Wandering the Heavens

Chapter 380 New 3 Kingdoms 20

"Is there such a thing?"

As a friend of Zhuge Liang, Xu Shu naturally knew the gossip in the circle of Jingzhou, but he did not expect that someone would compile this gossip and sell it for money.

Liu Bei understood Xu Shu's meaning. He turned around, took out the bamboo slips from the saddle and handed them to him. Xu Shu wiped his hands on his lapel before taking it and opening it.

This is the beginning of the character list, which first introduces the basic situation of Jingzhou and the division of power among the aristocratic families. Xu Shu admires the author's courage to write down the gossip about these local tyrants and sell it for money.

"The author of this book has a clear grasp of the situation in Jingzhou, and the comments in it are relatively fair. I wonder which talented people in the book Liu Xuande likes?" Xu Shu returned the bamboo scroll to Liu Bei.

"To be honest, I want to visit all the talented people in the opposition, but I have no way and no time." Liu Bei said self-deprecatingly: "Your singing just now matched my mood, so I dismounted to bother you and ask for your name."

"My surname is Xu, my given name is Shu, and my courtesy name is Yuanzhi." Xu Shu said while stroking his beard.

"It turns out to be Xu Yuanzhi. Liu Bei is polite." Liu Bei was overjoyed and hurriedly saluted respectfully.

Guan Yu and Zhang Fei were not convinced, they both looked up and squinted their eyes and bowed to Xu Shu as if they were doing their job. Xu Shu looked at the performance of Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, sighed calmly and then returned the greeting.

Liu Bei was not in a hurry to travel, and sat down with Xu Yuanzhi on a flat place by the road to talk. He was observing Xu Shu, and Xu Shu was also observing him. Guan and Zhang were so bored that they could only tie up their horses and squat on the side to play with ants' nests with wooden sticks.

The result of this conversation was good, Xu Shu decided to try to stay with Liu Bei for a while. Then there were differences in the first meeting, because Xu Shu's idea was to consolidate the current territory first, develop agriculture, sericulture and water conservancy, and not start a war for the time being.

On the one hand, it was to develop strength, and on the other hand, it was to seize Jingzhou, because Liu Biao was old and his successor had not been resolved. After the death of the people, the situation in Jingzhou would inevitably be turbulent, which was the perfect time to intervene in Jingzhou.

The current task is to wait until the situation is stabilized, send troops to seize Danyang first, and then go north to fight Cao Cao after defending against Sun Ce.

As for Xuzhou, don’t even think about it for now since you don’t have the luck to do that.

Guan and Zhang slammed the table on the spot, because according to Xu Shu's opinion, they all had to go to the fields to work.

One of these two bastards thinks he is invincible, and the other thinks his two brothers are awesome. They never read books, and they look down on this and that all the time. They are as worldly-wise as idiots. It would be better for them to die than to work in the fields.

Moreover, they were always thinking about how they were chased away by the anti-rebel army and Cao's army in Shouchun, and they were thinking about making trouble every day, but they had no idea of their own strength.

Furthermore, if they were to send troops, they should have attacked Danyang, which was divided according to the agreement, rather than the counties occupied by the Xuzhou rebel army. But these two idiots had to make things difficult for Xuzhou, because they were still driven out of Shouchun.

After hearing the whole story, I felt ashamed. I don't know how they got the nerve to think they were right.

When Xu Shu was explaining to Guan and Zhang with a dry mouth, Liu Bei's old problem came back. When Zhang Fei was cursing with gritted teeth, he always looked ahead with a wronged look and lifeless eyes.

Regardless of Xu Shu, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei's opinions, Liu Bei was required to make a decision, but he acted like a coward and showed no sense of responsibility.

Looking at Liu Bei sitting in a daze, Xu Shu felt that he was crazy to come here with him to start a business, but he was going to die of internal consumption before his business even got a little better.

"My lord, please say something!"

"Xu Shu, you corrupt scholar. Big brother and I are sworn brothers. We have worshipped the gods of heaven, earth and the four directions in Taoyuan. Don't think you can be like us just because you have so many schemes." Zhang Fei slammed the table and scolded him in public.

"Third brother, don't be rude!" Liu Bei said indifferently: "Military Advisor, please continue!"

Well, all the talk I just had with Guan Yu and Zhang Fei was in vain.

"It all depends on the Lord's orders."

Xu Shu has also given up. You look so dead every day as if you have suffered a great injustice. It's up to you to die!

"In this case, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, listen to my orders, immediately organize your troops and prepare for battle. In three days, we will attack the rebel army. Please ask the military advisor to draw up a strategy."

Liu Bei felt that instead of developing in a slow manner, it would be better to build a brand and reputation first. With the brand and reputation, there would naturally be a market, and then development would not be a problem.

The reason they targeted the rebel army was mainly because the three of them had too deep a grudge against Xuzhou. Only by clearing up the old grudges and letting go of the historical baggage could they move forward with ease. Danyang County had the contract in hand, so there was no need to rush.

Although Xu Shu was in a bad mood, he still tried his best, and the battle plan he made was relatively safe. It was just to test Xuzhou's tolerance and bottom line towards Liu Bei's sending troops.

Liu, Guan and Zhang were not satisfied with this plan. Who would lead troops to the corners of the enemy to capture a city? Shouldn't the army march straight in and attack the vital points? Where is the security city of Runan County? Why couldn't that be possible?

Xu Shu thought that he might as well just hit his head against the wall and die. You need the ability to march straight into the enemy territory. Now he has insufficient troops, insufficient food and grass, and a small territory. How can he play against the enemy?

How many Han Xins have there been in the history of the world?

Even when Han Xin led his troops to capture cities in Hebei and Qingzhou, Gaozu and Zhou Bo each led two legions to support in other battlefields, and finally completed the encirclement together in Pengcheng and Gaixia.

Speaking of the army, after Xu Shu arrived, he inspected Cao's army, Xuzhou's army and the army recruited by Liu Bei. The Xuzhou army had the best organization, military discipline and training, while the worst was Liu Bei's own army.

However, Liu Bei wanted to ask for trouble, so Xu Shu could only do as they wished and drafted a more radical strategy. The three brothers were satisfied and went out to fight on a sunny day. However, their army was wiped out as soon as they entered Runan County, and the three brothers left with hundreds of defeated soldiers.

Not only did they fail to take revenge, but even the territory that had been divided up before was returned to the Xuzhou anti-rebel army.

As for the military advisor Xu Shu, he wanted to escape with them but found out that his mother was detained by the Xuzhou army. He said, "Don't worry, follow Liu Bei. The old man can't stand any grievance here."

He believed that Xuzhou would not make things difficult for an old lady, but he couldn't say what others would say if the news got out.

Liu Biao was still very good to Liu Bei. He accepted the three people and settled them in Xinye as usual. He would also ask Liu Bei to come over every few days to chat and talk about family matters.

While Liu Bei was entertaining people, he was also trying to recruit talents. He believed that the failure was ultimately due to the fact that the three brothers were too powerful and ordinary talents could not assist them.

The first person on this list of figures is Zhuge Kongming, who calls himself Sleeping Dragon. He happened to be living in seclusion in Longzhong, not far from Xiangyang, and Liu Bei decided to visit him.

Because of this failure, Guan and Zhang looked down on advisers even more. When they heard that Liu Bei was going to invite someone again, they immediately got angry and refused to go.

Not to mention that Liu Bei was planning to invite Zhuge Liang out of seclusion but was hindered by the opposition from Guan and Zhang, Cao Cao had already integrated his army and officially started a war with Yuan Shao on the banks of the Yellow River, but at present, they were all small-scale and tentative fights, and both sides had not yet made up their minds to start a major war.

When the news of Liu Bei's defeat came, Cao Cao immediately ordered all his troops to go all in!