The Three Kingdoms: Zhaolie, the strategist, and the rise of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 135: Fighting the Yellow Turbans can make you rich, Cao and Liu both say it is good
"My lord, that man is Huang Shao, the leader of the Yellow Turbans."

There were generals in the army who recognized Huang Shao and reported to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei placed his hand between his eyebrows and looked at Huang Shao's army formation from afar.

The biggest characteristics of the Yellow Turban Army are poor equipment, little training, and disorganization.

Looking at it today, it is indeed a clay chicken and a clay dog.

Most of these Yellow Turban soldiers wore coarse linen clothes, and only a very small number of deputy generals wore leather armor.

Most of the remaining ones were armed with guns, sticks, hoes, and branches.

The teams are in disarray and there is no discipline at all.

Li Yi urged his horse forward and said to Liu Bei:
"When these Yellow Turban bandits followed Zhang Jue, they were still able to fight with faith."

"Now that Zhang Jue has been dead for many years, the Yellow Turbans can only rely on their blood and courage to fight."

"Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted."

"Just follow the plan and let them charge."

"Wait until their morale collapses, then we can attack the enemy."

Liu Bei followed his advice and ordered his soldiers to form a battle formation.

He also secretly sent five hundred soldiers and three hundred archers to lie in wait behind him, waiting for the enemy to attack.

Huang Shao went out into the battle and saw that Liu Bei had few soldiers and did not send any soldiers to attack.

He wanted to lead his troops to attack.

The deputy general suggested:
"Liu Bei is used to using troops. Although we are many and the enemy is few, we are not as sharp as the troops of Xuzhou."

"Why not make a feint attack first to test their strength."

Huang Shao happily agreed and immediately ordered the deputy general to lead his troops to attack Liu Bei's front.

The deputy general led the troops away, with a yellow turban on his head, a green jacket on his body, and an iron rod in his hand, and led the army to attack.

There was no place for an arrow to be fired, and the Xuzhou soldiers in the front row suddenly retreated.

Hundreds of soldiers armed with powerful bows and crossbows came out instead.

Crossbows and bows are mixed together and arranged in formation.

Liu Bei remained calm, drew his sword, and shouted:
"Fire arrows!"

Whoosh whoosh! !

Following Liu Bei's order, hundreds of soldiers and archers who were ready for battle pulled their bowstrings.

There was a thunderous sound, and countless crossbow arrows came pouring in.

In the blink of an eye, a group of Yellow Turban soldiers were shot down.

The deputy general was shocked when he saw this and quickly lay on the horse's back to avoid the arrows.

The archers in the front row had just finished shooting and hurriedly retreated.

The soldiers in the back row rushed forward and continued shooting.

One after another, one after another, in an orderly manner.

Arrows and crossbow bolts rained down one after another.

"Ah...ah..."

Under the rain of arrows, countless Yellow Turban soldiers were hit and let out screams.

Liu Bei did not expect that the combination of these warriors and archers would be so powerful.

He easily shot down Huang Shao's vanguard troops, preventing them from getting close.

"With such a talented person like Zhang Shi, it's no wonder that the King of Chen was able to protect himself in the State of Chen for many years."

Liu Bei uttered a sigh. He also had crossbowmen under his command, but none of them could compare to Chen Wang's elite troops and Zhang Shi, who were skilled in archery.

After round after round of arrows, the vanguard of the Yellow Turban Army had been scattered.

Xu Huang seized the opportunity and led his troops straight into Huang Shao's army.

The Yellow Turban deputy general hastily went into battle against Xu Huang, but after fighting for less than three rounds, he was chopped off his horse by Xu Huang's axe.

Upon seeing this, Liu Bei hurriedly led his troops to attack.

Huang Shao was unable to stop him, so he abandoned his soldiers and ran towards Xinyang.

The abandoned Yellow Turban soldiers fled in panic like headless flies and soon surrendered to Liu Bei.

Liu Bei ordered his men to temporarily escort the Yellow Turban bandit, and praised Xu Huang for his bravery and strategy.

When Xu Huang abandoned Yang Feng and joined Liu Bei, he brought about a hundred men from his own army with him.

Most of these soldiers were cavalrymen, because Hedong was an important horse-breeding area.

Xu Huang had fought against the Baibo bandits for many years and also had a cavalry unit of his own in Hedong.

Although Liu Bei knew that Xu Huang was joining for the first time, he was eager to make achievements and show himself.

However, Xu Huang and his troops played an indispensable role in the fact that they advanced straight into Huang Shao's army and defeated his main force.

Liu Bei came to inspect Xu Huang's troops again, intending to reward them together.

However, he found that these soldiers, who had followed Xu Huang and had just won a great victory, were unusually calm.

There was no emotion at all.

Even when Liu Bei mentioned the reward, everyone remained calm.

Liu Bei knew that Xu Huang had the ability to command the army, and he praised him:
"The people under Gongming's command are calm when they are proud and full of disappointment when they are frustrated."

"No wonder the military advisor often praised Gongming for his military leadership style like Zhou Yafu."

Xu Huang’s ability to command the army was indeed very strong, but he did not expect that he had just entered the army and had not yet demonstrated much talent in commanding the army.

Surprisingly, Li Yi gave him such a high evaluation.

Still deeply moved, he quickly bowed to Li Yi:
"Thank you, Military Advisor, for your appreciation!"

Li Yi lifted him up with a smile and said:

"Gong Ming is a good general of the time, and now he is able to abandon the dark and join the light."

"You should appoint a general in Xuzhou and make him a prominent figure."

Not bad!

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei immediately echoed Li Yi and said:
"I recently recruited a group of new talents in Xuzhou."

"I have handed over three thousand new soldiers to General Gao Shun and ordered him to train the Xianzhen Camp."

"There are three thousand men left, but no one is training them. It's a good idea to hand them over to Gongming."

Most of the military units in the late Han Dynasty were private units, with a strong concept of direct lineage.

It was obvious that Liu Bei meant to hand over these 3,000 new soldiers to Xu Huang for command.

Just give him a troop.

Xu Huang was deeply moved by such kindness.

Unconsciously, his eyes were red, but he still tried to remain calm and bowed:
"Thank you, Lord!"

A gentleman will die for his friend. Liu Bei entrusted this new force to Xu Huang for training and command with confidence.

Then Xu Huang would naturally do his best to train them into a combat-ready army.

Among the five best generals, Yu Jin and Xu Huang were the best at training troops.

Xu Huang's military management style is very similar to Yu Jin's, both are extremely strict and introverted.

What kind of internal circulation method is this?

That means forcing soldiers to work hard without giving them food.

The original words are, "In the pursuit of profit, the scholars have no time to eat."

That is, Xu Huang only cared about whether his employees completed their task targets, and didn't care whether they had enough food to eat.

Therefore, in Xu Huang's military camp, the soldiers made up a jingle to tease Xu Huang.

——"If you can't get the money, you belong to Xu Huang."

That means my brothers won’t have enough food to eat if they follow you, Xu Huang.

After hearing this, Xu Huang just smiled calmly and responded humorously:

"You can't have a meal if you follow me? Have I ruined your rice bowl?"

Although Xu Huang was strict with his subordinates, he was also strict with himself.

He is very frugal, careful and conscientious in life.

When fighting, we always first investigate the enemy situation.

Become undefeated first, then find a way to win.

This is exactly what Sun Tzu emphasized in the Art of War.
First make yourself invincible, then wait for the enemy to be defeated.

The key to victory lies in oneself, the key to victory lies in the enemy.

After the war, the soldiers cleaned up the battlefield and looted a lot of equipment.

Liu Bei summoned all the generals to discuss the matter.

"Huang Shao was recently defeated and fled back to Xinyang."

"Can we pursue the victory?"

Li Yi analyzed:
"The Yellow Turbans fought with their blood and spirit, and once morale collapsed, the army's spirit would fall apart."

"Huang Shao has already been defeated in a battle before, and I guess the Xinyang defenders have no intention of fighting."

"We can seize the opportunity to seize Xinyang now."

"Otherwise, if it's too late, Xinyang's property will be taken away by Huang Shao and others."

Their purpose of coming to Runan to wipe out the Yellow Turban bandits was to make a fortune.

Robbing money and food is the real business, fighting the Yellow Turbans is just a side job.

So the key point in pursuing the Yellow Turban Army is naturally not to lose sight of the main goal and forget the main business.

Liu Bei adopted Li Yi's suggestion and ordered Xu Huang and Zhao Yun as vanguards to lead the army to attack Xinyang.

When He Yi of Xinyang heard that Huang Shao was defeated, he thought he was no match for Liu Bei.

I plan to abandon Xinyang and head south.

Join forces with Liu Pi and other large forces.

The Yellow Turban Army's strengths must be brought into play, that is, utilizing the mountainous terrain, fighting on their own soil, and overwhelming them with numbers.

As for Xinyang, they were looting everywhere.

They rob wherever there is a good harvest, and Xinyang has almost been plundered by them.

If Liu Bei wants it, just give it to him.

After the discussion was finalized, He Yi and Huang Shao took people to pack up the money and food, intending to take them away.

As there were so many baggage, the two did not dare to take too many things.

Fearing that Liu Bei would catch up.

He only brought valuables such as gold, silver, silk and cloth.

As for heavy objects such as armor, spears and swords, they were not brought with them.

Before they had finished cleaning up for long, they suddenly heard that Liu Bei's army was approaching.

He Yi exclaimed:
"Why is Liu Da'er so fast?"

So he gave up some of the money and food and only took a small amount of things that the troops could carry and would not slow down the march too much.

Abandon the city at the speed of light.

In this way, Xinyang fell into Liu Bei's hands.

But as Li Yi expected, Xinyang had been completely looted.

Not to mention people, even the sounds of chickens and dogs can't be heard.

"He Yi, Huang Shao and the other Yellow Turbans were in such a hurry that they could not take all the money and grain from Xinyang with them."

"You can order the soldiers to investigate and see where they hid the remaining money and food."

Li Yi suggested.

Liu Bei immediately sent people to check around to see if He Yi and the others had anything left.

Sure enough, within an incense stick of time, the soldiers found a lot of good things in the city.

There were more than a thousand knives, spears, swords, and halberds, about four hundred shields, more than five hundred bows, and more than ten thousand feather arrows.

The soldiers handed the inventory list to Li Yi.

Li Yi secretly sighed that although there were so many equipments in the city, He Yi and others did not use them to arm their soldiers.

I guess they were thinking of exchanging it for money and food.

After all, they are just ant thieves and a mob.

Then another soldier came to report.

They also found about fifty mules and more than three hundred pigs and sheep in the city.

In addition, there were over a thousand jars of wine and over 80,000 bushels of grain.

As for the gold, silver, cloth and silk left behind, converted into five-zhu coins, the value was as high as over 10 million!
After Li Yi confirmed the accounts repeatedly, he handed them over to Liu Bei.

After Liu Bei saw it, he was greatly surprised.

"Such a huge fortune can be found in a small Xinyang."

"How much did these bandits rob the people of?"

This is the amount of money and grain even after some of it was taken away by He Yi and others.

It is no wonder that after Cao Cao arrived in Yingchuan, he was able to carry out the military farming affairs so smoothly.

After all, this thing costs a lot of money and food.

But after Cao Cao destroyed the Yingchuan bandits, he not only obtained a large amount of money and food, but also a large amount of free labor.

Liu Bei now understands Cao Cao's feelings a little bit.

After all, the Yellow Turban bandits were looting to the point of draining the pond to catch all the fish, and they took everything they could.

After tasting the sweetness, Liu Bei certainly wanted to continue the pursuit and wipe out the Yellow Turban bandits.

These people are really too fat. If I don't eat them myself, they will be eaten by Cao Cao sooner or later.

Because Cao Cao had moved the capital to Yingchuan, which is adjacent to Runan.

Since he was able to wipe out the Yellow Turban bandits in Yingchuan, he would definitely not let go of the Yellow Turban bandits in the western part of Runan.

You have to hurry up.

Liu Bei ordered his men to pack up all the property and livestock in Xinyangli and take them away.

He also ordered people to find out where He Yi, Huang Shao and others had fled to.

Soon, the scout reported back.

He Yi and Huang Shao split up and left.

Huang Shao went south to Gushi.

He Yi fled northward to Chengfu.

Liu Bei frowned, stroked his beard and said:

"These two bandits are going north and south, trying to make me divide my forces?"

The bandits are indeed cunning.

Runan's terrain is mountainous and it is easy to get lost.

If the troops were divided, the Yellow Turban rebels' advantage, namely numbers, could be further expanded.

After thinking for a while, Liu Bei came to ask Li Yi for his opinion.

"Military Advisor, the two thieves He Yi and Huang Shao have gone their separate ways, each heading south and north."

"We are prepared that they want to divide our forces, so we should not pursue them."

"According to the military advisor, we should gather our troops together and attack one person with all our strength first."

"Should we split up our forces and chase after these two thieves?"

Li Yi said loudly without hesitation:

"He Yi and Huang Shao gathered a small army of ants and a mob, and dared to fight against my Xuzhou army?"

"So what if we divide our forces?"

"My lord, you can divide your troops to chase them. If you can catch the two thieves in one fell swoop, you can also save money and food to the greatest extent."

Since Li Yi said so, Liu Bei had no other opinions.

"In this case, I will lead an army southwards to Gushi to pursue Huang Shao."

"Who can lead an army to chase He Yi who is heading in the direction of Beichengfu?"

Guan Yu stepped forward and said loudly:
"Guan is willing to lead 3,000 elite soldiers to pursue He Yi."

"Cut off their heads and present them to my brother!"

Liu Bei was about to nod in agreement, but was interrupted by Li Yi's voice.

"My lord, the journey south is long, and you must have brave generals by your side."

"Yunchang can stay by the lord's side, and Yi will personally lead an army to the north to pursue He Yi!"

Although Guan Yu was arrogant, he had always been convinced by Li Yi. Seeing him speak like this, he must have his reasons.

He did not object at the time, but just waited quietly for Liu Bei's decision.

Liu Bei stroked his beard, pondered for a while, and politely declined Li Yi's request.

"I have often heard that a son of a wealthy family would not sit in the hall."

"Confucius also feared the dangers of a violent tiger crossing a river. Is this the way to live in peace?"

"The military advisor is my most trusted official in Xuzhou, and he is my left and right arm."

"How can you personally get involved in danger?"

"General Kuang usually stays in the government office, rarely in the army, and is accustomed to leading troops alone."

"I am really worried about my military advisor leaving my side, so -"

"This proposal is inappropriate!"

Liu Bei was resolute and, in a rare move, rejected Li Yi's proposal.

For him, he would rather go to more trouble and gather his troops together to fight the bandits.

He was also unwilling to take the one thousandth risk and let Li Yi lead the battle alone.

It’s not that I don’t believe in Li Yi’s ability, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

If anything happened to Li Yi, Liu Bei's world would be in ruins.

Not to mention just one He Yi, even if there were a million of them, Liu Bei would never replace them.

After listening to Liu Bei's concerns, Li Yi laughed out loud:
"Please be at ease, my lord. I regard all the rats in the world as worthless."

"He Yi is a mediocre person. He can gather a group of soldiers like ants. Even if there are millions of them, they are nothing to be afraid of."

These words were so majestic that the surrounding generals couldn't help feeling proud after hearing them.

Among them, Zhao Yun was the most enthusiastic. He took the initiative to step forward, hugged Liu Bei and said:

"Mingsir! The military advisor is very good at military strategy and is a master at using troops."

"Earlier in Guangling, the military advisor led the army on the Yangtze River, defeating the pirate Xuezhou with a small force."

"Yun has had the honor of participating in this battle, and knows that military advisors are accustomed to using troops."

"He Yi is just a mediocre person, how can he be a match for the military advisor?"

After Zhao Yun finished speaking, Liu Bei's eyes twitched, and his expression indeed changed slightly.

Li Yi advised again:

"The terrain of Runan is complex. Yi has been practicing in the mountains for many years and knows a lot about geography."

"If someone else leads the army to chase us, they may not be as fast as me."

"Please be at ease, my lord. Yi will definitely capture the thief and bring him back!"

Seeing this, Liu Bei no longer rejected Li Yi and turned his attention to Zhao Yun.

"Zilong is extremely brave, you can stay with the military advisor now, and make sure to protect his safety."

"Don't let the villains disturb the military advisor."

Zhao Yun gladly accepted the order.

Liu Bei was still worried and planned to hand over a group of trap-forming troops recently trained by Gao Shun to Li Yi.

Although the training period of this group of trap camp troops was not long, they were fully armed and well-equipped.

Their combat effectiveness is still much stronger than that of ordinary elite soldiers.

Only one thousand people have been trained so far.

This time, Liu Bei brought everything out with him based on the principle of quality over quantity.

I didn't expect it to come in handy so quickly.

Liu Bei planned to hand over all these thousand soldiers to Li Yi.

Li Yi declined:
"How can you kill a chicken with a bull's knife?"

"My lord, it's a long way to go south to Gushi, so you should use it by yourself."

Liu Bei also said:

"Have you ever taken the Yellow Turban bandits seriously?"

"This soldier from the Xianzhen Camp should be kept by the sergeant."

Li Yi still refused to accept it.

Liu Bei couldn't persuade him, so he split the Xianzhen Camp into two parts, each with 500 people.

Each man led five hundred soldiers to the Formation.

Then, the Xuzhou army was divided into two parts.

One part, with Liu Bei as the commander and Guan Yu as the deputy commander, headed south to Gushi to pursue Huang Shao.

One part, led by Li Yi and Zhao Yun as deputy general, headed north to Chengfu to pursue He Yi.

As for Xu Huang's unit, Liu Bei originally wanted to give it to Li Yi, but Li Yi felt that he should consider Xu Huang's face.

So he took the initiative to ask Xu Huang, saying:
"Gongming, would you like to follow Li to the north to pursue He Yi, or follow the lord to the south to pursue Huang Shao?"

Xu Huang replied sternly:

"In ancient times, people often worried about not having a wise ruler. Now, fortunately, we have Lord Xuande, who always works hard to show his worth."

"Huang is willing to follow Lord Xuande south!"

This is Xu Huang’s view on doing things.

As mentioned earlier, Xu Huang, like Zhang Liao, is a typical workplace person.

He doesn't like making friends or forming cliques.

In history, Xu Huang once said that all he needed to do was to be loyal and work for Boss Cao.

What do you want a good reputation for?

This is the brilliance of Xu Huang.

Don't try to be clever in front of a smart leader.

Just be willing to be a tool.

So this is why he not only rolls the dice himself, but also rolls the dice for his subordinates.

He himself is an axe, and the soldiers under him are nails.

How can a hammer have sympathy for the nail?
Xu Huang lived a very clear life.

The people who have the most say in Xuzhou are Liu Bei and Li Yi.

But Liu Bei was the top leader and Li Yi was the second in command.

Whether he can be promoted in the future depends on Liu Bei's mood, not Li Yi's mood.

So he chose to follow Liu Bei south without hesitation.

Liu Bei immediately led his army to Gushi.

Li Yi also led his army to Chengfu.

……

(End of this chapter)