Yuan Shao, the father of Fanghua in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 1421 Death in battle
When Yu Jin saw Zhang Liao rushing towards them, the two of them did not say a word. Instead, they rode their horses forward to fight together. The soldiers on both sides also rushed forward shouting, and the battle became a melee.

The main force under Zhang Liao were the private soldiers who had always followed him, while Yu Jin's private soldiers had been almost completely wiped out in the Battle of Xiangfan, so they were obviously not strong enough and were forced to retreat soon after the battle.

Yu Jin's long sword was also restrained by the crescent halberd. He was caught in a dilemma and kept riding his horse backwards. He was about to turn sideways to escape, leaving a big flaw. Zhang Liao saw this and decided not to let him go, so he stabbed him with his halberd immediately.

However, this happened exactly as Yu Jin wanted. He reached into the bag with his hand that was blocking his body, and a handful of sand spilled out.

Zhang Liao was caught off guard and subconsciously lowered his head and closed his eyes, thinking to himself that he was in danger, and quickly swung his halberd to block. Yu Jin took the opportunity to move to Zhang Liao's side and slashed Zhang Liao's shoulder with his broadsword. Zhang Liao heard the wind, raised his halberd, blocked the knife, and was about to stab forward.

However, Zhang Liao did not expect that an arrow shot from the other side hit his right arm exactly. His halberd was deflected immediately and he could no longer attack.

Zhang Liao glanced at the corner of his eye and saw Cao Hong pulling the bowstring with one arm, while the bow arm was lifted by the guards on both sides. Seeing this scene, Zhang Liao almost vomited blood in anger. He was so careless!

All the generals were good at archery, and Cao Hong was no exception. However, he once had half of his arm disabled, and his archery skills were greatly reduced. So when Zhang Liao saw this, he naturally relaxed his vigilance against the sneak arrows. However, he did not expect that Cao Hong let his men hold the bows, and he himself pulled the strings to launch a sneak attack, injuring him in one fell swoop.

Seeing that Yu Jin was about to swing his sword, Zhang Liao had no time to raise his hand to block it. With a "puff", Zhang Liao was hit on the shoulder, a hole was torn in his armor, and his body shook violently. How could Yu Jin miss this opportunity? He immediately raised his sword to chop him down.

Then he heard two whooshing sounds, and two arrows shot at Yu Jin's head and chest. It was Huang Zhong who came to save him. Yu Jin saw that the arrows were coming so fast and fiercely, so he had to block and dodge with his sword. However, he felt a pain in his leg. He lowered his head and found that it was Wei Yan who was mixed in with the soldiers on the opposite side, who suddenly chopped his thigh with a sword.

The knife didn't seem to be that deep, but the blood spurted out much faster than ordinary wounds. In just two blinks of an eye, half of Yu Jin's pants were soaked. Yu Jin felt the temperature suddenly drop and he shivered, but what was even colder was his heart, which had already sunk to the bottom.

He was experienced in battle and had killed countless people, so he naturally knew that this was not an ordinary injury. There were weak spots on the human neck and legs that caused bleeding very quickly. If one was injured, there was no way to stop the bleeding, which was basically like stepping into the gates of hell!

He subconsciously wanted to ride his horse back and bandage his wound, but Zhang Liao suddenly stabbed him with his halberd, and Yu Jin's arm was pierced and fell limply.

Cao Hong still wanted to help, but Huang Zhong shot two arrows and killed Cao Hong's guard who was holding a bow. On Yu Jin's side, Wei Yan got close to him and wounded his thigh with another knife. His body was shaking and he was about to fall off his horse.

Knowing that he had no chance of survival this time, Yu Jin became even more ferocious. He roared, accelerated his sword, and chopped it off on Wei Yan's head. Although the helmet blocked the blow, Wei Yan still fell to the ground, unable to stand up. Yu Jin took the opportunity to pull the reins and was about to ride his horse to trample Wei Yan to death.

Zhang Liao thrust out his spear, stabbed and twisted, and cut Yu Jin's reins. On the other side, Huang Zhong had already freed his hands, and shot an arrow, which hit Yu Jin's chest and penetrated his armor.

Yu Jin's body swayed, and finally he could not hold on and fell off his horse.

He lay on the ground, the blood spurting from his thigh had already covered half of his body. He felt his body getting colder and colder, and he couldn't help but gasp for breath. But the faster he breathed, the faster he felt the blood flow out of his body.

He opened his mouth and his mind flashed back to the path he had taken over the years. From the time he first joined Cao Cao with his private soldiers, he never stopped for a moment. During this period, familiar generals with other surnames died one by one. Dian Wei, Le Jin, Xu Chu, their faces flashed before him one by one.

Logically speaking, I should have died long ago, but now I can't avoid it.

Wei Yan climbed up, feeling angry, and walked towards Yu Jin with his ring-handled sword in hand, wanting to get back at him for the blow. However, when he walked up to Yu Jin and raised his sword, he found that the other party was already dying, so he silently put down his sword and looked down at Yu Jin.

Although Yu Jin's eyes were open, everything in front of him was dark and he could not see anything. He kept gasping for breath, but his breath was getting weaker and weaker. Finally, his eyes widened and he stopped breathing completely.

Zhang Liao had already broken the arrow and bandaged it simply. Seeing that Yu Jin was dead, he rode his horse towards Cao Hong.

On the other side, Cao Hong shouted away the guards who advised him to escape. He stood straight, holding the ring-handled sword with his uninjured hand, holding it flat at a distance, pointing it at Zhang Liao, wanting to fight one last time.

However, he did not wait for the opportunity to fight Zhang Liao in single combat. The scattered Wei soldiers rushed back like a tide, pushing Cao Hong and others to retreat. Cao Hong's guards killed several people, but it was of no use. Instead, it aroused the ferocity of the deserters.

Most of these deserters were young and strong men who had been recruited. Most of the loyal Wei soldiers had already died in the previous battles to attack and defend the city. These young and strong men did not want to be buried with the Wei army. One Wei soldier took the opportunity to shout, "They don't want us to escape. Kill them all!"

The fleeing soldiers hesitated for only a moment, then shouted in unison, and a stream of people rushed forward madly, completely drowning Cao Hong and the few remaining Wei soldiers.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the Wei soldiers who had no time to escape knelt down and surrendered. Wei Yan rushed to clean up the battlefield with Zhang Liao. Amid the heavy pile of dead bodies, they finally found Cao Hong who had been trampled to death.

The two looked at each other in silence. It was ironic that the last great general of the Wei army died just like that. Huang Zhong also came up at this time. Several people gathered soldiers and began to advance in the city, trying to persuade the remaining Wei soldiers to surrender. Those who resisted stubbornly were killed on the spot. Soon the Jin army controlled the walls and four gates of Chang'an, and then sent the news back to the Jin army outside the city.

Zhuge Liang got the news from inside the city and said to Zhao Yun, "We have taken it down."

"Chang'an has now fallen into the hands of the Jin State. From now on, it will become the most important barrier against the Wei State. We have finally fulfilled our mission."

"According to the lord's previous entrustment, the general may have to stay in Chang'an for a while."

Yuan Xi had already made arrangements for the capture of Chang'an. After Zhuge Liang cleared out the remaining Wei troops in the surrounding area, he left Zhao Yun in charge of Chang'an, while Zhuge Liang continued to lead his troops to Wuzhangyuan, set up a camp there, and completely sealed off the Wei army in Yizhou.

Zhuge Liang and Zhao Yun entered the city, and while comforting the local people, they rebuilt the city. Zhuge Liang sent someone to report the news of the capture of Chang'an to Yuan Xi.

Now the news in Jin State was transmitted smoothly. The messenger set out from Chang'an, arrived in Nanyang, took a boat through the Han River to the Yangtze River, and then went straight down to Poyang Lake. In less than ten days, he arrived in Nanchang and presented Zhuge Liang's letter to Yuan Xi in person.

After Yuan Xi received the letter, he said to Yang Xiu beside him: "The world is settled."

"The days after this will probably be garbage time."

Although Yang Xiu did not understand the meaning of these words, he could roughly guess it, so he asked, "What about Hannan?"

Yuan Xi said: "Inform the delegation tomorrow to scare them a little and remind them to put pressure on the eastern passage of Yizhou from the west of Jingzhou and prepare for defense at the same time."

"After all, if Wei wants to break out, it will be much easier to break through from Jingzhou than from Hanzhong."

In the past half month, Yuan Xi has met with Liu Xie and the other two every day. Both sides knew the same thing and talked about irrelevant things without touching on the core issues. However, Yuan Xi also hinted at what should be said. What happens next is to see the future national policy of Hannan Kingdom.

As Yang Xiu had guessed, the most unshakable among them was Liu Xie. After all, as the emperor of the Western Han Dynasty, he would never openly support Yuan Xi, otherwise it would be against the laws of his ancestors.

In comparison, Mi Zhu and Cai Mao were much closer, which confirmed what Yang Xiu said privately, that Yuan Xi was very close to the gentry and had a close relationship with his female relatives.

Now that Mrs. Mi holds an extraordinary position under Yuan Xi, Mi Zhu will not offend Yuan Xi too much. Moreover, the Mi family was originally a family of merchants, and the Liu Bei to whom they were loyal has passed away. Naturally, Mi Zhu will not show an attitude that is too hostile to the State of Jin.

Having said that, it is difficult to make Mi Zhu betray. After all, Mi Fang is a vassal king of Jin State, and Madam Mi is the wife of Yuan Xi. The more this is the case, the more likely Mi Zhu will persist until the last moment, even dying for his loyalty, in order to maintain the reputation of the Mi family.

The most shaken among the three was Cai Mao. Now that Jingzhou was divided among three families, no matter what he did in Hannan Kingdom, he could not compare to Liu Bei's former veterans, so Cai Mao had already made up his mind.

Before he came, he brought a lot of Cai's wealth, nominally asking the State of Jin to bring it to his nephew Liu Cong in Dong'an, but anyone with a discerning eye could see that it was a bribe he gave in order to establish connections with the State of Jin.

Yuan Xi would naturally not refuse such benefits that came to his door. No one would complain that the money was too little. Although Yuan Xi had accumulated a lot of wealth in the royal treasury through his own caravan, compared with the private treasuries of emperors of other dynasties, his treasury and the national treasury were inseparable. Whenever there was disaster relief, water conservancy construction, and shipbuilding, a large sum of money had to be spent.

The next day, Liu Xie and his two companions met with Yuan Xi. When they learned that the Jin army had captured Chang'an, they were all shocked, because the Jin army had been advancing faster and faster in recent days. Could it be that the Wei army would be destroyed within three years?

So what will Hannan National Congress look like in the future?
Wouldn't Jin change its attitude towards Hannan at that time?

Looking at the complicated expressions of the people, Yuan Xi was secretly proud in his heart, but he said hypocritically: "Don't worry, my Jin State and Hannan State have been friends for generations. Please tell the leader of Hannan State that we will attack Yizhou together and destroy Wei State together."

After hearing this, everyone knew it was time to leave, so they all got up, said goodbye, and went back to pack their luggage to prepare to return to Changsha.

Mi Zhu found Madam Mi and said goodbye. At the same time, he said to Madam Xiahou who was present: "Madam, please pack up and you can go back with us tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)