Sun Jian and Liu Bei met up and heard that Zhu Xi had been killed and his head had been cut off by bandits. He was furious and immediately led his troops to chase after him.
Seeing this, Liu Bei could only return to the stronghold.
Although it was important to avenge Zhu Rong, he could not forget about the Yellow Turban Army in the widowhood because of revenge.
Thus, after Liu Bei returned to the stronghold, he discussed with the lieutenants under Zhu Xiong to continue the siege.
……
Zhou Cheng and the others didn't take the main road. Instead, they led their people into the forest.
If he killed Zhu Rong, the government troops would definitely take revenge.
There were many cavalrymen in the government army. Zhou Cheng only had 14 horses, but he had 43 men.
If they rode on the main road, they would be easily caught.
Moreover, it was easy to hide in the forest. There were wild beasts and wild fruits in the forest, so it was easy to obtain food.
At this moment, a man behind her asked,""Station commander, where are we going next?”
The man who asked the question was seven feet tall and slightly thin. His name was Xu Fang, and he was the chief appointed by Zhou Chenggang.
In fact, not only Xu Fang, but the others also wanted to know.
Although they trusted Zhou Cheng, the Yellow Turban Army in Nanyang was already on the verge of being wiped out.
Other than the northern army that Zhu Xiong brought, there were also powerful troops from various places and local county soldiers who were chasing after the moth bandits.
The world was really big, but there was no place to live.
Therefore, where should he go in the future? How to survive was what everyone was most concerned about.
Zhou Cheng took out the map from his body. He did not stop. Instead, he carried the iron spear and held the map. As he walked, he said,"We'll continue east to Yu River, then head north along Yu River back to Yingchuan.”
"Ah!"
"Back to Yingchuan!"
When they heard that Zhou Cheng was going north to Yingchuan, the Yellow Turbans were dumbfounded.
This was because they had fled from Yingchuan to Wan City. It could be said that they had narrowly escaped death. Now, they were actually going back to Yingchuan!
Of course, they had listened to Zhou Cheng and did not follow him from Yingchuan to Guangzong. They had luckily survived.
Zhou Cheng explained calmly," The government army has few soldiers, so we can only concentrate our forces to attack the prefectures and cities. We will go north, which is the opposite of the government army's march. As long as we gather the scattered soldiers in Nanyang along the way, we should be able to increase our numbers. When the time comes, we will attack Yingchuan, cut off the pass, seize the city, prepare more money and food, and go north to Taihang Mountain for shelter. We can even go out of Yanmen to the grasslands. Otherwise, it will be difficult for us to survive in this world with just our few people.”
"We'll listen to the station chief."
"Alright, we'll go wherever the station chief goes.”
The Yellow Turban soldiers around Zhou Cheng were all poor people and could not even read.
The Eastern Han Dynasty had already begun to use official script. Although Zhou Cheng looked a little laborious, he could still understand it.
Now that they had heard Zhou Cheng's analysis, the Yellow Turban soldiers were convinced. At least Zhou Cheng had a general direction and goal, instead of leading them blindly.
He headed east and finally arrived at Yu Shui. Along the way, he gathered up many defeated Yellow Turban soldiers.
By the time Zhou Cheng found the ship, there were already nearly 2,000 people gathered around him.
These people were scattered soldiers in the wilderness. If no one led them, they could only wait for the soldiers to slaughter them. Therefore, they were willing to follow Zhou Cheng.
However, half of these two thousand people were old, weak, women, and children. They were civilians who had been kidnapped by the Yellow Turban Army during the uprising.
Zhou Cheng didn't abandon the old, weak, women, and children. It wasn't that he was merciful, but that he understood the use of the old, weak, and women.
When the Yellow Turban Army faced the Shangguan Army, they would often drive away the old, weak, women, and children to block the charge of the government cavalry, or even the arrows.
If he encountered soldiers and cavalry in the wilderness, Zhou Cheng would have no choice but to do so.
Otherwise, Zhou Cheng would not have been able to think of a way to deal with the charge of the cavalry.
……
Nanyang was a famous county in the world. It had people and food, and there were many Yellow Turban soldiers in Nanyang.
Therefore, although they were defeated and pursued by the government troops, there were still many Yellow Turban soldiers who escaped and hid in the wild.
After Zhou Cheng had preserved Zhu Xi's head, he stuck it on his Zhou flag.
He was now the canal commander and appointed two brave old soldiers as lieutenants.
As they went north along the Yu River, the Yellow Turban Army that had been scattered along the way joined them.
Every day, there were at least a few hundred people, and at most a thousand.
After more than a month, Zhou Cheng had brought nearly ten thousand Yellow Turban soldiers and crossed the mountains to re-enter Yingchuan County.
Although it had been less than a year, Yingchuan had experienced a disaster. The fields were deserted and the villages were empty.
On the way, Zhou Cheng and the others avoided the counties and villages as much as possible. They relied on hunting, picking wild vegetables, wild fruits, hunting wild beasts, and catching fish and prawns in the streams and rivers. Therefore, they did not eat their fill at all.
Sometimes, he would even randomly pick a handful of leaves, grass, or roots and stuff them into his mouth.
However, none of the ten thousand people had any complaints, and no one chose to leave.
Although it was very hard to cross the mountains and there was not enough food to eat, it was already very good to be able to survive.
Furthermore, Zhou Cheng had killed Zhu Rong, which was considered as revenge for Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang.
Therefore, these nearly ten thousand Yellow Turban soldiers felt that they could survive if they followed Zhou Cheng, the canal commander.
Zhou Cheng appointed himself as the canal commander, and under the banner of fulfilling the last wishes of the great teacher, he temporarily reorganized more than ten thousand troops.
He first selected 2000 strong men from the nearly 10,000 Yellow Turban soldiers. They held long spears and formed the Tiger Troop Battalion.
Another 500 people were selected and equipped with bows and steel knives to form the Divine Martial Camp. However, there were limited bows and crossbows now, and most of them only carried stones on their backs to be used as long-range projectiles.
Then, he would pick another 300 tall and strong men with shields and steel knives to form Boulder Camp.
After that, 200 brave old soldiers who were good at shooting were selected and equipped with warhorses, bows, and spears. They were named Daybreak Cavalry.
At the same time, he cut down a large amount of wood in the forest and made it into a special spear.
These spears were five meters long and as thick as a forearm. The spearhead was sharp, and two or three people would hold one together to form a spear formation to block the enemy cavalry's charge.
Although it was the Macedonian-style spear formation, it was the only formation that Zhou Cheng could use and train in the shortest time possible.
He also chopped down a large amount of wood in the forest to make wooden shields. No matter if it was the old, the weak, women, or children, they could work together to raise the shields to block arrows.
……
Zhou Cheng rode on his horse and looked at the city in the distance. Xu County was in front of him. Zhou Cheng had already sent scouts to investigate.
There were only 500 county soldiers in Xu County, and they had also been looted by the Yellow Turban Army. As a result, the city gates and walls were damaged and had not been repaired in time.
"Daybreak Cavalry, Tiger Battalion, follow me. Break the city in one blow!”
Zhou Cheng shouted.
As Zhou Cheng led the charge, the 200 Daybreak Cavalry and 2000 Tiger Troop followed behind him and charged towards Xu County.
Xu County was only a small city with weak soldiers and the city had not been renovated.
Dong dong dong!
The war drums were like muffled thunder, shaking people's heartstrings!
At this moment, the soldiers on the city tower saw that the Yellow Turbans had returned and hurriedly reported to the county captain. At the same time, they closed the city gate.
However, before the lieutenant could arrive, Zhou Chengxian sent spies into the city to kill the soldiers at the city gate and open it.
Zhou Cheng had already rushed into the city gate.
Zhou Cheng took the lead, his iron spear showing no mercy. In just a moment, more than ten people at the city gate had died under his spear.
The Yellow Turban soldiers around Zhou Cheng were all old soldiers. They followed Zhou Cheng and were not afraid of death. Therefore, they quickly occupied the city gate and attacked the county government.
At this moment, County Lieutenant Chen Chong rushed over with 500 county soldiers.
"Don't be so arrogant!"
When Chen Chong saw Zhou Cheng, he clamped his legs on the horse's belly and urged the horse to speed up and charge at Zhou Cheng.
However, Zhou Cheng didn't put Chen Chong in his eyes at all and charged forward.
As expected, the two warhorses passed by each other, and in less than a round, Chen Chong was stabbed down from his horse by Zhou Cheng.
"Those who surrender will be spared!"
Zhou Cheng then beheaded Chen Chong and raised his right hand high. At the same time, he shouted at the soldiers that Chen Chong had brought.
Chen Chong's soldiers were all young and strong who had just been recruited. Without much resistance, they threw down their weapons and surrendered.
After taking down Xu County, Zhou Cheng ordered the Yellow Turban Army to plunder and take away all the people in the city, livestock, food, and so on.
Whether it was the aristocrats, merchants, craftsmen, or farmers, none of them were spared.
Furthermore, Zhou Cheng led his troops to quickly take down Kunyang, Wuyang, Dingling, Yuxian and other counties, plundering more than 50,000 people.
At this time, Zhou Cheng had more than 10,000 strong men and more than 50,000 old, weak, women, and children.
The Yellow Turbans returned to Yingchuan and took six counties in a row. This news quickly spread to Luoyang and shocked the entire court.
This book comes from：m.funovel.com。