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

Everyone nodded when they heard this.

"My lord, where should we retreat to?"

Gu Rubing looked at the map and finally decided on Jiangzhou City.

With Gu Rubing's order, the entire military camp sprang into action.

This was also discovered by Cao Ren's spies, who quickly relayed the information back to Cao Ren.

"Is Liu Bei about to retreat?"

This news is great news for Cao Ren and everyone else.

"Keep a close watch on Liu Bei and his men. We must find out exactly where Liu Bei is going."

"Yes!"

Gu Rubing and his men moved very quickly; the entire camp set off in just half a day.

Guo Huai felt this was a good opportunity and immediately advised Cao Ren to lead troops in pursuit.

However, Cao Ren immediately rejected this advice.

Clearly, Cao Ren's goal was not to defeat Liu Bei, but simply to drive him away.

Throughout their battles against Gu Rubing, they had almost never gained the upper hand, and they inherently harbored a certain fear of him.

He never even considered truly defeating Gu Rubing.

This idea caused great distress to the younger generation, including Jiang Wei and Guo Huai.

Seeing such a good opportunity slip away right before his eyes, Guo Huai could only sigh helplessly.

Gu Rubing and his group entered Jiangzhou City as quickly as possible.

A few days later, when Jiang Wei learned the news and rushed back to Guanghan County, it was too late.

After a major argument with Cao Ren, Jiang Wei returned to the rear.

"My lord, what should we do next?"

After returning to the city and resting for a day, Deng Ai and the others couldn't wait to go to Gu Rubing's room.

Gu Rubing stretched and looked at the map beside him.

"It would be difficult to defeat 150,000 troops gathered together, but it would be much easier to defeat them if they were to split up. So our next target is Jianwei County."

"Zhang Liao!"

"exist!"

"I'm giving you 30,000 troops. Your mission is simple: take over Jianwei County as quickly as possible, before their reinforcements arrive! Take as much as you can!"

"Yes!"

Zhang Liao nodded immediately, then turned and left.

After watching Zhang Liao leave, Gu Rubing looked at Deng Ai.

"Shizai, I can only give you 20,000 troops. Your task is to defend Jiangzhou City. In fact, your task is the most difficult."

"Rest assured, my lord, the city stands as my life, and I perish if the city falls!"

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing patted Deng Ai on the shoulder.

"Your only task, besides defending the city, is to survive."

Deng Ai understood Gu Rubing's meaning, and then nodded with a smile.

"Alright, the rest of you, be ready to come with me at any time!"

"Yes!"

Gu Rubing's arrangement was actually quite obvious. They knew what Gu Rubing wanted to do. The only problem at the moment was Deng Ai. If Deng Ai could not defend Jiangzhou City, then Gu Rubing's plan would completely fail, and even the 100,000 troops would be lost.

Several days later, news from Jianwei County finally reached Cao Ren.

Looking at the intelligence report in his hand, Cao Ren's face turned extremely ugly.

The Xiahou brothers, who were standing nearby, were unaware of what had happened. After taking a look at the intelligence report, they couldn't help but gasp in shock.

In three days, Zhang Liao captured three cities in Jianwei County.

"Qianwei County has already begun requesting our assistance. What are your thoughts?"

"Commander, I think we should rush to support Jianwei County. If Jianwei County is lost, it will be troublesome to take it back, and the lord will not let us off the hook."

"Yes, that's right, we must protect Jianwei County."

Now, Jianwei County has become the gateway for Gu Rubing and his group to Yizhou. Once Jianwei County is opened, all their preparations will be in vain.

"Okay, then..."

However, just as Cao Ren was preparing to send troops to support Jianwei County, a voice suddenly came from outside.

"We don't need to worry about Jianwei County. Their goal is to force us to divide our forces. Given the current situation, dividing our forces would pose a significant risk to us."

As soon as the voice faded, Jiang Wei walked in from outside.

Upon seeing Jiang Wei enter, Cao Ren's face instantly darkened.

"Boyue, why are you back? Didn't I send you to oversee the transport of provisions?"

"Reporting to the commander, a batch of supplies has just arrived. I came to report to you and happened to overhear your conversation."

"Well, then tell me, regardless of Jianwei County, if the other side uses Jianwei County as a gateway and enters the heart of Yizhou, what will we do then?"

"It's simple, just cut off their food supply."

Jiang Wei had already seen through Gu Rubing's plan; it was undoubtedly a bait, just waiting for them to take the bait.

"Running out of supplies? You make it sound so simple. All of Liu Bei's supplies pass through Jiangzhou City. As long as Jiangzhou City is still in Liu Bei's hands, their supplies will not run out. Do you expect us to attack Jiangzhou City?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wei immediately nodded.

“That’s right, it’s Jiangzhou City. Zhang Liao has 30,000 troops at his disposal. They’re just waiting for us to take the bait. Since that’s the case, let’s see if we can catch them. However, we’ll only send 30,000 troops to focus on the defense of Jianwei County, and then send out the remaining 120,000 troops to attack. The target is Jiangzhou City.”

"120,000 troops, all at once? Aren't you afraid Liu Bei will launch a surprise attack on our Guanghan City?"

"No, Liu Bei's goal is not our Guanghan City, but our 150,000 troops."

Cao Ren still felt there was a risk in Jiang Wei's statement.

In Cao Ren's view, Guanghan City was far more important than hundreds of thousands of soldiers, and he did not think that Gu Rubing's target was their troops.

"Never mind, Jiang Wei, you go back first, we'll discuss it further."

Jiang Wei could tell that Cao Ren had no intention of using his strategy and was clearly going to take the bait given by Gu Rubing. Jiang Wei immediately stepped forward anxiously.

"Commander, here's what we'll do: give me 20,000 troops, and I'll attack Jiangzhou City. As for what you do next, that's your business. I won't interfere."

"This……"

Cao Ren wasn't entirely distrustful of Jiang Wei, but Jiang Wei's recent plans were simply too audacious.

Jiang Wei only needs 20,000 men now, which is not important to their 150,000-strong army. Even if they were given to Jiang Wei, it wouldn't mean much.

"Alright, I'll give you 30,000 troops, and I'll also send Guo Huai to help you. I hope your guesses are correct."

Having acquired troops, though only 30,000, Jiang Wei still had some confidence.

After watching Jiang Wei and the others leave, Cao Ren couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.

In the end, Cao Ren led 50,000 troops, along with the Xiahou brothers, and left Guanghan City.

Xu Huang, meanwhile, led his last 70,000 troops to defend the city!
Upon learning that Cao Ren had already set off with 50,000 troops, Gu Rubing immediately led Zhong Hui and 50,000 troops into Jianwei County.

Only Deng Ai was left to defend the city.

Gu Rubing's goal this time was simple: to defeat Cao Ren's 50,000 troops.

However, Gu Rubing overlooked the 30,000 troops that Jiang Wei brought out later.

This was also Jiang Wei's deliberate act. He deliberately mixed his 30,000 troops with Cao Ren's 50,000 troops, and even traveled together for a period of time, in order to confuse Gu Rubing's spies.

By the time the informant discovered Jiang Wei's true purpose and sent out the intelligence, it was already too late.

Deng Ai stood on the city wall, watching the large army that had already gone far away, and couldn't help but sigh.

He knew that the real challenge was yet to come. "General, I have arranged for everyone to remain vigilant at all times."

"Okay, go and rest."

After the deputy general left, Deng Ai stood on the city wall, gazing into the distance and waiting quietly.

after one day.

Deng Ai saw a group of people appear ahead.

These people moved extremely slowly.

Moreover, these people were all wearing the armor of the Liejun army.

Deng Ai immediately assumed that Gu Rubing had returned.

Just as they were about to open the city gate, a bad feeling suddenly welled up in their hearts.

This made Deng Ai immediately stop what he was doing.

Deng Ai looked at the group of people in the distance.

"Who are you?"

"We are the lord's men, open the city gates quickly, the plan has changed."

As they spoke, the other party produced a token.

This is indeed Gu Rubing's token.

Where is our lord?

Deng Ai remained highly vigilant.

"Our lord is behind us. Our lord is injured. Please open the door quickly and let us in so that our lord can receive treatment."

Upon hearing this, Deng Ai burst out laughing.

If something had happened to Gu Rubing, a captain of the crossbowmen would have already sent word back. But they haven't received any news at all.

"Who the hell are you?"

After Deng Ai finished speaking, he waved his hand.

All the archers on the city wall aimed directly at these people.

Jiang Wei, who was hiding in the crowd, did not expect that they would be discovered, so he simply stopped hiding.

"Deng Ai, I didn't expect you to discover our identities. But even so, it's useless. You only have 20,000 people guarding the city, right? I have a full 80,000. Open the city gates and let us in, or you know the consequences."

Upon hearing Jiang Wei's words, Guo Huai, who was standing to the side, immediately widened his eyes.

Eighty thousand people? When did we reach eighty thousand? Wasn't there only thirty thousand in total?
"Hmph, Jiang Wei, if you have the guts, then come and attack the city; if you don't, then forget it."

"Alright, everyone listen up, attack the city immediately!"

As soon as Jiang Wei finished speaking, everyone immediately began the attack on the city.

Guo Huai came to Jiang Wei's side.

“I say, Boyo, when did we have 80,000 men? Weren’t we only 30,000?”

"I was just trying to scare him. Otherwise, with 30,000 against 20,000 in a siege, how could the enemy surrender if I didn't put some psychological pressure on them?"

Upon hearing this, Guo Huai nodded in agreement.

Unfortunately, this tactic might have worked for other generals, but it was somewhat ineffective against Deng Ai.

How could Deng Ai not understand the threatening meaning behind Jiang Wei's words?

Moreover, whether it's 80,000 or 30,000, a closer look will make it clearer.

Even if Deng Ai didn't fall for it, some of the deputy generals and soldiers guarding the city believed Jiang Wei's words.

With 20,000 men fighting against 80,000, even if Jiangzhou City is easy to defend and difficult to attack, it is absolutely impossible to hold out.

"General, why don't we retreat? The enemy has 80,000 men, while we only have 20,000. We are destined to lose."

"Bullshit! Where did they get 80,000 men? Where are your eyes? Can't you see for yourselves?"

Deng Ai kicked the lieutenant directly, then grabbed the lieutenant's head and pointed outside the city.

But by this time, the deputy general was already terrified and had no interest in looking at these things.

At the same time, a bit of resentment arose in his heart towards Deng Ai.

A day of siege has passed.

Jiangzhou remained in Deng Ai's hands.

Of the 20,000 men they had, 3,000 were killed.

In contrast, Jiang Wei was also in a bad situation, losing about 6,000 of his 30,000 men.

Such losses were still within Jiang Wei's calculations.

“Boyo, we can’t continue fighting like this. We’ve lost too many men. Your lie about having 80,000 men will soon be exposed.”

Seeing Guo Huai approaching, Jiang Wei burst out laughing and then took out a letter.

"This is?"

"This is a letter of surrender written to me by one of Deng Ai's lieutenants. He will open the city gates tonight, and we can enter the city."

"This...is there really such a good thing? Could this be a trap?"

"Probably not. We'll send 10,000 men in tonight to check."

Jiang Wei also had some doubts.

late at night.

Jiang Wei prepared 10,000 men, and the city gates of Jiangzhou were indeed quietly opened as agreed.

"You go first."

Jiang Wei immediately led ten thousand men into the city quietly.

When these people entered the city, they found that there was not a single person at the city gate.

As agreed, the 10,000 men immediately took control of the city gate.

They then signaled for Jiang Wei to enter the city.

Just then, a lieutenant who had climbed onto the city wall immediately smelled the odor of kerosene.

Logically speaking, it's normal for the walls of Jiangzhou City to smell of kerosene after a siege has just ended.

However, this adjutant had always followed Jiang Wei and had learned some of Jiang Wei's wary mindset.

Then they started to explore by following the smell of kerosene.

Eventually, he found a pile of kerosene in a corner of the city wall.

The kerosene had been spilled on the ground, while the surrounding jars were intact. The fact that the kerosene was spilled on the ground was clearly intentional.

"No, I fell into a trap."

The lieutenant shouted a signal and then sent a retreat signal to Jiang Wei, leading everyone on the city wall to retreat.

Deng Ai, who was hiding in the shadows, never expected that his plan would be discovered so easily. He originally wanted to wait for Jiang Wei to enter the city before taking action, but now he could only act passively.

Then a signal arrow pierced the sky.

Immediately afterwards, countless rockets rained down from the sky.

A raging fire suddenly broke out on the city wall.

Some soldiers who were slow to retreat were directly surrounded by the sea of ​​fire.

Jiang Wei was guarding outside the city. When he saw his deputy general leading his men out, he turned his head and looked toward the city wall.

There were still his own soldiers there, and the screams of agony could be heard.

"General, let's retreat!"

The deputy general beside him called out anxiously. (End of Chapter)