Chapter 1345: The Foundation of the Hongnong Yang Clan! [3]

Zhu Jun, bound by ropes, was brought up, looking utterly disheveled.

His helmet was gone, his face seemed covered in bruises from a fall, and the armor on his body was askew.

Yet, standing in the hall, he tilted his head back, his face full of arrogance.

"Kneel."

Zhao Yun, standing to the side, gave a low shout.

"Hmph!" Zhu Jun let out a cold snort and said, "You lot are a nest of unruly rebels; are you worthy of making me kneel?"

"The ones who should be kneeling are you..."

Bang!

Before Zhu Jun could finish his sentence, Zhao Yun kicked him in the back of the knee, causing his leg to buckle, and with a thud, he knelt on the ground.

"A defeated general, yet you dare to spout such nonsense." Zhao Yun looked down at Zhu Jun, one hand pressing firmly on Zhu Jun's shoulder to keep him from rising.

Everyone in the hall turned their gaze toward Zhu Jun.

Yang Feng was the first to speak.

"Zhu Gongwei, you have the nerve to call us unruly people." Yang Feng said indignantly, "If it weren't for you lot bullying us too far, how could there be today's defeat?"

"Your soldiers had two meals a day, yet you gave us porridge as thin as cold water, and you still expected us to risk our lives for that hypocritical imperial court. That you have met with this defeat today is entirely your own doing!"

Zhu Jun gritted his teeth as he looked at Yang Feng, his face flushed red, his eyes appearing as if they could spit fire.

Duan Yu slowly stood up from the main seat and looked down at Zhu Jun, who was kneeling below.

Sensing Duan Yu's gaze, Zhu Jun also looked at Duan Yu.

"Duan Ziyi, kill me or carve me up as you please, but stop using such insulting methods to humiliate me. I am not Yuan Gonglu; see if I beg you for a single thing!" Zhu Jun said with great fortitude.

Duan Yu smiled and said, "Zhu Jun, you think too highly of yourself. You don't even have the qualifications to be humiliated by this Marquis."

"Zilong, take him away. Behead him to show the public, then hang his head on the city gate."

Duan Yu waved his hand casually at Zhao Yun.

"Understood!"

After receiving the order, Zhao Yun grabbed Zhu Jun by the back of his collar and dragged him toward the outside.

"Duan Ziyi, one day you will end up just like me... I will be waiting for you below... May you die a horrible death..."

The sound of the cursing gradually faded into the distance.

Half a day later.

Caoyang Pavilion.

Huangfu Song, who had been fleeing all the way, stopped by the roadside to rest after passing through Caoyang Pavilion.

As luck would have it, he happened to meet Grand Tutor Zhang Wen and Grand Servant Yuan Ji, who had also escaped together the previous night.

Although they had only been apart for a single night, Zhang Wen now looked as if he had aged several years.

He was wearing only a simple grayish-white robe, and only a few dozen of his personal guards remained by his side.

When Huangfu Song saw Zhang Wen, Zhang Wen was sitting under a tree drinking water.

Yuan Ji looked a bit better, though his spirit was somewhat withered.

"Sigh..." Zhang Wen shook his head and sighed, saying, "If I had known it would come to this, I shouldn't have done it in the first place. If we hadn't treated Yang Feng like that, how would Yang Feng have rebelled? This has led to a crushing defeat. How are we to explain this to the imperial court, how are we to explain this to the Empress Dowager?"

"Gongwei..."

"Sigh..." Zhang Wen let out another long sigh.

The news of Zhu Jun being captured had already reached them from the mouths of the routed soldiers.

Over a hundred thousand Han troops had been routed, and now, defeated soldiers could be seen everywhere on the road.

When Huangfu Song heard that Zhu Jun had been captured, his heart was filled with a sense of sorrow.

With Zhu Jun captured by Duan Yu, his fate would certainly be death.

There was no possibility of survival. ===== CHAPTER 1347 =====