People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 528 Excuse me

The Yellow Turbans acted quickly. Before noon, the army began marching under Wuli's orders, preparing to attack Fucheng. They had gone through so much trouble to bypass Jianmen and enter Shu, and they did not want any more setbacks.

Jianmen was feinted by Zhang Lu, so the Shu army could not help but send troops to support. At this time, if they discovered the Yellow Turbans rushing out from the Yinping Trail, they would definitely rush to Fucheng to intercept them. Once the Shu army entered Fucheng's defense in advance, it would take a lot of effort for the Yellow Turbans to take over.

Therefore, even though he knew that the Yellow Turban soldiers had not yet fully rested, Wuli Xunchen was unwilling to delay any longer and immediately launched an offensive after just one night.

The movement of 20,000 Yellow Turban light troops was like heavenly soldiers descending to earth for Shuzhong today, and there was no possibility of stopping them.

Fucheng is just an ordinary county town. According to the report from the scouts last night, there are only a thousand soldiers in this city. Although the Yellow Turbans rested for a night dozens of miles away, such a short time is not enough for Fucheng to recruit more soldiers and prepare for war. When the Yellow Turbans arrive, they can at most conscript a few thousand civilians to defend the city and fight, and this temporary conscripted force is simply not enough to stop the Yellow Turbans' offensive.

At least Wuli and Xun Chen had absolute confidence in this battle. After a short rest, they were able to support an attack by 20,000 Yellow Turbans. With their complete advantage in combat power and manpower, Fucheng was just a piece of cake for them.

Wulixunchen estimated that they could capture Fucheng in one day at most, but their estimate was too conservative. In fact, the result was much smoother than they had imagined.

The news of the Yellow Turbans' attack had already reached Fucheng County last night, but the first reaction of the wealthy and powerful in the city was not to live and die with the county, but to flee the city with their relatives and property that night. Fucheng was in turmoil all night, with an endless convoy of carriages constantly passing through the streets and then leaving the city. By dawn, almost all the wealthy people in the city had fled.

In response, the county magistrate Ma Miao did not try to stop them. In fact, he could not stop them. If he did not let them go, these powerful people would immediately turn against him. It was hard to say whether the thousands of soldiers in his hands would be effective. After all, each powerful family also had their own servants and private soldiers.

Ma Miao was helpless. He also understood the behavior of the powerful people running away. But he was the county magistrate and could not run away, otherwise he would have to run away too.

Ma Miao would not dare to defend this broken county town against the attack of 20,000 elite Yellow Turbans even if it was a dream.

What kind of existence is the Yellow Turbans? They will kill anyone who stands in their way, and they will kill gods who stand in their way. Ever since they fought back from the desperate situation in Youzhou, they have been advancing triumphantly. Countless heroes have fallen before them, and they have earned the reputation of being an invincible army. Any enemy would be terrified upon hearing the word "Yellow Turbans".

Ma Miao did not think that he could still fight against the Yellow Turbans when he was at a great disadvantage in terms of military strength, especially since all the wealthy families in the city had fled. Without their support, the city would be impossible to defend.

But anyone can run away except Ma Miao. Even if he runs back to Liu Bei, he will lose his head for the responsibility of losing the defense and running away.

There were only two options left for Ma Miao. One was to be loyal to Shu and live and die with Fucheng. The other was to surrender directly to the Yellow Turbans and at least save his life.

Unfortunately, Ma Miao was not a loyal and brave man, so he chose the latter.

When the Yellow Turban army arrived at Fucheng, what appeared before the Yellow Turbans was not a strictly defended city, but a city with its gates wide open and no defense at all. The county magistrate Ma Miao, dressed in white and holding an official seal, led a group of county soldiers and county officials to kneel in front of the city gate, ready to wait for the Yellow Turbans to accept their surrender.

Last night, what Ma Miao did was not to recruit soldiers and prepare for war, but to do ideological work among the soldiers and county officials. Fortunately, this work went very smoothly. No one from top to bottom intended to fight the Yellow Turbans, and they quickly reached a unanimous decision to surrender.

After all, Liu Bei had only been in Shu for a short time and had not had time to establish much prestige. The grassroots also did not have much sense of belonging to the so-called Shu Han. It was too difficult to ask them to fight to the death for Liu Bei and Shu Han.

Fucheng fell into the hands of the Yellow Turbans peacefully and smoothly. Although Wuli Xunchen was a little surprised by Zhang Miao's choice to surrender, he did not find it strange. In fact, as Xuanxia became more and more powerful, more and more people surrendered in foreign wars. Whether for the lower-class people or for enemy officials like Zhang Miao, surrendering was not a psychological pressure. The Yellow Turbans were already famous for treating prisoners well. Only those who had committed unforgivable crimes and the powerful families would be afraid of being liquidated and resist to the end.

After entering Fucheng, the people of Fucheng, who were unable to escape like the powerful and wealthy, gradually calmed down after the initial period of fear and accepted the fact that the Yellow Turbans had taken control.

They suddenly discovered that the Yellow Turbans were not as brutal and cruel as the government said. Not only did they not rob the people, insult women, or kill innocent people, but they even took the initiative to maintain order in the city.

Once some ruffians and bullies who took advantage of the chaos to do evil fell into the hands of the Yellow Turbans, they would immediately suffer physical pain, which in turn caused the people to cheer.

Even the military doctors accompanying the Yellow Turbans opened free clinics in the city, and the people were free of charge when they went to receive treatment. This helped many people resolve their illnesses, and it brought the people closer to them.

In just two days, the attitude of the people in the city towards the Yellow Turbans changed from their initial wariness and fear to closeness and trust. They had never seen an army like the Yellow Turbans in their lives.

It was not until the guards in the army began to promote the Yellow Turban ideology to the people that the people realized that they had been deceived by the government all along. The Yellow Turbans were not as evil as the government had portrayed them to be. Instead, they were heavenly soldiers who came to save these suffering people.

When the Yellow Turbans proposed the policy of distributing land, exempting miscellaneous taxes, and abolishing corvee labor, the name of Xu Shengren Xu Tianshi spread throughout the entire Fucheng overnight, and the little kids sang folk songs to welcome the Yellow Turbans the next day.

If people knew what Xu Tianshi looked like, they would have immediately started making a clay statue and setting up a shrine for him in every household.

Of course, the Yellow Turbans do not have the energy to implement these policies now; that will be a matter for after the war is over.

During these two days, the 20,000 Yellow Turban soldiers finally had a good rest, and the army's condition quickly recovered. They had already begun to prepare to implement the next battle plan to attack Jianmen Pass, but at this time, a sudden news interrupted their plan.

The reinforcements of the Shu army also marched here at this time, and the Yellow Turbans could only focus their attention on these reinforcements first.

In fact, the situation in Fucheng also disrupted the plans of the support troops.

Wei Yan, who had originally come to support Jianmen Pass, never thought that what was waiting for him would be the Yellow Turbans who had already invaded Shuzhong. As soon as he received the military report, Wei Yan immediately stopped his advance.

When Wei Yan learned that the Yellow Turbans had a force of 20,000 and had occupied Fucheng, his first feeling was a toothache.

Due to the shortage of military forces, Liu Bei only allocated him 30,000 troops. Among these 30,000 troops, only 10,000 could be considered elite soldiers, and the rest were conscripted soldiers.

Wei Yan had only one thing to say when he was asked to lead these 30,000 troops to fight against 20,000 elite Yellow Turbans.

Sorry to bother you.

(End of this chapter)