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

Chapter 354: Sun Jian pours tea, Gu Rubing’s blueprint!
"Tai Wen, don't you see the current situation clearly? I am the only one who can make conditions, not you. When I make conditions, you can only choose to agree or disagree. Oh, no, you can only agree because you have no choice."

As Gu Rubing spoke, he drank the hot tea in front of him and then turned his gaze to Sun Jian. Sun Jian looked at Gu Rubing with confusion, as if he had no idea what Gu Rubing meant.

Looking at Sun Jian, who pretended to be ignorant even though he knew the truth, Gu Rubing pursed his lips, signaling Sun Jian to fill the empty teacup.

Sun Jian didn't understand what Gu Rubing meant, but he couldn't believe that Gu Rubing dared to ask him to pour tea. Finally, Sun Jian gritted his teeth, picked up the teapot, filled Gu Rubing's cup first, and then filled the cup in front of him. After all, he was asking for help now.

Looking at Sun Jian's expression, Gu Rubing nodded with satisfaction.

"Wentai, what do you think?"

Gu Rubing continued to put pressure on Sun Jian, asking him to make a quick decision. Sun Jian looked hesitant. In fact, this deal was definitely a win for Sun Jian, but he just couldn't get over it.

"Nanchang County City..."

Before Sun Jian could finish speaking, Gu Rubing interrupted him.

"Nanchang County City must be given to Jingsheng, no room for negotiation."

Sun Jian looked at the calm Gu Rubing and could only choose to swallow the loss.

"Okay, but I have one condition. Zhang Liao must withdraw his troops now. If you don't agree to this, then there is no need to discuss this further!"

"can."

Gu Rubing raised the teacup. Looking at the cup, Sun Jian had no choice but to clink glasses with Gu Rubing. When they clinked glasses, the rim of Sun Jian's cup was a little lower than Gu Rubing's.

The two parties quickly finalized the deal. After all, this kind of negotiation that is beneficial to both parties and in which one party is subject to the other is easy to reach.

Sun Jian immediately wrote a letter and had it sent to Nanchang County to be given to Gu Yong and Gan Ning.

Gu Rubing also wrote a letter and sent it to Nanchang County, but this time it was addressed to Liu Biao.

Seeing that Gu Rubing had finished writing the letter and had no intention of continuing writing, Sun Jian spoke.

"I have already sent an urgent military letter of eight hundred miles, asking Gu Yong to withdraw from Nanchang County and give it to Liu Biao. Is it time for you to ask Zhang Liao to withdraw his troops?"

"retreat?"

Gu Rubing smiled slightly, his eyes full of sympathy. When Sun Jian was wondering what the sympathy in Gu Rubing's eyes meant, he heard him say lightly.

"Wenyuan should be on his way back to Guangling City now."

"I…!"

Sun Jiangang swallowed the last few words back. Being tricked again, he snorted coldly and turned away.

"Tai Wen, take care."

When Sun Jian heard these words as he was walking down the stairs, he staggered and almost fell.

Looking at Sun Jian walking away, Gu Rubing said to the two people behind him with a smile.

"Let's go back to Qingzhou."

In Chengde military town and on the battlefield to the north, hundreds of thousands of corpses were piled together. In just one night, the bodies had already begun to rot. If these corpses were not handled properly, plague would surely occur. With current medical conditions, being infected with the plague would mean waiting to die, and the plague would surely spread uncontrollably.

If the plague really spread, it would make no difference whether the entire Jiujiang was taken back or not. Sun Jian would never allow this to happen.

So after Sun Jian learned that Zhang Liao had retreated, the first thing he did was to send people to deal with the corpses on the battlefield and in the military towns. At the same time, some cities and military towns in the two counties needed to be recaptured, which also required manpower.

Hundreds of thousands of troops were dispatched to perform their respective duties.

Gu Rubing also led his army back to Guangling City, preparing to meet up with Zhang Liao who was already returning to Guangling, and then return to Qingzhou.

That evening, in Nanchang County, Yuzhang Prefecture, Huang Zu had already led his army to the city, ready to capture Nanchang County City. Gan Ning had already formed a line outside the city with 50,000 cavalrymen, ready to charge at any time.

Although Sun Jian's troops were weaker than Gu Rubing's troops, they were able to suppress Liu Biao's Jingzhou army, Shi Xie's Jiaozhou army, etc. This was why Huang Zhong had failed to succeed in his previous attacks.

In an ordinary city or military town, the casualty ratio of soldiers attacking and defending is three to one. However, in a large city like Nanchang County City, the casualty ratio of soldiers attacking and defending will probably reach five to one. In addition, such large cities are often extremely strong, so even if there are large siege equipment, the casualty ratio will still reach three to one.

Outside the city, Huang Zu led his army and faced Gan Ning from a distance. Gan Ning, holding an ancient ingot knife, looked at Huang Zu and others with disdain.

The two sides are on the verge of a fight, and the order to charge may be issued at any time.

At the critical moment, a horseman rushed out from Nanchang County, passed through the army, and came straight to Gan Ning.
"General Gan, the lord has an urgent message."

The visitor was none other than Gu Yong, the minister under the Yuzhang prefect Zhou Shu. Although he was called a minister, he was actually sent by Sun Jian to supervise Zhou Shu. Zhou Shu was just a puppet, and Gu Yong was the real Yuzhang prefect.

"An urgent letter from the Lord?"

Gan Ning was a little confused. Shouldn't his lord be recovering the territories of Jiujiang and Lujiang counties at this time? Why did he send him an urgent letter?

"What did the Lord say?"

"General, you better look at it yourself."

Gu Yong did not tell Gan Ning. Gan Ning opened the letter with full of doubts. After reading it, although he did not understand what his lord meant, Gan Ning still put away the ancient ingot knife in his hand.

"Retreat, withdraw from Nanchang County."

Hearing Gan Ning's words, the deputy generals beside him did not show any doubts, but immediately executed the order. In this way, 50,000 people slowly retreated from outside the city into the city.

"If you enter the city again after one day, it will be regarded as a provocation and the beginning of war." After Gan Ning said this to Huang Zu's army, he turned around and left.

Huang Zu looked at everything in front of him in bewilderment. What was going on? They were about to start fighting, so why did they suddenly withdraw their troops? They even told him some inexplicable nonsense like they would enter the city in a day.

Just when Huang Zu wanted to test whether Gan Ning was really going to retreat or was just plotting a trick, a rider rushed out from behind him. It was none other than Kuai Yue, Liu Biao's second counselor.

"General Huang, the lord has ordered us to withdraw our troops. When you return, the lord will tell you the reason."

Huang Zu was now even more confused. Gan Ning had just been called away, and now he was immediately asked to withdraw his troops. This was really not normal.

The two sides that had gathered outside the city of Nanchang County slowly retreated, and what was destined to be a bloody battle suddenly stopped inexplicably.

When they returned to the city's garrison, it was already the next morning. Huang Zu and Huang Zhong, who had not slept all night, found Liu Biao who had just come out of his concubine's room.

"Chengyan, Hansheng, you're back. You haven't had breakfast yet, right? Let's talk while we eat."

Liu Biao did not give the two men a chance to react and walked towards the conference room, where Kuai Liang, Kuai Yue and other civil and military officials were already waiting there.

"Sit, sit, sit, sit down."

As Liu Biao spoke, he walked to the main seat and sat on the first seat, and then the others sat down one after another.

"Chengyan, after dinner, you can lead the troops back to Jiangxia."

Liu Biao took a sip of porridge as he spoke. Huang Zu was even more confused when he heard this.

"My Lord, why is this happening? Are you not going to attack Nanchang County?"

"Let's not fight anymore. Nanchang County City is already ours. Why fight anymore?"

While answering Huang Zu, Liu Biao complained in his heart that the food nowadays was really not to his taste. There were too many condiments that had not yet been invented. Eating was more about the deliciousness of the ingredients. There were also many condiments that were only in their rudiments and were far inferior to the various condiments of modern times.

"Nanchang County City is already ours?"

Huang Zu is now very confused. What is going on?
"Yes, just now Xuande, oh, that is Liu Bei, sent someone to deliver a letter saying that before dark today, all Sun Jun in Nanchang County will withdraw, and we can occupy Nanchang County."

"Liu Bei? Why should he allow...?"

Huang Zu was stuck halfway through his words, because he realized that if this was true, then what Gan Ning said to him before he withdrew his troops would make sense.

"Chengyan, don't worry. There is no trick. It was Xuande who used the cities and military towns that Jiujiang and Lujiang counties had already occupied, as well as their now withdrawn troops, and the cities of Wu County that Zhang Liao had conquered, in exchange for Nanchang County and half of Yuzhang County."

Liu Biao just felt the itch on his back coming again. Yesterday he asked his two concubines to scratch his back for a whole night, so he looked comfortable just now. But who would have thought that such a short time later, his back would start to itch again.

No, I have to find a famous doctor. Could it be syphilis? This shouldn't be the case. All the beautiful wives and concubines I married were clean. This doesn't make sense.

Liu Biao pondered in his heart that it was probably because of his recent disorderly life. However, before entering the game, he was a young man in his twenties, and he didn't have a girlfriend. So after entering the game, he stopped restraining himself and began to indulge himself.

"Oh, right."

Liu Biao collected his thoughts, looked up and continued.

"Han Sheng, I will promote you to be the governor of Yuzhang Prefecture. You will no longer be the General of the Central Army. You can be stationed in Nanchang from now on."

Huang Zhong, who originally thought that he had nothing to do with it, immediately stood up and thanked him after hearing this. He was promoted directly from a General of the Central Army to the Governor of a county, no, the Governor of half a county, which was considered to be a huge wealth.

"Thank you, my lord!"

After Huang Zhong expressed his gratitude, he returned to his seat and sat side by side with Huang Zu. The two looked at each other, and some words were self-evident.

"Tonight, Han Sheng, you will lead the troops into the city. Also, send a letter to Xuande, inviting him to come to Jingzhou. The last time he came to Jingzhou, he didn't come to Xiangyang, so he must come this time!"

Liu Biao was so happy at this moment. He captured the Nanchang County City without losing a single soldier. Moreover, Gu Rubing mentioned in the letter that Sun Jian would never turn around and attack Nanchang again. This was the top priority. Controlling the Nanchang County City was actually equivalent to controlling most of Yuzhang County. After all, most of the cities and military towns in Yuzhang County were in the west, and there were only a few small military towns in the east.

It can be said that Gu Rubing brought a super gift to Liu Biao, so Liu Biao now had a particularly good impression of Gu Rubing. Liu Biao even felt that he had rejected the other party's alliance request before. Now thinking about it, Liu Biao wanted to slap himself in the face for being so stingy at that time.

Five days later, Gu Rubing, who had been marching slowly all the way, finally arrived at Guangling City. After meeting up with Zhang Liao, he headed towards Qingzhou.

Nowadays, Qingzhou, Xuzhou, Bingzhou, Youzhou are all under Gu Rubing's control, as will Jingzhou in the near future. Gu Rubing now deeply feels the shortage of manpower.

Guan Yu is stationed in Bingzhou to resist Cao Cao. Zhang Liao will be stationed in Xuzhou and Guangling to resist Sun Jian in the future. Taishi Ci will lead his troops as the Captain of the Crossbows and will travel around. Zhao Yun will follow Gu Rubing. Gu Rubing feels uneasy because he does not have a peerless general by his side. Zhang Fei will be stationed in Youzhou in the future to resist the barbarians in the northeast, and Zhang He can be competent for Jingzhou, which is about to be obtained, in Yuzhou, which is sandwiched in the middle.

No one has ruled Yuzhou for a long time, and now is a perfect opportunity. Although Xu Rong's combat power is not high, he has strong ability to lead troops and can stay in Yuzhou.

There is also the issue of manpower. After this battle, Gu Rubing lost 120,000 regular troops and 90,000 Yellow Turban reserve troops. However, after a fierce battle, many soldiers of the Yellow Turban reserve troops were able to be transferred to become regular troops. As long as they are trained more, these 260,000 troops can become regular troops.

In addition, Gu Rubing's reputation for virtue has spread throughout the world, and countless people admire him. If he raises his arms and calls for action at this time, countless young people of appropriate age will join Gu Rubing's army. With only a few months of training, Gu Rubing will be able to obtain 260,000 regular troops plus hundreds of thousands of reserve troops. This will be the necessary preparation for Gu Rubing to implement his next plan.

Only with sufficient troops and military generals can you defend the territory. Otherwise, if you have the territory but no military generals and troops, it will eventually be seized.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing couldn't help but think of a few people. One was the father and son Ma Teng and Ma Chao from Liangzhou in the northwest, and the other was the uncle and nephew Huang Zu and Huang Zhong from Jingzhou.

After Ma Teng and Han Sui fell out, they had been fighting internally. As long as Gu Rubing intervened a little, he could help the two of them defeat Han Sui and help Ma Teng unify Liang Province. At that time, Ma Teng would naturally have no reason not to surrender to him. Since his father had surrendered to him, Ma Chao, as his son, naturally could not escape.

You know, when Gu Rubing was alive before, someone had ranked the 24 fierce generals of the Three Kingdoms period, as follows: Lu, Zhao, Dian Wei, Guan, Ma, Zhang Fei, Huang, Xu, Sun, and Tai, both Xiahou, Zhang, Xu, Pang, Gan, Zhou, and Wei, Zhang Xiu and Wen Yan, the divine spearmen, were brave but had tragic fates. These were the 24 famous generals of the Three Kingdoms, and Deng Ai and Jiang Wei were the last.

Ma Chao's ranking is even higher than Zhang Fei, which is enough to show how powerful Ma Chao is. Of course, this ranking is obtained without any in-game bonus. Now with the game bonus, everything is different. Guan Yu's strength is enough to crush all the current generals, and Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Zhang Liao, Taishi Ci, Zhang He and others are not far behind.

According to Zhuge Liang, Liu Biao will die within a month, and Gu Rubing cannot take care of Liang Province for the time being. After all, Gu Rubing also needs to recuperate, especially after taking over Jingzhou.

(End of this chapter)