Julu County, under the city of Lieren.

At this time, the wilderness outside the city had been emptied, and only the dung on the ground was left untended.

The Han army retreated, but no one in the city was happy with the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans, just because they were also not lightly injured.

Since Dong Zhuobu led 9,000 troops out of the village, the Han army began to carry out a fierce siege on the people, and its intensity was not weakened by the division of troops.

Since the 14th, all units of the Hebei Han army have taken turns to attack the city, for six consecutive days and nights, wanting to take advantage of the gap in the city where the yellow turban is frightened by the power of the stone machine, and enter the city in one drum.

But the war is rhythmic, and at the beginning, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban in the city was indeed frustrated by the stone machine, and even worshiped it as a thunderbolt. So after Lu Zhi saw this, he planned to continue to bombard on the second day, and at the same time recruit the dare to rush to the city.

This tactic of coordinated infantry and artillery requires too high a psychological quality for the sergeants charging below, and non-dead soldiers cannot do it.

If the situation is really as Lu Zhi intended, it is estimated that the people will really not be able to bear it. But who let that night, the great priest of Jinan in the city came out with the daring city and burned eight stone machines.

At this time, the situation changed, and the rhythm of the battle was also disrupted. The next day, the Han army attacked the city again, and it was not the fearless Qingzhou Yellow Turbans that they encountered, but a group of fierce tigers and wolves who were brave and brave as the main generals.

Therefore, even if in the past six days, Lu Zhi's battalion headquarters will personally fill in the land with salaries, and even fill in the six trenches with themselves, and some of them even took the lead in climbing the city for a time, but they still did useless work.

The three Qu Shuai in the city, Sai Sun, Zhang Rao, and Xu He are all determined Taiping Dao believers, who have eaten and lived in the city day and night for the past six days, and have come to the front line in person, and their six rods are firmly fixed on the three walls of the Liren City.

Even though many brave soldiers scrambled to cut down this scepter, they were all killed by the guards under the scepter. In the sea of corpses and blood, the apricot yellow scepter did not move.

These six days directly shattered Lu Zhi's illusion of attacking the people quickly, and they could only continue to choose to fight, and this time they sat until the Taishan army captured Yecheng, and they could only withdraw with hatred.

But Lu Zhi is not easy to evacuate. The sacrificial grandson, who had been watching the battle from the tower of Xicheng, keenly noticed the abnormal movement of the Han army's fortress and knew that most of the Han army was about to evacuate.

Because the Han army surrounded the people in Sanchong, Saisun and others did not know the news that the Taishan army had captured Yecheng, but not knowing it did not prevent him from planning to go out of the city to bite the Han army.

The sacrificial grandson with experience in battle formations knows a simple truth:

"What the enemy wants to do, you don't want him to do. Whenever it is opposed, it will be done."

So, after discussing with Zhang Rao and Xu He, Saisun decided to go out of the city to counterattack. Zhang Rao, Xu and the two of them had already been convinced by the military ability of the sacrifice sun in the battle along the way, so they didn't hesitate too much and made a decision.

In the sixth year of light and the 21st of October, noon.

The Yellow Turban Army and the Three Route Army in the city of Lieren each had 10,000 people, and they fought out from the three gates and attacked the Han army barrier.

At this time, the Han army had just eaten inside the fortress, and suddenly heard the shouts of killing outside the village and was shocked. However, Lu Zhi took the fifth school of the Northern Army of the Chinese Army as the backbone and went out of the barrier to confront the Qingzhou Yellow Turban.

Although the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans had more troops, they were still defeated by the elite Han army in the battle. The two armies held each other for half a day, and the Yellow Turban Army lost 1,000 people, and finally the sacrifice Sun had no choice but to retreat to the city.

But just when the fifth colonel of the Northern Army was tired and about to withdraw to the camp, another Yellow Turban soldier was killed from the city, and this one was obviously elite, and the armor rate was comparable to the main force of the Han army.

And this Yellow Turban Army is the elite selected by the sacrifice of the grandson, and there are even many military officials in it who he borrowed from the Taishan Army to train the military formation.

In the previous battle to defend the city, these people had never been put into battle by the sacrificial grandson, and at this time, as soon as they were released, they were like a tiger out of the box, and they were unstoppable.

The five colonels of the Han army did not expect that the opposite side was so cunning, this would still be able to kill a horse pistol, caught off guard, a big rout, more than 200 stone soldiers killed 16 people, fortunately, the rest of the Han army that had been repaired went out of the village to respond, and then repelled the counterattack of the Qingzhou Yellow Turban.

In this battle, the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans were full of evil spirit, and their morale rose. In the next two days, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban went out several times, or sneak attack, or battle. But several times down, they were defeated by the Han army.

In this way, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban has a clear understanding of itself

has a gap with the combat power of the Han army.

But since October 23, the Qingzhou Yellow Turban has not left the city. Lu Zhi directly took advantage of this opportunity to withdraw the Han army, which had less than 10,000 people left, from the large camp of the people.

Lu Zhi was also worried that the Yellow Turban in the city would give him a counterattack, so he arranged a three-way ambush on the way to retreat, but who knows, when they retreated cleanly, there was still no reaction in the city.

In this way, the Hebei Han army successfully retreated from the front line, leaving a vital force for the subsequent joint battle.

Why did the priests and others in the city let the Han army return to the west? Is it because of the loss of spirit after a long defeat? Or did you not realize the severity of letting go of the Han army?

No, the most fundamental reason is that they have no food.

The lack of food exposes a more serious problem, that is, the Hebei Yellow Turban Headquarters, which is responsible for supplying military supplies, will either run out of food, or will give up the Qingzhou Yellow Turban.

Any of these situations are scary, so the sacrifice sun no longer cares about the Han army outside the city, and is busy asking Guangzong to find out the situation in the rear.

On Fan Chang's side, the rural team of the Taishan Army's Eastern Expeditionary Army also encountered difficult problems.

Originally, he thought that Hebei, as the old missionary area of Taiping Dao, would welcome and receive them after knowing that the Taishan army had arrived. But the reality is that after the leaders saw them, they either hid or hid, even if they invited one or two fellow villagers, they were silent.

It turned out that the northeast of Wei County and the southern part of Julu County were indeed the main activity areas of the Yellow Turbans in Hebei. Which of these shrines located on both sides of the Zhangshui River does not worship and burn incense. But this was before the war.

With Zhang Jiao's order in April this year, Taiping Daoists flocked to the scene, and the two sides of the Zhangshui River were in chaos. Originally, the Daoists here were almost completely lost in several major battles after being transferred by their own side several times.

After that, Lu Zhi led the Beizhonglang generals from Hanoi to the north, and also successively cleared the area. The big Li Society was burned down, and the young people who could walk and move all ran to the Taihang Mountain in the west, where they escaped the slaughter of the Han soldiers. Only some women and children with leg problems were left here to stay with the foxes.

In this case, how could Fan Chang usher in the sandwich scene he expected?

If this is still an external difficulty, it is the internal problems that are deadly.

Most of the Taishan army were people from the Henan region and the Qingyan region, because there were no locals as guides, and the food and accommodation of Fan Chang and others became a problem for a while.

And at this time in October in Hebei, the weather is freezing cold, and the winter clothes they bring with them can't protect them from much cold. At night, they could only keep out the cold with hay, and the morale of the rural team was very low.

This kind of internal and external difficulties has never been encountered by the rural team before. In the midst of fatigue, hunger, and cold, many field officials took knives and began to search the fields to find some supplies to alleviate the predicament.

But who knew that they did this, in the eyes of those Qiantou who were in the wild, they were no different from those Han soldiers, tigers and wolves, so they were even more afraid and hiding.

Fan Chang still understood the importance, and he immediately summoned the leaders of more than ten field teams and emphasized:

"I've heard a few things I've been doing lately. If you don't want to do it, go back, whoever dares to ruin the name of our Taishan Army, I personally cut off his head."

Fan Chang is a humble gentleman, but he has been with the soldiers for a long time, and he has been overwhelmed by the situation, and now he still has a big blood blister on his mouth, so he is murderous when he speaks.

The following dozen or so people were excited by these words, and hurriedly promised to go back and rectify discipline.

But how much of these words can be implemented, Fan Chang has no bottom in his heart, he has realized that the strategy of establishing a base area is going to change significantly.

If the Taishan army was solving the problem of distribution before, now they are facing a white land that has been plowed several times by soldiers, and they have to solve the problem of reconstruction.

They are no longer field officials and field guards, but they have to work hard to rebuild their homes on this blank ruin, and this is much more difficult than the former.

In the end, after explaining many things, Fan Chang rushed back to Gecheng, where he was going to find Zhang Dan's help.

"What, the captain has already led his army east?"

Fan Chang is always here

Engraved in the military palace of Katsuragi, I was a little caught off guard when I heard the news.

He didn't expect his own lieutenant to move so quickly, how long had they been in Katsuragi, and they were in a hurry to go east? Here, Fan Chang has some shadows in his heart.

After all, it is not a good thing to rush to the east when the rear is not appeased.

But now that Zhang Dan has led the army eastward, no matter how anxious he is, he can only be helpless. He gave the cruel situation in the Zhangshui area to the Yecheng shogunate, so that Qu Shuai could also understand the difficulty of the current front-line situation.

Subsequently, he took 3,000 stone of military rations from the granary of the Katsuragi Military Palace, and recruited some displaced people from the city who were willing to go to the city to reclaim the land below. After that, the oxen drove the cart and took the displaced people back to the Zhangshui bank to establish their homes.

The key to Fan Chang's problem is very straightforward, since he can't divide the field now, then he will take the Zhangshui people to run the grange, pick up the abandoned land, and re-establish order.

Fan Changben was born as a scribe, and he didn't know how to do general affairs at first. But the Taishan army is a melting pot, and there are too many ways for them to take off their belts and put on single clothes to go to the countryside.

And Fan Chang was one of the first staff members to go to the countryside. He had participated in the division of fields and houses in the Laiwu area and the Heji area before, and he was a shrewd and capable person.

Staff, like Fan Chang, who have experienced from above to below, have a greater sense of the overall situation than ordinary directors. If the general division of land had encountered the barren situation on both sides of the Zhangshui River, he would have led the team back to the city a long time ago.

They can cope with the above task in one sentence, that is, the people are gone, and what is the land.

However, Fan Chang had a sense of the overall situation, knowing the importance that the Yecheng shogunate attached to this area, and also understood the deep meaning of the layout of establishing a base here.

The shores of Zhangshui have been fertile places since ancient times, and they are rich in products. In the past, there was no shortage of military food. Since then, it has always been an important place for the Han family.

Although the people have been scattered through the war, the land is still there. As long as the displaced people are recruited and the external environment is stabilized, the displaced people hidden in the Taihang Mountain can be attracted to come down the mountain and re-cultivate.

Now the Taishan army took advantage of the reversal of the situation in Hebei and was able to occupy this place. As long as the remaining Hebei Han army is defeated, this land of the royal industry is a treasure given by heaven to the Taishan army.

So Fan Chang must gain a foothold here, even if it is difficult, but he must do it.

Sometimes, no matter whether you succeed or not, you must first have the determination to overcome all difficulties. People can't be frightened by themselves.

When Fan Chang returned to both sides of Zhangshui with a batch of supplies, the main force of the Taishan Army's Eastern Expeditionary Army was on its way to the Lienren, and they were going there to meet the Qingzhou Yellow Turban.

The two Qingzhou brothers of the same origin are about to meet in this foreign land in Hebei.

October 24th.

The vanguard of Zhang Dan's Eastern Expeditionary Army was marching along the north bank of Zhangshui.

The general of this forward tun is called Yang Dian, who was born in the Han army and was one of the 2,000 Han soldiers who were absorbed during the first battle of Yingyang.

Later, in the process of the Taishan Army's northward march, Yang Dian took several risks and arrows, and accumulated merit to become the general of Zhang Dan's Lieutenant Department. Because this person is from Hebei, Zhang Dan ordered this person as the vanguard of this Eastern Crusade.

In this eastward march, the Eastern Expeditionary Army adopted the method of marching together in a boat. Although the boats were highly mobile, they could not establish local rule, and the main purpose of the Eastern Expeditionary Army this time was to expand the base area, so they dispersed some of their forces to the two sides of the strait.

Yang Dian had been to Wei County before, and he remembered the rural scene vividly, but this time when he returned to his hometown, the dilapidated depression here was shocking.

After a day's march, Yang Dian needed to find a campsite, preferably a manned Lishe.

Unlike everyone who thinks that camping is in the wild, in most cases, small troops can camp without sleeping in the open. Because camping is tedious and laborious, and there are many mosquitoes, it is easy to get bitten and sick.

But it's really hard to find here, Yang Dian took Bairentun along the formed road, and finally found a group of earth caves when it was dark at night, and met dozens of wild people here.

Obviously, these people fled the war and hid here with the old and the young.

In Yang Dian's hometown accent, he repeatedly told these people that he was from Taiping Dao and had no hostility towards them, and he also sent two bags of millet.

The corn played a key role, and the men trembled out of the cave, and after receiving the corn, they warmly invited them to live in the cave.

But when Yang Dian saw your narrowness, he could only refuse politely, and could only use these soil caves as the center and start setting up tents. After sharing some corn rice with the cave people, Yang Dian asked them where they were.

These wild people only told Yang Dian that this place is called Ximenwei, and the others can't be said.

Yang Dian only walked along the trail before, and he actually didn't know where he went. So, he wanted to recruit guides from among these savages.

In the end, Yang Dian hired a simple man who was said to be from Julu County for half a bag of millet. This man said he knew how to list people. After that, Yang Dian took people to rest.

This sleep was in the middle of the night, Yang Dian was woken up by the general on duty at night, and his subordinates told Yang Dian a bad news:

"We're surrounded."