Three Kingdoms: My Strategy Simulator

Zhang Fei almost blurted out.

"Needless to say, he should be killed!"

The person who felt the most guilty about Zhao Yun's serious injury was Zhang Fei.

The original plan was for Zhao Yun and Zhang Fei to work together to hold Lu Bu back, but Zhang Fei was forcibly restrained by Zhang Liao for a long time, so that Zhao Yun had to fight Lu Bu alone for a long time.

This made Zhang Fei very angry with Zhang Liao, and he wanted to chop off Zhang Liao's head to ease his guilt.

After Zhang Fei stated his position so clearly, many generals also spoke out to express their support.

"Prime Minister, we can just take this man's head and send it to Cao Cao to prove that Lu Bu has been defeated. The Wei army must be in a panic."

"This man has killed more than a hundred of our soldiers. He deserves to be killed."

"Zhang Liao has been helping Zhou to commit atrocities for a long time. If he is not executed, the anger of the people will not be appeased..."

……

However, Guan Yu, who was usually taciturn, stepped out and bowed.

"Prime Minister, Guan once met Zhang Liao. He is an extraordinary warrior with amazing courage and has the talent of a great general."

"And Zhang Liao's assistance to the Han thieves was just a temporary dilemma between loyalty and righteousness. It would be a pity to execute him. Why not persuade him to surrender?"

Li Ji nodded slightly, and in his heart he was inclined to agree with Guan Yu's suggestion.

Not only was Zhang Liao quite capable and of good character, but more importantly, the Wei and Zhao countries occupied half of the country, and had countless civil and military civilians under their command, so it was impossible to kill them all.

Therefore, recruiting and employing a surrendered general at this time would greatly help to break the mentality of fighting to the death among the civil and military officials of Wei and Zhao.

"Bring Zhang Liao here and interrogate him first." Li Ji ordered.

"Yes."

Soon, Tian Yu, who had received the order, led two white horse volunteers and brought Zhang Liao, who was tied up like half a dumpling, into the big tent.

At this moment, Zhang Liao looked extremely embarrassed. His face, which had been as white as purple jade, was pale, half of his body was stained with blood, and his armor was torn. However, when he was escorted into the military tent, he still held his head high and chest out, and glanced at everyone in the tent with a slightly slanted look.

Except when Zhang Liao's gaze passed over Guan Yu and Li Ji, it paused slightly, and he just glanced at the rest.

The two White Horse Volunteers who were escorting Zhang Liao put their hands on Zhang Liao's shoulders and shouted at him.

"Kneel down."

"Humph!"

Zhang Liao snorted coldly, and his burly body did not move at all, not even swaying.

Obviously, as a fierce general who had held Zhang Fei back for hundreds of rounds, he could not be suppressed by just two White Horse Volunteers.

However, Zhang Liao's attitude obviously angered Tian Yu, who kicked Zhang Liao in the popliteal fossa of his left foot, causing one side of Zhang Liao's body to go limp and he was forced to half-kneel on the ground.

This made Zhang Liao speak with some indignation.

"The winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. I, Zhang Liao, have nothing to say. You can kill me or cut me into pieces. Just come! However, a gentleman can be killed but not humiliated. How can I, a man of honor, accept such humiliation?"

"A defeated general dares to call himself a man of honor..."

Just as Tian Yu was scolding and preparing to pin Zhang Liao down with his own hands.

"Forget it."

Li Ji, who was sitting at the top, raised his hand, signaling Tian Yu and the two White Horse Volunteers to let go of Zhang Liao.

"Yes, Prime Minister."

Tian Yu bowed and accepted the order. He and the White Horse Volunteer let go of Zhang Liao and took two steps back, but his eyes were still fixed on Zhang Liao to prevent him from making any move.

Half of his body was tied up tightly, and blood was even dripping from his left hand, but he still struggled to stand up.

However, after standing up, Zhang Liao still bowed slightly to respond to Li Ji's courtesy and said, "I am a defeated general, honored to see the Prime Minister. I wonder if the Prime Minister has any advice for me?"

"I don't deserve your advice..."

Li Ji laughed, then asked with a puzzled look on his face.

"I have always admired Wenyuan's ability. Among all the generals under Lu Bu, only Wenyuan can be called a great talent. However, there is one thing I don't understand. I hope Wenyuan can answer it."

Zhang Liao's eyes moved slightly, and his attitude, which had originally looked like he was begging for death, softened by three points. He said.

"Prime Minister, please feel free to ask. If you can answer, I will tell you everything."

These words made many of the civil and military officials in the big tent look unhappy.

If I could answer it completely, it would sound like just a perfunctory and evasive answer.

"Prime Minister, this man is unruly and stubborn..."

However, before Wei Yan could finish speaking, Li Ji raised his hand to stop Wei Yan, who looked dissatisfied, and then asked.

"May I ask when did Wenyuan enter the government?"

Zhang Liao thought for a moment and then answered.

"I dare not hide it from you, Prime Minister. When I was young, Yanmen was often plundered by the Hu people. The people were in great hardship. Even the government office had few clerks available. I learned a few words because of my family's education, so I became an official at the age of sixteen or seventeen."

"Then in the fifth year of Zhongping, I was appreciated by Governor Ding and was summoned to serve as his assistant. He ordered me to lead troops to Luoyang to await the orders of the general. After several twists and turns..."

Having said this, Zhang Liao sighed slightly and stopped talking.

However, even if Zhang Liao didn't tell him some of the information, Li Ji knew it clearly.

In fact, Zhang Liao's experience was actually quite tortuous, and he could even be said to have changed masters many times.

After being recruited by Ding Yuan, Zhang Liao was sent to He Jin by Ding Yuan. However, He Jin did not use him much and all he did was recruit soldiers everywhere.

After He Jin's death, Dong Zhuo, who held sole power in Luoyang, naturally took over all the military power, and Zhang Liao became Dong Zhuo's subordinate.

It was not until Lu Bu also joined Dong Zhuo's army that Zhang Liao, who had been constantly squeezed out by the two factions of Sili and Liangzhou, was accepted by Lu Bu, his old friend from Bingzhou, and then became a general under Lu Bu.

However, even if Zhang Liao kept silent, it was enough for Li Ji.

The next moment, Li Ji slammed the table and stood up, shouting angrily.

"I treated you with courtesy, thinking that you were a man who could not be both loyal and righteous, and had no choice but to serve the enemy. I never expected that you would be such a disloyal and unrighteous person!"

"Left and right... Push him down and kill him!"

As soon as these words were spoken, many of the civil and military officials in the tent changed their expressions.

The two White Horse Volunteers immediately stepped forward to subdue Zhang Liao, but this time Zhang Liao's resistance was particularly fierce.

For Zhang Liao, death would be fine, but he was unwilling to die with such a bad reputation.

Especially since such a bad reputation came from Prime Minister Li Ji, if he died at this point, it would be recorded in the history books and he would be cursed for all eternity.

"Wait a minute! Wait a minute..."

Zhang Liao spoke repeatedly.

But Li Ji's face was stern, and he stared at Zhang Liao coldly, with no intention of stopping him.

Even though Zhang Liao was extremely brave, he was already injured and exhausted, and could not break free from the control of the White Horse Volunteers. He was pulled out of the tent little by little.

At this moment, as Li Ji had expected, Guan Yu, who had a sympathetic relationship with Zhang Liao, could not help but step forward.

"From Guan's point of view, Wenyuan is definitely not a disloyal or unrighteous person. Why not give Wenyuan a chance to explain himself? If his words are baseless, it won't be too late to execute him." (End of this chapter)