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

"Yuanlong," Liu Bei greeted Chen Deng upon his arrival, stepping out to welcome him. Seeing an unfamiliar young man beside him, he said, "And this is…?"

Lu Wan cupped her hands in greeting and introduced herself again.

Liu Bei then stepped forward, took Lu Wan's hand, and said with a gentle smile, "So it's Mr. Wenyuan. My apologies for your rudeness."

As he spoke, Liu Bei reached out and pulled Chen Deng, leading the two into the room. Lu Wan was clearly not used to Liu Bei's way of socializing, and looked at Chen Deng with surprise, to which Chen Deng could only return an awkward smile. Guan Yu, who had just come out, accompanied Liu Bei back into the mansion.

"Yuanlong, did you encounter any danger along the way? Didn't Ji Ling send troops to intercept you?"

"Rest assured, my lord. With you and General Guan in charge of Huaiyin, Ji Ling would be insane to risk being attacked from both sides."

After Liu Bei sat down again, he said to Lu Wan, "Thank you for your help, sir. If it weren't for you, we would be like stray dogs."

He then turned to Chen Deng and said, "I also thank Yuanlong for taking care of Yide for me."

"You flatter me, my lord. I was merely following General Zhang's orders to ambush Lü Bu," Chen Deng said with a grin.

After another round of casual conversation, Liu Bei was very relaxed because he had just received reinforcements and was unaware of Yuan Shu's subsequent actions.

Thanks to his background, Liu Bei was a wandering knight-errant in his early years, which allowed him to come into contact with a large number of people from the lower classes of society; he also studied under the great Confucian scholar Lu Zhi, which allowed him to come into contact with people from aristocratic families.

Liu Bei's rich life experience gave him a strong ability to judge people. He could tell at a glance that the young man in front of him was inexperienced in the ways of the world, which made Liu Bei feel at ease and communicate with him.

After chatting for a while, Chen Deng seized the opportunity and said to Liu Bei, "My lord, we have an important military report to report. Please keep it confidential from those around us."

Liu Bei waved his hand, and his personal guards immediately understood, leaving the room and closing the door behind them.

Chen Deng nodded to Lu Wan, signaling him to begin.

"Lord Liu, the Han Dynasty is in grave danger!" Lu Wan put on a dramatic performance, kneeling down on the ground as if pushing a mountain of gold and jade pillars. Since there were no acquaintances around, she decided to be shameless.

Liu Bei hurriedly helped Lu Wan up, fearing that he might hurt himself from the fall.

Lu Wan grabbed Liu Bei's forearm and, with tears streaming down her face, recounted what she had said to Chen Deng.

The two brothers, Liu Bei and Guan Yu, were first shocked, then their faces flushed with anger: "Traitor to Han! How could he, the eldest son of the Yuan family, the most prestigious clan in the land, do such a thing, so disrespectful to his father and sovereign?"

Liu Bei drew his sword and casually chopped off a corner of the table. His eyes were bloodshot as he said, "I will muster my troops and march out of the city to kill the traitors of Han." With that, he turned to walk outside.

Chen Deng hurriedly stopped Liu Bei and reassured him, "My lord, please calm down. We are naturally willing to risk our lives for the Han Dynasty, but we are outnumbered and facing death in battle. Even if we win, our soldiers will suffer heavy casualties. If a traitor were to usurp the throne again in the future, who would you send to protect the Han Dynasty?"

Chen Deng was truly trying to persuade him. "Boss, you can fight, we brothers aren't afraid to sacrifice ourselves. But if all these brothers are wiped out and there are still traitors left, who will you send in, boss?"

Guan Yu chimed in, "That's right, brother. If we and Yuan Shao both suffer heavy losses, wouldn't Cao Cao be the one to reap the benefits?"

"No, you can fight."

Her sudden words once again drew the attention of the three people inside. Lu Wan looked at them with a firm expression and affirmed again, "We can fight!"

This time, Liu Bei was genuinely surprised. He wasn't stupid, nor did he fail to understand that fighting 40,000 men with less than 20,000 men was futile. He simply felt that he had to deter these Han traitors, otherwise the number of Han traitors would only increase.

How could Liu Bei not be excited when the person in front of him told him that he could fight?

"I wonder what good strategy you have, sir? Please enlighten me. I will never forget your great kindness." Liu Bei bowed solemnly. Lu Wan understood that this was a very sincere request for advice, and she was also filled with emotion.

No wonder everyone says the Imperial Uncle is a succubus of the Eastern Han Dynasty; who wouldn't be confused by that? Considering Liu Bei's sincerity, I'll just have to give it my best.

Lu Wan then inquired in detail about various intelligence matters from Liu Bei, including the enemy's approximate marching route, troop size, commanding generals, and terrain along the way. Liu Bei answered all her questions without reservation.

Yuan's army had a total strength of about 40,000 men, and advanced in two routes.

The main force of over 25,000 men set out from Xuyi and sailed down the Huai River to attack Huaiyin. The general in charge was Ji Ling, and the other generals were Liang Gang and Yue Jiu.

A detachment of over 15,000 men descended the Yangtze River and advanced northward along the Qu River to attack Gaoyou, intending to join forces with the main force to besiege Huaiyin. The commanding general was Wu Jing, and the deputy general was Sun Ben.

In addition, Zheng Bao, the leader of an unknown number of mountain bandits, is harassing Xuzhou in various places.

Ji Ling has already set up camp outside the city, waiting for another detachment of troops to arrive.

Wu Jing's troops will likely take some time to arrive due to their circuitous and long route. Gaoyou and Sheyang are not considered fortified cities, so they probably won't be able to hold Wu Jing off for long.

"Our total strength is now about 18,000 men. After deducting the 3,000 men defending the rear counties such as Haixi, there are now more than 15,000 men in Huaiyin City. We originally planned to take advantage of the fact that Yuan Shu's army has not yet joined forces to deal with Ji Ling first. Now it seems that this plan is a bit unrealistic. Ji Ling will definitely strengthen his guard when he sees that our army has an additional reinforcement. Under such circumstances, even a night attack will hardly achieve significant results."

Liu Bei explained his original plan, and Lu Wan listened and nodded.

Lu Wan was just a college student before, and had never organized any large-scale events, let alone led troops. Now she can only learn by observing.

However, although Lu Wan was not skilled in leading troops, it did not mean that she was ignorant of military strategy. In Lu Wan's view, the most important thing on the battlefield was to seize the initiative.

No matter what, you must always seize the initiative. This way, the enemy will be led by the nose. When the enemy is exhausted and makes mistakes, it will not be so difficult to defeat them.

Having clearly considered the battle strategy, Lu Wan felt she should give Liu Bei some strategic guidance:

"Lord Liu, the basic situation of the two sides in this war is that the enemy is strong and we are weak. Therefore, strategically, our army should adopt a defensive posture, but tactically, our army should attack."

Liu Bei was puzzled by these seemingly contradictory words and frowned in thought, while Guan Yu and Chen Deng's eyes lit up.

"Because the enemy is strong, it is impossible for our army to defeat them in one battle. Therefore, strategically, we must prepare for a protracted war and not rush into a decisive battle."

It is precisely because the enemy is strong that we should attack, concentrate our forces to gain a local advantage, and eliminate a portion of the enemy before they can form a cohesive unit, thereby gaining the strategic initiative. Then, while ensuring that our own forces are not compromised, we should attack the weaknesses of Yuan Shu's army.

The counties of Gaoyou and Sheyang along the canal have sparse military forces, and attacking the city would be extremely time-consuming. I personally believe that Wu Jing will not attack the city, but will instead use waterways for supplies and accelerate his march directly to Huaiyin.

Liu Bei's expression suddenly dawned on him: "Oh, so we should attack Wu Jing's forces?"

Of course not! Although Wu Jing's troops are few in number, they are not people that Lao Liu can easily mess with, not to mention that their vigilance is at its highest level due to their deep penetration into enemy territory, and a sneak attack would not yield any good results.

However, Lu Wan couldn't directly reject Liu Bei. From then until she was imprisoned by Cao Cao, Lu Wan would still have to work for Liu Bei, so she wouldn't be like some people who always contradicted their boss to make themselves seem more brilliant.

"That's right, but before that, Lord Liu has a major concern to deal with." Lu Wan decided to learn from Xun Yu and Guo Jia, who had high emotional intelligence.

Chen Deng tentatively asked, "Is it Yuan Shu's navy?"

"Exactly."