Choose Liu Bei at the start, I am the only one who knows the plot of the Three Kingdoms.

Chapter 381: The Storm is Coming, Arriving in Nanchang
"Father, I don't think this is a bad thing."

Sun Ce said slowly, and Sun Jian looked at Sun Ce with some confusion, obviously not understanding what Sun Ce said. Sun Ce looked at Sun Jian and continued.

"Father has witnessed Liu Bei's rapid development over the past few months. The fine salt he developed has taken over the market in Yangzhou and the remote Jiaozhou. How much money has Liu Bei made in the past few months?"

"Too many to count."

"Yes, countless. Liu Bei even helped Ma Chao obtain the title of Liangzhou Mu in the court. This shows that Ma Chao is already under his command. This also means that many horse farms in Liangzhou are used by Liu Bei. Youzhou and Jizhou have the largest number of iron mines. Given time, Liu Bei may be able to make everyone wear heavy armor and carry fine iron. At that time, how should we fight Liu Bei?"

Listening to Sun Ce's analysis, Sun Jian nodded in agreement. He also knew that Liu Bei's rapid development was beyond his reach. As for fine salt, Sun Jian had never even thought about it. That was not something for him as a military officer to consider. Even if all the principles were told to him, he might not be able to make it.

"So what do you think we should do?"

With the help of Shi Xie, Sun Jian originally had the idea of ​​starting the war again, and now it coincides with Sun Ce's idea, so Sun Jian also wanted to consider Sun Ce's idea.

"I think that the first step in our expansion is to take back Yuzhang County! Otherwise, even if we enter Xuzhou and take Guangling, we will be pinned down by the Jingzhou army. Our military strength is not much compared to Liu Bei's. Stretching the front line like this will do us a hundred disadvantages and no advantages."

"Well, continue."

Sun Jian looked at Sun Ce with admiration and motioned for him to continue. After getting his father's approval, Sun Ce became even more excited and took out a feng shui map and placed it on the desk in front of Sun Jian.

"Now, Liu Bei's own troops should not have fully recovered. This is our opportunity. Liu Bei's two greatest helpers are Liu Qi of Jingzhou and Ma Chao of Liangzhou. Liangzhou is a long way away, so there is no need to worry too much. Jingzhou is the top priority! The best way now is to unite with Cao Cao in the north, persuade Liu Zhang of Yizhou from the west, and Shi Xie in the south to attack Jingzhou together with us in the east. While Jingzhou's foundation is not particularly solid, we can take Jingzhou in one fell swoop, cut off Liu Bei's left wing, and besiege Liu Bei in the north. Several states in the east can be slowly broken by then. With the wealth of Jingzhou, our development will be very fast."

"Hahahaha, good, good, you are worthy of being my son. Like father, like son!"

Sun Jian smiled and patted Sun Ce's shoulder, his face full of appreciation. Sun Ce's ideas coincided with his own, and he even thought of many problems that Sun Jian had not thought of, which made Sun Jian very happy.

Just as the father and son were discussing the details, another military letter was handed to Sun Jian's desk. Sun Jian now had a psychological trauma from these military reports, so he stuffed the military report to Sun Ce.

"Look, what was said."

Sun Ce did not hesitate. He opened it immediately after taking it. After sorting out the information, a hint of doubt appeared on Sun Ce's face, which was caught by Sun Jian.

"What's wrong? Who is it? What happened?"

"Gan Ning sent it. He said Liu Bei had developed a new type of bow and arrow with great lethality. He got half of the lost arrows at the scene and wanted to send them over to see in person."

"A new type of bow and arrow? With great killing power?"

Sun Jian thought to himself, could it be a compound bow? Don't be ridiculous, with the current conditions, where can I make a compound bow?

"Did you tell me what it was like?"

"No, Gan Ning is coming to Wujun to tell you in person."

"No matter what, we can't delay any longer. We must fight quickly and take Jingzhou. Bofu, how about you go to Cao Cao?"

"I will definitely fulfill my mission!"

"Leave now!"

Sun Ce clasped his fists and accepted the order. He walked out of the tent, gathered his personal soldiers, and prepared to go to Xu Du.

At noon the next day, Sun Jian, who was having a meal, waited for Gan Ning. As soon as Gan Ning entered the tent, he knelt down on the ground.

"My lord, Mo Jiang is useless, please punish him!"

After saying this, Gan Ning kowtowed and stopped looking at Sun Jian, who had a frown on his face.

"You don't have to use that trick. It won't work. If you have anything to say, stand up and say it."

Gan Ning still didn't move and was still lying on the ground. Sun Jian slammed the table.

"What? Do you need me to come over and help you up? Stop pretending. If you have something to say, just say it."

Gan Ning then stood up and looked at Sun Jian with a smile on his face.

"My lord, please don't be angry. I brought you a good thing."

As Gan Ning spoke, he took out a handful of black and yellow powder wrapped in cloth from his armor and placed it in front of Sun Jian. Sun Jian felt that it was extremely familiar, but he could not remember where he had seen it.

"What is this?"

"My lord, this is what I told you about, the weapon with great destructive power used by Liu Bei's subordinates."

Sun Jian looked at Gan Ning who was serious and asked in disbelief.

"Are you sure this is it?"

“It must be this!”

Seeing Gan Ning's determined look, Sun Jian began to carefully examine the pile of yellow and black powder. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it seemed to him. He felt that he had seen it somewhere before, but he just couldn't remember where.

"How powerful can this little thing be? Is it poisonous?"

At this point, Sun Jian involuntarily moved a little further away, and Gan Ning shook his head.

"No, the enemy's arrows were tied with a part of this thing, and there was something like a fuse burning. Then it fell into our army and exploded."

"explode?"

Sun Jian stood up suddenly and immediately remembered where he had seen it. When the cannons were set off during the Chinese New Year, wouldn't there be particles like this after each firing? Isn't this definitely gunpowder? !

"Is this from Liu Bei's army?"

"Yes."

"Did you see it with your own eyes?"

"seen it myself!"

"Damn it, this old guy has even figured out gunpowder, how can we play this?"

Sun Jian muttered to himself, and Gan Ning looked at him in confusion. "My Lord, what did you say?"

"Oh, it's okay, it's okay, you can leave now."

Sun Jian waved his hand, signaling Gan Ning to leave, but his eyes were fixed on the small handful of black and yellow powder on the table.

"Could this guy be a top student from a 985 chemical engineering school? It would be fine if he could just make salt, but how come he also made gunpowder?"

Looking at Sun Jian's expression of doubt about life, barrage of comments flooded into the live broadcast room.

"Hahaha, Sun Menghu is about to doubt his life. It's like two people are fighting each other, and then the other person pulls out a knife and stabs the other person coolly."

"No, no, knife is not enough to describe the gap between them. A more accurate description should be that he was shot down with a gun before he even got close."

"I now have reason to suspect that Liu Caoxie brought an encyclopedia with him when he traveled in. Otherwise, how could he know everything? While others are still fighting with cold weapons here, he is already using long-range hot weapons. I suggest the planner ban Liu Caoxie and check on him."

"You still have your account blocked? Don't you know that Liu Caoxie is the father of the planner?"

"It should be said that Liu Caoxie has this gunpowder. Let alone Cao Zhonger and Sun Menghu joining forces, I feel that even if he had sent it during the campaign against Dong Zhuo, it would not be enough. The gap between hot weapons and cold weapons cannot be made up by numbers. It won't be long before Liu Caoxie rules the world and ascends the throne to be emperor."

"It's not that exaggerated. Liu Caoxie only has that much gunpowder. Once it's all used up, there will be no more. As long as we can hold on, Cao Zhonger, Sun Menghu, Liu Bianjiang and the smugglers, plus those Western Regions soldiers that Cao Cao asked Xiahou Dun to trick, I think we have a chance to fight. Their combined strength is more than double Liu Caoxie's current strength. There's no way we can defeat Liu Caoxie."

"I carefully calculated their current military strength. The coalition forces of Cao Cao and Sun Menghu have about 90 troops, and Liu Caoxie himself has 65 troops, including 23 from Jingzhou and 7 from Liangzhou. So, 65 vs 90 is not that difficult. In addition, Liu Caoxie's equipment is much better, including hot weapons. No matter how you look at it, Liu Caoxie has a greater chance of winning."

"Liu Caoxie is well-equipped? Then Cao Zhonger's is not so good? Shi Xie's is not so good? One is a tomb robber, the other is a human smuggler. Both of them have their best teams almost assembled to the teeth, and there are still people saying that their equipment is poor?"

"The 23 troops of Jingzhou cannot be counted. Sun Menghu has joined forces with Cao Zhonger to attack Jingzhou. Can Jingzhou hold out?"

"If you say so, then Liu Caoxie should go find Huang Zhong. With Liu Caoxie around, can they take down Yuzhang County before going to attack Jingzhou?"

Netizens in the live broadcast room had different opinions on the strength of the several people. It can be said that each of them held his own opinion and had his own strengths, and they argued fiercely about it.

Three days after Gan Ning intercepted Gu Rubing, Gu Rubing finally arrived at the capital of Yuzhang County, Nanchang City. At this moment, Nanchang City was far less prosperous than before. More than half of the residents in the city had disappeared, and they all fled to Jiangdong.

When entering the city, Huang Zhong repeatedly warned the soldiers not to rob the people or rape innocent civilians, and violators would be punished by military law. Even so, half of the residents still fled in the end.

Most of those who are left now are from poor families or have no way to leave. Huang Zhong was very straightforward after entering the city. If you all leave, your houses will no longer be needed. In this case, Huang Zhong waved his hand and gave all the empty houses to those who have not left Nanchang City.

This action undoubtedly won the support of those who had not left. Not only in Nanchang City, but all the cities under their control did the same. This unreasonable move made Huang Zhong and his men win the hearts of those who stayed.

When Gu Rubing and his companions arrived outside Nanchang City, it was almost evening and the city gates were about to be closed. They barely made it into the city. Just when they were about to send someone to report, the soldier guarding the city gate suddenly saw Gu Rubing and his companions, and rubbed his eyes as if he couldn't believe it. After confirming that it was really Gu Rubing and his companions, the soldier immediately ran towards the city while shouting.

"Uncle Liu is here! Prince Lie is here! Go and tell the general, it's Uncle Liu who is here!"

A voice came out from the city gate tower. When Huang Zhong, who had been eating and sleeping in the city gate tower for two days and two nights, saw the Han flag appearing in the distance, he rushed down the tower, mounted his warhorse, and came to greet Gu Rubing and others.

A fine horse came galloping towards them. When they were still some distance away, Huang Zhong had already dismounted and ran in front of Gu Rubing.

"Meet King Lie!"

Gu Rubing also immediately dismounted and stopped Huang Zhong who was about to kneel down. Huang Zhong felt the force coming from his hand and felt a little confused. This emperor's uncle was actually a martial artist?

"General Huang, long time no see."

"Prince Lie, I have already prepared a welcoming banquet at your residence. Let's go, Your Majesty."

As Huang Zhong was about to let Gu Rubing mount the horse and lead the horse for him, but was stopped by Gu Rubing again. Looking at the puzzled Huang Zhong, Gu Rubing's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Don't worry about these red tapes. We are here to treat your son, not to unblock the seal and welcome him. Zilong, take the doctor with you, ride on the same horse, and follow me and General Huang!"

Huang Zhong also knew that now was not the time to be pretentious, so he stopped insisting and just silently clasped his fists towards Gu Rubing, then quickly ran towards his horse.

"Fan Er, you are responsible for stationing the troops at the Nanchang City garrison. There must be no mistakes!"

Zhao Yun gave instructions to the deputy general beside him, and at the same time pulled Hua Tuo onto the horse.

"Follow me!"

Huang Zhong shouted loudly and rushed towards Nanchang City. Gu Rubing, Zhao Yun and Hua Tuo followed closely behind him. The four of them and three horses galloped towards Huang Zhong's mansion.

There were not many residents in the city anymore, and the few of them had no problems all the way to Huang Zhong's mansion. They rode their horses directly into the mansion and went straight to the room of Huang Zhong's son.

Inside the house, there was a burst of continuous coughing from a child. Hearing the cough, Hua Tuo on his horse frowned immediately. As the saying goes, look, smell, ask, and feel. Even before he saw the patient, Hua Tuo could feel the seriousness of the illness just by hearing the sound.

"Tuberculosis? Young Master has tuberculosis? And has it been a long time?"

"Exactly, Miracle Doctor, please save my son!"

Hua Tuo hadn't even entered the room yet, but he could tell that it was tuberculosis just by the sound of the voice. Huang Zhong was overjoyed. He had been looking for a doctor for many years but had never seen such a capable person. He suddenly felt that his son's disease might really be curable.

"Did other doctors ask you to feed the young master less meat and more light food?"

Hua Tuo asked sternly as he walked quickly into the house. Huang Zhong was confused by the sudden question.

"Yes, that's right. Many doctors have said so. Almost all doctors told me to give Xu'er less meat and fish, so I always prepare some green vegetables for her."

"Absurd! Absolutely absurd!"

Hua Tuo rebuked harshly.

"Does your son often catch a cold? Does he catch a cold whenever he is exposed to the wind?"

"That's right, doctor. Xu'er has a cold. I beg you to save him!"

Huang Zhong was completely convinced by Hua Tuo at this moment. He hadn't even entered the room to see Xu'er yet, but after just hearing a few coughs, he actually described most of Xu'er's symptoms, and they were all correct. If this wasn't a miracle doctor, what else could he be?
"What a bunch of quack doctors, they are really doing a lot of harm to people!"

Hua Tuo shouted angrily and finally walked to the bed.

(End of this chapter)