Chapter 15: The Tiger Warrior's Madness Has Not Yet Subsided

  After the formation was determined, Zhang Kuang didn't even have time to catch his breath before Zhou Cang brought up another important issue.

  "My lord, from now on, what should we call our group of over two thousand people?"

  In fact, Zhang Kuang's Yellow Turban Army originally had a name.

  However, the first major war after the founding of the army was a crushing defeat at the hands of the Han military's local troops, who were only one-fifth the size of their own forces, with casualties exceeding 90%. Due to this inauspicious sign, the original name was no longer used by anyone.

  When there were only four or five hundred people in the army, the need for a name was not urgent. However, now that the army has grown to over two thousand people, if we don't establish a loud and clear name, it will also have an adverse impact on the morale of the soldiers.

  So what should this title be called?

  "What good ideas do you have?"

  Zhang Kuang thought for a moment and asked his trusted subordinates.

  "Commander, what about the 'Iron Bull Army'? In our hometown, there's a big cow that's really fierce and has even killed a leopard on the mountain with its horns."

  A farmhand by origin, a tentative proposal.

  "'Iron Bull Army'? Is there a 'Fierce Tiger Army' prestige?"

  Dian Wei said disdainfully.

  "We are the righteous army of 'Taiping Dao', let's just call ourselves 'Taiping Army'."

  Upon hearing Zhou Cang say this, Zhang Kuang almost rolled his eyes. "Taiping Army"? And also "Taiping Heavenly Kingdom"!

  "This is called pointless. Didn't we say that we should fight to the death for world peace? I think it's better to call it 'Tianping Army'?"

  Zhang Kuang held his breath. This name also has a good sense of humor. As soon as he heard it, Zhang Kuang couldn't help but think of the "Golden Holy Clothes" known as the "Armory", the Libra.

  "Great! This name is good!"

  "Yes, it has the words 'Taiping Dao' in it and also meets the wishes of our people. That's the one! Master, what do you think?"

  Everyone has consistently praised the title "Tianping Army". Zhang Kuang thought for a moment and couldn't think of a better name, so he could only nod in agreement.

  In this way, Zhang Kuang obtained his own army, the Tianping Army, in the second month after coming to this world and merging with a native soul.

  However, the current Zhang Kuang must first solve a problem, that is:

  How to fill these more than 2,000 mouths and the bellies below them.

  The original Zhang Kuang's Yellow Turban army had collected enough grain and fodder to last a month after capturing a small fort. However, when his troops suddenly increased to over 2,000 men, the maintenance time for grain and fodder was reduced to only six or seven days.

  Wanting to eat his fill, Zhang Kuang thought for a long time and found that there was still only one way.

  Eat at the rich man's house!

  During the Eastern Han period, local powerful families could be said to have held sway over nearly half of the great Han Empire. These high-ranking aristocratic clans known as "scholar-officials" originated in the time of Emperor Guangwu of Han (Liu Xiu).

  Because Emperor Guangwu of Han, Liu Xiu, deeply relied on the help of local powerful families during his campaign to seize the throne. Even among his famous "Twenty-Eight Generals of the Cloud Terrace", most were from aristocratic families. As a result, after Emperor Guangwu ascended to the throne, these powerful forces had already formed an unstoppable momentum from the central government down to the local level.

  Although Emperor Guangwu had tried to use cruel officials like Dong Xuan, the "Strong and Brave General", to rectify these powerful clans, due to the extensive involvement of his high-ranking generals, in order to ensure the stability of the empire, even with Emperor Guangwu's wisdom and bravery, it was only a superficial solution.

  Later Han emperors, feeling the power of these aristocratic families was too great, had to think of ways to support the eunuchs and imperial relatives as a counterbalance to suppress those powerful families.

  This dealt a severe blow to the power of the scholar-officials in the central court, and state affairs gradually fell into the alternating manipulation of the two major groups of "eunuchs" and "outer relatives". The scholar-officials who were unwilling to lose their central power repeatedly used the mutual rivalry between the "eunuch" group and the "outer relative" group to stir up trouble and attempt to turn the tables, re-entering the central court.

  This strong provocation was met with a fierce counterattack from the eunuch group, which felt greatly threatened, and resulted in two famous "Party Closures".

  However, the foundation of the powerful clans was firmly rooted in the local counties. The loss in the struggle for power at the central court did not affect the powerful clans' strengthening of their foundations between the local counties. As time passed, most of the local governments in the current Han Empire had secretly fallen into the hands of the local powerful clans.

  These powerful forces, the most direct proof of their existence, are the countless manors that dot the Central Plains. The intense land consolidation has led to a situation where the entire Han Empire is characterized by the wealthy owning vast tracts of land, while the poor have no place to stand.

  When the turmoil in the world began to rise, the powerful ones established solid defensive strongholds within their manors for their own safety. These small family strongholds were called "baos" by people at that time.

  Now, more than three months after the outbreak of the Yellow Turban Rebellion, almost all local tyrants have withdrawn their entire families into fortified strongholds. If Zhang Kuang wants to get enough supplies, his only option is to attack these strongholds.

  However, since the strong and wealthy can make the fort their last refuge, it is not easy to conquer. Especially for the Yellow Turbans who lack siege engines, even a small fort with hundreds of people, facing only dozens of strong men's resistance, if not at the cost of hundreds of lives, there is almost no possibility of conquest.

  Although he felt a headache, now that things have come to this point, Zhang Kuang could only grit his teeth and bear it.

  According to local Yellow Turban Army's information, Zhang Kuo chose a small fort as his target.

  This fort is just a stronghold of a small clan. Including the elderly, women and children, the population is only about 700 or 800, with limited resistance power. The city wall of the fort is not high, only more than two zhang. As a soft persimmon, for the "Tianping Army" with not very good teeth, this is a very good target.

  Before the attack, Zhang Kuang tried to take it by strategy. However, the lord of the fort was obviously a meticulous person and did not allow Wang Guo, who disguised himself as a Han general, to succeed again. After his deception failed, Zhang Kuang had no choice but to lead his army to the foot of the fort.

  "The Han dynasty is doomed! Now that the Yellow Heaven has died, the Blue Heaven should rise! Why don't you follow the will of heaven and the people's wishes, quickly surrender to our Yellow Turban Army, and you won't miss out on the reward of being enfeoffed as a marquis!"

  "You ridiculous thief! You're on the verge of death and yet you still dare to boast! My family, the Huangs, have been loyal and heroic for generations. How could we ever surrender to a dying man like you?"

  Routine persuasion, routine failure. The anticipated arrogance, unchanged expression, nodded to "Big Voice" Dian Wei, and continued to shout:

  "Unaware of heaven's decree, there will be heavenly punishment! My Heavenly Army intends to march far away, but only lacks military rations. If the fortress master can provide my Heavenly Army with a thousand piculs of grain and fodder, my Heavenly Army will not commit any offense!"

  The weight of a dan of grain is about twenty kilograms. Due to the lack of meat and oil, a Yellow Turban warrior needs to consume more than one kilogram of grain per day. A dan of grain is only enough for half a month's worth of food for a Yellow Turban warrior.

  Moreover, in the just-ended ambush, Zhang Kuang's subordinates captured fifty or sixty qualified warhorses. The daily food intake of these precious warhorses is equivalent to that of five or six strong men.

  This works out to one thousand bushels of grain, enough for the two thousand or so soldiers of the Heavenly Army for five or six days. If this fort is sensible and avoids a difficult siege, even if they are willing to hand over less grain, Zhang will generously spare them.

  A moment of silence in the fort, apparently hesitating. However, Zhang Kuang was not prepared to give them too much time. There were only four days' worth of military rations left in the army. If they didn't get food in time, the consequences would be extremely severe.

  "If there is no response within a moment, it will be considered as refusal! My Tianping Army's 3,000 armored soldiers will then launch an attack!"

  The sentence is quite effective. Only half a minute later, a condition was transmitted from the fort.

  "We have long heard of the bravery of the Yellow Turbans and have been eager to meet them. Now is a good opportunity to learn from each other. Does your army have any brave warriors who dare to come out and fight?"

  When they heard this, the soldiers of the Heavenly Balance Army in the front row couldn't help but make a ruckus. Some laughed and some scolded. Everyone had witnessed Tian Wei's bravery before, and they all looked down on this ignorant and arrogant fortress, sneering at it one by one.

  "If we lose the war, we are willing to pay an additional 1,000 dan of grain. But if we happen to win..."

  "I won't take a single thread from Tianping Army, I'll leave now!"

  Zhang Kuang loudly promised, and in his heart he secretly laughed. With Dian Wei here, what's there to fear from your challenge?

  Moreover, Zhang Kuang also had some eagerness to try. His cultivation of "Tai Ping True Qi" was already close to the realm of great completion. If he really compared his skills in a one-on-one match, even Zhou Cang might not be able to defeat Zhang Kuang.

  However, the son of a wealthy family does not sit in a humble manner.

  Dian Wei burst out laughing and shouted in a heroic tone:

  "Come! Quick! Here! Fight!!"

  Along with this sound of "tiger's roar", the guards standing on the city wall, were intimidated by Dian Wei's majestic momentum, and their bodies shook one after another. However, a burly figure was not moved at all. As soon as Dian Wei finished speaking, this figure leaped down from the city wall over two zhang high.

  It's strange that although this person is tall and heavy, when jumping down from a high place, he didn't make much noise. The way he landed made one inexplicably think of a cat.

  The Party Purge was a phenomenon in which scholars, nobles and other officials were dissatisfied with the eunuchs' misrule during the reigns of Emperor Huan and Emperor Ling of the Eastern Han Dynasty. The event got its name because the eunuchs banned the scholars for life under the crime of "party people". It happened twice.

  In the end, the disaster of the Party Cage ended with the eunuchs killing almost all the scholars and officials. At that time, public opinion and later historians mostly sympathized with the scholars and officials, believing that the disaster of the Party Cage hurt the foundation of the Han Dynasty and laid the groundwork for the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the eventual downfall of the Han Dynasty.

  The term "Yellow Turbans" was originally a derogatory name given to the rebels by the Han dynasty. The Yellow Turban rebels wore yellow headscarves or turbans, which made them look like swarms of flying moths, hence the name "Moth Bandits".