Entrepreneurship in the Late Tang Dynasty

Chapter 231 The Big Picture
Five days later, on the 30th day of the second month of the third year of Qianfu, outside the city of Yunzhou, the moon was bright and the stars were few.

Beneath a curtain surrounding a meadow, the cool moonlight spills into the space, creating a silvery white expanse.

Inside the tent, torches stood upright, illuminating the meadow as bright as day, together with the huge fire pit in the center.

The atmosphere inside the curtain was extremely oppressive. Someone tried to cough, but was so frightened by the oppressive atmosphere that he swallowed the sound back.

At this moment, at the head of the group, a burly man with a yellow headband was looking coldly at the people below.

In the middle of the crowd, Huang Balang (Huang Qin) was the first to succumb to the pressure and hurriedly knelt down, shouting:
"Brother, it was Xiao Ba who failed to defend Caozhou. It has nothing to do with the rest of us. They all fought very well and did their best. If anyone should be punished, punish me alone."

The person at the head of the table was Huang Cun, the eldest son of the Huang family.

After capturing Yuncheng in a surprise attack, he led his army to attack Yunzhou without stopping, but Yunzhou, like Caozhou, was really difficult to conquer.

He fought for over ten days at the city walls, using dozens of methods and losing over a thousand lives, but still failed to reach the walls of Yunzhou.

Just as he was trapped under the city walls, his own son, Xiao Ba, arrived with over a thousand remaining soldiers and told him that Caozhou City had fallen.

If it were according to his old temper, he would have executed Xiao Ba long ago. The Huang family has many brothers, they don't need him.

However, a military report sent by his second brother from Yizhou in the south a while ago changed Huang Cun's attitude, because the second brother sent a letter announcing the death of a loved one.

Their fourth brother was shot by a crossbow bolt at the foot of Yizhou City and died on the spot.

The moment Huang Cun received the letter, he realized how much pain he was in.

So, looking at Xiao Ba, who still showed responsibility, Huang Cun's heart softened, but he still snorted coldly:
"So you're telling me you fought tooth and nail, and still couldn't hold Caozhou? What? Did those Tang soldiers fly? Fly to the top of Caozhou and fight you to the death?"

Huang Qin hesitated for a moment, then finally stammered out the whole story to his elder brother, and waited for his brother's wrath.

As expected, no one knows a brother better than his brother. When Huang Cun heard that Huang Qin and his men had actually listened to Yang Zhao's words and gone out of the city to fight, he could no longer suppress his anger. He slammed the table down on Huang Qin's head and cursed:

"What did I tell you? I told you to guard the city and wait for my return? And you just listened to me like this? And what's with this 'Yang Zhao is one of us'? That man is opportunistic and treacherous. Back then, it was he who betrayed Zhao Zhang, which led to the tragic death of his entire family. Don't you know that? You believe someone like that is loyal? Damn it!"

Huang Qin, whose head was bleeding from the blow, was stunned; he really didn't know anything about it.

Over there, several elders of the Huang family quietly explained to Huang Cun that at the time, Balang had accompanied Erlang to the capital for the imperial examination and was unaware of this matter.

Huang Cun pursed his lips, looking at his eighth brother who was still standing straight, watching the blood gushing from his head, and the anger in his heart completely disappeared.

In front of the entire core of the Grass Army, he addressed them:

"In the current situation, we are only one step away from success and only one step away from failure. Whether we can rise to the top or be wiped out depends on whether we can capture Yunzhou and penetrate into the rear of the Pinglu Army."

“But now that my eighth brother has lost Caozhou, the Zhongwu Army, the Xuanwu Army, and the Baoyi Army that killed Cao Shixiong must be on their way to Yunzhou.”

"At this moment, we have been bogged down in the city of Yunzhou for more than ten days. If we fail to capture Yunzhou again, and the three Tang armies behind us arrive at our rear, we may be completely annihilated."

"Now that we are facing a life-or-death situation, what do you think we should do?"

Upon hearing this, a middle-aged man in a scholar's robe, whose skin was dark and resembled that of an old farmer, stood in the crowd.

He didn't answer directly, but instead asked Huang Qin on the other end:
"Hachiro, you have taken over the Zhongwu, Xuanwu, and Baoyi armies. Tell me about their situation."

Seeing that the one asking the question was the strategist Shang Junzhang, Huang Qin felt reassured and said:

“We’ve never fought the Zhongwu Army, but judging from their formation, they’re elite. They probably have five or six thousand men, and I can’t count how many cavalry they have. Then there’s the Xuanwu Army. They’re really weak. Their ten thousand men couldn’t withstand one of our attacks. If it weren’t for the Zhongwu Army and Baoyi Army coming to our aid, we could have annihilated this cowardly army right under the city walls.”

After saying this, Huang Qin hesitated for a moment, and finally said:

"This Baoyi Army is a bit strange. Their total strength should be around three or four thousand, but they are extremely good at fighting. Our army fought them twice, and we sent our old brothers in both rounds, but we lost both battles. In addition, there was the time with Cao Shixiong before. It can be said that this guy alone wiped out a small portion of our forces."

When the topic of the Righteous Army came up, Shang Junzhang visibly frowned. He had previously hired a group of people to assassinate Cao Shixiong in order to avenge him, but the man was lucky enough to survive.

Moreover, the other side must know that they sent someone to assassinate him, since you can't expect a bunch of bandits to be loyal and not betray him. So now the two sides are locked in a life-or-death struggle.

As he was thinking, another burly man beside him, clad in armor and wearing a black cloth, had an arrow scar on his cheek, gleaming eyes, and exuded a fierce and capable air.

This man was Bi Shiduo, who came from Songzhou to join the army. He was known as Bi Yaozi, a man who could charge across on horseback and was skilled in archery with both hands, hitting the target nine times out of ten. He was hailed as the number one hero of the four prefectures of Cao, Pu, Yan and Song.

Bi Shiduo had recently heard a lot about the reputation of the Baoyi Army. Cao Shixiong had died at the hands of this army, which was also the first major defeat the Cao army had ever suffered.

At this moment, filled with doubt, he asked Huang Qin below:
"Hachiro, is the Baoyi Army really that powerful? That's strange. Zhao Huai'an, is that his name? I've never heard of him before. The Baoyi Army isn't some old feudal army, so how come they're so good at fighting? How many armored soldiers do they have? Where do their warriors come from?"

Huang Qin hurriedly explained to Bi Shiduo:
"Old Bi, this Zhao Huai'an is the one who's been talked about these past two years as 'the righteous and filial Black Big Brother in the army.' He rose to prominence during the war against Nanzhao in Xichuan. It's said that he killed the chieftain of Nanzhao, Long, in the midst of a massive army, and was later appointed as the governor of Guang Prefecture. This time, he's the one who led the vassal state from Huainan northward."

"As for where the warriors of this Baoyi Army came from, I think some of them were the camp leaders he brought from Xichuan, and some were trained in Guangzhou. Almost all of his men were cavalry, either on horseback or on mules. Those on horseback were elite cavalry, and those on mules were heavy infantry, so their speed in raids was very fast."

Upon hearing this, Bi Shiduo asked the strategist Shang Junzhang in surprise, "Strategist, if I remember correctly, Huaixi Town was known for its invincible mule-troops back then, right? Is Zhao Huai'an now running it like Huaixi Town? Where did he get so much money?"

It's no wonder that Bi Shiduo was surprised. They were very sensitive to money and knew that the regional military governors' troops were different from their own army. They were built up with money, not to mention maintaining a horse and mule caravan of such a size.
Shang Junzhang nodded and said:

"The reason why Huaixi Town was able to raise mule-trained soldiers back then was because of the benefits of the Grand Canal. Later, it also occupied Bianzhou, so it had the capital. Now that Zhao Huai'an can do this, he must have a big way to make money."

After saying this, he earnestly addressed Huang Cun, who sat at the head of the table:

"If Zhao Huai'an is not only good at fighting, but also good at management, then we can no longer take him lightly. Let's find an opportunity to give him a good beating and get rid of this future threat."

Huang Cun nodded, then began to worry about the current situation.

After capturing Yuncheng and acquiring a large amount of grain, he recruited nearby refugees and restored the strength of his bandit army.

You could say that this is the good thing about years of great disasters: as long as the core old brothers are there and there is food, you can have as many miscellaneous soldiers as you want.

Moreover, after a few battles, the original ragtag soldiers become core old brothers. It can be said that as long as the army is not wiped out in one fell swoop, they are not afraid of losing many battles, and they can become stronger and stronger with each battle.

This was also the source of his and his second brother Huang Chao's confidence. As long as they continued fighting like this, constantly sweeping into other prefectures and counties, the Li Tang dynasty would eventually be unable to withstand it.

At that time, the Huang family could either contend for the world or remain a local lord.

But the problem now is that they can't take Yunzhou City, and there's a constant stream of refugees and defeated soldiers gathering from the surrounding areas. If this continues, they'll run out of food and the army will have to disperse.

Thinking of this, he said to everyone:

"Given the current situation, we must act decisively. We can't take Yunzhou City in a short time. Now, we either need to bypass Yunzhou and attack Zibo and Qingzhou directly, or we need to detour from here and enter Yanzhou to gather supplies. What do you think?"

The first to speak was Zhao Zhang, a ruthless bandit from Juye Marsh. He glanced at his younger brother, who was also kneeling, and then said:

“Let’s bypass Yunzhou and march straight into Ziqing. Others don’t dare to bypass fortified cities because they have supplies. Our army can eat wherever we go, so what’s there to be afraid of? Ziqing is currently undefended. If we march in, we can not only seize grain to expand our forces, but also relieve the pressure on Yizhou.”

"If we go to Yanzhou, our army will basically be stuck in the Lu region. If anything happens, we'll be wiped out in one fell swoop. It's too dangerous. Besides, Wang Xianzhi has already swept through Yanzhou. He's taken all the easy targets. All that's left are tough nuts to crack."

After speaking, Zhao Zhang raised his hand and addressed the crowd:

"Raise your hand if you agree with this."

The generals of the peasant army whispered among themselves, and those who agreed raised their hands.

This is the current structure of the Grass Army. It is a union, and even the Commander-in-Chief Wang Xianzhi is only elected by the people and does not have any supreme power.

In reality, what the grassroots army values ​​most is personal prestige. If you can solve problems, win battles, acquire spoils, and lead your brothers to survive and grow stronger, then your brothers will support you.

What Zhao Zhang said made a lot of sense, so he immediately gained the support of some people.

But one person was unhappy; he was a member of the Huang clan named Huang Wantong. He addressed the group:
“Zhao Huai’an has repeatedly defeated us. If we don’t fight back, what will the heroes of the martial world think? Who will come to join us then? Won’t they all go to join the Baoyi Army? I think we should create a false impression in Yunzhou, and then our main force will return and set up an ambush outside Yuncheng to wipe out this Baoyi Army.”

"I'd like to see if this member of the Righteous Army survives a single blow from this axe."

Huang Wantong was also a fierce general, and his words won the support of the generals of the Grass Army. After all, what the heroes of the Jianghu wanted was to enjoy the pleasures of life and settle scores quickly.

They've suffered a huge loss; it's not their style not to retaliate.

Now, the two sides were evenly matched, and everyone looked at Huang Cun at the head of the table to see what he would do.

Huang Cun stroked his already gray beard, thought for a moment, and first said to the strategist Shang Junzhang beside him:
"Strategist, that Yang Zhao caused so many of our old brothers to die tragically. We must avenge him. See if there are any heroes over there willing to take on this job and have them bring Yang Zhao's head over."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Zhang wanted to speak, but remained silent.

He still wanted to do it himself.

Shang Junzhang nodded after hearing Huang Cun's instructions.

Meanwhile, Huang Cun addressed his generals in closing:
“We must avenge this, but not now. We need to consider the bigger picture. I agree with Lao Zhao’s suggestion. We’ll create a diversion outside the city, and then tonight we’ll bypass Yunzhou and storm into Zibo and Qingzhou.”

"There, we'll turn the world upside down!"

The soldiers of the grass army were convinced by Huang Jia Dalang and shouted in unison.

So they each went their separate ways to prepare.

When as many as 30,000 to 40,000 rebel troops withdrew from outside Yunzhou City in the middle of the night, the Taiping Army on the city walls was completely unaware.

(End of this chapter)