People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 193 Dead End
On the forest road, an army of more than 10,000 was marching forward in a mighty force. Gongsun Zan was riding in the lead. All he could see were the chaotic footprints on the road, and he kept urging the soldiers to speed up.

He had lost count of how many times he had suffered at the hands of the Yellow Turbans, but this time, he finally got his revenge.

The Yellow Turbans were too arrogant. They tried to attack the city by force even though they did not have enough troops. Did they really think they were a soft persimmon that could be easily bullied? They deserve to suffer the consequences for overestimating their own capabilities!
Before the war began, Gongsun Zan was even somewhat afraid of the Yellow Turbans.

But as the battle reached this point, his confidence began to swell involuntarily. From the beginning of the war to now, the Yellow Turbans' sieges have always seemed very difficult. Even the Yellow Turbans' strong military quality is not enough to make up for the natural disadvantages in manpower and sieges.

Even in terms of the number of cavalry, the Yellow Turbans were definitely at a disadvantage.

It was fine in the short term, but over time this disadvantage exposed a huge weakness, which eventually allowed Nanlou to find an opportunity to break through the camp defenses and burn down the camp in one fell swoop. At this point, the battle was declared over.

At this moment, Gongsun Zan felt that all the anger in his chest was gone, and it was finally his turn to chase and fight the Yellow Turbans.

He was unwilling to give up this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, especially when Liu Yu and Liu Bei were defeated in the south. He had to turn the situation around on this battlefield, otherwise these officers and soldiers would never be able to compete with the Yellow Turbans again.

"Speed ​​up the march. I will reward the whole army after defeating the enemy. Hurry!"

Gongsun Zan couldn't stop urging him. At this moment, his mind was completely filled with excitement. As for the possible ambush of the enemy, he didn't even think about it.

During the period of fighting against the Yellow Turbans, both the Yellow Turban infantry and cavalry, their appearance of discomfort and hardship was not pretended, and the burning of the camp was real. The development of the war was completely reasonable. If we still hesitated, it would not be cautiousness, but cowardice.

At least in Gongsun Zan's view, in this situation, all he had to do was pursue the enemy all the way and he didn't need to consider anything else.

The cavalry of both sides are still fighting and retreating on the road ahead, so I must rush over to support them. First, I need to cooperate with Nanlou to force the Yellow Turban cavalry back, and then catch up with the Yellow Turban infantry. In the best case scenario, it is not impossible to completely wipe out the Yellow Turbans!
At his urging, the officers and soldiers quickly passed through the forest path.

When the government army soldiers at the rear also completely entered the ambush area and disappeared from their sight, the Yellow Turban heavy armored soldiers in the mountains and forests on both sides stood up silently. The extremely murderous atmosphere instantly filled the entire mountain forest, and even the temperature seemed to drop a lot.

Following a calm gesture from Lu Ping, all the Yellow Turban soldiers tacitly began to gather on the mountain trail. They would rely on their guns, shields, swords and crossbows to hold this place tightly and completely block the officers and soldiers' retreat.

After the defensive formation was assembled, Lu Ping drew out his ring-handled sword and pointed it forward: "Today, I will annihilate all the officers and soldiers here and add more strength to my Yellow Turban cause!"

The heavily armored army responded with a roar, and then moved accordingly, slowly pressing forward with neat and slow steps.

All the soldiers knew that it would not be long before the officers and soldiers who had just passed by would turn back, because the Yellow Turban decoy troops ahead would have blocked the way ahead by now, ready to stop the officers and soldiers who had plunged into the ambush.

This was indeed the case. Not long after Gongsun Zan led his army forward from the ambush point, he immediately realized something was wrong.

The Wuhuan cavalry, which had just been fighting with the Yellow Turban cavalry, now stopped on the road ahead and just wandered around, as if they were blocked by something.

Gongsun Zan was stunned for a moment. Although he didn't know what happened, he sensed something was wrong.

At least at this time, he knew that he had to figure out the situation first. He immediately stopped his own army with a wave of his hand, then led his team forward and soon found the difficult building.

Before he could open his mouth to ask, he noticed that Nanlou's expression was quite ugly.

"No need to ask. We have fallen into an ambush. The Yellow Turbans ahead have formed a thick formation to block us. They are marching towards us and have no intention of escaping." Nan Lou saw Gongsun Zan and was too lazy to wait for him to ask, so he informed him of the situation first.

Gongsun Zan's face suddenly changed when he heard this. Could it be that all the previous performances of the Yellow Turbans were deliberately pretended?
Gongsun Zan had no choice but to believe it. Almost at the moment when Nan Lou finished speaking, a large black army was slowly approaching from the end of the road in the distance. They looked so fearless and powerful, and did not look like an army fleeing in a panic at all.

At this point, no matter how unwilling he was to admit it, Gongsun Zan had no choice but to accept the reality.

Nan Lou said: "What are you thinking about? Let's retreat quickly. Since they dare to fight head-on, they must be sure of winning."

Gongsun Zan's face also turned ugly, and after a long while he managed to utter a word: "Since they are blocking us in the front, they must have made some arrangements in the back. I guess our retreat has been blocked now, and we may be attacked from both sides soon."

Nan Lou took a breath after hearing this. He realized that what Gongsun Zan said was very likely: "If so, we can only choose a direction to break out. No matter what, our troops are superior. If we really fight to the death, we don't know who will have the last laugh!" Gongsun Zan had a dark face. He never expected that he would be tricked by the Yellow Turbans this time. He wanted to die: "This is the only way. Prepare to fight to the death. If we can't get out, this will be the place where you and I will die!"

After quickly assessing the troop strength in front, they could roughly know how many troops were blocking the road in the rear. In comparison, it was easier to break through to the rear.

The officers and soldiers who had just been chasing and killing excitedly immediately changed direction and rushed back again.

The Yellow Turban army pressing closely from behind made the officers and soldiers feel like they were demanding their lives. When the Yellow Turbans really prepared to attack from both sides, the officers and soldiers suddenly woke up and realized that what they were chasing were not the early mob of Yellow Turbans, but the powerful and elite Yellow Turban Corps that were terrifying.

When the hot blood in his body cooled down, Gongsun Zan wanted to slap himself twice. He had experienced how powerful the Yellow Turbans' army was in field battles. Why did he rush out of the city to pursue them in such a rash manner?
As he expected, not long after they retreated, they saw two thousand heavily armored soldiers ready for battle.

The black army formation was dense and orderly, the long spears pointing diagonally made people feel chilled, and the solid round shields in front were like an insurmountable wall. The crossbowmen in the rear had made all preparations for the battle, and they would start pouring arrows as soon as the enemy entered the range.

Gongsun Zan took a deep breath. The long-term advantageous combat situation before had completely blinded his mind, to the point that he forgot the horror of the Yellow Turban Army.

It was not until this time that he was once again dominated by his former fear.

However, at this time no one cared about what he was thinking. The Yellow Turbans in front and behind began to attack the officers and soldiers like the two ends of a pair of pliers. Although their forces seemed a little weak compared to the officers and soldiers, compared with the chaos of the officers and soldiers, the calmness and strictness of the Yellow Turbans showed a more powerful momentum.

"All troops, follow me to break through!"

Gongsun Zan's eyes began to turn red. This was the reaction caused by the surge of blood under the stimulation of life and death. The sound of his shouting was like thunder. He knew that he had to fight desperately this time.

He had no idea how many times he had faced life-and-death crises. No matter whether his opponent was the Yellow Turbans, the Wuhuan or the Xianbei, he had always been able to escape from danger with his bravery. This time, he still planned to replicate his previous bravery.

The officers and soldiers were like a disorderly torrent, while the two thousand Yellow Turbans blocking the front were thin but firm, more like an unshakable mountain.

Even the scene of the collision between the two is exactly the same as a torrent meeting a mountain. The river water seems to be turbulent, but it is blocked back by the mountain every time. The extreme firmness builds an indestructible line of defense, and the impact of the torrent is all borne invisibly.

The blocking team led by Lu Ping personally bore most of the pressure from the officers and soldiers. The defense line of only two thousand people was steady and motionless, preventing the officers and soldiers from taking a single step forward.

The weapons of the Yellow Turbans were sharper than those of the officers and soldiers, their armor was thicker and more solid than that of the officers and soldiers, their soldiers were taller and stronger than those of the officers and soldiers, and their army formation was tighter and more stable. The huge gap between the two sides became clear after the loss of the city wall.

Just like the countless battles between the officers and soldiers and the Yellow Turbans before, this time was no exception. The officers and soldiers were suppressed by the Yellow Turbans in all aspects.

Although Gongsun Zan fought bravely, he found it difficult to exert his strength in the face of the tight and stable legion formation. He had just repelled the sword and shield soldiers in front of him, and was about to be forced back by several oncoming halberds, while the Yellow Turban soldiers were able to fill the gap in the defense line in an instant.

It was as if what was in front of him was a hard turtle shell, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't break their defense.

Moreover, in just a short while, he had no idea how many crossbow arrows had hit him. If he had not been a general wearing a set of silver armor, he would have been pierced into a hedgehog by now.

It’s just that Gongsun Zan can avoid the damage of crossbow arrows by wearing armor, but a large number of ordinary soldiers are not so lucky.

The power of the repeating crossbow is not as good as that of the strong bow and crossbow, but this does not mean that its power is smaller. At least within a distance of ten or twenty steps, the repeating crossbow is enough to scare soldiers without armor. They only need to be hit by two arrows to have little combat capability.

Lu Ping led two thousand infantrymen and withstood the attack of the officers and soldiers. This was not an easy task. If it lasted for a long time, they might not be able to hold on under the continuous attack of the officers and soldiers.

However, Gongsun Zan had little confidence because even if he could break through the defense line, it would not be a short-term thing. At this time, the Yellow Turban army in the rear had already begun a brutal hunt and stranglehold.

The government troops were completely surrounded by the Yellow Turbans from front and back. This encirclement was like a land of death, with blood blooming like flowers one after another and screams and wails ringing in the ears.

In this desperate combat scenario, the morale of officers and soldiers began to collapse at an unimaginable speed. Finally, some soldiers could not bear it anymore and began to drop their weapons and surrender.

(End of this chapter)