Han officials

Chapter 8: Knowing the Small Things
Peel dates in August and harvest rice in October.

As usual, now is the harvest season.

But now, outside Guangzong City, there were camps everywhere, flags waving, drums beating, horns neighing, horses roaring, and a solemn and murderous atmosphere.

"Damn it~ these Guangzong thieves are really hard to deal with!"

In the north of Guangzong City, in the barren fields, Zhong Hu was seen riding on his horse with his teeth bared and cursing.

Since Guangzong is bordered by Qinghe River to the east and the other three sides are plains, although Huangfu Song did not officially start the siege during this period, the two sides never stopped testing each other.

In order to cut off the connection between Guangzong City and the outside world, Lu Zhi had previously dug a trench to isolate the inside and the outside.

This method may seem clumsy but it is very useful. After all, there are more than 300,000 Yellow Turbans in Guangzong City. If the food supply in the city is completely cut off, Guangzong City will inevitably collapse due to lack of food resources over time.

It can be said that this move not only ensured the death of the Yellow Turbans in Guangzong, but also greatly reduced the casualties of the Han army.

It’s a pity that Lu Zhi was sent to the capital in prison before he could complete his mission.

Dong Zhuo then changed his strategy and chose to attack by force, but was still defeated and forced to retreat.

Now, after careful consideration, Huangfu Song made the same choice as Lu Zhi.

However, in order to appease Luoyang, he also showed an active offensive attitude.

That was to order the army to pile up earthen hills outside Guangzong City and continue to approach the city wall.

Once this method was used, the Yellow Turbans in Guangzong could no longer sit still.

After all, the Han army had more than 100,000 civilians. If they were allowed to carry the dirt, the dirt mountain would probably spread to the top of Guangzong City in just over a month.

As a result, the Yellow Turban Army in the city had to take the initiative to attack and often sent people to destroy it.

This has also caused Wei Zhe and others to be extremely busy recently. The infantrymen are idle and have nothing to do but hang their birds out to dry, but they have to take turns patrolling every day and have no time to rest.

"Okay, stop talking nonsense and go back to the camp first."

After carefully examining each corpse, Wei Zhe immediately rode away with a serious expression.

……

A moment later, Fu Xie arrived at the tent.

Wei Zhe reported to Fu Xie with a worried look on his face: "Sima, the Yellow Turbans of Guangzong may not be able to sit still anymore!"

Fu Xie's brows tightened when he heard this: "Is there any evidence?"

Wei Zhe shook his head helplessly: "The Yellow Turbans in Guangzong are all die-hard Zhang Jiao loyalists. Even if there are prisoners, no one will speak up."

Fu Xie was not anxious after hearing this. He knew that Wei Zhe was always cautious in his actions and would not have any groundless suspicions.

As expected, Wei Zhe went on to explain, "In addition to the Yellow Turbans' increasingly frequent probing, the Yellow Turban soldiers we've killed in recent days all look hungry. I've checked their toes and wounds on their bodies, and they're festering."

Having said that, Wei Zhe took out a small cloth bag from his arms and handed it to Fu Xie.

Fu Xie leaned over the table and saw a pile of gray objects the size of fists, like clods of earth, falling onto the table with a crisp sound. He immediately asked in confusion, "What is this?"

Upon hearing this, Wei Zhe's expression became complicated as he said, "These are all the rations for the Yellow Turban Army."

After saying this, he took the initiative to explain the reason without waiting for Fu Xie to ask him.

"Ever since General Huangfu ordered the construction of the earthen hill, our troops have fought dozens of battles with the Yellow Turban bandits over the past month, capturing many of these items."

Wei Zhe pointed at the gray military rations on the table and said, "In the beginning, the Yellow Turban army's rations included millet, sorghum, and wheat, but later they gradually became mainly bran. In recent days, they have mostly consisted of wild vegetables and tree bark."

At this point, Wei Zhe looked at Fu Xie solemnly and said, "Even though these guys aren't elite Yellow Turban warriors, judging by their combat power, they're still considered the main force of the Yellow Turbans. Even the main force's rations are so poor, so you can imagine how the others are doing."

"The Guangzong bandits have always been fierce, especially with their leader Zhang Jiao in charge. They will definitely not sit idly by and wait for death."

Before Wei Zhe finished speaking, Fu Xie's face had already changed to an extremely solemn color.

As the saying goes, "A single falling leaf heralds the coming of autumn." What Wei Zhe said could indeed explain some issues. Thinking of this, Fu Xie immediately stood up and headed towards Huangfu Song's tent.

Seeing this, Wei Zhe finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he knew that Guangzong City was eventually captured by Huangfu Song, he was not clear about the specific process, and he did not know on which day the decisive battle between the two sides took place.

In this situation, he is actually not much more relaxed than others.

Fortunately, Fu Xie was a man who listened to what was said, otherwise he would have eaten all those wild vegetables and tree barks in vain.

……

"Seeing the big picture from the small details, this man has great military talent!"

Inside the big tent, after listening to Fu Xie's retelling, Huangfu Song couldn't help but nod in admiration.

The last time Wei Zhe captured and killed Bu Si, Huangfu Song felt that he had great ambitions and was a talented person that could be cultivated.

Now it seems that with Wei Zhe's talents, becoming a captain is not a problem at all.

Fu Xie also agreed with what he said. If he hadn't known Wei Zhe's talent, he wouldn't have let him lead 600 cavalry alone.

It should be noted that cavalry has always been different from infantry and cannot be trained in just a few months.

Being able to ride a horse and being able to fight on horseback are two different concepts, and cavalry combat and foot combat are even more different.

If you don't understand the art of cavalry warfare, then let alone leading your troops into battle, you might even end up falling off your horse and men just by turning a corner.

After all, horses are different from humans. They don’t understand tactical movements. Humans can only understand the nature of horses.

This is also why most cavalry generals come from border areas.

However, if Wei Zhe did not have the memory of his original body and the continuous summary and learning afterwards, he would not be able to do it.

Of course, even if Wei Zhe's words made sense, Huangfu Song could not make a decision based on his opinion alone.

So after a while, scouts from the Han army camp were seen coming out in all directions.

At the same time, Huangfu Song also ordered to speed up the production of siege equipment in preparation for any eventuality.

Although the craftsmen in the baggage camp complained bitterly, they did not dare to delay for even a moment and had to work overnight.

On the other hand, Wei Zhe was not idle after returning from Fu Xie, and went directly to the nunnery.

The so-called "Anlu" is actually similar to a modern field hospital.

In the fifth year of Yanxi reign (162 AD), Huangfu Gui, the cousin of Huangfu Song, was on a campaign in Longyou when an epidemic broke out in the army, killing three to four out of ten soldiers. Huangfu Gui placed the patients with infectious diseases in a temporary designated nunnery to isolate them from healthy soldiers, and personally inspected the troops and provided them with medicine, which prevented the entire army from being annihilated.

As the nephew of Huangfu Gui, Huangfu Song naturally would not forget his own military strategy.

In fact, Huangfu Song should be regarded as the commander in the Han army who paid the most attention to military medical and health care.

Although Lu Zhi and Dong Zhuo were extraordinary, they were not like Huangfu Song, who came from a family of generals and had traditional military tactics.

For example, after Huangfu Song took over the Han army camp, he immediately readjusted the location of the "Anlu".

He also ordered that no one except medical officers and apprentices was allowed to enter without permission.

Even the military medical officers were disciplined by him and ordered to strictly follow the regulations.

The military doctor's attendance record, the soldier's injury record, the lost medicine box, etc. must all be complete and in order.

There's no way around it. It's hard to truly understand something like a major epidemic in the military without experiencing it yourself.

Huangfu Gui almost died from the plague that year, and most of the soldiers in the army died. You have to know that they were the elite soldiers under his command who had experienced many battles.

(End of this chapter)