Guangzong City, leaving 10,000 people with two months of grain and grass, Wang Yan and the others all left here and rushed in the direction of Taishan County.

The grain and grass in the city were burned down by the officers and soldiers, and there was not much left.

Fortunately, when Chen Xu left, Zhang Jiao handed over all the war horses captured in the city to Chen Xu, and also gave them a lot of grain and grass.

In this way, the grain and grass in the Yellow Turban Army do not seem to be so lacking.

After the last time everyone finished their deliberations, Chen Xu decided to let Wang Yan and Chen Jing lead the other Yellow Turban Army and their families into Qinghe Country, and then rushed to Taishan County.

Due to the large number of family members of the Yellow Turban Army, plus other soldiers, there are nearly 100,000 people in total.

Chen Xu was afraid that the officers and soldiers would intercept him halfway, so he sent Wang Yan, Chen Jing, and a few Qu Shuai out together. Let them lead the rest of the Yellow Turban Army to Taishan County together, leaving only 10,000 horses in Guangzong.

Chen Xu led 10,000 Yellow Turban elites to stay in Guangzong for two purposes.

The first purpose was to cover the departure of Wang Yan and others, and to prevent Huangfu Song from pursuing.

The group led by Wang Yan was mixed with too many old and weak women and children. In this way, their march will not be very fast.

If Chen Xu wanted to ensure that they were not pursued by Huangfu Song, he could only stick to Guangzong and attract the attention of the officers and soldiers.

The second purpose, after the officers and soldiers were completely unable to catch up with Wang Yan and others, Chen Xu planned to lead his 10,000 Yellow Turban elites to the north to join forces with Zhang Bao.

This time, Chen Xu chose the Yellow Turban Army who could ride horses and use long weapons.

Jizhou is close to the north, bordering Youzhou and Bingzhou, and is the land of horses. Historically, after Yuan Shao obtained Jizhou, Yuan Shu asked Yuan Shao for horses.

It can be said that many men living in Jizhou can ride horses. In addition, the people here are fierce, and many Jizhou men, as long as they have a little training, can become a qualified cavalry.

In later generations, Chen Xu knew the proud achievements of the Jurchens and the Mongols, and knew the importance of cavalry. So he wanted to train all the 10,000 people under his command into cavalry.

In fact, the Yellow Turban Army exterminated the officers and soldiers of Wei County, plus the Yellow Turban guards of Quzhou who broke the Emperor Fu Song, and captured a total of more than 4,000 intact war horses.

In addition, the Yellow Turban Army itself snatched from the homes of the powerful and wealthy families, and there were only more than 5,000 war horses.

And these war horses are of different qualities, including good horses in the west and horses that are only stronger than ploughing horses.

Although the number of war horses is far less than that of Guangzong's Yellow Turban Army. However, in order to ensure the safety of Wang Yan's team, Chen Xu had to hold on to Guangzong for at least half a month.

After half a month, I don't know how many times I had to fight with officers and soldiers. At that time, it is still unknown whether the 10,000 Yellow Turban Army will be able to leave 5,000 men and horses.

Weixian County Ya, Huangfu Song listened to the scout's report, and his face sank like water. The information reported by the scouts was the evacuation of Wang Yan and others from Guangzong.

After thinking for a while, Huangfu Song called the herald outside the door and asked him to come to the county government to discuss matters.

Not long after everyone was sent by Huang Fu Song, they knew the plan of their own commander, and they acted according to Huang Fu Song's general orders.

"Report to Qu Shuai, Wei County has sent a large team of men and horses to kill Guangzong."

Hearing the herald's report, Chen Xu asked, "Looking at its banner, how many people are there?" ”

The herald replied: "The scouts did not report it, they only said that the officers and soldiers were covered with flags and dust, and it was impossible to see how many men and horses there were. ”

"See, let them report the details!"

Chen Xu walked out of the county government and brought some people to the city wall. Since the moment Wang Yan and the others withdrew from Guangzong, Chen Xu had been waiting for the arrival of the officers and soldiers of Wei County.

Not long after, another scout came back on horseback and reported to Chen Xuyu: "Judging from the flag, nearly 30,000 officers and soldiers have been dispatched. ”

"30,000 horses, Huangfu Song is pouring out of the nest." Chen Xu muttered to himself.

After several battles, the officers and soldiers under Huangfu Song are actually less than 20,000. After his plan to completely annihilate Guangzong's Yellow Turban failed, he stayed in Wei County to recuperate, and at the same time dispatched county soldiers from Wei County and Zhao State to help in the war.

Today, the number of officers and soldiers in Wei County has once again exceeded 30,000.

It stands to reason that soldiers in various places are not allowed to cross the border to attack thieves without an edict.

However, Huangfu Song had the status of holding a festival, and he came to quell the rebellion on behalf of today's son. Therefore, it makes sense to requisition the troops of nearby counties to come to help in the war.

Huangfu Song personally led an army of 30,000, and then the soldiers were divided into two routes, besieging Guangzong all the way, and taking the boundary bridge all the way.

The Yellow Turban Army left by Guangzong to defend the city had 7,000 men, and the main commander defending the boundary bridge was Chen Hu, who set up camp on the east bank of the Qing River and blocked the boundary bridge.

If Huangfu Song wants to pursue, he must first cross the Qing River. The boundary bridge is the only position in the Qinghe River near Quang Jong that is enough to allow the passage of the army.

Although there is a shallow section of the lower reaches of the Qing River, the water level is also very high, and it is impossible to wade across the river.

All the ships in this vicinity have already been collected and burned by the Yellow Turbans.

If Huangfu Song wanted to cross the river, he would either seize the boundary bridge or cut wood and build ships.

But Qinghe is so close to Guangzong that there is no place to hide nearby. If the officers and soldiers wanted to build a boat to cross the river, as long as the Yellow Turban Army stood on the city wall, they could see the movements of the officers and soldiers clearly.

In this way, if they want to cross the Qing River, the officers and men will have no way to make a trick.

"Boom!"

The drums of war sounded, and the war began.

The officers and soldiers who were still besieging Guangzong suddenly turned in the direction of the boundary bridge. For a time, along the entire Qinghe River, the number of officers and soldiers was boundless.

"Qu Shuai, the officers and soldiers gathered all the horses to attack the boundary bridge, do we want to send troops to support."

Chen Xu stood on the city wall and carefully looked at the flags of the officers and soldiers. He suddenly realized that there seemed to be too many flags used by officers and soldiers.

In ancient times, marching and fighting often carried flags. They do this not to show off, but to better command.

When the two sides are fighting, when there are too many people, the battlefield will be wide open, and the soldiers will easily disperse. At this time, the role of the flag is reflected.

The coach has the flag of the manager, and the general has the flag of the general.

In the Han Dynasty, there were 500 people in each song, and a prince was set up, and each song would have a flag, and the official position and name of the prince would be written on the flag.

As long as the flag does not fall, no matter how far your troops run, you can quickly find your own commander. Therefore, in ancient times, to see how many people an army had, it was often based on the banner of this army.

At that time, the role of the flag was very important, not only a necessary thing for the commanders and soldiers, but also to boost morale.

People often say that 'beheading the generals and capturing the flag' are juxtaposed with 'capturing the flag', which shows that the flag is also an important criterion for calculating military exploits after the war.

If the flag of one side is cut off, it often means that the master of the family has been killed in battle, and the morale of the soldiers who see the flag fall to the ground will be greatly reduced.

Chen Xu had some doubts in his heart, and he carefully looked at the officers and soldiers who flocked to the boundary bridge. After counting carefully, he found that there were only 400 officers and soldiers in each song.

According to this calculation, the banner of these 30,000 officers and soldiers is only 24,000 men and horses, and where are the 6,000 men and horses?

Sneering twice, Chen Xu said to the person who asked him just now if he wanted to send troops to rescue Jieqiao: "I don't need to worry, we just need to guard the city." ”

"The boundary bridge is narrow, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and besides, our army is camping on the other side of the boundary bridge, even if the officers and soldiers have 30,000 horses, they will not be able to occupy the advantage."

"Moreover, the officers and men have hid six thousand men and horses, and they must be in ambush in the woods on the west side. Huangfu old thief, he deliberately put on the posture of the whole army attacking the boundary bridge, and wanted me to wait for the troops to come to the rescue. Then, the ambush soldiers in the woods in the west took advantage of the situation to seize the city, which was really calculating! ”

"We only need to stand still, and if the officers and soldiers see that we are not successful, they will definitely withdraw the soldiers who attacked the boundary bridge. ＂

When the generals of the Yellow Turban Army heard this, they carefully counted the number of officers and soldiers in each unit, and found that there were really 6,000 people missing, and they couldn't help but scold: "The old thief of the emperor, the treacherous Ruosi!" ”

After scolding, they secretly admired Chen Xu in their hearts. They are amazed and proud of their manager's meticulous insight.

As Chen Xu expected, the officers and soldiers saw that Guangzong's Yellow Turban Army had no plan, and they had no way to conquer the boundary bridge, so they had to withdraw their troops.

For several days in a row, the officers and soldiers went to the city of Guangzong to provoke and call for war. However, no matter how insulting they were, Chen Xu just stood still, and then encouraged his subordinates to defend the city.

Seeing that the Yellow Turban Army did not go out of the city to fight, the officers and soldiers had no choice but to launch a strong attack, but they were repelled by the Yellow Turban Army every time.

On this day, Chen Xu came to the city wall as always, and suddenly a scout came to report, saying that the officers and soldiers had withdrawn and retreated to Wei County.

When Chen Xu heard this, although he was happy in his heart, he didn't dare to be careless.

While letting Chen Hu guard the boundary bridge, he personally inspected Guangzong, and then sent a large number of scouts to reconnoiter the movements of officers and soldiers.

However, the next news made Chen Xu feel a little incredible: the officers and soldiers actually withdrew from Wei County, leaving only an empty city there.