Chapter 797 Family
After completely capturing Yuan Shao's main formation, Zhang Chong sat on the horse and asked Cai Que to roll up Yuan Shao's large banner.
Beside him, several medical staff accompanying the army were bandaging Zhang Chong's wounds. It was not without cost to fight all the way from the Eastern Front battlefield to Yuan Shao's main formation.
Several arrows pierced Zhang Chong's armor, and his inner clothes were already stained with blood.
The blood loss made Zhang Chong feel a little weak, and he once again made up his mind that this must be the last time he led his troops to charge.
He thought of Emperor Taizong of the Tang Dynasty in the future. Among the emperors of the past, there might be many who were indistinguishable from each other in terms of martial arts, but if the one who ranked first in terms of battle formation was none other than the King of Qin, Li Shimin.
And even Li Shimin, who was so powerful, encountered dangers many times during battle battles and suffered bloodshed in hundreds of battles. Of the six horses he once rode on the battlefield, four were killed by arrows.
One of the horses, Shvago, was struck dead by five arrows in his hip. And the war horses were hit by so many arrows, so one can imagine how many Li Shimin himself was hit by.
It was precisely because he suffered so many arrow wounds during the war that Li Shimin was in such good physical condition that he died at the age of fifty.
Thinking of this, Zhang Chong really decided to stay at the rear honestly from now on. He didn't want to collapse after reaching fifty.
Fortunately, with the decisive battle of Yiluo coming to an end, there won't be many battles in the future that require Zhang Chong to charge into battle himself.
Why did Zhang Chong attach so much importance to Yuan Shao and this battle of Yiluo before? It is because the only thing that can pose a threat to the Taishan Army now is the alliance of princes from various places.
Among them, the key to connecting Heng was Yuan Shao of the Central Plains. With him, he could connect Guanxi to the west and Qingzhou to the east, forming an iron curtain surrounding the Taishan Army.
As Zhang Chong took the lead in going south to Kyoto, successively captured the Gyeonggi area, the Weihan Passage, and defeated Yuan Shao's main force in Yiluo, the Iron Curtain that was supposed to threaten the Taishan Army was torn apart.
Once the princes in the world cannot unite, they can only be defeated by the Taishan Army one by one.
Now, the sentinels were following Yuan Shao, and those who had already penetrated to the south bank were frantically biting Yuan's defeated troops.
In this case, Yuan Shao's chance of escaping is not great, but it doesn't matter even if he escapes. After all, Yuan Shao's main force has been wiped out, and even if he survives to Runan, he will only survive, so there is nothing to worry about.
After Yuan Shao was eliminated, the remaining princes in the north were actually Guanxi, Qingzhou, and Jingzhou.
Zhang Chong has not discussed with his disciples who to fight next. As far as Zhang Chong's own thoughts are concerned, he is inclined to fight Cao Cao in Qingzhou.
Cao Cao's ability has not only been verified in history, but also in this dimension. This shows that Cao Cao's success is not an accident, but a true talent and strategy.
And unlike Guanxi and Jingzhou, Cao Cao was a very capable military ruler and was born to be the protagonist in troubled times.
Therefore, Zhang Chong's importance to Cao Cao cannot be overstated.
However, from a strategic perspective, Cao Cao has never been Zhang Chong's main enemy, so the war in Qingzhou has been delayed until now.
And now after defeating Yuan Shao and cleaning up the mess in the Central Plains, we can naturally free up our hands to deal with Cao Cao.
Of course, there is no need to overestimate Cao Cao's threat, because the gap between Cao Cao's strength and his own is too wide at this time.
The Qingzhou area he occupied had just recovered from the war and could not support Cao Cao much. The northern part of Xuzhou captured by Cao Cao was severely weakened by large-scale massacres.
Cao Cao's repeated use of tricks to defeat Guan Yu was certainly a wonderful example of seeking merit, but from another perspective, it can also be seen that Cao Cao's absolute strength is not as good as Guan Yu, otherwise he would not have won in this way.
There is another aspect where Cao Cao's weakness can be seen.
Although Guan Yu lost more than half of his troops after being attacked by Cao Cao, with the support of Hei Fu from He Ji and Lu Zhongnan, he quickly delayed Cao Cao's attack, so that during the decisive battle at He Ji, Cao Cao was There wasn't much battlefield progress in the east.
After several inspections, Cao Cao did have some strength, but not much.
The reason why Zhang Chong did not plan to attack Guanxi was because Feijun's spies in Chang'an sent a top-secret information some time ago.
The intelligence shows that Dong Zhuo, who is like a pillar of the Kansai court, has not appeared for a long time. According to some reliable information, Dong Zhuo has sores on his legs due to some kind of vicious disease and has become blind.
Zhang Chong could roughly judge from this information and his own medical knowledge that Dong Zhuo might have diabetes.
In this era of material scarcity, especially sugar scarcity, Dong Zhuo can actually get diabetes, which shows that he really loves drinking honey water.
Dong Zhuo's condition was very consistent with the characteristics of late-stage diabetes, so Zhang Chong roughly judged that Dong Zhuo's life had also entered a countdown.
He had discussed the political situation in Kansai with people like Tian Feng before and knew that the political situation in Kansai was very unstable. Once Dong Zhuo dies of illness, the vacated power will inevitably be contested by all parties.
At that time, there will inevitably be a power struggle between the imperial party headed by the little emperor of Kansai and the Liangzhou warriors left by Dong Zhuo.
When there is external pressure, the two parties may still seek common ground while reserving differences, but as long as Zhang Chong shows his intention to move eastward, the powder keg within Kansai will definitely explode.
This is undoubtedly very beneficial to Zhang Chong.
Maybe it was because he had lost a lot of blood. Zhang Chong just thought about it for a while and his head started to feel dizzy again.
So he shook his head and stopped thinking about it. Regardless of whether it was against the East or the West, the Taishan Army would need to rest after this battle.
This time the fight from Taiyuan to Kyoto was really too long and too tiring. Even if the brothers were not physically tired, their spirits would have been exhausted long ago.
Therefore, Zhang Chong has already made a plan. After the war, the pursuers will pursue Yingchuan, let go of Yuan Shao's home base of Runan, and then pacify all parties in Yuzhou.
At that time, it will form an area with Heji, Luzhongnan, and Taishan areas to provide a stable rear for Guan Yu's army.
After surrounding Runan, the remaining power of the Yuan family is just the last trembling, which can be crushed with one hand.
While thinking about this, Zhang Chong suddenly saw some commotion in the northeast.
There, it seemed that a group of cavalry was charging this way, but it didn't take long for the commotion to subside.
Not long after, Pang De, who was responsible for guarding the bottom of the slope, ran up. There was a little blood on his armor. When he ran up, he panted slightly and said:
"Your Majesty, a group of enemy cavalry just came and have been beheaded."
Zhang Chong didn't ask too much. After all, in this chaotic battlefield, there will always be some who overestimate their abilities to gain fame.
Therefore, Zhang Chong just waved his hand, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
It seems that there is a lot of blood and needs to be replenished.
……
There was a new master in Yuan Shao's camp, not the Taishan Army, but Han Fu, who was good at dancing. At this time, there was some chaos in the huge tent.
The Han clan's troops were cleaning the remaining bloodstains in the tent. A series of trials had just been carried out here, and the Yuan clan generals who stayed in the camp seemed unwilling to follow Han Fu.
Of course, Han Fu did not go too far with life and death. He just dug the bodies of these people and buried them, and then let the war horses trample the ground firmly.
Outside the military tent, a large number of soldiers wearing yellow scarves were searching every corner of the camp one by one.
A group of cavalrymen had just put their saddles on their horses and were about to escape when they were blocked by these people and then all of them were hacked to death beside the manger.
And if they encounter any singers or female relatives during the search, these "yellow scarf" soldiers will naturally be happy to accept them, carry these beautiful concubines and throw them into their own tents.
But in addition to these crazy "Yellow Turbans", there are still many old Yellow Turbans with sad and dark faces, who seem not to be interested in these plunders. They are choosing some embroidered weapons to polish and polish.
These people were all the remnants of the Yellow Turbans in Runan back then. Their tragic fate made them remember that no matter what time, only the swords and guns in their hands could protect themselves, even if they seemed to have fallen to the winning side.
In short, the whole camp was in a mess, with crying and ferocious laughter everywhere.
The person in charge of this camp is a veteran of the Han family named Han Tao.
At fifty-six years old, he is quite old, but he has been in charge of the family for thirty years, which can be said to be longer than the lives of the families in his hands.
As the veteran with the most military experience in the family, Han Tao felt very uneasy when he saw the crazy looks on his subordinates' faces.
It can only be said that the money and silk are really touching people's hearts. He secretly regretted why he didn't seal up the camp's treasury immediately.
You must know that these people in your hands are not poor people as they are members of the Han family. Which family does not have more than a dozen slaves?
But at this moment, they all dispersed and began to plunder the treasury crazily.
As far as Han Tao saw now, in the open space outside a warehouse, countless commoners and homespun cloth were piled up in the open space. This was not because the rebels were clearing out the warehouse.
But because it was dark in the warehouse, these ruffians couldn't see clearly when they went in, so they just carried a handful. When they came out, they discovered that they were "worthless" things like homespun cloth, and then they threw them on the ground and went back to find valuable things.
So what is valuable? Of course it is satin and silk cloth, this is money!
Looking at his subordinates carrying silk and silk cloth, Han Tao couldn't say much because he knew that a large portion of these things would be delivered to his military tent later.
Just like those singers from Yuan Shao.
Therefore, Han Tao looked at these subordinates whose backs were bent by the silk cloth and just reminded:
"Don't lose the knife in your hand. Whether you can keep these things in the end depends on the knife in your hand!"
These tribes nodded hurriedly and walked away happily.
Looking at these strong subordinates, Han Tao calmed down the uneasiness in his heart and strode towards the tent.
There, several heads of the Han family and other conspirators were arguing fiercely. When Han Tao came in, he just stood in the corner and listened silently.
The cause of the conflict is very direct, and it is caused by the distribution of spoils.
Originally, given the situation of the family, Han Fu and the others would not have such an unseemly quarrel, but no one expected that Yuan Shao left too much property in the camp.
There are so many that no matter how close the relationship is, they can't withstand the temptation, let alone this group of people who are in harmony with each other.
In fact, those families have already made a lot of money, which can be seen from the way these people and their subordinates dress.
All the brocade clothes and weapons were wrapped with gold threads, and the jewels were so angry that they looked like nouveau riche.
But who would think that he has too much money?
In the previous capture distribution, they had agreed that the Taishan Army would get 50%, Han Fu, the initiator of the operation, would get 2.5%, and the remaining six families would divide the remaining 2.5%.
But now, the six families are no longer willing and demand redistribution. They dare not worry about the 50% belonging to the Taishan Army, but why should you, Han Fu, take 25%? Do you have more soldiers and horses than they do?
So this time they came to redistribute the spoils. And they didn't bully Han Fu. The remaining five achievements were divided equally among the seven families.
This equality is only fair!
After these people made this request, Han Fu himself remained silent, and several juniors of the Han family began to quarrel with these people.
When Han Tao came in, the quarrel between these people had reached the point of drawing swords against each other.
The remaining six families were not only dissatisfied with the Han family's ignorance of current affairs, but also resented the fact that a few juniors dared to shout at them.
At that moment, the patriarch of the Li family gave a gloomy sermon:
"Han, please don't listen to your advice. When the time comes, the knife will be held on your necks. This will no longer be the case."
After this person finished speaking, which of the Han children present is a vegetarian? Even if you are really coward, you will jump out with red eyes and curse in front of such a huge benefit.
For a time, the scene was extremely chaotic, and the curses were also very dirty.
Han Fu also had a headache at this moment, because when he saw Han Tao shaking his head at him when he came in, he knew that he had failed to assemble the team.
Thinking of this, Han Fu did not dare to persist anymore. Amid the scoldings, he said warmly:
"We can talk!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the scene suddenly became quiet, as if the noise just now was an illusion.
After appeasing everyone, Han Fu talked about the key to the matter:
"My son went out to contact the Taishan Army with our invitation form before, but there is no news yet, so any changes are possible. What we should do now is to quickly integrate the forces in the camp and allow other families to join us. Only Only by strengthening our strength can we hold on to this. ”
Han Fu's words were very reasonable, but the reactions of the others were not strong. The one who threatened just now spoke:
"I haven't contacted the Taishan Army so far. Isn't it because you, Han Fu, are not doing your job well? Besides, if other families are allowed to take refuge, does that mean that the seizures will also be divided among these people? There are so many seizures. It is not enough to divide them among our seven families. What? More extra points? ”
Several other family heads nodded one after another, obviously these words spoke to the hearts of these people.
So someone then added:
"Old Han, what are you thinking? Yuan Shao's hundreds of thousands of troops can't defeat those Taishan troops. What can we do if we arm all the people in the camp? Even doing so will anger the Taishan troops. Want me He said, let’s tie our headscarves and wait until the Taishan Army comes, and we’ll open camp.”
After saying this, the man said smugly:
"We are from Taiping Road from beginning to end, and we are part of the same family as the Taishan Army. We have already given the majority to the Taishan Army, and the remaining bits and pieces, I think the Taishan Army will not rob us family members!"
After saying this, everyone cheered together, this is exactly what happened.
Han Fu also frowned and thought. The more he thought about it, it really made sense.
So, just when everyone was beaming with joy, the trumpet sounded outside.
Everyone heard the sound and came out of the tent. Just looking outside the camp, they saw countless apricot-yellow flags slowly coming from the north.
Taishan Army is here!
(End of chapter)