At the end of the Han Dynasty: a stingy husband from his hometown

Chapter 119 Long Snake Formation
"Liu Pi is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

Seeing that Xu Chu had succeeded, twenty youths from Xu's family village also jumped up and killed one after another, shouting loudly.

Liu Pi, the commander-in-chief of the Yellow Turban, was beheaded by Xu Chu in a single stroke surrounded by the Yellow Turban warriors.

Such an accident shocked everyone.

Xu Chu took the opportunity to hold Liu Pi's head, cut off the "Liu" banner, broke out of the encirclement and joined the twenty young people in Xujiazhai.

He didn't stop at all, and he stopped showing off his bravery and went straight to the direction where Zhou Qi was.

But he said that Zhou Qi was heading towards Liu Pi when he suddenly saw a commotion in the direction of the bonfire, and the general flag that attracted the Yellow Turban Army collapsed.

Zhou Qi was immediately overjoyed.

Although Zhou Qi could not hear the shouts of Xu Chu and others due to the chaos on the battlefield, he could already guess what happened.

He immediately turned his head and yelled at the people behind him: "Liu Pi is dead, all the lords will shout with me."

When everyone heard this, their morale was greatly boosted.

"Liu Pi is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

"Liu Pi is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

"Liu Pi is dead, and those who surrender will not be killed!"

In an instant, the shouts echoed throughout the battlefield.

The Yellow Turban Army, which had already been boosted in morale and was gathering in the direction of Liu Pi, suddenly heard the shouts of the officers and soldiers, and they still didn't believe it.

But when they focused their sights in the direction of the bonfire and no longer saw Commander Qu's banner, all the Yellow Turbans felt panicked.

"Could it be that Shuai Qu is really dead?"

Suspicion and panic instantly spread among the army, and the Yellow Turban Army, which had barely been able to boost their morale, collapsed completely.

Zhou Qi knew that reinforcements from the Yellow Turban Army would arrive soon.

He didn't like fighting either, and after leading the soldiers under his command to catch Xu Chu and the others, he rushed directly past the defense line of the Yellow Turban Army and headed towards Yinqiang County.

But he said that Peng Tuo quickly rushed to the battlefield in the west of the city with his troops.

But when he arrived at the battlefield, he got the news that Liu Pi had been beheaded and the officers and soldiers had broken through.

Liu Pi is not a small Fang Qushuai like Li Gan and Wang Hui, but a Chinese Qushuai who is second only to Peng Tuo. He is not only brave but also quite strategic.

Peng Tuo attached great importance to Liu Pi, which made him lead an army alone, and set up a camp in the west of Zhaoling City to prevent the officers and soldiers from breaking through.

Unexpectedly, Liu Pi, whom Peng Tuo placed high hopes on, was killed by officers and soldiers just like this.

The Yellow Turban Army clearly had an absolute advantage in strength, but they suffered repeated setbacks in the battles with the officers and soldiers, and successively lost three commanders, Li Gan, Wang Hui, and Liu Pi.

"Wow, mad at me too!"

The more Peng Tuo thought about it, the more angry he became, and finally he felt so depressed that he fell off the horse with a loud cry.

Yinqiang County.

Since the Yellow Turban Uprising, the county magistrate of Yinqiang has been in panic every day. He not only ordered the city gates to be closed, but also recruited rebels everywhere.

Fortunately, Yinqiang is a water and land transportation hub, and its commerce is very developed. There are not a few people, money and food in the city.

With the population, money and food, recruiting rebels is naturally a no-brainer.

It is precisely because of Yin Qiang and wealth that the noble gentry here also raised many domestic slaves and private soldiers in their homes.

They know how powerful the Yellow Turban Army is.

Therefore, at the call of Yinqiang County Magistrate, they moved their belongings, food and grass into the city one after another.

Later, they handed over their private soldiers and domestic slaves to the Yinqiang County Magistrate, hoping to defend the city, save their family property and their lives.

No wonder these gentry are like this.

If the Yellow Turban Army breaks through the city, fat gentry like them will definitely be the first targets for robbery.

At that time, not to mention preserving the family's accumulation of generations, even their wealth and lives may be deprived by the Yellow Turban Army.

It is for this reason that they will spare no effort to support officers and soldiers in resisting the Yellow Turban Army.

In history, the reason why the Yellow Turban Uprising was extinguished so quickly was not only the fact that the Han Dynasty was still there, but also these noble gentry.

Noon today.

When Yinqiang County Magistrate was leading people to strengthen the city wall, he vaguely saw a group of soldiers coming from the east, and he couldn't help being frightened.

"Drumming!"

"Blow the horn!"

"Prepare to defend against the enemy!"

The county magistrate Yinqiang thought it was the Yellow Turban Bandits who had invaded, so he shouted loudly at the top of his throat, and those guarding soldiers who had been prepared for a long time blew their horns in a hurry.

In an instant, the entire Yinqiang County entered a state of war.

However, it is said that after Zhou Qi led his troops to break through, he traveled to Yinqiang on a starry night. Before he arrived at Yinqiang City, he heard the sound of war drums.

He turned to look at Zhao Qian, the prefect of Runan, and said with a smile: "This magistrate Yinqiang is also a very alert person."

Zhao Qian smiled, but did not speak.

The originally tense atmosphere on the city wall gradually relaxed as Zhou Qi and others approached.

The county lieutenant pointed to the soldiers and horses outside and said, "Those seem to be officers and soldiers."

The county magistrate carefully looked at it for a long time, then he let out a long sigh of relief and said, "It seems that they are indeed officers and soldiers."

The county magistrate persuaded: "Recently there have been many incidents of yellow turban bandits defrauding the city. The county magistrate should not be careless. Do not open the city gate before verifying your identity."

When the county magistrate heard this, he couldn't help but feel awe-struck.

Since the Yellow Turban Uprising, not a few counties have been conquered, and the Yellow Turban bandits have also seized many armors and battle robes of officers and soldiers.

They can indeed pretend to be officers and soldiers to cheat the city.

Seeing that the soldiers and horses under the city were getting closer and closer, the county magistrate Yinqiang hurriedly ordered people to stop the ground, and shouted sharply: "Whoever comes, stop!"

Zhou Qi looked at the arrow that shot into the soil, and immediately raised his right hand, signaling his troops to stop marching.

When the two armies are at war, shill the archers to shoot the ground, that is, to draw a safe distance.

The distance from which an arrow is shot is called a one-shot radius. Neither side will easily enter this range before they are handed over to us.

Otherwise, when the enemy's arrows are fired at once, there may be fear of life.

The county magistrate of Yinqiang ordered people to shoot at the ground, not only to tell his own archers that the enemy can shoot arrows after rushing there, but also to warn Zhou Qi and others not to go any further.

On the city wall, Magistrate Yinqiang was still a little worried, but when he saw that the soldiers and horses outside the city had indeed stopped, he breathed a sigh of relief.

He pulled his throat and shouted: "Who is coming, please report your name quickly!"

Zhou Qi did not speak, but turned to look at Zhao Qian, the prefect of Runan.

Zhao Qian patted his horse forward and shouted to Yinqiang County Magistrate on the city wall: "I am Zhao Qian, the prefect of Runan, open the city gate quickly."

The county magistrate Yinqiang was shocked when he heard the words, and hurriedly looked around.

Zhao Qian has experienced fighting at night, and long-distance raids during starry nights, his hair is a little disheveled, and his face is also stained with blood.

However, County Magistrate Yinqiang met Zhao Qian, and after careful identification, he confirmed his identity.

"Open the city gate, open the city gate quickly!"

Zhou Qi led the troops into the city, and received a grand reception, and the exhausted soldiers under his command were well settled down.

The Battle of Zhaoling had made Zhao Qian fully recognize Zhou Qi's ability to lead troops.

So even if he came to Yinqiang, he still let Zhou Qi command all the soldiers and horses in the city.

Zhou Qi inspected the city defenses, counted the grain and supplies for the defense of the city, as well as the soldiers in the city who could fight. Finally, he was pleasantly surprised to find that all the soldiers and horses in the city were combined, and there were actually [-] soldiers.

There were eight thousand soldiers and horses, more than a thousand of them were soldiers and horses under Zhou Qi and Sun Jian.

Three thousand were the soldiers of Runan County. Originally, there were more than this number of soldiers, but they lost a lot during the battle with the Yellow Turban Army. In the end, there were only three thousand soldiers left to fight.

In addition, there are nearly a thousand soldiers in Yinqiang County.

The rest are all slaves of powerful families, private soldiers, and newly recruited rebels.

The domestic slaves and private soldiers of powerful families are not easy to command, and the newly recruited rebels are weak in combat effectiveness. They can defend the city but cannot go out of the city to fight the Yellow Turban Army.

In other words, the number of truly capable soldiers in Yinqiang City is only about 4000.

Even so, Zhou Qi was extremely happy.

Yinqiang County has sufficient grain, grass, and supplies for defending the city, and the city walls are quite strong because of frequent repairs.

Facing the tens of thousands of soldiers under Peng Tuo's command, Zhou Qi is confident that he can hold out until reinforcements arrive.

Even so, Zhou Qi didn't dare to be careless.

He dispatched Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Zu Mao, and Han Dang to keep them in important positions.

After setting up the city defenses, Zhou Qi not only sent someone to receive the injured Sun Jian, but also wrote a letter to Zhu Jun jointly with Zhao Qian, telling him that he and Sun Jian's subordinates were temporarily recruited to guard Yin Qiang. .

anyway.

Both of them were recruited by Zhu Jun. If they couldn't go to the battlefield as scheduled, and they didn't have a reasonable explanation, they might be punished.

But with Zhao Qian's letter, Zhou Qi doesn't have to worry.

Regardless of Zhao Qian's status or the importance of Yinqiang, I believe that with Zhu Jun's eyes, he can understand it.

Instead of punishing Zhou Qi and Sun Jian, he may even write a letter of praise.

Of course, these are things for later, so I won’t show them for the time being.

But after Peng Tuo defeated Liu Pi, Gong Du, another Chinese commander under his command, was even more heartbroken.

This is because although Liu Pi and Gong Du have different surnames, they are as close as brothers.

So when he learned that his elder brother Liu Pi had died in battle and even his head was taken away by the officers and soldiers, Gong Du immediately became furious and asked Peng Tuo for orders to attack Yinqiang County to avenge Liu Pi.

Peng Tuo suppressed the grief in his heart and said through gritted teeth, "I have learned that the commander of the officers and soldiers is Zhou Qi, the magistrate of Anfeng County."

"Liu Pi's revenge must be avenged, and Yin Qiang must also be captured."

"This commander will use all his troops to attack Yin Qiang, Gong Du, would you like to be the vanguard?"

Gong Du cupped his fists and said, "I am willing to die for you!"

However, Gong Du led thousands of people as the vanguard, and soon killed Yinqiang City, and immediately pointed at the officers and soldiers on the city and cursed: "The imperial court eagle dog, you have no guts, dare to go out of the city to fight?"

All the generals in the city were furious when they heard this and asked for battle one after another.

Zhou Qi saw that the opponent was only the vanguard of the Yellow Turban Army, and there were not many troops, so he also wanted to discourage the enemy, and said: "Xu Chu, Dian Wei, Cheng Pu, Huang Gai, Han Dang, and Zu Mao each lead five hundred troops, follow me out of the city Fight."

Then he turned his head to look at Zhao Qian, clasped his fists and said, "Please envoy Jun to lead the rest of the soldiers and horses to sweep the formation for me!"

Below the city wall.

While Xidu was screaming and cursing, he suddenly saw the gate of the city opened wide, and it was Zhou Qi who led [-] soldiers and horses to kill them out.

Xi Du looked at the "Zhou" banner, his eyes turned red immediately, and he shouted: "The thief general is Zhou Qi, the county magistrate of Anfeng County?"

Before Zhou Qi could answer, Xu Chu rushed out, pointed his sword at Gong Du and cursed: "How dare a treasonous traitor to use his words?"

"Pei Guo Xu Chu is here, you dare to fight me!"

Gong Du learned that the big man in front of him was Xu Chu who had killed his elder brother Liu Pi, and immediately became furious.

Fortunately, he also knew Xu Chu's bravery, so he didn't dare to fight rashly, so he could only suppress the anger in his heart, and cursed: "When two armies are fighting, we should fight for the first with soldiers, how can we show the courage of ordinary men?"

"You, the reckless man, are leading your troops to fight. There are more than ten thousand men under your command. They will definitely kill you and make you a river of blood today!"

Xu Chu was scolded as a reckless man, and immediately yelled in anger, but seeing that the opponent refused to come out for a duel, even though he was annoyed, there was nothing he could do.

Zhou Qi patted his horse forward, raised his whip and pointed at Gong Du, and said with a smile: "What you said is true, the two armies should not be brave in battle, but should fight for the first place with bravery."

"I only brought 3000 people out of the city, but you have [-] people under your command."

"A certain position, do you dare to fight?"

Gong Du shouted: "As long as you lead the troops out of the range of the archers in the city, why don't you dare to lead the troops into battle?"

Zhou Qi smiled and said, "That's very good."

"Lead the troops back to the place where the two arrows are for a while, wait for me to set up the formation, and then come to the formation."

Gongdu believed that he had many troops under his command and that the army would arrive soon. He only wanted to fight on the ground with the officers and soldiers, so he readily agreed.

Seeing that Gong Du had retreated, Zhou Qi summoned the generals and said, "I want to set up a long snake formation. You all should follow the order."

"Where is Dian Wei?"

"Subordinates are here."

"You lead [-] light cavalry and [-] shield soldiers, and lead the troops to camp at the ridge as the snakehead. When the bandit army arrives, you will order the shield soldiers to move forward and the light cavalry to retreat. If you do not receive military orders, you will not retreat."

"only!"

Dian Wei took over the military flag and led his soldiers away.

"Where is Xu Chu?"

"Subordinates are here."

"You led two hundred light cavalry and three hundred shield soldiers, and led the troops to station at the tail of the snake. When the bandits came, they also made the shield move forward, and the light cavalry retreated. If you don't get the military order, you should stick to it."

"only!"

Next.

Zhou Qi asked Cheng Pu's four generals to take different arms and head towards the other four directions, and finally formed a long snake formation.

Although the generals and soldiers under their command have not practiced this formation in advance.

However, against the Yellow Turban Army, this simple one-word long snake formation is enough, and the opponent may not know how to break it.

But he said that Gong Du was worried that Zhou Qi would not fight him, so he could only watch the opponent prepare his battle.

At first he didn't take it lightly, but when the long snake formation was formed, a chilling aura rushed over his face. Even with more than ten thousand soldiers and horses behind Liu Pi, he felt a strong sense of oppression.

Zhou Qi stood at the position of the snake gallbladder with his sword in his hand, and shouted to Gong Du: "The formation has been formed, hurry up and break the formation!"

The soldiers beside him also shouted in unison: "The formation is formed, hurry up and break the formation!"

Feeling the pressure brought by the formation, Gong Du did not dare to be careless. He summoned many of his commanders and asked, "Who dares to break the formation?"

When everyone heard the words, they all looked at each other in blank dismay.

Let them lead the troops to charge into the battle, these people are naturally not afraid, but no one dares to take on such a glorious task as breaking the formation.

Seeing that Gong Du's face was getting darker and darker, a small yellow scarf Fang Qushuai shouted: "Whatever his formation is, we have a lot of soldiers, and the whole army can charge directly."

"madness!"

Gong Du glared at the Qu commander who spoke and looked at the formation of the officers and soldiers, and was caught in a dilemma for a moment.

　The second update, [-] words today.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)