Chapter 346 If you want to survive, let the wolf in! You idiot, are you qualified to fight Liu Bei? And Xiao Fang?

Yuan Tan's spirits were greatly boosted, and a glimmer of hope appeared in his eyes.

According to Guo Tu's description, he was now at the end of his rope.

Just like fish on the chopping board, it can only be slaughtered by Yuan Shang!

Now Guo Tu said that there is still a way to survive.

This made Yuan Tan feel ecstatic, like a drowning man who had grabbed a life-saving straw.

"What other options do I have? Please tell me quickly!"

Yuan Tan jumped up and asked excitedly.

Guo Tu raised his hand, pointed to the south, and slowly squeezed out two words from between his teeth:

"Surrender Liu!"

"Surrender to Liu?"

Yuan Tan was stunned for a while, then his expression suddenly changed:

"What do you mean? Do you want me to surrender to that big-eared thief?"

Guo Tu nodded slightly, stroked his thin beard and said slowly:
"Although the big-eared thief has mobilized all his country's troops to attack Qin, he still left tens of thousands of soldiers on the south bank of the Yellow River to prevent me from crossing the river to the south."

"My Lord, please send someone to Tongguan as soon as possible. Let Liu Bei help us deal with Yuan Shang and help you ascend to the throne of King of Wei in exchange for your surrender."

"In this way, if Yuan Shang dares to send troops to attack Liyang, you can lead the Chu army across the river to help, and we will surely defeat Yuan Shang in one fell swoop."

"Even more, with Liu Bei's help, it will be easy for us to fight back to Yecheng and take back the throne that originally belonged to you, the eldest son!"

Guo Tu became more and more excited as he spoke, and he explained his overall strategy in a proud tone.

Yuan Tan finally understood his deep meaning, and his expression gradually changed from excitement to calm.

After weighing the pros and cons for a moment, Yuan Tan looked embarrassed again:

"Liu Bei is the mortal enemy of my Yuan family. He even held me captive for nearly half a year, causing me great humiliation!"

"Now, Gongze, you have asked me to disregard the humiliation and surrender Liu Bei, my mortal enemy, and lead the Chu army into our Wei to deal with my brother."

"Then wouldn't that make me a traitor to my Yuan family?"

"If I invite the Chu army to enter Hebei, wouldn't that be like inviting a wolf into the house?"

Whether it was from the heart or just for show, Yuan Tan was still afraid of being criticized.

"My Lord, it has come to such a critical moment of life and death, and you are still concerned about those false reputations and brotherhood?"

"Yuan Shang wants to kill you! How could he not care about the relationship between brothers? How could he be so cruel?"

"As for the term 'letting a wolf into the house' or 'Yuan family traitor', these are just empty names!"

"As the saying goes, the winner is the king and the loser is the bandit. As long as you can regain the throne and become the king of Wei, the people of the world will only think that you are patient and tolerant, like Gou Jian!"

"My Lord, a real man should be able to bend and stretch, only then can he achieve great things!"

Guo Tu tried to persuade him earnestly.

The worry in Yuan Tan's eyes gradually faded, but he said:
"But it's easier to invite a god than to send him away. Liu Bei is very powerful. If I lead the Chu army into the country and defeat Yuan Shang, he will take advantage of the situation to take care of me as well and destroy the Wei Dynasty. What should I do?"

Guo Tu smiled and said disapprovingly:
"You are worrying too much, young master. Liu Bei is currently in a decisive battle with the Pseudo-Qin. The outcome of this battle cannot be determined without a year or so of fighting."

"At this time, Liu Bei can only send troops to help the eldest son defeat Yuan Shang and regain the throne, but he is powerless to swallow up the Great Wei."

"Even if he wants to seize our Great Wei, he is powerless. Why should you be afraid of him, young master?"

Yuan Tan fell silent.

He stood up, paced back and forth with his hands behind his back, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

Life and death, fame, throne...

The weight of these chips, some light and some heavy, were constantly being weighed in his mind.

"My Lord, you must survive first before we can talk about other things."

"Yuan Shang wants to kill you and me. Now that it has come to this, we must survive first!"

Guo Tu reminded again earnestly.

Yuan Tan's body suddenly stiffened, and a look of enlightenment flashed in his eyes.

Being forced into such a situation by Yuan Shang, it seemed that there was really no way out except what Guo Tu said.

Surrender to Liu, bear the infamy, but you can survive.

If he did not surrender to Liu, he would have to be trapped in Liyang and wait to be forced to death by his good brother.

"I, Yuan Tan, will never die at the hands of you, Yuan Shang, even if I surrender to Liu Bei and am despised by the world!"

When he looked back suddenly, there was no more worry in Yuan Tan's eyes, only iron-like determination.

"Gong Ze, you are right, staying alive is everything!"

"I'll follow your advice. Please quickly draft a letter of surrender for me and send your trusted aides to Tongguan to deliver it to that big-eared thief!"

Yuan Tan has made up his mind.

Guo Tu breathed a sigh of relief, his face was overjoyed, and he immediately praised Yuan Tan for his "endurance and bearing heavy burdens" and "ability to bend and stretch".

After Yuan Tan made this decision, the huge stone that was weighing on his heart seemed to be removed, and he felt relaxed.

His interest immediately returned and he asked for the actors to come in so that he could continue listening to music and drinking.

"Young Master has the talent of Gou Jian. He will surely become one of the Five Hegemons in the future!"

"It is my life's fortune to follow such a great master as the eldest son. I toast to the eldest son with this glass of wine!"

Guo Tu flattered him again and raised his glass high.

Yuan Tan felt comfortable and refreshed in the photo. He laughed heartily and raised his glass high.

The master and the minister looked at each other, raised their glasses and drank them all.

The wine has not yet entered my throat.

A personal guard rushed into the hall and threw himself in front of Yuan Tan. "Master, urgent news from the ferry south of the city!"

"We have discovered the pseudo-Chu navy on the upper reaches of the river. There are hundreds of warships, rushing eastward along the river."

"Looking at the situation of the Chu army, they are about to land on the north bank and attack our ferry!"

Yuan Tan choked and all the wine that had not yet entered his throat came out.

Guo Tuze was struck by lightning, his hands trembled with shock, and the empty wine glass fell to the ground.

The navy of the pseudo-Chu?
Coming from upstream, you want to attack our Liyang Ferry?

What does this mean?
Didn't Liu Bei's navy just pass right under his nose a few days ago, going up the river westward to Hongnong County to cooperate with Liu Bei in attacking Tongguan?
Why did they suddenly come back to attack Liyang Ferry?

Is this because you have nothing better to do?

Or was Liu Bei so arrogant that he lost his mind and wanted to fight on two fronts, using the strength of Chu alone to go to war with the two countries of Qin and Wei at the same time?

Countless flashes of lightning flashed through Yuan Tan's mind, and countless questions burst out.

The next moment, he suddenly came to his senses and shouted at Guo Tu:
"Gong Ze, what do you think the big-eared thief wants to do?"

"Is he crazy? He wants to attack our Great Wei at the same time?"

Guo Tu recovered and rolled his eyes, pretending to be calm.

"Don't panic, my lord. No matter how strong the Chu State is, it is not strong enough to fight on two fronts at the same time."

"Even if Liu Bei really wants to attack Liyang, his navy has at most 20,000 men, and we can still handle it."

"The only thing we can do now is to go to the ferry and see what the enemy situation is like before making a decision."

Yuan Tan threw down his wine glass and strode out of the house.

The city gate was wide open, Yuan Tan and Guo Tu rode their horses as fast as they could and reached the ferry in an instant.

Although Liyang City was built by the river, it was still some distance away from the river beach, and there was a ferry camp on the north bank.

When Yuan Tan arrived at the ferry, the more than 5,000 Wei troops left behind were already in a state of shock and panic.

Yuan Tan hurried into the camp, and when he reached the pier and looked up, his body suddenly froze, and the whip in his hand almost slipped out of his hand.

The Chu navy coming from upstream, with nearly 300 large and small warships, has deployed for an attack.

Each warship was densely packed with Chu soldiers.

Swords and spears are like forests, and battle flags cover the sky.

With such a formation, there are not just 20,000 naval troops, but at least around 70,000!
Liu Bei's army that attacked Qin, including the navy, had only about 180,000 soldiers.

The Chu army attacking now has as many as 70,000 men, almost half of the main force of the Chu army!

"So many Chu troops?"

"Liu Bei actually sent so many Chu troops to attack Liyang?"

"What does he want to do?"

"Is he going to attack Qin or Wei?"

Yuan Tan gasped, his voice trembling, and turned to Guo Tu with a trembling look of fear and confusion.

Guo Tu was also gasping for breath, his face was as pale as paper with huge beads of sweat rolling down his cheeks.

Those wide-open eyes and that incredible look were as if he had seen a ghost.

"Guo Gongze, tell me, what does the big-eared thief want to do?"

Yuan Tan grabbed Guo Tu and asked in an almost hoarse roar.

This roar was like a bolt of thunder striking Guo Tu's head, instantly dispelling all the doubts in his mind and waking him up suddenly.

"Fell into a trap!"

"Master, we've fallen into a trap!"

"Yuan Shang fell into Liu Bei's trap!"

"He openly and loudly attacked the Pseudo-Qin, but in fact he was just trying to gather troops and food!"

"He moved the navy into the Yellow River not to assist in the attack on Tongguan, but to transport his army downstream to the east, so that he could land on the north bank by surprise and attack Liyang before we were warned!"

"This must be Xiao Fang's trick!"

"We were all fooled by that country bumpkin, and Yuan Shang was fooled by him too!"

Guo Tu stamped his feet and screamed, and finally deduced the truth in a sad and angry tone with no tears.

Yuan Tan's body froze, his face frozen in horror for a moment.

He could no longer hold the whip in his hand and dropped it.

If Guo Tu had not held him in time, he would have been so frightened that he could not even stay on the horse and would have fallen off.

"In other words, Xiao Fang saw from the beginning that the Qin army's massacre of Hongnong was all faked by Yuan Shang's troops?"

"So he asked Liu Bei to play along with him, pretending to attack Qin, but tricked Yuan Shang into thinking he was safe, so he transferred Chunyu Qiong and more than 10,000 soldiers away, weakened my Liyang troops, and prepared to deal with me?"

"At present, our Liyang army has less than 15,000 people. The big-eared thief used the navy to transport his army and attacked Liyang at lightning speed?"

Yuan Tan understood everything, and his face was distorted with fear and extreme anger.

"Yuan Shang, oh Yuan Shang, you are a stupid and conceited fool. Do you think that just because you stole the throne, you are qualified to fight Liu Bei?"

"Do those stupid counselors under your command have the ability to compete with Xiao Fang in wits?"

"You idiot, you want to kill me, you want to kill Da Wei!"

"Father, oh father, you are so foolish. Why did you pass on the throne to such a useless fool——"

At the ferry, Yuan Tan's grief-stricken and angry curses echoed.

The Wei army behind him was in chaos.

(End of this chapter)