Seeing Zhao Yun still hesitating below the city, Yuan Xi thought this was an excellent opportunity, and if he missed it, he might never have another one.
After Zhao Yun joined Gongsun Zan, he was never highly regarded, because Gongsun Zan's direct line was the White Horse Volunteers, and Zhao Yun's and Gongsun Zan's styles of doing things probably didn't match.
Just look at the current siege, he is only leading a few hundred soldiers. With these people alone, it won't be easy to take Beixin City.
At that time, Zhao Yun was like Yang Jian in the Investiture of the Gods, doing the work of transporting grain and grass. No enemy general gave him the opportunity to gain battle achievements, so his power was not revealed.
Even Liu Bei at this time would not know Zhao Yun's future achievements. The friendship between the two was mostly based on their shared interests.
If Zhao Yun beheaded an enemy general one day, he would naturally become famous. By that time, it would be difficult for Yuan Xi to poach him!
In history, after Gongsun Zan was defeated by Yuan Shao, he shrank in the city and refused to come out. His generals gradually became estranged and left one after another. Zhao Yun also joined Liu Bei at that time, and from then on, the hidden dragon emerged from the abyss and eventually became a famous general.
Yuan Xi knew his own capabilities, and he didn't want to be the first man killed by Zhao Yun's spear.
Otherwise, the later Romance of the Three Kingdoms would be written like this.
"Yuan Xi, the son of Yuan Shao, overestimated his abilities and went out of the city to challenge. Zhao Yun caught up with him on horseback and pierced his throat with a single shot, killing him under the horse."
Therefore, facing Zhao Yun's siege, Yuan Xi had been sticking to the city and not giving Zhao Yun a chance to gain battle achievements. He also often said ambiguous words to Zhao Yun on the city wall, so that the soldiers below thought they were very familiar in private.
This matter would definitely reach Gongsun Zan's ears, adding to his distrust of Zhao Yun.
Moreover, Gongsun Zan may have been testing Zhao Yun this time when he sent him to attack the city.
Although Liu Bei and Gongsun Zan were both students of Lu Zhi, since Liu Bei helped Tian Kai and befriended Tao Qian, he had shown signs of starting his own business.
Gongsun Zan was not stupid, so he began to be wary of Zhao Yun, which may have been the reason for Zhao Yun's departure in the future.
But Gongsun Zan wanted to alienate the people in Yuan Xi's city, and Yuan Xi was doing the same thing.
Because he needed more capable assistants.
To govern a place, one needs to use both kindness and power. He had kindness, but not enough power.
Youzhou is a land of hundred battles close to foreign tribes such as the Wuhuan, Xianbei, and Xiongnu. If you shrink in the city and can't win battles, the people will naturally feel that the garrison can't protect them. If the people's hearts are unstable, they will leave.
The reason why Yuan Xi was in a hurry to come to Youzhou was because if he waited for Yuan Shao to defeat Gongsun Zan three years later and then came to Youzhou as the governor, it would be too late.
Therefore, he risked his life to establish prestige and win people's hearts in Youzhou as early as possible, so that the military and civilians of Youzhou could wholeheartedly serve him in the future.
Although this was very difficult, there was still hope after all.
But at first, Yuan Xi didn't expect Gongsun Zan's army to be so difficult to deal with, especially the White Horse Volunteers, who were simply terrifying in field battles.
At that time, he didn't have Qu Yi to help him train his troops. After suffering several losses, he decisively chose to be a tortoise and use his only advantage from his previous life.
Building walls.
Zhao Yun under the city was also very hesitant. The person on the city wall opposite was Yuan Shao's second son, who had been defending the city for three years and was extremely cunning.
He never attacked during the day, but liked to send people to raid the camp at night. Gongsun Zan's army suffered several losses, and later even the White Horse Volunteers suffered many casualties.
In this era, elite soldiers were strong soldiers with complete armor, and raiding the camp at night was to take advantage of the enemy's inability to put on armor in time, catching them off guard.
But there were only a few good generals who could fight at night, which meant that there must be a very powerful person in Beixin City, which also made Zhao Yun secretly vigilant.
Zhao Yun had also thought about luring the enemy out at night, but he had led troops here several times, but the other party never came out of the city to fight him.
Zhao Yun was quite depressed. There were many generals in Gongsun Zan's army who were more famous than him. You dare to attack them, but you don't dare to attack me?
Why?
Just as Zhao Yun was also worried about how to take Beixin City, the other party threw out a very weighty bet.
In this era, aristocratic families valued reputation the most. If Yuan Xi used his father's and family's reputation to bet and did not abide by the bet afterwards, the reputation of the Runan Yuan family would be ruined.
And if Zhao Yun won, he would be able to take Beixin City at the smallest cost, which would reduce the number of deaths, which was quite in line with Zhao Yun's ideas.
A general beside Zhao Yun whispered, "General, I'm afraid that Yuan Xi will disregard his promise and take this opportunity to escape."
Zhao Yun listened and said calmly, "Wouldn't that be even better?"
The general was stunned, and then understood, and immediately admired him.
At this time, Yuan Xi also knew that Zhao Yun couldn't wait for him to escape, so that he could take Beixin City without bloodshed.
This bet was originally a psychological game between the two sides.
But Zhao Yun didn't know that Yuan Xi's target was himself!
If he lost the bet and went back, he would also be suspected by Gongsun Zan. If he added fuel to the fire at that time, it would be Yuan Xi's time to intercept him!
In the end, the two sides reached an agreement that early the next morning, they would each lead a hundred people from the north and south gates of Beixin City to search for the traces of the Xiongnu bandits, each according to their own abilities.
With the plan decided, Zhao Yun led his troops away.
Yuan Xi returned to the mansion, took off his armor, and came to the backyard, where several archery targets were lined up against the wall.
He put on his thumb ring, picked up Zhang Niu Jiao's bow, nocked a feather arrow, and slowly stretched his arms to draw the bowstring, aiming at the target dozens of steps away.
With a flick of his finger, the feather arrow shot out like a shooting star.
The feather arrow stuck on the board wall two feet away from the target.
It's off.
He calmed himself down and shot several more arrows in succession, finally hitting the target with half of them.
He heard a rather rough voice behind him mocking, "If you encounter a Xiongnu archer, you would be dead after the first few arrows."
Yuan Xi turned his head and saw a burly man sitting on the table behind him at some point, holding a wine pot in his hand. His palms were extremely large, making the wine pot look like a handle.
His cheeks were thin, his face was covered with terrifying scars, and his face was covered with messy beards, making it impossible to see his original appearance. He only saw him tilting his head and pouring all the wine from the wine pot into his mouth before staggering to his feet.
His figure was extremely tall, but he looked a little thin.
The big man coughed a few times, took the bow and arrow from Yuan Xi's hand, and shot an arrow with his hand raised.
Yuan Xi didn't even see how he drew the bow, the feather arrow had already hit the bullseye, and the tail of the arrow was still trembling.
Yuan Xi smiled slightly and bowed to the big man, "Good archery."
"My talent is mediocre, how can I compare with you, brother?"
"I will have to trouble you tomorrow, brother."
The big man shook the wine pot, "The matter of you betting with the other party on the city wall today?"
Yuan Xi smiled and said, "You heard about it, brother?"
"This bet is not easy to win, it all depends on your help, brother."
The big man snorted coldly, "Don't call me brother, I can't afford it."
"You call the nameless little general Zhao Yun below the city brother, are you, the dignified son of the Yuan family, used to being a younger brother?"
He looked quite disdainful: "A little-known general, I can take him down in three rounds after leaving the city!"
"But every time he leads troops over, you avoid fighting him, are you still afraid that I can't cure him?"
Yuan Xi thought to himself, no, I'm really afraid.
I only have you as a usable general. If you are picked off by Zhao Yun's spear, then I will really become a bare commander.
He knew that the other party was arrogant, so he had to laugh it off, "Brother was seriously injured and hasn't recovered in the past two years. I'm afraid there will be an accident. Wouldn't your brother's lifelong reputation be completely ruined?"
"Now that the two sides are showing their abilities to kill the Xiongnu, wouldn't it also show your brother's power?"
The big man looked disdainful: "Don't try to please me, I don't eat that."
"That's how I fell into the hands of your old man."
"Although I was saved by you, I don't have half of my skills left, and I'm like a stray dog, so what reputation is there to speak of."
Yuan Xi sighed, "Brother Qu, how can we judge a hero by temporary success or failure?"
The big man listened, took another big gulp of wine, and said in a deep voice, "You really don't suspect that I participated in the Ye City Rebellion in the fourth year of Chuping?"
Yuan Xi was silent for a long time before he said, "I don't know."
"I just think that a person like you, brother, should die on the battlefield, not be suffocated to death at a banquet."
"Book of the Later Han Dynasty"——Qu Yi relied on his merits, was arrogant and unruly, Shao summoned and killed him, and merged his crowd.