People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 188 Our leader is back!

Although Li Zhenghao tried to stop the military officer from causing trouble in a loud voice, his next words frightened the military officer even more.

Although Li Bu Cao tried to stop himself, he seemed to be more extreme than himself.

In the shadow, Li Zheng's face flickered under the torch, looking quite creepy.

"Now the workload is getting bigger and bigger, and the existing civilians are not enough. You lead the team to requisition civilians, whether they are old, children or women, capture them all. And since there is not enough material for the city wall, then demolish the houses of the people. As long as it can cope with the current war, use all the methods that can be used!"

After hearing this, the military officer froze suddenly and looked at Li Zheng in surprise.

The military officer thought he was cruel and mean enough, but now it seems that Li Bu Cao is ten times more cruel than himself!
It would be fine if it was just the elderly, women and children, but even children were being requisitioned. He had never heard of such a thing. Demolishing people’s houses was even more terrifying. If things went wrong, the people might really have to fight to their death.

"Li Bu Cao, is this really okay? This...if something bad happens we'll be finished!" After the military officer calmed down, it was his turn to persuade Li Zheng.

Li Zheng didn't mean to ask: "What could happen?"

The military officer whispered, "You are pushing them too hard. The people might really rebel."

"Rebellion?" Li Zheng sneered when he heard this, and looked at the cold-eyed civilians, his expression gradually became colder: "Zhuo County is in danger now, so what if the common people pay a little more? They just work harder to destroy the houses, but our Han Dynasty will lose its territory!"

The military officer was speechless. He couldn't say that for the sake of the people, the territory of the Han Dynasty could not be lost. With his words blocked, he could only remain silent.

“Hurry up and go!” Li Zheng stared over.

The officer felt his scalp tingling, and could only grit his teeth and agree: "I'll do it right away!"

After watching the military officers leave, Li Zheng turned around and began to look at the team of civilian laborers. Although he had just resolved a conflict, he could clearly feel the huge resentment of the civilian laborers.

Then he saw a familiar figure in the team. It was the unlucky Yellow Turban named Zhang An who had been captured by the officers and soldiers.

Through his own observation, although Zhang An did things in a rough way and needed to cover it up secretly, this guy was actually not stupid. Instead, he was very good at inciting people.

Now that he has created sufficient conditions, if nothing unexpected happens, Zhang An will definitely seize this excellent opportunity.

However, even if Zhang An did not act as he expected, the current situation would still develop as he expected.

After all, changes in people's hearts are an objective fact. As long as dissatisfaction and resentment accumulate to a certain stage, there will inevitably be an outlet for them to burst out.

According to a novel theory of natural alchemy, Zhang An was at best a catalyst that increased the rate of the reaction; the reaction would still occur without the catalyst.

Under the cover of night, troops of military officials began to forcibly conscript laborers from every household in the city, not even sparing children.

The houses of the common people were demolished with great force. The beams, timbers, bricks and stones were all looted. For a time, the entire city of Zhuo County was in ruins. The enemy army had not even entered the city, but it was already in ruins.

And this really had a miraculous effect. The labor force that was originally unusable was replenished, and the speed of construction of various projects suddenly increased. It seemed that things were moving in the right direction.

I just don’t know how many cries and cries were hidden in the darkness.

Also hidden were Zhang An's intermittent whispered conversations with other laborers during their short breaks. If you were closer, you could hear some general information.

Most of them were words like "The bastard officers and soldiers didn't even let the children go", "It's bad enough that the food was stolen, but even the houses were destroyed", "Only the Yellow Turbans can lead us to a good life", "When the battle is fierce tomorrow, follow me to start an uprising!", "Raise the yellow flag to welcome the righteous army".

Silently, a change had been brewing in the dark night. However, thanks to a figure who had been providing cover not far away, the officials above were still unaware of the impending crisis.

In the early morning, Liu Bei climbed to the top of the city wall wearing a suit of armor stained with blood and mud.

Guan and Zhang behind him were not in much better condition, and they were the main force in the battle. Not only were their clothes in tatters, but they also had a lot of cloth bands wrapped around their bodies. They had also suffered a lot of injuries after the fierce fighting in the past few days.

Not long after, Liu Yu also arrived. Just looking at his dark circles and haggard face, it was obvious that he had not had a good rest in recent days.

They looked at each other and skipped the greetings; they really weren't in the mood for that.

The chaotic battle had long consumed their extra thoughts, and now all their energy was focused on the war. The difficulty of this battle was beyond their imagination.

The Yellow Turbans suffered a lot in the fight, and the officers and soldiers on this side were in even more pain. Liu Yu was fortunate that Liu, Guan, and Zhang came to join him at the critical moment, otherwise he didn't know how he could have survived the battle until today.

Not to mention Guan and Zhang, they are truly top-notch generals. Without them, the battle line would have collapsed long ago.

Although Liu Bei might be only above average in military affairs, he was very good at winning people's hearts and boosting morale.

The war was difficult in the past few days. Whenever Liu Bei had time, he would go to the grassroots level of the army to observe the soldiers. This attitude greatly stabilized the morale of the army, which allowed the officers and soldiers to hold on in the high-intensity battle.

"I'm so grateful to Xuande these days." Liu Yu sighed sincerely.

Liu Bei turned his head, his eyes somewhat puzzled: "What is the governor talking about?" Liu Yu was silent for a moment, and could only raise his voice, which even sounded a bit like shouting: "I said, the enemy's attack is getting more and more fierce day by day, Xuande must hold on well!"

Liu Bei rubbed his ears, and finally heard clearly, then nodded helplessly: "I know, Governor, don't worry, as long as I am still standing here, Zhuo County will not be lost!"

Liu Bei's words were not just for show; he was truly determined to defend the place to the death. After all, this was his hometown.

If the Yellow Turbans were allowed to occupy Zhuo County, he would never be able to return home again.

Liu Yu forced a smile and continued to shout loudly: "Now that the Yellow Turbans' food supply route has been cut off, and there is a threat from Kebineng on one side, they will not be able to hold out for too long. As long as we force them to retreat, we will win!"

Liu Bei bowed to him and said: "I will do my best to hold on. With my two brothers as the vanguard, we can force back the powerful enemy!"

Liu Bei was actually unsure of the current situation. It seemed that his officers and soldiers could still fight. After all, as long as he could force the enemy to retreat, his goal would be achieved.

However, he had no idea whether he could survive this period of time and force the Yellow Turbans to retreat. Now he could only hold on one day at a time.

The Yellow Turbans are so powerful that it is terrifying. This strength is not only reflected in their combat effectiveness, but also in their technology. The gunpowder used for the explosion is extremely powerful. I have become numb from just listening to the explosions these days, and my ears are not working well now.

If it weren't for this thing, the battle would be easier to fight, but now the city walls are full of holes and it's really difficult to defend against.

"Brother, the enemy is moving, and the war is about to begin!" Zhang Fei pointed to the front. The Yellow Turban camp had begun to move, which was obviously a new round of attack.

Liu Bei nodded and ordered in a deep voice: "Prepare for battle!"

The soldiers on the city wall were reorganizing their equipment one after another at the urging of the officers. Although they had a night's rest, they still felt very tired. This fatigue came from both the physical and mental levels, and could not be relieved by a night's rest.

The process of transitioning from a sitting and resting state to being shouted at and entering a fighting state was something everyone resisted and hated.

This emotion was caused by fatigue, but also because they knew very well that they would face even more terrifying attacks and greater pressure, which made them instinctively want to escape.

But they had no choice but to endure the discomfort and start a new battle.

The battle of the new day was indeed more intense as they had imagined. The pressure exerted by the Yellow Turbans on the tattered city walls made it difficult for the officers and soldiers inside to breathe. Only with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei fighting hard could they maintain their situation.

Liu Bei stood on the top of the city wall, nervously watching the development of the battlefield and issuing various instructions.

In the end, he also drew his sword and went down from the city wall, ready to lead the team together with Guan and Zhang to resist the enemy's attack.

But just as he turned around, his whole body suddenly froze. Liu Yu, who was standing next to him, noticed something was wrong and turned around to look, but he also froze.

Their minds, which were completely immersed in the war, were suddenly pulled back.

When I saw an eight or nine-year-old child being scolded and whipped by a military officer, the crying that had been ignored by them began to get louder in my mind.

They noticed something was wrong immediately. This was the place closest to the front line of the battlefield, so how could there be children here!

When they took a closer look, they were shocked to find that there was not only one child here, but also many teenagers and children of different ages, as well as many frail old people and women, all of whom were struggling to do various heavy tasks under the scolding of military officers.

Liu Bei could no longer hold it in and quickly ran down the city wall. Liu Yu also woke up as if from a dream and followed him down with a grim look on his face.

"Cry, cry, cry, why are you crying? Go to work!"

Liu Bei and Liu Yu had just run over when they heard the military officer scolding the child fiercely, without a trace of empathy. Liu Bei couldn't stand it at all, and slapped him directly: "What's going on!"

The officer was slapped in the face and was about to get angry, but when he turned around and recognized the two men, he was startled and said, "I, I was supervising the laborers to work."

Liu Yu's face turned black as the bottom of a pot. He pointed at the child and asked him, "Is he a commoner?"

The officer said in a daze, "Yes, yes, we are short of manpower, so we could only start to recruit children, the elderly and the weak last night."

Liu Yu and Liu Bei looked at each other, then looked around and saw that the eyes of the civilians were all spitting fire. Their hearts skipped a beat and they felt that something was wrong.

Liu Bei was anxious to speak up to save the situation, but at this moment something unexpected happened.

A figure suddenly rushed over without his noticing, stabbed Liu Bei with a sword, and then shouted suddenly.

"Brothers, the soldiers treat us like dogs and pigs, not even sparing children. This is not what human beings should do. We will rebel against them and open the city gates to welcome the righteous army. When the Yellow Turbans come, give us our land!"

This explosive shout made the entire venue quiet for a moment, and the next moment, the civilians were boiling with excitement!

"Fellow villagers of Zhuo County, our leader is back!"

(End of this chapter)