Chapter 64 Liu Bei Arrives Lu Zhi had no idea that Tian Ze was secretly helping him, and at this moment he was having a headache about how to capture Guangzong City. The walls of Guangzong City were high and deep, and the Yellow Turban Army was large in number, so the officers and soldiers he led were not at an advantage in numbers. Moreover, siege warfare is different from field warfare. Although the combat effectiveness of the officers and soldiers far exceeds that of the Yellow Turban Army, it is difficult for them to fully display their power in a siege. After making the siege equipment, Lu Zhi tried to attack the city several times, but with poor results. In order to ensure that the government troops could retain enough manpower to continue besieging Guangzong City, Lu Zhi had to give up the idea of continuing to attack the city and instead began to besiege and attack the reinforcements. Due to the emperor's decree, local tyrants recruited soldiers and fought against the Yellow Turbans, causing countless Yellow Turbans to be defeated and flee. Many Yellow Turbans came towards Guangzong where Zhang Jue was. After all, Lu Zhi had a small number of troops, and although he managed to encircle Guangzong City, his defense line was not tight, and many defeated Yellow Turban soldiers were able to escape into the city. Before this, Lu Zhi did not care and even condoned it intentionally, because he was well versed in military strategy and knew that having more people was not necessarily a good thing. Especially for an army with extremely poor organization and discipline like the Yellow Turban Army, once the number of people reaches a certain level, the more there are, the easier it is to deal with them. Because the Yellow Turban Army's generals were simply unable to command such a large army. The more people there were, the more harmful it would be, and the more chaotic the deployment would become.
Moreover, the food in Guangzong City was limited, and the amount of food required by the more than 100,000 Yellow Turban Army was extremely staggering, and they could not sustain it for too long. But now, Lu Zhi felt that he should put more pressure on Zhang Jue, because he didn't know how the emperor would react and how long he could trust him. Attacking the city is inferior, attacking the heart is superior. How would the Yellow Turbans in the city feel if the Yellow Turbans who had been pouring in one after another suddenly disappeared? The states had been pacified, and they had become an isolated army struggling to survive. As a result, the morale of the Yellow Turban rebels will inevitably be greatly disrupted. The ones who undertook this task were the three cavalry battalions of the five schools of the Northern Army, the Wuhuan cavalry, and Tian Ze's personal guards. Lu Zhi built a long wall around Guangzong City and arranged elite cavalry to patrol the periphery of Guangzong City in turns. With the help of Tian Ze's secret talent, the entire Guangzong City was completely turned into a forbidden area that was open to the public but not accessible. The Yellow Turban Army in the city suddenly became panic-stricken, but they did not find anything unusual outside the city. "This shouldn't happen!" Lu Zhi looked at Guangzong City, which remained silent, and said in confusion. "With no news coming from outside the city, the Yellow Turban bandits should be panicking. Why hasn't any troops left the city yet?" Faced with Lu Zhi's doubts, Tian Ze instantly realized something. "Master Lu, is it possible that something has happened to Zhang Jiao?" Lu Zhi's eyes lit up when he heard this: "Yes, in this case, even if the Yellow Turban Army does not leave the city to fight our army, they should at least test it. There has been no movement so far, there must be a major problem inside, and the key is likely to be Zhang Jue." His talent of "knowing people and assigning them to the right positions" enables him to vaguely gain insight into a person's character, talents, and even state. Since fighting with Zhang Jue, he had already discovered that Zhang Jue's health seemed to have been poor and was still deteriorating. He never dared to underestimate this great and wise teacher, and he always fought against him step by step, not daring to reveal any flaws. Relying on his absolute advantage in command, he was able to suppress the enemy in every battle, but even so, the enemy was still able to maintain its position with incredible abilities in every battle, which gave him a headache. You know, the troops he led were almost the most elite troops in the Han Dynasty. As for Zhang Jue's subordinates, they were a group of rabble, and a large number of them.
Once defeated, they would at least fall into chaos, if not complete collapse. Zhang Jue and his men obviously did not have a commander capable of commanding an army of more than 200,000. The reason why these 200,000 Yellow Turban soldiers were able to hold on was largely due to their fanatical belief in Zhang Jue, and secondly because of Zhang Jue's methods. The five hundred Yellow Turban warriors who seemed invulnerable to swords and spears were able to withstand the greatest pressure every time, and confronted Lu Zhi's three battalions of cavalry and infantry head-on without losing the upper hand at all. Whenever Lu Zhi commanded the three battalions of cavalry to use their flexibility to try to kill the Yellow Turban Army from the flank, the Yellow Turban Army around them immediately became extremely ferocious and were able to directly compete with the Northern Army. It was obvious that Zhang Jue was using some magic. Lu Zhi didn't believe that such a terrible magic could be cast at will, so he quickly linked it to Zhang Jue's condition. In the subsequent battles, he deliberately attacked the Yellow Turban Army from all directions to force Zhang Jue to cast a spell. Zhang Jue's declining state just proved his guess. After that, Lu Zhi was no longer eager to win, but fought frequently with the Yellow Turbans, and withdrew his troops every time he suffered certain losses. He did not seek to kill the enemy, he only wanted to consume Zhang Jue's energy. He deliberately showed some signs of fatigue from time to time to give Zhang Jue hope. Because to the Yellow Turbans, Zhang Jue, as a symbol of faith, is of vital importance. Without Zhang Jue, the Yellow Turbans would be nothing to be feared. Zhang Jue did not realize the problem at first. He thought that the government army was weak and only needed one step to win. It was not until later that they vaguely realized that something was wrong, but it was already too late and they could only retreat to Guangzong City. "It seems that Zhang Jue can't hold on any longer!" Lu Zhi murmured. "Master Lu, what should we do next?" "Let's wait and see." Lu Zhi said. Zhang Jue's ability to create such a huge chaos by himself was beyond the imagination of ordinary people, and Lu Zhi was extremely wary of him. Now Zhang Jue is dying. Although this is the best time to attack, it is also the most dangerous moment. No one knows what means Zhang Jue will use. There will always be a gap in the siege army. To be on the safe side, it is better to wait until Zhang Jue dies before sending out troops, just in case. Just as everyone was waiting for news from Guangzong City, a small army came from the north. Tian Ze, who was on patrol, looked at the familiar face in front of the new army. He was delighted, but his heart was full of complicated feelings. However, he still smiled and shouted, "Xuan De!" "Brother Chengshou!" Liu Bei was originally facing a group of cavalrymen and was guessing their identities. When he heard the familiar voice, he quickly looked over and shouted with the same joy. Seeing that their commander was familiar with them, the soldiers on both sides relaxed a little. Tian Ze rode up to Liu Bei and patted him on the shoulder: "Xuan De, I haven't seen you for a few years. You are getting stronger and stronger!" Liu Bei smiled modestly: "Brother Chengshou, you are too kind. I am not as good as you and Brother Bogui." At that time, he, Tian Ze and Gongsun Zan studied under Lu Zhi. They had a very good relationship and often did things together and fought with others. Gongsun Zan was a man of upright character, and Liu Bei was also a chivalrous man. As for Tian Ze, he simply couldn't stand the children of wealthy and powerful families bullying the common people. The three of them were of similar temperament and often fought with those playboys and evil slaves. Every time, Gongsun Zan rushed to the front, Tian Ze served as the main force, and Liu Bei assisted and finished off from the side. Gongsun Zan was upright and never backed down even when he was beaten black and blue.
Liu Bei was extremely agile, and he relied on his elusive movements to shuttle across the battlefield every time, but he did not slack off, and the number of enemies he defeated was even no less than that of Gongsun Zan. Tian Ze relied on his strong physical fitness to fight against ten people at once. He did not dodge the punches and sticks, and won by sheer strength. Liu Bei was deeply impressed by this and felt that Tian Ze had the courage of a tyrant. Tian Ze smiled slightly when he heard this. The time he spent in school was very wonderful, which reminded him of his university experience. Therefore, he would act "youthfully impulsive" from time to time, but now he is not so willing to do it. After all, there are not many people worth his effort, and it is not easy to kill them, so why bother to be competitive. "Xuan De, you came here to seek refuge with Master Lu, right?" Liu Bei nodded, and calmly looked at the thousand elite cavalrymen behind Tian Ze, with a hint of envy in his heart: "Brother, you are really famous now! Defeating the Xianbei, breaking the Wuhuan, and conquering Liaodong, your heroic deeds have been heard by me in Zhuo County." Tian Ze waved his hand nonchalantly: "It's just a little bit of fame, a mere barbarian is nothing." "Come on, I'll take you to see Master Lu first, and we'll talk while we walk." (End of this chapter)