Yang Dian was in a daze. When General Zhu Nan told them that they were surrounded, he didn't react.
But soon the boil outside grew louder and louder, and the enemies outside obviously raised their torches and howled in the darkness.
Yang Dian did not dare to delay any longer, put on his clothes and armor, and quickly led the guards to the outside of the camp.
Only here did he know who were surrounding them.
Through the light of the fire, he saw some martial regiments with disheveled hair and tattered armor. They were probably broken troops who had been scattered in several battles and then wandered into groups in the wild.
But don't these hopeless remnants of soldiers only dare to hunt small settlements? I have hundreds of soldiers here, but they actually have the courage to stroke the tiger's beard?
In the darkness, Yang Dian couldn't see exactly how many enemies were coming and whether there were any ambushes behind him, so he just shouted loudly:
"Don't be blind, we have more knives here than you. If you don't want to die, move away. Otherwise, if you hit Naigong Sword Mountain, you will die in vain."
Yang Dian's strong voice made the hunting group on the opposite side obviously commotion. Some of them, after watching eagerly, saw that these soldiers were not easy to mess with, so they could only retreat into the darkness unwillingly.
But some of them were obviously hungry, or had other means of support. They didn't say anything, but just stayed around Yang Dian and others.
Still unwilling to give up after seeing these tour groups, Zhu Nan, the general on the side, asked Yang Dian fiercely:
"General, I think these people are going crazy with hunger. If we don't kill a group of them, they won't disperse without seeing blood."
Yang Dian shook his head and said to Zhu Nan:
"No, it's too risky. Who knows who else is behind these dog slaves? We can't let our brothers take this risk."
After thinking for a while, Yang Dian said to Zhu Nan:
"In this way, I will divide the team into five teams, and each team will be worth half an hour. It will only take about two or three hours until dawn. I will lead the guards to guard the first round. That's it."
Jun Nan nodded and went to call some team generals.
Nothing happened all night. Obviously, the tour group on the opposite side was not sure where these soldiers came from and how many swords they had, so they did not dare to attack.
On October 25th, Tiangang Buddha dawned.
Yang Dian stared at the bloodshot eyes and came outside the tent area. Only then did he see clearly the reality on the other side. And when he saw it, he couldn't help but take a breath.
Outside their tent area, people were crowded together, all falling on the ground and sleeping soundly. At this time, some of the bonfires from last night also turned into curls, making it look particularly desolate.
Yang Dian swallowed his saliva. These tour groups were probably in the thousands. Where did so many people come from?
Just when Yang Dian was surprised, the people on the other side also woke up and apparently saw the true number of soldiers they surrounded last night, and all of a sudden they boldly surrounded them.
Yang Dian was also a ferocious man, so he was forced into a corner and became more ruthless. He took the lead in pulling out his sword, and then the whole village began to form a formation, preparing to launch an attack on these tour groups.
Just as the two sides were tense, a weak voice suddenly came from behind the tour group:
"Are they the Yellow Turban Soldiers from Taiping Road across the street?"
Yang Dian and the others of the Taishan Army were all dressed in black, but in order to show their relationship with the Yellow Turban Army, they also kept wearing yellow turbans on their heads, so it is no wonder that the other side would ask this when they saw them.
Yang Dian said loudly:
"We are the Taishan Army from Henan. Who are you?"
Who knew that these words directly caused a huge commotion. It was obvious that there was a big dispute on the opposite side. Then, Yang Dian couldn't understand, and the tour group of a thousand people immediately divided into three groups.
The tour group that had just formed a group to confront the Taishan Army was divided because of Yang Dian's words.
Then Yang Dian saw a group of tourists, obviously with broken clothes and armor, leaving first. Then another group came up and said to Yang Dian:
"The Taishan Army is so powerful that everyone across the river knows it. My brothers were so hungry that they didn't know it was your army. So they collided with each other. Let's leave now."
Yang Dian thought for a while and asked the guards to bring a cart of military rations.
The guards pushed the rations to the middle of the confrontation and then withdrew.
Yang Dian shouted back to the other side:
"This is the rations given by our Taishan Army to all the heroes. We, the Taishan Army, will stay here from now on and are establishing camps on both sides of the Zhang River. If you heroes are trustworthy and want to give your families a happy life, you can go. And you can go as many as you want.
, collect more.”
This is how Yang Dian planned to give these people military rations. Although he is a local, most of the Taishan Army are not. If he gives the locals a sense of authority when he first comes here, it will not be conducive to a good fight between them and the locals.
relationship. So Yang Dian came up with the Huairou method.
They all brought their military rations from Aocang, and they brought a lot of them this time to look for Lieren's Yellow Turban troops. So it was not a loss to exchange a cart of grain for a piece of propaganda.
How did you make this friend? He is generous and generous.
With this car and millet clearing the way, the tour group obviously became more lively. Even the leaders who were originally hiding behind showed their broken teeth and said some flattering words to Yang Dian and the others.
In the end, these people hurriedly pushed the grain cart and left. As for what Yang Dian said about going back to Zhangshui to farm and settle down, the leaders forgot after hearing this.
Just kidding, it took a lot of effort to gather these people, but if they go to Na Laoshi's camp, won't they disperse immediately? They are not that stupid. They just take a cart of grain without losing their lives. It's not a loss.
But the news that the Taishan Army took root in Yecheng finally reached everyone's ears. And this will eventually spread to the settlements along the Zhangshui River. I believe that as long as the Taishan Army makes a show, it will be a matter of time before the population returns to the settlement.
In this way, three groups of people left and two groups left. In the last group of people, a stout man with a yellow scarf came out from the crowd. With red eyes, he stepped on Yang Dian and said tremblingly:
"Are you really the Taishan Army?"
Yang Dian nodded, and then he saw the rough man opposite him suddenly burst into tears.
While Yang Dian was wondering, the man told his origins.
It turned out that this person was Zhang E, the retinue of the general Zhang Liang. Ever since Zhang Liang died in battle at Julu City, Zhang E had escaped from the army with more than a dozen retinues and wandered around on the north bank of Zhang River.
Originally, he was going to go to Zhang Liang's disciples to pay homage to his grandson, but because Lu Zhi's Hebei Han army surrounded him three times, he was unable to enter the city and could only continue to wander around with the group that came out.
After crying to vent his anger, Zhang E recovered and said to Yang Dian:
"Take me to see your commander-in-chief. I have something important to tell him."
Yang Dian looked at him in embarrassment, shook his head and said:
"I'm afraid that won't work. I also have a mission. Besides, Qu Shuai is far away in Yecheng, and we don't have anyone to take you there."
This was Yang Dian's reply, but what he didn't say was, how do I know if you are a guard of General Ren Gong? If a Han soldier died and he sent him to Commander Qu, wouldn't that be the end of it?
So Yang Dian refused directly.
But Zhang E still refused to give up and pressed further:
"You are going to join the crowd, okay? Take me with you. I'm going to see the commander of Ji Qu."
Seeing Yang Dian still denying his determination, Zhang E directly threatened:
"I have something important going on, and you are trying to shirk things. Aren't you afraid of missing something important? When the time comes, you will never be able to redeem yourself."
Yang Dian secretly cursed the trouble, and after asking Zhang E to lead the group as his guide, he had no choice but to agree.
In this way, Zhang E brought a group of hundreds of people and followed Yang Dian's Pioneer Village to continue heading east. On the way, Yang Dian also found out from Zhang E the origin of the group that surrounded them last night.
Ever since the war in Hebei Province began, Jizhou has been in chaos. There are begging groups everywhere who can't survive. The one in the northern part of Wei County was originally a small tourist group nearby that couldn't survive.
However, following several large-scale battles such as the Battle of Julu and the Battle of Lieren, many deserters from the Han army and Hebei Yellow Turban deserters fell into these tour groups, and gradually gained leadership authority by force.
Just like the thousand-man tour group that surrounded Yang Dian last night, it can be divided into three categories. The group that ran away first was led by deserters from the Han army. They were worried that the Taishan Army would annihilate them after knowing their origins, so they ran away first.
.
The group that took the cart of grain sent by Yang Dian were local tycoons from nearby. Their relationship with the Han army was not harmonious, because a group of them had escaped from death on the battlefield and knew how the Han army was not willing to fight.
Take their lives seriously.
The last group was led by Zhang E. Most of them were poor or pro-Taiping Taoists.
After hearing this, Yang Dian asked Zhang E doubtfully:
"You guys have grievances against each other, how can you still unite to surround us?"
Zhang E leisurely said:
"What are the grievances from the past? We have to do our best to stay alive. This time, it's not that we really don't have food, and we won't come to seek bad luck for you hundreds of people. But there is no way, if people don't eat, they will
You will die. Who cares about this in order to survive?"
Yang Dian nodded and said nothing more. After all, he still had great doubts about this person who claimed to be the general and the retinue of the general.
To put it simply, you are the personal general of General Renggong, and now General Renggong has died in the battle, and you are still alive. Isn't this a deserter? Or even more seriously, this is someone who has abandoned his master.
He, Yang Dian, has nothing to talk about with such an unjust and shameless person.
So in this depressing situation, the Taishan Army Pioneer Village walked about ten miles and came to an earthen village.
This earth village is located on a flat open land, and there is a vegetable field inside. Yang Dian knew when he saw this that this earth village must have an origin.
Why do you say?
The area around here has been so damaged by the war, but this village is still safe and sound. Doesn't this explain the problem?
This is what Yang Dian learned from Zhang E. It is said that this family is a wealthy family named Feng, and the Feng family in Yecheng does not have five clothes, so the Han soldiers in Hebei are given a decent place and no one harasses them.
But this falls into the hands of Yang Dian, and this kind of rich man is exactly what he wants to attack.
So, Yang Dian ordered an attack, and he stormed into the village in less than two seconds. This made Zhang E, who was watching the battle on the side, a bit stunned.
This kind of heirloom wall is small but strong. It's true that they have never attacked it in the past, but they always surrounded it and relied on human lives to fill it. How could it be broken so easily?
Just like this, Zhang E had a more intuitive understanding of the combat power of the Taishan Army, and once again strengthened his determination.
Later, the Taishan Army Pioneer Tunnel seized dozens of sheep, hundreds of chickens, and hundreds of grains of millet from Fengjiazhai. Yang Dian did not lose his own people, so he asked his brothers to kill sheep and chickens and make a meal.
A cheerful lunch.
Zhang E's tour group was also called by Yang Dian to help. During the food preparation, the two groups got a lot closer.
The smoke from the cooking pots curled up, and the smell of meat mixed with the smell of millet and rice was so appetizing that it only made those beggars who relied on stems and roots to feel so happy that they felt like they were in heaven.
Soon, everyone had several pieces of mutton and two chickens. A large pot of corn rice mixed with mutton soup was passed around, and everyone ate it heartily with ladles.
The people in the tour group only have one thought in their minds: this life is worth it.
An hour later, Yang Dian led the team to continue setting off. This time, everyone's morale was high, and many people sang local folk songs, which spread far and wide with the wind.
On the way, they encountered another Lishe, but it had long been in ruins. When passing by an ancestral hall in the center of the Lishe, the people in the team discovered that this ancestral hall was also an ancestral hall to worship Huang Tian.
So, everyone entered the ancestral hall, pulled up weeds, worshiped Huang Tian for a while, and then continued to set off.
As soon as everyone left, a few wild foxes emerged from the sacred bank and disappeared.
This time they had not gone very long when a general from the rear team rushed to Yang Dian and said that the original group of tourists had followed again, and that the leader was the deserter from the Han army.
Yang Dian looked at the sky and asked Nashi General to continue to be on guard. Then he led the team and continued to move forward. Zhang E told him that the troops were not far away and Yang Dian did not want to waste time here with the defeated soldiers.
The team continued walking, and soon Hou Shi reported back, saying that they had fought back and drove those people away. So Yang Dian paid no more attention to those tour groups.
Afterwards, Yang Dian led the team to a stream, which is a small branch of Zhangshui River. Rivers and creeks like this are dotted all over Hebei.
In the Han Dynasty, Hebei was not entirely a plain, but had many low-lying areas. The water veins branching off from the Taihang Mountains gathered in the low-lying areas to form rivers and lakes.
Moreover, there is the Yellow River on the edge of Hebei. When the Yellow River flows eastward from its source, it carries a large amount of sediment through the high loess slopes. As a result, in the gentle areas around Hebei, the water flow decreases and the sediment is deposited. This causes the river bed downstream to rise.
, once the Yellow River overflows, it will flow from both sides, causing the Yellow River to often change its course.
Only in the Eastern Han Dynasty did the Yellow River change its course once, and its mouth was diverted from Hebei to Shandong. It was precisely because the Yellow River often flooded that it left Hebei with rich silt as soil, shaping the fertile Hebei.
Yang Dian led his people to explore the stream, and when they saw that the water was knee deep, they decided to wade the team directly across the river.
But as soon as this person passed halfway, a wave of people came from the other side and shouted:
"Kill the thief!"
When Yang Dian heard this, he thought it was still the same group of arrogant remnant soldiers from before, so he became furious, pulled out his sword and cursed:
"It's really a man's fault. If we don't kill him today and make a river of blood, they won't be afraid."
But just when he was leading people to wade through the water, Zhang E suddenly ran forward and shouted as he walked:
"We are all our own people."
But it turned out that Zhang E had good eyesight, and when he saw the other person wearing a yellow scarf, he hurried up to stop him.
In this way, Yang Dian's Pioneer Village finally contacted Li Ren's Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, and the fight was over.