https://novelcool.info/chapter/Chapter-530-Zhang-Mancheng-s-General-Trait/13041799/
Chapter 529: Taking Action
Chapter 529: Taking Action
2017-09-25
The massive army from Wucheng led by Huangfu Song and the forces of Dong Zhuo began their advance.
Unlike the unfortunate Gongsun Zan who suffered a crushing defeat, the other two armies' advances were relatively smooth.
Dong Zhuo and Liu Bei directly set up camp ten miles outside Ye City and stopped there, and the Yellow Turban Army did not arrange an ambush for them like they did for Gongsun Zan.
Due to the presence of the Outsiders, the Yellow Turban Army was actually more aware of the Han Army's strength than the Han Army themselves.
It was clear that they couldn't easily defeat Dong Zhuo's forces, so they didn't waste their efforts, allowing Dong Zhuo's army to advance with ease.
On the other hand, Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun took action, and immediately displayed the formidable might of the two top generals of the Great Han.
In just one day, they swiftly captured Qingyuan Guantao, achieving remarkable results, although these two counties didn't have much military strength to begin with.
Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun obviously had the intention of picking on the weaker targets, otherwise, why wouldn't they attack the Yellow Turban's stronghold in Julu, which was so close by? Why did they choose to head towards Weizhou instead?
It was evident that Huangfu Song still had some reservations about the Yellow Turban Army's stronghold, so he planned to capture Weizhou first, and then gather Dong Zhuo's and Lu HaiKong's troops to attack Julu.
Although Huangfu Song believed that his army was the absolute main force, this didn't stop him from concentrating his forces. With more troops, capturing Julu would be even easier.
In the following days, the three battlefronts remained in a stalemate—Lu HaiKong's Liangqi, Dong Zhuo's Ye City, and Gongsun Zan's Anping Prefecture.
There was a slight difference, though: Lu HaiKong boldly blocked Zhang Mancheng with a few thousand cavalry, forcing him to hang up a sign of surrender, while Dong Zhuo only sent his generals to challenge, and Gongsun Zan's side was beaten so badly that they couldn't even leave their doors.
Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, on the other hand, advanced with unstoppable momentum, leading their army straight to Ye City within three days.
Jiuzhou, Weizhou, outside Ye City.
Finally, Huangfu Song's army met up with Dong Zhuo's forces, and after three consecutive days of attacking, Huangfu Song and his troops finally took a break outside Ye City.
While the army was resting, Huangfu Song, as the commander, couldn't afford to relax.
Over the past few days of intense battles, a lot of Huangfu Song's intelligence had been delayed, and it wasn't until he reached Ye City that the information was delivered to him.
The first piece of intelligence Huangfu Song received was the news of Gongsun Zan's crushing defeat, and upon receiving this information, Huangfu Song didn't say anything, but he couldn't help but look down on the strength of the other three armies.
Later, when he saw that Lu HaiKong was attacking Liangqi with only four thousand cavalry, his face turned ashen.
"Good, good job, Governor of Bingzhou! I originally thought that even though Lu HaiKong was a mountain bandit, he managed to defeat four hundred thousand rebels, which was quite impressive. I didn't expect him to be such a coward."
In Huangfu Song's eyes, just from the number of four thousand troops, Lu HaiKong's attitude was as clear as day.
"Since that's the case, don't blame me for being ruthless!"
Huangfu Song slammed the table and coldly ordered, "Bring Lu HaiKong to me!"
Ye City was only a few dozen miles away from Liangqi, very close. If Huangfu Song really wanted to bring Lu HaiKong here, it wouldn't take more than a day. As soon as Huangfu Song gave the order, his troops immediately set out.
As Huangfu Song's forces were deployed, Lu HaiKong's troops also began to move.
For the past few days, Lu HaiKong's army had been stationed outside Liangqi City, with his generals taking turns to challenge the defenders. However, the gates of Liangqi City remained tightly shut, and they dared not open them.
Who would dare to go out? On the day Lu HaiKong arrived, Yu Du foolishly opened the gates, resulting in the death of Left Whisker Eight and the annihilation of the five thousand cavalry within the city. The two thousand infantry also suffered over a thousand casualties. If not for Lu HaiKong's care for his Bloodbath Legion, they would have retreated from the range of the city's defense system, causing even more deaths among the infantry. Those three historical generals under Yu Du would have also been unable to escape.
In just this one battle, Lu HaiKong's absolute terror was fully displayed, as merely a few thousand soldiers were enough to make them dare not take a step out of the city gates.
This situation was quite stifling, but there was no other way; they truly couldn't defeat the enemy. During this time, attacks were coming from all directions towards Weizhou and Julu, and Zhang Mancheng also didn't have any allies to seek reinforcements.
However, what made Zhang Mancheng feel more at ease was that Lu HaiKong seemed to be just going through the motions of attacking. Except for the first two days when they were full of vigor, shouting and having several thousand cavalry running around the four sides of Liangqi to find a point to attack, they would occasionally create some noise at night.
But after several attempts with no results, Lu HaiKong's army gave up in the following days, merely symbolically sending people over to shout challenges before returning. Their perfunctory attitude was such that they didn't even bother to hide it.
Regarding this situation, Zhang Mancheng, with the intelligence network under the Yellow Turban Sect, could make some speculations.
In the 6th month of the 9th year of the reign of Emperor Ling of the Han dynasty, a book titled "The Book of Heavenly Peace" was published, and there was no mistake in this version!
It was clear that among those Han armies, one of them was assigned to command the current battle. Lu HaiKong was ordered to come and attack Liangqi. However, this fellow was afraid that the arrival of a large army would provoke a counterattack from the Yellow Turbans, so he directly brought a few thousand soldiers to deal with the situation.
Although Zhang Mancheng felt disdain for Lu HaiKong's actions, after understanding his logic, Zhang Mancheng also relaxed a bit.
Of course, while his mental state was more relaxed, he didn't let down his guard. Every day, he would inspect the city several times, being cautious to prevent Lu HaiKong's forces from infiltrating.
But after several consecutive days without any results, although Zhang Mancheng was still tense, his subordinates weren't as nervous.
Although the city defense system maintained high alert, some areas started to relax, like their logistics troops!
As night fell, on the city wall of Liangqi City...
Yu Du, with several bandages on his body, still stood firm at his post.
Although Yu Du's name carried the character for 'poison', he was a straightforward and honest man. The mistakes he made a few days ago, which led to the deaths of Left Whisker Eight and thousands of his own soldiers, made him feel guilty. So, even though his injuries hadn't fully healed, he appeared on the city wall.
If this were placed in Lu HaiKong's time, he might have been awarded something like the 'Touching Leader of the Year'. But here, the only thing he could get was death.
"General Yu Du!"
"Who's calling me?"
A crisp voice sounded, and Yu Du responded without seeing anyone. The soldiers guarding him were also puzzled. Suddenly, Yu Du felt a chill at his throat, and his entire body went soft as he collapsed. After Yu Du fell, the soldiers around him hadn't reacted yet, and they followed suit...
(End of Chapter)
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