I rode and slashed unparalleled in the Three Kingdoms

Chapter 553: The Terror Between Life and Death

"Why is there no movement?"

Zhang Ji and others were standing outside the closed door, looking at the dark doorway and looking at each other in bewilderment.

On the city wall, the rain of arrows from the Han army had long stopped, and the entire Yique Pass was dead silent. Only the bloody smell coming from inside the gate with the wind and the occasional whimpering made people feel particularly weird.

Zhang Ji felt horrified and felt a chill down his spine, and his sword-holding hands were shaking.

"Go, send the front team to go ahead and check, guard the gate, light the lights, and see if there are any living people."

After speaking, Zhang Ji himself was speechless.

He couldn't understand how someone could say there were no living people.

According to Xia Yu, there are at least thousands of people trapped in the city.

Adding the 1,000 cavalrymen led by Li Jue who initially entered the city, how could it be possible that more than 2,000 people were killed so quickly?

Even if you were to kill 2,000 pigs, it wouldn't be possible that fast.

Then, he began to waver in his thoughts.

"Captain, Captain."

The soldier who came to report came running over, trembling, his upper and lower teeth chattering, and his whole body was shaking:

"Hell, hell!"

"Everyone is dead!"

The soldier's appearance made Zhang Ji's face suddenly become extremely serious. He immediately pushed the soldier away and led his personal soldiers forward.

At first, there was nothing unusual inside the doorway.

Apart from the scattered weapons and a few unlucky souls who fell and were trampled to death while fleeing, this would be just an ordinary city wall if it weren't for the strong smell of blood in its mouth and nose.

With tense nerves, Zhang Ji led his men deeper and deeper. As they approached the exit, the scene before them made them all gasp. It was a horrific scene.

The narrow passage was filled with twisted corpses, some of them were split in half, some of them had their heads and bodies separated. The bright red blood dyed the stone road red, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood.

"withdraw!"

Although he had not reached the exit yet, Zhang Ji's heart was already filled with alarm bells. He knew that he must not go forward any further, as this door was actually the door of death.

However, the moment he turned around, a sneer came from behind him:
"Why is the general so cowardly?"

"We came in a hurry and are we going to leave in a hurry?"

Everyone was startled and turned around, only to see a blood-soaked man slowly approaching in the dim firelight.

"It's him, it's him!"

Xia Yu, who was forcibly captured by Zhang Ji, saw the outline of Su Yao's figure and immediately shouted:
"Monster, run!"

While he was speaking, Xia Yu ran away with his head in his hands.

His screams and actions were like a thunderclap, exploding in the hearts of everyone who were already tense.

At first, the ordinary soldiers who entered the cave first dropped their weapons and fled in all directions screaming.

Then, as if it were a plague, one by one, those who were usually very brave were also infected. Driven by fear, they fled blindly.

Almost in the blink of an eye, except for Zhang Ji and a few personal soldiers, there was no one else here.

"Captain Zhang, hurry up, we will cover you!"

The captain of the personal guards was furious upon seeing this and hurriedly advised Zhang Ji to leave quickly.

However, Zhang Ji smiled bitterly and waved his hand.

Whether it was his experience on the battlefield or his warrior’s intuition, Zhang Ji felt a chill run through his body the moment Su Yao spoke.

At this moment, he felt like a prey targeted by a falcon, and he knew he could not leave.

If you move without authorization, you will probably die immediately.

However, Zhang Ji's refusal to leave did not mean that he would just sit there and wait for death. He turned the sword in his hand, clasped it and saluted, saying:
"Champion Hou Wuyong really lives up to his reputation."

"I am Zhang Ji, the captain of the Xiliang Army. Nice to meet you, my Lord."

"Zhang Ji? Zhang Xiu, who are you?"

Zhang Ji was stunned for a moment, and answered subconsciously: "He is my nephew."

"Does your Excellency know my nephew?"

At this critical moment, Zhang Jiwan did not expect that he would hear his nephew's name.

And Su Yao smiled knowingly.

Wasn’t Cao Cao’s famous “killing three wise men with one shot” in later generations all because of Zhang Ji’s wife, Zou?

I just didn’t expect that this guy would change his name right here. What was he trying to do?
Seeing that Su Yao did not answer and just looked at him with a subtle look, Zhang Ji felt his hair stand on end, fearing that Su Yao would suddenly attack him and chop off his head, so he hurriedly said:
"My Lord, I have no choice but to come here."

Zhang Ji took a deep breath and tried to make his voice sound as calm as possible:
"I think Lord Dong has great power in the government and as generals, we have no choice but to obey his orders."

"But I also know loyalty and righteousness in my heart, but I have never had the opportunity. Today, I am fortunate to see the might of Champion Marquis."

"I hope you will show some mercy and accept me, so that I can serve you and punish the traitors together!"

Su Yao raised his eyebrows when he heard this. He didn't expect Zhang Ji to surrender so soon?
No, Dong Zhuo is still alive, why is he surrendering now?

I haven't even started to exert my strength yet, and you still have thousands of people here.

Could it be that because I used Lu Bu to pretend to surrender before, he is now trying to give me a taste of my own medicine?
As a result, Su Yao's face showed a hint of amusement. He looked Zhang Ji up and down and said slowly:

"The villain Dong Zhuo has disrupted the government and murdered loyal officials. Everyone has the right to kill him. As a minister of the Han Dynasty, I, Su Yao, must stand up and punish this villain."

"But Dong Zhuo is your lord after all. How can you betray him so easily when you claim to be loyal?"

"Aren't you afraid of being despised by the world?"

Zhang Ji was left speechless.

He was a warrior from Xiliang, not one of those strategists who were good at gossiping, so he was really not good at debating.

But this surrender was not simply a temporary measure to save lives.

During this expedition, he discussed the future with Jia Xu.

At that time, Jia Xu told him very clearly that the Battle of Yique Pass was particularly important to the future of Dong Zhuo's army.

All the princes in the world are watching this battle. If they cannot take back Yique Pass and rebuild the Luoyang defense line in one fell swoop, then Lord Dong will definitely not be able to stand in this Guandong area.

But today, with what happened to Li Jue and Guo Si in the past, Zhang Ji knew that there was an 80% chance that he could not take Yique Pass.

Look at those frightened soldiers. It will take at least five, six, seven or eight days to restore their morale.

The might of the Guanjun Hou army was so terrifying that Zhang Ji didn't dare to sit on Dong Zhuo's broken boat for even a moment.

He didn't want to throw his life away in vain.

So, Zhang Ji decided not to argue because he could not win. He threw away his weapons and led all his guards to kneel down with their fists clasped together, saying:
"I surrender, and I hope you will give me a chance!"

Su Yao was also happy when he saw it and said:
"it is good!"

"It is said that you should not hit a smiling person. Since you are willing to turn from darkness to light, I will give you a chance and assign you a task to do."

"If this is accomplished, and we win the battle against Dong Zhuo in the future, I will definitely not forget you when I reward you for your merits."

"But if you surrender and then rebel again, there's no need to say anything next time we meet. I'll chop off your head!"

Zhang Ji felt relieved when he heard this. He immediately kowtowed to express his gratitude and asked Su Yao if he had any instructions.

Then Su Yao called him over and whispered a few words, then returned to the "Central Courtyard", took out two large bags, and handed them to Zhang Ji:
"These are the heads of Li Jue and Guo Si. You should go there and bring them back to Niu Fu."

Zhang Ji's heart trembled. He took the two heads and thought that he almost ended up like this. He said quickly:
"I will obey your orders and live up to your trust!"

(End of this chapter)