People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 128 Please leave your name!

In the countryside of Zhending County, Changshan State, Jizhou, a small group of more than a thousand people wearing yellow scarves stood still in front of a village. It was not because they pitied the villagers in the village, but because someone blocked their way to plunder ahead.

After the Yellow Turbans' cause collapsed with the death of their leader Zhang Jue, facing the imperial court's counterattack, countless Yellow Turbans had no choice but to dive into the long and dense Taihang Mountains.

They lived in the valleys of Heishan, Zhongshan, Changshan, Zhaojun, Shangdang and Henei.

The majority of these Yellow Turban remnants may have as many as 20,000 to 30,000 people, while a smaller group may only have a few thousand people. Together, they number about 300,000 to 400,000 people.

Although they are collectively called the Black Mountain Bandits, their connections are not very close. Although the leaders of each tribe occasionally cooperate to go down the mountain to plunder, they are not subordinate to each other. It is still unknown when a leader will emerge from among them and unite these loose forces.

Ever since Huangfu Song led the court's elite troops to pacify Jizhou and took office as the governor of Jizhou, the Yellow Turbans in Jizhou were all terrified. In order to avoid Huangfu Song's edge, most of them hid in the mountains and forests and dared not come out. Only Xu Chen led his troops to Youzhou.

Hiding in the mountains is safe, but life is not easy. It is simply a pipe dream to rely solely on the resources in the mountains to feed one's own people and the elderly, the weak, women and children.

Fortunately, Huangfu Song did not serve as the governor of Jizhou for long. After Huangfu Song left office, many Yellow Turbans in the Taihang Mountains either found some villages to settle down or went down the mountain from time to time to fight for a living.

As a force entrenched in Changshan and Zhongshan, Zhang Baiqi often went down the mountain to plunder and nourish the troops. Most of the time, he brought hundreds or thousands of people, which was enough to do things in the countryside. He had never suffered any setbacks, but today, he encountered a difficult enemy.

This time, he teamed up with another leader, Huang Long, to extort money from the countryside. Everything went smoothly at the beginning, but on the second day, hundreds of militiamen suddenly appeared. Although their numbers were smaller than his, they were very good at fighting. Now they blocked his way, which made him feel helpless.

At this point, the two sides had been in a standoff for half a day, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense.

Huang Long felt a headache when he saw the hundreds of militiamen in the village who were on high alert. Especially in front of the militiamen, there was a team of dozens of cavalrymen, all of them holding guns and knives, looking very impressive.

Among them, there was a young general in the lead, which made Huang Long deeply afraid. "Brother Baiqi, the young general in white robes on the other side is really powerful. Every time we fight, he always leads the cavalry to charge in and out and attack our flanks. We have no way to deal with it. This is not a good thing. We must not let them really defeat us."

Zhang Baiqi was also deeply worried. If he stayed here for too long, he might attract more support from other places, and then it would be difficult for him to escape.

It’s a pity that there are not many people going down the mountain to beg for food, otherwise, even if you don’t get much, the consumption will be unbearable.

Originally, a thousand people would have been enough, but they didn't expect such a tough opponent to suddenly appear in this place, and the weakness of insufficient manpower was exposed.

"Try to attack again. If it still fails, we can only retreat." Zhang Baiqi looked at the team in the distance with a serious expression.

Huang Long also gritted his teeth and said: "Then I'll listen to you, Brother Baiqi, and fight again!"

Zhang Baiqi nodded, then fixed his eyes on the young general in white robes, and said in a deep voice: "I will personally fight against that young general, you lead the soldiers and fight the enemy without worry!"

After the two men discussed the battle plan, they launched the offensive immediately without wasting any time.

The militia army also moved under the command of the young general in white robe. Although they had no armor and incomplete weapons, they were all young and strong, and they were very imposing with their bravery.

The Yellow Turbans were not much better. They also lacked weapons and armor, and were even worse physically and mentally than the militia.

The two armies each fought against the enemy. The young general in white robe rode a white horse, holding a silver spear. He was tall, mighty, handsome and elegant. When he drove the horse, he was as fast as the wind and as agile as a rabbit. After a loud shout, he led dozens of riders to attack left and right.

Zhang Baiqi led the infantry to meet them, and the two sides engaged in battle. However, facing the cavalry charge, the infantry formation was unable to resist and was quickly dispersed.

He himself faced the young general in white robe. After a brief moment of attack, the two of them fought back and forth with spears and swords. Although Zhang Baiqi tried his best to withstand it, he felt a huge force coming. After violently retreating many steps, half of his body was slightly numb.

This took him by surprise. Even with the help of a horse-riding charge, the force was too amazing.

Looking back again, the young general was already ready to launch a second charge.

Zhang Baiqi felt something was wrong and shouted, "Can anyone leave your name?"

The young general frowned and said calmly, "I am Zhao Zilong from Changshan. When a thief is about to die, he should know at whose hands he will die."

After saying this, Zhao Yun lightly squeezed his horse's belly and charged forward again.

The two sides fought again, Zhao Yun's spear was as agile as a snake and rushed straight to Zhang Baiqi's face. Although Zhang Baiqi was not as strong as Zhao Yun, he was not a pushover. At the critical moment, he turned sideways and the spear tip rubbed his chest, leaving a large amount of blood. At the cost of being injured, Zhang Baiqi also swung his sword at the opponent, and his target was not Zhao Yun, but the white horse under him.

There was a flash of cold light, and the white horse's legs were instantly broken. Along with the horse's mournful cry, Zhao Yun and his horse suddenly fell sideways and rolled. Fortunately, Zhao Yun was very skilled and protected his vital parts during this violent process. Although he fell and was dizzy, he was not seriously injured.

Zhang Baiqi felt it was a pity when he saw this, and then he looked at Huang Long who was also unable to be defeated after a long attack, and he knew that he was no match for him. If he let Zhao Zilong come to his senses and ride a stronger horse, he would no longer be able to deal with him.

"Brother Huang Long, don't get entangled. Retreat immediately!"

Zhang Baiqi endured the severe pain in his chest and shouted orders. Huang Long then saw that something was wrong and led the Yellow Turbans to fight and retreat. After leaving behind dozens of corpses, he finally disappeared in the distance.

A brother of the clan came to Zhao Yun breathlessly and said, "The thief has escaped. Should we still chase him?"

Zhao Yun hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "No need to chase them. Even rabbits bite when they are angry. There is no need for us to fight them desperately with such a small number of people. We can just drive them away."

Everyone nodded when they heard this. It can be seen that Zhao Yun is quite prestigious among the younger generation here.

Zhao Yun walked to the white horse with a broken leg, tore off a strip of cloth from his body, and while calming the horse's painful and agitated emotions, he carefully bandaged the horse's wound. After he finished his work for a while, he stood up, looked in the direction where the Yellow Turbans fled, and sighed.

"The world is not peaceful, and I don't know when it will be more stable."

The local militia here defended their homes, but the Yellow Turbans over there were in trouble. After escaping for a distance, Zhang Baiqi bandaged his wounds and could only lead his brothers all the way back to the mountain stronghold.

The soldiers had just returned and put down the supplies they had brought back, which immediately made the Yellow Turbans and women and children in the mountain stronghold cheer.

Living in the mountains, people can reclaim some wasteland or collect wild fruits, and men can also hunt, but this is not enough to feed more than 10,000 people, not to mention that necessities such as salt and sugar are completely unavailable in the mountains, so they can only find ways from the outside world.

Every harvest from the mountains is enough to make the people in the village cheer, as it is a precious chance for their survival.

However, Zhang Baiqi, who had cloth strips wrapped around his body, remained speechless for a long time. As long as he saw the skinny appearance of the people in the mountain village, he knew that this was not enough. But since the rebellion, no one here could live a normal life.

The people here, except for the Yellow Turbans, that is, their families, there is no way to abandon them.

When they first came in, there were more than 20,000 people, but today, there are only 17,000 or 18,000 left. Those who died either from illness or starvation, and those who are still alive are also suffering.

In order to maintain their fighting capacity, the mountain stronghold gave most of their food to the Yellow Turbans. The women, children, the elderly and the weak only maintained the minimum life consumption. Each of them looked even more miserable than the savages. Every time Zhang Baiqi saw this, he felt sorry for them.

In order to ensure the survival of his own forces, he could only rob, he had to rob, even though he knew that this would bring disaster to innocent people, he did not hesitate, he could not care less.

The only problem now is that it may become increasingly difficult to grab some in the future, and even if you can grab some, it may not be enough to support yourself.

Huang Long also realized the embarrassing situation in the mountain village. He sat quietly beside Zhang Baiqi and said, "Brother Baiqi, how are we going to live in the future? Can we really stay in the mountains? If this continues for a few years, I'm afraid most of these people will die."

Zhang Baiqi gave a sad laugh: "The Yellow Turban Rebellion has failed, and the Han has recovered. We have nowhere to go. I'm afraid we can only stay in this mountain until we die."

After saying this very pessimistically, Zhang Baiqi sighed again and forced himself to cheer up: "There are actually many brothers in the mountains, hundreds of thousands in total, but they have not yet united. When they unite, our lives will be much better."

"Do we have to stay in the mountains? This is not a life for human beings." Huang Long smiled bitterly when he heard this, but after hesitating for a moment, he came up with an idea: "Why don't we go to other places to seek refuge with our brothers? Life there is better than in the mountains anyway."

Zhang Baiqi was stunned when he heard this, then he shook his head and said, "Who should we go to? Should we go to Qingzhou and Xuzhou to look for Zhang Rao and Guan Hai? Although they are powerful, they can only flee around in Qingzhou and Xuzhou. I'm afraid they are more dangerous than us. I think they will die sooner or later."

Huang Long shook his head and said, "I'm not talking about the Qingxu Yellow Turbans. It's better to stay in the mountains than to go find them. At least you don't have to run away."

Zhang Baiqi frowned and said, "Apart from the Qingxu Yellow Turbans, where else in the world can we go for refuge?"

At this time, Huang Long said a name in a somewhat uncertain tone: "Brother Baiqi, have you heard of Xu Chen from Youzhou? He was originally a Taoist child of the Great Sage Master, but now he has also raised the banner of the Heavenly Master. I heard that he has already established a force in Youzhou."

(End of this chapter)