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

Upon hearing Gu Rubing's words, the county magistrate's eyes widened as he stared at Gu Rubing.

"Are you really going to abandon this?"

"of course."

After saying that, Gu Rubing threw the token directly to the county magistrate.

"If anyone disagrees, this token can help you. Do whatever you want."

"Thank you, King Lie."

This time, the county magistrate finally knelt before Gu Rubing.

After seeing the county magistrate off, Gu Rubing sat down on the ground.

The wounds on his body continued to irritate his nerves, and the soreness in his limbs made Gu Rubing suffer unbearably.

Zhao Yun quickly stepped forward to help Gu Rubing up and sprinkled Hua Tuo's medicine powder, which he carried with him, on Gu Rubing's wound.

"My lord, it was because the clouds were too slow that you suffered so much. Please punish me!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing waved his hand.

“It’s not your fault. I didn’t expect the situation there to have deteriorated to this extent. We’ve only just entered Liangzhou and it’s already like this. I don’t know what it’s like inside Liangzhou.”

Gu Rubing sighed, then asked, "Who is the current garrison commander of Liangzhou?"

"My lord, the battle at the front is fierce. Ziyi has been transferred to the Prime Minister's side, so there are no generals guarding Liangzhou anymore, only some deputy generals."

Gu Rubing nodded.

As more and more generals become legendary warriors, one has fewer and fewer famous generals at one's disposal.

This is both the advantage and the disadvantage of legendary generals.

"Alright, I understand. Let's hurry on our way; Youzhou is still waiting for us."

After a short rest, Gu Rubing resumed his journey.

They discovered that Liangzhou was now rife with bandits and robbers, and they encountered no fewer than seven groups of them along the way.

Gu Rubing knew that the situation in Liangzhou had to be addressed, otherwise something bad would happen sooner or later.

Gu Rubing believed that Sun Jian was partly responsible for Liangzhou becoming what it was.

Without Sun Jian's encouragement, how could these people have actually become bandits and robbers? Without natural disasters, even with his years of war, these people would not have run out of food.

Gu Rubing wouldn't believe it if someone said no one had instigated it.

Thinking of all this, Gu Rubing immediately quickened his pace, determined to make Sun Jian bleed a lot this time.

Before long, Gu Rubing finally arrived in Constantinople.

When Sun Jian learned that Gu Rubing had arrived, he assumed that Gu Rubing had discovered his scheme against him, and he immediately panicked.

However, Zhou Yu sensed that Gu Rubing had only brought Zhao Yun this time and did not seem to be there for revenge, so he immediately advised Sun Jian to calm down.

When Gu Rubing saw Sun Jian standing at the door to greet him, he always felt that Sun Jian was trying to curry favor with him.

"Does Sun Jian know what I'm planning to do?"

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing immediately shook his head.

Sun Jian could never know why I came here, since my decision to come here was a spur-of-the-moment thing.

"Haha, Prince Lie, you've come again. May I ask what brings you here this time?"

"Again? Does that mean I come here often, King Wu?"

"Haha, it's not often, but I do it quite frequently."

Gu Rubing smiled upon hearing this but said nothing.

Sun Jian brought Gu Rubing and Zhao Yun to the banquet.

Looking at the table full of delicacies, Gu Rubing couldn't help but nod.

Sun Jian must have had plenty of provisions, otherwise there would be many delicacies on this table that he has never seen before.

Seeing Gu Rubing nod, Sun Jian assumed that Gu Rubing was satisfied with his arrangement and immediately said with a smile, "King Lie, please have a good taste. These are all rare delicacies that take a lot of time to make and are not usually available."

"Yeah, I can see it."

After taking a few bites, Gu Rubing kept nodding.

Seeing Gu Rubing's expression, Sun Jian immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

When people do something wrong, they feel guilty. No matter why the other party nods in satisfaction, their guilty conscience will be greatly reduced, as if the other party has already stopped pursuing their mistake.

"I wonder what brings Prince Lie here this time?"

Seeing that Gu Rubing was in a good mood, Sun Jian asked tentatively.

"King Wu knows that I am currently fighting against Shi Xie, but due to a carelessness, Wei Yan has been captured. I want to exchange Wei Yan for him, but the condition they are offering is a year's worth of provisions for an army of 200,000. As you know, my provisions are already insufficient, so this condition is undoubtedly an exorbitant demand. However, since Wei Yan is in their hands, I cannot refuse. Therefore, I would like to ask if you have any provisions that you can lend me."

Borrow? I think you just want it back. When has Liu Bei ever returned anything he borrowed?
The troops that have been borrowed from me, inside and out, number at least 200,000. Will you repay me?
Even if Sun Jian asked him to give up the provisions for a year's worth of food for an army of 200,000, it would still be a painful expense.

“King Lie, we don’t have much food here either. I can only give you half at most, as a token of my gratitude for the help you gave me back then.”

Half? A year's worth of provisions for an army of 100,000? Isn't that a joke? The gap between us and them is just too huge.

"Not much food? I don't think so. This meal alone took quite a few people. With such a large workforce, do you think I'd believe you if you said you didn't have enough food? I don't think I asked for much. You gave Shixie much more than I did, didn't you?"

“Lord Lie, didn’t we agree not to discuss Shi Xie’s matter? Besides, the docks connecting to the Han Dynasty have already been given to Cao Cao, so I can’t make the decision on this matter anymore, I…”

Sun Jian realized he had said too much, immediately understood, and shut his mouth.

Zhou Yu, on the other hand, kept frowning.

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing finally realized what was going on.

He always felt that something was wrong with what happened last time, but he couldn't figure out what it was until now.

All of this was a trap set by Sun Jian for himself.

Now that the docks have been handed over to Cao Cao, whatever happens in Youzhou is no longer his concern.

After all, he no longer had control over the docks.

This is Sun Jian leaving himself a way out.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing overturned the dining table in front of him.

The soldiers guarding the door, hearing something amiss at the banquet, immediately rushed out.

Zhao Yun immediately came to Gu Rubing's side, looking around warily.

Sun Ce and Gan Ning also gathered around.

"What are you all doing? Did I call you? Get out of here right now."

Upon hearing Sun Jian's words, the soldiers realized what was happening and immediately turned to leave.

"King Lie, aren't we discussing this? Why are you so angry that you even overturned the table?"

After saying that, Sun Jian immediately waved his hand.

The soldiers then moved to another table and served Gu Rubing a fresh serving of the same dishes.

After doing all this, the soldiers turned and left.

Gu Rubing waited until everything was over before sitting down again. "Sun Jian, you really know how to play your tricks. You tricked me into coming here, and then you schemed against me."

"King Lie, these are all misunderstandings. The situation was quite chaotic at the time, and I was also a victim. I lost a total of seven cities."

Gu Rubing was too lazy to argue with Sun Jian about this; what he cared about was the grain and fodder.

"Hmph, since the King of Wu has already said it's a misunderstanding, then I'll just assume it's a misunderstanding for now. So, how does the King of Wu plan to give me the grain I need?"

"No problem, I'll arrange to send you a year's worth of provisions for 200,000 troops right now."

Gu Rubing nodded in satisfaction.

"Since everything's alright, I'll be going now. After all, I still have a lot of things to do."

"Alright, then we won't keep King Lie any longer. Don't worry, the provisions will be delivered soon."

Gu Rubing smiled and nodded.

After leaving Constantinople, Gu Rubing punched a tree trunk.

“You dare to scheme against me, Sun Jian, you’ve really grown quite capable.”

"My lord, should we teach them a lesson?"

"No need. We can't make a move against him for now. Once the matter in Youzhou is completely resolved, I'm determined to take Constantinople."

When Gu Rubing returned to Yangle County, Lu Su immediately came over.

"My lord, Xun You has sent people to urge us many times. In order to keep him at ease, I have already sent some grain over, but we have no more grain to give him."

"Don't worry, Sun Jian's supplies will arrive soon. This time I've asked for enough supplies for 200,000 troops for a year."

"So much? Great! Adding the grain that Cao Cao sent earlier, we have more than enough this time."

Lu Su had barely finished speaking when Gu Rubing stopped him.

"This time I plan to set aside a portion for the people of Liangzhou."

Gu Rubing then recounted what he had seen in Liangzhou to Lu Su.

“My lord, I don’t object to your idea of ​​providing food to the people of Liangzhou, but I feel that the current state of Liangzhou has little to do with food supplies. On the contrary, I have some doubts about Sun Jian. Liangzhou is closest to Sun Jian, and with Liangzhou in chaos, Sun Jian can definitely benefit from it.”

Gu Rubing also had some doubts about Lu Su's analysis.

"Furthermore, I feel that no matter how much grain we give to Liangzhou, it will be useless, because Sun Jian will give the most. The people are the easiest to fool. As long as we give them enough, they will do whatever we ask them to do."

"Makes sense."

Gu Rubing knew that the best way to alleviate the situation in Liangzhou was to send a general to guard it.

The best candidate is of course Taishi Ci.

Because Taishi Ci was the most knowledgeable about the situation in Liangzhou.

However, Gu Rubing is not yet fully aware of the situation on Zhuge Liang's side. He is worried that rashly transferring Taishi Ci might interfere with Zhuge Liang's plans.

After hesitating for a moment, Gu Rubing decided to write a letter to Zhuge Liang to discuss the matter.

In Gu Rubing's view, the situation in Liangzhou was not yet that dangerous.

However, this time, Gu Rubing miscalculated.

What they saw along the way was only the tip of the iceberg. In reality, half of Liangzhou had already been secretly controlled by Sun Jian's people.

But this is all for later.

a few days later.

The grain supplies that Sun Jian promised have been delivered in batches.

After a quick inventory, Gu Rubing sent the grain directly to Xun You.

After all the provisions had been delivered, Gu Rubing led the group and withdrew directly from Liaoxi County.

Wei Yan was also sent back at this time.

Upon seeing Gu Rubing, Wei Yan immediately knelt before him.

"My lord, I am incompetent. I have caused so many losses to the army and completely wasted all our efforts. It is all my fault."

Seeing Wei Yan's expression, Gu Rubing patted Wei Yan on the shoulder.

“Wei Yan, this time it was indeed your fault. According to military law, drag him out and make him fight thirty more battles.”

Wei Yan was quickly taken away.

Upon seeing this, Zhang He immediately came to plead for mercy.

“My lord, this matter is not entirely Wei Yan’s fault. Xun You deliberately lured us into a trap, and I almost fell for it myself.”

"Alright, Junyi, stop pleading for Wei Yan. I've made up my mind, and it won't matter who says it."

Seeing that Gu Rubing had already made up his mind, Zhang He didn't say anything more.

Seeing that the atmosphere was a bit stiff, Lu Su immediately stepped forward.

"My lord, the most critical issue now is not General Wen Chang's problem, but the number of troops we have. We only have less than 50,000 men. If we want to fight against Xun You's 150,000-strong army, which has sufficient supplies, we probably won't be able to hold out for long. We may need to ask the Prime Minister for more men."

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing gave a wry smile.

If Zhuge Liang had been willing to give them the opportunity, they wouldn't have had such a difficult time fighting.

Although Gu Rubing didn't know why Zhuge Liang had locked up the troops, since it was Zhuge Liang's plan, there must be a reason.

Now Liu Zhang and Cao Cao are still continuously increasing their troops. Hasn't Zhuge Liang noticed that Liu Zhang's troops have decreased significantly?

Gu Rubing had always had some doubts about this.

All they can do right now is defend.

What Gu Rubing wanted to know most was what Zhuge Liang was trying to do.

"It seems I need to make a trip to Jiaozhou."

"Does our lord intend to ask the Prime Minister for troops?"

"Hmm, I have a feeling something's wrong. Liu Zhang has already sent more than 100,000 troops to Youzhou, but why is there still no movement from the Prime Minister's side? Could it be that the troops in Jiaozhou haven't decreased?"

Lu Su also felt that something was amiss about this matter.

After handing over the affairs of Youzhou to Lu Su, Gu Rubing took Zhao Yun and prepared to set off for Jiaozhou.

However, before Gu Rubing could even set off, bad news arrived.

Liangzhou was thrown into chaos, and bandits and outlaws from all over the country had joined forces.

They also organized a mutinous army of nearly 50,000 and began attacking various cities in Liangzhou.

However, the effect was not significant, since the troops defending the city were well-equipped city defense forces, while the rebel army consisted of bandits and robbers, and the combat strength of the two sides was not proportional.

However, there is still one situation that Gu Rubing needs to worry about.

That is, although the cities of Liangzhou were not disturbed, the trade routes of Liangzhou were occupied by these rebel troops.

Liangzhou was already extremely remote; without the trade of caravans, it would have become the next Youzhou.

But now the trade route has been occupied by the rebel army, and caravans are disappearing one after another; naturally, no more caravans will enter. (End of Chapter)