Chapter 193 Ambition
Zhang Chao and other 20 men crossed the Wenshui River naked. Although they were embarrassed, they finally escaped with their lives.
He resented the narrow-mindedness of the Prime Minister Li Zan, who only objected to his military strategy and sat on the sidelines, doing nothing to save him. Therefore, after Zhang Chao escaped with his life, he had no intention of returning to Li Zan's tent, for fear that he would lose his life there.
But in fact, Zhang Chao really wrongly blamed Li Zan. Li Zan never took Zhang Chao's opposition to his military strategy to heart. The reason why he could not save Zhang Chao was not that he did not give the order, but that he gave the order, but the ministries He hesitated to move forward.
Li Zan's troops were generally divided into two parts: county soldiers and powerful tribes. The two hundred county soldiers who were killed in the county did not dare to fight at all. When they heard that they were going to the front line, these pampered soldiers were frightened and cried. In addition, Zhang Chao's Qianrenshou Zhang Bing, these people were already trapped in the front; then there were 200 Dongping Lu soldiers and 200 Zhangxian soldiers. After the order was given, they just shouted in unison and nothing happened. As for the powerful troops, they are even less worthy. These powerful and powerful soldiers can fight hard even if they fight hard, but the premise is that the imperial government's military masters must set an example from the front.
Now that the soldiers from the four counties of Dongping Kingdom are not available, you want us to block the enemy's charging cavalry? What are you thinking!
Therefore, Li Zan ordered several times, but all the ministries were still dawdling, and then the whole army of Shouzhang soldiers under Zhang Chao was wiped out. Of course, the ones who killed the most were themselves, and not many were actually killed by Zhang Chao.
This is the characteristic of powerful troops. They are easy to recruit, but if you really want them to go to great lengths, don't think too much about it. Why did the Wu Kingdom in later generations fail to fight externally, but was able to exert all its strength when defending its territory? It is because the military system of Wu State is a departmental system. The soldiers are divided into generals. The country does not raise troops, but delegates the establishment to the generals. When there is an emergency, the generals can dispatch their own troops. Which of these military leaders doesn't care about their lives? Who doesn't care about his own soldiers?
However, they did not take the initiative to attack, but still maintained their military formation in an orderly manner. Because they still understand the truth. It is their common interest to block this wave of Taishan Yellow Turbans outside Dongping.
Zhang Chong stood on horseback and watched for a while in front of the formation. Seeing that there was no opportunity to take advantage of him, he withdrew his troops and retreated to Xie Bi's formation. They became horns with him and waited for the arrival of the main force behind him.
At this time Xie Bi already knew that his love had sacrificed He Cheng. He caressed He Cheng's face in grief and was speechless for a long time. When Zhang Chong led the army back, he heard He Cheng's feats and dying words. He took out the water bag on his horse, replaced the wine with water, and worshiped He Cheng. Zhuang Su said:
"Good man, you will be reborn in my family in the next life, and we will be brothers again."
Zhang Chong saw He Cheng's younger brother He and his wife again and asked:
"Can you ride a horse?"
Mr. He wiped away his tears and replied to Zhang Chong with determination:
"Go back to Qukui and ride."
"Okay, Ah Que, bring me a horse and give it to the husband. From now on, he will follow you and be my retinue."
Then Zhang Chong turned back to Mr. and Mrs. He and said:
"Before he died, your brother said that if the Han traitors are not destroyed, don't bury him. It's just your brother's ambition. Today, I hope that you will continue your brother's ambition to destroy the Han traitors and restore the Qingming Dynasty."
He and his wife burst into tears. The young man gritted his teeth and swore:
"I, Mr. He, swear that we are incompatible with Han dogs."
At this time, the main force of the Taishan Army's rear army also arrived one after another, but only Zhang Dan's captain's department came. Guan Yu's department was not seen, and he didn't know where he went.
Zhang Dan led Li Damu, Dian Wei, Wei Zhou, Guo Liang, Yu Jin, as well as Wang Han and Li Bi. There were a total of 3,500 regular soldiers from seven tribes and more than 5,000 old battalions. Banners were flowing all over the field.
The Dongping soldiers on the opposite side were shocked when they saw the Taishan army on the opposite side. There were so many people?
The generals of the Dongping Kingdom immediately appeased their subordinates. For example, Dongping Lu Wei Wu Zi said:
"The Yellow Turban Army has always brought women and children with them. They seem to be very powerful, but they are vulnerable. Don't panic."
Wu Zi had 200 soldiers under his command, plus Liu Xiang's own troops, a total of 400 troops per unit, standing in front of the Dongping National Army formation as the front army.
Wu Zi is considered a good general and is good at holding on, but he has not yet made a fortune. When Lu Bu enters Yanzhou in the future, he will become a general under Lu Bu, become the prefect of Jiyin, and can also hold the city under Cao Cao's attack.
Next to Wu Zibu were Huang Cen's Zhangxian soldiers. There was nothing to say about this. They had already formed a blood feud with the Yellow Turban Army. He also became ruthless and promised directly in front of the battle:
"Repulse the Yellow Turban thieves and reward each of them with a thousand coins after returning to the city."
He has 200 soldiers under his command. If they all have to go back this time, the reward alone will cost 200,000 yuan, which can even buy a prefect.
A retainer nearby persuaded Huang Cen, saying that it would be a huge loss if the money was given out.
Huang Cen scolded him in front of all the soldiers:
"Money is a dead thing. If I don't destroy the thieves today, even if I have thousands of money, it will be guarded by the thieves. It is better to distribute it to the heroes and work together to destroy the thieves."
After hearing these words, the rest of the crowd shouted loudly and their morale was high.
Behind Wu Zi and Huang Cen were the troops of Gao Ya, Liu Gan, Zhao Shu, and Li Zou, with a combined force of 1,500, which was the main force that Prime Minister Li Zan relied on most. And these generals from various wealthy families, whether they are courageous or brave, are all chosen at the moment. They all used their own methods to motivate this unit and waited anxiously for the yellow scarf thieves on the opposite side to attack. However, Zhang Chong was not in a hurry to attack. Instead, he ordered his troops to camp and then bury the pots to cook. It's almost the end of Si Shi, around noon, and it's lunch time.
Zhang Chong was followed by more than 5,000 Taiping Army believers, all of whom came all the way from Jibei Kingdom. There were not many middle-aged people among them, and many of them were old people, women and children. To be honest, it was quite cumbersome to take these people with the army.
One is that their physical strength is not good enough, which seriously slows down the marching speed. The other is that they do not have military literacy. If the enemy attacks the old camp one day, it will seriously drag down the battlefield morale of the Taishan Army.
But these Jibei believers can't do it without them, because these people can no longer survive in the countryside. Why are there so few strong men among them? It was because these strong believers had been summoned by their leader to attack the mighty Wubi, leaving only these women and children in the countryside crying and crying in the cold.
Therefore, Zhang Chong could only take them with him and put them in the middle army. In this way, when marching, they would be protected by the front and rear armies, so that these believers could get the greatest safety protection.
And these women and children are not only bad, for example cooking, with these people accompanying the camp, the Taishan Army's military food supply becomes faster. Some half-grown children cannot hold knives, but they can still serve hot rice and rice to the Taishan Army soldiers on the front line.
For example, the child named Yang Wazi is preparing to join the food delivery team.
At a quarter of noon, outside Gaoshan Pass, on the riverbank on the west bank of Wenshui River, smoke was curling up, and the air was filled with the fragrance of millet and rice and the richness of bacon.
The Taishan Army has made great efforts to reserve military food in the past few years. Corn, bean sprouts, and pickles have all been reserved early. Even some of the captured meat will be made into bacon reserves, but they do not eat much on ordinary days. It is used before this kind of battle to eat bacon to replenish the physical strength of the soldiers.
I just heard a gray old man shouting in a section of the old camp:
"The man who delivered food to the regular troops left after a while."
Then I saw a group of thirteen or fourteen-year-old children carrying urns and starting to gather at the old man's place.
Yang Wazi also heard what the old man said and hurriedly responded:
"Come here, Sun Tou."
After saying that, he stuffed the last bit of millet balls in his hand into his mouth, and then ran over to gather without bothering to talk to his mother who was cooking.
But before he had even taken two steps, Wang Xiaoniang, who was cooking with her mother, stopped him, stuffed another portion of rice dumplings into Yang Wazi's pocket, and coyly told Yang Wazi:
"My dear, this memory is for your Uncle Zhang. Don't forget. Remember, it is only for him."
Yang Wazi sighed and ran to Sun Tou's place, and quickly joined the friends of the food delivery team. They were going to deliver food to Zhang Daqu of the Yu Jin Department.
Three portions of millet balls per person, a small piece of bacon, one portion of pickles, and a bamboo tube with some salted water. This is what they eat in front of the station today.
Yang Wazi and his mother were the family members of Sheqiu Taiping disciples. His father was summoned by the chief of Sheqiu and never came back. Knowing that the Yellow Turban Army in Mount Tai had captured Snake Hill a few days ago, his mother took him and other Taiping Tao family members to join them. These days, his mother has asked many people about his father, but some people said that he was dead, and some said that they had already gone north to the plains, and said they would go north again later.
Yang Wazi was very sad, but under the collective experience of Taishan Army Old Camp, the sadness was quickly dissipated by the training and support of many partners, and instead he was surrounded by a sense of adulthood of doing great things.
These Taishan Army uncles were really majestic. Yang Wazi looked at his thin arms and was extremely envious. But Yang Wazi felt that he was already a grown man. For example, just like when Wang Xiaoniang asked him to send millet balls to the general named Zhang Da, Yang Wazi understood. He just wanted to have a baby with him. What didn't he understand? .
He had sent Wang Xiaoniang off several times before. He had met the general named Zhang Da and wanted to ask how he felt. Yang Wazi only has one sentence, what a good guy. Black, thick, strong, and with a big scar on his cheek, he looks very majestic even if he doesn't smile. It's a pity that every time he gives General Zhang Da the millet balls sent by Wang Xiaoniang, the general smiles like the idiot in the next village. I really can't understand it.
But today is different. Today we are finally going to fight, and Yang Wazi is going to do something big and great today.
He was following the food delivery team, and a companion who was about the same age as him crept over behind him and asked in a low voice:
"Are you ready? Your mother didn't notice it."
Yang Wazi chuckled and replied:
"Don't worry, I, Yang Jiabi, have never had diarrhea when doing work. We will kill a few Han dogs on the front line in a while, and let the brothers see how powerful our Yang Jiabi kid is."
His companion, like him, was from the Yang family, named Yang Gou Sheng. The women and children in their old camp were divided into areas according to their place of origin, and they, the children of the Yellow Turban Army in Yangjiabi, were all divided into one area.
Yang Gousheng looked at the Han soldiers in the distance with hatred on his face, clutched the wooden spike in his pocket, and murmured:
"Father, grandma, I will avenge you right now."
(End of chapter)