After a tragic battle, the Han army's camp was filled with wounded soldiers and mourners were everywhere.
The huge casualties brought huge physical and psychological trauma to the Han army. The army's extreme fatigue and strong resentment almost made Huangfu Song unable to continue to command the army, and it almost led to a mutiny.
For this reason, Huangfu Song had to let the army rest and recuperate, and gave generous rewards to restore the morale of the army. He gave them money, meat, and wine to let them vent and relax for a while. For this reason, he also issued a ban on gambling in the army. , gambling is allowed.
The effect was not bad. After eating the meat and getting the money, the soldiers felt less resentful. After starting to gamble, they did relax their tense spirits.
But it is also true that the number of casualties during World War I was too high. Many people could not stay any longer and felt that life was more important than money.
From the end of June after the war ended to late July when preparations for the second wave of military operations began, in less than a month, more than 1,200 people were reported to have successfully escaped from the military camp and were missing.
This is still successful, but there are more unsuccessful ones.
So Huangfu Song ordered the escaping soldiers to be severely punished. They were hung up not far from the camp entrance and whipped and exposed to the sun every day until they died.
Such horrific punishment barely stopped the flow of soldiers fleeing, and made Huangfu Song increasingly worried. However, he had no choice but to win because of the pressure from the imperial court and the Jinwen school.
So Huangfu Song ordered the army to march to Jinyang County, the county seat of Taiyuan County, and then consider heading north into the mountains.
From Jinyang County to the north, there is a large and continuous mountainous area. There are big peaks within small peaks, one mountain after another, and there is not much flat land. If there is no guide to guide the way, it is very likely to get lost in it and be mistaken for wild animals. Meals delivered to your door.
The bandits and the southern Xiongnu rebels all hid in the mountains to rest. If they did not come out, Huangfu Song could not fight them on the plains. He could not take advantage of the Han army and could only bite the bullet and march north.
Then he tasted the pain of playing on the road.
On the way to Langmeng County, the army was attacked many times. Huangfu Song commanded the army to respond calmly and did not let the rebel attacks succeed. However, when the army approached Langmeng County, the logistics were threatened by the rebel attacks.
This made Huangfusong feel a complete crisis, and immediately dispatched heavy troops to protect the grain road and maintain the stability of the grain road.
But as a result, there were far fewer troops available to launch attacks, and this also in a sense aggravated the number of desertions of soldiers who were dissatisfied with him.
Huangfu Song originally wanted to stop and reorganize the army, consolidate logistics, and deal with the issue of soldiers fleeing, but the pressure from the Jinwen School once again put him under pressure.
Liu Bei's brilliant victory put the Jinwen school at a disadvantage in the political struggle, which they could not accept. They needed Huangfu Song to resolve the war as soon as possible and overwhelm Liu Bei with a great victory.
Huangfu Song deeply felt the helplessness of being a man, so he could only lead 30,000 people to attack Yuxian County, which was occupied by the rebels.
The rebels held on to Yu County, but Huangfu Song failed to win many strong attacks, and threats continued to appear from the rear. He asked his nephew Huangfu Li to lead the army to ensure logistics, but Huangfu Li was also exhausted, and was tortured by the rebels in great pain.
Finally, Huangfu Song felt that he could not continue, so he sent troops to burn the mountains and forests near the grain road, trying to use this method to leave the rebels no room to hide.
This was effective. The large-scale burning of mountains and forests by the Han army brought some threats to the rebels. The movements of the elusive rebels who used the mountains and forests as cover were restricted, and the logistics were slightly smoother.
Just when Huangfusong thought that everything was moving in the right direction, on August 13, a large number of rebels suddenly appeared in the Baibo Valley in the northeast of Linfen County, Hedong County.
Under the banner of the Taiping Dao Yellow Turban Army, these rebels rose up under the leadership of their leader Guo Tai and directly cut off the Han army's food route.
This news was learned by the Luoyang court and Huangfu Song almost at the same time. The court and Huangfu Song were shocked. They never expected that they were only paying attention to the bandits in the Bingzhou mountainous area. As a result, a large group of people emerged from the valley of Hedong County. Big Yellow Turban Army!
The Luoyang court reacted as quickly as possible and ordered General Zhang Wen to immediately lead 20,000 troops north to Hedong County to suppress the Yellow Turban Army in the Baibo Valley, connect with Huangfu Song, and open up the grain road.
Huangfu Song also immediately blocked the news, pretending to return to the army to rest, gave up the attack on Yu County, and wanted to lead the army back to Jinyang County.
However, the news that the grain route was cut off was revealed by Han soldiers who were dissatisfied with Huangfu Song. The Han army was in chaos, and Huangfu Song could not control the situation.
It happened that Zhang Yan had already arrived in Yu County at this time.
He led his generals Sun Qing, Wang Dang and others to decisively attack the chaotic Han army, and defeated the 30,000 Han army led by Huangfu Song in one fell swoop. The Han army collapsed and fled in all directions.
Huangfu Song had no choice but to flee in embarrassment under the protection of his personal guards.
After returning to Jinyang County, the 20,000 Han troops and 10,000 Southern Xiongnu cavalry who stayed in Jinyang County could not remain calm. The Southern Xiongnu cavalry took the lead in running away, and the Han army collapsed and fled southward, unable to control it at all.
Seeing that there was no hope of victory, Huangfu Song thought of all the embarrassing treatment he was about to encounter, and was ready to kill himself with a knife. Fortunately, Huangfu Li who was following him had quick eyesight and quick hands. He took Huangfu Song's knife, knocked him unconscious, and took him and his bodyguards with him. They fled south together.
In this battle, the Han army was almost completely wiped out. Fifty thousand Han troops fled in confusion in Hedong County and Taiyuan County. It was impossible to count their whereabouts, and no one had the ability to count their whereabouts.
The rebel alliance led by Zhang Yan won a complete victory. They went south to capture Jinyang County in one fell swoop, and then went south to capture Qi County, Jingling County, and Zhongdu County. They sang triumphant songs along the way, killed many officials, and almost controlled the city. The whole territory of Taiyuan County.
In Hedong County, the Yellow Turban Army in the Baibo Valley suddenly rose up without the imperial officials noticing it, causing the collapse of the Han army in one fell swoop, which greatly shocked the Luoyang court.
Although the hussar general Zhang Wen rushed to Hedong County with his troops to stabilize the situation, he was unable to save Huangfusong's collapse and the collapse of Taiyuan County.
The Yellow Turban Army in the Baibo Valley was also very tenacious. They fought tenaciously with Zhang Wen in the Linfen area, but Zhang Wen could not win.
By the end of August, the Northern Expedition led by the Luoyang court had settled. Huangfu Song was defeated and the 50,000 Han army collapsed. Zhang Wen barely maintained the situation and did not allow the White Wave Yellow Turban Army to move further south to threaten Luoyang. It's the limit of what he can do.
Liu Hong was very angry.
Regardless of what Huang Wan and others said, he ordered to seize all Huangfu Song's power, position, and title, deposed him as a commoner, and imprisoned him and his nephew Huangfu Li, including thirteen generals.
Huang Wan came forward to intercede for Huangfu Song, but was reprimanded by Liu Hong.
Huang Wan's cronies, Geng Zhong and Fan Tao, came to the court to intercede for Huangfu Song, but were reprimanded by Liu Hong and then dismissed from their posts.
The Jinwen school suffered a heavy blow, its momentum was set back, and it was almost unable to recover.
Under such circumstances, in early September of the fourth year of Zhongping, Zhang Yan led his army south from Taiyuan County to join forces with the Baibo Yellow Turban Army. The two armies fought together and launched an attack on Zhang Wen.
Zhang Wen had few troops, low morale, and was unable to resist. He was forced to retreat to Wenxi County and appealed to the court for support.
Liu Hong was furious again and ordered Zhang Wen to be demoted from General of Hussars to General of the Rear, relieved of his military power, and transferred him back to Luoyang. He also ordered General of the Guard He Miao to be the chief general and former General Zhou Shen to be the deputy general. Twenty thousand soldiers marched north to Wenxi County to take over Zhang Wen's army and fight against the rebels of Zhang Yan and Guo Tai.
So far, the situation is not at its worst.
(End of chapter)
