Chapter 12: The Besieged Han Army
On the endless plain, a Han army formed a circle with grain carts, and long spears were like a forest, like iron hedgehogs. Archers, crossbowmen, and local warriors were in the middle of the circle, protected by carts and spearmen.

The Han army was well deployed, however, outside the Han army’s circular formation were the Yellow Turban Army all over the mountains.

“kill!”

The Yellow Turban Army attacked from all directions like a tide, regardless of the cost. The cold light was freezing, blood and flesh were flying, and the shouts and screams shook the earth.

Hundreds and thousands of Yellow Turban soldiers’ bodies had fallen around the Han army’s circular formation, densely packed. Some of the Yellow Turban soldiers’ bodies were riddled with arrows, and broken arms and limbs were everywhere. Human lives were worthless, and blood was flowing like a river.

Although the Yellow Turban Army suffered heavy casualties, they were like moths to a flame, one after another.

The brutal battle that lasted for a long time also caused huge losses to the Han army. Almost every Han soldier was covered in blood and looked tired.

The Yellow Turban Army seemed endless, while the Han army was defending its position with limited manpower, and sooner or later it would be overwhelmed by the Yellow Turban Army that was all over the mountains.

Of the one thousand Han troops, less than three hundred were left, and Han soldiers were dying every moment. Even the militiamen who were transporting grain had to pick up the blood-stained spears on the ground and join the battle.

The Han army generals were covered in blood and wielded their swords wildly. Every time they swung their swords, a Yellow Turban soldier was killed. They were extremely brave.

But the same problem still existed. The overwhelming Yellow Turban Army was endless, and the Han army generals could only take care of one direction. The defense lines in other directions were shaky and could be torn open by the Yellow Turban Army at any time!

A burly man with a machete in his hand and a yellow turban on his head came riding a horse, raised the machete high, and then chopped it down heavily, with such force that the ground seemed to split!

clang!
The Han army general raised his sword to block, sparks flew, but was pushed back several steps by the powerful sword strike from the Yellow Turban leader who rode forward on his horse.

“Hu, hu, hu…”

The Han general was panting, his eyes red, staring at the Yellow Turban leader. His armor was broken, blood was coming out of his knuckles, and his physical strength was almost at its limit.

Despite this, he still stood on the battlefield and led the remaining Han troops to fight to the death.

……

Ma Yue went out to scout and soon returned with intelligence: “My lord, there is a Han army grain transport team ahead that is being besieged by the Yellow Turban Army.”

“How many Han soldiers are there? How many Yellow Turban soldiers are there?”

“I roughly estimate that there may be less than 500 Han soldiers left, and the number of Yellow Turban soldiers is countless, at least tens of thousands.”

“hiss……”

Li Qian took a breath of cold air.

Ma Yue was once a lieutenant colonel in the Xiliang Army. With his experience and vision, his estimate of the number of people in the warring parties should not be too far off.

These are tens of thousands of Yellow Turban troops.

No matter how weak the Yellow Turban Army was, once their numbers reached tens of thousands, it would be beyond the ability of Li Qian, who only had 300 men, to handle them.

Moreover, the Yellow Turban Army, which numbered tens of thousands, was mostly led by Yellow Turban generals.

The Han army that was besieged by the Yellow Turban Army had held out for a long time, and their combat effectiveness must have been strong. However, facing the siege of tens of thousands of Yellow Turban Army soldiers, they were still in danger, which shows how fierce this group of Yellow Turban Army was.

How to choose?

Cheng Yaojin’s blood boiled, and he chose to fight: “My lord, there is no time to lose, let me lead the troops to defeat the Yellow Turbans!”

Ma Yue’s view was different from Cheng Yaojin’s: “The enemy is so powerful that even the Han army cannot defeat them. We cannot fight against the Yellow Turbans with eggs. We should accumulate strength and fight against them again in the future.”

The two generals held different opinions, which was also what made Li Qian conflicted.

If possible, he would naturally be willing to rescue the Han soldiers who were besieged by the Yellow Turban Army.

But the problem is that they really cannot defeat the Yellow Turban Army of tens of thousands of people, and they may even lose all the troops they have worked so hard to build.

Cheng Yaojin and Ma Yue were both military generals, and without any strategists to give advice to Li Qian, Li Qian had to rely on himself.

Li Qian pondered and finally had an idea: “You follow my plan.”

The fierce battle between the Yellow Turban Army and the Han Army continued. The bloodiness and tenacity of this Han Army far exceeded the Yellow Turban Army’s expectations. The Yellow Turban Army, which had already suffered heavy casualties, could only continue to attack fiercely, in order to kill the Han Army without leaving a single piece of armor. Suddenly, at the edge of the battlefield, dust rolled in, and the sound of horse hooves could be heard faintly.

The Yellow Turban Army on the periphery discovered this abnormality and immediately panicked.

“The cavalry! It’s the cavalry!”

“It must be the reinforcements from the officers and soldiers!”

Panic spread quickly among the Yellow Turban Army. Each of them turned pale and had no will to fight.

Judging from the dust raised by the war horses, the Han cavalry had at least thousands of men, or even several thousand!
On the plain terrain, thousands of elite cavalry of the Han army can easily defeat the Yellow Turban Army of tens of thousands!

“Boss, the Han cavalry is coming!”

A Yellow Turban leader found the Yellow Turban leader who was fighting fiercely with a Han army general, his face full of panic.

The Yellow Turban Army lacks armor, and if their formation is broken by the Han cavalry, it will be a one-sided massacre.

“how many?”

“Thousands of cavalry, no, probably three thousand or five thousand!”

“what?!”

The Yellow Turban leader was also shocked.

My goodness, five thousand cavalrymen, how can he resist his ten thousand men?
“withdraw!”

The Yellow Turban leader raised his arms and shouted loudly. After a long and hard battle, the Yellow Turban Army, frightened by the impending large force of Han cavalry, ran away.

Only by hiding in the mountains and forests could they avoid being trampled by the Han cavalry.

“The reinforcements have finally arrived…”

The Han army general wanted to lead his troops in pursuit, but he stumbled and almost fell to the ground.

The bloody battle with the Yellow Turban Army exhausted all his physical strength.

Not only the Han army generals, but all the other Han army soldiers were wounded and exhausted. Many of them lay on the ground, gasping for breath.

The Han general looked to the south and saw the dust raised by the galloping Han horses approaching.

However, when the reinforcements actually arrived, the Han army generals were shocked to find that the “large Han cavalry force” that scared off the Yellow Turban Army actually consisted of only more than 30 horses, and a bundle of branches was tied to the tail of each war horse.

The Han army generals suddenly realized.

This is a tactic to confuse the enemy.

Li Qian arrived with his troops and scanned the battlefield.

The battlefield was littered with corpses, with the bodies of the Han army and the Yellow Turban army scattered everywhere. Broken spears, curled iron swords, and broken shields were everywhere, and there were also burning grain carts emitting thick smoke.

The Han army had 300 food carts, which formed a circle. It was thanks to these makeshift “fortifications” that the Han army was able to hold off the Yellow Turban Army, which far outnumbered them.

In the middle of the circle were several hundred strong men helping to transport food, and… there were dozens of doctors treating the injured Han soldiers.

The proportion of traditional Chinese medicine doctors in the Han army was a bit too high.

Could it be that the mission of this Han army is not only to transport food, but also to escort doctors?
The Han army general suffered dozens of wounds, but he still stood firm and led the Han army to hold out for a long time under the fierce attack of tens of thousands of Yellow Turban troops. He was indeed a brave general.

Could he be a famous general from the Three Kingdoms?

“Whose general are you? Where are these grains and fodders being transported to?”

(End of this chapter)