Chapter 54

With Yuan Fang's martial arts at the initial stage of the Condensing Membrane realm, capturing Mi Zhu was naturally a piece of cake.

At this moment, the entire avenue was drenched in blood, with corpses strewn everywhere. The nearly two thousand Beihai soldiers who had slipped out of the city were almost completely wiped out.

The sun rose in the east, the morning glow dyed everything, and the southern avenue was a scene of gruesome horror.

The generals rode their horses, all drenched in blood, with human heads hanging from their saddles.

Yuan Fang threw Mi Zhu to the ground and handed him over to the guards to escort back to camp, intending to interrogate his identity later.

Surveying the battlefield, Yuan Fang said coldly, "Cut off the heads of all the enemy corpses and use the catapults to shoot them into Duchang City. I want to scare the wits out of Kong Rong!"

The order was passed down, and the soldiers, drenched in blood, cut off the nearly two thousand heads.

After a great victory, Yuan Fang, with the two thousand heads, returned to camp in high spirits.

To the south, more than ten miles away, the three brothers Liu Bei were still galloping away, not daring to stop even for a moment to catch their breath.

After fleeing for more than twenty miles, seeing no enemy troops pursuing them, Liu Bei finally reined in his horse.

Looking around, apart from Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, only seven or eight of his personal attendants remained.

The foundation he had painstakingly built up since starting in Pingyuan was now completely lost in this battle.

Liu Bei, who had once again become a mat weaver and shoe seller, sighed for a long time. Suddenly, he remembered something and complained to Guan Yu, "Yun Chang, you shouldn't have stopped me from saving Mi Zhong. I promised to ensure his safe breakout. Now you've put me in a position of being untrustworthy and unrighteous."

Facing Liu Bei's complaints, Guan Yu's face turned ashen, and he remained silent.

After a long sigh, Liu Bei's depressed mood finally calmed down.

Guan Yu then said, "Now that things have come to this, fortunately, Brother is unharmed. What should we do now?"

Liu Bei pondered for a moment, his face filled with hatred, and said through gritted teeth, "Of course, we should go to Xuzhou. Even without Mi Zhong, I must persuade Governor Tao to send troops to save Beihai and use his army to help me avenge and wash away my humiliation."

The three brothers, disheveled and dirty, mustered their strength and hurriedly headed towards Xuzhou.

On the city wall of Duchang.

Kong Rong, who had been watching Liu Bei leave, refused to leave for a long time.

"Governor, Liu Xuande has gone far. Come down and rest," Taishi Ci consoled him.

Kong Rong sighed lightly, full of hope, and was about to leave the city wall.

Just as he turned his head, he suddenly heard a soldier scream, "Enemy troops, enemy troops are attacking!"

Kong Rong's heart skipped a beat, and his heart leaped to his throat as he rushed to the city wall to look far ahead.

In his field of vision, he indeed saw a large contingent of Yuan's troops advancing towards the eastern gate of Duchang.

Under the red banner with the character "Yuan," Yuan Fang, holding his skull-crushing club, strode forward.

When the army was five hundred steps away from the enemy city, Yuan Fang raised his club to signal the army to halt. He then ordered the catapults to be pushed to the front of Duchang City.

Seeing this, Kong Rong on the city wall feigned composure and sneered, "This boy Yuan Fang thinks he can break my strong city with just a few catapults. What a delusion."

The disdainful Kong Rong immediately ordered the troops not to panic and to prepare to repel the Yuan army's attack.

However, the Yuan army did not attack. Instead, they loaded the catapults with human heads. From a distance of more than a hundred steps, the Beihai soldiers on the city wall could not see that the Yuan army was not loading stones.

After the loading was complete, Yuan Fang, looking at the enemy city, his eyes cold as a blade, pointed his club forward fiercely.

The signal flags waved, and the war drums roared.

More than ten catapults were launched simultaneously, and hundreds of heads soared into the air, raining down on the eastern gate of Duchang.

On the city wall, including Kong Rong, the Beihai soldiers, thinking that stones were coming, instinctively crouched down, hiding behind the battlements to avoid the incoming stones.

Thud, thud, thud!

Amid the dull thuds, the round objects rolled onto the city wall, one of which rolled right to Kong Rong's feet.

When Kong Rong saw what it was, he screamed in terror, as if he had seen a ghost.

At the same time, along the city wall, screams erupted, and all the Beihai soldiers seemed to have been suddenly frightened.

What rolled down were not stones but human heads.

Bloody human heads!

Kong Rong was greatly shocked, trembling all over. He never expected Yuan Fang to use such cruel means to intimidate him.

"These are our brothers, the brothers who just left the city!"

Finally, someone recognized that these heads were not random but belonged to the two thousand comrades who had just left the city an hour ago.

Seeing the familiar heads, bloody and rolling before their eyes, the Beihai soldiers on the city wall were deeply shocked, screaming and shouting, unable to hold their weapons.

Kong Rong was even more terrified, exclaiming, "How could this happen? Could it be that the bastard Yuan Fang has seen through my feigned surrender?"

"Probably so," Taishi Ci said, his face grave.

Kong Rong's body trembled again, his face filled with fear and panic, not knowing what to do.

At this moment, the catapults' firing finally ended, and the two thousand heads had all been shot onto the city wall.

Hearing the continuous screams from the city wall, Yuan Fang knew that his psychological attack had been successful.

Yuan Fang spurred his horse out of the formation, accompanied by Yan Liang and more than ten guards, slowly advancing towards the city.

Fifty steps from the city, Yuan Fang stopped, holding his club, and shouted loudly, "I am Yuan Fang. Kong Rong, do you dare to come out of the city and meet me?"

Liu Bei had broken out of the city, but Kong Rong had not, clearly indicating that Kong Rong had sent Liu Bei to Xuzhou for reinforcements.

Kong Rong's spirit must have been shaken, and Yuan Fang tried to persuade him to truly surrender. If he could do so, he could capture Beihai and pacify the entire Qingzhou before Liu Bei brought reinforcements from Xuzhou.

At that time, even if Tao Qian mobilized all the troops from Xuzhou, Yuan Fang could still respond calmly.

Kong Rong, trembling, straightened up, peered over the battlements, and indeed saw a valiant young general in silver armor, accompanied by only a few riders, daring to approach the city.

That young general in silver armor was undoubtedly Yuan Fang.

Seeing that there were not many enemies, Kong Rong's mood calmed slightly, and he straightened his back, his demeanor once again that of a renowned scholar and descendant of Confucius.

He glared at Yuan Fang and said sternly, "Yuan Fang, what qualifications do you have to meet me? You are not worthy!"

Kong Rong's words were clearly mocking Yuan Fang's lowly status as a bastard, deeming him unworthy to meet a descendant of Confucius.

Yan Liang, standing beside him, was suddenly furious, his eyes wide with anger, and he shouted, "Kong Rong, you dog, my lord kindly gives you a chance to speak, and you dare to be so disrespectful!"

Kong Rong, the dog!

The renowned scholar and descendant of Confucius, known throughout the land, had never been called a "dog" before.

Kong Rong was instantly enraged, pointing at Yan Liang and shouting, "Yan Liang, you are nothing but a lowly warrior, a dog guarding the Yuan family. How dare you act so arrogantly here!"

The term "lowly warrior" clearly showed Kong Rong's disdain for warriors, considering himself a Confucian scholar.

Taishi Ci, standing beside him, frowned, as Kong Rong's words were not only insulting to Yan Liang but also deeply hurt his ears.

Yan Liang, feeling deeply humiliated, was so angry that he wanted to charge up the city and tear Kong Rong apart.

Yuan Fang, however, waved his hand to calm Yan Liang down.

His face was calm, and he spurred his horse forward, saying coldly, "Truly worthy of being a descendant of Confucius, your words are sharp and cut to the heart. Kong Rong, since you consider yourself a descendant of the Kong family, do you not feel ashamed of using such deceitful tactics? Do you not feel you are betraying your ancestors?"

Yuan Fang's voice was like a thunderclap, exposing Kong Rong's tactics in front of both armies.

Kong Rong's face turned red, but he feigned composure, raising his head and saying, "My ancestor Confucius said, 'A gentleman repays virtue with virtue and repays straightness with straightness.' You, a wicked person, invaded my Beihai without cause, and it is only right that I use some tactics against you. Do not defame my reputation."

"Such a 'without cause'!"

Yuan Fang sneered and said sternly, "I, Yuan Fang, have no grudge against you, Kong Rong, but you sent your troops to help Tian Kai attack my Gaotang. My current campaign to sweep through your Beihai is just and righteous!"

Kong Rong was speechless, his face turning red, not knowing how to respond.

Just as Kong Rong was embarrassed, Yuan Fang, his brows like a blade, said sternly, "Kong Rong, I am not interested in arguing with you. Considering you are a descendant of Confucius, I give you one last chance. Open the city and surrender, and I will spare your life."

The words, filled with a sense of impending death, were a final ultimatum to Kong Rong.

Kong Rong's body trembled violently, feeling the hidden threat in Yuan Fang's words, making his back tingle.

For a moment, he was terrified, but then he became furious with shame.

A mere bastard from the Yuan family dared to threaten him, a descendant of Confucius, in front of so many people, issuing a final ultimatum.

In Kong Rong's view, this was the greatest humiliation he had ever experienced.

Furious and ashamed, Kong Rong pointed at Yuan Fang and shouted, "You, surnamed Yuan, what lowly status do you have to make me, Kong Rong, surrender? Dream on! I, Kong Rong, would rather die with the city of Duchang than submit to a lowly person like you."

Left and right, he called him lowly and a child, his disdainful and contemptuous words deeply wounding Yuan Fang's heart.

Yuan Fang's eyes blazed with killing intent, his fists clenched, veins bulging.

He was enraged.

He was no longer the crippled waste in the Yuan family, to be looked down upon and disdained.

To regain his dignity, he had fought bloody battles and risked his life to become strong.

Today, with a powerful army at his command and control over most of Qingzhou, how could he tolerate such insults from Kong Rong, who considered himself a descendant of Confucius?

His brows furrowed, and Yuan Fang said coldly, "Kong Rong, I, Yuan Fang, will remember the insults you have spoken today. This is your own path to death. When Duchang City falls, if I do not personally smash your skull, my name will be written backward!"

The solemn vow was like a thunderclap.

Yuan Fang, no longer willing to say more, turned his horse and rode away.