Section 17: The ruler and minister are both young and inexperienced.

  Xu Zhu turned his head and ran quickly to the bottom of the city wall. He exerted force with both legs, using the momentum to climb up the wall "thud thud thud" a few steps, already halfway up. Just as he was about to lose strength and his massive body was about to fall, suddenly a thick hemp rope flew out from the top of the wall. Xu Zhu grabbed it with one hand, pulled himself up, and leaped onto the city wall.

  Zhang Kuang's heart skipped a beat as he witnessed this scene. Xu Chu's martial arts, more than half of which belonged to the Swordsman school, had an extremely restraining effect on his own "Assassin" martial arts. At this moment, countless thoughts flashed through Zhang Kuang's mind as he pondered how to eliminate Xu Chu, his nemesis.

  Win him over? Impossible. This person is obviously from a wealthy local family, the natural archenemy of the Yellow Turbans. The difficulty of recruiting him approaches infinity.

  Kill him? Not possible. With this person's martial arts skills, he can't be beaten and can still escape. The swordsman is best at this kind of long-distance sprinting.

  At this moment, Zhang Kuang's heart suddenly rose with a sense of frustration that could not be helped.

  But he quickly came to his senses. In this situation now, thinking about such an unpressing issue is somewhat unwarranted worry.

  Xu Chu once again stepped onto the city wall of Wuchang Fortress, where a servant was already waiting by his side with a cup of water and a towel.

  Having finished drinking water and wiping sweat, the elder in the city tower hastily asked Xu Chu:

  "Zhong Kang (Xu Zhu's courtesy name), that rough fellow, can actually withstand you?"

  Xu Chu made a slight bow and said:

  "That person's strength is far above Chu's."

  The elder was greatly shocked:

  "What? Far above you? Zhong Kang, your skills are those of a mighty 'Thousand Man Breaker' general!"

  "That person's martial arts skills are not bad, but if he doesn't use his agility to dodge and weave around his opponent, instead choosing to engage in a head-on confrontation, I'm afraid he'll be defeated within ten rounds."

  "That person... could it be..."

  Xu Zhu nodded solemnly:

  "This person's current weapon doesn't seem to be very handy. If this person were fully equipped, they would be a 'thousand-man enemy'!"

  "Bang..."

  The old man's cane fell to the ground. After a while, he spoke with a bitter tone:

  "What's good about this..."

  Xu Chu said:

  "Father, don't worry too much. Observing these Yellow Turbans, they have no armor, their weapons are not in good condition, and they look like a defeated army. I reckon these Yellow Turbans won't attack the city recklessly either. As long as we send out 2,000 units of grain and fodder, they will lift the siege and leave."

  The elder let out a long sigh:

  "What a powerful man, yet he stoops to join the Yellow Turbans. Alas... alas..."

  Xu Chu sighed and said:

  "This is inevitable. In today's imperial court, those high-ranking officials are either privately recommended by aristocratic families or are treacherous parties who rely on eunuchs; where can ordinary scholars find a place to stand out?"

  The elder comforted Xu Chu by saying:

  "Zhong Kang, you don't have to be worried either. I've been observing the current state of the world, and I'm afraid a great chaos is about to erupt. Even if the 'Yellow Turbans' are pacified, new troubles will arise. In any chaotic era, there will eventually come a day when you can make a name for yourself. Speaking of which, with Zhong Kang's martial arts talent, within ten years, he should be able to join the ranks of the 'Enemy of Ten Thousand People'..."

  Xu Chu dismounted and apologized, thinking to himself in his heart:

  Di Yun, in ten years' time, I will be able to share the beauty of autumn with you!

  But what heights will this person reach in another ten years?

  Hmph! No matter what, I, Xu Chu, will not admit defeat just yet...

  At this juncture, it is advisable to persuade Lord Taishan to move the entire clan to Qiao County and merge with my family, the Xus, to jointly defend against the bandits.

  An hour later, the two thousand bushels of full wheat grains were transported into the Tianping Army's camp, and the whole army cheered. The generals in the army, while passing down the bravery of Dian Wei, also greatly enhanced the prestige of their leader Zhang Kuang.

  With food in hand, they also cut down trees and made thousands of wooden spears. This new army, composed only of the remnants of Changsha's defeated soldiers, finally had some semblance of a regular army. Taking advantage of the restored morale, Zhang Kuang did not dare to stay for long, urging his troops to quickly advance eastward.

  The Han army's cavalry has already appeared ten miles away. If we don't retreat quickly, I'm afraid the armies of Huangfu Song and Zhu Jun, who are collecting the remnants at Changsha, will come to trouble the Tianping Army.

  After all, the Tianping Army had already devoured a Han army cavalry unit that was pursuing them, and their position had been exposed. Although this Han army cavalry unit was not directly under Huangfu Song or Zhu Zan, but belonged to the Cavalry Commandant Cao Cao.

  In Zhang Kuang's heart, there were two places to consider going to.

  The first place is the Taihang Mountains. The Taihang area has been hiding a famous army, led by Cao Bao, known as the "Taihang Army". Due to its strategic location in the Taihang Mountains, Cao Bao withstood attacks from Tao Qian, Lü Bu, and even Cao Cao, never falling.

  Moreover, after several years, the Yellow Turbans rose again, with the so-called million-strong Qingzhou Yellow Turbans becoming a considerable force. If Zhang Kuang could incorporate the Qingzhou Yellow Turbans in time, he would have had the military strength to rival Cao Cao, Lü Bu, and even Yuan Shao.

  As for the second place, it is the Taihang Mountains area, which was then known as "Heishan" or "Black Mountain".

  The terrain of Heishan is complex and easy to hide. The "Heishan Army" in the future, with Zhang Yan as the leader, dominated the surrounding areas, and at its peak, it was called "a million-strong army". Even Yuan Shao, the overlord of Hebei, had suffered a great defeat at the hands of the Heishan Army, and his family members were even wiped out by the Heishan Army.

  If I could be like Zhang Yan, with hundreds of thousands at my command, and with the confidence that comes from combining past experience, I would surely make a name for myself. If I could take advantage of Yuan Shao's battle against Gongsun Zan to seize control of Ji Province, then my dominance would be assured.

  Of course, both places have some troubles to consider. The Taishan area is close to the Central Plains, surrounded by enemies on all sides. If developed in Taishan, it will face the siege of Tao Qian, Cao Cao, Yuan Shao, and even Gongsun Zan. The only possible ally is still Lü Bu who fled from Chang'an. Such an enemy situation makes it difficult for people to be optimistic.

  As for Heishan, due to the local strongmen in Jizhou being extremely powerful, there are fortifications everywhere. Relying on the reputation of the Yellow Turbans, these native strongmen will definitely fight to the death with the Black Mountain Yellow Turbans. Moreover, the land of Jizhou is easy to attack but difficult to defend, and once it falls into their hands, they will face attacks from Gongsun Zan in the north, Yuan Shao in the east, and Cao Cao in the south, which is also not a cause for optimism.

  Zhang Kuang thought for a long time, and several strands of hair fell out, but he still couldn't think of a suitable place to settle down.

  Is it impossible for me, Zhang Kuang, to find a place in this vast world where I can develop and grow?

  With such worries, the Heavenly Army set out on their journey once again.

  The food problem has been temporarily alleviated. Next, Zhang Kuang had to think of a way to get a batch of qualified weapons. Otherwise, once they encountered the main force of the Han army, would they really use wooden spears and kitchen knives to fight them?

  News of the Changsha Great Fire spread rapidly across the Central Plains. The Yellow Turban Army, which had once been powerful and suppressed the elite troops of the Eastern Han dynasty, was suddenly reduced to ashes in a single night.

  The inspired Han army and the local armed forces joined forces, began to become active. On the other hand, the Yellow Turbans' morale suffered a great blow. Under this situation, many small groups of Yellow Turbans were attacked by the Han army, defeated and dispersed.

  Even the Tianping Army was affected by this trend.

  A few hundred strong men from the Haoqiang department, seeing more than 2,000 Tianping army, dared to launch a surprise attack. As a result, under the fierce counterattack of Dianwei and Zhou Cang, the Haoqiang department gloriously became a logistics team, bringing more than 200 heads and enough weapons to arm 500 people to the Tianping army.

  Along with this series of small victories, the morale of the Tianping Army slowly rose. When the reputation of the two great generals spread among the powerful forces along the way, the Tianping Army had completely shaken off the shadow of the Changsha defeat and slowly merged into the strong collective of the Tianping Army. Even many Han army prisoners began to voluntarily join the ranks of the Tianping Army.

  This change, Wang Guo made a lot of effort, but Zhang Kuang himself also had a lot of credit.

  In short, Zhang Kuang, although he didn't read much of the military books, based on the experiences of later generations, focused on doing eight characters:

  Reward and punishment are fair, sharing sweetness and bitterness together.

  With the foundation of these eight words, plus Wang Guo's guidance, although there were some setbacks in between, Zhang Kuang finally successfully grasped the dominant power of this newly established unit.

  In the face of such a result, Zhang Kuang felt that it was too hard in his heart, but he did not slack off at all. In one word, it is:

  It's worth it!