Volume 3: The Land of Jingchu Chapter 336: Breakthrough
"Nonsense! The governor of Xuzhou is drunk, are you drunk too? Go and get fifty military sticks, and then report to the Xiandeng Camp in Yuanrang Camp!" Cao Cao scolded the public carriage commander.
The officer was stunned for a moment, but he immediately realized that Cao Cao did not want to pursue Liu Bei for the time being, so he wanted to get rid of him first. He immediately apologized and left.
However, Cao Cao didn't know that Liu Bei, who was theoretically drunk, had stayed awake all night in his mansion, looking forward to Cao Cao's attitude. Dong Cheng's previous "acting skills" forced Liu Bei to take advantage of it...
Liu Bei also cursed Dong Cheng in his heart - what a bad teammate, he can't do anything and can't even act?
He was told to keep a low profile recently, so he changed his personality? Was he afraid that Cao Cao wouldn't get suspicious?
The next morning, Liu Bei heard that Cao Cao had sent the official car order to the Death Squad, and also sent people to warn him privately, but at the same time used this matter to slander him among the people... Liu Bei was relieved - it seemed... at least his passing by put Cao Cao at ease for the time being!
That’s right, Dong Cheng did have something on his mind before, and this guy couldn’t hide anything at all.
Liu Bei had said before that this matter could not go through Dong Cheng, but... as soon as Liu Xie got the news, Dong Cheng also knew it!
Liu Bei felt so tired...
However, no matter how tired he was, Liu Bei still did all he had to do.
In order to attract Cao Cao's attention and reassure him, Liu Bei drove out of the palace from Sima Gate.
At the same time, in the palace where Liu Xie's confidants were becoming increasingly scarce, Dong Cheng was still angrily reporting to Liu Xie about what happened at Sima Gate last night.
Although Dong Cheng openly blamed Cao Cao for giving such a light punishment to Gongche Ling, Liu Xie could hear his underlying meaning, which was that he was talking bad about Liu Bei!
But this time Liu Xie just glanced at him coldly, and then said: "Uncle, you should just do your own thing. You don't need to care about what happens to the emperor's uncle."
Hearing Liu Xie's cold tone, Dong Cheng shuddered and dared not say anything more.
…
On the other hand, in Jizhou, Hebei, taking advantage of Yuan Shao's defeat and seemingly being anxious and seriously ill, the Black Mountain Army became active again, and this time began to move out of the valley on a large scale.
Originally, the Black Mountain Army was active in the valleys of the Taihang Mountains in Zhongshan, Changshan, Zhaojun, Shangdang, and Henei counties, that is, they were super "bandits" spanning Jizhou and Bingzhou.
Initially, they were of the same lineage as the Yellow Turban Army, led by the great commander Zhang Niujiao and the combined strength of various commanders, claiming to have a million men. After Zhang Niujiao's death, Chu Feiyan succeeded him and changed his surname to Zhang, which is now Zhang Yan.
Saying that there are millions of troops is definitely bragging, and it is completely unfounded.
However, if we count the old and the young, there are indeed a million people - this fits the characteristics of the Yellow Turban Army, they will incite or coerce a large number of the elderly, the weak, women and children, most of whom are half civilians and half bandits...
Among them, there are probably only tens of thousands of real Ji-zao soldiers, and... most of them are Yellow Turban Army!
As a special branch of the army to which Huang Tianji belongs, the synthetic manpower only requires one-fifth of the regular Han army and can be used as corvée.
However, the disadvantage is that the controllability is poor, the waves are strong with the wind, and the collapse is strong against the wind. The initial value is low and the training effect is low...
Basically, apart from being cheap and being able to be used for temporary training (training in advance is not very effective), everything else has problems!
There were only a few thousand Yellow Turban strongmen, which was a small number of elite troops among the main force of the Yellow Turbans during the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
Not only does it require a large amount of manpower, but only the manpower of believers in Taiping Dao can be used for synthesis. Its hard attributes are equivalent to those of wooden and stone warriors, and they are fearless and absolutely obedient.
The way in which Huang Tianji was first formed is unknown. Perhaps some people know about it, but it has never been spread outside. Since Zhang Jue raised the banner of "Cang Tian is dead, Huang Tian should be established", she appeared as the core concubine of the Yellow Turban Army.
When the Yellow Turban Army was at its peak, the eight states of Qing, Xu, You, Ji, Jing, Yang, Yan, and Yu responded, and Zhang Jiao established thirty-six regional commanders, each fighting on their own...
Thirty-six concubines were also born, all of whom were from the Huang Tian faction. They did not rely on the city but on the size of the Yellow Turban Army itself!
Now only the remnants of the Yellow Turbans are left. Huang Tianji disappeared after Zhang Jue's death, and most of the other concubines of Huang Tian's lineage disappeared after the defeat, leaving only a few in twos and threes.
Although the Black Mountain Army was powerful and was initially the top force among the Yellow Turban local factions, with the combined strength of several Fang Qu generals, it only had one unique concubine from the Huang Tian system - Black Mountain Princess.
The so-called Black Mountain Army now is actually a group of mountain people and refugees equivalent to two or three counties, with a population of one million. Their tribes are spread throughout the valleys of the Taihang Mountains.
Not long ago, Zhang Yan had frequent contacts with the White Wave Yellow Turbans, led by Yang Feng, who were entrenched in Guanzhong.
At this time, he decided to take advantage of Yuan Shao's severe weakness, make a final profit, and then go south through Henei County, the former Sili area, and go to Guanzhong to join the Baibo Yellow Turbans!
They were called the Baibo Yellow Turbans, but in fact, in the late stage of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, they had already surrendered to Dong Zhuo, and when Li and Guo were in chaos, some of the Baibo generals turned against him. In name, they had the merit of escorting the Han emperor back to the east, so they were already innocent...
Henei County was originally the southern end of the Black Mountain Army's range of activities, and not far to the south was Hulao Pass.
It is roughly equivalent to retracing the journey that Dong Zhuo took ten years ago when he moved west to Guanzhong after burning Luoyang.
However, what is different from ten years ago is that although Luoyang is nominally rebuilt today, it is just a semi-military city on the ruins. From Henei County to Hulao Pass, and then to Luoyang... Although the entire route is under Cao Cao's control, the defense force is very weak.
After all, the weaklings in Guanzhong only dare to fight each other and dare not attack Cao Cao, and Cao Cao does not want to explore the muddy waters of Guanzhong, which has already been declining!
Moreover, this once prosperous place has long been reduced to wasteland, and its revival requires a large amount of manpower to reclaim the land.
Besides, Cao Cao's main focus is still in Hebei, so naturally he is even less prepared here...
How weak are the defenses along this route?
There is no record in history, but in the novel, when Guan Yu learned that Liu Bei was in Hebei during the Battle of Guandu, he "passed five passes and killed six generals" in order to rejoin Liu Bei. He took the road from Hulao Pass to Luoyang. Whether it was Hulao Pass, which made the 18 princes sigh in admiration, or Luoyang, the former capital of the Later Han Dynasty, both were conquered by Guan Yu alone...
As for why Guan Yu took such a long detour?
Bai Tu doesn’t know either!
At the beginning of the sixth year of Jian'an, the New Year's opening show was led by the Yellow Turban Army, which was already a thing of the past...
The "Yellow Turbans" who were originally stationed in various places in Taihang Mountains, under the leadership of Zhang Yan, packed up their belongings and took advantage of Yuan Shao's recovery. They robbed whatever they could and took as many civilians as possible, and began to "break through Guanzhong".
When he first passed through Henei, he pretended that he wanted to surrender to Cao Cao and fight against Yuan Shao. The governor of Henei at that time was Sima Fang, the father of Sima Lang and Sima Yi!
Looking at the posture of the Montenegrin Army, how could they easily believe it?
So he sought help from Cao Cao while trying to appease Zhang Yan...
