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

Upon hearing this, Wang Yue and Shi A both lowered their heads.

"They're all dead. We've fallen into their trap and are caught in the middle. We have no choice but to retreat."

Wang Yue recounted everything to Xun You.

Upon hearing this, Xun You was so angry that he spat out a mouthful of blood.

"You two losers."

After saying this, Xun You fainted.

The crowd quickly gathered around and carried Xun You into the room, where they asked someone to treat him.

However, just as the treatment was underway, a soldier reported that thick smoke was billowing from the place where the grain and fodder were stored.

Upon hearing this, the two immediately realized what was happening and ran to the city wall.

Seeing the direction of the thick smoke, the two instantly understood.

"Master, what should we do? Our food supplies will only last for two more days."

"Hey."

Wang Yue sighed.

He now regrets not heeding Shi A's advice to move the grain out, and why he insisted on targeting Zhang He.

At first, he didn't listen to Shi Xie, which resulted in the annihilation of the entire army. Now, he hasn't listened to his apprentice, which has led to the entire army having no food.

It was all because I acted on my own initiative.

The two returned to their room and saw that Xun You had regained consciousness.

"What are you doing here? Quickly organize a force to retrieve the supplies. Supplies are our last resort. Although we have suffered considerable losses in these recent attacks, we still have at least 80,000 troops, which is more than enough to defend the city."

"Sir, the grain supplies are gone. They burned them."

"what?"

Xun You coughed up another mouthful of blood and fainted again.

When Gu Rubing saw Zhang He and Wei Yan return, he immediately smiled.

Lu Su, standing to the side, looked at Zhang He with a serious expression.

"Excellent, excellent. You all performed well this time. You will all be richly rewarded after the war ends."

"Thank you, my lord."

Wei Yan knelt triumphantly before Gu Rubing.

However, Zhang He remained silent, standing quietly.

Upon seeing this, Lu Su frowned and was about to step forward to speak when Zhang He suddenly said, "My lord, I cannot accept this reward."

Upon hearing this, Lu Su nodded in satisfaction.

Gu Rubing looked at Zhang He with curiosity.

"Junyi, what do you mean by this?"

"Zhang He failed to follow the rules for rotating the troops; please punish him, my lord."

"what?"

Looking at Zhang He's appearance, Gu Rubing then remembered that Zhang He had indeed not rotated his defense as they had initially planned.

Zhang He was supposed to return to the main camp to fight, but it was Wei Yan who returned instead.

According to their plan, the people guarding the mountain were not allowed to leave the station and could only defend, but Zhang He took the initiative to attack.

Although the process went a little wrong, the outcome was fine, and everything went according to plan.

In this battle, they only lost a little over 10,000 men, directly annihilated nearly 70,000 enemy soldiers, and still had enough food and supplies for 150,000 troops for half a month. No matter how you look at it, it was a victory.

"That doesn't count..."

"My lord, General Zhang He did not proceed according to plan. Although the result was not off, he still changed our plan at the last minute without any special circumstances. I suggest that you punish him according to military law."

"military law?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing felt somewhat embarrassed.

This great victory is a rare triumph no matter how you look at it, and everyone deserves credit. However, if Zhang He is punished for such a trivial matter, the other soldiers will likely have some complaints about him.

After hesitating for a moment, Gu Rubing looked at Lu Su.

"Zijing, what do you think we should do?"

"Reporting to my lord, General Zhang He did not follow orders, which caused significant consequences. However, he acted on his own and changed the emperor's command. He is hereby awarded twenty strokes of the cane. General Wei Yan assisted General Zhang He in committing the same mistake. He is hereby awarded ten strokes of the cane."

Upon hearing this, Wei Yan's smile instantly froze. So even if he won, he would still get beaten.

Gu Rubing breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Lu Su's words.

Lu Su had clearly taken the situation in the army into consideration, but chose the lightest punishment.

Otherwise, given the offense Zhang He committed, he could be beheaded.

Soon, Zhang He and Wei Yan were taken away.

After both of them had finished their punishments, they returned.

This level of punishment would be fatal to a civil official, but it's not a big deal to a military officer.

"Alright, our current battle plan is complete. Now we just need to wait for Xun You and the others to retreat."

In order to wait for Xun You to wake up, Wang Yue divided the food rations, which were originally only enough for two days, into several portions. In addition, thanks to their timely rescue efforts, they could save enough to last for about six more days.

However, this method of saving food supplies is not suitable for combat.

Soldiers who engage in a lot of physical activity naturally get hungry quickly.

If people don't have enough to eat, a mutiny is bound to happen.

A day later, Xun You regained consciousness.

Upon learning of the current situation, she nearly fainted again.

"Retreat. We don't need Linyu County anymore, we'll give it to Liu Bei. We also don't need the other cities after that, we'll go straight to Yangle County."

Yangle County was the seat of Liaoxi Commandery and had the highest city wall in the entire Liaoxi Commandery.

Xun You had already made up his mind to trade space for time.

Gu Rubing successfully took over Linyu County.

Following that, Gu Rubing headed north.

They collected all the cities, large and small.

Until we reached Yangle County.

Looking at the towering city wall before him, Gu Rubing suddenly felt somewhat perplexed.

This time, they don't have any food or supplies to burn for themselves.

Just as Gu Rubing and his group were discussing how to break through the city.

An unexpected message arrived for Gu Rubing.

Sun Jian was besieged by Cao Cao and Liu Zhang, and in just three days, he lost three cities.

Gu Rubing did not expect that at this time, Cao Cao, Liu Zhang, and Sun Jian not only collapsed, but also started fighting each other.

At this time, Sun Jian also sent a letter requesting help to Gu Rubing.

"My lord, Cao Cao and Liu Zhang have assembled an army of 100,000 and have entered Sun Jian's territory. Sun Jian wants our help. What should we do?" "Sun Jian?"

Gu Rubing couldn't understand why things were going so well together when the three families had always been on good terms.
Even Gu Rubing had some doubts that this was a scheme.

Actually, all of this was because of the letter Xun You sent to Cao Cao.

The letter detailed how Sun Jian had informed Liu Bei of the location of the grain supplies stored by his soldiers.

Cao Cao was furious when he heard the news.

Sun Jian has betrayed Liu Bei more than once or twice, but now, at this crucial moment in the decisive battle, he has betrayed Liu Bei again and immediately revealed such important information to him. Doesn't this mean that Shi Xie is going to lose again?
Cao Cao immediately summoned Liu Zhang.

Liu Zhang now faces the situation of an ever-growing population.

We finally managed to get two cities from Cao Cao.

As a result, they lost two major cities, and the two cities they obtained from Cao Cao were also lost and sent back.

This made Liu Zhang's population even more crowded.

Just as Liu Zhang was struggling with what to do, he immediately received a message from Cao Cao.

The two agreed to meet in Yizhou.

When Cao Cao saw Liu Zhang arrive, he immediately told Liu Zhang everything that Sun Jian had done.

Liu Zhang was also extremely angry when he heard this news.

This act of betrayal is something that everyone finds extremely unpleasant.

"So you called me here just to tell me this? Or do you already have a plan?"

"I want to take action against Sun Jian."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang's eyes widened immediately.

In the current situation, with the three families joining forces to support Shi Xie and let him fight Gu Rubing, they can finally breathe a sigh of relief.

However, the most indispensable element for the three to join forces is Sun Jian.

That's the most crucial link in the transit, providing supplies and the soldiers to support them.

If they fall out with Sun Jian, their subsequent actions will become quite troublesome.

Most importantly, all the warlords are currently lacking supplies, and the only one who is not lacking supplies is Sun Jian.

Sun Jian alone occupied the vast territory of the Anluo Empire, and he had long ago taught the people of the Anluo Empire the agricultural techniques of the Han Dynasty.

Sun Jian, who had never been at war, was the one with the most provisions among them.

"Cao Cao, aren't you being a bit rash? Shouldn't you reconsider?"

"Liu Zhang, once we wear down Liu Bei, Sun Jian will become our next enemy. Moreover, Sun Jian is a fence-sitter. With Sun Jian around, we will have no way to calmly watch the decisive battle between Liu Bei and Shi Xie."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang remained somewhat hesitant.

Seeing Liu Zhang's state, Cao Cao had no choice but to resort to his trump card.

"If I remember correctly, the population is severely overloaded now, isn't it? There's not enough territory, but there's a lot of people. I don't have any extra territory to give you. You probably can't take over Liu Bei's territory for the time being either. Sun Jian has a lot of territory, and most of the people under your command are from the Anluo Empire. Letting them go back to their hometown should be a good thing for your rule, right?"

Liu Zhang did not speak upon hearing this, but instead looked at Surena who was standing to the side.

Upon hearing that there was a chance to return to the Anro Empire, Surena immediately nodded.

In the Han Dynasty, in Jiaozhou, Surena always felt that something was suppressing him. He felt that in the Anluo Empire, this feeling should be able to dissipate.

Seeing that Surena had agreed, Liu Zhang had no reason to object.

Seeing that he had persuaded Liu Zhang, Cao Cao immediately brought out all of his elite troops.

Twenty thousand battle-hardened veterans, four thousand elite cavalry, five hundred tomb raiders, and five hundred tomb raiders.

This was Cao Cao's last elite force.

Gu Rubing was engaged in a tense battle in Youzhou, and everyone's attention was focused on Youzhou. This resulted in Zhong Hui and Deng Ai of Yizhou not making any moves, which allowed Cao Cao to bring out his elite troops.

Seeing Cao Cao's sincerity, Liu Zhang held nothing back and brought out all his special troops, even the Gu tribe.

After Meng Huo left, the Gu clan directly handed him over to Liu Zhang for use.

Meanwhile, Liu Zhang and Cao Cao gathered 100,000 troops and sailed directly to Sun Jian.

Sun Jian knew that if his secret communication with Gu Rubing were exposed, he would inevitably be cursed by Cao Cao and Liu Zhang. He even thought about how to defend himself.

He never expected that Cao Cao and Liu Zhang would give him no chance at all and launch an attack on his territory.

This is the signal to start a war.

Since Sun Jian hadn't anticipated this, the coastal cities didn't deploy many heavy troops.

This allowed Cao Cao and his men to capture three cities in just three days.

Meanwhile, Sun Jian realized what was happening and had already deployed 200,000 troops in Nisa, the second largest city, to defend against further attacks from Liu Zhang and Cao Cao.

At the same time, Sun Jian sent a letter to Gu Rubing pleading for help and also discussed the possibility of a peace talks with Cao Cao and Liu Zhang.

However, the two completely ignored the signals that Sun Jian was sending out for negotiations.

Two hundred thousand troops does seem like a lot, but this time Liu Zhang is completely disregarding everything else for the sake of territory, and has directly sent the Gu clan into battle.

Two hundred thousand soldiers were wiped out in just one day, and not a single civilian in the entire city of Nisa survived.

Sun Jian was terrified when he saw this horrifying scene.

He hadn't expected that these two would be so determined this time.

They brought only the elite troops.

Gu Rubing has medicine to prevent the Gu clan from killing him, but he doesn't.

Even Zhou Yu was at a loss for what to do for the time being.

They could only wait for Gu Rubing's rescue.

After receiving the message, Gu Rubing looked at the map.

Sun Jian is in trouble and needs his help, so no matter what, I definitely have to step in.

However, the current situation is that if I send troops to support Sun Jian, I might end up being used as a pawn by Sun Jian. I would never do something so foolish.

Seeing Gu Rubing's expression, Lu Su immediately smiled and walked over.

"Does our lord intend to use the siege of Wei to rescue Zhao?"

Hearing Lu Su's words, Gu Rubing smiled and nodded.

Seeing Gu Rubing's expression, Lu Su smiled helplessly and said, "My lord, I have no objection to your strategy of besieging Wei to rescue Zhao. In fact, I have to say that this is the best strategy at present. According to our intelligence, Cao Cao and Liu Zhang have already mobilized all their elite troops. But now there is the issue of our food supplies. Fighting on two fronts, our food supplies really can't hold up. Why don't you go and ask Sun Jian for some?"

"Yes, of course we'll ask, but not now. We haven't done anything yet, and we're already asking Sun Jian for supplies. He's not stupid, and I can tell he's very clever."

"Then I have no choice. With our current food supplies, fighting on two fronts, we can only last for a month at most before all the soldiers go hungry."

Upon seeing this, Lu Su simply shrugged.

No one understood the issue of food supplies better than Lu Su. Gu Rubing saw Lu Su's expression and realized that food supplies were indeed running out.

He originally planned to relieve the siege of Wei by attacking Zhao, but now it seems that he can't do it so casually.

After much deliberation, Gu Rubing finally decided to take action.

The strategy of "besieging Wei to rescue Zhao" was inevitable; otherwise, Cao Cao and Liu Zhang would not have retreated. However, they could not fight to the end and had to wait.

Soon, Gu Rubing issued an order to Deng Ai and Zhong Hui.

After the last major battle, Deng Ai and Zhong Hui began to consolidate their forces and advocate defense. (End of Chapter)