Chapter 425: Bloody Nanyang
Except for the border between Nanyang and Yuzhou in the east, which is dangerous and can be defended, the other areas are basically easy-to-attack and difficult-to-defend areas.
Zhu Jun had been relying on the eastern city to resist the Yuzhou Yellow Turbans, but now the northern line was broken through, which exposed the entire Nanyang to Xiang Yu's iron hoof.
There are 36 large and small counties in Nanyang. The total strength of the Han army is only nearly 140,000 troops, but the Yellow Turbans are attacking from two sides with 300,000 troops.
In order to prevent the Yellow Turbans from defeating them one by one, the Han army naturally could not leave troops to guard them in the counties.
Xiang Yu originally thought that the Han army would concentrate on defending a few strong cities and strategically place most county towns. After all, this was the best way to deal with a two-pronged attack.
And once the Han army did this, those counties would become Xiang Yu's strategic supply areas, so Xiang Yu didn't worry about the consumption of food and grass, but he didn't expect that it would be smoother than he thought.
"Report, Lu Zhi and Zhu Jun did not join forces. Now most of Lu Zhi's army has retreated into Wancheng, while Zhu Jun led the army to push towards Wuguan."
Wuguan is the southern gate of Guanzhong. If an accident occurs, the Guanzhong will be in turmoil.
The news that Zhu Jun retreated to Wuguan did not arouse the suspicion of the Yellow Turban generals. After all, the Han Dynasty was definitely more afraid of the 300,000 Yellow Turbans attacking Wuguan.
"What? Lu Zhijun actually shrank most of his troops to Wancheng?"
Xiang Yu didn't expect Lu Zhi to be so determined. He was going to fight him to the death in Wancheng.
During the Cold War, winter can be said to be a restricted area. Once this time period arrives, the war must be suspended. The last ceasefire was also due to the climate.
It is now November, and the temperature is getting colder and colder. However, Wancheng City has plenty of food and defenders, so it is obviously not that easy to fight.
If it continues, the temperature will drop completely by December, and Xiang Yu will have no choice but to wait until next year to go south to Jingzhou.
Xiang Yu was not originally prepared to take Jingzhou at once, but as the war became more and more smooth after Qin Hao was captured, Xiang Yu inevitably became arrogant.
The Han army without Qin Hao was indeed vulnerable. Xiang Yu thought so in his heart.
Xiang Yu wanted to move the battle line to Nanjun before the truce, and sitting on the rich Nanyang, he could maximize his strength this winter.
Wancheng is the first fortified city in Nanyang and the first big city in Nanjun. If Lu Zhi bets to die in Wancheng, Xiang Yu will not be able to completely occupy Nanyang before winter.
"Do we have any manpower in Wancheng?" Xiang Yu asked with a frown.
The implication is naturally that he wants to attack the Han army through means other than war.
Zhang Liang answered directly without thinking: "Wancheng is a stronghold of the Taiping Guards, and there are five hundred people in the city to respond."
"Can you open the city gate when our army attacks the city?"
After Zhang Liang pondered for a while, he shook his head and said: "Lu Zhi was also afraid that there would be internal coordination and internal coordination, so he guarded the city gate extremely tightly. The possibility of success is low."
Xiang Yu's brows suddenly furrowed even more tightly, but Zhang Liang's next words relieved his worries.
"Although our army in the city cannot seize the city gate, it can still do it by burning the Han army's grain depot."
If the Han army's winter food was burned, they would have no choice but to abandon Wancheng and defend other cities. And how could other cities with insufficient preparations withstand Xiang Yu's army's attack?
"We must succeed, and failure is absolutely not allowed." Xiang Yu said to Zhang Liang with a serious face.
"Understood." Zhang Liang nodded gently, but his tone was extremely firm.
"Send the order. The entire army will be divided into three groups. Each group will have an army of 100,000. They will capture all the cities around Wancheng as quickly as possible."
After Zhu Jun withdrew to Wuguan, Xiang Yu also successfully joined forces with the 100,000 Yuzhou Army affiliated to Zhang Liang. Now there are 300,000 Yellow Turbans on the South Road.
In order to capture Nanyang as soon as possible, Xiang Yu even personally led the army to attack the city. However, in other cities except Wancheng, there were only private armies from united aristocratic families. How could they resist Xiang Yu's elite army?
Faced with the Yellow Turbans, a gang of bandits who came to raid landlords' homes, the Nanyang family naturally united together as a matter of course.
Nanyang has no shortage of people, and aristocratic families have no shortage of money and food. Although the people at the bottom support the Yellow Turbans, when it comes to the benefits that can be directly obtained, the common people can't control so much.
Many people responded to the family's call and joined the defense team to resist the Yellow Turbans.
But Xiang Yu's elite troops, how could these improvised armies be able to withstand them?
The Yellow Turban Army usually only launched one charge, and the family alliance army was immediately defeated, and then surrendered in batches.
These poor people are also lured by profits, but facing an invincible opponent, how can they continue to work for the family?
In just three days, the Yellow Turban South Route Army captured ten cities in Nanyang, but strangely, their strength increased instead of decreasing.
On average, each of the ten cities provided the Yellow Turbans with nearly 5,000 surrendered troops, and now the total strength of the Yellow Turbans is about to exceed the 350,000 mark.
On November 4th, good news came from Wancheng again.
"Report... The grain depot in Wancheng was burned down by our army's internal officers. Wancheng is now in panic."
"That's great, God is helping me." Xiang Yu said happily.
As the commander-in-chief of burning grains, Zhang Liang was not as happy as Xiang Yu, but frowned slightly.
Zhang Liang always felt that this attack was a bit too simple, as simple as being designed to die.
Baijia has not taken any action yet. Is there a conspiracy or a back-up plan? Or am I being paranoid? Zhang Liang secretly thought.
Xiang Yu doesn't have as complicated a mind as Zhang Liang. Now that the situation is good, he naturally wants to expand his results.
"Send an order to mobilize an army of 150,000 to besiege Wancheng in a force of three and one missing. If Lu Zhi breaks through, ignore it for now and let him break out. The remaining 200,000 troops will continue to attack Nanyang. I will kill them all this time. Nanyang Family.”
Xiang Yu decided the fate of the Nanyang family with one sentence. The wealth and land that he had always been proud of have now become the life-saving talisman of the Nanyang family.
Under Xiang Yu's order, 200,000 Yellow Turbans massacred all the resisting Nanyang aristocratic families, and those who complied had their homes and lands confiscated. A total of nearly 50,000 people from the aristocratic families and related personnel died in this massacre.
Xiang Yu used the most bloody and violent means to forcibly implement the "Heavenly Land System" in Nanyang.
The people who benefited directly were naturally cheering and waiting at home for the recruitment order of the Yellow Turbans. As soon as the recruitment order came out, the people would definitely flock to follow it.
Xiang Yu did not order conscription because after collecting prisoners from twenty cities, the total number of Yellow Turban South Route Army had exceeded 400,000.
For the attack on Jingzhou, the 400,000-strong army was more than enough to attack. If they continued to recruit troops, the food and grass stolen from the Nanyang family would not be enough.
Of course, as a general, Zhang Liang would not agree to Xiang Yu's continued expansion of the army.
