Chapter 487: The Fall of Ye City
Chapter 487: The Fall of Ye City
September 25, 2017
The failure of Zhang Jiao's ultimate move was expected by most outsiders, and even Zhang Jiao himself had come to this realization.
In this world, the knowledge of Daoist spells was not limited to Zhang Jiao alone. He was merely one of the more exceptional practitioners, and not truly at the pinnacle of power in this world.
There were several others on the same level as him, and perhaps even stronger ones.
At the beginning of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, someone had approached Zhang Jiao, urging him to abandon the Yellow Turban Sect and the uprising. They spoke of the Daoist principle of tranquility and non-action, and how those who had achieved enlightenment in the Dao should not involve themselves in worldly affairs.
Worldly affairs? What lofty words, Zhang Jiao thought. He didn't understand their meaning and didn't want to listen. In the end, they parted ways.
Perhaps it was from that moment that Zhang Jiao became a target. Although he didn't know who was behind this, he had his suspicions about a few individuals.
However, although Zhang Jiao's Daoist spell was interrupted at the critical moment, in a sense, it could be considered a success.
After the appearance of the earth-colored dragon head, the military forces in Ye City, led by Lu Zhi, were nearly immobilized.
Despite the interruption of Zhang Jiao's spell by the heavenly purple thunderbolt at the last moment, the previous scene was so astonishing that only a few elite troops among the soldiers in Ye City still had the will to fight.
Additionally, a large number of civilians in Ye City, upon hearing the news of the Daoist spell and automatically joining the Yellow Turban Sect, had caused chaos within the city.
Therefore, when Zhang Jiao launched another offensive, the situation in Ye City had already been decided.
"Send someone to burn down the food warehouses in Ye City, and retreat!"
Lu Zhi quickly reacted and, instead of stubbornly resisting, decided to retreat directly.
He was well aware that in this situation, he couldn't hold them off, and even retreating would be challenging.
There were still nearly eighty thousand troops in Ye City, and Lu Zhi could only take away a fraction of them.
At this moment, he could only burn the food warehouses in Ye City and retreat with his elite forces to Wucheng County, several dozen li away from Ye City.
As Lu Zhi retreated with the elite troops, Ye City began to fall back across the board.
It wasn't that they couldn't hold their ground, but at this moment, any soldier who had witnessed the divine miracle firsthand had lost their courage to resist.
When the Yellow Turban Army arrived, only a small portion of the soldiers left behind by Lu Zhi resisted, while the rest surrendered without a fight, laying down their weapons.
Ye City, which had held out for several months and remained unshaken even after being attacked by hundreds of thousands of troops for three days, was now taken down in just half a day by Zhang Jiao's half-completed Daoist spell.
Lu Zhi's elite forces fled in disarray, while some of his loyal warriors stayed behind with the determination to burn down the food warehouses in Ye City.
With this, the entire Jiuzhou region, except for the area around Wucheng County where Lu Zhi was heading, had fallen into the hands of the Yellow Turban Army.
Once the Yellow Turban Army captured Ye City, after a brief rest and reorganization, their next target would not be the simple Wucheng County, but a direct assault on Luoyang!
...
The battle in Jiuzhou was a complete rout, while in Hanzhou, Huangfu Song's situation was the opposite.
Ever since he entered the Hanzhou battlefield from Yingchuan, he had been sweeping across the region, crushing the Yellow Turban Army.
In fact, Huangfu Song could be considered the top general in the Han Dynasty, with rich combat experience that the Yellow Turbans in Hanzhou could not match.
In Hanzhou, although there were also outsider lords, they were not as numerous or as elite as those in Jiuzhou.
This resulted in the middle-level officers of the Hanzhou army being less likely to be outsiders or generals trained by outsiders, leading to a significant gap in military strength.
As a result, they had been dominated from the start, which was contrary to historical records.
Historically, Huangfu Song's forces should have been dominated from the beginning, and the battlefield in Hanzhou was not solely commanded by Huangfu Song but also included Zhu Jun.
Perhaps due to the involvement of outsiders, the entire battle situation had deviated significantly from history.
Three months after Huangfu Song entered the battlefield, Cao Cao led an army to join the fight, sweeping across the region. The Yellow Turbans in Hanzhou, unwilling to accept defeat, gathered the majority of their forces in Hanzhou and engaged Huangfu Song's army in a decisive battle around Yingyang.
Historically, the battle that influenced the Hanzhou campaign was also in Yingchuan, but not in Yingyang, but in Changshe. Of course, these details were not of great importance.
What mattered was that Huangfu Song, leading an army of ten thousand, had been stalemated by Bo Cai's army of six hundred thousand for over half a month.
In the 169th chapter of the novel, there is no mistake!
Both sides clashed back and forth for an unknown number of rounds, gathering almost all the Yellow Turban commanders in Hanzhou. For the first time on the Hanzhou battlefield, a stalemate emerged.
Despite having six times the number of troops, they could only manage a stalemate, making Bo Cai seem like an ordinary commander.
However, in reality, the outsiders among the Yellow Turbans were well aware that underestimating the Yellow Turban generals due to historical or fictional accounts would be extremely foolish.
Bo Cai, in history, was a formidable figure who could suppress even Huangfu Song. His abilities were indeed worthy of recognition.
Not to mention the command of a six-hundred-thousand-strong army, which was not an easy task for an ordinary person.
It was a complex and intricate task, and a true mediocre talent might not even be able to set up such an operation. Bo Cai, however, not only managed to establish this operation but also fought Huangfu Song, one of the top generals in the Han Dynasty, to a standstill, showcasing his capabilities.
In reality, the current battle situation was not that dire for Bo Cai.
They had been operating in Hanzhou for nearly ten years, and after the Yellow Turban Rebellion, they controlled a significant portion of the region.
While some areas were under their control through rebellion, there were also substantial territories under their governance. Their logistics were sufficient to support their six-hundred-thousand-strong army.
Once Bo Cai became more familiar with the management of this massive army, the outcome of this great battle would be up for debate.
However, fate was not on Bo Cai's side. He had the numbers and logistics on his side, but he just needed a little more time.
Time, however, was not on his side. Just as he and Huangfu Song were stalemated, on Zhu Jun's battlefield in Yangzhou, with the addition of Sun Jian's forces, the region became the first to be recaptured after the Yellow Turban Rebellion.
With the Yellow Turbans in Yangzhou completely pacified, while Bo Cai and Huangfu Song were facing off, Zhu Jun led ten thousand troops and turned to attack Hanzhou.
This put Bo Cai in a difficult position, facing attacks from two sides...
Chapter end
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