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

Chapter 628 Exchange
Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing's face instantly turned gloomy.

"My lord, no!"

Zhao Yun pulled Gu Rubing and looked at Xun Yu in front of him vigilantly.

Although Xun Yu could see Gu Rubing's dissatisfaction, he did not force Gu Rubing, but smiled calmly.

"Your Highness, King Lie, my master said that if you don't want to, you can just leave. My master doesn't insist on talking to you."

Having said that, Xun Yu prepared to enter the mansion alone.

"I want to see what Cao Cao is up to."

After Gu Rubing finished speaking, he gave Zhao Yun a reassuring look and followed Xun Yu into the mansion alone.

Zhao Yun was looking at Xun Yu's back.

"Xun Yu, if anything happens to my master, believe me, Cao Cao will die, and I will take away one of your legendary generals! You can also tell Cao Cao the same thing."

Upon hearing this, Xun Yu paused for a moment, but quickly returned to normal and did not respond to Zhao Yun's words.

After Gu Rubing entered the living room, he finally saw Cao Cao.

At this time, Cao Cao stood up with a smile on his face and came to Gu Rubing.

"Who am I thinking? Isn't this His Royal Highness Prince Lie? I wonder what preparations Prince Lie has made for coming to my place this time? Is he planning to snatch the person back like the Wei family?"

"You are kidding, Caozhou Mu. Since I am here, I must be here with sincerity. Tell me, what do you want me to do to release you?"

"Release them? Release whom? King Lie, what are you talking about? I never said I wanted to release anyone!"

"What do you mean?"

Gu Rubing felt like he was being fooled.

Seeing that Gu Rubing was already angry, Cao Cao had no intention of provoking him, but instead clapped his hands.

Wei Xi was forced in by several soldiers.

When seeing Gu Rubing coming, Wei Xi's first reaction was to let Gu Rubing go. He knew in his heart that this was a trap.

But before he could say anything, a soldier punched him in the stomach. The blow almost made Wei Xi faint and he didn't have the strength to speak.

When Gu Rubing saw this scene, he did not take any action, but waited quietly for Cao Cao to speak.

"King Lie, this Ba County was originally my Yizhou territory. Now that you have taken it, shouldn't you give it back to me?"

"can!"

Gu Rubing had already guessed this when he came.

"Also, the Wei family is a big family in Yangzhou, so they should have a lot of gold and silver treasures. However, as the lord of Yizhou, I naturally cannot take action against a family, so I can only ask King Lie to spend 200,000 gold coins, and the food and grass should be based on the annual allocation of 100,000 troops. As for the weapons and armor, 10,000 sets are just a token of appreciation."

Hearing this, Gu Rubing looked at Cao Cao.

He didn't expect that Cao Cao had such a big appetite.

Wei Xi, who was standing by, felt a little desperate when he heard that Cao Cao wanted so much.

He is a businessman himself, and he knows very well how much these things are worth, and these things have exceeded his value.

"Caozhou Mu, you want quite a lot of things. There are quite a lot of things here, so I need to prepare them."

"Okay, I have a lot of time. Also, don't try to use the previous method to deal with me. In order to deal with your attempt of forceful attack, I have deployed 100,000 troops on the border, and I have also contacted Sun Jian. I believe that even Zhuge Liang can't break through my defense in a short time. I can only give you five days. You stay in Chengdu for a short time. When the time is up, I will kill Wei Yi. As for how I will tell the outside world, I think you should know."

Gu Rubing smiled and turned away.

In order to show his power to Gu Rubing, Cao Cao did not even prepare a room for him, so Gu Rubing had to book an inn to make all the arrangements for the people he brought with him.

"My lord, we will protect you from leaving Chengdu first. As for Wei Xi, we will do our best to rescue him. If we can't rescue him, there is nothing we can do. We have done our best."

After the two previous incidents, Zhao Yun was still somewhat worried. He was afraid that he could not protect Gu Rubing well, so he did not dare to let Gu Rubing take any risks again.

"Don't worry."

Gu Rubing patted Zhao Yun on the shoulder.

This time, Gu Rubing was not completely unprepared. He did not want to be the meat on the chopping board.

At this time, Zhuge Liang had already started transporting troops to Ba County according to the plan, preparing to put pressure on Cao Cao from the outside.

Zhuge Liang, accompanied by Wei Yan, was leading 20,000 people and slowly heading towards Ba County.

However, when passing through a forest, the forest, which originally had good visibility, was suddenly filled with fog. Everyone quickly gathered together, and the whole team was a little panicked.

Wei Yan looked around vigilantly and began to gather the soldiers around him together.

However, Zhuge Liang did not say a word at this time, but was observing his surroundings.

For some reason, he always felt that the situation around him seemed familiar, as if he had seen it somewhere.

Wei Yan came to Zhuge Liang.

"Military Advisor, is this the situation Zhang Liao and the others talked about? The fog appeared, and then a group of people rushed out to fight. When the group of people dispersed, the fog disappeared."

Upon hearing this, Zhuge Liang closed his eyes, and all he could think about was what Zhang Liao said and what Wei Yan said.

Not long after, Zhuge Liang opened his eyes and a smile appeared on his lips.

"You want to eat me up just like this? Aren't you underestimating me?"

Listening to Zhuge Liang's words, Wei Yan looked at Zhuge Liang in confusion.

"Prime Minister, do you have any idea?"

"Of course, I was still curious just now, what exactly is this and why it makes me feel familiar, but now I finally know, this is my Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, but in a different way."

"Prime Minister, your Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation? How could this happen? Aren't you the only one who knows this formation?"

"As long as this formation appears once, people will learn it. People who are interested can naturally learn something if they practice hard. Formations are like this, and each person will use them in a different way. But as long as it is the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, the foundation will definitely not change."

After Zhuge Liang finished speaking, he looked around and quickly found the weakness of the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation.

"Wei Yan, take 5,000 men and rush out from Xiumen. You should be able to see the people hiding in the dark."

"Yes!"

Wei Yan never doubted Zhuge Liang's words, and he rushed out directly with 5,000 people.

After rushing out from Xiumen's position, Wei Yan indeed saw a group of men in black moving continuously outside the formation.

These men in black were also a little surprised at Wei Yan's sudden appearance.

However, at this moment, a whistling arrow broke through the air. The men in black were well-trained and turned around and went into the woods.

Wei Yan wanted to give chase, but was stopped by Zhuge Liang who dared to come over.

"Don't forget our purpose."

After hearing this, Wei Yan gave up the pursuit.

Zhuge Liang kept walking around the formation and finally found a piece of black cloth on a branch.

But these traces are too few.

Hilltop location.

The group of men in black who exposed their whereabouts gathered here.

"What have you been doing?"

As the voice fell, a man wearing a black scarf walked out of the cave.

"Captain, we ambushed Zhuge Liang with the Eight-Gate Golden Lock Formation. We..."

Before the man could finish his words, he was slapped hard in the face.

The village chief put down his hands and looked at the people in front of him.

"You bunch of idiots, I learned the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation from Zhuge Liang. How dare you use this thing to ambush Zhuge Liang? Aren't you afraid of exposing our whereabouts?"

"Village leader, we were just trying it out, and when the formation was broken, I asked them to evacuate without leaving any traces. We were not just testing it, we also discovered the drawbacks of this formation."

The man in black who was beaten later shared his discovery.

It turns out that when using the Eight Gates Golden Lock Formation, not only can the people inside the formation not see what's happening outside, but even the people outside the formation can't see what's happening inside. Communication between the inside and the outside can only rely on messengers sending messages continuously.

However, the situation on the battlefield changed rapidly, and the messengers had no way to convey the message in time, and the formation could not be changed flexibly, which led to Zhuge Liang breaking the formation very easily.

After hearing these disadvantages, the village chief did not react at all, but he had already kept these things in mind.

"Okay, let's be quiet for a while. Also, we need to change places. Zhuge Liang is such a smart man, he doesn't have the energy to take care of us now. When Liu Bei's business is finished, he will definitely come to find us. Our position may have been exposed."

"Yes!"

The village chief's guess was correct. Zhuge Liang relied on the location of the black cloth he had obtained at that time, as well as the traces on the road, and combined with the map in his hand, he had deduced the approximate location where those people were hiding. However, Gu Rubing's safety was the most important thing at the moment, so Zhuge Liang did not make it public. He just secretly noted the place and left a few spies around it.

After arriving in Ba County, Zhuge Liang began to deploy his soldiers around the defense line.

At this time, Zhuge Liang also received the list requested by Cao Cao sent by Gu Rubing.

After seeing the things above, Zhuge Liang was suddenly embarrassed.

Everything else is easy, except for food, which even they are extremely short of.

If we really give it as Cao Cao said, I'm afraid there will be a shortage of food for the people.

"Prime Minister, what should we do?"

Pang De was naturally aware of the situation in the army. At this moment, food and fodder must not be provided, and Cao Cao must not be suspected. Once Cao Cao knew that they were short of food and fodder, and the shortage was extremely serious, Cao Cao would probably join forces with the other two forces to counterattack them.

After receiving Zhuge Liang's reply, Gu Rubing in Chengdu, Yizhou, already had some ideas in his mind.

Immediately, Gu Rubing contacted Cao Cao.

The two met soon.

"I can't give you what you said. How about this? I'll convert all of it into food and fodder. I'll give you enough food and fodder for a hundred thousand troops for a year. What do you think?"

"Food? Liu Bei, Liu Bei, do you think I'm a beggar? Am I poor?"

"What do you think you are in my eyes? Since you have selected food and fodder as an option, it means that you are short of food and fodder, right? I don't have much else, but I have enough food and fodder. Although the income from food and fodder has indeed decreased a lot due to the locust plague, it is not a problem to support an army of 100,000 for one or two years."

"you……"

Cao Cao did not expect that Gu Rubing would be so shameless that he actually wanted food and grass to replace everything. If such a request was made to Sun Jian, Sun Jian would definitely agree, but for him, Cao Cao, this was completely unnecessary.

This is Chengdu, a blessed land. How could he be short of food?

"Hmph, King Lie, you misunderstood. Food and fodder are nothing. I didn't plan to ask for food and fodder in the first place. How about this? Three hundred thousand gold, ten thousand sets of armor, ten thousand first-class war horses, and my Ba County. Just these things should not be too much, right?"

Hearing that Cao Cao had finally given up on the food and grass, Gu Rubing was relieved. He could take out all those things, except for Ba County.

If Ba Jun gave it away, all his previous efforts would be in vain.

Seeing that Gu Rubing was hesitant, Cao Cao smiled and said directly: "It seems that Your Highness Prince Lie still has some ideas. Then forget it, the negotiations are invalid."

After saying this, Cao Cao prepared to have someone see the guests off.

Gu Rubing looked at Cao Cao's back, hesitated for a long time, and finally decided to do as Cao Cao said.

It's just a Ba County. If it's gone, I can take it back. But if I lose the support of the aristocratic families, I'm afraid they will no longer stand on my side no matter what I pay.

"Okay, then let's do as Caozhou Mu says."

"But Cao Cao, I still have to warn you. My things are not as easy to take as you think. If you eat my things, you will have to pay double."

"Your Highness, King Lie, you don't have to scare me. Since I dare to eat it, I must have something to rely on."

Under Gu Rubing's order, everything Cao Cao wanted was sent to Chengdu. Finally, Gu Rubing took Wei Yi and others, left Chengdu, and came to Guiyang County.

The residence of King Lie of Guiyang County.

Wei Yi knelt directly in front of Gu Rubing.

"Thank you, King Lie, for your help. Don't worry, from now on, the Wei family belongs to you, and the Wei family's warehouse is your warehouse. You can take whatever you want. We will also provide you with more help in various aspects."

Gu Rubing smiled and patted Wei Yi's shoulder.

After Wei Yi left, Zhuge Liang and others immediately walked in.

"My lord, I fought with the group of people who attacked Zhang Liao before, but they finally escaped. I have written down their location. Do you want to take action to wipe them out?"

"Then why are you still hesitating? They are capable of massacring a whole city. What's the point of keeping them alive? Send troops immediately to strangle them. Also, find out who they are and who they belong to."

"Yes."

With Gu Rubing's wisdom, Zhuge Liang personally led Zhang Liao and others to start besieging the entire mountain.

But when I rushed to the top of the mountain, I found it was empty.

(End of this chapter)