Chapter 311 The Gathering of Ten Warlords – Part One (1/2)
Chapter 311 – The Gathering of Ten Warlords – Part One
Although Tong did not set an exact date for the gathering of the coalition, his mobilization was enough to make all warlords and governors sweat.
February 15th, 186 A.D.
It was a few days after the Chinese New Year celebration. However, all citizens in China stopped celebrating and paid more attention to the new grand battle.
The Immortal Legion of 60,000 soldiers, which had been training in Ganling, headed south toward Xuchang.
The 40,000 riders of Mountaineer Legion, led by Ding Yuan, marched from Jinyang to Henei.
The Ghost Legion in Henei had also increased its size. The entire legion now consisted of 60,000 soldiers as Ju Shou and Zhang He had been training to prepare for the next war. They gathered and made camp on the opposite shore of Luo Yang, north of the Yellow River.
The newly found legion of Friday, the Demon Legion, did not move. They stayed behind on the backline to protect Tong's affiliate cities from any surprise attack from a possible backstabbing ally.
The same applied to the Silver Axe Legion in Nanpi. Xu Huang would not join the coalition as they placed themselves as the northern guard, watching the movement of Yuan Shao's massive army and any possible attack from Xiongnu from the northern borders.
The news of Tong's military movement was the trigger of the mobilization of other lords.
Gongsun Zan took 30,000 soldiers and militias from all of his affiliate cities with him. Lu Zhi, Zhao Yun, and Tian Yu also tagged along with this army as they were currently serving under the banner of the Gongsun Clan.
Kong Rong led his army of 15,000 soldiers from Beihei to Xuchang. Within his army, Wang Xiu assisted his lord as an aide. However, none of them realize that one of the great generals in history was with them, working as a one-thousand-man commander, Taishi Ci.
Liu Bei and his brothers took the 5,000-man troops of militia and volunteers to join the gathering. Jiang Man went along with them, so none of his stupid brothers could do something out of the line.
Furthermore, Jiang Man took Yuan Shao's family members with Liu Bei's troops as a part of the agreement with Yuan Shao that they would return his family in exchange for helping in this coalition.
Yuan Shao took all 100,000 soldiers with them along with his best generals and strategists, Yan Liang, Wen Chou, Tian Feng, Shen Pei, and Guo Tu. Though he did not want to leave Pingyuan City empty without protection, Jiang Man sent his order via the clan chat that he had another plan for them.
Other minor governors and warlords, such Zhang Miao, Kong Zhou, and Qiao Mao, each took an army of 10,000 of mixed militias, private troops of noble clans, and professional soldiers with them. As their army was damaged from the previous fight with the uprising bandits, they refused to send more soldiers.
Tao Qian, however, sent 30,000 men to Xuchang like Gongsun Zan. As a Viceroy of a province, he could not send lower than this even though he did not have any capable general in his army.
Oddly enough, Zhang Kai, the former bandit leader of the false Yellow Turban, was a part of Tao Qian Army as a thousand-man commander. He and many former bandits had disguised themselves and pretended to be one of Tao Qian's men.
Cao Cao's crippled army had only 20,000 soldiers who could fight. Despite the humiliation, his army prepared several encampments around his territories for the guests that would be coming this year.
Sun Jian, Yuan Shu, and Liu Biao did not move to Xuchang as everybody else. They gathered at Wan City as they could attack Xiongnu from the south.
Sun Jian's original army of 30,000 troopers had increased to 50,000 as the surrendered bandits join their army.
Yuan Shu's men, who had survived from the previous battles with Xiongnu and Dong Zhuo, were left with only 10,000.
On the other hand, Liu Biao went all out. He took private soldiers of subordinate nobles in Jing Province with him as a grand army of 50,000 mixed troops marched to Wan together.
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May 17th, 186 A.D.
All allies gathered at their perspective locations.
The southern allies of Yuan Shu, Liu Biao, and Sun Jian rallied in Li County, west of Wan City and east of Wu Pass, which blockade the passage to Hongnong City. They were planning to retake Hongnong from Xiongnu, so Luo Yang would be isolated.
110,000 Men were ready!
Two legions of Tong consisted of 100,000 men, stationed at the north bank of the Yellow River, the opposite side of Luo Yang City. Their job was to attempt crossing the Yellow River and distract the troops of Luo Yang, while the other forces attacked the Xiongnu elsewhere.
These two legions brought new toys with them, which Li Feihong was proud of. Although he could not build many of these toys, he could not wait to see the shock face of his enemies.
At Mi County, directly east of Hulao Gate, the massive mixed armies of 260,000 soldiers gathered as ten warlords united to fight the Xiongnu. This was their main forces.
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Mi County, the main tent of ally forces,
The huge tent of 3-meter-tall and 100 square meters erected inside the center of the encampment. Within there, nine seats were prepared for the participating lords.
As the owner of the territory, Cao Cao had prepared everything to host all lords. Although he was the host, he sat on the sideline as he did not enjoy taking the limelight in this grand-scale battle.
Because of his preference, Cao Cao forbade the guards from introducing anyone that entered the tent since he wanted a quick and efficient meeting with Tong. Moreover, he decided to prank all lords a little to evaluate their wits and competence.
Cheng Yu and Pu Jing stood behind Cao Cao as their bodyguards. In this gathering, all lords were permitted to allow two armed bodyguards inside, so Cao Cao took Cheng Yu with him as an advisor while Pu Jing could take up roles as a strategist and a bodyguard at the same time.