In the past few days, he had taken in Zhou Cang, Pei Yuan Shao, He Man, and the others. Zhou Cheng's general team finally looked better.
Otherwise, every time there was a war, he would be the only one fighting. As for the other lieutenants, they would not be of much use.
However, Zhou Cheng did not have much time to reorganize his army, recruit generals, plunder livestock, and rations. This was because Huangpu Song was leading the army from Runan to Yingchuan Prefecture. According to their speed, they would reach Changshe in three to four days.
Huangfu Song was one of the famous generals of the Eastern Han Dynasty with the most brilliant military achievements. He was also the person the Yellow Turban Army feared the most.
Outside Quyang City, one could still see the capital built with hundreds of thousands of Yellow Turbans.
In the eyes of the Yellow Turban Army, even Zhu Rong, Lu Zhi, Dong Zhuo, and the others combined were not as cruel as Huangfu Song!
Moreover, Huangfu Song was a family of generals who was proficient in the art of war. He burned down Changshe and defeated Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang's army of more than a hundred thousand. This was the first major setback for the Yellow Turban uprising.
Of course, to Zhou Cheng, Huangfu Song's threat was only secondary.
The biggest threat to Zhou Cheng was the rations.
"Chief, we still have 29600 bushels of rice and 16700 bushels of wheat…"
The granary officer was reporting to Zhou Cheng.
A bushel is equal to a stone, a bushel is equal to ten buckets, and a bucket is equal to twelve liters.
Under normal circumstances, a young man in the army would eat two liters of rice a day. However, the Yellow Turban Army was short of food and could not supply that much.
Other than the Tiger Troop Battalion, Daybreak Cavalry, Boulder Battalion, Divine Martial Battalion, and the other elite troops, the rest of the troops barely had a meal every day.
But even so, Zhou Cheng's army of nearly 160,000 soldiers was consumed by the terrifying amount of food they ate every day, and their rations were about to be exhausted.
If nothing unexpected happened, the hundreds of thousands of people would run out of food in a few days.
Moreover, the seventeen counties in Yingchuan County were too poor. The amount of grain and livestock that could be plundered every day was decreasing.
Running out of food was not good news.
Furthermore, it would be even worse if they ran out of food during the battle with Huangfu Song.
"Leave 3,000 Hu," said Zhou Cheng."In addition, everyone's rations will be halved every day.”
"Here." the warehouse official replied.
……
Zhou Cheng took out the map. He had two choices now.
One was to go south to Jingzhou and occupy Wancheng. Although Jingzhou was also in trouble with the Yellow Turban, the granaries had more money and grain reserves. Pillaging Jingzhou could solve the problem of insufficient grain.
However, the south was even more lacking in horses, and Zhou Cheng was still thinking about the Yellow Turbans of Qingzhou.
If he went south to Jingzhou, it might be difficult for him to return to the north. Moreover, the troops under Zhou Cheng were all northerners. Regardless of whether they would be acclimatized to the weather, they definitely did not understand the terrain.
Therefore, Zhou Cheng gave up on the idea of going south to Jingzhou.
Since he did not go south to Jingzhou, he could only go out of Zhongmou, cross the Yellow River, and go north to Jizhou.
After Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were defeated by Huangfu Song, they went north to join Zhang Jiao.
Although Jizhou had also been ravaged by the Yellow Turban, it was much better than Yingchuan. It was easier to replenish food and grass. At the same time, crossing the Yellow River would also be far away from Luoyang. It would not be regarded as a thorn in the side by the civil and military officials of the court.
Even if Huangfu Song continued to pursue him, Zhou Cheng could just continue north, pass through Yanmen, leave the Great Wall, and head to the grasslands beyond the Great Wall.
That was the territory of the Xiongnu, Xianbei, and Wuhuan. It was impossible for Huangfu Song to chase them all the way to the Great Wall.
Moreover, the Qiang people of Liangzhou were about to rebel.
Bian Zhang and Han Sui's rebellion was extremely threatening and difficult to suppress. Zhou Cheng remembered that Emperor Ling of Han wanted to give up Liangzhou, but he was opposed by the civil and military officials of the court.
If Zhu Rong was dead, Huangfu Song would be the first to put down the rebellion in Liangzhou.
"Yes, continue north."
Zhou Cheng made a decision. He immediately called for a military meeting with all the generals and lieutenants.
……
"The army's rations are almost exhausted, and Huangfu Song is leading tens of thousands of troops from Runan to Yingchuan. I've decided to continue north and cross the Yellow River into Jizhou.”
After He Man, Zhou Cang, Pei Yuanshao, Zhang Shao, Liu Yong, and the other lieutenants gathered in the commander's tent, Zhou Cheng said to them.
"North to Jizhou…"
"General Di Gong and General Ren Gong were the same.”
"Marshal, why don't we go south along the Yu River?”
Going north was already the Yellow Turban Army's lifelong nightmare. Back then, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were defeated in Changshe and had no choice but to flee to Guangzong to join Zhang Jiao. However, everyone knew the final outcome.
After Zhang Jiao died of illness, Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang were killed one after another, and the government troops began to encircle and suppress the Yellow Turban Army.
Without waiting for the lieutenants to discuss, Zhou Cheng slammed the table with a loud bang. The tent instantly fell silent. It was so quiet that even the sound of breathing could be heard clearly. At this moment, Zhou Cheng said coldly,"I've made up my mind. Besides, I killed Zhu Xiong and defeated Sun Jian. As long as I have enough food, why not defeat Huangfu Song?”
If killing Zhu Rong was a coincidence, then after defeating Sun Jian in battle, Zhou Cheng's confidence began to swell.
The heroes of the world were also born of flesh and blood. They were raised by their mothers and fathers, and they carried a head on their shoulders.
"He Man is willing to go north with the canal marshal!"
"Pei Yuan Shao is willing to follow the canal marshal north!"
"Zhou Cang is willing to go north with the canal marshal!"
He Man and the others knelt on the ground one after another.
This book is provided by FunNovel Novel Book | Fan Fiction Novel [Beautiful Free Novel Book]