Are you crazy? Trying to trick him into military service? He's the number one dragon on the fro

Lu Xiao and Qian Yu weren't the only ones tossing and turning, unable to sleep tonight.

In the Chu army camp to the south, Chu general Xiong Zhao was also unable to sleep. He was sitting behind a table, looking at Shen Ting's corpse with a furrowed brow.

He saw his beloved general's corpse during the day, and the anger in his heart has kept him from eating or drinking anything until now, his mind filled with thoughts of revenge.

Just thinking about the number of people in Ze Meng's camp and the strength of his own troops gave him a splitting headache.

"General, please have something to eat."

Seeing his general so worried that his hair was almost white, the strategist Qu Hongtu couldn't bear it and stepped forward to offer some words of comfort:

"General Shen's death this time was not his fault, but rather the Zhou people's taking advantage of our lack of intelligence."

"Once we figure out the background of that Marquis of Great Zhou, we'll have no shortage of opportunities to avenge General Shen in the future!"

Upon hearing this, Xiong Zhao let out a heavy sigh and shook his head, saying:

"That's not what I'm worried about. What I'm worried about is Lu Xiao's encouragement to the Zhou people."

"Strategist, our Chu army has gone to great lengths to demoralize the Zhou people. We finally had a chance to take Yun County in one fell swoop and march straight into the Central Plains, but a young marquis has cut our hopes in half."

"I can't swallow this!"

His words silenced Qu Hongtu.

After an unknown amount of time, Qu Hongtu sighed and said:

"If only our Great Chu had a young general as capable and skilled in battle as him."

"However, Lu Xiao's arrival is hope for the Zhou people, and it is also hope for our Chu state."

He pondered and said:

"If we seize the opportunity, we might just defeat the Great Zhou Champion Marquis and inflict an even greater blow on Great Zhou!"

"Oh?"

"What do you mean by that?"

Xiong Zhao asked out of the blue, but seeing that the other person remained silent for a long time, he couldn't help but look up.

He saw Qu Hongtu gesture with his eyes towards the food in front of him, and after a few wry smiles, he picked up his chopsticks and began to eat.

Only then did Qu Hongtu reluctantly speak:

"General, I heard that Lu Xiao was a commoner who was forced to join the army a year ago. However, since joining the army, he has been blessed by the heavens and has been unstoppable. He has defeated the Hu army one after another, which is why he was appreciated by the Emperor of Great Zhou and was named Marquis of Champion."

"I believe that Lu Xiao has been fighting against the Hu people all this time and is not familiar with the border affairs between Zhou and Chu. We can make good use of this to defeat him."

"I've heard that the governor of Yun County is greedy for money and is also the son-in-law of the Grand Chancellor of the Great Zhou Dynasty..."

Before he could finish speaking, Xiong Zhao shook his head and stopped him:

"The people of Chu work from dawn till dusk just to barely support you and me. How can we give our money and grain to the Zhou people for nothing?"

"Grand plans, this path is blocked, stop thinking about it."

Upon hearing this, Qu Hongtu apologized repeatedly, admitting that he had indeed acted without thinking.

After pondering for a moment, he came up with another plan:

"Then let's lure them away from their mountain stronghold!"

Qu Hongtu said under Xiong Zhao's questioning gaze:

"Lu Xiao is skilled in raids and likes to strike at the heart of the enemy. It would be better to expose a fatal weakness of our army to him, luring him deep into enemy territory, and then we can surround him with our combined forces!"

"Recently, the Great Zhou has suffered repeated defeats, and their court has long been dissatisfied with this, otherwise they would not have sent Lu Xiao to confront our army."

"We then took advantage of the Zhou people's eagerness to turn the tide and launched a counterattack."

His speech became more and more coherent:

"General, we will release the news of the internal strife in Chu over the next two days, but we must inform the generals in the army in advance to prevent the soldiers from having any wild thoughts."

"When the time is right, the general will personally take charge and create the illusion that you and I are about to withdraw our troops to reinforce the city. In this way, Lu Xiao will definitely be eager for quick success and lead his troops to pursue us."

"Lu Xiao was able to be named the Champion Marquis because he could fight swiftly and decisively, never missing such an excellent opportunity!"

"Then, we'll be able to..."

Upon hearing this, Xiong Zhao nodded slightly, pondered for a moment, then shook his head and said:

"There's still something wrong with it."

"Leaving aside how Lu Xiao will feel after hearing this news, many soldiers in our army are missing their families day and night. If some of them believe the rumor that there is a fire in the rear, wouldn't that throw our own troops into chaos?"

Qu Hongtu was somewhat sullen after his suggestions were rejected twice in a row.

However, knowing his general's temperament, his resentment came and went quickly.

After a moment of silence, Qu Hongtu said coldly:

"Then let's use a two-pronged approach!"

"In the past two days, we have secretly sent one or two hundred men to our rear to pretend that bandits are causing trouble. After creating a stir, the general will order the entire army to retreat and give up the territory that originally belonged to the Zhou Kingdom."

"In this way, the Zhou people will certainly not stand idly by and do nothing in order to recover their lost territory."

"Once the Zhou people are trapped, the general will use the pretext of suppressing bandits to lead a large army in a surprise attack on Ze Meng's camp, and deal with him using Lu Xiao's methods!"

Upon hearing this plan, Xiong Zhao's eyes lit up.

After all, according to common sense, if someone knew Lu Xiao's fighting style, they would definitely guard their base camp and dare not make any rash moves before figuring out his background.

After analyzing Lu Xiao's several battles against the Hu people in the north, it was found that he took advantage of the enemy's cautious attitude, changed his tactics several times, and continued to catch the enemy off guard.

Now, Qu Hongtu's proposed strategy is a mix of truth and deception, leaving the Zhou people completely bewildered.

Thinking of this, Xiong Zhao nodded:

"That would be feasible."

"However, before we begin, we need to feign a strong attack on Ze Meng's camp to create the illusion that the Zhou people are worried that Lu Xiao's arrival will lead to failure, and thus they will strike first."

"The general is wise!"

Qu Hongtu smiled smugly after hearing this.

So the two of them discussed the specific details overnight and planned to lead their army to attack Zemeng's camp as fiercely as possible the next morning.

Once they had captured the Zhou people's attention, they proceeded according to the plan they had discussed.

In this way, nothing will go wrong.

……

Silent all night.

The following morning, in Ze Meng's camp, Lu Xiao and Qian Yu planned to let the soldiers get to know each other and strive to cooperate well as soon as possible, and then launch a counterattack against the Chu army.

Just as they were about to assemble their soldiers, a scout came to report:

"The Marquis of Champion, General Qian, and General Xiong Zhao of the Chu Army have sent messengers to deliver a message, saying that they have long admired the Marquis's reputation and wish to meet with him after learning that he has arrived at the Zemeng camp."

"Oh?"

Upon hearing this, Lu Xiao glanced at Qian Yu in surprise, while the latter pondered and said:

"Xiong Zhao can be described as an upright gentleman, but his strategist Qu Hongtu is as venomous as a snake."

"His idea was to use underhanded tactics such as shooting at someone from the shadows."

"My lord, you need not heed their invitation. If Xiong Zhao insists on seeing you, you may as well have him come to my camp."