Chapter 287 The son of the world's number one overlord, the second most important person in the Yuan family, must kneel at Old Liu's feet!
Who else could that middle-aged general wearing golden armor and with such extraordinary bearing be other than Liu Bei!
Yuan Tan was in despair.

It turned out that Liu Bei already knew the direction of his escape from Xuzhou, and not long after capturing Xia Pi, he immediately captured Pengcheng.

Completely block his last way to escape from Xuzhou!

The eldest son of the Yuan family has become a turtle in a jar. Is he going to let Liu Bei control him?
Yuan Tan was desperate and terrified. He was totally confused and didn't know what to do.

The Yuan army soldiers on both sides were also frightened and in chaos.

"Yuan Tan!"

"My military advisor has laid a net of heaven and earth. You have no way to escape."

"Stop resisting in vain and let your soldiers die in vain. Dismount and surrender."

"As long as you surrender, I will spare your life."

"Those of the soldiers behind you who are willing to serve me, I, Liu Bei, will naturally welcome them. If they are not willing, I can send them away."

On the top of the city wall, Liu Bei spoke again and asked Yuan Tan to surrender.

It is not only a phrase to persuade surrender, but also a method to win over the enemy's heart.

The remaining fighting spirit of the Yuan army soldiers behind him collapsed in an instant.

Before Yuan Tan expressed his stance, they threw away their weapons in groups and half-knelt on the ground to surrender to Liu Bei.

Yuan Tan, who was originally in despair, flew into a rage and yelled at the soldiers:

"How dare you, a bunch of cowards, surrender to Liu Bei and betray my Yuan family?"

"Everyone, stand up and take up your weapons!"

Yuan Tan roared and yelled in despair.

To no avail.

Yuan's soldiers, whose morale had already collapsed, ignored his shouting and scolding, and continued to kneel down in hundreds to surrender as if in a chain reaction.

In a blink of an eye, more than half of the 8,000 Yuan soldiers gave up resistance and knelt on the ground to surrender.

"My Lord, the situation is hopeless and the army's morale has collapsed. There is no point in scolding them."

Lu Xiang tried to persuade him with a sad face.

Yuan Tan glared at Lu Xiang and asked fiercely:

"Why, do you also want to betray me and my Yuan family?"

Lu Xiang looked generous and said resolutely:

"My elder brother, Lü Kuang, died at the hands of Liu Bei. I have an irreconcilable hatred for him, so how can I surrender to Liu?"

Yuan Tan then calmed down a bit, looked around, and saw that the morale of the soldiers had collapsed. He could only sigh helplessly.

"Change the route to the north and escape into Mount Tai, maybe there is still a glimmer of hope!"

Yuan Tan gritted his teeth, turned his horse around, and fled to the northeast.

Lu Xiang and the few thousand remaining soldiers hurriedly followed Yuan Tan and fled towards Mount Tai in the northeast.

On top of the city.

Seeing that Yuan Tan still had hope, Liu Bei's eyes flashed with coldness, and he waved his hand and shouted:

"Light the signal smoke and send a message to the generals. Destroy the stubborn enemy and capture Yuan Tan alive!"

A black smoke signal soon rose above the east gate of Pengcheng.

The sound of war drums and trumpets resounded throughout the area in the blink of an eye.

Outside Pengcheng, several clouds of dust rose into the sky, and battle flags and countless soldiers rushed out from the dust.

ambush!

All the ambushing troops outside the city suddenly emerged and surrounded Yuan Tan and his defeated army from all directions.

The east gate of Pengcheng burst open.

A young general, riding a horse and holding a sword, rushed out first.

A large flag with the word "Ling" flying behind him led thousands of Liu's soldiers, who poured out of the city gate like a tide and chased after Yuan's army.

Ling Tong, son of Ling Cao.

When he was in Jiangdong, he followed his father to surrender to Liu Bei, but because he was still young, he did not have the opportunity to show his talents.

Now, after several years of experience, Ling Tong has mastered martial arts and learned how to command troops from his father.

Not long ago, Ling Tong escorted grain and fodder from Jiangdong northward and arrived at the Xia Pi camp.

Liu Bei remembered that Xiao Fang once said that Ling Tong had the talent to become a famous general, so he kept him in his tent to await orders.

In today's battle, Liu Bei specifically gave the heavy responsibility of pursuing Yuan Tan to Ling Tong. He wanted to take this opportunity to test how much Ling Tong had grown and whether he could handle the task.

Ling Tong naturally knew that his lord was intentionally cultivating him, so as soon as the city gate opened, he rushed up with a strong desire to fight.

In front.

Yuan Tan was running wildly, looking at the ambushes coming from all directions. The glimmer of hope that had just ignited in his eyes disappeared again.

"Liu Bei, do you really want to kill me?"

"I am the eldest son of the Yuan family. I would rather die than be captured by you!"

In despair, Yuan Tan let out a roar of grief and anger, then rode his horse and rushed towards Liu's army that was surrounding him with his gun in hand.

The siege begins.

Yuan's army had only 4,000 remnants, so how could they be a match for Liu's army, which was several times larger in number? In an instant, they were slaughtered and corpses were scattered all over the ground.

Yuan Tan and Lu Xiang, leading more than a hundred elite guards, rushed towards Mount Tai with all their might, but their speed of advancement became slower and slower.

Endless Liu troops swarmed in, blocking the way wave after wave until the road ahead was blocked like an iron wall.

At this time.

Behind him, Liu's army that had emerged from Pengcheng also chased after them.

Ling Tong charged forward, waving the long sword in his hand wildly, chopping Yuan soldiers to the ground in large numbers like cutting vegetables and melons.

In the blood mist, he quickly found Yuan Tan.

The rest of Yuan's soldiers had all disintegrated and scattered, only the hundred or so people were able to hold together and guard a silver-armored general.

If that’s not Yuan Tan, then who else could it be!

"Ling Tong is here, Yuan Tan, you can't escape!"

Ling Tong shouted excitedly, spurred his horse, drew his sword, and rushed towards Yuan Tan.

Upon seeing this, Yuan's personal guards turned around to stop them.

However, these so-called elite troops were no match for Ling Tong and were chopped to the ground in large numbers.

"My Lord, if you can meet Lord Yuan alive, please tell him that I, Lu Xiang, have served the Yuan family faithfully!"

Lu Xiang let out a tragic and loud cry, then turned his horse around, raised his sword and charged towards Ling Tong. The two riders walked on the bloody road and collided in an instant.

The two swords swung up almost at the same time.

just.

Ling Tong's movements were even faster, and he swung the long sword in his hand ahead, slashing across with the force of thunder.

"Crack!"

There was a dull tearing sound.

Lu Xiang was cut in half, and fell off his horse with a tragic scream.

Ling Tong broke through the blood mist and continued to rush towards Yuan Tan.

Seeing all his personal guards dead or wounded, and seeing Lu Xiang being killed in one move, Yuan Tan felt a chill in his heart, and the fear of death instantly enveloped his body.

"Why not just dismount and surrender to save your life?"

At the moment of life and death, Yuan Tan did not have the intention of fighting to the death, but instead had such a thought in his mind.

However, if the eldest son of the Yuan family surrendered to Liu Bei, wouldn’t his life be ruined?
Even if I save my life and manage to return alive in the future, will I have the face to see Yuan Shao?

When Ling Tong rushed to him, Yuan Tan was still struggling and hesitating between surrendering or not, and between saving his reputation or his life.

While he was still struggling, Ling Tong, riding a horse, had already rushed in front of him.

The long knife in his hand was trailing a trail of blood and dust as he swept across the waist.

Yuan Tan suddenly came to his senses and had no time to hesitate. Almost instinctively, he raised the spear in his hand to block.

"throat!"

There was a loud bang as if the sky was collapsing.

Under the violent impact, Yuan Tan's mouth cracked, his internal organs were filled with blood and his body was knocked backwards.

Ling Tong didn't give him a chance to breathe and slashed with his second knife.

Yuan Tan had no time to block the spear in his hand, and was easily knocked away by the lightning-fast knife.

As he passed by, Ling Tong followed up with his third move, with the back of his knife facing his back, hitting him hard.

"boom!"

There was a muffled sound and a scream.

Yuan Tan flew into the air, fell off his horse, and fell heavily to the ground.

"What the eldest son of the Yuan family is, he is so vulnerable!"

Ling Tong turned his horse around and looked at Yuan Tan, who was lying on the ground screaming in pain, with disdain in his eyes.

This is why Liu Bei showed mercy when he gave the order to capture Yuan Tan alive.

Otherwise, this final blow would not have knocked him off his horse, but would have taken his life.

"Take this fellow back to Pengcheng and hand him over to the Lord for punishment!"

A group of Liu Jun's soldiers rushed forward and tied up Yuan Tan, who was still dizzy and in pain.

The plain was stained with blood, and the last legion of the Yuan family in Xuzhou was destroyed here.

At dusk, the sounds of killing finally died down.

The triumphant soldiers of Liu's army escorted groups of Yuan's prisoners into the city in high spirits.

On the city floor.

Liu Bei and Xiao Fang stood side by side, watching the entire battle and waiting for the final result.

The sound of footsteps was heard, and a young general climbed up the city wall excitedly.

"My lord, I have been ordered to pursue the enemy army and have captured the enemy leader Yuan Tan alive. Please make your decision!"

Ling Tong reported his achievement with great enthusiasm, with a hint of youthful pride on his young face.

Liu Bei smiled and nodded with satisfaction:
"Ling Gongji, the first achievement in the battle of Pengcheng is yours."

"The military advisor is right. The Ling family is indeed like a tiger father and like a dog son. Your future achievements will definitely surpass your father's!"

Ling Tong was greatly encouraged by receiving affirmation from both Liu Bei and Xiao Fang, and was flattered for a moment.

Xiao Fangze flicked his feather fan and smiled faintly:

"Gongji, why don't you bring your achievements up to show the lord?"

Ling Tong then came to his senses and hurriedly ordered Yuan Tan to be escorted to the top of the city wall.

At this moment, there was an expression of uncontrollable joy on Old Liu's face.

The prisoner was none other than Yuan Tan!
The world's number one overlord, the eldest son of Yuan Shao who is arrogant and claims to be invincible in the world!
Putting aside the competition for succession among the Yuan family's sons, just looking at the current ranking of the Yuan family, Yuan Tan's status and position is only second to Yuan Shao.

As the eldest son, Yuan Tan's importance in the Yuan family is far greater than Cao Ang's in the Cao family.

After all, Cao Ang had never led an army before he was captured, while Yuan Tan had already been famous in Hebei, and half of the Yuan family's territory was conquered by him.

The capture of such a heavyweight figure would be an unimaginably heavy blow to the morale of Yuan's army.

The boost this will give to our own military morale is immeasurable.

Thinking of all these pros and cons, Lao Liu naturally couldn't contain his joy.

Heavy footsteps were heard, and soon a tall and handsome but depressed young man was escorted to the city wall and stood in front of Lao Liu.

"Yuan Tan, we finally meet."

Liu Bei's eyes were as cold as ice as he stared at the eldest son of the Yuan family.

Yuan Tan raised his head, held it high, with his eyes half open and half closed, and glanced at Liu Bei with almost contempt.

The arrogant aura and the condescending look made it seem as if he was the winner of this war.

And Liu Bei was the prisoner.

The arrogance of the eldest son of the Yuan family was clearly revealed at this moment.

Old Liu has a good temper, but Xiao Fang will not indulge him. He frowned and glanced at Xu Chu.

"How dare I, a mere defeated general of the Yuan clan, not kneel before the great general?"

"Zhongkang, why don't you help him put himself in his place!"

Yuan Tan's expression was shocked, and a hint of uneasiness suddenly revealed in his arrogant eyes.

Xu Chu immediately understood Xiao Fang's hint, rolled up his sleeves, and slapped Yuan Tan hard on the shoulder.

This light slap actually had the force of a thousand pounds, which was beyond the ability of ordinary people to withstand.

Yuan Tan felt as if a mountain was pressing down on his shoulders. His legs could no longer support him and he fell to his knees with a bang.

Yuan Shao's eldest son, the second most important person in the Yuan family, knelt at Old Liu's feet.

(End of this chapter)