The news that Guan Yu had conquered Qi had already reached Beihai.
But January and February are the two most important months for the Yellow Turbans, because they are busy with spring plowing.
Therefore, even if the news came through, it did not attract much attention. Land should be cultivated and cultivated, and the situation in Beihai remained chaotic.
Some people may wonder why the Beihai Yellow Turbans are farming honestly, but why is the situation still in chaos?
the reason is simple.
The Yellow Turbans and the Yellow Turbans are not subordinate to each other, and they attack each other from time to time.
Moreover, most of the Yellow Turban leaders are illiterate and have no ability in internal affairs, so they all do things according to their own preferences.
For example, from time to time you want to kill people, from time to time you want to rob, and from time to time you want to take people's wives and daughters.
The yellow turban soldiers at the bottom farmed the land mostly because of their own subjective actions and not under the orders of the leaders.
It is really difficult for these big bosses to manage the place.
So in fact, despite the fact that the Yellow Turbans occupied Donglai, Beihai, drove away the local powerful and corrupt officials, all the land was also in the hands of the Yellow Turbans.
But just because they didn't know how to govern, the local situation turned into a mess, even worse than when there were powerful officials.
In particular, they killed a large number of powerful people, and outside businessmen did not dare to go in and sell, and internal transactions were limited. This made it easy to lack daily necessities such as oil and salt, and even caused internal conflicts.
Therefore, when Guan Yu first entered Beihai, he attacked the city and captured the territory along the way. He easily broke through the city where Beihai was held and captured Pingshou County.
Once these two lands are obtained, a good situation has opened up. As long as we continue to push eastward, we can pacify the entire Beihai.
But what Guan Yu didn't expect was that when there were internal conflicts, the Yellow Turbans would continue to engage in internal conflicts and fight endlessly. But once external conflicts came in, they would immediately unite and deal with the outside world as one.
Under the leadership of Qu Shuai Zhang Rao, the largest Yellow Turban force in Beihai, an army of two to three hundred thousand Yellow Turbans gathered together. Guan Yu was caught off guard and was besieged in Pingshou.
If Guan Yu hadn't defended the city, and if the Yellow Turbans were not united and unwilling to attack desperately, Pingshou might have already been on the verge of collapse.
This situation is actually a transfer of contradiction.
Generally speaking, it is a method commonly used by politicians in later generations.
For example, in the German Empire that later triggered World War II, the country fell into internal conflicts. In order to solve these problems, the head of state resorted to launching wars to shift the conflicts.
The Yellow Turbans in Beihai were forced to shift their conflicts.
This was something Chen Mu had expected. Guan Yu had already guessed such a result when he asked for orders to attack Beihai.
But there is no way.
The internal conflicts within the Yellow Turbans in Beihai were a protracted war that continued until Kong Rong took office a few years later.
Later, Kong Rong wanted to get involved, but was almost wiped out by the Beihai Yellow Turbans.
Although Kong Rong can be regarded as one of the heroes of the late Han Dynasty, he had a miserable life in his own territory. Zhang Rao, Guan Hai and Guan Cheng took turns to bully him, and he was almost killed several times.
Later, he was beaten to the point of being displaced, and he could not even control the county he controlled. He finally fled to Zhuxu County, south of the county. The actual area under his control was only one county, which was far less glamorous than people imagined.
Therefore, it was precisely because the Yellow Turbans were rampant in Beihai and the turmoil lasted for too long that Chen Mu took advantage of this moment to send troops.
He couldn't wait that long.
Beihai is the territory he must capture. Otherwise, if he only captures the four areas of Le'an and Qi in the Jinan Plain, it not only borders Jizhou, Yanzhou, and Xuzhou, but also has millions of Yellow Turbans behind him. He will be attacked from both sides. This is something Chen Mu is not willing to face.
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Therefore, when Guan Yu had cleared Qi and the military was at its peak, he asked for orders to go to Beihai. Even though he knew that Guan Yu might encounter great trouble, Chen Mu had no choice but to agree.
Upstairs in Pingshou County City, Guan Yu looked at the endless Yellow Turban army outside the city and frowned slightly.
Why are these yellow scarves like locusts that can never be killed?
On the battlefield in Jizhou, Zhang Jiao only gathered 200,000 troops, and they were divided into various places. Now Zhang Rao under the city has gathered more than 300,000 troops, which is more than Zhang Jiao's men and horses. In one place, Qu Commander is more powerful than General Tiangong.
, where can I explain this?
"General, I know that Guan Cheng, Zhou Tao, Li Bo, Wang Dan and others have always been dissatisfied with Zhang Rao. If they gather together, they will definitely not work together. How about tonight I lead my troops to attack at night and disrupt their position."
Guan Hai was subdued by Guan Yu, and like Zhou Cang, he voluntarily obeyed Guan Yu's orders, and followed Guan Yu on the battlefield of Qi and made great contributions.
Because he knew the internal situation of the Yellow Turban better, he made suggestions.
Guan Yu shook his head: "The enemy is strong and we are weak. It is too dangerous for you to go out to fight in the city. We just need to defend the city and don't act rashly. I believe that after receiving the news, my fourth brother will definitely find a way to help us."
Guan Hai said loudly: "General, I am not afraid of death."
Guan Yu laughed, patted Guan Hai on the shoulder and said: "I know you are not afraid of death, but we have enough food and grass now, so there is no need to take risks. Wait patiently for a few more days and see what happens."
"All right."
Guan Hai reluctantly agreed and said, "If the general plans to go on an expedition, I am willing to be the vanguard."
"Um."
Guan Yu held on to the city wall, looked into the distance, said softly "Hmm", and said a little absently: "You are indispensable for charging into battle."
After being with Chen Mu for a long time, Guan Yu also got some influence. He often read military books, learned military tactics and strategies, and gradually became more patient. He was not as impulsive and competitive as before, and his character gradually became much calmer, and he had a vague demeanor of a general.
This is actually Chen Mu's influence on Guan Yu.
Those who are close to vermilion are red, those who are close to ink are black.
If you are with a reckless person, you will become a reckless person. If you are with a smart person, you will slowly learn to use your brain.
This is inevitable and has a lot to do with acquired influences.
So Guan Yu was thinking that his fourth brother might have received the news and sent reinforcements, so he could wait patiently for a few more days. At the same time, he couldn't help but think about what he would do if his fourth brother was here...
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Just as Guan Yu and Guan Hai were overlooking the dense and boundless 300,000 Yellow Turban army outside the city from the city tower, more than ten miles away, a small army of 1,000 people was slowly approaching the battlefield.
This army is all cavalry!
There are two horses for each person, the knight rides one, and pulls a horse carrying armor and weapons. There are stirrups on both sides, and the horseshoes are nailed with horseshoes.
The war horses did not gallop, but approached quietly and slowly, arriving at a hilly area more than ten miles away in Pingshou County.
Anyone who has ridden a horse on the grassland should know that it is difficult for a person to ride a horse for a long time. After running on the grassland for at most five or six hours, the horse will feel tired and automatically slow down.
The reason why Chen Mu and Liu Bei were able to ride a horse together was that, firstly, the horse was not galloping, but could be carried by the horse when walking slowly. Secondly, Liu Bei and Chen Mu were relatively light, and together they were only twice as heavy as Guan Yu.
It’s only thirty kilograms, so it won’t have much impact.
So it is actually difficult for one horse to carry two people for a long distance.
For example, in the Battle of Dangyang, the elite light cavalry of the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry were sent out, with one man and two horses, so that they could travel more than 300 miles day and night to intercept Liu Bei at Changbanpo.
Therefore, one person and two horses are the standard equipment of light cavalry.
One horse is used for riding, and the other is used to carry armor and weapons, which greatly increases the marching speed.
These thousand cavalrymen were regarded as Liu Bei's family assets, and the stirrups and horseshoes were upgraded with Chen Mu's help.
It's really not easy to get so many horses in Qingzhou.
Fortunately, Su Shuang and Zhang Shiping's business had reached Jinan, and Liu Bei spent a lot of money to buy some horses from them, and finally managed to collect 2,000 war horses.
Moreover, these cavalry are not ordinary cavalry. In addition to the soldiers being elite, another horse also carries armor on its back.
During the war, the cavalry wore seven or eight kilograms of small armor, and the horses were covered with more than ten kilograms of fish scale armor on both sides of their bodies to prevent them from being stabbed from the side.
Compared to the 20kg or more Dazha armor and the 40kg or more full-coverage heavy cavalry plate armor, the defensive power of these two sets of light armor is definitely far inferior.
But compared with many ordinary cavalry today that don't even have any defensive capabilities, the light cavalry covered with light armor, plus horseshoes and double stirrups is already a huge killing weapon.
Zhang Fei sat on his horse and went up to the hills with Ju Shou, looking far away at the endless Yellow Turban army on the plain in the distance.
"There are so many people."
It was the first time for the young Jushou to see such an exaggerated battlefield, and he was immediately shocked.
I saw on the horizon in the distance, countless people, densely packed, like an army of locusts, overwhelming and with no end in sight.
At the other end of the horizon, the Pingshou City Wall, which is nearly three feet high, looks as small as a drop in the ocean in front of this boundless sea of people, as if it will be rolled over at any time and trampled to pieces.
"Hahahahaha."
Zhang Fei laughed and said: "It's just a small battle between you and me, don't be afraid."
Jushu was infected by Zhang Fei's arrogance and felt courageous. He rolled his eyes and said, "I was just surprised that there were so many of them. How could I be afraid?"
"Then do you dare to charge into the battle with me and enter the city?"
Zhang Fei raised his spear and pointed at the Yellow Turban army.
Jushu shook his head: "Why don't you dare to do this? It's just that Sun Tzu said: Soldiers are a major event of the country, the place of life and death, and the way of survival. We must pay attention to them."
Zhang Fei felt a headache after hearing this, and grinned and said, "Speak in human language."
Jushu glanced at this big boss with disdain and said, "Don't be reckless. Observe the situation first and find the enemy's weakest point to rush in. This way we will face far fewer enemies."
"All right."
Zhang Fei shrugged: "Both my eldest brother and my fourth brother have told me to listen to you and do whatever you say."
Jushou observed carefully for a while and said: "The west gate seems to be the main attack direction of the Yellow Turbans. There are too many people to count. I don't believe there are so many people in other gates. Let's go and look elsewhere."
"Okay, let's go."
Zhang Fei turned his horse's head and led his soldiers in several other directions.
Ximen was indeed the main offensive force, led by Zhang Rao.
The Beihai Yellow Turbans were originally attacking each other, and there was serious internal strife.
Zhang Rao was the largest force, with more than 100,000 people. He originally wanted to take this opportunity to annex other forces, so he considered himself the leader and asked others to join him.
But Guan Cheng, Zhou Tao, Li Bo, Wang Dan and others were not vegetarians. Of course they knew Zhang Rao's ambitions and decided to build their own camp and not join forces with him.
As a result, the west gate had the largest number of troops, followed by the east gate. Li Bo and Wang Dan combined had 70,000 troops.
Guan Cheng and Zhou Tao had fewer men and horses, one with thirty thousand and the other with fifty thousand.
After Jushou's analysis, he decided to go to the north gate and use Zhou Tao as a breakthrough point.
Because although the number of Guan Cheng at the south gate was the smallest, only 30,000, Jushou found that Guan Cheng still had some military qualities. His troops were closely distributed and heavily defended, so it was not easy to rush through.
On the other hand, Zhou Tao's troops were extremely disorganized and uncultivated. Not only did they not have anyone on guard duty, they didn't even have anyone on patrol. They could easily rush through his defense zone.
"Armor-piercing!"
After determining the sprint direction, Zhang Fei gave a loud order.
All the cavalry dismounted, took off their weapons and armor from the other horse, moved quickly and skillfully, first put on the armor on themselves, and then helped the horses put on the light fish scale armor that protected the abdomen.
After a while, a fully armed semi-heavy cavalry that was converted from light cavalry and reached the standard of charging into the formation was ready.
"rush!"
Zhang Fei pointed his spear, clamped the horse's belly, and ordered to charge.
Outside Pingshou City, there is a vast plain area.
The cavalry set off with a roar, and two thousand horses with horseshoes galloped and beat on the ground, making a roaring sound.
Several miles away, Zhou Tao's Yellow Turban soldiers discovered the terrifying black line on the distant horizon.
"Enemy attack!"
A sharp roar cut through the void, waking everyone up.
Zhou Tao didn't even have time to put on his armor and ran out of the camp in a hurry. He only looked at him from a distance and almost lost his mind with fear.
The cavalry is actually a cavalry!
"Form up, bring me the spear, bring me the spear!"
Zhou Tao shouted heartbreakingly.
However, his troops were poorly trained and not prepared at all. Before the soldiers could get into formation, the cavalry had already arrived a mile away, and they were about to arrive in a blink of an eye.
Under Zhou Tao's desperate urging, the first row of spearmen finally formed their formation.
However, when the cavalry approached, all the Yellow Turban soldiers opened their eyes wide. They discovered in despair that this was actually a heavy cavalry. The horses and soldiers were all covered with armor.
This means that their spears are difficult to use.
But it was too late to regret it now. The first row of cavalry collided with the Yellow Turban bandits fiercely. The sharp spears easily pierced the bodies of the Yellow Turban thieves, knocking them away with their weapons.
And then, there is no more content.
The Yellow Turban soldiers had only gathered the first row of spearmen in total. If they could barely complete the formation under the charge of the cavalry, they were already Zhou Tao's elite troops.
Even this team was defeated as soon as they came into contact with the cavalry, not to mention the other soldiers, who had already run far away and did not dare to come close.
Zhang Fei led a thousand cavalry and rushed straight into Zhou Tao's camp as if they were in an uninhabited country.
The camp was very simple, with low tents set up everywhere and almost no layout, which had no effect in blocking the cavalry.
One thousand cavalry and two thousand war horses swept away like a tidal wave. Along the way, people turned on their backs, and the Yellow Turban soldiers fled one after another. No one was willing to risk their lives to touch its edge. The result of this could only be
Being trampled to pieces by galloping horses cannot have a second fate.
The people on the city tower noticed the situation here early. From the moment Zhang Fei charged a few miles away, the billowing dust and smoke attracted the attention of the people in Pingshou City. The soldiers hurriedly reported the situation to Guan Yu.
Guan Yu and Guan Hai came on horseback and happened to see Zhang Fei and his men rushing out of Zhou Tao's camp and heading towards the city gate.
Seeing his third brother from a distance, Guan Yu was overjoyed and said: "Open the city gate!"
"Open the city gate!"
The messenger shouted loudly.
The guards under the tower worked hard to turn the winch, and the heavy door slowly opened.
After rushing through Zhou Tao's camp, Zhang Fei began to release his buffering force.
He launched a charge in a single formation, using a rope seven to eight feet long to tie up a thousand horses without cavalry, one in front and one behind, each with two horses.
This will avoid the problem of the horse in front slowing down, the horse behind unable to stop its inertia, and the front and rear colliding.
In addition, Zhoutaoying Village is two miles away from the city gate, so there is enough buffer zone to slow down.
By the time they got closer to the city gate, the horses had slowed down, from running to cantering, and their speed had dropped a lot.
The city gate opened and the cavalry slowly entered the city.
"Hoo ho!"
Jushu was covered in sweat. For a scholar like him, it does take a lot of courage to charge into the battle as a cavalryman.
"Gong Yu, how is it?"
Zhang Fei turned his head to look at Jushou and laughed, "Aren't you very excited?"
"Really excited."
Jushu calmed down, raised the sword in his hand, looked at the blood stains on it and said, "I also hacked to death a Yellow Turban soldier."
"Niubi!"
Zhang Fei's eyes widened, he imitated the unfamiliar vocabulary that Chen Mu occasionally used before, raised his thumbs up and praised: "Gong Yu, you are much better than my fourth brother."