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

Cao Cao was still chatting and laughing with Xun Yu, Xun You and others. After all, with the full support of Sun Jian and Liu Zhang, he felt that he was more powerful than ever before.

He even believed that with the help of Liu Zhang and Sun Jian, he could wear down Gu Rubing with his own troops.

However, upon hearing the message from the soldier, Cao Cao froze on the spot, then immediately looked at Xun Yu and Xun You.

The two of them were also completely bewildered when they heard the news.

In their view, Gu Rubing had already achieved his goal, and it was pointless to let Wei Yan continue to besiege Chengdu.

Just then, Xun Yu had an idea and immediately shouted, "Find Jiang Wei immediately and have him rush to Chengdu's aid!"

"Yes!"

After the soldiers left, Xun Yu immediately looked at Cao Cao.

"My lord, there are currently 50,000 troops in Chengdu. The city walls of Chengdu are high and easy to defend, and there are many defensive weapons. It will take Wei Yan some time to arrive here. My lord, you need to gather all the grain and fodder in the vicinity."

Within Chengdu, there are two granaries, one on the left and one on the right. If these two granaries were filled to capacity, they would be enough to supply an army of 100,000 for two months.

Fortunately, the supplies for the front lines were now being prepared by Sun Jian, so the local supplies for Yizhou were stored around Chengdu.

Cao Cao immediately dispatched men to gather all the defensive equipment and grain supplies from the surrounding area into Chengdu.

Xun You, on the other hand, placed many sand and water buckets around the granary to prevent the enemy from attacking it.

When Wei Yan and his men were still thirty li away, all preparations in Chengdu were completed, and all 50,000 soldiers had climbed the city walls.

Cao Cao, accompanied by Xu Chu and Dian Wei, personally climbed the city wall.

Three hours later.

Wei Yan and his men appeared outside Chengdu.

Looking at Chengdu, which was on high alert, Wei Yan slowly walked forward.

“King Wei, my lord said that as long as you surrender, you can have any position you want.”

“That scoundrel Liu Bei used the same method to seize my Xuchang back then. Does he intend to use the same method to seize my Chengdu now? Tell Liu Bei to come at me. I have prepared many good things for him.”

Upon hearing this, Wei Yan snorted coldly, but instead of ordering an attack on the city, he retreated thirty miles and set up camp.

After the camp was built, Deng Ai and the others looked at the map in front of them, their brows furrowed.

They were somewhat confused as to why their lord wouldn't allow them to retreat.

Given the current situation, it's clear that they should retreat; they've already made a worthless move.

"Has our lord forgotten about us? Should we send a message to ask him?"

"This……"

Deng Ai and Zhong Hui rolled their eyes at Wei Yan's words.

Even if Gu Rubing had truly forgotten the three of them, surely he wouldn't have forgotten the 150,000-strong army? That represented the entire military force of Jiangzhou City.

Wei Yan realized he had said the wrong thing and gave an awkward laugh.

Wei Yan's intelligence wasn't low; after all, someone who could come up with the Ziwu Valley plan couldn't be a fool. However, compared to Deng Ai and Zhong Hui, Wei Yan's intelligence was clearly insufficient.

Just as the group hesitated, a soldier approached with a letter.

"Generals, this is a letter from our lord."

The three of them, somewhat curious, immediately took the letter.

Gu Rubing's letter was full of his plans.

At this moment, the three of them finally understood what Gu Rubing's purpose was.

Five days later.

Jiang Wei was the first to receive Cao Cao's order, and then, accompanied by Xu Huang, marched at full speed, entering Chengdu through other city gates.

With Jiang Wei's 150,000-strong army as reinforcements, there are now 200,000 troops in Chengdu, and Cao Cao can finally rest easy.

And he handed over command completely to Jiang Wei.

However, Wei Yan and his men still showed no intention of attacking the city.

Zhang Liao, who was hiding in the shadows, kept providing the three with intelligence about the surrounding area.

half a month later.

Gu Rubing stood on the city wall, holding some intelligence reports sent back by the crossbow captain.

Most of this intelligence is about Luocheng.

At this moment, Lu Su finally understood what Gu Rubing's plan was.

Gu Rubing's goal was not to defend the city, but to capture Luocheng.

He then annexed the entire Guanghan Commandery.

"My lord, news has come from Luocheng that Cao Ren has ordered Xiahou Dun to lead an army of 200,000 to Chengdu."

"Two hundred thousand?"

Upon hearing this news, Gu Rubing smirked coldly.

"You've finally made your move. I thought my plan had been exposed."

Have our reinforcements arrived yet?

"Reporting to my lord, the reinforcements have already arrived at 150,000, and the remaining 150,000 will arrive within half a month."

Gu Rubing calculated that he now had nearly 300,000 troops, which was enough to carry out his next plan.

"Order Zhang He to lead an army of 250,000 to Luocheng with me."

"Yes!"

Soon, Zhang He led an army of 250,000 and began to slowly move towards Luocheng.

After seeing Xiahou Dun off, Cao Ren looked at his 200,000 troops and was prepared to defend to the death.

Now, a large number of troops are heading to Xuchang, and the forces he has are only enough to defend himself, not enough to launch a proactive attack.

However, Cao Ren did not expect that only six days had passed.

Gu Rubing then led an army of 250,000 to the city gates.

Cao Ren had anticipated this, and Zhang He challenged him from below the city for three days in a row, but Cao Ren acted as if he hadn't heard him and completely ignored Zhang He.

Seeing this, Gu Rubing didn't care at all.

"My lord, it's no use. Cao Ren has no intention of fighting us. He has 200,000 troops. We can't possibly break through their defenses."

Zhang He looked at Gu Rubing with a helpless expression.

"Don't worry, I have a way."

After saying that, Gu Rubing clapped his hands.

A soldier walked in.

"Pass down the order: get on the trebuchets!"

"Huh? A trebuchet?"

Zhang He looked at Gu Rubing with a puzzled expression.

"Come on, I'll show you something good."

Soon, Gu Rubing led everyone to an open space.

Two catapults were slowly pushed up.

Seeing that there were only two catapults, Zhang He felt somewhat helpless.

"My lord, there are only two catapults. Even if they throw them at all they want, they won't be able to throw many stones. Your catapults might not even have as many as theirs!"

Each trebuchet launched a boulder weighing several hundred kilograms, which resulted in the trebuchet itself having a short lifespan.

To achieve the desired effect, at least five catapults need to launch stones together to destroy the enemy target.

Gu Rubing was naturally aware of this as well.

However, Gu Rubing smiled mysteriously.

He waved immediately.

Soon, several soldiers came over carrying several jars. Lu Su, who was standing nearby, quickly smelled the aroma from the jars, which was almost identical to the aroma he had smelled in Mianzhu City.

"My lord, is this gunpowder?"

“That’s right. I put the remaining gunpowder into the jar, leaving a fuse outside. Once the fuse is lit and the jar is thrown into the enemy camp, the gunpowder will explode, which will be more damaging than a boulder.”

After speaking, Gu Rubing patted the catapult next to him.

"In addition, the jars being launched now are only a few kilograms in size, not as heavy as the boulders, so the lifespan of the catapults can be extended a lot. It's just a pity that a lot of the gunpowder was used up in Mianzhu City, and there's only enough left to fill these few jars."

Upon hearing that it was gunpowder, Zhang He immediately became interested.

He still vividly remembered how Mianzhu City had been bombed.

However, I was quite disappointed when I heard that there were only these few jars.

Even if all these jars are used, they won't be able to breach the enemy's city walls. Although they can cause considerable damage, the enemy has 200,000 people. How many of them can these jars destroy?
However, Gu Rubing ignored Zhang He's thoughts and instead instructed everyone to prepare to begin the deployment.

A jar was thrown out very quickly.

The jar landed on the city wall of Luocheng.

There was a "bang" sound.

The jar exploded!

Dozens of soldiers nearby were instantly injured or killed by the blast.

The shards of the jar, like sharp arrows, pierced through the bodies of many people.

Upon seeing this, Cao Ren immediately thought of the huge explosion he had heard in Mianzhu City.

Although the sound from this jar was much quieter, it was still deafening.

"What the hell is this?"

Seeing the destructive power of this small creature, Cao Ren felt a sense of fear.

Xiahou Yuan subconsciously took a few steps back.

At this moment, Gu Rubing had leisurely walked to the outskirts of Luocheng.

"Cao Ren, did you see the power of that thing just now? Let me tell you, I have hundreds of those things. How long do you think you can last? I advise you to surrender now."

Upon hearing that Gu Rubing had hundreds of them, Cao Ren was immediately terrified and broke out in a cold sweat.

Cao Ren worried that the walls of Luocheng would be blown up like the walls of Mianzhu.

But Cao Ren quickly calmed down.

No matter how scared you are, you can't let others see it.

"Hmph, Liu Bei, you think you can fool me? If you really had hundreds, would you be wasting your breath talking to me here?"

"Cao Ren, if it weren't for your 200,000 troops, do you think I would have bothered to waste words with you? If you know what's good for you, surrender now and hand over your troops. Otherwise, I'll bombard Luo City with catapults first thing tomorrow morning, and all of you will be buried with Luo City."

After saying that, Gu Rubing turned and left.

Looking at Gu Rubing's retreating figure, Cao Ren hesitated for a moment.

Just then, Xiahou Yuan walked over.

"Liu Bei just said that tomorrow morning, which means we still have time, right? Tonight I will lead men to raid his catapult camp. As long as we destroy all those things, I think we should be able to defend Luocheng."

Upon hearing this, Cao Ren immediately nodded.

late at night.

Xiahou Yuan led 10,000 cavalrymen and slowly left the city under the moonlight.

That night, Cao Ren had his last cavalry. This time, in order to destroy the explosives in Gu Rubing's hands, Cao Ren went to great lengths.

Xiahou Yuan quickly located Gu Rubing's catapult camp.

After dealing with the sentries, Xiahou Yuan quietly entered the catapult camp and quickly discovered hundreds of jars inside.

"There really are so many."

Xiahou Yuan didn't recognize gunpowder, but he recognized the jars that had been thrown at him. Since all the jars looked the same, Xiahou Yuan immediately guessed that they were filled with gunpowder.

"I'll let you blow it up, and see if I can't blow you all up."

After saying that, Xiahou Yuan immediately prepared to light the fire.

However, at that moment, countless torches appeared all around, and countless people rushed out from all sides.

The one leading them was Gu Rubing.

"Haha, Xiahou Yuan, I knew you would come. I specially waited for you here."

Xiahou Yuan and the cavalry from that night, after being discovered, everyone immediately gathered together.

Seeing that he had been discovered, Xiahou Yuan simply stopped hiding and pointed the torch at the jars.

"Liu Bei, I advise you to let me go, otherwise I will burn all these things."

"Burning it? Then go ahead and burn it. See if you can even manage to burn it."

"Ok?"

Xiahou Yuan could tell that Gu Rubing showed no fear whatsoever, and was looking at him with a smile, as if he were watching a clown.

Xiahou Yuan immediately realized that he had been tricked.

When Xiahou Yuan opened one of the jars, he saw that there was no explosives inside; it was clearly just a jar of water.

"Liu Bei, how dare you play me?"

"Playing you for a fool? That shouldn't count, right? You were the one who wanted to attack my camp, not me. Besides, I never said there were explosives here, did I?"

"Now that you've discovered me, there's no need for me to hide anymore. Brothers, follow me and we'll fight our way out."

After Xiahou Yuan finished speaking, he led ten thousand cavalrymen and charged out.

Although Gu Rubing was lying in ambush on Xiahou Yuan, he only had infantry, which was obviously not fast enough to compete with cavalry.

However, Xiahou Yuan's escape route surprised Gu Rubing.

Xiahou Yuan didn't rush towards the entrance, but instead headed deeper into the catapult camp.

At first, Gu Rubing didn't understand what Xiahou Yuan was trying to do.

But Gu Rubing quickly realized what was going on.

"Oh no, he's going to sabotage the catapult! Everyone, stop him!"

However, Gu Rubing was a step too late.

Xiahou Yuan had already arrived in front of the two catapults.

Immediately afterwards, Xiahou Yuan poured the oil he was carrying directly onto the catapult.

And he used the torch in his hand to directly ignite the oil.

The two catapults instantly burst into flames.

Seeing the catapult engulfed in flames, Gu Rubing knew that the catapult was doomed.

"Everyone, stop Xiahou Yuan!"

However, seeing that his mission was complete, Xiahou Yuan immediately led his cavalry and disappeared quickly.

at the same time.

At the city gate of Luocheng.

A group of people slowly arrived outside the city gate.

"Open the door for me."

Upon hearing this sound, the soldiers guarding the city immediately looked curiously toward the city gate.

As a result, because it was too dark, he couldn't see anything.

Who are those below the city walls?

"Nonsense, you don't even recognize me? I think you've had your fill of life."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers immediately panicked. (End of Chapter)