November 185.

The war in Jizhou has resurfaced.

Guo Dian, the governor of Jizhou, led his army to attack Luancheng and Jiumen, threatening Zhending; Feng Yi, the prefect of Julu, led his army to attack Xiangguo County of Zhao, and headed straight to Handan.

Yang Feng, Bai Luo, Wang Dang and Wulu led their troops to meet the enemy, and the battle between the two sides was extremely fierce.

Chu Feiyan immediately ordered Fan Li to lead 30,000 troops to rush back to Zhongshan Guonulu City to garrison. After receiving the military order, the 50,000 troops left behind were set off immediately and rushed to Changshan Zhending day and night.

Zuo Yan, with his servants, and two riders, rushed to Zhuocheng to report to Zhang Niujiao with Yang Feng's documents.

Chu Feiyan led the remaining 20,000 troops to quickly reach the Dingxing Ferry and responded to Zhang Niujiao's army's retreat.

Zhang Niujiao finished reading Yang Feng's expedited document, with no expression on his face.

He looked at Zuo Yan's uneasy face and asked coldly: "Junyi, have you not received my order? Why didn't you go back to the camp when you are not in Zhongshan?"

"Master General..." Zuo Yan wanted to speak but stopped.

"If you have something, tell me." Zhang Niujiao touched the red silk on the bamboo slip and said slowly, "Is it that Swallow unwilling to come?"

"Master General..." Zuo Yan thought of a lot of words along the way and made plans to convince Zhang Niujiao. Now he was sitting opposite Zhang Niujiao, feeling that what he wanted to say was actually nonsense, and he didn't know what to say.

There was a silence in the big tent. Zhang Niujiao stroked the red silk in his hand very carefully and gently, with a focused expression.

"Pinpu, Swallows are also for the Yellow Turban Army and for the people of the world." Zuo Yan sighed long, broke the silence, and whispered.

A few traces of anger flashed across Zhang Niujiao's face.

He looked at the red silk in his hand and silently for a long time, his expression getting dimmer and dimmer.

Zhang Niujiao suddenly said lonely: "Junyi, our friends for so many years, do you think we did something wrong?"

Zuo Yan was shocked, frowned, and said nervously: "Pinpu, why do you think so?"

"Before the master died, I went to see him. He was lying in bed, very ill and could hardly even speak." Zhang Niujiao said slowly, "He asked me if he did something wrong."

"Taipingdao is organized in a strict manner, and everyone works together. They have made careful preparations for more than ten years. Finally, we led the people of the world to rise up, fight life and death with all the evil people in the world, and fight all the injustices in the world, and do not hesitate to die. We have no selfish interests, nor have any great wishes. We just want the people of the world to have three meals a day, one piece of clothing a year, live longer, better, and have a little hope. But what did we bring to the people of the world in the end?"

"Diet, in addition to death, it is also death. Following us is death, and not following us is death."

"The ones who followed us were killed in wars, some jumped into the river to commit suicide, and some were buried alive by the enemy. At that time, there were more than 600,000 people in the 36-sided canal, and those who were still alive, now all have no bones left."

"If you don't follow us, you will die even more miserably. Those poor people are unarmed, but they are killed by the enemy as our accomplices. Almost every household in every village is killed and blood flows into a river. After a year of fighting, the fields are deserted and grains are not harvested. The surviving people still did not escape the fate of death. They all starved to death, and there are people who starved to death everywhere. In a year, millions of poor and innocent people died."

Zhang Niujiao's face was very terrifying. He gritted his teeth and patted his chest and asked:

"What did we do? What did we do?"

"We thought that we could make these people live, live longer and better, but what was in the end? It was death, millions of people died, more than any plague, any flood, what did we do? What did we do?"

"Without us doing this, they can live longer and better. Although there is no hope, they are still alive and have a breath."

"Why? Junyi, why did you say? Why is this happening? What did we do wrong?"

"Why don't we kill all the wicked people, and those who rob us of food and all of us, why?"

"God? God only protects those evil people, powerful and rich people, and has always harmed us poor and innocent poor people."

"The sky is dead, Huang Tian should stand..." Zhang Niujiao said softly, bitter and sad, tears soaked his eyes.

Zuo Yan could no longer hold it back, stood up and turned away sadly, tears falling on his clothes.

Li Hong and his troops rested in Dukangting for three days, then set off again and lost news.

He knew that the Yellow Turban Army now has an inside line in the county government and the governor's mansion, so since the plan for ambush in Xiaofangshan was leaked, he refused to inform the county government of military information on the grounds that the cavalry was unable to communicate with three hundred miles a day. Xian Yufu got his hint and acted very cautiously.

On this day, he received news from Li Hong. Chu Feiyan, the Yellow Turban Army, led 20,000 troops to the Dingxing Ferry of Jumashui, stationed on the other side, without any sign of crossing the river. Sun Qin at the ferry immediately pushed the carriage for three miles, and there was no sign of driving. The Yellow Turban Army's actions were very abnormal. It was simply a joke that 20,000 troops supported the front line of Zhuocheng. The existing Yellow Turban Army's troops could not capture Zhuocheng in the short term. It was strange that the food and supplies that were urgently needed on the front line were not transported to the front line when reinforcements arrived.

Li Hong felt that the Yellow Turban Army must have taken some action. It is obviously unrealistic to continue attacking Zhuo City. Since the Yellow Turban Army does not fight, it may retreat. In other words, there is movement in the battlefield in Jizhou. Otherwise, they have other tricks to attack the city. Li Hong guessed that the Yellow Turban Army might cooperate with the enemy in the city, cooperate inside and outside, and open the city gate. He asked Xian Yufu to pay close attention to the movements in the Yellow Turban Army camp outside the city, and at the same time, he should send the most reliable people to guard the city gate.

In the early morning, Zhang Baiqi and Zuo Yan walked into Zhang Niujiao's tent.

Zhang Niujiao did not sleep all night, his face was pale and haggard. The table table was filled with documents and bamboo slips were scattered all over the floor.

"Master General..." Zhang Baiqi said loudly without waiting for his seat, "Is there another military order to urge Zhuo Shuai to go north quickly. We sent troops for more than a month and were about to take down Zhuo County. At this time, withdrawing troops and abandoning the city we have worked hard to capture. Isn't it a bit of a joke? How do you explain to the soldiers? How can you be worthy of the dead Zuo Jiao and the tens of thousands of dead brothers?"

Zhang Niujiao remained silent, frowned, and looked at the roll of bamboo slips unfolding in his hand.

"Junyi, you support the northern expedition to Youzhou. Why have you suddenly changed your mind now? What benefits did Chu Shuai give you? Do you want to speak for him?" Zhang Baiqi turned his face and shouted at the worried Zuo Yan.

Zuo Yan smiled bitterly, shook his head, and said nothing.

"Ziyin, don't talk nonsense." Zhang Niujiao put down the bamboo slips and said with a serious expression:

"I have figured it out. We are indeed too risky to attack Youzhou from the north. Even without the Fengyun Iron Cavalry of the Leopard Li Hong, it will be difficult for us to reach Yuyang. Failure has long been destined."

Zhang Baiqi and Zuo Yan were shocked when they heard this and looked at Zhang Niujiao in surprise.

"Before siege, I received a secret letter from Anding. He warned me about the movement in the direction of Jizhou. The governor of Youzhou, Yang Huang, and several prefects, wrote a letter to Guo Dian, the governor of Jizhou, asking him to send troops to attack Zhao State and Changshan, which caused my Yellow Turban Army to be attacked from both sides and forced me to retreat. Now the Jizhou army has begun to attack Zhao State and Changshan State. This shows that my judgment was wrong in the early stage."

"The hatred between Guo Dian and us is too deep. In fact, even without the request of Yang Huang from Youzhou, he would not miss this good opportunity to attack us. As Yan Zi said, once we are attacked from both sides, we will definitely fail."

“But that’s not the reason we fail.”

Zhang Baiqi opened his eyes wide, looked at Zhang Niujiao's slightly flushed face because of excessive anger, and asked in confusion: "What's the reason?"

Zhang Niujiao slapped the table hatefully and sighed a long time.

"Last year, the Yellow Turban Army was scattered everywhere and had no contact and support, but was defeated by Huangfu Song, Zhu Jun and others. This year, we gathered together and seemed to have become a group of people who had increased their strength, but in fact it was not the case. We were still a mess. This is the real reason for our failure."

"Because there are many big and small leaders and gangs within the Yellow Turban Army, everyone has great differences in property distribution and tactical arrangements, it is difficult to form a voice or a force, so failure is inevitable. This northern expedition to Youzhou is the most obvious example."

"According to my vision, we gave up Zhao State and Changshan, leaving only a small number of troops to restrain the Jizhou official army. Then we burned our boats and concentrated all our troops to attack Youzhou. We could completely capture it in two months."

"Why can't it be done?" Zhang Niujiao said with a wry smile.

"Everyone takes care of the immediate interests and is reluctant to give up the cities, land, and wealth that he has already obtained. He only cares about small profits, but he never thought about the future and development of the Yellow Turban Army."

"Although Yan Zi and Wang Dang had no selfishness, they were too conservative and just wanted to be peaceful and had no long-term plans. They always said that they were not strong enough, not strong enough."

"I want to ask you, when have we ever had enough strength? Will the imperial court, government, government army, and overlords from all over the country give us time to develop strength? It's childish. Once the imperial court breathes, the army is approaching and encircling and suppressing people everywhere. Not to mention development, it's a problem whether we can survive in Taihang Mountains. No one will give us time to develop strength, and strength depends entirely on us to fight ourselves."

Zhang Niujiao kept shaking his head, feeling heartbroken, looking powerless to turn the world around.

"If you occupy Youzhou and are in the border, a long winter can give us enough breathing time. In the barren land of northern borders, although everyone is a little poor, they can survive and develop slowly. In the future, even if they cannot defeat the official army, they can still withdraw from the border."

"This summer, I repeatedly explained it to them in Changshan, but they all emphasized the difficulties and put forward various different reasons. Finally, although everyone reluctantly agreed to my plan for the Northern Expedition, this plan was beyond recognition."

"No one is willing to give up everything, no one is willing to burn his boats, no one is willing to listen to my command alone. This is the fundamental reason for the failure of the Northern Expedition, because we defeated ourselves."

Zhang Baiqi and Zuo Yan lowered their heads and said nothing, and had nothing to say.

Zhang Niujiao is talking about reality, but Zhang Niujiao does not have the absolute authority of Zhang Jiao, which is also a fact. He cannot control his current subordinates, and who is responsible for the situation today?

"Master, what do you mean..." Zhang Baiqi hesitated for a moment and did not continue to say it. He really couldn't figure out what Zhang Niujiao thought now.

"Get away." Zhang Niujiao said lightly.
Chapter completed!