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

"It's very simple. I hope you can join the Great Han and become the Great Han's horse farm. In return, the Great Han can give you a salary once a year."

As soon as Gu Rubing finished speaking, the owner of the Northern Horse Ranch slammed his hand on the table.

"Why should we? You want to take away the horse farm we worked so hard to build with just a word? Even if you are the King of Lie, you can't be this domineering, can you? Everyone says that the King of Lie wins people over with virtue, is this how you win people over with virtue?"

Gu Rubing smiled upon hearing this.

Even when trying to win someone over with virtue, you have to consider what kind of person they are.

How can I possibly win someone over with virtue when dealing with someone like that?

"It seems none of you are willing? I don't care. Since everyone is unwilling, I'll be more direct: everyone will die here, and your horse farm will naturally be taken over by someone else."

"what?"

All four of them stared wide-eyed.

However, before they could react, Zhao Yun suddenly struck, and before the four of them could react, their necks were snapped by Zhao Yun.

After Gu Rubing finished doing all this, he slowly stood up and waved to Su Shuang in the distance.

Upon seeing this, Su Shuang immediately ran over.

He had witnessed Gu Rubing's methods.

Only then did Su Shuang realize that this virtuous king was no ordinary person; he was also the kind of person who would kill without saying a word.

As one of the feudal lords, and the most powerful one at that, how could he possibly be a kind soul?

"Your Highness, you called me!"

"Su Shuang, shall we take me for a walk around their horse farm?"

"Yes!"

Su Shuang immediately took Gu Rubing and prepared to go out.

But when he saw that Gu Rubing only had two people with him and didn't even bring any soldiers, he immediately panicked.

“Your Highness, the four horse farms together have nearly two thousand men. If you don’t bring more soldiers with you, you may be in danger when you get there.”

"Danger? Haha, Su Shuang, don't worry. With so few of them, they're not even a match for my third brother's spear."

Upon hearing this, Su Shuang glanced at Zhang Fei beside her, her eyes filled with disbelief.

After all, the other side had more than two thousand people, while Gu Rubing only had two people with him.

"What are you looking at? Just do what my brother says. Do you think my brother is less intelligent than you?"

Zhang Fei already had a bad temper, and when he saw that Su Shuang actually suspected Gu Rubing, his temper worsened.

If it weren't for the fact that Gu Rubing seemed to value Su Shuang, Zhang Fei would have slapped the man away long ago.

Zhang Fei was about to attack that group of people, but Zhao Yun was too fast, and he didn't have time to react. He was still seething with anger.

"Third brother, don't be rude."

Hearing Gu Rubing's reprimand, Zhang Fei had no choice but to retreat behind Gu Rubing.

"Let's go!"

Seeing that Gu Rubing insisted, Su Shuang didn't say anything more.

Soon, the four arrived at the Southern Horse Ranch.

By this time, the people at the horse farm already knew that their owner had been killed by Gu Rubing.

Therefore, all the people from the four major horse farms gathered together, preparing to storm Youzhou and avenge their leader.

However, just as the group had assembled, they saw that Gu Rubing and his group had arrived.

Moreover, Gu Rubing only brought three people with him.

They recognized one of them; it was Su Shuang.

"Su Shuang, why are you with them? Come here quickly, or you'll get hurt."

Upon hearing this, Su Shuang immediately stood behind Gu Rubing, making her stance clear.

Seeing this, the people at the horse farm stopped paying attention to him.

"King Lie, I have a question for you: why did you kill our leader?"

"Why? Naturally, I want to kill him. Your boss is too noisy, always making a racket, which makes me uncomfortable. Now that your boss is dead, I'm giving you a choice: either follow Su Shuang and continue to take care of the horse farm, or die!"

After speaking, Gu Rubing looked at everyone present.

However, not one of these people wanted to join Gu Rubing.

"In that case, you can't blame me."

After Gu Rubing finished speaking, he simply waved his hand.

Zhang Fei was prepared this time. As soon as Gu Rubing made a move, Zhang Fei rushed out.

Zhang Fei dealt with these people with great ease.

In just two moves, these two thousand-plus people were reduced to dust.

Seeing this, Gu Rubing looked at Su Shuang, who was standing to the side.

"These four major horse farms are now in your hands. I will help you deal with the remaining smaller horse farms. Your task is to bring all the horse farms in the Western Regions under your control and bring them into the Han Dynasty."

"no problem."

With no enemies around, Su Shuang was confident that with his business acumen, he would be able to take good care of the horse farm.

Soon, Gu Rubing followed the same method and simply killed all those who disobeyed him.

In no time, everyone at the horse farm knew that Gu Rubing had begun a killing spree.

Many horse farm owners, upon learning of Gu Rubing's arrival, immediately offered up all their horses, hoping to escape his slaughter.

After Gu Rubing finished organizing all the horse farms, Su Shuang found Gu Rubing.

“Prince Lie, the horse farm is indeed in our hands now, but without His Majesty’s decree, I have no way to act in the name of the Great Han.”

"You don't need to worry about the imperial edict; I'll take care of it. You just need to take good care of the horse farm for me. My requirements aren't high; just provide me with 20,000 warhorses a year."

Upon hearing this, Su Shuang's eyes widened in surprise.

According to his statistics, even if all the nearby horse farms were brought over, the maximum number of warhorses a year would be around 15,000, definitely not 20,000.

Gu Rubing had not done any specific statistics on this point; the figure of 20,000 was just his guess. He had not expected that it would be so difficult to produce 20,000 warhorses in a year.

It's important to understand that the number of warhorses destroyed in a major battle is far greater than 20,000.

In Gu Rubing's view, 20,000 was relatively little, considering that Su Shuang had only recently taken control of such a large territory.

“Your Highness, 20,000 horses a year is really impossible. Even if the horse farms around here were to breed them to death, they still couldn’t produce that many.”

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing gave an awkward smile.

"Then tell me, how much can you provide me in a year?"

"There are about 15,000 warhorses. If we want more, we will need more warhorses, but the horse farms around here are all ours, and we only have this many warhorses."

Gu Rubing knew that breeding warhorses was quite difficult, but he hadn't expected it to be this difficult.

"Alright, in that case, let's make it 15,000. I'll go to Xudu now to get you an imperial edict. I hope you won't disappoint me. You should know what happens to those who disappoint me."

Su Shuang nodded quickly.

He knew that with such a high salary, the tasks he would be handling would definitely not be simple.

Gu Rubing did not linger in Youzhou, and directly led Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, and Liu Ye to Xudu.

Gu Rubing did not inform anyone of his actions, so the people in the city did not know that Gu Rubing had arrived.

Even Chen Dao didn't know.

Gu Rubing stood outside the city gate and saw that the people entering and leaving were being carefully checked by the city guards.

"What's going on here?" The inspection was so slow that the city gate was completely blocked.

Upon hearing this, Liu Ye immediately explained to Gu Rubing, "My lord, we have observed that after someone made contact with His Majesty, we have been searching for who these people are. This is one method, and perhaps we can find some clues."

"Nonsense! What can you possibly find out using this method? Aren't you just alerting the enemy? Xuchang is such a big place, do you really think you can find someone who wants to hide?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Ye gave an awkward smile.

Liu Ye immediately notified the city's garrison to allow passage.

The congested city gate was quickly cleared again.

Gu Rubing will also return to his Prince Lie's mansion.

Soon after learning that Gu Rubing had returned, Chen Dao immediately went to Gu Rubing's side.

The White Feather Soldiers were originally Gu Rubing's personal guards, but now they were stuck in Xuchang, watching Liu Xie, unable to go to the battlefield, which made Chen Dao feel somewhat frustrated.

"My lord, we currently have three people under our control: two eunuchs and a palace maid. However, these three are extremely cautious and meet once a day late at night. Having learned our lesson last time, we dare not arrest them."

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing was quite satisfied with Chen Dao's actions.

"Have the three of them left the palace during this period?"

"no!"

Gu Rubing frowned upon hearing this.

They've been by Liu Xie's side the whole time and haven't left the palace yet. Is their mission to protect Liu Xie?

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing hesitated for a moment, then said directly, "Tonight, I'll go with you to take a look."

"Yes!"

late at night.

Gu Rubing dressed in night clothes and, with Chen Dao and the others, quietly entered the palace.

Soon, in the Imperial Garden, Gu Rubing saw the three people gathered together.

"My lord, should we go and arrest them?"

"Need not!"

Gu Rubing waved his hand. In his opinion, since these people had come with a mission, they would meet their master sooner or later.

Gu Rubing didn't get anything all night.

Gu Rubing then made a plan.

Soon, news of Gu Rubing's entry into the city was spread by the people of the Prince Lie's mansion.

Upon learning of Gu Rubing's return, the three people in the palace were indeed restless.

He chose to leave the palace that very day.

The three men's every word and action was under the surveillance of the White Feather Soldiers.

Upon discovering that the three had left the palace, he immediately reported the matter to Gu Rubing.

Gu Rubing immediately led his men to give chase.

The three left Xudu and went directly to a hill.

Gu Rubing and the others watched them from a short distance away.

Before long, a man in black appeared in front of the three.

"Master, Liu Bei has returned. Shall we begin our operation?"

"You're back? I didn't expect you to be back so soon. Begin the operation, but remember, do not harm His Majesty."

"Yes!"

After receiving the orders, the three men turned and left.

When Gu Rubing overheard the four people's conversation and heard them mention "His Majesty," he immediately guessed who they were.

In this chaotic world, although Liu Xie is the emperor and the object of everyone's struggle, there is only one person in private who is truly willing to call Liu Xie "Your Majesty," and that person is Wang Yue.

It must be admitted that Wang Yue was indeed the person who respected Liu Xie the most.

"My lord, shouldn't we arrest them?"

"No rush, I want to see what Wang Yue is up to."

"Wang Yue? My lord, you mean the other party is Wang Yue?"

Liu Ye looked at Gu Rubing in surprise.

"Yes, Wang Yue has been following Shi Xie closely. Shi Xie has been behaving very well lately, and I thought he was scared and hiding. It turns out he found Liu Xie."

"Brother, what do you suggest we do?"

"Simple, just lure Wang Yue out."

Gu Rubing smiled.

Upon returning to the Prince Lie's residence, Gu Rubing had not yet sat down when a eunuch entered.

"Your Highness, His Majesty, upon learning of your return, has prepared a welcome banquet for you in the palace. Please attend."

Feast?
Gu Rubing didn't believe that Liu Xiehui was being so kind as to prepare a welcome banquet for him. It was obvious that this was Wang Yue's plan, or rather, the plan of those three people.

Gu Rubing was a little confused. What were these three people up to? Were they trying to poison him?
Just as Gu Rubing was pondering, the eunuch looked at him anxiously.

"Your Highness, are you going or not? Give me a straight answer!"

"Yes, of course I'll go. Why wouldn't I? Please go back and tell His Majesty that I'll be there tonight."

"okay!"

After saying this, the eunuch left the Prince Lie's mansion with a happy expression.

After the eunuch left, Zhao Yun immediately stepped forward.

"My lord, you must not go. We don't know what methods they're using. This welcoming banquet seems rather suspicious. You absolutely mustn't fall for their tricks."

"Yes, brother, this welcome banquet is obviously going to poison you. You absolutely must not go."

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing looked at Zhang Fei with curiosity.

"Even my third brother could spot the problem?"

"Of course, these people definitely have ill intentions."

Zhang Fei smiled smugly.

However, Gu Rubing frowned slightly.

It wasn't because of Zhang Fei, but rather that even Zhang Fei could understand the routine, so why would Liu Xie still use it?
To say that Liu Xie was naive or, having lived in the inner palace for so long, was unaware of the wickedness of people outside, is something Gu Rubing could barely understand, though it was a very weak explanation.

But those three assassins can't be that simple, right?

Could this assassin really think he's so easily fooled?
Gu Rubing thought about it for a long time but couldn't figure out what the trick was, so he had to give up in the end.

"Don't worry, I want to see what tricks these people are up to."

Night falls.

Gu Rubing straightened his clothes and was about to leave when a captain of the crossbowmen came over and handed him a letter.

This is an essential daily routine for the officers of the crossbow: they must compile all the matters under their surveillance into a letter and hand it over to Gu Rubing.

However, Gu Rubing was in a hurry to leave this time and didn't have much time to look at it.

Gu Rubing guessed that it must be something very ordinary.

Gu Rubing had always treated it as a joke. (End of Chapter)