Three Kingdoms: I switched to Liu Bei, why are you crying, Cao Cao?

Chapter 61: Liu Bei has taken Xiang County? Lü Bu's defense is broken
After nearly two months of planning, Liu Bei finally took control of Xiang County.

The whole process was just as Qin Zhen described, smooth and silky.

After subduing the Mei Qian and Mei Cheng brothers, his troops entered the city directly and successfully seized control of Xiang County without even fighting.

Because in troubled times, soldiers don’t care who their lord is, or even who their commander is!
As long as he could be fed, it made no difference whether he was under Yuan Shu's command today and obeyed Liu Bei's orders tomorrow.

However, for safety reasons, the first thing Liu Bei did after entering the city was to change defense!
All commanders above the 100th general were replaced by their own people.

Afterwards, he used soldiers to guard the city gates and let Qiao Rui, Fu Shiren, Xiahou Bo and others be responsible for stabilizing the situation in the city.

After finishing everything, Liu Bei entered the mansion and summoned Mei Qian, Mei Cheng and others who had just been captured.

At this time, Liu Bei was sitting in Mei Qian's original position, Qin Zhen was sitting next to him, and Zhang Fei was standing beside him.

After a while, Chen Dao pushed Mei Qian, Mei Cheng and others into the hall.

Seeing this, Liu Bei asked:

"Where's the plum?
Because he was far away from the city just now and could not see it clearly, and now all the generals were there, Liu Bei could not confirm it.

Upon hearing this, Mei Qian could only lower his head and sigh:
"Mei Qian is here, nice to meet you, envoy!"

Seeing this, Liu Bei asked:
"Just now, our army questioned the general under the city. I saw that the general seemed to be hesitant. It can be seen that the general also knows that Yuan Shu is not a good leader!"

"If you knew this, why didn't you surrender?"

Mei Qian knew that Liu Bei was kind and righteous, so he lowered his head and sighed:

"Because I don't know your army's plan, I know that you will definitely not be defeated, so I don't want to surrender!"

When Liu Bei heard this, he said in a deep voice:
"Well, let me ask you, are you willing to surrender now?"

In fact, he also knew that Mei Qian was a cunning person, but now was the time to use him. The fact that Mei Qian hesitated for a while at least proved that he still had a conscience, so he could still be used.

But as soon as he finished speaking, Mei Qian smiled bitterly and said:

"I am willing to surrender, but I am afraid you will not believe me."

"Besides, I still have family in Shouchun, so I dare not surrender easily!"

He said this in a very tactful way, meaning he was telling Liu Bei that he wanted to surrender, but he was afraid that you would suspect that I was not sincere, and even if I surrendered, you would not dare to use me!
Liu Bei was also hesitant when he heard this. Qin Zhen saw this and said with a smile:

"Just suppress it and keep it in custody!"

"We will deal with it later when our army captures Shouchun!"

Liu Bei nodded in agreement and asked his soldiers to take Mei Gan away.

After Mei Qian left, Liu Bei looked at Mei Cheng again:
"Are you Mei Cheng?"

When Mei Cheng heard this, he shuddered and kowtowed hurriedly:
"Your Excellency, I am Mei Cheng!"

His performance immediately made Liu Bei frown.

In fact, Mei Cheng’s performance in the city just now had already made him very disgusted.

Now he was even more disgusted by her rudeness and respectfulness. He was too lazy to persuade her and just asked:
"What do you have to say?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Mei Cheng kowtowed and said:
"I am willing to surrender, I am willing to surrender. I didn't know your power just now, and my words offended you. Please forgive me, and don't kill me. I know I am wrong!"

But his behavior made Liu Bei even more disgusted.

If dried plums can still be used, then cooked plums are really useless!

But this guy surrendered, and if he killed him, he was afraid that it would frighten the other generals.

While hesitating, Qin Zhen smiled and said:
"Mingsir, this man is willing to surrender, but I don't believe it!"

"I see that this man has a rebellious streak in his brain. Even though he surrenders today, he will rebel tomorrow. We should kill him to serve as a warning to others!"

When Mei Cheng heard this, his legs trembled and he said hurriedly:
"Sir, what are you talking about? I surrender now, how can I rebel?"

"If you don't believe me, I am willing to prove my innocence!"

Seeing this, Liu Bei thought it would be difficult to kill Mei Cheng, so he said to Qin Zhen:

"Military Advisor, since this man sincerely surrenders, please spare his life!"

Seeing this, Qin Zhen finally said:

"Since you want to spare his life, then spare his life and take him away to be locked up with Mei Qian!"

Upon hearing this, Liu Bei nodded again in agreement.

After Mei Cheng was also suppressed, he looked at the generals and asked:

"Are you willing to surrender?"

He persuaded Mei Qian to surrender because of his talent, but he persuaded these people to surrender in order to completely control the troops in the city.

Only if these middle and lower-level generals surrendered could he take control of Xiang County's troops as quickly as possible.

After hearing this, everyone looked at each other, and finally bowed their heads in worship:
"I'm waiting for you!"

After persuading everyone to surrender, Liu Bei waved his hand and asked Zhang Fei and Chen Dao to take everyone away and resettle them.

After finishing, he asked curiously:
"The military advisor can also read faces?"

Seeing that Qin Zhen was certain that Mei Cheng had a rebellious mind, he naturally became curious about Qin Zhen's abilities.

But Qin Zhen didn't know how to read faces, so he just smiled and said:
"I'm not reading your fortune, I just saw that you wanted to kill this man, so I advised you not to do it!"

Liu Bei heard this, nodded and smiled:

"I see. I thought the military advisor was really good at fortune-telling!"

"But since the military advisor advised me in this way, I would rather kill him!"

As a result, Qin Zhen shook his head when he heard it:

"That's exactly why I want you to not kill this man!"

"I see this man is greedy for profit and forgets his principles. He is two-faced. If he can be used, I won't kill him!"

"Oh? Such people are actually useful?"

Liu Bei had never heard of such outrageous remarks. In his opinion, such a villain would only hurt himself if he was employed, and should never be employed.

I didn't expect that this kind of trash would be useful in Qin Zhen's eyes?

“Of course it works!”

Qin Zhen smiled slightly and said;

"Everyone has his or her uses. The key lies in how you use them." "If I save his life today, there's no guarantee that he won't be of great use in the future!"

"If he is really useless, it won't be too late to kill him. It will only cost you some food. But if you really want to use him and find that he is dead, then it will be too late to regret it!"

After hearing these remarks, Liu Bei became more knowledgeable.

It seemed that after getting to know Qin Zhen, he also understood many methods of calculation. If he could use them to calculate against such a villain, what else could he not use?
Thinking about this, he smiled and said:

"I don't want to praise you too much for your foresight, but I just don't know what our army should do next."

Qin Zhen heard it and said directly:

"Now that we have taken Xiang County, there is no longer a large army stationed in Pei State. We can leave Mi Fang to guard Xiaopei and transfer General Guan and others to Xiang County. We can discuss further after we have taken over Pei State!"

Liu Bei listened and agreed happily. He immediately sent a letter north, asking Guan Yu to lead his family south.

Now that they have taken Xiang County, they naturally don’t have to live in Pei County anymore!
After making the decision, Liu Bei ordered Zhang Fei and Chen Dao to send troops to various counties. Within just a few days, they accepted the surrender of the surrounding counties and completely took root in Pei State.

At this time, in the territory of Pengcheng, Lu Bu's army was marching westward.

The target is Xiang County!

The reason why he was here was because of Wei Xu's defeat.

However, it is said that before Wei Xu was defeated that day, he sent a letter to Lu Bu asking for help.

It is clear that Liu Bei stopped moving when he reached Lu County, and it is speculated that Liu Bei was preparing to exhaust their food supplies.

Upon hearing the news, Lu Bu pulled Chen Gong over to discuss the matter and burned Chen Gong's CPU on the spot!
Chen Gong took into account many situations, but he did not expect that Liu Bei's army would stop advancing!
Because in his opinion, after Liu Bei's army went west, they would have to march quickly and would not have time to run.

How dare you stay in Pengcheng State?
Just as Qin Zhen said, Chen Gong is a man of strategy but lacks quick wit.

Faced with Qin Zhen's sudden move, the system crashed immediately.

After thinking for a long time, he told Lu Bu:
"Liu Bei's army is so cunning that it would be difficult for the two generals to defeat them!"

"When Marquis Wen goes in person to defeat the enemy!"

When Lu Bu heard this, he became angry and said:

"Thank you for all your calculations, now you still want me to go there in person?"

He also thought that the money and food under Liu Bei's command were the most important things, and it happened that Gao Shun, Zhang Liao and others had already returned to Xia Pi.

He then led his troops towards Lu County.

As a result, after walking for more than a day, in the early morning, they saw a group of people and horses coming in the distance.

When Lu Bu saw him, he flew into a rage and said:

"Wei Xu, why are you here?"

When Wei Xu saw Lü Bu, he dismounted and walked forward, shouting:
"My lord, I am incompetent and have been defeated by Liu Bei!"

When Chen Gong saw this, he stood there in a daze.

Only Lu Bu, looking at Wei Xu's burnt body and disheveled hair, said angrily:
"I asked you to pursue the enemy, why did you fail miserably?"

He looked at the hundreds of soldiers behind Wei Xu and glared at them again:

"Where is Han Xian now?"

Wei Xu felt remorseful when listening to Lü Bu's scolding, but he dared not hide it, so he could only speak:

"Because we saw the enemy army was about to leave, we intended to attack the enemy's main camp, but we were ambushed by the enemy, so we were defeated!"

After hearing the whole story, Lu Bu was furious and wanted to behead Wei Xu on the spot!

It was Chen Gong who stepped forward and urged:
"Our army is now defeated, all because of the enemy's cunning!"

"I predict that the enemy will take Xiang County, so our army can pursue them. Why not spare their lives and let them make meritorious contributions while serving their crimes?"

Although Yang Feng was saddened by Han Xian's death, he also hurried to persuade him.

Lu Bu had no choice but to give up and dispatched more than a thousand soldiers to Wei Xu's command. He led Wei Xu and others to rush towards Xiang County.

But for several days, there was no sign of Liu Bei.

Upon asking, I found out that Liu Bei's army had already sold more than half of the food and fodder!

There is already a gap of several days between the two armies, how is it possible to catch up!
Lu Bu was about to withdraw his troops, but Chen Gong suggested:
"Now Liu Bei has left with money and food. If he takes Xiang County, our army will have another strong enemy on the west road. I estimate that the enemy has few soldiers and horses, and it will be difficult to take Xiang County in a short time. We might as well continue to march!"

"Until we defeat the enemy, we can seize the opportunity and take advantage of the situation if we can capture Xiangxian County."

"If Xiangxian can't take it, then take the money and grain and return it!"

After listening to this, Lu Bu realized that he was on a pirate ship and had to leave even if he didn't want to, so he had to continue the pursuit.

But now that they had reached the border between Pengcheng and Pei State, and still hadn't seen any trace of Liu Bei, Lu Bu immediately panicked and called Chen Gong to say:

"Now our army is running low on food and fodder, and we haven't seen Liu Bei for a long time. If Liu Bei doesn't go to Xiang County, what should we do?"

He was in such a hurry this time that he didn't bring much food with him.

If he can't catch up, he will have no food left.

Seeing this, Chen Gong was also unsure of the opponent's counselor's approach, so he had to bite the bullet and said:
"The enemy is planning to take Xiang County!"

"Our army should be able to do something when we go forward!"

When Lu Bu heard this, he knew it was too late to regret, so he had to march again.

Finally, we reached the border of Pei State, and saw a sentry on a flying horse coming to report:
"General, we have found Liu Bei's whereabouts!"

Hearing the news, Lu Bu was overjoyed and asked:
"Where is Liu Bei's army now?"

Chen Gong also hurriedly looked towards the scout.

But the next second, the scout bowed and replied:

"Liu Bei's army has captured Xiang County and entered the city!"

After hearing these words, Lu Bu's face instantly turned from blue to white, and then from white to red. He glared at Chen Gong and said:
"Is this what you mean by there is something you can do?"

In order to get his own money, food, and troops, he chased for hundreds of miles, but it turned out that Xiang County had already been taken by the enemy.

He suffered a big loss this time!
Chen Gong was stunned and muttered to himself:
"Could it be that Liu Bei has the help of ghosts and gods?"

He was really shocked.

Even if Liu Bei's army launched a surprise attack, it would be impossible for them to defeat him so quickly!

Could it be that the defenders of Xiang County were made of paper and would collapse at the first blow?
(End of this chapter)