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

Having made up his mind, Sun Jian immediately dispatched a personal guard to Yizhou to inform Zuo Ci and the others.

However, the person Sun Jian sent was just an ordinary personal guard, not a legendary general at all. It would take him at least half a month to get to Yizhou.

This also reflects Sun Jian's subtle bias towards Liu Bei and his allies.

Early the next morning.

Sun Jian then summoned Gu Rubing.

"Liu Bei, I can agree to your alliance request, but I hope that you will not bother our Anluo Empire for the next year."

"no problem."

Gu Rubing had originally planned to cease hostilities for a while after dealing with Penglai.

Gu Rubing could imagine that in the battle with Zuo Ci and his forces, many legendary generals would be injured.

Although it was called an alliance of four major warlords, the legendary generals under their command were not very strong, and the only people they could truly rely on were the people under their own command.

After seeing Sun Jian sign the alliance agreement.

Gu Rubing then led Sun Jian to Linjiang City.

Meanwhile, Meng Huo, Miao Moqing, Xu Chu, Dian Wei, and Cao Zhang had all arrived in Linjiang City.

Cao Cao and Liu Zhang, on the other hand, waited outside the city.

When everyone saw Sun Jian arrive, they all breathed a sigh of relief.

In a battle of this caliber, the more legendary generals who join, the greater their chances of victory.

Gu Rubing called everyone together.

"Gentlemen, this is the first major battle in which all of us have gathered together. I hope you will not disappoint your lord. If you are no match for him, or if the battle drags on for too long, I will fire a signal arrow. Once you hear the signal arrow, retreat immediately."

"Evacuate?"

Dian Wei looked at Gu Rubing with some curiosity.

"Don't worry, I have my own way of doing it."

Upon hearing this, no one asked any further questions.

Two days later, Gu Rubing, Cao Cao, and Liu Zhang met together.

After discussing the location, the three of them finally decided on a desolate mountain that was quite far from both Linjiang City and Xindu City.

The reason for choosing that location is that there is a small thatched hut on the mountaintop, and this mountain is relatively close to another mountain, making it suitable for Gu Rubing and his group to observe the situation from the other mountain!
Gu Rubing ordered Lu Su to make preparations overnight.

Two days have passed, and all preparations have been completed.

Gu Rubing wrote a letter to Zuo Ci, inviting Zuo Ci and the others to the mountaintop.

Zuo Ci smiled slightly when he saw the letter.

He then looked at Tong Fei and Yu Ji, who were present.

"It seems Liu Bei already knows our intentions. He didn't come to see us in person, but only sent a message. He's obviously worried that we might make a sudden move. However, we should still be wary of the strategists in the hands of the various warlords. Are our intentions really that obvious?"

Upon hearing Zuo Ci's words, Yu Ji smiled helplessly.

"Fine, since they've invited us, let's go and see for ourselves. It'll be a good opportunity for them to see just how big the gap is between them and us."

Upon hearing this, the three of them burst out laughing.

Soon, the three of them arrived at the thatched hut they had agreed upon.

However, at this moment, Sun Jian was already waiting inside with Gan Ning and Sun Ce.

"So it's the King of Wu. But if it's just the King of Wu, you might not be enough, would you?"

"Indifference isn't enough; we've got to go."

As soon as the voice faded, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Cao Zhang walked in from outside and blocked the door.

Immediately afterwards, the Five Tiger Generals, Zhang Liao, and Pang De also entered.

"Thirteen people. Sun Jian, Cao Cao, and Liu Bei's men are all here. If that's the case, aren't we still a bit short? Where are Liu Zhang's men? We specifically asked Liu Bei to deal with Liu Zhang's men first. Did Liu Zhang not come?"

"Since the three of you are looking for me, I have no choice but to show myself. This kind of fighting and killing is really not suitable for me."

As soon as the voice faded, Miao Moqing and Meng Huo walked in.

In no time, the thatched hut was completely blocked by eighteen people.

"Fifteen people, that's more like it. As long as we kill you all, I think neither Liu Bei, Cao Cao, nor Sun Jian and Liu Zhang would dare to disobey us, right?"

After Zuo Ci finished speaking, he gently waved his feather fan.

A whirlwind appeared and took away the five strongest generals and himself.

Then Yu Ji led Dian Wei, Xu Chu, Cao Zhang, Miao Moqing, and Meng Huo to the outside of the thatched hut.

As for Tong Fei, he was the one who fought against Sun Jian, Zhang Liao, and Pang De.

A mountaintop in the distance.

Gu Rubing could see that the three battlefields were in complete chaos.

The Five Tiger Generals had various attribute bonuses, but they were no match for Zuo Ci.

Or rather, once the battlefield was divided, no one could stand against them.

Whether it was Zuo Ci, Yu Ji, or Tong Fei, they were all evenly matched in a one-against-five situation.

After only five rounds of fighting, Meng Huo and Miao Moqing were the first to give up.

In five rounds, their Gu worms had been crushed four times.

They no longer have the strength to reassemble the Gu worms.

I can only play a supporting role on the sidelines.

However, without the help of the two, Dian Wei, Xu Chu, and Cao Zhang faced even greater pressure.

It looks like they won't last long before they're all wiped out.

The same thing happened to Zuo Ci and Tong Fei.

Even if all the legendary generals under the command of the four major lords were combined, they would still be no match for the three from Penglai.

Seeing this, Cao Cao gritted his teeth in reluctance and finally looked at Gu Rubing.

"Let's retreat. We've lost this time."

Even Cao Cao could see that they were doomed to lose this time.

"Don't worry, the outcome is still uncertain."

Just as they were speaking, the various dragons and fire phoenixes that had condensed in the air instantly turned into dust.

This means that all the legendary generals in the hands of the four major warlords have failed.

At this moment, Gu Rubing fired a signal arrow.

The whistling arrow pierced the sky with a crisp sound.

All the legendary generals couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief upon hearing this voice.

"retreat!"

At Guan Yu's command, everyone quickly retreated.

Zuo Ci and the others did not pursue them, but watched them leave.

Cao Cao, who was standing to the side, was about to breathe a sigh of relief after seeing that his men had been safely evacuated.

However, at that moment, Gu Rubing clapped his hands in fear.

Soon, more than ten trebuchets were pushed up.

"What is this? A catapult? At their level, stones can't kill them."

Cao Cao looked at Gu Rubing with a puzzled expression.

"Who said I was going to smash them to death? I never said this was a catapult, this is a trebuchet."

After saying that, Gu Rubing waved his hand.

A group of soldiers came up and placed black jars on the trebuchet.

Neither Cao Cao nor Liu Zhang knew what was inside the jar.

However, looking at the jar, they all had a bad feeling.

"Fire!" Gu Rubing gave the order, and more than ten trebuchets were launched.

More than a dozen jars flew out.

The second batch followed immediately.

The third batch.

……

It was projected ten times, involving more than a hundred jars.

Aside from the first explosion, which shocked them with its terrifying force, the remaining nine explosions were tolerable.

After ten rounds of explosions, the entire hill became much shorter.

"Now, even a god would be blown up."

Looking at the scene before him, Cao Cao felt a sense of fear.

If all these things were still in Chengdu, probably not even a trace would be left.

However, Gu Rubing did not answer Cao Cao's question, but kept his eyes fixed on the earthen hill opposite.

He didn't know whether Zuo Ci and the others could survive such an explosion.

To prevent Zuo Ci from escaping, he had scattered a large amount of gunpowder around the earthen mound beforehand.

After waiting for a while and feeling that there was no movement around, Gu Rubing ordered everyone to leave.

However, Gu Rubing dared not let anyone go to see whether Zuo Ci was dead or not.

After all, if he hadn't died, he would have faced a terrifying counterattack from the other side.

Moreover, their location has already been exposed, and if they don't leave now, it will be too late.

Not long after they left.

A hand suddenly emerged from a mound of earth.

Immediately afterwards, a person crawled out of the mound of earth.

This person was none other than Zuo Ci.

Then Yu Ji also crawled out from another place.

The two looked around but couldn't find Tong Fei, so they immediately started searching the surrounding area.

However, after searching everywhere, there was no trace of Tong Fei.

Ultimately, the two used divination to pinpoint Tong Fei's location, and were able to dig him out.

However, at this moment, Tong Fei's arm had been blown off, his body was covered in wounds, blood was everywhere, and he had fallen into a deep coma.

These are the two of them here.

If those two weren't there, Tong Fei would surely be dead.

A hint of apprehension flashed in both of their eyes after the explosion.

Previously, they had only discovered that Gu Rubing possessed the magical artifact of gunpowder through divination.

But now that they've experienced it firsthand, the two couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Although the two appeared to be unharmed, the ripped clothes were enough to prove what kind of trauma they had initially suffered, which had only healed instantly.

"If this thing exploded near me, I probably wouldn't survive."

Zuo Ci couldn't help but sigh.

"Yes, what Liu Bei has created is truly terrifying. We cannot let Liu Bei live."

"But not now. Let's go back and get Tong Fei sorted out first, otherwise that old guy will definitely not let us off the hook."

Yu Ji and Zuo Ci disappeared into the earthen hill with Tong Fei.

Gu Rubing had always had some doubts about whether his gunpowder could actually kill Zuo Ci and Yu Ji.

More than ten days have passed since the explosion.

There has been no news from Cao Cao regarding the people of Penglai.

This proves that Zuo Ci and his group at least did not return to Cao Cao's side.

"Was he really killed in the explosion?"

Gu Rubing muttered to himself.

But he quickly shook his head.

If he really died, then his explosives were far too powerful.

Moreover, five days after returning, Gu Rubing organized all fifteen legendary generals under the four major warlords to go to Sudden City to search for Zuo Ci and his group. However, they found nothing except a pool of blood.

As for the bodies of Zuo Ci and the others, they were never found.

The most terrifying thing is that they are neither alive nor dead.

However, more than ten days have passed, and everyone has forgotten about Zuo Ci and his group.

The so-called alliance completely disintegrated at this moment.

However, Gu Rubing still followed their agreement and did not take action against Cao Cao's Yi Province.

Because now an even more serious problem has arisen in front of Gu Rubing.

That means something bad has happened in Youzhou again.

Shi Xie hid around Youzhou and even became a bandit.

They robbed people of their property everywhere, gathered up bandits and former members of the Wuhuan and Xiongnu tribes.

They have already formed a force of tens of thousands of people.

This time, Shi Xie was smarter; he didn't occupy any cities, he just plundered them.

They would plunder a village or a city and then run away.

Their origins as bandits gave them exceptional speed.

The defending troops tried to give chase, but couldn't catch up.

This also caused the people of Youzhou to be very cautious when going out.

Upon receiving this information, Xu Du immediately relayed it to Gu Rubing.

Gu Rubing never expected that just when things had calmed down a bit, Shi Xie would cause trouble again!
Just as Gu Rubing was preparing to set off for Youzhou, another intelligence report was delivered to him.

Upon seeing the contents, Gu Rubing's expression changed drastically, and anger flashed in his eyes.

Everyone was curious about what was written on it that would elicit such a strong reaction from Gu Rubing.

Lu Su curiously took it and looked at it, then his expression changed drastically.

"what happened?"

Deng Ai looked at the two of them with a puzzled expression.

"According to the report from Youzhou, the bandits led by Shi Xie not only robbed two villages, but also massacred them. All three hundred households in the two villages were wiped out, and Shi Xie did not even spare the children."

"what?"

Deng Ai's eyes widened immediately.

Bandits usually robbed people of grain and property, and would never massacre a village. After all, they needed these people to provide them with food in the future, and even for bandits, massacring a village would be too cruel.

How could Shi Xie, who was once a regional lord, do such a thing?

Deng Ai looked at the intelligence report with some disbelief, and after confirming that there were no problems, he clenched his fists.

"My lord, let me go to Youzhou. Let me meet this Shi Xie. I want to see what kind of person could do such a despicable thing."

Deng Ai looked at Gu Rubing, her eyes full of expectation.

"No, you can't leave. The gunpowder that Jingzhou and Xudu sent before was wasted in that battle. Now we can only rely on you to defend the city. What will happen to Linjiang City if you leave?"

Upon hearing this, Deng Ai sighed helplessly.

In the end, Gu Rubing only took Zhang Fei and Ma Chao with him.

Gu Rubing always had a feeling that the people of Penglai were not dead, so he could only feel at ease if he had two legendary generals by his side no matter where he went.

But Gu Rubing also knew that such preparations were futile. As long as Zuo Ci and the others were alive, it would be pointless to bring any number of legendary generals. (End of Chapter)