Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 243: Breaking the Underworld
There was chaos in Mingyan Pass. Zhao Yun followed Jia Xu's advice and after a night of "watching the fire from the other side of the river", he interrogated the surrendered soldiers who escaped from Mingyan Pass about what happened last night.
The conclusion is that there was indeed a turmoil in Sai before, and it was not an act...
However, Zhao Yun did not say much. After all, Jia Xu was just making a suggestion, and he felt it made sense, so he accepted it. Zhao Yun was not so tasteless as to complain about Jia Xu's misjudgment at this time!
It was precisely because he had understood Zhao Yun's character well that Jia Xu offered advice before. If it were Li Jue or Guo Si, Jia Xu would not have said anything at all - after all, he was not completely sure, and he just thought there was no need to take extra risks beyond the "goal".
Even when he was assisting Zhang Xiu, although that boy seemed to Jia Xu to have a straightforward temper, Jia Xu dared to give him his advice, but... as long as Zhang Xiu didn't listen, Jia Xu would never advise him a second time!
In fact, Jia Xu could understand the reason why there was war in Mingyansai.
Most of the troops under Huang Yi were Nanyang soldiers recruited by Yuan Shu when he was the prefect of Nanyang. They were also soldiers from Runan who came to join him and were one of Yuan Shu's core troops.
Although the location of the Three Passes is theoretically Jiangxia County, it is actually adjacent to Nanyang and is usually under the control of Nanyang.
Therefore, with morale low , many grassroots generals have thought about escaping and returning home...
The current battle position is very awkward for the Nanyang Army, which is part of Yuan Shu's remnants.
"Loss of source of troops" is an important factor that leads to a decline in military cohesion, because it means that grassroots officers will not be punished as long as they can sneak back!
Many of the originally elite armies saw their strength decline drastically after they lost their source of troops and moved to other areas.
"Besieged on all sides" is the best example.
Why did Liu Bang's ordering of his Han soldiers to learn Chu dialect and sing folk songs from their hometown cause a sharp drop in the morale of Xiang Yu's army and even lead to a small-scale rout and chaos?
The singing was not to make them miss home, but to make the Chu army mistakenly believe that "Chu land has been lost", so there are a large number of "Chu people" in the Han army!
Not to mention his own soldiers, even Xiang Yu believed it and his fighting spirit was weakened by three points...
If the battle is fought on normal terrain, the enemy's ability to gather the defeated soldiers will be extremely poor under such circumstances - if the morale is low at this time, more defeated soldiers will choose to go home directly instead of returning to the barracks.
And now in the Dark Pass, the result of the military's excessive turmoil is that some grassroots generals have begun to forcibly "escape" in an organized manner...
"It seems that what I copied overnight will come in handy today." Jia Xu said.
"Well, give the order to advance, and the longbowmen get ready!" Zhao Yun also nodded and gave the order immediately.
When the Northern Army was approaching the border, Huang Yi led his men to be cautious and alert. Even though this low Mingyan Pass could not give him much sense of security, he forced himself to appear calm.
The Northern Army said nothing, and without any ant-like siege, they directly sent out archers, but... all three waves of arrows were blunt-headed arrows with white ribbons wrapped around the back!
That’s right, it is used to convey messages.
After Huang Yi discovered this, he immediately ordered that the letters be turned over immediately and that no one be allowed to read them, otherwise they would be charged with treason.
Even though he didn't know what was written, Huang Yi knew that he shouldn't show it to the soldiers !
But after the first three waves of blunt arrows, hundreds of "letters" were sent into the walls of Mingyan Pass. How could they all be stopped?
The content of the letter was simple - a reward.
In addition to the leaders Yuan Yao and Huang Yi, there are dozens of generals, most of whom are not in Mingyansai. They are either defending Fuyang with Yuan Yao, or have died in battle or escaped.
This list... is exactly the "wanted order" issued by the General's Office - a list of generals who caused trouble during the Shouchun disaster!
Of course, this is only a small part, and there are many more who slip through the net. After all, many of those grassroots generals are unknown to the people.
Those who were recognized and reported were also on the General's Mansion's must-kill list...
Now, shooting hundreds of copies of this list into the city, the significance is self-evident!
The troops at the border were not in a hurry to attack. Instead, they shouted loudly, "Yuan is a ruthless thief who slaughters the people. Whoever captures Huang Yi's head and surrenders the city will be granted the title of Guannei Marquis! Whoever captures Qu Yi alive will be granted the title of Ting Marquis! The rest are rebellious generals. If you capture them or kill them, you will be rewarded!"
Qu Yi is relatively "innocent", he was added as an extra and is more "valuable" than Huang Yi.
The Guannei Marquis is different from the other marquises. Although it is also a title, it only provides an annual salary. In name, it is a "marquis", but it has no fiefdom and cannot be passed down from generation to generation. In this chaotic world, it is the first "title" to depreciate and become rampant.
The Tinghou was the lowest level of marquis. "Ting" also refers to the administrative level below the county and township. Liu Bang, the founder of the Han Dynasty, was originally the "Sishui Tingzhang" of Qin. One Ting governed an area of approximately ten miles.
But now, whether it is Tinghou, Xianghou, or Xianhou... they are all just divisions of ranks and have no direct connection with the amount of fiefdom.
After shouting, there was no intention to force an attack, and Zhao Yun was the first to say, "We will attack the city in three days. I hope you will take good care of yourself!"
Jia Xu's judgment was not wrong - since the army was already in disarray, there was no need to attack violently, so he could just fan the flames from the outside...
After the first day, Mingyan Pass was as quiet as death. But on the second night, shouts and screams were heard again, and Zhao Yun still just led his men to watch outside.
But this time, after a night of clamor, the gate of Mingyansai slowly opened at dawn.
A bearded general, covered in wounds and blood, limped out, holding Huang Yi's head in his hand...
During this period... the shouting and killing sounds inside the pass never stopped. It was obvious that rather than a rebellion, it would be more accurate to say that the Mingyan Pass had fallen into a riot, and it was far more than just two groups attacking each other.
For example, the bearded man who presented Huang Yi's head was originally just a lieutenant general, and this Huang Yi's head... was snatched from another lieutenant general. He didn't even know how many hands it had been from when he snatched it.
It was just that he reached an agreement with the gatekeeper first, so he was able to come out and offer his head successfully.
There are countless similar things happening throughout the Underworld!
Zhao Yun directly asked someone to take the bearded man to find a medical soldier, and then led his troops into the border to stabilize the situation. With Huang Yi's head in hand, Zhao Yun really didn't believe that he had the courage of Fan Yuqi and was using his life to deceive him.
After suppressing, recruiting, and appeasing the rebels along the way, the Mingyan Pass changed its owner...
However, they failed to capture Qu Yi and Yang Hong. The former was seen by someone trying to escape shortly after the riot broke out.
Although there were only 200 halberd soldiers left, no one dared to stop them in this chaotic situation.
Although Tinghou is attractive, he must be alive to get it. As for Yang Hong, no one noticed him. He may have died in the chaos of the army...
