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

Looking at the military newspaper in his hand, Gu Rubing had no idea what was going on in Cao Cao's mind.

Now at this moment, instead of defending, you choose to counterattack. Don’t you intend to keep all that wealth you have?
Zhuge Liang also found it a bit strange. Now most of Gu Rubing's family fortune was in Yulin County. Zhuge Liang was worried that Yulin County would be lost, so he immediately bid farewell to Gu Rubing and rushed to the front line of Yulin County.

Upon learning that Zhuge Liang had left, Cao Cao immediately asked Xun Yu to go to the Anluo Empire in person.

Now, three counties were swallowed up at once, and Gu Rubing had less than 60,000 people left. This made him so busy and overwhelmed that he didn't care about Xun Yu's departure at all.

Although Sun Jian was in the Anluo Empire, he had always been keeping an eye on the situation in the Central Plains.

When he learned that Gu Rubing had swallowed up three counties of Yizhou in one gulp, he could not help but sigh with pride. Gu Rubing was so powerful now that even Cao Cao and Liu Zhang combined could not stop Gu Rubing. But if he were included, perhaps the outcome would be different.

Just then, Sun Ce walked in from outside.

"Father, Cao Cao's envoy has arrived. It is Cao Cao's military advisor Xun Yu."

"Xun Yu?"

Sun Jian knew that Cao Cao's military advisor was not like Zhuge Liang, who traveled everywhere. Instead, he always stayed by Cao Cao's side and never went to dangerous places. But now that he had formed an alliance with Liu Bei, this place should be dangerous. How could this military advisor come here? Unless Cao Cao had something important to discuss with him.

Thinking of this, Sun Jian immediately ordered: "Let Xun Yu come in."

"Yes!"

Soon, Sun Ce brought Xun Yu to the palace.

Looking at the magnificent palace, Xun Yu couldn't help but sigh that the Anluo Empire was indeed very rich. It was such a waste to give this place to Sun Jian. If it was given to his lord, Liu Bei would no longer be the strongest prince.

Seeing that Xun Yu didn't say anything, Sun Jian took the initiative to speak out of curiosity.

"What do you want to do here, sir?"

Xun Yu reacted upon hearing this and hurriedly saluted Sun Jian.

"Greetings, King Wu. I came here this time to ask you to help my master, King Wei, defend Yizhou together and resist Liu Bei's invasion."

"Hmm? Assisting in the defense of Yizhou? Resisting Liu Bei's invasion? Sir, I think with the King of Wei's intelligence capabilities, he should already know about my alliance with Liu Bei, right?"

Xun Yu nodded.

"Since you already know everything, you still come to me. It seems that you are well prepared. Can you tell me in detail, sir?"

Hearing that Sun Jian had no intention of objecting and instead asked him to speak, Xun Yu felt that this matter could be resolved slowly.

"King Wu, even though King Wei is more embarrassed now, this is actually embarrassing for both King Yi and King Wu. You don't really think that Liu Bei will stop after taking Yizhou, right? Without Yizhou, King Yi will also be annexed by Liu Bei. At that time, do you think Liu Bei will really keep you?"

"So what? I own the entire Anluo Empire. Can Liu Bei swallow up my entire Anluo Empire?"

"Ha ha……"

Xun Yu stopped talking and started laughing. No matter how Sun Jian listened to this laughter, he felt that he was mocking him.

Sun Jian's face was a little embarrassed.

"Xun Yu, what are you laughing at? Are you making fun of me?"

"I dare not. I just want to ask King Wu, do you know how long it took Liu Bei to take over half of Yizhou?"

"Half a month."

"Yes, to be exact, thirteen days. How long do you think the King of Wei can hold out? At most one month. King Yi currently only has two counties. How long do you think Liu Zhang can hold out? At most two months, Liu Bei will be able to conquer the entire Han Dynasty. After two months, I wonder how much strength you, the King of Wu, have recovered? How long can you resist Liu Bei with this strength?"

After hearing this, Sun Jian fell silent.

Gu Rubing's speed seriously exceeded his expectations. Sun Jian originally thought that Cao Cao could at least hold out against Gu Rubing for half a year. However, after just a dozen days, Cao Cao was crippled. Now Cao Cao's demise is only a matter of time.

Sun Jian knew very well what kind of person Cao Cao was. He was not a waste. On the contrary, he was resourceful. Yet such a person could only last for a month. Liu Zhang, who only had two counties, was not as good as Cao Cao. It was easy to imagine how long he could last.

"I need to discuss this matter. Sir, please stay here for a few days to see the scenery here. Give me some time."

"Okay, I hope King Wu can consider it carefully."

After Xun Yu left, Sun Jian looked at Sun Ce.

"Cer, what do you think?"

"Father, we must be one of Liu Bei's targets. There is no doubt about that. It's just that Liu Bei doesn't want to attack us yet. We can consider joining forces with Cao Cao, but once we make a move, Liu Bei will definitely notice it, and we will have a hard time explaining ourselves then."

Sun Jian looked at Sun Ce helplessly. It was the same as saying nothing. Didn’t he understand these principles?
"Forget it, go find Gongjin."

Sun Jian rubbed his head which was aching from anger and waved at Sun Ce.

Soon, Zhou Yu came in and saw that Sun Jian looked a little tired. He asked in confusion, "My lord, what do you want me for? Do you want to take a rest? I see that you are a little tired."

"Gongjin, Cao Cao's military advisor Xun Yu is here. He wants to form an alliance with us. What do you think about this?"

"This Liu Bei..."

"Stop, I don't want to hear the analysis. I'm not stupid. Just tell me the result. I've heard too many analyses."

Zhou Yu smiled awkwardly, thought for a moment, and finally nodded.

"Help Cao Cao!"

"Help Cao Cao? Then how do we explain this to Liu Bei?"

"Still form an alliance with Liu Bei. My lord, what we need now is time, and what Cao Cao needs is manpower. There is no conflict between the two. As long as Liu Bei doesn't know that it is us who took action, it will be fine."

"What do you mean?"

With Liu Bei's powerful intelligence network, as long as they send troops, they will definitely be discovered by Liu Bei. It is impossible to hide it from Liu Bei. And even if they really hide it, they will definitely be discovered on the battlefield.

"I have a plan that will never be discovered. Even if it is discovered, I believe Liu Bei will not be able to say anything."

Zhou Yu walked up to Sun Jian and told him his plan in his ear.

After hearing the whole thing, Sun Jian just laughed out loud.

"Okay, Gongjin, even if Liu Bei finds out about your plan, he can only swallow his bitterness and not say anything. Just implement your plan."

"Yes, my lord!"

Zhou Yu stood in the martial arts arena, looking at the new recruits who had been trained before him. They already had a certain combat capability, and nodded with satisfaction. "General, how long do we have to finish the training?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yu suddenly swung the whip in his hand and hit the person who was asking the question.

"Look at what you are practicing. It's a mess. What's the use of you? You are disbanded, a bunch of garbage."

These recruits had no idea what was going on. They were disbanded after training well.

They came to serve in the army just for the favorable conditions offered by Sun Jian. Now he is going to throw them out. Will they not be able to get military pay or anything like that?

However, before they could say anything, they saw Zhou Yu had already left.

"Humph, brothers, since he won't let us eat the military pay, then we should go somewhere else. I know a place, in Dahan. It's easy to make money in Dahan, and the pay is more than the king."

The man who was whipped by Zhou Yu waved his arm, and immediately countless people followed him.

They don't care who they work for, they just want to earn more.

Xun Yu was resting when he suddenly heard someone knocking on the door and was startled.

He was Cao Cao's envoy. Neither side would kill envoys when the two armies were fighting. Besides, even if the relationship between Sun Jian and Cao Cao was not very good, they could not be considered enemies, right?

Is it that Sun Jian wants to kill me?
Xun Yu didn't want to open the door at first, but the person who was smashing the door was very strong and broke the wooden door in just a few hits.

Seeing a group of burly Westerners rushing into his room, Xun Yu subconsciously took a few steps back.

"What are you doing? I am the envoy of the King of Wei. What are you going to do to me?"

"The envoy of the King of Wei? That's right, we are looking for you. We want to join the King of Wei and receive his military pay."

"Ok?"

Xun Yu was stunned when he heard this. He didn't quite understand what this routine was.

At this moment, an arrow penetrated the wooden window and shot directly into the room.

Xun Yu saw that there was a letter tied to the arrow.

There are only four words on it: promise them.

After thinking about it for a while, Xun Yu immediately understood what was going on. He couldn't help but sigh that Sun Jian was really smart and he could use his fence-sitting skills to his advantage.

Early the next morning.

Xun Yu came into the palace.

"Thank you King Wu for your help."

"Xun Yu, you have to remember that I didn't help you with anything, and I didn't support you with any military force. But if you want to recruit soldiers in my territory, I won't stop you. After all, I can't control where my people go."

"I understand, but I don't know how much the King of Wu is going to ask for for the recruitment."

"Haha, smart guy, it's very simple. How many people you can take away depends on your ability. But I want ten taels of gold for this one person. Of course, I won't take your money for nothing. This money includes the money you use to hire my fleet."

Ten taels of gold per person, even Cao Cao couldn't take out much.

Nowadays, with the war going on, gold is in short supply. Even the wealthy Yizhou, Jiaozhou, and all the money in Xudu back then only add up to a few million gold.

There are also military expenditures and other expenses, and it is impossible to use all of them to recruit soldiers.

"King Wu, can this price be lower? Ten taels of gold per person is really too much."

"Don't think I don't know. Cao Cao has a special army under his command. It seems to be called the Grave-Moving Lieutenants, right? There is also the Fachou Lieutenant General. I know exactly what they do. You'd better think about what you said."

Upon hearing this, Xun Yu sighed, and finally had to agree and contact Cao Cao.

After leaving the palace, Xun Yu did not forget his plan for this trip.

He originally thought that the alliance between Sun Jian and Liu Bei was unbreakable, but he didn't expect that just a few words would cause a rift between them.

This was also because Gu Rubing's speed was too fast, which made Sun Jian feel a sense of crisis.

Soon, news of Cao Cao's envoy's arrival in the Anluo Empire was heard everywhere in the streets and alleys, which naturally did not escape Gu Rubing's eyes.

Gu Rubing has been busy with the affairs of the three counties for a long time. Now that Zhuge Liang has gone to the front line, all the tasks have been pushed onto him. This time, Gu Rubing finally realized how troublesome it is to govern such a small place.

However, at this time, Gu Rubing received another bad news, that is, Xun Yu appeared in the Anluo Empire.

Gu Rubing knew exactly where Xun Yu was doing without having to think about it, and this also made him a little worried.

The soldiers under his command now were all withdrawn from Liang Province. Once Sun Jian really joined forces with Cao Cao, he would only have 50,000 men in Liang Province, and there would be only one famous general, Taishi Ci, and he would not even have any legendary generals.

Gu Rubing wanted to discuss with Zhuge Liang, but Zhuge Liang was not around at that time.

"My lord, the officials of the three counties have all accepted their fate. Through our investigation, we have kicked out the officials who took advantage of the situation and replaced them with a group of good officials."

Deng Ai walked up to Gu Rubing and reported the recent situation, but saw that Gu Rubing seemed a little absent-minded.

"My lord, my lord?"

Gu Rubing was awakened by Deng Ai's voice and looked at Deng Ai.

Yes, what's wrong with me? Zhuge Liang is not around, but isn't Deng Ai still here?
"Shi Zai, I just got the news that Xun Yu has arrived in the Anluo Empire and is discussing an alliance with Sun Jian. Now that everyone in Liang Province has come here, Liang Province will not be able to be defended once a war breaks out. What do you think?"

Hearing this, Deng Ai looked at Gu Rubing.

In the past, Gu Rubing always discussed such matters with Zhuge Liang, but now he found himself. Deng Ai decided to play his best and make his position on Gu Rubing's side more important.

"My Lord, I think we don't need to worry about this. Sun Jian doesn't dare to join forces with Cao Cao."

"Oh? How do you say this?"

"My lord, we are the strongest among all the princes, and Cao Cao will be eliminated soon. When Cao Cao disappears, no one will be able to stop us. If Sun Jian dares to show his head at this time, he will be the next one. He should understand this principle. Therefore, I infer that Sun Jian will not join forces with Cao Cao, at least not on the surface."

After saying this, Deng Ai was worried that Gu Rubing didn't understand what he meant, so he hurriedly added: "Sun Jian can only give Cao Cao some marginal help, such as supporting some money, grain and grass."

Hearing this, Gu Rubing smiled. He felt the same way.

But soon, Cao Cao's behavior made him completely worried. (End of this chapter)