The fourth year of Zhangwu, November 4th.

It has been two months and twenty days since the Youzhou Prefecture changed hands and was in exchange for Ji County. The situation in Yecheng is already in danger and may be broken at any time, but at least today is still in Yuan Shang's hands.

It has to be admitted that the senior generals of Liu Bei's army had a relatively accurate assessment of the city defense strength of Yecheng and the strength of Cao's army's siege.

It is said that Yecheng can hold on for at least two more months than Jixian, but now it has been so long.

Liu Bei's army has always been tough in fighting against Yuan and Cao at the same time, and has not colluded with any traitors to compromise.

There is no more resource investment, and I will only make a shot with no dates, and accumulate strength completely according to my own pace to avoid large-scale military use after winter.

During this period, Liu Bei's army did as expected to easily capture the Heishan Mountain counties in the northeast corner of Hanoi County, as well as the counties in Wei County that are located west of Yecheng and control Huguanxing.

On the battlefield on the southern front, Shamoke also took advantage of the time after the autumn harvest and the opportunity when Cao's main forces in Yuzhou were led by Guo Jia to confront Liu Bei's army in Kunyang, and occupied several county towns in the Dabie Mountains on the edge of Runan County to the south.

Although the land area and population that has been eroded are not large, it completely takes up the peripheral insurance and the cost is very low. There is no accident in the whole process, and there is no organizational threat resistance, so the process is naturally not worth elaborating.

...

On this day, he had just become the Shen Pei of the Third Duke last month and realized that there was not much time left in Yecheng. In despair, he didn't even want to cause trouble for Yuan Shang anymore.

Instead, I just thought, "Let's give us and our lord a grandmaster. At least in the history books, I didn't feel humiliated before my death, so I'm not too cowardly."

It is not surprising that Shen Pei has this mentality, because once a person sticks to something for too long, you want him to realize that the previous persistence is wrong, at least it is worthless, which is too difficult. Many people cannot accept it and would rather die before the turning point.

What's more, Shen Pei knew in his heart that Yuan Shang was completely depressed. The reason why he had not surrendered was entirely because he knew that he could not survive even if he surrendered.

It has been fighting for so long, and the blood feud between the two sides is so deep, so Cao Cao cannot keep him.

As long as Cao Cao had Yuan Tan as a sign, he could claim that he was "only opposed to Yuan Shang, not against Yuan's family", so it was impossible and there was no need to leave a way for Yuan Shang to hold the king and rebel against Yuan Shang.

The last time Yuan Shang asked about foreign affairs was three or four days ago, just in early November.

That evening, Yuan Shang was also drunk and desperate, and summoned Shen Pei to ask about the battle situation and the external environment with the help of alcohol.

Yuan Shang was sober and would not have expectations for Liu Bei, but he didn't care so much about face after getting drunk. He spoke up after drinking, so he asked the examiner to express his opinions, thinking that Liu Bei could let Yuan Shang's lineage go and win over the old subordinates of the Yuan family to deal with Cao Cao.

Obviously, Yuan Shang felt that Liu Bei had such a slight possibility to be a utilitarian, play the "offshore balancer" and "join the weak and beat the strong".

But Shen Pei had the latest external information, and his answer dispelled Yuan Shang's last delusion.

"Our army has done a detailed job. The scout sent back the military information to the west. It was brought by the prisoners who fled when the camp at Huguan Xingkou was captured.

Since Yang Xiu himself is so clear about this, he is certainly clear about his compatriots.

So Shen Pei knew that everyone would betray Yuan Shang, but Yang Xiu could not do it. Everyone was a hard-core comrade-in-arms, a grasshopper on a rope.

Today, Shen Pei developed a desperate heart and wanted to reduce the unnecessary losses when Yecheng changed its ownership, so he thought of asking Yang Xiu to discuss it.

After the two of them sat down, Shen Pei didn't say anything. She had three drinks with Yang Xiu first, and after he was a little drunk, he got straight to the point:

"Dezu, Yecheng has been in a few days, and even if we defend it to the death, there will be no change. When we really break the streets in the city, I am afraid that at least ten thousand soldiers will be killed or injured on both sides, and it will give Cao Cao the opportunity to slaughter hundreds of officials in the city, which is an excuse for the Hebei family."

Yang Xiu subconsciously said a few more scenes, for fear that Shen Pei was cheating him: "Why did Mr. Zhengnan say this? There is a court stern like Mr. Zhengnan, and a loyal and righteous minister presided over the city defense..."

Shen Pei raised his hand to stop Yang Xiu's defense: "Okay, I'm getting too fast. Dezu doesn't want to believe my sincerity, so you can't blame you. Who told me to kill so many people in the past few months?

In August and September, so many court officials and lieutenant generals Zuo thought of swaying to surrender to the enemy, and I found out the door clearly. Even the Southern Su You's head is still hanging on the city tower. Dezu doesn't believe me, so he should.

However, today I am really sincere, and neither I nor my lord will be spared. At that time, the lord will be willing to put it in the General's Mansion to set fire to death, so as not to fall into the hands of Cao thief and be humiliated. That is the best.

As for me, Dezu took my head to Cao Cao, and saved more officials. Otherwise, with Cao Cao's suspicion, he would probably massacre officials who still insist on supporting Yuan's family and kill dissidents after the city was destroyed.

If I hadn't known that the Taiwei family was an old lord's family and was loyal and loyal, how could they trust this? It's good to say that people are about to die, so please don't doubt it."

Shen Pei's IQ is pretty good, and he can see clearly the possible cleaning of Cao Cao after the Yecheng City was destroyed.

Moreover, this is not considered to be a damaging Cao Cao, because in the ninth year of Jian'an, Cao Cao also carried out a massacre when he captured Yecheng in the ninth year of Jian'an. After all, the siege troops suffered heavy losses. If they were not slaughtered or robbed, they would vent their pressure and appease the troops.

It can only be said that in the later period, Cao Cao in history, there was no massacre of the entire state, and he only did it in Xuzhou.

But if it is the political center of the hostile princes, it is necessary to slaughter it, generally only by one city. Killing is not the purpose, robbing things and destroying the enemy's core bureaucratic group is the purpose.

For example, the political centers of Zhang Miao (Yongqiu), Lu Bu (Pengcheng), and Yuan (Yecheng) were all slaughtered by Cao Cao.

Shen Pei is too clear about Cao Cao's character, so how can he not beware of it?

Now that the one who is shaken, all those who own Cao have been killed by him. If the city is broken and the one who owns Yuan is slaughtered by Cao Cao, wouldn’t it mean that all those who own Cao and Yuan are dead? How many officials can the court be left?

The main reason why Shen Pei supported Yuan Shao and later supported Yuan Shang was that Shen Pei was the spokesperson for the interests of the Hebei family and the hope of the officials and scholars in Jizhou.

Shen Pei can die, but he cannot give Cao Cao the excuse of killing the Hebei ninth-rank Zhongzheng interest group.

After spending a long time persuading, Shen Pei finally made Yang Xiu believe that he was completely sincere. After entrusting these words, Shen Pei planned to draw out his sword and commit suicide, asking Yang Xiu to pretend that the Yang family held a banquet to kill Shen Pei, and then opened the door to surrender.

Drawing the sword in his hand, Shen Pei suddenly remembered some ridiculous things and couldn't help laughing:

"I heard that the ancestors of De, and even the entire Hongnong Yang family, were stolen by Emperor Gaozu and robbed Xiang Yu of one leg, and the blessings of four hundred years have passed. Is there still a lot of shade?

At that time, Xiang Yu killed hundreds of people in the last battle, but was exhausted. He gave his first gift to his old friend Lu Matong, and divided the Marquis of Chiquan. A total of five people were granted the Marquis of Marquis.

Unexpectedly, I have the opportunity to imitate King Xiang today, so I am really ashamed. I hope my head corpse can protect the loyalty and righteous descendants of the five families.

Dezu would like to think about the list and see which four families to conspire to kill me in Xiancheng. Cao Cao would not make things difficult for these loyal and righteous people. But not too many people, too many people will see the flaws. Since ancient times, many people will be defeated, and Cao Cao will not believe it."

Shen Pei just said it casually, but he was quite accurate. Since ancient times, the internal plot to kill powerful officials was generally the limit of confidentiality work. If there are many people, someone will report it.

In history, Dong Cheng claimed that he was planning to plot against Cao Cao. When it was finally leaked, there were only five or six participants, but when it was seen that the scale began to leak the secret. It was too fake to have too many people.

Yang Xiu was so excited that his unintentional words were so aroused that he couldn't sit still.

What kind of style does this have? Our ancestors of the Hongnong Yang family robbed Xiang Yu of wealth, and now they still have to grab a head of Shen Pei to protect their wealth? How embarrassing it would be to spread.

And when he thought of a question, he raised his hand to stop the review:

"Don't be so slow in Zhengnan! I know your thoughts. However, you are asking for death to be a pure reputation behind you, and you want to be a grand and vigorous person. But if you die like this, you will not be afraid that Cao Cao would defame you as a rebel minister of the Yuan family in the name of the eldest son? As for the Duke, how can you meet the general? "

When Shen Pei heard this, he was stunned and found that he could not die just like this, because Yuan Tan was still with Cao Cao, and Cao Cao was threatened. If Shen Pei was in the name of Yuan Tan and was just colluding with the young son of Yuan to seek his own benefit, he would die inexplicably and his reputation might not be glorious.

Shen Pei changed his mind: "Then Lau Dezu would have tried his best, so he would tie me up and pretend to hold me up and succeed. He forced the city gate to open the city gate with the might of the Taiwei.

Before I die, I will naturally ask the eldest son to come forward to kill me in front of the soldiers of the two armies and confess the right and wrong. Although Cao Cao was cruel, I know that he still admired the loyal and righteous people and liked to give the loyal and righteous people a chance to speak.

As long as I can confront the eldest son in front of the soldiers of the two armies, even if I die in the end, I can at least expect the historians of the world to record my thoughts.

Alas, now, even if Liu Bei comes to attack the city, we will open the door as soon as possible, just a passing cloud and mist will be gone."

...

Yang Xiu repeatedly confirmed that he saw that Shen Pei was not a playboy, so he took Shen Pei back to the Taiwei Mansion, and then asked the guards of the Taiwei Mansion to tie up Shen Pei. He hurriedly gathered the list of important officials to protect the four families and discussed with them to plan to surrender to Cao.

The ministers loyal to the Yuan family were shocked at first, but soon realized that this was an opportunity to save their lives. Moreover, Yang Xiu and Yang Biao came forward to preside over the presidency, and they followed suit and agreed.

Several heads of the family also gave the confession right. As for the people below, there was no need to know it to avoid leaking the secrets.

In the middle of the night that day, Yang Xiu sent someone to go out of the city with a hanging basket to discuss with Yuan Tan for surrender. At this point, Yang Xiu was very sure of the measure. He surrendered Yuan Tan rather than Cao Cao.

But Yuan Tan was already like a puppet, and he had to convey the news to Cao Cao. Cao Cao was not very happy after hearing this, but he was relieved and organized the vanguard troops to prepare to grab the gate and the city tower.

At the fifth morning, Yang Xiu signaled Cao's army outside the city to prepare to enter the city according to the agreed torch signal, and then opened the city gate.

In order to prevent the Cao army from attacking and massacring the city, Yang Xiu also tied Shen Pei to the top of the city to prove that Yecheng took the initiative to surrender peacefully and was not violated. When Cao's army entered the city, the Yang family had already controlled the situation in the city.
Chapter completed!