Great Han Empire

Chapter 625 The Heroes of Troubled Times Like the Abyss
December of the second year of Chuping of the Han Dynasty (AD 191).

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Early December, Jizhou, Ganling.

The north wind howled and the rain continued.

The soldiers of the Vanguard Battalion of the Northern Xinjiang Army stepped on the muddy road and walked quickly in the rain.

Standing on a slope, Xu Huang looked at the grove shrouded in rain and fog in the distance, turned around and asked, "What river is in front?"

Army Sima Deng Jin glanced down at the cowhide map in his hand, wiped the water droplets on it with his hand, and shook his head in disappointment, "My lord, there is no mark on it."

"How far is it to Panhe?" Xu Huang frowned, rubbed his frozen hands, and asked.

"It should be fifty miles away." Army Sima Deng Jin replied, "My lord, please wait a moment, I will immediately send someone to the vicinity to ask."

"Forget it." Xu Huang waved his hand, "The Yellow Turban Army has fought for a long time in the area of ​​Ganling Kingdom. The people here have either run away or died. Where can we find them? Send orders to speed up the march. "

=

Seeing Xu Huang trotting along with dozens of personal guards from a distance, Elder Shi couldn't help grinning and said, "Brothers, the captain is here. Hey, hey, hey...you all stand up for me, Don't embarrass me. Isn't it just a little rain, why are you shrinking your neck?"

"It's cold, my lord..." Elder Wu Song wiped his nose and shouted dissatisfiedly, "It's such a cold day, why didn't you send out cotton coats?"

"You're looking for smoke." Lao Wai stretched out his hand and hit him on the head, "When we were in the Taihang Mountains, it snowed very heavily, but we survived with our bare bodies and bare feet. I see how you have been in the past two years. The days are too many. Run for me, you won’t be cold if you run too much.” After speaking, he raised his leg and kicked Lao Song, “Run faster…”

Lao Song was caught off guard and almost staggered and fell, "Old Wai, our brother for many years, how could you do this..." A series of ugly curses followed, but his feet were much faster.

=

Xu Huang was out of breath, and the breath from his mouth and nose immediately turned into a thin layer of white mist, "Old Wai, I remember you are from Ganling, are you familiar with this place?"

"My lord has such a good memory, I still remember that I am from Ganling." Lao Wai said excitedly, "My lord, before I joined the Yellow Turban Army, I was from here." He pointed to the distance and said, "Four years ago, the Yellow River The embankment burst, the flood flooded down, and the land of three hundred miles suddenly became a vast ocean. People in my family, people in the village, and people in the surrounding tens of miles all died. I survived by holding a beam of."

"Does the Yellow River here often burst its banks?"

"As long as there is a flood, our embankment will definitely burst." Lao Wai said sadly, "I heard from the old man that the embankment will break once every ten years. I have lived for more than 20 years, and I have encountered the Yellow River bursting five times. Look, my lord..." Lao Wai pointed to the slopes and depressions around and said, "Within hundreds of miles, there are hills, slopes, depressions, and river ditches. It is difficult to see the endless landscape like other counties in Jizhou. Great Plains."

Xu Huang had already noticed this kind of terrain that was conducive to infantry blocking but not conducive to cavalry attacking.When General Qu Yi asked all the troops to go to the Panhe area to stop Gongsun Zan's army from advancing westward, many generals raised objections to General Qu Yi's deployment.Gongsun Zan is powerful, but the northern border army is insufficient. The army should rely on Ganling, Dongwu and other tall cities to stop it, instead of fighting Gongsun Zan on the Great Plains.At that time, I also had the same idea, but now it seems that I was wrong, General Qu Yi seems to be very familiar with the terrain here, and he already has a plan in mind.

"How far is the Pan River from here? How wide is the river? What is the direction of the river?" Xu Huang looked around, nodded in sympathy, and asked, "Do you know?"

"Are we going to Panhe?" Lao Wai asked in surprise.

"Yes." Xu Huang patted Laowai's shoulder, "We are going to stop Gongsun Zan's army from attacking Ganling and Wei Commanderies in Panhe."

"My lord, the Pan River is not a river."

"What did you say?" Xu Huang was startled, "Pan River is not a river? What is that?"

"Yes, my lord, the Pan River is not a river, but a pan." Lao Wai explained, "When the Yellow River broke its embankment, the flood flowed from here, from the southwest to the northeast, and finally flowed into the Qinghe River. This place is generally uninhabited. The reason why we were hit by a disaster four years ago was because the flood was so large that it washed away all the Zhuangzi near Pan Dao.”

"My lord, where we are standing now is Panhe." Lao Wai stomped hard on the muddy ground under his feet.

Xu Huang's heart suddenly tightened, and his expression suddenly became solemn, "Is this Panhe?"

"Yes, there are more than 100 miles around here called Pan River." Lao Wai said with a smile, "There are dozens of large rivers flowing from southwest to northeast, the largest of which are Tuhai River and Majia River. The closest to us is The Majia River is about [-] miles away, and we will arrive in the afternoon.”

Xu Huang waved the horsewhip in his hand vigorously, and cursed extremely angrily: "A bunch of useless scouts. Come..."

A few orderlies rushed over.

"Quickly, order the scouts to station, don't look for any Panhe, immediately go to the direction of Majiahe to find out about the military situation, quick, quick..."

"Urgently report to General Qu Yi that the Pan River is not a river, but the Yellow River. I will immediately lead the army to the Majia River, and ask the general to come and join us immediately."

"Urgently order the army to wait for Ma Ping, bring Benqu's men and horses, and quickly seize the Majia River."

===

Lao Song is in his 30s, with a strong body and a dark and thin face.He was running out of breath, complaining to Lao Wai while running, "You... what's going on... what did you say to the captain? Did you... offend the captain? This... ...Aren't you being punished?"

Lao Wai stared at him, and shouted angrily: "I told you not to be lazy in training, but you didn't listen, are you suffering now?"

"You grow tall...you are big...you can eat, like a cow, of course...you can run." As he said this, Lao Song took off the quiver from his back, "Hey, give me... one time."

=

The scout came galloping on horseback, "Master Ma, the enemy has crossed the river, five miles to the southeast."

Army Marquis Ma Ping wiped the sweat from his forehead and asked calmly, "How many people?"

"There are about one force, nearly a thousand." The scout said anxiously, "They are crossing the river."

"It's not too late." Ma Ping waved his hand, "Immediately ask for help from Captain Captain, hurry up."

"Command brothers, hurry forward and prepare for a bloody battle."

=

After the Youzhou army crossed the river, they immediately occupied three slopes near the river bank and a hill two hundred paces away.

Military Marquis Dou Ying was still a Yellow Turban Army more than ten days ago, and he became a Youzhou Army in a daze when he was still in shock, but as long as he has food and clothes, he doesn't care.The rebel general Gongsun Zan was kind to the soldiers of the army. Not only did he pay each of the soldiers [-] yuan in military pay, but he also promised that as long as they captured Wei County and Ye City, each soldier's salary would be doubled, and an additional [-] mu of land would be rewarded.For the soldiers of the Yellow Turban Army, it was like a dream, and Gongsun Zan suddenly became a god in their hearts to save the suffering.

Everyone happily marched westward with their weapons in hand. Who knew that just after leaving the border of Bohai County, they received the news that the Jizhou Army was coming quickly.

The scout looked pale, and Dou Ying also looked flustered, "Did you see clearly?"

The scout nodded repeatedly, and stammered, "I see clearly, it must be the official army."

Dou Ying scolded a few words and sighed that she was unlucky.It is more than 300 miles away from Wei County, and it is still the yellow flood zone, the safest place. How could there be officers and soldiers?It's really unlucky, it seems that I can't keep my money, and the dozens of acres of land promised by the rebellious general are also in vain.But Dou Ying was reluctant to part with these things he had exchanged his life for. He also wanted to save some money to take his mother's remains back to his hometown for burial.My mother died of starvation in a valley in Mount Tai. When she died, she had only one wish, and that was to go home.Dou Ying thought for a while, then waved her hand and said, "Withdraw...withdraw across the Majia River..."

The more than 400 soldiers who crossed the river earlier were baffled.Why did you just cross the river and go back?It was windy and rainy that day, and people were frozen to death. They deliberately made fun of us being poor.While everyone was swearing, Sima, the army on the other side, replied that they were not allowed to retreat and speeded up to cross the river.Reinforcements will be here soon.
Dou Ying is in a hurry, let us hundreds of people stop the Jizhou army?A flurry of arrows disappeared.Do you want to live?Isn't this intentional to kill us?He winked at the guard behind him, and the guard understood, and suddenly shouted: "Brothers, the army is here, run away..."

The Youzhou soldiers were taken aback and turned their heads involuntarily.On the hills in the distance, the Northern Border Army raised their battle flags and roared towards them.

"Boom..." More than 400 people immediately bombed the camp and fled in all directions.

Dou Ying didn't expect the enemy to come so fast, she couldn't help trembling all over, "Beating the drum... beating the drum... hold on to the embankment, hold on to the embankment..."

=

Laowai was running wildly, beads of sweat dripping down his cheeks, splashes of muddy water were flying in front of his eyes, and the loud panting made him hardly hear the screaming arrows.

The enemy soldiers on the embankment were dressed in ragged clothes, some were holding simple spears, some were holding notched sabers, and some were even holding a wooden stick. Those with bows had no arrows, and those with arrows were running back and forth to deliver arrows , under the command of several superiors, many people were coming to kill him.This group of people is too familiar, they are not Youzhou Army, they are Yellow Turban Army.

Lao Wai hesitated, he quickly looked around him, the soldiers were like himself, although they were still running and shouting with all their strength, but their faces were very puzzled.Are we here to kill the Yellow Turban Army?
"Spread...scatter...kill them..." Marshal Maping hysterically yelled, "Occupy the embankment..."

Although the enemy's arrow array was very sparse, soldiers still fell down one after another.A galloping soldier was pierced by an arrow, screamed loudly, flew upside down, and then fell heavily into the muddy water.Lao Wai couldn't dodge in time, and stepped on the soldier's head.The screams stopped abruptly.Lao Wai's heart trembled, and the kick he followed suddenly lost his strength, and his tall body suddenly fell out, rushing headlong into the mud.

"Old Wai...Old Wai..." Lao Song, who was a dozen steps away, yelled frantically, "Are you dead..."

The old man let out a strange cry, and stood up scrambling, "Go, go, go..."

=

"Ah..." With a mournful howl, the first few soldiers who met the enemy army were immediately cut down by a group of powerful enemies, and a bloody corpse was picked up high by three spears, and smashed into the approaching army with a whistling sound. Northern Xinjiang soldiers.

Lao Wai roared, raised his shield high to block the flying corpse, but the huge impact still knocked him back a few steps, fell on his back to the ground, and then rolled straight down the muddy embankment .Several soldiers rushing forward couldn't dodge, some stepped on his body and rushed up, some were knocked down by Lao Wai and fell down together.Lao Wai became impatient and roared again and again, "Kill, kill..."

The bloody shield fell from the sky, and the old crooked shield that rose from the sky smashed the enemy's head, and the saber in his hand stabbed into the chest of another enemy, and the steaming blood shot him head and face like arrows.

Old Wai was covered in mud and blood, horrified, "Kill, kill everyone, kill them all, kill them all..."

Lao Song led his men to kill seven people all the way, rushed into the river aggressively, surrounded a cowhide raft that had not had time to land, and slashed at it. The five Youzhou soldiers on the small raft resisted for a while, and were chopped off The head was shot, and the chest and abdomen were shot through. The bright red blood instantly stained the Majia River red.

Under the desperate protection of several personal guards, Dou Ying jumped onto a raft, and before he could sit still, Lao Wai led someone to kill him.The hand crossbow roared sharply, and three sharp crossbow arrows shot through the raft in an instant.One of Dou Ying's personal guards came calling, Lao Wai had no time to dodge, roared wildly, raised his shield and bumped into it.The guard was hit hard, and he opened his mouth to spit out a blood.Gritting his teeth, Lao Wai kicked him over, raised his crossbow and aimed it at his head, and smashed it, "Go to hell...", the hand crossbow shattered, and brains and blood spurted out.

Dou Ying staggered and fled towards the middle of the river, Lao Wai struggled to catch up, grabbed his foot and dragged him to the bank. He sees through.Dou Ying tried her best to hold the spear that pierced through her chest and abdomen with both hands, and screamed wildly with the last bit of strength, "Mother... mother... went home..."

The soldier was startled, he let go of the spear handle with both hands, turned around and ran away.Laowai sat in the river, staring at Dou Ying dumbfounded. At this moment, his heart was as cold as the river.

=

Within a range of more than 100 steps from the embankment and the river, the soldiers from both sides were entangled and killed to a bloody mess.The strong strength, tacit cooperation, and sophisticated weapons of the soldiers of the Northern Border Army were simply not something that these Yellow Turban soldiers who had just surrendered to the Youzhou Army could resist. It didn't take long for them to lie on the embankment full of their corpses.

The Youzhou soldiers on the other side did not dare to cross the river forcibly. Under the command of the Shangguan, they quickly gathered together to shoot arrows intensively, regardless of the enemy or themselves, and shot and killed together.

Army Marquis Ma Ping raised his shield in one hand and his bloody saber in the other, and shouted hoarsely, "Get down, get down..."

Lao Wai stretched out his hand and pulled down the spear stuck on Dou Ying's body, and took a last look at Dou Ying, who had already died of anger, "Brother, don't blame me, we are all poor people."

=

After Xu Huang received Ma Ping's request for help, he immediately ordered the soldiers of all tribes to discard all heavy objects and rush to help with only spears and knives.By the time they arrived at Majiahe, the bloody battle was over.

Xu Huang ordered all the ministries to occupy the hills and slopes, set up horses and antlers, and prepare to prevent the Youzhou army from crossing the river.Almost at the same time, the [-] Youzhou Army, led by the school lieutenant Yan Gang, also rushed to the Majia River, but the time to cross the river was already missed.

Army Hou Ma Ping led a group of soldiers to seize the Majia River at the cost of losing 110 people.Xu Huang rewarded them heavily, and personally led people to bury the remains of the fallen soldiers.Seeing that Lao Wai was depressed, he stepped forward to comfort him.Lao Wai is good at martial arts, and used to be Xu Huang's personal guard. Because he repeatedly violated military laws, Xu Huang had to punish him as a soldier.

"You have done a good job this time." Xu Huang asked, "Are you planning to come back, or continue to stay below?"

Lao Wai shook his head, "My lord, they are the Yellow Turban Army."

"No." Xu Huang said, "They are the Youzhou Army, Gongsun Zan's army..."

Lao Wai shook his head again, and asked in bewilderment: "My lord, the general and Gongsun Zan used to be mighty generals in Youzhou. One of them was a black panther and the other was a white horse. They were good brothers. Later we went to Youzhou to fight. At that time, Gongsun Zan also fought with the general, how could they turn against each other now? How could they fight? Why? Why did they turn their faces, and it was our Yellow Turban Army who killed each other?"

"Old Wai..." Xu Huang said sternly, "If you don't want to cause trouble, don't talk about the Yellow Turban Army. Yellow Turban Army, Yellow Turban Army, are you still a Yellow Turban Army now? You are a big Han Frontier Army, you are a Hu Riding on the soldiers of the general."

Lao Wai glanced at Xu Huang in fear, lowered his head and said, "My lord, I really don't understand."

"Today I killed a man. When that man was dying, he screamed his mother desperately. I regret it. I shouldn't kill him. I should let him swim across the river. I have fought for many years. Why is the battle getting bigger and bigger now? How many? Why do brothers from the past want to fight to the death now? My lord..."

Xu Huang looked up to the sky and sighed, "Old Wai, I don't understand either."

=

The next day, Qu Yi led an army to enter Panhe.

In the northwest direction of Majia River, there are three tributaries, namely Duma River, Songjia River and Laozhao Niu River.In order to delay Gongsun Zan's attack on Wei County, Qu Yi relied on these four rivers and set up a defensive formation in the shape of "Pin" within a range of [-] miles.

Qu Yi ordered Wu Lie Zhonglang to garrison Wen Chou Chen at Majia River, Xiaoqi Zhonglang to garrison Wang Dang at Duma River, Qiangnu Zhonglang to garrison Sun Qin and Bohai County Captain Han Qiong at Laozhao Niuhe, and himself to lead the troops. The army was stationed in Songjiahe.The 15 troops completed the entire defensive deployment on the third day.Under the command of Yang Feng, Bing Caoying organized 600 horsemen to transport food, grass and supplies from Handan and Yecheng to Panhe day and night. On the more than [-]-mile avenue, there is a rush of people and cars and horses.

On the same day, Gongsun Zan, the rebellious general, led an army of [-] troops to the east bank of the Majia River.The two sides are at war with each other, and the battle is about to start.

===

Songjiahe, the camp of the general of the town army.

Qu Yi summoned sixteen senior officials from the Northern Frontier Army to gather in the camp to discuss how to deal with the enemy.

Yang Feng arranged the offensive and defensive strategies of each department in detail, and finally said: "The fact that Gongsun Zan defeated the 30 Yellow Turban Army in Qingzhou in Dongguang has recently spread among the soldiers. It seems that overnight, he became the most powerful in the world. It's over. When you go back, tell the soldiers that what Gongsun Zan killed was not the Yellow Turban Army, but refugees, innocent people. Gongsun Zan was ambitious, wanted to occupy Jizhou, and wanted to plot the world.

Wang Dang hesitated for a moment, and said: "My lord, this matter came from the mouths of refugees fleeing everywhere. The soldiers don't know much, and few believe it. This matter is nothing to worry about. What is worrying is..."

"What is it?" Qu Yi asked immediately.

"Is Gongsun Zan a traitor?" Wang Dang asked with a frown. "We said that he planned to occupy Jizhou and bring disaster to the world, but so far, he seems to have done nothing other than defeating the Yellow Turban Army in the south? Really? It should be Yuan Shao, not Gongsun Zan, who claims to occupy Jizhou and bring disaster to the world."

Qu Yi's face froze and he didn't speak.Yang Feng stared, "Heizi, what do you mean? Did you say that, or did your officers from Youzhou say it?"

Wang Dang chuckled, "I'm also very puzzled. I don't understand why things turned out like this? We lived a good life in Changshan, Zhongshan and other places, why did we suddenly go south to help Yuan Shao fight? Gongsun Zan and the Great General, as well as General Xianyu , General Yan Rou is a brother, why did we suddenly want to beat him? Why did the general order us to beat him? Is it for the revenge of the 30 Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army?"

Sun Qin also interjected at this time: "We understand the beating of Dong Zhuo, because Dong Zhuo hijacked the emperor and the court and did many things that disrupted the country. He is indeed a big traitor, but why is there any reason to beat Gongsun Zan? How did he suddenly become a big man?" Treacherous?"

Qu Yi and Yang Feng looked at each other, both felt that the problem was serious.

"Who else thinks that Gongsun Zan shouldn't fight?" Qu Yi asked.

He Feng, Li Yao and others laughed, "Why do you think so much? Wherever the general tells us to fight, we will fight there?"

Zhang Xiao also said: "Isn't there an imperial edict from the imperial court? If the imperial court says that Gongsun Zan is a big traitor and a sycophant, then it is definitely not wrong. We are lowly and light, and we cannot know many things in the court. If we know everything clearly , then we are not just important officials of the court."

"Haha..." Yang Zhen, Peng Lie and the others laughed loudly, "Bochou wants to become a courtier, haha..."

"And I." Xu Huang slowly stood up amidst the laughter of the crowd, "Now that the country is in trouble and people are dying, the imperial court should do everything possible to quell the civil strife, challenge King Dong Qin, and revive my great Han Tianwei, instead of Take the initiative to provoke a war, let my big man fall into the abyss of overthrow, and put my Han Zuo in danger of extinction."

There was a sudden silence in the big tent.

==
Xu Huang's words sounded dissatisfied with the imperial court, but the implication was to accuse the general of the hussars.

Qu Yi's face darkened, he slapped the table suddenly, stood up and shouted: "Master Xu, you are publicly resisting the edict."

Yang Feng grabbed the excited Qu Yi and said in a low voice, "Brother Yun Tian, ​​don't forget the General's order."

Qu Yi gritted his teeth angrily, stared at Xu Huang, and swallowed back the unpleasant words.

"Gongming, sit down too." Yang Feng waved at him, "The things inside are very complicated." Yang Feng walked back and forth in the big tent with his hands behind his back, hesitating.Can you talk about the affairs of the court?Needless to say, it will be very dangerous if this battle continues.

"Brother Yuntian, look..." Yang Feng walked to Qu Yi's side and asked in a low voice, "Do you want to explain?"

Koji shook his head angrily.Many things involve major decisions of the imperial court. Once the secrets are revealed, no matter which side of Jizhou and Luoyang has problems, the losses will be staggering, and the harm to northern Xinjiang, the imperial court, and the country is obvious.

"The matter is too complicated to explain. No matter how you explain it, it will eventually involve state affairs. We cannot bear this responsibility." Qu Yi glanced at everyone and said solemnly, "My lords follow the general to fight the world. Who is the general? , you should be very clear in your heart. What is Gongsun Zan? Can he be compared with the great general? Do you believe in the great general or Gongsun Zan?"

Qu Yi pointed at Xu Huang and asked loudly, "I ask you, who do you trust? You don't trust the imperial court, you don't trust the imperial decree, yes, I understand, but you have to trust the general."

Xu Huang stood up suddenly: "Gongsun Zan is really nothing? His army of one hundred thousand is nothing? The general wants me to kill the Majia River now, I will not frown, but compared with the big man, which one is more important? If the great general wants to bring disaster to the country, shall we also follow him to overthrow the great man?"

"You..." Qu Yi smoked from his seven orifices, not knowing what to say.

"Gong Ming said it well." Wang Dang raised his hand and said, "The opposite is a [-] army. This is a deadly battle. We can die, we can die for the general, we can die for the big man, but we have to die clearly. He died, and he was charged with being a traitor."

"Heizi, what's the matter with you today?" Yang Feng held down Qu Yi who was about to get up, turned his back to the generals and waved at him repeatedly.

"There are [-] Yellow Turbans on the opposite side, how do you tell me to do it?" Wang Danghei's face flushed, "Bai Rao is dead, and Yuan Shao is fighting poison and Suigu in the Montenegro. How did you tell me to attack the Qingzhou Yellow Turban Army here?"

Yang Feng thought for a long time, and resolutely said: "Let's talk briefly, we have to explain. Tomorrow, Lord Jushou and Lord Fengji from Jizhou Prefecture will come, if something happens..."

"Talk about military affairs, not political affairs." Qu Yi nodded helplessly.

===

The number of patrols around the big tent has increased several times, layer by layer.

A huge map was spread out in the big tent.Yang Feng stood on the map and explained in detail the specific strategies of the Northern Xinjiang Army's two-front battle in the next few months.

The battlefield centered on Luoyang is a bait, the purpose is to contain the power of Dong Zhuo, Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu and other prefectures and counties. Its ultimate purpose is only one, and that is to raise enough food and grass for the army.

The northern Xinjiang army needs so much food and grass just to fight Jizhou.This time the general used 12 troops on the two battlefields, and there were 12 troops on the Jizhou battlefield.Although Jizhou, Jing and Henan both promised to provide us with food and grass, the amount was not large, because they didn't know that the general had already recruited [-] cavalry troops from outside the Great Wall to go south.In addition, our relationship with Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu, and other states and counties will break down at any time. If they suddenly cut off the supply of grain and grass to the army, our attempt to capture Jizhou may fail, and all previous efforts will be wasted. Therefore, northern Xinjiang needs enough grain and grass reserves , It needs enough food and grass to supply [-] troops for half a year.

Although Yang Feng tried his best to talk about the military affairs, but through the complicated military planning, what is the purpose of the court is ready to be revealed.The imperial court put the foundation of revitalizing the country in Hebei.

The imperial court now has northern Xinjiang. If Jizhou is conquered again, there will be Youzhou left north of the Yellow River.The shepherd of Youzhou is Liu Yu. Liu Yu was forced to leave the court because of the last incident of the emperor's rule. It poses a huge threat to the safety of the country and the country.As long as Liu Yu survives, this threat will exist as long as he lives, so...

Yang Feng looked at the generals surrounding him, and then stepped heavily on Panhe, "This man must be killed."

===

Episodes 11, 28, and [-] of Records of the Great Han Empire will be released on November [-] at the same time, and will be available in various places in early December.Thank you to all book friends for your love and support, thank you.

(End of this chapter)