The firelight of the camp outlined a red border in the dark sky, and the fighting had completely stopped, and under the light of the fire, the figures of people coming and going, or running on foot or riding a bicycle, the seemingly chaotic scene gradually had some rules. The officers and soldiers were busy collecting the booty, and truckloads of grain and grass were sent to the city.

To the south of the camp, Wen Chou was executing the captured Yellow Turbans, who had a violent temperament and hated them since his defeat in Changcheng. Soon after the defeat and return to the county government, he was blocked by these traitors, and at this moment, he finally got such an opportunity, and naturally poured out all the anger in his heart.

The captured Yellow Turban thieves were unkempt and dirty, and they were lined up and knelt on the ground under the orders of a group of officers and soldiers.

Wen Chou twisted a five-foot-long broadsword and personally stepped forward to cut off the heads of these captives one by one. The captives waiting to be executed in the back watched death approach, and many were already frightened, crying, begging for mercy and even slumping on the ground. Wen Chou's clothes were already stained with blood, and when the big knife cut off a person's head, blood splattered everywhere from the major artery in the neck.

Zu Zhao led the brave riders of the north of the county to meet Zu Ling, Kuian and others, and after chasing the fleeing thieves for a while, they turned around and returned to the camp, just in time to meet Zhou Zhi.

Zhou Zhi praised Zu Zhao with emotion, and inevitably mentioned the credit of Xiyang County for killing the thief chief Zhang Wan.

Zu Zhao didn't have much time to bring up the old things at this time, he symbolically asked Zhou Zhi first: "Zhou Duwei, now that the thieves have been successfully broken and a lot of grain and grass have been obtained, it can be regarded as a heavy blow to the vitality of these Yellow Turban thieves, dare to ask what to do next?" ”

He naturally had a plan in his heart, but after all, Zhou Zhi was the lieutenant of the county government, and he had to give him some face at this time.

Zhou Zhi didn't think much about it, and immediately said: "The army of thieves must be coming soon, now we will move the grain and grass into the city as soon as possible, and you and the righteous will also enter the city." With these grains and grasses, it will not be a problem to hold on for another month or two, and if these Yellow Turban thieves lose their grain and grass, it will not take long for the grain to run out, and they will naturally collapse on their own. ”

Zu Zhao had long thought that Zhou Zhi, Wen Chou and other officers and soldiers would have such thoughts, after all, in the face of a strong enemy, it is natural that they should adopt a more conservative strategy. The firelight on the side reflected on his face was unfazed, calm and calm, and after listening to Zhou Zhi's words patiently, he immediately said: "Captain Zhou, I thought that I should never retreat to the city now. Although the thieves are powerful, they have already suffered heavy losses repeatedly, and when the news of the broken thieves spreads, it will inevitably cause panic in the hearts of the people. We should seize the great opportunity in front of us to stabilize this gap, and we must not let the thieves besiege the city again. ”

Zhou Zhi frowned slightly, and said in a deep voice: "What does this mean?" Obviously, more losses can be avoided, so that these thieves can retreat on their own, if they stick to the battle here, the thieves are so powerful, and there is the shame of new defeat and food, in case of ruthlessness, we are not only not sure to hold on, if we are not careful, we will even let the thieves take advantage of the situation to break the city. You and I can't afford to take such risks. ”

Zu Zhao said emphatically: "If the two armies are facing each other, there will inevitably be this consideration. But these yellow turban thieves are just a rabble, they have been attacking the city for more than ten days without progress, Zhang Play was defeated in the sunset, and today I have robbed the grain and grass, and it is reasonable that the morale is disordered and the people's hearts are unstable under the successive traumas. Its sharpness is nothing more than the first round of attack in the next step, if we wait to meet the front, break its sharpness, and win the hearts of its army, a battle can determine the whole county. ”

His words were very imposing, and there was an unshakable sonorous power.

Zhou Zhi didn't listen to Zu Zhao's words at all, and after thinking about it carefully, from the perspective of strategy and overall situation, Zu Zhao's plan did have a certain significance. It's just that, after all, he has to consider the current situation of the county government and the entire Youbeiping County, thieves are rampant, and the two counties in the south of the county have become a den of thieves, if Zuzhao's plan is not successful, he will even implicate the county government in an accident, such a risk is not something he can afford.

Immediately, he said in a very serious tone: "Zu Zhao, I know that you have won the battle, but you must not be rash at this time. As the saying goes, if you are not careful, you will lose everything, especially under the county capital, any action must be carefully considered, and there must be no risky moves. As for the pacification of the county in the first battle, we have now achieved a crucial victory, and after that, there is no need to rush it. You can rest assured, in the future, you will naturally have a place to use, and when the peace of mind is over, I will definitely report your merits truthfully, and keep them to eliminate the previous crimes. ”

Zu Zhao could see that Zhou Zhi had made up his mind, and there was some irritability in his heart, but Zhou Zhi was too conservative. His vision is by no means limited to Youbeiping County, and the current turmoil in Youbeiping County is not very serious compared to the Yellow Turban Uprising across the country. If you want to make some great achievements in the Yellow Turban Rebellion, you must really meet some big battles. He hoped to calm down the turmoil in the county as soon as possible, and on this basis, he won three or five points of bravery, and then led his own clan to fight against other counties and integrate into the torrent of history to break into the cause.

Zhou Zhi's worries can't be said to be unreasonable, but he can still weigh the Yellow Turban thieves in Youbeiping County, especially since he has already dealt many blows to the Yellow Turban Army in the early stage, and it is not impossible to face each other at this time. Taking a step back, even if there are many Yellow Turban troops besieging the city, it will take time to deploy, and the number of Yellow Turban troops who will arrive here at the fastest time will definitely not be so large. What's more, if the Yellow Turban Army is withdrawing from the siege and concentrating all the troops here, the county government can also draw the troops that are still stationed in the city, or kill and contain them from other city gates, or transfer them here to support.

However, Zhou Zhidu said it in such a tone, of course he would not be unacquainted, and there was no need to continue to waste time here. He said in a calm tone, "Since Lord Du Wei has made up his mind, he won't say much else. ”

With that, he turned and left.

Zhou Zhi suddenly called out again: "Zu Zhao." ”

Zu Zhao pulled the reins and turned around to look at Zhou Zhi.

Zhou Zhi asked, "Where is Li Xianyan now?" ”

I thought that Zhou Zhi would have any other ideas, but I didn't expect to ask about it. Zu Zhao naturally had a lot of boredom in his heart, but he still replied: "After the battle of Xiyang County, Li Xianyan rushed to the state capital to report the matter, and asked the state government to send reinforcements by the way. The people should have arrived at the state capital in the past few days. ”

After he finished speaking, he no longer hesitated, and rode away with Zu Cheng, Zu Ling and others.

Back at the camp, Zu Zhao found Wen Chou in the south. Wen Chou cut off the heads of more than 20 Yellow Turban thieves in a row, and he was sitting on the ground panting and resting at this time, his men had already executed all the remaining Yellow Turban Thieves, and a large area was dyed red on the flat ground, and those heads with different heads could be seen everywhere in a straight line, and the scene was very bloody.

Although Zu Zhao did not approve of killing prisoners, he obviously didn't have so much heart to pay attention to this matter at this time, jumped off his horse and came to Wen Chou, and he told Wen Chou again his idea of refusing to defend and meet the enemy here.

Wen Chou and Zhou Zhi are both lieutenants of their own county, and their responsibilities and powers are almost the same, but they are just different jurisdictions, but Wen Chou and Zhou Zhi are two completely different personalities. Counting the defeat of the previous expedition against the thief, Wen Chou was holding back a sense of grievance in his heart, and after listening to Zu Zhao's words, he already had a thought in his heart. At present, for him, it is not only to vent his anger, but more importantly, to save his personal status and reputation in a war.

Of course, he is by no means a concubine, and he still thinks about Zu Zhao's thoughts. Just as Zu Zhao analyzed, he agreed that the current position of the Yellow Turban Army was unstable, and from yesterday to today, it was again dispatching troops back and forth, and the officers and soldiers and volunteers were in the limelight of winning consecutive victories and reversing the situation. In terms of morale alone, it has already occupied a certain advantage.

Thinking of this, he nodded and said: "You are right, although there are many of these Yellow Turban thieves, they are not able to wear a crossbow at the end of the crossbow, and they only have one breath left at most." As long as you can meet its edge and break its sharpness, the thief's momentum can be determined. ”

Zu Zhao said again at this time: "It's just that Zhou Duwei doesn't think so, he means to continue to hold on to the city and retreat by himself after the thieves run out of food." ”

Wen Chou's face darkened suddenly, and he said decisively: "If he thinks so, then it's up to him." I ordered my subordinates to stay here from the north of the county, and there are not too many people, as long as there are two thousand. ”

Zu Zhao immediately said: "I still have to go and consult the opinions of Yiyong in other counties. ”

Wen Chou thought for a while, and then said, "You go first." I'll arrange for my side first, and then I'll go to Zhou Duwei to discuss this matter carefully after a while. ”

Zu Zhao bowed his head and said, "Okay, I'll go." ”

Although the counties in the north of the county are in the momentum of successive victories, they are all rural villagers after all, and they are naturally unwilling to work too hard, so they are obviously better and safer ways. Kuian used Zhou Zhi as an excuse to claim that he would act whatever Zhou Duwei arranged. On the contrary, Gao Huan is very courageous, young and vigorous, and he hopes to take advantage of the victory to pursue to make up for the loss of his failure to participate in the battle of Xiyang County.

In the end, Zu Zhao could only recruit nearly 800 brave troops to stay outside the city to defend against the enemy, and Wen Chou's command now has less than 700 people outside the city. This is a far cry from the number of 2,000, and it also makes Jihua, who took the initiative to engage the Yellow Turban Army outside the city, seem to be misguided. Wen Chou was a little anxious, and even planned to send people into the city to transfer all the central part of the city. Fortunately, under the repeated persuasion of Zuihou Zuzhao and Wen Chou, Zhou Zhi was persuaded to agree with their actions, specifically to immediately transfer more troops from the city to the northeast city gate, once the battle outside the city was lost, they could curb the Yellow Turban Army to take the opportunity to storm the city while receiving Zu Zhao and Wen Chou.