People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 125 Who Looks at Whose Face

Gongsun Zan, the Cavalry Commander, was originally appointed to deal with the Yellow Turbans in Youzhou, and the Yellow Turbans were preparing for war in order to deal with the threat posed by government soldiers.

Zhang Chun and Wuhuan were just an accident after all. Now that this unexpected factor is gone, the two destined enemies have come to the moment of fighting.

If he could defeat the main force of the Yellow Turbans here, the situation in Youzhou would be largely stabilized, and this military achievement would be enough to get him promoted and make a fortune.

If the government troops can be defeated here, the pressure on the Yellow Turbans will be unprecedentedly small, and they will then usher in a sufficiently long period of development.

Wang Dang and Gongsun Zan could not see each other. All they wanted was to defeat the enemy and achieve their own success.

In this respect, they are of the same mind.

Gongsun Zan sensed an opportunity. In terms of military strength, the officers and soldiers had the upper hand.

The infantry position in the rear was handed over to Tian Kai, Shan Jing and Yan Gang, who slowly pressed forward towards the Yellow Turban position, while he himself led the remaining 1,000 White Horse Volunteers to provide flank cover.

As for the Yellow Turbans, the armor transported by the carriages and horses in the rear was also put on the cavalry one by one. The light cavalry that originally pursued Zhang Chun's army was transformed into heavy cavalry.

As they mounted their horses one after another, the heavy cavalry unit of only one thousand instantly showed a strong sense of oppression.

And this was only the cavalry of the Yellow Turban Vanguard Battalion. There was another thousand elite infantrymen of the Vanguard Battalion, also wearing armor, forming a complete vanguard battalion with the cavalry.

When Wang Dang saw this group of well-trained elite vanguard soldiers, he felt extremely reassured. Although he now had fewer troops than Gongsun Zan, he did not think he would lose this battle.

"Vanguard camp, attack!" Wang Dang shouted angrily, and the Yellow Turban Vanguard Camp moved accordingly.

The heavy cavalry did not launch a charge immediately, but moved forward slowly at a coordinated speed with the infantry.

As they got closer and closer to the officers and soldiers' formation, when they were about four or five hundred meters away, the vanguard heavy cavalry finally began to slowly accelerate. When they adjusted their speed to the highest, they were almost about to meet the officers and soldiers' position.

Gongsun Zan was terrified when he saw the heavily armored cavalry charging towards him.

The Yellow Turbans were able to raise such a heavy cavalry. How did they do it?
However, this doubt only lasted for a moment, because the subsequent battle forced him to draw his attention back to the battlefield. At his command, a thousand White Horse Volunteers began to attack with arrows on the left and right of the Yellow Turban vanguard heavy cavalry.

However, when the arrows were shot from a long distance, even if they could finally hit the Yellow Turban heavy cavalry, most of them would be bounced off or slipped away by the hard armor. Even if a small number of arrows shot from nearby could pierce the armor with their powerful force, they could only pierce a little bit and could not form a penetrating effect at all, and it was difficult to hurt the soldiers under the heavy armor.

Once the opponent changed, the Baima Yicong, a specialized unit designed to deal with nomadic cavalry, suddenly seemed not so useful.

This type of archery on horseback had extremely limited damage to the heavy cavalry and was completely unable to stop the heavy cavalry's charge. Soon the Yellow Turban heavy cavalry began to continuously attack the officer soldiers' corner formation from both sides.

They were divided into several teams, front and back, and attacked in turns, just like a sharp knife cutting the enemy's edges and corners. The cutting was extremely fast and powerful, and the officers and soldiers had no ability to resist at all.

The officers, soldiers and infantry fought back with all their might, but they could only be torn apart and rammed by the powerful impact force. Soon a large number of gaps and flaws appeared in the corner positions of the officers and soldiers, and they were completely unable to maintain their formation.

Gongsun Zan was extremely anxious and could only lead the cavalry to shoot and kill the enemy. However, after a while, he saw that the enemy's heavy cavalry was completely unaffected. He had to accept the reality that it seemed that his side had no power to restrict the enemy.

The thousand heavy cavalry were like a thousand ferocious wild beasts. They patrolled around the officers and soldiers' positions in small teams. Every time they bit, they could tear off a large piece of flesh and blood from the officers and soldiers.

Gongsun Zan felt something was wrong, but this was far from the end.

The Yellow Turban infantry formation in the rear finally pressed forward, and the first thousand heavy vanguard soldiers charged straight at the enemy with a domineering attitude. Once they came into contact with the officers and soldiers' battle formation, they were like wolves and sheep and could not be stopped.

The enhancement of soldiers' strength by equipment is far greater than the soldiers' own combat effectiveness. When the officers and soldiers swung their weapons vigorously but could not break the heavy armor of the Yellow Turban infantry, they felt desperate.

If the heavy cavalry is agile lions and tigers, then the heavy infantry is the powerful giant bears.

Relying on the strength of the armored soldiers, the Yellow Turban Vanguard Battalion caused great damage to the positions of the officers and soldiers, which also created excellent combat conditions for the Yellow Turban army in the rear. Relying on the coordination of the formation, they could easily cut and break the enemy positions with scattered formations, and then surround and kill them one by one.

Even ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers without armor generally had higher combat capabilities and will than officers and soldiers.

Although the officers and soldiers have thousands more troops than the Yellow Turbans, the current strength of the Yellow Turbans can completely ignore this gap. The real elite soldiers can completely achieve victory by defeating the larger force with the smaller one.

The combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers is not as good as that of the rebels. Although this sounds absurd, it is Gongsun Zan's current personal experience.

Xu Chen abandoned the previous practice of the Yellow Turbans to plunder and expand everywhere, and instead chose to develop in one base. Although the momentum was far inferior to that of the Yellow Turbans, the core combat power that was carefully developed finally became an elite force. The officers and soldiers that Gongsun Zan hastily recruited were just local civilians and powerful troops. Their combat effectiveness was far behind that of the Yellow Turbans. Now the two sides fought and they would be crushed at the first blow.

Soon, the army of officers and soldiers was retreating step by step under the fierce attack of the vanguard camp, and was gradually on the verge of collapse.

Gongsun Zan's eyes widened. He had made up his mind this time to chase after the Wuhuan people and then turn around to get rid of the Yellow Turbans, but he didn't expect the final result to be like this.

The fighting power of the Yellow Turbans was so strong that it was beyond his imagination. Who could have thought that in just over a year, the Yellow Turbans would have turned the tables and become the master.

The rebels actually forced the officers and soldiers to fight against them. Is this fair?
Although he brought the White Horse Volunteers and changed his target to try his best to kill ordinary Yellow Turban soldiers, the army was already on the verge of collapse, and no matter how hard he tried to kill the enemy, it was of no avail.

At this moment he suddenly came to realize that his thought of turning back to deal with the Yellow Turbans was fake. The Yellow Turbans were actually thinking of turning back to deal with the government soldiers. He did not know the difference between the big and the small at all!
"Pass the order, leave only 2,000 soldiers to cover the rear, and the rest of the army retreat immediately!"

Gongsun Zan's heart was bleeding, for this was the army he had mobilized with great difficulty. But now he could no longer care about so many things. If he did not react immediately, he was afraid that the entire army would be unstoppable in its defeat.

Although Gongsun Zan issued the order quickly and the officers and soldiers were reluctant to make adjustments, retreat was a very dangerous thing. If one was not careful, it could easily turn into a rout, especially under the pressure of the Yellow Turbans' fierce attack. The risk was even higher.

In fact, Gongsun Zan's decision to retreat was correct, but the current level of the officers and soldiers did not allow them to retreat safely during such a war.

Shan Jing led his elite troops and tried his best to stop the charge of the officers and soldiers, but the Yellow Turban heavy cavalry on his left and right were something he was powerless to stop. Whenever the officers and soldiers in the rear showed signs of gathering and retreating, the heavy cavalry would charge into the formation to stop them.

In this situation where they had to retreat but couldn't, the officers and soldiers' fear was greatly magnified. The heavy armored cavalry that lingered around them had become a nightmare demon in their eyes.

As a result, the officers and soldiers who were supposed to be retreating gradually became more and more disordered, and soon turned into a rout.

Gongsun Zan felt that the situation was over and almost fell to the ground, but he finally forced himself to cheer up.

He knew that these soldiers would probably die here today. Under the threat of the Yellow Turban cavalry, it was not impossible for the entire army to be wiped out. Even retreat had become a luxury.

There were a total of 10,000 troops. Gongsun Zan felt heartbroken just thinking about it. This was not just a military defeat, but also a huge blow to his own reputation.

"Pass the order, all the troops who have arrived will immediately lead their elite troops to retreat with all their strength, and escape as many as possible!"

The army had already fled, and Gongsun Zan could only make a final effort with a fluke mentality. As for himself, he didn't have to worry, because the mobility of the White Horse Volunteers light cavalry would not make them fall into the hands of the Yellow Turbans in such an open area.

When the battle reached this point, Gongsun Zan felt a little regretful. If he had known this would happen, he would have decided to retreat from Ji County and would not have changed his mind because of the arrival of the Yellow Turbans.

Now, in the end, we have suffered heavy casualties, and even the most core White Horse Volunteers have suffered heavy losses. This deal is really a huge loss.

"The Yellow Turbans have become powerful, and Youzhou will face many disasters in the future."

Taking a disappointed look at the Yellow Turban position, Gongsun Zan could only accept the reality of defeat. He was badly wounded in this battle and it was unknown when he would be able to recover.

With a kick in his horse's belly, he led the White Horse Volunteers, retreating while harassing the Yellow Turbans' pursuit.

After a short while of pursuit, the battle was finally settled. Wang Dang led his troops to clean up the mess on the battlefield, collecting the dead soldiers and treating the wounded, while settling the surrendered enemy soldiers.

"I, the Yellow Turbans, first defeated Zhang Chun and Wuhuan, and then I defeated Gongsun Zan, finally showing my strength. After today, I will see who can remain calm after hearing the name of the Yellow Turbans!"

Although the battlefield was in a mess and his body was covered in blood, Wang Dang felt happy and laughed out loud.

The Yellow Turban soldiers on both sides were holding their weapons high with excited expressions, shouting words like "The Yellow Turbans are mighty, our religion is mighty".

Victory is always the most mellow liquor for soldiers, enough to make them intoxicated.

Before going out to fight, every Yellow Turban here knew who they were going to fight and why.

And now that we have finally won, everyone can fully enjoy the joy of victory.

Because everyone knows clearly that after winning this battle, at least in Youzhou, the Yellow Turbans will no longer have to look at the faces of others!

(End of this chapter)