At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty

Page 223

The soldiers shouted loud and clear battle horns, formed a tight formation and advanced step by step, those who attacked the city attacked the city, and those who attacked the camp attacked the camp.

The crossbowmen completely suppressed the long-range attack weapons of the Yellow Turban Army with overwhelming numbers and firepower. Under the cover of the crossbowmen, the rest of the soldiers pushed forward step by step with big shields, ladders, car crashes, wells, Use it all.

Well-trained soldiers are like parts in a machine. Each has its own task, and they cooperate and cooperate with each other.

Each person in the army only does one thing and concentrates on doing one thing. The spearmen only focus on stabbing, the shield soldiers only focus on defense, the sword soldiers only focus on slashing, the crossbowmen only obey orders and shoot in the designated direction, and the catapult crew only focuses on shooting. Also just shoot in the specified direction.

Other things are planned by the coach, completed by the generals, and what they need to do most when they obey orders.

The rest is to trust and rely on comrades-in-arms, never leave the army formation on the battlefield, never depart from the scope stipulated by tactics, and strictly guard the army formation.

Obeying orders and performing their duties are the core content of Guo Peng's training.

It is Guo Peng's purpose and will to build the army into a war machine in the true sense, professional, rigorous, and abide by the rules and regulations.

And the army trained according to this purpose and will is a cold war machine. Do what you are familiar with on the battlefield, just do what you are familiar with, don't be distracted, don't worry, kill the enemy, kill what you see in front of you. all enemies.

Under the rigorous training and the baptism of war, this army has become stronger, more elite, more skilled in combat, and more professional.

A professional army is what someone Guo dreamed of.

In the face of such a highly professional and specialized army, each of which performs its duties in all aspects and has a very clear assignment of responsibilities, the defense of the Yellow Turban Army is as fragile as a piece of paper, which can be broken with a poke.

The Yellow Turban Army, which has not yet broken away from the bandit army and is full of individual heroism, will not be an opponent of a professional and professional army.

Although the equipment used by the elite among them is no worse than that of Guo Peng's army.

They also have the same helmets, the same spears, the same shields, and the same ring-shouldered knives, but they cannot gather together a powerful force to fight against Guo Peng's army.

Scattered resistance, when encountering an army array marching like a wall, when facing several spears pierced from the gaps in the shield, they can only be ruthlessly pierced through the body, and then trampled into a massacre. Shredded meat and ended his mission.

After being destroyed by the trebuchet for one round, and then by the crossbow for the second round, and then crushed by the fierce army, the resistance of the Yellow Turban Army was so weak that it didn't even have any effect, and the army was defeated like a mountain. .

The battle situation on the city wall was fought by He Yi and He Man desperately leading the elite guards, repelling the enemy troops who climbed the city wall, but the overall situation was settled, and they had no way to reverse the situation.

After holding on to an isolated city for three days, he couldn't hold on anymore, so He Yi stayed behind, and Liu Pi and He Man led the army to flee.

After that, He Yi also fled, Yan Liang and Cheng Lian entered the city, defeated the defenders in the city, the defenders were scattered, some were captured, some were killed, and Dingying County was captured.

After Dingying County was captured, Cao Ren reorganized his army. On the second day of October, Cao Ren sent troops to attack Shangcai County, which was guarded by He Man with [-] troops. In Shangcai County, he fought a fierce battle with the Yellow Turban Army. The Yellow Turban Army was defeated. It quickly collapsed, and Shangcai County was taken.

He Man fled again to Pingyu County, the headquarters of the Yellow Turban in Runan.

In the era before the Yellow Turban Rebellion broke out, it was still the place where the famous Yuedan Review was held.

Cao Cao asked for Xu Shao's evaluation here, and Guo Peng kicked Xu Shao's ass here, that was 20 years ago.

20 years ago, Runan was a place that scholars all over the world yearned for, with a prosperous culture and a developed economy, but now it has become the base camp of the Yellow Turbans in Runan.

Yuan Shu wanted to win the Runan Yellow Turban into his use, so he handed over Runan County to Liu Pi to be the prefect.

As a result, the tens of thousands of Yellow Turban troops turned into the official army of the Chen Empire, and immediately became reasonable and legal, and the occupation and plunder of places became reasonable and legal.

The gentry and tyrants in Runan County fled south one after another. Just like this, they were chased and killed by the Yellow Turban Army. The corpses were scattered all over the field, and blood flowed like rivers. Now Runan can't see the scene of the past at all.

Liu Pi became a general and a prefect, as if he had achieved a counterattack in life. He jumped from a yellow scarf thief to a high official of two thousand shi. This was something he dreamed about in his dreams.

Although he was not appointed by the Han government, it doesn't matter, anyway, he doesn't want to be an official of the Han Empire.

Being an official of the Chen Empire is also a job, as long as I am an official, let me be the prefect of Runan, that's fine.

Defending Runan is not only defending Yuan Shu, but also defending themselves.

So Liu Pi made up his mind to fight a decisive battle with Guo Peng's Southern Expedition Army in Pingyu County.

Chapter 401 Four hundred and one turned against each other, power overwhelmed the world, what did Guo Zifeng want to do?

Liu Pi concentrated the main force of 3 people to fortify Pingyu County and its surrounding areas, captured tens of thousands of strong men to build fortifications, and concentrated all his strength to guard Runan.

At this time, he also learned that in addition to Cao Ren's army coming from Shangcai County, another army was coming from north to south, smashing Ruyang County and Nandun County along the way, and heading towards Pingyu County aggressively come.

It was Guan Yu's army. Guan Yu led his army to attack two counties in a row and was rushing to Pingyu County to help Cao Ren.

A decisive battle of 6 people is about to begin.

Just when Cao Ren and Guan Yu encircled Liu Pi in Pingyu County, Guo Peng personally led an army of [-] troops and successfully captured Liang Guo.

Because Liang Guo was relatively close to Jiyin County, it had already been infiltrated by Guo Peng from top to bottom. The army went south and came to Suiyang County in an instant.

Liang Guoxiang, who was placed by Yuan Shu, fled in a hurry. He was killed by his subordinates in the process of fleeing, so he came to Guo Peng to ask for a reward.

By the end of September, the entire territory of Liang State was captured by Guo Peng. Yuan Shu's bureaucrats either fled or surrendered. None of them chose to fight for Yuan Shu to the death.

It can be seen that Yuan Shu's rash claim to be emperor is really unpopular.

In the next step, Guo Peng will attack Peiguo, the place where he grew up.

This time, Guo Peng brought Cao Chun, Cao Xiu, Xia Houyuan, and Cao Hong, who was lifted by Guo Peng after admitting his mistake and started again as a captain, with him in Qiao county magistrate.

Probably because he knew that Guo Peng would definitely attack Qiao County, so Yuan Shu placed [-] soldiers from Shu Shao and Chen in Qiao County to defend against Guo Peng's attack.

Guo Peng didn't know why Shu Shao resisted Chen Bing in Qiao County. Just saying that the [-] army was against the [-] militiamen, Shu Shao's courage was really not small.

However, Guo Peng also knew some information about this person.

When this man was Prime Minister of the Pei Kingdom, Yuan Shu allocated him [-] shi of grain for military rations, but he distributed the grain to the local people without permission to help the hungry people.

Shu Shao said that he couldn't bear to see the people starve to death, so he used military rations to help the people. If Yuan Shu thought he had committed a crime, he could kill him, and he would never resist.

Yuan Shu was moved by this, and he got down from his horse and held Shu Shao's hand, saying, do you want to get such a good reputation yourself, regardless of my reputation?

So Yuan Shu pardoned Shu Shao and continued to let him be the Minister of Pei.

Therefore, Shu Shao was quite popular in Peiguo. Even under the background of Yuan Shu proclaiming himself emperor, he was able to raise [-] troops to resist him, although for Guo Peng, this was a bit unbearable.

Although his native place is Yingchuan County, Guo Peng lived in Qiaoxian County, Peiguo when he was three years old, and lived there until he went to Luoyang when he was 12 years old.

So for his real hometown, Guo Peng didn't want to lead troops to attack by force, so he wrote to Shu Shao to recruit him.

Guo Peng said that Qiao County is the place where I grew up, and it is my hometown. I don’t want to go to war in my hometown. I heard that Shu Jun once used military rations to keep the people from starvation, and was almost killed by Yuan Shu. So why not today? Surrender to me for the sake of the people?

Shu Shao's reply was very straightforward, saying that Yuan Shu had shown great kindness to him, and he would repay Yuan Shu's kindness with his own life. He would not abandon Yuan Shu like some shameless people who accepted the kindness but bit back. .

Guo Peng wrote again to persuade him, to persuade him not to get the most important thing wrong——

Yuan Shu has already proclaimed himself emperor, he betrayed the Han Dynasty, he is a traitor of the Han Dynasty, everyone in the world thinks that Yuan Shu is a traitor of the Han Dynasty, and those who help the traitors of the Han Dynasty at this time are themselves traitors of the Han Dynasty, and they are extinct from the world.

Shu Shao was very upset, and wrote back to scold Guo Peng directly.

"I am deeply ashamed of Yuan's kindness, and he does not want to repay his kindness, but raises his troops against each other. Such a brazen person is the general who conquered the North of the dynasty!"What would Guo Zifeng want to do when he turned his back on him and gave power to the world? 』

understand people?

Guo Peng grinned and continued to write to Shu Shao to persuade him to surrender, advising him to see the general trend of the world clearly and not to disregard the righteousness of the country because of personal interests. Do.

However, Shu Shao seemed to see through Guo Peng's thoughts, and called Guo Peng a hypocrite who, under the banner of destroying traitors, was actually doing it for his own selfish desires.

Guo Peng became murderous.

This tug-of-war to persuade to capitulate lasted for several days. In early October, Guo Peng received a military report from Xia Houyuan.

Xia Houyuan reported to him that he had successfully led the cavalry to attack Jianping County, Taiqiu County, and Linsui County according to Guo Peng's instructions, cutting off the retreat of Shu Shao's Qiao County army, and had already conquered Xiangxian County, the capital of Peiguo. Guo Lie's department got in touch, please rest assured Guo Peng.

Guo Peng was very satisfied.

At the beginning of marching into Qiao County, Guo Peng sent Xia Houyuan, who was good at long-distance raids, to lead [-] cavalry to make long-distance raids, capturing Jianping County, Taiqiu County, and Linsui County along the way, cutting off Shu Shao's retreat.

Before that, Guo Lie was ordered to march alone from the state of Lu, and directly attacked Xiangxian County, the governing place of Pei state, so as to block Shu Shao and make him have no way out.

Then Guo Peng himself kept writing letters to Shu Shao in Qiao County, arguing with him, sending troops to Qiao County to attract his attention, and buying time for Xia Houyuan to cut off Shu Shao's retreat. Now that Xia Houyuan successfully completed the task, Shu Shao Side should also have noticed.

That's right, Shu Shao did notice something. The ordered food and reinforcements didn't arrive in time. Shu Shao felt that something was wrong, so he immediately sent someone back to check the situation, but there was no news.

Shu Shao realized that something was wrong, and Guo Peng sent people to spread rumors, saying that the whole of Peiguo had been captured by Guo Peng's other troops, and now they only had an isolated city, and they had no food. They had to starve to death or surrender. Choose yourself.

As soon as the news came out, the defenders of Qiao County panicked, Shu Shao was also shocked, and he knew that it was very likely to be true... No, it was true.

Guo Peng has already cut off his escape route and supply road, his resistance here has become meaningless, it is the rhythm of sending death in vain.

Shu Shao was stunned for a long time, then gritted his teeth and scolded Guo Peng as the world's number one hypocrite, and scolded Guo Peng for being a disaster for the country and the people, and then ordered the whole army to defend to the death.

Seeing the situation like this, Guo Peng was not impatient, and directly ordered the army to surround the city on all sides, and then ordered Yu Jin, Le Jin, and Zhang Liao to lead 1 people each to go south to attack other counties under the jurisdiction of Peiguo to clear the way for the army. Just here waiting for Shu Shao's head to be delivered to him.

The city was besieged on all sides and there was no food. Guo Peng sent people to shout every day to shake the hearts of the soldiers in the city. As a result, the quality of these temporarily recruited troops was worse than Guo Peng imagined. On the third day of the siege, a mutiny broke out.

Guo Peng took the opportunity to order the army to launch a fierce attack, fought fiercely until dusk, and captured Qiao County with minimal losses, while Shu Shao was captured by the rebels in the city and dedicated to Guo Peng.

Upon learning of this, Guo Peng directly ordered the execution of Shu Shao, and also ordered the execution of all Shu Shao's family members in Xiangxian County on the charge of political crimes of Han thieves.

Qiao County was acquired by Guo Peng at a very small price. Guo Peng entered the city that day and restored order in the city.

After entering the city, Guo Peng didn't go anywhere else, but stood at the door of the mansion where he had lived for ten years, staring at the mansion that had changed its gate, without saying a word for a long time.

chapter 402 four hundred and one troubled times

Looking at Guo Peng's back, Cao Chun hesitated for a moment, then walked to Guo Peng's side.

Guo Peng didn't make a sound, as if he was recalling the past.

So Cao Chun felt that Guo Peng might be nostalgic, so he asked.

"General, do you want to renovate this mansion and replace it with the Guo's plaque?"

Guo Peng was silent for a while, and then said: "Zihe, do you remember that 17 years ago, you and I, and Zixiao, we came back from fishing by the river and stood here together, followed by the villagers of Qiao County , in front of me is my father?"

Cao Chun tried hard to think back.

"The general was still young at the time, so I don't remember very clearly, but I can vaguely remember a few episodes. At that time, it was indeed unforgettable."

"Hahaha."

Guo Peng smiled: "It's been 17 years. When I stood here 17 years ago, I didn't expect that I would be able to stand here again 17 years later. I would still be doing such things in this capacity. Zihe, Can you think of it?"

"No, at that time, how can I think of this time? At the end of the day, I will only think about eating, drinking and having fun."

Cao Chun also laughed.

"You...hehe, I still remember what happened at that time. I haven't forgotten everything that happened at that time. The appearance of this place has not changed. It is still the same as that time, only in front and behind..."

Guo Peng said so, and looked back at the countless elite tiger guards with distinctive armor following behind him, and then turned his head again: "It's different, everything is different, I'm different, you It's not the same anymore."

Guo Peng patted Cao Chun on the shoulder: "Someone will clean this place. I will live here tonight. The army will stay here overnight and rest for a while."

"As ordered!"

Cao Chun immediately agreed.

Guo Peng walked into this big house, walked around the front and back yards, walked through the outer halls and inner halls, and even went to the room that once belonged to him.

The last time I slept in this room was many years ago.

After I was 12 years old, I went back to my hometown only a few times here and there, and I never left as many deep memories as I did when I was a child.

When he went to Qingzhou, he expected that he would not be able to return for a long time, so Guo Peng sold the land and houses here to several buyers. At that time, those people thought they had taken advantage of it and thought it was a good deal.

But now it is so depressed and dilapidated, and it seems that no one has managed it for a long time. Thinking about it, those who bought these land and houses either died or fled. Anyway, it is very difficult to come back.

After that, for some reason, Guo Peng suddenly felt nostalgic, and sent people to search the surrounding area for the former neighbors to see if they still lived in Qiao County and did not leave because of the war.

As a result, Guo Peng did not find any of his former neighbors in Qiao County until the army continued to move south the next day.

On the contrary, some people said that Qiao County had suffered from wars, looting and epidemics, and those who could leave had left, and those who hadn't had died, and now their group of people migrated from other places.

When Guo Peng learned about this, he was sitting by the river that year, playing with the gravel by the river, watching the slowly flowing river, and the endless marching road behind him long queue.

He was thinking about the picture of him digging ice and fishing here.

Looking at it at a glance, in a trance, it seems that I can still see the shadow of the boy who endured the severe cold and struggled to dig ice.

17 years have passed, and many things have changed. The only thing that remains the same is the ambition to climb up at all costs.

The young man who had insight into the rules of society, skillfully used the rules and embarked on his own path, his ambition has not changed until now.

Just more or less, occasionally, there is still a little bit of nostalgia.

After all, he is a human being, not a machine.