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"Xiao Zhi, distribute steamed buns to the refugees. Those willing to accept Mount Tai’s management get a bowl of meat soup. Replenish all soldiers with three pieces of wind-dried chicken and inform them that if there’s no chance to halt the army and cook tomorrow, they’ll all eat dry rations. Have the rear camp prepare cooled boiled water, and tell them they must carry enough dry food and water for three days, using gourds or bamboo tubes. Within three days, I want the heads of the Yellow Turban leaders!" Chen Xi, watching the crowd of refugees outside the camp, turned to Fa Zheng and said.
Zang Ba’s news had already come through. He had become one of Chen Bai’s five top generals, and the locations of Fuyun and Hou Qian were also known. With this information, Chen Xi no longer intended to play any strategy to boost the enemy’s arrogance. Instead, his plan was to crush Chen Bai immediately. Zang Ba would lead the routed troops to storm Fuyun and Hou Qian, with Xi himself following behind to mow them down.
Chen Xi didn’t believe that scum like Fuyun and Hou Qian could maintain control under such circumstances, to stabilize their own forces against the onslaught of tens of thousands of routed troops; that would not be the Yellow Turbans, but rather the work of ancient renowned generals leading the world’s elite troops!
In such a situation, no strategy could compare to the straightforwardness of brute force. Once Chen Bai was crushed, the routed troops would roll over anyone in their way like a snowball, crushing all obstacles. In this regard, once humans enter a state of panicked blind obedience, a hundred thousand people are truly no better than a hundred thousand pigs; intelligence would be a disadvantage.
Fa Zheng certainly hadn’t expected Chen Xi to be crazy enough to plan on driving over a million Yellow Turbans like sheep. And Chen Xi wouldn’t tell Fa Zheng that the first time such a method appeared, it would surely be unbelievable to everyone. However, Chen Xi was confident he could accomplish it. If it weren’t for Zang Ba leading the charge with the routed troops, the direction might not be guaranteed. But now, just wait for the tail-end pursuit and massacre.
At the third quarter of Shen Hour, Zhao Yun, Zhang Fei, Taishi Ci, and that group of cavalry who drove sheep finally returned at the signal of the messenger.
"Zilong, Yide, and Ziyi have done well. The military management of Zhongtai was slightly lax," Chen Xi said from the main seat, nodding in salute to the three men, then turning to Sun Guan, "But there’s no need for punishment, Sun Guan; you’ve only just grasped the appropriate degree. When it’s necessary, you must demonstrate authority!" A trace of killing intent flashed across Chen Xi’s eyes.
"Yes, Commander!" Sun Guan stood up and replied.
"I’ve called you here today because the Yellow Turban Commander is leading an army of about a hundred thousand Yellow Turban Bandits ahead, preparing to shatter our forces and then feast on our rear. What I want you all to do is to strike the enemy with the force of thunder. Tomorrow, show me the most terrifying moves you’ve got, and I want to see results within one quarter hour," Chen Xi spoke with grave authority. "Xiao Zhi and I will do everything in our power to coordinate the troops for you!"
"Understood!" The generals stood and replied loudly.
"Each of you leave a thousand infantry as a reserve force. Break camp early tomorrow morning and crush the Yellow Turbans!" Chen Xi issued his command directly.
"Understood!" The generals replied loudly again.
After assigning military tasks, Chen Xi sent the men back to organize their troops, then summoned Fa Zheng, "Xiao Zhi, are the dry rations for each unit ready?"
"I’ve directly given the dried meat to the units, and then let them distribute it to their soldiers. Zichuan, are you sure this battle will last a day?" Fa Zheng asked with some surprise. Was the sudden distribution of dry rations a sign that the fight against a hundred thousand Yellow Turbans would last an entire day? Moreover, even if it did, they should be given hot food, right? Dry rations didn’t seem appropriate.
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"Hmm, it’s going to be a long fight, and there won’t be any chances to stop and cook, so it’s best we issue dry rations anyway—it’s simpler," Chen Xi said with a smile.
"Oh, so we’re going to be routing, but have you thought about where to ambush? And this kind of routing can really damage morale, not to mention it’ll greatly exhaust the soldiers’ physical strength. Just dry rations probably won’t cut it, huh. No wonder you’re distributing beef jerky; that should cover the energy needed for the troops to flee, at least for the next three to five days," Fa Zheng surmised like a rapid-fire cannon, then nodded confidently.
"Probably..." Chen Xi’s face twitched; he felt there was no need to explain further as Fa Zheng had already imagined all the scenarios, leaving nothing more to say.
"By the way, did you add salt and sugar to the boiling water I told you to prepare?" Chen Xi changed the subject.
"We’re not short on salt, but there wasn’t enough sugar, so I put it all in. The amount of salt and sugar you mentioned earlier was about right, I think it’s indeed about right," Fa Zheng didn’t ask any further, thought about the salt and sugar water he had prepared earlier, and nodded.
"Let’s do that, then. Fill every soldier’s bamboo tube with this and tell them to drink it if they get thirsty while running tomorrow. Whatever happens, they absolutely can’t stop!" Chen Xi turned and said to Fa Zheng.
On the other side, Chen Bai gnawed on a pig’s trotter while arranging the battle for tomorrow. The challenge letter was written by Zang Ba; there wasn’t a single literate person in the entire camp. Zang Ba, with an expressionless face, wrote down the arrangements for Chen Bai’s three squadrons in the letter, read it to Chen Bai, and then had his subordinates deliver it to Chen Xi’s camp—hence the source of Chen Xi’s intelligence...
Chen Xi’s orders were blatantly written in the challenge letter, openly transmitting intelligence. Sadly, among the Yellow Turbans, there wasn’t a single person who could read. But then again, if they could read, would they need to be Yellow Turbans? In this era, anyone who could read was a rare talent and could get by anywhere—why wouldn’t they have something to eat?
"Channel Commander, as long as we defeat them and with Mount Tai’s food supplies, we can expand greatly and then suddenly become one of the Feudal Lords. Weren’t the ancestors of the Han Dynasty bandits clad in green skins? Channel Commander might well achieve a foundation of greatness!" Zang Ba said with a flattering face.
Zang Ba, who became a scholar and had been a mountain bandit for many years, was fooling these inexperienced new Yellow Turban Commanders; it was effortlessly easy. Now, Chen Bai was nearly blinded by the bright and beautiful future, completely oblivious to his own identity, arrogantly preparing to crush the opposition tomorrow and then subsume them under his command, creating an imperial legacy.
Just the same, Chen Bai’s four capable subordinates were also stirred up by the phrase Chen Sheng uttered four hundred years ago, "Do princes and generals have some special birth?" While one of the subordinates Zang Ba fooled was a bit crippled, the way he looked at Chen Bai was a bit off; well, that’s the essence of the saying about princes and generals...
Although the situation seemed excellent, Zang Ba was still not at ease. The Yellow Turban numbers were too large, and having seen the destructive power of over a million Yellow Turbans, Zang Ba had little confidence in Chen Xi’s plan.
What does it mean to have him, Zang Ba, lead the Routed Troops to flee towards Fuyun after Chen Bai’s defeat, and once Fuyun is beaten, to then run towards Hou Qian? After Hou Qian’s defeat, they’d keep running on the plains until the Yellow Turbans completely lost track and the formation collapsed. This looked very easy, but was Chen Zichuan sure he could make these over a million Yellow Turbans flee in panic? And even if they were to take captives, wouldn’t that take a long time?
[bookid=3280030,bookname="Immortal Three Kingdoms"]
