Chapter 69: The Yellow Turbans Quelled

  Late at night.

  Under the dim starlight, 5,000 Han soldiers crept quietly to the foot of Guangzong City.

  Zhou Jianwen, with his armor on, was running at the forefront of the 5,000-strong army. When he was still 50 steps away from the Guangzong city gate, he suddenly stopped in his tracks. The 5,000-strong army behind him quickly reformed their ranks on the spot.

  The torches on the city wall of Guangzong were sparse, and the rebels still had no idea that the government army had already reached the bottom of the city.

  In fact, since Zhang Jiao's death, the tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans had lost their spiritual pillar and were no longer motivated to fight. Moreover, after the Han army retreated ten miles and set up camp, Zhang Jiao's generals began to vie for power and were busy competing with each other, completely unaware that the government troops would launch a surprise attack at night.

  When Zhou Jian led five thousand infantrymen to approach the city, the rebels inside the city were completely unaware.

  Under the sparse starlight.

  Zhou Jian raised his head and looked around at the city walls, and a thick killing intent shot out from his pitch-black eyes.

  In the twinkling of an eye.

  Zhou drew his sword with a resolute clang and thrust it forward fiercely.

  Two hundred well-trained soldiers rushed forward, carrying ten cloud ladders and rushing towards the city wall.

  "What is that?"

  The bandit on the city wall who was yawning finally noticed something and looked down at the city, asking in confusion.

  Another bandit, who was relatively sober, stared blankly for a moment before his face changed color and he yelled at the top of his lungs, "It's bad! The government troops are launching a sneak attack! They're killing their way over here! Quick, go inform the general!"

  "What?"

  "Damn it!"

  "How could government troops suddenly attack in the middle of the night?"

  The pot on the city wall suddenly exploded, and dozens of Yellow Turban bandits rushed around, shouting and screaming, audible from near and far in the quiet night sky.

  "Sound the bugle, storm the city."

  Zhou Jian's eyes saw the enemy's ambush exposed, and he immediately shouted loudly, ordering the entire army to attack the city.

  The tranquility of the night sky was shattered by the earth-shaking sound of war drums.

  The five thousand Han army infantry who had been conserving their energy for a long time suddenly shouted out loud slogans, the light infantry no longer hid their tracks, carrying cloud ladders and rushing towards the city wall at a rapid pace, on the top of the city wall, dozens of Yellow Turbans showed various expressions that were almost clearly visible.

  In the sound of war drums.

  The cloud ladder was placed on the head of Guangzong City, and Xu Chu, Dian Wei, Jiang Qin and others each led a hundred people to climb up the city head with their hands and feet, killing the Yellow Turban thieves who were caught off guard, wailing and crying.

  Drums beat in the sky, killing voices shock the fields.

  The defenseless Yellow Turbans were soon killed by the government troops on the city wall, and they retreated in defeat, abandoning their armor and fleeing.

  Zhou Jian looked clearly at the city below and immediately shouted loudly, "Xu Zhu, Dian Wei, open the city gate."

  "Roger."

  A thunderous roar like a sudden clap of thunder burst forth from the top of the city wall.

  Soon, the two men each led more than 200 brave soldiers to rush down the city wall and kill their way into the gate tower. They moved away the giant green stones that the Yellow Turbans had piled up in the gate tower to block the gate. Before the main force of the rebels arrived, they successfully opened the gate.

  "Kill."

  Zhou Jianyang drew his sword and let out a loud cry, leading two thousand infantrymen in a swift charge towards the city gate.

  At the same time, a whistling arrow tore through the night sky, soaring straight up, visible from near and far for ten miles.

  "General, a large group of Yellow Turban bandits are approaching, their exact numbers unknown,"

  Zhou Jian had just entered the city gate when a blood-soaked Dou Bo rushed over to report, his expression extremely anxious.

  Zhou Jian raised his head to look around, and saw that countless torches were rapidly moving towards this side in the distance. The chaotic shouts of killing could already be clearly heard. He immediately said: "The whole army will retreat with all its might and defend the city gate to the death. As long as we can hold the city gate, our mission will be accomplished. When Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi's two generals lead their troops to arrive, they can defeat the Guangzong rebels in one battle."

  "Roger."

  The generals responded with a loud shout and immediately rushed off in all directions, each going to inspect the troops and defend the city gate to the death.

  It was night, when the main force of the Yellow Turban rebels reacted and rushed to the west gate, Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi also led their troops to the west gate in a timely manner. They defeated the 20,000 Yellow Turban rebels who had hastily arrived, and took advantage of the momentum to kill their way into the city.

  In the darkness, it was hard to distinguish between friend and foe, the Yellow Turban rebels were caught off guard, and instantly fell into great chaos.

  Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi took the opportunity to set fires everywhere, and a great fire rose into the sky in the city. The Yellow Turban rebels were even more panicked and had no will to fight.

  The battle lasted until dawn, with over 100,000 Yellow Turban rebels suffering heavy casualties. The majority of the casualties were due to the rebels killing and trampling each other after their camps were breached, while only a small portion were actually killed by government forces.

  After the western, southern and northern gates were captured one after another, more than 700,000 Yellow Turban rebels escaped from the eastern gate, retreating towards Zhang County, with many wounded and exhausted soldiers falling to the ground along the way, wailing in unison.

  Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi led the army to pursue the victory, and again defeated the remnants of the rebel army on the banks of the Zhangshui River, beheading 20,000 people. When the rebels fled and fell into the Ying River, they drowned to death, with as many as 50,000 people, almost annihilating the entire army.

  Guangzong surrendered immediately, and the only remaining Yellow Turbans were the over 200,000 troops under Zhang Bao in Qu'e.

  At first, Zhang Jue started a rebellion in Guangzong, with tens of thousands of people attacking cities and plundering the land. Zhang Bao was Zhang Jue's younger brother, known as General of the Earth, second only to Zhang Jue among the followers of the Taiping Way, also having more than 10 million soldiers under his command.

  Zhang Bao led the troops to attack northward, since the uprising in April, they had successively occupied the northern part of Julu County. Zhang Jiao and Lu Zhi fought repeatedly but lost, retreated to Guangzong, and Zhang Bao also withdrew his forces, retreating back to Xiakou to defend.

  Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi defeated the rebels in Guangzong, rested for five days, then marched north at the end of August. They defeated Zhang Bao's rebel army head-on at Xiyangting, pursued them for 100 li, and again defeated Zhang Bao's rebel army of over a million men at Xiakouya.

  Zhang Bao was also beheaded by Guan Yu's army, while his general Zhou Cang was captured alive by Zhang Fei.

  "Wait."

  Zhang Fei was just about to stab Zhou Cang to death with his spear when he suddenly heard a loud shout from the side, and had to withdraw his spear and turn around.

  Zhou Jian rode his horse to arrive, glanced at Zhang Fei, and looked at Zhou Cang a few times. He withdrew his iron spear behind the horse and said to Zhang Fei: "This man is quite knowledgeable about loyalty and righteousness. I am unwilling to kill him. Will you hand this person over to me for disposal?"

  Zhang Fei replied: "What's wrong with that? General, take him away then."

  Zhou Jian cupped his hands in thanks and immediately ordered several of his personal soldiers to come forward and take Zhou Cang away.

  After the army set up camp, Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi ordered the army to clear the battlefield, count casualties and prisoners.

  Zhang Bao's army of over 100,000 rebels, except for the more than 30,000 who died in battle, had nearly 70,000 captured and surrendered, while those who escaped were less than 20,000, a great victory.

  Huangfu Song, to prevent the resurgence of dead ashes and to intimidate the bandits in the world, ordered that nearly 70,000 captured Yellow Turban rebels be executed in Quxia and north, and the earth was flattened as a symbol, eliminating the hearts of the rebels.

  His ruthlessness and cruelty made even his generals shudder with fear.

  The earth mound was built, and the world was settled. The bandits then scattered and hid in the mountains and forests, not daring to fight against the government army again.

  In a few days, the sacred edict of Tian Sheng was transmitted, announcing the merits and achievements of the three armies, ordering them to return to the capital.

  Huangfu Song was awarded for his contributions in suppressing the rebellion and was promoted to Left Chariot Riding General, governing Hebei Province.

  Lu Zhi was rewarded for his contributions in suppressing the rebel army and was promoted to General Who Pacifies the North.

  The other generals were also rewarded with titles and positions. Zhou Jian was transferred to be the Colonel of the Garrison Cavalry, one of the five Colonels of the Northern Army.

  When the imperial edict arrived, Huangfu Song immediately handed over the seal and set off for Ye City to take up his new post. Lu Zhi led the 50,000-strong army back to the capital.

  Just as Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi defeated Guangzong, pacified Hebei Province's Yellow Turbans, and the Emperor greatly rewarded the military officers' achievements, Zhu Huan's army was attacking Nanyang's Yellow Turban rebels but had been unable to capture Wan city for a long time. The Emperor wanted to punish Zhu Huan for his unsuccessful campaign, but fortunately, Taifu Zhang Wen pleaded on his behalf, so Emperor Ling spared him from punishment, only issuing an edict ordering Zhu Huan to defeat Nanyang's Yellow Turbans within the month and completely pacify the Yellow Turban Rebellion.

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  These two days have been spent dealing with Grandma's funeral, and I've been up all night until 3 am. For now, I can only manage to write one chapter. Updates will resume on the 26th after things are settled.

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