Three Kingdoms: I, Yuan Shu, Loyal Officials of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 160 Yang Gong was forced into the Golden Terrace by the crowd.

"Perhaps Master Yang hasn't grasped the current situation yet? As the saying goes, those who act justly gain much support, while those who act unjustly find little support."

Yuan's army is too powerful to be defeated by force. Given the current morale in the city, if Yang Gongqiang insists on upholding loyalty and righteousness, I'm afraid very few will listen to him.

However, Yang Feng smiled when faced with the relentless questioning from these Black Mountain gang leaders.

"Very well! I have been forced to surrender today by the leaders, and all of this is true!"

The Black Mountain leaders: "???"

Before they could react, Yang Feng smashed his cup as a signal, and his five hundred axemen charged out, killing all the Black Mountain leaders.

"Yang Feng, you?"

"You dare!"

"How could this be?

"Lord Yang, we were merely seeking survival; surrendering was a last resort. Yet you intend to kill us for the sake of the court?"

“That’s right. We’ve only had this thought, but we haven’t truly surrendered. Why is Lord Yang going to such lengths?”

"Without our commands, how could Lord Yang have defended the city? Our infighting is merely a waste of Yuan's army!"

However, amidst the bloody banquet where everyone was either cursing, pleading, or wailing, Yang Feng calmly drank the wine in his cup.

"You are no longer needed to defend the city. I will personally present this city, along with your nearly ten thousand soldiers, to Lord Wu Yuan!"

Only now did the leaders of the Black Mountain bandits finally see clearly!
Great loyalty can appear as treachery, and great falsehood can appear as truth. It turns out that this seemingly righteous and loyal Yang Gong was actually the biggest surrenderer in the entire city.

However, he wanted more than all the others who surrendered!

Even if everyone surrenders together, it's nothing compared to him taking it all by himself.
Meanwhile, in the camp outside the city, Xu Huang and Cao Chun were still rebuking Yue Jin for surrendering to Yuan Shao.

"Le Wenqian!"

"Our Cao family trusted him so much, yet he dared to betray us and surrender to Yuan, causing the Yingchuan campaign to deteriorate. Now he even has the audacity to send a letter to Liang to persuade us to surrender! It's utterly outrageous!"

"General Pingdong?"
The imperial decree that Yuan Ni requested for him to be appointed is still being held back by the Ministry of Personnel, yet he can't wait to become the General Who Pacifies the East.
"Outrageous! Do these traitors even respect the Emperor anymore?!"

However, the two were here vehemently criticizing Yue Jin, while simultaneously discussing how to deal with the surrender letter that Yuan's army had also shot into the camp.

Suddenly, an urgent report came!

"General Yang Feng has surrendered the city to Yuan."

After several tests, Xu Huang, who had begun to change his opinion of Yang Feng, immediately rebuked him.

"This is impossible!
"Yang Gong is so loyal and righteous, how could he surrender to Yuan? Don't try to demoralize our army here."

The messenger earnestly reported, "General, it's true. The banners bearing the character 'Yuan' have been replaced with those on the walls of Meng County. Yuan's army has already entered the city."

I heard that General Yang Feng was coerced and forced by the leaders of the Black Mountain bandits, who set up a trap and ambushed him with five hundred axemen.

Even so, General Yang Feng refused to surrender and fought to the last moment, killing a group of leaders who had tried to persuade him to surrender. However, he was eventually forced to surrender by nearly ten thousand bandits.

Upon hearing this, Xu Huang's eyes widened in fury. "Loyalty and righteousness are rare throughout history! But the bandits are too powerful, and people's hearts are turning against us!"

These disloyal and treacherous bandits of the Black Mountain have caused the Emperor to lose another loyal and trusted minister.

Cao Chun was not moved by Yang Feng's matter. Yang Feng was loyal to the emperor, not his lord Cao.

However, since things had already come to this, he hurriedly tried to persuade Xu Huang.

"Gongming, Yang Gong has been coerced into surrendering, and the situation is beyond repair. Now that Mengcheng has fallen, our pincer movement has been lost, and how can we possibly protect our camp?"
The best course of action is to withdraw the troops immediately.

Xu Huang sighed deeply. How could he not know such a principle?
He was only sent by imperial decree to aid Liu Bei, to protect the Liang Kingdom and punish the traitor Yuan!
However, the allied forces that came were a mighty force of 130,000 men. How powerful they were!

Now, in dire straits, the army is retreating, suffering heavy losses along the way, returning empty-handed, and even a loyal and righteous man like Yang Gong has perished here.

Once he returns to the court, how will he face the emperor and his ministers again?

However, the camp was currently filled with Cao soldiers. Although Cao Chun was questioning him, he had already ordered his soldiers to withdraw in order to preserve the Cao family's military strength.

Whether Xu Huang, as the head coach, actually agreed or not is obviously not important.

Thus, when Yang Feng was "coerced" into surrendering by the Black Mountain bandits, Xu Huang was also coerced into retreat by Cao Cao's army. The fates of these two former lords and ministers diverged from then on.

When Cao Cao's army followed Yang Feng's advice and withdrew from the city, they set up a camp outside the city to guard against any possible collusion from within or without, so that they could withdraw at any time and move freely between the city and the outside.

At this time, Cao Chun made a decisive and timely retreat. Although Yuan's army sent men to pursue them, Cao's army took the initiative to retreat. Xu Huang and Cao Chun were both good at commanding.

Yuan Jun could not see clearly in the dead of night and feared ambushes along the way, so after obtaining the supplies and provisions left by Cao Cao's army in the camp, he did not dare to pursue them further.

After General Yue Jin arrived, he sent several letters into the city, which led to Yang Feng's surrender. Xu Huang and Cao Chun fled in the night, and the long-running battle in Meng County was finally quelled.

Le Wenqian's reputation as General Pingdong spread far and wide.

They have now completely subdued all parts of Liang, except for the Liang capital, which remains under siege and is still putting up a stubborn resistance.

When Yuan Shu led his main force to Suiyang, the capital of Liang, the people in the city were already filled with anxiety due to the recent twists and turns in the outside world.

When they first heard that the imperial court had sent an army of 130,000 to rescue them, their morale soared and their determination to defend the city to the death was stronger than ever before.

But just a few days later, news came that the 130,000-strong army had been defeated, and the defeated imperial troops were trapped in Meng County, also waiting for reinforcements.

I'm not afraid of having no hope; what I fear most is this dramatic rise and fall of hope followed by disappointment.

Now, even Meng County, the last county outside the capital of Liang, has fallen, and the imperial reinforcements have fled overnight.

Everyone in the city is asking themselves: what is the point of their desperate struggle to hold on until now?
When General Pingdong's banner with the character "乐" (meaning "joy") fluttered outside the city, and when Yang Feng appeared before the crowd, chatting and laughing with the traitor Yuan, the balance in people's hearts tipped irreversibly.

Yang Feng was clearly a general who came to the aid of the Liang Kingdom on behalf of the imperial court.

It is clear that Yue Jin was the commander-in-chief of the imperial army who sent troops to Yingchuan to restrain and force Yuan Shikai to withdraw his troops.

But now?

Even the reinforcements who came to their rescue have surrendered, so what hope do those who hold out have?

With no hope of reinforcements and no way to break out, all they could do was wait in the city until their food supplies ran out and their lamps went out, and then wait to die.

As a result, the people's hearts changed, and not long after, Yuan's army attacked the city, and Suiyang, which had been defending to the death until now, was captured in one fell swoop.

King Liu Jian of Liang led all the people of the city to surrender with proper etiquette. Only Jian Yong stood alone on the city wall, looked south, and shouted three times:
"Mr. Xuande!"

He jumped off, facing south, and died!

Upon seeing this, Yuan Shu sighed and said:

"This is a righteous man who wishes to repay Xuande's special favor!"
Its master was in the south, and the coffin was sent to the state of Pei.

When people saw this, they all praised Yuan Gong for his "righteousness"!
When all the news of what had happened was sent to Luoyang and reached Cao Cao, the Chancellor of the Han Dynasty felt a splitting headache.

(End of this chapter)