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

The person who came spoke with such a strong voice must be a high-ranking general in the army.

"Excuse me, General, I am new here. May I ask who you are?"

"I am Xiahou Yuan, don't you recognize me?"

Upon hearing this, the soldier was immediately in a dilemma. How could he not be Xiahou Yuan? However, in the dark of night, they did know that Xiahou Yuan had gone to carry out a mission, but they couldn't see Xiahou Yuan's face.

"Excuse me, General, please come a little closer so I can see you!"

"Open the city gates and let me in, then you'll see my face. Who exactly are you working for? Why are you so stubborn? Tomorrow morning, have your centurion come to see me."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers dared not delay and immediately opened the city gate.

Soon, the group slowly entered the city.

Upon seeing this, the soldier immediately descended the city wall.

"General, I'm sorry, I..."

The soldier had originally intended to apologize, but his expression changed drastically upon seeing who had entered.

He was about to shout.

But his throat was slit with a single blow.

"Sorry, my name is not Xiahou Yuan, it's Zhang He."

After saying that, Zhang He took out a torch and waved it at the city gate.

Immediately afterwards, a large number of fierce soldiers appeared outside the city and began to rush towards the city wall.

The soldiers on guard duty saw a large number of people outside the city.

Just as he was about to sound the alarm, Zhang He stopped him and imitated Xiahou Yuan's voice.

"What are you doing? Have you forgotten? I went out with an army of ten thousand men, and these are our own people."

Upon hearing this, the soldiers put down their hammers.

Under such darkness, the soldiers on the city wall couldn't see clearly how many people were below; they could only see some dark figures moving about.

This also deprived these soldiers of their last chance to sound the alarm.

Soon, a large number of Liejun soldiers entered the city.

The soldiers guarding the city then realized that it was not Xiahou Yuan who had entered, but Lie Jun.

Just as they were sounding the alarm, the Lie army had already captured the city walls.

Cao Ren, who was still waiting for news from Xiahou Yuan in the government office, heard the alarm bell ring and immediately realized that someone was attacking the city. He then led a large number of troops to the city wall.

However, things were already in complete chaos.

The city gates have been opened.

Large numbers of Liejun soldiers stormed into the city, while the city walls had already been completely occupied by Zhang He's men.

Zhang He continued to kill the soldiers who charged at him.

"What happened? How did the city gates get opened?"

Cao Ren didn't understand what had happened, but his current task was to retake the city wall and close the city gate.

However, he was completely unable to complete this task.

The two sides blocked the city gate and engaged in a fierce battle.

Before long, Cao Ren discovered that they were suffering a series of defeats.

The two sides are not evenly matched in terms of combat strength.

Three hours passed.

Xiahou Yuan has also returned.

However, the city gates were already closed, and the banners of the Liejun army were displayed on them.

Xiahou Yuan's eyes widened in shock upon seeing this.

"This...how is this possible?"

However, just as Xiahou Dun was beginning to have doubts, Zhang He was already standing on the city wall.

"Oh, isn't this General Xiahou? You're late. Luocheng is already ours. Why don't you come in and have a seat, General Xiahou?"

"Hmph, you just wait."

Xiahou Yuan didn't know where to go, so he could only take a detour to Yizhou.

However, Xiahou Yuan was unaware that the fighting was still raging inside the city.

However, the distance was too far, and Xiahou Yuan couldn't hear it at all.

After losing the city gates, Cao Ren could only lead his men into street fighting.

However, his lack of combat strength meant that even in urban warfare, Cao Ren was no match for him.

In the end, Cao Ren could only leave with the remaining troops through the other city gate.

Zhang He wanted to pursue, but they were all infantry, while Cao Ren had a small number of cavalry covering their rear.

This also meant that Zhang He could never catch up with them.

In the end, Zhang He had no choice but to give up.

However, the results of this battle were quite good.

By the time Gu Rubing and the others entered the city, Zhang He's battle damage report had also been compiled.

"My lord, our army suffered 70,000 casualties in this battle, while Cao Ren suffered approximately 150,000."

Upon hearing the report, Gu Rubing nodded.

He was quite satisfied with this number.

However, Zhang He was somewhat dissatisfied.

The casualties could have been kept below 50,000, but Cao Ren's street fighting put them under considerable pressure. After all, they were not very familiar with Luocheng, which led to them being frequently ambushed by Cao Ren.

If their combat effectiveness hadn't been relatively strong, the casualty figures would have continued to rise.

Zhang He hesitated for a moment, opened his mouth as if to say something, but didn't open his mouth for a long time.

"What's wrong? Is there anything else?"

Gu Rubing noticed Zhang He's hesitation and immediately asked with a smile.

"My lord, our army has far too few horses. Every time we get warhorses, the special troops get to choose first, and then we regular troops get to choose. We don't get many at all, and the quality of the horses is not high. We need warhorses, and a lot of them."

Gu Rubing had already noticed this point Zhang He made.

Although soldiers were being continuously sent from the rear, the number of warhorses was pitifully small.

Warhorses were delivered only once in a long while, and at most only a few hundred were delivered at a time.

That won't keep up with your usage frequency.

"Don't worry, I'll consider it."

Actually, even without Zhang He mentioning it, Gu Rubing had already been contacting those horse farms outside the region.

However, Gu Rubing was more focused on the situation in Guanghan County, which is why he neglected the matter of warhorses.

"Tell Wei Yan and the others that it's enough and they can come back."

The messengers immediately turned and left.

"My lord, now that we have occupied Luocheng, the entire Guanghan Commandery should be indefensible. Given Cao Cao's character, he will surely abandon the entire Guanghan Commandery. Once Wei Yan and the others return, we can take over Guanghan Commandery."

Gu Rubing nodded.

Upon receiving Gu Rubing's order, Wei Yan and others immediately ordered a retreat.

In fact, they had already given up long ago.

Not only were there 200,000 troops inside the city, but there were also two legendary generals. Moreover, Zhang Liao had sent word that another 200,000 troops, led by Xiahou Dun, were heading towards Chengdu, as Wei Yan and the others knew.

Once this army of 200,000 arrives, their 150,000 men will be completely surrounded, and no one will be able to escape.

On the city wall, Cao Cao frowned as he watched Wei Yan and his men leave.

There are only two possibilities for Wei Yan and his men leaving: one is that Cao Ren has won.

Another point is that Cao Ren and his men lost.

However, Cao Ren only had 200,000 troops at his disposal.

It would inevitably be a situation of defending the city and not venturing out.

In this situation, it's unlikely that they'll even fight, so how can there be a winner or loser?

The only possibility is that Cao Ren loses.

Cao Cao couldn't understand how Cao Ren lost when the city was clearly defended and no one was allowed to come out.

As expected, Cao Ren's battle report arrived.

As Cao Cao read the battle report and the details of Cao Ren's loss of Luo City, he threw the report to the ground.

"What is Cao Ren doing? Is he useless? How could he let them trick the city gates open like this? What is he good for as a general?"

Upon hearing this, Xun Yu sighed and stood up after a long while.

"Now is not the time to pursue Cao Ren's crimes, my lord. Let's think about what to do next."

"After that? What's next? Ba Commandery, Guanghan Commandery, and Jianwei Commandery—three commanderies lost. Where should we place our defensive lines now? Where is there any place left to defend?"

Cao Cao, panting heavily, looked at Xun Yu beside him.

Xun Yu then looked at the map beside him, and finally fixed his gaze on Jiangyuan City.

"My lord, we can have General Cao Ren set up defenses at Jiangyuan, and we can provide convenient support from the rear."

Hearing Xun Yu's words, Cao Cao gradually calmed down his anger.

After looking at the map, Cao Cao could only nod in the end.

As Cao Ren entered Jiangyuan, Gu Rubing also successfully occupied Guanghan Commandery.

The series of battles left Gu Rubing and his men feeling somewhat exhausted.

Just as Gu Rubing was considering whether to let the soldiers relax a little, a letter from Liu Ye was delivered to him.

The letter stated that Liu Ye had discovered several large horse farms outside the territory, but he wanted to take them over to the Han Dynasty in the name of the Emperor. However, this would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among the owners of these horse farms.

Therefore, Liu Ye wanted Gu Rubing to step in.

The scarcity of warhorses is very important to Gu Rubing now.

Now that such a good opportunity is available, Gu Rubing is unwilling to give it up.

Moreover, Liu Ye also provided Gu Rubing with a very good idea.

Instead of buying warhorses from these private horse farms, it would be better to take control of all of them.

After Gu Rubing put the letter away, he immediately summoned everyone to the government office.

After Lu Su arrived, he immediately reported the information he had gathered to Gu Rubing.

"My lord, Cao Ren is currently stationed at Jiangyuan with an army of 400,000. Moreover, the Xiahou brothers, Cao Ren and Xu Huang, and even Jiang Wei and Guo Huai are all inside the city. It will not be easy for us to take the city in a short time."

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too. So let the brothers relax and rest during this time. I have to go out for about two months. While I'm gone, I'll leave the affairs of Yizhou to Zijing."

"My lord, are you going out?"

Lu Su looked at Gu Rubing with a puzzled expression.

"Well, Liu Ye has discovered a few horse farms outside the territory. I need to go there; perhaps it can help solve our shortage of warhorses."

The generals present all had a gleam in their eyes when they heard that the problem of warhorses could be solved.

"Alright, my lord, go ahead without worry. I'll guard this place, so don't worry."

Lu Su also knew that the army was severely lacking in warhorses, and now that he had the opportunity, he did not want to give it up.

After giving a brief explanation, Gu Rubing took Zhao Yun and headed towards Jingzhou.

Before leaving, Gu Rubing wanted to hear Zhuge Liang's opinion again.

Gu Rubing arrived at the Jingzhou camp very quickly.

Upon seeing Gu Rubing, Zhuge Liang immediately walked over with a smile.

"We already know what happened to you in Yizhou, my lord. Your strategies are now in no way inferior to mine!"

"Haha, I'm still far behind the Prime Minister."

Gu Rubing was quite pleased to hear Zhuge Liang flatter him.

Gu Rubing then recounted the events at the horse farm to Zhuge Liang.

“My lord, your idea is indeed very good, but there is still some danger in your journey. I will let General Zhang San accompany you. With General Zhang San and Zilong by your side, I can feel more at ease.”

"Danger? What do you mean, Prime Minister?"

Gu Rubing looked at Zhuge Liang with a puzzled expression.

However, Zhuge Liang simply shook his head and said nothing.

In fact, Gu Rubing had noticed something was wrong before.

Previously, most of the troops were in Jiaozhou, so Zhuge Liang had no way to leave Jiaozhou.

However, Zhuge Liang later deduced that Liu Zhang and Sun Jian were doing everything in their power to support Cao Cao.

Meanwhile, Zhuge Liang, who was in the Jingzhou camp, never showed any intention of helping him.

The Jingzhou camp at present has few soldiers and generals, and although Liu Zhang still has 200,000 troops stationed at the front line, he has no intention of fighting against Zhuge Liang.

Knowing full well the importance of Cao Cao to the two warlords, Zhuge Liang surprisingly did not take action to eliminate Cao Cao, which was completely different from Zhuge Liang's previous behavior.

For some reason, Gu Rubing could sense that Zhuge Liang seemed to be somewhat wary.

"Prime Minister, are you hiding something?"

"Hmm? What do you mean by this, my lord?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing shook his head. He just felt that something was wrong, but he didn't know the specifics.

"My lord, don't overthink it. Rest assured, I'm always on your side."

Gu Rubing smiled, then turned and left with Zhang Fei.

Zhuge Liang watched Gu Rubing's retreating figure and sighed helplessly.

"My lord, I did this for your safety."

Zhuge Liang wasn't unwilling to help Gu Rubing; in fact, he knew that if he intervened, the situation with Cao Cao could be completely resolved within two months.

The reason they haven't taken action is entirely because of Ge Hong, who claimed to be a disciple of Zuo Ci.

He had initially determined that Zhuge Liang's abilities were nearly on par with theirs, so he forced Zhuge Liang to agree that he would not help Gu Rubing unless under special circumstances. Otherwise, Zuo Ci would personally take Zhuge Liang away and destroy Gu Rubing.

Zhuge Liang knew that Gu Rubing was no match for these people, so he had no choice but to compromise and agree to Ge Hong's request.

Later, when she helped Gu Rubing, she would only give him slight tips in the form of letters.

Fortunately, Gu Rubing was intelligent enough that he could often formulate a complete plan with just a few words.

"Penglai! What kind of place is that?"

Zhuge Liang muttered something to himself, then took out a tortoise shell.

As the copper coins inside fell out, Zhuge Liang couldn't help but frown.

The way the copper coins fell was very chaotic; one of them even stood upright on the table.

It was as if it were being forcibly controlled by some force. (End of Chapter)