On the first day of March, the grass grows and orioles fly, and people's hearts become chaotic.
"Commander Qu!" This morning, in the main camp of the Yellow Turban Army rear army, Cheng Yuanzhi, who had just finished breakfast, was discussing military affairs with the 'little commanders' and 'deputy commanders' at all levels. Suddenly, a man wrapped in
Ordinary soldiers with yellow turbans rushed in in panic. "The Han soldiers have just sent out another round of raids on the left front camp!"
In the big tent, a group of young handsome men all changed their colors after hearing this. Without waiting for Cheng Yuanzhi to say anything, they started asking questions:
"Who is coming this time?"
"Why is this so early in the morning?"
"The red-faced one or the white-faced one?"
"The one riding the white horse or the mongrel?"
"How many shares came?"
"Has the raid reached our central camp?"
"There are many Yuyang brothers in Zuoying. Have you ever killed any of my acquaintances?"
By the way, among the series of problems, the biggest problem of the Yellow Turban Army itself has been exposed. These people who were Taoists, powerful men, rangers, and farmers before, really don’t understand military affairs!
In such a top-level military meeting that is a matter of life and death, let a soldier barge in directly and reveal the general's secrets? Then a group of young commanders ignored "Qu Shuai" Cheng Yuanzhi and were able to bypass the commander and start the meeting directly here.
Small meeting?!
This does not mean that they do not respect the authority of Cheng Yuanzhi. The latter is a disciple of the great virtuous master. He was Dafang Qushuai of Taiping Road in Guangyang many years ago. How could they not respect him?
In fact, after Cheng Yuanzhi listened for a while and shouted, the camp quickly became quiet.
However, another question is, why didn't Cheng Yuanzhi stop these people from the beginning and maintain order? Because he also had no military experience and literacy, he instinctively felt that this was wrong, but he didn't know what to do.
This Yellow Turban Army Commander is in his forties. He has a dark complexion, vulgar language, and rude behavior. He looks like an old farmer. But in fact, his family is a well-known powerful family in Guangyang, and he has always been somewhat prestigious.
However, in his father's generation, he was probably too majestic, so he was hit by a certain Guangyang governor as a political achievement. His father was beheaded, and half of the family property was confiscated. Then the three brothers Cheng Yuanzhi
All of them were also sentenced to Chengdan, and they were released after six years.
After his punishment was over, Cheng Yuanzhi wanted to live a peaceful life without imitating his father's prestige. But suddenly a great epidemic hit, and both his brothers died of the disease. Only he was the one who died after drinking too much.
After the good master's Fu Shui survived, he completely changed his mind. He almost gave up his family and property and devoted his life to serving the great good master.
For such a person, what he is best at is telling the "Taiping Sutra", his second best is the ditch-digging skill that he learned during his years as a Chengdan, and his favorite is making water talismans... However, he has always been somewhat deficient in this skill, so
As for many people who drank the talisman water he made, they still died quickly.
But no matter what, he really doesn't know how to lead troops, even if he becomes a general!
"Don't yell or talk nonsense." Cheng Yuanzhi sat on a captain's chair and pointed at the intruder. "Reporter, tell me first, what happened this time?
Already?!"
The military tent immediately became quiet.
"This time it's the one with a red face and a long beard who is specially equipped to carry a sword." The yellow scarf soldier responded with a bitter face. "He came with twenty people. He killed twenty of us at the beginning and then went back.
But Liu Qiang and Liu Xiaoshuai from Hengzhou felt aggrieved because their younger brother was killed by this red-faced giant last time, so this time they borrowed seven or eight crossbows in advance and waited at the intersection of Qianying early, waiting for the red-faced giant to lead his men.
When he was returning, he suddenly fired an arrow..."
"No wonder Liu Qiang is not here." Someone couldn't hold it back for a moment.
"Why are you talking about this? Did you ever shoot that red-faced giant?!" Someone else interrupted and asked.
"The giant man was shot, but the giant man was wearing iron armor and was not injured. It's just that the four Han soldiers were killed on the spot." At this point, the face of the yellow scarf soldier who reported the news became even more ugly. "The four Han soldiers were killed on the spot." Three Han soldiers died on the spot, but one fell to the ground and shouted, "General, are you going to abandon me?" As a result, the giant man turned around, squinted his eyes, took out his big knife, and took advantage of Liu Xiaoshuai and the others before they could draw the second crossbow. , rushed directly to the front, cut Xiao Shuai in half from his shoulders to his waist, and his blood flowed through half of the camp... Then he snatched away the crossbows and rescued the Han soldier. Only then Back to the city!"
After the yellow turban soldier finished speaking, he left directly, and this time, the military tent was quiet for a long time.
However, no matter how long the silence lasted, he had to start talking again. Cheng Yuanzhi, who was sitting at the top of the middle, held the handle of the imperial chair with both hands. He lowered his head and thought for a long time, but he could only raise his head and ask: "Let's talk about it. Can't we just ask the big guys to come?" Are you asking about this? There are more than ten trips a day, and there are 20 people in each trip. I can’t stand it!"
How do the leaders of the Yellow Turban Army know what to say?
"We are all young commanders recognized by General Digong. What should we do if we don't say anything? Deputy Commander Zhang, you are the oldest, please tell me." In desperation, Cheng Yuanzhi had no choice but to call his name.
Deputy Commander Zhang, who was already in his fifties this year, looked at Cheng Yuanzhi, his superior, in bewilderment upon hearing this, and was helpless.
In other words, Deputy Commander Zhang really didn’t want to talk, and he didn’t even want to rebel!
He was originally a wealthy man in Anci City, Guangyang County. He had no worries about food and clothing, and at his age... he was almost fifty. He was considered an old man with extremely high standards these days, and he really had no pursuits. However, who let him Ten days ago, Anci County Lieutenant Deng Mao suddenly gathered the county's powerful right-wingers, wealthy households, and knights to plot a rebellion?!
With the shining knife standing there, you don't think about your own life, but also think about your precious son who is only seventeen years old? The latter spends all day wandering around, getting entangled with those rangers. On that day, Deng Mao started an uprising in the county. This guy actually followed the first one and killed someone... What else would he do if he didn't follow?
So, Deputy Commander Zhang had to make do with the Yellow Turbans. Then because of his age, he was pushed by Deng Mao to become a leader. Finally, he was accepted by the Yellow Turban Army as deputy commander.
But now that his commander-in-chief Cheng Yuanzhi asked him to speak, he could only make do with it.
"This will definitely not work." Deputy Commander Zhang also put on a sad face. "I have counted. The day we set up camp on the 26th night does not count, and today does not count. It is only the 27th and the 28th. In two days, the Han army came fifty or sixty times, each time with 20 or 30 people. They killed people and then left. In total, there were seven or eight hundred people killed or injured, but the Han army only killed a few dozen people. People... But let me tell you, the key is not to die. It doesn't necessarily matter if some mud-legged people die. We have an army of 30,000! But they come every day and keep coming. Everyone in the military camp is in panic and can't live without food. , I can’t sleep well, I can’t walk without fear, and I can’t do anything! Just like Cheng Shuai said, if he continues like this, he is not a problem. If he continues like this for three to five days, maybe the officials in the city... the Han army in the city Once we have gathered enough manpower and energy, and then suddenly tens of thousands of people will come out with these cavalry, we will lose the battle!"
Everyone nodded, saying that Deputy Commander Zhang was right to the point. Cheng Yuanzhi also nodded... However, after the latter nodded, he found that the other party seemed to have said nothing?
It’s also awesome!
Of course, the really powerful ones are the Han cavalry, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, not the Yellow Turban commanders who only hide in the rear camp, or even Gongsun Xun... Don't look at the fact that Gongsun Prefect was confident and stood at the top of the city.
With a wave of his hand, he defeated the enemy in ten days, and defeated the enemy in seven or eight days. It seemed that he could make the thirty thousand yellow scarves surrender directly with a flip of his hand. It also seemed that the courage of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei was under the strategizing of Gongsun Prefect.
It seemed like it was completely worth mentioning in front of me.
But in fact, in the final analysis, his so-called "strategy" is precisely to rely on the bravery of people like Guan Yu.
Gongsun Xun noticed at that time that the military quality of the Yellow Turban Army was extremely poor. They obviously had thousands of cavalry due to the participation of rangers and powerful warriors, but they did not know how to use them intensively. Moreover, they did not have particularly effective means of military response to each other.
The distribution of the camps was also in disarray. More importantly, they also lacked truly powerful warriors... This allowed Guan Yunchang to lead the twenty Youzhou Rangers who had just joined the army, and they could come and go freely as if they were in an uninhabited land.
What does this mean? This shows that the Yellow Turban Army is simply unable to cope with such a small-scale elite cavalry assault!
In this case, why couldn't Gongsun Xun let Guan Yu make more trips?
In addition, Zhang Fei was asked to take twenty people to run several times a day!
Then Han Dang, who is skilled in bow and horse, Wei Yue, who grew up under the Yin Mountain and is naturally good at this kind of tactics, and Liu Bei, who is the leader of the rangers, have been used to it from the beginning.
Yang Kai, who led a small group of cavalry to deal with the miscellaneous troops... let them all go!
More than 1,200 local Youzhou rangers who brought their own horses and spears were selected from the best. Four hundred were selected and divided into twenty teams, with twenty people in each team. They took turns following these outstanding generals to sweep out!
There is no deliberate tactical goal, just killing people. Bringing back ten heads will be considered a passing grade, and twenty or more heads will be specially rewarded!
Money, silk, military positions, official positions, and even beautiful maids can all be rewarded!
Aren't these rangers just joining the army and not good at fighting in large groups? Then let them fight in their favorite way!
What can you, the Yellow Turban Army, do? The infantry cannot catch up, and the small group of cavalry dare not face these powerful generals directly, so they can only be beaten passively.
And if the Yellow Turban Army has been passively being beaten and has nothing to do, then don't blame the morale of the army for its declining. After seven or eight consecutive days, Gongsun Xun has enough confidence to use the newly recruited soldiers and even those who were forced to defend the city.
All the prisoners were pulled out and asked to use wooden poles to hold the newly cast iron spearheads, and launch a long-lived charge!
A small trick may not be useless, nor may it have a solution.
Sure enough, in the back tent of the Yellow Turban Army, everyone talked and talked, but still got nothing, and Cheng Yuanzhi became more and more anxious.
"How about asking General Digong to send some yellow scarf warriors? Doesn't it mean that those yellow scarf warriors will become invulnerable after drinking the talisman water?" One person suddenly asked seriously.
Everyone nodded, showing hope, but Cheng Yuanzhi immediately shook his head, and became even more irritated... Are you kidding me? Not to mention that Fu Shui can only cure diseases, how can it be invulnerable? There is a real Yellow Turban Warrior, he Cheng
Yuanzhi has no shame to invite you!
"We must not ask for the support of General Digong!" At this moment, a man who had been silent until now suddenly spoke up, and he spoke plausibly. "General Digong is all from Jizhou, and we are all from Youzhou. This
We only asked for reinforcements two and a half days after arriving at the city. Those who knew knew how powerful the Han army leaders in front of them were, and those who didn’t knew thought that we Youzhou people were all useless... If we had invited reinforcements this time, General Digong would be the best in the future.
What should we do if they look down upon us Youzhou people? What should we do if Huang Tianli rises and only appoints officials to Jizhou people?!"
"That makes sense." Cheng Yuanzhi shifted uneasily in the Taiwei chair. "Besides, things are not that bad... After all, General Digong didn't ask us to come to Zhuoxian this time.
Our purpose in attacking the city is to keep the newly arrived Governor of Zhuo County, Gongsun Xun, away from rescuing Fan Yang. When the general leads an army of 50,000 and defeats Fan Yang, he will come and join forces with us... By then
, we have 80,000, maybe even 100,000... 100,000 troops are besieging the city, what else can't we eat?! Difficulties are all temporary, don't feel like the sky is falling because of such trivial matters."
Everyone in the tent was shocked when they heard this... Ten days ago, they couldn't believe what an army of 10,000 would look like, and then suddenly there would be an army of 30,000. Listening to this, there will be an army in a few days.
An army of one hundred thousand... What does this mean? This means that Huang Tian will eventually stand up, and as the leader of the Yellow Turban Army under Huang Tian, sooner or later he will become a prefect or county magistrate.
In this case, we really can't call for reinforcements easily. The province is looked down upon by Jizhou.
But...if we can't solve the trouble at hand, I'm afraid it won't work, right?
"Deputy Commander Deng." Cheng Yuanzhi looked at the person who had just spoken with a hint of hope. "You have been a county lieutenant before. You have the most knowledge in our army. Tell me, how can you survive?"
"I do have an idea." The man from before, the former Anci County Captain Deng Mao, heard this and sat up straight with his chest raised and his belly raised. He had been waiting here for a long time. "But I'm afraid you guys won't be happy.
!”
"Hurry up!" Cheng Yuanzhi couldn't help but urge. "It's related to the overall situation. Who is willing or unhappy?"
Deng Mao glanced at the people in the tent expressionlessly, and then turned to Cheng Yuanzhi and presented his strategy: "My method is actually simple. Just put all the cavalry in our army together and exchange them."
Give it to me to use uniformly!"
Everyone was either puzzled or hesitant.
"Everyone thinks about it," Deng Mao said, but he just explained seriously to Cheng Yuanzhi. "Didn't the Han army just rely on the cavalry to come and go like the wind, and then fight in small groups and be powerful? Then we will use the cavalry in our hands.
Put the cavalry together and wait until the Han army comes out. Regardless of which route they come from or which gate they come out from, I will only intercept the deepest one among them and rush over with thousands of cavalry, shooting arrows and thrusting spears.
There are only twenty people, and you can drown them all! If you can kill two or three groups in a row, I'm afraid the Han troops in the city won't dare to come out, right?"
Cheng Yuanzhi thought carefully, then slammed the handle of the chair, and pointed his finger at the other marshals in the tent: "I won't hide it from you, I don't know how this method works, but Deputy Marshal Deng is the only one at this time.
If you have an idea, if you have no other way, you have to do it according to this! Whoever hides his own cavalry and is unwilling to hand it over is disloyal to General Tiangong! I will punish him, understand.
Yet?!"
Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Although they knew in their hearts that Deng Mao wanted the cavalry in everyone's hands, they did not dare to say anything and could only stand up and agree.
When Deng Mao saw that the situation had been decided, he couldn't help but feel happy. If these more than a thousand cavalry were in his hands, where would they go?
So, he immediately stood up and patted his chest towards Cheng Yuanzhi: "Don't worry, Commander Cheng, these thousand cavalrymen were given to me this morning... red-faced ones, white-faced ones, long beards and whiskers, I will capture one of them alive for you today."
"
Cheng Yuanzhi also nodded with satisfaction... I still need this momentum!
And just when Marshal Cheng was about to say a few words of encouragement, another out-of-breath yellow turban soldier suddenly broke into the military tent, attracting everyone's attention.
"Commander Qu!" The second yellow turban soldier who broke into the military tent was still pale, which complemented the previous one. "The Han army came to sweep again. This time it was the bearded deputy commander Zhang's son.
It was Deputy Commander Deng's foster brother who couldn't stand it, so he gathered fifty cavalrymen to stop him, but he was stabbed to death with a spear!"
There was a moment of silence in the military tent.
————I am the dividing line that is speechless————
"Taizu fought against the Yellow Turbans in Zhuo County. The Yellow Turbans had more than 30,000 elite soldiers and thousands of horses. Taizu divided his generals Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Han Dang, Qianzhao, Wei Yue, Yang Kai, etc., each with dozens of cavalry, into a galloping attack.
The Yellow Turban army formed a formation, and on one day or three or four, they all came out with beheaded heads. After fighting for several days, the Yellow Turbans gradually became exhausted." - "Dian Lue". Notes by Yan Pei Song.
ps: This tactic was used by Lu Bu in history when he fought against Zhang Yan's Black Mountain bandits. A small group of elite troops launched successive assaults, and the result was "the Yan army was defeated in a continuous battle of more than ten days."
