November 185.

The war in Jizhou has resumed.

Jizhou Mu Guodian led the army to attack Luancheng, Jiumen, and the threat was really determined; Julu Taishou Feng Yi led an army to attack Xiangguo County of Zhao and approached Handan.

Yang Feng, Bai Huan, Wang Dang, and Wulu led the army to meet the enemy, and the battle between the two sides was extremely fierce.

Chu Feiyan immediately ordered Fan Liang to lead 30,000 troops to rush back to Zhongshan Guonu Lucheng to garrison. After receiving the military order, the 50,000 troops who had been left behind in Nulu immediately set off and rushed to Changshan Zhending day and night.

Zuo Yan took his attendants, rode in pairs, and rushed to Zhuocheng with Yang Feng's documents to report to Zhang Niujiao.

Chu Feiyan led the remaining 20,000 horses and horses to quickly rush to Dingxing Ferry to meet the retreat of Zhang Niujiao's army.

Zhang Niujiao finished reading Yang Feng's urgent paperwork, and his face was expressionless.

He looked at Zuo Yan's anxious face and asked coldly, "Junyi, didn't you receive my order?" Why didn't you return to Daying instead of Zhongshan Kingdom? ”

"Handsome ......" Zuo Yan wanted to speak and stopped.

"Say something." Zhang Niujiao touched the red silk on the bamboo slip and said slowly, "Is it that the swallow is unwilling to come." ”

"Handsome ......" Zuo Yan thought of a lot of rhetoric along the way, and was ready to persuade Zhang Niujiao. Now he sat opposite Zhang Niujiao, feeling that what he wanted to say was actually nonsense, and he didn't know what to say.

There was a dead silence in the tent. Zhang Niujiao stroked the red silk in his hand very carefully and gently, with a focused expression.

"Pin Pu, the swallow is also for the Yellow Turban Army, for the sake of the world." Zuo Yan let out a long sigh, broke the silence, and whispered.

A few hints of anger flashed across Zhang Niujiao's face.

He looked at the red silk in his hand, silently for a long time, and his expression became more and more gloomy.

Zhang Niujiao suddenly said lonely: "Junyi, how many years have we been friends, you say, did we do something wrong?" ”

Zuo Yan was shocked, his brows tightened, and he said nervously: "Pin Pu, why do you think so?" ”

"Before Master died, I went to see him. He was lying in bed, so sick that he could barely speak. Zhang Niujiao said in a low tone, "He asked me if he had done something wrong." ”

"Taiping Dao is tightly organized, working together, everyone worked together, carefully prepared for more than ten years, and finally we led the people of the world to rise up, and all the wicked people in the world, and all the injustices in the world to fight to the death, even if they die. We don't have any self-interest, nor do we have any grand aspirations, we just want the people in the world to have three meals a day, a piece of clothing to wear a year, a longer life, a better life, and a little hope. But what did we bring to the world in the end? ”

"Death, in addition to death and death. If you follow us, you will die, and if you don't follow us, you will die. ”

"Those who followed us were killed in battle, some committed suicide by jumping into the river, and some were buried alive by the enemy, and more than 600,000 people were buried alive in the Chinese New Year's Eve, and more than 600,000 people, except for those of us who were still alive, are now all gone."

"Those who don't follow us will die even worse. Those poor people, unarmed, were arbitrarily killed by the enemy as our comrades, and almost every village was killed, and rivers of blood flowed. After a year of fighting, the fields were barren and there was no harvest, and the surviving people did not escape the fate of death in the end, they all starved to death, and there were starving people everywhere. Over the course of a year, millions of poor and innocent people have died. ”

Zhang Niujiao's face was very terrifying, and he gritted his teeth and patted his chest and asked:

"What have we done? What have they done? ”

"We thought we were doing this to keep these people alive, to live a little longer, to live a little better, but in the end, what? Is it dead, millions dead, more than any plague, any flood, what have we done? What did you do? ”

"Without us doing this, they could have lived a little longer, a little better, although there is no hope, but they are still alive and have a breath."

"Why? Junyi, why do you say? Why is this the case? What are we doing wrong? ”

"Why can't we kill not only those wicked people, but also those wicked people who robbed us of our food and everything we have, why?"

"Heavens? The heavens only protect the wicked, the powerful and the rich, and has always harmed us poor and poor people. ”

"The sky is dead, the yellow sky should stand ......" Zhang Niujiao read in a low voice, bitter and sad, tears soaked his eyes.

Zuo Yan couldn't hold back any longer, stood up and turned around and left, tears spilling down his clothes.

Li Hong led his troops to rest in Dukang Pavilion for three days, and then set off again and lost news.

He knew that the Yellow Turban Army had an inside line now whether it was in the county government or in the Assassin's Mansion, so since the plan for the ambush at Xiaofangshan was leaked, he refused to report the military situation to the county government on the grounds that it was difficult to communicate with the cavalry for 300 miles a day. Xian Yufu got his hints and acted very cautiously.

On this day, he received a message from Li Hong. Chu Feiyan of the Yellow Turban Army led 20,000 horses to the Juma Shui Dingxing Ferry and stationed on the opposite bank, with no sign of crossing the river. The grandson of the ferry immediately pushed the car forward for three miles, and there was no sign of pulling out. This action of the Yellow Turbans is very abnormal. 20,000 horses to support the Zhuocheng front is simply a joke, and the existing Yellow Turban Army is simply impossible to take Zhuocheng in the short term. It is strange that the grain and grass that were urgently needed at the front line were not transported to the front when reinforcements arrived.

Li Hong felt that the Yellow Turban Army must have made some moves. It is obviously unrealistic to continue to attack Zhuocheng, so since the Yellow Turban Army does not fight, it is possible to retreat. In other words, there is movement on the battlefield in Jizhou. Otherwise, they have another plan to attack the city. Li Hong guessed that the Yellow Turban Army might cooperate with the enemy in the city, and should cooperate with the outside to open the city gate. He reminded Xian Yufu to pay close attention to the movements of the Yellow Turban Army camp outside the city, and at the same time to send the most reliable people to guard the city gates.

Early in the morning, Zhang Baiqi and Zuo Yan walked into Zhang Niujiao's big tent.

Zhang Niujiao had not slept all night, his face was pale and haggard. The desk was full of papers, and bamboo slips were scattered all over the place.

"Dashuai ......" Zhang Baiqi didn't wait to sit down, and said loudly: "Then give a military order to urge Chu Shuai and order him to go north quickly." We have been sending troops for more than a month, and we are about to take Zhuo County, so at this time, withdrawing our troops and abandoning the city we have worked so hard to fight down, is it a bit of a joke? How to explain to the soldiers? How can you be worthy of the dead Colonel Zuo and the tens of thousands of dead brothers? ”

Zhang Niujiao was silent, his thick eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes looked at the roll of bamboo slips unfolded in his hand.

"Junyi, you supported the Northern Expedition to Youzhou, why did you suddenly change your mind now? What benefits did Chu Shuai give you, and you want to help him speak? Zhang Baiqi turned his face and shouted at the worried Zuo Yan.

Zuo Yan smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said nothing.

"Ziyin, don't talk nonsense." Zhang Niujiao put down the bamboo slip and said with a serious expression:

"I've figured it out, we did too much risk to attack Youzhou in the north, even if we didn't have the leopard Li Hong's Fengyun Iron Horse, it would be difficult for us to hit Yuyang, and failure was doomed a long time ago."

Zhang Baiqi and Zuo Yan were shocked when they heard this, and looked at Zhang Niujiao in surprise.

"Before the siege, I received a secret letter from An Dingshuai, who warned me about the movement in the direction of Jizhou. Youzhou Assassin Shi Yang Huang and several Taishou Lianshu Jizhou Mu Guo Dian, asked him to send troops to attack Zhao State, Changshan, so that our Yellow Turban Army suffered from the enemy, forcing me to retreat. Now the Jizhou army has begun to attack the Zhao State, Changshan State. This shows that my judgment in the early stage was wrong. ”

"The hatred between Guo Dian and us is too deep. In fact, even without Youzhou Yang Huang's request, he would not let go of this good opportunity to attack us. As the swallow said, once the belly and back are attacked, we will definitely lose. ”

"But that's not why we failed."

Zhang Baiqi's eyes widened, looking at Zhang Niujiao's face slightly flushed due to excessive anger, and asked very puzzledly, "What is the reason?" ”

Zhang Niujiao slapped the table hatefully and let out a long sigh.

"Last year, the Yellow Turban Army was scattered everywhere and had no contact with each other to support, but they were broken by Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun and others. This year, when we got together, it seemed like we were in a big group, but in fact, we were still scattered. That's the real reason for our failure. ”

"Due to the large number of large and small leaders and gangs within the Yellow Turban Army, everyone has great differences in property distribution and tactical arrangements, and it is difficult to form a voice and a force, so defeat is inevitable. This expedition to Youzhou is the most obvious example. ”

"According to my assumption, we will abandon Zhao and Changshan, leaving only a small number of troops to contain the Jizhou official army. Then we broke the kettle and concentrated all our forces of about 400,000 horses to attack Youzhou, and we could completely take it in two months. ”

"Why can't you do it?" Zhang Niujiao said with a wry smile.

"Everyone cares about their immediate interests, and is reluctant to give up the city, land, and wealth that they have already acquired. only cares about greedy for petty profits, where did he think of the future and development of the Yellow Turban Army. ”

"Although Yanzi and Wang Dang have no selfish intentions, they are too conservative and only want to live in peace, and they have no long-term plans at all. They always say that the strength is not enough, the strength is not enough. ”

"I'd like to ask you, when did we have enough strength? Will the imperial court, the government, the official army, and the powerful overlords everywhere give us time to develop our strength? It's naïve. Once the imperial court has taken a breath, the army will be overwhelmed, surrounded and suppressed everywhere, not to mention development, it is a question of whether it can survive in Taihang Mountain. No one will give us time to develop our strength, and our strength depends entirely on ourselves. ”

Zhang Niujiao kept shaking his head, heartbroken, looking powerless.

"If we occupy Youzhou and are on the border, a long winter can give us enough respite. In the barren land of northern Xinjiang, although everyone is a little poorer, they can survive and develop slowly. In the future, even if they can't defeat the official army, they can still withdraw from the outside world. ”

"This summer, I explained to them repeatedly in Tokoyama, but they all stressed the difficulties and gave various reasons. In the end, although everyone reluctantly agreed to my plan for a northern expedition, it was unrecognizable. ”

"No one is willing to give up everything, no one wants to break the boat, no one wants to listen to my command alone, this is the fundamental reason for the failure of the Northern Expedition, we defeated ourselves."

Zhang Baiqi and Zuo Yan bowed their heads and were silent, having nothing to say.

What Zhang Niujiao said is reality, but Zhang Niujiao does not have Zhang Jiao's absolute authority, which is also a fact. He can't control his current subordinates, who is responsible for causing today's situation?

"Dashuai, then what do you mean......" Zhang Baiqi hesitated for a moment and did not continue. He really couldn't figure out what Zhang Niujiao was thinking now.

"Withdraw." Zhang Niujiao said lightly.

"By the way, find a chance to kill the leopard."