Ten thousand soldiers and horses marched from Le'an to Beihai. Zhang Liao was now the governor of Qingzhou, the court appointed by the imperial court, and Bao Xin also came at his invitation. This rescue battle was naturally commanded by him.

He didn't use any tactics, he just pushed forward quickly and attacked lightning.

It’s not that he underestimated the enemy, but that he had already inquired about the situation of Guan Hai’s Yellow Turban Army from Taishi Ci, with only 15,000 people. Kong Rong still had 5,000 troops in Duchang City. With both military strength and combat effectiveness, all other tactics are redundant, and lightning pushing is the best tactic!

It is about 300 miles from their location to Duchang, Beihai. According to the normal marching, Zhang Liao shortened this time to three days.

Before leaving, Zhang Liao asked the soldiers to make all the food and grass they had seized in the past few days into steamed buns and carry the cakes with them. Then he left three thousand soldiers to escort the baggage and food and grass to move slowly behind, while the remaining eight thousand soldiers marched.

This kind of marching is also wonderful. Generally speaking, the slower the long-distance marching, the more likely it is to cause soldiers to be tired and lose their morale. Therefore, Zhang Liao asked the soldiers to speed up their pace and go day and night. Although they were tired, they kept a tense rhythm and their morale remained unabated. When they approached the border of Beihai Kingdom, they would rest for another night and recover, and they were in full swing and were in good spirits.

Zhang Liao calculated the time accurately. He, Guan Yu, Taishici, and hundreds of cavalry were leading the way, Liu Bei, Bao Xin, and Zhang Fei followed closely behind, and the marched smoothly. At dusk three days later, eight thousand soldiers arrived at the western border of Beihai Kingdom, and then the army rested at night to prepare for battle.

That night, Zhang Liao sent a scout to Duchang to inquire about the news.

The capital of Beihai Kingdom was located in Ju County, just west of Beihai Kingdom. Kong Rong fought against the Yellow Turbans when he first came to Beihai Kingdom. He was defeated by Zhang Rao. He retreated to Zhuxu County in the southwest and built cities to guard Zhuxu County, and used Zhuxu County as his capital. This time, Guan Hai brought tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans from Donglai County and ravaged the counties of Beihai. Kong Rong moved his troops eastward and stationed in Duchang with 5,000 troops. He did not want to be defeated in a battle with Guan Hai, so he had to retreat to Duchang City and be surrounded by Guan Hai.

After Guan Hai besieged Duchang, he attacked the city and forced Kong Rong to plunder the counties while splitting his troops to plunder the counties. Kong Rong was powerless to stop it. It has to be said that Kong Rong did a good job in the civilized governance and education in Beihai Kingdom, but he was completely unaware of military tactics and could not restrain the thieves. He was defeated repeatedly. The famous scholars he used were also engaging in literature and writing, regardless of political affairs, liked to talk about high-profile arguments, valued benevolence, righteousness, rituals and laws, and acted as he pleased. However, based on his preferences, many people and famous scholars avoided Liaodong, including the great scholar Guan Ning and Ji Zuo Bingyuan and others.

As dawn approached, Kong Rong woke up in the backyard of the county government, dressed neatly, and came to the front office. The county magistrate Liu Xian, Gongcao Sun Shao, chief clerk Wang Xiu, Gucao Zuo Chengzu, and Wang Zifa, Shiyi, Liu Yixun and others were all there, all with serious expressions.

"How is the battle situation? Have Guan Hai retreated?" Kong Rong asked unhappily.

Everyone looked at Kong Rong. The envoy was calm and conceited with his talent and character, determined to quell the country's dangers. However, he was good at civilized governance but did not know martial arts. He set up cities and schools in civilized governance, showed Confucianism and recommended virtuous people, which was convincing, but he had no means to resist the Yellow Turban thieves, which really disappointed them.

Gu Cao, Zuo Chengzu, spoke, said: "Guan Hai has been besieging the city for half a month. The city has cut off food and the soldiers are hungry. They have to put the dates stored in the warehouse to the soldiers to fill their hunger."

"The dates are good." Kong Rong said leisurely: "Sweet and delicious, you can be used as military rations."

Zuo Chengzu said with regret, "But there are only a few jujubes in the warehouse, how many days can it take?"

"This..." Kong Rong frowned and breathed a sigh of relief: "Guan Hai came from afar and might retreat in a few days. Let's get the wine, and we can drink it. Don't panic, otherwise the soldiers will lose their fighting spirit."

Everyone looked at each other, but they were used to Kong Rong's disregard, and they ignored him, and no one went to get the wine. The chief clerk Wang Xiudao: "But I don't know when Taishi Ci invited reinforcements. It's been six days since he was gone. I guess the reinforcements will come soon. Now we just need to stick to it and must not lose the city, otherwise the consequences will be unimaginable."

Kong Rong smiled and said, "Shuzhi said so much, I believe reinforcements will come soon."

Wang Xiu was once elected as a filial and honest man by Kong Rong. Now he is Kong Rong's chief clerk and is on behalf of Gaomi. This person is loyal and brave. The Sun family from Gaomi has always been a powerful hero. His disciples have violated the law many times. The thieves entered the Sun family, and the officials and servants were unable to capture them. Wang Xiu led the officials and servants to surround the Sun family. The Sun family resisted defense, and the officials and servants were afraid to approach. Wang Xiu forcibly broke into the country and subjugated the Sun family, which made the local tyrants afraid to surrender.

There were many rioters in the Beihai Kingdom. Kong Rong was in danger every time. Even if Wang Xiu rested at home, he would not come to Kong Rong immediately and provide advice for Kong Rong. Kong Rong often relied on Wang Xiu to avoid disasters, so he trusted Wang Xiu very much.

In addition, Kong Rong also has great talents such as Yi and Sun Shao around him, but unfortunately they cannot be reused, they are just placed there.

"Come on the wine." Kong Rong shouted again.

The officials were in a heavy heart.

...

Outside the city, it was dawn, and Guan Hai had already brought his troops outside the city to prepare to attack the city.

In Qingzhou, the Guan family was a big surname. During the Western Zhou Dynasty, King Wu destroyed Shang and appointed his third brother Guan Shuxian and established Guan Kingdom. It was an important town in the east of the Zhou Dynasty at that time. Later, Guan Kingdom was destroyed, but most of his descendants migrated to Qilu. The most famous descendants were Guan Zhong. In the Later Han Dynasty, Guan family even had branches and leaves spread all over the place. For example, Guan Ning was a descendant of Guan Zhong. As for Guan Hai, he also called himself a descendant of Guan Zhong, but it was not verified.

Guan Hai was a native of Changguang, Donglai County. When the Yellow Turbans were raging, Guan Hai took the opportunity to follow Taiping Road, led 3,000 visitors, and gathered tens of thousands of Yellow Turbans to occupy Changguang County. There were several islands, circulating in Donglai County. After the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou went south to Yanzhou, Guan Hai's size of tens of thousands of people became a large group of the remaining Yellow Turbans.

This attack on Beihai Kingdom was not only to borrow food, but also to expand its power.

This time Kong Rong was trapped in Duchang, and Guan Hai could have taken the opportunity to attack other counties, but he was determined to eliminate Kong Rong's troops and left Beihai Kingdom with no resistance. Therefore, he besieged Duchang County for half a month and never retreated, hoping to eliminate Kong Rong in one fell swoop.

The soldiers under him were all covered with yellow turbans, with chaotic weapons, including spears, swords, hoes, iron forks, wooden sticks, and even the yellow turbans wrapped on their heads were painted with yellow mud, but they were all full of morale, their eyes were full of fanaticism, and they were fearless of death.

As the drums started to thrust, thousands of yellow turbans attacked Duchang City again. Under the big banner of Guan Hai, Guan Hai sat high on the horse. Beside him was a young man in black wrapped in yellow silk and brocade, which was Guan Hai's nephew Guan Cheng.

Guan Cheng looked at Duchang with fierce eyes: "Uncle, can you break through Duchang City today?"

Guan Hai said proudly: "If it weren't for the timid old man Kong and would not dare to fight, we had already attacked Duchang City."

Guan Cheng said: "Kong Rong talks about incompetent people. If he hadn't had a few capable people under his command, how could he resist his uncle?"

Guan Hai laughed: "After this battle, Beihai will let us go."

"It's just that someone left the city that day, so I'm afraid I'm going to invite reinforcements." A trace of gloom flashed in Guan Cheng's eyes.

Guan Hai shook his head: "Where are reinforcements in Qingzhou? Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan are fighting in the west, so who can care about Kong Rong? Even if there are some soldiers and horses, it is not worth mentioning."

After saying that, he shouted in a deep voice: "Strike the city with all your strength. Today, I will definitely take down Duchang, kill Kong Laoer, and get food, grass and money."
Chapter completed!