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

In an instant, screams erupted from inside the room.

The ground was soon covered in blood.

The six chieftains and their trusted followers all fell into pools of blood.

“Cut off their heads.”

Gu Rubing was completely unaware of what was happening inside the mountain stronghold, and of course, he didn't care.

Early the next morning.

Zhao Yun then came to report.

"My lord, there are several people standing outside. They say they are from Qingyun Village and have come to apologize to you."

"Qingyun Village? There's only one Qingyun Village?"

"My lord, when the chieftain of Qingyun Village arrived, he was pulling a cart behind him. Although it was covered, we could still faintly smell the stench of blood inside. It was probably full of corpses."

"Oh? How many?"

"I don't know."

Gu Rubing nodded upon hearing this.

"Let them in."

Before long, the chief of Qingyun Village, led by Zhao Yun, arrived in front of Gu Rubing.

"Greetings, King Lie."

Gu Rubing looked at the chief of Qingyun Village in front of him.

"I heard you came to apologize. Why are you the only one who came? Didn't the other six families come?"

“Replying to King Lie, I wanted to come and apologize to you, but the six of them disagreed, so I killed them and put their heads on a cart outside the camp.”

Gu Rubing hadn't expected that these bandits would be so ruthless towards their own people, killing them without hesitation.

"Back then, someone gave us money and supplies to launch a surprise attack on you, but we didn't know it was your army, King Lie. If we had known, we wouldn't have dared to cause you any trouble, even if we had a hundred lives."

The chieftain of Qingyun Village completely absolved himself of any responsibility, acting like a victim, so Gu Rubing didn't bother arguing with him.

"You said someone is looking for you, do you know who that person is?"

"I don't know. The man was masked and was extremely generous."

Gu Rubing asked a few more questions, only to find that the chieftain of Qingyun Village knew nothing at all.

As for who the other party was, Gu Rubing had no idea.

"Since you know nothing, then kill me."

Chief Qingyun was still in shock when he heard this.

Meanwhile, the centurion, who had been waiting for a long time, drew his sword and delivered a fatal blow to the Qingyun chieftain.

Gu Rubing then looked at the centurion and said, "Take your men to Qingfeng Village and spread the news that you betrayed the six major mountain strongholds immediately."

"Yes!"

The centurion knew that Gu Rubing was planning to use someone else to do his dirty work, and that he would definitely not be involved, so he couldn't help but feel a little disappointed.

The news spread in just one day and one night.

The six surrounding mountain strongholds joined forces and began their attack on Qingyun Village.

Without a chieftain and outnumbered, the six major mountain strongholds quickly and completely conquered Qingyun Village.

Gu Rubing continued on his way, too lazy to bother with the bandits anymore.

a few days later.

Wugong County in Youfufeng.

"Master, according to the news from our scouts, all those who went to ambush Liu Bei have died, and there has been infighting in those mountain strongholds. Liu Bei is almost here."

"These useless fools! If Liu Bei finds out we were the ones who did it, we're doomed! Send a message immediately: whoever can kill Liu Bei will be rewarded with 100,000 taels of silver."

"Yes!"

Gu Rubing led his cavalry slowly into the city.

When the people in the city saw Gu Rubing appear, they couldn't help but gather around him out of curiosity.

Because they had heard that Gu Rubing was dead.

Looking at the people around him, Gu Rubing smiled and waved to them.

The surrounding people immediately cheered excitedly.

The magistrate of Wugong County had not expected that Gu Rubing would move so quickly.

Upon receiving the report from his subordinates, he hurriedly led everyone to Gu Rubing.

"Your subordinate, Chen Yun, the magistrate of Wugong County, greets Your Majesty!"

"Chen Yun, you're quite a capable magistrate, and you've got some nerve!"

After saying that, Gu Rubing ignored him and led everyone directly to the county government office.

Upon hearing Gu Rubing's words, Chen Yun's face turned deathly pale.

He didn't understand what Gu Rubing meant. Did Gu Rubing already know about his actions?

Soon everyone entered the county government office.

Chen Yun quickly went to Gu Rubing's side, remaining silent until Gu Rubing gave him his instructions.

Gu Rubing looked at Chen Yun and noticed that his forehead was covered in sweat and his body was trembling, clearly indicating that he was very nervous.

"Your name is Chen Yun, right?"

Chen Yun quickly nodded with a smile.

How much benefit did Cao Cao give you?

Upon hearing this, Chen Yun was first taken aback, then immediately reacted and knelt on the ground.

"My lord, I don't understand what you mean. Cao Cao has never contacted me."

"Really? Then is there something wrong with my intelligence? According to my intelligence, Cao Cao gave you 200,000 taels of gold and ten beautiful concubines, right?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yun's eyes widened immediately.

He asked himself if he had hidden it well enough to be discovered by anyone, and if only a few close confidants knew about it.

But Gu Rubing was able to say it perfectly, which meant that he had been under Gu Rubing's surveillance for a long time, and that Gu Rubing had spies around him.

Chen Yun knew that at this point, it would be pointless to continue to cover it up.

Chen Yun eventually collapsed to the ground.

“My lord, I was greedy. I accepted Cao Cao’s offer. Cao Cao said that when he attacked this place, I would open the city gates for him. I thought that Wugong County was so far away from Cao Cao’s Yizhou, and there were General Deng Ai and General Zhong Hui in between. It was impossible for Cao Cao to come here, so I accepted it.”

"Oh, so that's what you were thinking. If that's the case, why did you spend 100,000 gold coins to save my life after you found out I was alright? Do you want me to live or die?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yun immediately realized what was happening.

Only one person knew that he had spent 100,000 taels of gold to buy Gu Rubing's life: his trusted confidant, his steward.

Chen Yun hurriedly looked at the butler standing at the back of the crowd.

"I never expected you to be an informant."

The steward didn't care at all. His job was to monitor these county magistrates and see if they were neglecting their duties. "How dare Chen Yun! He actually hired someone to assassinate our lord! According to the laws of the Han Dynasty, his entire family should be executed."

After Zhao Yun finished speaking, he drew his sword and walked towards Chen Yun.

"Wait a moment."

Gu Rubing stopped Zhao Yun directly.

"Chen Yun, hand over all your correspondence with Cao Cao to me. I can leave you alone, but you must provide me with more intelligence on how many county magistrates are plotting with Cao Cao and Liu Zhang."

Chen Yun had originally resigned himself to certain death, but now that Gu Rubing had given him a chance to live, he was immediately excited.

"Yes, my lord."

Chen Yun quickly confessed everything he knew.

At this time, the letters exchanged between Chen Yun and Cao Cao were also brought over.

"Alright, you can go now. I'll call you over in three days."

"Yes, my lord."

Chen Yun didn't know what Gu Rubing was up to, but he was willing to live one more day as long as possible.

Following the list provided by Chen Yun, Gu Rubing directly mobilized his hidden informants.

Just one night.

All the county magistrates who had connections with Cao Cao and Liu Zhang discovered that their correspondence with Cao Cao and Liu Zhang had disappeared, and at the same time, one of their trusted confidants also disappeared.

Once the county magistrates realized what was happening, their first action was to intercept and kill those who had taken the letter.

Throughout the entire Youfufeng County area, ambushes and assassinations are happening everywhere.

Gu Rubing then dispatched some troops to provide support.

At the same time, Gu Rubing's notice to all county magistrates that they had arrived in Wugong County was also delivered to them.

The county magistrates who had not allied with Cao Cao and Liu Zhang were naturally unconcerned, but those who had already colluded with them were somewhat panicked.

They didn't know what Gu Rubing was up to.

However, everyone knew that if they went, they might survive, but if they didn't go, they were doomed, and Gu Rubing's army would soon be at the city gates.

three days later.

All the county magistrates rushed to Wugong County.

Some of the county magistrates were very relaxed, while others were extremely nervous, creating a stark contrast between the two groups.

Just as they were waiting anxiously, the magistrate of Wugong County slowly walked into the hall.

Everyone's attention was focused on the magistrate of Wugong County. The magistrates who had accepted bribes from Cao Cao quickly surrounded him.

"Hey Old Chen, what does our lord want with us all here? When did our lord summon us? It must be something important, right? You must know, don't you?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Yun lowered his head and kept shaking it, feigning ignorance no matter what anyone asked.

This was also what Gu Rubing told him to do.

Seeing that they couldn't get anything out of Chen Yun either, the others returned to their seats with some disappointment.

Just as these county magistrates were getting anxious after waiting for a long time without seeing Gu Rubing arrive, they realized that Gu Rubing was not coming.

The door suddenly opened.

A group of people walked in.

The other county magistrates looked indifferent when they saw these people, but those county magistrates who had colluded with Cao Cao and Liu Zhang turned pale with fright when they saw them.

These people were their former confidants, possessing evidence of their betrayal of Gu Rubing, and just a few days ago, they successfully left with the evidence.

Now that this evidence has appeared in Gu Rubing's possession, it's clear that it's now in Gu Rubing's hands as well.

Upon seeing this, their first reaction was to run.

However, the gate had already been blocked by a group of soldiers, and there were even soldiers standing guard at the foot of the wall, clearly indicating that they had no intention of letting them out.

Seeing this, the county magistrates became even more frightened.

Just as they were hesitating about what to do, Gu Rubing led Zhao Yun in slowly.

Behind them were several soldiers carrying a huge brazier.

Gu Rubing stood before all the county magistrates.

"Are some of you a little flustered by my appearance?"

Upon hearing this, all the county magistrates looked at each other, not understanding what Gu Rubing meant, except for those who had betrayed Gu Rubing.

"You all probably don't understand what I mean, do you?"

After Gu Rubing finished speaking, he clapped his hands.
Soon, a pair of letters appeared on the table in front of Gu Rubing.

"Gentlemen, I disappeared for half a month a while ago, which made you all very anxious. During this time, I understand whatever you did. Some of you contacted Cao Cao, Liu Zhang, or even Sun Jian. I don't care as long as you did what a county magistrate should do and cared for the people."

Upon hearing this, most of the county magistrates present gasped in shock.

Contacting Cao Cao, Sun Jian, and Liu Zhang—what does this signify? Isn't this tantamount to treason? Isn't this a capital crime punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family?
Just as they were lost in thought, Gu Rubing suddenly laughed.

"Some of you should understand what's going on with these people in front of me and what's on the table, right? I don't need to say anything more here. But what I want to say is that from today onwards, I'm taking these people with me. As for these letters..."

After Gu Rubing finished speaking, he waved his hand.

The soldiers immediately stepped forward and threw the letter directly into the brazier.

“I won’t read these letters, and I don’t care what you wrote on them. What I want is your attitude, your future attitude. I don’t care what you did before I disappeared, but now that I’m back, the past is over. You need to know whose side you should stand on. If anyone still wants to stand on Cao Cao’s side, they’d better leave tonight. Otherwise, if I catch anyone contacting Cao Cao and Liu Zhang, I will execute them without mercy.”

All the county magistrates stared wide-eyed upon hearing this.

This is a serious crime of treason, and there's evidence of it, yet it was just burned like that. And this serious crime of treason can be forgiven?
They never imagined just how magnanimous Gu Rubing truly was.

And despite what happened, Gu Rubing still believed them.

The county magistrates hesitated for a moment, then all knelt down.

"Okay, you all go back."

After hearing this, the county magistrates turned and walked outside.

Gu Rubing considered it for a moment, then waved to Zhao Yun beside him.

And he whispered an instruction in Zhao Yun's ear.

Zhao Yun looked at Gu Rubing, then nodded, turned and disappeared into the crowd.

Night fell.

Gu Rubing's words dispelled the county magistrates' idea of ​​leaving.

After all, it's much safer to stay with Gu Rubing. Cao Cao and Liu Zhang could be swallowed up by Gu Rubing at any time. If I were to surrender to Cao Cao or Liu Zhang, wouldn't I lose my current position as county magistrate when they are defeated?

Chen Yun thought so too.

Just as Chen Yun finished thinking and was about to rest, he suddenly heard a loud noise outside.

Immediately afterwards, Chen Yun saw a white light, and then he felt nothing at all.

When the white light disappeared, only Chen Yun's corpse remained on the ground.

Upon hearing the noise, the county magistrates in the surrounding area immediately ran over.

When they saw Chen Yun's body, their expressions changed drastically. Their first thought was that Gu Rubing was the one who had done it. (End of Chapter)