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

Gu Rubing looked at Zhang Liao.

"Wen Yuan, I need you to take a troop into Jianwei County and force Cao Ren to reinforce it. Once Cao Ren's reinforcements are discovered, retreat immediately."

"Qianwei Prefecture?"

Zhang Liao looked at the map with a puzzled expression.

"My lord, wasn't our target Ba Commandery? When did it change to Jianwei Commandery?"

"Cao Ren has too many troops in Ba Commandery. You need to disperse Cao Ren's troops. Moreover, you must make it appear as if our main force is attacking Jianwei Commandery, so that Cao Ren can mobilize as many troops as possible."

Zhang Liao immediately understood and nodded.

However, after receiving the order, Zhang Liao did not immediately mobilize his troops to leave, but instead had people sit down and make some preparations.

Three days later, Zhang Liao set off.

"My lord, Zhang Liao has brought 30,000 troops, and all of them are cavalry. Even the Eighteen Riders of Yanyun and the Iron Pagoda have been taken away by Zhang Liao. We have no cavalry left now."

“I know, I asked Wen Yuan to take it.”

"But my lord, without cavalry, we will lose our mobility. If the enemy attacks us, we will be left with no choice but to be attacked."

Cavalry is of paramount importance on the battlefield, whether it's charging, covering the rear, or even dividing the battlefield, they can perform these tasks to an extremely high degree.

Without cavalry, many tactics would be impossible to employ.

Lu Su was not worried about how many troops Zhang Liao had taken with him, but rather that without cavalry, they would lose the ability to fight Cao Ren and his forces.

"Don't worry, Zijing, there's only one battle ahead: the siege."

Zhang Liao was gone for ten days, but no news came back.

For a moment, everyone in the city was a little worried about Zhang Liao.

However, ten days later.

Zhang Liao finally sent back the first battle report.

"My lord, Zhang Liao has captured three counties in Jianwei Commandery, and Cao Ren has already taken notice of them."

Upon hearing the battle report sent by Lu Su, Gu Rubing immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiangzhou Chengnei.

Cao Ren looked at the intelligence report in his hand and immediately fell into deep thought.

He was completely unsure whether Jianwei County was Gu Rubing's target.

Last time, he was also deceived by Gu Rubing, which caused them to suffer heavy losses.

Just as Cao Ren was hesitating, the Xiahou brothers learned about the situation in Jianwei County and immediately went to find Cao Ren.

"Zixiao, Jianwei County is about to be swallowed up. We must send reinforcements immediately."

"Don't rush, let's wait and see."

"Are we still waiting? If Jianwei County falls, Chengdu will be in danger. What will we do if our lord is in danger?"

The two men were immediately displeased when they saw that Cao Ren was still hesitating.

"I'm worried it will be the same as last time. Have you forgotten how much we lost last time?"

Thinking back to the last time, the Xiahou brothers hesitated.

“This time it should be different, because the people who escaped from Jianwei County said that they saw Liu Bei on the battlefield. This time it should be true.”

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren looked at Xiahou Dun.

"Are you telling the truth?"

"Of course, how could this be fake?"

Seeing Xiahou Dun's certainty, Cao Ren nodded.

Cao Ren immediately began to mobilize his troops.

At this time, Jiang Wei also received a transfer order.

Jiang Wei compiled all the recent intelligence and discovered that something might be amiss.

Immediately, Jiang Wei arrived at the main hall with this intelligence.

"General, we cannot leave. Liu Bei's target is definitely Ba Commandery. Trust me!"

"Bajun?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren glanced at the map.

Although Gu Rubing was initially stationed in Nanjun, which is very close to Bajun, people in Jianweijun have now spotted him, which means that, at least for now, Gu Rubing's target is Jianweijun.

Cao Ren explained his thoughts to Jiang Wei.

However, Jiang Wei always believed that Cao Ren's idea was wrong, and that Gu Rubing's target would only be Ba Commandery.

Cao Ren knew that Jiang Wei was more capable than himself, so he immediately asked Jiang Wei why.

Unfortunately, Jiang Wei couldn't give any reason.

The final reason given was that, if it were him, Ba County would be a must-contend location.

However, such a reason is untenable. After all, not everyone is Jiang Wei, and there is more than one Ba Commandery if one wants to enter Yizhou.

Jiang Wei knew he couldn't reason with Cao Ren, so he eventually asked Cao Ren to send him 50,000 troops to guard Ba Commandery.

Cao Ren originally intended to send people to guard the city, after all, no matter what, he couldn't just transfer people from Ba Commandery to guard Jianwei Commandery.

However, these 50,000 men were indeed beyond Cao Ren's calculations, since he originally only had 100,000 men.

If he really leaves behind 50,000 people, then he will only have 50,000 people left.

Even if 50,000 men reached Jianwei County, they could only passively defend and had no way to attack.

After some bargaining between Cao Ren and Jiang Wei, Cao Ren finally decided to give Jiang Wei 30,000 troops to defend the city, and also appointed Guo Huai to accompany Jiang Wei in defending the city.

After watching Cao Ren's army leave, Jiang Wei's expression immediately turned somber.

"Boyue, what's wrong?"

Guo Huai burst out laughing when he saw Jiang Wei's expression.

"I'm afraid General Cao will suffer another defeat this time."

“This is not something we can consider right now. There is only one thing we should consider right now, and that is how to defend Jiangzhou City. Haven’t you always wanted to lead a large army independently? Isn’t this your chance? This is a rare opportunity, and you have to seize it.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wei nodded helplessly.

I had to go to great lengths to secure the opportunity to lead an army of 30,000 men on my own.

Meanwhile, Deng Ai and Zhong Hui, who were under Gu Rubing's command, were able to lead tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of troops to gallop across the battlefield from the very beginning.

If I joined Liu Bei's camp, could I, like Deng Ai, lead an army of 100,000 or even hundreds of thousands to fight on the battlefield?
Jiang Wei felt even more disappointed.

Jiang Wei quickly realized what was happening, and his forehead trembled with fear at his own terrifying thought.

When did I start having the idea of ​​joining Liu Bei?
Seeing that Jiang Wei was standing there motionless, Guo Huai quickly stepped forward and nudged him.

"what happened to you?"

"Ah? It's alright. Immediately have people reinforce the city's defenses and wait for Liu Bei's attack."

"it is good!"

Cao Ren led the Xiahou brothers and an army of 70,000 into the territory of Jianwei Commandery.

They hadn't been gone long when they were discovered by Zhang Liao's spies.

After all, it was an army of 70,000, and it would be very difficult to do so without leaving a trace. Moreover, Cao Ren had no intention of hiding it in the first place.

late at night.

Cao Ren immediately ordered his men to set up camp.

Meanwhile, not far away, Zhang Liao was secretly hiding with 30,000 cavalry.

Before long, a soldier walked up to Zhang Liao.

"General, Cao Ren's camp is ready. The enemy has a total of 70,000 men, as well as two famous generals, Xiahou Dun and Xiahou Yuan."

"Okay, get ready, we're going to launch a night raid!"

"Yes!" Zhang Liao and his soldiers waited in the distance for a full two hours.

At this time, Cao Ren and his men had already gone into their tents to rest. After traveling for several days, the soldiers were already exhausted.

The soldiers on guard duty were also fast asleep on the ground.

Even the patrol team found a place to sleep.

Seeing that the time was almost up, Zhang Liao waved his hand and led 20,000 men to quietly approach the camp. Before the guards could react, they charged in.

By the time Cao Ren was awakened by the commotion outside, Zhang Liao had already stormed into the central army camp.

"General, something terrible has happened! The Lie army is attacking!"

"what?"

Cao Ren immediately donned his armor and charged out.

Meanwhile, the Xiahou brothers had already joined the battle.

Cao Ren saw that the camp was in complete chaos, with fighting taking place everywhere.

He spotted Zhang Liao relentlessly hacking and slashing on the battlefield.

"Zhang Liao, how dare you ambush me!"

Cao Ren shouted, mounted his horse, brandished his sword, and charged towards Zhang Liao.

Seeing that Cao Ren had discovered him, Zhang Liao smiled, turned around and ran away, showing no intention of fighting Cao Ren at all.

Upon seeing this, Cao Ren immediately prepared to pursue.

"Zixiao, you reorganize the camp; we're going to pursue Zhang Liao."

After the Xiahou brothers finished speaking, they immediately led their army to give chase.

Zhang Liao was a cavalryman himself, and he was extremely fast.

The troops led by the Xiahou brothers consisted of both cavalry and infantry, with varying speeds. To maintain their formation, the cavalry had to slow down.

This also caused the distance between the two sides to grow further and further apart.

Upon discovering this, Zhang Liao immediately ordered his men to slow down, deliberately waiting for the Xiahou brothers to catch up.

Every time the Xiahou brothers felt they were about to catch up with Zhang Liao, Zhang Liao would suddenly accelerate, shake them off, and then wait ahead.

Soon, the Xiahou brothers realized that Zhang Liao was completely leading them astray.

Just when the two were about to give up.

Zhang Liao reappeared before the two of them.

"Generals, you want to leave already? Then haven't I led you away for nothing by spending so much time on this?"

Upon hearing this, the two finally realized that Zhang Liao had done it on purpose.

"Hmph, Zhang Liao, don't try such tricks. If you want to fight, we're ready."

After saying that, the two men brandished their weapons and charged towards Zhang Liao.

Zhang Liao smiled and fired a signal arrow that pierced the sky.

Immediately afterwards, countless arrows rained down from both the left and right sides.

In a short time, the Wei army suffered considerable losses, and their formation became chaotic.

Upon seeing this, the Xiahou brothers immediately ordered their men to form a shield formation.

Seeing that the arrows could no longer harm them, Zhang Liao immediately waved his hand.

Those hiding in the shadows rushed out and, together with Zhang Liao, launched a counterattack.

The Xiahou brothers were not to be outdone and directly confronted the enemy.

Just as the two sides were engaged in a fierce battle, Xiahou Dun saw a group of people standing next to a man on a distant hillside, watching them.

And that group of people were clearly protecting that person.

"Liu Bei is there! Capture Liu Bei for me!"

Upon hearing Xiahou Dun's words, many people rushed directly towards the hillside.

But after taking only a few steps, several volleys of arrows came flying at them.

They managed to block the Xiahou brothers' advance.

Upon seeing this, Zhang Liao immediately ordered a retreat.

When the rain of arrows completely stopped, the Xiahou brothers discovered that the people on the hillside had completely disappeared.

"It's such a pity that Liu Bei got away."

"Never mind, no matter what, we can confirm this time that Liu Bei is indeed in Jianwei County. Wherever Liu Bei is, that's their target, which means we guessed right this time."

Xiahou Dun nodded upon hearing this.

After returning to the camp, the two told Cao Ren the news.

Cao Ren became even more determined in his decision.

However, at this time, Gu Rubing had already led an army of 100,000 and began to march towards Ba County.

Jiang Wei knew that with only 30,000 men, it was impossible to defend the entire Ba Commandery. In the end, Jiang Wei deployed all his troops in the heart of Ba Commandery, Jiangzhou City.

Gu Rubing's purpose was not elsewhere; he had only one goal: Jiangzhou.

The two sides confronted each other directly in Jiangzhou City.

Upon seeing Liu Bei's 100,000 troops, Jiang Wei immediately sought help from Cao Ren.

However, Cao Ren completely ignored Jiang Wei's plea for help.

In Cao Ren's view, Jiang Wei was exaggerating. Gu Rubing was in Jianwei County, so how could he possibly appear in Jiangzhou City? Moreover, since Gu Rubing had come to Jianwei County, it meant that the main force must also be in Jianwei County. Even if Jiangzhou City had been attacked, it was impossible for them to have 100,000 troops.
Could it be that Liu Bei had an army of 200,000?

However, according to their intelligence, Liu Bei only had 150,000 troops.

At this time, Gu Rubing did not rush to attack the city, but instead sent an envoy to persuade Jiang Wei to surrender.

Jiang Wei simply drove the envoy away.

In the end, Gu Rubing ordered an attack on the city.

The 100,000-strong army was divided into four parts, which attacked the four gates of Jiangzhou City: east, west, south, and north.

Gu Rubing knew that there were only 30,000 troops in Jiangzhou City, and that Cao Ren had taken all the generals away. He had the advantage in both troop strength and generals. The best way to take advantage of these advantages was to attack from all sides.

Jiang Wei's biggest fear was that Gu Rubing would attack from all four city gates at once.

In the end, Jiang Wei divided the 30,000 men into four parts. He and Guo Huai each led one part, while the other two parts were led by their respective deputies.

The battle began quickly.

The city gate that Jiang Wei was responsible for guarding was attacked by Wei Yan with 20,000 men.

In order to gain the greatest credit, Wei Yan personally led his men to attack the city.

However, when they reached the foot of the city wall, Wei Yan realized that the ladders they had brought were not high enough, and he had no choice but to retreat.

Clearly, after they left Jiangzhou City, Jiang Wei reinforced the city once again.

The same problem occurred at the other three city gates.

The first siege ultimately ended in failure.

Gu Rubing was very dissatisfied with the result.

They then immediately organized a second siege.

Soon, the ladder was set up, and Wei Yan led the group to begin climbing.

Soon, Wei Yan climbed onto the city wall.

At this moment, the two sides began close combat.

Jiang Wei knew that he had to step in and stop Wei Yan, otherwise they would soon be unable to hold out.

However, Jiang Wei also knew that he was no match for Wei Yan and could only rely on the numerical advantage of the city walls to launch a counterattack against Wei Yan.

Wei Yan held out on the city wall for a while, but the Wei army on the wall was simply too numerous, and his reinforcements were nowhere to be seen. In the end, Wei Yan had no choice but to descend from the wall. (End of this chapter)