"General Di Gong~!"
Perhaps sensing Zhang Bao's hesitation, Huangfu Song smiled and explained,
"The loyalist coalition has now separated from the noble families, and they are heading in completely opposite directions. It will take them some time to get back here."
"If General Di Gong is still worried, you can send someone to accompany me and see for yourself."
"Besides..."
Huangfu Song paused, his expression turning serious.
"General Di Gong, have you ever considered what those noble families will do once they settle down?"
"Hm?"
Zhang Bao, who had been hesitant, immediately looked at him with curiosity.
"General Huangfu, please speak your mind directly!"
"Reorganize the imperial court!"
Meeting Zhang Bao's slightly puzzled gaze, Huangfu Song said word by word,
"They only need to find a city to establish themselves, then elect a young emperor with royal blood, and the Great Han will still be the Great Han!"
"At that time..."
"With the loyalist coalition armies from all over the country rushing in, what will your Yellow Turban army do?"
"Do you really think the noble families are that weak?"
"They merely wanted to use your hands to suppress imperial power before!"
"Although the final outcome was somewhat unexpected, they themselves suffered no losses!"
"As long as they wish..."
"A million troops might be difficult, but several hundred thousand troops can still be raised easily."
"After all..."
"Even you, the penniless Yellow Turbans, can command hundreds of thousands of soldiers. They have money and food, what do they lack compared to you?"
"..."
As Huangfu Song's words continued, Zhang Bao's expression grew increasingly grim.
It seemed to make sense?
As long as those old foxes found a city to occupy, wouldn't the Great Han be revived again?
What would be the point of him taking Luoyang then?
Did the Yellow Turban army lack cities?
No!
They not only didn't lack cities, they were even troubled by having too many.
After all,
Once a city was occupied, you needed to allocate troops to defend it, right?
And the quality of the Yellow Turban army was well-known!
It wasn't even certain if the Qu Shuai assigned to those cities would still acknowledge them as part of the Yellow Turban army.
As long as those guys were willing to spend money, they could defect at any time.
This was also one of the reasons why the Yellow Turban army had killed and plundered all the way.
They dared not linger!
They were afraid!
They were afraid that if they lingered in any place, their army would fall apart.
This was also why Zhang Bao and Zhang Liang agreed to attack continuously.
As for their leader?
Zhang Jiao's view was different from theirs.
He believed that they could only continue their offensive after slowing down and clearing up their internal affairs.
But reality forced them to compromise.
Slow down?
Once the Han imperial court and the noble families recovered, what would the Yellow Turbans have to contend with them?
Were they better trained than the Han imperial army?
Or were they better equipped?
Neither!
Then how would they fight the well-prepared Han imperial army?
Therefore,
Zhang Jiao had tacitly allowed his two younger brothers to lead their forces away, while he himself led another part of the army to train elite soldiers.
But now?
After finally taking Luoyang, and the damned emperor seemingly killed, they had actually worked for others?
The thought of the heads of the noble families likely toasting in celebration in another city,
Celebrating that they had been made scapegoats for the emperor's death, Zhang Bao felt as though he was about to explode with anger.
"Damn it!"
"These old bastards have gone too far!"
After cursing fiercely, Zhang Bao looked up at Huangfu Song beside him.
"General Huangfu, it seems that your loyalist coalition is not entirely peaceful either!"
"Of course!"
Huangfu Song nodded without evasion, a mocking smile on his face.
"Those noble families think we soldiers are as treacherous as they are!"
"Ridiculous!"
"Can the emperor's promotion and cultivation of us be bought with mere copper coins?"
"Well said~!"
Looking at Huangfu Song's stern face, Zhang Bao exclaimed with emotion,
"If the Han imperial court were filled with people like you, General, why would we have come to this?"
"It's a pity!"
"The Great Han is still in the hands of those noble families, they are the true masters of this Great Han!"
"..."
Listening to Zhang Bao's emotional voice, a wry smile flickered across Huangfu Song's lips.
What had happened to this world?
He, a Grand General of the Great Han, was discussing these matters with a rebel?
Was he mad?
Or was the world mad?
However,
Thinking of Emperor Ling, whose life and death were unknown, or perhaps whose corpse was scattered, Huangfu Song's gaze became firm.
He wasn't mad!
The world wasn't mad either!
Mad were those man-eating noble families, mad were those audacious noble families.
How dare they?
At a time when the Great Han was facing an existential crisis, they murdered the emperor and framed the Yellow Turbans?
Simply unforgivable!
If he, Huangfu Song, had not personally come to Luoyang and inspected the charred remains of the imperial palace, he probably wouldn't have believed Zhang Bao's words.
After all,
From any perspective, he was the prime suspect in the emperor's murder.
It was just that,
After seeing the ruins of the imperial palace, Huangfu Song was certain.
These traces were definitely not caused by the Yellow Turbans entering the city yesterday.
Too clean!
Logically,
If the Yellow Turbans had set fire to it last night, it should still be burning.
At the very least, there should be the smell of burning in the air.
But now?
Apart from a pile of ruins, there wasn't even a hint of blood in the air.
No matter how bad his impression of the Yellow Turbans was, he couldn't blame them for this.
So, the question arose.
Since it wasn't the Yellow Turbans, was there anyone else besides the noble families?
No!
Because the only ones who could profit from this were the noble families who controlled the imperial court.
"General Di Gong~!"
As he thought more and more, Huangfu Song, unable to control his emotions, looked up at Zhang Bao, who was also lost in thought beside him.
"Time is pressing. If you do not act, then consider me to have never come!"
"Wait~!"
Seeing Huangfu Song turn to leave, Zhang Bao became anxious.
"General Huangfu, it's not that I don't believe you, but why don't you take action yourselves?"
"I believe that with the numerical advantage of the loyalist coalition, you should be able to deal with those noble families, right?"
"???"
Hearing the doubt in Zhang Bao's words, several question marks appeared on Huangfu Song's forehead.
How had this guy survived this long?
Or rather,
With the intelligence of the Zhang brothers, how could they possibly contend with them?
This was illogical!
Whether according to the methods in military books or the strategies they had developed themselves, there was no reason they shouldn't be able to defeat these people.
"Cough cough~!"
Seemingly embarrassed by Huangfu Song's stare, Zhang Bao scratched his head and said,
"General Huangfu, am I, am I saying something wrong?"
"Everything is wrong!"
Huangfu Song, snapping back to reality, curled his lips and asked in exasperation,
"General Di Gong, don't you know who summoned these loyalist coalition armies?"
"The noble families!"
"Whether it's the generals or the common soldiers, most of them are serving the noble families!"
"If Lord Lu hadn't found an excuse to have Yang Biao escort Yuan Wei and the others, the entire loyalist coalition would have followed them!"
"By then, you would have no way to make your move!"
"Besides..."
"The loyalist coalition, once re-controlled by those noble families, would definitely attack Luoyang relentlessly."
"Not to mention anything else!"
"Just besiege Luoyang for a month, and Luoyang city would starve to death by the masses!"
"General Di Gong!"
"Lord Lu and I want to oppose the noble families, but this is also saving your life, is it not?"
"I, I..."
Zhang Bao, already somewhat embarrassed, flushed with shame under Huangfu Song's words.
Indeed!
If the loyalist coalition besieged Luoyang and cut off the upstream water source, how long could the existing supplies in Luoyang last?
One month?
Or two months?
One had to know,
Luoyang already had two to three hundred thousand civilians, plus their two to three hundred thousand troops, the daily consumption of grain and fodder was terrifying.
Once no food was delivered from outside, they would eat it all even if they were guarding a mountain of grain.
"No!"
"We absolutely cannot just wait for death!"
Thinking of that terrible outcome, Zhang Bao's expression became resolute.
"General Huangfu, I still need to trouble you to lead your men there, so that I can be at ease!"
"No problem!"
Facing Zhang Bao's suggestion, Huangfu Song agreed without hesitation.
This was all part of their plan!
If Zhang Bao couldn't confirm the location of the loyalist coalition, he definitely wouldn't dare to send out troops rashly.
Because the noble families were not easy to deal with!
Even if they only had thirty thousand men, it would take at least three times that number to capture them.
In other words,
If Zhang Bao wanted to capture those noble families without any risk, he would need to send at least a hundred thousand troops.
And how many people were still in Luoyang city?
Only about two hundred thousand!
Excluding the hundred thousand troops Xu Huang had led out, Zhang Bao truly had only about two hundred thousand usable troops.
And this included some water.
Because,
There were at least fifty thousand cannon fodder for siege warfare alone!
So,
Regarding Zhang Bao's proposal to send people to scout the location, both Huangfu Song and Lu Zhi had anticipated it and felt that they should inform them of the location.
Why?
Because this would create a sense of urgency, leaving those who wanted to provide support with no reason to do so.
Even the retainers raised by the noble families would not risk their lives to wholeheartedly serve their masters.
They were human too!
When their lives were threatened, few people could bravely rush to support.
This was human nature!
And Lu Zhi had not only calculated this, but he had also calculated the expected reactions of those noble families.
Once besieged by the Yellow Turbans, they would immediately seek help from the loyalist coalition.
And what did he do?
Simple!
They directly broke camp and moved away from their previous location, circling in the opposite direction.
He believed that when the scouts of the loyalist coalition arrived, their expressions would be very interesting.