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

As more and more Qinglong School Swordsmen climbed the city wall.

Guo Huai then realized the difference between his soldiers and the Green Dragon Swordsmen.

In night combat, both sides could almost clearly see how many people the other side had and where they were located.

However, the Azure Dragon Swordsmen, through skillful teamwork, were able to accurately pinpoint the location of their own men and launch precise attacks.

Guo Huai knew that if the fighting continued at this pace, Zhicheng would fall in an hour at most, and in that time, there would be no way anyone would come to its aid.

Thinking of this, Guo Huai immediately ordered a small portion of his troops to move all the grain and fodder out of the city, at least to hide it outside the city.

Just then, Zhang Liao led the Iron Pagoda Cavalry to climb the city wall.

With the addition of the Ironclad Cavalry, Guo Huai's defeat accelerated even further.

It didn't even take an hour.

After the battle ended, Zhang Liao learned that Guo Huai had already left Zhicheng with a group of people.

Zhang Liao didn't care about this at all. His goal wasn't Guo Huai, but the grain supplies in Zhicheng.

Last time, he didn't have much time, but this time he has plenty of time.

After searching the city, they did find a considerable amount of grain in the houses, but the total amount was less than half of what Zhang Liao had guessed.

"You can't keep looking for me!"

Zhang Liao collected some of the grain and fodder, and burned the rest.

However, no matter how Zhou Cang and his men searched, even scouring the entire city of Zhi, they still found no trace of grain.

"General, I suspect the grain supplies have already been transported away."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Liao looked around, his mind racing with questions about where the grain supplies had gone.

However, Zhang Liao could only give up the search for provisions in disappointment, because he simply couldn't think of anything.

Zhang Liao certainly didn't expect that when Jiang Wei learned that Cao Ren had mobilized 30,000 troops to Linjiang City during his decisive battle with Gu Rubing, he would think of the safety of Zhicheng and simply let the 30,000 troops take a large amount of grain with them.

There was only a small amount of grain and fodder in Zhicheng.

In addition, Guo Huai used the limited time to transfer some more people away, so Zhang Liao suffered a loss this time.

However, Zhang Liao didn't care, since his goal this time was Zhicheng.

Within just one day, news of the fall of Zhicheng reached Cao Ren's Linjiang City.

Upon hearing this news, Cao Ren immediately ordered Jiang Wei to be arrested.

"General Cao, what are you doing?"

"What are you doing? If you hadn't brought all your troops to Linjiang City, how could Zhicheng have fallen? Don't you know how important Zhicheng is to Linjiang City?"

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wei's face instantly darkened.

Clearly, Cao Ren intended for him to take the blame.

This is not in line with Cao Ren's usual style.

But there is nothing that can be done about it.

After years of war, Yizhou was already short of population.

Cao Cao had to empty his coffers to muster these 150,000 troops.

But in this battle, nearly 100,000 men were lost, and Cao Ren didn't know how to explain it to Cao Cao.

Now that Jiang Wei is available, Cao Ren has no choice but to promote him.

Just as Jiang Wei was about to argue, a voice came from outside.

"What are you doing?"

Upon hearing that familiar voice, Cao Ren immediately went outside the room.

"I've met my lord!"

Seeing this, everyone knelt on the ground.

Cao Cao then entered from outside, accompanied by Xun Yu.

Upon entering, Cao Cao saw Jiang Wei being captured.

"Alright, release Boyue. If it weren't for Boyue, it would be questionable whether you could even defend Linjiang City."

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren immediately waved his hand and released Jiang Wei.

“I already know about what happened in Zhicheng. I also encountered Guo Huai on the way. He had already hidden some of the grain outside the city, so our losses were not significant. I have given Guo Huai 30,000 troops to take back Zhicheng. Zhang Liao's forces are not large. His purpose is to disrupt our rear. When he sees Guo Huai returning with a large number of troops, he will naturally retreat.”

After Cao Cao finished speaking, he looked at Jiang Wei.

“Boyue, no matter what, it was indeed your fault for mobilizing troops without authorization this time. However, I do not intend to punish you. Consider it an equal exchange of merits and demerits. If it happens again, the punishment will be doubled.”

"Yes, thank you, my lord!"

Jiang Wei immediately burst out laughing.

"Alright, now tell me, what ideas do you all have?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren immediately stepped forward and asked, "My lord, have you brought reinforcements this time?"

"No, all 30,000 men were given to Guo Huai."

Cao Ren sighed after hearing this.

Now, it's barely enough for 90,000 troops to defend the city, and the remaining 30,000 troops are completely unreliable and will inevitably have to stay and defend Zhicheng.

"My lord, given the current situation, we have no choice but to defend the city and fight Liu Bei at a loss!"

Cao Cao nodded.

However, Xun Yu, who was standing to the side, pondered for a moment, looked at the map beside him, and said, "General Cao, let me ask you, which is more important, Linjiang City or Jiangzhou City?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren glanced at Xun Yu.

If anyone else had asked this question, Cao Ren would certainly not have given them a pleasant look, but since it was Xun Yu, Cao Ren could only suppress his anger.

"Of course it's Jiangzhou City. After several fortifications by us and Liu Zhang, the height of the city walls is comparable to that of Luoyang. The city also has a large space inside, which can store a lot of defensive equipment. If you give me Jiangzhou City and 50,000 troops, I am confident that I can withstand Liu Bei's 100,000-strong army."

Upon hearing this, Xun Yu looked at Cao Ren.

"Since General Cao knows this, why doesn't he attack Jiangzhou City?"

"Ok?"

Cao Ren was already starting to lose his temper.

Everyone knows that Cao Ren's current predicament is due to his reckless attack on Jiangzhou City. Now that the enemy is at the city gates and his own forces are insufficient, he still wants to attack Jiangzhou City.
“Sir, I know my previous behavior was somewhat rash, but you can just say so. I, Cao Ren, will not have any complaints. There is no need for you to target me like this.”

Cao Cao also looked at Xun Yu with some dissatisfaction.

"Wenruo, what do you mean by this?"

Xun Yu looked at the two of them and burst out laughing.

“My lord, General Cao, please don’t be anxious. As far as I know, Liu Bei only has 150,000 troops in Jiangzhou. Although he survived the battle with General Cao, he must have suffered considerable losses. Now Liu Bei is leading 100,000 troops to attack Linjiang. Does that mean that the garrison in Jiangzhou should be less than 20,000? Isn’t this an opportunity for us? There’s more than one road from Linjiang to Jiangzhou.”

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao's eyes lit up.

He began to make plans in his mind.

As Xun Yu suggested, Cao Ren should lead a large force to attack Jiangzhou City, but they needed to avoid Gu Rubing's main force. This meant someone needed to be stationed in Linjiang City to distract Gu Rubing, and this person couldn't have too many troops, as most of them would have to be entrusted to Cao Ren. Cao Cao looked at everyone present and realized that only one person was capable of holding off Liu Bei to some extent: Jiang Wei.

"Boyo, are you willing to atone for your sins with your good deeds?"

"My subordinate is willing!"

"Well, I'll give you 30,000 troops. Your mission is simple: draw Liu Bei's attention and buy us time to launch a surprise attack on Jiangzhou City."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wei looked at Cao Cao, but saw no expression on Cao Cao's face.

"Subordinates take orders!"

"Yes, remember, you must not leave Linjiang City, even if it means death, without my orders."

"Yes!"

Upon hearing Cao Cao's words, Xun Yu subconsciously looked at Cao Cao, opened his mouth, but said nothing.

After all the orders were given, Cao Cao took Xun Yu and left Linjiang City.

Cao Cao originally had no intention of getting involved in matters at the front. If it weren't for receiving so many letters from Guo Huai and Cao Ren, he wouldn't have bothered to come over.

For Cao Cao, Liu Zhang was the one who was most bothering him at the moment.

The two walked out of the city, and Xun Yu looked at Cao Cao.

"My lord, do you intend to abandon Jiang Wei?"

"Hmm? Wenruo, what do you mean by this?"

"My lord, you are ordering Jiang Wei to defend Linjiang City to the death. This is not in line with our plan. Moreover, even if Jiang Wei is very capable, it is impossible for 30,000 men to defend against 100,000. You are essentially sending Jiang Wei to his death."

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao burst out laughing.

"Don't worry, Wenruo. I just want Jiang Wei to restrain himself. For a young man, suffering a few defeats is not necessarily a good thing. I will make Jiang Wei retreat at the right opportunity."

Xun Yu breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. After all, if Jiang Wei had really gotten into trouble because of Cao Cao's wrong orders, others would have some complaints about Cao Cao.

Once Cao Cao left, Jiang Wei was immediately removed from the war council.

Jiang Wei walked outside the room and looked at the blue sky above.

For some reason, the azure sky had only one cloud, and that cloud happened to block out the sun.

"Is this my fate?"

After saying this, Jiang Wei chuckled self-deprecatingly, then turned and walked towards the city wall.

On his way back, Cao Cao passed through Zhicheng.

Indeed, it was just as Cao Cao had thought.

When Zhang Liao saw Guo Huai returning with 30,000 troops, he immediately broke out of the encirclement and did not intend to hold out to the death.

Guo Huai, on the other hand, successfully accepted Zhicheng once again.

Cao Cao only met with Guo Huai once, gave him some instructions, and then turned around and headed to Chengdu again.

Gu Rubing knew that Cao Cao had arrived in Linjiang City, but he also learned that Cao Cao had left Linjiang City in less than an hour.

As for what was said, their informants hadn't investigated it thoroughly.

Gu Rubing suddenly became curious.

The only option was to send the crossbow captain to investigate again.

Two days passed quickly.

There is no information whatsoever about Linjiang City.

This made Gu Rubing somewhat suspicious, wondering if something was amiss.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing immediately summoned Lu Su.

Lu Su also felt that the quiet of the past few days was somewhat strange. After learning of Gu Rubing's doubts, Lu Su made a decision directly.

That means letting Wei Yan and his men attack the city to see what really happened.

Gu Rubing nodded, then ordered Wei Yan and the other two generals to lead 100,000 troops to launch a direct attack on the city.

Jiang Wei had already prepared for this together.

The moment he saw Wei Yan's army appear, he ordered everyone to immediately begin defense.

Moreover, all the defensive equipment had already been arranged on the city walls.

Although Linjiang City's walls are not as tall as Jiangzhou City's, they have been reinforced and heightened several times, making it far superior to small cities like Zhicheng.

Wei Yan's several strong attacks were all repelled by the enemy.

Most importantly, Wei Yan discovered that the enemy was throwing down rocks and logs as if they were free, and the oil they were throwing out was also too casual.

Two hours later, Wei Yan's 100,000-strong army still hadn't even reached the edge of the city wall.

Gu Rubing, on the other hand, was on a mountaintop, observing the entire situation.

Looking at the figures constantly running on the city wall, Gu Rubing roughly calculated that there were nearly 30,000 soldiers on the city wall alone.

Moreover, the soldiers defending the city all seemed very confident and showed no signs of panic.

Gu Rubing suddenly realized that he might be overthinking things.

After hesitating for a moment, Gu Rubing finally decided to withdraw his troops.

The original plan for attacking Linjiang City was not well-formulated. This attack was just a simple probe. The reason for sending 100,000 men was only to scare the enemy.

After receiving the order to retreat, Wei Yan reluctantly led everyone to retreat.

Jiang Wei felt no joy at the successful defense. Instead, he opened the city gates and quickly collected all the usable defensive equipment.

Having succeeded in this siege, Gu Rubing put aside his doubts and focused on figuring out how to break through the enemy's defenses of 90,000 men and successfully capture Linjiang City.

Completely unaware, Cao Ren had already led a large number of troops to flank them.

Cao Ren knew that Gu Rubing had many spies, so in order to avoid Gu Rubing's spies and prevent Gu Rubing's spies from sending messages to the team.

Throughout the entire operation, Cao Ren did not tell his men what the purpose was. He also sent his personal guards and several vanguards to scout the surrounding area. These men were also tasked with keeping an eye on the people in the main force.

Cao Ren's guess was correct. There were indeed many of Gu Rubing's spies among his 60,000-strong army, but they did not know what Cao Ren was going to do with them when he left the city, so they had not sent out any effective messages.

Several people who wanted to leave the group to investigate were stopped by Cao Ren's confidants.

A few days later, they finally found out what Cao Ren was up to.

Because Jiangzhou City had already appeared before their eyes.

These informants wanted to go out and send the message back.

However, Cao Ren's men had already been secretly observing the entire route.

Upon arriving in Jiangzhou City, he immediately ordered the execution of anyone suspected of suspicious behavior.

This operation terrified the remaining, more deeply hidden informants, who all dared not make a move.

When Deng Ai and Zhong Hui learned that Cao Ren had appeared outside the city with a large army, they knew Cao Ren's purpose and immediately arranged for everyone to be stationed on the city wall at the south gate.

Zhong Hui counted the troops; there were only a little over 20,000 soldiers. (End of Chapter)