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

"Less? How much?"

"I recommend three million gold coins and enough provisions for an army of 100,000 for half a year."

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao nearly spat out his tea.

This is so different from what I wanted. I originally wanted to bankrupt Sun Jian, but Gu Rubing's words only caused Sun Jian to lose a little bit of his life.

"No, no, this is not acceptable, it's too little."

"Haha, King Wei, how about you just give me some face?"

"That won't do either. We've already given away half the city. King Lie can't be so unreasonable, can he?"

Seeing Cao Cao making a huge fuss like a rattle-drum, Gu Rubing slammed one hand on the table.

"King Wei, do you think I'm discussing this with you?"

When Cao Cao saw Gu Rubing suddenly get angry, his face darkened, and the smile on the beam gradually faded.

"Liu Bei, don't think I don't know. You didn't bring a single soldier with you this time. What do you have to help Sun Jian with? It's already a big favor that we've asked you to help Sun Jian negotiate. Don't go too far!"

"Too much? Haha."

After Gu Rubing finished speaking, he looked at the sky.

"Cao Cao, you'll soon learn what it means to go too far."

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao looked at Gu Rubing with a puzzled expression, completely not understanding what Gu Rubing meant.

But Cao Cao soon found out.

A soldier approached Cao Cao with a nervous expression.

He then told Cao Cao everything about the situation in Yizhou.

"What? Wuyang is lost? Another prefecture has been lost?"

Upon hearing this news, Cao Cao was so excited that he stood up abruptly from his chair, looked at Gu Rubing beside him, and his eyes were filled with rage.

"Liu Bei, you really have some clever tricks up your sleeve. I was wondering why you didn't send troops to help Sun Jian. It turns out you were planning to attack my territory."

"Haha, it's just a trick. Has King Wei agreed to my proposal this time?"

"Okay, I agree, but shouldn't I get my county back?"

"You're agreeing to your relationship with Sun Jian, what does that have to do with me? These are two separate matters."

"you……"

Cao Cao's face was gloomy as he looked at Gu Rubing in front of him, his hands clenched tightly, and a trace of blood had already seeped from under his fingernails.

"Haha, King Wei, don't get so agitated. It's not that I can't talk. How about this, I can give you Wuyang, but I can't give you the other places. What do you think? As for my conditions, you have to give me everything you asked for from King Wu, and double it."

Cao Cao looked at Gu Rubing with a gloomy expression. After a long while, he finally suppressed his anger and nodded.

There was no other way; Wuyang was simply too important to them.

This time, Gu Rubing, Sun Jian, and even Liu Zhang all got the results they wanted, only Cao Cao lost out instead of succeeding.

Upon Gu Rubing's return to the city, Sun Jian immediately hosted a celebratory banquet for him.

At least we can take back seven cities without bloodshed, which would make anyone happy.

Looking at Sun Jian and even Zhou Yu beside him, Gu Rubing sensed that something was very wrong with them.

It's good that they've brought back seven cities, but they lost fourteen. It's just that the loss was a little less, but there's no need to be so happy, as if they really picked up seven cities.

On the way from the banquet to the post station, Gu Rubing kept thinking about these things.

Zhao Yun noticed Gu Rubing's confusion and immediately asked, "My lord, what's wrong?"

"It's nothing, it just feels a bit strange. Everything seems to have gone too smoothly. The only trouble was when Cao Cao suddenly made an exorbitant demand for compensation at the end. But what good is that little trouble?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yun also sensed that something was amiss.

However, after thinking about it for a long time, the two still couldn't find the reason and eventually had to give up.

Cao Cao quickly delivered all the supplies he had promised to Gu Rubing.

Gu Rubing was immediately sent to Youzhou.

Having resolved everything, Gu Rubing prepared to leave.

"We really have to thank King Lie for his help this time. If it weren't for him, we don't know how much we would have lost."

Hearing this, coupled with the smile on Sun Jian's face, Gu Rubing felt that it was Sun Jian mocking him.

"If there's nothing else, I'll be going now. I still have things to attend to in Youzhou."

After saying that, Gu Rubing turned and left.

Watching Gu Rubing's departing figure, Sun Jian's lips curled into a smug smile.

"My lord, we've made such a big commotion this time. If Liu Bei finds out, he probably won't let us off the hook."

"So what if we found out? He orchestrated all of this, and we were just following orders. In a way, we were also the ones who were tricked, since this is a real loss for us."

Hearing Sun Jian's words, Zhou Yu smiled and nodded. This time, they had really taken everyone into account.

As Gu Rubing walked along the road, he kept thinking that there were still some problems with this matter.

Unfortunately, Gu Rubing did not discover anything.

The two returned to the Youzhou camp, and Lu Su immediately came over.

"Greetings, my lord."

Gu Rubing nodded, then inquired about the current situation.

Currently, both sides are stationed in Yangle County, and Shi Xie has 150,000 troops, while Lu Su still only has 80,000.

Xun You did not take the initiative to fight because of the lack of supplies.

However, Cao Cao and Liu Zhang's actions only made things worse for Xun You and his group.

With supplies failing to arrive on time, dissatisfaction among the troops grew.

This was what Lu Su and his group wanted to see, so Lu Su didn't put any pressure on Xun You, fearing it would backfire, and quietly waited to see what would happen.

After learning the whole story, Gu Rubing burst out laughing.

The power struggle between several lords ultimately puts the soldiers fighting on the battlefield in the most difficult position.

"My lord, according to intelligence coming from within the city, Shi Xie and his men have changed the entire army to eating only one meal a day, which has caused a great deal of discontent within the army. Should we send out some messages at this time? If we can use them effectively, the people under Shi Xie's command can become our own."

Gu Rubing nodded.

They may lack other things, but they have plenty of money and provisions. Even if they were to summon the enemy's entire army of 150,000, they could still support them.

However, just as Lu Su was about to proceed according to their plan, he was suddenly stopped by Gu Rubing.

"Wait, Zijing, I have a good idea. Perhaps we can give it a try."

Gu Rubing quickly explained his plan to Lu Su.

Lu Su's eyes lit up upon hearing this.

"My lord, your methods are truly remarkable! I admire you!" "Haha, Zijing, go and prepare."

"Yes, my lord!"

Xun You stood on the city wall, looking at Gu Rubing's camp in the distance, all his worries written on his face.

"Sir, are you still worried about the food supplies?"

"Yes, we just don't know when the supplies will arrive. The last batch of supplies was just a sham; how could that little bit be enough for our 150,000-strong army?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yue smiled and then presented a piece of intelligence to Xun You.

"After reading this, sir, you may no longer be troubled. This could be an opportunity for us."

"Ok?"

Xun You looked curiously at the intelligence in Wang Yue's hand.

"Are Liu Bei and his men running out of supplies?"

"That's right. Liu Bei has been fighting non-stop. The new batch of supplies hasn't been collected yet, and his supplies should have been exhausted long ago. Now we are just testing each other's willpower. However, our soldiers are used to being hungry, but Liu Bei and his men are always well-fed. If they go hungry for a while, they will definitely not be able to adapt. In less than three days, they will not even be able to lift their weapons."

Xun You kept replaying Wang Yue's words in his mind.

In fact, he also felt that Wang Yue's words made some sense.

At first, when they were short of food and supplies, and the frequency of meals was changed to once a day, he was a little unaccustomed to it. A few days ago, he was so hungry that he couldn't even hold the pen in his hand.

But after a while, he got used to it.

But those few days when supplies dwindled were definitely a golden opportunity for them.

However, Xun You was still somewhat worried about the source of the intelligence. No one knew whether the Lie Army was really short of food.

With this in mind, Xun You decided to personally go out of the city to investigate.

late at night.

Seeing that time was running out, Xun You immediately took some personal guards and, under Wang Yue's protection, quietly left the city.

Their objective was not a night raid, but simply to investigate whether Gu Rubing and his men were truly short of food.

Soon, the group left the city and went straight into the woods.

Because there were fewer of them, Xun You and his group moved extremely fast, reaching the nearby woods in an instant.

Under the cover of moonlight and the woods, they quickly circled around to the rear of Gu Rubing's camp.

This area behind is usually a campsite, a place for starting fires and cooking.

Xun You stood in the woods in the distance, constantly looking at the traces of a fire on the ground.

"Sir, are you counting the number of stoves? Then there's no need. Although Lie Jun is also starving like us, everyone can at least eat something, so the number of stoves won't decrease."

Listening to Wang Yue's painting, Xun You rolled his eyes at him.

He was a little confused. Wang Yue was a general who had fought many battles, so how could his observation skills be so poor? If that was the case, when would he ever become a great general like Wei Yan and Zhang He?
"I'm not looking at the number of stoves, but at the traces left after they were burned."

"trace?"

Wang Yue looked at Xun You with a blank expression.

“There are many people in this military camp, and everyone needs to eat. Naturally, it will take a long time to cook such a large amount of food, which will consume a lot of firewood and produce more ashes. You need to learn to judge how much food they have left by looking at how much ashes are in their stoves.”

After saying that, Xun You pointed ahead to a stove and said directly, "Like this stove in front, there is only so little ashes on it. This means that this stove was only used for a short time. If it were just a single case, no one would care. But I see that the other stoves are all like this. This means that, as you said before, the Lie Army's food supplies are probably not enough. This is still an opportunity for us."

After saying that, Xun You led Wang Yue and the others away from there.

Back in the city, Xun You was finally completely relieved and immediately began studying the battle plan.

Two days later.

Wang Yue stood anxiously in front of Xun You's door, pacing back and forth.

According to the statistics of the past two days, Gu Rubing and his men have been attacking the city less and less often, and the patrolling soldiers also look listless, which is similar to when they first ran out of food. Now is the perfect time to make a move.

If they wait until Gu Rubing and his men's supplies arrive, or if the enemy gets used to the feeling of hunger, they will miss this opportunity and may be even less of a match for Gu Rubing.

However, at this crucial moment, Xun You locked himself in his room and refused to come out at all, so how could Wang Yue not be anxious?

"Master, if Xun You doesn't come out soon, are we going to miss out again today?"

Upon hearing Shi A's words, Wang Yue hesitated for a moment.

"If Xun You still doesn't come out, we'll raid Liu Bei's camp ourselves tonight. I refuse to believe that I can't fight a war without Xun You!"

However, no sooner had he finished speaking than Xun You's room door opened, and Xun You came out from inside.

Xun You ignored Wang Yue's words and instead looked at the two of them.

"Are Liu Bei and his men still the same as before these past few days? Have they run out of supplies?"

Seeing the two nod, Xun You knew it was almost time.

"Prepare 50,000 men to launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp tonight."

"Fifty thousand? Sir, isn't fifty thousand too few?"

"Don't worry, this is just the first wave. Of course, there will be a second wave."

Xun You immediately explained all his plans to the two of them.

Upon hearing this, the two couldn't help but give Xun You a thumbs up; that was a ruthless move.

late at night.

Wang Yue led an army of 50,000 men straight out of the city gates, and the 50,000 men charged toward Gu Rubing's camp without stopping for a moment.

Gu Rubing also received the news and began to arrange for people to organize the defense.

However, the seemingly orderly path was shattered by Wang Yue's attack.

Wang Yue was overjoyed at the sight and was about to continue his charge when his deputy general spoke up.

"General, have you forgotten what the master said? It's time to retreat!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Yue glanced at his deputy with displeasure and ultimately had no choice but to retreat.

Gu Rubing hadn't expected that Wang Yue would just come to cause trouble and then leave like that; that was rather cowardly.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing immediately dispatched Wei Yan with 30,000 troops to pursue them.

However, after Wei Yan left, Shi A led an army of 50,000 and charged again.

As before, Shi A led his men away after just one sweep of the camp.

Gu Rubing then ordered Zhang He to lead 30,000 troops to pursue them again.

This time, Gu Rubing only had a little over 20,000 people at his disposal.

However, at that moment, Xun You personally led 50,000 troops and charged straight over.

Gu Rubing immediately led his men to block the entrance of the camp, determined to drive back these 50,000-plus men.

But Gu Rubing's thinking was still somewhat optimistic. (End of Chapter)