The Rebellious Officials and Traitors of the Late Han Dynasty

Chapter 282 Forced Surrender
Yuan Shao's troops had been lying in ambush around Wuchao for several days, but no cavalry came to launch a surprise attack.

The news soon reached Yuan Shao.

"It seems that Qin Shou is timid and dare not take the risk of attacking Wuchao."

Upon seeing this, Yuan Shao burst into laughter, looking very proud.

He believed that Zhang He and Gao Lan must have told Qin Shou about the food and grass in Wuchao, but it was definitely a very risky thing to let Qin Shou take the risk of crossing the river and then fighting his way into Liyang City a hundred miles away, where he would be surrounded by the enemy.

Yuan Shao asked himself if he could do this.

In his opinion, Qin Shou was already the prime minister and it was impossible for him to go into danger and put himself in danger.

"Qin Shougui is the prime minister, enjoying wealth and glory, but now he has become timid."

Guo Tu and others nodded repeatedly.

"Even so, my lord, we must be careful where the food and fodder are stored, otherwise they will be destroyed by the enemy."

Ju Su persuaded.

"What you said is very true, sir." Yuan Shao nodded, but in fact, he did not take Ju Su's words to heart.

"Can you contact Yuan Tan and the others? Let them break out!"

Yuan Shao finally gave in at this time.

He also found that the current situation was not right. If he did not make any changes, not only would his 60,000 troops be defeated by the enemy, but he would also lose more men and horses.

Although Yuan Shao was arrogant, he was not a fool.

Qin Shou just wanted to use Puyang to delay himself and make him pay more troops.

Moreover, he believed that even if the army was defeated, these people would save the lives of his son and nephew.

As for other people, Yuan Shao no longer had time to consider them.

In Puyang City, with the arrival of the beasts, a large flag with the word "Qin" slowly rose, heralding the arrival of Qin Shou, the leader of the Cavalry Army.

Qin Shou looked at Puyang City in front of him and frowned.

The enemy's morale was very low, but there was always a faint stench coming from the city wall.

He looked at Jia Xu beside him, only to see that he had a calm expression and was riding quietly on his warhorse, as if he didn't notice anything.

Just as he was surprised, when he looked at Wei Yan again, he found a strange look on Wei Yan's face.

"Wen Chang, are you still sending food and grass into the city?"

Qin Shou suppressed the laughter in his heart and asked with a smile.

"My lord, although the 60,000 troops in the city are still enemies for the time being, I believe that sooner or later they will join the Cavalry Army and become my comrades. In this way, we cannot let them die in Puyang."

Wei Yan said seriously.

After hearing this, all the generals around smiled. It was obvious that these generals already knew about Puyang's situation.

It was obvious that Wei Yan had sent food and fodder containing croton seeds into the city again.

Yuan Tan and others in the city were already short of food. In this situation, they either died or ate food containing croton powder.

No matter how you rinse, there will always be some impact.

Fortunately, diarrhea is not a big deal and will not kill anyone.

However, there was not enough food and fodder, and the soldiers had little to eat. They were physically and mentally exhausted and lacked energy. Not to mention resisting the attack of the Cavalry Army, they even skipped their daily training.

"Surrender!"

Qin Shou sighed and said, "Although I can't use them for the time being, once I defeat Yuan Shao, I can use these people."

"Yes."

Wei Yan did not dare to delay and immediately wrote a letter of surrender and ordered his soldiers to shoot it into the city, preparing to surrender Puyang City.

Yuan Shao was preparing for a large-scale attack instead of the previous small-scale probing. Placing 60,000 troops behind him might bring danger to himself if he was not careful, so the sooner the problem was resolved, the better.

On the city wall, Yuan Tan and his companions looked at the soldiers and horses below the city, all with solemn expressions. These days, everyone's life was not easy, even Yuan Tan and his companions.

Although he didn't have diarrhea, he wasn't full either, and it was visibly that he had lost a lot of weight.

"Qin Shou is here."

Xin Ping looked at the flags under the city and said in a low voice.

Yuan Tan and others remained silent. They all knew what Qin Shou's appearance under the city wall at this time meant.

Yuan Shao, who was highly expected by everyone, did not capture Guandu Port, and it was impossible for reinforcements to appear in Puyang for a long time in the future.

Do we still have to eat the food containing croton?

Yuan Tan and others shuddered suddenly.

You know, although Qin Shou is providing food every day, in fact, he is just preventing the 60,000 troops from starving to death. It is impossible to ensure that everyone has enough food.

What are these enemies going to do next? Are they impatient? Are they ready to attack?
Yuan Tan and others showed a trace of worry on their faces.

The soldiers now had no strength to deal with the situation at hand. Their strength had already disappeared completely in the past few days.

It is already a rare opportunity to be able to stand at this moment, but drawing the bow and arrow and killing a strong enemy is almost impossible.

"Attack, the enemy has begun to attack."

"Shield, shield."

....
Bursts of fierce roars rang out in the air, and Yuan Tan and others hid behind their shields.

Sharp arrows flew across the sky and landed on the city wall, but these arrows had no arrowheads.

"Hey! There's no arrow."

The soldiers on the city wall soon discovered something wrong: there was no arrowhead on the sharp arrow, and it was tied with cloth.

Just as Yuan Tan was surprised, he heard the shouts of Xin Ping and Cui Lin.

"Put down your sharp arrows, and do not take the enemy's cloth."

"Put down the sharp arrows. Those who disobey my order will be killed."

....
Yuan Tan listened to the noise and roars in his ears and soon realized that the cloth contained a letter of persuasion for surrender. Qin Shou finally couldn't stand it anymore. After persuading the surrender, it was time to attack.

Yuan Tan suddenly breathed a sigh of relief. He really didn't want to go through this situation anymore. His life and death were in the hands of others. He didn't know when the sword hanging above his head would fall and chop off his head.

"Fight or surrender!"

Under the city wall, shouts rang out, reaching deep into the soul; this was a call for forced surrender.

Everyone's eyes fell on Yuan Tan.

Yuan Tan looked at the soldiers around him. All of them had sallow complexions, thin bodies, and longing in their eyes. He knew very well what these people were thinking.

Suddenly a bitter smile broke out on his face.

If I oppose surrender, these people's weapons may chop off my head.

"Stop!"

Yuan Tan let out a long sigh. At this point, he had no way to fight.

If you don't surrender, you will die. If you surrender, there may be a chance of survival.

Yuan Tan had no choice but to surrender.

He stood up tremblingly, holding the sword in his hand, and slowly walked down the city wall.

After a while, the gate of Puyang City opened, and the 60,000-strong army led by Yuan Tan and Gao Gan surrendered to the Cavalry Army.

A major war was avoided, but the blow to Yuan Shao was huge.

Even his own son and nephew have surrendered, does he still have hope of victory?

(End of this chapter)