People in the Three Kingdoms: Starting from Preaching

Chapter 85 Going the other way
As night fell, it was pitch black, but Zhang Chun's army from the two counties took a rare rest. It was not that they did not want to rest in peace, but without a protected camp, they had to remain vigilant at all times. No one dared to bet whether the Yellow Turbans would launch a night attack.

Zhang Chun could only order the entire army to be on alert at night and command them to set up camp.

If we can set up half or six out of the camp at night, we will have some support for the battle tomorrow. If the situation is unfavorable, we can retreat to the camp to resist the enemy and avoid a complete collapse.

This army of more than 10,000 was the result of his overdrawing the manpower and materials of the two counties. If he were to lose them all here, he would have no chance of success in the future.

Zhang Chun was worried, so he led Tian Chou and his generals to patrol the camp at night. Under the light of torches, they could see soldiers driving stakes and wooden planks everywhere to build military tents, while more troops were maintaining a defensive formation facing the dark night sky outside, not daring to relax at all.

The accompanying generals were very worried when they saw this: "Today's battle, our army relies entirely on the bounty to maintain a balance. If our army cannot rest tonight, I'm afraid we will be at a disadvantage in tomorrow's battle. This is not right!"

Zhang Chun glanced at the general, shook his head helplessly, and was too lazy to even respond.

How could he not understand this principle? But if he didn't set up the camp now, it would not only be that he would have trouble resting tonight, but he would have trouble resting day and night in the future.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit tense, Tian Chou stood up and said: "The camp must be set up first. Although it is difficult, we can only let the soldiers suffer first, but..."
.
Everyone looked over when they heard this: "But how?"

Tian Chou sighed and said worriedly, "I am just worried that even if our army sets up camp overnight, the Yellow Turbans may not be willing to let us go."

Perhaps it was God's response to his worries. Just as he finished speaking, he heard shouts of killing in the darkness outside the camp. The noise stunned the entire army.

Zhang Chun reacted quickly and shouted loudly
"The enemy is attacking at night, be prepared!"

As his voice fell, the already exhausted soldiers perked up all of a sudden. The soldiers who were still busy setting up camp even put down their work and quickly picked up their weapons to prepare for defense.

There was a moment of chaos in the military camp, but the soldiers finally recovered and all the soldiers were in a defensive formation.

However, the shouting and screaming in the darkness was deafening, but after a while, there was no follow-up movement, and after a while, even the sound disappeared.

The soldiers all looked at each other, not knowing what to do.

Zhang Chun and his companions had even gloomier expressions. Everyone knew that this was just a feint by the Yellow Turbans, but they seemed to have no way to deal with it.

Tian Chou felt even worse: "In today's battle, although the Yellow Turbans were very powerful, they actually had a plan to advance and retreat without exerting their full strength. Perhaps they had already planned to tire out the army. They have been harassing our army and making it restless. In just two days, our army will probably lose the strength to fight again."

Zhang Chun became a little annoyed: "How could I not know this? But what can I do?"

Tian Chou sighed, "We can either retreat to a distant place to rest and then make plans, or we can forcefully set up camp despite the harassment. The former is safe, but it will take more time to advance slowly. The latter is dangerous, but as long as we survive, we will be fine. From now on, we can attack or defend."

Hearing this, Zhang Chun immediately started to think about it. This suggestion made him feel torn.

Ten miles is actually far enough. If he retreats further and advances slowly, it will not be a short-term matter. Such consumption of food and grass will be difficult to maintain, and a long battle is not something he wants.

He looked at the darkness in the distance and slowly came up with a plan.

"Even if the Yellow Turbans attack at night, they can only try with a small team. I really don't believe they dare to send out the entire army. Such a movement cannot be concealed, so our army will just bear with it!" After saying that, he issued another order: "Continue to repair the camp, divide several battalions of soldiers to rotate defense, no matter what, you have to repair 50% to 60% of it tonight!"

Now that the decision had been made, the generals naturally did not leave on their own and instead made arrangements for the camp.

After everyone made up their minds, the speed of building the camp increased significantly.

Of course, during this process, the outsiders would occasionally receive shouts of killing and harassment from the Yellow Turbans, and there was even one incident where they actually attacked the camp, but they only made a brief contact and then retreated. In fact, it was just to scare them.

After so many times, the soldiers maintaining the defense were not so nervous. Although it was a bit annoying, it was okay for several battalions to take turns to rest.

Seeing that the situation was gradually stabilizing, Zhang Chun felt more at ease and felt that his decision was wise.

Although the Yellow Turbans are cunning and brave, they are not invincible. Let's see how we deal with them after we set up the camp!
As the night deepened, Zhang Chun decided that nothing would happen tonight, so he turned around and went back to his tent to rest.

The fact was just as he thought. Until the second watch, the Yellow Turbans were still harassing outside the camp, but that was all. The army was able to handle it, so he naturally slept well.

However, at the second watch of the night, the Yellow Turbans, who had cooked and rested as soon as they returned to the camp, woke up one after another and assembled their troops quietly.

Although most of the soldiers were night blind, there were still many who could see. Xu Chen picked out these people to lead the way in front, and then all the soldiers used branches as belts to pull forward and backward to keep the route consistent. Although the march was extremely slow, they all had enough rest and were full of energy, and were not afraid of wasting more time.

To do so, Xu Chen naturally did the opposite, having a hundred men continuously harass and paralyze the enemy, and then the entire army attacked the camp to win in one fell swoop.

Of course, the enemy may still remain on full alert, but the two armies are in completely different states at this time, and they have the psychological advantage of attacking the camp. These two points are enough to support Xu Chen in making this decision.

Night raids are difficult, as walking alone takes several times longer than daytime raids. The journey, which would take more than half an hour during the day, took the Yellow Turbans from the second to the fourth watch before they could barely see the enemy's campfire.

At this time, all the Yellow Turbans were excited, but their strict discipline and habits made them remain quiet enough.

For this last stretch of the journey, the entire army still moved quietly in the dark towards the enemy camp.

The noise of their walking might not be heard by the distant camp, but it alerted the hidden sentries of the enemy. All of a sudden, a loud enemy attack sounded through the night sky. However, the distance was already close at this time, and the reminder was obviously of no use.

As a result, the Yellow Turbans no longer needed to hide, and Wang Dang immediately stood up and shouted, "Brothers, follow me to attack the camp!"

In the darkness, there were shouts and screams again, but this time it was no longer a hundred or so people, but the entire Yellow Turban army. Before Zhang Chun's army could come to their senses, they saw the Yellow Turbans emerging from all directions in the darkness, and the entire camp was in complete chaos for a moment.

Zhang Chun's army had rested intermittently throughout the night and were already in low spirits. Many of them were still busy setting up camp, which made them even more unbearable. They were suddenly attacked by a group of excited and screaming Yellow Turbans and immediately found themselves in a situation of being beaten unilaterally.

Death and blood filled the night.

(End of this chapter)