He originally intended to surrender to Wei, so why did he end up restoring Han?

Wang Xiang dared not linger, and quickly made arrangements to leave Linyi, heading towards Qingzhou without looking back.

He used the alias Huangfu and disguised himself as a merchant to successfully escape to Beihai.

Zang Ba and his group waited a few more days, only to be refused. They immediately sent someone to personally "invite" Wang Xiang over. Of course, the result was the same: they found nothing.

Sun Guan slapped his thigh: "See! I knew this kid had something going on!"

"Yes, yes, yes, you, Sun Guan, are a genius, a rare talent in the world. Are you satisfied now?" Chang Xi had long been annoyed by this. Ever since he learned that Wang Xiang had escaped, this brat had been running to his brothers every day to boast about how amazing she was. He immediately saw through her act and spoke sarcastically.

Zang Ba didn't care. This Wang Xiang was obviously a nobody; capturing him might be useless and would only needlessly provoke the powerful families. "Forget it," he said, "what will be, will be. Let him go if he wants. The problem now is, what about Cao Cao?"

"What are you thinking, boss?" Instead of answering directly, the group used a question to answer the question.

Zang Ba gave his excellent answer: "I don't know."

Sun Guan shared his opinion: "I think we should talk to Governor Liu. After all, Governor Liu is on the side of the people of Xuzhou, so he's practically a Xuzhou native. Cao Cao had malicious intentions from the beginning, especially after killing so many of our brothers. We can't just let this go."

Chang Xi nodded in agreement: "I agree. We brothers are family, Liu Bei is an outsider, and Cao Cao is an enemy. Although Liu Bei, as an outsider, is not worth our brothers risking our lives to protect, I would rather be with Liu Bei than serve Cao Cao like a slave."

Yin Li, Wu Dun, and others also clasped their hands in greeting and said, "Me too!"

In the original history, Zang Ba was known as the "King of Qingxu," and he ruled under Cao Cao for more than twenty years, so he was certainly no pushover. But now Zang Ba had to make a choice: surrender to Liu Bei, surrender to Cao Cao, or maintain the status quo.

After hearing his brothers' opinions, Zang Ba finally made his decision: "Bring me paper and pen, I want to write a letter to Prefect Liu."

--------

Leading their troops, Zhao Yun and Qian Zhao arrived at their destination: a wasteland west of Pengcheng. They prepared the area before their guests arrived.

"General Zhao, can we trust Lu Junshi's plan?" Qian Zhao had been in the north and had never heard of Lu Wan's name, but because of his trust in Liu Bei, he was relatively optimistic about the plan.

Zhao Yun was also a little unsure, but he also trusted Liu Bei's judgment: "It should be fine, I don't think there's any major problem. Even if we can't defeat Lü Bu, he won't dare to make any rash moves."

Lu Wan's idea was to summon Lü Bu and have him spar with one of her generals. Talking about morality and righteousness with someone like Lü Bu was unrealistic; a show of force would likely calm him down.

This task can only be done by Zhao Yun; if Zhang Fei were to do it, it would be tantamount to officially declaring war on Lü Bu.

Meanwhile, Lü Bu arrived with his troops.

At first, Lü Bu was reluctant to send anyone, but Chen Gong kept urging him to reconcile with Liu Bei. This was solely because of Wang Bi, Cao Cao's envoy from before.

Chen Gong had observed Cao Cao closely before, and he knew exactly what kind of person he was. Don't be fooled by the envoy's sweet words; if Lü Bu were to truly cooperate with Cao Cao, he would inevitably be ruthlessly killed by Cao Cao in the future.

Now, the more Wang Bi used sweet words and promised that as long as Lü Bu surrendered, the less he would pursue the past, the more Chen Gong felt a chill.

Under Chen Gong's persistent nagging, Lü Bu finally couldn't take it anymore and agreed to come here to try and build rapport. However, as the leader of the Bingzhou army, he naturally wouldn't lower himself to meet with Zhao Yun, so he sent his top general Zhang Liao to meet Zhao Yun instead.

Before leaving, Lü Bu specifically instructed Zhang Liao to have a sparring match with Zhao Yun to see how good the newcomer was.

In truth, Lü Bu still harbored a certain degree of wishful thinking. He had gained immense benefits by repeatedly switching allegiances, eventually becoming the Marquis of Wen. Now, he had developed a path dependency: switching sides.

As long as I jump fast enough and hard enough, I can keep climbing higher and higher.

Back to the present, Zhao Yun ordered his troops to halt and rode alone to the front lines, his sturdy armor making him appear exceptionally tall and imposing. On the other side, Zhang Liao, clad in black armor, rode forward.

Zhang Liao, as the instigator on Lü Bu's side, stepped forward first to greet Zhao Yun: "General Zhao, I have long admired you."

He had never actually heard of Zhao Yun before; he was just being polite.

Zhao Yun returned the salute formally: "General Zhang, Lord Liu's intention is to let bygones be bygones. Today we will only discuss protecting the borders and ensuring the safety of the people, and not to start a war."

Zhang Liao nodded: "Of course, General Zhao."

Besides Zhao Yun and Zhang Liao, the gathering also included Qian Zhao, Song Xian, Hou Cheng, and Wei Xu.

Standing for so long wasn't going to work, so Zhao Yun quickly gestured for everyone to sit down. Zhao Yun was still a bit troubled; the idea of ​​a duel had been on his lips for a while, but he just couldn't bring himself to say it.

Suddenly, Zhang Liao spoke up: "I have long heard that Lord Liu has many brave and skilled warriors under his command. Today, the weather is clear and the air is fresh. I would like to take the liberty of asking the general for some guidance, as a way to add to the merriment of today's peace talks. I wonder what General Zhao thinks?"

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yun, though outwardly expressionless, was inwardly overjoyed. "Good, you said it yourself," he thought, but aloud he replied, "Of course."

"I have long heard that your army is skilled in archery. Why don't we have an archery contest today?"

Zhao Yun naturally wouldn't refuse, because Zhao Yun himself was also incredibly skilled at archery, and later he even shot and broke the straitjack of the Eastern Wu warship.

Zhang Liao waved his hand, and a Bingzhou soldier came running over with a long spear.

"How about we use the tip of this gun as a target, standing a hundred paces away?" "Alright! Please."

The men who had come with Zhang Liao began to cheer him on: "Wen Yuan, our Bingzhou army has been through countless battles, we can't let him down!" "That's right! Keep your spirits up!"

Zhang Liao said no more, and reached for the bow offered by his personal guard. He strode to the center, his eyes fixed on the spearhead a hundred paces away like a hawk's.

Zhang Liao took a breath, drew back his bow, and the beautiful bow was immediately drawn to its full extent. Suddenly, he released the arrow, which flew swiftly towards the spearhead.

"Bang—!" The arrow left a white mark on the spearhead and stuck in the grass not far away.

"Good! Wen Yuan is a divine archer! General is a divine archer!" The Bingzhou soldiers watching cheered, while Liu Bei's soldiers swallowed hard.

Putting away his longbow, Zhang Liao turned to Zhao Yun and said, "General Zhao, please."