Tiger's Head Appears for the First Time

  Single father in the city.

  Zhang Kuang comfortably lay on the cool bamboo bed, propping his head up with his hand, deeply thinking about things.

  Yesterday's battle, although Tianping Army gained a small advantage, they had to face a very serious consequence.

  From Yu Jin's description of Bao Xin and the Han army's combat performance, the Tianping Army is about to face a Han army that is not strong but has sufficient organizational discipline. Zhang Kuang is not worried about fighting against Bao Xin's unit again. However, if Bao Xin's unit insists on entangling them, with these thousands of Han soldiers, the Tianping Army may also find it difficult to avoid being dragged down.

  In the current situation where the war in Changsha has been defeated, and the Han army is free to attack the Yellow Turbans from all sides, if they are targeted, it's possible that a Han relief force will appear out of nowhere and put the Heavenly Army under siege.

  Leave. Leaving is the best option.

  With a decision made, Zhang Kuang ordered his personal soldiers to gather his men and prepare for withdrawal.

  Of course, to leave in an organized manner is not a simple matter. The reorganization of the Heavenly Balance Army has been proceeding slowly. Zhang Kuang readjusted the combat troops again after yesterday's battle. The current Heavenly Balance Army has its combat troops divided into six hundred-man squads, with no thousand-man squads, and is directly commanded by Zhang Kuang himself.

  Among them, the hundred-man A team was full, with Zhou Cang as the hundred-man leader. The hundred-man B team had only sixty people, but they were all equipped with double armor and were also known as the "Heavy Armor Team". The hundred-man leader was naturally Dian Wei, this fierce general.

  The Hundred Man Troop B and Hundred Man Troop D were both at 90% strength, with Shen Fu and Yu Jin as their respective troop leaders. The Hundred Man Troop E and Hundred Man Troop F had only 80% of their personnel, with Deng Shan, the elder brother of the Yellow Turbans, and Guo Xi, a defeated leader of the Longshe Yellow Turbans, as their respective troop leaders. These two men were average in ability but won out for being reliable and having experience.

  In addition, there are three independent small detachments directly under Zhang Kuang's leadership. One is a scout team consisting of all cavalrymen, with 60 people currently, led by He Qian. Another one is the military law team that has just been separated from Zhang Kuang's personal guard team, with 30 people, receiving orders from Military Advisor Wang Guo.

  The last one is Zhang Kuang's personal guard, currently with 10 people, planning to add some loyal and reliable, clever and brave young men to reach a scale of 20 people.

  Apart from these thousand or so combat troops, the physically weaker and older Tianping soldiers were organized into six hundred-man auxiliary units. In formation, they followed the "Twelve Earthly Branches" sequence to distinguish themselves from the combat troops' "Ten Heavenly Stems" formation.

  Zhang Kuang lacked the energy, personally taking charge of these trivial auxiliary troops' affairs, and handed over this messy matter to Chen Dashi, the wine-offering Taoist priest of the Taiping Sect, to manage. Fortunately, Chen Dashi coordinated properly, handling all matters in an orderly manner.

  A sound of footsteps echoed outside. Zhang Kuang listened and identified the person, smiling and saying:

  "Fourth brother, what's the hurry? Take it easy."

  The person who came in was He Qian. He was sweating profusely and didn't even have time to greet, opening his mouth and scaring Zhang Kuang half to death:

  "General! The enemy is attacking!"

  Zhang Kuang asked:

  "What else did Bao Xin do?"

  "It's not Bao Xin, it's another Han army!"

  Zhang Kuang was shocked:

  "What? Another Han army? Who is the commander? How many men?"

  "The general didn't know, only saw the flag with the word 'Sun'. There were more than a thousand people, and their military appearance was extremely strong. Several of my good rabbits, if they hadn't run fast, would have been slaughtered by them!"

  Zhang Kuang thought for a moment. A Han general with the surname Sun, still in this era, was a figure who fought against the Yellow Turbans. No matter how hard Zhang Kuang racked his brains, he could only think of one person - the person he least wanted to meet: Sun Jian and Sun Wentai!

  The man known as the "Invincible General of Jiangdong", the father of "Little Overlord" Sun Ce, "Blue-eyed General" Sun Quan and "Bandit Queen" Sun Shangxiang, who once forced the warlord Dong Zhuo to relocate his capital to Chang'an: Sun Jian, Sun Wentai!

  "Damn it! Things have gone terribly wrong......"

  He Lao Si looked at Zhang Kuang in surprise, not understanding why the usually calm and composed General Ying Wu Qu had suddenly turned pale. Zhang Kuang muttered a few words under his breath, then remembered there was someone else in the room and forced himself to regain composure, saying to He Lao Si:

  "Hurry up and send out your most capable scouts to gather intelligence on the enemy! Then, pass down the order to assemble all the generals and discuss the matter together!"

  "Nuò..."

  He Lao Si saw Zhang Kuang's serious expression and didn't dare to slack off, so he quickly ran out of the house to execute the order. Zhang Kuang was stunned for a while in the house, finally came back to his senses, and loudly shouted:

  "Man dies, bird flies up to heaven, if he doesn't die, it will be for ten thousand years! Grass! He's finished!"

  Very soon, the atmosphere of the entire county town became tense. The Tianping Army abandoned its preparations for transfer and began to prepare for war with all its heart.

  All the soldiers were issued weapons, and the craftsmen who followed the army began to work hard to make arrows. At the same time, a batch of reliable poor people were hired to prepare rolling logs and stones. Meanwhile, Zhang Kuang did not forget to send someone to inform the wealthy and powerful families in the city that a major battle was imminent, and if they wanted to leave the city to avoid chaos, they needed to hurry up.

  For these local tyrants and wealthy households, although they are the natural enemies of the Yellow Turbans, Zhang Kuang cannot easily take action against them. Although the local tyrants and wealthy households have a huge source of manpower and material resources, which is a great help in defending the city, Zhang Kuang simply does not trust these two-faced traitors.

  Rather than waiting until the war with the Han army begins and being constantly on guard against these powerful families' betrayal, it would be better to make things clear with them from the start, removing these time bombs from within the city walls and alleviating the pressure on the city's defenses.

  What? Suggesting to kill and rob all these wealthy families in one go?

  Do you know how most of the branches of the Yellow Turbans ultimately failed?

  They followed the method mentioned above and took action to eliminate future troubles. As a result, not only did some of the powerful families who were originally dissatisfied with the Han dynasty and remained neutral turn against the Yellow Turbans, but also many lower-ranking officials and common people who had sympathized with the Taiping Daoists now viewed the Yellow Turbans as bandits.

  The final result of this approach is that the "Yellow Turban Army" with formal organization and combat program gradually became "Yellow Turban Bandits" in the mouths of the Han people!

  In Zhang Jue's mind, he particularly emphasized his own title of "Heavenly Peace Army", which was actually a measure to prepare for future development. If managed well, after several years, when the name of Yellow Turbans became notorious, the Heavenly Peace Army could still rely on its accumulated good reputation to gradually get rid of the shadow of the Yellow Turbans and transform into a new and pure armed force.

  As for the Yellow Turban hat, Zhang Kuang had never thought of wearing it for a lifetime. If he couldn't change his image in time, Zhang Kuang's Three Kingdoms Conquest journey might not be able to pass smoothly.

  After all, in this era, elite talents are basically from the scholar-official class. You can abandon the aristocratic families, but you must absorb enough talented scholars from humble backgrounds to have any hope of success. Otherwise, even if you conquer a territory, you won't be able to find anyone capable of governing it.

  For the 70th time, Zhang Kuang complained about heaven, why didn't it transport him to a noble and powerful identity, so that now he had to think of ways to downplay his connection with the Yellow Turbans.

  And this background is something he can never wash away...

  That evening, with the wealthy and powerful leaving the city, there were several thousand people. Although there were many strong men, the elderly, women and children made up the majority. Zhang Kuang stood on the city wall, watching as these people disappeared into the distance, and inexplicably felt a sense of relief in his heart.

  War, let's not involve too many civilians!

  A little bit of moral view left in his heart, the inappropriate hiding deep in his brain. Maybe two months is not enough to let him fully integrate into this slightly cruel world of killing?