My younger brother Lü Fengxian

Chapter 305: The Fall of the Yellow Turbans
Although Zhang Jue had regained some of his spirit.

Zhou Tang and other core members of the Yellow Turbans who were gathered around Zhang Jiao's bed did not feel the slightest bit of joy when they saw this.

They knew that this was Zhang Jue's last burst of glory.

"General Tian Gong, you finally woke up!"

"Not only has General Zhang Bao died in battle, but the Han army has also surrounded the city. What should we do now?"

After several days of maintaining the situation in Guangzong City, Zhou Tang was exhausted.

Now seeing Zhang Jue finally wake up, he couldn't help but burst into tears.

Tens of thousands of people were fed and fed every day, and the situation was so dire that Zhou Tang, who had no talent to begin with, almost collapsed.

"Cough cough..."

After Zhang Jue woke up, there was a look of relief on his face.

He already had a clear understanding of his physical condition and also had some understanding of his grand plan for the future.

Therefore, he did not answer Zhou Tang's words immediately, but asked him instead.

"How is the morale in the city? How much food and fodder is left?"

"Ever since General Ren Gong was defeated and 100,000 soldiers were captured by the Han army, the morale of the city has plummeted. Most soldiers have no will to fight and are afraid of the Han army attacking the city. There is only half a month's worth of food and grass left in the city."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tang immediately reported the current situation to Zhang Jue.

After listening to this, Zhang Jue remained silent, looking extremely lonely.

And no one dared to urge Zhang Jue. They could only look at Zhang Jue quietly and wait for his orders.

Whether fighting or surrendering, there is always a direction. It is better than being besieged by the Han army in this tiny place of Guangzong, with your life cut off day by day.

After a long and suffocating silence, Zhang Jue finally took action. He turned and asked Zhou Tang with a serious expression.

"I heard that Yanmen Governor Lu Yi is among the Han army outside the city?"

"There is indeed such a person. He was the one who defeated General Ren Gong that day. I wonder why General Tian Gong suddenly asked about this person?"

Zhou Tang was stunned when he heard this and asked in confusion.

"This man's reputation as a hero is known throughout Hebei, and even this general has heard of him."

"My brother's death at the hands of this man is not considered a disgrace to his reputation."

"I heard that he treated the people well in Yanmen, and that they all lived and worked in peace and contentment. Is that true?"

After Zhang Jue sighed when he heard this, he continued to ask.

"There are indeed such rumors, but we have never been to Yanmen to observe it in person, so we cannot tell whether it is true or not."

"But during the few days when the general was unconscious, he sent people to persuade the city to surrender, saying that as long as you are willing to surrender, the general and you can go to Yanmen to serve as civilians. I ordered people to shoot arrows to drive his messenger back."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tang immediately reported all the information he knew to Zhang Jue. After a slight hesitation, he also told him about Lu Yi's attempt to persuade him to surrender.

"Alas...it seems that this person is truly devoted to the people!"

"If there were more officials like this, the three of us brothers wouldn't have done anything that Huang Tian did."

"Now it seems that although this tyrant's days are coming to an end, his fate is not decided by me, Huang Tian, ​​but by someone else!"

Zhang Jue sighed and spoke to everyone with tears in his eyes.

"My three brothers led the army to fight against the tyrants. We thought we could defeat them and bring peace and prosperity to the people of the world. But we didn't expect that it would end up being nothing more than a fool's dream."

"This golden age of the Yellow Sky will never come..."

When Zhang Jue said this, everyone was shocked.

People like Zhou Tang, who cared about Huang Tian, ​​burst into tears.

"There are still 100,000 soldiers in the city, and there is also a large army led by General Digong in Julu. General Tiangong's defeat was just a temporary one. How can we lose confidence because of this defeat?"

"Where will General Tiangong leave my hundreds of thousands of followers?"

"Cough cough..."

Zhang Jue waved his hands repeatedly when he heard this. He tried to stop his tears and spoke to everyone with apologetic tone.

"If my brother Zhang Bao were still here, I would be healthy, and the city had enough food and grass, and we would still be able to fight."

"But now, my third brother died in battle, I am ill and can no longer support myself, and the city is short of food and grass, and is about to run out of food. Only my second brother Zhang Liang is far away in Julu and can't support myself alone."

“This predicament cannot be saved by human efforts.”

"My body is exhausted and I will die today."

"Although we have not completely overthrown the tyrannical Han Dynasty, the foundation of the Han Dynasty has been shaken after the Yellow Turban Rebellion. In the future, the princes will surely fight each other just like the Warring States Period four hundred years ago. Lu Yi now has a large army and cares about the people. He is a good place for him to go."

"After I die, you will cut off my head and offer it to this man, and you will surely be protected by him."

"what?"

"General Tian Gong, you actually want us to surrender to the Han dogs?"

When Zhang Jue said this, everyone looked at him in disbelief.

Originally, everyone rebelled against the Han Dynasty under the leadership of Zhang Jue, but now Zhang Jue not only asked everyone to surrender to the Han army, but also asked everyone to cut off his head.

It's like a person who creates the most beautiful dream in the world for you, but one day he wakes you up and tells you that the dream is illusory and fake.

In the end, we have to return to reality.

Although the original reality is depressing and miserable, people can still fill their hearts with numbness.

However, after Zhang Jue conveyed hope to everyone, he killed the hope with his own hands, making everyone feel even more sad than before.

Zhou Tang and other die-hard believers wept uncontrollably.

"Since General Tian Gong has said so, we should follow his words!"

However, there were a few people among the crowd who were not determined. When they heard Zhang Jue say this, an inexplicable light began to flash in their eyes when they looked at him.

When a picture falls, the monkeys scatter; when a wall collapses, everyone pushes it down.

They originally joined the Yellow Turbans just to survive.

Now that the Yellow Turbans were on the verge of defeat and Zhang Jue had taken the initiative to say so, they felt even less psychologically burdened.

Zhang Jue's head is not only the basis for their survival, but may even be the key to their success.

"Whoever dares to harm General Tiangong will be killed by me!"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Tang became furious and immediately drew his sword and pointed it at the person who spoke, ready to fight him to the death to protect Zhang Jue.

"Zhou Tang, step back!"

"My original intention was just to lead the people of the world to survive. Now my plan has failed. I am about to die. How can I let the 100,000 brothers in Guangzong City be buried with me?"

Zhang Jiao was barely breathing, his last bit of energy gradually faded, and he looked listless, and he would soon die. "But, General..."

Zhou Tang wanted to persuade him again.

But Zhang Jiao waved his hand indifferently.

He finally managed to hold up his body and spoke slowly to everyone in the hall.

"This is the last thing I can do for you all."

After saying this, Zhang Jue's body trembled violently, he stopped breathing, and fell heavily onto the sickbed.

"General Tiangong!"

Zhou Tang was shocked when he saw this, and hurried forward to check on Zhang Jiao's condition. After finding out that Zhang Jiao was really dead, his mind went blank.

"General Tiangong has passed away. We are already in a dead end. Why don't we surrender to the Han army according to the general's will?"

"That's right, this is also the outcome that General Tian Gong hoped for. We can't let General Tian Gong worry about us after his death!"

When the cowardly generals among the Yellow Turbans saw that Zhang Jue was completely dead, they immediately wanted to surrender to the Han army.

However, if they surrendered themselves, they would only be giving the Han army their heads.

After all, everyone here is a Yellow Turban criminal wanted by the Han army.

If you want to save yourself, you can only find a more important head to save yourself.

And the deceased Zhang Jue was obviously the best candidate.

Immediately, one of the Yellow Turban leaders drew his sword and wanted to chop off Zhang Jue's head, but Zhou Tang refused.

"Whoever dares to insult the remains of General Tiangong should ask the sword in my hand!"

"Zhou Tang, this is General Tiangong's last order, do you want to disobey him?"

Everyone was stopped by the sharp blade in Zhou Tang's hand and couldn't help but question.

"General Tiangong's last words are to surrender, how can we damage his body!"

Zhou Tang, however, did not give in at all.

Everyone had no choice but to agree.

The Han army, which had been eagerly waiting outside Guangzong City, was delighted to hear that the Yellow Turban leader Zhang Jue had really died of illness, and the bandits in Guangzong City were preparing to leave the city and surrender.

Since Zhang Jue is dead, the remaining Zhang Liang is no longer a threat.

This also means that the Yellow Turban Rebellion will soon come to a successful conclusion, and most of the soldiers can return home victoriously.

Zhou Tang and other Yellow Turban generals opened the gates and surrendered the city.

Lu Zhi immediately ordered the Han army to enter the city and take control of Guangzong City.

With 100,000 soldiers out of food and morale at a low point, the Yellow Turban rebels could only surrender dejectedly.

However, Lu Yi did not break his promise.

After the Yellow Turbans surrendered, he isolated and detained leaders and backbone members such as Zhou Tang, but did not harm any Yellow Turbans in Guangzong City.

The food he brought was enough to escort all the nearly 200,000 Yellow Turban captives in the Han army camp back to Yanmen County, so there was no need to kill any of the captives.

Bai Qi killed 400,000 Zhao soldiers who surrendered because it was difficult to control them. After all, how many people did Qin have at that time? If these 400,000 tiger and wolf soldiers were released, they would definitely continue to resist Qin next year.

The reason why Xiang Yu killed 200,000 Qin soldiers was simply because of the great pressure of food. In addition to food shortage and hatred, the most important thing was that he could not completely control these surrendered soldiers. To be safe, he just killed them all.

However, Lu Yi has been in control of Yanmen County for several years and has a population of one million under his command, so he has accumulated enough food.

Coupled with the generous help from the Zhen family of Zhongshan, it was more than enough to support these Yellow Turbans, and even continue to absorb a large number of refugees.

Furthermore, Bai Qi and Xiang Yu captured soldiers from the enemy country at that time, and their loyalty was difficult to guarantee, so both sides were caught in a chain of suspicion.

However, the Yellow Turbans captured by Lu Yi were still obedient subjects of the Han Dynasty a few months ago. Now Lu Yi promised to only kill the bandit leader Zhang Jue and pardon their crimes, so they were all subjects of the Han Dynasty, and there was no question of ethnic-state conflict at all.

Now, Lu Yi forcefully identified all the core leaders and cut off the connection between the Yellow Turbans. Even if these people want to rebel in the future, without the initiator and organizational structure, they are even worse than they are now and basically pose no threat.

In the end, although Lu Yi organized them into military settlements, apart from handing over a fixed share of grain, their lives were actually better than before the rebellion. There were no other exorbitant taxes or endless heavy corvee labor. Why would they rebel against Lu Yi when they could just live a good life?
Is it addictive to be a rebel?

Therefore, having learned from Cao Cao's negative experience in reorganizing the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, Lu Yi was confident that within three years he could reorganize all these rebels into good citizens under his rule.

Lu Zhi and Lu Yi had no disagreement on the resettlement of the Yellow Turban captives. After all, the two had already reached an agreement in secret on this point, and now they just had to deal with it according to the agreement.

However, the two had some disagreements on how to deal with the remains of the bandit leader Zhang Jiao.

Lu Zhi believed that such a bandit should not be buried peacefully, so his head should be cut off and burned and sent to Luoyang.

Lu Zhi's move was already considered mild. As a great scholar of the time, he did not need to use cruel means to express his loyalty to the court and the emperor.

Historically, Huangfu Song, who succeeded him later, was of poor birth and was not valued by the imperial court and the Guandong nobles. After he defeated Zhang Jue, he even opened the coffin and completely destroyed Zhang Jue's body. He did it thoroughly in order to express to the imperial court and the emperor his determination and attitude that he was irreconcilable with the Yellow Turban bandits.

However, since Lu Yi had absorbed 200,000 Yellow Turban prisoners, his position was naturally a little crooked.

If Lu Zhi followed his method and destroyed Zhang Jue's body, it would likely provoke resistance and mutiny among the Yellow Turban captives. Therefore, in order to reassure the hearts of the 200,000 captives, Lu Yi suggested to Lu Zhi that they should simply use an accidental fire to burn Zhang Jue and his body to ashes.

In this way, Zhang Jue could get a final bit of dignity, and his body would not have to be transported back to Luoyang to continue being tortured.

After thinking about it, Lu Zhi decided to adopt Lu Yi's suggestion.

His ambition for fame and fortune was never as great as that of Huangfu Song and his purpose in being an official was to serve his country. Although he did not have the merit of presenting the head of the bandit to the court, Lu Zhi did not care at all.

After Lu Yi discussed privately with the core members of the Yellow Turbans, Zhou Tang and others also agreed to Lu Yi's arrangement. In their opinion, this was also the best outcome for Zhang Jiao.

After Zhang Jue's demise, the only group of Yellow Turbans left in the world was Zhang Liang's group trapped in Julu.

After Lu Zhi, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun completed their respective strategic tasks, they met in Julu under the order of Liu Hong, preparing to completely put down the Yellow Turban Rebellion in a short period of time.

There are only 50,000 Yellow Turbans in Julu City
The three Han armies gathered together numbered about 30,000 to 40,000 men, and with the addition of Lu Yi's 10,000 Bingzhou cavalry, the Yellow Turban Army could no longer gain any advantage in terms of troop numbers.

When it comes to combat quality, the Yellow Turban Army, who were only armed with simple weapons, could not compare with the well-equipped, well-trained and well-coordinated Han Army.

Zhang Liang only held out for a month before the Han army captured Julu City.

Not only was Zhang Liang himself killed, but the Yellow Turbans in the city also suffered heavy casualties, with only one in ten surviving.

Because there were too many people in the coalition army and too many eyes to see, Lu Yi did not continue to recruit prisoners.

He had already persuaded enough Yellow Turbans to surrender in Zhuojun and Guangzong, so he was no longer so anxious to capture them.

Moreover, it is not a good thing if the proportion of Yellow Turban captives under his rule is too large, and the other gaps can be filled by refugees.

In any case, the Yellow Turbans' rampage was far more destructive than the Xianbei invasion, and the number of displaced refugees was no less than a few years ago.

However, Lu Yi still did two important things in secret.

……

(End of this chapter)