People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 187 Dangerous Atmosphere
Fighting, blood, and death.

The cruelest side of the war was constantly being played out on the walls of Zhuo County.

The victory at the beginning of the war did not undermine the morale of the Yellow Turbans. Instead, it made them hold their breath. The proud Yellow Turban warriors would respond to the enemy's ridicule with their strongest force.

Even Xu Chen seemed to be angry because of Tian Shitou's injury. After the camp was established, the Yellow Turbans put pressure on Zhuo County with a strong offensive posture for five or six days in a row. The battle was so fierce that the sky was dark and the earth was chaotic.

The city gates were blocked by soldiers and turned into solid walls, which became the most difficult place for the Yellow Turbans to conquer.

Therefore, the gunpowder that was originally intended to break down the door was used to carry out continuous blasting of the weak points of the rammed earth wall.

Although rammed earth is not as good as brick and stone walls, it is actually very dense and thick. Even after repeated blasting, it finally took nearly three days to blast a few holes.

These gaps have become the key points of contention between the two sides, and the two sides can be seen fighting back and forth in these narrow gaps every day.

Although the Yellow Turbans were powerful, they were attacked from both the top of the city and from the inside. They broke into the city several times but were eventually beaten back. As long as they failed to achieve results during the day, the defenders would summon civilians to carry huge logs and stones to block the gaps at night.

It can only be said that even though a hole was blown open in the city wall, the narrow passage still greatly restricted the Yellow Turbans' ability to perform their duties.

The battle was extremely intense, but Wang Dang and Xu Chen were both very calm. Although the Yellow Turbans did not like this kind of hard attack, they had no intention of adjusting to the current situation.

Now the gaps created are not enough and not big enough, so continue to use gunpowder bombing to create more and bigger gaps.

The outer cavalry roamed on both sides of the battlefield, and the Yellow Turbans also built a large number of civil engineering and chevaux-de-frise facilities on both sides of the battlefield, and set up fixed crossbow formations and infantry battalions for defense at all times. As long as the cavalry harassed the battlefield, they would encounter counterattacks from the Yellow Turban defense positions.

With fortifications and long-range weapons, the 10,000 cavalry outside Zhuojun City could pose a threat to the Yellow Turbans, but they themselves were not in a good situation.

Overall, the Yellow Turbans suffered a great loss at the hands of the cavalry. The cavalry did not need to actually attack the positions; as long as they wandered around outside, they would naturally become a huge threat, forcing the Yellow Turbans to devote a huge amount of energy to defense. Otherwise, the Yellow Turbans could now put much greater defensive pressure on Zhuo County.

For a short period of time, the Yellow Turbans were able to maintain a relatively balanced situation. The cavalry could not easily defeat the Yellow Turbans' camps and battlefield defenses that were ready for battle, and the Yellow Turbans could not do anything to the cavalry.

But this situation will not last long.

The cavalry on the battlefield of Zhuo County was a group of Xianbei cavalry led by Kebi Neng. When the situation was not favorable in a frontal battle, Kebi Neng naturally knew how to deal with it.

Leaving behind a part of the troops to continue to distract the Yellow Turbans, another 3,000 cavalrymen went around the rear of the Yellow Turbans and went straight to the Yellow Turbans' food route in order to cut off their logistical routes.

The logistical needs of an army of 20,000 cannot be carried all at once. As the war continues, food and fodder must be continuously transported from the rear to support protracted combat.

"Master, the enemy has led the cavalry to block the food supply route. Our army does not have much time left."

The Xianbei's actions were not beyond the Yellow Turbans' expectations, but Wang Dang was still instinctively worried.

Even if the food supply route was cut off, it would not be a big problem. The Yellow Turbans would just need to do a good job of logistics management and evacuate at a relatively safe time.

But if this were to happen, the attack would be declared a failure, which was certainly not what Wang Dang wanted to see.

He took out a piece of paper and looked at it for a while. There were various tables on it, and at the end, the exact date when the Yellow Turbans' logistics could be consumed was calculated.

"Our army has enough food and grass to last for half a month, but with logistics cut off, we must reserve five days for evacuation. This means we only have ten days left to attack. If we can't take Zhuo County within these ten days, we will have no choice but to retreat!"

Wang Dang put down the form, his face a little serious: "Master, can our plan really work?"

Xu Chen thought for a moment and said, "We have to fight a tough battle. Even if the plan fails, we can still break the city with our army's ability. The longer we fight the enemy, the harder it will be. In a contest of will, we, the Yellow Turbans, are not afraid of any opponent. Moreover, we have enough gunpowder. With continuous bombardment, the earth wall will become increasingly unsustainable and will collapse sooner or later. Then it will be easier to fight."

Wang Dang thought about it for a while and could only nod silently.

Xu Chen glanced at him and said, "The officers and soldiers have indeed made a lot of preparations. They also built this city wall like a fortress, but a fortress is always easier to destroy from the inside. Believe me, the more pressure we put on them, the easier it will be for them to collapse from the inside."

Wang Dang looked towards the fierce fighting battlefield, where soldiers from both sides were fighting endlessly around the breach in the city wall.

The cavalry on both sides would suddenly launch a surprise attack from time to time. Although they would be forced back by the Yellow Turbans' flank defenses every time, this put great pressure on the Yellow Turbans, forcing them to make a breakthrough as soon as possible.

"Ten days won't do. We have to take it down faster. In that case, we'll have to increase our offensive strength!" Wang Dang's eyes fixed, and he was ruthless. As Xu Chen said, the road ahead is bound to be bumpy. If you want to succeed, it won't be smooth sailing. There are times when you need to fight hard battles, not just now.

Wang Dang thought to himself that as a grown man, how could he not be as courageous as the leader, a young man of only 20 years old?
Once the decision was made here, the battlefield reacted quickly. The Yellow Turbans began to bombard the rammed earth walls of Zhuo County with more and more intensive gunpowder. A gap of five or six centimeters was blocked last night, but after another explosion, all their efforts were in vain, and the gap became more and more exaggerated.

After years of accumulation, the Yellow Turbans had a considerable reserve of gunpowder. If a little gunpowder could not break through the extremely reinforced city gate, they would use more gunpowder to directly blow up the earth wall.

The Yellow Turbans began to reduce direct fighting and instead focused their attacks on blasting. The continuous blasting also allowed them to accumulate a lot of experience and skills.

They began to try to break open the wall and stuff the explosives in, or to find the right points and blast them simultaneously, which often made the blasting effect more impressive.

Large amounts of gunpowder were poured into the battlefield as if it were free of charge. After two days of such explosions, the city walls of Zhuo County could no longer bear the heavy load and began to collapse in large areas.

This seemed to be the critical point where the outcome began to tilt, and the Yellow Turbans began to devote more effort to truly break into the city and launch a violent attack.

However, whenever the Yellow Turbans attacked with force, the death squads led by Guan and Zhang would always be able to force the Yellow Turbans away with a powerful counterattack.

These two death squads are the most elite teams of officers and soldiers. They are extremely powerful and are invincible under the leadership of Guan and Zhang, who are known for their bravery.

That is to say, the Yellow Turbans were so powerful that they were able to fight the other side on equal terms. Neither side could do anything to the other, and the war remained at a stalemate.

Although the situation on the surface has been stabilized, the pressure on officers and soldiers has actually doubled.

As night fell, the Yellow Turbans had no choice but to stop their activities, and the officers and soldiers were able to get a brief rest. They needed to recover their strength for the more intense battle tomorrow.

Only the soldiers could take a break, but most civilians had to grit their teeth and continue working even at night.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry, move it for me. If you are slow and delay the battle tomorrow, I will make you pay!"

With torches lighting up the room, a military officer scolded the laborers in front of him in an anxious but harsh tone. Most of the laborers were carrying huge rocks and wood, or constantly repairing the gaps in the city wall with mud.

You can see that everyone is panting and sweating profusely at this time. Only with the uniform shouting can they struggle to continue working.

At least the soldiers could rest, but a large number of civilians were forced to work hard day and night.

Due to the impact of continuous blasting, the demand for engineering projects in Zhuo County rose sharply, forcing the officers and soldiers to continuously force the laborers to work overtime. This situation only lasted for a few days and the laborers were close to collapse.

"Assholes, hurry up, you're asking for a beating if you keep dawdling!"

The military officers were also anxious. If they failed to complete the assigned tasks, they would also be punished.

Seeing that the laborers were slow, he whipped them hard a few times, which immediately caused several of them to scream. This caused everyone to glare at each other angrily, and the laborers' emotions seemed to be on the verge of exploding.

But this made the military officer even more angry. In this world, one level oppresses another. In his eyes, the common people were nothing. The reactions of the common people made him feel offended.

Without thinking, he whipped them again: "Damn it, you are a bunch of bastards, you want to rebel, believe it or not, I will call the soldiers over to kill you immediately!"

Just like sparks meeting dry wood, the civilians felt that the strings in their hearts were about to break, but they were not frightened. Instead, they dropped the huge wood and stones in their hands and looked at the military officers coldly. The atmosphere suddenly became extremely dangerous.

The military officer was frightened and took a few steps back, but he immediately became angry and said, "Okay, okay, if you guys want to die, then it's not my fault!"

After he said that, he was about to shout for the officers and soldiers to come and suppress the civilians, but at this moment, a hand was placed on his shoulder, which made him stunned.

When he turned around, he saw a familiar face, it was Li Bu Cao from the county.

Li Zheng shook his head at him and said in a deep voice: "Don't make trouble. The war is fierce right now. If you cause trouble, you will be in trouble. Go somewhere else. I will watch over here."

The military officer also came to his senses after hearing this. He was a little scared for a moment and even bowed to Li Zheng: "Thank you Li Bu Cao for reminding me. I almost got into trouble."

(End of this chapter)