Tiger Guards

Chapter 549 Giant Dumplings
Yijing was besieged by Yuan Shao's army of over 100,000.

However, Yijing was a fortified city, and after Yuan Shao's army surrounded it, they were unable to launch a strong attack due to a lack of equipment.

Inside the suspended pavilion in Yijing City, Gongsun Zan awoke from a hangover.

There are more than thirty concubines and beauties in this pavilion, and more than a hundred beauties he has collected in the three-story suspended pavilion.

The pavilion is suspended in mid-air, and there are no stairs or wooden ladders nearby. The transportation of supplies relies entirely on ropes pulling the basket.

Of course, this kind of hard labor wouldn't be done by the beauties in the attic. The ropes worked through pulleys, and the work was done by the guards and servants at the bottom.

Sometimes, orders were relayed in unison by these women trained by Gongsun Zan.

For example, at this moment, Gongsun Zan, who had just woken up from a hangover, was lying in a gentle embrace, as if he were lying on his back amidst a forest of flesh.

A dozen or so beautiful women on the second floor were reciting in unison the petition and diplomatic document sent by Yuan Shao.

They called it a request for peace, but in reality, they were trying to persuade him to surrender.

Yuan Shao agreed to act as guarantor, facilitating the court's summons of Gongsun Zan to serve as a high-ranking official. Gongsun Zan was permitted to leave Youji with his concubines, core retainers, and wealth safely and with dignity, and to enjoy a life of luxury in the court.

Having been rivals for so many years, Gongsun Zan knew very well how ruthless Yuan Shao was.

He naturally believed that Yuan Shao's letter of persuasion to surrender was sincere, and that Yuan Shao was eager to eliminate Yijing and completely dismantle Gongsun Zan's influence over parts of Youzhou and Jizhou.

Whether it's capturing Yijing and killing Gongsun Zan, or persuading Gongsun Zan to surrender, both methods can undermine Gongsun Zan's influence in the Yan and Zhao regions.

At this moment, Yuan Shao sincerely persuaded Gongsun Zan to surrender, and after they handed over Yijing, they were all ambushed and killed by bandits with Yuan Shao's tacit approval... There is no contradiction.

Because he knew Yuan Shao so well, Gongsun Zan had no expectations and listened to the letter of cessation of hostilities and reconciliation between the two families, drafted by Chen Lin, purely as amusement.

As for the marriage alliance between the two families that Yuan Shao hoped for, Gongsun Zan didn't care at all.

After the woman downstairs finished reciting, Gongsun Zan chuckled, clutching a grape in his hand, not bothering to eat it, and said, "Yuan Shao can't even take care of his second son and nephew, so how can he possibly take care of his son-in-law and daughter-in-law?"

The women downstairs heard this and relayed it in unison to the former general's staff, officials of Youzhou, and military officers gathered on the ground floor.

Guan Jing, the former chief clerk of the general's headquarters, still bowed to Gongsun Zan from across the floor, asking, "Does Your Excellency intend to refuse the Yuan family's request for peace?"

The women on the second floor relayed again: "Chief Clerk Guan Shiqi reports, according to Your Excellency's wishes, is it to refuse the Yuan family's request for peace?"

"The one who brought chaos to the country is the traitor Yuan."

Gongsun Zan, a man of excessive drinking and womanizing, felt somewhat dazed as he rose. He continued, "I would rather be a stable boy for the Zhao family than a relative by marriage with the traitor Yuan! I will behead his messenger and send a message by arrow to all the armies outside the city. The two million shi of grain stored in Yijing will be enough to last for several years. Even if the Grand Marshal comes here with his troops, it will last for half a year. Especially Yuan Shao, if he doesn't leave, he will die without a burial place when the Grand Marshal arrives!"

The women on the second floor relayed the story again, their tone becoming increasingly agitated.

With the Grand Marshal by their side, the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Yijing City remained stable despite their defeat.

Just as Gongsun Zan said, with the Grand Marshal's record, there was a chance to annihilate Yuan's army. Would the Grand Marshal let go of such a good opportunity?

The larger the army, the smaller its actual combat effectiveness.

There's not even a decisive battle needed. As long as the Grand Marshal's army reaches the area between Ji County and Yijing, breaks through a corner of the siege, and can obtain the grain stored in Yijing City.

So, just attrition alone could wear Yuan Shao down! Yuan Shao took away 30,000 to 40,000 surrendered soldiers from Gongsun Zan, plus the Wuhuan army led by Tadun from the three commanderies. Now Yuan Shao has more than 100,000 troops on the front line of Yijing... and this is not the entirety of Yuan's army.

Yuan Shao needed to deploy a sufficient number of troops for transporting supplies; these were Yuan Shao's elite forces.

After realizing that he could not quickly capture Yijing, Yuan Shao used the excuse of transporting grain and fodder and strengthening the defense line to gradually withdraw reliable troops from the front line to build the defense line in Ji Province.

Therefore, although there are many troops besieging the city, none of them will sacrifice their lives to participate in a strong attack for Yuan's cause.

With Yuan Shao's army reaching this size, he could no longer force certain troops to act as "suicide squads." Even surrendered troops like Xianyu Fu could not be subjected to a strong attack by Yuan Shao. This is the difference between conditional surrender and unconditional surrender.

Xianyu Fu was out of the question, not to mention the Wuhuan or other mixed Hu peoples, the Hebei soldiers were no good, and Cao Cao's old troops were also unsuitable.

Facing a fortified city exposed the Yuan army's lack of coordination and its inherent lack of a spirit of sacrifice.

Even if Zhao Ji were to replace him, the priority would still be to deploy the daredevils. The nature of the daredevils was declared from the very beginning. When recruiting surrendered soldiers later, even if there were conditions for surrender, as long as the condition was to be incorporated into the daredevils, it would be the same as unconditional surrender, and they would lose their personal control.

Lü Bu, on the other hand, had a professional assault force, and assault was a fundamental capability in the construction and training of the Han army. For assaults, Lü Bu could simply assign specialized troops to fight, using skill, equipment, and experience to offset unnecessary casualties among officers and soldiers.

Faced with his current predicament, Yuan Shao had no better solution than to guard against attracting Zhao Ji's attention.

The more troops gather in Yijing, the more likely it is to attract Zhao Ji, and also Lu Bu and Sun Ce, two formidable figures of the time.

Therefore, Yuan Shao had no choice but to prioritize dispersing his core troops to various defensive nodes in Ji Province to prevent surprise attacks from Zhao Ji, Lü Bu, Sun Ce, and Zhang Yan.

Without his core forces, he could no longer rely on his influence to coerce or force other armies to become cannon fodder in the assault.

If he wanted to quickly unify the two provinces of You and Ji, he could only hope that Gongsun Zan would back down, or that Gongsun Zan would die suddenly from an illness, or that he would fall seriously ill from anger.

To some extent, as long-time rivals, they also help each other out.

Otherwise, it would be unreasonable for the later fisherman Zhao Ji to take advantage of the situation.

With that hopeful expectation, Yuan Shao hoped that Gongsun Zan could feel his sincerity.

Unfortunately, Gongsun Zan was too arrogant and would rather let Zhao Ji, the fisherman, benefit than make concessions for the long-term development of You and Ji provinces.

However, there was nothing that could be done. When Gongsun Zan broke through Tadun's ambush and retreated into Yijing, he drove out the other troops, leaving them to fend for themselves. This resulted in Yijing being filled with Gongsun Zan's die-hard loyalists, making it impossible to turn anyone against him.

Should we blame Tadun and the Wuhuan people for not daring to fight to the death?

After feigning an ambush, they allowed Gongsun Zan's army to retreat into Yijing.
Tadun also wanted to cut off Gongsun Zan's head to make a name for himself in Youzhou.

However, he was in charge of the various Wuhuan tribes in the three commanderies, and his cousin Louban was the real Wuhuan king.

Tadun led his men to risk their lives to intercept and kill Gongsun Zan, but what use would it be if they cut off Gongsun Zan's head?

Therefore, the release of water by Tatun became inevitable.

This led to an extremely dangerous situation. The longer the battle dragged on, the more worried Yuan Shao was about attracting attacks from Zhao Ji, Lü Bu, and Sun Ce, and even others were worried about attracting Zhao Ji.

(End of this chapter)