Yingchuan is the site of an imperial night assault that breaks the Yellow Headband rebels’ encampment and brings Cao Cao into the early campaign narrative. The fighting there scatters the rebel army but does not end the conflict: Xuande and his companions soon learn that the surviving forces are moving toward Guangzong, where their former teacher Lu Zhi is facing political charges.

The campaign reaches Yingchuan

After helping save Qingzhou, Xuande and his two sworn brothers learn that Zhang Jue has attacked Guangzong, defended by their old teacher Lu Zhi. Lu welcomes them, but directs them toward Yingchuan, where the rebel leader’s brothers, Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao, are fighting imperial forces. Xuande and his five hundred men ride there at night, shifting the campaign from one threatened city to another.

The night attack

The rebels have established a temporary fort in the countryside. Imperial commanders order their soldiers to carry straw torches and wait for the night wind to rise. They then set fire to the fields around the camp and attack as the flames spread. Caught by the assault, the rebels flee in panic. Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao escape through the night with their men, but the action leaves their force in disarray.

At dawn, the brothers run into a fresh body of troops led by Cao Cao. He attacks with five thousand soldiers, kills ten thousand rebels, and captures their wagons and goods. Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao evade capture again, and Cao Cao sets off in pursuit. The sequence gives the fighting at Yingchuan a double consequence: the rebel camp is scattered, and Cao Cao’s pursuit extends the defeat beyond the immediate night attack.

Retreat and political reversal

Xuande and his brothers return to Yingchuan after learning that the rebels’ scattered remnants are heading for Guangzong. On the way, they encounter a prison wagon holding Lu Zhi. He explains that he had nearly captured Zhang Jue, who escaped using magic, but a corrupt court investigator blamed him for the failure after Lu could not pay a bribe. The court has replaced him with Dong Zhuo and ordered him back for trial.

Yingchuan’s military events thus lead directly into a different danger for Xuande’s party: their teacher’s removal from command and arrest. The rebels’ retreat links the battlefield to the political struggle at Guangzong, while Lu Zhi’s account shows how court corruption can overturn the standing of a commander even amid an ongoing campaign.

Place in the wider conflict

The episode presents the imperial campaign as a mobile struggle rather than a single decisive engagement. Xuande’s force travels from Qingzhou to Guangzong and then to Yingchuan; the rebels’ flight sends the brothers back toward Guangzong, while Cao Cao follows the rebel leaders by a separate route. The shifting movements make Yingchuan a turning point in the immediate pursuit, but not a resolution of the rebellion: Zhang Liang and Zhang Bao escape, and the remnants of their army remain active.