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

Chapter 92: Reinforce the troops again and start closing the net

After a banquet, Sun Ce’s army’s welcoming banquet officially ended.

But neither Sun Ce nor Zhou Yu were as relaxed as they were before they arrived.

After all, before coming here, the situation, although complicated, seemed clear.

Now that they had arrived in Shouchun, they discovered that the situation was more complicated than they had imagined, with forces from all four directions under the same city.

Yuan Shu's army was determined to defend the city to the death, while the three families wanted to take the city and plot against each other.

Although Liu Bei forced the goal to be set, the situation became increasingly bizarre.

Therefore, Sun Ce did not immediately agree to Liu Bei's suggestion, but said he would return to the camp to consider it.

As soon as he returned to the camp, he pulled Zhou Yu aside and asked:

"Gongjin, now maybe you can see what old Liu Bei wants?"

"I see that although this man looks kind, he is actually very cunning. Will you really do what you promised us to do to seize Hefei?"

When Zhou Yu heard this, he shook his head and sighed:
"The matter is not as simple as whether this person should or should not be so simple. Logically speaking, Liu Bei is known for his benevolence and righteousness. Even if he can say such a thing, if we really take Shouchun, this person will definitely follow our army south!"

"But here lies the problem. Liu Bei declared that he did not want Hefei. It would be of no benefit to him!"

"Since Liu Bei's base is only in Pei State, if he has the opportunity to expand now, he will do everything he can to gain territory and expand."

"If he doesn't want Hefei, he will be controlled by our army when he goes south in the future."

"If we go west or north, we have to face Cao Cao. If we go east, we have Lu Bu. Although we have gained a foothold, we are surrounded by enemies on all sides and have nowhere to defend!"

"Qin Zhen planned this place for him, so he would have expected this!"

"Since he could foresee this, he would do everything he could to help Liu Bei take control of Huainan."

"But now Liu Bei wants to give Hefei to our army. It is a conspiracy both emotionally and logically!"

Sun Ce heard this and felt that his brain was not enough for a moment. He was good at fighting, but he was still a little lacking in conspiracy and trickery. He frowned and said:
"So now, what exactly is Liu Bei's army going to do?"

"Liu Bei cannot go back on his word, but he also wants to seize Hefei. What can he do when these two things are contradictory?"

When Zhou Yu heard this, he had a guess in mind, but he was not sure yet. After thinking for a while, he said to Sun Ce:
"We are still young, and our experience may be insufficient, that is, our thinking is not clear, so we can call Zhang Gong and others to see us!"

Upon hearing this, Sun Ce nodded and went to the main tent to call Zhang Hong, Qin Song, Chen Duan and others to discuss the matter.

When everyone arrived, he told the three of them what had happened today.

Qin Song and Chen Duan's expressions changed when they heard this, but Zhang Hong stroked his beard and smiled, saying:

"If you are considering this matter, my Lord, in my opinion, Liu Bei is plotting something else!"

After hearing what Zhang Hong said, Zhou Yu's face darkened, and Sun Ce glanced at Zhou Yu and asked:

"What does Zhang Gong mean by this? What is Liu Bei's army planning?"

Then Zhang Hong said with a serious face:

"I am sure that Liu Bei has no plan, but if he has any, it must be behind our army!"

"Only in this way can Liu Bei give first and take later. As long as there is chaos in the rear of our army, our army must retreat, and all these cities will belong to Liu Bei!"

"What he promised now is not to give Hefei to our army, but to help our army take Hefei. If our army retreats, this promise will be difficult to fulfill. He can take Shouchun and then take Hefei!"

"As for Lu Bu, he has actually been deceived by Liu Bei, so he is nothing to worry about!"

After hearing Zhang Hong's words, Sun Ce looked at Zhou Yu again and said:
"I didn't expect that my prediction would come true. Liu Bei actually wants to attack the rear of our army!"

They were just on guard, but they didn't expect Liu Bei to really have this wish. And judging from the current situation, Liu Bei might have already taken action!

Thinking about this, he was furious:
"I thought I was respecting him as my elder, but I didn't expect that he was so sinister inside."

"If that's the case, why bother taking Shouchun? Let's take advantage of this night to charge into Liu Bei's camp and capture and kill this thief!"

As soon as he said this, everyone rushed to persuade him, and Zhou Yu hurriedly shook his head and said:

"Brother, please don't do this. Although this plan is sinister, it is just speculation by our army. We have no evidence yet. How can we proceed?"

"If we act now, the world will be unaware and will certainly criticize us. The court will also be unaware and will blame us."

"Besides, Lu Bu is by our side now. If our army attacks Liu Bei, Lu Bu will not just sit there and watch."

"If we find out that the enemy has already taken action, we can send a message to Ziheng and ask him to hurry up and investigate. As long as we can catch any spies from Liu Bei's army, we can take action."

Ziheng is Lu Fan, who has now been sent back to Wujun by Sun Ce for investigation.

Upon hearing this, Sun Ce frowned and asked again:
"Since we can't move now, how should our army respond?"

Zhou Yu thought for a while after hearing this, and then said in a deep voice:
"Even if Liu Bei takes action first, our army will have nothing to worry about. Now that the three families are here, we might as well take action first and conquer Shouchun together with them!"

"If Shouchun can be captured, and our army fails to catch Liu Bei's spies, we will spread the news that our army's rear has been attacked as planned, pin it on Liu Bei, forcibly attack Liu Bei, seize this city, and drive Liu Bei out of here."

"If Shouchun cannot be conquered, then our army will also use an excuse to withdraw and take Hefei ourselves. After we capture Hefei, we will see how Liu Bei reacts."

After he said this, everyone was shocked.

Taking Shouchun and creating an opportunity to take action would be far more effective than taking action now, and it is exactly in their current interest!

Therefore, after listening to this, Zhang Hong bowed and said:

"My lord, Gongjin's strategy is good!"

Qin Song and Chen Duan naturally also raised their hands in agreement.

When Sun Ce saw everyone like this, he nodded and said in a deep voice:
"Then I know. I think Liu Bei and Lu Bu are not good people. Even if they want to borrow our army to take Shouchun, then our army can also take Shouchun from them!"

"When Shouchun falls, I want to see if Liu Bei dares to move!"

After this discussion, he asked everyone to leave.

At the same time, in Liu Bei’s military camp, they were also discussing the performance of Sun Ce and others today.

Liu Bei smiled and said:

"I haven't seen the military advisor today, but I think Sun Lang is also a young talent."

"In the past, when I heard that he went south to Jiangdong, I thought that he conquered all these places with the help of his father's old subordinates. Now it seems that this is not the case."

Compared to Sun Ce's change in impression of Liu Bei, Liu Bei had a very good impression of Sun Ce. Even after everyone left, he continued to praise him. But Qin Zhen looked at Liu Bei like this and shook his head and smiled:
"Sun Lang is indeed a young talent, but he is also a great thief. Although he is not as brave as Lu Bu, he is far more treacherous than Lu Bu."

"When you are planning with people like this, you must be extra careful!"

"But I wonder how he will respond to our army's proposal today?"

Liu Bei heard this and knew that Sun Ce was no simple man, so he simply told him everything that happened today and asked:
"I noticed that Sun Ce seemed to be hesitant today. Could it be that he has other intentions?"

After hearing what happened during the day, Qin Zhen pondered for a moment and said:

"From this, it can be seen that Sun Ce has long been wary of our army, and he probably has a backup plan for this trip north!"

"It must be that our proposal conflicts with their military strategy, which is why they hesitated!"

When Liu Bei heard this, he was a little worried and said:

"If that's the case, what should Sun Ce do?"

He was so confident during the day because Qin Zhen had already given him instructions, but now hearing that Sun Ce had other plans, he naturally began to worry again.

However, Qin Zhen smiled slightly when he saw it:
"Don't worry, my lord. Given the current situation, Sun Ce has no choice but to respond!"

"They have to attack Shouchun whether they want to or not!"

"Because Yuan Shu's troops are still there, without the help of our army and Lu Bu, they can't take Shouchun, and they can't take Hefei for the time being."

"It will be beneficial to them if we accept this matter now!"

"But even if Sun Ce agrees, our army should still be prepared."

"The main force of Cao's army is currently fighting Yuan Shu, and they are temporarily unable to threaten Xiang County. We can let Xu Yuanzhi guard Xiang County, and transfer General Guan to lead another 10,000 troops to the south to provide support!"

Hearing that Qin Zhen was going to mobilize more troops, Liu Bei was shocked and said:

"Could it be that the military advisor is saying that Sun Ce might attack our army?"

He now understood Qin Zhen's style. Such a deployment of troops was obviously not just a defense. He was probably preparing for a war with Sun Ce. That was why he was so surprised.

After all, the two families have just started to get in touch!
Sun Ce seems to be a very humble guy. He shouldn't be like Lu Bu!
Qin Zhen looked at Liu Bei like this and shook his head again:

"It's not that Sun Ce will attack our army, but that both Lu Bu and Sun Ce may do so!"

"Because Shouchun City is right here. Once the city is captured, Lu Bu will not be able to see the money and food, so he will naturally attack. Sun Ce may also attack if he sees that his rear is attacked!"

"So our army not only uses inducements, but also threats!"

"If Sun Ce dares to make a move, we will first use Lu Bu to get rid of Sun Ce. If Lu Bu makes a move, we will send General Guan to come and keep Lu Bu here in one fell swoop!"

"Only in this way can our army maintain its position in Huainan!"

"And now Shouchun can be captured in a few days."

"With our army's strength, it is difficult to move south again. We should transfer General Guan here so that we can attack Yuan Shu again!"

Faced with Qin Zhen's decision, Liu Bei nodded.

It was indeed as Qin Zhen said, although their military strength was sufficient, it would still be difficult for them to swallow up the entire Huainan.

The timing of sending Guan Yu to help was good.

After thinking for a while, Lao Liu couldn't help but ask curiously:

"I heard from the military advisor that Shouchun can be captured soon, but there are still 20,000 enemy troops in the city, so it is difficult to attack by force."

"Does the military advisor have another plan to defeat the enemy?"

"exactly!"

Qin Zhen nodded and smiled:

"We couldn't attack the city before, firstly because we didn't have enough troops, and secondly because the timing was not right!"

"Now that Sun Ce has come to our aid, we have enough troops and the time has come. We can break into the city!"

"But I have been claiming to be ill for many days. Even if I have a plan to defeat the enemy, I cannot offer it."

"You can invite everyone to discuss again tomorrow. First, we can find out Sun Ce's intentions, and second, we can discuss with them how to break the city!"

"If Sun Ce agrees with our army's proposal, please invite everyone to walk around the city, observe the enemy's situation, and find an opportunity for me to go and offer advice. I guarantee that the city will be captured within ten days!"

When Liu Bei heard that Qin Zhen could capture the city in ten days, he was immediately delighted.

Hearing Qin Zhen mention the word "opportunity" again, he asked again:
"What is the timing that the military advisor mentioned?"

"If Sun Ce hadn't come, would our army have been unable to capture Shouchun?"

"Not only that, the timing I mentioned is not only waiting for Sun Ce to help, but also waiting for Chen Yuanlong to take action!"

Qin Zhen looked at Liu Bei and explained:
"Because I saw that Chen Yu sent troops to Guangling, but he didn't come. It can be seen that Chen Deng has already begun to plot against Sun Ce!"

"But there has been no news from Jiangdong so far, so it is clear that Chen Deng is also waiting for the right time to take action!"

"In my opinion, if Chen Yuanlong wants to take action against Sun Ce, the best time is when Sun Ce goes north."

"Now that Sun Ce has arrived, how could Chen Yuanlong let go of this opportunity?"

"Once he takes action, Sun Ce's family will be in chaos. This will be an opportunity for our army to seize Shouchun."

"Once Shouchun falls, our army can begin preparations."

"If Sun Ce wants to retreat and give up the city, then that's fine. If he doesn't retreat, our army will tangle with him here so that Chen Yuanlong can turn Wu County upside down!"

"If we act this way, we can ensure that Sun Ce will have difficulty balancing our forces. Even if Sun Ce resents our army, he will not be able to march north in the short term."

"Our army can sit in Huainan with peace of mind, take Shouchun in the south, advance to Runan in the west, and join hands with Cao Cao to plot against Yuan Shu!"

The situation has come to this point, and it is time for them to close the net. As for what Wujun will become, it depends on whether Chen Deng is capable enough!

But according to him, Chen Deng might be hoping that he could give more support now!
While thinking, Qin Zhen couldn't help but smile again.

When Old Liu heard this, he clapped his hands and smiled:
"Now that the military advisor's plan has been completed, Huainan will fall into our hands!"

With a smile on his face, he no longer had any doubts and immediately began to prepare.

(End of this chapter)