In addition to sending a three-way army, the imperial court also ordered all states and counties to organize armed defenses and encourage participation in counterinsurgency. Shangdang County was closest to Jizhou, and after receiving the order from the imperial court, Cui Ming, the county guard, ordered the county towns to do a good job of defense.

However, it was precisely because they were close to Jizhou that they were attacked by the Yellow Turban Army, and Zhang Jiao sent a Qu Shuai to lead 30,000 troops to attack Huguan, trying to enter Shangdang from Huguan, and then go straight to Luoyang, Kyoto.

Cui Ming, the Taishou of Shangdang County, didn't know what the reason was, and he didn't effectively organize people to support the Huguan defenders. The Huguan guards were defended by only 3,000 soldiers and horses, and were attacked by the Yellow Turban Army day and night, and there was no backup, and only seven days later, Huguan was lost. Huguan guards will be killed, the rest of the defenders are either killed or flee, Zuo Zhangba left 3,000 men and horses to garrison, and at the same time sent someone to notify Zhang Jiao to come over to take over the defense, since then the door of Shangdang County has been wide open.

The Yellow Turban Army attacking Shangdang County was led by Qu Shuai Zuo Zhu Zhangba, with 5,000 soldiers as the core, coercing more than 20,000 people, known as the 50,000 Yellow Turban Army, and entered Shangdang County in a mighty way. After Zuo Zhangba entered Shangdang County, in order to occupy Shangdang County faster, he went straight to the eldest son county where Shangdang County's Taishou Mansion was located. The county town along the way could not be stopped, either surrendering the city or being besieged by the Yellow Turban Army. In less than a month, the Yellow Turban Army captured the eastern part of Shangdang County and the six county towns that were arrested, and only seven county towns in the south, near Sili, were spared.

However, at this time, Emperor Ling's edict to lift the party and order all localities to organize people and horses to quell the rebellion was issued, and Cui Ming, the county guard of Shangdang, received the edict from the imperial court at the same time, and also received an order from the Cui clan to let all localities support the policies of the imperial court. However, half of Shangdang County had already fallen into the hands of the enemy at this time, and judging from the offensive route of the Yellow Turban Army, it was obvious that it was coming straight to the eldest son county where he was located.

"My lord, I have conveyed an order for each county to lead troops and horses to support." In the county guard's mansion, Zhang Wu, the governor of Shangdang County, reported to Taishou Cui Ming.

"When will they arrive?" Cui Ming also had a headache at this time, originally the family asked him to wait and see and stay still, but the Yellow Turban Army did not give him a chance to wait and see, and now he was taken away half of the territory by the Yellow Turban Army at once, and came straight to himself. Moreover, the Yellow Turban Army has gained momentum because it has broken six county towns in a row, but its own side is in a hurry to transfer troops, and people's hearts are fluctuating, and there are no other big clans in the city who have other ideas.

"Now, in addition to Changzi County, there are six county towns in the south, including Tunliu, Tongluo, Xiangyuan, Yang'a, Anping and Anze, of which Anping and Anze are the farthest from here, and I ordered them to arrive within ten days." Zhang Wu replied.

"This time, the Yellow Turban Thieves are menacing, and the soldiers and horses are ten times larger than ours, so the Captain may resist them?" Changzi County, as the seat of Shangdang County, was guarded by 5,000 standing soldiers and horses. But compared to the 50,000 troops claimed by the Yellow Turban Army, the odds of victory were very small, so Cui Ming was very worried.

It can be seen from the family's letter that the Cui family has given up colluding with the Yellow Turban Army, so his identity as a child of the Cui family will be of no use. When the Yellow Turban Army attacked the northern county seat of Shangdang County, the county commanders of Lu County and Hyun County organized people to resist, and as a result, the county orders of the two counties were ordered to be displayed to the public after the city was broken, and now their heads are still hung on the city. This also made the county commanders of the four counties behind dare not resist, and after the arrival of the Yellow Turban Army, they all opened the city and surrendered.

Thinking of this, Cui Ming couldn't help but feel irritable in his heart, he was worried that his ending would be the same as the county orders of these two counties, so he was eager to get confidence from Zhang Wu.

Zhang Wu also understood Cui Ming's worries, he thought for a while and replied: "Your Excellency, there are still 5,000 soldiers and horses in the county, we are organizing young people in the city to participate in defending the city, according to the scout's investigation, it will take at least three days for the thief army to arrive, and we can support the arrival of reinforcements from various counties by relying on these soldiers and horses in the city." Each county can draw about 2,000 soldiers and horses, and our defenders will add up to more than 20,000. The art of war is cloudy, ten are attacked, five are encircled, and if the thief army wants to break us, it must have at least 100,000 soldiers and horses. “

After listening to Zhang Wu's words, Cui Ming's nervous heart was temporarily relaxed, and he said to Zhang Wu: "All defensive matters will be handed over to the captain, and when the thieves retreat, I will ask the court for credit for you." ”

After Zhang Wu received the order loudly, he went down to arrange for the men to prepare for defense, and at the same time ordered the young men of all families in the city to participate in the defense of the city. Of course, there is no need for these untrained young men to fight on the city walls, mainly because they are responsible for carrying defensive equipment, such as rolling stones, logs, and helping the wounded.

Not to mention these, Zeng Yu in Anping County is discussing some things about the Yellow Turban Army with Guo Jia, and Guo Jia has just sorted out the latest information of the Yellow Turban Army to report to Zeng Yu.

"Lord, now it seems that the family in Jizhou is very problematic, a huge Jizhou, in less than a month, it was all occupied by the Yellow Turban Army, if the family in Jizhou did not collude with the Yellow Turban Army, I am afraid that no one will believe it." This is Guo Jia's analysis.

"Yes, although they know that the current family is decayed, they didn't expect it to come to such a point, don't they know the teachings of the Taiping Dao? In case in the end the Yellow Turbans are victorious, aren't they worried that the Yellow Turbans will turn their blades on them? Although Zeng Yu had been mentally prepared, he was still resentful of the behavior of these families.

"These Ken Ken have long thought that if the Yellow Turban Army succeeds, it will still depend on them to govern the world in the end, and their power will not be affected, but will gain greater benefits from the dragon's work." Guo Jia said that he saw the faces of these families very clearly, and because he temporarily took over the intelligence work that Xie Jing was responsible for, he had a further understanding of the behavior of these families in Jizhou.

From the intelligence, it was learned that after the Yellow Turban Army raised its flag and rebelled, not only did they not stop them, on the contrary, some of them used the Yellow Turban Army to eliminate dissidents, and some of them wantonly arrested displaced people to act as their own domestic servants after the Yellow Turban was raging, further expanding their own power. And the Yellow Turban Army did not attack these families, which created a false impression that Jizhou had been completely occupied by the Yellow Turban Army.

"But now that these families have got what they want, they probably have already started to work on the next step." What Zeng Yu wanted was Emperor Ling's announcement of the lifting of the party, and he had already learned the news from the information sent by Luoyang.

"That's right, according to the latest news, the families in Yuzhou, Yangzhou, Jingzhou, Yanzhou, Qingzhou and other places have begun to support the government's counterinsurgency, and Jizhou has no news of their participation in the counterinsurgency because of the excessive power of the Yellow Turban Army." Guo Jia nodded in approval and said.

"Sure enough, Fengxiao, you see, this is a message from the county guard, let us send troops to support and stop the Yellow Turban Army from wreaking havoc." Zeng Yu handed the order he had just received from the county guard to Guo Jia.

"It seems that the Cui family has begun to move, before the Yellow Turban Army attacked Huguan, he Cui Ming did not send anyone to support, I think he was instructed by the Cui family in the plains. At this time, we asked us to send troops over to support, and it seems that the Cui family has made a decision to cut ties with the Yellow Turban Army, but at this time I am afraid that it will be too late. Guo Jia said sarcastically.

"Then according to the meaning of Fengxiao, do we support or not?" Zeng Yu asked.

"Of course you have to go to support, the lord is the county commander of the Han Dynasty, and now the thieves are attacking the county guard, how can they turn a blind eye." Guo Jiayi said rhetorically.

"Since we went to support, the above asked us to arrive within ten days, wouldn't this allow Cui Ming to escape?" Zeng Yu asked puzzled.

"Although the order requires us to arrive within ten days, but now there are bandits next to our Anping County, what if we leave and the bandits attack the county seat? As the parent official of Anping County, the lord should put the people of the county first and protect the safety of the county first, and the county guard has the Taishou Lord in charge, so it is not so easy to be attacked by the thief army. Guo Jia said with a smile.

When Zeng Yu heard this, he also understood what Guo Jia meant, which was to let him delay, and by the way, he could take the opportunity to take off the bandit hat on the head of the unclothed army.

"Haha, Fengxiao, your attention is good, it's time for the unclothed army to officially go down the mountain." Zeng Yu also laughed and said.

"Lord, we also have people in Changzi County, I think we can go further, if Lord Taishou is not good to defend the city, let Changzi County be broken by the thief army, and then the lord leads the people to turn the tide, with this contrast, the merits of the lord will attract more attention from the court." Guo Jia said again.

"Huh? Is Bonghyo thinking...? Zeng Yu asked hesitantly.

Guo Jia didn't say anything, just looked at Zeng Yu with a smile and handed over the decision to him.

Zeng Yu was silent for a while, thinking that if it was really as Guo Jia planned, his own merits would be enough to attract the attention of the court, and if he operated again, there would be no problem in replacing Cui Ming as the general of the party. He was ruthless in his heart, and ordered Guo Jia: "This matter will be handled by Feng Xiao personally, and it must not be known that it is our action." Also, Cui Ming has a conflict of interest with us, and if he breaks through, I am afraid that he will slander him in the DPRK and say that it was because of our untimely support that led to his failure, and you must also deal with this problem Fengxiao. “

Guo Jia heard Zeng Yu's order and knew what Zeng Yu meant, that is, in addition to letting the Yellow Turban Army break through Changzi County, Cui Ming would also lose his life. He was very satisfied with Zeng Yu's decision, the so-called cutting the grass and eradicating the roots, and Cui Ming himself had an enmity with his lord because of the previous county order, so if he didn't do it at this time, he would wait when.

Guo Jia got up excitedly and replied: "Don't worry, my lord, Jiading will live up to its mission." ”

"Go, Zhiyuan is also back, you can leave the intelligence matter to him." Zeng Yu said.

"By the way, there is one more thing I need to tell the lord, the county order of Eping County has been replaced by a person named Cui Zai, and the original county order Cui Yuan is said to have resigned and returned home to recuperate because of physical discomfort." Before leaving, Guo Jia said to Zeng Yu.

When Zeng Yu heard this, he knew that Cui Yuan must be dissatisfied with the Cui family's actions, so the dissatisfaction of the Boling Cui family made him resign and return home. Thinking of this, Zeng Yu could only sigh with emotion, and his desire to pursue meritorious service was further deepened.