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

"King Wei, do you really still want to insist?"

"Hmph, I'm not in a hurry. When your lord is finished with his work, then come out to pick me up."

"Finished?"

Wei Yan pretended not to understand and looked at Cao Cao with a curious expression.

"Isn't your lord busy? I'll wait until he's finished before he comes out to see me."

Upon hearing this, Wei Yan burst into laughter, looking as if his plan had succeeded.

"Your Highness, you may have misunderstood. My master is taking a nap. He's not busy. Why don't you wait until he wakes up before coming?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao pointed at Wei Yan and almost cursed.

Although she had made things difficult for Gu Rubing before, at least she had found a reasonable excuse, which was at least presentable. But Gu Rubing was too lazy to even pretend, completely disregarding her dignity.

Dian Wei, standing to the side, slowly approached Wei Yan with a murderous aura, wielding two halberds.

However, Wei Yan was not flustered. He simply pointed slowly behind him.

Dian Wei then noticed that Zhao Yun, holding a silver spear, was also slowly walking out.

Although Zhao Yun didn't say a word after he came out, his presence right behind Wei Yan was so intimidating that Dian Wei couldn't help but stop what he was doing.

"Zhao Yun, is this how you treat my lord?"

Dian Wei knew that now that Zhao Yun had shown up, it meant that this matter could only be left as it was.

“When my lord went to see your King Wei, how did you treat us? We are just returning the favor in the same way. Why are you unwilling? You can go back then. My lord said that it is acceptable not to see you again.”

After Zhao Yun finished speaking, he led Wei Yan and walked into the city on his own, but the city gates were not closed.

Cao Cao hesitated for a long time, but he couldn't stand the scorching sun outside any longer, so he led the two men slowly into the city.

Once inside the city, Lu Su walked over unhurriedly.

"King Wei, you've finally arrived! I've been waiting for you for so long. Please follow me."

What do you mean by "I've finally arrived"? So it's my fault for not entering the city?

Cao Cao looked at Lu Su in front of him and had the urge to stab him to death, but in the end he could only swallow his anger, after all, he still needed Lu Su's help.

Soon, Cao Cao, led by Lu Su, arrived at the main hall of the Prince Lie's mansion.

"King Wei, please wait a moment. My lord will come to see you after he wakes up."

After Lu Su finished speaking, he had his men serve tea and then turned to leave.

"My lord, Liu Bei is going too far. Knowing we're here, he pretended to be asleep and made us wait here, humiliating us. Otherwise, I'll go and wake Liu Bei up."

After Xu Chu finished speaking, he turned around and prepared to leave.

However, after taking only two steps, Zhao Yun and Pang De walked in.

"General Xu Chu, where are you going?"

"Hmph, your lord is going too far. I'm going to find him."

"I'm sorry, but my lord has a habit of not liking to be disturbed while he rests. If you anger my lord and hurt General Xu Chu, then it will be troublesome."

Upon hearing Zhao Yun's words, Xu Chu gave a cold laugh.

"Hurt me? With Liu Bei's strength?"

"My lord may not be able to harm you, but I can!"

As soon as Zhao Yun finished speaking, his aura exploded out instantly, and Xu Chu couldn't help but take a step back. Dian Wei, who was standing to the side, quickly stepped forward.

With Dian Wei's help, Xu Chu calmed down in the shortest possible time.

"Enough. This is the territory of the King of Lie. We'll just wait. You all need to behave yourselves. Also, please inform the King of Lie that this matter is very important."

Zhao Yun smiled and nodded.

Cao Cao was right; the happiest person in his battles with Liu Zhang was none other than Gu Rubing.

The remaining feudal lords are all enemies of Gu Rubing. However, they have come to know Gu Rubing's strength and have begun to join forces to resist him. Now that the three families are fighting amongst themselves, it is a good opportunity to weaken them.

Cao Cao understood this principle, but Liu Zhang's arrogance necessitated teaching him a lesson, so he had no choice but to do so.

At this moment, Gu Rubing was sitting in a chair, drinking tea while looking at intelligence reports from various places, especially those concerning the Anluo Empire and Liangzhou.

However, to Gu Rubing's surprise, four days had passed since he sent out the message. Logically, the intelligence should have already reached Zhuge Liang's hands. So why hadn't Zhuge Liang taken any action? What was Zhuge Liang's purpose?
Gu Rubing had unconditional and complete trust in Zhuge Liang, but he was somewhat confused about what Zhuge Liang was up to. His curiosity compelled him to ask Zhuge Liang for an explanation.

Just as Gu Rubing was thinking about whether he should contact Zhuge Liang, Zhao Yun came over and brought Cao Cao's words.

Gu Rubing smiled. Cao Cao had reached his limit of patience. From outside the city gate to where he was now, he had already made Cao Cao suffer a lot. One shouldn't go too far, after all, the other party was also the King of Wei.

"Alright, let's go, Zilong, let's go see this King Lie."

Cao Cao downed the tea in his cup in one gulp, then slammed his hand on the table.

Upon seeing this, a soldier nearby immediately brought in a teapot and poured Cao Cao another cup of tea.

"Get out of my way! I've already drunk three cups of tea, and your lord still hasn't arrived. What does he want? If you don't want to talk, then don't talk."

Cao Cao had indeed reached his limit.

Cao Cao hadn't had a proper meal on the journey. He was already quite hungry and thought that Gu Rubing would at least prepare a banquet for him after entering the city. However, Gu Rubing not only refused to see him but also made him drink tea all the time. He didn't get any food and instead drank water until he was full.

No matter what, he was the King of Wei. To humiliate him like this, even someone with the best temper couldn't hold back anymore.

"Haha, King Wei, what's going on? Why are you getting so angry at a mere soldier?"

As soon as the voice faded, Gu Rubing walked in and waved to the soldier, signaling him to leave.

When the soldiers saw Gu Rubing arrive, it was as if they had seen a savior. They hurriedly turned around and ran away.

After all, Cao Cao's status as a warlord for many years gave him a powerful aura. Coupled with Xu Chu and Dian Wei beside him, even if they restrained themselves to some extent, they still carried a sense of transcendence and the killing intent of someone who had been through many battles.

This made the soldier break out in a cold sweat every time he approached Cao Cao.

After seeing the soldiers leave, Gu Rubing asked Zhao Yun to close the door and then turned to sit in the main seat.

"King Wei, I'm truly sorry. Spring brings drowsiness, autumn brings fatigue, and summer brings lethargy. Now it's the season of autumn fatigue, so it's inevitable that I've been sleeping a bit too much. I just took a short nap. I hope you don't have any objections?" Upon hearing this, Cao Cao was so angry that he laughed.

He then gritted his teeth and shook his head.

"No objection, what objection could I have? It's just that I waited for two and a half hours. But Prince Lie, you should take care of your health and not fall into a deep sleep. Your family and business are so vast, if you fall into a deep sleep, no one can take over such a large territory."

"Haha, King Wei is quite the joker. I wonder when King Wei intends to come to see me this time?"

Cao Cao stated his purpose directly.

"Hmm? So you want to make peace with me, and then you're going to take action against Liu Zhang?"

Cao Cao knew that Gu Rubing had a powerful network of informants, and that even if he didn't tell Gu Rubing these things, Gu Rubing would find out soon enough. So, he decided to just tell him directly, so he could see Gu Rubing's expression and get an idea of ​​his attitude and whether he would cause trouble for him.

"That's right, but I don't know if King Lie has any objections to this."

"What opinions can I have? Even if I have opinions, they have to be useful. Your affairs are your internal matters, and I can't be bothered with them. But since you want a ceasefire, you have to pay a price, right? Otherwise, wouldn't I be at a huge loss?"

"cost?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao's face instantly darkened.
This time, Gu Rubing is only responsible for the ceasefire, and he doesn't need to pay anything else. Why should he ask for any benefits?

The frustration he had endured along the way, coupled with Gu Rubing's shamelessness, finally pushed Cao Cao to his breaking point.

He jumped up from the chair in a flash.

"King Lie, you need to understand, I haven't taken any action yet. If you don't agree, I will abandon this operation. In the end, the three of us will still be allies, and the price I need to pay is just losing a little bit of my say. Then we'll see who pays a higher price."

Gu Rubing realized that Cao Cao was really on the verge of exploding this time, and if he pushed Cao Cao any further, it might backfire.

“King Wei, why such a big reaction? I was just joking with King Lie. There’s no need to take it so seriously. You could have just sent someone to tell me about this. This is actually a good thing for me.”

"Hmph, then it's settled."

After saying this, Cao Cao flicked his sleeves and turned to leave with Dian Wei and Xu Chu.

The three walked for a long time before Xu Chu, after confirming that no one was around, walked up to Cao Cao.

"My lord, do you think Liu Bei should intervene?"

"As it stands, Liu Bei has no intention of interfering. This is a good thing for Liu Bei. Interfering arbitrarily would easily cause us to abandon our plans and unite against external forces, so he probably won't interfere. He has instructed everyone to proceed immediately according to our plan."

"Yes!"

Watching Cao Cao leave, Gu Rubing gave a cold laugh.

"Hmph, you old fox."

Just then, Lu Su walked in and overheard Gu Rubing's words. He looked at Gu Rubing with a blank expression.

Gu Rubing then realized what was happening and gave an awkward laugh.

"Zijing, I wasn't talking about you."

Lu Su breathed a sigh of relief; otherwise, he wouldn't have known when he had offended Gu Rubing.

"My lord, Cao Cao will definitely make a move soon after he returns. What should we do? Just watch? According to our intelligence, Cao Cao will definitely start with Jiaozhi County and then advance downwards, taking Jiuzhen and Rinan Counties along the way. Jiaozhi County is not large to begin with, and with Cao Cao's move, almost half of it will be in his hands. Cao Cao's strength will increase, which is not a good thing for us."

"Do not worry."

Gu Rubing smiled and waved his hand.

"Zijing, inform Liu Zhang about Cao Cao's situation. Don't use our identities. Just let Liu Zhang know. By the time our message reaches him, Cao Cao should have already taken over the entire Jiaozhi Commandery."

Lu Su smiled and nodded.

Soon, a message was sent out from Jiangzhou City.

In order to ensure the smooth progress of his plan to seize Liangzhou, Sun Jian staged a play, causing Shi Xie to launch a rebellion and seize some cities. These cities happened to be connected to Liu Zhang's seven cities and also happened to be connected to the Silk Road.

At this time, Shi Xie also happened to ally with Liu Zhang, and the two began to march towards Liangzhou.

Liu Zhang did not have any particularly strong generals, so Shi Xie could only send out Wang Yue and Shi A. However, Liu Zhang did not send out no one at all; this time, he sent out Su Leina.

As for the troops, with the covert support of Sun Jian and the overt support of Liu Zhang, both major sources of manpower, Wang Yue led a full 200,000 troops on this expedition.

The army marched in a mighty procession toward Liangzhou.

Wang Yue ordered Shi A to lead 30,000 men as the vanguard, intending to take advantage of Gu Rubing's lack of reaction time to quickly seize Dunhuang County in Liangzhou, and then use Dunhuang County as a base to seize Jiuquan County.

This was the strategy Surena devised before setting off, clearly intending to launch a blitzkrieg to seize territory, as only with territory could he secure stable logistical support.

Following Wang Yue's orders, Shi A led 30,000 cavalrymen and, with lightning speed, broke through Yumen Pass, then Dunhuang County, and finally the army stopped at Yangguan Pass.

Yangguan was also the last gateway to Dunhuang Prefecture.

Once opened, the entire Dunhuang region will fall completely into the enemy's hands.

Although the general guarding Yumen Pass failed to stop Shi A's offensive, he lit the beacon fire at the last moment.

When Dunhuang County was attacked, a second beacon fire was lit, and they fought back desperately.

This gave Yangguan some time to prepare.

Even so, Yangguan only managed to organize 10,000 troops from nearby areas to defend against them.

On Yangguan Pass, a deputy general looked worriedly at Shi A's 30,000-strong army outside the city walls.

In particular, the famous general Shi A took the lead and stood at the very front.

"General, our reinforcements are arriving late. If this continues, we won't be able to hold out for much longer."

Upon hearing this, the lieutenant frowned.

He was aware of this, of course, but what could he do?

He sent out the plea for help not only to Yumenguan and Dunhuang County, but all of them disappeared without a trace. Not only did no reinforcements arrive, but there was also no reply for so long.

There are only two possibilities for this situation. One is that the messenger was intercepted, but with war raging everywhere, even if the messenger was intercepted, the rear should still be able to see it. The other possibility is that Liangzhou has abandoned them, or rather, abandoned Dunhuang County.

This was the last thing the lieutenant wanted to admit; after all, if they were truly abandoned, their resistance would be meaningless, and their deaths would go unnoticed. (End of Chapter)