Chapter 8: Ultra-Massive Brawl

  Having decided on a strategy for using military force, Li Zhe began to carefully sort out the forces at his disposal.

  Li Zhe now has more than 4,000 people under his command, including over 1,900 able-bodied men. More than 500 of them have been formed into a guard team and are trained and patrolled every day. They seem to be in good spirits after eating their fill. However, the weapons are still somewhat crude. In total, there are only 25 steel knives and six long guns that Li Zhe has managed to scrounge up, while the rest are just hoes, wooden clubs, and other makeshift tools, plus Li Zhe's six crossbows. It really doesn't look very impressive.

  However, this battle must be fought, and in order to have a truly safe place as a base, fighting is inevitable. In this chaotic world, without a reliable military force in hand, it's impossible to keep the situation under control. Li Zhe's plan in his mind cannot be unfolded on a large scale.

  It's strange that Li Zhe's men didn't show any fear when it came to fighting, and upon hearing the news that Li Zhe had agreed to take up arms against Jia's fortress, they were actually delighted. Upon further inquiry, it turned out that the refugees had too much confidence in their own strength.

  The weapons Li Zhe took out were not of the same level as this era, according to Su Sanjia's nephew Su Wu, all these knives are of the treasured knife level, hard to come by even with a hundred gold coins, and have a qualitative difference from the iron-made weapons in the hands of ordinary soldiers. Even some famous generals found it difficult to get their hands on one, so having just a few dozen blades was enough to boost the morale of the battle-hungry refugees. Not to mention the astonishingly powerful crossbow arrows.

  The crossbow was a tightly controlled weapon at that time, with very complicated production procedures. In the Han Dynasty, there were specialized departments to monitor and control its production, which was never available in civilian hands. Since the late Han Dynasty, the workshops in Luoyang had been destroyed several times, and the craftsmen and techniques for making crossbows had almost all been lost. It wasn't until decades later, under Zhuge Liang's rule, that the production of crossbows was truly restored.

  As a result, almost all the crossbow arrows left in the Han Dynasty were those left over from decades ago. The exquisite and compact crossbow arrows in Li Zhe's hands truly opened the eyes of the refugees.

  Weapons give people confidence, but what's more important is that the refugees have been terrified of the cruel life of displacement for a long time and are no longer willing to return to that terrible life. Now in this small town of Sanshilipu, although simple, it has become a paradise in everyone's heart, with food and shelter, which is already the life that refugees dream of, and no one wants to wander around again.

  Moreover, behind everyone stands the legendary immortal Li Zhe! This is what gives people the most confidence. With an immortal leading the battle, how can they not win? The current refugees have extremely high hopes for Li Zhe.

  Li Zhe sat in the Three Kingdoms, hastily stayed for a day, handled many trivial matters, and determined the strategy for military training and preparation before having to hurry back to modern times.

  The time limit of this space-time system is really a bit frustrating!

  Back in modern times, there's nothing else to do, so I'll just continue buying weapons, transporting weapons, and transporting food and seeds. The money prepared last time was less than 20,000 yuan, which is not a problem for now, and Li Zhe doesn't need to bother again. He will focus on storing up weapons.

  Twenty steel knives at a time, one hundred gun heads, and the rest were seeds for food. With such a configuration, Li Zhe went back and forth five times in twenty days. He thoroughly equipped his guards with weapons.

  The day of the great war has finally arrived.

  The enemy is attacking Yujia Fortress!

  In a place five or six miles outside of Sanshilipu, Li Zhe's side and Yujiabao's side formed lines opposite each other.

  Li Zhe led the charge, with 500 guardsmen armed with sharp blades forming several rows at the front, followed by over a thousand strong and sturdy men in disarray. To win this battle, all the able-bodied refugees joined the fight, while more than half of the elderly, weak, women and children were left behind to plunder.

  Li Zhe looked at his only capable general, Su Wu, who was the strongest and most robust among them, also the nephew of Su San, the bold and sturdy man who had first spoken to Li Zhe when he met the Su family members, and couldn't help but feel a mix of sadness and amusement in his heart.

  The refugees trained by him as the captain were really too amateurish, they couldn't even line up properly, everyone was in a mess, those who were brave stood forward, and those who were timid hid behind, more than 500 guards formed a big chaotic mass.

  Is this the elite troops trained by the great general himself with high expectations for dozens of days?!

  It's really ridiculous! I'm afraid it's even worse than a middle school student in the old days!

  Take another look at the opposite side, it's even more chaotic! Immediately let Li Zhe's heart, which was originally hanging up, fall back down.

  The enemy's Yu Family Fortress has even deployed the elderly, weak, women and children on the battlefield!

  In the chaotic crowd of over 2,000 people, each and every one was pale and thin, holding wooden sticks in their hands, shouting loudly as they moved forward, but their feet were actually constantly retreating. This was clearly a case of "bravado on the outside, cowardice on the inside". Meanwhile, the small number of several dozen strong and vigorous young men were holding the few available knives and swords, directing and cursing from far behind, it was simply seeking death.

  Li Zhe took a look at the opponent's formation with his binoculars for a long time, and basically confirmed that this long-awaited duel between the two sides was simply a gang fight.

  Yes, this is exactly the kind of mass brawl that still occasionally happened in rural areas even in the 1980s and 1990s!

  Completely disorganized, completely lawless, relying solely on bravery and hot blood to launch a thorough and utter rout. The only criterion for victory or defeat is not how many casualties are inflicted, but which side can hold out the longest.

  This scene should be at the level of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, no wonder the uprising on a scale of tens of millions ended in defeat.

  Li Zhe was extremely disappointed and had spent a long time preparing, but this level was really too bad, not even a little bit of appreciation.

  Looking around again, the other scouts from the Wubao Fort were openly gathered together, carefully commenting on the outcome of the battle between the two families. They had to be concerned because the ultimate winner of this war would thoroughly rule the surrounding hundreds of miles.

  A man emerged from the array of Jia's family, riding a poor horse, and swaggered in front of the array before shouting loudly.

  He is qualified to be proud, at least there are no horses on this side. In this era, horses are all Ferraris, except for the northern border, ordinary inland areas have very few, and now various places are in a state of famine, people do not even have food to eat, who would waste grain to raise horses? Therefore, such an inferior horse is already extremely rare in the Ru Nan prefecture.

  Li Zhe's men were suddenly somewhat disheartened. A two-legged person can't run as fast as a four-legged horse, and the troops were somewhat scattered.

  Li Zhe saw that things were not going well. In this era of cold weapons, morale was the key to victory or defeat. He made a swift decision and shouted loudly, "Follow me!"

  He rushed out towards the enemy first, and Su Wu and others were stunned behind him. Seeing Li Zhe rushing forward, morale immediately rose, and they followed suit.

  The two armies were only about a hundred meters apart, and in just a few steps they rushed to the horseman's side. Li Zhe raised his crossbow arrow and clicked the trigger with a "hum" sound.

  Rustle rustle rustle!

  Three short arrows, all nailed to his body. The man was still in a daze, didn't expect Li Zhe to rush over like this, and even more unexpected that the small thing in Li Zhe's hand had such great power, enduring the severe pain on his body, he pointed at Li Zhe on horseback, stubbornly refusing to fall down.

  Li Zhe didn't bother with courtesy, rushing forward and raising the long knife in his hand. With one slash, he chopped at the man's neck, opening up a large gash. Fresh blood splattered out several feet away, and the corpse thudded to the ground.

  Both sides were stunned, and then Li Zhe's refugees burst out with a thunderous shout! A large group of guardsmen yelled as they rushed past Li Zhe, charging into the formation of Yujiabao.

  The robust men saw Xianren Li Zhe being so brave and their own morale was also boosted to the extreme. One by one, they charged down like fierce tigers, grasping steel knives and guns in their hands, each looking as ferocious as a demon, thrusting into the battle array of Yu's fortress like sharp awls, stirring up a bloody rain in the battlefield. Many people from Yu's fortress raised their weapons to block a few times, only to be tragically cut off by the steel knives, with their arms and shoulders falling to the ground. On the ground, they cried out loudly, but were soon trampled down by the crowd behind them, and before long, they became silent.

  After dozens of Yu Jia Pu warriors were killed or wounded in the front, the entire formation of Yu Jia Pu collapsed, and the troops began to flee, turning the battle into a thorough pursuit.

  Li Zhe emerged from the formation, wiped off the bloodstains on his body, and suppressed the nausea that was rising in his chest. He hastily ordered someone to summon Su Wu, letting others take charge of the captives here, while Su Wu led the guard troops to occupy Yu's fortress. Then he stood by and watched as his soldiers excitedly shouted and charged forward with swift and fierce attacks. Suddenly, a inexplicable sense of annoyance surged up from the bottom of Li Zhe's heart.

  This massive brawl involving thousands of people lasted for a day and night, and it wasn't until Li Zhe returned to modern times for the second time that the entire battle was declared over.

  In the end, more than 200 people died and over 1,000 were injured in Yujiabao, with the vast majority of casualties resulting from stampedes. More than 3,000 prisoners fell into Li Zhe's hands.

  Along with the fall of the Yu family's fortress into Li Zhe's hands, there was also a store of grain and money that had been accumulated in the Yu family's fortress, enough to support all of Li Zhe's men until the spring of next year.

  Li Zhe has become rich!

  Vote for me, collect and click! This is very important for a new book, don't be stingy, everyone!