The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 860
In the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty and the second year of Zhangwu (197), on September [-], the rooster crowed.

The twelfth day when the Ming army crossed Jishui.

Zhu Acheng had already been breached on the fifth day. Even though it had a brick-clad city wall, under the uninterrupted bombardment of counterweight catapults, the city wall of Zhu Acheng was still damaged.

Zhu Acheng had fewer soldiers, and Xu Huang repeatedly launched attacks at night, which made many of Zhu Acheng's defenders unable to rest.

The Eagle Wolf Guard even set fire to the granary in the city, which burned most of the grain in Zhu'a City, and exhausted the defenders in Zhu'a City.

Now the soldiers and sharp soldiers of the Ming army have basically got rid of night blindness.

Night is not an enemy to the Ming army. Long-term and strict training allows them to maintain order even in the dark.

Although the Ming army is still equipped with the equipment of the cold weapon era, most of their thinking has been changed.

The spiritual outlook of the Ming army today is becoming more and more like a modern army, and they are dividing the line with the feudal army of the old era.

In the ordinary army, the atmosphere of officers oppressing ordinary soldiers, making ordinary soldiers work as cattle and horses, and treating ordinary soldiers as slaves has disappeared in the Ming army.

Whether it is from military law or from the perspective of peace, this situation is not allowed.

In the army, military orders must be obeyed, but not all orders can be included in military orders. Private requests are not considered military orders.

Outside the military, no matter how high or low your military rank is, you are only allowed to address each other as comrades.

All these changes are actually due to the blessings among the armies.

The most respected in the army are the amulets of each army.

In wartime, generals and officers lead the army, while in peacetime it is Fu Zhu who leads the army.

The general is the chief officer of the military, in charge of the military, while Fu Zhu in the army is the chief officer of politics and ideology, in charge of ideological work.

The Ming army can have the current mental outlook entirely because the Taipingdao thought is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and their old thinking has changed.

The change in mental outlook made the Ming army no longer be troubled by the roar of the camp, and their stress during the war could be relieved after the war. The Fu Zhu in the Ming army would try their best to comfort and encourage them.

The Han army is on the contrary. The Han army is strictly hierarchical, and oppression and exploitation are just common sense in the army.

The regular army of the Han army directly regarded Xiangyong as cannon fodder, a slave, and if he made a slight mistake, he would beat and scold him, or even kill him on the spot.

At night, when the Han army faced the siege, those Xiangyongs were not only unable to help, but even sent people to supervise them to prevent chaos and camp roars in Zhixiangyong.

Under the high-intensity attack of the Ming army, Zhu A's Han army retreated steadily, and they were powerless to fight back.

On the fifth day of the siege, Xu Huang reined in his troops at the crowing of the cock, suddenly launched an attack, and wished Acheng a battle.

After the city was broken, the guard of Zhu'acheng killed himself, and the remaining [-] soldiers and [-] villagers surrendered.

Following Xu An's order, Xu Huang took all the regular Han army and the children of the noble families among the brave men as prisoners, and sent people to Pingyuan County, Qingzhou.

These prisoners will use labor to atone for their sins, and they will be free after spending several years in a prisoner-of-war camp.

And those village braves were temporarily recruited as civilian husbands, and they were told that they would be free after the war, and that they could be given travel expenses and dry food to allow them to go home.

Xu An dispatched a total of [-] troops for this battle, but in fact, the number of civilians recruited to maintain logistics has already exceeded [-].

The civil servants enlisted by the Ming army were not free labor, but were paid for service.

These recruited braves are also treated equally.

These recruited township braves thought they would be used as cannon fodder again, but when they heard that not only did they not need to fight, they only needed to transport food and grass, help repair the city and do some chores, and they could get a certain amount of service money.

All the Xiangyongs were ecstatic, thinking that there was something wrong with their ears and they heard the wrong words.

When they transported food, grass and soldiers, they even surpassed the logistics soldiers responsible for escorting money and food.

Even Fu Zhu, who was with the army, was taken aback by these energetic Xiangyong.

With the help of these township braves, pontoon bridges around Jishui have been continuously built, and Zhu Acheng has quickly resumed normal use.

Xu Huang led the army under his command to continue the attack, pulling out the military forts left by the Han army along the way.

These military fortresses could persist at the beginning, which caused a lot of obstacles to the Ming army.

But later, as the Ming army encountered the method of attacking the military forts, and there were no reinforcements at all, these military forts lost their original functions.

It only took three days of effort, and all the twenty-seven military forts on the front line of Zhu'a to Licheng were all removed.

By the ninth day, Qu Yi and Xu Huang had already led a large army to the city of Li.

At the same time, Xu An also led the entire army into the south bank of the Yellow River, stationed troops around Zhuo County and Luoyin City, and divided his troops to attack Jian County and Dongchaoyang City.

The Ming army's siege speed was so fast that it completely exceeded Li Qian's imagination.

He guarded Licheng, and he personally participated in the supervision of Zhu'ahe Licheng's defense line, so he naturally knew how difficult it was to attack.

If he were to attack the troops under Zhu'a and Licheng's command, it would probably take at least a month or two to remove them if the defenders had no reinforcements.

At the beginning when Chen Gong said that Zhu A and Li Cheng could only persist for [-] days, Li Gan felt it was a bit exaggerated.

Later, Chen Gong said that it might be a little bit reluctant for Zhu'a and Licheng to persist for half a month, and Li Gan only thought it was sensational.

But now it seems that what Chen Gong said is true.

The Ming army who had just pulled out Zhu'a and the military fort along the way was like a rainbow at this time.

In just three days, Li Qian already felt a little unable to hold on.

This is not because Licheng's city defense is weaker than Zhu'a's.

Although the main attack direction of the Ming army was Zhu'a, they also left an army to attack Licheng.

After that, more siege equipment of the Ming army arrived at Jishui at this time.

Relying on the siege of the city, the Ming army suppressed the defenders on the city wall with bows and arrows and catapults, and then built many earthen hills. Shooting condescendingly.

Although Licheng's city defense has been strengthened, it is indeed difficult to increase its height for a while.

Under such pressure, the civilian husbands of the Ming army calmly filled the gully outside the city, and even built two mounds that could directly climb the city wall on foot.

As soon as the main force of the Ming army arrived, the situation on the battlefield instantly fell to the bottom.

In just two days, the attack launched by the Ming army was like a storm, and it never stopped for almost a moment.
Li Gan has followed Cao Cao's subordinates since Yanzhou. He experienced the battle of Yanxu and the battle of Qingzhou.

He even faced the most powerful tiger and leopard cavalry in the Wei army.

But no army he had ever seen was as terrifying as the Ming army outside the city today.

The continuous piercing whistle sounded like a nightmare, lingering in his mind.

In the past two days, Li Gan has not been able to sleep well in one day, and the piercing whistle of the Ming army always echoes in his ears.

Li Gan's mind was in chaos. He had hardly slept in the past few days, and his eyes were bloodshot.

The attack of the Ming army had just stopped for less than an hour.

During the past two days, the Ming army always launched attacks at night inadvertently, which made his spirit a little weak.

"Dong dong dong..."

The rapid knock on the door interrupted Li Gan's thoughts.

Li Qian opened his bloodshot eyes, and grabbed the Han sword placed on the desk in front of him.

"come in."

The wooden door was opened by the guards outside the house, revealing a young face.

"uncle."

The young man walked in slowly and said in a deep voice.

"It has been arranged. The sentry outside the city did not see the shadow of the Ming army. Chen Changshishu's cover for our evacuation has also been prepared. Taking advantage of the night, I will leave from the south gate now. Even if the Ming army finds out, It’s hard to catch up for a while.”

Li Gan nodded solemnly.

"Got it, you go to Nancheng first, and I'll be there later."

"The nephew will leave first."

The young general made a promise, and then thought about walking out of the room.

"Mancheng..."

But just as he walked to the door, Li Gan stopped him suddenly.

This young general is actually his nephew Li Dian.

"What other orders does uncle have?"

"If the palace army collapses, don't try to be brave, just take your personal guards and leave."

For this withdrawal, he made Li Dian the chief officer of the rear army.

Li Dian was eager to learn since he was a child, and he didn't like military affairs, but he was extremely talented in military affairs, so Li Gancai entrusted Li Dian with the important task of the rear army.

But the young people were impulsive, and Li Gan was afraid that Li Dian would take his life too seriously.

Only he, Xiahou Dun, and Han Hao knew about Chen Gong's plan, and the rest were ignorant.

Li Qian also buried this plan in his heart, even his own son Li Zheng didn't tell.

"promise."

Li Dian was slightly taken aback, but still made a promise, and then left the house.

As the footsteps got farther and farther away, Li Gan's expression gradually cooled down.

In the courtyard, the moonlight is cold.

The autumn wind chills and erodes the bones and freezes the heart.

Li Gan walked out of the house holding the Han sword in his hand.

Outside the courtyard, a group of guards who had followed Li Gan since they started from Chengshi City all cast their gazes over.

The sky was not yet clear, and the inside and outside of Li City were filled with thick fog.

Licheng is bordered by Jishui River in the north and mountains in the south. After autumn, there will be a lot of fog in the early morning.

Li Ganxuan evacuated at this time because he wanted to take advantage of the double cover of fog and night.

The south gate of Licheng slowly opened.

Inside the door, all the soldiers of the Han army looked out nervously.

They all had a wooden stick or piece of wood in their mouths, and they had been waiting in the Urn City for a long time.

At that time, the lights had been completely extinguished, and now many of their eyes were already familiar with the dark environment.

These soldiers are all descendants of Li Qian's command, and the discipline is still strict.

As for the rest of the recruits, Li Gan transferred them to the other three walls. This time, Li Gan did not bring a Xiangyong or a recruit.

Recruits and Xiangyong are most prone to chaos and panic when withdrawing troops, and Li Gan naturally wants to conceal the withdrawal.

Otherwise, there will be panic in the city, and the Yellow Turban Army will not need to attack at that time, Licheng will no longer be able to hold on.

Because they are direct troops under Li Qian's command, there are relatively few people with night blindness in the army.

However, there are still soldiers who still have night blindness in the army, and it is difficult to see the road in front of them. Li Qian's solution is to let them drag the ropes around the waists of the soldiers in front of them to advance in the dark.

Riding on his war horse, Li Gan walked into the corridor of the city gate first, followed by more than two hundred cavalrymen, and there was a dull sound in the corridor of the city gate.

Not only was the war horse tied up, but its hooves were also wrapped in a layer of soft cloth, just to make the sound of the hooves less loud.

As Li Gan left the city first, all the soldiers in Licheng walked out of the city.

Marching in the dark, and in the thick fog, they moved very slowly.

A person's title, a horse's mouth.

More than [-] Han troops walked slowly towards the east along the road backing the mountain.

Li Gan's heart couldn't stop beating wildly, and it seemed that the sharp and piercing whistle of the Ming army sounded in his ears again.

When he thought he heard the whistle of the Ming army, he looked around, but found that it was still quiet, which proved that everything before was just his auditory hallucination.

Li Gan held the reins tightly, and cold sweat began to break out on his hands, back, and forehead.

He has never been so nervous in his life.

Time passed bit by bit, and the surrounding darkness gradually dimmed.

Li Gan felt relieved, he knew that it was almost dawn, which proved that they had traveled a lot.

Li Gan looked back, the darkness behind him was still thick, he couldn't see through the darkness and thick fog, he didn't know how far he was from Licheng now.

"Pick up the pace a little bit."

Li Gan lowered his voice and said to the left and right.

They are the leaders of the army now, as long as they speed up their pace, the soldiers marching behind them will also speed up accordingly.

After receiving Li Gan's order, all the soldiers around him accelerated their horse speed a little.

Li Gan exhaled and looked forward again.

Huge pressure was on his shoulders, and the impression the Ming army left on him was too deep.

Li Gan is no stranger to the battle of Kuicheng. At first, Zhu Jun wanted to escape from Kuicheng at night, but the Ming army had already set up a net and waited for them for a long time.

As a result, Zhu Jun was beheaded by Xu Anzhen, and the Han army suffered a disastrous defeat in Kuicheng, and was almost wiped out. In the end, only more than [-] people escaped.

After walking a certain distance, the sky has become twilight, and the field of vision has become wider.

Li Gan glanced around the road, and he saw a familiar sign.

This sign proves that they are only about three miles away from their destination, and they will arrive at their destination soon.

Li Gan felt relieved and was about to speak, but at this moment, a large amount of light suddenly appeared on the left side of his line of sight.

wrong!

Li Gan suddenly turned his head to look to the left.

"call out------"

Li Gan still heard the sound he didn't want to hear the most.

All the Han soldiers on the road were ashen-faced. The whistle this time was no longer Li Qian's auditory hallucination, it was indeed the whistle of the Ming army.

(End of this chapter)