Chapter 173: Siege

In recent days, Yuan Xi had been near the battle lines and had seen Tian Kai directing operations from the city walls several times.

Frankly, Yuan Xi felt that if he were in charge, he wouldn't be able to do as well as Tian Kai.

The fact that he was able to defeat him in Qingzhou that day was partly due to the element of surprise in his tactics. On the other hand, the overall level of Yuan Shao's army was higher than that of the Qingzhou soldiers, and they also had the advantage of an ambush.

But even so, the two sides fought to the point where more than half of them were killed or wounded before the victory was decided. It must be said that Tian Kai was good at governing the army. It was just that the winner was king and the loser was the bandit. After losing Qingzhou in one battle, it was difficult to recover.

Moreover, Tian Kai's loyalty to Gongsun Zan was obvious to all. Even after being defeated, he still fled back to Yijing to help Gongsun Zan. When defending the city, he fought desperately in every battle, standing on the city wall.

Tian Yu sneered, "Now you know, Gongzi, Marquis Ji had the grace to recognize the talent of the Tian family. If Yu betrays his lord, wouldn't that be a disgrace to the family?"

Yuan Xi was a little annoyed when he heard this. "Gongsun Zan is indeed good to the Tian family, but what about to others?"

"I heard that he is contemptuous of the gentry and only loves the poor scholars and merchants, but he also indulges his soldiers in looting the people. What do you think he looks like in my heart?"

Yuan Xi stared at Tian Yu. "He looks like a bandit."

"He does love his soldiers very much, so he allows his soldiers to loot civilians, even if those soldiers were once from the same village as those civilians."

"What he has done is no different from what the Yellow Turbans did back then. Whether they are gentry or common people, anyone who stands in their way will be robbed and killed."

Tian Yu's face turned red, and he said, "What do you know about Marquis Ji? Marquis Ji blocked the foreign tribes in the northern lands, but the Yuan family is on good terms with the foreign tribes..."

Yuan Xi sneered, "I don't deny that."

"But did he kill all the foreign tribes?"

"The foreign tribes who poisoned the people of our Han Dynasty should indeed be killed. On this point, I admire Gongsun Zan very much, but it is impossible to kill them all. Will they still poison the border people next year?"

"The Yuan family's approach of befriending foreign tribes also has big problems, I don't deny it, but it also has an aspect of containing foreign tribes."

"The problem of foreign tribes is extremely complicated, how can it be solved in a word?"

Tian Yu's voice weakened when he heard this, "The Yuan family is good at sophistry. Just because I said you, doesn't mean you are right."

Yuan Xi sneered and said to Sun Li, "Come here."

"Tell this brother Guo Rang about your experience."

Sun Li walked over and calmly told the story of his village being massacred by Gongsun Zan's army.

Finally, he stared at Tian Yu with a mocking expression, "I am also from Youzhou. In the eyes of us survivors, you are no different from the Xiongnu and Xianbei people."

"You still feel wronged? Have the blades fallen on your heads?"

"Who can the villagers who were killed by your soldiers tell their grievances to?"

"I spit on you!"

Tian Yu was speechless for a moment.

Yuan Xi said, "Do you know now?"

"As civilians, what do you think when they look at you?"

"When Cao Jun lacked food last year, Cheng Yu from Dong'a County returned to Dong'a County and slaughtered all the people to make dry food. Tell me, in the eyes of the people of Dong'a, what is the difference between Cao Jun and the foreign tribes?"

"In the eyes of the people of Youzhou, you are the same now. There are rebellions all over Youzhou, and no one has come to support Gongsun Zan until now. Don't you think it's ridiculous?"

"Of course, he is not completely without friends. The Black Mountain bandits are coming, which is really ironic."

"Although the Black Mountain bandits have a Han court title, you should understand better than me what kind of people they are."

"I heard that they have repeatedly looted the people of Youzhou. Daigun County in Youzhou and Changshan County in Jizhou have been massacred many times. Not to mention Bingzhou, where the Black Mountain Army is located, they treat the Han people worse than the Southern Xiongnu."

"The General Who Pacifies the Difficulty, conferred by the Han court, is truly a benevolent ruler."

Tian Yu clenched his teeth and clenched his fists: "Hasn't the Yuan family ever done anything wrong?"

Yuan Xi said frankly, "Of course not. In this world today, no one is really a good person."

"But whoever ends the war first will be the best one."

Tian Yu's body shook.

Yuan Xi said coldly, "If you want to seek death to fulfill your loyalty, I won't stop you."

"But if you die here, the evaluation of you by later generations will definitely not be high."

"Oh, it's still uncertain whether Brother Guo Rang is worth being recorded."

Tian Yu was a little confused by Yuan Xi's barrage of words. This was partly because Yuan Xi was eloquent, but also because the Yuan family, as a large aristocratic family far surpassing the Tian family, was naturally at a disadvantage in the debate of scriptures and righteousness.

This is the so-called suppression of the status of the aristocratic family.

Seeing that he had said everything he needed to say, Yuan Xi stood up and said, "Next, I am going to fight the Black Mountain Army. You can stay here and watch how Gongsun Zan is destroyed."

"Of course, it is also possible that I will not be able to rush back in time, and everything will be over."

"Since those who have different paths cannot conspire together, we have nothing to say."

Tian Yu became anxious when he heard this and blurted out, "If I help you defeat the Black Mountain bandits, can you save my uncle's life?"

Yuan Xi shook his head and said, "It's too late."

"If you had agreed earlier, there would still be some opportunities. Now, letting you lead troops at the last minute is irresponsible to my soldiers."

"Moreover, based on Tian Kai's performance on the city wall these days, I am not sure that I can save him after the city is captured."

"Of course, if he is willing to surrender, he will definitely be able to survive, but I don't think it is very likely."

Tian Yu was speechless when he heard this.

Yuan Xi turned and left, saying, "You stay here and think about it. If I can rush back in time, I will let you meet Tian Kai for the last time before the battle."

"The Black Mountain Bandits are heading from Youzhou towards Yijing. Wherever they go, they will surely plunder and kill."

"Gongsun Zan is unwilling to save the people of Youzhou, then I will save them."

Tian Yu stood blankly at the entrance of the camp, watching Yuan Xi issue orders, dispatching troops and generals. The soldiers were busy running back and forth, moving supplies and provisions onto the carts.

Soon it was early the next morning, the day of departure had arrived.

Tian Yu saw Yuan Xi mount his horse, preparing to lead his troops away, without even looking at him.

He knew that if he missed this opportunity, there might not be another one, so he spoke out: "Yu requests a horse and a saber to help the young master defeat the Black Mountain Bandits and alleviate the suffering of the people of Youzhou."

As soon as these words came out, Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, including Sun Li, all breathed a sigh of relief.

The young master is truly patient and can really deceive people.

They, who had exchanged blows with Tian Yu, deeply understood his capabilities.

It would be a pity to kill such a talented person in both literary and military affairs.

However, Tian Yu was extremely difficult to persuade. Yuan Xi appeared not to care, but in fact, he was deliberately trying to destroy Tian Yu's psychological defenses.

After Yuan Xi's persuasion, he magnified and severely criticized the shortcomings of Gongsun Zan and Cao Cao, whom Tian Yu valued, which shook Tian Yu's confidence.

The key was that everything Yuan Xi said was true. Tian Yu thought about it all night and increasingly felt, had he been taking the wrong path all these years?

At this moment, he finally made up his mind. He wanted to see clearly whether Gongsun Zan had really made a mistake?

Yuan Xi laughed and dismounted, holding Tian Yu's hand and saying: "I will let Guorang and my brother see what kind of person I am!"

"If one day, Brother Guorang discovers that I am a hypocrite, a person with ulterior motives, you can always seek another wise lord!"

Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, and Sun Li simultaneously had a thought.

Come on, with the young master's clinginess, I'm afraid that once Tian Yu gets on the boat, it will be difficult to escape.

Yuan Xi led his army to set off, but he encountered Yuan Tan coming out to see him off.

Yuan Tan had more troops, so he needed to prepare more things, so he would depart one day later than Yuan Xi.

He and Yuan Xi walked side by side, saying: "Second brother, be careful on this trip."

"After all, you have fewer soldiers. If something goes wrong, it would be a great loss to our Yuan family."

Yuan Xi listened, wanting to say something but hesitating. Yuan Tan knew what he meant and said: "No matter what, second brother's surname is Yuan, the Yuan family is not your enemy."

"I don't want to become enemies with second brother one day."

Yuan Xi nodded, but what he was thinking was that these things would not be understood until they happened to oneself.

He was intentionally adopted, while Yuan Tan was unwilling. In later generations, he turned against Yuan Shang because of this, fighting to the death, and even defected to his enemy Cao Cao.

As a result, the two brothers fought to the death, draining Jizhou's resources. In the end, neither of them had a good ending. Yuan Shang fled, and along the way, he also killed Yuan Xi, who was just passing through Youzhou.

It can only be said that this result, when Yuan Tan was adopted, who could have imagined it?

Yuan Xi didn't want to be a pawn caught in the tide of events, he wanted to sit in front of the chessboard.

Thinking of this, he bowed to Yuan Tan and laughed: "Brother's words, Xi will keep them in mind!"

He waved his hand, Zhao Yun, Taishi Ci, and others followed, leading the soldiers towards Youzhou.

With a puff, Qu Yi ruthlessly thrust his horse lance into the belly of an enemy cavalryman, the spear tip piercing through the opponent's back, bringing out a spray of blood.

The huge impact sent the opponent flying from his horse into the air. The opponent screamed miserably, but did not die immediately. In the air, he tightly grasped his halberd with both hands, even trying to drag Qu Yi off his horse.

Qu Yi's expression turned cold, he raised his hand, pointing the halberd tip downwards, and pinned the man to the ground, using the momentum of the horse's forward movement to drag him along the ground.

The man screamed miserably on the ground, dragged for dozens of feet before finally loosening his hands and dying.

Qu Yi shook his hand, pulling the halberd tip out of the opponent's corpse. He grabbed the halberd shaft with both arms and swung it in a circle towards the sky, scattering the blood on the halberd tip.

He roared to the soldiers: "Today, we fight to the death, no retreat!"

This group of Black Mountain soldiers numbered about twenty thousand, appearing from the northern part of the Taihang Mountains, and had surrounded Beixin City for several days now.

To the surprise of the Black Mountain Army's generals, they thought that with so many people, as long as they attacked the city slightly, Beixin City would surrender immediately.

As a result, Beixin City defended extremely skillfully, leaving the Black Mountain Army with no success after besieging the city for several days.

Qu Yi looked at the Black Mountain Army's cavalry constantly surrounding the hundred or so cavalrymen he led, sighed, and thought to himself that the young master was truly ruthless, new people replace the old, having found Zhao Yun and Taishi Ci, he always let him stay behind.

Although Qu Yi knew that if he went to Yijing, it would be easy for people to discover his flaws, and if his true colors were exposed, Yuan Xi might not be able to protect him.

However, he was still very resentful, this battle was frustrating, the opposing soldiers were very average, but there were too many of them, and they were shameless enough.

The Black Mountain Army actually drove their own people to attack the city!

Faced with the old, young, women, and children carrying soil under the city, the new soldiers of Beixin City hesitated when defending the city, leading to a passive situation for a time.

Qu Yi saw that this was not a solution, and if this continued, morale would decline, so he had to lead the cavalry to charge the enemy, in order to boost morale.

Unexpectedly, this was exactly what the other side wanted, they were waiting for him to leave the city.

At this moment, two generals from the enemy formation charged towards Qu Yi on horseback.