Three Kingdoms: Start by marrying Cai Yan, then vie for supremacy.

5

Tian Feng clasped his hands in a fist salute and stepped forward, his armor scales rustling as he said, "My lord, Lu Feng has probably already seen through the chessboard."

"More than that!" Xun Chen stroked the map on the table, his fingertips tapping on the bend of the Yellow River. "Gan Ning's warships are so fast that they can depart from Dongjun in the morning and arrive at the sea mouth in the evening."

Yuan Shao's temples throbbed with veins, his gaze sharp as he swept over Xu You. The latter, huddled in the shadow of the bronze lamp tree, stroked his beard and muttered under his breath, "The plan was brilliant, but alas..."

"Gentlemen!" Yuan Shao suddenly kicked over his quiver, scattering his eagle-feathered arrows like reeds. "How are we going to clean up this mess?"

The strategists exchanged bewildered glances, the clanging of armor mingling with the sounds of swallowing. The firelight on the opposite bank cast a blood-red glow on the Yellow River, where charred ship wrecks drifted downstream.

Tian Feng suddenly drew his sword and planted it on the sand table: "Although Gongsun Zan has lost three thousand of my armored soldiers, he has also lost eight thousand of his own elite troops. At this moment, the Youzhou cavalry are exhausted—" The sword's edge swept across the clay model of Pingyuan County, "Now is the time to press on and strike straight at Youyan!"

"Now that Lord Wu Lu Feng has just captured Yanzhou, he certainly has no time to attend to our army! The garrison in Qingzhou is also rather weak!"

"Don't miss this opportunity!"

"If we can quickly capture Gongsun Zan and annex his troops and territory, not only will we be able to make up for our losses, but our military strength will also leap forward!"

"Only then will we have the resources to compete with Landwind!"

Despite the risks involved, Tian Feng believes this is the best course of action at present.

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Yuan Shao's eyes lit up.

Tian Feng's plan was very suitable for him.

If we succeed, the previous losses will be insignificant.

"What do you all think the chances of this plan succeeding?"

Yuan Shao was always open to diverse opinions, so he immediately consulted Xu You, Feng Ji, and others.

"The plan was indeed well-thought-out and a brilliant strategy! Gongsun Zan's forces were already inferior to ours, and this time he lost 50,000 soldiers, not to mention the loss of Gongsun Yue and three valiant generals, Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei."

"Especially with the deaths of Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, their strength has been greatly diminished. Our army can take them by surprise and surely win at a minimal cost!"

Feng Ji was outspoken and didn't mince words.

"Indeed!"

Guo Tu and Shen Pei also expressed their agreement.

I second that!

Xu You then said, "If our lord is determined to wage war, it should be a swift and decisive battle. However, troops must be stationed in Liyang and Yecheng to guard against Lu Feng."

"If Ye City is undefended, they may take the opportunity to attack."

This is a concern that must be considered!

Yuan Shao nodded solemnly.

He has always valued a solid foundation.

He immediately ordered: "Tian Feng, you are in charge of overall command of this battle. Draft a detailed strategy with Feng Ji and the others, and submit it for review tomorrow!"

"If the plan is feasible, immediately send troops to annihilate Gongsun Zan!"

"promise!"

Under the envious gazes of the crowd, Tian Feng bowed and accepted the order.

"Report—"

A messenger rushed in, clasped his hands in greeting, and reported: "My lord! General Wen Chou has sent an urgent military report from the front lines in Pingyuan! Marquis Lu Feng of Wu has sent an envoy demanding a ransom. General Yan Liang and Gongsun Yue have been captured alive, and the entire army that crossed the river has been annihilated! Due to the enormous sum involved, General Wen Chou requests your decision, my lord!"

Is this really true?

Yuan Shao jumped to his feet in shock, demanding angrily, "Our entire army has been wiped out? Even Yan Liang was captured alive? How many troops did Lu Feng ambush in Qingzhou?!"

The news of this defeat came far too quickly.

It happened so fast that it caught him off guard.

"This humble general truly does not know!"

The messenger looked troubled: "The Wu navy suddenly attacked and burned our warships. General Wen didn't even have time to cross the river to provide support. If it weren't for the messenger carrying General Yan's personal letter, we wouldn't have known that the front lines were already..."

It sounds pathetic to even say that.

"You bastard!"

Yuan Shao slammed his fist on the table, his eye twitching in pain, but he managed to suppress a cry.

(Next time you get angry, never hit a hard object!)

He made a silent vow in his heart.

"interesting."

Xu You stroked his short beard and murmured, "This Marquis of Wu is actually willing to do the ransom business? He's quite a remarkable man."

He suddenly realized that he and this opponent shared a certain mutual respect.

(After all, who doesn't love real money?)

"How much is the ransom?"

Ju Shou astutely grasped the key point.

Everyone snapped out of their daze, and Yuan Shao also turned sharply to stare at the messenger.

The messenger hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Each person must be paid 100,000 gold coins or 1 million shi of grain!"

"What did you say?!"

Yuan Shao immediately flew into a rage.

"this..."

Xu You and the others were so shocked they couldn't close their mouths.

This Lord Wu is truly ruthless!

They clearly want to cut a huge chunk of flesh off Leader Yuan!

Xu You thought to himself that his past methods of accumulating wealth were utterly insignificant compared to those of Lord Wu.

"Why didn't he just rob it?!"

Yuan Shao roared in uncontrollable rage.

Even with a large fortune, suddenly having to spend so much money and food would be a huge financial strain.

"Robbery can't bring in money this quickly..."

Xu You muttered softly.

Unexpectedly, Yuan Shao overheard this and immediately glared at him fiercely.

If you can't speak properly, then shut your mouth!

"Go back and tell Wen Chou that this number is absolutely impossible!"

Yuan Shao gave the order decisively.

"But..."

The messenger stammered, "The envoy from the Marquis of Wu was prepared. Now the news of the ransom has spread throughout the army, and even the people in the city are talking about it... Does my lord truly intend to make this decision?"

Yuan Shao: "......"

His face suddenly changed color, from red to green, from green to white, and finally as black as the bottom of a pot.

It was as exciting as a revolving lantern, leaving me speechless for a long time.

Xu You and the others sensed that something was wrong and all looked down at the tips of their shoes, as if trying to see something amazing.

"If we do not agree, not only will General Yan Liang be disheartened, but General Wen Chou and the entire army will also likely harbor resentment."

"At that time, morale will collapse, and the consequences will be unimaginable."

"This would further damage your lord's reputation; please reconsider!"

Yuan Shao stared intently at Tian Feng, inwardly cursing, "Why did you have to meddle? Do you think I don't understand these principles?"

This time, Lu Feng had completely cornered him.

"Save them! We must save them!"

Without hesitation, Yuan Shao gritted his teeth and declared resolutely, "Even if it means losing everything, I will rescue Yan Liang!"

"He went to war on my orders. Now that we have the chance to redeem him, how can we not save him?"

At this point, his gaze swept over everyone, finally landing on Xu You, and he directly named him: "This matter is entrusted to you! You must bring Yan Liang back to me!"

"As for the ransom? Money! The food supplies must not be touched. If we really pay that much food, we can forget about fighting a major war for the next year!"

He had one million shi of grain, but his total inventory was only about three million shi.

That's already a third of the way through!

Fortunately, Yuan Shao was well-off and had a considerable amount of gold and silver.

A rough estimate puts it at least in the millions of gold.

Ten thousand gold coins is only one-tenth of that! But Yuan Shao's heart was bleeding at this moment.

How many things can be accomplished with 100,000 gold coins!

"?"

When Xu You's name was called, he was taken aback at first, then cupped his hands in obeisance and replied, "Your subordinate obeys!"

Subsequently, Yuan Shao ordered his steward to prepare the ransom, which was eventually handed over to Xu You to take to Pingyuan County.

Rewind to half a day earlier, inside Gongsun Zan's command tent in Pingyuan Commandery—

"What? Ten thousand taels of gold or a million bushels of grain? Why don't you just rob someone?"

When Gongsun Zan first heard that his second brother, Gongsun Yue, was still alive, he was initially delighted. However, upon hearing the amount of the ransom, he flew into a rage, staring wide-eyed at the messenger as if he wanted to devour him alive.

"My lord has no grudge against General Gongsun; in fact, they both studied under General Lu Zhi, and during the campaign against Dong Zhuo, he even sent General Zhao Yun and others to assist him!"

"But now the general has repaid kindness with enmity, disregarding the bonds of kinship! Even if my lord kills General Gongsun Yue, it is entirely justifiable!"

"But out of consideration for past friendship, he spared Gongsun Yue's life, treated his wounds with the best medicine and the best doctors, and even offered the general a chance to redeem him. Isn't this enough to show his sincerity?"

"General Gongsun, are you truly going to refuse this offer of sincerity?"

If he refuses, Gongsun Yue will be of no value.

---

Lu Feng didn't care about the safety of the hostages at all.

"you......"

Upon hearing this, Gongsun Zan felt a tightness in his chest.

He wanted to argue, but couldn't find a suitable reason.

Every word the messenger said struck a nerve.

In terms of their teacher-student relationship, he and Lu Feng were indeed both disciples of Lu Zhi, and both were officially recognized as such.

Even Liu Bei couldn't compare to him in this respect.

Not to mention that when fighting against Dong Zhuo, Lu Feng sent troops to rescue him on multiple occasions.

When fighting against the Xiliang army, Lu Feng always prioritized taking care of his troops.

It's really unreasonable for them to turn around and attack their benefactor now.

But regret?

Gongsun Zan felt no remorse whatsoever.

It was common for feudal lords to fight each other.

The problem is that they are in the wrong from the start, and they are left speechless when they try to negotiate.

"Okay! I'll pay for it!"

Gongsun Zan finally gritted his teeth and admitted defeat, saying bitterly, "But give me time to raise the funds; the amount is too large to come up with immediately."

"sure."

The messenger immediately replied, "The day the money and provisions are ready will be the day the prisoners are released. We only hope the general will act quickly, as my lord's patience is limited."

"snort!"

Gongsun Zan sneered, "No need for Lord Wu to wait any longer!"

He paused briefly, then pressed on, "Are our surrendered soldiers also in your hands? How much is the ransom?"

"Furthermore, what has become of Liu Bei and his two brothers? Have they fallen into the hands of the Marquis of Wu?"

Gongsun Zan secretly pondered that since he had suffered a loss with Lu Feng, he should try to make up for it elsewhere.

The most suitable target at present is Yuan Shao, who is also severely weakened.

If he could annex Yuan Shao's forces, he would be able to control Ji Province and half of You Province.

Then we can deal with Liu Yu, and the entire You and Ji provinces will be under our control.

Only then will they be qualified to compete with Landwind.

Upon hearing this, the envoy paused for a moment, then looked at Gongsun Zan with a flickering gaze: "General, you do indeed have quite a few prisoners under your command, approximately thirty thousand. However, the matter of their ransom requires your permission, my lord, and I cannot reply immediately."

"As for Liu Bei, Guan Yu, and Zhang Fei, they were not captured by my lord. During the Battle of Licheng, seeing the situation was unfavorable, they abandoned their army and fled to Mount Tai, even leaving General Gongsun Yue behind."

"Wanted posters are plastered everywhere, but there's still no sign of him."

Gongsun Zan's eyes suddenly sharpened: "You mean they abandoned my second brother and fled for their lives alone?"

"Absolutely true. Once Yuan Shao redeems General Yan Liang, you'll know for sure that he was there at the time." The envoy nodded firmly.

"Well done, Liu Bei!" Gongsun Zan's eyes flashed with a cold light. "I treated you like a brother, helping you many times when you were down on your luck. Even when my third brother spoke ill of you, I spoke up for you and gave you Pingyuan County as a place to settle down. And this is how you repay me?"

Only then did he realize the truth. How could his second brother have been captured, given Zhang Er's protection? It turned out he'd been betrayed by that big-eared scoundrel!

Gongsun Zan gritted his teeth and growled, "If I ever see you again, I'll take your head!"

If Liu Bei were here, he would surely cry foul. At that time, Lu Feng had fierce generals like Gan Ning and Xu Chu under his command, and even more so, his iron cavalry. They were no match for him, which is why they chose to retreat. As for Gongsun Yue? He was wounded by an arrow and was in the center of the army, so there was no way he could come to his aid in time.

Unfortunately, no one relayed his explanation, and Liu Bei was destined to take the blame.

**

Even if Gongsun Zan knew all this, he probably wouldn't change his opinion of Liu Bei much.

On that day, the envoy bid farewell to Gongsun Zan and returned to the pass to report back to Guo Jia, Gan Ning, and others.

Upon hearing that everything had been accomplished, Guo Jia and the others smiled.

Xu Chu grinned and said, "This is a huge profit!"

Huang Xu also excitedly chimed in, "Who would have thought that showing mercy would turn out to be such a huge achievement? This is much more worthwhile than killing the enemy!"

That's two hundred thousand gold coins or two million shi of grain, an astonishing amount.

Gan Ning rubbed his hands together and said, "Let's see how our lord rewards us!"

Guo Jia shook his head helplessly: "General Gan, stop thinking about the new warships! Every ship in the East China Sea Fleet is brand new. It would be more practical to take over the gold and silver mines in Yingzhou as soon as possible."

"Now that Yanzhou has been pacified, Qingzhou, except for Donglai County, needs to be reorganized and rebuilt, which will cost a lot. Most of this money and grain will have to be sent to Yanzhou for emergency relief."