Three Kingdoms: I am not Liu Bian

Chapter 66 Young Soldiers Eager to Establish Merit

During the day, the sunlight was cut into pieces by the billowing smoke and turned into a turbid amber color. The entire mountain forest was distorted and deformed under the invasion of the heat wave, like a painting melted by high temperature.

The charred bark curled up into scales, peeling off in the breeze, making a slight sound, as if the mountains and forests were groaning in pain.

The fire burned fiercely for two whole days without being extinguished, emitting scorching heat in all directions like a prairie fire. The air was also filled with a pungent burnt smell, which was the breath of life being devoured.

Half a mile away from the forest, Huangfu Song had already deployed his army here to wait for the enemy to tire themselves out.

The Han army not only dug trenches, but also built a fortress, which might be more accurately called a low wall, as its height was not even as high as the soldiers' chests.

However, this seemingly low fortress became a crucial line of defense. The soldiers in the front row only needed to place the handles of their spears on the fortress to effectively reduce the physical energy consumed when thrusting out the spears, making the attack more stable and powerful.

Moreover, even if it was just a low wall, if the Yellow Turban soldiers wanted to cross it, they would inevitably reveal a flaw in an instant.

This momentary flaw on the cruel battlefield is enough to determine their life or death.

After all, even if this barrier does not provide any protection, just standing here can provide people with a sense of security and become a solid psychological support for them.

Moreover, this fortress absorbed sufficient heat during the day and could provide a certain degree of warmth for the soldiers on duty at night. Combined with the burning forest in the distance, they didn't even need to wear winter clothes.

Unfortunately, this fortress failed to play its defensive role from beginning to end.

Ever since the Han army fired dense rockets into the forest, few Yellow Turban soldiers were able to escape from the sea of ​​fire.

The fire was so fierce that the soldiers behind the fort only saw a few hundred people escape from the forest. Compared to the total number of 60,000 Yellow Turbans, these few hundred people seemed insignificant.

However, it was these one or two hundred people who caused dozens of minor injuries to the Han army.

Well...how should I put it, this matter may be closely related to the prince.

At the oath-taking ceremony before leaving Luoyang, Liu Bian promised that everyone would receive rewards corresponding to their military merits, without any deductions, and that the rewards would be distributed directly to everyone after the war.

Later, when stationed in Yangdi, the army was divided into several groups to wipe out the scattered Yellow Turban troops in the western part of Yingchuan County. Liu Bian also stated that after pacifying the Yellow Turbans, he would select elite soldiers from the army to join the Five Schools of the Northern Army, the Left and Right Cavalry of the Yulin Army, and the Huben Guards.

If it was just the former, it would be fine, but the latter is very attractive to these girls from good families.

The Northern Army was a professional soldier, and being selected into the Northern Army meant getting a stable, high-paying job.

However, for the young men from good families, the more attractive ones are the Yulin Left and Right Cavalry and the Huben Guards.

Because these two palace guard positions are real iron rice bowls!
The Yulin Army will give priority to selecting from the descendants of active and retired soldiers, while the Huben Guards maintain their strength directly by having their sons inherit from their fathers, meaning that this family will serve as soldiers for generations.

While this might seem to limit the family's future prospects, for these decent families who weren't considered wealthy, a stable, iron rice bowl was more attractive than many positions with incredible potential. As for the criteria used by the Crown Prince to select elite soldiers for the Northern Army, Yulin Army, and Huben Imperial Guards?
It must be a military achievement!
Therefore, for the sake of military merit, the enthusiasm of these good family boys for war almost reached the point where it gave Huangfu Song a headache.

This was the first time in all his years of leading troops that he was troubled by the fact that the soldiers' high enthusiasm for fighting could not be vented through appropriate channels, so the good boys rushed to grab the heads.

The long spears and ring-handled swords in the hands of the Han army fell mercilessly on the Yellow Turban soldiers who had managed to escape from the forest, leaving no one alive.

Originally, for the Han soldiers, the merit of winning 60,000 heads in the forest was a victory. Those who were ambitious felt that they should have some combat effectiveness and could at least chop off three or four heads.

But now, due to the fire attack, everyone can only share the military merit of the 60,000 heads equally, which means an average of one and a half heads per person. They feel that they have missed out on the military merit of several heads!
This is naturally a good thing for those good family men who want to go home after the war and continue to live a comfortable life.

However, for those good family boys who wanted to make a name for themselves, they might be able to chop off three or four heads in this battle. This was a chance that was so close to them that slipped away. Naturally, many people felt extremely aggrieved, and were unwilling to let go even if it meant taking the head of an enemy soldier.

Another day passed, and the fire in the forest was finally extinguished. Faced with the post-war search mission assigned by Huangfu Song, each team showed extraordinary enthusiasm.

Small teams of Han troops, each consisting of fifty men and composed of good families from six counties and three rivers, began to advance towards the burnt forest from different directions.

A sergeant from a good family, with a tense expression and beads of sweat on his forehead, kicked away the somewhat carbonized corpse and looked around vigilantly, his eyes wide as copper bells. He cautiously warned several soldiers under his command, "Be careful! I heard that these moth thieves can use magic. Maybe the charred corpse on the ground will suddenly come back to life!
"Bullshit! If they knew any magic, could they be burned to death by our fire attack?" The team leader kicked the sergeant on the butt and said unhappily.

Along the way, the team lived in peace. They only executed a few dying Yellow Turban soldiers on the way to give them a quick death, and successfully found a water source in the forest.

More than 200 surviving Yellow Turban soldiers gathered in that stream!

Although the stream in the forest was flowing water and was influenced by groundwater, which prevented the river from becoming a huge boiling pot, the surface of the water was filled with scorching air.

Therefore, the more than 200 people who survived the fire were only alive temporarily. The surviving Yellow Turban soldiers were all pale and haggard. Almost all of them were coughing violently, and many even coughed up blood, with their bodies curled up in pain.

When the people were carried to the military camp outside Changsha City, Liu Bian frowned slightly, a complex look flashed in his eyes, and he roughly guessed the cause of these people's illness - respiratory tract burns!

The complications caused by respiratory burns were extremely terrifying. The more than 200 surviving Yellow Turban soldiers were all coughing violently, and many even coughed up blood.

To cure these more than 200 people, a lot of medicine and stones are needed.

Although the Secretariat and the Ministry of Agriculture had indeed prepared a lot of medicinal materials for this expedition, he was not so "kind" as to divert some of the medicinal materials reserved for the loyal Han soldiers to treat the enemy soldiers who had fought with them a few days ago.

In the absence of medical treatment, death is almost certain to await these captives.

And when it was confirmed that the 60,000 Yellow Turban troops were completely annihilated, the main force of the Yellow Turban army that had been harassing the entire Yuzhou was officially declared destroyed.

This army, which had suffered almost no losses, also changed direction and prepared to go north to support the Jizhou battlefield.

(End of this chapter)