"What does 'zhong' mean? Who can tell me?" Yan Xiang couldn't help but fall into thinking after Pei Qing's words. Is it wrong for him to do this?

Yan Xiang deeply felt that Pei Qing's words were very reasonable. He suddenly felt that the loyalty he had believed in before was actually of no value, which made him feel that his previous years were really "living".

However, Yan Xiang soon discovered that Pei Qing was a little wrong. Although King Wu of Zhou defeated Zhou was commendable, Boyi and Shuqi were also famous for eternity, just like what happened there, although Zhang He and Gao Lan surrendered to Pei Qing in accordance with the situation and gained a high position, at the same time there were Qu Yi and Ju Su who were determined to surrender. Aren’t they also respected Pei Qing? For example, in the battle of Cao Cao’s capture of Xuzhou, would those Song Xian and Wei Xu who surrendered to Cao Cao due to the situation be more respectful than Chen Gong who refused to surrender? This is absolutely impossible, so although the monarch is cruel and stupid, he can choose to maintain his integrity. Wealth cannot be lustful, poverty and humbleness cannot be moved, and mighty and force cannot be surrendered. This is what a real man does.

So Yan Xiang said to Pei Qing: "Thank you, Mr. Pei, for being willing to give me such a chance. I also know what kind of character Yuan Shu is. But since I have chosen to be loyal, I cannot betray my original intention. Although loyalty to the world may be a person with a broader mind, loyalty to individuals cannot be considered a virtue. Just like Boyi Shuqi who does not eat Zhou grain, their death seems worthless, but this kind of loyalty virtue is enough to educate the world. Compared with those who are famous for adapting to the situation, they are actually greedy for life and fear of death. I am willing to use my death to demonstrate the virtue of loyalty to educate the world, so that people can know that there are still people in this world who really sacrifice their lives for justice, and some people follow it, so that my death is meaningful. Therefore, I ask today to die to educate the world in the name of all my life and let me educate the world with loyalty virtue."

However, Pei Qing sneered and said, "I thought you had already realized something, but I didn't expect that you would be so unrealistic. I have fulfilled you. Wouldn't it seem that I destroyed talents with my own hands and made this act of burning the piano and boiling cranes? What's more, I need loyalty, but I don't need a foolish and loyal person like you. Everyone has their own ambitions. It's nothing wrong to learn from Boyi and Shuqi like you, and it's worthy of respect. But you ruin other people's reputation for your own name. This is really a harm to others' benefit. How can you demonstrate your name of loyalty and righteousness with this kind of character that harms others' benefit? So I will not kill you, so you can relax."

Yan Xiang was silent for a long time when he heard this, and then sighed slowly: "I just took into account my reputation, but I didn't expect that this would hurt Mr. Pei's name. I'm really sorry. Since this is the case, I won't want to die. Let's be a Boyi Shuqi who is righteous and will not eat Zhou's grain. As Mr. Pei said, everyone has their own ambitions and hope Mr. Pei can achieve it."

Pei Qing sighed after hearing this. He really didn't expect that there were such loyal and righteous people under Yuan Shu's command. Since the other party's attitude was so clear, Pei Qing was not inconvenient to persuade him, so he left.

Later, after Pei Qing broke Yuan Shu, he let Yan Xiang leave. Yan Xiang also timed his promise, returned to the countryside, farmed and lived his old age safely. However, Yan Xiang admired Pei Qing very much. Although he never took office, he educated the people in his hometown, praised Pei Qing's political achievements, and did not restrict his descendants from becoming officials and serving Pei Qing. This matter has also become a beautiful story and was recorded in history books. On the one hand, it became his loyalty and righteous destiny, and on the other hand, it also allowed Pei Qing's cherishing, loving talents and open-minded mind to be passed down through the ages.

As for the above, it was not what Pei Qing thought of at this time. He did not successfully surrender Yan Xiang, and he felt quite regretful. However, he carefully retained the sword that Yan Xiang had held and extracted Yan Xiang's genes from it. He thought that he would never be able to use it again in his life, but unexpectedly, a few years later, Pei Qing discovered that Yan Xiang's son Yan De was an official under him. He immediately matched Yan Xiang's genes to Yan De, which led to a great improvement in Yan De's ability and finally became the governor of a state.

Of course, this is all the future. Pei Qing couldn't imagine so many things now. He ordered people to continue to take strict supervision of Yan Xiang, and at the same time ordered the people to be released to safeguard the people, rectify the soldiers, and then the surrendered soldiers were selected and organized into the army. He also reported that Lu Meng was the prefect of Jiujiang and left a thousand people to guard Yinling County. He led the remaining troops to march towards Shouchun early the next morning.

It took three days from the beginning to the attack on the city and the departure of Pei Qing's army, but Yuan Shu never sent a soldier to reinforce for such a long time. This made the generals who had previously questioned that Pei Qing should not use all their power to attack deeply admire Pei Qing's previous expectations. Even Yan Xiang, who learned about this, was deeply moved. It was really heartbreaking that he worked hard to defend the city and this master did this.

"Compared with this Pei Qing, the gap between the lord and him is not a little bit. This is not only a gap in ability, but also a gap in mind and demeanor. The gap in ability can be made up, but this gap in mind and demeanor is irreparable. This fundamentally determines the fate of both sides. When the lord was dominating Yuzhou and Huainan, Pei Qing was just a bandit leader. At first, he was not even a bandit leader. But in just a few years, Pei Qing has become a great prince who has spanned the land of Bingzhou, Bingzhou, Liangzhou, and Silizhou. Even among the heroes today, they are the first to none. The gap between the two sides is so big, which is enough to show the difference in demeanor between the two."

Yan Xiang smiled bitterly. He had now predicted the defeat of Yuan Shu. He believed that under the leadership of a heroic ruler like Pei Qing, the unification of the Han Dynasty was inevitable, and no one could stop it. Whether it was Cao Cao or Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu was naturally even worse.

At this time, Pei Qing certainly didn't know what Yan Xiang was thinking, and he wouldn't think about what the other party was thinking. He personally led the army to Shouchun, and the army was more than 200 miles along the road. The army was bloodless and was as powerful as it was. It took only three days to arrive at the city of Shouchun.

"General Pei Qing is here, where is the rebel Yuan Shu? Come out quickly and die! If you follow the rebel, you will not have any good ending sooner or later. Those who know the truth will surrender quickly, or you may not be able to wait for death. If you wait until the city is broken, it will be too late to regret it..."
Chapter completed!