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

Chapter 490: The Military Town is Empty? Pre-War Challenge
Before Zhou Yu, Gan Ning had already arrived outside Xiling City with his army. Together with Gan Ning were two armies led by Jiang Qin and Dong Xi, which served as Gan Ning's left and right wings. They confronted Zhao Yun and his men early on.

After seeing Zhou Yu arrive with Zhou Tai, Han Dang and Chen Wu, Gan Ning immediately became more confident. Just now, when they had not arrived yet, Gan Ning wanted to take the existing troops and fight with Zhao Yun and others.

Now that they had arrived, Gan Ning's eyes were almost lighting up.

"Grand Commander, why did you come just now? I've been waiting for a long time. These people under Liu Bei's command are not talking, nor are they attacking. They are just waiting there. Are they going to confront us? Or do they simply not dare to fight and are just strong on the outside but weak on the inside?"

As soon as Gan Ning saw Zhou Yu, he rushed over and came to Zhou Yu's side, muttering to himself.

Zhou Yu looked at Gan Ning with some confusion. He was already moving at full speed, but he was still behind Gan Ning. And it seemed that Gan Ning had not just arrived, but had been there for a while. After all, even the formation was ready, and he looked like he was ready for a big fight.

"Why did you come so soon?"

Zhou Yu did not answer Gan Ning's words, but asked in confusion. He couldn't help but feel a little suspicious. Sure enough, Gan Ning's next words were exactly what he thought.

"There are no soldiers guarding the city in that military town. I'm almost at the city gate, but no one has shown up yet. I can figure out the situation with my toes. Either there is no one inside, or Liu Bei and his men are plotting to lure me into the city. I'm not as stupid as Lu Meng. Wouldn't it be stupid to take the initiative to enter the encirclement? No matter which one it is, there is no risk for me to go around it, so why not do it?"

Gan Ning smiled brightly and Zhou Yu nodded slightly. This was Gan Ning's style, and what Gan Ning said made sense. Either there was no one there, or it was a trap. No matter which one it was, just go around it and ignore it.

"Grand Commander, give the order quickly, and do something big!"

Gan Ning and Zhou Yu stood side by side, turned around and faced Xiling City, their faces full of desire, hoping for a hearty battle. Zhou Yu took a deep breath, and with his right hand holding the sword at his waist, he couldn't help but grasp the hilt of the sword of General Dangkou. For some reason, when he saw that Zhang Liao was not among the opponent's generals, he actually felt a glimmer of luck from the bottom of his heart.

He subconsciously felt that without Zhang Liao's presence, they had a great chance of winning this battle. Even Zhou Yu himself did not realize that he had actually begun to regard Zhang Liao as an invincible enemy.

"Xingba, don't be impatient. We need to fight, but not now. At least we have to wait until Gongfu and the others are all here."

"Why are we still waiting for them? We have more than enough people now. If I didn't have the right to start a war, and if you came just in time, I would have launched an attack myself."

Gan Ning grinned, the excitement on his face beginning to turn into madness, Zhou Yu smiled and shook his head.

"Xingba, you know that the Lord takes this war very seriously. Even though the Lord has always been very fond of you, you still have to consider the consequences of this kind of thing, Xingba."

Zhou Yu did not directly order Gan Ning using his position as the Grand General and commander of the war. Instead, he used Sun Jian to pressure Gan Ning and also selected himself as an option to tell Gan Ning that he should be obedient when it is time to be obedient.

The madness on Gan Ning's face became ferocious, but it was not directed at Zhou Yu.

"I appreciate your words, but don't worry, I am just warlike, not stupid."

After saying this, both of them chose to shut up tacitly, each with their own thoughts in their hearts.

Zhou Yu's frown showed that he was in a complicated state of mind. After seeing the enemy's army and Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and others, Zhou Yu had only one question in his mind: when did they arrive in Jingzhou? When did they lead the army through the defenses of Dian Wei and Sun Ce?
Except for the two necessary roads guarded by Dian Wei and Sun Ce, they had secret sentries in other places. As long as they found Liu Bei's subordinates, no matter who they were, they would report it immediately. However, they had not received any news from the New Year to now. However, many generals and soldiers under Liu Bei appeared in Jiangxia County.

Now, except for each of them who can fly into the sky, hide in the ground and open the mountains, they can avoid their control and come to Jingzhou from Linzi, but how is this possible? Zhou Yu felt that his head was like exploding, and he couldn't make sense of it. He always felt that he had forgotten something important.

As for Gan Ning's thoughts, they were much simpler. His eyes were full of the generals standing in front of the army. They were his hunting targets. No matter whether it was Zhao Yun or Huang Zhong, even if he could not beat them, he would take the opportunity to bite them hard. Even if he did not let them lose a piece of meat, he would make them lose a layer of skin. This was all Gan Ning was thinking at the moment.

Without giving the two much time to think, the ground suddenly began to rumble and shake. In the distance, an army was galloping towards Xiling City.

"Hehe, it's finally here."

There was an undisguised fierceness in Gan Ning's eyes, and his tongue licked his slightly dry lips. Gan Ning could not wait any longer.

"Grand Governor."

Four riders rushed out from the army, and they were none other than Huang Gai, Xu Sheng, Pan Zhang and Ding Feng.

"Grand Commander, the military town we just came over was empty. I asked my men to search it carefully and there was indeed no guarding force. Are they all here?"

Huang Gai pointed at the army under Xiling City with a serious expression.

"It seems to be the case now."

Zhou Yu's voice was heavy. They had an army of 280,000, all of which had gathered here at the moment. However, the number of the other side was not small either, and it seemed that there were more than 100,000 or nearly 200,000 of them. This made Zhou Yu even more confused.

Huang Zu's Jiangxia definitely did not have so many soldiers, not even half of them. In other words, more than half of the nearly 200,000 troops were dispatched by Liu Bei from Qingzhou.

If only a few generals like Zhao Yun came to Jingzhou, it would be understandable. After all, they were few in number and strong in strength, so there was a high probability that they could evade their defense. However, it was absolutely impossible for such an army of more than 100,000 to pass through their defense without any news.

Zhou Yu shook his head, as if he wanted to get rid of all the messy thoughts in his mind. "Well, now that everyone is here, there is no need to wait any longer. Commander-in-chief, give the order quickly!"

Gan Ning felt his blood boiling and he could hardly control his actions.

Zhou Yu looked at the excited Gan Ning and smiled slightly.

"When two armies face off, they naturally have to challenge each other first. Since you are so excited, Gan Ning, then the task of challenging each other and increasing our momentum will be given to you."

"Hahaha! Okay! Leave it to me!"

After listening to this, Gan Ning didn't even give Zhou Yu a chance to speak, and rushed towards Xiling City. When he arrived in front of the army, Gan Ning carried the ancient ingot knife on his shoulder with a provocative expression.

"Hey, the one on the other side, if you have the guts, send someone out to fight your grandfather for three hundred rounds! Huang Zu! Why don't you come and settle the feud between us? Haven't you always looked down on me? Come, let grandpa see if you are still the same as before!"

Faced with Gan Ning's provocation, Zhao Yun was about to rush forward with his spear, but was stopped by Huang Zhong who was standing beside him. Huang Zhong shook his head at Zhao Yun.

"He specifically asked my uncle to fight. It's not appropriate for you to replace him. Let me, your nephew, do it."

Huang Zu, who was standing beside Huang Zhong, was holding the reins of his horse tightly, ready to rush out at any time and fight Gan Ning to the death. However, everyone present, including Huang Zu himself, knew that he was no match for Gan Ning. He was indeed old, and could deal with some first-rate generals, but he had no power to fight back against a famous general like Gan Ning.

"Uncle, don't worry, leave it to me."

After Huang Zhong comforted Zhao Yun, he turned and spoke solemnly to Huang Zu, then rushed out of the formation and killed Gan Ning.

"Hahaha, old man, you can't do it yourself, so you send your nephew to die?"

Gan Ning laughed wildly and rushed towards Huang Zhong with his ancient ingot knife in hand.

Huang Zhong gritted his teeth, his eyes solemn. Gan Ning was not a pushover, on the contrary. Huang Zhong knew this former colleague, his uncle's old subordinate, very well. Gan Ning's strength was definitely not the kind that he could suppress. Moreover, this battle was not only for Huang Zu's face, but also for the entire battle situation. Once the pre-battle challenge was won, it would be a huge boost to the morale of the army and a huge blow to the opponent, allowing them to gain the upper hand in this life-and-death battle.

He gripped the longbow tightly, with the arrow on the string, ready to go. When the distance between the two was only a hundred meters, the arrow on Huang Zhong's Eight Treasures Qilin Bow suddenly shot out. The huge force caused the arrow off the line to begin to vibrate irregularly. It was because the force was too great that the front and rear ends of the flying arrow were subjected to different forces, which caused this.

Gan Ning's ancient ingot knife gleamed coldly in the sunlight, and he pounced on Huang Zhong like a vicious wolf.

Facing the full-strength arrow shot by Huang Zhong, Gan Ning swung his ancient ingot knife fiercely, knocking the incoming arrow away. At the same time, the distance between the two was only less than 60 meters. Both of them were riding on peerless precious horses, and their speed was so fast that it was astonishing.

The distance of 60 meters was too short for the two of them, so short that it only took a few breaths for the two to fight each other. At this distance, it was definitely disadvantageous for Huang Zhong. He should walk in opposite directions from Gan Ning, so that he could always maintain a sufficient distance and not give Gan Ning any chance to get close. He could use the advantage of bows and arrows to fight the enemy, which would have a much higher chance of winning.

But Huang Zhong obviously did not intend to do so. Gan Ning had just verbally insulted Huang Zu, and this was a battle in front of the formation. If he just kept dodging, even if he won in the end, it would be a frustrating victory, and it would not have much effect on boosting morale.

So just now, Huang Zhong made up his mind that even if he had to use the Red Blood Sword, he would fight Gan Ning in close combat to win.

He thought so and did so. When the distance between the two could be described as very close, Gan Ning had already raised the ancient ingot knife in his hand high and chopped towards Huang Zhong's neck. His moves were ruthless and his attack was fierce, aiming directly at Huang Zhong's name.

Seeing that the ancient ingot knife was getting closer and closer to Huang Zhong, Huang Zhong remained calm. At the critical moment, he pulled the bow like a full moon and the arrow was like a meteor. The arrow was shot and hit Gan Ning's blade accurately, causing Gan Ning's offensive to stagnate.

At this moment of hesitation, Huang Zhong switched to holding the bow with both hands and attacked Gan Ning with the two short blades embedded in the bow. The short blades flashed coldly, and Gan Ning was forced to bend down to avoid the attack. However, Gan Ning was by no means a fool. While bending down to avoid the attack, he turned sideways and slashed with a knife to attack Huang Zhong's lower body.

What reached Gan Ning's hand was not the feeling of a knife cutting flesh, but the sound of metal colliding. Gan Ning's attack failed to work, so he did not continue to attack. Instead, he controlled his horse forward. The two men staggered past each other and exchanged positions.

After the two men distanced themselves from each other, Huang Zhong changed from holding the bow with both hands like a knife to holding the bow with one hand. The short blades at both ends of the Eight Treasures Kirin Bow flashed a cold light. Just now, Huang Zhong used the dagger at the other end to block Gan Ning's sneak attack.

Gan Ning shook his hands. The arrow that just hit him at close range made his hands hurt a little. The arrow was so powerful and strong, and the distance was close. The arrow hit Gan Ning not far after leaving the string. The arrow's attack had almost no loss, which made the force of the arrow beyond imagination.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at Huang Zhong, feeling somewhat surprised. He and Huang Zhong had been colleagues for quite a long time, but at that time Huang Zhong was just like him, both were frustrated. As Huang Zu's nephew, he was like this under Huang Zu, so it was conceivable that he really had no ability. However, it had only been a short time since they last met, so how come Huang Zhong had changed so quickly?

After adjusting his breathing, Huang Zhong began to attack. With one hand Huang Zhong flew like a painting, pulling out arrows from the quiver one after another, then bending the bow and shooting. Not long after one arrow flew out, the next arrow also broke through the air.

Gan Ning also adjusted his offensive in order to better block Huang Zhong's arrows that were falling like rain. At the same time, he was also looking for opportunities and kept getting closer to Huang Zhong. Since Huang Zhong's main method of attack was bow and arrow, Gan Ning only needed to get close to Huang Zhong. He had never heard of Huang Zhong's close combat skills and had just relaxed his vigilance, so he was stunned by Huang Zhong's sudden attack. Now that he had a warning, Gan Ning was confident that as long as he was given another chance to get close, he could defeat Huang Zhong and make Huang Zhong at least seriously injured even if he didn't die.

The fight between the two became more and more intense. Huang Zhong shot arrows like a string of cannonballs, while Gan Ning brandished the ancient ingot knife, the knife light flashing, and kept chopping at the flying arrows. No arrow could hurt him at all.

The distance between them was shortened little by little as Gan Ning continued to move forward, and finally there was only a distance of more than ten meters. At this distance, Huang Zhong's bow and arrow had become much more powerful. Although it was not difficult for Gan Ning to block it, it was a different matter when there were too many of them.

(End of this chapter)