Chapter 73: The Remnants of the Yellow Turbans
Without the obstruction of the general, the rewarding matter seemed to be a natural outcome.
Guo Hao was promoted to General of Cavalry and was granted the title of Marquis of Beiliang, and his fief was Beiliang County, which can be said to be a true title and general.
Seeing that the situation in the world was looking good, Luoyang City was filled with singing and dancing. Even Guo Hao seemed to be fascinated by the prosperity of Luoyang.
Although the entertainment methods in ancient times were not as good as those in modern times, they were still very entertaining. Even people like Guo Hao enjoyed them to great extent.
Just when people thought that a peaceful and prosperous era was about to arrive, an accident suddenly occurred in Changsha County of Jingzhou, causing the Han Dynasty, which had been tending to be stable, to once again fall into turmoil.
Qu Xing of Changsha rebelled and proclaimed himself a general. He captured dozens of counties in just a few days and for a while he became quite powerful.
Moreover, Qu Xing disguised himself as a Taiping believer and claimed to be a disciple of Zhang Jue, wanting to inherit Zhang Jue's will, thus attracting countless remnants of the Yellow Turbans to join him.
In just a few days, Qu Xing had an army of 100,000 men under his command, and they were eyeing Jingzhou covetously. Jingzhou had no choice but to ask the court for help.
"Zhang Yan, have you ever heard of this Qu Xing?" Under Mount Tai in Qingzhou, a group of elite troops were moving slowly. There were only three thousand of them, but the might they exuded made the thieves in the wild flee.
The leaders were Zhang Hao, Zhang Yan and Guan Hai.
Hearing Zhang Hao's question, Zhang Yan shook his head and said, " I am active in the north, and I don't pay attention to the news of Taiping Cape in the south. I have never heard of this person."
"None of the 72 leaders have this name. They must be deceivers who have stolen the name." Guan Hai said angrily.
"You damn villain, how dare you do this? It's really despicable to claim to be a disciple of the great and virtuous master." Zhang Yan was also unhappy. He had the greatest respect for Zhang Jiao in his life. Now there were actually frauds who were impersonating Zhang Jiao's name. How could he not be angry?
In Zhang Yan's opinion, Zhang Hao is now the successor of the Great Sage Master and the authentic descendant of Zhang Jiao. When will it be the turn of someone like Ou Xing?
"It doesn't matter. The situation in the world is still uncertain. We still need to lie low. It's okay to let him attract the attention of the court."
Zhang Hao didn't care. They couldn't stop the imperial army now, so they still needed to accumulate strength.
"Report, Great Sage Master, there are Taishan bandits ahead!"
"All troops on alert, ready to take action. It would be a shame to give up Mount Tai to them. This will be our territory from now on!"
"yes!"
Zhang Hao was helpless as he looked at his three thousand Yellow Turban warriors. All his merits had been used to exchange for manpower, and the label of traitor made it a dream for him to become a civil official or a military general.
He only had three first-rate military generals, Zhang Yan, Guan Hai and Zhou Cang , and no civil officials. Moreover, he had to hide from the enemy. It was simply a horrible sight.
After weighing for a long time, he had no choice but to come to Mount Tai, slowly accumulating strength in the intention of making a comeback.
"Who are you?" The small thugs in the mountain village discovered the traces of Zhang Hao and his men, but it was all in vain.
The Yellow Turban warriors, led by three first-rate generals, rushed forward, and the situation was one-sided, if Zhang Hao had not been determined to recruit his men.
Not a single person from the entire village was left alive.
Zhang Hao chopped off the head of Chang Xi, the leader of the Taishan bandits, with one knife. If it was anyone else, Zhang Hao could still find a way to recruit one or two. But for a guy like Chang Xi who was actually the governor of Donghai in Xuzhou, he had to chop off his head with one knife to avoid any further trouble.
They can't stop the imperial court from sending people to suppress it now, so they can only act with caution and not leave any chance for information to leak.
"From today on, I am your boss!" Zhang Hao raised Chang Xi's head and said loudly.
"Avenge Lord Chang Xi, brothers ..." A guy with a face full of flesh roared, and then Zhou Cang swung his sword from a distance, splitting the whole man in half, and blood rained in the air.
"Who else?" Zhang Hao looked around. Those who were being stared at lowered their heads unconsciously, not daring to look Zhang Hao in the eye.
"Sun Guan, take them to the next mountain stronghold!" Zhang Hao commanded Sun Guan, one of the four Taishan bandits who had been recaptured before.
“Yes!”
Sun Guan bowed and led his personal guards towards another mountain stronghold.
When Zhang Hao came to his house before, he was defeated miserably. If he had not surrendered quickly, he would have been hit to death by a hammer from the Yellow Turban strongman.
Under the tremendous force of the Yellow Turban strongman, he was afraid that he would not even leave a complete body, and would most likely turn into a pool of blood and mud on the ground.
The three thousand Yellow Turbans under Zhang Hao quickly took over Chang Xi's stronghold, and then sent a group of people to silently follow Sun Guan to another stronghold.
The Yellow Turban strongman holding a sledgehammer treated all the buildings as nothing and pushed them down all the way.
Is there a wall ahead? Break it with a sledgehammer and push your way through.
Are there bandits ahead? Smash them with a hammer and push them forward.
By the time other Taishan bandit strongholds received the news, Zhang Hao had already integrated most of the Taishan bandits, and the rest were also in Zhang Hao's pocket.
It is basically a pipe dream for the bandits in Mount Tai to fight against the organized imperial guards, especially the imperial guards led by first-class generals.
If they gathered together there would still be some hope, but unfortunately by the time the Taishan bandits decided to unite it was already too late.
A group of bandits united together, but were defeated by the Yellow Turban strongman in one battle. There was no disturbance at all during the whole process, which instead accelerated Zhang Hao's capture of Mount Tai.
With a crisp "bang", the scroll engraved with information fell to the ground.
"Yellow Turbans, Yellow Turbans, Yellow Turbans again!"
Seeing Liu Hong roaring angrily, the civil and military officials of the Han Dynasty were silent, and no one stood up.
"Tell me, don't you usually claim to be well-versed in both civil and military affairs? Is this the Han Dynasty that you claim to be peaceful?"
"First it was Jizhou, then Liangzhou, and now it's Jingzhou. Who can tell me why there are so many rebels?"
"Can anyone tell me how to put down this rebellion?"
Upon hearing this, General He Jin immediately stood up and said, "Your Majesty, there are rebellions everywhere and the people are living in misery. This is all because of the Ten Eunuchs who are causing chaos in the country. Such treacherous people are deceiving the emperor and deceiving the emperor. The Han Dynasty is in danger."
"Your Majesty, please execute the Ten Eunuchs to set things right."
Liu Hong felt uncomfortable and asked, "How can we put down the rebellion? You come out and impeach the Ten Eunuchs. Can you put down the rebellion by killing them?"
How on earth could I have thought of allowing such a idiot to take the position of general?
He Jin saw that Liu Hong looked unhappy, and he said, "Your Majesty, why don't you let Beiliang Hou take action? The Changsha rebels will be easily captured and suppressed."
Liu Hong narrowed his eyes and said, "He Jin still refuses to give up and is thinking of sending Peng Ju away."
"The Cavalry General has another mission. Do you have any other candidates?"
When Yuan Huai saw Zhang Rang looking at him and about to speak, he felt uneasy. He thought maybe he wanted to send the two Benchu brothers away. They had finally waited for the chance to take control of the military power, and they couldn't let this eunuch ruin things.
