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

Chapter 84: Next, the diplomatic relations are broken, Tzuyu is the envoy

Listening to Qin Zhen's words, Liu Bei was delighted and asked quickly:

"Military Advisor, you must have a solution for this. Why don't you elaborate?"

After hearing this, Qin Zhen stopped keeping the secret and spoke directly:

"If we want to do this, it's actually not that difficult. The key is to understand what each family is trying to do and then make use of it!"

"The enemy's strategy seems to be effective, but in fact it is of little use!"

"Because the things that our three families are planning at the moment are not in conflict in essence, they are planning this simply because they saw that our army and Sun Ce both wanted to take Huainan, so they did this!"

"But if we look at it in detail, although our army is targeting Huainan, the priority is Shouchun!"

"Similarly, Sun Ce's plan may seem to be the same as ours, but his army must want to take Hefei."

"It goes without saying that Lu Bu is just trying to get money and food!"

"But now the enemy is in Shouchun, so our army only needs to promise the two families benefits, and they can use it to help our army capture Shouchun!"

"It is the best strategy to attack their plans, the next best is to attack their alliances. They use their plans to defeat us, and we use our alliances to defeat them."

Seeing that Qin Zhen was going to use the method of attacking the alliance, Liu Bei thought to himself:

"This method is feasible, but even if Lu Bu and Sun Ce want to take a different approach, the three families are all gathered here. How can they easily agree to let our army enter Shouchun?"

In Liu Bei's view, it is certainly acceptable to seek help by promising it.

But the problem now is that Shouchun is not in their hands, so words are useless. Besides, the imperial edict was not issued by them. Logically speaking, none of the three families is bigger than the other.

Once they take the city together, the two families may not be willing to hand it over to them!

But as soon as he finished speaking, Qin Zhen said:

"If it were just us who made the promise, the two families would naturally not agree."

"So we have to bring Lu Bu along!"

"As long as Lü Bu can respond, there is no need to worry about Sun Ce not responding!"

When Liu Bei heard this, he was surprised again:
"Now that our army has captured the city and made enemies with Lu Bu, how can Lu Bu accept our army's request?"

When Qin Zhen heard this, he smiled and said:

"Even if we are enemies over cities, our army can just use the cities as bargaining chips!"

"What Lü Bu wants now is nothing more than a place to stand. Our army might as well send an envoy to invite Lü Bu to join us in conquering Shouchun!"

"After the mission is accomplished, all the money and food in Shouchun will be given to them. Our army will not take a penny. We only want the city!"

"Lü Bu came here for money and food. Hearing this, he will surely be tempted."

"If our army is willing to give him another city to settle down as a token of sincerity, how can Lu Bu not respond?"

"Once Lu Bu responds, our two families can wait for Sun Ce to arrive. He has come from afar, and we are the host. What we do then will not be up to Sun Ce!"

Listening to Qin Zhen's words, Liu Bei's face suddenly showed a hint of inexplicable meaning.

Because he suddenly discovered something, it seemed that Qin Zhen was trying to trick Lu Bu again!

It seemed generous to say that he would promise money and food to Lu Bu, but in fact, Yuan Shu's money and food had already been transferred away.

The money and food in the city may only be enough to sustain Ji Ling's army's fighting.

They wanted to give the cities to Lu Bu. In fact, these cities should have belonged to Lu Bu, but they were taken away by them in advance.

If they acted this way, Lu Bu would naturally agree.

But in the same way, Lu Bu couldn't get what he wanted!
Thinking of this, Liu Bei looked at Qin Zhen with a strange expression and said:
"Could it be that the military advisor had anticipated today's situation and just sat back and watched Yuan Shu move the capital?"

You must know that Yuan Shu's relocation of the capital was carried out in secret.

Now they are probably the only ones who know where Yuan Shu’s money and food are.

And now Qin Zhen is using this incident to plot against Lu Bu. It is hard not to imagine that this was something Qin Zhen had planned long ago.

But Qin Zhen just shook his head and smiled:

"There is no such foresight in the world. I just thought it could be used now, so I made a plan based on it!"

It has to be said that during this advance, the only thing he really predicted was the situation on Chen Yu's side.

As for other situations, they are all emergencies!
This also included Yuan Shu's relocation of the capital to Runan, which was not what he expected.

The reason why they did not take action before was that they thought the three families were going to take Shouchun, and it would be difficult for them to keep the money and food for themselves.

Let Yuan Shu move away first, and they can take all the money and food for themselves!
Unexpectedly, before they could make any calculations, Yuan Shu's army had already started to plot against them. At this time, all he could do was to counter-calculate based on the known intelligence, which was far from as terrifying as Liu Bei had imagined.

Old Liu listened, nodded, and then smiled and said:

"Although it was not what the military advisor had expected, it was also the result of his planning!"

"If that's the case, then follow the military advisor's advice."

"But I don't know who can go and persuade Lu Bu?"

Seeing Liu Bei asking the envoy, Qin Zhen thought for a moment and said:

"Let Zhuge Ziyu go and give it a try!"

He thought that now that Xu Sheng had shown his talent, it was time for Zhuge Jin to see the world.

It just so happened that Zhuge Jin was his subordinate, who was quite capable and could be of some use.

Liu Bei also had a good impression of Zhuge Jin. He nodded after thinking about it:
"With Ziyu as the envoy, things will definitely work out!"

After making the decision, Liu Bei summoned Zhuge Jin. After Qin Zhen gave him some instructions, he let Zhuge Jin head towards Lu Bu's camp.

Zhuge Jin received the order and knew that he had not achieved anything since he arrived here. This was the time for him to show his abilities, so he did not dare to delay and rode his horse out of the city.

When he arrived outside Lu Bu's tent, he saw soldiers guarding the camp and asked them to go and report.

It just so happened that Lu Bu was plotting how to deal with Liu Bei.

It has to be said that Lu Bu has been unlucky during this period.

Originally he was living well in Xuzhou, with a wife and children, and a warm bed. From time to time he could secretly have some fun to change his taste, so his life was pretty good.

But after Liu Bei's letter arrived, Lu Bu began to suffer misfortunes.

First he was cheated of his money and food, then his soldiers and horses were cheated. After all, he himself was captured and forced to work as Liu Bei's cattle and horses for a few days.

We finally got some money and food back from Yuan Shu and prepared to live a good life.

Zang Ba started to make trouble behind his back again. Before he could deal with Zang Ba, Cao Cao sent another letter urging them to send troops.

Lu Bu thought, come on, if he's lucky and they can help capture Shouchun, he'll become rich overnight.

If you are unlucky, just grab some money and food to get the job done.

But as soon as he arrived in Huainan, he was stopped by Lei Bu at the gate of Yinling City.

Yinling City was not small in size to begin with, and Lei Bu's troops numbered 5,000 men. With only ten thousand or so soldiers, Lu Bu had no way to deal with them.

So Lu Bu had no choice but to listen to Zhang Liao's advice and let him capture the East City. He challenged Lei Bu every day, hoping that Lei Bu would come out of the city to fight.

But he kept calling out for more than half a month, and Lei Bu simply ignored him and stayed in the city every day.

Faced with this situation, although Lu Bu was angry, he could do nothing about it. Then he heard that Liu Bei had taken four cities, and he was filled with envy.

But there is nothing he can do even if he envy him. If Lei Bu on his side doesn't fight, what else can he do?
We can't just lead troops to attack!
If a city is guarded by 5,000 people, you can't attack it without 20,000 people.

Therefore, Lu Bu could only envy and wait for opportunities.

After finally hearing the news that Lei Bu was withdrawing his troops, he ran over happily, only to find that the two cities under his noses had been captured!

This news immediately broke Lu Bu's defenses.

As the saying goes, if you endure for a moment, you will get angrier; if you take a step back, you will suffer more.

Lü Bu was extremely angry and was filled with anger. After thinking for a while, he summoned all the civil and military officials and asked:
"Now our army has come to fight against the enemy in compliance with the imperial edict!"

"We have been attacking Yinling City for more than ten days, but we didn't expect that we would be taken by Liu Bei's kid!"

"Now I have wasted money and food and gained nothing. I think Liu Bei is a hateful kid. I want Liu Bei to return the city to me. What do you think?"

Lu Bu is also very interesting. Whenever he wants to stab someone in the back, he always finds a legitimate reason and then takes action.

Everyone knew Lu Bu's character, and when they heard this, they knew that Lu Bu was planning to stab Liu Bei in the back.

What does it mean to return the city? To put it bluntly, it means to prepare to rob!

Others were fine, but Wang Kai had witnessed Liu Bei's army's plot and immediately stepped out and said:

"Marquis Wen, now that our city has been taken by Liu Bei, why not send an envoy to demand it back?"

"Don't let this cause any resentment or it will ruin the harmony between the two families!"

Hearing this, before Lü Bu could say anything, Hou Cheng sneered:

"Sir, this is really ridiculous. If Liu Bei was willing to give me the city, he would not have taken it so easily!"

"Now that you are like this, you think our army is easy to bully and you are deliberately making things difficult for us!"

"If you go to ask for it now, it will not work!"

"If we act this way, they will look down on our army!"

As soon as he said this, a general stepped out and said:

"If Marquis Wen wants to fight, I am willing to lead the charge and go outside the city to challenge him."

The person who stepped out was named Wei Yue, a brother of Wei Xu, and also a close confidant of Lu Bu.

Unlike Wei Xu, Wei Yue was extremely brave in battle and was far beyond the reach of other generals.

As he spoke, Song Xian stepped forward and bowed, saying:

"I second your proposal. Since Liu Bei is bullying our army, we should fight him!"

Seeing the generals' reactions, Lu Bu couldn't help but nod secretly.

The generals are like this, which shows that the army’s morale can be mobilized!
Even if we can't defeat Liu Bei, at least we can vent our anger.

But before he could express his opinion, Xu Si stepped out and said:

"General, our army has not yet engaged Liu Bei, so how can we suddenly attack him? We might as well go and ask for his help first. If Liu Bei refuses, we can find an excuse to blame him!"

"Otherwise, if we fight so easily, it will only offend Liu Bei, but it will ruin the reputation of our army!"

If it were in the past, Lu Bu might have listened to such advice and taken it into consideration.

But now when Lu Bu heard this, he became angry and said:

"Could it be that our army, having been summoned by the emperor, can be bullied by others?"

"Now that Liu Bei was unjust first, how can you blame our army?"

"Don't try to persuade me again. I have made up my mind. I will not let Liu Bei and his subordinate off this time!"

Seeing Lü Bu so angry, Wang Kai and Xu Si were both helpless. After looking at each other, Wang Kai took a step forward and asked:
"But now Liu Bei is in the city, and our army is outside. How can we attack him?"

As soon as he said this, Lu Bu sneered:
"There is no need to worry about this. The reason why our army had difficulty taking Yinling before was because Lei Bu refused to fight with our army!"

"Now that Yinling has been taken by Liu Bei, I have my own way to deal with it!"

"I think Liu Bei has always put the people first. Even though the city is protecting us, it is hard to protect the people outside the city!"

"So I intend to use the people outside the city as hostages and invite Liu Bei to come out of the city for a fight!"

"If he dares to leave the city, our army will fight him. If he doesn't dare to leave the city, I will rob the people here and see if the news gets out. Will people in the world blame me, Lu Bu, or him, Liu Bei?"

Although Lu Bu's character is not very good, he is actually very clear about his own strengths.

Simply put, in a decisive battle between two armies, he is really not afraid of anyone.

There was really no way to deal with Lei Bu, because Yuan Shu's army had the same character as him, hiding in the city and refusing to come out until they were told to.

But it was different for Liu Bei. Since Liu Bei had to consider his reputation as a benevolent person, he naturally had to be responsible to the people.

Therefore, he was able to force Liu Bei to fight by burning, killing and looting!
As long as Liu Bei went into battle and the real battle decided the victory, he was really not afraid of anyone.

When the generals heard this, they bowed in agreement, while Wang Kai and Xu Si frowned.

Although they do not value the people, they will not harm innocent people without reason.

But on second thought, what Lu Bu said was not wrong. Who asked Liu Bei to seize the city first?
Knowing Lu Bu's temper, they still wanted to seize the city. Isn't this forcing them to go to extremes?

The two of them thought so and didn't know how to persuade him further.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a soldier walked into the tent and shouted:
"My lord, Liu Bei's envoy has arrived!"

Hearing this, everyone was stunned.

Lu Bu frowned and thought, why did Liu Bei send an envoy now when he didn't come earlier or later?

(End of this chapter)