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

Guo Huai was also standing on the city wall.

Guo Huai looked at Cao Ren and the others who had fled back in a sorry state with a cold smile.

"Generals, I'm really sorry, but this place is already ours. I advise you to leave quickly, otherwise King Lie's army will return and you won't be able to leave."

"Guo Huai, you despicable person."

Upon seeing this, Cao Ren coughed up a mouthful of blood and then fainted.

The Xiahou brothers and Xu Huang quickly picked up Cao Ren and left the place.

Guo Huai breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the Xiahou brothers leave.

Although Guangrou City had indeed been captured, the 50,000 men he had brought from Cao Ren were not his trusted confidants. Therefore, after telling Gu Rubing his marching route...

Gu Rubing simply instructed Zhong Hui to lead 50,000 men in a feigned ambush against Guo Huai.

Finally, all 50,000 people were annihilated.

Guo Huai then led Zhong Hui to trick them into opening the city gate, and Zhong Hui once again led the remaining troops into the city.

The two battles resulted in the loss of 100,000 men, leaving Zhong Hui with less than 10,000 troops. He also had to send several thousand men to guard the surrendered soldiers, leaving only a few thousand troops to defend the city.

Once the surrendered soldiers in the city learn that Cao Ren and his men have returned, they will surely rise up and attack, and they will definitely not be able to defend Guangrou City.

Cao Ren could only enter Fancheng in a sorry state.

This is also Chengdu's last line of defense.

Cao Ren wrote a letter directly to Cao Cao.

Upon receiving Cao Ren's message, Cao Cao nearly coughed up blood.

Three hundred thousand soldiers were wiped out just like that.

As a result, they ended up taking over Guangrou.

He failed to kill Guo Huai, whom he wanted to kill, and Guo Huai may have eventually joined Liu Bei's army.

No matter how you look at it, this battle was a crushing defeat for us.

Cao Cao wished he could kill Cao Ren right now, but Xun Yu persuaded him otherwise.

"My lord's most urgent task is to stabilize Fancheng. If Fancheng falls, Liu Bei can head straight for Chengdu, and then we'll be in big trouble."

With Xun Yu's words in mind, Cao Cao sighed and immediately dispatched 100,000 troops to reinforce Fancheng, while also seeking help from Liu Zhang and Sun Jian.

When Gu Rubing led his army into Guangrou, he saw Guo Huai walking over.

"King Lie, is Boyue with you?"

"Yes, but he's in Luocheng. If you want to see him, you can go to Luocheng."

"Thank you, King Lie."

After saying that, he turned around and prepared to leave.

"Wait a minute, Guo Huai, are you ready to pledge allegiance to me?"

"King Lie, I wonder what Boyue's answer was?"

He said we should wait a little longer.

“Then my answer is the same as Job’s: the moment Job joins you will be the moment I join you.”

Looking at Guo Huai's retreating figure, Gu Rubing was both amused and exasperated.

So all that fun for nothing?
I put so much effort into these two people, but in the end, I got nothing.

However, it's not like I gained nothing at all. At least I obtained Guangrou City and destroyed Cao Cao's 300,000-strong army.

My own loss was only 100,000.

"My lord, Cao Ren is currently gathered in Fancheng, and he has also transferred 100,000 reinforcements from Chengdu. In addition, we have received news that Sun Jian and Liu Zhang's reinforcements are on their way to Chengdu and Fancheng. Should we take advantage of the fact that Cao Ren has not yet gained a foothold in Fancheng and take him down directly?"

Upon hearing this, Gu Rubing glanced at the map and ultimately shook his head.

Although he also wanted to take over Fancheng in one fell swoop.

However, the way he attacked this time resulted in the surrender of many soldiers.

The number of surrendered soldiers has now reached nearly 150,000.

I need to allocate a large number of troops to keep an eye on these people.

At present, the maximum number of troops that he can spare is only 100,000.

If 100,000 men are used to attack a city, the losses will inevitably be enormous.

Moreover, after continuous battles, the soldiers' energy would inevitably be depleted, and whether they could win was truly an unknown.

"Let everyone get some rest. Also, send all the surrendered soldiers to the Prime Minister. We don't have enough troops to watch over them."

"Yes!"

Lu Su nodded and went to make preparations.

Cao Cao went to great lengths to help Cao Ren defend Fancheng, sending 100,000 troops was not enough, he even invited Tong Fei to come.

With Tong Fei present, the entire city of Fan was impregnable, and Gu Rubing had no confidence in attacking it.

Five days later, Liu Zhang's 200,000-strong reinforcement army finally entered Fancheng.

With Liu Zhang's 200,000 troops, another 300,000 troops were stationed in Fancheng.

This immediately relieved Cao Cao.

Gu Rubing, on the other hand, has been busy organizing affairs in the city and has no intention of attacking Fancheng.

Liu Zhang also arrived in Yizhou with the army at this time.

Upon seeing Liu Zhang, Cao Cao immediately pulled him into the room.

Liu Zhang was taken aback by Cao Cao's reaction.

"King Wei, what is this?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao immediately realized what was happening and glared at Liu Zhang.

"Do you know that Liu Bei has something in his possession that can trigger a violent explosion with extremely high destructive power, capable of even interfering with legendary generals?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang nodded, then shook his head again.

"I've heard of it, but that shouldn't be possible, right? How could Liu Bei possibly have such a weapon?"

"It's true, because I've seen it with my own eyes."

"You've seen it? What happened?"

"My three legendary generals are all injured, and that person from Penglai has simply gone into hiding."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang frowned immediately.

All of this was beyond his expectations.

"If that's the case, what should we do? Liu Bei is almost at Chengdu now, isn't he? If this continues, Chengdu will surely fall."

Cao Cao's current appearance has frightened Liu Zhang as well.

Three hundred thousand troops, lost so easily.

Moreover, they were even driven to their doorstep in Chengdu.

If this continues, Chengdu will fall within two months.

If Chengdu falls, basically half of Yizhou will fall into Gu Rubing's hands.

Then Cao Cao would have completely lost, as there would be no defensible location left in Chengdu.

Moreover, the families in Yizhou will no longer support Cao Cao.

Without the support of local families, even Cao Cao would find it difficult to make any progress.

"The best course of action now is to distract Liu Bei."

"Distracted?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang frowned immediately.

Now, apart from a portion of his troops assigned to the front lines, the rest are mostly under Cao Cao's control. Even though he had captured half of the Anluo Empire's population, he had suffered significant losses along the way, including from the initial food crisis, and Cao Cao had wasted even more. These 200,000 reinforcements were the last troops he could muster; he couldn't offer any more.

Cao Cao clearly wanted him to take the initiative and disperse the troops under Gu Rubing's control.

"King Wei, I really don't have enough troops at my disposal. This 200,000 is all I can muster. I certainly can't attract Liu Bei's attention anymore."

Seeing Liu Zhang's expression, Cao Cao rolled his eyes at him.

"Nonsense, of course I know. I didn't mean for you to go."

Upon hearing this, Liu Zhang immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as I don't become the one to stick my neck out, everything is fine.

"So, does the King of Wei mean to make Sun Jian the scapegoat?"

"Yes, as long as Sun Jian makes a move and attacks Liu Bei's Liangzhou, thus dispersing Liu Bei's forces, we might have a chance to turn the tide."

“But Sun Jian of Liangzhou has made moves before, but they all ended in failure. Would Sun Jian still agree to the plan to attack Liangzhou?”

"How will you know if you don't try? Immediately send your legendary generals, they are quick to act, to have them quickly inform Sun Jian to come to Yizhou and meet him, saying that I have something to discuss with him."

"Okay, I'll go now."

Gu Rubing completely ignored their scheme.

There was a problem at hand that was troubling Gu Rubing.

The horse farm in Youzhou was suddenly attacked by a group of mysterious people.

The stallions have suffered significant losses.

Moreover, these people seemed to have a specific target; they didn't kill any warhorses, but only the stallions.

Clearly, these people came to take revenge on me.

But Gu Rubing had no idea when he had offended this group of people.

Furthermore, Gu Rubing didn't believe that there would be such a group of people targeting him for no reason.

This horse farm outside the territory is crucial to the future development of my army.

He had no choice but to deal with this matter.

But now Tong Fei is in Fancheng, which is very close to Guangrou where they are.

If I leave and take several legendary generals with me, Guangrou's fighting strength will be insufficient, and wouldn't something bad happen then?
After some deliberation, Gu Rubing finally decided to bring only one legendary general, Zhao Yun.

With Zhao Yun by his side, it would be difficult for ordinary legendary generals to get close to him.

However, this time Gu Rubing made the worst decision.

If Gu Rubing were to take away any other legendary generals, Tong Fei wouldn't even notice, as long as it wasn't Guan Yu.

Unfortunately, it was Zhao Yun.

In Gu Rubing's camp, apart from Guan Yu, only Zhao Yun was someone Tong Fei was paying attention to.

Tong Fei sensed it the moment Zhao Yun and Gu Rubing left.

However, Tong Fei did not move. He was just a little curious about what Zhao Yun was going to do at this time.

Gu Rubing didn't want Tong Fei to know that he had left with Zhao Yun, so he deliberately chose the night and didn't bring anyone else with him except Zhao Yun.

The two of them barely dared to stop along the way, basically traveling for two days and resting for half a day.

Traveling at this pace, Gu Rubing only dared to rest after entering Xudu.

At this moment, Liu Ye also came to Gu Rubing's side.

And he told Gu Rubing about the current situation.

After Liu Ye finished reporting the situation, Gu Rubing couldn't help but frown.

The seven major horse farms in Youzhou have now lost nearly half of their stallions.

If this continues, it won't be long before none of those stallions will survive.

Moreover, these people would enter the horse farm every few days, and the men in Su's hands were no match for them. Furthermore, Liu Ye discovered that there was a famous general among them.

Although various warlords nowadays have many legendary generals under their command, it does not mean that famous generals are worthless.

Cultivating a famous general is by no means an easy task.

This is definitely not something that ordinary bandits and robbers could cultivate.

It's obvious that the other group is no ordinary people.

Gu Rubing took stock of the forces that possessed famous generals.

It turned out that only one group of people were no longer in their sight.

That was Shi Xie and his group who poisoned themselves and then ran away.

This group of people is very likely Shi Xie's men.

And that famous general was very likely Wang Yue and Shi A.

"Are they planning to take over Youzhou again?"

Gu Rubing couldn't help but feel a little curious.

"My lord, what are you saying?"

"It's nothing. Tell Chen Dao to bring two thousand White Feather soldiers with me tomorrow."

"Yes!"

Gu Rubing came out this time without any troops by his side, and could only draw troops from Xudu.

However, just as Gu Rubing and the others were discussing it...

At this moment, Tong Fei, wearing a straw hat, also entered Xudu.

He stayed close behind Gu Rubing the whole time.

The reason they haven't made a move yet is because they want to see where Gu Rubing is going.

Tong Fei thought Gu Rubing had regretted his decision and was going to Qingzhou to apologize to Penglai Pavilion.

After all, it's normal to pass through Xudu when traveling from Yizhou to Qingzhou.

Throughout the journey, Tong Fei concealed his presence and was completely undetected by Zhao Yun.

Early the next morning.

Gu Rubing, along with Zhao Yun and Chen Dao, headed towards Youzhou.

The presence of two thousand White Feather soldiers delayed their journey, significantly slowing down Gu Rubing and his group's travel speed.

Meanwhile, in Chengdu, Yizhou.

Sun Jian has already arrived at Cao Cao's location.

Upon seeing Sun Jian arrive, Cao Cao felt as if he had seen a savior and immediately went to Sun Jian's side.

"King Wu, I've been waiting for you for so long, and now you've finally arrived."

Seeing Cao Cao's polite attitude, Sun Jian immediately had a bad feeling.

When has Cao Cao ever been so polite to me? Cao Cao is only so polite when he needs something from me.

"King Wei, you'd better not act like this. You're making me a little scared. Just tell me directly, what exactly do you want?"

Upon hearing this, Cao Cao smiled awkwardly.

"Since the King of Wu has asked, I will speak frankly. I think you are aware of the current situation in Yizhou. Liu Bei's army is about to reach my Chengdu. If this continues, I may not be able to hold out. You have offended Liu Bei quite a bit in order to help me, so if I lose, you will inevitably be implicated. Moreover, you both know who Liu Bei intends to deal with after me, right?"

After Cao Cao finished speaking, he looked at Liu Zhang and Sun Jian.

Upon hearing this, Sun Jian immediately understood Cao Cao's meaning.

"Rest assured, King Wei, my support will arrive soon. This time, it will not only be 200,000 troops, but also enough provisions for 200,000 troops for two months. All of this is for your support."

Cao Cao immediately shook his head upon hearing this, clearly indicating that Sun Jian had misunderstood him.

"King Wu, what I need is not this support. I have almost never won against Liu Bei recently. To defeat Liu Bei, I cannot rely solely on myself. Therefore, I need your help—not support, but assistance." (End of Chapter)