Han officials

Chapter 10 Being smart
October 25, the seventh year of Guanghe.

After nearly half a year of siege, the Battle of Guangzong finally began.

Huangfu Song, a veteran of many battles, did not resort to surprise attacks this time. After breakfast, the entire army formed up in front of Guangzong City. They were divided into three armies, with infantry in the center and cavalry guarding the two wings.

Wei Zhe's troops followed Fu Xie and guarded under the banner of Huangfu Song's central army to be ready for support.

As for the Liang Province warriors under Dong Zhuo, they were like the Sanhe Knights, coordinating with the left and right.

In the central army, there were a thousand burly and strong death-defying warriors wearing double armor and holding steel swords sitting in the formation, and there were also two thousand long-spear warriors providing protection on the side.

These one thousand armored soldiers were assault warriors specially selected by Huangfu Song from the entire army. They included county soldiers and volunteers, such as Guan and Zhang under Fu Xie, who were among them, in order to deal with Zhang Jue's Yellow Turban warriors.

There was no way, even Huangfu Song had to admit that this Yellow Turban strongman was extremely powerful.

As the saying goes: If one man forgets his own death, even a hundred men cannot stop him.

The most difficult thing about the Yellow Turban warriors is not their martial arts skills, but that they all treat life and death as nothing.

According to Huangfu Song's understanding, the Yellow Turban bandits did not only consider their fighting ability when selecting Yellow Turban strongmen, but instead placed more emphasis on their piety.

After going through layers of selection and careful training, many Yellow Turban warriors completely believed that Zhang Jiao was a god sent from heaven, and even believed that they could ascend to heaven after death.

Therefore, dying in battle was not a disaster for the Yellow Turban warriors, but a reward.

This is also the reason why, although the number of Yellow Turban strongmen is small, they can always turn the tide of battle.

With such a group of elite soldiers, it is indeed impossible for Guangzong to fall quickly.

However, after more than half a year of siege, the Yellow Turban Army's momentum was indeed much weaker than before.

Perhaps it was because of this that the Yellow Turban Army did not hold their ground in response to Huangfu Song's invitation to fight.

After all, if we continue to defend, we will die. Now, a decisive battle can give us a chance to survive.

In this way, both the Yellow Turban camp outside the city and Guangzong City began to send out troops and form battle lines.

Perhaps due to the lack of supplies, the morale of the Yellow Turban Army declined. The formation of the Yellow Turban Army was quite chaotic and noisy, which was in sharp contrast to the strict and orderly Han Army with solemn flags on the opposite side.

……

At the same time, under the banner of the central army.

Upon seeing the Yellow Turbans' frequent chaos, Northern Army Lieutenant Zou Jing exclaimed in delight, "Congratulations, General! The Guangzong rebels are in decline. This battle is certain to be won."

After saying this, he thought he had found an opportunity and asked for battle: "I am willing to be the vanguard and clear the way for you, General!"

However, Huangfu Song's expression remained solemn upon hearing this, without any trace of joy on his face.

Seeing that Zou Jing didn't understand what he meant and still wanted to continue asking for battle, Fu Xie beside him kindly explained: "General, I am not afraid of fighting, but I am afraid that the Guangzong bandits will continue to retreat!"

As a disciple of Guanglu Xun Liu Kuan, Fu Xie understood Huangfu Song's situation better than Zou Jing.

In fact, Huangfu Song could have just waited for the Yellow Turban Army to take the initiative to attack, thus reducing casualties. If the siege continued, the Guangzong bandits would surely die, but he had to fight a decisive battle in advance.

The reason is simple: the patience of the Emperor of Luoyang has been exhausted.

In this situation, not only the Yellow Turban Army in Guangzong City could not hold on, but Huangfu Song also ran out of time.

Lu Zhi failed to capture Guangzong for two months and was imprisoned and sent to the capital;
Dong Zhuo failed to capture Xiaquyang in two months and was also taken to the Supreme Court for trial.
It has been almost two months since Huangfu Song took over the Han army camp in Guangzong.

If there is no breakthrough in the battle, I am afraid Huangfu Song will follow in the footsteps of the two.

Even the Emperor of Luoyang might have been considering whether to let Zhu Jun take over.

So what Zou Jing said just now was completely self-righteous.

Huangfu Song naturally knew that he might win a small victory if he went to battle now, but what if he scared the Yellow Turban Army away? Then, no matter how reluctant he was, he would have no choice but to bite the bullet and attack!
"Alas~~~Nan Rong knows me!" Huangfu Song couldn't help but sighed on the cloud car.

Upon hearing this, Zou Jing could only retreat with an embarrassed look on his face.

Fortunately, Huangfu Song did not agree, otherwise it would be uncertain whether he could come back alive.

……

Under the city of Guangzong, the Yellow Turban Army's formation was a little chaotic, but after a yellow flag with the words "Ren Gong General" written on it was raised high, the noise gradually subsided.

Especially when an old man who looked to be Zhang Jue appeared on the city wall to watch the battle under the protection of a group of Yellow Turban leaders, the Yellow Turban formation suddenly calmed down.

When the old man in yellow clothes and holding a staff under the flag of "General Tiangong" drew a talisman in the air, the Yellow Turban Army under the city immediately turned red in the face and shouted in unison with fanatical eyes, "The blue sky is dead, the yellow sky should be established, the year is Jiazi, and the world is prosperous", as if they were really blessed by some talisman.

Even though they were far away, the deafening roar still made Wei Zhe's scalp tingle.

The power of religion to deceive people is indeed extraordinary.

No matter what the Yellow Turban Army believed in, they were now blessed by their faith.

It was for this reason that the Taoist priests of the Taiping Sect, led by Zhang Jue, rose up in eight states and gathered millions of people.

For a moment, all the generals on the cloud chariot looked solemn.

However, Huangfu Song was not a good man.

As the surging sound of war drums rang out, the Han army also became more eager to fight and kill.

Seeing that the main force of the Yellow Turban Army had finally been deployed, Huangfu Song no longer waited and watched.

Since the Yellow Turbans had fewer cavalry than infantry, Huangfu Song first ordered Niu Fu and Duan Wei to lead 5,000 cavalry to attack the Yellow Turbans' right flank, disrupting the Yellow Turban formation. Zhang Liang, who was in the main Yellow Turban formation, was not to be outdone and immediately ordered 3,000 Yellow Turban cavalry to meet the enemy.

Although these killers under Dong Zhuo's command are unruly, their killing skills are also top-notch.

Under the command of Niu Fu and Duan Wei, Xu Rong, Li Jue, Guo Si, Zhang Ji, Fan Chou, Hu Zhen, and others, each leading hundreds or even thousands of cavalry, peeled back the Yellow Turban cavalry formations layer by layer like a pack of wolves. As they galloped, they dispersed and gathered, their movements smooth and effortless, as if they were one entity. While maximizing the enemy's destruction, they also minimized their own casualties.

On the high platform, when Wei Zhe saw this scene, he couldn't help but show admiration on his face.

With such a strong army under his command, it is no wonder that Dong Zhuo was able to stir up trouble in the world in the future.

However, the Yellow Turban Army also has its own advantages. If there are not enough cavalry, then the infantry will make up for it.

They couldn't play well with the infantry and tanks, but when groups of Yellow Turbans rushed over with spears in hand, ready to die, even fierce men like Niu Fu and Duan Wei had to give way.

After all, cavalry charges also require certain rules, rather than foolishly perishing together. Otherwise, exchanging one cavalryman for three infantrymen would be a loss.

So the two sides got into a fight, and in an instant the field was filled with the neighing of people and horses, and blood and flesh flying everywhere.

But everyone knows that the advantage is on the side of the Han army.

As time passed, it was inevitable that this group of Yellow Turban infantry and cavalry would be swallowed up by Niu Fu, Duan Wei and others.

Perhaps it was precisely because of this that the Yellow Turban Army took the initiative to attack without waiting for Huangfu Song to make another move.

I saw a strong man with a flag named "Zhang" on his back, riding a white horse, leading 30,000 infantry and cavalry to attack the left wing of the Han army. He was so fierce that the Han army's formation was weakened for a while.

This man was so brave and powerful that even Huangfu Song, who was watching the battle from his cloud chariot, couldn't help but ask, "Who is this?"

If it were anyone else, it would be easy to explain, but this Wei Zhe happened to know him and immediately stepped out of the group, bowing and saying, "General, this man is nicknamed Zhang Niujiao, and he is the Guangzong bandit commander. He has Chu Feiyan, Guo Daxian, Yu Du, Zuo Xi Zhangba and other stubborn bandits under his command. He is quite fierce."

He thought for a moment and added, "I've fought this man several times before, and from his accent, I think he's from Changshan."

Huangfu Song couldn't help but shook his head when he heard this, perhaps feeling it was a pity that the brave warrior could not be used by the country.

(End of this chapter)