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

Chapter 357 Undercurrents, Challenge Taishi Ci
Seven days later, Gu Rubing arrived outside the city of Xiangyang. Gu Rubing, Taishi Ci, and twenty riders slowly approached the city. The other four hundred and eighty riders had all been sent out by Taishi Ci to defend the entire Xiangyang city. Once there was any disturbance, they would be able to discover it immediately and pass it on to Gu Rubing, allowing him to be prepared.

Liu Biao opened the main gate of Xiangyang City and welcomed Gu Rubing at the gate. After seeing Gu Rubing coming, Liu Biao immediately stepped forward.

"Brother Xuande, welcome to Jingzhou."

Liu Biao bowed and greeted Gu Rubing. Gu Rubing did not have the airs of a great prince at all. He got off his horse and also bowed.

"Brother Jingsheng, thank you for coming here to greet me. I am sorry to bother you so much."

"Hahahaha, Xuande, what are you talking about? I, your brother, was able to capture the city of Nanchang without any soldiers. It was all thanks to you. So, I should thank you."

At this moment, Liu Biao was almost about to put his arm around Gu Rubing's shoulder to express his joy, but Gu Rubing smiled and waved his hand.

"It's just a small favor, Brother Jingsheng, there's no need to be so polite."

"Hey, Xuande, that's wrong. You're not right to say that. You used Jiujiang County and Lujiang County to exchange for my half of Yuzhang County. You used your own interests to exchange for interests for me, your brother. I will remember this favor in my heart!"

As Liu Biao spoke, he wanted to reach out and scratch his back, but he immediately realized that he was wearing fine clothes and it would be no different from scratching an itch through a shoe, so he could only retract his hand.

"Come on, let's go into the city and talk. I have asked someone to prepare a welcoming banquet at your house."

Liu Biao turned around and led the way, Gu Rubing followed closely behind, and Taishi Ci was further behind, helping Gu Rubing hold the horse.

Gu Rubing noticed Liu Biao's abnormal behavior just now, and he immediately thought of something. You know, Liu Biao in history died of back gangrene. Now looking at Liu Biao from behind, although he was covered by clothes, it can still be seen that there are several bulges on his back.

This is the first stage of back gangrene. In the early stage, the back is red, swollen and lumpy with millet-like pus heads. In the early stage, it is just itchy, and the itching goes deep into the skin and flesh. If left untreated, it will spread to the surrounding and deep parts, becoming larger and larger. There will be more and more pus heads, and it will become more itchy, accompanied by a burning and painful feeling.

I'm afraid Liu Biao is now in the final stage of the initial stage, and is about to enter the second stage of back gangrene, which is the pus stage. Once entering the pus stage, the disease will progress at a very fast rate. With current medical conditions, it can be said that even gods cannot save him. Only by properly handling the abscesses on the back and the pus that flows out, as well as the rotten flesh left after the back pus, can Liu Biao be saved.

In today's world, perhaps Hua Tuo is the only one who can save Liu Biao, but Gu Rubing is not so kind. When he asked him for help in times of crisis, he took advantage of Gu Rubing's crisis, asked for a huge sum of money, and did not take any practical action.

If it were not for Zhuge Liang's strategies, which forced Liu Biao into a situation where he had no choice but to take action, Liu Biao would have stood idly by and watched Gu Rubing. So now Gu Rubing has no sympathy for Liu Biao.

Liu Biao brought Gu Rubing and his party to his own governor's residence, where a banquet was being held to welcome Gu Rubing. Gu Rubing looked around the crowd but did not find the person he imagined.

"Xuan De, what's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing."

Gu Rubing was pulled by Liu Biao to sit down, and Taishi Ci was also pulled aside by Cai Mao and started drinking.

It was not until the early morning of that night that Liu Biao and his men let Gu Rubing and his men go. Liu Biao arranged for Gu Rubing and his men to stay in his mansion. As soon as Gu Rubing entered the room, he saw a beautiful woman sitting on the bed. She looked to be in her teens. The smell of alcohol on Gu Rubing's body instantly dissipated a little.

Although he knew that people in their time got married relatively early, there was no way Gu Rubing could lay a hand on a teenage girl.

After driving the woman out of the room, a figure appeared at the corner where Gu Rubing had entered. The woman shook her head at the figure at the corner, and the figure disappeared into the darkness again.

After Gu Rubing lay on the bed, his original drunken look was gone. What a joke. The wine at that time had not been purified and had a low alcohol content. In his previous life, when he accompanied his leaders to drink, he could drink two kilograms of sauce-flavored liquor with a concentration of more than 50 degrees. How could these small amounts of wine get him drunk?

Just now, Gu Rubing felt that someone had been following him. That person was very careful and had not let Gu Rubing see his appearance. It was not until just now, when Gu Rubing entered the door, that he saw that person: Liu Biao's brother-in-law Cai Mao!
In history, it is indisputable that Liu Biao died of back gangrene, but there is controversy about how Liu Biao got back gangrene. The most widely accepted version is that Cai Mao teamed up with Liu Biao's concubine Cai to drug Liu Biao, which caused Liu Biao to get back gangrene.

As for the reason, there are also many different opinions, but most people agree that Cai Mao and the Cai family drugged Liu Biao in order to make Liu Cong inherit Liu Biao's position and exclude Liu Qi.

Gu Rubing was lying on the bed, and there was a secret thing that Zhuge Liang told him before he came to Jingzhou. That was that Liu Qi once went to Wolongpo in Nanyang County to find him and asked Zhuge Liang to give him advice so that he could survive the joint slander of Cai Mao and the Cai family. However, Zhuge Liang did not give him any strategy, but only told him that there would be someone who would help him solve all the problems, and then that person would help him secure his position as the governor of Jingzhou.

This is where Zhuge Liang's brilliance lies. He had prepared for taking control of Jingzhou early on. If he had taken control directly, it would definitely have made Liu Biao's old subordinates feel uncomfortable. However, if he had supported Liu Biao and made him the Governor of Jingzhou, everything would have been different. Especially since Liu Qi was very much loved by Liu Biao's subordinates. This is why Cai Mao and the Cai family had always wanted to suppress Liu Qi.

It can be said that Zhuge Liang has planned everything for Gu Rubing, and Gu Rubing only needs to follow Zhuge Liang's arrangements and proceed step by step.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing stopped thinking and turned over to fall asleep.

On the other side of the Governor's Mansion, in a room, there was another person tossing and turning, unable to sleep all night.

On the second day, Liu Biao came personally to wake Gu Rubing up early in the morning. Gu Rubing was speechless. Before entering the game, he had to work 996 hours a day for survival. After entering the game, he still had to work 996 hours a day for the sake of the great cause. But why should he be forced to work 996 hours a day just to come out to relax?

After having breakfast with Liu Biao's civil and military officials, they came to the parade ground of the Jingzhou army. Two people had been waiting there. When Gu Rubing saw them, he immediately guessed their identities.

Huang Zu, Huang Zhong!
Unexpectedly, Liu Biao specially transferred two people back from Jiangxia and Yuzhang. After seeing Liu Biao and his party, the two also came forward.

"Greetings, my lord. Greetings, Uncle Liu."

The two men paid their respects to Liu Biao and Gu Rubing respectively. Gu Rubing returned the greeting with a smile. This scene immediately made Huang Zu and Huang Zhong have a great favor towards Liu Bei. After all, they had only heard of Uncle Liu's reputation for benevolence and righteousness before. Now that they saw him, they found that he was almost the same as in the rumors, which made it easy for people to have a good impression of him.

"Xuan De, these are two of my great generals, Huang Zu and Han Sheng. Like Cai Mao, they are both my most trusted subordinates."

Liu Biao introduced the two people to Gu Rubing with a smile, and Gu Rubing immediately bowed.

"I've long heard that the Jiangxia Huang family has an uncle and nephew who work together to attack and win every battle. Seeing it today, I find that they are indeed far superior to ordinary people."

"I have always heard of the benevolence and righteousness of Uncle Liu, and today I finally get to see him in person."

Several people smiled at each other. Under Gu Rubing's high emotional intelligence, these people, who were originally not familiar with each other, were able to talk about everything in just a few quarters of an hour.

While chatting and laughing, several people came to the school platform, and Liu Biao introduced his Jingzhou army to Gu Rubing.

"Xuan De, this is just the garrison troops in Jingzhou, 20,000 archers, 50,000 cavalry, and 50,000 infantry. In addition, there are generals stationed in other counties, among which Huang Zu's Jiangxia County and Han Sheng's Yuzhang County are the main ones. Jiangxia County has 80,000 troops, and Yuzhang County has 50,000 troops. I have a full 300,000 troops in Jingzhou! Wherever I point is the direction of their expedition!"

Liu Biao spoke passionately, his whole body brimming with confidence, and Gu Rubing also echoed him. "Brother Jingsheng's troops are truly a group of tigers and wolves."

Gu Rubing naturally knew what Liu Biao meant by this move today. He was showing his fangs to him and telling him that he could still take Nanchang even without his help.

There is no need to guess, everyone knows that it must be Cai who whispered in Liu Biao's ear last night, otherwise Liu Biao would never have such a change of attitude. As for why, it must be that he discovered from what happened last night that Gu Rubing was not someone they could easily control, so he was anxious for Liu Biao to make his position clear.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing couldn't help but shook his head. The means were so crude, but Liu Biao was kept in the dark. Liu Biao's death was not unjust.

"Xuan De, I heard that your generals are very powerful and each of them is a match for ten thousand men on the battlefield. I believe that this general who can escort you alone must be the best among them, right?"

Liu Biao turned his attention to Taishi Ci. The meaning was self-evident. After first promoting the generals under Gu Rubing, the next step might be to let his generals challenge Taishi Ci.

Sure enough, Liu Biao spoke immediately.

"These generals under my command are all a bunch of arrogant people. They usually look down on everyone. Why don't you, Xuande, let this general fight a few moves with them? Then they will all know that there are always people better than you!"

"Okay, Ziyi, then you fight them a few moves!"

Gu Rubing put extra emphasis on the words "two moves", and Taishi Ci immediately understood and smiled brilliantly.

"Since the Lord and the Governor have spoken, how can I not obey?"

Taishi Ci held a broadsword in his hand, a large bow on his back, and a pair of halberds on his waist. He stood in the middle of the parade ground. Seeing this, Liu Biao was delighted.

"Anyone who can defeat this general will be rewarded with 100 taels of gold!"

As soon as Liu Biao said this, countless people rushed out.

"I come!"

"let me!"

……

"Come one by one! Come one by one!"

Liu Biao said, but it was difficult to resist the temptation of one hundred taels of gold.

"No need to do it one by one, come together!"

Taishi Ci stood in the center of the training ground, speaking even more arrogantly.

"It's crazy!"

"Brothers, come together!"

Hundreds of soldiers rushed towards Taishi Ci together, but the generals did not move. After all, their status was there. It was understandable for the soldiers to rush forward together, but if the generals also followed suit, that would be a bit unreasonable.

Facing a group fight, the broadsword was obviously better than the hand halberd. Taishi Ci turned the handle of the sword so that the blade was facing upwards, and used the blade to face the enemy. More than two hundred soldiers who swarmed forward only lasted less than a hundred breaths under Taishi Ci's hands before they were all knocked down by Taishi Ci. After all, they were just ordinary soldiers, and the gap between them and Taishi Ci was like the difference between heaven and earth.

Seeing more than 200 people defeated so quickly, Liu's expression froze for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.

"Hahaha, great! He is indeed worthy of being a general under Xuande, so brave! Which general is willing to challenge this general? The winner will be rewarded with a hundred gold coins and promoted one level!"

As Liu Biao increased the rewards, many generals could no longer hold back.

"Deputy Commander of the Xiangyang City Defense Army, Chen Li, challenges the general!"

A man walked out of the crowd. He was a general wielding a broadsword. Taishi Ci turned the blade of the broadsword in his hand again, then waved at him, signaling him to take action. The man did not hesitate. He dragged the sword with both hands, ran over quickly, and then jumped high, trying to chop Taishi Ci with all his strength.

Taishi Ci did not move the hand holding the knife. He just stepped back with one foot to shift his center of gravity. Then he raised his other foot and kicked the general who was attacking him. The man had no time to react and was kicked several meters away by Taishi Ci. He then knelt on the ground and could not stand up for a long time.

The smile on Liu Biao's face froze. The city defense commander was a top third-rate general under his command. It would not be an exaggeration to say that he was the strongest third-rate general under his command. Facing Liu Bei's generals, he was defeated in just one move, and the opponent didn't even use weapons.

"I'll challenge you!"

The commander would naturally not sit idly by after the deputy commander was beaten. Besides, he was Chen Li's brother, so the commander took control.

"I am better at horse fighting, how about you?"

"Just ride your horse!"

Taishi Ci still looked as calm as before. Hearing this, the commander was no longer polite and drove his horse forward, waving the spear in his hand with great force. Taishi Ci stared at the opponent, and just when the opponent's spear was about to hit him, Taishi Ci just tilted his body slightly to avoid the attack. Then he kicked again, this time with greater force than the last time, and kicked the horse's belly solidly.

The horse weighing several hundred pounds was kicked over, and the commander on the horse was naturally unable to escape and fell heavily to the ground. Before he could stand up, a big knife was already placed on his neck.

"I lost."

The whole place was silent. First he knocked down the deputy commander with one kick, and then he kicked over the warhorse and the commander. This record was really exaggerated. Only Huang Zu and Huang Zhong looked calm. As top military commanders and veterans of the battlefield, they could naturally see something.

Now Taishi Ci was not serious at all, and seemed more like he was playing with a child.

"Jiangxia Governor, Huang Zu, come and learn from the general's martial arts."

(End of this chapter)