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

However, this time the retreat was quite different from before.

This time, Cao Ren and his men have been targeted by Zhang Liao.

In terms of speed, infantry is definitely no match for Zhang Liao's cavalry, especially since these infantrymen have been marching at high speed and their physical strength has long been at its limit.

Seeing that they were still unable to shake off Zhang Liao, Cao Ren gritted his teeth.

"Cao Zhen, lead the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to cover the rear."

The Tiger and Leopard Cavalry was Cao Cao's strongest elite cavalry force, which had always been treasured by Cao Cao and Cao Ren. But now, this treasure could only be used to cover the rear.

Upon receiving the order, Cao Zhen immediately led the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry to charge towards Zhang Liao.

However, when light cavalry like the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry encounter heavy cavalry like the Iron Pagoda Cavalry, even if Zhang Liao cannot launch a desperate battle, the heavy cavalry still has an absolute advantage.

In just one round of attacks, the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry had already suffered losses of nearly a thousand.

Seeing the heavy losses suffered by the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, Cao Zhen felt a pang of heartache and immediately led them in a retreat.

Zhang Liao wanted to pursue them.

Unfortunately, the Ironclad Cavalry was a heavy cavalry unit, and in terms of speed, it could not compare with the Tiger and Leopard Cavalry, which were light cavalry units, and was always left behind by them.

Just then, Gu Rubing gave the order to retreat, and Zhang Liao and his men had no choice but to go back.

Cao Ren led his men on a long run, and only stopped when they saw that there were no more pursuers.

When these soldiers heard that they could rest, they all collapsed onto the ground.

The high-intensity running, coupled with combat, followed by another high-intensity run, had already pushed these soldiers to their limits.

Seeing the soldiers' condition, the Xiahou brothers immediately stepped forward to help them up.

But Cao Ren stopped him.

"Alright, let them get some rest. It's not easy for any of them. Those who managed to come all the way here are the elite."

They rested for two hours.

Cao Ren then stood up and took stock of the losses.

This inventory infuriated Cao Ren.

When they set out, there were 100,000 troops. Now, the number of those who have returned, including the wounded, is only 60,000. In total, they have lost another 40,000. Among them are a large number of wounded soldiers. Whether they can be cured and whether they can continue to go to the battlefield after being cured are all questions.

"I just don't understand, where did Liu Bei's 30,000 troops come from? Has he been hiding his troops all along? If that's the case, then Liu Bei's troops in Jiangzhou City aren't 150,000, but 180,000?"

Xiahou Dun muttered to himself.

This defeat was entirely due to these 30,000 troops. If it weren't for them, they might have had a real chance to defeat Liu Bei's forces, given their numerical advantage.

Xun Yu, who was standing to the side, kept thinking and finally focused his gaze on Xiahou Dun.

"Thirty thousand men? Of all the battles we've fought against Liu Bei so far, it seems only Yuan Rang and you fought against Liu Bei, killing thirty thousand enemies. Is that the number you reported to us?"

Xiahou Dun then remembered and hurriedly nodded.

"Yes."

Xiahou Dun realized what he had said and hurriedly explained, "I did not lie. I did indeed shoot 30,000 people. The bodies were all on the ground. If you don't believe me, you can ask the soldiers who were there at the time. They all know."

Cao Ren looked at Xiahou Dun with a puzzled expression.

The Cao family and the Xiahou family were indeed related, and having served in the army for many years, Cao Ren knew Xiahou Dun quite well.

Xiahou Dun is capable, and he would never lie about military intelligence just to gain military merit.

"Sir, isn't there some misunderstanding here?"

Cao Ren looked at Xun Yu, wanting to explain on Xiahou Dun's behalf as well.

However, Xun Yu shook his head.

"You've misunderstood. I'm not saying Yuan Rang lied about military intelligence. I'm just wondering, did those 30,000 men really die?"

These words silenced everyone, and finally everyone looked at Xiahou Dun.

"They must all be dead. These arrows are stuck in their bodies. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Did you see them die with your own eyes?"

When Xun Yu asked this question, everyone looked completely bewildered, not understanding what he meant at all.

"Sir, what are you doing?"

Cao Ren also sensed that Xun Yu was picking a fight.

"Generals, please don't misunderstand. Just because an arrow hits someone doesn't mean they'll die. Sometimes, stuffing something into your body can also block the arrow and give the illusion that you've been hit. Liu Bei was a master at using corpses as a disguise, and in the end, he used this army of corpses as cavalry."

Upon hearing this, Xiahou Dun suddenly remembered that when he first saw Gu Rubing's soldiers, he only had one thought in his mind: why are all these people so fat?

It now appears that those people weren't fat, but rather that something else had been implanted in their bodies to protect them from the arrows.

"Snapped!"

Xiahou Dun slapped his thigh, looking regretful.

"I was careless at the time. How could I not have thought to go out of the city to see if these people were really dead? How could soldiers who have been in the army for many years be so fat?"

After Xiahou Dun finished speaking, he told everyone what he had seen back then.

"It's them. This is Liu Bei's ambush. It seems Liu Bei has been plotting against us for a long time."

"Sir, what should we do?"

"What else can we do? Let's go back first. I wonder how the lord will punish us this time. No matter how you look at it, the losses this time are quite serious."

After confirming that Cao Ren would not pursue them, Gu Rubing immediately led everyone back to Jiangzhou City.

Lu Su took stock of the losses this time.

At the ambush on Cao Ren, they only lost less than 10,000 men.

This time, they lost about 80,000 men, leaving 70,000 able to defend Jiangzhou City.

Cao Ren suffered far greater losses than them; of his 300,000 troops, only about 100,000 remained in the end.

Gu Rubing felt much more relaxed after seeing Lu Su's statistics.

At least in terms of numbers, Cao Ren was almost at a disadvantage.

However, what worried Gu Rubing the most was Deng Ai's injury.

Upon arriving at Deng Ai's room, they found her lying on the bed, her limbs still unable to move.

Upon seeing Gu Rubing arrive, he immediately struggled to get up, but his limbs were completely out of Deng Ai's control.

"Alright, now lie down properly."

"My lord, I apologize, but I am unwell and unable to perform the proper greeting!"

"It's okay, are you feeling any better?"

"Thank you for your concern, my lord. I am much better now. Master Hua Tuo said that I should be able to get out of bed in another half month."

Gu Rubing smiled and nodded.

The two chatted for a while longer, and just as Gu Rubing was about to get up and leave, a soldier came over.

"My lord, the gentleman requests your presence. We have intelligence regarding Cao Cao."

Now that they are fighting Cao Cao, Gu Rubing has sent a large number of spies into Yizhou. Almost all the movements in Yizhou are under Gu Rubing's watchful eye.

However, Gu Rubing was somewhat curious about what major moves Cao Cao could possibly make now, and why Lu Su was in such a hurry to find him. After bidding farewell to Deng Ai, Gu Rubing immediately went to the main hall.

At this moment, Wei Yan and the others were already waiting in the hall.

When Lu Su saw Gu Rubing arrive, he immediately stepped forward.

"My lord, according to our intelligence, Cao Cao has another army of 200,000 men on its way to Linjiang City."

"Another 200,000? Cao Cao only has Yi Province, where did he get so many troops? Did Liu Zhang and Sun Jian provide support to Cao Cao again?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Su nodded and then delivered the three intelligence reports to Gu Rubing.

Gu Rubing glanced at the three intelligence reports; they came from Liu Zhang, Sun Jian, and Cao Cao, respectively.

The three pieces of intelligence all point to the same thing: Cao Cao purchased 100,000 troops from Sun Jian, and Liu Zhang also sent 100,000 troops to Cao Cao.

Upon seeing this information, Gu Rubing sat down in a chair.

"My lord, does this situation seem somewhat familiar? Do you still remember Youzhou from back then?"

How could Gu Rubing forget that Youzhou was like this back then? A weak Shi Xie, with the help of three families, managed to hold his own against him for almost a year. Now that Cao Cao has become Shi Xie, his fighting power has increased many times over. This is certainly not good news for him.

However, Shi Xie was used as a pawn back then. Was Cao Cao also willing to be a pawn?
Gu Rubing knew that Cao Cao was very arrogant, and it was certainly not his intention to be bullied like this by Liu Zhang and Sun Jian.

In the days following receiving this news, Gu Rubing made no move.

Cao Ren also became much quieter. The so-called left and right camps were no longer needed, and all the troops were huddled inside Linjiang City.

Both sides are waiting for their reinforcements.

half a month later.

Reinforcements for both sides have arrived.

The entire city of Jiangzhou now has 280,000 troops.

However, looking at these soldiers, Gu Rubing couldn't quite manage a smile.

Because at this time, there were also 300,000 troops in Linjiang City.

Two hundred and eighty thousand against three hundred thousand—this kind of massive battle involving hundreds of thousands of troops is not what he wants. After all, once they officially clash, both sides will suffer huge losses. The other side has three factions, so they can spread the losses evenly, while he is just one person, and he has to bear all the losses himself.

The latest intelligence arrived quickly.

To Gu Rubing's surprise, Cao Cao also appeared in Linjiang City.

The previously abandoned left and right battalions were reactivated, and this time the number of troops in the left and right battalions was increased to 100,000.

Clearly, the previous arrangements had taught them a lesson, and this time they had made improvements.

After considering the situation, Gu Rubing left 50,000 men with Zhong Hui, while he himself led an army of 230,000 to the outskirts of Linjiang City.

Besides Zhang He and the others, there was another person accompanying Gu Rubing: Guan Yu.

Since Cao Cao appeared in Linjiang City, he must have been accompanied by his two super bodyguards, Dian Wei and Xu Chu.

Inside Linjiang City.

Cao Cao smashed the teacup in his hand on the ground.

The teacup fell to the ground and shattered.

Those around who witnessed this scene dared not even breathe.

Everyone looked at Xun Yu standing to the side.

When Cao Cao was angry, only Xun Yu dared to speak.

Seeing the pleading looks in everyone's eyes, Xun Yu had no choice but to step forward.

"My lord, please calm down!"

"Calm down? How can I calm down? Wenruo, can't you see what Liu Zhang and Sun Jian are up to? These are the same tricks I used on them before, and now they're using them on me. Do they really think I'm so easy to bully?"

After Cao Cao finished speaking, he slammed his hand on the table.

"But my lord, Liu Bei is pressing us step by step, and we have no other choice. If we don't accept their aid, our troops are no match for Liu Bei's 300,000-strong army. At that time, let alone Ba County, the entire Yi Province may fall into Liu Bei's hands."

How could Cao Cao not know what Xun Yu was saying?

Cao Cao was unwilling to accept this turn of events. He had gone from being the one holding the pieces to being a pawn on the board, and this change made him very unhappy.

The key to breaking the deadlock now lies with Liu Bei. As long as we can get Liu Bei to stop, everything can be disrupted and we can start over.

Cao Cao knew that if he wanted to break the current situation, he had to make the waters muddy.

Just then, Cao Cao received a report from the front lines that Liu Bei was leading an army of 230,000 men and was marching towards Linjiang City.

Upon hearing that Gu Rubing had arrived, Cao Cao immediately burst into laughter.

"Prepare for war!"

after one day.

Gu Rubing appeared thirty miles away from the left and right camps and set up camp.

"My lord, we are outnumbered, and if the enemy chooses to defend the city, we may not be able to hold it."

"Don't worry, we probably don't need to fight this battle. We're just taking a stroll with our army."

"No need to fight?"

Lu Su looked at Gu Rubing with a blank expression.

"Cao Cao is not content with the current situation. Now, Liu Zhang and Sun Jian are pushing Cao Cao forward in a tacit way, trying to make him the Shi Xie of Youzhou. But they have forgotten that Cao Cao is not Shi Xie, and Yizhou is not Youzhou. Shi Xie can be bullied by them at will, but Cao Cao cannot. For Cao Cao, the best way to break the deadlock is to secretly cease hostilities with us and openly fight us!"

"A secret ceasefire, but open fighting? What does that mean?"

Lu Su still didn't understand Gu Rubing's meaning.

"Haha, Zijing, just wait and see. It won't be long before Cao Cao contacts us."

No sooner had Gu Rubing finished speaking than a soldier came to report.

"My lord, three people have arrived outside the camp. They say they are Cao Cao's envoys."

"You've come, haven't you?"

Gu Rubing smiled smugly at Lu Su.

"Let them in."

Before long, three messengers appeared before Gu Rubing.

"Xun Yu?"

Gu Rubing only knew that an envoy had arrived, but he did not expect that the envoy would be Xun Yu.

This was Cao Cao's chief minister in charge of internal affairs.

His position in Cao Cao's camp was almost the same as that of Zhuge Liang in front of him.

The fact that Cao Cao sent Xun Yu demonstrates just how eager he was for this meeting.

"Greetings, Your Highness Prince Lie!"

Xun Yu bowed to Gu Rubing.

"Alright, Xun Yu, just say it. Cao Cao summoned you here, is there something he wants? Is he proposing a battle? If so, you don't need to say anything more; I'm already preparing to attack the city." (End of Chapter)