Can I get to the other side?.

Chapter 205 Yuan Shao collapses: He is actually the emperor

The Battle of Jie Bridge broke out again.

Yuan Shao appointed Tian Feng as his strategist, Yuan Tan as his military supervisor, Yan Liang as his main general, and the Qingzhou and Jizhou armies, totaling 35,000 troops, to engage in a fierce battle with Gongsun Zan.

As soon as the war started, Yuan Shao gained the upper hand.

In just two days, Gongsun Zan was forced to retreat thirty miles.

On that day, the two sides fought from early morning to dusk, and the war ended with Gongsun Zan's voluntary withdrawal.

In the central military tent, Yuan Shao and his advisers and generals gathered together.

While having dinner, they discussed strategies for tomorrow's battle.

Yan Liang took off his helmet and put it aside. He picked up the wine jar and gulped down a few mouthfuls of wine. After a hearty burp, he said, "The military advisor is really smart. This is what war is all about!"

Ever since the war started this year, he has always been inexplicably defeated by Gongsun Zan.

It is difficult to fully display one's bravery.

Some time ago, he fell into the enemy's trap. If it weren't for Yuan Tan's timely support, his entire army would have been wiped out. He himself was also injured by Zhao Yun.

After Tian Feng became the military strategist, he always came up with various strategies that amazed everyone.

On the battlefield, we finally anticipate the enemy's moves.

He really enjoyed fighting this kind of battle.

After putting down the wine jar, Yan Liang sighed in his heart: "We still need a military advisor. Before, Ju Shou, Shen Pei, Tian Feng, Guo Tu and others all offered advice at the same time. Not only did the lord not know whose strategy to adopt, but I also felt dizzy."

Yuan Tan, who was sitting on the left side of Yuan Shao, raised his wine jar and looked at Tian Feng, saying, "We were able to recapture Jie Bridge and defeat Gongsun Zan step by step, all thanks to the military advisor. I toast to the military advisor."

After Tian Feng and Yuan Tan drank a glass of wine, Yuan Shao also laughed heartily and said, "I admire Yuan Hao's plan. If I had listened to Yuan Hao's words earlier, Youzhou would have been in my hands."

Tian Feng frowned, not feeling proud of his dominance over the past few days, nor was he arrogant because of the praise from Yuan Shao and others. Instead, he said worriedly:

"My lord, although our army has the upper hand in the past two days, I feel that something is wrong."

"Gongsun Zan seems to be retreating on purpose, and then leading us to pursue him."

When Yuan Shao heard this, he was shocked. After thinking about it carefully, it seemed that it was indeed as Tian Feng said.

"Could it be that they want to ambush us on the way of retreat?"

Tian Feng nodded first, then shook his head.

This look made Yuan Tan thoughtful, while Yan Liang, who was sitting next to him, felt confused.

I couldn't help but say, "Military Advisor, if you have something to say, just say it directly. Why keep playing tricks on me?"

Tian Feng was silent for a while, then he slowly said: "It is an ambush, but also has other purposes."

"My Lord, Young Master, General Yan, although our army has won victories in the past two days, they are all small victories, and Gongsun Zan's casualties are not heavy."

"I think Gongsun Zan intends to lead us to pursue him, on the one hand to set up an ambush and kill him, and on the other hand to delay our army."

Hearing this, Yuan Shao seemed to have figured something out. He suddenly widened his eyes and said in disbelief:
"Gongsun Zan, Zhang Liao and that rebellious son have secretly formed an alliance!"

"As long as we delay our army here, Zhang Liao can seize the opportunity to seize the counties of Jizhou. Once he takes Wei County, Guangping County, Yangping County, Qinghe County, and Pingyuan County, it will be like holding a knife to my back."

Yuan Shao felt sweat pouring down his back, and he shuddered at the thought of the consequences of being attacked from both sides.

Tian Feng looked up at Yuan Shao, and the words came to his lips, but he swallowed them back, as if he was hesitating whether he should say it or not.

Yuan Shao was amazed when he saw this.

It was the first time he saw Tian Feng hesitant to speak. In the past, he dared to say anything unpleasant.

"Yuan Hao, is there anything between you and me that cannot be said?"

Tian Feng nodded, and after considering his words, he asked cautiously, which was unusual:
"May I ask if the lord knows His Majesty? Is the relationship between you and His Majesty harmonious?"

Yuan Shao's expression suddenly turned strange, and he asked in a muffled voice, "Why do you say that, Yuan Hao?"

Although he avoided the question, Tian Feng had made a conclusion in his mind.

"My lord, Zhang Liao is a subordinate of Lu Bu and is loyal to the emperor. If I am right, Yuan Xi is not allied with Zhang Liao, but is loyal to the emperor."

"Yuan Xi has insufficient troops and has a bad reputation for killing his brother and imprisoning his father. After Zhang Liao led his troops into Yecheng, he could only stay alive by being loyal to the emperor."

"Only if Yuan Xi surrenders to the emperor will Cui Yan betray his master."

"The person who set up the trap that caused the lord to lose his troops and generals is, if nothing unexpected happens, the emperor himself."

"Gongsun Zan once openly acknowledged the emperor's status in front of the two armies. If the emperor issued an order, how dare he disobey it?"

"This can also explain Gongsun Zan's various actions. When our army pursued, he retreated. When our army retreated, he came to harass. This is obviously to delay the lord's army!"

After hearing Tian Feng's words, Yuan Shao's expression kept changing.

The reason why he sent troops to Yecheng was because of the letter from Liu Xie.

The letter revealed that Yuan Xi intended to ambush and kill Zhang Liao and seize the military power of the Xuzhou army.

Later, this matter was confirmed by Cui Yan, which made him more convinced of what Liu Xie said in the letter.

He didn't believe in his heart that all this was done by Liu Xie.

In his eyes, a mere greedy and lustful refugee was always respectful and submissive in front of him. Even after he fled Yecheng, he still wrote letters to greet him. How could such a loyal person set up a trap to harm him?

Even though he had no faith in it, the facts were right before his eyes.

If it weren't for that letter, he would never have thought of taking back Yecheng when he was fighting with Gongsun Zan.

At this moment, a guard came in and reported: "My lord, General Qu Yi is back."

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao stood up suddenly, temporarily putting aside his suspicion of Liu Xie, and said excitedly, "Please come over quickly!"

The guards left, and soon after, Qu Yi, with a haggard face, walked into the central army camp.

As soon as he saw Yuan Shao, he knelt on one knee and said with a face full of shame: "My lord, I fell into a trap and was defeated in Yecheng. I only brought back 2,000 troops."

Although he had prepared himself mentally, Yuan Shao felt dizzy when he heard that they had 15,000 troops on the way there and only 2,000 on the way back.

If Yuan Tan had not been quick to catch him, he would have almost fallen to the ground.

Yuan Shao took a breath and said to Qu Yi: "This defeat is not my fault. You can get up now."

The intelligence he gave to Qu Yi did not include any information about the three thousand cavalry.

If it weren't for these three thousand Yulin cavalry, even if they were ambushed, with Qu Yi's ability, he would be able to lead the army to retreat, and there would never be such heavy losses.

After Qu Yi stood up, he sighed and said, "The emperor was only two hundred steps away from me at that time. If we hadn't encountered the cavalry charge when we first entered the camp, we would have been able to break through the siege and rescue the emperor."

"What?" Yuan Shao's eyes suddenly widened and he looked at Qu Yi intently, "The emperor is in the army?"

Qu Yi nodded and angrily cursed: "Zhang Liao committed treason and openly took the emperor hostage to the battlefield to boost morale. At that time, the emperor kept calling for help from me, and I fought desperately, but in the end I still failed to save the emperor."

What he said was both true and an excuse for himself.

It's not that I, Qu Yi, am incompetent, it's just that the other side has three thousand elite cavalry, and the emperor is sitting in the army to boost morale.

After hearing this, Yuan Shao was completely confused.

Did Liu Xie betray him?
Was it him who set up the strategy of luring the enemy in Yecheng?
Tian Feng also widened his eyes, unable to believe that his judgment was wrong.

There was silence in the central army tent.

Until Yuan Shao's personal guards came in again and presented two secret letters.

"My lord, there are two secret letters from Yecheng." Yuan Shao took the secret letter anxiously, turned and walked to the table at the back to prevent Tian Feng and others from seeing the contents of the letter.

[Ju Su's last words, personally written by the Lord]

After the first letter was unfolded, the eight words that came into his sight made Yuan Shao scream out in grief.

"Father!"

Seeing this, Yuan Tan stood up and walked over with a worried look on his face.

"It doesn't matter."

Yuan Shao raised his hand and signaled Yuan Tan to stop.

Yuan Tan asked, "What has caused my father to be so sad?"

Yuan Shao had tears in his eyes and slammed the table in great sorrow: "Gong Yu is dead!"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Tan, Tian Feng, Yan Liang and Qu Yi all changed their expressions and then they all comforted Yuan Shao.

"Please accept my condolences, father."

"My Lord, I mourn for you."

Yuan Shao forced himself to suppress the grief in his heart and read Ju Su's suicide letter word by word.

When he saw the content of the letter, he found out that it was asking him to submit to the emperor.

In the time it took for a cup of tea, Yuan Shao finished reading the letter of persuasion to surrender, and snorted in disdain:
"Oh! What a poor imitation."

"The handwriting is exactly the same as Gongyou's, and the writing style is also very similar to Gongyou's. But Gongyou would never persuade me to surrender, let alone submit to the emperor of Yecheng."

In Yuan Shao's heart, Ju Su was definitely the most loyal subordinate.

He didn't believe at all that Ju Shou would persuade him to surrender.

He threw the letter of surrender into the brazier and burned it, then picked up another letter and started reading.

【Seeing the words is like seeing the person, reading the letter makes your face happy】

The familiar eight words made Yuan Shao shudder all over.

I immediately determined that this was a letter from Liu Xie.

However, what puzzled him was that the words on this secret letter were different from the previous ones.

In the past, Liu Xie's handwriting looked like a dog's crawling.

Today's characters are square in shape, with straight strokes and a solemn and majestic aura.

"This word!"

Yuan Shao was a little shocked. He had never seen such a font before.

This level of calligraphy has reached the level of a master, and he is far inferior to him.

"How could his calligraphy improve so quickly? Could it be that someone else wrote it for him?"

"No, if his identity is exposed, he will be sentenced to death by slicing. He is quite smart and would never let someone else write for him."

Yuan Shao frowned and continued to read down with full of doubts.

[Benchu, I am not a refugee, but the legitimate emperor of the Han Dynasty. 】

[In order to escape the control of treacherous officials, I fled to Yecheng in the autumn of the first year of Jian'an with the help of Taiwei Yang Biao.]

[I came to Yecheng, originally wanting Benchu ​​to help me eliminate injustice, rebuild the country, and restore the Han Dynasty. ]

[However, I dare not conclude whether Benchu ​​also has the ambition to hold the emperor hostage to control the princes like Dong Zhuo. So I turned into a refugee and met Ju Su outside the city. Fortunately, Ju Su really regarded me as a refugee and did not believe that I was the emperor. ]

【The facts have proven that my caution was correct. In order to be able to command the princes, Benchu ​​actually agreed to Ju Su's plan to pretend to be the emperor. This really disappoints me.】

[Benchu ​​was the descendant of three dukes for four generations, and had received the grace of the country, but he was so ambitious and disrespectful to the Han Dynasty and the emperor.]

[In the years that followed, I used truth as falsehood and played along with Benchu ​​for two and a half years, secretly cultivating forces loyal to me. Today, I finally have the power to protect myself.]

[Now the five counties of Xuzhou, Youzhou, and Yangzhou, as well as Yecheng, are all under my control. Soon, Wei County, Guangping County, and Yangping County will also return to Han territory.]

[At that time, I will also send troops to attack Qinghe County and Pingyuan County until I recover the entire Jizhou. Benchu ​​is attacked from both sides and it is impossible to escape. Even if he escapes from Jizhou by chance, he will be a dog that has lost its home. How can Qingzhou and Bingzhou alone resist my Han army? ]

[However, I am the Emperor of Han after all, and all the people in the world are my subjects. For the sake of the Han Dynasty and the lives of innocent soldiers, I give Benchu ​​a chance to choose.]

[If Benchu ​​were to turn against us and surrender with courtesy, the Yuan family would still retain their title of nobility, and Yuan Xi would also be given important positions by me.]

[I swear by the Luo River that I will only kill Benchu.]

Compared with the previous letter of surrender that imitated Ju Su's handwriting, there were not many words in this secret letter, only a few hundred words.

But Yuan Shao watched it for half an hour!

Yuan Tan, Tian Feng and others also waited silently in the central army tent for half an hour.

They witnessed Yuan Shao's expression with their own eyes, from confusion at the beginning, to shock in the middle, and then to panic now.

"Impossible, absolutely impossible!"

Yuan Shao screamed in fear.

Out of fear and terror, he fell directly to the ground.

"Father!"

Yuan Tan stepped forward and tried to help Yuan Shao up, but was pushed away.

"Get out, all of you! Leave me alone!"

Under Yuan Shao's roar, Yuan Tan, Tian Feng and others left the central military camp without knowing why.

Only after there was no one else in the tent did Yuan Shao calm down a little.

He stared blankly at the secret letter in his hand, muttering to himself: "The emperor I pretended to be is actually the legitimate heir of the Han Dynasty!"

"No wonder I always feel like someone is secretly plotting against me. It turns out that everything was done by the Emperor and Yang Biao!"

"No wonder Kong Rong was willing to lose his reputation and declare to the public that he could not tell the true emperor from the false, but now he is working for him in Yecheng. It turns out that the reason he did this was to cover up for the emperor."

“No wonder when he was offering sacrifices to the heavens, purple air came out of the incense burner and floated above his head.”

"No wonder Cao Aman also doubted the emperor of Xu County and sent people to Yecheng to identify the emperor's identity."

"No wonder Yang Biao did not hesitate to hit his head against the wall to show his loyalty, and no wonder Fu Wan dared to denounce Cao Cao for pretending to be the emperor in court."

"No wonder he has such great imperial dignity. It's ridiculous that I thought he was a good actor."

"It turns out that the refugee I thought was actually the legitimate emperor of the Han Dynasty!"

"I naively thought that fate was with Yuan, and I actually met someone who looked like the emperor. I didn't expect that it was deliberately arranged by him."

"I am a chess piece and I don't even know it. I am so ridiculous to pretend that the truth is false and establish the emperor."

At this moment, Yuan Shao was extremely frightened and was about to collapse.

If Ju Shou were still alive, he could still negotiate with Ju Shou.

But now that Ju Shou was dead, he couldn't even find anyone to ask for advice.

In the central army tent, Yuan Shao stared blankly at the increasingly dim fire in the brazier. Various scenes of his time with Liu Xie kept flashing through his mind, and he collapsed to the ground powerlessly.

(End of this chapter)