The World of Yellow Sky

Chapter 876 Ming Xiu Plank Road
In the fourth year of the Ming Dynasty and the second year of Zhangwu (197), on October [-]rd, the rooster crowed.

The Battle of Qingzhou in the Han and Ming Dynasties officially broke out on September [-]th. On September [-]th, the vanguard of the Ming army crossed the Yellow River and went all the way south, attacking Qingzhou in two ways.

The Southern Expedition issued by Xu An has spread all over the world in a short period of time, drawing everyone's eyes and attention to Qingzhou.

In this battle, the Ming army marched by sea, with [-] soldiers in the army and [-] in the navy, mobilizing nearly [-] troops, out of the best of the best, requisitioning more than [-] civilians, and mobilizing [-] people on the front line. Counting the civilian husbands who were transferred from other places, this number will be even more, which can be described as unprecedented.

Whether it was attacking Liangzhou or Guanzhong, or other major wars, Xu An had never mobilized such a large army at one time.

But this time, Xu An used practical actions to show the world how terrifying the mobilization power of the Ming army was.

There are [-] soldiers in the army, all of whom are soldiers, and there are no auxiliary soldiers. Civil servants are not included in the ranks of the army at all.

In this battle, the Ming army widely used mules, horses, and four-wheeled trucks to transport supplies and armaments. The massive use of mules and horses also made the Ming army no longer need so many auxiliary soldiers and civilians to share the pressure of transportation, and further streamlined army.

On the side of the Han army, the Qingzhou Han army has reached a terrifying scale of [-] people on paper, which is twice the number of Ming army troops in this southern expedition.

Of course, this is just data on paper. In fact, the real combat effectiveness of the Han army in Qingzhou is the original [-] army under Cao Cao's command.

Except for the newly recruited [-] Qingzhou Army, which is regarded as a regular army, the rest of the more than [-] people are just village braves and strong men recruited by Qingzhou aristocratic families.

The Battle of Qingzhou was a defensive battle for the Han Ting. What the Han Ting wanted to do was to turn this battle into a tug-of-war, using Qingzhou as the millstone, and relying on the strong river to continuously consume the Ming army's resources. Potential for war, exchange the lives of those strong men and village braves for the lives of the Ming army's elite.

Originally, everyone thought that the main direction of the Ming army's southern expedition would most likely be Yanzhou, but Xu An chose Qingzhou.

After all, because of the terrain, it was actually easy to defend and difficult to attack. Cao Cao had been preparing for battle in Qingzhou for a long time, and the army under his command was considered the elite of the Han army, which was much stronger than the army that Yuan Shu had just assembled in Yanzhou.

Because of this, everyone's opinions are actually quite consistent, and they all think that the battle of Qingzhou will be fought until winter no matter what.

In fact, Xu An also imagined this way, and Xu An even made preparations to fight until the beginning of next spring.

But what surprised everyone was that.

It was the twenty-third day after the Battle of Qingzhou in the Han and Ming Dynasties broke out.

That is, the fifteenth day after the first Ming army crossed Jishui.

This early stage was so powerful that the officials and generals of both the Han and Ming dynasties worked hard, and both sides were ready for a protracted battle, but the dust settled in less than a month.

This battle, in which the total strength of the two sides should be more than [-] troops, has actually come to an end before it has fully erupted.

In the battle of Yuquan Pavilion, Xu An burned the entire Nanshan of Yuquan Pavilion with a fire, ending the battle of Yuquan Pavilion.

The casualties of the Ming army were mainly concentrated in the Xiandeng Camp and Xiliang Camp led by Qu Yi.

Of the [-] vanguard cavalry, nearly [-] people were lost, many of them died of serious injuries, and the rest were all wounded.

But other than that, the casualties of the Ming army were only more than [-] people, which was negligible compared to the casualties and losses of the Han army.

The more than [-] casualties were the casualties caused by Chen Gong leading the remnant soldiers into the formation and Cao Cao's breakthrough on the mountain road.

The Ming army captured a total of more than [-] Han soldiers. The Han soldiers killed more than [-] people, almost [-]. The entire Han army was devoured by this fire.

In this battle, the Han army lost more than [-] elite troops, which was almost the sum of the elite troops that Cao Cao could mobilize on the entire western front.

In the Battle of Yuquanting, none of the senior generals of the Ming army was killed, while the Han army in Qingzhou suffered a very heavy blow.

Cao Cao failed to break through the siege, and committed suicide in Yuquan. Dian Wei, Cao Xiu, and the twelve tiger guards who followed Cao Cao all walked into Huangquan with Cao Cao, retaining a bit of dignity.

Chen Gong, Xiahoudun, Xiahouyuan, Lejin and others all died in battle. Li Gan confirmed that he was seriously injured and died, and his son Li Zheng also died in battle.

Zhou Yu and Xu Sheng were missing, and no remains were found. However, according to some Danyang soldiers, Zhou Yu and Xu Sheng stayed in the camp when the fire spread.

When the Ming army searched, they only found the burnt camp and the bodies of people who had been burnt to death, and it was impossible to identify the identity of the dead.

But no matter what, the battle of Qingzhou was actually settled when Yuquanting won the victory.

The death of Cao Cao and the defeat of Yuquan Pavilion spread throughout Qingzhou in just a few days.

October [-]th.

People in Qingzhou were panicked. When Xu An led a large army to encircle Dongping Mausoleum, the authenticity of the news of the Yuquan Pavilion battle was obvious.

There is no way to cover up the death of a group of senior generals and schools of the Qingzhou Han Army.

Within a few days, the cities north of Jishui in Qingzhou surrendered one after another. The four cities of Luoshui that Cao Cao had painstakingly managed all fell into the hands of the Ming army without even fighting much.

The impact of Cao Cao's death was too great, and it also made those Qingzhou aristocratic families who had planned to stick to one or two gave up struggling.

October [-].

The Ming army successfully captured Tai County and took control of the Jishui area.

October fourteenth.

The guard of Dongping Mausoleum was originally Zhu Zhi, while Cao Cao was in Linzi.

But because of the ambush, the two had actually switched positions. Zhu Zhi was in Linzi, while Cao Cao quietly came to Dongping Mausoleum.

All the elite Han troops were taken away by Cao Cao, and only Han Hao and less than [-] Han troops and some unusable townspeople were left guarding Dongping Mausoleum.

The loss of Tai County caused Dongping Mausoleum to lose its northern barrier and was completely surrounded by the Ming army.

The defeat of Yuquan Pavilion and the threat of the Ming army approaching the city made the undercurrent surge in Dongping Mausoleum.

Han Hao is indeed Han Hao, at this moment, he still has not given up.

He tried his best to arrange city defenses, stabilize the morale of the army, and lead his personal guards to patrol the four cities.

He knew very well that as long as Dongping Mausoleum was saved, even if it was for one more day, it would give the rear one more day of peace and give Zhu Zhi, who was in Linzi, more time to react.

Although the situation in Qingzhou has been powerless, it is only a matter of time before the Ming army captures Qingzhou, but as long as they can hold the Dongping Mausoleum for a little longer, they can save more vitality for the Han court.

only……

Han Hao is rigorous in running the army and is proficient in political affairs.

But he ignored a very important point...

Human heart.

Han Hao was ready to die, but those soldiers who stayed under his command were not ready, and neither were the powerful families in Dongping Mausoleum.

The eagle wolf guards lurking in Dongping Mausoleum smelled blood and contacted these disaffected families and the restless generals in the city.

Originally, these aristocratic families wanted to escape as soon as the war started, but they were forced to stay by Cao Cao, so they were dissatisfied.

Seeing that Han Hao actually wanted to stick to the Dongping Mausoleum and resist the Ming army, these aristocratic families began to worry.

If the Ming army broke the city and suffered too many casualties, would they be angry with them?

Moreover, Qingzhou's defeat has been decided, and there is no room for turning around. They are very clear about how the Ming army treats the aristocratic and powerful families.

To hand over such property and fields would undoubtedly cut off their flesh piece by piece.

When Eagle Wolf Guards publicized to the public that if those who voluntarily surrendered, they would be allowed to keep more property and fields, and even if they performed meritorious service, they would be rewarded.

These powerful families in Dongping Mausoleum quickly made their choices.

October fourteenth night.

The powerful families of Dongping Mausoleum invited Han Hao to the banquet under the pretext of discussing the next defense arrangement.

During the banquet, the knives and axes ambushed between the mansions came out together when the singing and dancing were in full swing, and all the soldiers led by Han Hao were killed, and Han Hao was also captured.

Dongping Mausoleum opened the city and surrendered, and the Ming army officially took over Dongping Mausoleum. It also announced that the southern Qingzhou gate was completely opened, and Linzi and the entire city along the Jishui line were completely exposed to the Ming army.

The loss of Dongping Mausoleum has far more impact than that.

For the family that surrendered voluntarily in Dongping Mausoleum, Xu An allowed them to retain [-]% more of their property and land, and those who made the first contribution even allowed them to retain [-]% of their property and appointed them as the acting county magistrate of Dongping Mausoleum.

In contrast, Han Hao, who wanted to stick to the city, was executed, and his family was also implicated. His descendants were not allowed to study and become officials within three generations.

In doing so, Xu An is actually a daughter of the city.

However, he did not choose to let those powerful families go, because confiscating property and fields was only the first step.

Next, the public trial of Eagle Wolf Guard is the real highlight.

Merit is merit, fault is fault, how can it be offset at will?

Of course, these powerful families in Qingzhou knew nothing about all this.

Soon the two completely different treatment soon spread throughout Qingzhou.

Originally, because of the fall of Dongping Mausoleum, Qingzhou began to flee south on a large scale. The powerful families in Qingzhou disregarded strict orders and began to flee to Xuzhou with their families.

Although Zhu Zhi was there, he was unable to prevent this situation. He did not have the prestige, authority and means of Cao Cao.

With his ability, he can only lead an army by himself at most, which is already the limit. As for controlling a state, it is beyond his ability.

Cao Ren's prestige is not enough to control the overall situation, and his political sense is not sensitive.

Although he led the army under his command and repelled the Ming army led by Lu Bu to attack the city several times, he had nothing to do with the collapse of Qingzhou.

Although the two wanted to try their best to stabilize the situation, how could such a broken situation be restored.

The tree fell and the hozen scattered, the wall fell and everyone pushed.

After the Dongping Mausoleum incident, large-scale surrenders began to occur in Qingzhou.

Many powerful families no longer even fled.

After all, after fleeing, except for the gold and silver they carried, it is difficult to get back the rest of the fields and hidden wealth, and if they stay in place, although the Ming army confiscated most of them, they can still leave some foundations.

This account can be settled with one calculation.

Until October [-]th.

The situation in Qingzhou was out of control. The Ming army marched in two ways, depending on the way to spread the message, and cities all over the country fell upon hearing the news.

At this time, Zhu Zhi finally made a correct decision after making various planning mistakes.

Zhu Zhi chose a strong man to break his wrist, summoned the surrounding generals, and led the army to withdraw from Linzi, all the way to the south, and at the same time notified Cao Ren, to withdraw to Pingchang City in Beihai County.

Pingchang City is the southernmost city in Beihai County and one of the gateways to the north of Xuzhou.

In doing so, Zhu Zhi undoubtedly chose to give up the entire Qingzhou and surrender Xuzhou instead.

The cities watched the wind and descended, and the Ming army had many cavalry, swift as the wind.

Zhu Zhi didn't dare to stop along the road, fearing that he would be chased by the Ming cavalry, so he led his trilogy and hurried all the way.

November twenty-fifth.

What worried Zhu Zhi the most did not happen, and the cavalry of the Ming army did not chase after him.

Zhu Zhi's army successfully arrived at Chang'an City, and successfully joined forces with the Han army led by Cao Ren.

November twenty-seventh.

Lu Bu led the cavalry to capture Yi'an and Qianzou, the cities of Gaomi and Chang'an were also captured by the Ming army, and the roads in the south of Qingzhou were all blocked.

After Zhu Zhi and Cao Ren led their troops to withdraw from Qingzhou, the situation in Qingzhou further lost control and collapsed.

The few cities that Qingzhou was still holding on to finally couldn't hold on. Zhu Zhi and Cao Ren led their troops to withdraw from Qingzhou, which became the last straw that broke the camel's back.

After the Battle of Yuquanting, the Ming army captured the entire Qingzhou almost without bloodshed.

The most important thing is that due to the lack of cavalry, Zhu Zhi and Cao Ren were worried that they would be entangled by the cavalry of the Ming army and could not escape. The baggage abandoned by the army.

The military rations seized in Linzi were originally enough to support the entire [-] Qingzhou army for nearly a year, but in the end all of them were collected by Xu An.

On December [-]nd, the entire Qingzhou, six counties and sixty-five towns, except for Chang'an City, all the cities were flying yellow flags representing the Ming army.

After a brief rest, the Ming army went out again, and a large number of soldiers were assembled in Beihai County.

The rain is coming and the wind is all over the building.

The Ming army seemed to want to take advantage of Yuquanting's big victory, capture Qingzhou's momentum, and attack Xuzhou in one go.

December [-], snow.

Under the leadership of Xu An, most of the Ming army approached the city of Pingchang.

The Ming army was mighty and boundless, and the army array stretched for several miles, almost covering the fields outside Pingchang City.

Swords and guns are like wheat ears and halberds are like hemp forests, and ocher-yellow banners cover the sky like a dense forest.

The neat ocher yellow contrasts with the white snow all over the ground, conveying a strong visual stimulation, standing like a mountain outside Pyeongchang City.

And Xu An's big banner is impressively listed, which is undoubtedly the main force of the Ming army led by Xu An.

The Ming army really wanted to attack Xuzhou and push the Central Plains in one go.

……

"call--"

Xu An exhaled foul breath, got off the horse, and put the whip back into the bag next to the saddle.

Jia Xu was wearing fox fur, standing outside the camp, it looked like she had been waiting for a long time.

Although it's only December now, it's already snowing in Qingzhou.

"How's it going?"

Jia Xu smiled slightly.

"The sea breeze is calm and the waves are slow and steady."

(End of this chapter)