Chapter 29: You're Not Worth Negotiating With

  The next morning, the Yellow Turban army camp was bustling with activity. The leader, Ma Yuan Yi, had a large black eye ring and was staring at the sand table, calculating the entire battle situation. The Han relief troops had just arrived, and they were all cavalry, while the Yellow Turbans lacked tools such as anti-cavalry spikes. Because he was afraid of being ambushed at night, Ma Yuan Yi hadn't slept well the previous night.

  "Report, General! News has come from within the city that last night, a total of 500 cavalrymen arrived to provide support. The leaders are Cao Cao's favorite generals, Cao Chun and Zhang Yi, the military strategist. It is said that it was Zhang Yi's idea yesterday to tie tree branches to the horses' tails and have them run back and forth, creating the illusion of a large army arriving." A messenger rushed in to report.

  Zhang Rui, it's Zhang Rui again. According to the disciples who escaped from Luoyang, this Zhang Rui is just a young man under twenty years old. What skills can a young man have? It can only be said that Tang Zhou is not doing well and doesn't know how Master would take in a poor scholar as a disciple. Zhang Jiao has many disciples, and everyone is responsible for spreading the Tao in different places. The competition is also quite fierce on ordinary days, so it's impossible to be united.

  But Luoyang should have been Ma Yuan's responsibility, after Zhang Jiao took in that fallen scholar, it is unknown what kind of soul-stirring medicine he fed him, but Zhang Jiao actually replaced the person in charge of Luoyang with Tang Zhou. This naturally gave Ma Yuan, a martial artist by origin, an impression of Tang Zhou. As a martial artist, he liked to be straightforward and direct, so he naturally thought that Tang Zhou was not capable of anything, only knowing how to flatter and fawn.

  At first, I heard that Tang Zhou was caught by a young punk and he was still gloating on the side. This guy is really incompetent, can't even beat a kid who hasn't even grown a single hair yet. Now he himself has fallen into this kid's hands, so embarrassing, couldn't sleep all night.

  "Come on, Thunder Drum, I want to meet this Zhang Rui, what a sacred place is he from." Ma Yuanyi shouted loudly outside the account.

  Inside the city of Pu, Zhang Rui came out of the study and it was already daylight. He had just finished breakfast and was preparing to go find Wenji to discuss life when he heard drumming sounds coming from outside the city. He hastily changed his clothes and rushed towards the city gate. Just as he arrived at the top of the city wall, Cao Chun was already there observing the enemy situation.

  Only under the city, densely packed with Yellow Turban soldiers, everyone had scattered hair and a yellow scarf on their heads. Their weapons were also uneven, some even holding feces forks, hoes and other farm tools. It seems that these Yellow Turbans are just a mob and not an empty rumor.

  "Which one of you upstairs is Zhang Rui's kid? I can recognize you, Old Man Ma!" Ma Yuan Yi shouted from under the city wall.

  "Look down and you'll see Zhang Rui, I've always been riding horses, how could I not recognize a horse?" Zhang Rui laughed on the city wall, and the surrounding Han soldiers also burst out laughing.

  This rascal actually scolded me as a beast, just wait and see how I'll deal with you later, thought Ma Yuan Yi.

  "You little brat, all you know is how to boast with your glib tongue? Do you dare come down and fight me to the death?" Ma Yuan shouted loudly.

  "You say you're a match for me, but you don't even admit it. You're not only a match for me, but also a stupid horse. With 20,000 troops under my command, I'd be an idiot to go down and fight you one-on-one. Why don't I just lower a basket to lift you up here and we can have a duel? Are you daring enough to come up?" Zhang Rui said.

  "Hahaha, with this IQ, you still dare to challenge our military strategist? Last night, 20,000 of your men were scared off by our 500 men, and today you come again to be humiliated by our military strategist. Ma Yuan Yi, if I were you, I would dig a hole in the ground and jump into it myself. Hahaha, I'm laughing to death!" Cao Chun burst out laughing loudly on the city wall, completely without regard for his image.

  Zhang Rui looked at Cao Chun, this guy is not completely brainless after all. He actually knew to use this matter to infuriate Ma Yuan Yi, and by exposing it in front of the Yellow Turbans, he would definitely damage Ma Yuan Yi's prestige. Cao Chun saw Zhang Rui looking at him with interest, and suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, unconsciously touching his buttocks.

  Ma Yuan Yi is now very depressed, originally when the messenger soldier told Ma Yuan Yi this news earlier, he ordered to prohibit the messenger soldier from passing it on to a third person again. Fortunately, he was also a general, and such a shameful thing would be very embarrassing if his subordinates knew about it. But unexpectedly, Cao Chun is so shameless, actually exposing this matter in front of everyone.

  At this time, Ma Yuan Yi suddenly became furious and scolded loudly. "Zhang Rui, you despicable coward, if you have the guts, let's fight to the death."

  "What's with the horse, doesn't make sense, forgot what your name is, you can keep calling out, I'm not going to play along. If you've got skills, come on up and fight, if not then just shout from down there again. I didn't sleep well last night, I'm going to go catch some more Z's." Zhang Ruo said with a swagger, and that guy actually really went downstairs. The defenders of Puyang saw their commander being so relaxed, not putting the enemy in his eyes at all, morale greatly boosted, they all ridiculed Ma Yuan Yi.

  "General, you also saw from the city wall that the Yellow Turbans are just a mob. Why didn't you order me to lead the troops out of the city and attack them? I guarantee that with just a few rounds, I can defeat this group of Yellow Turban rebels so badly that they'll be pissing their pants," said Cao Chun.

  "General Cao, please be at ease and don't worry. The Yellow Turbans are just a mob of undisciplined troops, I have seen through them. However, by doing this, I am putting on a show for Ma Yuan Yi to see. Our army is small in number, while the Yellow Turbans are numerous. If we were to engage in battle rashly, our army would definitely suffer casualties. But by performing this act, I want Ma Yuan Yi to know that our army is small and that I only have the intention of defending the city, without any intention of launching a counterattack. Ma Yuan Yi is no fool, he has been shouting outside the city walls but not attacking, it must be that the Yellow Turbans lack siege equipment, I am certain that he has dispatched troops to hastily manufacture siege equipment. Tonight, we will take advantage of their assumption that we dare not leave the city and launch a surprise attack on them, defeating them in one blow, and the siege of Pu Yang can be lifted." Zhang Rui said

  "General Advisor is indeed a wonderful plan, what shall we do now?" Cao Chun said.

  "Didn't you hear what I just said? Of course, go back to sleep. Go back and tell your brothers to have a good rest, meanwhile prepare some torn cloth and rags, wait until the third watch at night, use the torn cloth to tie up the horse's hooves, then set off." Zhang Rui finished speaking and went back with a carefree expression.

  Cao Chun rubbed his nose, this military advisor is really formidable at such a young age, it's only been two days and he has already been convinced, he really wants to crack open his little skull to see what's inside (damn, besides brains, what else could there be), how can he have so many wicked ideas? From now on, he'll try his best to get along with the military advisor, whoever offends him will truly suffer a calamity for eight lifetimes. Thinking this, Cao Chun headed towards the governor's mansion.

  Ma Yuan Yi was really depressed today, being played around by Zhang Rui. He had originally wanted to tease this young whippersnapper, but didn't expect him to be so sharp-tongued and able to scold people without using a single dirty word. It got him all riled up, but he also didn't come out completely empty-handed.

  At least he knows that this guy is idle and has fewer soldiers, and is not willing to go to war easily. Heh heh, today just let you be arrogant for a day, tomorrow my siege equipment will be almost ready, at that time I will grind the defenders of Puyang to death one by one, see how you can still defend, of course the most urgent thing now is to have a good sleep...