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

Chapter 548 King Lie’s situation!
If I continue to wage foreign wars, I will force Dian Wei into a corner and he will really want to exchange his life with me. If Zhang Fei is exchanged for his, what will I use to fight overseas?
There is still time now, and there is no need to be so anxious to swallow Cao Cao. For now, I should set my target on the relatively weaker Sun Jian.

Thinking of this, Gu Rubing already had some ideas in his mind.

Zhao Yun couldn't help but frown as he looked at the walking corpses in Zhijiang City.

Zhao Yun did not participate in the subsequent battles in Jiangxia County, so naturally he had no idea what these corpses were.

"Let's go. I'm here to take you away."

"Leave? No need to guard anymore?"

Zhang Liao looked at Zhao Yun in confusion.

Zhao Yun smiled and fired a shot with his spear. More than 3,000 corpses were turned into pieces in an instant.

After this move, everyone understood what Zhao Yun meant. He had become a legendary general.

Huang Zhong's eyes were burning with excitement. There were more and more legendary generals around Gu Rubing, and he had to catch up, otherwise he would be eliminated sooner or later.

In Cao's army camp, Cao Ren saw the Gu tribe members packing up their things as if they were about to leave.

"Patriarch, what are you doing?"

"General Cao, Zhao Yun is here, it's time for us to leave."

"Zhao Yun?"

Cao Ren then realized that Zhao Yun had not come out since the Battle of Nanjun broke out, and he came out now to resolve the siege of Zhijiang.

"But clan leader, you guys are not going to leave just for Zhao Yun, right?"

"Zhao Yun is already a legendary general. I just received an order from my lord to evacuate immediately!"

Legendary general?

Cao Ren was shocked. He had not expected that Liu Bei had another legendary general in his camp. Wouldn't that mean the top combat power of both sides would be out of control? How could they fight if Liu Bei had another legendary general? Wouldn't they be unable to defend the front battlefield?

"Sun Jian gave you this order? How did Sun Jian know that Zhao Yun had become a legendary general? Zhao Yun had just arrived, how did he get this order?"

Miao Moqing certainly would not tell Cao Ren about the sound transmission Gu, and she did not have enough time to give Cao Ren an answer, because Sun Jian urged her again and asked her to hurry.

"General Cao, my poison and corpse can last for a while. I think you know what a legendary general is like. I hope you take care of yourself!"

After saying that, Miao Moqing turned around and left.

At the same time, four hundred members of the Gu tribe were also taken away.

Seeing this, Cao Ren no longer hesitated and immediately rushed to the front line with his army.

It didn't take long for Zhao Yun to kill all the corpses in the city. He then took out the herbs and threw them into the moat.

The smell of herbs once again made people unable to open their eyes, but this time they actually liked the smell.

Everyone knows that only this smell can save their lives.

Soon, under the leadership of Zhao Yun, Huang Zhong and his men quickly left here.

After leaving the city, Huang Zhong brought Zhao Yun to Cao Ren's camp.

It turned out that Cao Ren and his men had already left.

Huang Zhong secretly regretted that if he had been faster, perhaps he could have asked Zhao Yun to kill Cao Ren and the others.

"Come on, let's go back first. With me here, the battle will be over soon. I promise."

Listening to Zhao Yun's words, Huang Zhong nodded.

Within a day, Zhao Yun brought Huang Zhong and his men back to the front line safely.

After entering the city, Gu Rubing personally came to the city gate to greet them.

When Huang Zhong saw Gu Rubing coming, he knelt in front of Gu Rubing.

"My lord, your subordinates are incompetent and have lost three cities. Please deal with them!"

Looking at Huang Zhong's appearance, Gu Rubing smiled and helped him up.

"Old General Han Sheng, what are you doing? I will dispose of you for just three cities, then you are too worthless. It's just three cities, old general, get up, even if you lose the world, I don't care, because I know you can help me take it back!"

Huang Zhong's eyes turned red and he looked a little excited when he heard this.

"My lord, rest assured. I will accompany you to fight on the battlefield and face death head-on!"

"Okay, no matter if you die or not, you must live!"

After Gu Rubing pulled Huang Zhong up, he was about to say something when a soldier came in front of him.

"My Lord, there is a messenger outside."

"A messenger? From Cao Cao?"

"Yes, my lord!"

When Gu Rubing heard the news, he just laughed.

He had long guessed that Cao Cao wanted to see him. After all, he already knew that Zhao Yun had become a legendary general, so there was no point in continuing this battle.

"Tell the messenger to meet outside the city tomorrow morning."

Early the next morning.

Gu Rubing brought Zhao Yun, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei directly to the pavilion outside the city.

Cao Cao and Sun Jian looked unhappy when they saw the three people behind Gu Rubing.

"You two are here really early. Judging from your appearance, you two didn't sleep well last night. Why don't you go back and get some sleep before coming? The body is the capital of labor. You don't even have enough bargaining chips. What else are you going to talk about?"

Gu Rubing's words shocked the two men, as it was obvious that there was something else behind his words.

Yes, they no longer have the capital to negotiate.

Compared with Cao Cao, Sun Jian was even more helpless. After all, Cao Cao still had Dian Wei, who could defeat Zhang Fei even among the legendary generals.

After Dian Wei and Sun Ce returned that night, they told Sun Jian and Cao Cao about Zhao Yun's strength.

In their opinion, Zhao Yun's strength is second only to Guan Yu.

After all, Guan Yu is a veteran legendary general, and his Martial Saint Points are as high as 20, which means he has entered the second level of legendary generals, while Zhao Yun has just entered the legendary general level, and his Silver Dragon Points are basically zero.

According to Dian Wei, among the current five legendary generals, Guan Yu ranks first, Zhao Yun ranks second, Dian Wei ranks third, Zhang Fei ranks fourth, and Sun Ce ranks fifth.

When Sun Ce heard that he was ranked fifth, he was very unwilling, but there was nothing he could do because it was the fact.

Cao Cao has Dian Wei, who can replace Zhang Fei if he tries his best. But what can he do with Sun Ce in his hands?

In comparison, the one with the least capital is yourself.

"Haha, King Lie, you are really good at joking. Since we are here, we all come here to have a good talk. We are all here for peace talks, why do we need capital? Come and try my Yunshan Silver Needle, it's very good!"

Cao Cao finished speaking and hurriedly poured tea for Gu Rubing. Cao Cao did not seem panicked at all, but his hand was shaking as he poured the tea.

Gu Rubing saw it but didn't say it out loud. Since he didn't intend to turn hostile, he would just leave some way for him so they could meet again in the future.

"You two should tell me what you are going to do this time. It seems that our relationship is not good enough to sit together and drink tea happily, right?"

Cao Cao smiled, and then slowly said: "King Lie, we have decided to withdraw our troops!"

"Withdraw? You two are leaving now? We have been fighting for such a long time, and both sides have probably lost more than 100,000 soldiers. Are you withdrawing just like that? You don't want to fight anymore? Then how can I explain this to my brothers?"

When Cao Cao heard this, his expression suddenly changed.

It is true that we lost more than 100,000 people, but these 100,000 people were basically not our own losses. What does it have to do with you, Liu Bei? You only lost tens of thousands of people.

Although Cao Cao was unwilling in his heart, he had to bow his head because he was under someone else's roof.

"I wonder what kind of explanation King Lie wants?"

"During this period of time, you have taken things from me, so you have to give them back to me, right?"

"Of course. The entire Jingzhou will be returned to you intact."

Cao Cao nodded, and Sun Jian on the side hesitated for a moment, wanting to say something but didn't say it.

In the Battle of Jingzhou, it can be said that Cao Cao did not capture a single piece of the city. Instead, he managed to capture Jiangxia County at the cost of considerable losses. This so-called intact control simply meant that he would spit out what he had taken in.

"Prime Minister Cao, you just said that we lost more than 100,000 people this time. So it's not too much for me to ask for something for these 100,000 people, right? How about this: 500,000 gold, 50,000 fine iron longbows, spears, and 50,000 armored war horses. I don't ask for too much, right? And give me the entire Sili Prefecture. I'm not asking too much, right?"

When Cao Cao heard this condition, he couldn't help but exert force with his fingers.

There was a crisp sound of "click".

The teacup in his hand instantly broke into two halves.

Cao Cao smiled awkwardly and threw the teacup to the ground.

"Poor quality, poor quality!"

Dian Wei, who was standing by, heard Gu Rubing's conditions and immediately shouted in dissatisfaction.

"King Lie, you are too shameless. Those hundreds of thousands of people were obviously our losses, not yours. You only lost tens of thousands of people. Why do you want so much?"

As soon as Dian Wei finished speaking, Zhao Yun looked at Dian Wei.

"Do you have the qualifications to speak?"

Hearing this, Dian Wei hesitated for a moment, but finally shut his mouth.

When Cao Cao saw that Dian Wei was suppressed, he didn't dare to say anything more.

"Okay, we'll give it to you!"

Cao Cao knew in his heart that this time he had to give away all his savings. He didn't know how many ancient tombs he would have to dig to fill the hole with 500,000 gold. As for the war horses and weapons, he would probably have to empty the warehouse. The most critical thing was Sili Prefecture. Before, Gu Rubing had only occupied Xu Du, but this time the whole prefecture would be taken away.

From this moment on, Gu Rubing was no longer the master of Nine States, but of Ten States. Almost the entire world was in Gu Rubing's hands. No one could compete with Gu Rubing anymore, not even the combined power of the remaining three states.

Unless, a legendary general appears again.

Gu Rubing got a satisfactory answer and returned to the city with a smile.

After Cao Cao and Sun Jian returned to the camp.

"This time the compensation will be half between the two of us."

"What? Why? I lost a famous general."

Sun Jian's family was not that wealthy to begin with, and if he gave away half of it, he would be left with nothing.

After finally annexing Shi Xie, he didn't use any of the resources he got, and used them all as war reparations.

"You lost a famous general, isn't that my loss? I don't care, just prepare the things and money quickly."

Sun Jian nodded reluctantly.

Soon, the coalition forces retreated. Seeing this, Pang De, who was hiding on the top of the mountain, immediately took out Zhuge Liang's secret bag.

There was only one line of words on the brocade bag.

Enter Jiaozhou and cut off ties.

Deng Ai, who was standing by, saw the words on the brocade bag and immediately looked at the map. He then began to admire Zhuge Liang's strategic vision.

"What does the Prime Minister mean by this? I understand entering Jiaozhou, but what does this mean to sever ties?"

Pang De didn't know what kind of deal Gu Rubing had made with Cao Cao and his men, so naturally he didn't know that Cao Cao had already compensated Sili to Gu Rubing.

But Deng Ai guessed this.

"If my guess is correct, the retreat of the four coalition forces must mean that one side has admitted defeat. In addition, considering the tips given by the prime minister, I guess our lord has won. Cao Cao didn't just lose this battle, he probably also lost the entire Sili. Without Sili, Cao Cao would only have Yizhou."

Pang De nodded, although he didn't know how Zhuge Liang managed to guess the direction of the war before it even started.

"Yizhou, Jiaozhou, and Yangzhou, the coalition forces only have these three states at present, and the most important of these three states is Jiaozhou. Jiaozhou alone can unite the three states, and Sun Jian's economic source is also in Jiaozhou. As long as we take Jiaozhou, it is equivalent to cutting off Sun Jian's economic lifeline. At the same time, we can blockade Jiaozhou and cut off the connection between Yangzhou and Yizhou. Then, we can fight Cao Cao if we want to, and fight Sun Jian if we want to. The initiative is completely in our hands."

Only then did Pound understand.

In this case, Sun Jian and Cao Cao cannot be connected head to tail, and they are like two lambs to be slaughtered. One side can eat the other whenever it wants.

"Let's go to Jiaozhou!"

After Pang De finished speaking, he looked at Deng Ai and found that this boy was now like a sword and had begun to show his edge.

After Zhuge Liang learned that Gu Rubing had captured Sili, the smile on his face did not grow wider. Instead, his expression gradually became gloomy.

"Prime Minister, what's wrong?"

In Gu Rubing's view, Sili was like a nail stuck in his power, threatening the safety of his rear at any time. Now that Sili was his, he no longer had to worry about the safety of the rear. Why was the prime minister still unhappy?

"My lord, you are the King of the Universe personally appointed by His Majesty. Now the entire Sili is yours, and so is His Majesty. You are..."

Gu Rubing finally reacted at this time and the smile on his face gradually faded.

According to the rules, he had to hand over all his troops and generals to the court.

Not to mention myself, even the generals under me probably wouldn't be willing to do so, right?

Moreover, Gu Rubing knew clearly in his heart that since ancient times, the so-called kings who stood shoulder to shoulder with each other had no good ending and would be dealt with by the court.

"We originally wanted to take advantage of the situation to seize Jiaozhou, but it seems we need to go back to Sili first."

Hearing this, Zhuge Liang smiled and gently waved the feather fan in his hand.

"My lord, don't worry about Jiaozhou. I have already sent General Pang De to lead 50,000 Taishan tiger bandits into Jiaozhou. There should be a battle report in the near future. There is no force in Jiaozhou that can stop us, so the one we should worry about is His Majesty Sili."

Gu Rubing knew that if he did not submit to the court, the reputation for benevolence he had accumulated over the years would probably be gone, and the soldiers under his command would definitely have second thoughts.

But if he surrendered, his power would surely be disintegrated. Gu Rubing was unwilling to accept that all his years of struggle would be in vain!
(End of this chapter)