The setting sun was pale, and the dim yellow blood sprinkled on Zhang Liao's body, making him look lonely...
Zhang Liao stood at the head of Li County City, looking at the iron-barrel-like Yan Jun camp in the distance, the disappointment on his face getting more and more intense.
At this time, four full days had passed since that night's fiasco.
In the past four days, Yan Liang has intensified the siege of Li City, completely isolating him from the outside world and preventing him from getting any news about the camp.
However, even though he is isolated from the outside world and as wise as Zhang Liao, he can still deduce what is going to happen.
In the failure that night, Prime Minister Cao's main force must have suffered heavy losses. Coupled with Cao Chun's death in battle, the entire Cao army must have suffered a heavy blow.
Under such circumstances, it was not enough for Prime Minister Cao to defend himself, so why should he be rescued from the isolated city.
What's more terrible is that Zhang Luzheng's troops invaded Guanzhong and lost the rear. In this case, with the wisdom of the prime minister, what else could he do.
"If it were me, I would have withdrawn our troops and returned to Guanzhong."
Although Zhang Liao had to face the cruel facts, he still held on to the remaining hope in his heart, hoping that Cao Cao could come up with another clever plan to rescue him from Yan Liang's siege.
However, as time passed day by day, the little hope that remained in Zhang Liao's heart was slowly disappearing.
Because Zhang Liao discovered that the number of Yan's troops besieging the city was increasing day by day. Looking at the number of new enemy camps, Zhang Liao roughly estimated that as of today, the number of enemies besieging the city has almost increased to 30,000.
There must be only one reason why Yan Liang dared to besiege the city with so many soldiers and horses, and that was that Prime Minister Cao had already led his troops to retreat to Guanzhong. Yan Liang, who had lost the external threat, could use the entire army to besiege his lone army.
But what puzzles Zhang Liao is that he only has less than 700 soldiers and horses left under his command. Li City is not a fortified city. With Yan Liang's strength, even if he can't bring his entire army, he can easily defeat Li City.
wipe out.
However, Yan Liang chose to besiege rather than attack. This made Zhang Liao even more confused.
"Yan Liang, what are your intentions?" Zhang Liaoyuan looked at the enemy camp, his brows getting tighter and tighter.
Just as Zhang Liao was deep in thought, something strange happened suddenly in the Yan Jun camp opposite.
Dust and mist were rising, and a group of Yanjun cavalry was seen galloping towards the city gate.
Zhang Liao looked shocked and urgently ordered his soldiers to prepare for battle.
The remaining few hundred Tiger and Leopard Cavalry soldiers reluctantly obeyed Zhang Liao's orders and gathered at the city gate to respond to the enemy.
After a while, the group of men and horses approached. Zhang Liao breathed a sigh of relief. The people who came were not a large group of enemy troops. At first glance, they were only about ten horses.
But what made Zhang Liao nervous was that he vaguely saw that Yan Liang was among the enemy cavalry.
"Zhang Wenyuan, Yan has something to say to you. Do you dare to ride out of the city alone to meet me?"
Yan Liangping withdrew his troops and rode alone to the city moat.
Zhang Liao, who was on the city, suddenly felt suspicious. After hesitating for a long time, he decided to go out of the city to see him.
The city gate opened. Zhang Liao, holding a long sword in his hand, rode out of the city gate alone and arrived in front of the moat.
Just over a month ago, he met Lu Lingqi riding alone here. After a month, he revisited the past again, but the person he met was changed to Yan Liang.
"Wen Yuan, you and I are destined to be together. We are separated by thousands of miles from each other. I didn't expect that we would meet again."
Yan Liang was calm and composed, as if he was reminiscing with an old friend.
Meeting Yan Liang up close for the first time, Zhang Liao was really filled with emotion.
The Battle of White Horse. Zhang Liao witnessed with his own eyes the scene where Guan Yu wanted to sneak attack Yan Liang among thousands of troops, but was defeated by Yan Liang. From then on, Yan Liang left a deep impression on Zhang Liao, making him feel that this Hebei warrior was not
He is as brave and foolhardy as the world has said.
In recent years, after hearing how Yan Liang betrayed the Yuan family, how he annexed Jingzhou, and how he defeated the heroes of the world, Zhang Liao became even more impressed with Yan Liang.
A few days ago, when Cao Cao's plan failed, he had personally experienced Yan Liang's true strength and witnessed the power of this newly rising prince.
Although he is an enemy, Zhang Liao's heart is full of respect for this powerful enemy.
Faced with Yan Liang's greetings like an old friend, Zhang Liao could only smile bitterly and said, "I lost to General Yan in the battle of Baima, and today I lost to General Yan in the battle of Licheng. I, Zhang Liao, are indeed very close to Yan Liangjun."
Hearing Zhang Liao's self-deprecation, Yan Liang laughed and said proudly: "There are mountains outside the mountains, and there are people outside the mountains. You, Zhang Wenyuan, lost to me, Yan Liang. It is not embarrassing at all. Why should you be so discouraged?"
Yan Liang made no secret of his confidence, and clearly told Zhang Liao in his words that you are no match for me.
Yan Liang's extremely strong self-confidence couldn't help but make Zhang Liao feel shocked, and secretly wondered: "This man is brave and resourceful, with such majestic magnanimity and self-confidence that even Prime Minister Cao seems to be inferior to him. No wonder he can do it on his own."
With such power, he managed to conquer this whole world..."
After sighing, Zhang Liao forced a smile, "General Yan is so domineering, he really has the potential to resurrect King Xiang. Now Liao has been heavily besieged by the general. I don't know when the general plans to attack. The Liao Hengdao is waiting."
There was something tragic in Zhang Liao's words, as if he was planning to fight to the death.
Faced with Zhang Liao's generosity, Yan Liang suddenly burst into laughter, and his laughter was full of ridicule.
Zhengqi means that soldiers can be killed but not humiliated. Seeing Yan Liang's intention to ridicule him, Zhang Liao couldn't help but smile secretly and said coldly: "Although there are only 700 remaining soldiers in Liao, if General Yan wants to attack Li City, Liao will need you to pay twice as much."
cost."
Yan Liang suppressed his smile, but the sarcasm on his face remained as sharp as a knife.
"I naturally know how brave Zhang Wenyuan is. But now that Cao Cao has abandoned you in an isolated city and fled far away from the pass, you are still so excited to seek death and life for Cao Cao. How can you not be so foolish and loyal to me?
ridiculous."
Yan Liang started to "provoke" again.
Zhang Liao is a good general in the world, and Yan Liang naturally wants to subdue him. Otherwise, he would have besieged the city for a long time without attacking, let alone come to persuade him to surrender.
Zhang Liao was a smart man, and he immediately understood what Yan Liang meant, and the sullen look on his face slowly faded away.
After sighing, Zhang Liao said slowly: "Prime Minister Cao treats me well. It is only natural that Zhang fight to the death for him."
"Lu Bu treated Wen Yuan well back then. Why didn't you fight to the death for Wen Yuan?" Yan Liang immediately asked back, pushing Zhang Liao back.
Zhang Liao looked shocked and was speechless for a moment, not knowing how to respond.
Yan Liang said: "Let me explain it to you. When you persisted until the city was broken and captured, you were considered loyal to Lu Bu. Besides, good birds choose trees to roost in. Cao Cao has a heroic appearance, so you surrendered to him. It was also a matter of love."
It’s possible, that’s right.”
Zhang Liao's eyes flashed strangely, he was surprised that Yan Liang would defend him, and Yan Liang's words spoke from his heart.
"Zhang..." Zhang Liao, who was in a complicated mood, wanted to speak but stopped.
At this time, Yan Liang smiled and said lightly: "Now that you have defended Li City alone for a month, until Cao Cao abandoned you, it was Cao Cao who failed you, not you who failed Cao Cao. You can be regarded as being loyal to him. I have done my best to him."
Generals will not be hypocritical. Among the heroes of the world, there must be a place for me. The situation now is so similar to that of the past. You were able to surrender to Cao Cao back then, so why can't you surrender to me today?"
Zhang Liao's body trembled, as if his heart was severely touched. For a moment, a trace of strong hesitation flashed in his eyes.
Yan Liang has an insight into people's thoughts and can clearly see that Zhang Liao has been shaken by him.
After all, Zhang Liao is also made of flesh and blood. Throughout the ages, he has been somewhat able to regard death as his own and not hesitate to take his own life.
silence.
The tiger and leopard knights at the top of the city were all staring at Zhang Liao. Yan Liang's words of "surrender" were deliberately emphasized so that Cao Chun's old men on the city could hear clearly.
After pondering for a long time, Zhang Liao sighed secretly, cupped his hands and said: "General Yan's kindness is appreciated by Liao, but Zhang Liao cannot comply with his orders."
His words of forgiveness and obedience were quite difficult to say. On the surface, he was refusing, but in reality he was still hesitant.
Yan Liang knew that Zhang Liao couldn't live up to his reputation, so he needed to step down.
Yan Liang sneered. With his current strength, he could easily conquer Li City and capture Zhang Liao alive before persuading him to surrender. At present, he did not attack and instead came to persuade Zhang Liao to surrender in person, which was a great honor to Zhang Liao.
Zhang Liao's hesitation made Yan Liang suddenly unhappy.
He frowned slightly and said loudly: "Wen Yuan, since you can help me kill Cao Chun, you have proven your sincerity. Well, I will give you some more time until you get rid of Cao Chun's remnants."
The rebellious ones among them will surrender again."
Yan Liang suddenly raised his voice by eight steps, causing all the Cao soldiers in the city to hear clearly. These words made the expressions of those Cao soldiers change.
Zhang Liao was stunned, but he didn't know what Yan Liang's inexplicable words meant.
"Cao Zi and Fei are me..."
When Zhang Liao was about to speak, Yan Liang stopped paying attention to him, turned his horse and left.
Returning to her own army, Lu Lingqi, who had been waiting impatiently, immediately said: "Brother, will Zhang Liao surrender or not?"
"It seems that Wen Yuan also wants to save face. He still refuses to surrender for a moment." Yan Liang sighed softly.
Lu Lingqi's face suddenly became angry, "This guy is so disrespectful. Brother, please order an attack on the city. My little sister will personally capture him and tie him to him."
At this time, a sly smile appeared on the corner of Yan Liang's mouth, "Why are you so anxious? Just wait here for a while. Maybe Wen Yuan will change his mind soon."
Lu Lingqi was confused, thinking that Zhang Liao had refused, so how could she regret it in the blink of an eye.
Suspicious, Lu Lingqi could only suppress her anger temporarily and accompanied Yan Liang outside Macheng, waiting for something as if watching the excitement.
At the city gate, seeing Yan Liang leaving, Zhang Liao could only return to the city suspiciously.
Thinking about Yan Liang's words, he rode his horse and walked slowly into the city gate.
When he raised his head, he suddenly saw dozens of tigers and leopards blocking his way. Everyone was holding their weapons tightly and staring at him with a look of hatred.
