Chapter 25: Unparalleled Tongue

  As soon as they were discovered by the Yellow Turbans, Xun felt his heart racing and was startled to the point of almost falling off his horse. He looked up at Taishi Ci and saw that he was calm and composed, not flinching in the slightest, and instead shouted loudly: "The Black Mountain General Yu Du has sent an envoy... Cough, cough, an envoy has been dispatched!"

  It's strange to say, but the noise of the four sides gradually subsided. It turned out that the Yellow Turban Army had just arrived at the foot of Douchang City and hadn't even set up camp yet - hmm, more people didn't have tents or canopies, they were all wrapped in tattered blankets and sleeping outdoors - suddenly someone saw two horses rushing in, and with a start, they beat the drums. As soon as the drum sounded, everyone thought it was the enemy attacking the camp, and the scene immediately became chaotic. Just now, it was a tense auditory hallucination, and the noise around was not a battle cry, but a night fright, a surprise attack...

  Wait until Tai Shi Ci let out a loud roar - Xun had never thought that someone could release all the energy of his dantian through his throat, he was two horse heads away from Tai Shi Ci and felt a "buzz" in his ears, almost becoming deaf after being stunned - The Yellow Turbans who were frantically searching for weapons everywhere quickly calmed down: Oh, it's not an enemy attack, but an envoy coming... The envoy is here to see the general, it's none of our business, let's just go back and prepare to sleep.

  So with a loud shout, the whole camp fell silent. After running more than 100 meters, someone in front suddenly shouted: "Where is the envoy of Hei Shan? Follow me to see the general." Taishi Ci responded with a sound: "He's right here." With a vigorous swing of his spear, he swept away the guy who was about to lead the way under his horse.

  He was about to kill the incoming person with a spear, and it's possible that he would have blown up the camp again. However, he only swept the incoming person under his horse, and the person lay on the ground humming. Those who saw it were all stunned, thinking "Is this an enemy or an accident?" In just this moment of distraction, Taishi Ci and Shi Xiong had already ridden through the enemy camp and arrived at the outer side of the city wall.

  Although the city wall of Dou Chang is not large, it has high walls and deep moats, with strict defense. Especially outside the main city wall, a circle of rammed earth wall was built along the city moat, as the first line of defense against enemy attack. At this time, many torches were lit on the rammed earth wall, indicating that there were soldiers guarding it. As soon as the two men approached the city moat, seven or eight bows stood up on the rammed earth wall with a "whooshing" sound, and then they heard someone shouting: "Who are you? Halt!"

  Taishi Ci reported his name, saying that he had come to repay the kindness of Kong Rong. The man sneered and said: "Who knows if you are a spy for the Yellow Turbans?" Shi Xiong hastily urged on his horse, stood side by side with Taishi Ci, and shouted loudly: "I am Shi Xiong, the nephew of the five officials, is there anyone on the city wall who recognizes me?"

  He was in charge of recruiting and training soldiers, and also helped him calculate the money and supplies. He even followed him to the military camp a few times. As soon as his face appeared in the firelight, someone called out: "It's really Young Master Qi! I recognize him, let them in!" Several others echoed in agreement.

  At this time, the Yellow Turban Army also knew that something was wrong. The sound of footsteps and horseshoes echoed behind them. Taishi Ci had already gripped his horse spear tightly, preparing to turn back, while Xun's palms were filled with cold sweat. Fortunately, a wooden board was quickly pushed out from the opposite side and placed on the city wall, allowing them to cross over. A few scattered arrows shot out, blocking the pursuing soldiers.

  Until the four hooves had safely crossed the ditch, Xun Zai finally let out a long sigh of relief. He turned his head to take a glance and suddenly discovered that among the pursuing soldiers was a familiar figure. At this moment, that person also saw him, and with a fierce pout, he waved his fist at him.

  Xīn smiled and beckoned with his hand.

  Very soon, the two were brought into the city and paid their respects to Kong Rong at the county government office. Kong Rong was overjoyed, grasping Taishi Ci's hand and refusing to let go, repeatedly exclaiming: "Zi Yi is indeed a righteous man! I didn't misjudge him!"

  Zi Fu and his son also heard the news and came over. Zi held onto Zi Xun's hand, sighing repeatedly: "Hong Fu, why did you have to deeply enter the encirclement and come to Du Chang?" Zi Xun smiled slightly, pretending to be heroic: "With my lord here, how could I not come?" He then asked about the current situation. Zi furrowed his brow tightly and told him that the Yellow Turbans had brought along old and young, nearly a million in total, with 300,000 armed and tens of thousands able to fight. They had only retreated to Du Chang in the afternoon, but the Yellow Turbans had chased after them by evening. At this time, there were only over 2,000 soldiers within the city walls, and even if they pulled in civilians to help defend, it would still be less than 10,000 people. It was truly a situation of extreme danger.

  Tai Shi Zi listened and comforted them, saying: "I see that the city of Du Chang is small but high, with 2,000 soldiers enough to defend it. Although the Yellow Turbans are numerous, those who can climb the wall at the same time will not exceed 5,000. Don't worry, Your Excellency."

  Kong Rong said that he had sent Wang Xi to the state of Qi and Wang Xiao to Donglai, requesting reinforcements, but did not know when they would arrive. Taishi Ci shook his head slightly: "Although Focused General has troops, he does not dare to fight against the enemy, how can he send reinforcements? As for Donglai, as far as I know, there are only a few thousand old and weak people in the county, and it is feared that they will be unable to provide relief."

  Kong Rong repeatedly asked about the situation, saying what to do and what to do. Tai Shi Ci asked him about the amount of grain and supplies stored in the city, Kong Rong was unclear, but Yi Ji was relatively clear, telling him that they could hold out for two to three months.

  Taishi Ci said: "The bandits are in the millions, even if they get the grain and fodder that Fozu Jun has prepared, it will not last long. They will definitely retreat within two months. Please let the governor's army hand over the soldiers and horses inside the city to me for arrangement, and I can guarantee that there will be no loss."

  Kong Rong looked around and replied, "Zi Yi has been traveling a long distance and must be tired. Let's rest first. I think the bandits will attack the city tomorrow, let's wait until dawn and discuss it again then."

  He secretly glanced at Kong Rong, thinking to himself: "What's the point of pretending? You just don't want to hand over military power." - A man who can recognize people but not use them; this famous Kong Beihai is indeed a useless bookworm.

  He had a bad impression of Kong Rong before crossing over. This guy was first killed by the Yellow Turbans, and later by Yuan Tan, like a dog, and lost the entire North Sea country, fleeing to Xuchang in shame to rely on Cao Cao. At that time, Kong Rong's attitude towards Cao Cao was one of a loyal dog - just look at the flattering poems he wrote: "Looking east with sorrow, dreaming of Cao Gong's return", "From Luoyang to Xuchang, Cao Gong worries about the country without selfishness". Wasn't his purpose just to get Cao Cao to throw him some bones to gnaw on?

  Unfortunately, Cao Cao was a man who knew people well and understood that this guy had a sharp tongue but no real ability. He thought to himself: "Lü Bu is an old rascal, relying on his family background to get by; Guan Zhong was a minor official, yet he could achieve great things." Cao Cao had always believed in promoting talent, but from another perspective, if someone wasn't talented, he wouldn't promote them. So he casually gave Kong Rong an empty title and hung him out to dry. Kong Rong was unhappy about this, and from then on, whenever he saw Cao Cao, he would make a scene, constantly criticizing his policies and earning himself the reputation of being a loyal subject of the Han dynasty. Anyone else would have found this unbearable, so in the end, Cao Cao had him beheaded.

  In short, Kong Rong is just a glib talker with no real ability, plus a stinky scholar who courts his own death.

  However, after coming to this world and being in contact for a period of time, Huan felt that the impression he had gained from books was somewhat biased. Indeed, Kong Rong is not a hero of the chaotic era. If you use the standards of heroes like Cao Cao and Liu Bei to demand others, let alone Kong Rong, most of the famous scholars in the world would not pass the test. Those who survived were all living in hiding, and those who died were all self-inflicted. Although Kong Rong did not turn Beihai into a utopia, he still made some contributions in terms of education and comforting people's hearts. And it was unlikely that Zhang Jue, the leader of the Yellow Turbans, would have withdrawn from Beihai State because of Kong Rong's eloquence.

  But at this point, the evaluation has turned around and returned to its original point. Kong Rong is a bookworm, it's normal that he doesn't understand warfare, you can't expect every bookworm to be like Zhuge Liang, who was a hermit in the mountains one day and leading thousands of soldiers the next (although that's also fictional). However, not understanding warfare can be learned, more importantly, military power can be handed over to those who do understand warfare. Kong Rong is really something, he had previously recommended Taishi Ci multiple times but refused to go to the Three Visits to the Thatched Cottage, and now that Taishi Ci has come to him voluntarily, he still has this garbage face of wanting power but not life, it's really annoying!

  The next morning, Kong Rong indeed made various excuses and did not discuss military affairs with them. Taishi Ci met with Shi Xie in the west city, and when Shi Xie glanced at him out of the corner of his eye, he saw that most of the soldiers guarding the city were originally from Beihai State, but none of the new recruits from the past half year were seen - presumably they had all run away.

  He immediately leaned against the city wall and looked down, only to see a sea of black heads, just like the traffic flow on the three-ring road during rush hour in his previous life. But there was one difference - the traffic flow all had a unified direction, while these people were facing all directions, and their postures were also varied, some squatting, some lying down, some prone, or supine. At first glance, it seemed that most of them were old, weak, sick, and disabled, the families brought by the Yellow Turbans, where were the soldiers?

  As if seeing the doubt in his heart, Taishi Cai patted his shoulder and pointed far away. It was then that Xun noticed that among the crowd of nearly a million people, there were many tents scattered around, with one tent being particularly dense, standing tall in the middle with a huge yellow flag. At this moment, people's heads were pouring over from all directions, starting to line up near the flag.

  Still, Tai Shi has experience, able to find that one small handful of different ones among a million ants. He welcomed the wind, staring with wide eyes until they were teary, but still couldn't see clearly how many people were there and where General (or perhaps Gan Hai) was - if only he had binoculars, the principle is simple, just don't know if this era has clear enough glass or crystal... Or wait until I have money to find crystal instead?

  Tai Shi Zi sneered: "The Yellow Turbans' movements are very slow, I estimate that it will be near noon before they can organize their first attack, you and I can go down the city to rest for a while."

  His guess was not off by a single bit, and it wasn't until the beginning of noon that the earth-shaking drumming sounds were heard from outside the city. The two had just finished their breakfast, and upon hearing the sound, they hastily climbed up to the top of the city wall, only to see several thousand Yellow Turbans, each holding a weapon, with shields and long spears alternating in front, archers behind, under the guidance of several yellow flags, drumming loudly as they rushed towards the foot of the city.

  They soon clashed with the officers and soldiers guarding the Sheep Horse Wall. On the battlefield, arrows flew randomly, blades collided, and from time to time, there were mournful cries mixed with shouts. In a short period of time, nearly a hundred people fell on both sides. Although Isen was on the city wall, he looked at his legs trembling with fear. If he hadn't been holding onto the battlements, he would have almost collapsed. He secretly encouraged himself: "Don't panic, don't panic! You were fine all those years ago on that whatever city's wall when everyone else fell down and only you and Shi Xun could stand up straight. Don't let your age turn against you like a dog now! Nowadays, it's actually not as good as those ordinary soldiers!"

  At this time, the officials and soldiers defending Chang'an were mostly old veterans who had served for several years and had fought against the Yellow Turbans with Kong Rong. After being defeated in a battle outside the county seat, all the newly recruited local rascals ran away, leaving only them to protect Kong Rong and retreat to Chang'an. Their combat effectiveness was not strong, but they could barely cope with several rounds when faced with a powerful enemy. More importantly, Chang'an had already been surrounded at this time, with no way to retreat. When people have no way out and are forced to stake their lives, their combat effectiveness can also burst out by several percentage points.

  Tai Shi Zi's eyes were bloodshot, his bow and arrow at the ready. He beckoned to Xun: "Let's go outside the city and fight a few rounds, chop off a few of those bandits' heads and come back!"