Guiyi Fei Tang

Chapter 397 Chaos in the Central Plains
"kill!!"

On July 24th of the seventh year of the Xiantong era, while the war in the northwest was raging, the Henan region was also in complete chaos.

After Huang Chao occupied Caozhou, he began to attack Songzhou in Xuanwu Town.

Xuanwu garrison was short of troops, so the military governor Liu Zhan recruited 5,000 soldiers in Songcheng County, Songzhou. However, Huang Chao did not attack Songcheng, but instead attacked Gushu, Yucheng, Tuocheng, and Qiao County, which were near Songcheng County...

When the starving people of the various prefectures of Cao Song learned of Huang Chao's uprising, they flocked to join his ranks.

In a short time, Huang Chao's forces numbered nearly 100,000, and Chenliu within Bianzhou was also captured by his army.

After the city gates were breached, countless people wearing red headscarves and carrying banners with the words "Longyou Protectorate" and "Yellow" poured into the city.

Besides the first few hundred soldiers who were wearing lamellar armor, there were two thousand others who could barely wear breastplates, and behind them were farmers wearing red headscarves and tattered clothes.

As they poured into the city, the sounds of battle filled the air, and the clanging of swords rang out amidst cries of despair.

The remaining soldiers in Chenliu County were killed and forced to retreat to the county government office, where they all surrendered and begged for their lives.

However, the rebels had no intention of letting them go after their surrender. They killed them as soon as they made contact with their weapons.

More than a hundred officers and soldiers died on the spot, and their armor was stripped off and soon put on the peasant army.

After Chenliu County was captured, the undisciplined peasant army, led by their generals, began to attack the wealthy neighborhoods of the city.

The powerful families, noble clans, and commoners gathered their servants and relied on the courtyard walls for defense, but their resistance was insignificant in the face of the endless stream of peasant soldiers.

Before long, the walls of the neighborhood were breached, and countless peasant soldiers poured into the mansions of these powerful families, either looting their wealth or raping women.

The women in these powerful mansions, whether they were famous dancers and singers, or beautiful women married to noblemen, even if they looked like Jurchen fairies, were nothing more than playthings for these peasants they once looked down upon.

Those who were quicker could break through the encirclement with their brothers and brothers, while those who were slower had no choice but to jump into the well, and those who were even slower had to endure the humiliation of being pressed down on by this group of peasants.

In an instant, the mansion was filled with the wailing and lamentation of hundreds of people, and blood gushed out like a spring, permeating the courtyard.

"General! Look what I've brought you!!"

Inside the Chenliu County government office, while Huang Chao was leading his men to inventory the warehouses, Huang Kui arrived with two squads of armored soldiers, holding dozens of beautiful women hostage.

These women, dressed in silk and satin gowns, walked along, their faces pale with fright, yet their beauty remained undeniable.

Even Huang Chao couldn't help but be tempted. He nodded, stepped forward to take a look, and chose two pretty girls of sixteen or seventeen years old. They put their arms around each other's shoulders and walked towards the central hall.

"General! What about the rest?!"

Huang Kui couldn't help but ask, and Huang Chao looked at him thoughtfully and said, "Tell the brothers to rest for three days, and then we will move our troops to Weishi."

"By the way, do not touch the money, goods, or women of the common people in the city. Also, tell the poor people in the city that they can divide and cultivate the fields of the powerful and wealthy families themselves."

"Your subordinate obeys!" Huang Kui bowed in response, and then Huang Chao disappeared with the two women in his arms.

Once they disappeared, Huang Kui immediately looked at the dozens of women and rushed over to begin selecting them.

He selected five attractive women, then waved his hand and said, "You can choose the rest yourselves. If there aren't enough to go around, just make do!"

“Understood!!”

Huang Kui's words caused the soldiers to reveal lewd smiles, their eyes fixed on the group of women.

After Huang Kui left, the group of women were immediately divided up by the soldiers.

Without washing up, they would go in groups of two or three, carrying the women to find houses to do their business.

He ignored the woman's wailing and lamenting, finding it added a touch of whimsy and made it even more interesting.

The entire Chenliu was in chaos for three days, but under the supervision of the soldiers, although ordinary residents occasionally encountered violence, soldiers would quickly come to their aid and execute these confused ordinary soldiers in accordance with military law.

Three days later, Chenliu County seemed to have returned to peace. During this period, many poor people left the city to occupy the land left by powerful families and divided it up completely.

On the 27th, Huang Chao left 500 honest soldiers in Chenliu and began to gather 30,000 troops outside the city to attack Chenliu with him.

On the platform, he wore a mountain-patterned armor that he had stolen from somewhere, a phoenix-winged crown on his head, a yellow robe draped over his shoulders, and a dagger at his waist. He looked very spirited.

Below the training platform, 30,000 people were crammed together. In the front row were 800 fully armored soldiers led by Huang Kui, and behind them were 3,000 ordinary soldiers with only breastplates, carrying swords, spears, bows and arrows.

Further on were scattered soldiers wearing red turbans and carrying a variety of weapons.

"Let's go!"

Without saying much, Huang Chao directly ordered the expedition to begin, and the army began to leave the camp in disarray, heading towards Weishi County, fifty miles away.

There were many women in the army entourage, and even Huang Chao himself had a carriage with two pretty women inside.

"The military commander, Xuanwu Army, and Zhongwu Army are all short of men. Now that old scoundrel Liu Zhan is holding Songcheng to the death, once Silang and the others take over Zhenyuan and a few other counties, we can head south and besiege that old scoundrel Liu Zhan!"

On horseback, Huang Kui asked Huang Chao, who nodded and said, "Don't worry about Song City. What we need to do is take over as many counties as possible and then conscript enough people."

"As long as we have enough people following us, a mere few thousand soldiers are nothing to fear."

"Tell Lin Yan that while Kang Chengxun is besieging Pang Xun, they should make enough armor and train an elite army."

As Huang Chao spoke to Huang Kui, Huang Kui nodded repeatedly.

In recent days, they have captured more than twenty counties. In addition to giving away the lands of powerful families to the poor, they also transported all the looted goods back to Caozhou.

Along with the goods, artisans from various cities also traveled to Caozhou.

Although Huang Chao was basking in his current glory, he also remembered the words Chen Ying and Yang Xin had once said to him.

He didn't have enough scholars under his command, so he couldn't handle tasks like land redistribution or governing prefectures and counties.

However, if they concentrate their efforts on developing a county and train a fighting elite force before the government troops send their best troops to encircle and annihilate them, then Huang Chao can go anywhere in the world.

Now his nephew Lin Yan is training 20,000 troops in Caozhou, and tens of thousands of craftsmen are making armor and weapons for him.

Huang Chao believed that within a few months he would have a force of 20,000 armored elite troops, and even if Kang Chengxun besieged Pang Xun and attacked him, he would not be afraid at all.

"General, I've heard that the imperial court has been suffering repeated defeats in its battles against Longyou. If Longyou were to occupy Guanzhong, how would we respond?"

Huang Kui was still somewhat worried about their rebellion under the banner of Longyou. Even though the court had issued the "Imperial Edict to Punish Liu Jilong," Liu Jilong had not issued any proclamation to refute the court.

At least on the surface, the war was still mainly a unilateral declaration of war by the imperial court. Even though Liu Jilong won a series of victories, Longyou did not officially declare war on the imperial court.

If one thinks deeply, it can be said that Longyou still retains the face of the imperial court.

Huang Kui didn't know what Liu Jieshuai in Longyou was thinking, but having enjoyed the moment, he had no intention of siding with any faction.

Huang Chao, who was standing next to him, shared the same idea.

So when Huang Kui asked, Huang Chao took the initiative to say, "I think Liu Jilong doesn't want to compete for the Central Plains. Otherwise, with his 100,000 troops, the world would have been his long ago."

Huang Chao was full of pride, after all, since he raised his army, he had captured more than twenty counties, and no government troops could stop him.

In his view, if he had 100,000 armored soldiers, he would have swept across the world long ago and changed the heavens to the earth.

Just as he was thinking this, a wooden whistle suddenly sounded in the distance.

"Beep--"

The sound of wooden whistles echoed through the air, and when Huang Chao and Huang Kui heard it, subtle changes appeared on their faces.

"Are there still government troops here who dare to attack us?"

"Form ranks! The instructors know how powerful we are!"

While Huang Kui and Huang Chao were talking, the two quickly began to command their less than four thousand elite armored troops to form a battle formation.

The four thousand men were in a panic for a long time before they finally put on their armor and formed a six-flower straight formation, while the thirty thousand scattered soldiers behind them had no idea what to do.

They could only stand guard beside the carriage, holding knives and spears, glaring fiercely into the distance.

The troops Huang Chao released were not far away, only about ten miles. Therefore, when the wooden whistle sounded, the government troops on the outside had already broken into the heart of the troops' patrol area.

As Huang Chao hastily ordered his army to form ranks, a wisp of dust appeared in the distance.

"Drive! Drive!"

Hundreds of elite cavalry emerged from two or three miles away and galloped towards them. From a distance, nothing seemed amiss, but as they drew closer, Huang Chao's expression finally changed.

The force of the three to five hundred elite cavalry charging forward was in no way inferior to that of his thirty thousand men.

"Fire arrows from 120 paces away, and kill them!"

Huang Kui reined in his horse and spoke, while Huang Chao felt uneasy and turned to look at the fifty-odd riders behind him.

Their horsemanship was quite good, which is why Huang Chao chose them as his close followers.

With their protection, Huang Chao gradually felt much more at ease, and at this moment, the three to five hundred elite cavalrymen rushed within a hundred paces of them.

Four thousand soldiers armed with crossbows began to fire, but the elite government cavalry skillfully dodged, circling around to the rear where thirty thousand scattered soldiers had fled, and charged directly into the enemy ranks, engaging in fierce fighting from both sides. "Run!!"

"Help!"

"Stay calm! Hold your ground. They're only three or five hundred men. What's there to be afraid of!"

Three to five hundred elite cavalrymen fought and weaved through the enemy lines, while thirty thousand scattered soldiers were like lambs to the slaughter, losing their minds before the butcher's knife.

All they knew was to run away, and their escape caused Huang Chao's expression to change drastically.

"Hold the formation steady! Anyone who dares to disrupt it will be killed!"

Huang Chao spoke sharply, for he had discovered that the elite cavalry of the government army was leading 30,000 scattered soldiers toward them.

These scattered soldiers, who had only put down their farm tools a few days earlier, had no choice but to flee towards the elite troops of the main camp in order to survive, without considering that they would disrupt the main camp's defenses.

"Do it!!"

"kill--"

Shouts of battle rang out, and the stragglers who tried to charge toward the elite troops were cut down by the armored elites, while the three to five hundred elite cavalry continued to drive the stragglers to charge at Huang Chao's main camp.

As time passed, Huang Chao's formation gradually became unstable, while the scattered soldiers seemed to have lost their minds, only knowing how to charge towards the main formation.

As more and more people were killed, the stragglers gradually realized what was happening and began to surround the left and right flanks of the elite troops in the main camp.

Huang Chao had no time to catch his breath before he saw hundreds of elite government cavalrymen charging toward them.

"Form ranks!!"

Huang Chao shouted, and more than three thousand elite troops raised their shields and bows and arrows to fight the enemy. Meanwhile, the government army's elite cavalry charged up to them, drew their bows, and thrust their arrows at the vulnerable parts of their faces.

A single arrow strike to the face caused hundreds of people to fall.

Seeing this, Huang Chao continuously ordered his troops to fire arrows, which rained down but could not penetrate the armor of the government troops.

Many horses were hit by arrows and fell to the ground, but the elite cavalry of the government troops were only dazed for a moment and eventually managed to stand up.

Time passed slowly, and then thousands of heavily armored soldiers appeared in the distance, slowly approaching them.

"withdraw!"

Huang Chao's pupils contracted, and only then did he see clearly what banner the hundreds of elite cavalrymen galloping in front of them were carrying.

The banners embroidered with the words "Weibo" fluttered in the air. Although the number of several hundred elite cavalrymen was small, they dealt with this group of poorly armored peasant soldiers with ease.

Huang Chao ordered a retreat, but the elite cavalry of Weibo kept a close watch on them, constantly shooting down the scattered soldiers with weak morale.

Under such pressure, the retreat gradually turned into a rout, and the armored soldiers who had been watching from afar were now only about two hundred paces away from them.

Compared to the rebel army, which had just experienced a battle, their physical strength was still relatively abundant.

Therefore, when the rebel army went from retreat to rout, these thousands of soldiers launched an attack without hesitation.

"kill!!"

Shouts of battle echoed across the plains as the soldiers of Weibo Town surrounded Huang Chao. Upon seeing this, Huang Chao immediately ordered Huang Kui, "Throw down the grain and fodder, and scatter the gold and silver!"

"Ah?!" Huang Kui was obviously reluctant, but seeing that Huang Chao was angry, he hurriedly led his men to cut open the coarse cloth covering the carriages and scatter the gold and silver on the ground.

The soldiers of Weibo Town, who were originally preparing to charge at the rebel army, saw that there was so much gold and silver in these supply wagons. Many of them broke away from the ranks and began to scramble for the supply wagons.

Their actions gave Huang Chao a chance to regroup.

Huang Chao hurriedly led 800 armored soldiers, breaking away from the more than 30,000 scattered soldiers and more than 2,000 elite troops, and headed southeast to break through the encirclement.

Upon seeing this, a Weibo general on horseback immediately shouted, "Where is the supervisory team?!"

"Stop it, all of you! Who gave you permission to leave the group?"

"Damn it, they won't even let us loot when we go south to fight, you..."

"Anyone who dares to loot again will be killed without exception!"

The general's words caused the Weibo soldiers, who were still scrambling for gold and silver, to show hostility, and some even directly refuted him.

However, as the supervising officers slowly raised their long-handled swords, the Weibo soldiers still left the supply wagons indignantly and continued to pursue Huang Chao's troops according to the command flags.

In a battle that lasted from afternoon to dusk, more than half of Huang Chao's 30,000 troops were killed, with only Huang Chao leading his 800 armored soldiers on horseback to successfully break through the encirclement.

All the captured soldiers were branded with slave marks by the Wei Bo garrison...

"Uh-huh!!"

As dusk fell, countless refugees were branded by the soldiers of Weibo, and Chenliu County, which the rebel army had captured, was also recaptured by the Weibo army.

"By order of the army, all those who commit riots and adultery shall be executed!"

"This subordinate obeys..."

At the gate of Chenliu County, a man in his forties dressed in magnificent armor spoke with authority. The generals around him frowned slightly, but still bowed in response.

Weibo's army began to occupy Chenliu, and the people of Chenliu closed their doors and windows tightly, fearing that the government troops would plunder them, ordinary people.

However, due to the military orders of the forty-year-old general, the soldiers in the Weibo army, though their expressions were not good, did not dare to break the law.

With the arrival of the Wei Bo army, the safety of Chenliu County seemed to be guaranteed, but after the forty-year-old man entered the county government office, some generals still bowed to him and said:
"Commander, the brothers were already reluctant to leave the border. Now that they've left to quell the bandits, they're forbidden from looting. Doesn't this make the brothers resentful?"

The general's words caused the forty-year-old general who had just sat down to frown slightly. The only person in Weibo who could be addressed as Jieshuai was the newly appointed Jiedushi, He Quanhao.

He Quanhao's grandfather, He Jintao, killed Shi Xiancheng, the military governor of Weibo, with the support of mutinous soldiers, and took over Weibo.

After his grandfather died, his father He Hongjing succeeded him as the military governor of Weibo, but his father also died of illness last year.

With the recommendation of the military commanders of Weibo, He Quanhao successfully succeeded his father and became the plenipotentiary military governor of Weibo.

Compared to his grandfather and father, He Quanhao was not satisfied with the status quo.

His grandfather and father constantly rewarded the soldiers of Weibo with money and grain, a very heavy burden, and they occasionally needed financial assistance from the imperial court.

Even so, the soldiers in Weibo Town did not necessarily show much respect for his grandfather and father.

For this reason, after assuming the position of military governor of Weibo, he immediately trained an elite force to protect himself and enforce military law.

At the same time, upon learning that the imperial forces were tied down in Longyou, he immediately submitted a memorial to the emperor to march south and quell the rebellion.

He planned to use his merit in suppressing the rebellion of Huang Chao and Pang Xun to gain the support of the imperial court and take the opportunity to reorganize the military forces in Weibo Town.

Now that he had just defeated Huang Chao and had tightened military law, before he could even feel happy, these generals advised him to be more lenient.

Thinking of this, He Quanhao couldn't help but say, "We are soldiers, not bandits!"

"Brothers, if you want gold and silver, then go and fight the bandits. What kind of skill is it to plunder the people?"

As soon as He Quanhao finished speaking, the expressions of the generals in front of him changed.

He realized he had spoken too harshly, so he softened his tone: "Of today's spoils, set aside some to sell for pork and mutton, so that the brothers can eat to their hearts' content."

"The remaining money and provisions shall be used to reward the three armies, so that the brothers can return home in wealth and honor."

Seeing that He Quanhao was willing to distribute all the rewards, the generals bowed and said, "General, you are truly righteous!"

"You may leave now. We will celebrate at the banquet later."

He Quanhao nodded, signaling them to step down, and the generals also left the county office one after another.

After they left, He Quanhao began writing a report of victory, while the generals' expressions changed as they walked out of the yamen.

"That wretched dog and rat! If it weren't for his parents providing him with ample money and provisions, there would be no reason for them to support him!"

“Life at home is tough. He led us south to fight, and if any of our brothers die, he won’t provide any compensation. If the brothers start a rebellion, I’ll see how he handles it!”

Two generals cursed under their breath, while the others also looked indignant.

If He Quanhao hadn't defeated Huang Chao today and captured a lot of things with them, they probably would have started cursing long ago, and wouldn't have waited for He Quanhao to give them such a hard time just now.

"Just wait and see. He wants to prove his loyalty to the court. I want to see how the court will treat him!"

"Humph……"

Several generals snorted and left, while He Quanhao in the county government office quickly finished writing his memorial.

Before long, a troop of fast horses emerged from Chenliu County, escorting the memorial to Chang'an.

(End of this chapter)