Wait, please don't call me Emperor Zhaolie

Chapter 23 A Crucial Battle

Liu Bei arranged Zhao Yun as a scout to continuously shoot and kill scouts who wanted to gather information.

He sent cavalry to various places to report to him the movements of the Yellow Turban Army traveling to and from Le'an at all times.

The suburbs of the scouts are not a place for raising livestock.

Liu Bei's scouts were the elite among the elite, and he personally selected them from hundreds of miles away.

Although their numbers are small, they are good at riding, shooting, reconnaissance, and fighting.

He knew very well that whoever could quickly grasp first-hand information on the battlefield would have the initiative and would not be passive whether attacking or retreating.

Therefore, scouts are particularly important, and when two armies clash, they will send a large number of scouts to each other. Once the two meet, they will immediately fight to the death.

It is the vanguard of the entire army, where fighting is most likely to occur and the bloodiest and cruelest.

Scouts are the eyes and ears of the army. Whoever wins the outpost battle is equivalent to gouging out the enemy's eyes and ears, making them blind.

In order to prevent any changes in the enemy at night, we were unable to detect it in time.

Liu Bei also asked Zhao Yun to try to send out some scouts with good vision at night to investigate harassment, and return to the camp at dawn.

At night, the camp was under martial law and soldiers were not allowed to enter or leave or move around at will. Night sentries often had to fight with the enemy all night long.

Although it was cruel, many people still wanted to join it because the military salary and rewards were the most generous, and granting land, fine silk and food were the first to be received.

People in the army often joked that scouts were the "real" sons of the lord, and soldiers would stand aside when they saw them.

After dawdling for a month and a half outside Linji City and being reluctant to charge, Liu Bei suddenly received a report from a scout that a large number of Yellow Turban troops had appeared to the south of Gaoyuan County and the east of Li County, and behind them were their families.

There are about 130,000 people in the east and about 70,000 to 80,000 in the south. The total number of young and strong soldiers on both sides is at least 200,000.

Liu Bei thought to himself, "It's finally here."

But I have been waiting for you for a long time. Although Liu Bei despises the Yellow Turban Army's strategy, he will not underestimate their tactics.

He immediately beat the drum to summon all his generals to discuss countermeasures.

After everyone arrived, the scouts reported the situation in detail.

The military officers in the camp quickly drew a simulation on a sand table, marking the position, marching direction, water sources along the way, the number of people and the direction, as well as the defense status of the grain transportation roads.

In a short while, everything within a radius of hundreds of miles was clearly visible.

The generals were not shocked by this scene, but just lowered their heads and thought about how to deal with the enemy.

Drawing enemies in detail on a sand table was nothing new in the Han Dynasty.

In the past, in order to capture Wei Xiang in Longdi, General Ma Yuan used rice grains to represent valleys and mountains, thus demonstrating the dangerous paths in Longdi and clarifying the Han army's advance route.

Liu Xiu was so amazed that he later incorporated Ma Yuan's ideas into his army and ordered all his generals to follow their example.

Liu Bei simply replaced the "rice plate" with sand and mud. Whenever he arrived at a place, he would order the military officials to build a platform and draw pictures on it.

After all the generals have spoken freely and pooled their ideas.

Liu Bei found that everyone was still too cautious and said to attack the enemy closest to the south first, because they were close to Gaoyuan County which was recovered by the Han army and posed a greater threat.

Liu Bei shook his head in objection, saying, "Now that the enemy situation has been ascertained, changes can happen in a flash. Although the Yellow Turban Army in the south is small in number, they are already close to our army, so they will certainly be more cautious."

"Sun Tzu said: The way to use troops is to attack the enemy when they are least prepared and to surprise them when they are least expected."

"The east is far away and unprepared, and with so many people, they are prone to being careless. Once chaos occurs, they will be unable to command in an orderly manner. If they are attacked suddenly, the enemy can be defeated immediately."

Liu Bei knew that even if the scouts' whereabouts were exposed, it was impossible for all enemies in the east to be on guard.

When a large number of people walk together, it is easy to expand people's sense of security, and they will subconsciously feel safe. Even if a few people are on high alert, it will be useless.

All we need to do is to disrupt the defenseless people, and when they flee, they will naturally scatter the guarding soldiers, making it impossible for them to form a formation to meet the Han army.

An army that cannot effectively line up on the battlefield will only die. After Liu Bei finished speaking, the generals and captains had no more objections.

They all bowed their hands and asked, "No one dares to disobey. Please give the order, Lord!"

So they decided to break camp and advance, first defeating the enemy in the east who was farther away.

The Han army then gathered its troops along the way, then split up halfway, with a small number of troops marching south with great fanfare to confuse the nearest enemy in the south, so that they would not dare to act rashly.

The main force of Liu Bei's army turned around and immediately headed eastward to the 130,000 Yellow Turban Army near Chaoli County.

The remaining auxiliary troops continued to hold the camp.

As for the enemies in the city, they had been so attacked by the rain of arrows fired by the Han army from the towers that they dared not even poke their heads out.

They were also exhausted physically and mentally by the daily beating of drums in pretend attack on the city, and would not react even if they saw unusual movements.

This was because the Han army lacked martial ethics and lured the Yellow Turban Army out of the city twice and once pretended to retreat to other places.

Another time was even more shameless. They disguised themselves as Yellow Turban reinforcements and attacked from behind the Han army. When the Yellow Turbans in Linji City saw this, they immediately became excited.

The leader immediately ordered his troops to leave the city, and personally led his troops and reinforcements to attack the Han army from both sides in an attempt to defeat the Han army and avenge the siege for many days.

As a result, when they were close to the enemy's spear formation, the Han army did not even change its formation, only to realize that they had been deceived by Liu Bei again and returned with a crushing defeat.

He fled in a panic, but found that the city gate was closed. Finally, he was killed by someone unknown in front of the two armies. He was identified by surrendered soldiers when he was cleaning up the battlefield. His chest was almost trampled by the soldiers.

……

Along the desolate road, withered and yellow weeds lay on the cracked ground.

The sudden sound of horse hooves broke the tranquility here.

Dozens of armored men riding on maroon horses quickly stepped over the weeds and disappeared into the distance.

In a short while, row after row of infantry spread out on both sides of the road, each no more than a hundred and fifty steps apart.

Wearing armor and holding weapons, ready for battle.

Then came a long line of troops and horses, as well as an endless stream of baggage carts pulled by draft horses and oxen and mules requisitioned from the rear.

The deserted Guchi Road seemed to have not seen so many Han troops passing by for a long time.

After the heavy baggage carts passed by, they left behind a long rut, which was loaded with food, fodder, armor and weapons.

The soldiers on guard took turns putting on their armor and marching forward.

They would walk fast for thirty miles and slowly for ten miles before taking off their armor and resting. Soldiers from other units would then take their place and take turns.

The crossbowmen did not drop their arrows from their crossbows, but held them low with the tips pointing toward the ground, ready to engage the enemy at any time.

Liu Bei mobilized all the livestock that could replace manpower from the rear to improve the mobility of the army and went all out in this battle.

The Yellow Turban Army was deceived and mistakenly believed that Han troops from various states had come to support Qingzhou, but they still did not realize the importance of this battle.

They also took into account past experience and thought that if the Han army was really difficult to defeat, they should go to Xuzhou or Jizhou. It was said that those places were richer and had countless treasures and food stored there.

Why bother fighting the Han army to the death in Qingzhou? After all, even the great and virtuous teacher couldn't lead them to defeat the imperial court back then, let alone now.

Liu Bei could guess somewhat about the Yellow Turban Army's intentions.

He likes to roam around like a bandit, and will not take the initiative to fight unless the imperial army comes knocking on his door.

After Zhang Jue's death, the Yellow Turbans had lost their leadership.

　Thanks to the book friend Dong Lin Mucha for the reward! Thanks to the book friend 2017...2308 for the monthly ticket! Thanks to the book friend 2018...3680 for the monthly ticket! Thanks to the book friend Renjian Hanshujin for the monthly ticket! And thanks to all the book friends for collecting, reading, and enthusiastic comments. Thank you! Love you~

　　
　
(End of this chapter)