Great Han Empire

Chapter 353 The Swordsman
In May.Yanmen Pass.

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Xianbei King Kuitou and Northern Xianbei Lord Tuobafeng called the heads of various tribes to discuss matters.

Since the attack on Yanmen Pass in early April, the army has lost nearly 6000 people, especially Gouzhu Pass, which is the main attack direction, has lost about 3000 people.Seeing that Yanmenguan could not be attacked for a long time, many leaders complained and proposed to withdraw their troops.Kuitou comforted everyone, briefly talked about the situation in Youzhou, and then asked Tuobahui to explain the current situation in northern Xinjiang in detail.

"Master Murongfeng has already occupied Yuyang and Lulongsai. The large territory south of Yanshan Mountain in the Han Kingdom is now the pasture of our Xianbei Kingdom. Now we and Lord Murongfeng's army are guarding the east and the west, and we have already The Northern Frontier County of the Great Han Kingdom has formed an east-west attack. In other words, both we and Mr. Murongfeng have already established a firm foothold in the Northern Border County."

"Leopard and the army of the Great Yan Kingdom, as well as the Karasuma people, were severely damaged after the bloody battle in Jicheng. He is currently restrained by Master Murong Feng in Youzhou, and it is impossible to return to Bingzhou." Tuoba Hui Pointing to the map hanging on the side of the big tent, he said, "Leopard's main cavalry is entangled with the Xiongnu army of Xubuguduhou and Baimatong in the area of ​​the Great Wall Fortress. Qu Yi is now devastated and unable to take care of Taiyuan at all."

"Think about it, everyone. In this situation, if we break through the Yanmen Pass, what will it bring us?" Tuobahui looked at the crowd and said with a smile, "Bingzhou is in chaos, the Han army is completely defeated, and the entire northern border is ours. It's gone."

There were cheers in the big tent.

Tuobawei suddenly said: "Yanmen Pass is too difficult to fight. The Han army guarding the pass is very tenacious. If we continue to fight like this, we will lose a lot. If we want to take Yanmen Pass, we need at least 5 people. When will those Huns be able to fight?" arrive?"

Tuoba Feng sneered and said: "Don't count on the Huns. These guys are now arguing for the position of the Great Shanyu. In addition, the Han army also knows that if the Huns support us, Yanmen Pass will be very dangerous, so they Keep going north to attack, threatening Meiji, so as to contain the Huns' forces. However, without the help of the Huns, we can still defeat Yanmen Pass, and we still have reinforcements."

"Are there any reinforcements?" The big and small leaders in the tent yelled, and asked eagerly, "Is it Lord Luoluoluo from Xianbei in the west?"

Kui Tou waved his hand to signal for everyone to be quiet, and he smiled slightly: "Lord Luozhilian Luoluo has arrived in Dingxiang County with an army of [-], and we will arrive at Yanmen Pass in two days."

Tuoba Feng glanced at Kui Tou and said with a smile: "Your Majesty, why don't you just tell everyone the good news, so that everyone will have the strength to attack the city tomorrow."

Kuitou pointed at Tuobahui, and said with a cheerful expression: "Let's talk about it, the revenge of Xijiang's disastrous defeat, this time we will take it back with profit."

Everyone in the tent cheered up and looked at Tuoba Hui together.Tuoba Hui's hand slowly pointed to the Flying Fox Fortress.

"Lord Murongfeng has already persuaded Lord Karasuma Gao Chan of Shanggu and Master Karasuma Ran Ran of Daijun. The two of them gathered 3 troops and are about to launch an attack on the Flying Fox Fortress. If the Karasuma people take down the Flying Fox Fortress, they can cross Taihang Mountain , from the south of Daijun to Zhongshan State to attack Jizhou, cutting off the road from Jizhou to Youzhou. As a result, Leopard lost the supply of food and grass, and his army was about to be caught in a north-south attack. Once Leopard was defeated, Youzhou The state must be lost."

"Master Murongfeng originally wanted to use the army of Dayan Kingdom and Karasuma people to lure the leopard into the west of Liaoning, and then took the opportunity to send troops south to cut off the leopard's retreat and surround him in the west of Liaoning, but the leopard's attack speed was so fast that Dayan The Chinese army and the Karasuma people had to fight him in Jicheng, and as a result, Mr. Murongfeng's plan to encircle and annihilate him failed, but Mr. Murongfeng had already reserved a plan, which was to attack the Feihu Fortress and send troops. Jizhou, attack the leopard from north to south. This time the leopard is dead."

There was another burst of cheers in the big tent. It was indeed ecstatic to be able to kill the leopard and avenge the fiasco in Xijiang.The leaders of all ministries worship Murong Feng extremely, and the voices of praise are endless.

When Tuoba Feng heard everyone's praise of Murong Feng, the smile on his face was a little stiff, and he felt depressed.

"Didn't Hei Ling Wang Nan Lou submit to the big man? Why is this old guy so moved?" Tuoba Han asked.

Kuitou said calmly: "I heard that last month Nanlou was assassinated and killed by an assassin from Fuyu Kingdom, and now Shanggu Karasuma is in the hands of Master Gaochan."

Everyone understood immediately.Nanlou is not dead, and it is impossible for Shanggu Karasuma to betray the Han Dynasty.In order to kill the leopard, Murong Feng has already used all means.

After Tuoba Hui waited for everyone to calm down, he continued: "Leopards use Xianbei people to fight Xianbei people. This is a good way. Today we will learn from it. We use Han people to fight Han people."

Everyone was taken aback for a moment, and then burst out laughing, "Haoshuai, are you too excited and started talking nonsense, haha..."

Tuoba smiled and said: "In recent years, we have captured a large number of Han slaves, especially last year, after we occupied the four northern counties and the northern part of Yanmen Pass, we captured about 10,000+ Han people. My lord has the foresight, from the west After Jiang returned, he immediately selected [-] strong and strong men from these Han slaves to start training, and this time, it just came in handy."

"My lord, you must be careful about this matter. If these people turn against each other..." Tuoba Wei is a handsome man of the tribe, he knew about it, but he always thought that Tuoba Feng would use these people in the war between the tribes, He never expected that Tuoba Feng would call this army over in order to capture Yanmen Pass as soon as possible.

"The parents, wives and children of these Han slaves are in our hands. If they dare to rebel, they will know what the consequences will be." Tuoba Feng immediately interrupted Tuoba Wei, and said in a serious tone, "When attacking the city, Keep half of the people here, and as long as one Han slave rebels, all the others will be cut off, and I don't believe anyone would dare to rebel."

Everyone stopped talking, thinking that Tuoba Feng's idea was good.In their eyes, Hannu is not as good as an animal, and it doesn't matter how many people die.

"In a few days, we will have an army of 4000 people." Tuobahui clicked on the Yanmen Pass on the map, and then said, "There were originally 7000 people at Yanmen Pass, and then 3000 people from Hanoi came. After more than a month of fighting, they lost at least 2000 people. Now, the strength of the two sides is very different, and we are fully capable of taking Yanmen Pass. In the early stage, we attacked Yanmen Pass, mainly to contain the Han army, so as to support the Huns and Youzhou The battlefield, but starting tomorrow, our goal is to take down Yanmen Pass with all our strength and occupy the entire Bingzhou."

Tuoba Feng stood up and looked at the crowd, and asked: "Do you have anything else to ask, if you don't have any, go back to your headquarters and start storming Yanmen Pass tomorrow morning."

Tuobawei hesitated for a moment, then asked: "My lord, there are 7 Yellow Turban troops from Zhang Yan in Taiyuan and Shangdang, and [-] Yellow Turban troops from Yang Feng in Hedong. If these [-] people arrive at Yanmen Pass in time to support them, are we Don't you want to give up?"

Tuoba Feng said dissatisfiedly: "What are you worried about? The harder we fight, the faster the Yellow Turbans will come, and the faster the Yellow Turbans will come, the faster the Yanmen Pass will be lost. Do you understand now?"

"My lord means..."

"You give me a fierce attack from the warlord, don't ask too many questions." Tuoba Feng waved his hand vigorously, "Let's go away."

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Yanmen Pass was violently attacked in the next few days, and the Han army suffered heavy losses. Yanmen Prefect Guo Yun and Wumeng Duwei Ding Yuan sent three urgent letters a day to Xu Rong for help.

There are more and more Xianbei people, and the military tents stretch for more than ten miles, with an astonishing momentum.Guo Yun wrote in a letter to Xu Rong that the Xianbei people had gathered at least one hundred thousand troops outside Yanmen Pass. He saw Lord Xianbei set down the battle flag of Lord Yanluoluo in the west, and he also saw the Xianbei people driving a large number of Han Chinese to attack. He begged Xu Rong to immediately recruit the Yellow Turban Army to go to Yanmen Pass for support, otherwise, Yanmen Pass might not be able to hold it.

At this time, the people in Taiyuan and Shangdang did not feel the danger of Yanmen Pass. They were full of joy and prepared to go to the fields to harvest winter wheat, while countless refugees wandered in the fields, looking at the green seedlings, full of hope for the future. The hope of Jinyang City is even more noisy day and night, as if it has returned to the prosperity of the past.

Xu Rong's heart was heavy and he was helpless.He wrote back to Guo Yun and Ding Yuan, saying that he would recruit the Yellow Turban Army to support Yanmen Pass as soon as possible.Now the wheat in the two counties was about to be harvested, but the Black Mountain Yellow Turban Army took the opportunity to go down the mountain to grab grain. The situation in the two counties was not good.In order to stabilize the hearts of the people and ensure that the food is stored in the warehouse, the two adults are asked to overcome all difficulties and stick to it for a while.

Guo Yun and Ding Yuan were very angry. They jointly wrote a letter to the emperor to impeach Xu Rong, imploring the emperor to issue an order immediately and directly order Pingnan Zhonglang General Zhang Yan to lead his troops north to Yanmen Pass for support.

After Xu Rong heard the news, he was not angry. He urgently ordered Zheng Xin, who was secretly investigating the generals of the Yellow Turban Army in the two counties, to speed up his progress and try his best to find out the unruly people as soon as possible. At the same time, he sent a large amount of ordnance to Yanmen Pass and food and salaries.

The boss Zhao Qi received a letter from Guo Yun, worried about the critical situation at Yanmen Pass, visited Zhang Yan and Zhang Baiqi in person, and persuaded them to volunteer to help defend the frontier.Once the Yanmen Pass is lost, the Yellow Turban Army may be driven back to the Taihang Mountains, but the loss will not be too great, at most they will be hungry, and millions of refugees and hundreds of thousands of people in Bingzhou will suffer.Zhang Yan and Zhang Baiqi didn't know that the Xianbei people outside Yanmen Pass had increased their troops to [-]. After reading Guo Yun's letter, although they were very worried, they were very cautious about sending troops, and they didn't say anything for a long time.

Xu Rong sent people to blockade Yuanping City and cut off all communication and news between Yanmen Pass and the two counties. Everyone knew what his intention was, but Xu Rong did not inform Zhang Yan and Zhang Baiqi of the Yanmen Pass news. , and didn't have any intention of recruiting the Yellow Turban Army. His move is puzzling.Does he not believe in the Yellow Turbans or is there another way to win?Zhao Qi thought that Xu Rong did not believe in the Yellow Turban Army.When the Hu people invaded, Yanmen Pass was in danger, and Bingzhou was in danger, the people of the same big man, of course, must work together to fight against the enemy and fight side by side.He thinks that Xu Rong thinks too much and simply looks down on the Yellow Turban Army.

Zhang Yan shook her head and said, my lord, let me tell you the truth, the relationship between the various departments of the Yellow Turban Army is too complicated. Although I am the commander-in-chief of the Yellow Turban Army, the generals of the Yellow Turban Army did not obey me.After so many years of fighting, the Yellow Turban Army was repeatedly slaughtered by the Han army. The minds of the generals have long since changed. They are not as pure as they were when they started the incident. They are bent on overthrowing the Han Dynasty and rebuilding the country. Docile and obedient, they think more about themselves, their own forces, and the army that guarantees their survival.

Why are the Yellow Turbans in Montenegro unwilling to be appeased?Why did Baibo's Yellow Turban Army not surrender until death?It's all because I don't believe in the emperor of the Han Dynasty, and I don't believe that the court of the Han Dynasty will give me a happy future.Why are Yang Feng and I being caressed?Because we can't hold on any longer, we eat pickled human meat in Taihang Mountains, do you know, my lord?We survived the long winter by eating pickled human flesh. That’s it. There are still groups of refugees dying. We can’t keep going. The only way out is to be pampered. Otherwise, there will be millions of people in a few years. , will die on the Taihang Mountains.But some people don't think so. They are willing to live by burning, killing and looting. As long as there is an army, they would rather be a bandit.Being a gangster can make a fortune, making a fortune, being a petty official who has nothing, only a little salary for a month, and being beheaded for taking bribes. Comparing the two, which kind of life is better?

Look, my lord, my [-] army is divided into ten divisions. Since the Hu people invaded Yanmen Pass, the generals of each division have led their own troops to separate places. I don’t know if your lord has noticed. They are all stationed near the Taihang Mountains. You know why?Zhang Yan smiled wryly and shook her head.We have enmity with the emperor of the Han Dynasty, the Han army, and General Li. We were entrusted to feed our stomachs and to live without fighting. In such a short period of time, not many people would think that I want to thank the emperor. , I am going to fight for the emperor.In our view, the Great Han Kingdom is the Son of Heaven, and the Son of Heaven is the Great Han Kingdom, there is no difference.After the army has been defeated, the Yellow Turban Army is gone. We won't talk about the future of the generals, but let's talk about these refugees.Apart from General Li and adults, who would treat these refugees as human beings?Who else would give them a piece of land?Only us Yellow Turbans, we Yellow Turbans are originally refugees, only we will not humiliate them, kill them, or abandon them.

Zhao Qi looked at him in surprise, and said, the barbarians are all killed at the door. At this time, you are not fighting bloody battles for your Han country, but you are still thinking about how to preserve your strength and escape back to Taihang Mountain. You are still a big man. people?

Zhang Yan said with a wry smile, my lord, what did the Great Han Kingdom give us?What else has it given us besides endless suffering and endless blood and tears?When the two families exchanged and ate their own children, who would have thought that they were citizens of the Han Kingdom?When the entire family starved to death and had no chance to be buried in the soil, who would have thought that they were citizens of the Han Kingdom?When we sat naked in the wind and snow and ate pickled human flesh, who would have thought that we were citizens of the Han Kingdom?Boss, it's not that we don't want to kill the enemy to serve the country, but we don't want to be ravaged and killed by the Han Dynasty after killing the enemy, you know?

Zhao Qi became angry. He pointed at Zhang Yan and Zhang Baiqi and cursed them for forgetting their ancestors and their own roots.The two were ashamed, but what could they do?After all, the Yellow Turban Army is not their private property, and it is not something they can bring if they want to lead the Yellow Turban Army to Yanmen Pass. It is a way of seeking death, and those who are full of hatred may not be willing to follow.When Zhao Qi stopped cursing, the two said, whether it is General Li or Lord Xu, there is a reason for not wanting to recruit our Yellow Turban Army. They are worried that some members of the Yellow Turban Army will defect and open the Yanmen Pass. It's out of control.Zhao Qi cursed, but his mind was still very calm. He said that if the Yellow Turban Army did not support Yanmen Pass, the result would be the same. If so, it is better to gamble.Zhang Yan asked, does the boss have any brilliant ideas?

Zhao Qi said that now that the refugees have land and the seedlings have been planted, they are full of hope.Say you want this hope to be shattered in a blink of an eye?Nobody wants to.Tell the people of the two counties that 100 Xianbei people are coming in, and Yanmen Pass is about to be lost. Anyone who can hold a knife and gun will go to Yanmen Pass. Look, how many people will be willing to go to Yanmen Pass to kill the enemy?There are hundreds of thousands without a million.At this time, I want to see how you Yellow Turbans deal with themselves?Whether to kill the enemy at the Yanmen Pass or to save strength and prepare to escape back to the Taihang Mountains.If you don't kill the enemy and protect them, you will escape back to Taihang Mountain in the future, and the refugees will see through you and won't follow you anymore.

Zhang Yan thought for a long time, then asked, my lord, what should I do if the people's hearts are in turmoil and the refugees disperse?
Zhao Qi said, I have lived in this world for 80 years, and I have seen countless people sacrifice their lives for the Han Kingdom. I don’t believe that the people of the Han Kingdom are cowards and cowards. I believe that the people of the Han Kingdom are all cowards. All the people are heroes who sacrificed their lives to serve the country. No one will retreat, absolutely no one.

Zhang Yan and Zhang Baiqi bowed down to teach.

The three of them immediately rushed to the General's Mansion in Zhenbei to discuss with Xu Rong about sending troops to Yanmen Pass.Xu Rong hesitated.He was not only worried that the double-minded rebels within the Yellow Turban Army would take the opportunity to rebel, but also worried that the people of the two counties would flee in large numbers because of panic after learning of the crisis at Yanmen Pass.Xu Rong called the senior staff of Zhenbei General's Mansion to discuss for a long time.Zuo Yan, Li Wei and others felt that Zhao Qi's method was too risky, and if it was not done well, the Yellow Turban Army would be in chaos before Yanmen Pass fell. Can't stop.

Xu Rong sat in the big tent, looking at the flickering candles, at a loss what to do.

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(End of this chapter)