Eastern Han Dynasty, not the Three Kingdoms

"Let me go?" Yan Liang's yellow horse pawed the frozen soil restlessly, and the wind-splashing knife spun half a circle in his palm. "What's up, General Wei?"

"It's hard to escape this dragnet anyway." Wei Yan shouldered his broadsword and deliberately drew out the last syllable, "For warriors like you and me, keeping our bodies useful is better than leaving them exposed in the wilderness." He caught a glimpse of Zhang Yan's anxiously flushed face from the corner of his eye, but he pretended not to see it, letting the other's hand tremble slightly as he gripped the hilt of the sword.

Zhang Yan's scimitar was almost unsheathed: "General Wei! This is a godsend opportunity..."

"A good opportunity?" Wei Yan suddenly turned his head, a sharp light flashing in his eyes, "Yuan Tan is waiting for him at Tongguan." He deliberately lowered his voice, but everyone present heard it clearly, "As long as the eldest son is in his hands, how dare Yan Liang really fight to the death?" Seeing that Zhang Yan was still puzzled, he sneered: "Capturing him alive will humiliate the morale of Yuan's army more than a cold corpse!"

These words startled Zhang Yan into a state of sudden realization, and he slowly loosened his grip on his sword. Yan Liang stared at Wei Yan's unpredictable smile, but he hesitated to let go of his sword. The calculation in his opponent's eyes was even more terrifying than the snowstorm outside the Great Wall. After a moment's stalemate, he suddenly turned his horse and slashed through the dead branches on the roadside with his wind-splashing sword. "Go!" Five hundred guards rushed into the snowstorm like arrows from a bow, while the leisurely footsteps of the Xiliang army behind them sounded like the unhurried call of death.

A north wind, whirling blood-foaming wind, swept across the top of Tongguan City. Yuan Tan's brocade robe was already stained with mud and snow. Guarded by halberd soldiers, he stumbled to the gate, his hoarse cry tearing through the night: "I am Yuan Tan, the eldest son of the Yuan family! Open the gate quickly!" The bronze shields formed an impenetrable wall behind him, but they couldn't hide the ecstasy that burst into his eyes - as long as he stepped into this city gate, he could temporarily escape the pursuing soldiers behind him.

On the city wall, Gao Ming, wearing a blood-stained cloak of Yuan Jun, leaned out, his face lit by the torches: "Young Master?" He suddenly sneered and waved the flag in his hand fiercely, "I think you are just a stray dog ​​of Yuan Jun!"

Before he could finish his words, countless jet-black crossbow bolts suddenly emerged from behind the battlements. Yuan Tan stared in horror at the overwhelming rain of arrows. Halberdiers hurriedly raised their shields, accompanied by the muffled thud and screams of agony. A stray arrow whizzed past his ear, the gust of wind nearly slicing off his crown. His personal guards grabbed his belt and dragged him back. The sound of the arrow tearing through his brocade robe was terrifying.

"Rebellion! How dare you kill your master!" Xin Ping staggered and supported the staggering Yuan Tan, his bloodstained fingers tightly clutching his torn sleeve. He looked up and saw that the banner with the word "Yuan" on the top of the city had collapsed to the ground. In its place, the battle flag with the word "Liang" fluttered in the wind, scarlet as blood.

Gao Ming stepped on the fallen flagpole and stomped the Yuan family's battle flag into the mud and snow. "Open your eyes wide and take a look!" He ripped open his cloak, revealing the black armor lining. "I am General Gao Ming, the Eagle General under the command of the King of Liang!" Before he finished speaking, a second round of arrows descended like a dark cloud, and the shields of the halberd warriors were shaken by the dense collision.

The walls beneath the pass suddenly transformed into a savage battlefield. The screams of the halberd warriors, mixed with the clatter of arrows, echoed through the inner city walls. Some attempted to scale the walls, only to be splattered with hot oil and sent tumbling down with screams. Others charged with shields, only to be crushed by rolling logs hurled from the towers. Looking at the strewn limbs and broken arrows, Yuan Tan finally understood that he had fallen into the death trap carefully woven by Li Ru. With an impenetrable iron wall in front and the relentless pursuit of the Western Liang cavalry behind, Tongguan had become a graveyard for Yuan's troops.

The neighing of the yellow horse tore through the snow and wind. From afar, Yan Liang could see the familiar brocade robe teetering among the remnants of the army. As he took in Yuan Tan's blood-stained crown and the shattered shields of the halberd-wielding soldiers, the renowned Hebei general, a veteran of the battlefields, stumbled from his horse, his wind-splashing blade clanging to the ground. "Young Master!"

Yuan Tan's brocade robe was still dripping with blood. He clutched his broken sword tightly, gazing at the "Liang" battle flag fluttering above the city walls. A broken roar escaped his throat: "General Yan! Tongguan... has fallen into the hands of thieves!" Xin Ping's folding fan beside him was long gone, his pale face still stained with splattered blood, and he gasped for breath.

Yan Liang knelt on one knee, grabbed some snow from the ground, and wiped his face vigorously, wiping away the tears and blood that welled up in his eyes. He looked up at Gao Ming, who sneered on the city wall, and dug his nails deep into his palm: "I knew it was a trick." His hoarse voice was mixed with suppressed sobs. "I just... I just wanted to risk my life to save you!"

The remnants of the army struggled to gather in the snowy wind. Halberdiers leaned on broken halberds, their armor trembling with the arrowheads that dart blood. A headcount revealed that Yan Liang's five hundred personal guards, along with the remnants of Yuan Tan's troops, now numbered less than a thousand men. The cold wind blew Yuan Tan's tattered battle flags over the crowd. Amidst the swirling snow, the defeated army resembled a dying candle.

A howling north wind swept through the tattered banners. The Western Liang cavalry and the Black Mountain troops formed an iron barrel formation, tightly encircling the remnants of Yuan's army, which numbered less than a thousand men. Wei Yan and Zhang Yan rode side by side, their black armor and fur coats rustling in the wind and snow. Behind them, the battle banners obscured the sky, seemingly swallowing up the last ray of daylight.

"General Yan, can you see clearly?" Wei Yan raised his hand and pointed at the "Liang" battle flag fluttering on the top of the city wall. His gilded sword shone coldly in the twilight. "I said that Tongguan was already in our army's pocket." Before he finished speaking, Zhang Yan could no longer hold back and unsheathed his scimitar half an inch: "Why waste time talking to him! A volley of arrows will crush these stray dogs in an instant!"

Yan Liang protected Yuan Tan behind him, his blood-stained cloak rustling in the wind. "General Wei, if you want to kill me, just come at me!" He held his wind-pouring sword across his chest, a dark red blood scab still clotted on the notch of the blade. "Are you trying to humiliate us by surrounding us without attacking us?"

"Humiliation?" Wei Yan suddenly laughed out loud, shaking the snow off his shoulders. "I respect your loyalty, general, so I deliberately left you and your followers a way out!" He reined in his agitated black horse, his eyes sweeping over Yuan Tan's pale face and Xin Ping's trembling hands. "Look at these remaining soldiers behind you—if I give the order to charge, they won't even last half an incense stick!"

Yuan Tan suddenly drew his sword, the cold light reflecting off his bloodshot eyes. "General Yan, Mr. Xin, it's me who has brought you to this point!" He staggered and pointed at the enemy formation, the hem of his brocade robe stained with mud. "Surrender! Save your lives..."

Wei Yan, on his horse, looked at Yuan Tan with great interest and asked, "Why don't you surrender?"

Yuan Tan's vein-filled hand gripped the hilt of his sword tightly, the blade's edge reflecting off his face as pale as paper. "You mere bastard! My Yuan family has held three high officials for four generations, and our students and officials are spread all over the world!" He ripped open his bloodstained collar, revealing the dark brocade lining. "If I surrender to the enemy today, how will I face my ancestors in the afterlife?" The wind and snow carried his hoarse cry, crashing against the Tongguan city wall, startling the "Liang" battle flag on the top of the city wall and causing it to flutter.

Xin Ping staggered to support his shaky lord, the hem of his brocade robe already torn to shreds by the rain of arrows: "Sir! As long as the green mountains remain..."

"Shut up!" Yuan Tan suddenly swung his sword to cut off a dead branch, sawdust flying, and a crazy fire flashed in his eyes. "The Yuan family's prosperity was never earned by kneeling on the ground and begging for survival!" He pointed the tip of his sword at Wei Yan, and the brocade ribbon spread out in front of his blood-stained clothes. "I would rather bleed on the battlefield than let the reputation of four generations of three officials be destroyed by you traitors!"

Yan Liang's eyes instantly flushed red, and he fell to his knees with a thud, ice chips falling from his armor. "Don't worry, sir!" He tore off his blood-stained cloak and wrapped it around Yuan Tan's trembling shoulders. "With Yan Liang here, I will definitely protect you and see you off!" The remaining soldiers behind him roared in agreement, the broken weapons and shattered shields clashing with a deafening roar. Surrounded by 30,000 enemy troops, it was like the final roar of a trapped beast.

Wei Yan tapped the saddle lightly, twirling the gilded broadsword in his palm. The cold light reflected from the blade swept across Yuan Tan's tense jaw. "Young Master, are you really going to be like a moth flying into a flame?" He pulled away the icy shards from his cloak, letting them fall to the ground. "Your death will only earn you a few chapters in history, but the Yuan family's vast foundation will probably fall entirely into the hands of Yuan Xi and Yuan Shang." The black horse pawed the frozen soil restlessly, its hooves kicking up snow foam mixed with blood, exploding into a fine white mist between the two men.

"You are in the prime of your life," Wei Yan suddenly lowered his voice, his eyes sweeping over Yuan Tan's blood-stained crown, "You haven't even conquered all the beautiful lands in Jizhou, yet you are willing to give up the fertile land of Jizhou for a momentary impulse?" He deliberately glanced at Yan Liang's tightly gripped Pofeng Knife, "and then look at these loyal and brave men under your command - General, are you going to let them die in vain without even a chance to make a comeback?"

The shouts of the Black Mountain Army could be heard in the distance, but they couldn't mask Yuan Tan's heavy breathing. Wei Yan's voice became more earnest: "A true man should be able to bend and stretch. If you die here, it will only add to your father's sorrow of seeing his son die young, but your brothers..." He paused meaningfully, a faint curve at the corner of his mouth, "I'm afraid they will raise their glasses to celebrate."

Yuan Tan's pupils suddenly contracted, and the sword's edge flickered with chaotic light and shadow. Xin Ping seized the opportunity to pounce forward, his blood-stained fingers tightly grasping his lord's wrist: "Think twice, my lord! In the past, Emperor Gaozu of Han, Liu Bang, fought Xiang Yu nine times and was defeated each time, but he fought again and again, and finally achieved his empire at Gaixia. King Goujian of Yue was a slave for three years, sleeping on straw and tasting gall, before he was able to conquer Wu with only 3,000 Yue soldiers!" His voice trembled with anxiety. "As long as you can keep yourself useful, there is no need to worry about not being able to make a comeback."

Yuan Tan's sword scratched messy grooves in the snow, and the blade trembled slightly in the twilight. His Adam's apple rolled twice, and his voice was hoarse as if it had been rubbed with sandpaper: "If I am defeated and captured...how will I face my father in the future? How can the position of head of the Yuan family tolerate someone like me who has lost his army and brought disgrace to the country?" His blood-stained brocade robe rustled in the wind, making his figure even thinner.

Xin Ping rushed forward, his bloodstained fingers tightly grasping Yuan Tan's wrist: "Sir, you are wrong!" His rapid breathing condensed into white mist in the cold air, "My Xin family has been eating Yuan Gong's salary for three generations, and the Guo family has been friends with you since childhood. There are also dozens of aristocratic families in Jizhou who are willing to die for you!" He turned his head to look at Yan Liang, who was holding the Pofeng Knife across his chest, the notch on the blade still oozing blood. "Not to mention that we have General Yan, a fierce general, who will live and die with us! If someone dares to criticize us in the future, wouldn't it push General Yan and tens of thousands of Hebei men to the opposite side?"

The cold wind blew the snow into everyone's faces, but Xin Ping was oblivious and continued to persuade them: "They went to great lengths to persuade us to surrender, simply to gain your prestige and General Yan's bravery." He lowered his voice, a calculating glint in his eyes. "As long as we lie low for a while, what's the harm in paying a small price? As long as the green mountains remain, there will be no shortage of firewood!"

Yuan Tan's grip on the hilt slowly loosened, and the crescent-shaped blood mark left by his nails on his palm gradually began to seep blood. He looked at the remaining troops surrounded by 30,000 enemy troops, then at the "Liang" battle flag fluttering on the top of the city wall, and finally dropped his sword.