"Kill! Kill!"

Outside Zhen Ding City, chaos reigned, with tens of thousands engaged in a fierce battle.

A general with a face as black as charcoal led a troop of a thousand cavalrymen, charging left and right through the sea of ​​people. Wherever they went, the enemy fell like haystacks.

After being overwhelmed by his charge, the enemy suffered over a thousand deaths and then huddled on a high ground to defend themselves.

General Black Carbon stopped his offensive and ordered his cavalry to halt, seemingly waiting for other troops to join him.

This black-charcoal general is none other than Gao Lan, the prefect of Zhen Ding.

Originally, there were only one thousand infantrymen in Zhen Ding City on a regular basis.

However, the Black Mountain army was powerful and posed a great threat to the Changshan Kingdom.

Han Fu, the former governor of Ji Province, was determined to drive the Black Mountain Army completely into the Taihang Mountains, and preferably send them to wreak havoc on Bing Province.

Han Fu then transferred 3,000 troops from Yecheng and Nanpi to Zhending to support Gao Lan, and at the same time allocated grain and allowed Gao Lan to recruit another 1,000 soldiers.

Just as Gao Lan was leading 5,000 troops and preparing to march on Jingxing, news came that Han Fu had gone to the capital to take up a post, and Yuan Shao had come to take over Jizhou.

At the same time, Yuan Shao ordered the prefects of various counties to go to Ye City to report on their duties, re-approve their appointments, and allocate troops according to their authority.

Gao Lan was promoted and trusted by Han Fu, otherwise Han Fu would have entrusted almost half of Ji Province's troops to Gao Lan.

Yuan Shao's arrival was certainly intended to seize control of the military.

It's definitely not feasible for Gao Lan, a mere prefect, to command five thousand soldiers.

This means that if Gao Lan wants to continue serving as the Prefect of Zhending and continue to work under Yuan Shao, he has to relinquish most of his military power.

Gao Lan also learned about Qu Yi, Zhang He, Feng Ji, and others. They had all been Han Fu's men, but they all handed over their military power, leaving behind only a few hundred to a thousand county-level defense forces.

Others could compromise and quickly submit to Yuan Shao's rule, but Gao Lan could not.

Of these five thousand soldiers, three thousand were under Han Fu's supervision, with instructions that Gao Lan must keep them under his control and not hand them over.

Moreover, with three thousand soldiers, Gao Lan could also provide support for Han Fu in the region.

However, the orders of the new leader Yuan Shao could not be disobeyed, because he was now the governor of Ji Province.

Just as Gao Lan was at a loss, the Black Mountain Army came out from Jingxing and surrounded Zhengding.

That's good; Gao Lan doesn't have to relinquish his military power for now.

Because this is 30,000 Black Mountain troops, and there may be even more troops coming.

He immediately replied to Yuan Shao in Ye City, saying that not only could he not attend the meeting and report, but he also asked Yuan Shao to allocate grain and fodder to support him.

When Yuan Shao learned of this, he gave up the idea, but the matter of supplies became extremely difficult to resolve.

Because a large number of Black Mountain troops also came out from Zhao State and Julu County, probably because other places saw Zhang Yan come out and followed suit to try their luck.

The governors of Zhao and Julu, Yan Liang and Wen Chou respectively, also requested that Ye City provide them with grain and supplies.

Bohai Commandery also claimed to be threatened by the Yellow Turbans in Qingzhou, and its governor Han Meng also requested support from the newly appointed Yuan Shao.

Compared to the three counties surrounding Ye City, Changshan County is farther away. Yuan Shao has just taken over the affairs of the province and has no time to take care of it!

Yuan Shao believed that these governors were deliberately trying to embarrass him.

After all, Han Fu had just left, and Yuan Shao hadn't even had a chance to settle in.

Therefore, Yuan Shao used the prestige of the Yuan family to invite Tian Feng, Ju Shou, Shen Pei, Guo Tu and others from Ye City to assist him, and with the help of generals such as Lü Kuang and Lü Xiang, Yuan Shao quickly stabilized the situation.

He first sent people to pacify Han Meng, Yan Liang, Wen Chou and others, and then Qu Yi, Feng Ji, Zhang He, Cui Yan, Jiao Chu, Zhang Nan and others took the initiative to "show goodwill"!

With the overall situation in Ji Province under his control, Yuan Shao was no longer so concerned about Gao Lan of Changshan Commandery!

He also learned that Gao Lan was Han Fu's most loyal subordinate, and that Han Fu's three thousand elite troops were all in Gao Lan's hands.

So Yuan Shao decided to delay and let Gao Lan suffer a bit, preferably until he was starving and howling.

By sending troops and supplies to aid them, Gao Lan will eventually submit completely.

After this back and forth, Gao Lan was besieged by the Black Mountain Army for several days, and still hadn't received a reply from Yuan Shao.

So Gao Lan decided to rush out of the city first and teach the Black Mountain Army a lesson.

When Gao Lan gathered a thousand cavalry and two thousand infantrymen and launched a three-pronged attack from the three gates, he expected to encounter fierce resistance from the Black Mountain Army.

But little did they know, it would collapse at the first sign of trouble.

The 30,000 Black Mountain Army soldiers were routed by his 3,000 regular troops. The two Black Mountain Army leaders, Huang Long and Bai Bo, were killed by Gao Lan's two younger brothers, Gao Ping and Gao Huai.

The 20,000 Black Mountain soldiers suffered countless casualties.

Gao Lan is now facing another leader of the Black Mountain Army, Du Chang, who is still putting up a stubborn resistance.

When Gao Lan learned that this Black Mountain Army was the direct force of its leader Zhang Yan, he immediately decided to hold back.

If he were to kill Zhang Yan, the merit he would gain would allow him to live without having to be subservient to Yuan Shao.

Han Fu, who was in the imperial court, would also use this opportunity to voice his support.

With this great achievement, Gao Lan will be able to rival Yuan Shao in Ji Province.

Soon, the three brothers and their three thousand men, with minimal losses, joined forces and discussed how to launch an attack on the remaining stubborn Black Mountain Army.

"Brother, these thieves are as weak as chickens, they're not worth killing at all!"

Gao Lan's younger brother, Gao Ping, stood to the side, beaming with pride.

He led a thousand men out of the south gate and, in less than the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, slaughtered the ten thousand men of Huang Long, the leader of the Black Mountain bandits, and beheaded Huang Long.

The two sides' combat capabilities are simply incomparable.

Although the Black Mountain Army has a large number of troops, they only know how to play when they have an advantage.

Once they encounter setbacks, they will not fight.

They encountered the regular army of the Han Dynasty, and naturally, they could hardly resist.

Consider the million-strong Yellow Turban army, yet it was defeated by just tens of thousands of men under the three great generals!

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