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

Without Wang Yue's command, the small city of Changping could be breached by them in no time.

"I want you dead."

Wang Yue's aura had reached its peak, and even the hand holding the Gentleman's Sword was trembling slightly.

As Wang Yue's voice fell, the Gentleman's Sword unleashed a burst of sword energy.

Zhang He immediately held the Five Tiger Soul-Severing Spear in front of him.

However, Zhang He did manage to block the sword energy, but the powerful force from it knocked him off his horse, forcing him to retreat several steps before regaining his footing.

After taking the elixir, Wang Yue was no match for Zhang He, who could only fight and retreat until the effects of the elixir wore off.

The crazed Wang Yue had only one target: Gu Rubing. He completely disregarded Zhang He's strategy of fighting and retreating.

In order to protect Gu Rubing, Zhang He had no choice but to fight Wang Yue.

The longer the battle lasted, the more reinforcements returned.

In the end, Zhang He's three thousand soldiers had all joined the battlefield, and the remnants from the previous two battle lines had also been organized and joined the battle.

These bandits were no match for Lie Jun to begin with, and now they were outnumbered. The two chieftains were already thinking of retreating. They had originally planned to discuss it with Wang Yue, but seeing that Wang Yue had fallen into a state of madness, they were worried that if they went forward, Wang Yue would just cut them down with a sword.

The two men met up and discussed the matter. They decided to retreat, leaving Wang Yue behind in the camp, while they led the remaining troops back to Changping.

Without the bandits holding them back, all the soldiers began to slowly surround Wang Yue.

Thousands of people surrounded one person, completely surrounding him in layers.

Moreover, when Gu Rubing told Zhang He about the urgent need to reinforce the camp, Zhang He also relayed the message.

More and more lieutenants, with their original troops, returned to the main camp. Some protected Gu Rubing's safety, while others joined Wang Yue's encirclement.

Although Wang Yue's combat power has increased considerably due to the Gu Clan's pills, he is still only a famous general and has not yet reached the level of a legendary general, unable to kill ten thousand people in one move.

As the medication took effect, Wang Yue gradually regained some consciousness.

He also realized that if he continued this stalemate, he would ultimately be unable to kill Gu Rubing, and he would be exhausted to death by these ten thousand men.

Moreover, the reinforcements were still increasing, and Wang Yue didn't know exactly how many reinforcements Gu Rubing had.

Calculating the time, only one hour remains out of the three hours.

Zhang He was already panting heavily, and had dozens of wounds on his body.

Three of the wounds were even extremely fatal.

Zhang He no longer had the strength to fight Wang Yue; he was only relying on his inner conviction to fight against Wang Yue.

When he saw that Wang Yue was no longer bothering him and turned to run away, Zhang He finally couldn't hold on any longer and collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

Gu Rubing immediately came to Zhang He's side.

"Quickly, carry General Zhang He away for treatment."

"Yes!"

Gu Rubing was very worried about Zhang He's safety, but he also knew that now was not the time to wait for Zhang He; he had more important things to do.

"Everyone, prepare yourselves! We will attack the city in one hour!"

One hour is the last hour of the elixir's effect. Gu Rubing intends to wait until Wang Yue has completely lost all his strength before launching the attack on the city.

Wang Yue used his last bit of strength to return to the city.

The city gate had just closed when Wang Yue collapsed to the ground.

Upon seeing this, the surrounding soldiers immediately stepped forward and helped Wang Yue up.

Where are the two chieftains?

Wang Yue looked at the soldiers beside him, looking very weak.

The soldier didn't speak, but looked at the deputy general beside him.

"General, they've returned, but they brought back fewer than a thousand men."

Upon hearing this, Wang Yue sighed.

There are fewer than 1,500 soldiers in the city now, while Gu Rubing has at least 10,000. I know I can't hold it any longer.

"Give the order to retreat the entire army and return to our lord."

"Yes!"

Wang Yue had just finished speaking when he fainted.

Following Wang Yue's instructions, the deputy general began to arrange the retreat.

However, this news reached the ears of the two chieftains.

In their minds, Gu Rubing had lost 500 men in the previous siege, but hadn't even reached the edge of the city wall. Although he had lost quite a few men now, he still had 1,500 men to fight. The previous battle had only used about 1,000 men, so no matter how you looked at it, they still had the strength to fight.

Most importantly, if Changping is lost, will they still be able to get the position of governor from the imperial court? Will they still be able to get a fiefdom?
Having lost so many men, if I gain nothing and end up losing the city, all my merits and demerits will cancel each other out, and I'll have suffered a huge loss.

Having never experienced a major battle, they couldn't realize what the upcoming battles would be like, assuming it would be the same as before.

After discussing it, the two went directly to the deputy general.

The lieutenant was organizing the retreat when he saw the two chieftains approaching him, and he immediately stepped forward.

"Two chieftains, are you ready? We need to evacuate now."

"Evacuate? Are you kidding me? We have so many people, are we afraid of a mere Liu Bei?"

"Gentlemen, General Wang has already fallen into a coma. If Liu Bei attacks the city, there will be no one to lead us in resisting him."

"Do we really need General Wang's intervention to fight Liu Bei? Aren't we capable of doing it ourselves?"

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant's eyes widened immediately.

He was somewhat puzzled as to who gave him the confidence to say such things.

Using 1,500 men to fight against Liu Bei's massive army? Isn't that a joke?
"Two chieftains, please stop joking. Let's retreat as the general instructed."

"No, we absolutely cannot retreat. Once the general wakes up, we will ask him personally. Until then, we will fight against Liu Bei together."

After saying that, the two of them drew their swords from beside them.

A murderous aura emanated from him, as if he were about to kill someone at the slightest provocation.

Having gone through a major battle, the two generals maintained a force of around a thousand men, while the deputy general could only mobilize five hundred garrison troops. In comparison, they were bound to be at a disadvantage.

After hesitating for a moment, the deputy general looked at Wang Yue, who was still unconscious, and finally chose to obey the two chieftains. After all, at this time, the most taboo thing was infighting.

"Alright, then we'll listen to the two chieftains. Hopefully, when the general wakes up, the two chieftains will be just as assertive."

After speaking, the deputy general turned and left, giving instructions to everyone on how to defend the city.

The two nodded in satisfaction at their deputy's compromise. Gu Rubing, outside the city, calculated the time and, feeling it was about right, immediately ordered the attack.

However, faced with an attack by tens of thousands of people, the two chieftains only mobilized a thousand men for defense.

Soon, the 10,000 people arrived at the foot of the city wall.

Upon seeing this, both chieftains widened their eyes in astonishment.

Why is this siege different from the previous one?
Previously, five hundred men were enough to prevent Liu Bei from getting close to the city wall. Now, he has a thousand men on the city wall, so how come Liu Bei's fierce army is climbing the city wall so quickly?

Neither side has any renowned generals left, and both are recovering from injuries. At this moment, the fighting prowess of the Lie Army is fully revealed.

The ascent and capture of the city gate were accomplished in one smooth motion, with almost no obstacles.

At that moment, the two chieftains finally realized the gap between themselves and Liu Bei and his men; they were not on the same level at all.

Whether it was the city's garrison or their own men, when they came into contact with the Fierce Army, they all had only one reaction: to run.

Soon, of the four city walls, only one wall remained standing, while the other three walls all fell to the Liejun army.

“Two chieftains, let’s retreat. There’s only one city gate left to leave. If we hold out any longer, the last city gate will be surrendered, and then we won’t even be able to retreat.”

The deputy general was also surprised by the speed of the defeat. He had thought that he could hold out until Wang Yue regained consciousness, but now Liu Bei had captured Changping in less than half an hour. He was hoping that Wang Yue would wake up and punish the two men in front of him. Now that Wang Yue had regained consciousness, it was questionable whether they would even be alive.

"Retreat! Retreat now!"

The two nodded immediately.

At this point, the two men were already terrified by the speed of the rout.

Soon the deputy general led everyone to begin their retreat.

Gu Rubing wanted to stop them, but he managed to drive them all to one city gate. With so many people gathered together, it was impossible to capture Wang Yue.

In the end, the deputy general, along with Wang Yue and two chieftains, withdrew from Changping. When they left, they had less than two hundred men with them.

After recovering the entire Changping, Gu Rubing did not immediately attack the next city, but instead began to recuperate.

Five hours later.

Wang Yue then came to his senses.

Seeing that there were fewer than two hundred people around him, Wang Yue was immediately puzzled.

"Where are we going? Where are the rest of the people?"

"General, we have been defeated. These are the only people we have left, and they are heading towards Ji County."

The deputy then recounted the entire situation to Wang Yue.

Wang Yue was very displeased that the two chieftains had changed his orders.

"How many of these are men under the two chieftains?"

The lieutenant looked around; he already knew what Wang Yue's purpose was.

He then whispered in Wang Yue's ear, "General, there are fewer than a hundred of them. We are fully capable of taking them down."

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's take them down and find them first. To catch the thief, we must first catch the king. We can't let them get away."

"Yes!"

Soon, the two chieftains were summoned before Wang Yue.

The two men didn't think much of it. In their view, Wang Yue just wanted them to explain why they were defending the city instead of retreating, and deducting a small amount of money from their pay was within their acceptable range.

Besides, Wang Yue had been unconscious for five hours, so there was no way he could possibly have the strength to attack them.

Unfortunately, they underestimated the Gu Clan's elixirs.

They approached Wang Yue and, seeing the weariness still etched on his face, completely lost their guard.

"General Wang, this loss is indeed our fault. We didn't expect Liu Bei to be so strong. How about this, we'll only give you 60,000 of the promised 100,000 gold, and consider the remaining 40,000 as our punishment. Is that acceptable?"

"Oh? I didn't expect you two to be so understanding. Don't worry, if we can go back this time, I will definitely speak to His Majesty and promote you to higher ranks and grant each of you your fiefdoms."

"Thank you very much, General Wang."

The two were surprised that Wang Yue was so easy to talk to, and immediately knelt down in front of him.

Just then, Wang Yue, who had been waiting patiently, suddenly drew his sword.

The blade sliced ​​across their throats, and the two collapsed to the ground, their faces contorted in pain.

Even though Wang Yue's speed was light, it still made some noise. The two mountain strongholds, noticing something was wrong, immediately rushed towards Wang Yue.

However, as soon as they made a move, they were immediately killed by the city's garrison troops who had been waiting nearby.

Wang Yue looked at the screams of the people lying on one side, and at the corpses of the two village chiefs on the ground.

"I'm really sorry, but I meant if you were still able to get back alive. As things stand now, it's impossible for you to get back alive, so of course I can't give you the reward."

The battle was over quickly.

The lieutenant, covered in blood, walked to Wang Yue's side.

"General, what do we do next?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yue looked around.

"Changping has now fallen into Liu Bei's hands, and he will probably occupy the entire Guangyang County soon. It is impossible for the few men we have to stop Liu Bei. The reinforcements will not arrive for several days. So, we should retreat directly to Ji County, which was once the location of the governor's mansion. The city walls are high and suitable for defense. We can also see if we can recruit some troops from the surrounding area to replenish our forces."

"Yes."

Wang Yue's guess was correct.

In just five days, Gu Rubing had taken control of most of Guangyang County.

Finally, they arrived at the outskirts of Ji County and set up camp.

Gu Rubing looked at the tall city walls of Ji County, realizing that what followed was likely to be a tough battle.

Although Zhang He has regained consciousness, he has lost too much blood, leaving him with little fighting ability. Even when walking, he gets cold sweat on his forehead.

Without Zhang He as a key fighting force, it would be impossible for them to forcefully attack the city.

Therefore, Gu Rubing could only choose to wait.

Juyang City.

Xun You stood on the city wall, looking at Lu Su's camp in the distance, feeling somewhat worried.

Lu Su's defenses were extremely solid, and with Wei Yan and Zhao Yun also present, they were clearly superior to Lu Su, both in terms of the strength of renowned generals and the prestige of legendary warriors.

I tried to break out, but I was driven back every time. In this respect, I am essentially locked in Juyang County. I can't get out, and it's not easy for the enemy to get in either. Theoretically, this is not bad. However, the biggest problem now is that the food supplies in the city are about to run out.

Without supplies, defending the city is of little use, and the supply lines have been cut off. (End of Chapter)