Chapter 375: Yecheng was broken, and the destruction of Wei was a foregone conclusion! Yuan Shao, who was high and mighty in the past, knelt before Liu Bei today!
Yuan Shao put the sword to his neck with both hands, wanting to imitate Ju Su and commit suicide.

Three dukes for four generations, the King of Wei, once the most powerful prince in the world, the overlord of the world who made everyone tremble with fear.

With so many dazzling halos on his head, for a man of his status, the only option after failure is to end his life.

Only in this way can we maintain a decent ending.

If he didn't end his life on his own, would he wait to be captured by Liu Bei and be humiliated by him?

After being humiliated, Liu Bei still could not let him go and had to sentence him to death.

Rather than being humiliated and then executed, why not end your life yourself?
Yuan Shao had made up his mind. He gritted his teeth and closed his eyes. Veins on his hands bulged and he used all his strength to wipe out the enemy with the sword in his hand.

There was a cut on the neck, blood oozed out, and the pain came instantly.

The pain made Yuan Shao feel the fear of death in an instant, and the sword could no longer cut further.

Yuan Shao began to breathe heavily, big beads of sweat dripped down his forehead, his hands holding the sword trembled more and more violently, and his legs were shaking constantly.

Bang!

The sword slipped out of his hand and fell to the ground.

Yuan Shao staggered and fell to his seat, collapsing on the throne as if he had fainted.

After all, he no longer had the ambition he had when he fought with Gongsun Zan for supremacy in Hebei. Wine and beautiful women had devoured his heroic spirit, leaving him without the courage to commit suicide.

"Yuan Shao, Yuan Shao, where has your heroic spirit gone?"

"Why don't you have the courage to kill yourself?"

"Why, why did you become like this?!"

Yuan Shao gritted his teeth, beat his chest and stamped his feet, muttered to himself, and blamed himself for his weakness and cowardice with a look of disappointment on his face.

Just as he was feeling sorry for himself, the tightly closed door was suddenly slammed open.

Zhang Fei leaped onto his horse, spear in hand, and crashed into the hall like a black iron tower, standing before Yuan Shao.

Immediately afterwards, countless Chu soldiers poured into the hall like a tide and surrounded Yuan Shao from all sides.

The moment he recognized Yuan Shao, Zhang Fei smiled.

When he followed Liu Bei to the Suanzao Alliance, he was "fortunate" to meet Yuan Shao once, and naturally remembered Yuan Shao's appearance.

No matter how many years have passed, he will never forget how Yuan Shao looked when he was high and mighty and majestic.

He would certainly not forget the contemptuous look on Yuan Shao's face when he heard that Liu Bei was just a county magistrate.

"Old thief Yuan, we finally meet again."

"When the princes fought against Dong and held the Suanzao Alliance, you looked down on our King of Chu because he was born in a humble family and was just a county magistrate. You didn't even allow our King of Chu to sit in the tent. Did you ever foresee that you would end up like this?"

Zhang Fei brought up old accounts.

Zhang Yide from Yan is such a person.

Revenge for every grievance, and take pleasure in settling grievances.

You looked down on us three brothers back then. Today, now that you’ve been defeated, I’m just going to mock you wantonly. That’s just my true nature.

When old things are brought up again, all the memories of the past come to mind.

Being humiliated and ridiculed in this way, Yuan Shao's originally weak and desperate face immediately twisted and deformed, and anger and shame ignited.

"Who... who are you? How dare you speak rudely to me!"

Yuan Shao suppressed his anger and stared at Zhang Fei with bloodshot eyes.

Zhang Fei rode forward and said coldly:

"Old thief Yuan, are you so old and blind that you can't even recognize me, Zhang Fei?"

"Okay, I'll come closer so you can see it more clearly."

As he spoke, Zhang Fei rode his horse up the jade steps, looking down from above, and stood right in front of Yuan Shao.

"Zhang... Zhang Fei——"

Yuan Shao spat out these two words through trembling teeth.

There was both anger and fear.

The evil-looking black-faced general in front of him was actually Liu Bei's sworn brother, Zhang Yide from Yan, the second-ranked general of the Chu State and the brave enough to defeat ten thousand enemies?
Recalling that afternoon more than ten years ago when he was hailed as the leader of the alliance by all the princes, he seemed to have indeed seen that the archer following Liu Bei was the Zhang Fei in front of him.

But given his status at the time, even Liu Bei disdained him, so how could he pay attention to an ant-like archer?

What's funny is that today I was captured alive by the archers who I used to look down upon and never even looked at!

Ridiculous, funny, sad...

"You are not worthy to talk to me. Tell your elder brother Liu Bei to come and see me!"

Stimulated by all kinds of negative emotions, Yuan Shao actually forgot his current status as a prisoner and waved his hand at Zhang Fei with arrogance and disdain.

This arrogant and disdainful attitude instantly irritated Zhang Fei.

If it were any other general, they would have respected Yuan Shao's status and position and tolerated his arrogance.

But the person Yuan Shao ran into was Zhang Fei.

"Old thief Yuan, you are now nothing more than a traitor to your country, a prisoner of my Great Chu. How dare you be so arrogant to me?"

"Who do you think you are to deserve my eldest brother to come and see you?"

Zhang Fei burst into a barrage of criticism, raised his snake spear, and shouted:

"What are you waiting for? Tie up that old bastard Yuan Shao and keep him under guard until the king decides what to do with him!"

The Chu army soldiers behind him rushed forward.

They dragged Yuan Shao down from the throne by force and tied him up with ropes.

As the king of the Great Wei, he had never been treated so rudely. At this moment, Yuan Shao felt several times more uncomfortable than if he had been killed.

"Go away!"

"How dare you be so rude to me!"

"I am the King of Wei. Tell Liu Bei to come to see me. Tell Liu Bei, the big-eared thief, to come to see me—"

Yuan Shao, who was already weak and sick, got the strength from nowhere under this stimulation. He roared and struggled like a madman.

Several soldiers took action, but they were unable to suppress Yuan Shao for a while. Zhang Fei didn't want to pay any more attention to him, so he turned his horse around and wanted to go meet Liu Bei.

Who would have thought that in Yuan Shao’s roar, the words “big-eared thief” would suddenly burst out.

These three words instantly made Zhang Fei furious.

"You old bastard, how dare you scold my elder brother? You are asking for a beating!"

Zhang Fei thrust his snake spear into the ground, jumped off his horse, and pounced at Yuan Shao in one leap.

He swung his arm, which was as thick as a bowl, and punched Yuan Shao in the face.

"boom!"

There was a dull sound of bones breaking.

Yuan Shao was hit hard on the face and howled in pain, then fell to the ground with his face up.

This punch broke Yuan Shao's nose and blood spurted out.

He was hit so hard that he felt dizzy, his head was buzzing, and he was no longer able to struggle.

Zhang Fei wanted to continue beating him, but thinking that Yuan Shao was a prisoner of such importance, he decided to hand him over to Liu Bei for proper disposal, so he reluctantly stopped.

"Tied him up, and then sent someone to report the victory to the king, saying that I have captured the fake palace and captured the old villain Yuan Shao alive, and asked him to move in quickly."

...

The last ray of afterglow faded and night fell.

The shouts and cries of killing inside and outside Yecheng finally died down.

On the gates of Yecheng, battle flags with the word "Chu" on them were flying in the air under the lights.

Cheers and joy replaced the sounds of killing and soon echoed on the city walls and streets.

The soldiers of the Chu army were waving their weapons, raising their arms and shouting, celebrating the achievement of capturing Ye City.

royal palace.

The plaque of the Wei Palace has now been changed to the Chu Palace.

Accompanied by Xiao Fang, Guan Yu, Pang Tong and other civil and military officials, Liu Bei proudly entered the palace, entered the Golden Hall and ascended the throne.

"I congratulate my king on the recovery of Yecheng!"

As the prime minister, Xiao Fang was naturally the first to step forward, smiling and bowing to congratulate.

"Congratulations, my king, for retaking Yecheng—"

"Congratulations, my king, for retaking Yecheng—"

All the generals bowed down in delight, and congratulated Lao Liu in unison.

Sitting high on the throne, Liu Bei was in high spirits and accepted congratulations from his ministers.

Looking up, Yecheng, the capital of Wei State and the core heart of Hebei, is now at your feet.

This means that the most important step in defeating the pseudo-Wei and recovering Hebei has been achieved.

The next step is to fight the final battle to wipe out the remnants of Yuan Shang and Yuan Xi, and recover Qing, You and the three states.

The overall situation has been determined, there are no more variables!
"Without the Prime Minister's brilliant foresight and the advice and sacrifice of all the ministers, how could I have achieved what I have today?"

"Everyone, please accept my greetings!"

However, Liu Bei suppressed his joy and pride, stood up and bowed to his ministers.

The ministers were flattered and grateful and excited to be remembered by Liu Bei for their contributions and to receive such a great gift from him.

"The King of Chu's magnanimity and attitude towards his subjects are beyond Yuan Shao's reach."

"This is the true hero. How could Yuan Shao not be defeated..."

Looking at Liu Bei who was thanking him, Zhang He was filled with emotion and the belief in his eyes became even stronger.

"Your Majesty, I have captured that old villain Yuan Shao alive. Tell me what to do with him!"

Zhang Fei's excited shout interrupted everyone's thoughts.

Upon hearing that Yuan Shao was captured alive, everyone was greatly encouraged.

Liu Bei then sat back on the throne, the gratitude on his face turned into coldness, and he shouted:
"In that case, come and bring up the traitor Yuan Shao."

The imperial edict was passed down.

All the ministers turned their eyes towards the door of the hall.

After a moment, heavy footsteps were heard.

An old body with a withered face, bloodstains, and hatred in its eyes was carried into the hall.

As soon as the soldiers let go, Yuan Shao's weak body collapsed to the ground.

How could the former King of Wei, the most powerful overlord in the world, be willing to kneel before Liu Bei? Naturally, he tried his best to struggle to stand up.

But his body was too weak, and after being hit by Zhang Fei, even though he used all his strength and was panting like a cow, he was unable to stand up.

"Yuan Benchu, we finally meet again after parting at Suanzao."

Liu Bei, sitting high on the throne, finally spoke, but his tone was extremely calm, as if he did not have the arrogance of a winner who looked down on the loser with extreme contempt.

Yuan Shao's body trembled violently, and he finally gave up struggling and stood up, raising his head with trembling difficulty.

When their eyes met, he finally saw that familiar figure again.

The scene of the Suanzao Alliance suddenly appeared before his eyes.

The scene before my eyes is so similar.

But back then, he was sitting high in a high position, looking down upon others from a high position.

But now the positions were reversed, and Liu Bei was sitting high up, looking down at him, the loser kneeling on the ground, with the attitude of a victor.

The word humiliation instantly filled Yuan Shao's mind.

"Liu Bei——"

Yuan Shao clenched his fists, his eyes became bloodshot, and he spat out these two words through gritted teeth.

(End of this chapter)