been reduced to a scorched earth.

The hard-fought victory of the Han army finally recaptured the city of Nanyang, which had been occupied by the Yellow Turbans for several months.

However, the once wealthy and prosperous Nanyang City has now been reduced to scorched earth.

Countless civilians died tragically in the clashes between the Han Army and the Yellow Turban Army. For decades, it was basically impossible for Nanyang to return to its former heyday.

"Alas... Life is difficult, and with the Yellow Turbans wreaking havoc, I wonder when the world will be truly peaceful, and when we warriors will be able to stop fighting and return to the fields!"

Therefore, when Zhu Jun finally defeated Zhang Mancheng and other Yellow Turban leaders and entered Nanyang City, there was not even a trace of joy on his face.

"This is easy. When I kill all the traitors like the Yellow Turbans, General Zhu will be able to do what he wants!"

Zhu Jun's entourage all showed mixed emotions upon hearing this, except for one sturdy young man with a red hat on his head who answered with a nonchalant look on his face.

"Oh, it's Sima Sun. I admire Sima Sun's bravery, but if we just talk about war, how can we ever have peace?"

Zhu Jun saw that the person who spoke was Sun Jian, the military commander under his command, and did not punish him.

In this battle against Zhang Mancheng, Sun Jian always led the troops in every battle and was the bravest among the three armies. Therefore, Sun Jian played an indispensable role in the Han army's victory over Zhang Mancheng.

However, Zhu Jun had experienced many things in life, and his mind was not as simple as the young and passionate Sun Jian thought. He just went to Nanyang City on his own.

Sun Jian was left standing there, frowning and thinking about Zhu Jun's meaningful words.

……

"General Huangfu set a huge fire and completely routed the Yellow Turban rebels. He is truly a military genius!"

And on the Yingchuan battlefield.

Huangfu Song, the first God of Fire in the late Han Dynasty, demonstrated his superb fire attack tactics to Cao Cao, an equally young Cavalry Commander, making Cao Cao worship him as a god.

"Zhu Rong is ruthless. If the emperor had not urged me so urgently, I would not have resorted to such a bad strategy and chosen to win the game quickly."

Huangfu Song was not pleased by Cao Cao's flattery, but looked worried instead.

"Bo Cai and other bandit leaders are certainly guilty of great crimes and deserve to be put to death, but most of their followers are my people. Many of them were not loyal bandits, but were forced to follow the Yellow Turbans. This fire did not ask about their identities and burned all of them to death. This is all my fault!"

Huangfu Song sighed worriedly, turned to look at the young junior whom he admired very much, and couldn't help but remind him.

"With Meng De's talent, he will surely become a pillar of the Han Dynasty in the future. If Meng De has the opportunity to lead the army alone in the future, he must use fire attacks with caution, and also be careful of the enemy's fire attacks!"

"General Huangfu's sincere words will be remembered by Cao!"

Cao Cao was deeply moved when he heard this, and quickly made an assurance to Huangfu Song.

"Let's go. Bo has just been defeated, and the Yellow Turbans in Yuzhou have not yet been pacified. Although I heard that Zhu Shuai in Nanyang has also won, Zhang Jiao in Hebei is still confronting Lu Shuai. Perhaps the emperor will dispatch us to support Lu Shuai soon."

Huangfu Song waved his hand and looked far towards the north.

"So now is far from the time to rest!"

……

"Brother, we have been in Zhongshan for several months now. The soldiers have been training every day, and their goal is to go south and wipe out the Yellow Turbans."

"I heard that there are frequent reports of victory in the Central Plains. If we continue to lie low, I'm afraid Zhang Jue's head will be snatched away by others!"

Inside the Bingzhou Army camp outside Zhongshan Field, Lu Bu was somewhat anxious and kept urging his brother Lu Yi.

"Wow!"

"What you said is very much to my liking. As long as the Lord gives the order, I, Zhang, will take the head of that old man Zhang Jiao and present it to the Lord!"

Zhang Fei, who was beside Lu Bu, also agreed when he heard this and challenged Lu Yi to a fight.

"Hey, you little thief with a leopard head and round eyes, you actually stole my credit. I think you are itching for trouble again, right?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Bu was dissatisfied and pushed Zhang Fei repeatedly.

Because of the appearance of Lu Yi in this life, Lu Bu's character and style have changed. In addition to his extraordinary martial arts, he actually gets along well with his former enemies Zhang Fei and Guan Yu. They have become friends, and therefore the few of them get along very well.

"Alas, why use a butcher knife to kill a chicken? Fengxian and Yide can just protect the Lord of the Mansion, and Zhang Jiao will take charge of the attack!"

Guan Yu was not willing to be outdone, and while Zhang Fei and Lu Bu were fighting, he repeatedly asked for battle.

"Hey! You, the red-faced, long-bearded fellow, are even more evil-minded than me, Old Zhang! Fengxian, let's stop fighting for the time being and beat up Guan Yu first!"

"Well, what Yide said is exactly what I want!"

Looking at the generals who were full of energy because of the truce, Lu Yi and military advisor Tian Feng couldn't help but smile at each other.

"Now, our army has been resting for more than a month, and the soldiers are recuperating and their morale is ready!"

"My Lord, it seems that it is time to march south to attack Zhang Jue!"

Tian Feng also spoke out to persuade him.

Lu Yi is now in Zhongshan to protect the grain route used by the Zhen family to transport money and grain to Yanmen.

Now, after several months, the money and food have been delivered, and it's time to go to war again!

"Alright, since the military advisor has spoken, how dare I stop him?"

"Order all soldiers to rest for a day, and march to Guangzong tomorrow!"

"promise!"

……

(End of this chapter)