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

However, Sun Jian did not hear what Huang Gai said, but Zhou Yu and others did.

Zhou Yu's face was dark at this time. He looked at Sun Jian who was in an excited stage and said, "My lord, didn't you hear what Gong Fu said later?"

"Huh? What?"

Sun Jian then looked at Huang Gai.

"My lord, the first batch of food and grass I got was destroyed. I went back to mobilize the second batch of food and grass, but it was destroyed by Zhang Liao again. I only have seven days of food and grass left, but this food and grass was picked up from the ground. It was mixed with a lot of stones and gravel, and it was almost unusable."

What Huang Gai said was already very conservative. To say that the food and grass in his hands were of little use was already a bit of an exaggeration.

In fact, Huang Gai knew clearly that the food and grass in his hands were completely useless.

Sun Jian looked at Huang Gai and understood the actual situation.

The excitement just now fell to the bottom in an instant, the smile on his face froze instantly, and his expression gradually became gloomy.

"Show me the food."

Huang Gai sighed and brought Sun Jian to the food and grass.

Sun Jian grabbed a handful of grain and saw that it contained rice, stones, and soil. It could be said that there was everything he wanted.

"Is this edible?"

Sun Jian threw the so-called food and fodder in his hand to the ground and glared at Huang Gai.

"My lord, I really have no other choice. Zhang Liao is guarding over there all the time. We need too much food and grass. No matter what, we can't avoid Zhang Liao's attack."

"Zhang Liao! Is there anyone who can take care of this Zhang Liao?"

Sun Jian kicked the food in front of him into pieces with some reluctance.

Looking at the furious Sun Jian, Zhou Yu hesitated for a moment, but still stepped forward despite Sun Jian's anger.

"My lord, the current situation is not favorable to us. If we feed the soldiers this kind of food for a long time, they will definitely become dissatisfied. If there is a mutiny, we will be attacked from both inside and outside. Longbian City is doomed to be lost, so I suggest that we withdraw from Longbian City."

"withdraw?"

Sun Jian looked at Zhou Yu. He had obtained Longbian City with great difficulty. Moreover, the walls of Longbian City were so high that Liu Bei had no chance of breaking through them even if he tried his best. If he gave up such a good city, wouldn't he only have Xiyu City left? But how could that small broken city of Xiyu accommodate his nearly 200,000 troops?
If Sun Jian had not believed that Zhou Yu was one of his own, he might have suspected that Zhou Yu was a spy sent by Gu Rubing.

"Gongjin, are you kidding me? At this moment, you tell me to retreat?"

Seeing Sun Jian laughing in anger, Zhou Yu broke out in cold sweat on his back.

Zhou Yu knew that Sun Jian had been hiding his strength.

Sun Jian’s current strength is probably stronger than anyone present, second only to the legendary generals.

"My lord, I don't want to retreat either, but Longbian City is doomed to be lost. We can only use this kind of food and grass to hold out for a few days. Zhang Liao has been focusing on cutting off Longbian City's food and grass. At least he has no experience in managing Xiyu City. We can transfer all the food and grass to Xiyu City, and then we will stay in Xiyu City, so that we can avoid the dilemma of insufficient food and grass."

Hearing this, Sun Jian hesitated for a moment. Looking at the food and grass mixed with the fragrance of soil, Sun Jian sighed unwillingly and could only agree with Zhou Yu's idea.

Soon, Chen Wu, Ding Feng and others who were guarding Xiyu City received the task and began to transfer large amounts of food and grass into Xiyu City.

The place Zhang Liao focused on defending was indeed Longbian City, and he did not care about Xiyu City, so the actions of the two were not discovered by Zhang Liao.

During this period, Sun Jian continued to strengthen his defense and attract Gu Rubing's main force.

Sun Jian even decided to go out of the city to fight.

This surprised Gu Rubing a little.

Relying on numbers, the soldiers under Sun Jian's command would have no problem defending the city. Even for himself, it would be impossible to break through Longbian City in a short time. But if they went out of the city to fight, that would not be a matter that could be determined by numbers.

As expected, in just two hours, the 20,000 troops sent out of the city by Sun Jian were defeated by Zang Ba, and only a small number of them managed to escape back.

Sun Jian's abnormal behavior aroused Gu Rubing's suspicion.

After collecting a large amount of intelligence, Gu Rubing learned that a large amount of food and fodder had been mobilized in Xiyu City.

Gu Rubing felt a little regretful because because of the battle of Longbian City, he had relaxed his supervision of other places.

Now that he knew it, it was too late to mobilize troops to attack Xiyu City.

After learning that Xiyu City had completed stockpiling food and grass, Sun Jian breathed a sigh of relief and then broke through with all his troops.

Gu Rubing intentionally left a gap to allow Sun Jian to evacuate.

Gu Rubing then occupied Longbian City.

After the occupation, Gu Rubing did not rush to besiege Xiyu City, but began to repair the city walls and consolidate the city defense.

After this great battle, Gu Rubing discovered that it was not easy to drive Sun Jian out. After all, Sun Jian's territory in Jiaozhou was too small, but he had too many troops.

Two hundred thousand soldiers are more than enough to defend a county, and now they are all gathered in one city.

The beginning of a war is the decisive battle.

He felt a little overwhelmed by this kind of treatment.

Finally, Gu Rubing decided to temporarily cease fire, rest and look for an opportunity to fight again.

However, Sun Jian's withdrawal and Gu Rubing's move into Longbian City made one person feel uneasy.

Guangxin City.

Liu Zhang sat in a chair, looking at the battle report in his hand, his face looking very unhappy.

"What on earth is Sun Jian doing? One hundred thousand men can't defend Longbian City? Are his one hundred thousand men just for show?"

Hearing this, Surena on the side figured out some clues from the battle report.

"King, it must be that Sun Jian's food supply was cut off, which forced him to leave Longbian City."

"Longbian City can fall into anyone's hands, but not Liu Bei's. We don't have many big cities in Jiaozhou, and Longbian City is an important city among them. If we lose it, what will we do next?"

Surena looked at Liu Zhang and hesitated for a moment before continuing, "I remember Sun Jian once told us about the rhetoric he used to fool Liu Bei. We can use this rhetoric to negotiate with Liu Bei. We can give them food, fodder, armor and other things."

"Will this work?" Liu Zhang looked at Surena doubtfully. Food, fodder, armor, and horses were certainly important strategic materials, but they were not as important as Longbian City, right?

"King, whether it works or not, it's a good thing for us. If Liu Bei really wants to give us Longbian City, we can give it to him even if he asks for a lot. If Liu Bei disagrees, we will naturally have a reason. Then we can work with Sun Jian to take Longbian City back. After all, we lent Longbian City to Sun Jian, not to Liu Bei, right?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang nodded hurriedly.

Soon, Liu Zhang's envoy arrived at Longbian City.

When the messenger saw Gu Rubing reinforcing the defenses of Longbian City, he knew that Gu Rubing would never agree to leave Longbian City, and a war was inevitable.

Gu Rubing did not expect that Liu Zhang's envoy would arrive at this time.

Soon, Gu Rubing met the envoy at the City Lord's Mansion.

"Meet King Lie."

"Well, what do you want?"

"King Lie, our King Yi wants to invite you to meet and talk about Longbian City."

"Let's talk about Longbian City? What does Longbian City have to do with him? I snatched it from Sun Jian."

"King Lie doesn't know that this Longbian City was lent to King Wu by our King Yi to suppress the rebellion. But King Wu asked for too much and we couldn't afford it, so we kept delaying it until now. Unexpectedly, King Wu actually lost Longbian City."

Gu Rubing knew from the beginning that this was Sun Jian's excuse, but he didn't expect that Liu Zhang would be so shameless and use this excuse to snatch Longbian City back from him?
"Your King Yi is really a bit shameless. According to what you said, how come all the things you promised Sun Jian are ready?"

"Of course, but my King Yi also knows that once it falls into your hands, the price will definitely be different from Sun Jian's. So my King Yi wants to meet with you to discuss the issue of Longbian City."

Gu Rubing understood that Liu Zhang wanted to use other things to exchange for Longbian City in his hands.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing originally wanted to refuse, but he also thought that if he refused, it might give Liu Zhang an excuse to send troops. At that time, he would definitely have a hard time facing the counterattack of Liu Zhang and Sun Jian, and even Cao Cao and Shi Xie would not be honest.

If you want to gain a firm foothold in Longbian City, you must first appease Liu Zhang.

"Okay, I'll meet with Liu Zhang. Where is the location?"

"See you in Guangxin City in two days."

"Guangxin City?"

Gu Rubing didn't expect that Liu Zhang would choose the location as a big city in Jiaozhou, and Guangxin City was heavily guarded by Liu Zhang's troops. It was easy to guess what Liu Zhang's intention was in letting him go there.

However, Gu Rubing was not worried. With Liu Zhang's strength, he would definitely not be able to keep him.

"Okay, in two days, I will go to Guangxin City to meet him, Liu Zhang."

After the messenger left, Zang Ba stepped forward immediately.

"My lord, this Liu Zhang has bad intentions. We don't have to care about what they say. We robbed Longbian City in the first place. They still want to take it back. It's simply wishful thinking."

Listening to Zang Ba's words, Gu Rubing did not speak, but looked at Zhang Ren beside him.

Zhang Ren used to be Liu Zhang's subordinate, so naturally he knew Liu Zhang best. Gu Rubing also wanted to know what Zhang Ren thought of Liu Zhang now.

"Justice, what do you think?"

Zhang Ren heard this and looked at Gu Rubing, saying in a deep voice: "My lord, considering our current situation, I suggest that it is best to hand over Longbian City to Liu Zhang."

"What? Gongyi, I remember you are from Liu Zhang's side, right? You are not an undercover sent by Liu Zhang, are you? We spent so much effort for Longbian City, and how many people did we lose? The Iron Pagoda almost lost its entire army, and now you want the lord to give Longbian City away?"

When he heard that he had to hand over Longbian City, Zang Ba exploded and started to attack Zhang Ren.

Zhang Ren didn't care about Zang Ba's words at all. It was as if he knew Zang Ba would say that. He simply ignored him and stared at Gu Rubing.

"Xuan Gao, let justice finish speaking."

Hearing Gu Rubing's words, Zang Ba immediately shut his mouth, but his eyes were still staring at Zhang Ren.

"My lord, I know Liu Zhang well. He cherishes his life when faced with big things, but forgets his loyalty when faced with small things. Liu Zhang's vision is not big. Although he has Surena now, which has forcibly improved Liu Zhang's vision, his nature will not change. It can be said that Liu Zhang is determined to get Longbian City, and he may even put everything on the line to fight with us. In our current situation, it is not worth fighting with Liu Zhang just because of Longbian City."

Zang Ba was about to say something when he heard this, but was stopped by Gu Rubing.

"Good! Gongyi didn't expect you to see Liu Zhang so clearly."

Gu Rubing looked at Zhang Ren with satisfaction.

Zhang Ren shook his head. He knew that if he gave a bad answer at this time, Gu Rubing would definitely doubt his loyalty.

However, Zhang Ren was overthinking this. Gu Rubing always trusted the people he employed and would not employ them if he did not trust them. Since he chose to employ Zhang Ren, he naturally would not have any doubts. He just wanted to judge whether Liu Zhang in his eyes was the same person as Liu Zhang in Zhang Ren's eyes, which would also facilitate his subsequent actions.

"Okay, now that we know what kind of person Liu Zhang is, let's set off now. Zhang Ren and Zang Ba, the two of you stay here and are not allowed to leave Longbian City without my order."

"Yes!"

Then Gu Rubing looked at Zhao Yun and Ma Chao.

"You guys come with me!"

"Yes, my lord!"

Soon, the three of them, along with some personal guards, slowly headed towards Guangxin City.

Sun Jian also received news that Gu Rubing was going to Guangxin City.

"Humph, this Liu Zhang is really interesting. He actually wants to take Longbian City back from Liu Bei. Does he really think Liu Bei is so easy to talk to?"

"My lord, judging from the current situation, Liu Zhang intends to use a large sum of money to buy back Longbian City. I guess based on Gu Rubing's actual situation, he will most likely agree. If Longbian City really falls into Liu Zhang's hands again, we will be in danger."

"Danger?"

Sun Jian looked at Liu Zhang with a puzzled look.

"Gongjin, what do you mean? The relationship between us and Liu Zhang doesn't seem to be hostile, right?"

"My lord, for now we are not enemies, we are even allies. But you must know that there is no dock in Xiyu City. There are only two docks nearby, Guangxin City and Longbian City. But now these two docks are in the hands of Liu Zhang. The resources we transferred from the Anluo Empire need to pass through the docks. If we fall out with Liu Zhang in the future, they will hold our retreat in vain."

"But, according to what you said, Longbian County is now in the hands of Liu Bei, Guangxin City is in the hands of Liu Zhang, we still have no dock, still have no way out, isn't the result still the same?" (End of this chapter)